THEWILL APR 24 - 30 EDITION

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To Your Ears The , And , And Ears The To Your nd Worl d Beyo d Beyo Worl nd

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2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:

Frontrunners and Pretenders

FEATURE:

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T HE W I L L N G

NIGERIA: UNDER A SPELL OF RITUAL KILLINGS? THEWILLNIGERIA

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COVER

2023 Presidential Election: Frontrunners and Pretenders

BY AMOS ESELE

F

or a wobbling system that generates news at the go, the Nigerian political space has managed to steal the show and may likely dominate headlines in newspapers, radio and television platforms, as well as the new media for the next one month as political parties struggle to meet the June 3, 2022 deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the submission of the list of candidates for the 2023 general election.

All kinds of politicians have crawled out of their comfort zones and they are seeking the attention of the public, to be counted among those that would likely pull Nigeria from mass poverty, insecurity, unemployment, decayed infrastructure and transform the country into a place where tribes and tongues may differ, but the people will continue to stand together in socio-economic and political brotherhood.

Just as the aspirants are multiplying, so have mushroom political parties, which have been dormant for the past years, now see a chance to be seen and heard as some ambitious politicians solicit their platforms to pursue their aspirations. It is another way of saying that the two major parties, the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are the key contestants for power in 2023: Apart from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) that is currently governing Anambra State, the APC and PDP share the remaining 35 states between them. The governors, members of the National Assembly, members of the state houses of assembly and local government councils are shared between them.

It is therefore not for nothing that most of the aspirants jostling to obtain their party’s presidential tickets are from the two major parties, with the remaining 16 political parties feeding on the leftovers by way of defectors from the major parties.

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SETTING THE PACE Currently, the APC and PDP are working with the same template to capture power in 2023. Apart from sourcing their National Chairman from the same North-Central geo-political zone (APC’s Senator Abdullahi Adamu from Nasarawa State and PDP’s Senator Iyorchia Ayu from Benue State), they are also strongly thinking of using the consensus option to choose their presidential candidates.

APC The governing APC boxed itself into a corner with the promise of a zoning formula in late 2018 and early 2019. Shortly before the February 2019 general election, the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, travelled to Imo State where he solicited votes from the South-East in return for the presidential ticket in 2019. Similarly, in that year Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was in the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi. Canvassing votes, he said the South-West had been positioned for the presidency in 2023.

With subsequent developments, such as terrorism, which has rendered a large part of the North ungovernable under the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the zonal formula has gained so much traction that no formidable aspirant from the North has joined the 15 aspirants that are on the party’s platform so far. But here lies the problem.

The North will want to cede power on its own terms to a candidate whose loyalty will not be in doubt.

That is where the consensus option comes in. According to THEWILL investigation, President Buhari and his Aso Rock minders are working day and night to use consensus to get their preferred presidential candidate for the party, more so, after they have decided they do not want somebody like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, perceived as too independent-minded. They fear that he can outsmart them if the contest is allowed to play out on a level playing field.

For the President, the first major success with that consensus formula was its use in picking the National Chairman of the party, Adamu, at the party’s recent convention in Abuja.

The second major success was what a top party source called “palace coup,” which took place last Wednesday during the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC), a day after the 19 governors of the party met with President Buhari in the Aso Rock Villa.

The governors, who wield big powers in the party through funding, control of delegates and power of numbers, had stood their ground that indirect primary be used at the Presidential convention. Buhari conceded but the next day, he was able, as party leader, to arm-twist the NEC, comprising governors, state chairmen, principal officers of the National Assembly and some ex-official members, to cede powers to the Adamu-led National Working Committee, NWC, for the next 90 days.

During that period, the convention would have taken place, candidates would have been picked for the party and the grace period for the replacement of candidates would have elapsed. During those days, Adamu would have had enough time to shuttle between his Wuse-Abuja Blantyne Street Office and the Villa, meeting and taking instructions only from Buhari.

Even so, THEWILL learnt that they have also perfected a fall back option to push the consensus plan through intimidation. If indirect primary wins that day, the ballots would be marked in such a way that it would be easy to identify those who voted against the President’s choice, said a source close to the presidency.

Recall a read my lips, flippant speech that Adamu delivered at the Wednesday NEC meeting during which he blamed past and current governors for the prevailing crisis in the party.

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COVER APC FRONTRUNNERS VS PRETENDERS As at the time of going to press, the 15 presidential aspirants on the platform of APC are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former Lagos Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; former President Goodluck Jonathan; Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State; former Senate President, Kenneth Nnamani; Mr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim; Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State; Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige; Senator Rochas Okorocha, Ibinabo Joy Dokubo, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and former Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

FRONTRUNNERS Among the 15 aspirants, the major frontrunners in terms of visibility, clout and war chest are VP Osinbajo, Tinubu, Amaechi, Emefiele and Jonathan.

OSINBAJO By virtue of his office and the nationwide attention that followed his declaration, Osinbajo should ordinarily be considered a major contender for the party's ticket but this is not the case. The Aso Rock click and President Muhammadu Buhari are not disposed to his presidential ambition.

Political watchers believe the Vice President is however being supported to challenge and unsettle his now estranged political godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who had earlier declared his presidential bid.

With Governor Abdullahi Bello of Nasarawa State coordinating his aspiration among governors, former Governor Kabiru Gaya of Kano State coordinating his campaign and former Senate Chief Whip, Senator Sola Adeyeye, working on senators, making inroads among delegates would be easy for him if the party adopts indirect primary at its convention.

TINUBU The major obstacle on the path of the former Lagos governor’s ambition to clinch the party presidential ticket is President Buhari and his very close associates who have the ears. They do not want Tinubu to take over from Buhari. Yet on a level playing field, Tinubu would most likely be the contender to beat. His clout, war chest and visibility from years of amassing stupendous wealth from Lagos State government, financing and manipulating elections for cronies across political parties is legendary and sufficient to get him support. But in Nigeria’s political zero sum game and deadly godfathers, the Buhari factor is a herculean task for Tinubu.

GOODLUCK JONATHAN Until the APC presidential convention holds and former President Goodluck Jonathan’s name is missing on the party’s convention ballot, it would be difficult to rule out his aspiration, if not candidacy through consensus as exclusively reported by this newspaper many months ago. A source close to Jonathan confided in THEWILL that the former President was initially wary of the request of associates of Buhari to run on the party’s ticket, but he appears to be ready to throw his hat in the ring in the coming days only if he gets the nod of the president.

The source said, “There are two reasons why they want Jonathan. He fits the prescription of the conservative cabal who want power retained in the North. They prefer a benign Jonathan who will serve for only four years after which power will return to the North again. Secondly, Buhari probably feels like paying back to Jonathan because he never expected the ex-President to hand over to him in 2015. Those are the two reasons.

“But I asked him, Sir, why do you want to run? Now that God has made you a global statesman? He agreed with me. But you see, this presidential thing keeps changing and so you may not be able to have a final say on issues.

So he has accepted the request to an extent, but he is not sure if they will not mess him up.”

Last week Jonathan spoke for himself. He was quoted to have told supporters comprising women, youths who besieged his Taraba Close office in Maitama, Abuja, calling on him to join the presidential race: “Yes, you are

Atiku

Tinubu

The manner Osinbajo briefly used presidential power when he served as acting president during the first term of this administration endeared him to many Nigerians but it also did a lot of political damage to his ties with President Buhari and his very close associates and advisers. THEWILL notes that the vice president did not

play any significant role in the emergence of new officers in the newly constituted national executive of the party.

How Osinbajo navigates this power play will determine his chances at the primary.

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calling on me to come and declare for the next election.

I cannot tell you I’m declaring. The political process is ongoing. Just watch out. The key role you must play is that Nigeria must get somebody that will carry young people along.”

How the APC will sell Jonathan to voters may be problematic because since Buhari defeated him in 2015, his administration has demonized the former president and heaped massive allegations of corruption and theft of billions of dollars on his administration.

GODWIN EMEFIELE The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele is one aspirant to watch even though he is yet to openly declare his interest in the presidency. Some highly influential advisers of the president are pushing the candidacy of the foremost economist and banker, an Igbo from the SouthSouth, which blends with the party’s zonal formula for addressing Igbo presidency and clamour for integration in the polity.

Emefiele, who also appears to have the backing of business leaders, is very close to the president and appears to have earned his trust and respect.

Though not a politician, Emefiele is considered the dark horse and has very formidable people selling his candidature to the President and the party’s key decision makers including some influential state governors in the north. He is in the race and stands a good chance of picking the ticket if the president backs him.

ROTIMI AMAECHI Fortunately for Amaechi, who is also an Igbo from Rivers State, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Igbo Social Political organisation has identified with his course, notably during the controversial statement on his ‘Igboness,’ made by Joe Igbokwe, a Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on drainage, a Tinubu loyalist and an APC chieftain.

Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers State and current Transport Minister, is another very experienced politician that is very close to President Buhari. He also enjoys the support of some very close associates of the president including First Lady Aisha Buhari and some state governors. He was recently turbanned as the Dan Amanar Daura (the trusted son of Daura) by the Emir of Daura, Buhari’s hometown in Katsina State.

Osinbajo

With the stage set, the front running aspirants from the party can be reduced to six from the 15 that have expressed interest so far.

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COVER

...Frontrunners and Pretenders have financed the party through trying times and because of that he should be compensated with the presidential ticket. His clout, visibility and war chest is not in doubt.

The clamour for a power shift to the South is a big plus for him.

PRETENDERS The mark of those lumped in this group is their uncertainty, their aloofness in politics that is a contact sport, their hesitation to declare formally and make a show of any structure. They include Senator Ken Nnamani, who lost out in the last minute politicking for the position of Deputy National Chairman, South, at the recent national convention of APC; Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, who said he would declare his intention after the Holy month of Ramadan, after denying having any such plan for several months.

PETER OBI Former Anambra governor, Peter Obi, has grabbed the opportunity provided by the preparation for the 2023 presidential election to build on his clean-guy image as a frugal, management savvy, focused and leadership driven person earned in his days as governor. His articulation of the country’s problems and the probable solutions has broadened his acceptability within the party and the country as a whole. The clamour for an Igbo presidency within the party may work in his favour.

Others are Senator Rochas Okorocha, who is having a running supremacy battle with Governor Hope Uzodinma in Imo State; Dr. Chris Ngige, the former governor, senator. Governor Umahi, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, a former Ogun State governor, who said he would declare after the Ramadan fast period and Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.

Also in this category are Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Mr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, Ibinabo Joy Dokubo and Pastor Tunde Bakare.

Amaechi

Also, with the Emir of Dutse, Mohammed Sanusi rooting for his aspiration and Senator Ali Ndume coordinating his campaign in the Senate, alongside an NGO that has been selling him across the country, his chances look bright if he gets the backing of the president.

PDP Buying time to keep a close watch on what its rival, the APC, is doing, is part of the game plan of the PDP, though it has fixed its convention for May 28 and 29, a day before APC’s chosen date of May 30, 2022.

Zoning and consensus arrangement, as formula for choosing its presidential candidate for the 2023 poll, is tearing the party down the middle. With the South clamouring for a power shift and big guns in the party like former Atiku insisting on primary election as against consensus, which is being canvassed by many stakeholders including some governors, the party’s leaders are at their wits’ end. Yet, like the APC, it also has formidable Frontrunners and pretenders.

PDP’S FRONTRUNNERS ATIKU ABUBAKAR As things stand in the party, the fear of Atiku is the beginning of political wisdom for many presidential aspirants under the platform of the PDP. His clout built over long years of politicking since the third republic, during the reign of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) under the late Gen Musa Yar’ Ardua, through his PAGE 8

GOVERNOR AMINU TAMBUWAL Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state has been in the radar of the party since 2019 when he lost the presidential ticket to Atiku Abubakar. His presidential aspiration appears to have come to an abrupt end this time around. The governor was one of the four aspirants that presented themselves for the consensus arrangement of northern aspirants of the PDP backed by General Babangida. Himself and Mohammed Hayatu-deen were disqualified by the committee. All four had earlier agreed to abide by the decision of the consensus committee.

GOVERNOR BALA MUHAMMED The serving governor of Bauchi State has shown that he is clearly one of the top contenders in the PDP having emerged as one of the two consensus candidates chosen by the committee backed by General Babangida.

Obi

As at the last count, 17 aspirants had picked up the presidential forms of the main opposition party. They are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; former president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim; Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed; Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel; former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose; Dr. Nwachukwu Anakwenze, Chief Dele Momodu; former banker, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; Chief Sam Ohuabunwa; former Speaker of Abia House of Assembly, Cosmos Ndukwe; Mr. Charles Ugwu, Rt. Hon Chikwendu Kalu and Oliver Tareila Diana, the only female aspirants so far in the party.

SENATOR BUKOLA SARAKI Former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has got the attention of the decision makers of the party, at least through those who see his North-Central origin as a bridge between the North and the South, should the zoning formula continue to pose a challenge for the party to choose its presidential candidate. Some state governors, especially those whose support he has won, are said to be pushing this option. Last week, he emerged alongside Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State as the two consensus candidates of the north for the presidency “for the moment,” according to a statement by Prof. Ango Abdullahi, who chaired a committee backed by former military leader, General Ibrahim Babangida, to prune the number of PDP aspirants from the north.

tenure as Vice President between 1999 and 2007 under the PDP and many lucrative businesses, has earned himself visibility, war chest and cult followership. On a level playing field, many aspirants do not stand a chance with him. At 75, age is Atiku’s biggest albatross. Also, the key northern clique made up of retired military brass that propelled the politician to victory in the party’s 2019 presidential primary is not keen on his ambition this time around.

GOVERNOR NYESOM WIKE As one of the three state governors who recently reshaped the PDP, alongside his Adamawa and Oyo counterparts, namely, Umaru Fintiri and Seyi Makinde, Governor Wike's hold on the party remains strong. He even flaunts it. While consulting with stakeholders, he claimed to

It however remains unclear if the governor, who had previously served as Minister of the FCT during the administration of President Jonathan, can build the coalition to win at the party’s primary next month.

PRETENDERS Like the APC, the PDP has aspirants who are reluctant to fully commit to the presidential race because they do not have the money, political network and reach to jump start their bid.

Their lackluster campaign effort after declaring their aspirations give the impression that they are gunning for the vice presidential ticket or are willing fronts for aspirants to spoil the chances of competitors in their geo-political zones. They include Ayodele Fayose; Anyim Pius Anyim, Udom Emmanuel; Dele Momodu, Sam Ohuabunwa, Nwachukwu Anakwenze, Chief Dele Momodu, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, Sam Ohuabunwa, Cosmos Ndukwe, Charles Ugwu, Chikwendu Kalu and Oliver Tareila Diana.

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Tambuwal

Saraki

Mohammed

POLITICS

PDP Presidential Aspirants and Search for Consensus Candidate

BY AYO ESAN

T

he 2022 Electoral Act has stipulated three modes for political parties to select their candidates for elections. They are Direct primary, Indirect Primary and Consensus arrangement. The Consensus arrangement, which was used by the ruling All Progressives Congress at its last convention in electing the members of its National Working Committee, came under wide criticism as many of those opposed to it said it was undemocratic.

Surprisingly, prominent Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirants, including former Senate President. Senator Bukola Saraki; Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State ; the former Managing Director of FSB International Bank, Mohammed Hayatudeen and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, have embarked on the process of achieving a consensus arrangement in picking the presidential candidate of the party.

But despite the enormous energy put into the project, their quest for a consensus candidate for the PDP, ahead of party’s Presidential primaries, is looking more like a fruitless mission.

The proponents of the consensus arrangements, Saraki, Hayatudeen, Tambuwal and Mohammed, have been criss-crossing the length and breadth of the country to sell the idea of consensus to the Presidential aspirants and the PDP Governors but former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Dele Momodu and Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, are opposed to the consensus and are insisting that all aspirants must face the party’s delegates in a primary election which may be indirect.

“

This is the first time that aspirants are coming together. It is a tough challenge and people think it will not work. We assure Nigerians that we’re determined

“I’m happy that we have leaders who have decided to put Nigeria first. I’m for it and I will support it and make sure that we present a common front or at least minimize misunderstanding and altercation before and during our primaries.

As you are aware, four of us who are aspirants have been going round consulting with stakeholders to discuss a consensus candidate in the interest of our party and the country.

“Insecurity is much. Just a few days ago, some people lost their lives.

This is one of the reasons why we’ve decided to unite. The lives of Nigerians are more important than individual ambitions.”

“It is hereby resolved that Gov. Bala Mohammed from the North East and former Senate President Senator Bukola Saraki from the North Central be presented as the Northern Consensus Candidates for the moment”, Abdullahi said.

Saraki also said that they were in Abia to seek support from the Governor Ikpeazu and to ensure that PDP wins in the forthcoming election.

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He said, “I want to say that you have my commitment and cooperation, as you move on. And I will do my little bit to ensure that all of us come together. I want to encourage all the aspirants, wherever they are coming from, to come together and realise that someone needs to be alive to be selfish.

He said, “We’ve had a good discussion with Ikpeazu, as a key stakeholder in our party and a leader of our party.

According to Professor Ango Abdullahi, the Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum who announced the decision in Minna, he said the two – Saraki and Mohammed were chosen after a painstaking assessment.

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He described the initiative, led by the presidential aspirants, as quite commendable, altruistic and borne out of their desire to form an alliance that would rescue Nigeria beyond the respective selfish interest of anyone.

“Before you become a selfish person, make sure you’re alive, otherwise a dead man can’t be selfish. The survival of our country and the interest of the poor masses should come before personal agenda.

“And the four of us have agreed to support the consensus arrangement and ensure that we unite to position the PDP for victory in the 2023 general election because Nigerians are going through hardship.

During a visit to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Saraki said that presidential aspirants under the party are willing and ready to put aside their personal interests and accept the emergence of a consensus candidate.

Governor Ikpeazu expressed joy that his hope in the emergence of a new Nigeria was rekindled by the visit.

He said the aspirants had been consulting in the spirit of national interest, to ensure that the PDP emerges victorious in the 2023 general election.

Just last Friday, the Northern Elders Forum, NEF announced that Saraki and Bala Mohammed are the two consensus candidates for the north.

He urged the aspirants to work together to make allowance for further consultation to foster understanding among themselves, and the PDP community to ensure a rancor –free primaries in which all eligible candidates would be free to exercise their right.

who all along have shown their commitment to this arrangement”, he stated.

“This is the first time that aspirants are coming together. It is a tough challenge and people think it will not work. We assure Nigerians that we’re determined,” he said.

