THEWILL NEWSPAPER November 06, 2022

VOL 2 NO. 45 • NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022 2022 06 - NOVEMBER 12, VOL 2 NO. 45 • NOVEMBER

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Japa-ing Nigerian Doctors Cry Over Exploitation

2023: Ethnicity, Religion Driving Electioneering For APC, LP, PDP

NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

IS NOW WHOLLY DIGITAL

VOL 2 NO. 45 • NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022

TRAVEL PLANS? 9 Perfect Outfits For

Nigerians are known for travelling the world, and while many people might have already made plans to go abroad—USA, UK, Paris, etc.- more people are last-minute dot com travellers. And if like me, the thought of filling out those forms spoils the process, there are breathtaking countries worth visiting that don’t require a stressful visa process. For that group(last-minute dotcom travellers), we have put together, with the help of a travel guide, Chiamaka Obuekwe, a list of ten countries in our continent— Africa, that you can visit this coming festive season or any other time in the year.

VOYAGE READY

I still believe that Africans should not require a visa to visit any country within the continent. Imagine a continent where you wake up one morning and decide you are off to Seychelles or Zanzibar without thinking about getting a visa. I dream of and hope for that Africa. That should be part of the African Union agenda.

Every Occassion

Beauty Tips That Really Work

The

Travel Issue

Photo: Kola Oshalusi @insignamedia Makeup: Zaron

I

t’s not very often that someone is tagged a child prodigy.

For Valerie B Lawson, that was her story when at 20 years old, she secured a job as the process engineer in the UK. It would interest you to know that she has travelled the globe working and at every organisation, brought her A-game.

However, one thing remained constant—bias. A young woman of African descent holding a prominent position in a male-dominated space certainly didn’t come without her eventually learning the importance of alliances in every job and country she has worked. But that wasn’t really what caught my attention with her story; she, as young as twenty, already knew how to match energies. The funniest to me was how the men continued to mistreat her and, in one case, purposely—even when it was clear that she wasn’t, he decided she was her boss’s secretary. Her method of handling such situations, as she travelled the globe working for several top corporations, is one I think we can all learn from. You have to read this three-part series on page 6 this week.

Until next week, enjoy your read.

Onah Nwachukwu Editor, THEWILL DOWNTOWN @onahluciaa +2349088352246

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Ramadan

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COVER

2023: Ethnicity, Religion Driving Electioneering For APC, LP, PDP

BY AMOS ESELE

P

oliticians in Nigeria are always told to discuss issues during electioneering, but they often choose to do so in their own way, which raises the question of context.

When Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential flagbearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) played the ethnic card for high stakes before the June 7, 2022 presidential convention of his party in Abuja, the ethnic import did not quite jell because it was a party affair (one among 18 political parties) meant for its delegates.

Then, some of the prominent social and political groups in the country, such as Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere, PANDEF and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum (MBLF), pitched in. Arguing that power must shift to the South-East for equity, they endorsed Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour Party.

They also argued that the South-East, among the three major ethnic groups in the country, namely Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and Igbo, was yet to ascend the presidency.

Then in late October, 2022, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, was reported to have said at an Arewa Consultative Forum event that the HausaFulani should vote for him and not an Igbo or Yoruba PAGE 6

candidate.

Atiku’s party and minders have since held that he was quoted out of context and that he said he was the best among the front-running presidential candidates with national links to serve the interests of the North. But the public view still prevails such that his media men are still facing the question at interviews.

However, as public reactions to that matter was yet to settle, Tinubu gave a new twist to the story when he sought and got the endorsement of some members of Afenifere during a visit to the group’s former leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, Ondo State on Sunday, October 30, 2022.

Apart from the raging controversy over the leadership of the Yoruba social-political group, which Tinubu’s endorsement has generated, following Obi’s earlier endorsement by Afenifere’s Acting leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, alongside Ohanaeze, PANDEF and MDLF, the APC candidate's backing, like others before him, has resuscitated the ogre of ethnicity and religion in the 2023 general election.

As for religion, recall that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC has not only polarised it as many ‘Christian’ politicians within the party have kicked

against it and either defected or vowed to work against it, besides the organisational protest posed by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Seyi Makinde, Governor of Oyo State put this emerging religion and ethnicity trend in bold relief on Saturday, October 29, 2022 during a private radio programme monitored by THEWILL in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

Asked by the anchor if he was not threatening his reelection bid by his alliance with PDP’s foe, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, he answered: "The North is preparing to vote for Atiku as president because he is their son, while they would vote for senatorial and House of Representative members on the platform of other parties."

Then on the next day, a Sunday, his deputy, Bayo Lawal, represented him at the Akure, Ondo State, event where Pa Fasoranti endorsed Tinubu.

Lawal, at the event, spoke in his master's voice.

Oyo, he said, would support the Yoruba’s position on the presidency.

Reacting to the development, Pa Adebanjo, who insisted that he is the leader of Afenifere because Pa Fasoranti conferred that power on him in a letter still in his possession, told THEWILL on Friday that, THEWILLNIGERIA

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COVER

...Ethnicity, Religion Driving Electioneering For APC, LP, PDP

“Nigeria and Nigerians should leave ethnicity out of electioneering and judge the candidates on the basis of their character and competence as well as equity.

That is what we did by our endorsement of Peter Obi. We did it on the basis of ideology, but they are now dragging ethnicity into it. That is dangerous.”

THE AFENIFERE ANGLE When Pa Adebanjo endorsed Obi alongside other groups, a few comments were heard. Tinubu's endorsement, however, has let all hell loose. The ensuing controversy the backing is still generating in the southwest has a direct political implication for the 2023 polls in the southwest.

Many of those who witnessed the Akure endorsement are known supporters of the APC candidate, with links to power brokers and stakeholders in the South-West geo-political zone.

In the roll-call were representatives of the Southwest states, with Yoruba natives of Kogi and Kwara States duly represented. Governor Abiodun Oyebanji (Ekiti) was present and the governors of Ondo, Oyo sent their deputies, namely Orimisan Aiyedatiwa and Bayo Lawal, respectively. From Osun, Dr Charles Akinola, the Chief of Staff, represented Governor Gboyega Oyetola. Segun Adesegun, former deputy Governor of Ogun State, represented his former boss, Chief Olusegun Osoba, the former Governor and old Afenifere chieftain.

Others in attendance were Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu from Oyo; Lt General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade; Governor Cornelious Adebayo, ex- Governor of old Kwara State; Chief Bisi Akande, former governor Osun State and first National Chairman of APC; Chief Pius Akinyelure; retired Major-General Olu Bajowa; Oba Mafimisebi, the former Olugbo of Igbo, Ondo State; Chief Solomon Ayo Oladunni, former deputy managing director of Mobil Oil and Dr Kunle Olajide, former General Secretary of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE).

Also on the list were considered pillars of Afenifere: Kabiyesi Olu Falae, Bashorun Deinde Arogbofa, exOgun state governor, Gbenga Daniel, Abagun Kole Omololu, Chief Demola Folarin. Others were Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Bayo Onanuga and Tunde Rahman, points men in the Tinubu campaign team.

Reacting to the perceived ethnic colouration of the event, General Secretary of the YCE, Dr Olajide, who was present at the occasion, said there was nothing markedly surprising about the gathering.

He told THEWILL, “There is no Nigerian who does not have an ethnic origin. You cannot wish that away. What we are preaching, anyway, is that we have to decide where we are going, even though our main thrust is for somebody with competence and productivity.”

According to him, the positions taken by either Pa Adebanjo or Pa Fasoranti were political. “That is politics playing out. Adebanjo is a leader, Pa Fasoranti is a leader. What we have said is that we are in support of Tinubu and the Yoruba should stand together, that is all. There is nothing wrong with that,” he said.

the governing party and raised eyebrows in the discerning public would fizzle out with time before the polls and ought not to draw the kind of attention in the public but for the media.

He said, rather dismissively, “I even think that it was courageous for Asiwaju Tinubu to embrace the Muslim-Muslim ticket. For how long will we as a people continue along this dimension and division.

It is time to convince Nigerians that the three tests of capacity, character and competence should inform their choices of candidates.”

Explaining the political influence behind Tinubu’s decision, which was long in coming, a dependable party source who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, said the presidential candidate of the opposition PDP pushed his APC rival to seek “home support,” because Atiku has been successfully eroding the influence of the ruling party in its northern stronghold, playing the ethnic card there in reaction to the same-faith ticket of the governing APC. Considered a major weapon of political mobilisation in the North, religion often gives big political leverage during electioneering, he maintained.

Disputing this claim, one of the PDP presidential campaign committee spokespersons, Kola Ologbodinyan, told THEWILL, in reaction, that it was the APC candidate that started the introduction of ethnicity and religion to campaign even before the kick-off of campaigns.

He said, “How else would you interpret the Emilokan philosophy? That is how he ignited ethnicity in the current dispensation. That is how he has dominated the politics of Southwest and used it to feather his ambition. The truth is that he has been striving to fill the leadership vacancy in the Southwest since the death of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. His eyeglasses are suggestive of the quest for that tall ambition.”

On Atiku’s Arewa’s Forum “vote for me and not Igbo or Yoruba,” appeal, Ologbodiyan explained that Atiku, whom he described as a nationalist because, “he has built and sustained a pan-Nigerian network of friends across geo-political zones,” was

“

There is no Nigerian who does not have an ethnic origin. You cannot wish that away. What we are preaching, anyway, is that we have to decide where we are going, even though our main thrust is for somebody with competence and productivity

He thinks the same fate ticket that has polarised THEWILLNIGERIA

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purposely coloured by political rivals to demonise him.

Professor George Obiozo, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which threw up factors of power shift, equity and competence as determinants of its endorsement of Obi, was said to be in a meeting when THEWILL called to get his reaction on Friday as he did not answer the call at the appointed time earlier fixed by an aide.

