Friday, June 25, 2021 Edition

Friday, June 25, 2021/ Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 15, 1442 AH

2613 Days after Malam Wada Maida (1950-2020), founding Chairman, Board of the Peoples Media Limited

Vol. 36 No. 099 N200

@pmlonline

peoplesdailyng

. . . putting the people first

The nation awaits rescue of the remaining abducted Chibok schoolgirls

No more approvals for frivolous loans requests -Lawan >>>Page 2

Reps summon NNPC over $300m alleged looted funds Amaechi, NPA to account for N166bn revenue

>>PAGE 3

L-R: National Commissioner, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, National Commissioners, Barr. Festus Okoye, Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Mu’azu and Malam Muhammad Haruna, during the launching of INEC voters enrollment device, at the INEC headquarters, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

FG pays N24bn to 413,630 beneficiaries of special public works scheme - Keyamo >>PG 5 FG allocates houses We’ve arrested 286 suspects, Buhari embarks on Seven die as to 1994 Super seized 8,983kg of illicit drugs 3 weeks medical Cholera outbreak Eagles squad in one year- NDLEA trip to London hits FCT pAGE 3

pAGE 4

pAGE 2

pAGE 21

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

News CONTENTS News

6-18

Op.Ed

12-13

Politics Stock Watch Business Metro

15-17 18

Buhari embarks on 3 weeks medical trip to London P

By Egena Sunday Ode

resident Muhammadu Buhari will today embark on a three-week trip to London for medical check up.

This was disclosed in a two paragraph statement Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina in Abuja.

According to the statement,

the President will return to the country in the second week of July.

The terse statement read: “President Muhammadu Buhari will proceed to London, the

United Kingdom on Friday, June 25, 2021, for a scheduled medical follow-up.

“He is due back in the country during the second week of July, 2021.”

19-21 24

World Analysis 22 Africa News

23

World News

24

NSC, NPA express displeasure From left: Director General, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Prof. Prof Aliyu Jauro; NESREA Director Special Duties, Abdulsalam Isa and Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Buki Ponle, during the visit over PTOL tariff of the NESREA Director General to the NAN Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday (24/6/21). increase No more approvals for frivolous loans requests -Lawan Page 4

Digest

25

Feature 26 Sports Back Page

29-31 32

We want to hear from you The Peoples Daily wants to hear from you with any news and pictures you think we should publish.

You can send your news and pictures to: adverts@peoplesdailyng.com pictures@peoplesdailyng.com contact@peoplesdailyng.com

Phones for News: 08142929046 08024432099

By Egena Sunday Ode

A

mid concerns that the country may soon be overburdened by foreign loans, the legislature has given conditions for approval of loans requests by the executive arm of government.

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan said the lawmakers will be more careful and strict in its consideration of loan requests by the executive arm going forward.

He stated that the legislature would henceforth insist on the details of what projects will be funded by the loans before approval will be given upon satisfactory explanations by the executive arm.

Speaking to State House correspondents on Thursday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Lawan admitted that Nigeria is relatively poor and cannot afford to be financially reckless.

He said: “What I want to assure Nigerians here is that we are not going to be frivolously supporting or approving loans for the executive arm of government.

“Whenever we have to approve any loan, we have to insist on the details of what projects will be funded by those by those loans.

“We’ll have to look at the conditions that are attached to

the loans, they must be favourable conditions before we approve and we will be up to date with our oversight to ensure that what we have approved is directly deployed and on those projects that we have also approved for implementation.

“So, we will not be frivolous and will not take it lightly to just approve any loan. Our options are really very limited as a country.

“First, we don’t have the necessary revenues, Nigeria is poor, we shouldn’t deceive ourselves. Nigeria is not rich, given the circumstances we live in, given the challenges we have.

“Our resources are so low, our revenues are so low and therefore the option of not doing anything, just to sit because we have no money, we shouldn’t go for infrastructure development is not even an option worthy of consideration. You cannot keep the economy stagnant.

“Two, you cannot, in my view and judgement, tax Nigerians further for you to raise the money for infrastructure development.

Other countries do that, but we have serious situation across the country, so you cannot put taxes on people.

“The other option is public private partnership. You need to create the environment to attract investors to come into our country because of the security challenges we face today.

“Not many investors would like to come to Nigeria, in fact, even those inside Nigeria may not like to invest properly in this sector of infrastructure development.

“So, the only option left is for us to borrow, borrow responsibly, utilise prudently and economically, and ensure that the projects are self-sustaining that they can pay back the loans that Nigerian economy will benefit from the implementation of such infrastructure development.

“So that is the only option we have and I believe that Nigerians will understand, of course, it’s not desirable, it’s not something that we like too, no Nigerian would like to have, in fact, even an individual not like to be on loan, but when you must, then you have to, and I want to be very practical here that we do so with that feeling of ‘this is our country, we must move forward, we must provide the enabling environment for our economy to grow and Nigeria to develop’.

“So there are really series of issues that we discussed with Mr. President and Mr. President has always shown his support for the National Assembly and respect for the members of the National Assembly.

“And I believe that he will always be there to ensure that those people manning the side of the affairs today, the those ministers, special advisors, and

so on and so forth, are also doing exactly the same.”

He added: “when we approve loans, that they also, at their own level of the executive level, are able to be responsible because when we detect anything going wrong, we will not show any understanding, we will be stiff, will be rigid, just like I said yesterday in plenary, there are Chief Executives of MDA’s who have refused to appear before our Public Accounts Committee.

“I’ve given an advice to the Public Accounts Committee in the Senate, write to remind them, if they fail, give us a list of all of them, we’ll publish the names and we’ll insist that they are brought to the National Assembly under a warrant of arrest. But we want something smooth, we want to have a relationship that is descent, that is cordial for the benefit of people of Nigeria.

“I’m very happy with the discussions I had with Mr. President and of course, this is our house, as well as Nigerians’, Mr. President is available to us to talk on other issues, probably including what our party is doing and I’m sure that most Nigerians are interested in what APC is doing and in APC, the caretaker committee is doing well. I’m sure very soon we’ll start to have our congresses culminating in the convention, sometimes, this year.”

Page 3

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

News

Buhari commends Ijaw leaders on Nigeria’s unity

By Egena Sunday Ode

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari Thursday commended the leadership of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) on their recent affirmation of belief in a United Nigeria and supporting the fight against insecurity by developing internal control mechanisms.

The President gave the commendation while receiving the National Executive of INC led by Professor Benjamin Okaba, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu disclosed in a statement.

He implored the leadership of the association to use its influence ‘‘in making sure that we keep working together to keep this country a united, indivisible entity, so that we can tackle our problems together and overcome our challenges together.’’

The President also used the occasion to address some demands of the association on several issues including environmental degradation, restructuring, creation of states, allocation of operational licenses for marginal fields to Ijaw people, inauguration of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), among others.

On the Hydrocarbon Remediation Project, President Buhari said he had directed the Federal Ministry of Environment to ensure that the remediation efforts in Ogoni are implemented with a high percentage of local content and inclusion of the surrounding communities.

Similarly, the President said the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, under the same ministry of Environment, is working to ensure that oil spills are reduced and new ones prevented while all relevant agencies of government have been directed to ensure that they enforce compliance by the International Oil Companies to international best practices.

Addressing their call for immediate restructuring, the President noted that the National Assembly whose responsibility it is to ensure that the constitution responds to the call for a restructured Nigeria has already concluded regional consultations. ‘‘As soon as they finalise the process, necessary action would not be delayed on my part,’’ he said.

On the creation of two additional states and more local government areas for the Ijaw people, the President said it is a legislative matter, which should naturally be handled by the National Assembly with concurrence at the state levels.

On the allocation of operational licenses for marginal fields to Ijaw people, the President said while he completely agrees with the demand,‘‘the process of granting licenses is guided by laid down rules and regulations, most of which even favour local content and local contractors. I see no reason why they should not be granted such licenses if they qualify.’’

On NDDC, the President pledged that the Board would be inaugurated as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted.

News Editor, Tobias Lengnan Dapam

FG allocates houses to 1994 Super Eagles squad P

By Egena Sunday Ode

resident Muhammadu Buhari has approved allocation of 3-bedroom houses to the Super Eagles Squad that won the African Cup of Nations in Tunis, Tunisia, in 1994, making real a promise by the

Federal Government.

Following a memo by Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, the President approved the allocations in their states of preference, noting that six players and three technical crews received their houses already, Senior Spacial Assistant to the

President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu disclosed in a statement on Thursday.

The players are: Peter Rufai, Alloy Agu, Ike Shorounmu, Uche Okechukwu, Samson Siasia, Efan Ekoku, Sunday Oliseh, Benedict Iroha, Isaac Semitoje, Mutiu Adepoju, Emmanuel Amunike,

Victor Ikpeba, Austin Eguavoen and Wilfred Agbonavbare (Deceased).

Others are: Uche Okafor (Deceased), Thompson Oliha (Deceased), Stephen Keshi (Deceased), Christian Chukwu, Dr Akin Amao, Stephen Edema, Col. A Asielue and B. Aromasodun.

From left: Chief of Defence Civil Military Cooperation, Rear Adm. Frederick Ogu; some participants, retired Maj.-Gen. Tilewa Amusu; and Gen. Samuel Adebayo; Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor; The First Female Admiral in Nigeria, Admiral Itunu Hotonu; and GOC, 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Gen. Gold Chibusi, at an interactive session the CDS had with retired military officers in the South West, in Ibadan on Thursday (24/6/21).

MacArthur hails Signature TV for unveiling ‘Corruption Tori 2’

By Ochiaka Ugwu

M

acArthur Foundation has hailed Signature TV for unveiling corruption Tori season 2, a TV program meant to water down anti-graft fight to the grassroots.

Speaking during the unveiling ceremony Wednesday, Director of Africa Office of MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Kole Shettima who commended Signature Television for unveiling Corruption Tori, an anticorruption Television programme using local Nigerian languages in amplifying the anti-corruption war in Nigeria said Corruption Tori is a unique programme that visualizes the

fight against corruption in indigenous Nigerian languages.

Dr. Shettima said the programme was unique as it brings the impact of corruption to people at the grassroots in languages they understand and could connect with.

He said the partnership between the Foundation and Signature TV was born out of the need to fill a vacuum and find a more effective way of communicating the anticorruption message to Nigerians at the grassroots.

Also speaking, Minister of State for Labour &Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) while delivering goodwill message virtually thanked MacArthur for aiding Africa

in entrenching accountability and transparency.

Keyamo who said that corruption has gone deep into the fabric of the society stressed the need to give it a bloody nose by dealing with it squarely.

While noting the need to take the awareness to the locals in the language they understand better, Keyamo maintained that every Nigerian has a role to play in anti-graft war.

Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye who was represented by Mr. Hassan Salihu thanked Signature TV for the initiative saying that bringing antigraft campaign to the grassroots will

surely change the narratives.

Chief Executive of Signature TV, Mr. Vinmartin Obiora Ilo who went down memory lane informed that their relationship with MacArthur Foundation started in 2018 when they realized that the anti-corruption message no matter how loud, was not getting to the ordinary-not-so-educated Nigerians at the grassroots.

Ilo said that there was a clear disconnect between the horrible cases of corruption and the appreciation of most Nigerians on the magnitude and impact of the hydra-headed monster which made them to send a proposal to MacArthur that gave birth to the project.

SEC grants Chaka Technologies license for digital stock trading

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given approval to Chaka Technologies Ltd. to operate a digital platform for buying and selling of local stocks.

Mrs Efe Ebelo, Head, Corporate Communications, SEC, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Wednesday in Lagos, that the company’s application was approved last week by the commission.

She added that the company was licensed to operate as sub-broker (digital) trading on local stocks.

NAN reports that Chaka Technologies, with the approval, becomes the first to acquire the digital sub-brokers license introduced by SEC in April.

The approval came after months of uncertainty regarding regulations of

digital trading in Nigeria.

Confirming the approval, Mr Tosin Osibodu, Co-founder & CEO, Chaka Technologies, said in a statement that the company was pleased with the achievement.

Chaka, is pleased to announce its recent acquisition of the digital subbroker/sub-broker serving multiple brokers through a digital platform.

“This makes Chaka the first recipient of this newly created license by the SEC, as part of the commission’s efforts to foster regulation within the investment-tech space, to ensure the safety of the investing public while encouraging innovation within the sector,” Osibodu said.

He said the company was honoured to be the foremost fintech company to receive SEC’s first Fintech license in

Nigeria, the digital sub-broker license.

“For us, this is an important step toward achieving our vision to level the playing field for African investors, and a defining moment for the future of digital investments in Nigeria, and Africa at large.

“Receiving this new license will enable us to continue to power on our mission to enable digital investing for businesses and individuals in the country and beyond.

“As Nigeria remains an attractive hive for fintech innovation, this new license from the SEC is the muchneeded guide to help safeguard the investing public amid the ever-evolving landscape,” said Osibodu.

He added that the license represented a significant milestone for all players within the industry,

and that it would strengthen efforts towards fostering further growth and transformation of the industry.

“We are proud to set this precedent and are excited for the long-term impact of this new regulation and what it signals for the future.

“We are also thankful for the continued trust from our investors and partners, as we remain committed to fulfilling their needs,” he added.

He said Chaka.com was a platform implemented by Chaka Technologies to provide technology services, marketing, customer service and operations to brokers on behalf of their customers.

“Chaka is powering borderless investing for business and individuals in Africa. We provide unrestricted access to over 4,000 stocks trading on capital markets,” said Osibodu.(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Page 4

NEWS

From Kano

Mustapha

Adamu,

T

he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Kano Command has said that it has arrested no fewer than 286 suspects from July 2020 to June 2021.

This was announced on Thursday in Kano by the state Commander of the NDLEA, Isah Likita Muhammed while delivering a speech at the commemoration

Insecurity: FCT CJTF trains 370 members in FCT

By Usman Shuaibu

F

ollowing the security challenges facing the citizens of Nigeria, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commander of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), Musa Ahmadu, has trained 370 security personnel in the territory.

Ahmadu said this in an interview with Peoples Daily Correspondent in Gwagwalada, pointing out that the purpose of the training was to enable the members to fight crimes gallantly.

He said the members of CJTF would continue to partner with the security agencies to wage war against bandits in FCT and the country at large.

He also said efforts would be intensified by CJTF to fish out the criminals in Abuja.

He therefore, advised the members to always protect the lives and property of the citizens of Abuja, saying that security is everybody business.

Buhari appoints Emmanuel Jime as executive secretary Shippers Council

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Emmanuel Lyambee Jime as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council.

Senior Special to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu disclosed in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Jime, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law, brings his wealth of experience to the new role having distinguished himself in several public offices.

He was at a time Managing Director at the Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), a two-term member of the House of Representatives representing Makurdi/Guma Federal constituency in Benue State between 2007 and 2015, and Speaker of the State House of Assembly from 1992 to 1993.

The appointment is for a renewable four-year tenure, the statement said.

We’ve arrested 286 suspects, seized 8,983kg of illicit drugs in one year-NDLEA of this year’s International Day Against Illicit Drug Abuse and Trafficking in the state.

He said that out of the arrested suspects, 78 had been convicted, just as he disclosed that total of 8,983.461Kg of illicit drugs had also been seized within the year under review. between July 2020 and June 2021 where it also arrested 286 persons within the same period.

Also, a total of 155 were arraigned before court where a total of 78 were convicted.

The Commander explained that among the arrested suspects, 261 are male, while 25 are female.

“In the area of supply reduction, a total of 8,983.461 Kg of illicit drugs made up of 7,701.906 Kg of Cannabis Sativa, 1,281.333 Kg of

Psychotropic Substances, 0.157 Kg of Cocaine and 0.065 Kg of Heroine were seized between July 2020 and June 2021.

“Within the same period, a total of 286 persons, comprising 261 males and 25 females were arrested.

“One hundred and fifty-five (155) persons were arraigned in court with seventy-eight (78) convictions made up of 74 males and four females secured, while seventy-seven cases are pending.

Muhammed also stared that three Cannabis Sativa farms were discovered in Kano state, located in Gwarzo, Danbatta and Ungogo areas.

From Gwarzo farm, according to him, 375 plants were uprooted, 111 plants removed from Danbatta

farm, while 87 were uprooted from Ungogo.

“This development is no doubt a cause for concern, especially if viewed against the backdrop of the spread of the farm across the state and the fact that the cultivation was being carried out and on the dry season” the Commander stated.

Speaking at the event event with the theme “Share Facts About Drugs. Save Lives”, he further explained that they are giving special emphasis on the mental, reproductive and psychological effects of drugs on women with particular attention on adolescent woman and girl child.

He therefore called on the general public to participate in the fight against drug trafficking to

save generations yet unborn.

“The fight against drug trafficking and abuse requires the participation of every member of society in order to succeed. It is therefore pertinent on all of us to join hands to salvage our community from the scourge of drug so that we may have a future to bequeath to our children and generations to come” Mohammed called.

He described the NDLEA’s job as two-fold, comprising of Supply reduction and Demand reduction where he said, the Supply reduction had to do with cutting the availability of illicit drugs in the society on the one hand, and Demand reduction has to do with drug education and awareness campaign against illicit drug abuse.

L-R: Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Engr. Alex O. 0gedegbe, President, Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Presenting an Award of Recognition to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for their support during the 2021 Dinner/Lecture recently in Lagos.

NSC, NPA express displeasure over PTOL tariff increase

T

he Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) have called Port and Terminal Operators (Nig) Limited (PTOL) to order over its increase in tariff.

Mrs Rakiya Zubairu, Head, Public Relations, NSC, disclosed this in a statement in Lagos on Thursday.

She said that PTOL’s arbitrary increase of charges without consultation with its landlord, the NPA, and the Port Economic Regulator, NSC, ran foul of its lease agreement and government regulations.

Zubairu said that this was discussed at a recent meeting of NPA, NSC and PTOL which took place at the head office of NSC in Apapa, Lagos.

She said that the meeting was convened by the Acting Executive

Secretary of the NSC, Ms. Ifeoma Ezedinma.

According to her, Ezedinma pointed out that such acts would attract sanctions, as the council, through public notices, visits and correspondence, was always advising regulated service providers to obey the law.

Citing Clause 5:5 of the lease agreement between NPA and PTOL, Mrs Ugo Madubuike, NPA’s General Manager, Monitoring and Regulatory Service, said the increase in charges was in contradiction of the Contractual Agreement.

Clause 5:5 states: “The lessee shall not make any increase in the operation rate unless agreed to in writing by the parties and any required persons or governmental authority has been obtained”.

Shippers council and NPA

advised PTOL to present their proposed increases for negotiation through official channels as soon as possible, the statement said.

PTOL’s General Manager Macpherson Nwaukoni, is quoted as apologising for the oversight, while explaining that the action was taken due to losses the company had incurred in the course of operations.

These losses, according to him, occurred as a result of the import ban on certain items, resulting in the company’s inability to meet its obligation to the Lessor, particularly the rental debt they owe to NPA. He is also quoted as saying that the comparison of their rates with other terminals revealed that their own charges were much lower.

All these, he said, made operations difficult, leading them

to increase their tariffs from 15 per cent to 30 per cent.

He appealed for leniency, explaining that PTOL had not increased charges in 16 years and was currently running at a loss.

The Director, Legal Services Department of NSC, Mr Tahir Idris, advised PTOL to obtain documents on NSC’s legal framework in order to acquaint itself with the regulatory procedures of tariff increase and to be guided to follow right protocol.

According to the statement, the Director, Consumer Affairs, Mr Cajetan Agu, insisted that they revert back to their old rates until due process was followed.

He stressed that their action contravened the contracts they signed upon the lease, and as such they violated the Lessor contract and NSC Act.(NAN)

Page 5

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

By Christiana Ekpa

T

he House of Representatives adhoc committee investigating the status of all recovered looted funds yesterday summoned the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to appear before it’s and explain the $300m alleged slush funds it deposited with the defunct Skye Bank, Presently Polaris.

This is as the House summoned the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the Management of the Nigeria Port Authority to give details of revenue accruing to the Nigeria Port Authority as at December 31, 2016 amount to about N166,685,929,000 which were not properly captured in the statement of account of the agency.

Chairman of the committee, investigating all recovered loots and assets from 2002 – 2020, Hon. Adejoro Adeogun, gave the summon yesterday when the Acting Managing Director of Polaris Bank, Innocent Ike, appeared before it during its resumed investigative hearing.

Polaris Bank’s MD had told the committee that the NNPC opened a current account with the then Skye Bank in January 2012 in which various deposits totalling $300 million were made over time.

He said the money that was in Skye Bank and subsequently Polaris was money deposited in normal business transaction as any other customer, saying it was not a slush fund.

“When the instruction was given by the Federal Government to transfer the money to the TSA, we simply could not pay because of the challenges the bank was having at that time. We engaged the various government agencies and we disclosed the amount to them.

“The liquidity issues really arose because bank in the normal course financial intermission lent out money particularly to the oil and gas sector because of the challenges that the sector had gone through earlier on. So customers were not able to pay back all the money at the time it was required to enable the bank to return the money.

“We did explain this situation to the various committees and government agencies that we met including the CBN who were of course copied in the of all these engagement.

“Somewhere along the line, precisely December 2018, the federal government through the now disbanded presidential investigation panel for the recovery of public property instituted a suit on this matter.

“We appointed the defence of Falana & Falana to handle the case and represent us in the process. However in 2019 February, in demonstration of our commitment to begin to repay that deposit, we made a proposal to begin to make an instalment payment of $10 million monthly and we started that payment from that very month. And because the federal government found merit in our case and commitment to begin that payment, subsequently, the government agreed that the monthly payment should be entered as consent payment and it was so done.

“We started that payment as agreed and entered as consent judgement and we have to state that as of today before this honourable committee, we have made a total payment of $224, 324, 958 and 75 cent which was the outstanding as of February 2019. Today, we therefore have nothing, not a dollar, not a cent outstanding in Polaris bank in favour of NNPC . We have fully repaid that amount of money, we don’t have anything outstanding in our books.

However, the committee told Polaris Bank that the NNPC in its recent letter, said it was yet to receive the said payment as claimed and therefore, directed the bank to furnish it with the evidence of repayments to the NNPC. The committee also queried the NNPC over the rationale behind the deposit of such amount of public fund in the bank, adding that its management must appear to provide explanations on issues surrounding the fund.

Meanwhile, the House also summoned

News

Reps summon NNPC over $300m alleged looted funds

• Amaechi, NPA to account for N166bn revenue the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the Management of the Nigeria Port Authority to give details of revenue accruing to the Nigeria Port Authority as at December 31, 2016 amount to about N166,685,929,000 which were not properly captured in the statement of account of the agency.

They are also to explain cost of services rendered to the Authority amounting to about N103.996 billion including channels and water ways maintenance (N65.130 billion) and Port and Quays Expenses of N38.412 billion).

The Minister and the NPA management who were initially expected to appear before the House Committee on Public Account on Thursday were said pleaded for another date to cause appearance and were given a July 8 date to appear before the committee.

They are expected to respond to audit queries contained in the comments of the Auditor General of the Federation on the group financial statement of the Nigeria Port Authority for 2016.

They are expected to give a breakdown of the Ports and Quays Services income stating the respective income from each of the services, scheduled oil terminal dues, details of pilotage and service boats and the nature of rentals services offered and rates applied.

In addition, the Auditor General said they are expected to answer questions from the lawmakers, giving breakdown of maintenance, budgetary provisions and evidence of work done on the channels and waterways as “examination of the accounts revealed that the channels and waterways maintenance rose from N44.427 billion in 2015 to N64.130 billion in 2016, an increase of over N20 billion.

The comments suggest that the NPA incurred about N38.412 billion as service charge on the Ports and Quays and demanded that the management of the Authority provide details of how these charges were incurred and also to explained what they meant by the term “others” for which about N4.7 billion was spent.

The Auditor General said that further examination of the accounts of the NPA revealed that Intels Integrated Services Limited were over paid their commission to the tune of N2.099 billion.

The Minister and the NPA management are also to explain what happened to the dividend income of N643.006 million received from their joint venture partners as well as interest income of about N97.8 million and N28.7 million being interest from bank deposits and interest on loan and recievables.

Other queries against the NPA include

administrative expenses of N61 billion which include professional charges of N638 million, donation and subscription of N1.88 billion, exchange loss of N7,3 billion, defined benefit expenses of N11.4 billion and director’s remuneration of N4.2 million.

The Auditor General’s query signed

by Adolphus Aghughu and dated 24th May, 2021also identified what it called understatement of depreciation charges to the tune of N6.4 billion stressing that “the provision made against eight classes of property amounted to N4.472 billion as against N10.891 million arrived at during vetting.

“If however, the under provision of depreciation was attributable to assets which have been fully written down, the nominal values at which such assets were retained in the books should be diusclosed.”

Students of the Federal Government Girls College, Bwari, vacating at the end of the Second Term in the 2021 Academic Session, in Abuja on Thursday (24/6/21).

FG pays N24bn to 413,630 beneficiaries of special public works scheme - Keyamo

By Egena Sunday Ode

A

bout N24,000,817,800.00 billion has so far been paid to an approximate 413,630 beneficiaries of the 774,000 special public works scheme as at June 24th, 2021, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo disclosed on Thursday.

Keyamo said the beneficiaries were drawn from rural communities and mostly itinerant workers to avoid the mistake of the past whereby participation in such programmes targeted at mostly rural dwellers were hijacked by urban dwellers..

He gave these statistics while featuring at the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team in Abuja.

The Minister debunked claims that the special works scheme may have failed due to initial delays to effect payment, saying it has attained 60 percent success rate.

Keyamo attributed the initial delays that greeted the programme to discrepancies noticed during the registration phase, especially with bank verification numbers.

He revealed that despite his attempts to ensure due diligence in the implementation of the programme, he discovered that

some fraudulent Nigerians opened multiple bank accounts under a single BVN with intent to short change the system.

According to him, efforts to separate genuine applicants from those trying to fleece the scheme of its resources accounted for initial delays recorded in the kick off of the programme.

Keyamo also described the YouWin Programme, an innovative empowerment programme aimed at empowering Nigerian youths financially to establish their own businesses and to be self-reliant under the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as purely for political patronage, alleging that the opposition was completely sidelined.