The former Senate President added that he and other aspirants are driven by determination to turn Nigeria around and if accepting consensus is the sacrifice they have to make to achieve that, they are ready.

“We’re motivated to hear leaders like Ikpeazu urging us to go ahead.

After here, we’re going to meet the Governor of Enugu State and after that, we must have concluded our visit to18 Governors of the PDP,

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“Only one person will be president. Let the president who is ready to serve Nigeria emerge, not the one that will serve himself.”

The proponents of the consensus arrangement have also met with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

Speaking after the meeting, Wike said their interest was to ensure the consolidation of unity in the party. He said they were developing a formidable strategy that would enable the PDP coast to victory in the 2023 presidential election. Atiku was, however, absent from the meeting. The pro-consensus presidential aspirants had earlier met with Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on the issue.

During the meeting with Makinde, the governor said the party would work to ensure the success of a consensus candidate arrangement for the PDP. Also speaking during the meeting, Saraki said, “Of course, we all have the desire to become president, but we have decided in our meeting that we are ready to subject ourselves to a consensus arrangement.

It is not just one part of the country, but for the PDP as a party.

•Continues on page 11

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POLITICS/INTERVIEW

Granting Pardon to Nyame, Dariye Sad – Yunusa The National Chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Dr Tanko Yunusa, speaks on the recent pardon granted former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye and former Governor of Taraba State, Revd. Jolly Nyame by the National Council of States, in this interview with AYO ESAN. Excerpts:

T

Preparation for the 2023 general election has started in earnest, but one thing we have seen is that the cost of nomination forms and forms of intent to contest are so high, with both forms going for N100m for a presidential aspirant under the All Progressives Congress (APC). What does this portend for our electoral system?

It says that our electoral system is highly monetised and it serves the interest of only the highest bidder.

It is very clear in this country today that if you don’t have excess money you cannot contest elections. This blocks the opportunity for the younger generation, who may have the integrity and the know-how to put the country in the best shape, but cannot contest elections because they don’t have money. I must say here that it is only those who have stolen government money that can run for election in Nigeria. It is very sad. I will not entirely blame the people because those who have genuine money are not involved the electioneering process. So it is difficult for us now to get credible leaders who have not stolen government money to run for political offices. It is a very sad situation for us as democrats.

Are you comfortable with calibre of people from the APC and PDP who have indicated interest in the presidential race?

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Yunusa

he National Council of States recently granted pardon to former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye and former Taraba State Governor, Revd Jolly Nyame alongside other 159 Nigerians. What is your take on this?

The action sends a wrong signal to the people of the country, as regards the so-called fight against corruption by the current Federal Government. It also sends a wrong signal to those who are corrupt or those that are facing trial for corruption-related crimes. The general feeling will be that at the end of it all, everybody will be pardoned. There are many people who have less issues and it seems to us that the people can be set free, even if they committed the most heinous crime in the nation. I think Mr President missed it in that direction. It is a wrong step that will send the wrong signal to those who have been found wanting one way or the other.

It is also sad that even the media are promoting only the aspirants in the PDP and the APC. There are other aspirants running under the platforms of other political parties. They should be promoted. That is the only way we can challenge these two political parties that have become the cankerworms and destructive tendencies in our political setting. You can see that today if it is not PDP, it is APC. They keep turning people’s heads up and down. Fortunately and unfortunately, the leadership of the APC is completely led by former members of the PDP. And some erstwhile leaders of the APC are also in the leadership of the PDP. So there is no integrity in the process and it is because our electoral law, which is the legal framework, has not stopped people from doing political nomadism or political prostitution. If the laws had been very stringent, many people would not have been in one party in the morning and move to another party in the night. The media should also be promoting other political parties who are existing on the INEC register.

worsening insecurity, the 2023 general election may not hold. What is your position on this?

It will be devastating and very destructive if the 2023 election does not hold. Those who are advocating it are only predicting doomsday for Nigeria. The truth is that if the elections do not hold in 2023, it will hold one day. Even after civil war or any war, you still go to the roundtable and fix a date for an election date. So why should we waste our resources and be killing each other when we can easily make use of the ballot papers and ballot boxes to effect the changes we desire. So it is better for us to campaign for credible candidates and let them win elections than to say elections should not be held. It is undemocratic and dangerous for our country.

I am of the opinion that elections should be held. We should do whatever we can to encourage our people to allow the election to hold and elect credible leaders at all levels that can change the present narratives and the predicament of our people in the country in the near future.

Some people are of the opinion that with the

The issue of insecurity, it is unfortunate that for some THEWILLNIGERIA

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POLITICS/INTERVIEW the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) who recently advised the President to resign his position. Will his resignation solve the problems facing the country?

I had held that position before the NEF made the position known. It is only that they take a queue from those of us who have been vocal. We have been saying this because of our passion for our country.

What qualities do you expect the next Nigerian President to possess?

He must be somebody who can carry everybody along.

Those who are in opposition and those who have won an election should be carried along. The next Nigeria President must be somebody who has the capacity to unite the country, in terms of religious differences, tribal differences, and bring the economy back to life.

He must be somebody who is strong and healthy and has the foresight to think outside the box. He must be somebody who cares about the downtrodden, the masses of this country. Somebody, who can take a bullet in defence of the country. Somebody who can speak and the whole nation will listen. That is the quality of a leader we are looking for. It doesn’t matter where he comes from, as long as he can solve the problems of Nigeria and put Nigeria on the right path, Nigerians will welcome him.

What is your position on the usage of consensus arrangements to pick candidates for the election?

It is a development of weaklings, trying to force somebody that the people do not want on them. A popular consensus comes from regular voting. People pick the candidate they like through direct or indirect election. This is the practice in democracy all over the World. A consensus arrangement muscles people out and creates problems in the future.

of us, who have been in this position, it is a conspiracy against the state. This conspiracy started during Goodluck Jonathan's tenure when those in power used insecurity to cause problems for Jonathan’s leadership, not knowing the same thing will come and haunt them in the future.

The story has always been that there is a conspiracy between those in government and those outside the government to put the common man in danger, using him as a pawn in order to win an election. But they don’t know that God is also watching and God is the best planner of all. And all of their secrets will be exposed in no distant time and then the people will know the truth. But today we have come to realise that among those that are ruling us, are those that are conspiring against us and killing innocent people. The President should rise up to his responsibility and if he cannot, I think the best for him is to resign and let those who can lead the country, lead us well.

This position is in tandem with the position of THEWILLNIGERIA

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PDP Presidential Aspirants and Search for Consensus Candidate •Continued from page 9

At another meeting with Okowa, Saraki also made a case for a consensus candidate, saying that it was for the sake of national unity.

While speaking during a consultative visit to Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Saraki said that some of the PDP Presidential aspirants from the North were ready to welcome a consensus candidate.

Those that purchased the presidential nomination form from the PDP Headquarters in Abuja include Saraki, Bala Mohammed, Dele Momodu, Wike, Anyim Pius Anyim, Nwachukwu Anakwenze, Peter Obi, Udom Emmanuel, Sam Ohuabunwa and Mrs Oliver Tareila Diana.

Atiku, it was gathered, was opposed to the consensus arrangement.

He was said to have told those proposing the consensus arrangement that the concept they were pushing for was undemocratic and would not work. He swore never to be part of it.

According to sources, Atiku was said to have counseled that all aspirants should go and face delegates in a primary election.

Also speaking, one of the aspirants, Dele Momodu, said the move for a consensus PDP flagbearer was dead on arrival.

He said, “I see a very dangerous kind of desperation in our career politicians in Nigeria as our country prepares for the 2023 presidential election. It is unfortunate that some of our leaders are toying with the hard fought democracy most of them were never part of.

“At a time our country is at its worst state in decades, career politicians are only interested in hijacking power for themselves and they are totally disinterested in engaging the electorate on how they plan to rescue our country and its long-suffering people from the brink of total collapse.

Quite honestly, it is an unknown democratic principle that a set of people are trying to impose on Nigerians, but it will boomerang. If you are being defeated at the poll fairly and squarely, you will not have any room to grumble. But if you are being muzzled, you may either want to go to court or create an ungovernable situation.

So for me, consensus is not the key to our democratic system. Let the popular will of the people prevail and let the popular will of the people triumph. That is how democracy can reign supreme.

“The concept of consensus as practiced in Nigeria is anathema to democracy because it is based on everything that democracy is not. It denies merit, enshrines illegality and enthrones mediocrity.

Moreover, it embraces corruption, bullying and other unseen ills and threats.

We know your party, the National Conscience Party, is still battling with the INEC in court over its deregistration. What is the situation now?

We have been meeting at the level of the National Executive Committee of the party and we are trying to tell our people that in order to remain relevant we may have to enter an alliance with other political parties as we continue to pursue our case at the Supreme Court. But meanwhile we cannot be oblivious of the political terrain. We are planning to have an alliance at least to keep our people very busy and select the best candidates. If by chance, the court rules in our favour then that means we will participate in the election.

But for now what is left for us is to continue with our case while we look for an alliance with other existing parties or candidates.

“They should please preserve their energy and let the people make their choices in a free and fair contest. That is the essence of democracy.”

What is your advice to the electorate as we move towards the 2023 general election?

My advice is very simple: Use your voter cards to choose the right people who can do the right thing for you and the country. You must hold them accountable.

When you give them your votes, you give them trust and you must monitor them to ensure they fulfilled their promises. That way, we can start having good leaders both in our local government areas, state houses of assembly, Federal House of Representatives, Senate, governors and eventually the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is only by votes that we can get these things done, not by fighting or by killing each other.

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“How are the proponents of consensus different from President Muhammadu Buhari, who has virtually taken over the control of APC as the Alpha and Omega? How will they enforce their consensus on someone like me when I have bought my nomination form and I am ready to contest all the way?

Sam Ohuabunwa, who is also a presidential aspirant on the platform of the PDP, questioned the principles that would govern the choice of a consensus presidential candidate being promoted.

He is of the opinion that consensus should not be approximated to an arm-twisting scenario saying, “ Why is the talk of consensus at this time when the clamour for a Nigerian president of South-East extraction has gained critical mass at the national level?

“Someone brought the idea of this consensus to my attention, to buy into it. When 10 people are contesting or vying for a position, you don’t exclude nine to the advantage of one person. Consensus must be a collective decision of all those involved in this game. Period.”

Also speaking on the consensus arrangement, the National Chairman of the National Conscience Party, Dr Yunusa Tanko, described it as a development of “weaklings trying to force somebody that the people do not want on them.” A popular consensus, he noted, comes from regular voting. “People pick the candidate they like through direct or indirect election. And this is the practice in democracy all over the World. Trying consensus muscle people out and creates problems in the future.

“Quite honestly, it is an unknown democratic principle that some set of people are trying to force on Nigerians, but it will boomerang. If you are being defeated at the poll fairly and squarely, you will not have any room to grumble. But if you are being muzzled, you may either want to go to court or create an ungovernable situation. So for me consensus is not the key to our democratic system. Let the popular will of the people prevail and let the popular will of the people triumph. That is how democracy can reign supreme,” he said.

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POLITICS

Restructuring is Solution to Insecurity – Olokoba Pro-democracy activist and National President of the Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), Comrade Razaq Olokoba, speaks with AYO ESAN on insecurity and how to tackle it. Excerpts:

had said somewhere else, should reach out to Mr. President to examine the suggestion about another layer of the country’s security architecture and let him realise that the present oneway police arrangement cannot effectively address the country’s security challenges.

hat do you think can be done to effectively tackle the security challenges facing the country?

First, without mincing words, I want to make it clear that weak security institutions are responsible not only for the security challenges facing our country but also for our economic woes and political setbacks. All we need to do as a serious country is just to create a base for our security institutions and rework the security layers to accommodate a federal layer, state layer and local layer.

Come to think of it, how can a Sokoto man posted to Ogun State understand the terrain and peculiarities of the culture, tradition and behaviour of Ogun residents? If the security apparatus is localised, people within a community know themselves. So when a crime is committed, it will not be difficult to trace the culprits. If a strange face surfaces within that community, he will be marked out for monitoring. His host or landlord will be asked questions. It will not be a case of one running from pillar to post to solve a crime puzzle after the deed is done.

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Do you agree with Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s suggestion that hiring mercenaries might help the Federal Government to check the activities of terrorists?

I am not in support of el-Rufai’s suggestion. We have a homegrown solution to our security problem, if we are prepared to utilise it. We don’t need foreign bodies to intervene in domestic affairs that are not beyond our capacity to handle.

I have said several times that restructuring our polity that would accommodate state and local police is imperative, if we are serious about seeing the end to our security problem in this country. I insist that social crisis and political instability will not cease to be recurring decimals in Nigeria unless the agitation for restructuring of the nation’s polity is addressed.

You would recall that I sounded a note of warning some time ago when I described the encounter between the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and a police officer over a parcel of land at the Magodo Housing Estate as embarrassing.

I wondered aloud how the governor, who is supposed to be the overall security boss of his state, could not control the security apparatus under him. I made it abundantly clear that such a thing could not have happened in a situation where the polity was restructured in such a way as to place matters related to security firmly in the hands of state governors.

I expressed the conviction that, with the situation of things n Nigeria vis a vis the composition of the security apparatus,

Olokoba

This is the only panacea because there is no way that a single layer of security architecture can secure about 250 million Nigerians, no matter the kind of training they have received or the volume of bullets and number of guns in their possession.

there is no way disturbing and embarrassing clashes like what happened in Lagos could have occurred if the governors were constitutionally fully in charge of security in the state. It is unthinkable that a police man in Lagos would have to call his boss in far away Abuja before listening to the man given the mandate by his people to administer their affairs!

In a clearer term, what exactly do you want the authorities to do about the issue under discussion?

Judging by various developments, it is crystal clear that there is a need to decentralise the police structure. I would suggest to all the 36 state governors and other relevant stakeholders across the country to analyse the gains of having various levels of security to President Muhammadu Buhari and explain to him that imposition of the military structure on the police will not work in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria.

This discourse has been long overdue. But doing the right thing now will attest to the saying, ‘better late than never’ because the state governors will always be held responsible for funny occurrences.

Against the foregoing, the Nigerian Governors Forum, as I

A local policeman will understand the language and mannerism of his people and through training, be able to study body languages of every individual within his vicinity. But in a situation where the security officer does not understand the language and culture of a community where he is posted to operate, there will be hindrances here and there that will not allow him to operate effectively.

Are you indirectly suggesting restructuring of the polity in the country?

Yes, of course. I believe that harkening to the voice of wisdom over restructuring of the polity as regards to decentralisation of the security institutions in the country would go a long way in addressing the security challenges in the country. And the earlier we do that the better because a stitch in time saves nine.

Also there is the fear that engaging mercenaries could lead to another form of colonisation because the mercenaries may refuse to leave after their assignment. And they may have hatched a plan to take control of our security structure and start to dictate to us what to do and what not to do.

My Gubernatorial Aspiration Much Alive Despite 'Consensus' - Orbunde

FROM KAJO MARTINS, MAKURDI

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ormer Chief of Staff to Benue State Governor and 2023 governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Benue state, Pastor Terwase Orbunde, has assured his supporters that his aspiration is still alive and achievable in 2023, despite the said 'consensus' arrangement not in his favour.

Pastor Orbunde while addressing close political associates and other stakeholders who paid him a solidarity visit at his Makurdi residence, noted that the assurance became necessary following concerns raised through persistent phone calls and messages of inquiry about his political future.

He stated that the more he has reflected on the inspiration to offer service to Benue people as Governor, their support and goodwill, the more he was convinced that his decades of political tutelage and apprenticeship contained the resilience to withstand and

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overcome obstacles on the way to Government House, Makurdi.

The former Chief of Staff stressed that recent developments with regard to the governorship race and his participation were challenges that could be overcome by the grace of God and the support of well meaning people.

He solicited prayers and sustained support for God's will to prevail in his political career and promised to issue a more comprehensive statement on his involvement in the election process as soon as he has concluded ongoing consultations.

It will be recalled that the G14 PDP leaders in the fourteen local government area councils in Tiv land had met and agreed that Kwande local government area where Pastor Orbunde hails from had produced the first civilian governor of the state, late Aper Aku of blessed memory who ruled from 1979 to 1983 and was reelected during which military intervened in the polity.

The G14 therefore, zoned the 2023 governorship seat in Tiv land to Jechira federal constituency consisting of Vandeikya and Konshisha local government areas, particularly in Vandeikya since the second civilian governor, Revd Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu comes from Konshisa local government area.

In the foregoing, the G14 last week presented the Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Titus Uba as the consensus candidate out of the four from Vandeikya that were earlier shortlisted.

As it stand, Mr. Uba will be challenging the incumbent deputy governor, Benson Abounu who is the consensus candidate presented by the people of Benue South senatorial distinct at the PDP primaries schedule to hold next month in Makurdi, to elect a flag bearer to challenge other political parties at a general election next year.

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NEWS Obi Pledges to Make Economy Viable if Elected as President FROM SAMPSON UHUEGBU, OWERRI presidential aspirant under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Governor of Anambra State, Dr Peter Obi, has said he will revive the Nigerian economy and make it viable, if elected as President in 2023.

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Obi said this while addressing members of the Imo State chapter of the PDP at the party's secretariat in Owerri.

He described Nigeria as great country that ought to stand on its own economically and sustain itself with what it has.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, (left), pays a courtesy visit to the Olubadan of Ibadan Land Oba Lekan Balogun, and engages with stakeholders of the Oyo State APC Chapter in Ibadan, Oyo State on April 22, 2022.

Lalong Cannot Anoint Successor, Ondo To Host Asun Carnival 2022 Says Plateau ADC Chairman

BY JANEFRANCES CHIBUZOR

FROM UKANDI ODEY, JOS

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he Chairman of the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC), Mohammed Musa Sabiu, has said that Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State lacks the moral right and capacity to ‘anoint’ a candidate of his choice to succeed him in office.

Sabiu said Lalong had lost the right to install a successor because he himself had disappointed the people of Plateau State and even betrayed the trust and confidence they repose in him.

Sabiu, who was the candidate of the ADC in the same 2015 governorship election in which Lalong emerged as governor of Plateau State, noted that after seven years in office, the latter had nothing to show in terms of projects or people-centred programmes that would have impacted meaningfully on the lives of the people.

“Look at all the angles as you are coming into Plateau State. Look at Jos, the state capital, for example. Is there anything here to show that somebody has been in power for seven years? There are no roads, nothing. As far as I am concerned, Lalong still has a lot to do, but it is too late,” he said.