THE POLITICAL ANGLE Geo-political voting power, THEWILL has learnt, is also one of the undercurrents driving religious and ethnic cards. In regional terms, the North has the highest numbers than the South, according to data released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Geo-politically, the Northwest has the highest voting population at: 22.67 million, followed by the South-West at 18.3 million, the South-South at 15.2 million, North-Central at 14.1 million North-East at 12.8 million and South-East: 11.49 million.

Desperate to grab votes in an emerging democracy with a multi-ethnic, diverse population fixated on ethnic, religious affiliations, politicians of the major parties still reeling from self-inflicted crises are desperate to break every rule in the book to pursue their goals.

WAY FORWARD Adebanjo thinks ideological stand on issues of equity, competence and character in choosing candidates at all levels of election is the way out of the “issues of ethnicity and religion that have always been exploited to divide the country.”

He said, “That was why we made it clear in making our choice of Peter Obi we said we were not speaking for Yoruba. Why should I abandon a principled stand and support somebody because he is from my area?

We should take each candidate on the basis of issues they stand for and not on ethnicity or religion, which is not good for the development of Nigeria.”

Chief Olajide agrees with Adebanjo, but differs with him on emphasis on issues and values as the basis for determining choices.

He said, “It depends on what you mean? When we say the Yoruba are standing together for Tinubu, we are also saying that he has the competence and productivity. That is very clear to most Nigerians from the Atlantic to the Sahara.”

PDP presidential spokesperson, Ologbodiyan, who insisted that his principal, Atiku, is the best presidential candidate when it comes to talking about discussing issues rather than trading insults, held that as a fragile polity fractured by the prevailing widespread insecurity, inequities and popular discontent, issues that unite and integrate should be pursued by all candidates.

“That was the symbolic message of the Peace Accord signed by the parties recently. The media, the watching public and security agencies should help in enforcing the spirit of the accord,” Ologbodiyan maintained.

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NEWS 2023: Group Flays Low Female Participation in Governance

A

Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu (midle), flanked by Managing Director/CEO, Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), Hon Ayodeji Joseph (left) and Oniru of Iruland, Oba Gbolahan Lawal, Abisogun II (right) at the LSDPC 50th Anniversary Symposium with the theme: “Unfolding Arms to Join Hands: Moving the Lagos Property Market Forward”, at Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on November 3, 2022.

C'River: NPC Presents Soft Copies of Locality List to 18 LGAs

'Don't Allow Igbo Language to Go Into Extinction'

FROM BASSEY ANIEKAN, CALABAR

T

T

he National Population Commission has presented soft copies of locality list to the chairmen of the 18 local government councils in the Cross River State.

The Federal Commissioner representing Cross River State in the Commission, Navy Captain Charles Ogwa (retd.), made the presentation in Calabar.

Ogwa said that with the presentation, the councils had been given a 14-day deadline for the return of the soft copies to enable it go into the national frame for the census proper.

Explaining the objectives of the exercise, he said, "This exercise is intended to display the concise, compiled compendium of localities in all the 18 LGAs for validation by the stakeholders who are the council chairmen and the traditional institution.

"They will do the corrections first. When they do the corrections, it means they have validated it. If it is validated, it is stamped and put in the national frame for the census proper and they have 14 days from today which is the day of receipt, to return the list," the federal commissioner said.

He assured the council chairmen, traditional rulers and other stakeholders that the commission is irrevocably

committed to rewrite the history of census in Nigeria.

"I wish to use this opportunity to assure the people of Cross River that the Commission is irrevocably committed to positively rewrite the history of censuses in Nigeria.

"We hope to deliver to this great nation accurate, reliable and acceptable census that will be purposefully relevant in the drive towards sustainable national development," the NPC Federal Commissioner assured.

In her speech, the Chairman of Calabar South Local Government Area, Hon Esther Bassey, appealed to the people of the area to take census-related issues seriously.

The Head of Ikun Community in Biase Local Government Area, Onun Ogban Bassey, said he had 100 percent faith in the forthcoming census as this will help us know how many we are in a locality, as no place will be left unaccounted for", he said.

The Chairman of Yakurr Local Government Area in Cross River State, Obeten Ofem Ebri, promised to call other stakeholders in his local government area to look at the list, check omissions and misspellings, correct and forward to the appropriate quarters as demanded.

Relocate Old Ikom Bridge, Sandy Onor Tells FG

T

he People's Democratic Party Gubernatorial flagbearer in Cross River State, Prof Sandy Onor, has called on the federal government to relocate the Old Ikom Bridge to the narrowest point of the Cross River.

He said this was necessary to reduce the distance from Ikom to Calabar by one hour.

Prof Sandy disclosed this at the Mfum/Ekok Border Bridge during the inauguration of the bridge by President Muhammadu Buhari.

"The narrowest point of the Cross River is the point we are talking about.

"When this is done, it will shorten the distance from Calabar to Ikom by one hour.

"For now, the only road we have from Calabar to Ikom is the one you know and anytime there is a breakdown on that road nobody is able to leave Calabar for this part of the state," Prof Sandy said.

He said, "Now that we have a brand new bridge at Ikom, the old bridge is wasting.

He commended the Federal Government for building the $44 million dollars bridge saying the borders which were created by the White man irrespective of cultural affirnities has been converted to bridges.

"If it were possible, the old bridge should be decoupled and brought to Okoroba and Ajassor.

"The white man came and imposed these barriers, regardless of the cultural affinities we share.

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FROM SAMPSON UHUEGBU, OWERRI

he Traditional ruler of Ihim Autonomous community in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State, His Royal Majesty, HRM, Eze Dr Oliver Ohanwe (Obi- Gbururugburu), has frowned at the rate at which Igbo language appears to be going into extinctionespecially in families and schools in the Southeast States.

Eze Ohanwe, who is the Board Chairman of the Governing Council, Benjamin Uwajumogu College of Education, IhitteUboma, said this in Owerri, during an interview with our reporter, Saturday.

He decried the manner by which primary schools' teachers have shied away from one of their major responsibilities of teaching the pupils on how to read, write and speak Igbo language, which according to him, has apparently died out.

The Monarch, said, " I want Imo State government to return primary school teachers back to the Benjamin Uwajumogu College of Education, Ihitte-Uboma, for refresher courses on Igbo language, of which he noted, would help them to communicate people fluently in with the language.

He continued, "Those teachers that taught our children the Igbo language in those days had all retired from service, while some are aged". Children are nolonger taught how to communicate with "Ilu, Ukwe, Akuko Ifo and others that promote our culture and tradition."

Eze Ohanwe noted, that the Yoruba, Hausa; saying even the minority groups promote their mother tongues and however wondered why the Igbo should not be proud of their language.

He therefore pleaded with the Igbospeaking states, Imo, Enugu, Abia, Anambra and Ebonyi, to always project the language in their day-to-day interactions, urging them to make use of it as a tool to promote unity of purpose, peace and oneness among Ndigbo.

"Language embodies culture and other values of the native speakers, and that native speakers ought to communicate in their mother tongues to their children to save the languages from going extinct," the Monarch advised.

coalition, 100 Women Lobby Group, has blamed the low number of female candidates in the 2023 general election on lack of internal democracy in political parties, saying that most parties are not gender sensitive.

The National Coordinator of the Group, Mrs Felicia Onibon, stated this at a meeting tagged, “Dissemination on the Analysis/ Review of the 2022 Party Primaries and its Implication on Women Political Participation in 2023” in Abuja on Thursday.

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) had released a report indicating that only 10.1 per cent of the candidates for the 2023 general election were females.

“We all know that political parties have been having alot of issues around party democratic system particularly in the area of primary election.

“A lot of things happened that actually helped in pushing down women in the governance system and structures of Nigeria.

“I would like to say that the primaries in the Nigerian political system is the foundation of women not been given adequate space in the development of the political space in Nigeria,” she said.

While reviewing the dissemination report, Prof. Mabel Evwierhoma, the Director, Center for Gender and Security Studies and Youth Advancement at the University of Abuja, said the survey involved six states.

The states included: Rivers, Ondo, Adamawa, Delta, Imo and the FCT. Ewierhoma said that over 60 per cent of the respondents were youths and they blamed women low representation on money politics, inadequate awareness, gender based violence, lack of women’s visibility amongst others as the bane of women’s progress.

She said most of the women were not happy with what transpired at the 2022 party primaries, saying that there was need for more political sensitisation on the 2022 electoral act, especially at the grassroots.

“The lack of visibility within the political party structure is responsible for some of the negation they felt on the field of active politics.

“Monetisation of politics was another finding from the research and many women were not happy that political violence left them at the receiving end at political processes.

“A lot want violence to be curbed and the implication would mean family should support women realise their political dream,” she said.

The university don harped on the need for women to have more political sensitisation and education.

She added that a politically conscientised woman would not be easily asked to renege from the block of vote she has enjoyed within the community, state and the party when it concerns party primaries.

“Another solution would be that women should recognise that their pursuit of political equity means their engagement early enough within the political process and familiarisation with political hierarchy.

“So that no one would ask them to step aside for lack of confidence in their candidacy,” she said.

She, however, expressed optimism that women would be actively involved in governance, in spite of the low percentage of female candidates contesting in various positions in the 2023 general election.

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POLITICS

Atiku

Ortom

Ahead 2023: LP, ADC, PDP Crises Linger

BY AYO ESAN

T

he Campaign for the 2023 general elections has begun with almost all the 18 registered political parties’ crisscrossing the country soliciting for votes. Of all the parties however, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems to have a well-guided political campaign schedule and has been active on the political field since it kick-started its campaign in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State last month. The All Progressives Congress (APC) has just released its campaign time- table while the Labour Party kick-started its campaign in Nasarawa a few days ago.

Despite intensifying their campaigns, three political parties namely, the PDP, African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Labour Party are still swimming in crisis. The crisis, if not well managed, political observers believe may hinder their success in the 2023 poll.