The minister was responding to a question on why the same set of people were benefiting from all government Programme under the All Prpgressive Congress (APC) administration He said: “On the same persons appearing all the time in respect of all federal government programmes in some states. Whilst I don’t have the full facts regarding that, but I will not also in my true conscience, dispute your assertion. I will not because I know how the political terrain operates now, where you

have godfathers everywhere as they are bringing programme of federal government, they hand it over to who they call the leader.

That is how it operates regrettably, any Programme in fact, they capture it like bandits here in Abuja. Before it leaves Abuja as it is coming out straight from villa fresh government project, is captured here and handed over to their structures in the state. So I will not dispute it.

I may not have the true picture and the impact of it and whether it is actually true going on in every state, and the widespread nature of it.

“But like I said, What we try to do in this programme, that is why perhaps I faced some resistance, all of that we have put behind us. So I don’t want to wake up all those scandals but we moved on at the end of the day in peace, because everybody realised that we needed to serve the Nigerian people. But that was why we designed it that way to be multi-sectorial. There is no programme ever before run by any government before us that you will see people who are not politicians brought into the selection process.

“I saw some opposition leaders complaining about the special public work that they didn’t get enough. And the question we asked

them was that while you were running your own PDP programme, did we even hear anything about it as politicians? Did we hear anything about it?

“Remember this one they ran, what they called YouWin Programme then, it was just purely political patronage Programme.

This one we try to say okay, religious leaders, senators where APC or PDP bring 30 persons. So whether opposition and all that was the kind of approach that we had. They can complain about inadequacy now that oh, we didn’t get enough numbers. In the past as opposition did we get any at all? Did we even know how? People are complaining and that is to tell you the nature of President Buhari.

“There is the school feeding programme going around the country, it is purely in the hands of opposition in many states. The APC in those states don’t even know how those school feeding programme is being carried out.

But what would the President say? If you come to him he will say they are all Nigerians. He will say it is meant for all Nigerians. But party members will be complaining but he’s the father of the nation. He’s not the father of APC.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

PAGE 6

News

CVR: No eligible Nigerian will be disenfranchised

by INEC’s digital approach, assures Yakubu ...Says Commission still worried over recent attacks on its facilities From: Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

A

s the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, begins the continuous voter registration (CVR) nationwide on Monday, eligible Nigerians have been assured they will not be disenfranchised by the new digital arrangement.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu specifically allayed the fears expressed by some Nigerians that many citizens may be disenfranchised by the new digital arrangement.

Prof Yakubu said this yesterday at a press conference he addressed on the launching of the online registration portal for the resumption of the CVR at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

The INEC Chairman similarly said that the Commission is still deeply worried by the threat that the recent attacks on its facilities across the country by unknown gunmen could pose to registrants and its staff during the CVR, notwithstanding the fact they they (the attacks) have subsided.

Prof Yakubu pointed out that based on credible advice, the Commission has decided to adopt what he called “a roll-out and roll-back approach” to the CVR exercise such that the registration centres will not only be accessible but safe and secure.

He appealed for the understanding

and support of Nigerians, especially those who have been keenly awaiting the resumption of the CVR. The INEC Chairman, “Let me allay the fears expressed by some Nigerians that many citizens may be disenfranchised by the new digital arrangement.

“The Commission is aware that not all Nigerians have computers, smart phones, access to the internet or residing in urban and sub-urban areas.

“Some citizens may also have one form of disability or another to make it impossible for them to register online.

“The Commission is also aware of its responsibility under the law to provide every eligible Nigerian the opportunity to register irrespective of where they live or other circumstances of life.

‘I wish to assure you that in addition to the online registration portal, there will be some 2,673 centres where citizens can register physically nationwide.

“Furthermore, the exercise will be carried out continuously over a period of at least one year thereby providing enough time for the Commission to reach all the nooks and crannies of the country.

“No eligible Nigerian will be disenfranchised.

“As you are ware, the Commission has had the sad experience of recent attacks on our offices across the country.

In most cases, these offices have been

burnt or vandalized.

“Clearly, the aim of the attackers was to undermine the Commission’s capacity to organize elections and other electoral activities, including the CVR. “Luckily, only buildings, equipment and materials have been destroyed.

“Although the attacks have subsided, the Commission is still deeply worried by the threat that they could pose to registrants and our staff during the CVR. “As a result of this profound concern, the Commission has made representations to government and had several discussions with stakeholders, including security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), political parties, civil society organizations and the media.

“During these consultations, we shared our plans, hopes and concerns regarding the security threat that we currently face.

“From the consultations, the stakeholders reached a consensus that it is important for the Commission to place a high premium on securing the lives of registrants and staff, as well as the protection of the expensive registration equipment to be deployed for the exercise.

“Consequently, they advised that the Commission should adopt a graduated approach to the CVR exercise by starting online.

“After appraising the situation, the exercise can then proceed physically at State and LGA offices before finally deploying to all the 2,673 centres nationwide.

“Based on this advice, the Commission decided to adopt a roll-out and roll-back approach to the exercise such that the registration centres will not only be accessible but safe and secure.

“After a careful consideration of these suggestions, the Commission has decided to modify the schedule for the CVR as follows: “I want to appeal for the understanding and support of Nigerians, especially those who have been keenly awaiting the resumption of the CVR. “This is a situation beyond the control of the Commission, given our determination to ensure that electoral activities are conducted in a conducive atmosphere of freedom and safety.

“We hope that through this portal, we shall reduce overcrowding at our registration centres, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, make the registration processes generally easier, thereby giving Nigerians a pleasant electoral experience.

“The portal will go live in the early hours of Monday 28th June 2021.

However, I must quickly reiterate that the online registration is a public service

NGO wants vulnerable elderly people included in govt. intervention programmes

A

n NGO, United Way Greater Nigeria (UWGN), has appealed to the Federal Government to ensure interventions through the National Senior Citizens Centre reached the vulnerable elderly at the grassroots.

The group’s Executive Director, Dr Adetoun Ilumoka, made the appeal during the UWGN Day of Action programme in Lagos.

The Day of Action is an annual day of service where members of the NGO support other organisations and individual volunteers to fight for health, education and financial stability of communities.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had on May 31, approved the take-off of the National Senior Citizens’ Centre.

The centre was established to develop and implement productive activities, social protection and work schemes for senior citizens to improve their quality of life.

Ilumoka noted that government should ensure activities of the centre were apolitical and impacted the lives of the elderly, particularly the poorer ones across various communities.

She said “it is not the retiree that retired at level 17 that needs the money or intervention from government.

“It is the vulnerable senior citizens with nobody to take care of them. There is need to include them in some form of intervention programme to make life comfortable for them.”

On the UWGN Day of Action, Ilumoka said that the outreach was to draw attention to the health challenges of the elderly, and how government and concerned citizens could address them.

She added that “deteriorating economic conditions prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges for the aged in Nigeria.

“These senior citizens have worked all their lives. We need to hear from them on what they want and how to make life better for them.”

She explained that the outreach was done in partnership with Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons in Nigeria (COSROPIN), NARP50+, and public health experts from Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

Mrs Olubunmi Sodade, the Executive Director of NARP50+, said that structures should be established to cater for the elderly in the society.

Sodade noted that many elderly people were lonely and impoverished, noting that issues that affected their health, social and economic wellbeing should be improved to make life easy for them.

Also, Dr Doyin Ogunyemi, the Public Health Consultant, LUTH, advised the elderly on constant health checkups, eating healthy meals to avoid malnutrition and avoiding unhealthy health practices.

NAN reports that the outreach includes health talk, blood pressure check, counselling and food distribution.(NAN)

and therefore free of charge.

“There is no INEC-approved cybercafe, no online registration centre and no scratch card to be purchased for the exercise.

“All you need is a device, including your mobile phones, that can connect to the internet.

“Citizens can complete the online pre-registration anywhere and at anytime they choose.

“Just follow the simple but detailed step-by-step procedure on the portal and contact the INEC Help Desk where necessary. The details are on our website”, he said.

The INEC Chairman emphatically declared that the registration exercise will be for the following categories of Nigerians: *Those who are 18 years and above and have not registered previously. *Registered voters who have had any problem during accreditation for any past election, with either their Permanent Voters’ Cards or their fingerprints not being read by the Smart Card Reader. *Registered voters who want to transfer their voting location from one place to another.

“Registered voters who want to correct issues with their data, such as misspelt names, dates of birth, etc. *Registered voters whose PVCs are lost or damaged.

From left: Ezieogo Asaga Ohafia, Chief Emmanuel KaluOnugu; Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola and Ezieogo Amuma Ohafia, Chief Kalu Ikenga, during Ohafia Traditional Ruler’s visit to the Minister of Office in Abuja on Thursday (24/6/21).

Wase eulongises Gbajabiamila at 59

By Christiana Ekpa

D

eputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase has congratulated Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila on the occasion of his 59th birthday.

In a congratulatory message by his chief Press Secretary, Umar Mohammed Puma, Wase described Gbajabiamila as an unapologetic democrat and an inspirational leader.

He said the Speaker believes in the unity of the nation and is genuinely committed to the development and sustenance of Nigeria’s democracy and promotion of good governance through effective legislations.

“On behalf of my family, my constituents and indeed all our colleges

in the hallow chambers of the House of Representatives, I wish to joyfully felicitate with my brother and a leader, a, great humanist and a patriotic, the Right Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, His Excellency, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila as he clocks 59 years today”.

He said Gbajabimila has demonstrated rare tact, wisdom and quality in the running of the House, which has brought stability and sense of oneness to the entire lawmakers of the green chamber.

“Through the Joint Task mantra, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has been able to unite members of the House by giving every one a sense of belonging.

“He has been able to lead by example, carrying everyone along

irrespective of political affiliation. Mr. Speaker, working with you has been one of my exciting and finest moment of my political career.

“Not only has Gbajabiamila has also shown great commitment to the independence of the legislature, his love for the growth and sustenance of our democracy through effective legislation is equally not in doubt”, Wase stated.

According to Wase, Nigeria needs leaders such as Gbajabiamila, who are detribalised, selfless and wholly committed to a peaceful and United country.

The Deputy Speaker said he enjoys working with Gbajabiamila and prayed God to grant him many more years on earth in good health and greater love for the fatherland and humanity in general.

Rice farmers in Nigeria produce 9 million metric tons of rice paddy annually - RIFAN From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

R

ice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) said since its members have been producing nine million metric tons of paddy annually since the coming

of President Muhammadu Buhari.

RIFAN President, Alhaji Aminu Goronyo disclosed this during the flag-off of sales of nine million metric tons of rice paddy to millers in kaduna yesterday.

According to him, rice farmers

before the coming of the present admistration only produced two million metric tons of paddy annually.

Goronyo said, with nine million metric tons of annual rice production, Nigeria is now self sufficient in rice

and almost ready for exportation.

He however, he said that the feat was achievable only due to the courage, commitment and patriotism of rice farmers who remained in the farm despite the security challenges faced in the farms.

PAGE 7

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Peacekeeping centre moves to address insecurity in Gulf of Guinea

M

artin Luther Agwai International Leadership and Peacekeeping Centre (MLAILPKC) has engaged in research with a view to proffering solution to the menace of piracy and maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea.

The centre on Wednesday in Abuja, commenced the validation exercise of a research project on piracy in the Gulf of Guinea: Root Causes, Effects and Priority Intervention Measure.

Chief of Training (Army), Maj.Gen. Francis Azinta, represented by the Director of Training, Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Ndalolo, said the research was important considering the importance of the region to African economy.

Azinta said that the Gulf of Guinea was a major strategic asset to West Africa and Africa at large, as well as a major critical economic nexus between the Americas and Asia.

He said that the rate of piracy in the gulf was believed to be one of the highest in the world, adding that 95 per cent of sea crimes took place in the region.

Azinta said that piracy in the Gulf of Guinea was a source of concern to Nigeria, adding that the research project being conducted by the centre was timely. ”The European Union Maritime Safety Agency fact sheet estimated that about 1,500 vessels, tankers and cargo ships navigate the golf daily.

“This huge volume of maritime cargo is being threatened by piracy.

“This is the reason why the International Maritime organisation is always crying out on the increased threats and attacks on the individual and seafarers in the region,” he said.

He said that whether we like it or not this contributed negatively to affect global trade and safety of seafarers. ”The International Maritime Bureau which have been tracking piracy in the region has also alluded to this part by stating that the region accounts for about 95 per cent of kidnapping at sea.

“So, you all agree with me that the Gulf of Guinea has become a hub of piracy due to high unemployment rates along the coast of West Africa, weak security and lack of enforcement of maritime laws.

“It has, therefore, become expedient to stem the tide of this trend right now,’’ he said.

The Commandant, MLAILPKC, Maj.-Gen. James Ataguba, said the projected was being conducted in collaboration with the Government of Japan through UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Ataguba said that activities of pirates had posed serious threats to maritime trade and business along the corridor of the Gulf, adding that it had retarded the region’s economy, particularly Nigeria.

This, according to him, calls for concerted actions to reduce the influence and activities of this hoodlums in the region.

He said that the project sought to unravel the root causes of piracy and maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea with a view to curbing the menace. (NAN)

Crime News FG assures adequate security for unity colleges

Maryam Abeeb, Abuja

T

he Federal Govt has assured Nigerians of adequate security for all the 110 unity colleges across the country.

Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, who gave the assurance at the Federal government college Otobi, Benue State, said, “the safety of our children is a topmost priority to the Government of President Mohammadu Buhari.”

The Minister who spoke

through the permanent Secretary of the Ministry,Arc Sonny Echono at the commissioning ceremony of critical projects at the college, stated that govt will leave no stone unturned in her efforts to ensure the safe recovery of the remaining abducted children of Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri, in kebbi state.

Furthermore, Adamu assured all Nigerians that the Federal government is putting in place greater security measures

including a complex and sophisticated communication architecture that will make it almost impossible for bandits and other criminal elements to operate so as to safeguard all unity colleges as well as prevent a reoccurence of the Yauri ugly experience.

In a related development,the Minister announced that the Federal Government has approved the full engagement of teachers engaged by the Parent

Teachers Associations across unity colleges, otherwise known as PTA teachers.

Adamu gave indications that the Ministry has already begun the process that will lead to the regularization of the appointments of the teachers.

The engagement of the PTA teachers according to the Minister will be restricted to qualified teachers who meet the new entry requirements into the teaching profession in Nigeria.

From left: Chief of Defence Civil Military Cooperation, Rear Admiral Frederick Ogu; Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor; and GOC, 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Gen. Gold Chibuisi, during the visit of the CDS for an interactive session with retired military officers in the South West, in Ibadan on Thursday 24/6/21).

Alleged child molestation: Baba Ijesha pleads not guilty

N

ollywood actor, Olanrewaju Omiyinka (alias Baba Ijesha), on Thursday pleaded not guilty to charges of child molestation before an Ikeja Special Offences Court.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the actor pleaded not guilty to a six-count charge bordering on indecent treatment of a child, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by penetration.

The offences contravene Sections 135, 259, 262, 263 and 262 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Following the plea, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mrs

Olayinka Adeyemi, requested that the defendant should be remanded by the court.

In a bail application supported by a 29-paragraph affidavit, Lead defence counsel, Mr Dada Awosika (SAN), prayed the court to grant the defendant bail in liberal terms.

The bail application was brought pursuant to Section 105(2) and (3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, 2015, and Sections 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

“I will wish to note that the issue of bail, especially on an offence of this nature, is a constitutional right.

“This is a right the defendant has been deprived of for the past 48 days when he was unlawfully held by the police.

“We are also not unconscious of the JUSUN strike which made it difficult to bring him to court,” he said.

The counsel prayed the court to grant the defendant bail, saying that it was guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution.

“Imagine if this man is kept in detention for many years and is found innocent, will there be any restitution? No. “Justice and fairness should be done,” he said.

In response, Adeyemi urged that the defendant should be denied bail.

According to het, the

defendant is a flight risk and can influence witnesses, if granted bail.

“I want to bring to my lord’s attention the nature of one of the offences – sexual assault by penetration – which carries life imprisonment.

“Bail is a discretionary right, it is not a constitutional right. “ On the nature of the offence and the strength of the evidence, there is a prima facie case before your lordship.

“The court should take judicial notice of the crime which is rampant in society,” she said.

Adeyemi said that prosecution had six witnesses in the case.

Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo stooddown proceedings, to give ruling on the bail application. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

PAGE 8

News

Climate change: AfDB supports African countries

T

he African Development Bank (AfDB) says it is supporting African countries to implement their nationally determined contributions to promote green growth and energy transitions.

Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the President, African Development Bank (AfDB), said this at the opening of the 2021 Annual Meetings of the AfDB, held virtually on Wednesday.

According to Wikipedia, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) are non-binding national plans highlighting climate actions.

This includes climate related targets for greenhouse, gas emission reductions, policies and measures that governments aim to implement, in response to climate change and as a contribution to achieve the global targets set out in the Paris Agreement.

Adesina stressed that the bank was taking decisive actions on the climate and green recovery.

“The bank, together with the Global Center on Adaptation, launched the African Adaptation Acceleration Programme, to help mobilise 25 billion dollars for climate adaptation in Africa.

“The bank is supporting African countries to implement their nationally determined contributions, to promote green growth and energy transitions, as we look forward to COP 26 in Glasgow,” he said.

The AfDB president also pointed out that the bank was taking decisive actions to reboot investments into Africa, through new and clean innovations.

The Prime Minister of Chad and President African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat, commended AfDB for organising the recent High-Level Dialogue on Climate Adaptation.

Mahamat also commended the bank for the launch of the African programme for the acceleration of adaptation in Africa, in collaboration with the Global Centre of Coronavirus for climate adaptation.

“This programme, which aims to mobilise 25 billion dollars, will make it possible to operationalise the African initiative for climate adaptation of the African Union.”

The AUC president further commended the bank for laudable projects carried out towards the integration and economic development of Africa.

“There is, among others, the ‘From Desert to Electricity’ initiative, the AFAWA programme for women’s entrepreneurship, and the launch of investment banks for youth entrepreneurship.

“The implementation of all these projects will accelerate the achievement of Agenda 2063 and our common aspiration, which is “the Africa we want.”

The prime minister also appealed to the AfDB to develop innovative financing mechanisms.

He, however, welcomed the encouraging results obtained by the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) and urged the bank to deploy instruments to mobilise internal resources and resources from the African Diaspora.

He said this would encourage investors and institutions such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to invest in Africa.

Also, in his remarks, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said the pandemic exposed deep structural fragilities that required urgent attention.

Akufo-Addo said this was particularly in relation to green growth, climate-conscious industrialisation and the creation of resilient economies.

Court fixes Sept. 27 to hear suit on Atiku Abubakar’s citizenship

T

he Federal High Court, Abuja on Thursday, fixed Sept. 27 to hear a suit filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa, a group, challenging the citizenship of former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the plaintiff instituted the suit in 2019 challenging Abubakar’s eligibility to contest for president.

When the matter was called, counsel to the plaintiff, Mr Akinola Oladimeji told the court that he was not prepared to go on with the matter.

Oladimeji told the court that it was only on Wednesday that he got wind of the fact that the matter had been slated for hearing on Thursday since the next adjourn date known to him was Sept. 20.

The judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo then sought to find out from the court registrar if parties had been informed of the date and the registrar responded in the affirmative.

The judge in a short ruling

said that he was not happy that he gave a date for hearing which had become a subject of controversy.

He, however, adjourned the matter until Sept. 27 and warned the plaintiff that it would be the last adjournment for his client.

NAN reports that the plaintiff, a civil society organisation in suit no. FHC/ABJ/CS/177/2019 is challenging the citizenship of Abubakar on the grounds that he was not born in Nigeria.

The plaintiff joined the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation as co-defendants in the suit.

The plaintiff formulated the following questions for determination by the court: “Whether Section 25 of the Constitution is the sole authority that spells out ways by which a person can become a Nigerian citizen by birth.

“Whether by the provisions of Section 131(a) of the constitution, only a Nigerian citizen by birth can contest for office of the

president.

“Whether by the combined interpretation of Section 25(1) (2) and 131(a) of the constitution, and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of Abubakar, he can be cleared by the PDP and INEC to contest for office of the president.”

The plaintiff held that if the answers to the questions were resolved in its favour, it should be granted the following reliefs: “A declaration that by provisions of Section 131(a) of the constitution, only a Nigerian citizen by birth can contest for the office of president.

“A declaration that by the combined interpretation of Sections 25 (1) (2) and 131(a) of the constitution, and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of Abubakar, he cannot be cleared by PDP and INEC to contest for president.

The plaintiff also asked the court for any order which it may seem fit to make in the circumstances of the application.

However, Abubakar and the PDP, on which platform he

contested the last election asked the court to dismiss the suit for lacking in merit.

In their notice of objection filed jointly, they insisted that the former vice president was a bonafide citizen of Nigeria.

Abubakar also said that besides serving as Nigeria’s vicepresident from 1999 to 2007, he held many public and private offices, including serving as governor of Adamawa and was a commissioned officer of the Nigerian Customs Service.

He said his parents, grandparents and great grandparents were born in Nigeria and they lived, died as Nigerians and were buried in Nigeria.

He told the court that the suit was filed in bad faith in an attempt to malign his person and integrity.

Abubakar also objected to the plaintiff’s right to challenge his nationality, arguing that it failed to show the interest it had above other citizens of Nigeria to be entitled to approach the court on the issue.(NAN) R-L,: Director General, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Alh. Abbas Idriss, Permanent Secretary FCTA, Mr.Olusade Adesola, Director General, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), Engr. Clement Onyeaso Nze and the Deputy Director, Forecasting, Response and Mitigation FEMA, Lady Florence Wenegieme, during the FEMA 2021 flood outlook and review of FCT emergency Preparedness and response plans, held on Wednesday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo- owo

Udu Council task force embarks on traffic decongestion

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

T

he newly inaugurated taskforce on traffic control and environmental in Udu Local Government Council (LGC) Area of Delta State has embarked on traffic decongestion of some major roads to forestall traffic gridlocks in the locality.

The taskforce was at the

busy Jigbala Market where most traders had been blocking the road with goods, thereby preventing free flow of traffic at the roundabout and ensured that the traders moved their goods into the market, while those by the road side while moved farther away from the road.

The popular Ubogo Market known for its heavy traffic

gridlocks was not left out in the exercise as traders were warned to remove their wares from the road to create free flow of traffic.

Speaking during the decongestion exercise, the chairman of the taskforce, Honourable Duke Efegbare, said that the taskforce would not relent in its efforts in ensuring that proper environmental cleanup

and free traffic flow was attained in the locality.

Also speaking, the supervisory Councillor on Environment Honourable Voke Bukata, reiterated that the area would be cleared of shanties and anything blocking the roads, adding that environmental sustainability would be maintained in the locality.

Gbajabiamila celebrates Sanwo-Olu at 56

By Christiana Ekpa

T

he Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has congratulated the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on his 56th birthday.

Gbajabiamila said Sanwo-Olu has proven to be a man of the people since he assumed office two years ago.

In a statement by his Special

Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, the Speaker described Sanwo-Olu as a silent achiever, whose performance in office speaks for itself.

The Speaker said it is not a mere coincidence that he and the Lagos State governor share the same birthday, noting that they have a lot in common, especially in the area of serving the people.

Gbajabiamila recalled how Sanwo-Olu had sleepless nights at

the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year to ensure that the people of Lagos were safe, being the worst-hit state in the country.

He said following the destruction of both public and private property in the state during the EndSars protests, Governor Sanwo-Olu did his best to rebuild the state, a development he described as commendable.

“We all thank God for the

life of His Excellency, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, my birthday mate. Lagosians are proud of him, and indeed Nigerians are proud of him.

“I believe in the next two years, Lagos State will witness massive development much more than what we saw in the past two years.

“One can only pray for more years in good health and continuous God’s protection for our governor,” Gbajabiamila said.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Page 9

News

Kangiwa Court hears suit seeking to calls on sack Buhari July 21 teachers T to take career in tourism

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

he Federal High Court, Abuja, will July 2, hears suit seeking remove President Muhammadu Buhari from office, by a former Presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru.

Attorney General of the Federation AGF and the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC are mentioned as second and third defendants respectfully.

In a suit marked FHC/ ABJ/CS/480/202, the former presidential candidate is praying the court for an order to declare

the Presidency vacant on the ground that Buhari was not the winner of the February 2019, presidential election.

The plaintiff, a British trained constitutional lawyer, called to the Nigerian Bar in 1982, is asking the court to declare Buhari as unlawful President illegally occupying the Presidential seat.

The plaintiff who stood for the 2019 Presidential election on the platform of the Hope Democratic Party(HDP)wants the court to declare him as the authentic winner of the poll and another order of the court directing his immediate inauguration to take over from Buhari.

In the suit he instituted on June 16, 2021, Owuru claimed that he won the February 16. 2019 Presidential election and that his suit against Buhari at the Supreme Court was inconclusive due to errors on adjourned date.

He sought a declaration by the federal high court that he is entitled to serve out a tenure of 4 years after his formal inauguration.

He further prayed Buhari should be removed from office with immediate effect and also be ordered to refund all salaries allowances and emoluments he collected while being unlawfully in office as President.

Owuru pleaded with the court to give order that salaries, allowances and emoluments be paid to him from May 29. 2019 when he ought to have been sworn in till date.

The plaintiff further applied for an order of perpetual injunction restraining Buhari, Attorney General of the Federation and Independent National Electoral Commission INEC from further organizing and conducting any Presidential election in 2023 so as to enable him complete his 4 year term when inaugurated.

Meanwhile, the Chief Judge of the federal high court, Justice John Tsoho assigned the case to Justice Inyang Ekwo.

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

T

he Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR),Nura Kangiwa has called on teachers in secondary schools to take up career in tourism.

Kangiwa said tourism is a multidimensional industry and multidisciplinary in subject.

He made the call at the opening ceremony of the second phase of ‘Train the Trainer’ program organized by the Institute for secondary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory yesterday in Abuja .

He said tourism as a multifaceted skill enterprise offers lots of opportunities for those willing to delve into it as either entrepreneurs or career teachers and trainers in tourism subjects.

The Director General who was represented by Director Research and Development of the Institute, Dr. Taiwo Famogbiyele, noted that, the tourism subsectors offer such entrepreneurial skills and business opportunities as Tour Guiding, Tour Operations, Travel Agency Operations, Cabin Crew, Gardens Operations.