Sabiu also noted that a similar thing has happened at the national level, stressing that even Buhari failed woefully in terms of meeting or fulfilling the promises he made to millions of Nigerians. The APC, he said made very beautiful promises in the beginning that gave the people the wrong impression that they were on the way to paradise.

Regretting that the APC government had practically “taken Nigerians to hell,” he said it was ridiculous for anybody to think that Governor Lalong could ‘anoint’ any aspirant and that will become the magic wand to guarantee victory for whomever he chooses.

“Lalong has done nothing to show for all the years he has been in office. So how can he anoint another person? Let me tell you, right now in Maiduguri, there is no contest. There may be contest later.

But now there is no contest because all of them know that not one of the aspirants has the capacity that (governor) Zullum has. This is because everyone around there knows that Zullum is doing the best for his State. But in Plateau, where are we?” Sabiu said.

We'll Sack APC in Ogun – PDP Chairman

FROM SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA he Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, Hon. Sikirulai Ogundele, has said that the end of the All Progressives Congress-dominated administration in the state is imminent.

Ogundele spoke exclusively in Abeokuta, the state capital, few weeks after Hon. Ladi Adebutu officially declared his intention to contest in the governorship election in the state in 2023.

The chairman, who said that Governor Dapo Abiodun’s government had failed the people woefully, noted that with the emergence of Adebutu as a governorship aspirant in the state, the APC reign has ended in the state.

He maintained that his party was ready

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to take over the reins of power from the governing party.

Describing the current government in Ogun as “wicked,” Ogundele said it lacked vision and urged members of the PDP and residents of the state to get their voter cards ready and prepare to vote out APC in 2023.

He said, "The end of APC has come in Ogun State. The PDP will take over power from the party. The APC government does not have a good plan for the state because it is a wicked government.

"It is operation show your voter cards because the end of APC has come and PDP is here to take over power. We have credible aspirants and we shall win."

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ith the resounding success of Asun Carnival in 2021, as a debuting event created by Destination Ondo under the supervision of the President of La Campagne, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, the carnival, which was later adopted by the Ondo State Government, is set for its second run on May 2, 2022.

Billed to hold at the Ondo Township Stadium, guests and local communities and other attendees, will be treated to enrich the line-up of entertaining events besides the street parades by revelers and different music bands and sections of the carnival that is geared to enliven their day.

Other activities to unfold during the carnival, which is tagged as ‘The pride of our identity,’ include road shows, dance, music, fashion parade, Kolokun contest and Asun Ibile competition. One of the major features of the carnival, which is to be hosted in conjunction with the Ondo State Ministry of Culture and Tourism, is food culture, a display of the rich and vast culinary offerings of the people of Ondo town and the state in general.

Speaking on the event, Akinboboye said it is devoted to energising the economy of the town and the state by engaging the youths and other segments of the society in a meaningful venture that engages their skills, brains and creative talents.

According to him, preparation for the carnival, which promises to be colourful, entertaining and fulfilling, has long started with the local production of the various outfits, including foot wears and accessories for the carnival by the garment factory created by Destination Ondo in the town, which has engaged hundreds of tailors and other artisans.

With the commitment of Destination Ondo to Ondo tourism development and growth for the next generation, Akinboboye disclosed that Ondo town is set for transformation as the growth of tourism is expected to have multiplier effects on the socio-economic development of the town that is noted for its vast and rich tourism offerings.

"All these people that are eyeing the presidential seat, let us find out where they have worked before and their achievements before we think of casting votes for them," Obi said.

The Presidential aspirant said that he never owed any contractor or civil servant during his time as governor of Anambra State, adding that he left the sum of $10 million in the treasury of the state.

"There is too much wastefulness in governance in Nigeria. The money would have been used to fund poor children in schools," he said.

Obi noted that China, Japan and other countries invested the money they borrowed judiciously and it is yielding positive results for them. Calling for a change that will make Nigeria great again, he added, “In the past 10 years, we have borrowed over 1billion US dollars.”

Obi thanked the PDP leadership in Imo for giving him the opportunity to talk to members of the party. He said that he had created wealth as an Individual and therefore, urged Nigerians not only to be a consuming nation but also to share their agricultural produce with other countries.

Earlier in his speech, the Imo PDP Chairman, Chief Charles Ugwu, told the presidential aspirant that members of the party knew what he wanted, reminding him that they are solidly behind him.

Speaking, the former Imo PDP Chairman, Alex Obi, said that Peter Obi was a son in whom they are well pleased. He said that the Igbo are rejected people, advising them to pray for God's intervention.

A former zonal vice chairman of the party said that he had never ceased to be a good Imo man and however assured him of prayers from Imo PDP members and Nigerians at large.

Also, Nze Ray Emeana, explained that Nigerians were begging Peter Obi to run for president. He said, “Obi is the Igbo project.”

Emeana appealed to the people of the state to rally round Peter Obi whom he said would take Nigeria to greater heights, if given the mandate.

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EDITORIAL

Matawalle's Flight of Fancy G

overnor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State is on a flight of fancy. A fortnight ago, the governor doled out over 200 luxury cars to traditional rulers in an apparent show of affluence.

The Cadillac 2019 Model cars were presented to 17 Emirs, 13 Senior District Heads and 230 District Heads across the state to appreciate them as the custodians of the peoples' customs and tradition, as well as to woo them into the fight against banditry in the state.

The governor continued the spending spree last Wednesday with the sponsorship of 97 clerics to Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj to pray for the state against banditry and for peace in Nigeria.

While the governor’s intention was genuine, the manner in which he presented the gifts was wrong. Why would a governor give out luxury cars to monarchs who cannot maintain such luxury and those who could not even assure their own security? You don't give a luxury car to a monarch who has no means of maintaining it. Also, flaunting wealth that is not even circulating in a poor state like Zamfara and anywhere in Nigeria for that matter, is quite unthinkable.

Although the governor is at liberty to extend goodwill to the monarchs, it should not be seen as a political gesture. It is wrong to play politics with the general insecurity in the state and the country as a whole. We however encourage governors to patronise locally-assembled automobiles, if they must give out cars, as is being done in the

South-East, in order to grow the local automobile industry.

Now, Matawalle, who superintends over a state that has been under constant attacks by terrorists and local bandits, has indirectly attracted trouble to himself. The governor now has less than 10 more days to meet the deadline of a notorious terrorist, Nasanda, for a N30 million ransom over the alleged killing of his wife and two relations by the state vigilante corps. Apparently waiting to pick their own share of the supposedly new-found wealth, other terrorists might just be squaring up for their own shares of the largesse.

Yet, Zamfara is one of the least developed states in Nigeria, despite the humongous amount of money being raked from its gold reserves.

While it must be stated that Zamfara does not own the gold reserves, which actually belong to the Federal Government, the state actually competes actively with private players in the lucrative gold business and was able to sell N5 billion worth of gold to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2020 alone.

Despite the resources at its disposal, however, and compared to other neighbouring states in the North-West geopolitical zone, Zamfara, which could afford to splash over N11 billion on a car bazaar for its monarchs and pay huge sums of money to pacify terrorists and local bandits, has only one university – the Zamfara State University, established two years ago and which currently operates from a primary school with only four

permanent staff. Infrastructure development in the state is also at a zero level , except the cosmetic facelifts in Gusau, the state capital.

in the state. This is highly commendable and this gesture should continue as development can only thrive in a peaceful environment.

Despite all these, the fact remains that the Zamfara governor appreciates the importance of security, especially in a volatile state of his, having gone through constant 'baptism of fire' in the hands of rampaging terrorists who work in connivance with local bandits to make life unbearable for the vulnerable people of the state.

Matawalle's situation is understandable as he has been in the eye of the storm with terrorists making his state one of the most insecure states in Nigeria. Some of the monarchs had even been fingered as collaborators with the terrorists while some had been deposed after being found guilty of the accusation. Despite the resources deployed by both the Federal Government and the state to contain the terrorists, Zamfara has remained a hotbed of terrorism and local banditry in Nigeria. The governor has remained resolute and determined in the fight against insecurity as he even declared openly that he was no more ready to negotiate with the daredevil terrorists.

Just as the governor extended his largesse to the monarchs, security agencies in the state were not left unattended to.

Over 200 security vehicles were given to the various security agencies in the state to help them in ensuring security

We implore the Governor Matawalle to remain focused and committed to this cause.

He should also concentrate more on developmental projects and seek to liberate his people through education, instead of trying to score cheap political goals

We implore the Governor Matawalle to remain focused and committed to this cause.

He should also concentrate more on developmental projects and seek to liberate his people through education, instead of trying to score cheap political goals by ''settling'' the monarchs and clerics whose contributions to the restoration of peace in the troubled state remain doubtful. While we believe in the efficacy of prayers, we want to state that the solution to the general insecurity, not only in Zamfara but in the entire country as a whole, requires more drastic actions rather than the car bazaar for the monarchs and sponsoring thousands of marabouts to the holy lands for special prayers.

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Austyn Ogannah Editor – Olaolu Olusina Deputy Editor – Amos Esele Politics Editor – Ayo Esan Business Editor – Sam Diala Copy Editor – Chux Ohai Cartoon Editor – Victor Asowata Entertainment/Society Editor – Ivory Ukonu Photo Editor – Peace Udugba Head, Graphics – Tosin Yusuph Circulation Manager – Victor Nwokoh Nigeria Bureau: 36AA Remi Fani-Kayode Street, GRA, Ikeja. Lagos, Nigeria. info@thewillnigeria.com / @ THEWILLNG, +234 810 345 2286, +234 913 333 3888.

EDITOR: Olaolu Olusina @OLUSINA [Letters/Opinions: opinion.letters@thewillnigeria.com]

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OPI N ION

Arguable Agencies And Nigeria’s Economic Poverty

BY ADEFOLARIN OLAMILEKAN

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he rate of economic development and growth across the world is tied to the critical role played by agencies in every country. Little wonder, economists teach that respective agencies and institutions determine long-term economic development and growth. As such, public agencies are much more crucial in economic activities.

Conversely, in recent times, as the global economy continues to unfold, there are complementary roles which public agencies play together to ensure that the economic result is positive.

Each of the agencies has its own unique priorities on what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who to do it for. For instance, the Central Bank of every country is the Master Baker of Monetary Policies, which impact reasonably on the interest rate, inflation, cash flow, credit access and the general economic output at micro and macroeconomic levels.

Nevertheless, the manner with which the Central Bank dishes out its policy essentially impacts every sector of the state such as agriculture, transport, education, health, security, aviation, telecommunication, power, hospitality, infrastructure and many others.

Therefore, the failure to have a linkage policy with positive bearings on all sectors can be destructive and counterproductive.

In all honesty, Nigerians are not finding it easy with the economy. One may need to ask pertinent questions regarding the role of numerous government agencies in Nigeria.

Instructively, if one should interrogate: Do government agencies have a role to ensure the Nigerian economy develops and grows satisfactorily? The simple answer is yes. However, one critical question is that its answer cannot be categorically affirmed as “yes” is. How much contribution is coming from government agencies to enable the economy to grow? One may be disappointed in the answer from the question above.

Because, over the years we grapple with little or no appreciable contributions from government agencies, rather we are confronted with official excuses that define the poor health of the economy thus far.

For instance, some of us are envious of the successive interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cutting across multi-sectoral levels. These CBN interventions run into trillions of naira in the last seven years.

Take for example, the CBN interventions in the power sector, particularly in Nigerians’ expectations which should translate to steady power supply. That is, key to Small Medium

Enterprises (SMEs) and large manufacturers, but the results of that intervention till date are excuses upon excuses. Sadly, our national grid is collapsing on a monthly basis.

Another is the agricultural sector where public spending in billions of naira is not in short supply. Regrettably, surging food prices on a daily basis cannot be comprehended, even as the fear of terrorists keeps farmers away from planting – a prediction of the looming food crisis we are being told.

What can we say about the security sector that has been most enriched with trillions of naira. Ironically, poor performance in taming insecurity points out we are not ready yet, while elements responsible for insecurity freely live amongst us and kidnappers walk freely to enjoy proceeds from ransoms collected from their captives. Indeed, our security agencies have since lost touch with the reality that there is a strong correlation between economic growth and security.

A look at infrastructure, roads for example, across the country from federal, state and local governments are in pitiable conditions. Good road network alongside other infrastructure definitely is a leeway to ensure a stable and enabling business environment. Agencies in that sector for a long time now are the very roadblock to successful completion of projects. In recent times, contract re-evaluation between government and contractors is now a normal procedure to bypass procurement rules and regulation. And these are deliberate acts fueling the cycle of corruption in that sector.

The economy in our estimation suffers majorly, as it is dependent on foreign technology, and failure to deploy local technology know-how. Although, the establishment of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure(NASENI), with its over twenty specialised subagencies, was in the right direction. Unfailingly, NASENI is expected to lead the industrialisation of the nation by feeding the manufacturing sector with tools, machinery, equipment, spare parts and many other complex but innovative engineering. Alas! Where are we with NASENI? Hence, there should be an interrogation of the people in charge of NASENI about what is hindering their contribution to the economy.

Their reply, perhaps, would be the same official excuse that other government agencies lament over.

Don’t be surprised to receive the same excuse from the National Automobile Council (NAC) who, since inception, have contributed nothing towards the economy.

We can go on and on, highlighting several agencies of the Nigerian state having little or nothing to contribute except to draw on budgetary bills.

One is pained seeing beautiful edifices of many of these agencies and enraged as the economy keeps stinging masses.

For us, it is a shame to have arguable agencies without any corresponding contribution to the economy. The contention that they employ people to be paid salaries is so serious as their core mandate to impact the economy. We must appreciate that agencies of government in their totality are not charity or foundation outreach, because at the face value and value chain of every government agency, is to steadily grow the economy. Arguably, why is ours not so?

Our stand, what should be done going forward? First, there is a need to remove any hindrance against government agency role towards economic growth. The primacy of economics first should be their priorities in promoting economic growth.

Secondly, the factors determining economic and human development are open access in the economic sphere.

Our suggestion is for a linkage and interconnection in agency activities. For instance, nothing stops CBN and NASENI in collaborating on technology innovation for manufacturers and the Agric sector focused on its interventions.

Thirdly, we equally believe that inter-agencies collaboration should replace every form of inter-agencies rivalries.

On the collaboration of economic activities among government agencies in resources development and finished product, nothing stops the National Agricultural Land Development Agency (NALDA), from partnering with NASENI to produce all its farm tools, equipment and food silos.

Lastly, we need to evidently establish a mechanism to check and monitor the contributions of these arguable agencies to the economy. This is necessary to balance their sphere sufficiently, towards economic growth.

For us, a practical demonstration to achieve economic growth can only be achieved if government agencies cultivate linkages that embrace economic integration, interconnection and networking.

Although we appreciate the present political climate of democracy which stresses popular participation by all.

However, political democracy alone cannot put food on the table. It paramountly needs public agencies’ steadfastness to ensure economic growth and stability.

•Olamilekan is a political economist and development researcher.

Remembering Chibok Girls, 8 Years After O

BY PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON

n the night of April 14, 2014, 276 pupils of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, whose ages were between 16 and 18 years, were kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group known locally as Boko Haram.

It is eight years after that incident and still counting, Chibok itself has witnessed almost a dozen and more attacks. About 110 girls are still missing. More than half of that number will never be found. In this timeline, over 1,500 children, according to Amnesty International, have been abducted. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that over 1 million children are afraid to go back to school as a result of violence.

The Chibok girls have now become a symbol of Nigeria and her wayward ways. Chibok, viewed as an ethnic, faith-based, party-based, politics laced, hate coloured subject of discussion, symbolises everything that we stand for in many ways.

Chibok has no electricity, no good roads and no health facility. The only bank in the community for a long time was simply an agency. Chibok had only one secondary school. Chibok is Nigeria and Nigeria is Chibok.

I have carried out investigations on not just Boko Haram but also the Chibok schoolgirls, the killings, kidnapping and the conflict-torn North-West geopolitical zone. I have visited Chibok four times, spoken to a few of the girls that were released, spoke to one that escaped, I THEWILLNIGERIA

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have spoken with their parents and that includes a few that are now dead.

not really serious as a people on matters that we should be serious about.

It is a fact that the girls were indeed abducted from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, but the figures are conflicting. It is safe to conclude that nobody knows the exact number of girls that were kidnapped, not even the Federal Government knows and Boko Haram seems to have forgotten the damage they inflicted on the community. There is a semblance of a list of missing persons, but it is not accessible.

The sad truth is that several hundreds of innocent schoolgirls have paid the ultimate price. A few of the girls have escaped with almost irreparable psychological and mental damages, others have become parts of the terrorists and we have not done much to help them.

Before the Chibok incident, Boko Haram had established a tradition of abducting girls and women for countless reasons. The authorities were quiet, the media reported a few of the incidents and many parents kept quiet and took it all in their stride.

I equally know that many people believe that Buhari and the ‘North’ are Boko Haram, that with Buhari as president, the Chibok girls would have been found.

And many still don’t understand the Dapchi episode and Leah who was left behind.

I recall the drama that took place during what I call the ‘International Week of Boko Haram’. It was the period in which the United States, Britain, France, China and Togo offered to help Nigeria fight the insurgents and how drones kept flying about, yet nothing happened.

Also I recall the dramatic Chadian negotiation, a ballet between Modu Sherif, Idris Derby and Goodluck Jonathan, the sum total of which revealed that we are

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It is also a fact that one of the reasons that Boko Haram may continue to exist for a while is because many Nigerians still do not know what the terrorist group is all about. Does it have an ideology? Is it part of a CIA conspiracy or a thing about poverty? How is it connected to ISWAP? Are they same and one with the terrorists and serial kidnappers that have gradually infiltrated parts of the North? Who funds their activities?

Eight years after the abduction of the schoolgirls, a lot has happened. More people have been killed by terrorists and communities attacked. There have been loads of propaganda, while half-truths, misinformation and sheer falsehood have been peddled around. Boko Haram terrorists have continued to make all sorts of demands, release videos and create more confusion, yet the Chibok girls have not been found.

The girls were abducted, in the first place, because our institutions were not working the way they should. The girls may never be found because we are not sincere people and we are largely and easily divided by our selfish motives.

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•

w w w.t he w i llni g eri a. c om VOL .2 N O.1 7

Suleiman

A PR I L 24 - A PR I L 30, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R

Sterling Bank Plc: Stakeholders Express Disapproval of ‘Offensive’ Easter Advert

BY SAM DIALA

M

any stakeholders and industry players have expressed indignation and disappointment over the Easter advert slot published by Sterling Bank Plc, a Mid-Tier lender quoted on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX). The publication, now called ‘Sterling Bank Agege Bread Advert’, has stirred wide condemnation in both the conventional and social media because of the perceived derogatory content adjudged offensive to the sensibilities of members of the Christian faith.