ADC adamant on suspension of its presidential candidate, Kachikwu The crisis ravaging the ADC since September, which led to the suspension of its presidential candidate, Mr Dumebi Kachikwu, is yet to abate. The National Chairman of the party, Chief Ralph Nwosu, in an interview with THEWILL, said Kachikwu would not stand for next year’s general election on the platform of the party because he had been expelled from the party.

Nwosu revealed that Kachikwu, who is on INEC’s list of candidates for the February 25, 2023 presidential election, had been discovered to be working as a mole.

“In ADC, we expelled our presidential candidate because we discovered that he was a mole. Our delegates made a grievous mistake by picking a mole to destroy our party. But by the Grace of God, we discovered early and we had to deal with it. We are doing everything possible to bring forth a new presidential candidate. However it goes, we are preparing for the election seriously.

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“

In ADC, we expelled our presidential candidate because we discovered that he was a mole.

Our delegates made a grievous mistake by picking a mole to destroy our party

“Yes, his name appeared on the list of candidates for the presidential election released by the INEC. Yes, there is an electoral process. INEC has to do its job according to the electoral law and we have to do our own process, according to our constitution.

“So it is for us to tell our members what happened and to make the general public become aware of our schedule. The law of Nigeria has to take its course and INEC is doing what it is supposed to do, but we have taken our own decision as a party,” he said.

It would be recalled that in September this year, crisis rocked the ADC when Kachikwu and some of the state chairmen of the party attempted to remove Nwosu from office.

Nwosu survived the palace coup and since then all has not been well with the party. The failed attempt to remove him was followed by the appointment of Dr. Mani Ibrahim Ahmed as the party’s new Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman.

The decision, which was said to have emanated from a

resolution of the National Working Committee (NWC) and critical stakeholders’ meeting, followed the suspension of former National Vice Chairman (North East) of the party, Alhaji Ibrahim Manzo.

Nwosu, in a statement, also suspended 17 state chairmen for anti-party activities, denigrating conduct and utterances in contravention of Article 15 of the party constitution.

The affected chairmen include Kingsley Temitope Oggah (Kogi); Kennedy Odion (Edo); Auwal Abba Barde (Gombe); Leader Sampson (Rivers); Johnny Tovie Derek (Bayelsa) and Elias Adikwu (Benue).

Others are Ilesanmi Omolayo Joel (Ekiti); Kabiru Hussaini (Jigawa); Patrick Ambut (Kaduna); Emmanuel Dibia (Delta); Clement Ehigiator (FCT); Alhaji Musa Hassan (Niger); Alaka Godwin William (Nasarawa); Samuel Gyang (Plateau); Bala Suffiayanu (Kebbi); Bello Isiyaku (Sokoto) and Muhammed Khala Jidda (Borno).

Nwosu regretted that although Kachikwu emerged from a free and fair presidential primary, the presidential candidate “has done nothing to show that he is actually prepared to contest the February 25, 2023 election.” He decried “Kachikwu’s attempts to cause confusion in ADC.” Nwosu assured that ADC would live up to billing as a “truly democratic party and credible alternative to the two other destitute parties that have plunged Nigeria into debt, darkness and insecurity.”

He said, “The attempt to Balkanise our great party is clear evidence of willful mischief by those who are ignorant of ADC’s constitution.“ The ADC constitution, which is also in INEC’s custody, laid down the procedure for changing the party’s leaders.”

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POLITICS “If Mr Kachikwu can operate this way as a mere candidate, he will be a terrible dictator if elected. Nigeria is not a dictatorship, as such a candidate cannot wake up and appoint a caretaker chairman for a political party in the way Kachikwu tried to manipulate the party.

“It is only through a national convention that a substantive national chairman could be elected. However, to avoid chaos and ensure good running of the party, NEC can intervene on any matter to keep the party focused.”

LP, OBidient Movement at War The Labour Party (LP) and hundreds of support groups backing its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, which make up the “OBidient Movement, are at ‘war’ over the composition of its Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) and funding. There is an indication that they may soon part ways unless a truce is called on time.

The disagreement, it was gathered, may leave the party in pains and Peter Obi’s presidential candidacy in jeopardy.

There were complaints about the composition of the PCC and since it was first constituted on October 12, 2022 and later reconstituted and inaugurated penultimate week. It was also gathered that some Obi’s support groups are still not comfortable with it and they were not happy that they are left out.

It would be recalled that Abure, during the inauguration of the PCC, urged members to go look for funds for the campaign because the presidential candidate did not have the funds to run the campaign alone.

“The presidential candidate of the party cannot fund the presidential contest alone. Therefore, all of us here have the responsibility to solicit funds for the campaign,” Abure said, after the installation of the PCC in Abuja.

On the composition of the PCC, other leaders who spoke to THEWILL pointed out that many of the members were not stakeholders. They said many who had been on the field to make the movement and LP popular indirectly, have been excluded.

Many of the aggrieved people were said to have threatened to pull out of the coalition with the LP and look for other candidates to support in the forthcoming general election.

“

Ortom accused the PDP candidate of dishonouring him as governor and working against the interest of Benue residents

As a way out of this development, they are insisting on speaking directly with Obi before deciding on the next step.

the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is from the North.

Speaking on this, the LP spokesperson, Abayomi Arabambi, simply said he was not aware of any crisis,

The Wike-led team has maintained that they will not campaign for Atiku unless Ayu resigns his position. Despite the intervention of members of the party’s BoT and other leaders of the party, the five governors and their allies have refused to be part of the PDP Presidential Campaign.

He said, “In any case, people have the right to ventilate their complaints. But trust Nigerians, people will still complain, even when problems have been solved. But take it from me when I tell you that all is well.”

It was gathered, however, that the Deputy Director-General of Campaign, South, Chief Anagbe Kentebe, prevailed on the feuding groups to calm down and allow party leaders to look into their complaints.

How soon the issue will be resolved is still unknown but there is relative peace in the party for now. If not checked, agitation may derail the party’s scheduled campaign.

Wike, Ortom others Insist on not supporting Atiku Five PDP Governors , Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State; Samuel Ortom of Benue and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State have been at ‘war’ with their party, the PDP since Wike was not picked as the vice presidential candidate of the party.

They also demanded equity, fairness and justice in the party by saying that the National Chairman of the Party, Prof Iyorchia Ayu, should step down and be replaced by a southerner, since THEWILLNIGERIA

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Only a few days ago, Governor Samuel Ortom and some elder statesmen in the state, Minda Leaders of Thoughts, have said they had withdrawn their support for Atiku Abubakar over an alleged hate speech and profiling of Benue people.

Ortom accused the PDP candidate of dishonouring him as governor and working against the interest of Benue residents.

Ortom’s rejection was triggered by Atiku’s alleged comments on the recent killings by suspected herdsmen in Benue state.

The governor allegedly claimed that Atiku was working with Miyetti Allah.

Ortom also said Atiku had sidelined him in selecting his presidential campaign team.

Ortom further said, “I am not in his campaign team. The people they appointed there did not get my consent. So I’ll remain on my own. But I’m waiting; when the election comes, we shall vote according to the election.”

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Obi

The convener of one of the big groups with presence in many states and local government areas in the southern part of the country are said to be angered by the chairman’s refusal to respond to their request for funding.

Nwosu

Many leaders of the Obi/Datti support groups that travelled to Abuja for the inauguration of the PCC, penultimate Friday, felt disappointed, after they were told by the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, to ”go and source funds’ for their immediate needs, such as accommodation and feeding, among other things.

Also Wike has said that he will not support his party’s candidate, Atiku in the election because he did not consult him before picking members of his campaign council from Rivers State.

He explained that Atiku’s photograph and that of PDP national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, had been missing in the party’s campaign materials in the state because they did not want him to campaign for the party at the national level.

Wike, who spoke during the inauguration of the Rivers State PDP Campaign Council in Port Harcourt, said the party’s presidential candidate selected those he described as “enemies of Rivers State” into his campaign council for the 2023 general elections.

The governor said: “Some people have asked me why they don’t see the presidential candidate’s picture and that of the party chairman. I said what are you talking about? The presidential candidate entered my state and picked members of the presidential council without a whole governor of a state having a contribution.

“The presidential candidate entered Rivers State and picked those he wants to pick without the contribution of the governor.

So, they said they don’t need me to campaign for them, that they don’t need Rivers people to campaign for them. Will you force yourself?

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, penultimate Saturday, noted that he would not support the presidential candidate of PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar until the party ensured fairness.

He made the remarks during a live interview session broadcast on a radio station in Ibadan.

The governor said that with the achievements recorded by his administration across the four service point areas of education, security, health and economic expansion through agribusiness and infrastructure, he deserved to be re-elected by the people of the state.

Asked about the crisis within the PDP at the national level, Makinde said he would only support Atiku if the party did the needful.

According to him, the party must demonstrate that it can ensure fairness and justice within its system before seeking to implement it in the country.

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POLITICS INTERVIEW

Hon. Adejoro Adeogun is representing Akoko South East / South West Federal Constituency of Ondo State. He is also the Vice Chairman, House Committee on National Security. In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on issues of national importance ranging from security to the 2023 general election and the planned redesigning of naira currency notes. Excerpts:

W

Adeogun

Insecurity Won't Affect 2023 Poll – Adeogun

hat is your reaction to the security alert given by the United States and the United Kingdom that led to the withdrawal of foreign nationals and diplomatic officials from the FCT? The so-called security alert was a travel advisory published by the embassies on their respective websites to advise their citizens on prevailing security situations. Travel advisories are normal.

Remember that the Nigeria travel portal gained importance during the outbreak of COVID 19 because it became a source of information for international travelers. So the advisories weren’t an issue but it’s interpretation by Nigerians, the ensuing panic and other unintended consequences. Like other Nigerians, I saw a picture purportedly taken at an airport to show some foreign nationals who were being evacuated from Abuja, I don’t know how true that is. If it is true then it is unnecessary.

with the improvement in synergy among agencies to arrest suspects and the steps taken to harden terrorist targets within the city of Abuja

How true are claims of invasion of an estate in Abuja by American soldiers, leading to the arrest of bandits?