Other are Events Management, Recreational Management Centres, Hospitality Management, Pastry and Cookery amongst others.

He emphasized that one can also take up teaching career in the afore-mentioned tourism subsectors in both secondary and tertiary institutions as instructors and lecturers.

Meanwhile, Head of Department of the Travel Tourism Department of the Institute, Edwin Enenta, called on the trainees to remain focused and resilient in their chosen career as teachers of tourism subject in the schools.

National Publicity Secretary, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) Nigeria, Mr. Agbo Major, National Chairman IPAC, Dr. Leonard Nzenwa, National Secretary of IPAC, Alh. Yusuf Dantolle and the organization Financial Secretary, Dr. Abdul Ahmed Isiaq, during the IPAC media briefing commending INEC for the decisions taken so far for the improvement of Nigeria Electoral process and asking Nigerian to go and Register as the Electoral body begin registration Exercise, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo.

SMEDAN to ensure extended monitoring, evaluation of MSMEs –D-G

D

r Dikko Radda, the Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), says the agency will ensure extended monitoring and evaluation of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for economic development.

The director-general said this on Wednesday in Abuja at a news conference heralding the 2021 UN World MSMEs Day. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the UN set aside every June 27 for the celebration of resilience and significance of the MSMEs As part of the celebration, SMEDAN will hold MSMEs

awareness campaigns, exhibitions, roadshow and participate in national discourse on MSMEs holding June 24 with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and other top officials participating.

SMEDAN will also participate at the fourth National MSMEs awards holding on June 27 which will be hosted by Vice President.

He, however, said that more monitoring and evaluation could assist in developing MSMEs policies.

The director-general said that the agency was making effort to ensure that the National MSMEs Council extended monitoring and evaluation of MSMEs by a recognised MSMEs body.

“So that we can be able to give

report concerning programmes being done by the Federal Government in that regard.

“Part of the reasons why we do not have much monitoring and evaluation aspect of the MSMEs programmes is because of no coordination as those activities in support of MSMEs are done by different government agencies and ministries.

“In SMEDAN all our activities are monitored and evaluated which gives us input as to how we can run the same programme next time,” he said.

Jedda said that SMEDAN being an apex organisation had been in the forefront of MSMEs coordination through the National MSMEs Council.

”Under that circumstances, not much was achieved on the monitoring and evaluation because individual agencies and ministries were equally doing monitoring and evaluation,” he said.

The SMEDAN boss said that all efforts must be geared towards supporting, exposing and proffering solutions to the challenges confronting 41 million MSMEs in Nigeria.

The theme of the 2021 event is “MSMEs: Key to an inclusive and sustainable recovery”.

Jedda said that the theme of this year was appropriate as the whole world is gradually recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic in which MSMEs were worst hit. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

PAGE 10

News

By Egena Sunday Ode

T

he new security roadmap adopted by the federal and the state governments to secure the northern part of the country is bearing fruit as peace and confidence seem to be gradually returning to the region.

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State gave the indication on Wednesday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, along with his Niger State counterpart, Governor Sani Bello.

Governor Matawalle, who spoke briefly with State House Correspondents, on his way out of the Villa, assured farmers that they would be able to safely cultivate their farms this raining season as security would continue to improve.

According to the governor, until last few days, the atmosphere in his state had been calm, at least

New roadmap solving insecurity in the north, says Matawalle

in the last four months, adding that security agents are working to ensure the situation does not escalate any further.

Asked it was safe to say that security had finally found its way back to the north, he said “I can say yes because in the past four months we didn’t have much of this crisis, but it’s gradually coming back, but the security are doing their best now, particularly from the new security architecture

that we have adopted now, we are having some improvements on the challenges.

“With action and the roadmap that we have drawn, between the government and the security, we are doing our best to make sure that farmers will go back to their farms and they will be able to farm, insha Allah. We will do our best to make sure that all farmers will go back to their farms”, he said.

On the security in Zamfara

State, Matawalle said “for now, for the past four days no incidence had been recorded by the security, but yet we are doing our best and the surety are also doing their best to make sure that they tackle all the challenges.

“I assure you that we are on top of the matter and the President has assured all of us that he’s going to take more measures on the issue of insecurity in the northern part of the country”, he said.

Speaking of the meeting held with President Buhari, the governor said “we discussed about the security, not just myself, but the Northern region, because of the current escalation of insecurity.

“I briefed him and the governor of Niger also briefed him. The President has assured us that action will be taken about what we have discussed about the issue of insecurity”, he said.

Otuaro’s wife donates cash, foodstuff to vulnerable in Delta

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

T

he Wife of Delta State Deputy Governor, Dr Ebierin Otuaro, has given out foodstuffs, toiletries and cash donations to the vulnerable in the state.

Dr Otuaro, who visited Diamond Healing Homes, Ogwash Uku, Saint Joseph Old People Home and God on Earth Care Orphanage Home, Asaba, as part of activities to mark her birthday anniversary on Wednesday She commended the caregivers of the various homes for their commitments to serve humanity, noting that celebrating with the less privileged was borne out of the love and passion she had for them, adding that they were very precious in the sight of God and should not be neglected.

In separate remarks, the caregivers at the Diamond Healing Home, Dr Ogumu Ogbogodor; the Saint Joseph Old People’s Home, Reverend Sister Elizabeth and the GodOwn Care Orphanage Home, Pastor Mrs Evelyn Nbibo, thanked the wife of the deputy governor for the gesture and prayed God to continue to bless and uplift her.

Highpoint of the occasion were the cutting of the birthday cake and special praises and worship session by the children of God on Earth Care Orphanage Home.

Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya ( M), Deputy Governor, Dr. Manassah Daniel Jatau ( R) and Commissioner of Education, Dauda Batari Zambuk during the Governor’s inspection visit to some schools to assess ongoing and completed projects in Gombe yesterday.

Buhari greets speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila at 59

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, on his 59th birthday, recognizing the vision, maturity and courage he has brought to Nigeria’s

leadership.

President Buhari, a statement by the Senior Spacial Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said, felicitated with the Speaker and his family on the auspicious moment,

joining the National Assembly, particularly members of the green chamber, in celebrating with the lawmaker, whose selflessness, forthrightness and patriotism continue to broaden the scope of policies, taking into full consideration

the voice of Nigerians.

“As the visionary leader turns 59, the President prays for his good health and strength, and the grace of God for more wisdom to keep serving the country,” the statement noted.

Kaduna launches 5 year strategic plan for food, nutrition

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

K

aduna State Goverment has launched a five-year Multi-Sectoral Strategic Plan of action for Food and Nutrition, (KDMSPAN) to address issues of malnutrition

in the state.

Launching the programme yesterday, the state Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufa’i said KDMSPAN set out modest, realistic and achievable goals and objectives, which will be the driving force behind all the

actions and activities of nutrition in the state.

El-Rufa’i, who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Baloni, explained that malnutrition is the impairment of health due to inadequate nutrients.

He added that malnutrition has multifaceted causes and requires solutions that are multi disciplinary and multi-sectoral, cutting across various sectors including health, agriculture, education, science and technology.

Jigawa targets over 1.7m children to respond on polio outbreak

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

A

fter nine years without single polio case in Jigawa, the state government has targetted over 1.7 million children to be immunize against the

outbreak of the disease in the state.

This was announced by the director Jigawa state primary healthcare development agency Dr Sambo Shehu while briefing news men on the preparation of the exercise schedule to

commence on 28th June to 3nd July 2021.

He explained that after spending nine years without polio in Jigawa, now the state government decided to immunize under five years old children to

strengthen their immune system against the polio disease.

“Jigawa state government is ready to implement outbreak response which is polio eradication campaign to start on 28th to 3nd July 2021.”

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

PAGE 11

Letter to the Editor

EDITORIAL

Still on the Twitter rage ECOWAS at the crossroads

N

igeria’s federal government last Friday “indefinitely”suspended the social media promoter, Twitter in Nigeria for endangering the nation’s corporate existence.

The next day it followed up with a threat to prosecute anyone that violated the ban. Again on Wednesday the government said Twitter must register as a business concern for it to be allowed to dobusiness in Nigeria again.

Mr. Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, announced the conditions for lifting the suspension at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari. The minister again accused the social media platform of suspicious activities in the country, adding that it paid no taxes to the Nigerian government despite the revenue it generated from Nigerians.

“It may interest you to know that most of the over the top and social media platforms operating in Nigeria do not have any office in Nigeria and do not pay taxes to the Nigerian government for the billions they earn here. “That is not the best practice globally, and that is why we are insisting that for you to operate in Nigeria you must first be a Nigerian company and be licensed by the broadcasting commission. Therefore, any OTT (over-the-top) or social media platform operating in Nigeria must do so legally.”

Mohammed recalled that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was directed last Friday to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT social media operations in Nigeria. He said the first step was for them to register with the Corporate Affairs Commission and thereafter be licensed by the NBC and then adhere to the conditions stipulated in their licences.

“We have already advertised the notice to the companies concerned to apply for registration of licence.

Mohammed accused Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, of funding last October’s #EndSARS protests, citing facts from an online news platform, The Cable. He explained, “I said Twitter funded the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria last year. And people have challenged it.

“And I’m glad that The Cable has done some fact-findings and their conclusions are as follows: they said the truth is that fact-checking showed that indeed, Twitter played a prominent role in helping to raise funds for the #EndSARS protesters.

Whether they paid directly, helped to pay or helped to raise funds, it’s a matter of semantics.”

The minister refuted a charge that Twitter’s suspension was not effective, adding that the development did not stifle free speech as many claimed. The government’s order banning Twitter’s activity in Nigeria has been complied with by the major mobile communications service providers including MTN, GLO, Airtel and 9mobile.

However, some individuals and professional bodies have opposed the ban, saying it undermines democracy.

These individuals include state governors and church leaders. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) says it is preparing a legal challenge of the government’s action.

“

Mohammed recalled that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was directed last Friday to immediately commence the process of licensing The Twitter ban does all OTT social media raise some fundamental questions. Firstly, does the operations in Nigeria. government stand on sure

“The cardinal thing is that witter must be registered in Nigeria. Twitter must stop using its platform for activities that are inimical to the growth of Nigeria and its corporate existence,” he said, explaining that Twitter was suspended because it provided ample opportunity for elements bent on threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria.

The minister said, “As you are aware, last Friday the Federal Government suspended Twitter operations in Nigeria indefinitely.

“And the reason we gave was because of the persistent use of the Twitter platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.” According to him, Twitter had refused to censor tweets from the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, whom he said incited violence against law enforcement agencies from abroad. “We’ve found out that Twitter is actually the platform of choice for a particular separatist leader who resides outside the country and issues directives to its members to attack symbols of government authority such as the police, the military, the electoral commission’s

OUR MISSION

offices, correctional centres, etc. And this is being done willfully and consistently without any consequences from Twitter. You know, no country worth its name will tolerate that. And no company, no matter its self-importance, will force any nation to accept this.”

ground in this matter?

Yes, it does. It represents the Nigerian state and, therefore, the only entity that can define and defend the sovereignty of the state. In that capacity, it certainly can declare who is an enemy of the state. Secondly, did Twitter do anything that truly threatened Nigeria’s “corporate existence”? Again, yes it did when it took out President Buhari’s tweet warning enemies of Nigeria that they would be treated in the language they understood but put out another by the IPOB leader inciting insurrection against the state.

Legally, the government is right to move against the enemy and its supporters. Morally, too, Twitter is unfair to the government of Nigeria. It is.not a registered company in Nigeria and does not pay tax to the government.

What is expected of it is to operate responsibly by complying with the nation’s laws. If it does not and will not, it should be booted out. This is what the Nigerian government has just done by asking Twitter to stay out. Its internal collaborators should expect no less.

OUR PEOPLE

“To be the market Chief Operating Officer place of ideas and /Editor, the leading player Hameed M. Bello, PhD in the industry by putting the people first, upholding the Manager, administration Hassan Hammanyaji truth, maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards while HEAD, ADVERT delivering value to patrick UGAMA our stakeholders”

OUR VISION

“To be a reputable, profitable, innovative and technologically reliant media company offering world class services and products”

By Paul Ejime

A

fter 46 years of existence, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) can look back with pride on a number of its achievements, especially in the domain of peace and security, conflict prevention, management and resolution.

For more than two decades following its formation through the Treaty of Lagos on 28th May 1975, the 15-nation organisation originally headquartered in Lagos, but now in Abuja, was seized confronted the myriad political and security crises that bedevilled many of its members. This was at the expense of its core agenda of fostering economic integration, but the preoccupation then was understandable, given that peace, political stability and economic development are intertwined.

Liberia had ignited the fire with its civil war in December 1979 followed by Sierra Leone and then the crises in Guinea Bissau, later Guinea Conakry, Cote d’Ivoire and other countries.

In 1990, Nigeria and Ghana with the support of a few other regional leaders set up the regional peacekeeping force, the ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), which with the support of the international community ended the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. ECOWAS recently ended a similar Mission in Guinea Bissau, but still has one in The Gambia.

The regional organisation has equally made huge strides in other areas such as its 1979 flagship Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Rights to Residence and Establishment, which makes it the only region in Africa where citizens can visit and stay in a country other than their own for at least 90 days without a visa. Also in 1979, the region adopted the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) to promote cooperation, regional economic integration and common market.

There has also been some progress in infrastructure development, in regional roads, environment, electricity/energy Power Pool and Gas Pipeline projects, and other Community programmes, as well as in gender and humanitarian affairs synergy, collaboration on electoral matters through the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC) and the ECOWAS electoral assistance to Member States.

The wave of pluralistic democracy that swept across the African continent in 1990s actually started in the ECOWAS region (Benin), but the region has since become the epicentre of the World’s socioeconomic, political and security upheavals.

All ECOWAS Member States profess to practising democratic system of government, but the bitter truth is that in the past decade, democracy is actually in regression in the region going by the quality of governance and destabilising electoral disputes and the tendency for the ruling political parties to manipulate national constitutions either for presidential tenure elongations or in favour of the government in power.

Political and religious intolerance and ethnic conflicts are on also the increase, accentuated by high rate of youth unemployment, poverty, deprivation and repression, with military coups even resurfacing!

In response to these recessions, ECOWAS, once praised as a trail blazer among the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa, appears to have lost its teeth, becoming ever reactive and therefore, ineffective in tackling the regional and even its own existential challenges.

For instance, there are festering political disputes in Benin, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Togo, The Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal. Mali has seen two military coups within nine months and Niger recently reported an attempted putsch.

The prognosis looks very grim with the on-going global financial crisis and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, not helping matters.

ECOWAS keen watchers blame the current situation on a combination of factors including weak, ineffectual and the lack of political will by the leadership. They warn that unless drastic remedial measures are taken, the organization could become completely irrelevant.

Nigeria, given its strategic position as a regional power and the pivotal role it played with Togo in setting up ECOWAS has a responsibility to work with committed and like-minded member States to rescue

ECOWAS from imminent collapse. The same zeal that propelled the birthing of the regional organisation must be rekindled to counter all the forces working against the regional integration project.

The rescue mission for ECOWAS must begin in earnest as the regional leaders gather on Saturday in Accra, Ghana for their regular Summit, which will discuss regional security, health issues and especially, the much-touted Institutional reform.

Part of the organisation’s problems has to do with its top-heavy management structure, flawed recruitment system, capacity deficiency and nonutilization of existing human capital, muted rivalry among the language groups and external interference.

But these can be addressed from the Heads of State and at the ECOWAS Commission levels.

For instance, the transformation of the ECOWAS Executive Secretariat to a Commission in 2007, with all its good intentions would seem to have created room for wastage. That move was said to be consistent with the African Union Commission and the European Commission structure. But ironically, ECOWAS is older than the African Union Commission which came into existence in 2002, and the European Commission is also emphasising its unity through the nomenclature of the European Union.

ECOWAS is expected to move toward greater union and integration consistent with its slogan of an “ECOWAS of People instead of ECOWAS of States.” But the Commission, from an initial seven Commissioners plus a Vice President and President now has 15 Commissioners with the attendant huge increase in personnel and running costs and the unhelpful tendency of some Commissioners operating in silos, protecting national interests at the expense of the Community goal.

Also, some statutory appointees allegedly take directives from their home governments in dealing with Community matters and therefore see the organisation as ‘a regional cake.’

Despite the opposition two years ago, the 15 Commissioners are still in place and with the global financial crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; many countries have been hit hard, including oil-producing regional economic power Nigeria, ECOWAS’ major financial contributor.

The implication is that ECOWAS could face dire financial strait, similar to its experience in the 1990s when the Executive Secretariat relied on Nigeria for the payment of staff salaries.

With ECOWAS statutory positions rotated, increasing the number of Commissioners to 15, even with unlimited resources makes no economic sense. But should member States insist on having Commissioners at the same time, each member should be made to foot the bill, as once suggested

by Nigeria. This will save the organisation the unnecessary financial burden of additional staff salaries and other financial implications of an expanded structure, including new directorates, office space and equipment, and additional running costs.

Another area of serious concern on ECOWAS’ survival is its unsatisfactory stride toward achieving a common market and a single monetary union, which are critical to regional economic integration.

France, acting in collaboration with Cote d’Ivoire, has effectively hijacked the ECOWAS proposed currency name, ECO, to replace the CFA franc, used by former French colony member States in ECOWAS. Granted that ECOWAS has been slow on its single currency programme with several postponements for is take-off, the move by Paris and its allies is not only in bad taste, but smacks of a ploy to undermine the ECOWAS integration agenda. There are a thousand and one names to choose from, instead of substituting CFA franc with ECO, while France maintaining its stranglehold on the economy and financial destiny of its former colonies and with the proposed ECO expected to be pegged to the Euro.

The changes to ECOWAS statutory positions due in February/March 2022 is a golden opportunity for drastic and forward-looking measures that will enable ECOWAS to regain its past glory and make greater strides. Apart from recruiting competent hands the recruitment criteria for the leadership of the Commission and Community Institutions including the President and Commissioners must be more rigorous, tack-record and performance-driven.

Paul Ejime, an Author and former Diplomatic/War Correspondent, is a Consultant on Communications, Media, Elections and International Affairs.

PAGE 12

Opinion

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Tackling Nigeria’s out of school children menace

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

A

s both the Federal and state Governments in Nigeria continue to allow the rate of out of school children, especially in the northern part of Nigeria, to swell in number, even when it is obvious that the streets are known for breeding all forms of criminals and other social misfits who constitutes the real threat in the forms of armed robbers; thugs, drunkards, prostitutes and all other social ills that give a bad name to the society, Nigerians are beginning to view Government’s approach to the challenge as not yielding the targeted result.

The latest of such worry came from Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Wemi Jones who recently during a 2- Day NorthCentral Zonal Meeting on Draft Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP), held in Lokoja, called on stakeholders in the sector to find a lasting solution to the problem.

While lamenting that out of the seventeen states in the country with the highest number of out of school Children, fourteen of the states are in the North, Jones said if the rate of out of school children can be curtailed, it would help check the insecurity that is currently bedeviling parts of the country, and would to a large extend signal goodbye to insecurity threats across the country.

Though he said it in a different way, venue and time, in the real sense of it, Mr. Commissioner may not have said something new or different from what Nigerians have been worried about all these years.

To prove how successive administrations in the country have done very little in arresting the situation, a particular report in 2013, described as

mind-numbing the awareness that about 10.5 million Nigerian children of school age are not enrolled in schools. Out of this number, the report explained that, about 9million, are children of beggars, fishermen and other less privileged people in the society.

Again, in 2018, a UNICEF survey showed that the population of out-ofschool children in Nigeria had risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million, the highest in the world.

The UNICEF survey says something else; there is still a huge number of those who are in school, but are learning nothing, noting that schooling does not always lead to learning. In Nigeria, there are more non-learners in school than out of school. it concluded.

Indeed, going by the facts below, UNICEF in my views may not be wrong in its postulation.

With the nation’s current population of over 195.9 million, 45 per cent of which are below 15 years, there is a huge demand for learning opportunities translating into increased enrolment.

This has created challenges in ensuring quality education since resources are spread more thinly, resulting in more than 100 pupils for one teacher as against the UNESCO benchmark of 35 students per teacher and culminating in students learning under trees for lack of classrooms.

Basically, there exist in my opinion about three major troubling realities that characterize the situation as a crisis.

First is the awareness that Nigeria is not in short supply of policy measures and laws to ensure that no child is left behind in education. Yet, the number keeps swelling each year. As argued elsewhere, there is free and compulsory primary and junior secondary education to cater for children aged five to 14

years. To explain this point, the Universal Basic Education Act 2004 is the legal framework that provides for compulsory, free and universal basic education of all children of primary and junior secondary school age in the country. There is also the Child Rights Act, which reinforces this as a basic human right by prescribing schooling up to junior secondary school.

UBEC intervention funds as we know are focused on collaboration with other state actors towards improving access to basic education and reducing Nigeria’s out-of-school children. The budgetary allocation for education for example in 2020 is N671.07 billion constituting 6.7%. Of the N671.07 billion allocated to the Federal Ministry of education, the sum includes the statutory transfer allocated to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which is N111.79 billion. Yet, most of the states cannot draw from this fund as a result of their (states) inability to provide the counterpart funding.

So what benefits is the fund?

It was such encumbrance I presume, that recently prompted the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to call on the Federal Government to remove counterpart funding, as part of basic requirements for states to access Federal Government funding of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) The second factor fueling out of school challenge in Nigeria stems from the awareness that despite the Universal Declaration of education as a fundamental human right for everyone and this right was further detailed in the Convention against Discrimination in Education, Nigerian governments, particularly the northern governors,failed to turn more of their energies in, or focus their creativity on the useful things that will translate to

empowerment of the people.

They made policies that views education as very narrow and restricted.

Presently, what the region and Nigeria by extension need is a restless determination to make the idle of governance a reality. At this critical point of our nationhood, the northern governors must do this work-and in doing the work, stimulate their people particularly the youths to learn and acquire higher levels of skills and techniques for economic independence.

There are certain technical steps that must be taken.

First, it is time to recognize that any region desirous of securing the future of its people must invest in education. This is more urgent in the north where it is agreed that historical underdevelopment in Western education is responsible, more than the diversity in religious loyalties, for the social imbalance between the region and the south.

Similarly, the hour has come for the governors from the region to adopt and support the 2030 sustainable agenda- a United Nation initiative and successor programme to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)- with a collection of 17 global goals formulated among other aims to promote and cater for people, peace, planet, and poverty. And has at its centre; partnership and collaboration, ecosystem thinking, co-creation and alignment of various intervention efforts by the public and private sectors and civil society.

The reason for this assertion is barefaced.

Few years ago, it was reported that Mathew Hassan Kukah- a well-informed, self-contained and quietly influential Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto had during a four day workshop tagged ‘’Interfaith Dialogue and Engagement’’ for Christians and Muslims in Minna, Niger state that the Kukah Centre (TKC), promised to introduce

skill acquisition centers in the Northern part of the country where about 10 million Almajiri children will acquire vocations of their choice.

For sure, with the slow economic but high population growth in Nigeria particularly in the north, such a programme would have been an effective tool for fighting unemployment and consolidating economic growth. But for yet to be identified reason(s), no governor from the north bought into that opening provided or encouraged their youth to access such opportunity.

Regardless of what others may say, it is in the interest of the government to educate its people on different skills that create jobs for the youths as a formidable way of curbing crime and reducing threatening insecurity in the country. It should be done not merely for political consideration but from the views of national development and sustenance of our democracy and the best place to start from should be a deliberate effort to drastically reduce the number of our school children.

When this is achieved, it will in turn bring about sustained peace; result in improved hygiene and medical care, greater educational opportunities. State governments are hereby enjoined by this piece to embark on aggressive education of their people, ensuring its compulsion to a certain level.

To catalyze this process, a shift in action is important as ‘we cannot solve our socio-economic challenges with the same thinking we used when we created it’.

The governors need to bring a change in leadership paradigm by switching over to a leadership style that is capable of making successful decisions built on a higher quality of information.

Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos. He could be reached via;jeromeutomi@yahoo.com

Justice inhabits people’s hearts, and lies will eventually be exposed

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

D

uring the ongoing 47th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, 65 countries made a joint statement to express support for China amid a rampant anti-China campaign at the UNHRC started by some Western countries.

In the statement, they stressed that respecting the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of each sovereign state without interfering in its internal affairs is the requirement of the basic norms governing international relations, and that affairs concerning Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet are China’s domestic affairs and should not be interfered by external forces.

The statement also advocated abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and respecting the right of people from all countries to independently choose the path of human rights development according to their own national conditions. Meanwhile, it opposed double standards or politicization of human rights issues, groundless accusations against China based on disinformation or political purposes, and making use of human

rights as an excuse to interfere in China’s domestic affairs.

Aside from the 65 countries, six countries from the Gulf Cooperation Council sent a message to support China, and more than 20 countries delivered separate speeches to support China.

The sonorous and forceful voices of justice made by a total of over 90 countries at the UNHRC have been spread across the globe and will be heard by people in every corner of the world.

In stark contrast, Canada, the U.S., the U.K, and some other Western countries have fabricated and disseminated false information to attack and smear China under the guise of human rights, and undermined international human rights dialogues and cooperation for the political purpose of suppressing and containing China.

As a vast number of developing countries have expressed firm support for China, the voices of these Western countries, which can neither represent human rights standard nor public opinion, seem particularly out of place and harsh.

Ironically, these Western countries that have acted as selfstyled judges of human rights have a poor record of human rights issues,

which were discussed and criticized by many countries at the UNHRC. The remains of more than 200 indigenous children were recently discovered at a boarding school in Canada, which reminds people once again Canada’s historical atrocities of killing the indigenous people and eradicating their culture. About 150,000 indigenous children in Canada were forcibly taken away from their parents and sent to boarding schools, where at least 4,000 children died of unnatural causes.

Systematic and institutional racial discrimination are becoming more intense in the U.K. One-third of the families with children under the age of 15 live in poverty, and the rights of a large number of refugees and immigrants have been seriously violated. Besides, British soldiers randomly torture and kill civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet are free from punishments because of the protection of the government.