The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the apex regulatory body in the country’s advertising industry, has vowed to punish Sterling Bank, to serve as a deterrent to others, noting that the advert copy was not submitted for approval before it was made public. The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has also demanded the sack of the Chief Executive Officer of the institution, Abubakar Suleiman, over the controversial Easter advert.

The advert was published barely two weeks after Suleiman marked the fourth anniversary of his appointment as MD/CEO of Sterling Bank on April 1, 2018.

The stakeholders and industry experts who spoke with THEWILL strongly abhorred the Sterling Bank advert comparing the resurrection of Christ with the rising of Agege Bread, a nonbranded bread sold by local bakeries and hawked around streets in Nigeria. The APCON had on Easter Monday, April 18, reacted to the advert, describing it as offensive and provocative. The advert copy demonstrated a puffed, golden brown, halved Agege Bread with the caption ‘Like Agege Bread, He Rose! … Happy Easter’.

Mr Suleiman, in a letter on Monday apologised for the controversial advert saying that the financial institution never intended to offend Christians.

Nigeria’s Airports Record 43.41% Increase in Domestic Passengers

BY ANTHONY AWUNOR

N

igeria’s airports, put together, have recorded 13 million domestic air passengers in 2021, up from 9 million in 2020. According to data obtained from the Air Transportation report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Wednesday,

PAGE 16

the figure represents an increase of 43.41 per cent, compared to the 9 million recorded in 2020.

The report also stated that Nigerian airports witnessed increased patronage between January and December 2021, as the number of air travellers rose

Continues on page 17

“On behalf of the Management and Staff of Sterling Bank Plc, I write to tender our unreserved apology to you and members of our nation’s Christian community for our Easter message email of 17 April 2022.

“The content of the infographic and the message it contained was insensitive and failed to consider the very sober nature of the event being commemorated, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“While the message had no malicious intent, there is no place for content that fails to fully account for the feelings of billions of people all over the world. Our honest intent was to join our millions of customers in Nigeria and worldwide in celebrating this solemn event, but our execution fell short on this occasion.

“Our policies are clear on what constitutes acceptable customer communication, and this message should not have been released to our customers. On this occasion, our editorial processes fell short of our policy standards.

“As a responsible institution, we immediately withdrew the offensive material and initiated a review of the circumstances that led to this failure. We will further sensitize our workforce to ensure this unfortunate lapse in judgement never repeats itself.

“We thank you for your continued trust in us and apologise again for this unfortunate incident.”

The bank consequently replaced the controversial advert with another in a background that symbolised Christ’s departure from the grave, captioned, “…let he who has never sinned throw the first stone. For our recent errors, we sincerely apologize. Forgive us in the spirit of Ester!”

MORE INSIDE ipNX Commends NCC for Efficient Regulatory Services PAGE 19

OPIC Generates 42.6% Revenue For Q1 In Property, Housing Sector PAGE 19

Continues on page 17

FMDQ Approves Quotation of N10bn CardinalStone Partners C/Paper

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he Board Listings and Markets Committee of the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited has approved the quotation of the CardinalStone Partners Limited N10 billion Series 2 Commercial Paper (CP) under its N10 billion CP Issuance Programme on the Exchange platform.

CardinalStone Partners Limited is a fullservice investment banking and financial Continues on page 19 THEWILLNIGERIA

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AVIATION/BANKING Nigeria’s Airports Record 43.41% Increase in Domestic Passengers

Sterling Bank Plc: Stakeholders Express Disapproval of ‘Offensive’ Easter Advert

Continued from page 16

Continued from page 16

to 15.23 million from 10.55 million recorded in 2020.

The statistics bureau stated that a total of 15,225,627 travellers passed through Nigeria's airports in 2021. This was an increase of 101.02 per cent in domestic and international travel when compared to 2020.

The data released by the NBS stated that the figures were provided by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and verified and validated by the bureau.

The data contained in the report further showed that the total number of international passengers who passed through Nigeria’s airports was 2,219,146, as against 1,408,026 passengers in 2020. This represents 57.61 per cent growth rate.

While in 2021, the total number of domestic passengers who passed through the nation’s airports were 13,006,481 as against 9,069,295 in 2020, which represents 43.41 per cent growth rate.

The number of arrivals in 2021 stood at 6,533,740, which was higher compared to 4,870,072 in 2020. Also, departure stood at 6,472,741 in 2021 compared to 4,199,223 in 2020. Similarly, the total number of international passengers who passed through Nigeria’s airports were 2,219,146 in 2021 as against 1,408,026 passengers in 2020.

This represents 57.61 per cent growth rate. The number of arrivals in 2021 stood at 1,109,621, which was higher compared to 690,765 in 2020. Also, departure stood at 1,109,525 in 2021 compared to 717,261 in 2020.

The data revealed that Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Owerri recorded the highest rate of traffic, while Katsina, Kaduna, Ibadan and Jos recorded the lowest traffic.

A total of 4,758,843 passengers passed through the domestic terminal of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, while 4,093,712 passengers passed through the domestic terminals of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. The domestic terminals of Port Hacourt International Airport had 900,728 passengers, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport recorded 545,749) while Akanu Ibiam International Airport had 508,513.

Others are Owerri (583,464), Benin Airport (433,017), Margaret Ekpo Airport (197,998), Yola (175,699), Maiduguri (197,898), Ilorin (148,109), Akure (113,625), Sokoto (137,511), Kaduna (73,110), Jos (57,020), Ibadan (51,172) and Katsina (30,313).

For foreign travel, Lagos recorded the highest traffic, with 1,595,522 passengers, while Abuja came second with 565,062 passengers. Port Harcourt had 14,519 passengers, while Kano had 39,441, Enugu had 4,532 and Maiduguri had 68.

The 2021 global air passenger totals show improvement from 2020, but still only half prepandemic levels.

At the global level, passenger traffic recovered modestly in 2021, with the latest ICAO economic

The Chairman, Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Ibadan Zone, Mr Eric Akinduro expressed grave concern over the advert slot which he said had the potential of igniting religious disharmony in a sensitive environment like Nigeria.

He said the publication smacks of insensitivity on the part of the bank’s leadership, but advised that the bank’s apology be considered and accepted as a true change of heart.

“It is not ethically right and it can promote religious crises if not maturely handled particularly in a precarious environment like Nigeria. It shows the insensitivity of the leadership of the bank to a very vital issue like this. However, the apologies of the bank should be considered enough to let go”, he said in a note to THEWILL. The Chairperson, Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mrs Bisi Bakare, urges the leadership of CAN and members of public to see Sterling Bank’s public apology as a true change of heart.

She believes that the bank would have learnt its lesson from the issue.

“The advert was not intentional but a wrong mixture of contents to interpret a very important moment.

The bank has done the needful by admitting its error, and going step further to apologise. This is commendable. To err is human, to forgive is divine. I want to believe that the bank has learnt a lot from this scenario and the social media backlashes that follow after. The bank should be very careful next time especially any advert that has to do with religion or ethnicity. Next time, the contents of the advert must undergo thorough screening and proper vetting before they are made public,” Bakare told THEWILL. An Abuja-based businessman and former banker, Abubakar Idris, wondered how Sterling Bank management allowed the controversial advert to pass through the approval process without its knowledge. “This is not acceptable.

People of other faith may not accept this with the calm that CAN has demonstrated. But how can someone who is a professional sit down to create such a horrible concept?”

A Stockbroker and the Doyen of the Stockbrokers, Mr Sam Ndata, cautioned that the Sterling Bank ‘Agege Bread Advert’ could have adverse effects on the financial services industry and the bank will not get away with the offensive and distasteful advert without having punishment meted out to it.

He said, “The offensive, distasteful advert by Sterling Bank will surely affect the financial service establishment one way or the other, now or in the future. They cannot just get away with such offensive, distasteful advert without the punishment coming back to them”, Ndata who is a Chief Dealer/COO at Hedge Securities and Investment Co. Ltd, told THEWILL in a note.

The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria has said that it is currently reviewing relevant laws with a view to dispensing the stipulated punishment to Sterling Bank over its provocative and insensitive Easter Celebration advert.

The Council’s CEO/Registrar, Dr

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impact analysis of COVID-19 on civil aviation revealing that the number of passengers worldwide was 2.3 billion or 49 percent below pre-pandemic (2019) levels, up from the 60 percent drop seen in 2020.

Global seat capacity offered by airlines improved by 20 percent during the same period, exceeding the growth in passenger demand. The overall passenger load factor in 2021 stood at 68 percent, compared to 82 percent in 2019, and airlines worldwide incurred losses of $324 billion following $372 billion in 2020.

Continuing efforts by States to implement WHO and ICAO recommendations, including those issued by the ICAO Council’s Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) and adopted in the Ministerial Declaration at ICAO’s Highlevel Conference on COVID-19, have helped to eliminate travel restrictions disproportionate to public health risks, and to lessen the pandemic’s impacts on global mobility so that air travel, trade and tourism can recover more quickly and bring prosperity back to many hard hit markets and regions worldwide.

Meanwhile, the first quarter of 2021 saw a decrease in the rate of global air traffic recovery due to the sharp spike at that time in COVID-19 infections. The situation stabilised slightly in the second and third quarters, mainly due to rising vaccination rates, and with an accompanying relaxation in travel restrictions in various parts of the world during the peak travel season.

However, this upward trend stalled quickly in the fourth quarter, with the emergence of the Omicron variant.

The impact of the pandemic continues to weigh disproportionately on domestic and international travel, with the former recovering at a faster pace. Overall, domestic passenger traffic has recovered to 68 percent of pre-pandemic levels, while international traffic remains at just 28 percent.

Both positive signs and downside risks confront analysts trying to gauge how the aviation recovery will play out over the remainder of 2022. ICAO currently projects that 2022 passenger totals will be 26 to 31 percent less than pre-pandemic levels, with seat capacity down 20 to 23 percent.

In an optimistic scenario, passenger traffic is expected to recover to 86 percent of its 2019 levels by December 2022, based on 73 percent international traffic recovery and 95 percent domestic.

More pessimistic scenarios point to a 75 percent recovery based on 58 percent international and 86 percent domestic recoveries. This projected continued decline in traffic could translate into estimated losses of $186–$217 billion in gross airline passenger operating revenues in 2022 compared to 2019.

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“

Someone at the executive management level must have seen and given the go-ahead for the advert to be published.

A bank cannot publish an advert that the Management did not approve. But failure to submit it APCON for vetting is a serious error

Olalekan Fadolapo, had said the Advertising Council was still weighing up the relevant laws in order to determine the stipulated punishment to the bank for breaching the laid down advertising canons in the country.

He said, “We have a law guiding advertising in Nigeria: the APCON law and the Code of Advertising. What we are going to do is look at the code and the sections that have been violated, as stipulated by the law. We will apply the sanction as stipulated by the law.”

The Christian Association of Nigeria in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Joseph Daramola, called for the resignation of Suleiman as CEO of Sterling Bank, describing the apology as not from a penitent heart.

“The purported apology did not come from a penitent heart. How can someone in his right mind describe the risen Christ as a loaf of bread?

That is insulting, ridiculous and a mockery of Jesus Christ. We advise Christians to be wary of the banks and other financial institutions they are patronising.

“We learnt that the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria has reportedly intervened in the matter with a view to impose some sanctions against Sterling Bank. The Christian Association of Nigeria is waiting for the decision of the organisation.

“However, in the interim, we call for the immediate removal of the Chief Executive of Sterling Bank; Mr. Abubakar Suleiman with his Management whose actions have clearly shown their hostility and hatred for the Christian faith.”

Industry experts who spoke to THEWILL explained that the management of Sterling Bank must have approved the advert before it was published, but the corporate communications department of the bank failed to submit the material to APCON for vetting. “Someone at the executive management level must have seen and given the go-ahead for the advert to be published. A bank cannot publish an advert that the Management did not approve.

But failure to submit it to APCON for vetting is a serious error,” Director of a Lagos-based Public Relations Agency told THEWILL craving anonymity.

Sterling Bank recorded slight growth in its operations last year. The audited 2021 annual report showed that the Mid-Tier bank’s profit before tax rose from N12.38 billion in 2020 to N14.47 billion in 2020, reflecting 17 percent rise; gross earnings also recorded a slight increase of 5 percent from N135.4 billion to N141.1 billion.

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BUSINESS NEWS ipNX Commends NCC for Efficient Regulatory Services

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ey members of the top echelon of the Management of ipNX, a licensee of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), were at the Commission recently for a courtesy visit.

The delegation from ipNX, led by the Group Managing Director, Ejovi Aror, commended the Management of NCC for its superlative regulatory activities, describing the Commission’s actions as marked by efficiency and effectiveness.

Aror also hinted about the company’s plan to expand its operations in Nigeria, in a manner that will heighten the role of the telecom sector in the growth of the Nigerian economy.

The Group Managing Director of ipNX, also notified the Commission that the operation of the company has come to a critical juncture and ipNX is happy to migrate from the stage where it is now to a more strategic stage where it will play a greater role in the efforts to expand broadband infrastructures in Nigeria.

“Therefore, we are here to solicit your support for our plan to expand our businesses because we are at the threshold of closing a chapter and moving onto another, particularly in expanding broadband infrastructure which is critical to national development,” Aror stated.

Aror also informed the management of NCC about some of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes,adding that the most central and significant of them,

is the free Internet access to schools in Lagos and Oyo States.

It emphasised ipNX’s readiness to extend such services to other parts of the country, particularly in schools, because of the importance of ICT to educational development.

Responding to the ipNX delegation, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, who was represented by the Commission’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management (ECSM), Adeleke Adewolu, thanked ipNX for the visit and for the testimony about how NCC’s regulatory activities have caused growth in leaps and bounds in the fortunes of the telecom ecosystem.

Adewolu declared that NCC is particularly gratified by the remarkable and quantifiable impact of Commission’s activities on the economy, including increase in the sectoral contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Adewolu promised that the encouraging words of ipNX's delegation will spur the Commission to put in more efforts towards achieving its mandate.

Putting in context the trajectory of landmarks in the telecom sector, Adeleke recalled the history of the evolution of the telecom industry in Nigeria, declaring that Decree 75 of 1992 which established the Commission, was a great feat.

FMDQ Approves Quotation of N10bn CardinalStone Partners C/Paper Continued from page 16

services company that provides services encompassing financial advisory, asset management, securities trading, share registration, and consumer finance on a retail and institutional scale.

The proceeds from this CP, which is cosponsored by FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited – lead sponsor; CardinalStone Partners Limited, EAC Advisory Limited, FCMB Capital Markets Limited and United Capital PLC – all Registration Member (Quotations) of the Exchange, will be utilised by the Issuer to support its short-term financing requirements.

The successive and successful admittance of the securities listed and quoted so far in the year 2022, following the due approvals obtained, attests to the efficient and uniquely tailored

listing and quotation service offered

by FMDQ Exchange – Nigeria’s largest securities exchange by market turnover (with an annual average of ₦166 trillion over the last eight years).

The quotation of this CP on the Exchange’s platform validates its conscious drive to support the goals of corporate businesses in meeting their capital raising needs and to deepen the Nigerian financial markets.

In maintaining its support for the development of the Nigerian debt capital markets (DCM), FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited uses its platform, to efficiently enhance the registration, listing, quotation and trading of debt securities in the Nigerian financial markets space.

OPIC Generates 42.6% Revenue For Q1 In Property, Housing Sector

FROM SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA

T

he Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC) has generated 42.6 per cent of its total revenue in various housing projects for the first quarter of 2022 budget.

The Committee on Trade, Industry and Investment of the Ogun State House of Assembly disclosed this while lauding the corporation of its milestones recorded in housing sector within three months The committee, led by Hon. Kemi Oduwole, made the commendation on OPIC's management team during the ongoing 2022 budget performance appraisal at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, The

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lawmakers,

who

declared

that

the corporation had recorded laudable achievements in the housing sector/ investment within 12 weeks by generating 42.6 per cent of its total revenue, expressed optimism that it would do more before the end of the fiscal year.

While presenting the budget performance, the Special Adviser/Managing Director, OPIC, Arch. Biodun Fari-Arole said that the corporation generated N687.78m within the period under review.

Fari-Arole added that the amount was generated through survey/building fees, development fees, administrative fees, change of ownership fees, earnings from sundry income and consultancy fees amongst others.

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APRIL 24 - APRIL 30, 2022 APRIL 24 - APRIL 30, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com

CHINEZE

ANYAENEABONYI Projecting Nigeria's Creativity THEWILLNIGERIA

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Notable film maker, Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi, who is best known for her groundbreaking movie, Ije: The Journey, speaks to Ivory Ukonu about issues bordering on film making and her time as pioneer head of Nigeria Oscar Selection Committee. Excerpts:

EXPOSURE TO FILM FESTIVALS KEY TO MAKING GREAT MOVIES

– CHINEZE ANYAENE-ABONYI A

fter producing 20 Years Later, you fizzled out of the movie scene. What happened?

Fizzled out!? That is untrue. As a filmmaker with an eye for sustainability, you have to think strategically. The Nigeria Official Selection Committee for the Academy Awards is a direct result of such thinking. Also, creatives come in two forms: conceptual and experimental. I consider myself a mix of both. From my experimental side, I like to throw myself into the process of creativity, using curiosity and my constructive contrarian skill to unearth projects which can take a longer time to fully emerge.

The short film didn’t quite catch on like your first effort, Ije: The Journey, which literally changed the perception of how movies should be made. What do you think could be responsible for this?

I believe every project is unique. It is a means of artistic expression and it is expected to trigger different reactions. Much more often, films with big casts tend to catch on more than those with relatively popular faces or without; it is an unconscious bias.

Ije: The Journey was a big deal when it made its debut because two of the biggest actresses in Nigeria, Genevieve Nnaji and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, appeared in it. It was rumoured that they were not in speaking terms with each other at that time. How did you manage to bring them together?

They are both professionals and I believe personal sentiments should be secondary in this line of work. I was not aware of any feud. Besides, my analysis of Ije: The Journey script suggested that they were the right cast for the film.

What was it like working with them?

They were professional and cordial Would you like to work with them again in the nearest future?

Certainly, they are exceptional actors/filmmakers

yi Anyaene-Abon

discussion, I submitted a request for Nigeria Selection Committee to be set up and to participate in the then known ‘Best Foreign Film’ category.