What I read in several publications was that some expatriates were seen alongside operatives of the DSS during an operation at an estate in Lugbe. If it is true that expatriates were seen, they could be trainers or advisers providing technical support. Any insinuation that American soldiers invaded an estate in Abuja in the absence of local security operatives should be seen as fake news. Nigeria is not under the siege of any friendly or unfriendly foreign army of occupation.

“

What is the implication of such an alleged invasion of the country by foreign soldiers on the sovereignty of Nigeria as a country?

I have said categorically that what you are saying is at variance with popular reports. We must be careful not to misinterpret situations in which expatriates provide training and technical support for Nigeria security personnel as part of equipment procurement agreements. We bought Aircrafts and other hardware from the US and receive support from the US for the training, technical support and initial operation of the hardwares.

We have a similar situation with NIMASA’s investment in hardware to safeguard our maritime boundaries. So if expatriates are seen in such situations it should be understood that they are helping to build the capacity of our personnel.

Are you satisfied with the Federal Government's response?

I am satisfied with the prompt and professional response of our counter- terrorism agencies to the terrorist threats. I am satisfied

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How is your committee advising the government in the current situation?

The committee is constantly engaging with the intelligence and the counter-terrorism agencies, helping them to build synergy, giving feedback and providing support to ensure that they continue to give Nigerians much desired security cover What can be done as a matter of urgency to calm down the residents of the FCT and Nigerians in general?

What is immediately needed is to reassure Nigerians resident in Abuja that the panic created from the widespread misunderstanding of the travel advisories was needless. There was definitely no need for the level of panic emanating from the

The situation today is not half as volatile as we had in 2015 when the entire North East was under the siege of Boko Haram. I am not denying that we face some measure of insecurity especially from ransom takers and terrorism, but the threats are not enough to stop Nigeria from holding a general election in 2023

actions of a few embassies. Truth is there was a threat, but it was promptly neutralised and the security agencies are working harder to ensure that a security cordon is provided around the FCT. If the counter terrorism agencies could make more information available to the public about the major break through they have achieved over the last two weeks, the confidence of our people in the capability of the security agencies to safeguard the city would be restored. At this stage, the government needs the help of the press to disseminate the right information to residents of the city to restore confidence and normalcy.

The campaigns are ongoing, how will you advise politicians and the electorate to avoid aggravating the insecurity situation in the country?

At times like this, it is the primary responsibility of every citizen to contribute to national security. My advice to politicians is to be security conscious and avoid providing soft targets for terrorists.

Political parties may need to try out new campaign strategies that do not entail large gatherings.

Some Nigerians fear that the 2023 general election may not hold due to insecurity. What is your take on this?

I do not share in such pessimism. The situation today is not half as volatile as we had in 2015 when the entire North East was under the siege of Boko Haram. I am not denying that we face some measure of insecurity especially from ransom takers and terrorism, but the threats are not enough to stop Nigeria from holding a general election in 2023.

What informed your sponsorship of the bill to amend the VAPP Act? The desire to improve and strengthen the Act to protect vulnerable Nigerians from harmful cultural practices. Widows in Nigeria are vulnerable and we need to strengthen our laws to safeguard there rights to dignity, property, inheritance and custody of their children.

What’s your take on the plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria to redesign some naira notes?

The redesign of the naira is not a bad idea, if well handled. My concern is the seeming absence of synergy between the CBN and the Ministry of Finance. It is sad that the two managers of our fiscal and monetary policies have through their ego contest displayed their misunderstanding of the prevailing economic challenges facing Nigeria.

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POLITICS

Plateau APC And Lalong’s Burden

BY UKANDI ODEY

T

he political body chemistry of the majority of Plateau people is not in favour of the ruling APC to continue in 2023. The Party has since lost its fortune and favour because of the disappointing and abysmal performance and failure of the Lalong administration to lift the Plateau Spirit.

Not only has the opposition parties dubbed the Lalong era as one of retrogression and stagnation, and arguably the worst bargain to befall the state since Independence in 1960, one of the nineteen contenders for the Party’s gubernatorial ticket before the primaries had openly noted that his major strategy to win the favour of Plateau people and ultimately their votes, was to avoid Lalong, apparently pointing to the diminished and near unserviceable public perception into which a litany and trajectory of gaffes and goofs have plunged him.

No matter how much the aspirant kept his distance, Lalong had his plans: he ambushed and pre-empted the outcome of the gubernatorial primary by circumventing election of delegates for the primary, and ultimately skewed both process and procedure for a choreography that produced Nentawe Yilwatda as ‘winner’ of the ‘primary’.

The other 18 aspirants who were arm-twisted and shortchanged by Lalong’s brutal sense of democracy are still grieving and yearning for justice and threatening to rock the boat at the crucial hour. Unfortunately for the handpicked Nentawe Yilwatda, Lalong has not as much as bothered to convene a peace or fence-mending parley with angry aspirants who are protesting that their constitutional right was violated and bungled by his executive connivance and conspiracy with external forces spoiling to foist a Nentawe political leadership on Plateau State.

Simon Lalong’s popularity and public perception have so waned that he is even a burden grating on the electoral fortunes of Nentawe Yilwatda, with the real misfortune being that Yilwatda does not seem to have realised this, and work out a design to extricate him from the battered image and unfavourable perception now hunting and trailing the governor. Lalong’s style of governance, with some of his policies and projects, has frightened the average Plateau man, with palpable fear that the Plateau heritage has been unwittingly endangered by the singular act of electing Lalong as Governor. This is the stigma stalking the ambition of Nentawe, more than his inchoate ‘generation next’ campaign cry and Lalong’s shrewdness and unwillingness to fund his campaign.

Celebrating his appointment – seen by many actually as political ridicule – as the Director-General of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation has not helped to refurbish the political stature and relevance of Governor Lalong. Rather, with his earlier thoughtless and unnecessary name-dropping and appeal to spiritual personalities as a situational fallacy to justify a political faux pas, he is a literal outcast in the Christian congregation that is yet to reconcile with same faith presidential ticket preferred by Tinubu for the 2023 elections.

Within and beyond Plateau State, Christians seem to perceive Simon Bako Lalong as a Judas who is over due to come to judgment! For sure, however, judgment is not just coming, it is here.

Simon Lalong’s leadership of the BAT Campaign, like some evil incarnate, will end as a farce, and will gather no moss.

The odds are eloquent that Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not impress in the Presidential poll, as he will post miserable results that will also lack the vital national spread.

Sundry odds and electoral disaster await Governor Lalong in the Plateau South Senatorial election. Barring rigging and other forms of electoral disorders, Lalong will not win next year’s senatorial election in Plateau South. His opponent in the PDP has better and more verifiable chances to win.

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Lalong

Ever since that disputed and controversial primary, the temperature and temperament of the Party have remained at fever pitch. Apart from gruelling litigations with potential to torpedo chances of the Party to be part of the 2023 elections, there is disillusionment and malcontent grating on internal harmony and cohesion which are vital pre-election status for a political party to put a strong showing during elections.

“

Simon Lalong’s popularity and public perception have so waned that he is even a burden grating on the electoral fortunes of Nentawe Yilwatda

In Qua’an Pan LGA in Plateau South, Lalong has more than issues to sort out, and assuage the people to change their minds in his favour, and the Pan Development Association is keeping the details of his political ‘sins’.

The Isaac Kwalu factor is seething and sedate as far as political calculations in Qua’an Pan are concerned. In Shendam, Lalong’s home LG, because an injury in the mouth bleeds downwards towards the stomach, he will manage a marginal win, irrespective of the combination of Pauline Tallen, Hon. Komsol, and other dark horses raging and waiting in the wings. But it is clear – and Lalong should know – that he will lose in Langtang North and Langtang South and Kadarko in Wase LG because the Taroh people will prefer their own in the PDP, Napoleon Bali, ahead of a Lalong that has been denigrating the aspirations and pride of the Taroh nation by perpetrating discord and confusion in Langtang North LG council by imposing a dubious political leadership there.

Although Wase could still go for the APC in Plateau in 2023, it is not a guarantee for Lalong, whose absurd ambition to win and win again in the Senate to emerge as the President of the 10th Senate has seen him and Reps Deputy Speaker,

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Idris Maje, working fiercely at cross purposes and deepening their socio-political gulfs within the region.

Not sure of Mikang with the least voter strength in the zone, it means Lalong has only Shendam to rely on, meaning his senate dream will end as a nightmare on a February morning in 2023.

Again, Lalong, as a political burden to himself and the APC, has negative implications for Nentawe Yiltwada and other aspirants, especially those identified to have been aided to emerge by any means by the governor and his cronies. The mood of the Plateau people is to administer political vendetta on Lalong using the electoral opportunity coming in 2023.

This increases the nightmare for Yilwatda and others. Thus, it will not be time to issue meal tickets for Yiltwada if he escapes the tightly intricate ropes menacing in the courts.

The mood of the Plateau people is that Lalong must be punished quickly for his failures, inadequacies, and excesses while in office as executive governor of Plateau State. This is a task that is waiting to be done. Given the tidal nature of the master stroke, the casualties will be many; but with Lalong and Yilwatda taking the shine, lead, and prominence in quality and colour.

Two events that took place in Plateau last week speak clearly of the days of tempests ahead. One was the legally contentious, tongue wagging re-award of the Legacy Projects contract for N26 billion. The second one is an order for monthly weekend sanitation exercise that was flouted massively to reflect the governor’s depleted authority, and anger of the people who seem to grasp every opportunity to express disgust with bad roads and a collapsed environmental sanitation regime.

The people are even more embarrassed and scandalised that Government House, Jos is in darkness, having been disconnected from public power supply; and that for a long time now water supply to the same Government House has ceased, with the Government House gate in tatters, and the entire complex ill-kept.