The U.S., the so-called “beacon of human rights”, seems to have always made irresponsible remarks about the human rights situation in other countries, but turned a blind eye to its own problems. Even after the tragedy of George Floyd, an African American who died in violent law

enforcement, systematic racial discrimination and violence in law enforcement are still common in the U.S. Data suggest that from January to November 2020, there were only 17 days when the U.S. didn’t see any death caused by law enforcement personnel.

Since 2001, the U.S. has carried out the so-called counter-terrorism operations in more than 80 countries, causing the death of more than 800,000 people in direct war violence, including about 335,000 civilians, and displacing tens of millions of people.

Since it was founded 100 years ago, the CPC has made its mission striving for people’s human rights and freedom.

The CPC has always focused its efforts on helping people live a better life, and devoted itself to continuously protecting and improving human rights in the development process, trying to benefit all the Chinese people with the fruits of development.

It is because of the efforts of the CPC that the New China has seen earthshattering changes since its reform and opening-up and secured historic achievements and transformation with the cause of the CPC and the nation since the 18th National Congress of the

CPC in 2012.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, stressed that living a happy life is the primary human right.

No matter how times develop and how circumstances change, China has remained consistent in believing that human rights are the common pursuit of all mankind, rather than a patent of a few countries or be used as a tool to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and incite the subversion and overthrow of regimes.

China will continuously adhere to its people-centered approach in protecting human rights, uphold the universal values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, and conduct constructive dialogues and cooperation with various parties on human rights protection on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

As China is about to comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society, the country will certainly bring its human rights cause to a higher level and make greater contributions to the healthy development of the world’s human rights cause.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)

Comment PAGE 13

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Need for Anambra South to produce Obiano’s successor

By Michael Jegede

T

here has been the insistence by well-meaning individuals and groups that the next governor of Anambra State after Chief Willie Obiano should come from Anambra South.

The case being made for Anambra South to produce Obiano’s successor is anchored on the zoning system, said to have been adopted for the rotation of governorship seat among the three senatorial districts by stakeholders in the state.

It is being rightly and vehemently argued that nothing should stop the people of Anambra South from taking their turn after Anambra Central and Anambra North have had theirs in exGovernor Peter Obi and incumbent Governor Obiano respectively.

For instance, the president of Anambra State Chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Emeka Udodeme, had declared that the zoning arrangement and understanding reached for the governorship seat by the people of Anambra State through the stakeholders remains sacrosanct and should be respected by all and sundry.

According to Udodeme, the resolution for governmental power to rotate among the three senatorial districts in Anambra which was taken during the time of Obi, was meant to give a sense of belonging to all the zones, thereby engendering peace, harmony and unity amongst the people.

He noted that it would be against the principle of fairness, equity and justice for anyone to oppose the zoning agreement now that it is the turn of Anambra South to produce the governor after Anambra Central and North have had their shots.

Speaking in a media chat, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo chieftain said: “This zoning arrangement was done when I was a President General and publicity secretary of all the PGs. The traditional rulers, the elders’ council, the ASATU, that is, the Anambra State Association of Town Unions – all of us agreed that we should go for zoning. That was why the governorship seat went to Anambra North Senatorial District after Peter Obi had done 8 years. Peter Obi is from Anambra Central Senatorial District. The present governor hails from Anambra North and by next year he must have served out his tenure of 8 years. Therefore, fairness, equity and justice demand that

it should go to Anambra South Senatorial District. It is still our stand that it is the turn of Anambra South to produce the governor of Anambra State, as political parties conduct primaries to pick their candidates for the November 6, 2021 governorship election.”

On the argument by some that competence should be placed above zoning, Udodeme who is from Anambra Central averred that “Peter Obi from central senatorial district did so well as a governor. Willy Obiano from Anambra North is doing excellently well. Anambra South equally has people who have the competence and capacity to govern the state.

They have intellectuals that are capable of offering Anambra people effective leadership and good governance. So, we don’t have any reason to deviate from the zoning arrangement. Those that are opposing zoning, are they saying there are no competent and intelligent people from Anambra South? What exactly are they saying?

“Anyway, we have reaffirmed our support and insisted that the zoning arrangement remains sacrosanct. And believe you me if any political party produces a candidate from any senatorial

district other than Anambra South that party will fail. I am not God. But I am quite certain that that party will fail. Of course, you know in the southern senatorial zone they are politically inclined. They are the highest in number. They have about 78 communities. The central has about 58 communities and the north has about 48 communities.

“I should plead with those who are saying no to please respect this zoning arrangement. If you come to Anambra State now apart from this insecurity everywhere in the country, it is calm. Unlike when it was open for everybody you see a lot of tension. Everywhere is quite calm because of this zoning arrangement. So, we all have benefited and we want it to continue. Anambra State is very peaceful because of the zoning.

There is no tension.”

He disclosed that Ohanaeze Ndigbo has gone round the three senatorial zones to remind the people and the political parties of the need to stick to the zoning accord signed by the stakeholders on behalf of Anambrarians.

He said: “What we are doing is to remind the political parties the stand of all elders, stakeholders and everybody in Anambra State so that they will be careful in selecting

the persons they will present as their candidates and avoid mistakes that will haunt them in the general election.”

So far, two of the major political parties contesting in the governorship election holding on November 6 have done their primaries. The candidates of the two parties – Young Progressives Party (YPP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – are from Anambra South.

While Ifeanyi Ubah, the Senator currently representing Anambra South Senatorial District, emerged as the YPP’s guber candidate, Prof.

Charles Soludo, erstwhile Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), clinched the ticket of APGA to stand as the party’s candidate.

The two other top political parties partaking in the governorship race – Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and All Progressives Congress (APC) – will be holding their primaries on Saturday, June 26, 2021.

It is hoped that the PDP and APC will equally look towards the direction of Anambra South as they take the decision on who represents them in the 2021 Anambra gubernatorial poll.

your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

In a similar vein, Exodus 22:22-23 ESV urged Christians, “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry”.

Lastly in Deuteronomy 24:17-21 ESV, God said, “You

shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord

have collectively inspired the philosophy behind the conception of the International Widows Day that is observed on June 23 every year to draw attention towards the voices of widows and highlight their problems. It is a United Nations (UN) ratified day of action to address the poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents in several countries of the world.

It would be recalled in this context that the first International Widows Day was observed in 2011. The day was established by The Loomba Foundation to raise awareness about the matter of widowhood.

In fact, the day was formally adopted as International Widows Day by the United Nations on December 21, 2010.

To the United Nations, International Widows Day presents an opportunity for action towards achieving full rights and recognition for widows. It is also about providing widows with information on access to a fair share of their inheritance, land, and productive resources; pensions and social protection that are not based on marital status alone, decent work and equal pay.

According to available statistics on the population of widows across the world, “There are an estimated 258 million widows around the world, and nearly one in ten live in extreme poverty”.

At this juncture, it is expedient to say that yesterday, being June 23, was International Widows day but there was no razzmatazz and buzzwords and emotional comments, particularly on social media platforms, to show that we still care for them. It was obvious that humanity has forgotten the widows as it was in the Hellenistic days.

For the sake of clarity, it is germane to say that Acts 6:1, NIV says, “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”

Interpretatively put, some of the widows were being left out of charitable giving, due to a low-level problem with supervision. Acts 6:2 confirms this interpretation where it says it is not wise for the apostles to turn away from their calling to “serve tables.” Their point is not that such service is beneath them, but that they need support in order to fulfill their spiritual calling.

Against the foregoing, it is expedient to ask, “How many of us always remember the widows by each passing day besides June 23 that has being fixed by the UN to care for the widows in our midst?

Michael Jegede, writes from Abuja

Has humanity gone back to the Hellenistic days when widows were neglected?

By Isaac Asabor

I

t is not an exaggeration to say that God loves widows.

The foregoing view cannot be farfetched as there is no book that mentioned about Widows more than the Bible. In fact very few books have being written about caring for widows but I must confess that I have for the umpteenth time taken aback by how much the Bible said about them. Whether one reads about Moses and the prophets, the Psalms and the Proverbs of Solomon, the four Gospels, or the book of Acts and the letters to the churches in the New Testament, such reader will not be able to read far without the subject of widows coming up.

There are about eighty direct references to widows in the Scriptures. Why? To answer the foregoing question, it is expedient to, in this context cite five scriptural injunctions that require Christians to always care for the widows.

James 1:27 says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world”.

In the same vein, 1 Timothy 5:3-4 ESV instructed thus: “Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. Also in Deuteronomy 15:7-11 ESV, God commanded on how the widows should be cared for.

He said, “If among you, one of

“

At this juncture, it is expedient to say that yesterday, being June 23, was International Widows day but there was no razzmatazz and buzzwords and emotional comments, particularly on social media platforms, to show that we still care for them. It was obvious that humanity has forgotten the widows as it was in the Hellenistic days. your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow”.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it cannot be wrong to guesstimate that the foregoing injunctions might

Isaac Asabor is a Public Policy Analyst.

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

News

Gumel youths beg gov Badaru to locate new federal varsity in Gumel emirate

Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya inspecting a newly constructed 160 bed capacity hostel at the Government Science Secondary School Gombe yesterday

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

T

he Gumel Youths Movement (GYM) called on Governor Muhammad Abubakar Badaru to locate new Federal University of Technology to Gumel emirate.

The called was made by the chairman of the movement comrade Musa Mu’azu Gumel when the delegation team paid a visit to the emir of Gumel his royal highness Ahmed Muhamman Sani at his palace.

The leadership of the movement explained that since the creation of Jigawa State 30 years ago, there is no any new higher institutions establish in the emirate from both federal and state government.

According to the leadership of the movement, from thirty years to date many higher institutions are established at other emirates including School of Business and Management Studies, now ( Jigawa State Polytechnic, Dutse) ,Federal University Dutse, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Birnin Kudu, School of Health and Technology, Jahun and National Open University, Dutse Centre all located in Dutse emirate.

While in Hadeja emirate, higher institutions like SuleLamido University, K/Hausa, Bilyaminu Usman Polytechnic, HADEJIA, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hadejia, Assalam International University, Hadejia (Under construction) the National Open University, Hadejia Centre and Recently, Federal Government Science and Technical College, Hadejia.

He maintained that, in Kazaure emirate, Federal Polytechnic, KAZAURE, Jigawa State Informatic Institute, KAZAURE and College of Education, KAZAURE. According to him, in Ringim emirate higher institutions like Jigawa State College of Education and Legal Studies, Ringim, JICORAS, Babura , School of Midwifery, Babura , Khadija University, Majia and National Open University, Ringim Centre are located.

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he new Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, has pledged his country’s commitment help Nigeria curb COVID-19 challenges.

The Envoy, who arrived in Nigeria on May 15, 2021, stated that the Embassy would cooperate with the Federal Government in the health sector, including the fight against COVID-19.

Kazuyoshi remarked that last year marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-Nigeria diplomatic relations; despite many great accomplishments to date, he

expressed his confidence that the relations between the two countries can only get stronger and would expand into new fields.

The Ambassador said, “Nigerians have also been highly affected by restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and face various inconveniences.

Foremost, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and to extend my heartfelt sympathies to all the affected people. One of my priorities would therefore be to address the various challenges in the medical and health sectors, including the response to COVID-19, through the cooperation between Japan and

Nigeria.’’

Recalling that a grant aid project, funded by the Government of Japan, was launched in April 2021 to increase oxygen supply and expand vaccine storage capacity through an international organization, the Ambassador add that Japan will continue to support the efforts of the Nigerian people to strengthen the medical and health sectors.

As a member of the Japanese Government that promotes digital transformation as a pillar of its growth strategy, Kazuyoshi said he would be focusing on Nigeria, which he observed has the potential to grow dramatically through leapfrog-

type development by actively adopting the latest technology.

“I joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as an IT expert. Therefore, I am interested in strengthening diplomatic activities utilizing IT, in pursuing economic growth and in solving social problems through technological innovations. Under these circumstances, DX (digital transformation) can facilitate people-to-people ties by bridging psychological distances.

It promotes virtual exchanges and deepens mutual understanding not only in political and business fields, but also in fields such as sports, culture, medical care and education,’’ he explained.

Benue govt distributes improved seedlings to farmers From: Uche Makurdi

Nnorom,

enue State Government yesterday commenced the distribution of improved seedlings to farmers in the state as a way of promoting commercial agriculture.

Flagging-off the distribution at the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Governor Samuel Ortom stressed the

need for the state to diversify to enhance food security.

Governor Ortom said by doing so, the State is trying to add value to agicultural production for export earning.

He also said that research carried out showed that the state is rich in the cultivation of water melon which is consumed globally and urged the people to take advantage and explore the avenue.

“We are distributing over 4,666 improved rice seedlings, 230 bags of maize, 690 water melon and 10,000 improved Cassava stems.

The local government chairmen should encourage their people to cultivate water melon, cassava which are in high demand. We have two (2) Chinese firms that have set up Ethanol Plants; one is located close to Albinsi and another in Zaki-Biam in Ukum local government area. One of the

company requires over 300 metric tonnes of cassava. Soon cassava will be in high demand and will be mopped up by these companies.

“By next week, government will flag-off fertilizer sales. It is expected that communities will pay 50 percent for Urea while NPK will attract 60 percent subsidy. I urge Benue people to make judicious use of improved seedlings to boost food production in the State.

Abari made the disclosure yesterday,at a three day workshop held at One man village, Nasarawa state, in collaboration with Avant-Garde InterBiz limited .

The programme was themed; “Misinformation, fake news and Hate Speech Implication for National Security”.

Abari said “the workshop was part of the efforts to equip participants with a clear understanding of what hate speech and fake news are all about, and how to identify them. It will also help the to know how they

could be linked to insecurity and how they can be mitigated using multifaceted strategies.

“This is intended to make participants effective ambassadors in the campaign to curb these negative tendencies.

“We must therefore, cultivate the culture of dialogue to achieve consensus and compromise on any national issue”,he emphasized.

Also speaking, former Spokesman of the Nigeria Army, Brig Gen. Sani Usman (RTD), in his key noted address said the amount of fake news, disinformation and

misinformation spread on the web and social media is overwhelming.

“These variables are spread mainly on the media, Websites, Social Networks, and the Internet on various topics and issues”.

Usman represented by his Technical Adviser Saddika Muhammad, maintained that it is important to crosscheck and verify facts and authenticate information.

“We must also learn to differentiate between facts and opinions.

“Consequently, it is high time we join

hands in combatting the menace of fake news, misinformation and hate speech”,he said.

“This is why we need to take media and information literacy with all seriousness. We must think before posting or sharing any information and employing intercultural dialogue when relating with media content”.

Earlier, Principal Partner/AvantGarde, Nathaniel Allahmagani, said “the workshop was apt and gives me opportunity to preach peace and nation building anywhere I find myself.

B

Fake news: FG to train 37,000 fact checkers

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

N

ational Orientation Agency (NOA), said it would train 37,000 fact checkers across country.

The training will be in partnership with government and non-governmental organizations.

The organizations will provide 1000 trainers from each states including Federal Capital Territory( FCT) , to acquire skills on how to fact check news on the internet.

Director General of NOA Garba

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) yesterday disclosed that registered political parties and the leadership of the National Assembly have agreed that the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) must be passed into law before the end of July.

The National chairman of IPAC, Leornad Nzenwa, who disclosed this yesteryear in Abuja

2023: NASS to support INEC to delineate electoral constituencies - Lawan

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Japanese Ambassador pledges to assist Nigeria curb COVID-19 challenges

PAGE 15

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

P

resident of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has assured Nigerians that the National Assembly will work with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its bid to properly delineate electoral constituencies across the country ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Lawan gave the assurance on Thursday when a delegation from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by its Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, paid a visit to his office in Abuja.

The last exercise which witnessed the creation of electoral districts and constituencies across the country was carried out twenty-five years ago in 1996.

The Senate President, in his remarks during the visit, said the delineation of electoral constituencies in the country would enhance democracy as well as provide equitable and fair representation in Nigeria’s governance structure.

He explained further that having more districts and constituencies would present a level playing field for all Nigerians to elect leaders of their choice at the polls.

He underscored the need for the federal government to find a way around getting accurate information about country’s population size, stressing that such information is significant and critical for the creation of more constituencies in disadvantaged areas.

He said, “The issue of delineation or creation of more electoral constituencies is like the previous one on the polling units.

“But unlike the polling units, this is going to be more difficult because you need more information, especially on the population.

“And because we didn’t have census after the 2006 exercise, now we have to find a way of getting information about our population size because that is very important and significant in taking any decision in that respect.

“But I want to assure you and Nigerians, that we will go all the way with you, to finding solutions on getting the delineation of electoral constituencies done before the end of our tenure.”

Speaking earlier, Professor Mahmood Yakubu said the delineation of constituencies requires an Act of the National Assembly, adding that, “the major consideration for revision of the country into constituencies is the population quota.”

“The National Assembly has powers under the constitution to actually request INEC to delineate constituencies by an Act of the Assembly.

“No Act of the National Assembly has asked INEC to delineate constituencies since the last delineation in 1996”, Yakubu revealed.

Political parties, NASS agree to pass new Electoral Act before July ends - IPAC during a press briefing, said when the Act is eventually signed into law, it will not take long time for the President to sign it into law, adding that the delay was to carry everyone along in the process.

Speaking also on the State of the nation, the IPAC boss said it is obvious that the state of the nation is bad, adding that though it is still redeemable if political leaders do things properly and right.

“There is a cloud of uncertainty across the country. If we are sincere to ourselves, can we wholeheartedly exclaim that we have a beautiful country, the one we used to know, now? Can we say heartily that we are giant of Africa, as euphemistically echoed in the past. We seem to have lost the Nigeria we used to know.

Everything has gone to the dogs.

“Everybody seems to have taken their own path. Herdsmen are killing farmers, kidnappers are invading our homes, our schools are no more safe for learning, bandits are terrorising everyone of us and terrorists with all sort of names are raiding our villages.

We no longer sleep with our eyes closed!

“The level of killings that have been perpetrated by criminal elements in this country in so short a period as this is much. Sadly, Nigeria is ranked the third most unsafe place to live on earth.

“How did we get to this horrible point? A sore point where lives do not matter anymore? Where our laws do not make any meaning to all of us? How did we get to this consciousness-less verge?

Where calls for secession have

become stringent and deafening?

Where we have non-state actors dethroning state actors? Where our farmers can no longer go to their farms?

“Where we have bred a nation of outlaws, an army of anarchists, and gangs of cannibals. I am tempted to conclude, and say that we are enmeshed in buckets of wicked problems which has overwhelmed us all”, he said.

However, the Council commend President Muhammadu Buhari for sanctioning the remittance of allocation directly to the third tier of government which is closer to the people and demanding that the Local Government chairmen judiciously utilize the funds.

While mourning with Nigerians over the death of the former chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru,

IPAC enjoined President Buhari to rijig Nigerias’ security architecture to work for final decapitation of terrorists and other criminal elements troubling the country.

The Council condemned also the incessant burning of INEC and Nigerian Police facilities in some parts of the country and demanded a stop to this arson against the country, just as it called on Security agents to identify and deal decisively with the criminal elements that are perpetrating the burning of national assets.

Further to this, it called on INEC to redouble its effort as much is expected from them ahead of the 6th November 2021 Anambra State gubernatorial election, saying it is a litmus test ahead of Ekiti and Osun Gubernatorial elections in 2022 and the 2023 general election.

L-R; President Muhammadu Buhari, Amanyanabo of Twon. Brass Chairman of Conference of Ijaw Traditional Rulers and Chairman Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers, HRM Alfred P. Diete-Spiff. Among Others are Vice President 1 Ijaw National Congress, Mr Atamuno Atamuno, Vice President 2 Ijaw National Congress, Alabo Nengi James during a courtesy visit by the Ijaw National Congress National Executive Council in State House Abuja.

PHOTO; STATE HOUSE

FCT rejects moves by Senate to confer autonomy on AGIS

By Musa Baba Adamu

T

he Senate and authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), disagreed Thursday on what the actual status of Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), should be in the face of legal instrument being worked upon by the upper legislative chamber.

While the Senate on the strength of a bill sponsored by Senator Mohammed Hassan Gusau ( PDP Zamfara Central) , seeks to provide legal instrument for AGIS in making it a separate agency, FCTA management said there was no need for that.

Disagreement over the status of AGIS came to the fore at the public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory ( FCT, Abuja ) on bills seeking legal backing for the Federal Capital Territory College of Nursing

and Midwifery and the one seeking for an Act to Establish the Abuja Geographic Information Systems.

Senator Gusau had in his presentation as sponsor of the bill on AGIS said the Unit needed to be made a full fledged agency backed with law.

According to him , AGIS as just a unit or land department cannot cope with myriad of problems associated with application , processing , allocation and management of land if not given the required legal teeth as a full fledged agency.

“AGIS as it is now , finds it very difficult to cope with problems such as unattended applications for land , processing , multiple allocations , land documents forgeries, inefficient revenue generation etc”, he said.

But in his submission, the Minister of FCT, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello , said AGIS should be left the way it is now.

The Minister who was represented

by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Olusade Adesola, said rather than creating a big bureaucracy as proposed in the bill, information technology capability of AGIS should be strengthened for better service delivery.

He said “Upon an in-depth review of the above-mentioned Bill in the context of the mandate of the AGIS as a technical Department, it is our considered opinion that the passage of this Bill will merely amount to the addition of a bureaucratic layer to Land Administration system in the FCTA. “This Distinguished Committee may wish to note that the core function of the AGIS is to record, store and manage geospatial data on land and attributes generated by core stakeholders in Land administration in digital form.

“Accordingly, a passage of this Bill in its current form, will conflict

with the roles of existing statutory Departments and may be rather disadvantageous.

“Furthermore, the responsibilities of AGIS enumerated above, does not require the establishment of an Agency. Its need would be better served through strengthening its Information Technology capability as currently being done by the FCTA”.

The Minister however commended the Senate on the move to give the FCT College of Nursing and Midwifery, required legal instrument.

“Generally, we have carefully perused the entire bill and find it appropriate”, he said.

Several other stakeholders in the Federal Capital Territory, made presentations on the proposed bills, which the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Abubakar Kyari (APC Borno North), said would be fully reflected in reports to be submitted to the Senate later.

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

POLITICS

More crisis rocks APC in Enugu as confusion deepens over suspension of Ayogu Eze

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State has taken a more dangerous turn following a deeper confusion over the suspension of the Senator who represented Enugu North in 7th Senate.

Recall that Senator Ayogu’s APC ward in Enugu had suspended him from the party over alleged anti party activities, but briefing journàlists in Abuja yesterday, the chairman of the party in the State, Ben Nwoye, dismissed the allegation.

He denied all anti party activities levelled against the former senator, adding that the party membership has risen from 63,000 to 184,294 registered members in Enugu state.

Nwoye said: “So, it came to

my notice that a former Chairman who had been removed may have connived with people and started peddling falsehood, fake news that the distinguished Senator has been suspended from the party. So, this is not true. This is pure falsehood, sponsored news item that is only meant to finish the already risen profile of the senator.

“Yesterday we saw reports in a section of the media misinforming people that the distinguished Senator Ayogu Eze was suspended from the party.

That cannot be further from the truth. The distinguished Senator Ayogu Eze is a well respected member of APC in Enugu State and indeed South East and at the national level.

He joined the party and he ran for Governorship, got the ticket and because of his popularity

has taken the party to greater heights.

“Very recently, he received a vote of confidence based on what he had done to grow the party beginning with most recently, our membership registration.

His efforts cumulated into tripling the number of registered members of APC in Enugu State. We have independent people who could verify that. The chairman of the registration committee for the state, distinguished Senator Jonathan Zwingina was in Enugu State and he hosted him and other members of the committee. He made sure we had a great turn out of members.

“Before that, during the pandemic, Sen. Eze donated immensely to our purse making it possible for the outreach which we did in 2020 and early 2021.

We were able to procure relief materials and visited hospitals, homes for the elderly, disabled and orphans. He also regularly provided for members of the party.

“His caretaker executive of the ward had duly removed him according to our constitution.

The fact is that his own caretaker executives passed a vote of no confidence against him unbeknownst to Sen. Eze or anyone including myself. They brought a letter that following the due process, they had removed him and brought in another gentleman, Comrade Obeta as Chairman of the Ward. Sen. Eze has no hand in whatever happened to the former Chairman. It was the handiwork of mischief makers to embarrass him.

“As of the time he wrote the letter purportedly suspending

Sen. Eze, he was no longer the Chairman of Ozzi, Ward 7. We have 260 wards and 17 local governments in Enugu State.

So, one out of 260 rushed down somewhere to Abuja and engaged fake news merchants. It was a hatchet job and we won’t allow that to stand because we have grown this party to this point.

“I have reached out to the national secretariat and other leaders and I have not been able to find out who identified this individual as Chairman of Ozzi Ward 7.”

On the recent recent registration and revalidation exercise in Enugu state, Dr. Nwoye said “Through the help of the leadership of Sen. Ayogu Eze and other leaders, we have risen from 63, 000 to 184, 294 registered members. These are real members and not made up.”

T

he Senate on Wednesday said the maintenance and renovation of the National Assembly complex is not the responsibility of the National Assembly, adding that no N37 billion has been released for the renovation of the complex.

In a statement issued yesterday by the Senate spokesman, Surajudeen Basiru, the Senate said contrary to the widespread report being peddled both in the mainstream and online media as a fall out of the incident of the leaking roof of the National Assembly Complex after a heavy downpour on Tuesday, 21 June 2021, it is pertinent to inform the General Public that the National Assembly and its leadership is not responsible for the maintenance and renovation of the National Assembly Complex.

He said the federal lawmakers have also not received a sum of 37 billion naira or any amount for the renovation of the Complex.

“While it is true that an initial appropriation of the above stated sum was made due to the decaying nature of the National Assembly Complex which has not witnessed any major maintenance or overhauling since construction, the said amount was reduced to 9 billion naira after the breakout of COVID-19 pandemic.

“Even with this reduction, the sum of 9 billion or any amount is yet to be cash backed or released to the National Assembly. None of this amount is even appropriated for the National Assembly bureaucracy or its leadership.