After their due diligence and procedure, the request was approved. I saw this as an opportunity to further project Nigeria to a critically acclaimed level of creative discourse.

Anyaene-Abonyi What do you think film producers should do to upgrade their films?

Story and scripting has to be good. Sufficient effort has to be made. It cannot be overemphasized.

Nigeria’s first movie entry to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Lion Heart was disqualified over English dialogue. While some blamed the committee for ignoring the rules, others felt it was a bias against Nigeria. What really was the reason?

At the time, pidgin as a non-English dialogue had not been approved by the Academy. Our first submission was an eyeopener and an opportunity for us to engage with the Academy on our peculiarity, which birthed the approval of pidgin as a nonEnglish dialogue. The committee never ignored the rules of the Academy as it’s our standard operating procedure.

What are the factors limiting the production of good movies and how can this be addressed?

First, I think exposure is very important. This is also applicable to how producers can upgrade their motives. Creativity is stimulated with exposure. I believe filmmakers should attend film festivals and the likes to build relational capital. We also need to build relationships and productive synergies with guilds, film agencies and other government establishments, far removed from prejudice and ethnic affiliations. Funding is obviously a factor. Access to loans and interests rates is largely a factor. Access to grants and technical support would greatly support the industry.

When was NOSC inaugurated and how has it been heading the body?

NOSC was inaugurated in 2012. It has been challenging and fulfilling. I guess the phrase ‘uneasy lies the head that wears the crown‘ couldn’t have been truer. Managing conflicting priorities and fitting into several schedules is tasking. I commend the committee members for their sacrifice of time. It wouldn’t have been possible without compromises and sacrifices.

Besides being a filmmaker and the head of NOSC, what else do you do?

Aside NOSC, I am an educationist and have been since 2013.

I have been running a renowned, private school in Abuja. It is called Stella Maris School. It was established over 20 years ago with three major campuses and over 3000 pupils.

How long is your tenure?

The timeline is set and reviewed by the Academy. At first it was five years one-off approval, now the approval is communicated annually.

How do you go about electing a successor?

It is open to filmmakers to indicate interest and submit to the Academy for approval. If it is approved, then that’s it.

You have won quite a number of international awards. Which would you consider to be the most significant?

All are special to me, frankly.

By studying Theatre Arts, you obviously knew you would end up in the entertainment industry. What was it about your growing up that sealed your fate in it?

I have always had a penchant for conceptualising ideas and telling stories. Finding a means to express this penchant moved me to theatre arts.

Is it true that you are unable to make more movies because the production cost of Ije: The Journey depleted your resources?

Certainly not. Ije was capital intensive and I knew the total production cost early on, yet I proceeded with the production.

What challenges has the committee dealt with since inception and how have you been able to overcome them?

Screening and selecting films that satisfies the eligibility rules has been the major challenge, particularly when many do not meet these requirements. We had proposed a training plan to educate filmmakers on the eligibility rules, this we have been able to do through platforms provided by our local festivals. Other challenges that are internal, controls have been put in place to resolve same.

What would you say must have significantly shaped you to be who you are today?

My background. Having a mix of an architect and an educationist as parents inculcated the attention-to-detail proclivities in me. I consider myself an ‘original’ and a constructive contrarian.

You are currently the chair of Nigeria Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Academy Awards. How did the journey to heading the committee begin?

It started in 2014. I was in LA, having thought about how Nigerians can showcase their creative ingenuity on an international stage. I leveraged my relational capital and scheduled a meeting with a representative of the Academy’s office. I had my questions and request ready and after a long

In your honest opinion, do you think Nigerian movies qualify to win Oscars despite being selected and approved by the academy?

Why not, as long as they meet the requirements. The requirements are baseline devoid of prejudice for qualifying films to vie for the award. The South African motive Tsotsi won Best Foreign Language in 2006, a category now known as International Feature Film (IFF) which the NOSC submits films for.

What drives you?

Improving the status quo and creating a new or improving on existing paradigm drives me.

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What would you consider to be your greatest achievement in life so far?

Life. Being alive is my greatest achievement

How do you let off steam when you are not working?

Frankly, half the time when I am not working, I am thinking of innovative ways to improve processes. I love watching documentaries and researching.

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APRIL 24 - APRIL 30, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

STORIES BY IVORY UKONU

Adama Eyes Seat in House of Representatives A

HADIZA BALA-USMAN RETURNS TO ACTIVISM

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or want of something better to keep her busy, the sacked managing director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Hadiza BalaUsman, has returned to activism.

During the commemoration of the eight years anniversary of the abduction of more than 200 pupils of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, Hadiza lamented the worsening insecurity in the country.

“It is eight years today since 276 girls were abducted in a secondary school in Chibok. About 109 girls still remain in captivity. Many more girls, boys and indeed, citizens of all ages have been abducted from schools, communities and during the course of journeys,” she wrote via her twitter handle.

While there is nothing wrong with showing concern in the hope that children abducted by terrorists will regain freedom from their captors, it however smacks of hypocrisy when Hadiza suddenly remembers after five years that some Chibok schoolgirls are yet to regain freedom, seven years after their

abduction.

Before her appointment as the managing director of Nigeria Ports Authority, Hadiza was a co-coordinator of the #BringBackOurGirls movement alongside Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education. Their movement became quite active, gained prominence and even received international recognition.

But she ended her activities with the movement immediately she was appointed managing director of the NPA, leaving Oby Ezekwesili to do it alone.

Ezekwesili on her part hasn’t quite been active with the movement which has since gone dormant.

On assumption of office, Hadiza became deaf, blind and dumb to crucial matters affecting the country, particularly issues concerning the abducted Chibok girls. Why would she? After all, she was reaping the dividends of her ‘hardwork’ and it

Bala-Usman would be out of place to criticise the government who ‘rewarded’ her.

Unfortunately, her romance with the government was short-lived as she was booted out of office after falling out with Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

Her other sins included failure to remit the N165 billion operating surplus to the coffers of the Federal Government, an allegation she was cleared off and unilaterally granting a waiver to Dangote Cement Plc on applicable tariff for the export of cement/clinkers, an action said to be discriminatory in nature as it did not apply to other players in the industry.

With her subtle return to activism, it remains to be seen how far reaching her cries on insecurity will reach.

dama J Adama operated several businesses before he was accused of duping some people of their hard-earned money and vanishing from sight.

He was the Chief Executive Officer of Ceepass, a firm that manages a digital bank for savings and investment; Viable X, an export financing platform and Farm4me, a platform for contract farming in Nigeria.

THEWILL gathered that thousands of Nigerians invested billions of naira in the above-mentioned platforms, but since 2021 nobody has been paid their return on investment even after they were allegedly promised 50 percent profit of their investment in four months.

Adama continued to make excuses about the reason for the delay in payment and recently attributed it to a cyber attack on his firm’s payment platform, following which he allegedly went into hiding. At the height of his business, before allegedly defrauding Nigerians, the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, had appointed him the Managing Director of Royal African

Omokris

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ust as he was conveniently AWOL on his first daughter, Tsola’s 16th birthday on May 30th 2021, Reno Omokri, who claims to be an advocate of raising a well-rounded and healthy family, once again completely ignored his daughter’s promenade dance which took place about two weeks ago. A promenade dance, otherwise known as prom, is a ball or formal dance at a school or college, especially one held at the end of the academic year for students who are in their final year.

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celebrate his children on social media and randomly posted their pictures before he abandoned them. Whatever his issues with his estranged wife maybe, rather than solve it amicably, his children have always borne the brunt of it, particularly Tsola who has had to suffer for her father’s indiscretion.

But, like a man who is hell bent on tarnishing the marriage institution, Reno does not seem to care about the consequences of his actions.

plans, one of which is to go into politics. How he hopes to do this while owing Nigerians, who invested several billions of naira in his company, remains a mystery.

He allegedly has his eyes set on occupying a seat in the Federal House of Representatives to represent the people of Apa/Agatu constituency in Benue State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, come 2023.

exposed and accused of insider trading, fraud, impersonation, inappropriate behaviour in the workplace like bullying, intimidation and even going as far as sabotaging efforts made by a former employee of the company to get another job, the circumstances surrounding the exit of his co-founder, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, from the company have been revealed.

It was gathered that Agboola allegedly forced Aboyeji out of the company and locked him out of his company email and slack accounts. Although Aboyeji admitted that at some point he couldn’t

gain access to his email and slack accounts, he denied that he was forced out of the company he built, insisting that he resigned on October 12, 2018, two years after he incorporated the company.

When one gets locked out of one’s company email and slack account, it is as good as being sacked.

Indeed, Aboyeji alleged that there was bad blood between him and Agboola. He said that Agboola, who has 59 percent controlling shares in the company, did not like the fact that he (Aboyeji) was telling him (Agboola) what to do.

Aboyeji has since moved on and now runs Future Africa, a missiondriven company that raises funds to solve Africa’s biggest challenges. He is the founder and a general partner.

Real Reason Flutterwave Co-Founder, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Exited Company

Reno Omokri Fails to Acknowledge A Daughter’s Special Day For teenage girls, proms, like birthdays, are regarded as the most important events of their school life. For many, it is considered to be a lifetime opportunity. Any teenage girl who inadvertently misses out on prom grows up craving for that experience. Some end up either re-enacting proms or attending it as adults.

To make the day memorable for her daughter, Tuokpe (Reno’s estranged wife) dressed Tsola in appropriate clothes, accompanied her to the dance and celebrated her on social media. Reno couldn’t be bothered as he was and still is more focused on his second family in London - Hanna, an Ethiopian he refers to as his wife and their daughter, Ebele, whom he named after former President Goodluck Jonathan.

It would be recalled that Reno abandoned Tuokpe, his legally married wife and their three children who live in the United States for Hanna and her daughter.

He simply did not acknowledge the special day in Tsola's life. This is odd for a man who used to

Farm Limited, a company founded by the Ooni.

According to the monarch, his choice of Adama was hinged on his wealth of experience in agribusiness and ability to contribute to the global ambition of the Ooni in his quest to reduce hunger and poverty in the country.

Adama was charged with the Adama responsibility of building market enterprises for the company’s products, work in tandem with the Olofin Products unit, as well as preserving and interpreting rightly its age-long mission and ethos of operation. Now that he has allegedly gone into hiding, one wonders if he will continue to oversee operations of the company from underground.

But Adama seems to have other

few weeks after Olugbenga Agboola, the CEO and cofounder of one of Nigeria’s largest tech firms, Flutterwave was

Aboyeji

Where is Rita Emerhor?

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he is the wife of Olorogun O’tega Emerhor the founder of Standard Alliance Group made up of SA Insurance Plc, SA Life Assurance Limited, SA Capital and Asset Management Limited, SA Properties Limited and Lagoon Home Savings and Loans Limited. Olorogun O’tega was at some point the Chairman of First Atlantic Bank and later, the Vice-Chairman of First Inland Bank later renamed Finbank Plc. Just as he made great strides in the banking and insurance industry, so did he also bestride the social scene with his wife, Rita, always by his side. They attended high-profile parties together and always graced

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the covers of magazines and newspapers. Not even Olorogun Emerhor’s alleged indiscretion could separate Rita from the love she had for her husband.

To reciprocate her love, in 2014, Olorogun Emerhor showered her with some of the best things that money can buy and on her 50th birthday in 2014, threw her a lavish party and presented a luxury car to her as birthday gift. That was her last known public outing. While her husband got busy running his numerous businesses, getting entangled with the politics of Delta State and making unsuccessful attempts to become governor, nothing has been heard of Rita.

As far as social watchers are concerned, Rita is done with the glitz and glamour of the social scene. An graduate of Economics from the University of Manchester, UK, Rita also has a Master’s Degree in Leisure and Hospitality Management from the University of Sheffield, UK. She is the Group Executive Director, Standard Alliance Group and the CEO, Heroes Furniture Ltd, which is into interior decoration, home and office furnishing. She also runs Heroes Property Limited, the real estate arm of Heroes Group.

Together, she and her husband run Fair Life Africa Foundation, through which they impact Emerhor society.

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APRIL 24 - APRIL 30, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN

Why Mike Adenuga Honoured Lucky Igbinedion During Daughter's Wedding

CHRIS NIGIGE, PETER OBI BURY THE HATCHET

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he Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has put aside his differences and undue rivalry with former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, and embraced peace. The minister was at the traditional wedding of Amaka Peter Obi and her beau, Chukwuma Okeke- Ojiudu. The event took place on Sunday, April 17, 2002 at Golden Tulip Hotel, Agulu, Anambra State. Ngige was sighted at the event hand-in-hand with Obi, who is also a presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party.

Before now, Ngige and Obi had a cat and dog relationship, which dates back to 2003 when the two contested for governorship election in Anambra State, though under two different parties. Obi contested as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in 2003, while Ngige was his opponent under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party during the keenly contested poll. Ngige was declared winner of

the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, but his opponent, Peter Obi wasn't comfortable with the outcome of the election which he promised to challenge. He headed straight to court to challenge the result, which dragged on for almost three years.

After nearly three years of litigation, Nigige's victory was overturned by the court of appeal in Enugu State. And his opponent, Obi was reinstated as the governor of Anambra State by the Supreme Court in Enugu State in 2007. The outcome created rivalry between the two political bigwigs and Ngige would constantly attack Obi. He questioned his achievement as the governor of the state and his leadership qualities. He criticised all the good works of his successor and faulted them while calling them trash. He compared the infrastructure he provided during his brief stay as the governor of the state to that of Obi, an act many labeled as revenge and jealousy

Patronage Dips For Businesses Around TB Joshua's SCOAN

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for occupying his former political position.

The two went as far as exchanging words on the pages of newspapers and were political enemies for some years. However, they met in 2019 when PDP challenged President Muhammadu Buhari's victory at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja.

They both hugged and exchanged pleasantries which many believe was the end of their hostility.

However, a few months after that, the two resumed their enmity again and even descended so low to exchanging words. A few years later, Ngige decided to put the past behind him and attend Obi's event. Those who witnessed the wedding were surprised to see the sworn enemies holding hands and laughing excitedly at the event. They also hoped and prayed that the two would not resume their hostility anytime soon as the presidential campaign and elections are fast approaching.

t is no more business as usual at the Evelyn Joshua-led Synagogue Church of All Nations, also known as SCOAN as traders, hoteliers and businesses are gradually closing down in the once busy and bustling environment. The area, which is usually busy and traffic-prone, has gradually become a shadow of itself, following the decline of businesses due to low patronage triggered by the death of the founder of the church, Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua.

All the hotels, eateries, stores, petty traders round the church are in the same situation. Many of their customers, including foreigners who used to visit

the church before the death of its founder, have all left.

Some members left as a result of the demise of the founder and the controversy over the church’s succession plan. It was gathered that many landlords had converted their buildings to hotels when business was booming. Some even collected loans and used them to erect state-of-theart structures and hostels, which they rented out to worshippers who loved to live close to the church.

Now that traffic has waned drastically, some landlords have put up their properties for sale while others divided their structures into smaller units, which they have now put under lease.

HOW CHRISLAND SCHOOL BATTLED TWO SEXUAL ALLEGATIONS IN THREE YEARS

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hief Winifred Awosika’s Chrisland School is engulfed in an alleged sexual scandal involving a 10-year-old female pupil of the school. The incident happened when some pupils from the school travelled to Dubai for the World School Games in March. The female pupil engaged in sexual misconduct while playing "Truth or Dare" after lights out. The video of the act was released and circulated online, leading to rage and condemnation from those who watched it. The girl at the centre of the controversy and all others involved were all suspended by the school. It was first reported by music executive, Ubi Franklin, who claimed that it was a case of rape. However, it turned out that he raised a false alarm as what happened in Dubai was not rape.

Consequently, all 14 branches of the school were shut by the Lagos State Government.

This is not the first time that the school will be swimming in sexual violation allegations, especially the Victoria Garden City branch of the school.

In 2019, Adegboyega Adenekan, a supervisor at the same branch of the school was sentenced by Justice Sybil Nwaka of the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Court to 60 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of defiling a two-year-old pupil of the school. The ugly incident happened within the premises of the school and the little girl told her mother about it. She demonstrated with a teddy bear how she was defiled by the school supervisor. While further narrating what happened, the victim stated that Adenekan took her out of the classroom before inserting his manhood in her private part. The medical test conducted on the victim also corroborated her claims as it was revealed that there were blunt penetration injuries which could be as a result of penile penetration or blunt force injury.

tunba Mike Adenuga, a kind business gesture the the billionaire Iginedion did for him in 2006. businessman and owner It started when the serial of telecommunication giant, entrepreneur made moves to Globacom recently graced the introduce his mobile business, traditional wedding ceremony Glo Mobile in Edo State at a of Osasu Igbinedion, daughter time when MTN and Econnect of Lucky Igbinedion, the former monopolised the market. governor of Edo State on Lucky was the governor of the Monday, April 11, 2022 in Okada state at the time. He became Avenue, GRA, Benin City. instrumental to Glo mobile's Adenuga who is hardly seen at existence in the state and even social events except for his own collaborated with Adenuga to personal events jetted to Benin empower indigents.

City for the occasion. This is not The two established poverty the first time that Adenuga would alleviation programmes be honouring the Igbinedions. where thousands of indigents In 2021, the man of immense benefitted from. Glo's presence wealth felicitated with the Esama became a relief in Edo State as of Benin Kingdom, Sir Chief the second national carrier to Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion vend its SIM packs in Edo State. during his 87th birthday. He also Ever since then, Igbinedion and flew to the city in December that Adenuga have built a lasting same year to attend the burial relationship which culminated in of Maria Igbinedion, the mother them almost being part of each of Lucky. Many were indeed other's family. surprised that one of Africa's wealthiest men would break his longstanding unwritten rule of attending social functions.

It was gathered that his presence at the traditional ceremony and by large other functions taking place at the Igbinedion palatial home in Benin City is connected to an intimate relationship shared between the two families and an attempt to reciprocate Adenuga

Babajide Agunbiade Celebrates 50th Birthday in Style

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enowned socialite and oil magnate, Babajide Agunbiade, spared no cost in throwing an elaborate 50th birthday party in London.

The serial entrepreneur had his Golden jubilee on April 16th, 2022. However, he chose two days to celebrate the milestone.

The Atobase of Yoruba land chose one of the choicest places on earth for his grand celebration.