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EDITORIAL

Leaky Pots in Schools Feeding Programme

A

recent disclosure on the fraud in the Federal Government’s Schools Feeding Programme made

by Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, has put a spotlight on the transparency deficit that has plagued the scheme since inception.

While hosting members of the Enumeration Committee of the programme in Lafia, Governor Sule said that corrupt officials listed 349 non-existent public primary schools in the programme and diverted the funds to their personal use.

The governor explained that Nasarawa had over 1,200 public primary schools. However, some crooked officials shortchanged the state by registering 349 fake schools and cornered the money meant to feed the actual beneficiaries.

Sule said the criminal action denied the real schools from being captured in the programme.

This disgraceful conduct buttresses the widespread criticism of the schools feeding project as one lacking in transparency and constituting a cesspool of corruption. The attitude of the corrupt government officials has further cast doubts on the integrity of the scheme, which has also consumed huge resources.

In April 2022, the Federal Government disclosed that it spent about N12 billion monthly on the National Home-Grown Schools Feeding Programmes (NHGSFP) under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (MHADMSD) headed by Mrs. Sadiya Farouq, the National Coordinator, National Social Investment Programme of the Ministry, Dr Umar Bindir, at a stakeholders’ consultative workshop in Abuja, disclosed that the scheme is fraught with challenges.

The Federal Government had said it spent about N523.3 million on schools feeding programme during the coronavirus-induced lockdown in 2020, a development that sparked public outcry, with stakeholders demanding for details of the 124,589 households said to be the beneficiaries in FCT, Lagos and Ogun states.

Criticisms of the programme border, among others, on the criteria for selecting the beneficiaries of a scheme funded with taxpayers’ money. The priority placed on the scheme over infrastructure deficit in our schools, low budgetary allocation as well as the high population of unqualified teachers, questions the rationale for the huge amount spent on the project. Moreover, contrary to a key objective that it would boost schools enrolment, the population of Nigeria’s out-of-school children has significantly increased in the last seven years the school feeding programme had been in place.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in its latest global data, said Nigeria now has about 20 million out-of-school children as against 10.5 million in 2015. With insecurity and kidnapping of school children, most parents, especially in the North, are not disposed to sending their wards to schools – a situation that contradicts the perceived benefits of the schools feeding programme.

Sule is a state governor on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) which conceived the schools feeding initiative when the party first came to power in 2015. He has often extolled the “impeccable integrity” of President Muhammadu Buhari and the anti-corruption mantra of the APC. But the recent revelation in his state shows the depth of carnage to public finance through the leaking pots in the school feeding programme.

The nearly 350 non-existent

schools cloned into the scheme in Nasarawa State alone points to the rot that has eaten the fabric of the scheme. It reinforces the worry over institutionalised corruption in the Nigerian public service where sane behaviour has become abnormal.

To successfully enroll almost 350 fake institutions into the schools feeding programme involved a well-knitted criminal syndicate within the system. It is a long process of supplies, documentation, authorisation, auditing, receipts, payments and bank transactions.

This is at the heart of the endemic kleptocracy throttling Nigeria’s governance as the most expensive in the world.

It further illustrates the systemic corruption in our national life. As is often the case, someone is the ultimate loser. In this instance, the children who we refer to as the future leaders, are the ultimate losers.

While the state was shortchanged and the children denied the benefits of the schools feeding programme,

The schools feeding programme should be put on hold and the entire system overhauled to determine its sustainability in line with prevailing economic realities

some unscrupulous officials illegally enriched themselves in a horribly corrupt manner. And nothing happened to them.

Governor Sule’s disclosure ought to have triggered an investigation into the rot that enabled almost 350 ghost institutions to be enlisted in the school feeding programme without detection. It points to the failure of the Buhari/APC-led government that has anti-corruption as a plank of its agenda.

A group, Lawyers of Conscience (LC), had in 2021 demanded the full disclosure of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development spending as it relates to the National Home-Grown Schools Feeding Programme for public primary school pupils in Nigeria. The group’s leader, Chief Nkereuwem Ndofia Akpan, said they had written to the Ministry demanding for comprehensive information on the schools feeding programme, which he said lacked transparency, but no response was received from the Ministry. The National Assembly had at various times called for the reform of the social intervention initiatives incorporating the schools feeding programme.

We urge the Federal Government to investigate the claim by Governor Sule and get to the root of the matter as well as ascertain other affected states. The culprits should be fished out and punished. They are enemies of development. There ought be an effective process of monitoring the integrity of the scheme to avoid compromise by the officials.

We are also of the view that the schools feeding programme should be put on hold and the entire system overhauled to determine its sustainability in line with prevailing economic realities. It is doubtful if the nation’s precarious financial status can bear the burden of a school feeding programme fraught with monumental corruption perpetrated by highly placed

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

CBN’s New Naira Notes And Matters Arising

BY BONIFACE CHIZEA

O

n Wednesday 26, October 2022 at a hurriedly organised prees conference, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, transmitted the news that new naira currency notes will be introduced on December 15, 2022 to replace the existing 200, 500, and 1,000 Naira notes. The old notes would remain legal tender currency till the end of January 2023. He urged citizens to take advantage of the window before the introduction of the new notes to commence immediately to make lodgements with the banks.

Emefiele explained that change of currency is recommended within the interval of 5 to 7 years but the last time Nigeria embarked on this exercise was in 1984 about 20 years ago. And therefore this exercise is overdue going by received wisdom.

He gave other reasons for the introduction of the notes as due to the need to correct urgently the existing scenario whereby 85% of the currency in circulation is outside the banking system. He emphasised the urgency of the need for the Central Bank to reclaim currency management which as per the Act establishing the Central Bank is its exclusive preserve and could not have been more pressing.

And it is expected in the process to deal a deadly body blow on the thriving and dangerous burgeoning kidnappings and ransom payment industry. It is also expected that the exercise will seriously affect those who have turned currency counterfeiting as a major occupation.

Some of the other anticipated positive fallouts of the exercise are reduction in the rate of inflation as well as should be expected to give the exchange rate a boost. The possibilities of this exercise are there waiting to be tapped for as far as all concerned are prepared to act timeously.

Intelligence gathered from the exercise is expected to positively impact the Treasury situation as an opportunity of this exercise could be seized to expand the tax net leveraging on inherent intelligence. This will assist in getting some economic agents who have not been paying tax to begin to do so. In fact a trail on heavy cash users could throw open a vista of possibilities.

As should be expected the reactions have been fast, furious and thick. The CBN has been accused of misplaced priority as it has left the urgent business of defending the value of rate of exchange of the Naira which has been on a free fall at the parallel market, of course, with the inevitable demand that the CBN governor should be immediately sacked for his crass incompetence.

With some organised bodies calling for policy reversal and that the date allowed for the exercise is unrealistic considering the extent of work load envisaged and that available infrastructure might not be able to cope. Honestly one must not envy anyone charged with the responsibility for taking such decisions in our polity.

Some have claimed that it is a grand strategy to put the President's portrait on the new notes particularly as his brother-in-law is now the Managing Director at the MINT. Some have also alleged that it is a ploy to remove the controversial Islamic inscription (Ajamin) on the currency.

There is also the accusation that the ruling party wants to seize the opportunity to starve the opposition parties of cash to undermine their electoral fortunes. And that all this is an attempt to disrupt the general election in 2023, just as insecurity is claimed to be stage-managed for confusion to reign in the land leading to the inevitable postponement of elections 2023 for preferred Interim Government to be headed by General Dambazu (retd).

We shall now look at some of these reactions, particularly those that border on technical knowledge while dodging those that have a tinge of wild speculations. Managing the rate of exchange should be prioritised. Those who make this suggestion forget to remember that Emefiele has made it clear on more than one occasion that the Central Bank does not take its bearing from the parallel market rates. Besides the considerations that the market is illegal, we are informed that it lacks the depth to command the attention being now accorded to it. And what is more important is that there is really nothing the governor could do at this material time to stem the slide in value of naira.

The country has a rather limited ability currently to earn dollars. What is imperative and urgent now is to find opportunities to export and earn foreign exchange. And to eliminate as quickly as possible those aspects of our economy that are heavily dependent on foreign exchange such as the importation of refined products. Did someone announce that the Dangote Refinery is ready to commence production? That is music to the ears as we cannot wait to end refined products importation.

On the issue of timing as it is likely to affect the attention needed for 2023 elections and the possibility that the currency change exercise could be used to undermine the fortunes of the opposition parties as they are denied access. The legitimate monies which belong to parties should be safe with the banks. The only currency stock likely to be affected are those held by party stalwarts and sorry we offer no apologies. It is time to de-emphasise, even criminalise the use of money at the polls. As we expect elections 2023 to deliver expected results we are not too concerned with such possibilities.

There has been some arguments raging with regard to the possibilities of the exercise impacting positively on the rate of inflation as well as exchange rates. And we are a bit surprised. The whole idea behind the Open Market Operations (OMO) undertaken by the CBN is based on the same rationalisation. When inflation is high and surging, the CBN raises interest rates to mop up liquidity and the reverse is the case if it wants to reflate the economy to inject more funds. This is exactly what is happening in many countries today.

Currency change would brutally reduce liquidity particularly of the nature of illegally accumulated funds as they are demonitized. And therefore such a development should lead to a reduction in the rate of inflation. Similarly the rates of exchange are firmed up as the ability to demand for dollars is reduced as Naira is drained from outside the banks. I didn't therefore quite honestly understand the rationale for the disputation.

•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com

Oyebanji: No Showboating

BY SEGUN DIPE

O

ur modus operandi will be the establishment of numerous platforms for widespread participation, interaction, and inclusiveness of all stakeholders. We intend to ensure robust dialogue and uncensored expression and consultations across the length and breadth of the state, thereby ensuring the interest and participation of all in the welfare of Ekiti Kete. We assure the people that we will hear you and truly see you. Our outlook is a government of the people, for the people, by the people through active involvement. On this platform I hereby pledge my accessibility to you all. -Gov. Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, BAO, 16 October 2022.