“It must be reiterated that the National Assembly Complex is a National Monument which falls under the purview of control of the Federal Capital Development

Agency. In essence, the FCDA is responsible for its maintenance as well as renovation and not the Leadership of the National Assembly as being falsely bandied about.

“The leakage witnessed at the foyer of the National Assembly yesterday justifies the apprehension of the leadership of the National Assembly and the FCDA and further underscores the need for an urgent intervention in revamping the dilapidated structures within the complex before it falls into further dilapidation with the attendant huge cost of possible replacement”, the Senate said in the statement.

A

head of the November 2021 gubernatorial election, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and exGovernorship aspirant from Abia State, Emeka Kalu, has expressed concerns over the fate of the PDP in Anambra State during and after the exercise.

The party chieftain said the fate of the party has continued to get more blurred in terms of focus, especially in regards to the present political activities for the upcoming poll.

Kalu who doubles as the National Coordinator of the PDP Coalition, in a statement issued to journàlists on Wednesday, stressed that the money politics allegedly playing out in the party was making it impossible for the PDP leadership to pragmatically

P

resident of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has said that the upper chamber will publish the names of government agencies that have refused to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to defend the interrogations of the Auditor-General for the Federation in the 2015 report.

Lawan made this known in his remarks after the Senate considered the report of the Committee on Public Accounts on the annual report of the Auditor-General for the Federation on the accounts of the Federation for the year ended 31st December, 2015.

According to the Senate President, any public official that refuses to account for public funds at their disposal must be shown the way out of office.

Anambra guber: Soludo floors three others to clinch APGA ticket

Senate will expose govt agencies refusing to account for public funds, says Lawan He said, “This is one of our major responsibilities as a parliament, to hold the executive to account. “[And] whoever is given the responsibility and the trust of running any agency with public funds must be accountable to the parliament on behalf of the people.

“You have indicated a certain number of MDAs who failed to come to the committee after invitation, I want you to go through your documents – the invitation letters with reminders.

“This Senate will publish the names of these agencies for the public to know.

“This Senate will insist, any public servant or civil servant that is given public fund for public good and has questions to answer and refuse to appear to answer, should have no business being in government.

“Because all of us are supposed

to be accountable to the people and, therefore, if someone feels that he is not going to be accountable, then that person has no business remaining in office.

“But I want to also say that, those who turned up to defend or explain the interrogations by the Auditor-General did the right thing and we must commend them for coming, whether they were able to convince the committee that the Auditor-General was not right or not. They appeared responsible and accountable.

“For those that have been able to convince the committee on the propriety of what they did, we commend them because they followed the proper accounting mechanisms established, probably by the office of the Accountant-General.”

Lawan lamented that most agencies of government have refused to comply with accounting systems put in place by the office of the AccountantGeneral.

According to him, this is largely responsible for fraudulent transactions by some Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.”

Earlier, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, said findings showed that there were “consistent contravention of relevant Constitutional provisions and other Extant Laws by the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.”

According to the lawmaker, the late submission of annual financial statement is a violation of Section 49(1) and (2) of the Fiscal

Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007 and Section 85 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He disclosed that there were withdrawals of funds by the executive arm from Special Fund Accounts for purposes other than the objectives the funds were created, and without recourse to the National Assembly for authourisation, contrary to Section 80(4) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Urhoghide further disclosed that there was absence of collaboration amongst the two key agencies involved in the management and superintending over of public funds – office of the Auditor-General and the Office of the Accountant-General.

He explained that the lack of cooperation between both offices poses a barrier to efficient, effective and transparent audit process of the nation’s Federation Account.

F

Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba (left) presenting Trophy to the Students and Teachers of Queen College Lagos, winners of the First Lego League 2021 competition, held recently in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-wo

Anambra guber: PDP chieftain warns party against highest bidder politics at primaries

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

POLITICS

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Leaking roof: Maintenance of National Assembly not our responsibility - Senate

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

PAGE 17

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

decide on who will be qualified to take the party’s ticket based on pedigree and ability to win the masses.

He warned against the game for the highest bidder in the governorship race and posited that if such a trend is allowed, it will spell doom for the PDP. “Before now, I used to hear the lamentations that most leaders climb the ladder of politics and turn their backs on the people that fought for them. The truth is that such leaders always believe that the cash they threw around had taken care of your demand, and so he believed he owes you nothing, neither does he owe the masses he also bought at a huge price. This is the kind of politics we must all frown at, yet this is exactly what is playing out in Anambra State, he said.

“The way things are going in

Anambra will spell doom for the party (PDP). For instance, when all the aspirants are going around throwing money here and there, expecting to clinch the party ticket, whereas we all know that it is only one individual that will clinch the ticket. After all those money spent, the fate of the party will come into jeopardy because we created room for failure out of greed.

“From my investigation, most of the aspirants are already approaching other political parties to see if they can swing over when PDP fails, in order words, they are ready to jump off as soon as they rock the boat.

This clearly explains that these individuals and their support base will work against the interest of the party in the General election.

“We need to choose candidates, not by the amount of

money they are throwing around, rather let us look inwards and chose men that will work for the party, people that have loyalty, consistency and people that can run inclusive government”.

He further advised, “We need to be careful working with these money bags that are throwing money around to get PDP’s ticket as we all see how most of them defect from our party to others for some personal aggrandizement.

We, therefore, need to look beyond money for the sake of this great election.

“The money you collect from these individuals is clearly a sign that you have sold your right to spearhead any criticism against them when it matters most because they have already paid.

We need to change that mentality now if we must win in Anambra state”.

ormer Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof.

Chukwuma Soludo, yesterday emerged the standard bearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the November 6 gubernatorial election in Anambra, after securing seven hundred and forty (740) votes to defeat three other rivals.

Those defeated by Soludo are Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo, who got 41 votes, Chief Damian Okolo, who got seven votes, and Chief Ibeh, who got ten votes.

The Chief Returning Officer of the APGA governorship electoral committee panel, Deacon Samson Olalere, said a total of 812 delegates were billed to participate in the election, but 795 votes were accredited, while 792 votes were the total votes cast.

Obiano, who is the party’s BoT Chairman, in a speech at the occasion, thanked the party delegates for peaceful conduct during the election, noting that Soludo would win the election all over the 21 local government areas as he did in the 2017 re-election bid.

The APGA candidate, Prof.

Chukwuma Soludo, described his emergence as divine, assuring that his administration would consolidate on Obiano’s achievement to effect good government in the state.

He also offered hands of fellowship to other aspirants, calling them to reunite and join in lifting APGA, as retaining Anambra come November 6 governorship election would be greater for Igbo nation.

Recall that security operatives were deployed in Awka, Anambra State capital, yesterday over the conduct of the primary election of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

The heavy deployment is reportedly in response to the formation of another faction of the party, which, led by Jude Okeke, announced a separate date for the party’s primary.

The primary election started with accreditation at the Alex Ekwueme Square before delegates were moved to Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka for the primary election proper.

L-R: Chairman House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of all Recovered loots, Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002-2020, Hon. Adejoro Adeogun, members of the committee, Hon. Isiaka Ibrahim, Hon. Timehin Adelegbe and Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, during an investigative hearing on AGF, NEXIM bank, Polaris, at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

APC commends Buhari over new varsities

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he All Progressives Congress (APC) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the establishment of five new specialized universities in technology, health and pharmaceutical sciences in the country.

A statement issued yesterday by the National Secretary of the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), John James Akpanudoedehe, said it is a demonstration of the responsiveness of the government to the call by the APC CECPC and citizens for more federal tertiary institutions in the country.

It said Buhari is fulfilling the APC’s electoral promise to lead an education revolution and transform the country technologically as captured in the 2015 APC manifesto and outlined in the Education for Change Ministerial Strategic Plan 2018-2022.

The statement said “Triggered by eventualities of the COVID-19 global pandemic and the need to reduce medical tourism, this is also a proactive intervention by the President Buhari-led APC government to boost the country’s institutional capacity for disease control and surveillance, particularly with respect to medical facilities, trained personnel and supporting infrastructure.

“The APC also commends the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu for swiftly implementing the decision by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to establish the Universities which will stimulate rapid technological development and innovation.

“The establishment of the Universities, each of which also got a take-off grant of N4 billion, is aimed at closing observed manpower gaps in critical scientific and health services fields and technology.

“The establishment of a University of Technology each in Jigawa state (North-West) and

Akwa Ibom State (South-South) by the administration has closed a huge gap in terms of providing such tertiary institutions, especially in the case of Akwa Ibom state where the people have for years implored the federal government to establish such institution in the South-South geopolitical zone.”

The party pointed out that it is equally significant that Buhari has approved the upgrading and equipping of existing Universities of Technology in Yola (North East), Akure (South West), Minna (North central) and Owerri (South East).

It said the spread in the location of the Universities is a true reflection of the federal character of Nigeria as every geo-political zone now has a University of Technology, just as it added that the APC is glad that as usual with locating projects, recruitment and political appointments by the President Buhari-led administration; no part of the country is left behind.

“The equitable distribution and inclusiveness in the allocation of

resources by the administration is in line with the 1999 Constitution as amended and the manifesto of the APC which promises to foster a sense of belonging to all segments of the country.

“The establishment of National Institute of Technology (NIT) in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and two specialized universities of Health, Nutrition and Medical Sciences in Azare in Bauchi state and Orangun in Osun State, will nurture talents, boost the pool of specialists and spur more research in the fields for the benefit of all Nigerians.

“The APC-led administration has been consistent in boosting education for human capital development as it approved the licensing and establishment of 20 private universities nationwide in one fellsweep in February 2021 and several federal polytechnics and Colleges of Education. We are excited about the prospects of the new University’s immense benefits to the current and coming generations in the country”, the party said.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Page 19

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Stock Watch: Thursday, June 24, 2021 Low

OPEN Volume Close High

2.80 3.15 0 1.94 3.94 0 0.27 0.27 0 0.64 0.64 0 4.60 8.60 0 37.00 68.30 0 3.79 4.21 0 9.65 10.05 0 31.50 34.00 0 1.90 1.92 0 18.45 18.45 0 1.72 1.84 0 23.25 23.25 0 0.20 0.20 0 0.20 0.20 0 6.10 6.10 0 1.75 1.75 0 186.00 186.00 0 6.00 6.65 0 14.60 14.55 0 1.80 2.00 0 3.37 3.37 0 4.30 4.70 0 14.00 14.00 0 7.35 7.80 0 1.62 1.65 0 1.91 1.96 0 4.95 4.95 99 0.33 0.33 0 21.85 21.85 0 29.60 30.70 0 0.20 0.20 0 12.20 13.05 0 32.60 32.95 0 72.00 72.00 0 1.18 1.18 0 1.53 1.53 0 31.50 31.50 0 0.51 0.54 0 0.20 0.20 0 23.25 23.25 0 0.44 0.44 0 0.30 0.30 0 1.36 1.36 0 0.72 0.72 0 0.52 0.49 0 1.83 1.83 0 2.45 2.45 0

Top Gainers

Symbol CHANGE

Trades

5.80 6.00 ACCESS -0.35 3.94 3.94 AFRIPRUD 0.00 0.27 0.27 AGLEVENT 0.00 0.64 0.64 AIICO 0.00 8.60 8.60 BERGER 0.00 67.00 67.00 BETAGLAS -1.30 3.79 3.79 BOCGAS -0.42 9.65 10.05 CADBURY -0.40 31.50 31.50 CAP -2.50 1.90 1.90 CAVERTON -0.02 18.45 18.45 CCNN 0.00 1.72 1.72 CHAMPION -0.12 23.25 23.25 CONOIL 0.00 0.20 0.20 CORNERST 0.00 0.20 0.20 COURTVILLE 0.00 6.10 6.10 CUSTODIAN 0.00 1.75 1.75 CUTIX 0.00 186.00 186.00 DANGCEM 0.00 6.00 6.25 DANGFLOUR -0.65 14.60 14.60 DANGSUGAR 0.05 1.80 2.00 DIAMONDBNK -0.20 3.37 3.37 EKOCORP 0.00 4.30 4.30 ETERNA -0.40 14.00 14.00 ETI 0.00 7.45 7.60 FBNH -0.35 1.62 1.67 FCMB -0.03 1.92 1.98 FIDELITYBK -0.04 4.95 4.95 FIDSON 0.00 0.33 0.33 FIRSTALUM 0.00 21.85 21.85 FLOURMILL 0.00 29.60 29.60 FO -1.10 0.20 0.20 FTNCOCOA 0.00 12.20 12.20 GLAXOSMITH -0.85 33.50 33.50 GUARANTY 0.55 72.00 72.00 GUINNESS 0.00 1.18 1.18 HONYFLOUR 0.00 1.53 1.53 IKEJAHOTEL 0.00 31.50 31.50 INTBREW 0.00 0.53 0.53 JAIZBANK -0.01 0.20 0.21 JAPAULOIL 0.00 23.25 23.25 JBERGER 0.00 0.44 0.44 JOHNHOLT 0.00 0.30 0.30 LASACO 0.00 1.36 1.36 LEARNAFRCA 0.00 0.72 0.72 LINKASSURE 0.00 0.52 0.52 LIVESTOCK 0.03 1.83 1.83 MANSARD 0.00 2.45 2.45 MAYBAKER 0.00

Stock Close Gain UPL 1.14 0.13 LIVESTOCK 0.52 0.01 SOVRENINS 0.21 0.03 OKOMUOIL 60.00 1.80 GUARANTY 23.50 0.55

Low 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

OPEN Volume Close High

Symbol CHANGE

Trades

0.11 0.21 0 0.21 0.21 MBENEFIT 0.00 0 0.43 0.43 0 0.43 0.43 MCNICHOLS 0.00 0 1.05 2.05 261 2.05 2.05 MEDVIEWAIR 0.00 0 124.80 184.80 0 184.80 184.80 MOBIL 0.00 0 0.20 0.20 970 0.20 0.20 MULTIVERSE 0.00 0 3.50 3.50 0 3.50 3.50 NAHCO 0.00 0 18.00 18.00 0 18.00 18.00 NASCON 0.00 0 78.50 78.70 0 79.50 79.50 NB 0.80 0 0.78 0.78 0 0.78 0.78 NEIMETH 0.00 0 2.60 2.60 0 2.60 2.60 NEM 0.00 0 552.20 552.20 150 552.20 552.20 NESF 0.00 0 1,475.00 1,475.00 0 1,475.00 1,475.00 NESTLE 0.00 0 1.60 1.65 0 1.60 1.60 NPFMCRFBK -0.05 0 4.60 4.80 0 4.60 4.75 OANDO -0.20 0 80.00 76.20 0 80.00 80.00 OKOMUOIL 3.80 0 64.00 64.00 0 64.00 64.00 PRESCO 0.00 0 0.50 0.50 0 0.50 0.50 PRESTIGE 0.00 0 12.30 12.30 0 12.30 12.30 PZ 0.00 0 4.20 4.20 0 4.20 4.20 REDSTAREX 0.00 0 0.20 0.21 0 0.20 0.21 REGALINS -0.01 0 0.50 0.50 0 0.50 0.50 RESORTSAL 0.00 0 0.21 0.23 0 0.21 0.22 ROYALEX -0.02 0 640.00 640.00 405 640.00 640.00 SEPLAT 0.00 0 0.20 0.20 0 0.21 0.21 SOVRENINS 0.01 0 46.50 46.00 0 46.50 46.50 STANBIC 0.50 0 102.00 102.00 122 102.00 102.00 STANBICETF30 0.00 0 1.97 1.96 0 1.97 1.97 STERLNBANK 0.01 0 203.00 203.00 0 203.00 203.00 TOTAL 0.00 0 6.10 6.10 632 6.10 6.10 TRANSCOHOT 0.00 0 1.15 1.21 0 1.16 1.18 TRANSCORP -0.05 0 9.60 9.60 0 9.60 9.60 UACN 0.00 0 1.74 1.92 0 1.74 1.74 UAC-PROP -0.18 0 7.60 7.80 0 7.90 7.95 UBA 0.10 0 6.00 6.05 0 6.00 6.05 UBN -0.05 0 2.89 2.94 0 2.89 2.91 UCAP -0.05 0 36.30 37.00 0 36.30 36.30 UNILEVER -0.70 0 0.27 0.27 0 0.27 0.27 UNIONDAC 0.00 0 1.00 0.99 0 1.00 1.00 UNITYBNK 0.01 0 2.04 1.97 0 2.14 2.14 UPL 0.17 0 0.23 0.23 0 0.23 0.23 VERITASKAP 0.00 0 4.50 4.99 0 4.50 4.50 VITAFOAM -0.49 0 11.30 11.50 0 11.30 11.65 WAPCO -0.20 0 0.40 0.40 0 0.40 0.40 WAPIC 0.00 0 0.59 0.61 0 0.59 0.61 WEMABANK -0.02 0 21.20 22.70 0 21.70 22.50 ZENITHBANK -1.00 0 Copyright © 2019 NgTradeOnline

Top Losers

Stock Close Loss DIAMONDBNK 1.30 -0.10 BOCGAS 2.59 -0.22 VITAFOAM 3.50 -0.39 DANGEthiopia is a major producer of coffee FLOUR

Pantami bags prestigious Digital Economy Driver Award

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), today at its meeting through Virtual Conference shared to the three tiers of government, a total sum of N605.958 billion as federation allocation for the month of May, 2021.

From this amount, inclusive cost of collection to NCS, DPR and FIRS, the Federal Government received N242.120 billion, the

States received N194.195 billion, the Local Government councils got N143.742 billion while the oil producing states received N26.901 billion as derivation (13% of Mineral Revenue).

The communique issued by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at the end of the meeting, indicated that the Gross Revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) for May, 2021 was N181.078 billion as against N176.710 billion

distributed in the preceding month of April, 2021, resulting in an increase of N4.368 billion. The distribution is as follows; Federal Government got N25.260 billion, the States received N84.202 billion, and Local Government Councils got N58.941billion.

The distributed Statutory Revenue of N428.198 billion received for the month was lower than the N497.385 billion received for the previous month by N69.197 billion, from

which the Federal government received N175.541 billon, States got N89.037 billion, LGCs got N69.644 billion, and Derivation (13% Mineral Revenue) got N24.666 billion.

The Director, Information, Ministry of Finance, Charles Nwodo in a statement said, the communique also revealed that Companies Income Tax (CIT), and Oil and Gas Royalties, Import and Excise Duty recorded decreases.

Only Value Added Tax (VAT)

increased, although, marginally.

The communique however disclosed that total revenue distributable for the current month inclusive of Gross Statutory Revenue of N357.888 billion, Value Added Tax (VAT) of N168.403 billion, Solid Mineral Revenue of N7.940 billion, Exchange Gain of N1.727 billion and an augmentation from NonOil of N50 billion and N20 billion bringing the total distributable revenue to N605.958 billion.

L-R: Acting Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) (Chartered) Mr. Akinniyi Taiwo receiving official letter for his new office from the President and Chairman of Council NIM (Chartered), Mrs. Patience E. Anabor FNIM, during the NIM inauguration ceremony for the news Chapter heads, recently in Abuja.

Dangote receives highest civilian honour in Cameroon, pledges expansion

P

resident/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote has received the highest civilian honour in Cameroon - the Commander of the National Order of Valour - from the President of the Republic, Paul Biya.

According to President Paul Biya, the landmark honour was conferred on Dangote in recognition of his efforts in infrastructural development of Cameroon and Africa through his cement plants. The President, at a conferment ceremony held at the Unity Palace, Yaoundé expressed pride at Dangote’s various efforts to promote industrialisation across Africa through the building of cement plants in several African countries. He noted that these plants have provided thousands of direct and indirect

employment at their various locations, to boost the economies of their host countries, just like in Cameroon.

He urged the leading African investor to consider more investments in the manufacturing sector in Cameroon, explaining that there are numerous business opportunities in the country. He maintained that his government is focused on promoting a businessfriendly environment to make the country more attractive and an investors’ destination.

In his response, Dangote thanked President Biya and the people of Cameroon for the great honour done to him in the award of the nation’s highest civilian honour. He disclosed that there are plans to diversify the group’s investments in Cameroon, starting with energy. He said, “We have

plans to expand our investment to other sectors beginning with oil and gas while our capacity in cement will be expanded”.

He commended the Cameroonian government for providing an enabling environment, which aided the successful completion of the Dangote Cement plant. He also expressed appreciation for the support provided by the President and cabinet in solving the challenges encountered in the construction of the plant.

He said, “At the inception of our construction activities at the plant, we encountered several challenges, but the government stepped in and ensured that we overcame these initial problems.

Also, the incentives by the Government to investors are encouraging. We feel very much at

home here in Cameroon because of the business-friendly environment.

If demand for cement increases, we will increase the capacity of the plant and make the country selfsufficient in cement production.”

Dangote Cement Cameroon SA, part of Dangote Cement Group was commissioned six years ago, and has boosted domestic cement production, reduced partly the domestic deficit, and helped in holding down the price of a bag of cement in the country.

Dangote Cement is subSaharan Africa’s largest cement producer with an installed capacity of 48.6Mta across 10 African countries and operates a fully integrated “quarry-tocustomer” business with activities covering manufacturing, sales, and distribution of cement. It has a long-term credit rating of AAA+

by GCR and Aa2.ng by Moody’s due to its market leading position, significant operational scale and strong financial profile evidenced by the company’s robust operating and net profit margins relative to regional and global peers, adequate working capital, satisfactory cash flow and low leverage.

Dangote Cement is a subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited, a diversified and fully integrated conglomerate as well as a leading brand across Africa in businesses such as cement, sugar, salt, beverages, and real estate, with new multi-billion-dollar projects underway in the oil and gas, petrochemical and agricultural sectors. It recently rolled out its fertiliser products into the local market, with plans for export while meeting local demand to boost agriculture.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Page 20

ICT

NCC celebrates International Library/Museum day in style

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 and Thursday, June 24, 2021 marked this year’s International Library/ Museum Day with the charge on Nigerians to imbibe reading culture and preserve cultural artifacts.

While Library is a building or room containing collections of books, periodicals, films, recorded music for use, a Museum is a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural artifacts are stored and exhibited.

The comission, as part of activities to mark the day, led the participants on tour of its library and museum, explaining the significance.

Earlier, the Executive ViceChairman of the NCC, Prof.

Umar Danbatta urged Nigerians to imbibe reading culture in their daily activities for a better knowledge and information for the development of the Country.

He explained that the library was a learning resource, which was assessed by its level of currency in its quality, quantity and variety of the stock.

He said that an important component of the library resource was the e-section, which allow link up and access more data bases for information electronically.

He called on the commission also to continue to seek ways to maximise the library resource in meeting its mandate and expanding knowledge and information.

“The library is a learning resource. The stock of a library is normally assessed by its level of currency, what is the quality, quantity, variety of the stock.

NCC Museum We must be able to embark on assessing the whole thing.

“An important component of the library resource is the e-section. The e-section is the section that allows you to link up and access more data bases for information. When we assess the library, we pay careful attention to the ability of users to access more data bases electronically.

“The most importantly thing is for you to be able to sight a reference that is credible. The library is a component of the entire learning process.

“I believe the outcome of today’s event will help change our reading culture, if you don’t have a reading culture, please try and acquire one, it is very important

to read. It will motivate us to have a critical look of innovations,” he said.

Speaking about Museum, Danbatta said that the theme: “The Future of Museum, Recover and Re-Emerging” captured the purpose of the commission’s special Museum dedicated to telecommunications industry.

He said that it was important to collect exhibit and conserve telecommunications items to enlighten and educate stakeholders.

“Museums generally play important roles in the society by observing the past and appreciate the future through providing insight into the history of a people and educating a future of

generations.

Mr Abba Isa -Tijani, Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments,

Nigeria (NCMM) said Museums plays a crucial role in preserving local culture with careful documentation and artifact preservation of institutions and sectors.

Isa-Tijani, represented

by Mrs Kilba Zainab-Uche, Assistant Director Museums, said that that the Museum sector must move with new trends of technology development , adding that the traditional role and aspect of museums can not be undermined.

He applauded the Commission for setting the standards for other institutions and pledge to support the statutory body for museums when ever the need arises.

“The NCC has a museum where significant and historical telecommunications objects are exhibited this is historic.

“So the new role of museums in the digital era is till emerging.

Museum has not yet completely digital because there is the need to converge both the new and traditional.

“If the traditional role is completely faced out will create a problem because from time to time you will have to go back to your past in order to know where you are in the present and to forge ahead,” he said.

T

he Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional bodies in the engineering field in the country, has presented an award to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in recognition and appreciation of its support of the activities of the academy towards enhancing economic development.

The NAE is a not-forprofit and non-governmental organisation established for the purpose of promoting excellence in technological and engineering training and practice to ensure the technological growth and economic development in Nigeria.

The Executive Vice Chairman

of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta received the recognition award at the 2021 Academy Technology Dinner/Lecture organised by NAE at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, which had the Minister of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, as Special Guest of Honour.

Danbatta is a Fellow of the Academy and has, since becoming the EVC of NCC in 2015, remarkably stepped up NCC’s engagements with the academia and other professional institutions in science and technology towards advancing the socio-economic development of Nigeria.

The EVC, who spoke with the media shortly after receiving the recognition, said NCC is delighted

to have been recognised for the modest contribution to the activities of the Academy and to the advancement of the nation’s economic development.

“On behalf of the Board, Management and the entire staff of the Nigerian Communications Commission, I wish to express our appreciation to the Nigerian Academy of Engineering.

We see this gesture as an acknowledgement of the little efforts we are making towards the progress of the NAE,” he said.

The Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde in a statement said, Danbatta also spoke about the various interventions the Commission has been making through its concerted initiatives such as the

METRO

Page 21

7 Deaths recorded as Cholera outbreak hits FCT

....91 Suspected cases in 3 Councils

By Stanley Onyekwere

A

total of seven deaths have been recorded, following the outbreak of cholera in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Also, a total of 91 suspected cases have so far been enlisted in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and in Gwagwalada and Bwari Area Councils.

Disclosing this yesterday, the Acting Secretary, FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS), Dr. Mohammed Kawu, explained that out the 7 deaths, only 3 were tested positive for Cholera, using the Rapid Diagnostic Test kit.

Kawu, while briefing Journalists on the development in the nation’s capital city, revealed that from May 2021, FCT began to receive reports of sporadic cases of gastro-enteritis in some communities in FCT namely; Wassa Community (IDP Camp), Dei Dei, Zuba Community, Shenagun and Kubwa respectively.