The venue was the historic Leeds Castle Hotel and Resort in Kent, United Kingdom, often referred to as the loveliest castle in the world. The castle, which has been a royal residence and a royal

Agunbiade

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palace, is located on two islands on a magnificent lake. The private property of six England mediaeval Queens and a palace owned by King Henry VIII now serve as a tourist destination. It was built in 1119, during the 13th century.

The celebrant and his wife had an England mediaeval themed birthday shoot, which announced the opening of the two-day carnival like birthday celebration. On April 15, a day preceding the grand celebration, guests were treated to a royal welcome party staged on the Sunborn Yacht Hotel in England.

While the main event started at 6 p.m. the following day after guests were sailed to Leeds Castle Hotel and Resorts, Kent, London. The dress code was black tie and tuxedo for men. The ladies had elegant ballroom ensembles. Guests were treated to a royal evening befitting princes and princesses.

The celebrant is a global oil and gas professional, a businessman and philanthropist. He is an Executive Director at National Oilwell Varco, an American conglomerate that is based in Houston, Texas, which is also the latest worldwide provider of equipment and components used in oil, gas drilling and production operations.

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APRIL 24 - APRIL 30, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN

Funke Akindele-Bello in Eye of The Storm A

REVOLUTIONPLUS BOSS, BAMIDELE ONALAJA, JOINS GAMING INDUSTRY

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t seems real estate entrepreneur Bamidele Onalaja has moved beyond the controversy that rocked his Revolution Plus Property Limited a few months ago to chart a new course as an entrepreneur.

The embattled businessman has joined the Lagos State gaming industry with the unveiling of Happybet. The game platform is one of the fastest ways of making quick cash. It enables every gamer to win, irrespective of the amount of money put in.

Onalaja was at ICE London, a global network of gaming professionals looking to source products or service solutions in the gaming industry for networking

last week. He has been silent about his latest brainchild because of the controversy he has been battling with in his real estate business.

The serial entrepreneur was in the eye of the storm a few months ago for alleged fraud and failure to allocate properties after collecting full payment from clients, some of whom had paid over seven years ago.

He was called out alongside his wife, Tolu Onalaja, who is the group executive director of the company. They were accused of being nonchalant to their client's

Onalaja

demand, in addition to Tolu's rudeness, insults and brash attitude. The couple later promised to make a refund to clients, but they would only get 60 per cent of their money. A few weeks after the couple was called out, the company commenced allocation of land to those who had paid and ensured they splashed it in the media just to prove their efficiency and redeem their image.

Miracle Tyna Onem Eyes Bayelsa State House of Assembly

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onourable Miracle Tyna Onem, otherwise known as Tynrated, the councilor representing Ogbia Ward 2 in the Ogbaia Local Government of Bayelsa State has made her intention known to contest for a seat at the House of Assembly, Ogbia Constituency II, Bayelsa State in 2023. Her new political intention was made known a few years after

the young politician made news for building a link bridge, known as ‘Miracle Bridge,’ between two communities in her constituency.

Tyna had spent the sum of N2.5 million, meant for the purchase of an official car, on the project after she ran out of funds. The Governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency, Duoye Diri had to step in and assist financially to complete the project.

A GoFundMe was raised to get the councilor an official car by people, who were impressed with her good works, but she rejected it and vowed not to live off the

people she was meant to serve.

Tyna is gradually warming up to serve the people of Bayelsa State in the House of Assembly in 2023.

According to her, her desire to continue with the good works she started as a councilor propelled her to take her political ambition to the next level. She promised to advocate good governance, quality representation and end all forms of inaccessibility ideology among politicians and their followers amidst other political goals. She is already meeting stakeholders and elders of Peoples Democratic Party to strategise as the general election gradually gets closer.

ctress and movie producer, Funke AkindeleBello, seems to be pitted against certain forces that have been threatening her peace.

Although the mother of two has been trying hard to be calm and appear happy in public, she seems overwhelmed by the challenges she is battling with. It started after the rumour mills alleged that her second marriage to her husband, Abdulrasheed Bello, also known as JJC Skillz was threatened. The issue involved misappropriation of funds by the singer, which his wife of six years was not willing to overlook. The actress accused her husband of squandering money without her authorisation as the largest shareholder of Scene One, their Production Company.

In the midst of their marital crisis, JJC Skillz made a post to counter the claim. He confirmed travelling to London and revealed that he was missing home and would be back soon.

Fans were excited that peace was gradually being restored to the Bellos family. However, the feeling was soon cut short after Benito, JJC Skillz's son accused his father of physically assaulting him. He also claimed his stepmother is far from the image painted in public about her.

The battle had not died down when subscribers of Scene One Production attacked Funke.

They accused the actress of cheating them of their hardearned money by repeating old episodes of Jenifa's Diary after they paid to watch new episodes of the comic drama.

They claimed new episodes were withheld as a result of her troubled marriage and advised her to separate her business from her private life.

They threatened to boycott the sitcom and also demanded for a refund of their money. They reprimanded the actress for not informing them first before uploading an old episode of the sitcom.

Akindele-Bello

Oyinkansola Emmanuel Granted Licence in America to Operate Healthcare Services

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Emmanuel

ollywood actress, Oyinkansola Emmanuel, has been granted a licence to operate a health care service in the United State of America.

Her new venture is a family/nurse owned and operated home healthcare service. The actress abandoned her career in Nollywood and relocated abroad for further studies. She would later become a certified nurse and a few weeks ago, got a licence to practice, to take care of adult and pediatric patients.

With this development, Oyinkansola has joined the league

of entertainers who relocated abroad and ventured into the healthcare sector.

Some actresses left Nigeria some years ago in search of the proverbial green pastures. Most of them quit their acting careers and found solace in the health care sector, which many believe is fast becoming lucrative abroad.

Chinny Chukwu Ahaneku, Regina Askia, Georgina Onuoha are some actreses who abandoned their acting career and are all doing well abroad as healthcare practitioners.

Caroline Danjuma Launches Search For Another Billionaire Husband

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Onem THEWILLNIGERIA

ollywood actress, Caroline Danjuma nee Ekanem, now known as Caroline Hutchings, is not willing to give up her glamorous lifestyle, having tasted the glamourous and affluent life introduced to her by her ex-billionaire maritime magnate, Musa Danjuma.

Musa Danjuma, a younger brother to General Theophilus Danjuma (retd.) spoiled Caroline silly with some of the best things money can buy. But the affluence she got exposed to didn't stop her from dumping Musa who cheated endlessly on her. Despite being divorced, Musa still supports her financially and provides lavishly for their three children. But all that is not enough as she still craves the loving embrace of another billionaire to continue THEWILLNG

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from where her ex-husband stopped.

Caroline who is one of the thespians featuring in The Real Housewives of Lagos, a Television reality show that gives a peek into the opulent lifestyle of affluent women in Lagos State, while on the show, revealed that she would marry a billionaire if that's what it takes to maintain her soft glamorous and luxurious lifestyle. This is not the first time the actress would make such a bold statement. She went viral a few weeks ago when the trailer of the reality show hit the television screen. She stated that she got married to a billionaire and poor people cannot stand it. In her quest to hook the most available billionaire, she dated a London based businessman, Lekan Gbadamosi who promised her marriage

to her. The mother of three had to relocate to London and enrolled at the Institute of Continuing Education, London just to be close to her lover. However, the relationship didn't stand the test of time. She then had a fling with Inetimi Timaya Odon, also known as Timaya. She was hoping that her relationship with the singer would last longer than her previous love adventure as Timaya is deep pocketed and takes good care of his women, but that, unfortunately, didn't work out. Despite her disappointing relationships, Caroline who is now in the real estate business as well as the oil and gas business isn't relenting. Perhaps, she just might get lucky eventually and nab the billionaire of her dreams the same way she Danjuma nabbed her ex-husband.

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APRIL 24 - APRIL 30, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

HIGHLIGHTS OF AY LIVE SHOW 2022 The AY Live Show, an annual entertainment event hosted by Ayodeji Makun, otherwise known as AY, took place between Sunday April 17 and Monday April 18. Ivory Ukonu brings you the highlights of the 15th edition of the event, aptly tagged 'The Greatness Edition.'

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P-Square

crowded show Ayo Makun’s shows are usually sold out and this year's edition was not different. The turnout was massive.

This is because the event is always thought-out and properly packaged. The guests got good value for their money, no doubt.

It is for the same reason that they keep getting attracted to the show each year.

affecting the country. Unfortunately, this was missing at the latest show. Also, lucky attendees get an opportunity to win prizes through raffle draws or by randomly picking registered phone numbers. In the past, attendees won plots of land, high end phones, smart televisions etc. However this segment didn't feature at this year's event.

Shortage of seats A few guests who bought VIP tickets arrived at the venue of the show only to be told that there were no vacant seats left. Some of them had to choose between paying a token of N2,000 to secure seats right inside the hall or standing on their feet while the event lasted.

Off to a late start The show started at about 9pm instead of 7pm, which was two hours behind schedule. It was deliberately delayed till the arrival of guests who had purchased the premium table VVIP tickets for N5 million. Even after the show kicked off in earnest, most of these guests arrived much later.

Eko Hotel and poor service The more than 6,000 capacity Expo Centre Hall at the Eko Hotel, which costs N21 million for a day's show, was as hot as an oven. The hotel apparently did not fix the air-conditioning units in the hall. It got so bad that even the VIP, VVIP guests resorted to fanning themselves with brochures placed on their tables.

At some point during the show, those who purchased regular tickets had to voice out their discomfort. But of course, there was nothing the host could do about the situation except threaten to sue the hotel management. Whether he meant to carry out his threat or he was simply clowning remains to be seen.

The naira and dollar rain There was a torrential rain of naira and dollar during the show.

Some of the guest artistes went home richer than they were before they climbed the stage to entertain the audience at the event. Onitsha based standup comedian, Ogbuefi, went home with more than N2 million naira in both currencies from some VVIP guests. Another person who got richer that night was Habeeb Okikiola, otherwise known as Portable, who kept eulogising Emeka Okonkwo, otherwise known as E-Money, during his performance. The host, Ayo Makun, was not left out.

He however had to 'threaten' E-Money for outshining him at his own show. He was eventually appreciated with N200,000, which he shared with his younger colleague, William Uchemba.

E-Money, the biggest spender of the night Although other VVIP guests like Francis Nwaogwugu Mune, the boss of Vintage Interiors; Chief Mmerigwo Henry Iyke, CEO Merimerid International Limited, etc, all doled out money to the above mentioned acts, E-Money was however the biggest spender of the night. The 40-year-old businessman came prepared with bundles of naira notes, which he gave to his bodyguards for safekeeping.

Bodun and Tolulope Onalaja partied hard The founders of RevolutionPlus, the real estate firm that was in the eye of the storm a few months ago for failing to allocate plots of lands to customers, years after they made payment, were at the show to let their hair down. After doing the needful, the business couple has since put the past behind. The couple was one of the major sponsors of this particular AY Live Show.

Obi Cubana's absence Obinna Iyiegbu, otherwise known as Obi Cubana, was expected at the show. Unfortunately he couldn't make it as he had to

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That Edris Abdulkareem performance After the host got introduced on stage, he began with a speech appreciating everybody present at the show and immediately launched into jokes from his repertoire. Sighting rapper Eedris Abdulkareem, who wore a face mask, he launched a verbal attack on him, asking if he wanted to choke himself to death even after the Federal Government had relaxed COVID-19 rules. Edris stood up from his seat and charged towards AY while muttering expletives at him. There was momentary silence as everyone thought he wanted to do a 'Will Smith' on AY. He tried to grab the microphone from AY, who refused to let go and wondered why Edris would want to harass him in his own show. Eventually, he let go of the microphone and walked off the stage. At this point, Eedris suddenly changed course and started singing his hit single 'Nigeria jaga haga,' assisted by the disc jockey. But this time, he switched the chorus to 'Buhari Jaga Jaga' and got everyone singing along. Going by his antecedents, not a few heaved a sigh of relief that his 'altercation' with AY did not degenerate into a fisticuff.

Abdulkareem & Makun

(behin Okonkwo & Liquorose

d) attend to his own business.

He took the opportunity of American rapper, Rick Ross's presence in Nigeria to host him at his Abuja Hustle and Bustle club.

He was one of the major sponsors of the show via his newly launched Odogwu Bitters, which was generously distributed to VVIP guests.

Ageless Modupe Haastrup Except for her grey hair which she styled nicely, many must have mistaken the former lover of retired Supreme Court Justice, Adeleke Adesola Oguntade, for a younger woman. The grandmother who looked very stylish in her all-black ensemble didn't look anything like someone who was kicked out of the home she shared with the former United Kingdom High Commissioner. Modupe looked as though she had closed that unfortunate chapter and moved on with her life. She arrived at the venue of the show in company with celebrity designer, Bunmi Olatunji and her daughters.

Regular segments of AY Live missing Fans of AY Live Show have come to associate the event with certain segments of it. There is usually a live drama performance where the comedian and a handful of celebrities re-enact events

Between Acapella and a VIP guest Comedian, Benneth Daniel, aka Acapella's great performance was almost marred by a guest’s indiscretion. While making a joke about Jesus Christ having only 12 disciples (followers) and Bobrisky having over 4 million followers, a VVIP guest threw something at him on stage, telling him to stop joking about Jesus Christ. Acapella tongue-lashed him so much that the guest had to apologise and left his seat. The comedian didn't allow this to dampen his performance, which turned out to be quite thrilling.

The return of P-Square Although they now have individual stage names – Peter Okoye (Mr P) and Paul Okoye (Rude boy) – which they adopted during the period they were both separated, they will forever be known to their fans as P-Square. The singing twins got a standing ovation even before they were announced on stage. And they took the audience down memory lane with their hit singles.

The 42-year-old twins apologised for the pain they caused their fans and Nigeria at large with their breakup and attributed their reunion to the grace of God. Davido, a child of grace That David Adeleke, otherwise known as Davido, is a child of grace is simply stating the obvious. Most of the guests didn't mind waiting till 4am to watch him perform from his repertoire of songs. As soon as he left the stage, some of them and street urchins besieged his 2021 black Rolls Royce Cullinan, which cost almost N240 million, in expectation of a giveaway from him.

Performances In addition to Davido, Portable, P-Square and Edris Abdulkareem, Goya Ameno and Winner of the Big Brother Naija shine ya eye edition, Hazel Onu aka Whitemoney performed at the show. Others were country music artiste, Ogak Jay Oke, the Saxophone gang, etc. Over 15 standup comedians performed at the show.

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TOURISM

FTAN, SON Meet with LASG Over Uniform Hotel Grading STORIES BY JANEFRANCES CHIBUZOR

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s part of their joint effort to sanitise and ensure global best practices in the hospitality industry, the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria have met with the Lagos State Government through the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture to discuss how to launch a uniform national hotel grading and classification exercise with the state as the pilot lead.

At the meeting, held at the office of the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, part of the discussion focused on the need to chart a certification model for other states to follow.

Speaking on the importance of management system standards, the Director, Management Systems Certification at the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Mr Felix Nyado, said the benefits ranged from identifying risk and opportunities, preventing problems from reoccurring, boosting marketing and sales efforts, improving employees’ performance to improving management control over businesses.

“The implementation of the standard is very important to the stakeholders in Nigeria (hotel owners and all hospitality and tourism promoters) because it is a sign of an upgrade in our hospitality business environment.

“The demand for a unified, one stop certification and rating system for Nigerian hospitality establishments is a request from the major stakeholders to reduce the weight of compliance on the owners.

“The inspection is going to be carried out by the state ministry of tourism and in line with the requirements of ISO/IEC17020:2012 standard, which specifies requirement for competence of bodies performing inspection and for the impartiality and consistency of their inspection activities,” Nyado said.

The SON team, which emphasised the need to follow a global best standard in hotel grading and classification, presented the ISO Management System Certification, comprising the ISO9001 Quality Management System, ISO 14001 Environment Management System, OHSAS18001 Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series, ISO22000 Food Safety Management System, Integrated Management System and the route of certification.

Secretary-General, UN World Tourism Organisation, Zurab Pololikashvili (Right) presents scholarship awards for Nigerians to Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Madrid, Spain.

Curious about the position of SON, she inquired about the actual role of the organisation in the hotel grading exercise, stressing that Lagos would not play second fiddle in its mandate, which was clearly stated in the Supreme Court judgment.

The commissioner also agreed that the FTAN, which is an organised private sector body, is pushing the cause for the benefit of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole, but she held on to her position on who will lead the grading exercise.

Giving a clearer picture of the process, the President of FTAN, Nkereuwem Onung, said the purpose of the collaboration was not to impose one party on the other but to use the process of division of labour to actualise the process that will bring uniformity to the hospitality industry in terms of national grading and certification.

According to Nyado, who is also the leader of the team, the provision of certification service is in first, second and third phases: Inspection and grading audit, assessment report and recommendation, as well as certification, which is the final phase.

“We are actually making Lagos State the pilot of this grading and classification project as a pace setter and we know and believe that if the state gets it right, it will be a sustainable lead for other states of the federation, he said.

In her remarks, Akinbile-Yusuf noted that Lagos had its grading and classification mandate under the law, adding that such provision was still valid and would be upheld, despite the collaboration.

Onung said that it was high time Nigeria joined other countries around the world to ensure global best practices in the hospitality industry, tourism and allied businesses so that all other benefits accruing to the status can be enjoyed.

“We are losing many things due to non-uniformity in the national grading of out hotels and this is an impediment to investment opportunities because nobody wants to invest in an environment or business that everything goes.

“Also, as it is now, nobody will even want to visit a place where every state runs it own grading where a one-star hotel in state A will receive two or three star-rating in other states and so on.

“The Lagos State Government on its part made it clear that it is ready to collaborate and make the process work, provided that the parties involved in the collaborative effort recognise the legal provision of the Supreme Court in favour of the state.”

Akingbile-Yusuf agreed to take time out to look at SON’s strategic document on the requirements and guidance for use on hotel and services accommodation management system, rate the team and promised to get back in a month’s time for another meeting.

Already, the SON team had suggested a training slot for the director of the ministry. It promised to invite the ministry’s representative to one of its exercises to give them a broad knowledge of what the role of the organisation entails as a certification organ of Nigeria.

AFRIK Ultimate Hero Search Awakens Loss Culture A

rrangements have been made for the premiere of AFRIK Ultimate Hero Search (AUHS), an initiative of a Nigerian movie producer, Thompson Ukeki, which aims to create a platform for multi-tasking Nigerian youths to hone their cooking skills and showcase African dishes and culinary culture.