The above pledge made by the Ekiti State Gov. Biodun Oyebanji in the course of delivering his inaugural speech might not have resonated enough across the length and breadth of the Ekitikete Pavilion venue of his inauguration, or might have been suppressed by the day's euphoria, it is however gradually spreading across the state that the person who uttered it did not do so just for the fun of it.

Granted, it is yet the honeymoon period between Oyebanji and his people. The morning, they say, shows the day and thus far, BAO's actions are matching his words and, at the same time, they are congruent with his values. BAO is neither flamboyant nor restrained, he is simply his usual self, yet he is a phenomenon in Ekiti, nay Nigerian politics today. Not a few can reasonably stake a bet that he won't ever dump his people-centred nature midway to become cocky and arrogant.

The question that often comes to mind in Nigeria is whether the politicians, genuinely and pragmatically are addressing the poor's plight. Or they are simply using their plight to showboat and score cheap political points.

Politicians, the people say, are only interested in the plight of the downtrodden when it is election time. They will use them and their votes to climb the political ladder and afterwards dump them on the streets without the politicians using their clout to address their basic needs.

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Oyebanji is not known to be the showy type, yet he manifests qualities of a good leader across classes. He possesses selfawareness, garners credibility, focuses on relationshipbuilding, has a bias for action, exhibits humility, empowers others, stays authentic and presents himself as constant and consistent. His fan base keeps growing by the day, and I dare say he's not sponsoring any cheerleader to sing his praises, be it on the streets or among the elites.

Showboating is a deceptive behaviour that is intended to make people notice and admire you. It refers to ostentatious behaviour which is apparently designed to attract attention and admiration. This type of behaviour typically originates from confidence in one's abilities which is then exaggerated to emphasize superiority over others.

The term, showboating, comes from a type of riverboat that travelled throughout the southern United States in the nineteenth century. Showboats were gaudy floating theatres, heavily adorned and over-embellished, with the purpose of bringing entertainment in the form of plays or music to people that lived along the waterfront. The garish appearance of the showboats inspired a word to describe people who conduct themselves with similar flamboyance. Putting it variously, it means to show off, typically with playful or boisterous behavior, grandstanding, posturing, impressing, skylarking, strutting, swaggering, flaunting, swanking or attracting attention, acting up, playing to the crowd, playing to the gallery, putting on airs, drawing attention to oneself, advertising oneself, playing to the cheap seats, making a spectacle of attitudinizing, striking or copping an attitude.

Again, I dare say that not a few will stake that Gov. Oyebanji does not display any of these "values" and there is no assurance that he will do so later.

Oyebanji is simple, yet firm. He is too conscious of the tasks before him and conscientious to carry them out. He won't dare to work against the pledge he has made to the entire world. For starters, he is so far impeccable with his words

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and his integrity is attached to them.

Oyebanji doesn't look like someone who will be given to excuses. He is wired to find ways of solving problems and even anticipate and overcome new challenges. Passion fuels him for everything he does. Yes, he is a dreamer, but he also has the doing mentality. All along, he knew where he was heading and why. Funnily, he was not only prepared for the job as his resume has spoken, the job also seems to have been prepared for him. He views his role as manifesting his vision for the future, reason it appears he's got one foot in the present and the other foot in the future.

If you see Oyebanji appearing unperturbed by the enormity of the task before him, he is not faking it. It has to do with the abundant confidence he is imbued with, without being arrogant. He is self-secured and self-assured that he is believed by all as meaning well. This does not mean that he is a Mr. Know-it-all or that he already has all the solutions needed to confront all the challenges ahead. He is willing to accept what he's not good at, and you will see him surrounding himself with people whose strengths will compliment his own. He is also willing to accept that not all the problems are surmountable by him. Rather, he will cast all the burdens unto his God, who he diligently serves.

For free, you can have it that Oyebanji is truly servanthearted. He genuinely cares and has that transparent desire to serve. He has said it in a clear language that he sees it as a high honour and responsibility to serve and sees it as oncein-lifetime privilege to lead, this he will not take for granted.

Oyebanji strives to be an excellent communicator through his words and actions. He is responsive and reliable and ever willing to deliver on his commitments. After all, he has said it time and time again that his people should always call him back on track, if they think he is about to derail. He is a good listener, sincere and consistent in what he communicates and how he communicates them.

•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com

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NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

N OV EMB ER 06 - N OV EMBE R 12, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R

www. t hew illni g eri a. c om VOL .2 N O.4 5

•

FBN HOLDINGS KEY PERFORMANCE DATA 2017-2021 50TRN

FACTOR 10TRN 23.10trn

Gross Earnings 4.73trn

2.08trn

P.A.T.

(N’bn)

(N’bn)

Assets

Deposit Base

12.24bn

22.94bn

0

P.B.T.

(N’bn)

(N’bn)

Loan & Adv.

N583.00bn

37.70bn

54.52bn

58.23bn

63.85bn

83.70bn

89.73bn

151.07bn

166.66bn

10BN

N598.18bn

N587.40bn

N590.66bn

N575.29bn

100BN

5.23trn

500BN

3.14trn

2.00trn

5.56trn

3.48trn

1.67trn

7.68trn

4.89trn

2.21trn

2.88trn

5.84trn

8.93trn

1TRN

(N’trn)

(N’trn)

-10BN A

Okonkwo

A

FY 2021

B

B

FY 2020

D

C

C

FY 2019

D

FY 2018

E

E

FY 2017

*Half-year

Source; Annual Reports

Q3 2022: FBN Holdings Sends Delightful Message to Stakeholders

BY SAM DIALA

Insurance Premiums on Aircraft Plummet Over Safety Concerns

BY ANTHONY AWUNOR

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nsurance premiums paid on aircraft, especially the widebody type, are decreasing due to a new perception of Nigeria's safety records. Safety records so far achieved by the country in the last couple of years had brought the insurance premiums on wide-body aircraft

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from $800,000 a year to between $150,000 and $200,000.

Aviation insurance caters specially to the operation of aircraft, as well as all the risks involved. Before now, Nigeria's insurance premium on aircraft is recognised as the highest in

Continues on page 33

We had noted in our analysis of the company’s HY results that the attendant effect of efficient operations which showed in wellmanaged costs streams, resulted in a quantum leap in both pre-tax and post-tax profits.

We also noted that the jump in interest income reflected the gains of bold steps in providing credit to the economy, especially the real sector, as the country struggles with frightening inflation and unemployment rates, currently at 20.6 percent and 33 percent respectively, according to data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Riding on the renewed management stream, the bank also achieved massive results in debt recovery efforts after it suffered the pangs of huge non-performing loans for a long time.

A Stockbroker, Sam Ndata, had told this newspaper that the impressive performance of FBN Holdings is the outcome of efficient management culture in a challenging environment. Ndata expressed strong optimism that the group had launched itself on the fast-lane trajectory which would resonate in a more robust returns in the days ahead.

“What you see are results of a well-managed bank. You can see the signs of efficiency and good corporate governance. I believe FBN Holdings will do better when the operating environment becomes less challenging,” said Ndata, Doyen of the Stockbrokers and Director at UIDC Securities Limited.

The bank’s superlative performance in Q3 and nine-month periods confirms the message that it would delight its stakeholders in a few months’ time when the 2022 FY result is published. There are reasonable grounds to tow this line of optimism.

MORE INSIDE Financial Services Lift Equities Into Bullish Territory

Continues on page 33

CBN To Develop Fresh Regulations Against Financial System Threats – Emefiele

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GTCO Plc Posts N169.7bn Profit For Q3, Up 11.7% PAGE 35

Emefiele

F

BN Holdings Plc, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, is sending a message to its stakeholders through its impressive performance results for the Q3 and nine month periods ending September 30, 2022.

The behemoth financial services establishment, in the quantum leaps of the dancing elephant which its logo represents, conveys the two-prong message of strong top line and bottom line parameters, as well as a strong institution emerging from an entity once entangled in the web of corporate governance challenges. Both feats resonated in the group’s performance contained in its interim report for the period ended September 30, 2022.

The quick paced movement of the topline and bottomline holds a message of the company’s robust results that will occur at the end of the year to the delight of the stakeholders. “A look at these numbers gives a clue where the company is headed for the FY 2022 after years of dismay and corporate wrangling that almost put investors off,” said Mike Adeyemi, an investment expert.

Interest income for Q3 2022 grew remarkably by 45.4 percent to N144 billion from N99.1 billion in the corresponding period of Q3 2021, underlying the management’s aggressive approach towards lending and recoveries from huge non-performing loans that once caged the performance of the Tier-1 financial services institution.

Year-to-date (or nine-month performance), FBN Holdings posted a 42.4 percent rise in interest income from N260.11 billion in Q3 2021 to N370.36 billion in the review period.

The bottom line responded significantly: Profit before tax soared to N39.76 billion from N7.90 billion, representing a 403.3 percent growth; while profit after tax rose to N34.68 billion from N2.76 billion or 1,156.6 percent jump.

he Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has said that threats posed to the financial service system informed the raising of a set of new and revised guidelines, regulations and legislations to address potential infringements, alter private sector incentives and reorganize the market to promote competition and encourage new entrants, Continues on page 34

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NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

INSURANCE/BANKING Insurance Premiums on Aircraft Plummet Over Safety Concerns

Q3 2022: FBN Holdings Sends Delightful Message to Stakeholders

Continued from page 32

Continued from page 32

West Africa. Over the years, Nigerian airlines have seen their insurance costs surge above what their peers in Ghana, South Africa and other African countries pay to insure their aircraft.

THEWILL gathered that the perception of Nigeria as a high-risk environment and the high insurance premiums demanded by local insurance firms had always made local operators pay higher while insuring their aircraft. Nigerian airlines pay between 8 percent and 10 percent of the value of an aircraft to insure it, just as airlines operating in Ghana, South Africa and other African countries pay 2 or 3 percent.