He however, assured residents that the Health Secretariat through its Public Health Department has intensified surveillance in the communities and health facilities have also directed the area councils to do the same respectively.

His words: “As at June 23, a total of 91 suspected cases have so far been enlisted with seven

deaths in Municipal and no Death in Gwagwalada and Bwari Area Councils. Out of these, three of the cases tested positive for Cholera using the Rapid Diagnostic Test kit.

“From May 2021, FCT began to receive reports of sporadic cases of gastro-enteritis in some communities in FCT namely; Wassa Community (IDP Camp), Dei Dei, Zuba Community, Shenagun and Kubwa, drawn from three area councils in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja Municipal, Bwari and Gwagwalada Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory.

“We have prepositioned some Rapid Diagnostic Test kits, drugs

and consumables in some of our health facilities that have reported cases and we are in the process of distributing these commodities to the remaining health facilities including some key primary health facilities”.

While explaining that the sporadic outbreak in the rainy season could be as a result of the leaching of sewage into drinking waterways or from contamination of food matters by bacteria, he said 50 per cent of the cases if not treated could lead to death.

He therefore urged FCT residents to report any case of diarrhea disease to the nearest health facility or the department of public health.

While assuring residents that there’s no evidence of any contamination of water supply from the water board, the HHSS boss also called on residents not to panic as the Administration through the Health and Human Services Secretariat has stepped up its manpower to combat the epidemic.

“Ensure that the water used for domestic purposes is clean, boiled and or filtered; also ensure that all foods are properly cleaned and well cooked before consumption.

“Ensure that waste especially faecal waste are hygienically disposed off, and improve on general personal hygiene”, he stressed.

The Founder / President, Helpline Foundation for the Needy (HLFN), Dr. Jummai Ahmadu (5th right), the representative of the Team- Ramatu group, Alh. Sani Muazu (Tutor) (5th left) with other beneficiaries for the training under HLFN, in Caps making during the ceremony marking the 2021 international widow”s days, Theme: “Invisible women, Invisible Problems”, featuring skill acquisition and Financial empowerment, organized by HLFN Abuja in collaboration with NAWOJ FCT and Make a Difference for the Needy Foundation, held on Wednesday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo.

NCC Library

NAE honours NCC for contribution to economic development

By Etuka Sunday

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Digital Awareness Programme (DAP) for secondary schools and Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI) for tertiary education across Nigeria.

President of NAE, Engr.

Alex Ogedengbe, further appreciated the Commission for its consistency in supporting the Academy, especially since the coming on board of Prof.

Danbatta as the country’s Chief telecoms regulator.

He thanked the NCC Management for supporting the objectives of the NAE, which he said, are “To promote excellence in and the advancement of science, engineering, technology and innovation for the development of the economy and humanity.”

According to him, the NAE

also facilitates dissemination and exchange of ideas among members and other similar bodies and establishments.

The event which was attended in strict compliance with COVID-19 safety protocols, had Prof. Sam Adefila, as the Guest Speaker. Prof Adefila spoke on the technical theme of the annual lecture feature of the event: “H20, The Peculiar Features of Earth’s Most Abundant Compound.”

Fellows of the Academy are drawn from a broad spectrum of engineering discipline, occupation and geographical location and include very senior Nigerian and foreign engineering professionals, who have distinguished themselves in professional practice, business, academia and government.

Food security: ARDS trains 200 farmers, agric officers on organic fertilizers utilisation

By Stanley Onyekwere

N

o fewer than two hundred farmers and agricultural field officers in Abujq, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have received training on the effective handling and use of organic and synthetic fertilizers, as part of strategic measures to boost food production and enhance food security.

Our correspondent reports that the trainees drawn from across the six Area Councils of the FCT, at a capacity building and sensitisation workshop were thoroughly drilled on the proper use and importance of organic fertilizers.

Declaring the workshop open yesterday at Sheda community, in Kwali, Acting Secretary, FCT

Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS), Ibe Prospect Chukwuemeka, described as apt the training programme happening when the rains have started, as it will go a long way, in guiding them on effective measures in addressing soil fertility and crop failure through the use of the synthetic fertilizers.

Chukwuemeka, noted that the issue of capacity building especially for Extension Agents and Field Officers has been a priority for the Secretariat, because they are closest to the rural farmers, who due to lack of knowledge of efficient farming techniques have suffered a great loses.

He explained it is pertinent to note that the use of organic fertilizers (Granular and Liquid) is a new innovation that is practiced

globally as it helps to promote rapid nutrient absorption by plants, and also improve soil fertility and plant growth leading to bumper harvest.

While calling on FCT farmers to embrace the new approach, ARDS boss assured them that the FCT Administration will not relent in its effort to find lasting solutions to the problem of crop failure experienced by farmers.

According to him; “On inception into office, the present FCT leadership under the Hon. FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, and the Hon. of State, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu made their intention clear to pursue the implementation of grassroot oriented programme that will have direct bearing on the lives of FCT residents.

“It’s in line with that avowed

commitment that the Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat, which is the arm of the FCT Administration charged with the responsibility of coordinating the implementation of agric development initiatives is organising this programme, as a way of bequeathing FCT farmers with knowledge of new and effective trends in agricultural practices.”

Some of the participants interviewed, lauded the initiative to engage rural stakeholders in the agricultural sector to ensure effective handling and utilisation of organic fertilizers in the Territory.

A farmer from Gwagwa community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Anaku Lewis, who described the capacity building programme aa a good initiative,

urged the government to help make organic fertilizers available, as there is not enough quantity sold in the market.

Another participant, who is a farmer in Kwali Area Council, also described the workshop as very perfect, as most of them don’t know anything about organic fertilizers before, but now have seen and gotten educated in its handling.

According to him, “more importantly, they (experts) have taught us how to use it to improve agricultural production, so we want the government to make it available for us to get it.

“I will tell my fellow farmers that there is a new invention that farmers are using, let’s embrace it, in order to improve our farming system”.

Page 22

world news

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

Miami building collapse: 51 people unaccounted for At least one person has died and 51 others are unaccounted for after the collapse overnight of a 12-storey residential building north of Miami, Florida, officials say.

Rescuers are combing the rubble in the search for survivors and were seen pulling a boy out alive.

It is unclear how many people were in the building at the time.

The complex in the town of Surfside was built in 1980. Out of 130 units, about half were affected by the collapse.

Fifty-one people believed to have been living in the building have not yet been contacted, County Commissioner José Díaz said.

Rescuers pulled 35 people from the wreckage, officials said. Ten were assessed and treated, of whom two were sent to hospital.

“The back of the building, probably a third or more, is totally pancaked,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told a news conference.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who visited the site on Thursday afternoon, said the fire and rescue service was still in “search and rescue mode”.

“The TV doesn’t do it justice. It is really, really traumatic to see the collapse of a massive structure like that,” he said.

A community centre in Surfside has been

Hundreds of rescuers are involved turned into a family reunification centre and an information point for concerned relatives.

‘It looked like something from 9/11’ Police gave the building’s location as 8777 Collins Avenue, the address of the 12-storey Champlain Towers, which contains more than 100 beachfront apartments and was built in 1981. Surfside runs along Collins Avenue, north of Miami Beach city limits.

Rescuers could be seen using a crane to reach residents in nearby apartments in order to help them evacuate.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter One man who was out with his brothers walking their dog described hearing the building come down.

“Basically we heard a really big rumble

and we thought it was a motorcycle, you know, and we turned around and saw a cloud of dust just coming our way,” he told CBS Miami.

“We were like - ‘what is going on?’ We went rushing toward it with shirts over our faces and the security guard came out and we were, like, ‘what happened?’ and she said the building collapsed.”

A man who witnessed the aftermath of the collapse told CNN, “It looked like something from 9/11,” referring to the attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.

Santo Mejil, 50, was woken when his wife called from a unit on the ninth floor of one of the three buildings that make up Champlain Towers. She is an overnight caretaker for an elderly disabled woman.

“She said she heard a big explosion,” Mr Mejil told the Miami Herald. “It felt like an earthquake.” His wife was among those rescued.

A man who lives in a neighbouring building described what happened for CBS: “The building shook and then I looked out the window and you couldn’t see, I thought it was like a storm or something coming in.

“When the dust cleared, the back twothirds of the building was gone, it was down to the ground.”

Source: BBC

Answers you might want to get from Shenzhou-12 astronauts

By Yu Jianbin, Wu Yuehui, People’s Daily hina’s Shenzhou-12 spaceship was launched on June 17 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Gobi Desert on June 17 and successfully reached low-earth orbit. Three Chinese astronauts entered the Tianhe core module of the country’s space station after the spaceship docked with the core module, becoming the first batch of astronauts to do so.

It marked the first manned mission during the construction of China’s space station, as well as the first time for Chinese astronauts to enter the space in the recent five years.

Before the spaceship was launched, three astronauts onboard it, including Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, received an exclusive interview by People’s Daily and answered questions from readers.

What tasks do you have during the mission? Is there anything different from previous manned missions?

Nie: First of all, the workload is huge.

For example, we must make the core module livable immediately after we enter it, and then go out of the module for installation and maintenance. Different from those in the Shenzhou-7 mission, the extravehicular activities this time will last longer and involve more tasks. We have to stay around six hours outside the core module during each extravehicular activity. Besides, we’ll also work with extravehicular robotic arms for the first time, which is unimaginably complicated and difficult.

Apart from that, this time we’ll remain in-orbit for three months, which has raised higher requirement on our living and health conditions. We must enhance our health maintenance, better train our living abilities, and explore how to better adapt to the life and work in space.

C

In addition, compared with space labs, the space station is a larger scientific platform on which we have to complete more space and technology experiments in a shorter time.

People yearn for living in space. Is it true that you can make phone calls at any time during the mission this time?

Nie: We are able to make phone calls from space to the earth. When we are relatively free, we’ll communicate with the ground, saying hello to our families. The tablets we bring are connected to the internet, and they are connected to WiFi network even if we go outside of the core module. Of course, it is local area network of the space station.

How will you have your hair cut during the three-month stay in space?

Nie: We had practiced on the ground, helping each other cut the hair. The hair cut off would float in the zero-gravity environment in space, so we installed a vacuum cleaner on the hair clippers to take in the hair cut off.

Can you bring private stuff with you to the space?

Tang: My child is a middle school student, who’s very humorous and optimistic. I’m proud of him. I have many videos of him and my wife, and I would watch these videos during off-work hours to relax.

How extraordinary was your training as you have been tasked with such heavy missions?

Liu: The most tiring part was the weightlessness environment training in the buoyancy tank, in which we were trained wearing underwater training suits. The extravehicular activities of the Shenzhou-12 mission are longer than before, so the underwater training lasted six hours each time. We must have strong faith and willpower to get through the training.

It is reported that astronauts could barely hold chopsticks after the weightlessness

environment training. Is there anything that helps you adapt to it?

Nie: First of all we would enhance our physical training, and then build up the strength of our upper bodies. In addition, as we attend more underwater training, our cardio-pulmonary function and upper body strength would be reinforced. We’ll get used to it as long as we keep on training.

Tang: The weightlessness environment training is a required training course for the Shenzhou-12 mission. The physical challenge was Ok for me, but I felt uneasy when wearing the extravehicular mobility unit. I felt restless, and wanted to get out once I got in. I could hardly sleep or eat for a while. Later, I found it felt better if I turn down the temperature of the extravehicular mobility unit, and I would put myself at ease by adjusting my mentality.

Now, I feel great in the unit, and there’s nothing uncomfortable even if I’m wearing it for hours.

What are the purposes of simulating the life in space?

Tang: It aims at testing the concentration of astronauts under persistent work intensity, and some training programs are to test our capability to handle emergencies in space under extreme conditions. For example, we have to stay awake for 72 hours in the narrow and closed cabin, and ensure high work performance under persistent intensity. We once completed a one-month closed training on the ground, in which we simulated the whole process after we enter the space station, including our life, work and disposal of waste materials.

It took around eight years for Nie to embrace his first space mission after becoming an astronaut, and each of his three missions was also separated in time by around eight years. What are the differences about the three eight years?

Nie: Each of them was different. As China advances its manned space technologies step by step, we will have more and more missions that last longer in space, which also raises higher requirement on the comprehensive competence of astronauts.

In recent years, our living conditions, work environment, communication and safety in space have all been significantly improved. For instance, our living space has been larger and larger. There was no astronaut entering the orbital cabin in the Shenzhou-5 mission, while during the Shenzhou-10 mission, there were two “bedrooms” - two of the three astronauts could sleep in the “bedrooms” and the rest on the floor. In the space station, we now have three “bedrooms” and two “living rooms.”

When Fei Junlong and I were on the Shenzhou-6 mission, the temperature in the orbital cabin was low, and we rarely heated our food. In previous missions, our dishes could stay non-repetitive for three days, and now the number has been extended to seven, which allows us to enjoy more varied tastes in space.

Previously, the water and oxygen in space were brought by us from the Earth. Now with the space station, we will stay in space for three to six months, and the water is recycled throughregenerative environmental control and life support technology. Condensate water and sweats can be reclaimed and purified.

We’ve been expecting the arrival of the era of space station and worked years for it.

The space station, after being completed, will be a home of Chinese astronauts in space, embracing batches of astronauts. In the future, there might be astronauts from other countries joining the Chinese space station on which they will conduct more scientific studies and use the results to benefit the whole of mankind.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Rally cars hit the streets of Nairobi

I

n Kenya, the road linking the capital, Nairobi, and the town of Naivasha has had some rather different looking cars on it jostling with the matatus, buses and lorries.

The rally cars are in the country as the World Rally Championship returned for the first time in 19 years.

The world-renowned Safari Rally was a regular part of the WRC calendar between 1973 and 2002, and was considered the championship’s toughest race.

Financial issues saw the event removed from the calendar in 2003.

Covid-19 delayed its planned return last year as the race was cancelled, but Africa’s only WRC event is now back and raring to go.

Thousands of spectators turned out to see the cars pass by as they travelled from the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on their way to the first competitive part of the race, at the city’s Kasarani stadium complex.

France’s reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier in his Toyota Yaris again proved he is the man to beat as he set the fastest time on the opening stage.

He finished just ahead of Finland’s Kalle Rovenpera whose father Harri finished second overall in 2002.

The opening stage was slightly marred towards the end when too many spectators crowded onto the competitive part of the race and several of the lower-ranked drivers were unable to compete in the stage.

The cars have now gathered in Naivasha which for the next three days will act as the base for the drivers.

As well as the foreign entrants there are a number from Kenya and some from neighbouring Uganda.

This will be the 68th time the rally, which at first saw races in Uganda and Tanania as well, has taken place.

Page 23

N EWS F R O M A F R I C A

African aviation will have to wait for revenues to rise T he International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said the continent’s aviation sector is unlikely to recover to pre-Covid-19 levels for another two years.

IATA also said that vaccination should not become a mandatory requirement for air travel, owing to Africa’s slow vaccine rollout.

Speaking during a joint virtual press conference with the World Health Organization, IATA’s vicepresident for Africa and Middle East, Kamil Al-Awadhi, said passenger numbers are unlikely to pick up any time soon.

While the aviation industry lost $2bn ($1.4bn) of revenue in 2020,

IATA has projected that losses will be smaller this year - though not by much.

IATA is now asking African governments to adopt a single digital platform for verifying coronavirus tests and vaccine certifications, as part of efforts to standardise ways to keep track of the health of passengers.

SA opera star hits out at French police in racism row

T

he South African opera star who on Tuesday accused the French immigration authorities of “outrageous racial discrimination” after she was stopped at the airport has accused the police of issuing a misleading statement about what happened.

Pretty Yende said that the French police told reporters that she did not have the correct paperwork.

“I’d like to clarify that I DID have all the necessary documents that permit me to move freely and work,” she writes.

She then gives details and has uploaded photos of her documents to prove her case.

She says that her lawyer argues that her rights were violated.

“No more playing my word against yours game,” she concludes. on Tuesday Yende said she was “stripped and searched like a criminal offender” and put in a cell at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

She said the experience made her

The acclaimed soprano says she was forced to submit to a body search worried about her life: “I was filled with so many negative thoughts. I’m still shaken thinking that I am one in a million who managed to come out of

that situation alive.”

The South African embassy in Paris has asked the French authorities to launch an investigation into the matter.

China employs 546 “fish guards” to protect ecology in Qinghai Lake

By Wan Yu, People’s Daily

Q

inghai province in northwest China, known as the country’s “water tower,” is where multiple major rivers start flowing. It boasts rich ecological resources and serves as a shield that protects the country’s ecological security.

Recently, 546 people in 40 townships of nine counties in the province’s Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Yushu prefecture and Golog Tibetan autonomous prefecture, were registered as “fish guards” to protect the ecology along the Yangtze River.

The “fish guards” will patrol along the river course for publicity of fishing-ban policies. Besides, they will also search for, report and stop illegal fishing and other illegal practices that hurt aquatic plants and animals and the ecology of fisheries areas.

A ten-year fishing ban has officially taken effect since the very beginning of this year in key waters of the Yangtze River. From April, 3.4 million fish fry of native species, including naked carp, have been released by the province into the Qinghai Lake, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. As planned, the province will release a total of 21.15 million fry this year.

On June 3, the Qinghai Lake naked carp started their annual migration in Quanji River, an inflow river of Qinghai Lake in Gangca county, Haibei Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Qinghai province. They gathered at the estuaries

Photo shows naked carp in the Qinghai Lake. (Photo by Chen Yu/Qinghai Daily) of major inflow rivers around the Qinghai Lake, and traveled up rivers to spawn.

“In the old days, people built dams on rivers for irrigation, as a result of which massive broodfish were stranded and died as they were not able to go upstream to spawn,” said Qi Hongfang, researcher of a center dedicated to protecting the naked carp in the Qinghai Lake.

According to her, the gonad development of naked carp needs stimulation of the streams, and shortened migration distance could directly undermine the reproduction of the species.

To protect the migration of naked carp, Qinghai province has dismantled

the dams on Shaliu River, Quanji River and Ha’ergai River since 2010, and built and reconstructed seven migration channels for the fish.

Qi introduced that each of the stepped channels is 100 meters long, and there are a 30cm stair and a pool every 1.6 meters along each channel where the fish can rest. “Most of the fish are able to go up rivers along the channels,” she said.

“Naked carp is the most fundamental part of the water-fish-bird-grassland ecology of the Qinghai Lake. They are a critical link on the ecological chain and vital for the protection of biodiversity in the region,” said Tseten, deputy director of Gangca county’s agri-animal

husbandry bureau.

According to monitoring data in December, 2020 from Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, the Qinghai Lake had 100,400 tonnes of naked carp, 38 times the figure in the initial days of preservation, and over 30 percent of the original reserve.

Bird species also benefited from the efforts. From 2015 to 2019, the total population of water birds around the Qinghai Lake reached 250,000 to 370,000. The number of bird species kept growing and there was also an obvious increase in biodiversity and species richness. The Qinghai Lake has become one of the breeding places that sees the largest reproduction of migratory birds and the highest concentration of migratory bird population.

Apart from building migration channels, Qinghai province established a center dedicated to protecting the naked carp in the Qinghai Lake. It protects germplasm resources of naked carp, tests and monitors germplasm resources in fishery eco-environment, monitors naked carp populations and releases and enhances naked carp resources.

The center is a “kindergarten” of naked carp. It has 18 outdoor fisheries that cover a total of 15,000 square meters. More than 20 million naked carp fry spend the winter there. So far, the center has released 100 million naked carp fry, contributing 23 percent to the recovery of the species.

Source: bbc.com

PAGE 24

N

e w s

F

r o m

A S I A

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Shanghai teacher blazes new trail for Tibet students with fine art education

By Xu Yuyao, People’s Daily

that boasts wide vegetation coverage. It is home to green mountains and lucid waters, as well as views of snow-capped mountains, which are all rare in Shigatse. Growing up in an environment like this, Padma Chungda are highly perceptive color-wise and is an expert of colors.

“Do you want to learn drawing? It earns you chances to enter colleges, or you can become an art teacher just like me,” Gao asked the student, seeing his talent.

What Gao said was quite tempting for Padma Chungda. After discussing with his family, he decided to join Gao’s extracurricular courses and became one of the first fine art students of the latter in Shigatse.

Gao’s students learned well and fast.

Padma Chungda, and the other two students attending Gao’s courses in the earliest days, all achieved great performance in the entrance examinations for art academies

that year.

“They were the first students in Shigatse to pass the exams,” he said, adding that hard work forever pays, which is true to both himself and his students.

Just like pigments can make a glass of water colorful, Gao’s fine art classes have made school life more splendid for the students.

The success of Gao’s first students made him more confident when he explained art education to other parents. At present, over 20 senior high students are attending his extra-curricular fine art classes, and the number is higher in the school’s junior high department.

Preparing for further art studies in college, the students are also expanding the influence of art, Gao said.

Gao, who’s in his fifties and volunteering to teach in Tibet for a second time, has a goal to present the beauty of Shigatse to every student there and open a window into aesthetics for the children in mountainous areas.

“Art courses are a mirror of the school’s efforts in enhancing moral and art education. We have always been working to ensure that all students can find the extra-curricular activities they like,” said Zhang Bisheng, principal of the Shanghai Experimental School in Shigatse.

According to him, 52 student societies have been opened at the school by 28 teachers from Shanghai, who are trying their best to cover as many students as possible.

west China, made it into the top ten list of the country in terms of the number of live-streaming hosts who promote farm produce online.

In 2020, nine of the top ten provinciallevel regions which witnessed the most year-on-year growth in the number of newly-added shop owners on Taobao were from west China, and the top five are all located in western China, including Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Yunnan province, Guizhou province, Qinghai province, and Gansu province, as shown by data from the report.

Owners of small and medium-sized Taobao stores from western China have seen a nearly 150-percent growth in the average amount of money spent through MYbank, a leading online private commercial bank under Ant Financial Services Group, compared with that in 2017, according to the report.

The gap between different regions’ natural endowments caused by geographic positions is an important reason for differences between their economic development, and digital economy is breaking the traditional regional gap, said Zuo Chenming, senior expert of Alibaba’s research arm AliResearch.

According to Zuo, the accelerated development of digital economy and application of digital technologies in western regions can be mainly attributed to the following reasons.

First, the infrastructure and logistics services in China’s western regions are increasingly improved. With the implementation of the strategy for large-

scale development in the western regions, especially the construction of e-commerce infrastructure facilities, high-quality agricultural products in remote mountainous areas of the country’s western regions can now be transported to the cities.

Meanwhile, various platform companies have actively shifted their strategic focus to rural areas. For instance, Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao Network teamed up with major courier companies to extend its logistics network to counties, townships, and villages by leveraging digital and smart technologies.

So far, it has established 30,000 rural delivery stations across China, and plans to open about 1,000 “fast lanes” for the transportation of agricultural products this year.

Second, the country is seeing more talents return to rural areas. While returning to their hometowns to start businesses, young people have brought new technologies, ideas and ways of thinking to rural areas, injecting fresh vitality and dynamism into villages. In particular, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of rural workers who return to their hometowns to start businesses has grown faster than before.

Third, as Chinese consumers favor increasingly high-quality, healthy and fresh food, many quality products from mountainous areas in west China have embraced broader sales channels. In the meantime, the increasing popularity of the new business form of live-streaming and active efforts of government departments

have made e-commerce an important platform for increasing the income of farmers in western China.

Driving the development of core industries through e-commerce is becoming an effective key to bridging the development gap between western China and the country’s central and eastern regions, said Pan Helin, executive director of the digital economy research institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. At present, e-commerce has entered the stage featuring live-streaming, Pan said, adding that with the popularization of 5G applications, live-streaming videos with low latency and high definition have significantly improved the experience of both sellers and buyers and created brand new space for the development of e-commerce and even digital economy in west China.

“E-commerce can expand the sales area of products, improve people’s consumption level, drive fixed-asset investment, and bring foreign trade to a new level, which is particularly valuable to western regions’ rural vitalization and efforts to avoid the phenomenon of ‘hollow villages’, where there are only the elderly and children as young people leave their hometowns to work in cities,” Pan pointed out.

As more and more western regions in China actively promote the use of the Internet, digital economy and digital technologies in there will move onto a broader and faster track of development, Pan noted.

F

ine art is bringing new possibilities to students in China’s Tibet autonomous region.

Thanks to Gao Qunbin, an art teacher from Shanghai volunteering to teach at the Shanghai Experimental School in Shigatse, southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region, several students of the school have passed the entrance exams for art academies this year and are ready to go to colleges, which had never happened in the school’s history.

In an activity room, extra-curricular fine art lessons are given by Gao at noon and evening every day and on each weekend.

However, the man was questioned a lot when he first started the classes.

“Can painting pay the bills?” That was a question he was always asked back then, because no one of the school had ever been admitted by a university through entrance exams for art academies, and most of the parents didn’t attach importance on art education.

“Art education is new to the people here,” Gao told People’s Daily, and that’s why he decided to seek students interested in fine art on his regular classes and recruit them for the extra-curricular lessons.

Padma Chungda was one of Gao’s earliest students. It was a fine art work of his with splendid coloring that attracted attention of Gao. The students comes from Yadong county of Shigatse, a low-altitude county

Gao Qunbin (right) teaches a student to draw. (Photo by Xu Yuyao/People’s Daily)

E-commerce development in western China is moving onto fast track

By Wang Junling, People’s Daily Overseas Edition

T

hanks to rapid e-commerce development, special local products from western regions in China have witnessed amazing sales during this year’s June 18 online shopping festival in China.

During the online shopping spree, a succulent plant grower in southwest China’s Yunnan province received more than 5,000 orders within three hours during a live-streaming promotion; a great number of trucks fully loaded with kiwifruit left Wugong county in northwest China’s Shaanxi province; and a hotpot business in a mountainous area of southwest China’s Chongqing municipality saw its daily sales volume exceed 100,000 yuan ($15,430).

Last year, the number of newlyadded online shop owners from western regions of China on Taobao, a major online shopping platform run by Alibaba, surpassed that from the central and eastern regions of the country for the first time and led the whole country, according to a recent report jointly released by the digital economy research institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law and Alibaba Group.