Ukeki, who is also the host of the new TV reality show, recently made this known during a briefing held in Lagos, while revealing the AUHS event schedule. According to him, AUHS online audition will start in July and run through August 30, 2022. The show will commence on September 1 and end on September 30, 2022. The online audition will take place in all the state capitals across the country, including Enugu, Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Abuja, Ondo, Edo, Kaduna, Rivers, Benue, Delta, Imo, Uyo, Jos, C/River, Anambra, Kwara, Ebonyi, Osun and Katsina States.

“With 30 contestants and six local chefs as judges, the show will be viewed all over Nigeria through Dstv, Gotv and Startimes channels with contestants from different backgrounds living together, undergoing rigorous training daily and carrying out tasks,” he said.

Ukeki said the show was aimed at promoting cultural decency, THEWILLNIGERIA

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enlightening Nigerian youths and encouraging them to focus on their dreams and aspirations.

He noted that one of the objectives of the reality show is to improve the wellbeing of the average Nigerian youth, help to build capacity for multi-talented Nigerians.

“I would like to say that we the organisers of this programme have made history at a time when we are talking of the worrisome state of morals, morale and the upbringing of our youth in a country like Nigeria. The AFRIK Hero Ultimate Search is a wakeup call and an indication that there is hope for this country.

He said, “This show is targeted at youths who are multi-talented, but not sure of their cooking skills direction. It will also enable them to gain access to what the society has denied them in terms of religion, ethnicity, responsibilities, family pride and life balancing effect.

“There is also the saying that some men like women a lot. Any man who does not like women cannot get a good wife. Because to get a good wife, you must know who is a woman. So for me, AUHS is a unique brand that has come to tell us that when others are developing programmes that show nudity among others, we are here to bring the best out of our youths.’

”AFRIK Ultimate Hero Search makes a strong statement, showing that the world can be properly entertained without an iota of nudity and promiscuity, which have characterised our recent reality shows.”

”I know that this is just meant to be a very fantastic event, a fantastic show. Which is going to bring you the real house hands as this course is going to encourage a lot of youths.

“In the history of every nation, there are times when products and brands like this come up. First when I was accosted, I was very reluctant to support this programme, knowing very well that we abuse brands, and for me, anything Nigerian is my project.

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“And if you have not started at all, you begin to find yourself learning to do something. This is a very lovely initiative.

Let us believe in our African food and cultural heritage. The New reality TV show, AUHS, is to promote our cultural heritage and decency values.”

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FEATURE They don’t go around with guns, grenades and bombs like bandits or terrorists but they kill all the same. Their victims are almost always women they know intimately who they lure and slaughter as ritual for money.

THEWILL considers some recent cases of those murdered for instant wealth that never got to be. MICHAEL JIMOH reports…

Nigeria: Under a Spell

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hortly before Christmas of 2019 in a church premises somewhere in Ikoyi-Ile Ogun state, a mother and her son sat down to a meat-rich soup, shared by a third party, the church’s pastor, priest, spiritualist or whatever. They wolfed down choice parts, followed by spirited conversations about the expected fortune for all of them.

Of the trio, only one never knew that what was slushing around in her digestive system was human flesh and not beef or goat meat. Convinced he’d consulted a spiritualist to offer sacrifice for her business to progress, the woman readily obliged her son’s request to share the meal. She would have thanked and blessed him for his thoughtfulness and show of concern as they munched on.

“Omo da da ni yin,” one can imagine the mother saying between bites, “olorun a pese fun yin o.” The son would have responded with a prolonged “amiiiiiiiiin,”and the pastor/ spiritualist echoing him.

By the 29th of the same month, Metro sections of Nigerian newspapers reported the bizarre account of one Adeeko Owolabi, 23, a student of Lagos State University, Ojo, who lured his girlfriend and fellow student, Favour Daley-Oladele, to a white garment church where she was killed.

Days before, Daley-Oladele in final year (some reports said she was a Theatre Arts undergrad while others insist she was a Sociology major) had been reported missing by her parents at Mowe Police Station in the state. On investigation, their trail led to a church where Segun Philip is the resident pastor.

Caught out, the demonic spiritualist confessed to the police how Owolabi came to him with his girlfriend to be used as ritual for money.

Owolabi himself who was there at that time admitted as much. He had met and consulted the spiritualist on what to do to become rich and for his mother’s fortune to turn around – for good. Human sacrifice, Philip told him. So, he brought his girlfriend to the church. While she was asleep, Philip instructed Owolabi to pestle-whip her head. He did. Philip then severed her head, cut open her chest, removed the heart and then cooked it. Along with Owolabi’s mother, they feasted on Daley-Oladele’s heart unknown to the woman she was consuming one of the most vital parts in her son’s girlfriend’s body.

“We have got no money,” Adeeko said later when he appeared in court during his trial. “Things have not been going on well.” Worst of all was his belated acknowledgment that after murdering his girlfriend, “my mum’s business has not improved after what we did and despite our efforts. I think money ritual does not work.”

Apparently, four teenagers who were arrested last February in the same state in Adatan Abeokuta metropolis did not think so. Nigerians read with shocked revulsion how they lured one Sofiat Kehinde then killed her. Though the teens didn’t cannibalise the victim, her killing was no less gory than the casual murder of Daley-Oladele.

In their shocking by shocking detailed account to the police, Soliu Majekodunmi had invited Sofiat for a normal boyfriend/ girlfriend tryst. Soliu’s next action would confound even the most perceptive of psychiatrists: How can a teenager harbor in his young mind two very opposite ideas, actions simultaneously – love and death – and carry them out within minutes? That was exactly what Soliu did!

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Soliu Majekodunmi and accomplices

He made love to Sofiat first – aware that would be the last time. Satisfied, Soliu twisted her neck – sort of having his cake and eating it since her death would make all of them millionaires in no time.

He made love to Sofiat first – aware that would be the last time.

Satisfied, Soliu twisted her neck – sort of having his cake and eating it since her death would make all of them millionaires in no time. His accomplices then severed her head, cut off her genitals, chopped up the rest of the body and packed them into a sack. They took the head to an uncompleted building and dumped it in a pot on fire. It was the strange smell that attracted local vigilantes to that building where they were caught. Soliu fled but was soon arrested.

As of now, three of the four – Soliu, 18, Wariz Oladeinde, 17, Abdulgafar Lukman 19, and Mustakeem Balogun, 20, are bemoaning their fate at a correctional facility in Ogun state awaiting sentencing. Oladeinde was freed last month by a trial judge based on legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions and investigation by police that established his innocence.

Last Christmas eve, one Osas killed his girlfriend, Elohor Oniorosa, in Edo state to make money. Osas was said to have returned from Ghana days before, invited the unsuspecting victim to his home and then slaughtered her at Egor in a local government council by the same name. The girl’s father, William Oniorosa, reported the matter to the police. Osas has been on the lam since then.

Though he absconded after killing his girlfriend for ritual in Jos on New Year day, Moses Oko was finally tracked down to Benue state where he was arrested. Nigerians were stunned beyond belief when they read that Oko, son of a lecturer, lured his girlfriend, Jennifer Anthony, a 300-level student of University of Jos, to a hotel room, killed her, plucked out her

eyes, removed some body parts and then left her lifeless body in the room.

Jennifer’s friends, fellow students and family had declared her missing. With help from Oko’s father, the police arrested the murderer in Benue state.

Nigerians read of such weird stories now and then that they have almost become commonplace. What is the magnetic pull for those who kill people for ritual to make money? Why are some young people irresistibly drawn to such savage acts by Owolabi, the teenagers in Adatan, Oko and Osas?

Instant wealth, for sure, which never really happens. Those who watch Nollywood films, especially the Yoruba genre, might be carried away by scenes where a lead actor turns his spouse into a money-making machine. In real life, though, it is almost an impossible feat to carry out.

THEWILL could not resist asking if such money rituals actually work. Does killing a girlfriend, say, or brother for money turn them into instant money-spinners? And in what currency? Dollars, Pounds, Euro or devalued Naira?

An emphatic no was the response THEWILL got from someone who should know one or two things about sacrificing humans as ritual for money. Chief Olayemi Elebuibon is a renowned Ifa priest in Osogbo, Osun state. All through his years in practice spanning four decades, he claims not to know where people are used as ritual to improve one’s fortune or to make money.

“I don’t think it is possible,” he told THEWILL. In his reckoning, people are just wasting lives hoping to make money thereof. And like any Ifa priest worth his opele, Elebuibon put the matter in a better and more logical perspective. “If it were ever possible,” Elebuibon said, “I, as an Ifa priest, will make myself rich instead of making other people rich.”

As well as condemning the gruesome killing of Sofiat by the Adatan four because of their greed for money, Elebuibon also put the blame squarely at the doorstep of defaulting parents and guardians.

THE KIDS ARE NOT TO BLAME That was the impression THEWILL got from the Ifa priest.

When parents fail to monitor and train their children properly, such tragedies as Daley-Oladele’s and Sofiat’s are almost inevitable. Besides, some parents even encourage their wards to make money any which way they can, sometimes by taking another person’s life.

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FEATURE

of Ritual Killings?

Consider, for instance, the astonishing disclosure by one suspected Internet fraudster, Afeez Olalere, 32, his own mother encouraged to kill his 21-year-old younger brother. In his bone-chilling account, Afeez said: “My mother took me to an herbalist who told me if I wanted to be successful in the yahoo business, I will have to sacrifice one life and that person must be a sibling to me.”

An unexpected stop-and search by the police at Itamaga Ikorodu busted him. The luckless fraudster, and his mother are both awaiting trial.

Still in his report headlined “The Scourge of Ritual Killings,” Peterside argues that ritual killing has a foundation in the social fabric of the country. “Amongst a large group of Nigerians, including the well-educated and people from different faiths and social backgrounds,” Peterside averred, “there is a strong belief in the supernatural and the effectiveness of rituals.

Disturbed by the recent surge in ritual killings in the country, especially by young people, a religious body, Ansar-ud-deen Society of Nigeria made the scourge a special focus during the Ramadan Talk in Abuja just at the beginning of the fasting period in April.

On April 7th at a briefing in the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Mohammed Olayiwola, chairman of the branch, said the “the situation has provoked soul-searching and brought home the need for an urgent response to halt the frightful upsurge in the killings.” He then pointedly asked like many adult rational minds would: “What would a teenager need money to do even to the extent of killing and beheading a human being for money rituals?”

Olayiwola himself provided an answer: “Parents have neglected their roles. So, we are looking at reviving family values and highlighting the importance of parental care.

Where there is an absence of family values, it leaves a negative effect on the nation.”

From the pulpit to mosques and even academia, the talk of the town is the scourge of ritual killings for money by young people. And it has reached such an alarming rate that three university dons once devoted their time to understanding it.

In a study conducted by the trio of Habeeb Abdulrauf Salihu, Monsurat Isiaka of the Department of Criminology and Security Studies at the University of Ilorin, and Isiaka Abdulaziz of the Department of Social Sciences Education in the same institution, the researchers reached a disturbing conclusion.

Titled “The Growing Phenomenon of Money RitualsTHEWILLNIGERIA

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Segun Phlip & Adeeko Owolabi

Timothy Odeniyi, 35, didn’t have to commit fratricide to make money. He belongs to that rare breed of cemetery-stalkers, grave robbers or tomb raiders not for trinkets – a gold ring on a decaying finger, say – but for human parts: a kidney, lung or liver, perhaps. Arrested on February 1st by men of the Amotekun Corps in Ondo state, Odeniyi confessed to selling human parts to buyers in Lagos.

Though mostly prevalent in Ogun state, killing people for ritual has assumed something of a national spread. From down in Port Harcourt to Cross Rivers, across the Middle Belt and elsewhere, sacrificing people to make money has become a routine, as routine as bandits or terrorists sacking and occupying an isolated community anywhere in the Sahel.

But while Boko Haram insurgents who have now morphed into bandits or terrorists claim to be fighting for an ideological or religious cause, ritual killers perpetuate their evil acts for selfish reasons.

Money ritual isn’t such a novel thing around here although it has increased exponentially recently. Nigerians still remember one Victor Nnamdi Okafor (Ezego aka king of money) who died in mysterious circumstances on his 34th birthday in a road accident in Ihiala, Anambra state. In his very short life, Ezego already had a pool of exotic cars he tooled around in, had built mansions in Ajao Estate, Lagos, two or so country homes in his natal state.

Of course, as a self-styled king of money, Okafor pretty much let people know that by hosting swank parties here and there, generally living in abscene opulence as if the time allotted him was running out. A previously penurious apprentice in a shop where he sold food items, how Ezego came about his sudden and humongous wealth is still a subject of speculation. Some say he signed a kind of Mephistophelian pact. Others say he was a first class fraudster, a 419, precursor of today’s yahoo, yahoo-plus boys.

Mother and son put their heads together and resolved to poison Afeez’s 21-year-old brother. He died within 20-minutes of administering the poison. They got the things the native doctor requested for: fingers, hair, thumb and passport photograph.

Continuing, Afeez said his mother procured the poison while he cut up the parts and then deposited the corpse in a mortuary.

Quoted by a reporter, the suspect said “he was promised N30m if he could produce and deliver human parts to be delivered to one of his bosses living in Lagos.” To supply his clients, Timothy “went to burial grounds to harvest the body parts from corpses buried,” insisting that “he did not murder anyone.”

ritual purpose, one Dakuku Peterside writing on May 11 insists it was. “There were reports that Ms. Umoren’s gruesome murder was not just a case of rape and murder but that it also involved ritual killing.”

Motivated Killings in Nigeria: An Empirical Study Into Factors Responsible,” they polled a total of 1736 people using a simple random technique – a questionnaire for data collection.

Though the researchers limited their study to Ilorin Emirate Council only, the end result of ritual killings is almost the same anywhere in the country whether in Akure, Gusau, Minna, Port Harcourt or Uyo. “The results indicated that the increase in money ritual-related killings in Ilorin Emirate is a result of the general belief that ritual sacrifices enhance fortunes,” the researchers concluded, adding that possible causes are “the boundless desire for material wealth among Nigerians, unemployment and poverty in Nigeria.”

How true! The Adatan four killed for money ditto for Oko, Osas and Owolabi. Asked where he got to know about sacrificing humans for money, Soliu said: “I learnt how to do money ritual through Facebook.”

Another victim was dispatched after posting on social media she needed a job. Twenty-something year old Iniobong Umoren from Uyo Akwa Ibom looked forward to starting one and not getting killed after posting her request on Twitter.

Another user Uduak Akpan from the same Uyo dangled a job offer before the lady. They met soon after and that was the last time parents and friends of Iniobong saw her.

Akpan had taken Iniobong somewhere, raped her, killed her and then buried her in a shallow grave. That would have been a perfect murder Akpan would surely have gotten away with.

Not quite. Before keeping the appointment with the rogue employer, Iniobong had given the killer’s number to a friend.

That was how Akpan was found out by the police. He later led security agents to where he buried the unfortunate woman.

Though the police are not certain Iniobong’s murder was for

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"This belief has a direct correlation to the prevalence of ritual killings. It is a well-known fact that some elite in society indulge in ritual killings. Some people apprehended for ritual killings and witch doctors who perform the sacrifices accused politicians, government officials and wealthy businessmen as their sponsors. They are said to use human beings for rituals to sustain their affluence and remain in positions of power.”

Sometimes, too, they sacrifice healthy bovines or rams in place of humans. There was the case of a governor of one of the South west states who made so many powerful enemies while in office. To rub him out, his enemies didn’t turn to a sniper. It was said they went to Ilorin where they consulted Imams/ Alfas. What was their solution? Bury a live cow while chanting incantations and the governor would be done for.

Of course, it worked. But it was not the governor that died. It was his namesake who was working in government house at the time. Even the coming 2023 general elections, Peterside fears, is showing ominous signs. “It is not surprising that there are usually increased cases of mysterious disappearances and ritual killings during elections. Some desperate, fetish, and superstitious politicians always consult herbalists and native doctors during elections to help them overcome their opponents. These spiritualists usually demand human heads and other body parts to perform rituals.”

For now, the youngsters who kill for money are neither politicians nor top officials in government ministries. They are mostly poor, greedy for the good life they can ill afford.

So, they seek shorter cuts through ritual. Which brings up the question: despite the arrests of the Adatan teenagers, Owolabi and Oko, will that send a message to potential ritual killers?

It is doubtful. Only last week, Peter Albert, 20, died after undergoing money ritual procedure in Ado-Odo/ Ota local government area of Ogun state. Wanting to boost his chances of success with victims via Internet fraud, Albert consulted a friend, David, who introduced him to one Alfa Araokanmi.

To cut a long story short, Araokanmi prepared some concoctions for Albert with special instructions to follow – like bathing for a number of days at midnight. Albert’s father got to know of his son’s suspicious movement each time he returned home late. Good parent that he is, he reported his son to the vigilantes around. Alas, they couldn’t do much to save the young man after ingesting the concoction. He died soon after.

True, some of the youngster scammers, ritual killers target others by murdering them for money. But life is seldom worth living ofterwards as Soliut, Owolabi, Oko and Osas have now found out. “I think money ritual does not work,” Owolabi rued. It was too late, for his girlfriend and himself.

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NEWS XTRA

Bayelsa Govt Woos Oil Firms, Others For Sports Devt FROM DAVID OWEI,YENAGOA

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he Bayelsa State Government has solicited the partnership of international oil companies (IOCs) and other corporate bodies doing business in the state for the promotion of sports development.

The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made the appeal last Thursday, when a delegation of the Bayelsa State chapter of the Sports Writers’ Association of Nigeria (SWAN) paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Yenagoa.

Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman; Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum/Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; former NGF Chairman, Abubakar Yari, and Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mele Kyari, during a courtesy visit by the Ambassador to The NGF Secretariat, in Abuja on April 19, 2022.

20 Educators, Projects Shortlisted For UNWTO Awards 2022 Commonwealth Education Awards 100 Tourism

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he Commonwealth Secretariat has announced a shortlist of entries for the long-awaited 2022 Commonwealth Education Awards, which was postponed last year due to the pandemic.

The shortlist of 20 entries features a wide range of inspirational educators and innovative projects ranging from those that aim to promote literacy among women and tackle youth unemployment, to those that empower teachers and academics, and promote peace education.

Back for its sixth year, the Awards was launched by the Commonwealth Secretariat to recognise and celebrate promising and innovative programmes, projects, and people that have made a positive impact on the education sector – on students, their teachers, or their education system – across the Commonwealth.