Airlines operating in Europe and the United States pay between 0.5 percent and one percent to insure the same aircraft.

For instance, airlines operating in Nigeria pay an average of $1 million annually to insure a B737-300 aircraft while airlines in Ghana or US pay between $200,000 and $300,000 to insure the same aircraft type. Added to this, is the fact that every aircraft parked at the ramp of any airport is guarded by security operatives at the expense of the airlines and this is added to the cost of operation and cost of leasing, especially wet leased aircraft.

Insurance is therefore, very important in aviation as the latter is regarded as a strategic industry, not only because of its potential for economic growth but also for its crucial role in national development and regional integration.

In Nigeria for instance, indigenous airlines are faced with enormous challenges in the forms of high insurance premium, multiple taxes, forex issues, high cost of Jet A1 and disadvantageous policies, among others. Nonetheless, aviation

“

Safety records so far achieved by the country in the last couple of years had brought the insurance premiums on wide-body aircraft from $800,000 a year to between $150,000 and $200,000 THEWILLNIGERIA

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insurance has now become one of the largest sub-sectors in the global insurance market.

Operationally, insurance is vital because, accidents and even incidents do occur sometimes. For example, there have been over 60 military aircraft accidents and over 100 total air accidents in Nigeria since 1925 when the first aircraft flew across Nigerian skies. Even at that, a lot of people have a misconception that only pilots, and aircraft owners need aviation insurance but that is not totally the case.

Insurance experts, while listing those that need aviation insurance included aircraft owners, operators of charter service or airline, pilots of commercial or recreational airlines, baggage or ground handling services, refuel aircraft, operators of commercial drones and owners of aircraft garages and airports.

According to the experts, this is because aviation insurance does not just cover the physical aircraft but insures passengers, cargo and third parties. As a result of these demands, the National Assembly joint committees on aviation recently emphasised the need for adequate funding of the sector to enable it to cope with the increase in demands for air travel.

The two chairmen of committees in the Senate and House of Representatives, Senator Abiodun Olujimi and Nnolim Nnaji, made the observation during an oversight working visit to the Accident Investigation Buteau (AIB) and the Nigerian Airspace Management (NAMA) to put enormous pressure on the existing aviation infrastructures which required that more investments should be made in the sector.

The Managing Director of NAMA, Mathew Pwajok had in his welcome remarks appreciated the committees of both Chambers of the National Assembly for their interest and concerns on matters affecting the aviation industry. He acknowledged their swift passage of the six Executive Bills on the industry as a true reflection of their commitment to the progress of the air transport sector in the country.

At the AIB, the members of the joint committees were impressed with the progress so far made in the upgrade of facilities and manpower at the Bureau which had led to the reduction of accidents in the country to the barest minimum.

Nnaji stressed that members were impressed that for the past seven years now, the country had not recorded any fatalities apart from the helicopter accident which occurred at Opebi in Lagos in early 2021.

•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com THEWILLNIGERIA

Segregating the company’s five-year performance (2017 – 2021) revealed a strong performance trajectory that speaks the message of complete turnaround after its ‘lost’ frontline position in the financial services sector. FBN Holdings grew assets by 88.8 percent to N8.93 trillion from N4.73 trillion in 2017.

Profit before tax rose by 626.6 percent in five years from N22.94 billion in FY 2017 to N166.66 billion in FY 2021 yielding the window for strong performance in profit after tax which recorded a growth of 1,134.3 percent to N151.07 billion in FY 2021 from N12.24 billion in FY 2017. Gross earnings for five years showed a growth of 30 percent from N583.00 billion to N757.29 billion in FY 2021 “First Bank is strong, as I have always said. As a growing concern, it is bound to experience a moment of slowdown in response to the dictates of the economy. The nine month results are quite impressive considering the tough times the bank had gone through,” said Frank Ikekhide, a financial analyst.

Commenting on the results, the Group Managing Director, FBN Holdings, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo in a statement said, “FBNHoldings has again in Q3 2022 delivered a stellar performance, growing sustainable income from our core businesses.

This is a testament to the success of our focus on carefully growing the business and driving profitability. \“As a result, Gross earnings grew 26.6per cent y-o-y to N546.2 billion, while profit before tax doubled y-o-y to N105.5 billion. I am particularly delighted by the significant improvement in our credit risk portfolio.

“Specifically, the NPL ratio closed at 4.7per cent within the regulatory threshold of five per cent, while the coverage ratio increased to 75.1per cent from 62.2per cent in FY 2021.

“Furthermore, during the period under review, in attestation of the progress made by the Group, Fitch upgraded the credit ratings of FBNHoldings and FirstBank to ‘B’ with a Stable Outlook.

“Value creation remains our overarching objective as we continue to leverage the strengths of our unique brand and heritage to optimise our diverse business portfolio.

He added that, “We are confident of making further progress, with the capacity to generate sustainable performance that delivers superior returns to all our stakeholders.”

The banking subsidiary also showed impressive performance in period as Profit before tax moved to N96.4 billion in nine months of 2022, up 119.1 per cent y-o-y from N44 billion reported in nine months of 2021, while profit after tax closed nine months of 2022 at N85.7 billion, representing an increase of 142.1per cent from N35.4 billion reported in nine months of 2021.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited (Commercial Banking Group), Dr Adesola Adeduntan, “The performance of the Commercial Banking Group for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, has again shown that the Group is making progress in the

“

We continue to record progress in driving down our non-performing loan ratio, which has now come down to 4.86 per cent at the end of the third quarter, within regulatory limit of five per cent.

This is the first time since 2015 that we would be within the regulatory limit, and we achieved this ahead of our initial target of Q4 2022

pursuit of its ‘Quantum Profitability Leap’ agenda.

The improved profitability during the period under review further reinforces the Bank’s commitment to its growth aspirations despite the challenging market conditions.

“Our gross earnings are up 27.5per cent y-o-y to N512.9 billion, and net interest income up 55.7per cent y-o-y to N248.5 billion respectively.

“On the back of the impressive growth recorded in our top line, our profit before tax recorded another strong growth of 119.1per cent y-o-y to N96.4 billion, whilst profit after tax also grew impressively by 142.1per cent y-o-y to N85.7 billion as the Bank continues to reap the benefits of the changes to our business model in addition to revamping of our risk management and control architecture.”

He added, “We continue to record progress in driving down our nonperforming loan ratio, which has now come down to 4.86 per cent at the end of the third quarter, within regulatory limit of five per cent. This is the first time since 2015 that we would be within the regulatory limit, and we achieved this ahead of our initial target of Q4 2022.

“In further testament to the ongoing turnaround and repositioning of the Parent and Banking Group, Fitch, following the conclusion of their review during the quarter, announced the upgrade of FBNHoldings and FirstBank’s Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘, with Outlook Stable. This has aligned our credit rating to our Tier 1 peers and the sovereign and has further positioned the Group for more market opportunities.

•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com

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NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

BUSINESS NEWS COP27: FG Endorses White Paper on Harmonisation of Global Climate Concerns

BY ANTHONY AWUNOR

A

L–R: Head, Primary Markets, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), Mr. Tony; Divisional Head, Capital Markets, NGX, Mr. Jude Chiemeka; Managing Director, International Breweries Plc, Hugo Dias Rochas; Marketing Director, International Breweries Plc, Mrs. Tolulope Adedeji, and Executive Director, International Breweries Plc, Mr. Eduardo Caceres, during the Facts Behind the Figures presentation at the Exchange in Lagos on November 1, 2022.

Photo: Peace Udugba.

Financial Services CBN To Develop Fresh Regulations Against Financial System Threats – Emefiele Lift Equities Into Emefiele who stated this in Abuja at to optimize the gains of a digital the 28th edition of the annual in-house economy.

Bullish Territory executive seminar on ‘digitalization Continued from page 32

of money and monetary policy in Nigeria’, noted that the apex bank is mindful of the possibility that the new forms of innovative financial products or services could render some existing banking laws and regulations obsolete and potentially harm financial growth.

He admitted that the penetration of digital technology ushered in new dimensions of risks, including sophisticated digital fraud and cybercrime. He listed domestic and cross-border safety and security measures, digital identification, anti-money laundering standards, and cyber security as steps taken to strengthen operational resilience and ensure the safety of the financial system.

Represented by the Deputy governor in charge of financial system stability, Aisha Ahmed, Emefiele stated that in today’s digital revolution, central banks are not only preoccupied with providing an enabling environment for the spread of digital technology in the financial system but also at the forefront of cutting-edge innovative products and services to provide safe and open payments for a digital economy.

He acknowledged that there is still a huge task ahead, said the existence of low-level formal financial services, low income and financial illiteracy, an underdeveloped technology ecosystem and weak infrastructure, have continued to limit the potential for integration of digital financial services in Nigeria.

He stressed that although considerable gains have been achieved in boosting financial inclusion in Nigeria, at 64.0 per cent, the inclusion rate slows down the digital transformation wheel, as all citizens must be carried along

PAGE 34

Emefiele added: “Also, despite the significant progress recorded in the use and spread of digital payment infrastructure, particularly in the economic cities, the current financial inclusion rate suggests that more work is needed. The high cost of telecommunications infrastructure, including Internet and electricity, in remote, urban and low economic activity areas, continue to dissuade investments in such areas, where low income and financial illiteracy are already inhibiting social and economic advancement.

As such, there is ample room for deepening the financial system through broader coverage.”

In his remarks at the occasion, the deputy governor, economic policy of the CBN, Dr Kingsley Obiora, hinted that the volume of the eNaira in circulation is currently at N2.10 billion, a growth of 190.1 per cent, relative to its level when it was launched.

He explained that the development is buttressed by the giant stride made in the digital currency space, as the creation of both individual and merchant wallets has gained traction and is poised to further stimulate eNaira transactions in Nigeria.