Besides, the average transportation time of parcels between the eastern and western regions of China has been reduced by 16 hours in two years, suggests the report on e-commerce development in China’s western regions.

It also indicates that, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Shaanxi, three provinces in

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

PAGE 25

F E A T U R E

River Nile dam: Egypt new African allies

E

gypt is trying to strengthen its diplomatic and military clout in Africa amid an escalating dispute with Ethiopia over the building of a huge dam on a tributary of the River Nile, writes Egypt analyst Magdi Abdelhadi.

The Egyptian Geographic Society, established in 1875, houses some valuable manuscripts that reflect Egypt’s long-standing interest in sub-Saharan Africa.

Among them is a historic map that shows the southern borders of Egypt at Lake Victoria in East Africa.

The society was established at the height of Egypt’s short-lived imperial ambition, which had brought Sudan under Egyptian control and sought to conquer Ethiopia in a disastrous military expedition from 1874 to 1876. It ended in a humiliating defeat.

Some 70 years later, Egypt atoned for its imperial misadventures when it became the standard bearer of anticolonial struggles in Africa and beyond.

But as it got sucked into the Arab-Israeli wars, its engagement with sub-Saharan Africa dwindled.

The past few years, however, has seen a dramatic reengagement, in particular with the Nile Basin countries.

Egypt has signed a string of military and economic agreements with Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Djibouti in recent months.

Cairo already has substantial integration agreements with Sudan, where it recently conducted joint military exercises involving warplanes and special forces.

Egypt has linked its power grid to Sudan’s and plans are under way to connect the railway networks too, with a grand vision to run a train service from Alexandria to Cape Town.

The keyword behind this foreign policy change is the controversial dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd).

“Egypt has long relied on diplomacy to solve its differences with Ethiopia over the Gerd. But the track of negotiations seems to have been exhausted, or nearly so,” says Nael Shama, an expert on Egyptian foreign policy.

Fears of drought Tanzania is another example, where Egypt is investing heavily in the massive Julius Nyerere hydroelectric dam on the Rufiji River. Cairo clearly wants to highlight the project as an example of its willingness to help development in the Nile Basin countries.

Egypt is trying to strengthen its diplomatic and military clout in Africa amid an escalating dispute with Ethiopia over the building of a huge dam on a tributary of the River Nile, writes Egypt analyst Magdi Abdelhadi.

The River Nile is a major tourist attraction in Egypt And this is precisely the kind of message Egypt - which has no other major sources of water for drinking and agriculture than the Nile - has been trying to relay to global opinion.

It is not opposed to the Ethiopian dam per se, but it is extremely wary of its likely impact on the flow of the Nile waters if Ethiopia refuses to sign up to a legally binding agreement on how to manage its operations.

It is feared the dam could decimate Egyptian agriculture and lay waste to large swathes of its arable land, triggering massive drought and unemployment.

Ethiopia, on the other hand, sees the Gerd as vital to its development needs, and the supply of electricity to its population.

Trade links, not military muscle Egypt’s change of direction and focus of foreign policy towards sub-Saharan Africa is therefore long overdue, but, some Egyptians say, it is too little too late.

“Clout in modern politics is not just guns and cannons,” argues Walaa Bakry, an academic at the UK’s University of Westminster and a business consultant.

“Security agreements with some of the Nile Basin countries such as Burundi, Rwanda or Uganda is a good thing, but will not give Egypt the clout it wants,” he writes.

Strong trade links can achieve far more than military muscle, he argues, pointing to the minuscule trade Egypt has with all nine Nile Basin countries.

“No-one is saying that Egypt should buy anything it doesn’t need from these countries. But for example, the Nile Basin countries produce huge amounts of highquality coffee - Egypt imports coffee for well over $95.5m annually, 95% of that is from outside Africa.”

Meanwhile, the mood in Egypt has grown increasingly bellicose.

The Egyptian regime, in fact the president himself, is under enormous pressure to get tough

with Ethiopia.

Even supporters of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have started to mutter the unthinkable - that failure to protect Egypt’s water rights would mean he would no longer have the right to rule.

Egypt apparently hopes that building a ring of allies around Ethiopia would pay off in some form if a showdown with Ethiopia becomes inevitable.

Egypt and Sudan have taken the dispute over the dam to the UN Security Council, as they consider it could potentially threaten peace and stability in the region.

The issue has been before the Security Council before, which referred it to the African Union, which failed to resolve it.

Both Cairo and Khartoum blame Ethiopia for that, while Addis Ababa accuses Egypt of using the negotiations as a ploy to re-assert its effective monopoly of the Nile waters - a reference to Egypt’s lions’ share of the water.

The joint military exercise conducted recently in Sudan was clearly intended to send a warning not just to Ethiopia but to the wider world - that the two countries will not shy away from using their military muscle if need be in a matter of life and death such as water.

Egypt’s agreements of military cooperation with Uganda, Kenya and Burundi appear to reinforce that message, although it is hard to imagine these countries agreeing to be sucked into a regional war where their key national interests are not at stake.

If all diplomacy fails, there is little doubt that public opinion in Egypt will back military action if need be.

Less so in Sudan, where there is a certain degree of ambivalence, not least because, unlike Egypt, Sudan stands to benefit from the dam, which will reduce destructive flooding and give it cheap electricity.

But there is broad consensus among observers that, assuming that Egypt and Sudan have the political will and the military hardware and skill, a strike of some kind targeting the ongoing construction of the dam to set it back by a few years will not solve the problem.

Instead, it will increase mistrust and re-fuel the discourse of ancient grievances, nationalist pride and revenge.

Source: BBC

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

PAGE 27

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

CLASSIFIED PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE THE NEW GREEN FOUNDATION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

BETH-ARBEL DAY FOR GIRLS FOUNDATION.

TRANSFIGURATION LIFE BIBLE CHURCH OF GOD

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC),Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

TRUSTEES ARE: (1) JOSEPH, AMARAH GRACE - CHAIRMAN (2) SUNDAY JULIANA EMMANUEL - SECRETARY (3) JOSEPH PAUL GWUMAPAN - MEMBER (4) AIYEKUSEHIN, MONISOLA BEAUTY - MEMBER (5) EJEGREH RUKE - MEMBER (6) OKOLO PATRICIA NKEMDILIM - MEMBER (7) JOSEPH JEMIMA DAVID - MEMBER (8) ADERIBIGBE OLUWAYEMISI RACHAEL - MEMBER

TRUSTEES ARE: (1) Ajonu Victor Egwuatu - Chairman (2) Ekpemandu Chinedu Charles (3) Udechukwu Sylvia Ndidi (4) Okpala Onyinye L. - Secretary (5) Augustine Okechukwu Ijeoma (6) Ifeoma Maryann Ijeoma.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : (1) To provide accessible, durable eco- friendly pad to vulnerable women and girls.

(2) To provide factual informationabout pubertyand mensuration.

(3) To promote menstrual equity and sexual rights of vulnerable women and girls in rural communities.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : (1) To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nation.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, CorporateAffairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

TRUSTEES ARE: (1)OHUABUNWA SAMUEL (2)AJAKPO GODWIN TIMOTHY (3)WIGWE EBERE (4)DANJUMA ISMA’ILA BABANGIDA (5)ABISOYE OLAYIWOLA OLASUNKANMI (6)ALLISON SONNY (7)OBOH MABEL THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : (1) TO PROMOTE PATRIOTIC VALUES ACROSS ALL FACETS OF NIGERIAN SOCIETY (2)TO ENDORSE THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE SOCIETY.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

HALIMA HARUNA FOUNDATION

AGADAIBE HUMANITARIAN AIDS FOUNDATION

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

YEYEDU CARES POVERTY ALLEVIATION INITIATIVE

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ALAJE HOPESON AINU. CHAIRMAN 2. HARUNA GRACE SECRETARY. 3. HARUNA HALIMA. MEMBER. THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : TO HELP THE LESS PRIVILEGED IN THE SOCIETY. Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ASOGWA NNABUCHI CAJETHAN: CHAIRMAN 2.EZEH KEVIN CHINWE: SECRETARY 3.NDUANUSI NKIRU CYNTHIA THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : (1.TO STAND WITH OUR COMMUNITIES TO FIGHT POVERTY AND HUNGER VIA TRAININGS, SKILL ACQUISITIONS, PUBLIC ENLIGHTENMENT AND MENTAL CAPACITY BUILDING. 2. TO STAND WITH OUR COMMUNITIES TO FIGHT TO DIMINISH ALL SOCIAL , CULTURAL& TRADITIONAL INJUSTICES IN OUR COMMUNITIES. OPPRESSIONS OF THE EXTREMELY POOR PEOPLE, WIDOWS, HELPLESS YOUTHS AND WOMEN IN OUR RURAL COMMUNITIES. 3. TO RAISE LEADERS IN OUR COMMUNITIES FROM AMONG OUR YOUNGER MEN & WOMEN THAT WILL TRANSFORM OUR COMMUNITIES VIA TRAINING AND RE- TRAINING ON LEADERSHIP.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED : CHAIRMAN

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

VINTAGE PARK 2 RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

SOLOMON OJEAGA FOUNDATION.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC),ABUJAFOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC),Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

TRUSTEES ARE 1) Mr Adesina Awonaike(Chairman) 2) Mrs Ehibhajiajeme Oluwafunmilayo Iyayi (Secretary) 3) Mr Felix Rwang Dung 4) Mr Abayomi Felix Omomuwasan 5) Mrs Chinwendu Adaeze Erinne AIMS & OBJECTIVES 1. TO SEEK AND PROMOTE THE WELFARE AND UNITY OF OWNERS AND RESIDENTS OF THE ESTATE. 2. TO FOSTER CO-OPERATION AMONG MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 3. TO ADDRESS AND HANDLE THE SHARED CONCERNS OF RESIDENTS AND OWNERS OF THE ESTATE. 4. TO PROMOTE AND CONSERVE THE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN AND AROUND THE ESTATE. 5. TO ENCOURAGE COMMUNAL PARTICIPATION IN THE BUILDING AND SUSTENANCE OF A SAFER AND MORE SECURED ESTATE. 6. TO PROVIDE PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE AMONG ITS MEMBERS. 7. TO PROMOTE PEACE, JUSTICE AND EQUITY. 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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE YEYEDU CARES POVERTY ALLEVIATION INITIATIVE This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ADAYILO GRACE JOHN - CHAIRMAN 2.YOHANNA DABE 3.SUNDAY ALHERI KPAYA - secretary.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY AMONGST WOMEN AND YOUTHS IN ABUJA 2. PROVISION OF RELIEF MATERIALS AND PRODUCTION TOOLS TO PROTECT AGRICULTURAL LIVELIHOODS AND ENSURE FOOD SECURITY IN CARING FOR THE VULNERABLE AND POOR 3. COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE TO ATTRACT REVENUE TO REACH OUT WITH CHARITY. 4/ PROVIDING GRANTS & STARTUP CAPITAL FOR SMALL HOLDERS 5. SUPPORTING SMALL HOLDERS WITH GRANTS AND CHARITY Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

TRUSTEES ARE: (1) USIFO ABEL OSAHON ABE (2) OBI RACHAEL OSA (3)AIRHUNMWUNDE OSAYAMEN. (4) BEBRA SMART OWEILA. (5) OMIGIE OSASERE CASSANDRA. THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : (1.TO STAND WITH OUR COMMUNITIES TO FIGHT POVERTY AND HUNGER (1) TO HELP AND ASSIST IN EMPOWERING WOMEN AND YOUTHS AMONGST US, ALSO IN MAKING SURE THAT YOUTHS CAN DISCOVER THEIR DREAMS AND POTENTIALS IN OUR SOCIETY AND TO GIVE THE YOUTHS PURPOSE AND DIRECTION IN THEIR LIFE. Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, CorporateAffairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED : CHAIRMAN

abdullahi I, formerly known as Abdullahi Abdul now wish to be known and addressed as Abdullahi Abdulaziz Usman. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

SPACE FOR SALE

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ADAYILO GRACE JOHN - CHAIRMAN 2.YOHANNA DABE 3.SUNDAY ALHERI KPAYA - secretary.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY AMONGST WOMEN AND YOUTHS IN ABUJA 2. PROVISION OF RELIEF MATERIALS AND PRODUCTION TOOLS TO PROTECT AGRICULTURAL LIVELIHOODS AND ENSURE FOOD SECURITY IN CARING FOR THE VULNERABLE AND POOR 3. COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE TO ATTRACT REVENUE TO REACH OUT WITH CHARITY. 4/ PROVIDING GRANTS & STARTUP CAPITAL FOR SMALL HOLDERS 5. SUPPORTING SMALL HOLDERS WITH GRANTS AND CHARITY Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

AL ALBAAB ISLAMIC DA’WAH FOUNDATION CAC/IT/NO: 117508 THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THEABOVE NAME HASAPPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION(CAC) ABUJA FOR REMOVAL AND ADDITION OF TRUSTEES UNDER PART C OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT,2020.

THE OLD TRUSTEES ARE: 1.ABDULGANIYI HADIYATULLAHI.(RETAINED) 2.BARR SULAYMAN IBRAHIM O. ( RETAINED) 3. YUSUF HUSSAINI IJABAH.( REMOVED) 4. GANIYU ADENIYI SAHEED. ( RETAINED) 5. BEWAJI MUH’D SEFIU AKANO.( REMOVED) 6. ONASANYA MUSTAPHA M. ( REMOVED) 7. ZUBAIR SANNI MOHAMMED. (REMOVED) 8.ISMAILA DHIKRULLAH. (REMOVED) THE NEWLY APPOINTED TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ABDULGANIYI HADIYATULLAHI. 2. BARR SULAYMAN IBRAHIM O. 3. GANIYU ADENIYI SAHEED 4. ISMAIL DHIKRULLAH 5. ATANDA IBRAHIM KOLAWOLE 6. MUSTAPHA SEKEENAT OLUWATOYIN ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION OF THE ABOVE CHANGE SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR- GENERAL OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJAWITHIN 28 DAYS OF THE PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. Signed: Secretary

CLASSIFIED PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

public notice

THE OLD NAME : OPPORTUNITY AND ENHANCEMENT COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION

loss of document

ALL EFFORTS MADE TO TRACE THE SAID MISSING DOCUMENT HAVE PROVED ABORTIVE. IF FOUND PLEASE, KINDLY RETURN TO THE NEAREST POLICE STATION.ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

LOSS OF TITLE DOCUMENT (R OF O) This is to inform the general public that the Original Statutory Right of Occupancy (R of O) issued in respect of Plot No. 4085, Cadastral Zone A06, Maitama District, Abuja measuring approximately 2,549.51sqm with File No. ZA 60118 in favoure of LAWALIN GUSAU BURODI of 21, Danfili Gusau, Gusau, Zamfara State has been declared missing while on transit within Abuja, FCT and all efforts made to trace the said title document provedabortive. Please if found it should be return to AGIS or the nearest Police Station.ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE ODIA FOUNDATION FOR EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

HOLYGHOST EMPOWERED DYNAMIC FIRE MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL

THE NEW NAME : AMERICROSS CHARITABLE INITIATIVE THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR CHANGE OF NAME UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.LUKE CASHMIR CHINEDU 2.LUKE NGOZI STELLA 3.ASIEGBU SILAS KELECHI 4.ISIGUZO CHIBUISI ENYINNA 5.AGUGOEDI DAVID CHIBUISI THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS APPLICATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

public notice loss of documents THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC OF THE LOSS OF THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS ; (1)H P LAPTOP (2) VISA PROCESSING PAYMENT RECEIPT FOR SWEDEN (3) TRAVEL INSURANCE RECEIPT (4) TWO (2) ORIGINAL COPIES OF RIGHTS OF OCCUPANCY (R OF O ) CERTIFICATES WITH NO. BA 193 AND BA /2656 BEARING ALHAJI HAMZA DANAGALAN WHICH BELONGS TO DR ALIYU HAMZADANAGALAN ALL EFFORTS MADE TO TRACE THE ABOVE STOLEN ITEMS HAVE PROVEDABORTIVE , IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN TO THE NEAREST POLICE STATION .

GENERAL PUBLIC /ALLAUTHORITIES CONCERNED PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC OF LOSS OF ORIGINAL OFFER OF GRANT/ CONVEYANCE OF APPROVAL DOCUMENT IN RESPECT OF PLOT 1029, CADASTRAL ZONE AO5, MAITAMA DISTRICT, ABUJA WITH FILE NO. NS 10195, BY VIRTUE OF A REGISTERED DEED OF ASSIGNMENT IN FAVOUR OF EFAB PROPERTIES LTD. THE PROPERTY NOW BELONGS TO NWAORA FABIAN OKECHUKWU.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.Mr EHIS EHIMENMEN ODIA 2.Mr YOLANDE DOROTHY ODIA

- Chairman - Secretary

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. To work with religious organisations, businesses and business leaders, professionals, civil society organisations and National leaders in promoting a wide range of value-based development programs and initiatives.

2. To provide education, medical help,food,water and sanitation to impoverished and less privilege people in Nigeria.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under part ‘F’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

TRUSTEES ARE: (1) NWABISI ROSECOLETTE ANAYOCHI - Chairman, (2) NWABISI MARTIN CHIJIOKE - Secretary (3) OGULEDO CHUKWUEMEKA SIXTUS (4) OKORO ONYINYECHI GLORY THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : (1) To preach the gospel of our Jesus Christ to the world.

(2) To restore destinies of men and women through the manifestation of god’s word and the power of the holy ghost and prophecies.

(3) To shape the lives of youth intellectually and spiritually through teaching and building of relationships with teens.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED : Mrs Yolande Dorothy Odia

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

winding up

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

FRIENDS ALIKE ELITE INTERNATIONAL CLUB

EKKLESIA GLOBAL POWER MINISTRY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

ONIYO EMMANUEL FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HASAPPLIED TO THE CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HASAPPLIED TO THE CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.EKUOREREGBE FESTUS SOLOMON- CHAIRMAN 2.ADENIYI CHINYERE PEACE- SECRETARY

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.ADEYEMI EMMANUEL SHADE 2.OMONIYI OWA SAMUEL THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO BRING HOPE TO UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO PREACH AND PROPAGATE THE CHRISTIAN GOSPEL WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY. 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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

GBONGAN CENTRAL MOSQUE

CHARITY FOR BETTERMENT OF ORPHANS, WIDOWS AND NEEDY

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.Adeyemi Omojuyigbe Abraham 2.Agene Sunday 3.Enojoh Godfrey Aduku 4.Ugochukwu Udaya 5.Amadi Raphael Sunday 6.Andepu Fidel 7.Fatai Atanda 8.Daniel Ochube Onoja 9.Gabriel Ajodo.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1.To promote the moral,social and economic welfare of members.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.BAKARE LUKUMON OLOYEDE 2.AKEEM YUSUF MUIBI. THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1.TO ORGANISE PROGRAMS, LECTURES, SEMINARS TO PRESERVE AND RELATE THE ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE TO MUSLIMS. 2.TO ASSIST MUSLIMS ATTAIN SPIRITUAL UPLIFTMENT AND PRACTICE ISLAM AS A BELIFT, BEHAVIOUR AND A WAY OF LIFE AND TO INVITE PEOPLE TO THE CAUSE OF ALLAH. 3.TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN A CLEAN AND CONDUCIVE PLACE OF WORSHIP FOR MUSLIM FAITHFULS. 4.TO TRAIN MUSLIMS TO RECITE AND MEMORIZE THE HOLY QURAN, HADITH AND GAIN OTHER ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE CORRECTLY, WHILE UNDERSTANDING ITS MEANING. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. AJAYI ABIMBOLA OJO 2. AJAYI MONSURAT YEMI. THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1.To provide health care 2. To give health care, foods and educational materials to the needy and orphans.

3.To provide palliative for widows and less privileged.

4.To provide succour for orphans by way of providing funds to cater for their daily needs.

5.To assist the less privileged in the society to realise their potentials.

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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

GIRLS’ POWER INITIATIVE

CAC/IT/NO: 10290

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR THE REMOVAL OF TRUSTEES AND APPOINTMENT OF NEW TRUSTEES CORRECTION OF REGISTERED TRUSTEE NAME FROM UNDER COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 2020.

THE TRUSTEES NAME ARE : 1. PROFESSOR EKA BRAIDE (REMOVED) 2. PROFESSOR PEJU OLUKOYA (REMOVED) 3. DR. (MRS.) BENE EDWIN MADUNAGU (REMOVED) 4. MRS. GRACE OSAKUE (RETAINED) 5. MRS FLORENCE A. ASEMOTA (REMOVED) 6. MADUNAGU-AGRINYA, UNOMA (APPOINTED) 7. Professor ATSENUWA AYODELE VICTORIA (APPOINTED) THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME .

ANY OBJECTION TO THISAPPLICATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

CLASSIFIED PUBLIC NOTICE NATIONALASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL DIVERS THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED BODY HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION,ABUJAFOR REMOVAL OF ONE (1) TRUSTEEANDAPPOINTMENT OF THREE (3) NEW TRUSTEES AND AMENDMENT OF CONSTITUTION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF THE 2020.

THE OLD TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ETANABENE B. O. 2. AKPANABONG. A. U. 3. OGEGBENE THOMPSON 4. SIEVOADJE GODWIN 5. FORCADOS AGADABRI 6. MACARABA I.

- - - - - -

Retained Removed Retained Retained Retained Retained

THE NEW APPOINTED TRUSTEEARE: 1. CHIEF ROWLAND NZE - APPOINTED 2. CHIEF ISAAC ABAKAM - APPOINTED 3. CHIEF WUCHE MAC - APPOINTED. AMENDMENT OF CONSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL DIVERS CHANGE OF REGISTERED OFFICE ADDRESS FROM NO.2 OGODOGUN STREET, OFF UDU ROAD OVWIAN, DELTA STATE TO KM 4 REFINERY ROAD WARRI, DELTA STATE. REASON FOR REMOVAL OF ONE (1) TRUSTEE AND APPOINTMENT THREE (3) NEW TRUSTEES : Reason for appointment of Three (3) new trustees, CHIEF ROWLAND NZE, CHIEF ISAAC ABAKAM and CHIEF WUCHE MAC is to enable the equal and adequate representation of all regions of the association so as to achieve its aims and objectives, while the reason of the removal one of the trustees (AKPANABONG. A. U) is due to his absence to discharge duties.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME .

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS APPLICATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

GOSPEL FLAME WORSHIP ASSEMBLY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Ikhielea David Abraham - Chairman 2. Ikhielea Victoria A. 3. Umeodurukwu Benjamin Okwuchukwu - Secretary.

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.Uwakeme Tochukwu Anthony - CHAIRMAN 2.Uwakeme Chibuikem - TRUSTEE/SECRETARY 3.Nnamdi Nwachukwu - TRUSTEE 4.Eze Desire - TRUSTEE

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. To preach the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ unto the salvation of men.

2. To encourage the prayer life of members.

3. To encourage the reading of the bible to enhance the spiritual life of members.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.To make data and internet technology knowledge accessible to underserved communities in order to help improve living standards while equipping them with skills and information necessary to navigate through today’s economic and environmental realities.

Any objection to the registration of the above ministry should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

STARS FOREVER FOUNDATION

AUSTINEDET GRACEFIELD OUTREACH FOUNDATION

THE TRUSTEES ARE : (1) ALIOHA CHIKAODINAKA EMMANUEL (chairman) (2) AZUBUIKE UGOCHUKWU (3)ALIOHA EMMANUEL IHECHI NICY (Secretary).

Credoville Foundation

The general public is hereby notified that the above named Ministry has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part “F” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

PUBLIC NOTICE THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

PUBLIC NOTICE

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : A) AKPAN AUGUSTINE EDET (chairman) B) AKPAN VICTOR EDET (secretary).

PUBLIC NOTICE

RHEA’S EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.BROWN SODIENYE DIENYE (chairman of Trustees) 2. BASSEY SYLVESTER ETETA. (Secretary)

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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1) To help in development of agriculture and small scale business and also generate training programs for self employment of women and educated unemployed people and promote adult education.

2) To provide welfare, housingand medical care by providing homes and healthcare facility for the needy, disabled and those suffering from diseases.

3) To provide scholarships for the indigent persons and add value to their lives through empowerment programs for their overall development.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

ARK EDU BRIDGE LENDING HANDS TO THE NEEDY INITIATIVE

X-STAFF ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL FERTILIZER COMPANY OF NIGERIA

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. Prevention of childhood illiness, 2. To promote immunization awareness, 3. To assist the less privileged.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.LAWANI TOLULOPE ETINOSA 2.LAWANI ESTHER ABIODUN MODINAT 3.OLUKOKUN OLUWATOYIN FRANCA THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO HELP THE LESS PRIVILEGE. 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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.OMUBO-DED DAN 2.DIBITE IBOGOMO ILA 3.FIBERESIMA SAMPSON IBUNEMI 4.NUHU MOHAMMED 5.ETUKUDOH GABREIL JOHNSON 6.DIKE JUSTIN CHUKWUMA 7.PHILIP SHARON 8.BERE BARIEEBA GODWIN SARO 9.ONOJA JAMES ABUTU 10.ASARI JAMES

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : a.To support the internally displaced persons in shelters re-establishment and medical care.

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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

AZARIAH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC),ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.IBIKUNLE BABATUNDE OLUWAFEMI (CHAIRMAN) 2.IBIKUNLE FUNKE LIZZY (SECRETARY) 3.IBRAHIM HEZEKIAH MBA THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSOCIATION ARE : 1.IT IS A HUMANITARIAN, PHILANTHROPIC AND CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION THAT AIMS TO HELP THE LESS PRIVILEGED MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY, ESPECIALLY WOMEN, YOUTHS AND THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED, TO ACHIEVE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL IN WHATEVER GOALS THEY PURSUE. 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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO FIRST AND FOREMOST CATER FOR THE WELFARE OF THE EXSTAFF OF NATIONAL FERTILIZER COMPANY OF NIGERIA. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

AZZENE FOR HUMANITARIAN AID DEEDS INITIATIVE

HOFFEN LOVE AND CARE DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION

IJAW YOUTHS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. ABDULRAHMAN IBRAHIM MUHAMMAD. (CHAIRMAN) 2. IBRAHIM FARIDA (SECRETARY) THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSOCIATION ARE : 1. To engage in charity work and care for the less privilege in the society.