The shortlisted entries were chosen by an expert panel of judges in the following categories: Rethinking Education for Innovation Rethinking Education for Work Rethinking Education for Sustainability Education as Pathways to Peace Education for Inclusion Commonwealth Outstanding Teacher or School Leader Commenting on the awards shortlist, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Hon Patricia Scotland, said: "The sixth Commonwealth Education Awards not only celebrate promising and innovative practices but also aim to share these ideas with other Commonwealth countries who can replicate them to enhance learning outcomes.

"The Education Awards are such a huge part of what we do at the Commonwealth given that 60 per cent of the Commonwealth's 2.5 billion population is under the age of 30. And there has never been a better time to recognise the innovation, dedication and commitment demonstrated

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by the education profession in the Commonwealth.

"Education is a top priority for the Secretariat and every Commonwealth country. These awards come at a time when the world continues to navigate the profound impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education systems, a topic that will be discussed at the upcoming Commonwealth Education Ministers Meeting in Nairobi. Over the past two years, we have seen the vital work that schools, educators, and communities do daily to support our education systems.

These awards are a fitting moment to recognise their tireless efforts and incredible work in supporting young people across the Commonwealth.

"Congratulations to all those shortlisted."

Head of Social Policy Development at the Commonwealth Secretariat,Layne Robinson, said: "Thank you once again to all who submitted their entries and a huge congratulations to the shortlisted candidates in each category. This year, our judges were overwhelmed with the highest quality entries for the awards, so getting to the shortlist is a great achievement.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a huge burden on educational institutions across the Commonwealth.

Now, more than ever, we must continue to recognise achievements and acknowledge the vital roles being played in helping the Commonwealth meet its education targets towards the 2030 Agenda."

This year, a record number of entries - 2,462 entries – from 32 countries was received, of which 640 met the submission criteria. Judges were highly impressed by the numerous examples of excellence, resilience, talent and innovation in the many submissions received.

Of the twenty shortlisted, six finalists will be announced at a virtual ceremony on 28 April 2022 to be held on the margins of the 21st Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Nairobi.

Ewhrudjakpo said the development of sports in Nigeria deserves more attention and resources than it is getting at present.

Stressing that sports had not been given its rightful place of in the country, he pointed out that if managed profitably as a business, sports would create jobs for the army of unemployed youths in the state.

The deputy governor said government alone could not adequately handle the task of investing in sports.

Scholarships to Nigeria

He therefore called on oil firms, including the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and other corporate organisations to collaborate with the state government to invest in the promotion of sports in the state.

BY JANEFRANCES CHIBUZOR

Ewhrudjakpo said that plans were underway for local government areas of the state to organise sports festivals for the identification and development of budding talents.

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he United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has awarded 100 Tourism Online Academy Scholarships to Nigerians willing to undertake basic training in the field of tourism.

The UNWTO Secretary-General, Mr Zurab Pololikashvili, formally presented the offer to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at a dinner hosted by the UNWTO in honour of the minister and his delegation in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday night. ''The World Tourism Organization recognises the efforts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its Minister of Information and Culture, Hon. Mr. Lai Mohammed, to empower youth and boost quality education in tourism by granting 100 UNWTO Tourism Online Academy Scholarships,'' Mr. Pololikashvili said.

He said the scholarships will lead to the award of certificates on the introduction to Tourism - Industry Management Course The UNWTO Tourism Online Academy is a partnership between the World Tourism Organisation and the IE University in Madrid, Spain.

Responding to the scholarship offer, Mohammed said the criteria for selecting the beneficiaries would be announced soon.

Earlier on Tuesday, the minister and the UNWTO Secretary-General signed the hosting agreement for the 1st UNWTO Global Conference on Cultural Tourism and Creative Industry, to be held in Lagos between November 14 and 15, 2022.

The Bayelsa number two man, who lamented the paucity of resources as a limiting factor in its sports agenda, called on the state chapter of SWAN to support the advocacy for corporate sponsorship of sporting activities and programmes.

Describing SWAN as a household name in the sphere of sports development in the country, he assured the body that government would look into their demands within the limits of available resources.

He said, “The Sports Writers’ Association of Nigeria is quite a famous name and a very essential member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists. The role of the sports writer is the glory of all sports competitions.

“That is why we need your collaboration to drive our sports agenda. We want SWAN to help us write in this direction. SWAN should spearhead this campaign for multinational companies like SPDC, NAOC, Aiteo and others to partner and collaborate with government.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the Bayelsa chapter of SWAN, Mr Datonye Alambo, commended the Governor Douye Diri Administration for the outstanding achievements of the state in sports competitions, especially the doubleheaded Aiteo/FA Cup victories last season, and also emerging third at the National Sports Festival held in Edo State.

Alambo, however, appealed to government to support the SWAN capacity-building workshop for its members and to provide a bus to enhance the mobility of members of the association to national sports meets.

He also appealed to the Bayelsa State Government to build more sports facilities like mini stadia across the eight LGAs, as well as provide a secretariat for SWAN in Yenagoa, the state capital.

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APRIL 24 - APRIL 30, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

SportsLive Super Falcons And Upcoming AWCON In Morocco

Super Falcons

between the Super Falcons and other national teams. In the qualifying series for the AWCON, for instance, Nigeria was drawn against Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. In the first round of the series, against Ghana, Nigeria lost the reverse fixture 1-0 away to the Black Queens but because they had triumphed over Ghana in the first leg at home by a 2-0 margin, with Uchenna Kalu scoring both goals in the first half, they had the upper hand with a 2-1 aggregate over the two legs. However, Nigeria improved on that performance in the second round of the series. They squared up against the Ivorians, the team that denied them a place in the recent Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and beat them home and away, albeit with small margins. Ifeoma Onumonu netted a brace in Abuja for a 2-0 win and Ijeoma Okoronkwo scored late in the reverse tie in Abidjan to give Nigeria a 3-0 aggregate win and progress to the AWCON in Morocco.

BY JUDE OBAFEMI

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he most successful national female football team in Africa, the Super Falcons of Nigeria, reaffirmed their status by comfortably qualifying for the TotalEnergies 2022 Africa Women's Cup of Nations (AWCON), which is scheduled to take place in Morocco between July 2 and 23. The 14th edition of the highly coveted continental female football competition is organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and, like the men's competition, it is a biennial international football championship organised for the women's national teams of Africa.

As part of the programme of events leading up to the kickoff of the competition, CAF will sort the qualified teams into groups for the preliminary stage of the tournament. This draw has been moved from the initially scheduled date and has now been fixed for Friday, April 29. It will take place at a ceremony to be held at the Mohamed VI Complex in Rabat, Morocco at 9 pm local time.

As one of the 12 teams that made it to the continental competition, Nigeria's Super Falcons, will fancy their chances of another AWCON-winning tournament, especially as it is not being hosted in Equatorial Guinea.

The rationale for this hope is historical. Of the 13 previous times the AWCON, which was previously known as the African Women's Championship, the ladies from Nigeria have won it 11 times, only missing out on the continental trophy in 2008 and 2012, when the Equatorial Guinea hosted and won. Still, Nigeria went home with the bronze medal in 2008 and ended up in the fourth position in 2012.

This time around, Equatorial Guinea failed to qualify for the Morocco tournament. The teams that made it to AWCON 2022 and who will be in the draw with Nigeria include hosts Morocco, Uganda, Burundi, Zambia, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Cameroon and South Africa.

The AWCON competition presents a more compelling attraction for these dozen teams involved. The tournament doubles as the African qualifiers to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup to be hosted by the pairing of Australia and New Zealand between July 20 and August 20 next year.

Rather than struggle through another rigourous qualifying series, the top four teams from Morocco 2022 will qualify for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, and THEWILLNIGERIA

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The AWCON competition presents a more compelling attraction for these dozen teams involved. The tournament doubles as the African qualifiers to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup to be hosted by the pairing of Australia and New Zealand between July 20 and August 20 next year

two more teams will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. More than any other factor, the potential of reaching the world cup incentivised the African teams to put in maximum efforts to reach Morocco and will hopefully make them exert every drive they can muster to finish within the bracket of teams going to represent their countries on the grandest stage of female football in Australia and New Zealand.

That effort will include trying to put a dent in Nigeria's distinguished record in the annals of the African female football history. Apart from dominating the continental competition, winning 11 out of 13 so far played, the Super Falcons are defending champions of AWCON. In the last competition played in 2018, which Ghana hosted from November 17 to December 1 and which featured eight teams, Nigeria picked up her 11th overall AWCON title by defeating one of her strongest continental rivals, South Africa, via penalty shootouts as the final tie ended goalless after extra time. Although Nigeria's Onome Ebi missed the first kick, the Super Falcons scored the remaining four while Banyana Banyana missed two to lose out. The Falcons are also the only women's national team from the CAF region to have reached the quarterfinals in both the FIFA Women's World Cup and the football event at the Summer Olympics.

Yet, even as the dominance of the Nigerian ladies is inarguable, the quality of female football across the continent has witnessed an uptick that has cut into the gap

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The closing gap in the quality of women's football in the continent that directly challenges the dominance of he Super Falcons was in stark relief in September last year at the maiden edition of the Aisha Buhari Invitational Cup, organised by the Nigeria Football Federation to celebrate the girl-child and encourage more girls to take to football. In the upset at the final game of the competition, the Super Falcons fell to a disappointing 4-2 defeat in the hands of the impressive ladies from South Africa, the Banyana Banyana, who lifted the maiden trophy at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos. The ladies from the Rainbow Nation had sounded a note of warning of their rising superiority on the continent to the entire set of invited countries when they soundly beat the Black Queens of Ghana 3-0 in their first game in the competition, while Nigeria was struggling to get a 2-0 win over Mali.

Goals from Linda Motlhalo, Gabrielle Salgado, Mamello Makhabane and Michelle Alozie's early own goal ensured Desiree Ellis' side outscored the African champions despite a maiden brace from Vivian Ikechukwu.

The Randy Waldrum-led team may have picked up valuable lessons from that competition and applied to the remainder of the AWCON qualifying series to securely punch their ticket to Morocco but there were more lessons ahead. The NFF agreed to have the ladies participate in Canada's Women's National Team Celebration Tour to celebrate the Canadian Ladies Olympic gold medal victory at the Tokyo Games in Japan. It was a high-calibre, double-header friendly with which the Falcons could finetune their strategies, cohesion and formation tactics ahead of AWCON. The initial match, the Falcons went toe-to-toe against their hosts, and finished the first half goalless even if they conceded twice in the second half for a 2-0 Canada win. Yet, there was a lot to be consoled about in the loss given that the Super Falcons had their chances and patches where they matched the Canadians in quality to Waldrum's pleasure.

In the second leg of this international friendly, Canada's women's soccer team did not have as easy a time against Nigeria's Super Falcons as they did in the first, even though defensive loopholes allowed the North Americans to salvage a 2-2 tie. The Super Falcons, who are ranked 39th in the world, dominated the second half, but a late Shelina Zardowsky equaliser denied the Nigerians a memorable win over the sixth best team in the world and reigning Olympic champions.

At the end of the friendlies, Waldrum's confidence in the ladies, which he amply demonstrated in his post-match remarks after the first loss, was justified. Part of the chinks that will require extra work to knock the team into the best shape for AWCON will be to shut down all defensive lapses that allowed Canada to come from behind twice.

The team has until the start of July to work on improving the porous defense and other weak departments as focus turns to defending their continental title in the African Women's Cup of Nations in Morocco.

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www.thewillnigeria.com • April 24 - April 30, 2022

Chrisland School Saga: Internet and Failure of Parenting N ews channels and social media were recently awash with a video of the Chrisland School scandal involving lurid acts by underage children. This despicable sexual encounter occurred in a hotel room in Dubai and was recorded by one of the kids using a mobile phone.

When the video went viral, I cast my mind back to the time when I was very young, like those schoolchildren, and immediately shuddered at the thought of contemplating such an act. It would have been quite impossible to even think of it, much less brazenly get involved in anything of that nature. I feared for the consequences that would have befallen anyone of my era, who went as far as making an attempt to be in anything close to an inch of the nonsense that the Chrisland kids reportedly indulged in. I doubt if such a kid, in my era, would have survived the tribulation that would be unleashed on him or her as a penalty from family, religious institutions, school, social groups and the community at large.

In my early secondary days, everyone was expected to bear the responsibility of living up to the image of their family and the name they bore, the faith they professed, the social grouping to which they belonged and the community from which they emerged. It is not the same today. Not only have we adopted foreign habits that have placed a wedge between an individual and members of the extended family, who play crucial roles in the upbringing of children that bear the family’s name so that they do nothing to bring it into disrepute, we have mostly discarded the moral injunctions of our religious faiths with rationalised excuses of the modern era and no longer have the advantages of social groupings and community-aided upbringing to augment the efforts of parents in nurturing and raising children that are balanced, sound, morally upright and responsible members of society.

We have left the very significant task of raising these kids that will be responsible for the country's fortunes to an increasing pair of parents, unequipped for the digital age, different from the milieu in which they themselves were raised.

The effect of this is evident in the Chrisland scandal, which is trending because it was exposed.

The truth is that having lost the nurturing safeguards that ensured an adherence to prim and proper behaviour of the kids of my time and those before it and living in an era of Internet connectivity and social media pressure, today's child upbringing must be cognisant of the context within which the child exists, on the one hand, while adapting to the spirit of the times, on the other, so as to engineer the best models to employ in bringing up well-balanced children that are in tune with the digital age. For this to be, the 21st century parent will need to understand the dynamics of social media influence on the impressionable minds of their young children, the negative residue it deposits on them, its positive silver lining and how to navigate the tightrope of balancing their parenting accordingly.

Addiction to social media interactions is a real contemporary issue. This is enabled all the more by the always-on, always-connected, always-available, always-mobile facility of the ubiquitous smartphone.

We are all guilty of this addiction. And, it is kept alive by the FOMO phenomenon: The Fear Of Missing Out.

The mobile apps of these social media platforms have been purposely designed, as research has proven, to promote further addiction enticing subscribers to scroll mindlessly as they browse, chat, react, comment, reply and share their lives with connected “friends” near and far. It is even more so within younger demographics, as smartphone ownership among this age group has exploded with the availability and affordability of the devices. The addiction feeds on a longing in the user to become part of the virtual world, to participate in the online life, to belong where his or her peers belong. It comes with the unrelenting pressure to check for notifications, to keep up with updates, to add a new profile picture with something more recent, to post a new status, to ensure that one is in vogue. This FOMO is very real for the youngster, who has tasted the lure of a connected online life.

For a kid in a developmental period of growth, these addictions can harm his or her ability to develop healthy and appropriate social skills that are necessary for a balanced adult life. The kids' propensity for the virtual world and desire to appear likable online evokes in them a tendency to overindulge in taking photographs and more willing to try abominable acts so as to fit into the category of those having "fun".

They become so focused on their physical appearance that it becomes an obsessive behaviour. Yet, it is all part of the burden to get more "Likes" and positive reinforcements. This search for external adulations obstructs their ability to actually discover their true selves and real identities in an authentic manner.

Because the kid's focus is towards the external, the endearing intimate characteristic of close-knit families is lost. There is a breakdown of communication and the safety a child should feel within the family bloc suffers. Quality time that could have been spent together with family members is auctioned off to the social media platform that can grab the teenager’s attention and not let go.

While on social media, many kids also suffer exposure to all kinds of unsavoury content. They have access to material that is age-restricted, from where they learn of subjects that are above their capacity to appropriately handle. This practically warps their minds in irreparable ways. In addition, teens have met cyberbullies online and have been exposed to outlandish ideas and hate-based rhetoric that they are not yet mentally equipped to sift through for their own sakes. They end up being victims of influential "no-gooders" who prey on young, impressionable minds to sow their seeds of discord, malice, nastiness, wickedness, mischief and malevolent behaviour. However, it is not all negative.

Youngsters across the world have mobilised online with their mates to campaign for one good cause or the other. In the United States of America, although some kids are not old enough to vote, they have leveraged social media to educate themselves and their peers on topics ranging from gun violence to racial justice to climate change. Elsewhere, young children have organised protests and made sure their voices are heard on issues that concern them. Most of these could never have happened without the capacity that social media platforms offer and which savvy digital age children have embraced to advance goodwill in society and the world at large, finding real ways to add

value to their lives. Our kids can use these same tools to discover great content online, find opportunities for the remote employment of their time, skills and talent.

They can even find better ways to do their homework and finish their household chores in double-quick time. The apps can serve the family’s purpose just as well. Family groups on social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp allow members keep abreast of events in each other’s lives, help them keep track of schedules, locations and make sure every member can be reached and can reach one another at the press of a button.

What this points to is the fact that the use of the Internet and social media images of themselves are not the problem. It is the addiction to its use and the loopholes in effective parenting that have resulted in the problems the smartphone and connected devices are causing. The dedication of the parents of old to the very important duty of raising children must be remastered. Overly busy parents of today, who have delegated the upbringing of their children to nannies and ‘lesson’ teachers must balance their busy schedules with quality time to get to know their wards and afford their kids the space to know them also. These opportunities to bond with their kids will present the chance to talk openly about subjects, such as the inherent dangers of addiction in general and addiction to social media with its attendant consequences for developing a wholesome personality. Done right, this gives kids a sense of self-worth because they have been seen as worth reasoning with rationally.

Furthermore, parents have to responsibly set limits and boundaries for the use of social media at home and they ought to lead by example in this regard. This will help them and their kids to devote time to family interactions, verbal and non-verbal communications, and maintain a good physical disposition towards living a more healthy and balanced life. Stressing the importance of doing chores around the house and the responsibility of dedication to school activities can help refocus the minds of children on their primary duties as responsible children to their parents and other members of the family and community in general. The role of the religious institutions cannot be left out. Their responsibility of pursuing good morals cannot be abdicated. The danger of dwelling mostly on gospels of prosperity has not helped the society and the behaviour of today's children is a sordid reflection of the premium placed on the wrong values. Religious institutions must play their part, therefore, to help the society raise responsible individuals from the cradle to the grave.

Finally, a restoration of moral values implies that the teaching of morals within the academic system must be revived. The removal of moral education from the school curriculum has not been to the advantage of anyone. Therefore, we ought to reintroduce moral education to the academic foundation of tomorrow's Nigeria, whilst adapting parenting styles to the age we have found ourselves with the aid of both religious and academic pillars of the society, if we are to forestall further revelations of acts that have resulted in the shutdown of all Chrisland schools due to recorded underage sex and distribution of same on social media.

While on social media, many kids also suffer exposure to all kinds of unsavoury content. They have access to material that is age-restricted, from where they learn of subjects that are above their capacity to appropriately handle PAGE 32

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