2. To assist the needy, orphans and the down trodden in the society.

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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : BARR. IBRAHIM ABDULRAHMAN TEL: 07062566450.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. AKINOLA TEMILOLUWA OLUWATOONI (CAIRMAN) 2. SAGBELE SAMUEL ADEDOYIN OLUMUYIWA 3. OYINLOLA TINUOYE OLUSOLA 4. ADEYI OLUWABIMISOLA CHIAMAKA (SECERETARY) THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. TO PROMOTE UNITY, PEACE, LOVE AND POSITIVE VALUE AND GOOD MORAL LIFESTYLE AMONG THE MEMBERS. 2. TO PROVIDE CHARITY FOR THE LESS PRIVILEGE IN THE SOCIETY. 3. TO GIVE HOPE TO THE NEEDY AND SUCCOR TO THE AFFLICTED BY TAKING CARE OF ORPHANS, EMPOWERING THEM AT THEIR MATURITY AND PROVIDING FOR THE NEEDY WITH BOTH MATERIAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. 4. TO SPONSOR, TRAIN AND TENDER SUPPORT TO UNDER-PRIVILEGED AND VULNERABLE LEARNERS (ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN-OVCS) IN SCHOOLS. 5. TO PROTECT, DEFEND, OFFER, HELP AND ASSISTANCE, LEGAL SUPPORT/ OTHER SERVICE, LEGAL SUPPORT OTHER SERVICES IN DEFENSE AND PROTECTION OF EDUCATION OF ANY PERSON AS HER FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT. 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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

SIGNED : ABDULRAHMAN IBRAHIM MUHAMMAD.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC),ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. WEST ALEX - CHAIRMAN 2. JAMES A. JAMES - SECRETARY 3. ASISI VICTOR BEN - MEMBER. THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE : 1.TO PROMOTE PEACE, UNITY AND PROSPERITY AMONG OUR MEMBERS. 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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

Sports

PEOPLES DAILY

PAGE 28

FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

Page

29

sports@peoplesdailyng.com, SMS- 08142929046

Minister reassures Olympics Bound - Anyanacho, Oshonaike

By Albert Akota

W

ith 29 days to the commencement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare has reassured Olympics BoundAthletes Elizabeth Anyanacho and Funke Oshonaike that the country was looking forward to celebrating their podium success after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The Minister gave this assurance when he hosted Anyanacho and Oshonaike in his office in Abuja on Thursday. “The next 29 days we will be racing non stop.

I recall when I visited Elizabeth’s camp in Maitama, Abuja, I saw her and two others who are also African champions training. I saw the commitment, dedication and we made commitment to support her which we did almost immediately.

We got her adopted on the spot after we made a pitch for her , the adopter proceeded and paid the cash that same day.”

The Minister stated further “Elizabeth is a young, exceptional and extremely promising lady who is almost at the zenith of her career , even if it is just at the African continent level. She earned the ticket to the Olympics as a result of hardwork”.

Speaking on Funke Oshonaike who is making a record 7th appearance at the Olympics, he said “This lady has been terrific and through a lot, any other young person would have given up in this country. she struggled through school and she’s remained committed and has continued to excel accordingly.

We are very proud of you and look forward to a good performance at the Olympics. In an event dominated by Asians, you have proven that you are a

special breed.”

On plans to motivate the athletes further, the Minister affirmed “We are going to have a program once team Nigeria list is ready, It’s a 20 minutes documentary on TV stations profiling each of our athletes and their exploits because Nigerians don’t really know what we have .

It’s something we also hope to put on the international media circuit. We need to put the

statistics out there about each of our athletes so that the world will know that Nigeria got talents.

Like the Americans also say” if you got it you flaunt it.

It will be interesting to flaunt an18 year old who has beaten the African champion and won the African Taekwondo Championships.

I think this will inspire other athletes because this country must not wait until they attain

podium performance before we celebrate and validate them. I am glad you’re here to present the gold medal you won at the African Championship.

I have faith that after the Olympics there will be a similar medal to celebrate and that you’ll inspire so many other young people from 15,16,17,18 year olds to partake in any sports for our country.I Congratulate your coach Chika Chukwumerije and

encourage him to do more”.

Funke Oshonaike expressed appreciation to the Minister for his efforts at developing sports and taking care of athletes welfare.

“I’m so happy to be here and to say a huge thank you to the Honourable Minister for all that you are doing for our sports.

This is the first time we are having athletes adopted and I know you will do more. Thank you so much and God bless you”

NFF empanels LOC for Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament

By Albert Akota

T

he Nigeria Football Federation has released the names of members of the local organizing committee for the First Lady of Nigeria invitational Women’s Tournament (Aisha Buhari Cup) that the country will host in September 2021.

NFF’s 1st Vice President,

Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, is Chairman of the Committee, which has, among other terms of reference, been saddled with the responsibility of organizing a befitting tournament that will uphold the good name and image of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The tournament will hold 14th – 20th September in Lagos.

A nominee of the Lagos

State Government will serve as Vice Chairman,and Members include Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau,

Chairman of Chairmen and Member of the NFF Executive Committee. Another Member of the NFF Executive Committee and Chairman of the Nigeria Women Football League, Aisha Falode is Director of Organization, with Amina Daura, NFF’s Head of Women’s Football, as deputy director.

Hon. Ayo Hulayat Omidiran, AIG Umar Baba, Hon. Margaret Icheen, Mrs Chisom Ezeoke, Kemi Areola, Mr Ademola Olajire, Mrs Ufuoma McDermott, Ms Ese Okpomo, Yinka Olagbemiro and Kola Daniel are other members.

The Secretary is Ruth David, NFF’s Ag. Director of Competitions.

PAGE 30

S p

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

r

t

Brighton joins race to sign Almeria’s Sadiq Umar

B

righton Joins The Race To Sign Almeria’s Sadiq Umar With the conclusion of Spanish leagues, Nigeria and UD Almeria’s striker, Umar Sadiq has continued to make the headlines.

The forward impressed for the second division side in the concluded season, finishing the campaign with 28 goals and nine assists across all competitions.

Following these amazing feats, Spanish giant Sevilla and German Bundesliga side, Bayer Leverkusen showed interest in acquiring his

services towards the end of the league season but both clubs have been silent since.

But reports emanating from England indicates that Brighton & Hove Albion has entered the race for the former Dream Team attacker.

Sadiq wants a move away from Almeria after they failed to achieve promotion to the top flight and the club wants between €20-25m to sanction his sale.

It’s becoming certain that Sadiq is likely to leave the team before the start of the new season.

FRIENDS ALIKE ELITE INTERNATIONAL CLUB

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1.To promote the moral,social and economic welfare of members.

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 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

N

Paul Aigbogun leading Super Eagles training session when we invited entirely homebased players for the match but reports has it that most of the foreign-based players actually opted out and wanted their off season vacation and rest well for loaded program from their respective clubs and at same time prepare for next World Cup qualifying round of matches which will come up in September.

While it may by a wise decision to give room to domestic players for more exposure, an inside source disclosed that

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1.Adeyemi Omojuyigbe Abraham - CHAIRMAN 2.Agene Sunday - SECRETARY 3.Enojoh Godfrey Aduku 4.Ugochukwu Udaya 5.Amadi Raphael Sunday 6.Andepu Fidel 7.Fatai Atanda 8.Daniel Ochube Onoja 9.Gabriel Ajodo.

Paul Aigbogun leading Super Eagles training session with most likely defeat against the log.

Nigeria will play the Concacaf the team will no doubt has an adverse effect on the team in on July 3rd at Los Angeles the next FIFA ranking when it is Memorial Coliseum, the stadium that staged the final match of released next month.

Nigeria still maintained USA 94 World Cup final which 32nd position in the ranking Brazil won on penalty shoot-out and third best on the continent against Italy.

The team according to NFF, with Senegal, Tunisia ahead of the team while current AFCON will train twice a day.

Players in Camp Champion, Algeria are fourth on

Goalkeepers: Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Heartland FC); Shaibu Suleman (PKE FC Lagos); Nwabali Stanley Bobo (Lobi Stars) Defenders: Olisa Ndah (Akwa United); Tope Olusesi (Rangers International); Ifeanyi Anaemena (Rivers United); Christopher Nwaeze (Kwara United); Enyinnaya Kazie (Rivers United); Mohammed Zirkiflu (Plateau United); Tebo Franklin Degaulle (Nasarawa United); Lawal Oriyomi Murtala (Kwara United) Midfielders: Anthony Shimaga (Rangers International); Seth Mayi (Akwa United); Uche Nwasonaya (Plateau United); Samuel Nnoshiri (Katsina United); Forwards: Stephen Jude (Kwara United); Ibrahim Olawoyin (Rangers International); Charles Ashimene (Akwa United); Chinonso Ezekwe (Rangers International); Auwalu Ali Malam (Kano Pillars); Neurot Emmanuel (Plateau United); Abdulmutalif Sanusi (Katsina United)

CLASSIFIED LAWRENCE

ELIZABETH

I, formerly known as lAWRENCE GODWIN OGWUCHE now wish to be known and addressed as LAWRENCE GODWIN. All former documents remain valid.

Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

ABBA

I, formerly known as Elizabeth Elijah now wish to be known and addressed as Elizabeth Yahaya.

All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

I, formerly known as ABBAH HELEN now wish to be known and addressed as ABBA HELEN EYUM. All former documents remain valid.

Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

ABDUL

jolayemi

SAIDU

I, formerly known as ABDUL NASIRU now wish to be known and addressed as ABDUL NASIRU JUNIOR. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS ABIDOYE BUKOLA. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS JOLAYEMI BUKOLA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

I, formerly known as Abubakar Nafiu now wish to be known and addressed as Saidu Nafiu.

Nagode. All former documents remain valid.

Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

PAGE 30

CLASSIFIED THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

Eguavoen, Aigbogun take charge of Homebased Eagles ahead of Mexico friendly FF Technical Director, Assistant Austin Eguavoen and his assistant Paul Aigbogun take Charge of Home-based Eagles Ahead Mexico Friendly Match next month in Los Angeles, USA, The invited Home-based Super Eagles commenced preparations for the match yesterday in Abuja.

The team media officer, Babafemi Raji, Aigbogun said the duo were in charge of the training session.

The 25 players invited for the assignment all turned up for the day-one training session which began in the morning with former Super Eagles coach, Austin Eguavoen, taking charge of the proceeding while Team’s manager Gernot Rohr observed from the stand with handful football fans also watching as the players underwent patience practice exercise.

The light session yesterday morning saw Enugu Rangers’ front man, Ibrahim Olawoyin scored the only goal of the match against Ikechukwu Ezenwa led side.

Rohr had surprised pundits

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICE

happiness

FAUZIA OBI FOUNDATION

I, formerly known as HAPPINESS LAWSON OGBUOKWE now wish to be known and addressed as HAPPINESS NKIRUKA UCHENNA. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

The general public is hereby notified that the above named association has applied to corporate affairs commission(CAC),Abuja for registration under part ‘c’ the company and allied matters Act of 2020.

Trustees: 1. Obi Fauzia 2. Obi Chiedozie Joackin 3. Obi Jonathan Chidiebere

CORRECTION OF NAME

Aims and Objectives 1.GIVING PRACTICAL HELP TO THE VULNERABLE IN THE SOCIETY 2. PROVIDING EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE SUCH AS SHELTER AND FOOD, MEDICAL CARE, CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION, SANITARY PADS TO DISPLACED PERSONS PARTICULARLY WOMENAND CHILDREN WHOARE IN A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General corporate affairs commission.Plot 420 Tigris crescent, off Agiuiyi Ironsi street,Maitama Abuja within 28 Days of this publication. signed: secretary

I, ABDULKAREEM ABDULLAHI LAWAL whose name was erroneously written as ABDULKARIM LAWAN and ABDULKAREEM LAWAL Now wish to be known and addressed as ABDULKAREEM ABDULLAHI LAWAL. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note

YUNUSA I, formerly known as BABANGIDA DARAZO and BABANGIDA YUNUSA DARAZO now wish to be known and addressed as YUNUSA BABANGIDA ABDULLAHI. All former document remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

INKAJI TAMBARI TRADITIONAL PROMOTERS

VICTOR AKUBUDIKE FOUNDATION.

CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE MENTIONED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANY AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC),ABUJA, FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “F” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. IBRAHIM USMAN CHAWAI 2. LAWAL BELLO 3. MOHAMMED YAHAYA

THE TRUSTEE ARE 1. Chief Akubudike Victor.

2. Akubudike Blessing Nkenwabuchi.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES TO PROMOTE AND UPHOLD THE NORMS AND VALUES OF TRADITIONAL INSTITUTION ACROSS THE NORTH.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To provide social, educational and economic empowerment to the less privilege especially women and children in our society.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFFAGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFFAGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC),ABUJA, FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 2020.

THE TRUSTEES ARE. 1. DARAMOLA COMFORT TEMILAYO (CHAIRMAN) 2. TAIWO OLUFUNKE OLAITAN (SECRETARY) 3. DARAMOLA OLUFEMI MICHEAL 4. TAIWO IFEGBESAN MICHEAL 5. OLATUNJI OLUTAYO AKANJI 6. DARAMOLA OLUKUNLE BABATUNDE 7. IKELOLA OMOLOLA RAMAT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. TO PROMOTE SKILLS ACQUISITION FOR CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420 torture CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: JERRY DANGANA KURAH, ESQ.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

AFRICAN CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION

I AM THAT I AM CHRIST INTERCESSOR MINISTRY

GREATER FIRE BURNING ASSEMBLY INT’L

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC),ABUJA, FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 2020.

THE TRUSTEES ARE. 1. PROF. ANIAGOLU CHUKWUEMEKA GREGORY 2. IORKASE OLIVER DOMINIC 3. OGBO KENNETH UGOCHUKWU AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. TO PROMOTE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE CREATIVE ART THROUGH THE ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE OF ARTS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO THE CULTURAL AND SOCIO ECONOMIC WELL BEING OF THE SOCIETY ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420 torture CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

This is to inform the general public that the above named Association has applied for registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part “F” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA, 2020) THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. OKORN PETER EDET 2. ASUQUO, SHILAH MICHAEL

- -

President Secretary

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To win souls to Christ 2. For repentance and Salvation 3. Deliverance from evil bondage

This is to inform the general public that the above named Association has applied for registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part “F” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA, 2020)

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ANWIRIKA SYLVESTER UDOKA 2. OKWUOKENYE, EBUBE RACHAEL 3. OFUONYEBUZOR IFEANYI

- President - Secretary - Treasurer

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. Teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. Deliverance.

3. Ministry leadership training 4. Care for the less privilege.

SIGNED: SECRETARY

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B 198 Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

SIGNED: BARR. AYUK EGAR (LEGAL ADVISER) 07034924662.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, CorporateAffairs Commission, 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B 198 Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

SIGNED BARR. AYUK EGAR (LEGAL ADVISER) 07034924662.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

LUKUMAN

Salem mission House IT No. 40920

Sam AMAGA Ministries Intetnational IT No./12955

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY INFORMED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MISSION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR CHANGE OF DIRECTORS UNDER PART “F” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACTS, 1990.

Change of Directors 1. Sam -AMAGA Ezekiella removed 2. Sam-AMAGA Faith Removed Retained 1. Archbishop Sam AMAGA 2. Bishiop Love Sam-AMAGA 3. Covenant Sam-AMAGA 4. Joyce Sam-AMAGA 5. Isaiah Sam-Amaga AIMS AND OBJECTIVES. THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME ANY OBJECTION TO THE CHANGES SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, P.M.B. 198, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY-EIGHT (28) DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED; SECRETARY

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY INFORMED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRIES HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR CHANGE OF TRUSTEES UNDER PART “F” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT. 1990.

Change of Directors 1. Sam -AMAGA Ezekiella removed 2. Sam-AMAGA Faith Removed Retained 1. Sam AMAGA 2. Dr. Love Sam-AMAGA 3. Covenant Sam-AMAGA 4. Joyce Sam-AMAGA 5. Isaiah Sam-Amaga Aims and objective.

The aims and objectives remain the same ANY OBJECTION TO THE CHANGES SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, P.M.B. 198, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY-EIGHT (28) DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED; SECRETARY

I, formerly known as Abdullahi Lukmanu Abdullahi now wish to be known and addressed as Lukuman Abdullahi. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

OLANIYI I, formerly known as GABRIEL NIYI NICHOLAS now wish to be known and addressed as OLANIYI NICHOLAS AKINTIBU. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

AZORYEME I, formerly known as Azoryeme Clementina Mmojirikwe now wish to be known and addressed as Azoryeme Mmojirikwe Clementina. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

. . . putting the people first

FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

SPORTS Ivory Coast - Ex President latest

Kano Pillars accept to pay N7.5 million fine, tender Alapology

By Amaechi Agbo

N

igeria Professional Football League, NPFL side, Kano Pillars, have accepted to pay the sum of N7.5 million sanction imposed on them by the League Management Company LMC for violation of rules guiding the league, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

On Monday, the LMC slammed a fine of N7.5 million on the Kano State Owned football club for breaching rules in relation to Covid-19 protocols and encroachment of field of play by fans.

The LMC handed a N5 million fine on the Pillars for violation of Covid-19 protocols and another N2.5 million for fans encroachment.

The league body also handed a suspended three points deduction penalty on the club in an event such ugly situation occurs again during the season.

In a statement Tuesday, the league body confimed that Kano Pillars have accepted responsibility for the infractions and tendered an apology.

“Kano Pillars have responded to the charges brought against them for breaching the Framework & Rules of the NPFL during their Matchday 27 fixture vs Akwa Utd at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on Sunday, June 13, 2021.

“The club have tendered an unreserved apology and also accepted blame for the infraction,” LMC said.

Kano Pillars are second on the league standing after they drew blank against visiting Akwa United when the match which was abandoned on Sunday as a result of the violence was concluded Monday morning.

They have 49 points, one less than their Sunday opponents, Akwa United who occupy the first position with 50 points from 27 matches.

Taye Taiwo and Oduamadi

Advert: news: Kano: lagos:

Gbagbo’s triumphant return

A

bidjan, the main city of Ivory Coast, officially known as Cote D’Ivoire, was agog in celebration on Thursday, 17 June, 2021 when former President Laurent Gbagbo made a triumphant return to the country. He had been discharged and acquitted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands, where he had faced trial on charges of crimes against humanity, arising from violence that erupted after the Gbagbo – Alassane Quattara presidential election run off that claimed about 3,000 lives.

Tumultuous and ecstatic crowds of supporters had thronged the Abidjan international airport and lined the route to town in a carnival atmosphere.

Gbagbo, who holds a doctorate degree in history from France’s prestigious Sorbonne University, had been charged along with his party’s youth leader, Charles Ble Goude. The appeals chamber of the ICC had on 31 March, 2021 upheld the 2019 trial chamber verdict which discharged and acquitted Gbagbo and Goude of all charges. “ The appeals chamber, by majority, has found no error that could have materially affected the decision of the trial chamber.“ The appeals chamber hereby revokes all remaining conditions on the release of Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Ble Goude as a result of this judgement “. The appeals judges agreed that the evidence in the case was extremely weak, raising questions about how the trial went as far as it did. It had taken nearly 10 years since November 2011 when Gbagbo was hauled to The Hague for justice to finally prevail.

The trial chamber of the ICC had in 2019 discharged and acquitted the two men for want of substantive evidence but prosecutor Ms Fatou Bensouda appealed the judgement and it took another two years to end the case.

It was like the ICC trial was deliberately protracted to allow installed President Quattara enjoy two terms in office and even a bonus third term !!! Quattara was elected to a third and last term in the controversial October 31, 2020 presidential election in which the Constitutional Council declared that the 78-year old won 94 percent of the vote.

The decades old Ivorian political crisis that nearly brought a prosperous country to collapse, should be a lesson to Africa’s leaders and its strident, but often times illinformed journalists and columnists.

Like they say, all politics is local and so has been the case in Ivory Coast.

There are two major subsisting issues at stake – indigene/settler dichotomy and economic/resource control – as well as arrogance of power by France.

The indigenes want Ivory Coast for Ivorians, feeling threatened by non indigenes, mainly Muslims from Burkina Faso, Mali in the north of the country, constituting 26 percent of the country’s 25.7 million population. Mr. Quattara’s father was an immigrant from Burkina Faso. On resource control, it was President

0806 564 8620 0814 292 9046 0803 587 5846 08074420617

Guest columnist

By Dr. Bisi Olawunmi Gbagbo’s battle to wrest control of Ivorian economy from the vice grip of France that pitched him against a vengeful French government. So, the battle lines are drawn, making France, the neo colonial oppressor and Quattara, a non native, formidable allies in the battle of conquest of Ivory Coast.

Quattara has been the recurring decimal in Ivorian political crisis since 1993 when he attempted to assume the presidency of the country, as an appointive Prime Minister, following the death of founding president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny. He had never held elective position but was a protege of President Boigny who appointed him to high office, including Ambassador to U. S. Henri Konan Bedie, the elected President of the National Assembly prevailed in that power struggle and was President from 1993 to 1999. Unrelenting Quattara’s induced political uprising led to a coup by Gen. Robert Geui whom Quattara thought would install him but who, instead, wanted to transform into a civilian president and got killed in the process. Gbagbo won the presidential election election in 2000 but faced insurrection from pro Quattara rebels whose military offensives divided the country into two : north – south, which made President Gbagbo to incorporate the rebels into government appointing their leader, Guillaume Soro, Prime Minister, as a peace initiative.

The immediate cause of Gbagbo’s travails was the 2010 presidential election with multiple candidates, including President Gbagbo and Mr. Alassane Quattara. No clear winner emerged. President Gbagbo had won 38 percent of the vote as against 32 percent for Quattara. There was a run-off election between the two front runners on 28 November 2010. The Electoral Commission declared Quattara winner but the Constitutional Council, which has the final say on elections, declared Gbagbo the winner, after discounting some invalid votes. That was when power play by the ‘International Community’ took over. France and western countries disregarded the Constitutional Council’s verdict and endorsed Quattara as winner, as declared by the UN Representative in Ivory Coast !! Yes, a UN Country Representative became Electoral Returning Officer in Ivorian election !!! However, the Western-led, socalled ‘ International Community ‘ realized that for legitimacy and

effectiveness, their threat of sanctions against President Gbagbo must enjoy the endorsement of two African institutions – the Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU). President Gbagbo, following due process, had taken the election dispute case to the ECOWAS Court for adjudication. Sadly, President Goodluck Jonathan, as leader of ECOWAS, became a war monger and orchestrated an ECOWAS military ouster of President Gbagbo, even getting his Foreign Minister, Odein Ajumogobia, to present a letter in January 2011 at the UN for military option. In that January 24, 2011 letter to the UN Security Council urging the UN to authorize use of force by ECOWAS, a belligerent Ajumogobia had thundered, with braggadocio : “ Gbagbo must be made to understand that there is a very real prospect of overwhelming military capability bearing down on him and his cohorts”.

The ‘International Community’ capitalized on the ECOWAS position - on which a divided AU based its support – but rather than ECOWAS forces, it got the Security Council to authorize intervention by UN Forces, led by France, Ivory Coast’s former colonial power. President Jonathan, therefore, played the Judas that threw President Laurent Gbagbo to his political executioners. Not surprisingly, it was French forces which led the UN military assault on Ivorian Presidential palace in Abidjan and the capture of President Gbagbo, a sitting African president on April 11, 2011. I had written an article then titled : ‘ Gbagbo’s capture – Africa’s Day of Infamy. It is instructive that the same ‘International Community’ that rejected the verdict of the Constitutional Council on Gbagbo’s victory, returned to the same Council for its verdict of a Quattara win in that disputed election result, for legitimacy !!! Such hypocrisy.

I wrote two other articles at the time including one titled : Nigeria’s war drums on Cote D’Iviore – published in The Guardian of Thursday, February 17, 2011 urging restraint by Nigeria in advocating the military option. But the Jonathan presidency, apparently ill-informed in international power politics, could not be dissuaded from its misadventure.

Nigerian journalists and columnists did not fare better. Like a herd, they too were gung-ho about the military option in Ivory Coast in what was largely a local election dispute issue that should have been allowed to go

through judicial redress as initiated

by Gbagbo. It is significant that the African Union is proposing a continental Constitutional Council to resolve presidential election disputes.

The other article I wrote was titled : ‘ Cote D’Ivoire – Is Gbagbo the villain ? – ( The Guardian, January 17, 2011) in which I argued that there has to be an understanding of the historical antecedents to the Ivorian crisis to have a better perspective of the situation as against reliance on biased western narratives. For instance, it is important to note that as a gesture of national reconciliation, it was President Gbagbo who restored Quattara’s citizenship of which he had been stripped under the ‘Ivoirite’ (Ivorianness) policies of President Henri Konan Bedie ( 1993-99 ) and Gen, Robert Geui (1999-2000).

Now, having realized his ambition, President Quattara postures as someone seeking genuine national reconciliation. Following the verdict of the appeals chamber of ICC acquitting former President Gbagbo, he had extended an invitation to him to return home. He issued Gbagbo diplomatic passport and made the presidential pavilion at the airport available for his return and promised him the status and rewards reserved for ex presidents, including pension and personal security. In 2018, President Quattara had granted amnesty to Mrs. Simone Gbagbo who had been sentenced to a 20-year jail term for her alleged role in the crisis.

However, the immediate future in Ivory Coast are dicey days, depending on the role former President Laurent Gbagbo will play or rather, would be allowed to play, and how the two key sticking issues of indigene-settler dichotomy and French control of the Ivorian economy are addressed.

Dr. Bisi Olawunmi, Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Adeleke University, Ede is former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria.

Phone (SMS ONLY) 0803 364 7571. Email: olawunmibii@ yahoo.com

DAN GAYE Dangai

FG allocates houses to 1994 Super Eagles squad

Better late, than never!

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Kaduna office: K6 Ahmadu Bello Way, opposite Kontagora road, Kaduna. Tel: +234 814 292 9046. Cell: +234 802 443 2099; 803 7007 759. e-mail: contact@peoplesdailyng.com; pmlnewseditor@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141