Dr Obiora noted that about 17 million adults are not currently making electronic payments but own phones and are interested in mobile money while another 22 million adults are not currently making electronic payments but say that they could be convinced to use it.

“This reflects the extent to which the eNaira could impact the unbanked and under-banked to improve livelihoods, as well as economic growth and development in Nigeria,” Obiora added.

A

total turnover of 1.410 billion shares worth N15.510 billion in 19,025 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 598.817 million shares valued at N14.234 billion that exchanged hands last week in 15,859 deals.

The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 804.570 million shares valued at N6.300 billion traded in 9,922 deals; thus contributing 57.04% and 40.62% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Agriculture Industry followed with 357.623 million shares worth N287.992 million in 560 deals.

The third place was the Conglomerates Industry, with a turnover of 68.309 million shares worth N97.051 million in 530 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely Access Holdings Plc, FTN Cocoa Processors Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 800.622 million shares worth N3.373 billion in 2,051 deals, contributing 56.76% and 21.75% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

For Exchange-Traded Products (ETP) a total of 4,577 units valued at N531,565.05 were traded in 28 deals compared with a total of 6,744 units valued at N1.725 million transacted last week in 26 deals.

A total of 121,712 units of bonds valued at N119.220 million were traded this week in 16 deals compared with a total of 1,963 units valued at N1.736 million transacted last week 6 deals The NGX All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 0.81% to close the week at 44,269.18 and N24.112 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX-Main Board, NGX CG, NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX Insurance, NGX-AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Value, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil & Gas and NGX Sovereign Bond indices which depreciated by 0.44%, 0.27%, 1.87%, 0.44%, 1.35%, 0.79% 0.98% 2.32%, 5.37% and 1.36% respectively, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Growth indices closed flat.

s the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27) opens on November 6, 2022, in Egypt, the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the Federal Ministers of Environment, Power and Trade has recommended a white paper titled: ‘Trade, Energy and Climate Change: Harmonising Nigerian and Global Concerns on Climate’.

Led by PUTTRU, the white paper is a collaborative effort with the Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Power, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Energy Commission of Nigeria and the Office of the Deputy President of the Senate.

PUTTRU is a business facilitation online platform that connects African energy companies to financiers from all over the world.

The objective of the white paper is to inform the international community and Nigeria’s trade partners on how the country’s national concerns on trade, energy and climate change can be harmonised with global concerns in a manner that ensures that Nigeria’s interests are seen as global interests.

The white paper posits that given Nigeria’s large and growing population, achieving this balance between trade, energy and climate change is a matter of national, continental and global concern. Ultimately, the goal is to strengthen Nigeria’s position as a global trade partner in the global supply chain as the world moves towards a net-zero future.

The 58-page document is divided into four chapters namely: ‘Climate Change’, ‘Energy’, ‘Trade’ and ‘Trade, Energy and Climate Balance’ with three Forewords written by Mohammed H. Abdullahi (Minister of Environment), Engr Abubakar Aliyu (Minister of Power) and Otunba Niyi Adebayo (Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment).

Enriched with insights, the document has an impressive list of contributors and reviewers drawn from members of Technical Working Group (TWG) with experts from the Federal Ministries of Environment, Power, Industry, Trade and Investment, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and other ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, the academia and civil society organisations.

In separate forewords, the Minister of Environment wrote: “This white paper explores the different nexus between trade and climate change while focusing on how future trade opportunities will be affected by climate change and policy response.

This will guide stakeholders in discussions on how trade provides the goods and services that can drive mitigation and adaptation, and the new opportunities for promoting trade diversification in the transition to a low-carbon world”, while the Minister of Trade and Investments wrote: “I commend the production of this white paper, which combines three of the most pressing concerns for not just our country or continent but for the entire world. The Technical Working Group, made up of public and private sector representatives and the academia, have provided sound recommendations that harmonise both Nigerian and global perspectives on these topical issues.”

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NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

BUSINESS NEWS Assess Exposure to Multiple Vulnerabilities in Cisco Products – NCC-CSIRT

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L-R: Category Manager, Homecare, Unilever Nigeria, Oladapo Oshuntoye; Visual Artist and Fashion Educator, Claire Idera; Brand Manager, OMO, Chinonyerem Opara and Brand Manager, Sunlight, Unilever Nigeria, Oluwapelumi Kolade, during the SHF Prism by Sunlight workshop at the Lagos Fashion Week, Themed: 'Positioning Fashion Business for Success' held in Federal Palace Hotel, VI Lagos on October 29, 2022.

Photo: Peace Udugba.

GTCO Plc Posts N169.7bn NBCC Holds Masterclass Profit For Q3, Up 11.7% For MSMEs

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uaranty Trust Holding Company Plc reported a profit before tax of N169.7billion for the period ending September 30, representing an increase of 11.7% over N151.9billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021. The Group’s loan book (net) increased by 2.2% from N1.80trillion recorded as at December 2021 to N1.84trillion in September 2022, while deposit liabilities increased by 6.4% from N4.13trillion in December 2021 to N4.39trillion in September 2022 The Group’s balance sheet remained well structured and resilient with total assets and shareholders’ funds closing at N5.81trillion and N872.8billion, respectively. Strong Capital Ratios and Asset Quality were sustained as CAR, NPL ratio, and Cost of Risk (COR) closed at 20.7%, 5.6%, and 0.2% in September 2022 from 23.8%, 6.0%, and 0.5% in December 2021, respectively.

Commenting on the results, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO Plc), Mr. Segun Agbaje, said; “The Group’s 3rd quarter result reaffirms our strategy for longterm growth and underscores our capacity to deliver sustainable strong performance despite the volatilities in our operating environment.

We have also kept in focus our vision of supporting small and medium enterprises specifically through our free business platforms to help them stay in business and expand their offerings. With our nonbanking businesses fully operational alongside our core banking subsidiary, we are well positioned to maximise our earnings potential going into the 4th quarter of the year.”

He further stated; “In creating a thriving financial services ecosystem, THEWILLNIGERIA

our goal is to offer great experiences to all who interact with our brand whilst continually enhancing access to innovative financial solutions for individuals and businesses across Africa. We are appreciative of all our customers and other stakeholders who are with us on this journey of building a truly global African financial services institution.”

Overall, the Group continues to post one of the best metrics in the Nigerian Financial Services Industry in terms of key financial ratios i.e., Pre-Tax Return on Equity (ROAE) of 25.8%, Pre-Tax Return on Assets (ROAA) of 4.0%, Full Impact Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 20.7% and Cost to Income ratio of 45.1%.

GTCO Plc is a fully-fledged financial services group with banking operations across West and East Africa and the United Kingdom as well as non-banking businesses in several key industry segments including payment, funds management, and pension fund management.

With N5.8trillion in assets and over 28 million customers, the Group remains one of the most profitable and best-managed financial services companies out of Nigeria providing commercial banking services and non-banking financial services across eleven countries.

Its leadership in the banking industry and efforts at empowering people and communities have earned it many prestigious awards over the years including Best Banking Group in Nigeria and Most Innovative Bank in Nigeria at the 2022 World Finance Banking Awards. It also retained its position as Africa’s Most Admired Financial Services Brand in the 2022 ranking of The Brand Africa 100: Africa's Best Brands.

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n its continuous bid in supporting the growth of Nigerian Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as well as empowering them with the necessary knowledge aimed at strengthening and sustaining their businesses, the NigerianBritish Chamber of Commerce, NBCC, is set to organise another MSME Workshop for entrepreneurs, especially in the beauty industry.

The workshop tagged 'The Economic Value of Lifestyle and Beauty Masterclass, which will hold on Tuesday, November 8 at Lekki, Lagos, will host professionals in the beauty industry who will share their life-changing experiences as they give essential tips to MSME and business owners on how to take their businesses to the next level.

The lead speaker at the workshop is a celebrity lifestyle guru, Banke Meshida-Lawal, Founder and CEO of @ bmpromakeup, who will be mentoring business owners as well as those who have an interest in Fashion, Fitness, Makeup, Events management, Cosmetology, Beauty salon, etc on the economic potentials of Lifestyle & Beauty.

The workshop, according to the NBCC would be featuring sessions like 'The future of the beauty industry, exhibitions and lots as participants would also be getting an opportunity of a free make-up session.

President and Chairman of Council, NBCC, Bisi Adeyemi noted that as the engine room of any developing economy, MSMEs should always be armed with the necessary knowledge and tools that will help galvanise their businesses.

According to Adeyemi, the Masterclass workshop promises to be an eye-opener to participants as they would be given the right opportunity to maximize their business potential.

he Nigerian Communications Commission's Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) has issued an advisory for users to frequently review alerts for Cisco products to assess their exposure and find a comprehensive update solution.

The advisory, which also recommended using the appropriate software updates that are accessible from the vendor website, followed the identification of multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Products, especially the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows, which enables employees to access company servers from anywhere without compromising security.

The two vulnerabilities made it possible for a remote attacker exploit to trigger remote code execution and data manipulation on the targeted system.

According to the advisory, “The weaknesses in the product include uncontrolled search path and Dynamic Link Library (DLL) hijacking vulnerabilities. The uncontrolled search path vulnerability results from incorrect handling of directory paths. A directory path is a string of characters used to uniquely identify a location in a folder structure.

“This flaw could be exploited by an attacker by generating a malicious file and copying it to a system directory (folder). An exploit could enable the attacker to copy malicious files with system-level privileges to any location. The attacker needs legitimate Windows system credentials to exploit this vulnerability.

“Moreover, to exploit the DLL hijacking vulnerability, the attacker would also need to have valid credentials on the Windows system. The vulnerability was caused by the device's inadequate run-time resource validation. By sending the AnyConnect process a specially designed IPC message, an attacker might take advantage of this vulnerability.”

The advisory rated the vulnerability high in impact and probability.

The CSIRT is the telecom sector’s cyber security incidence centre set up by the NCC to focus on incidents in the telecom sector and as they may affect telecom consumers and citizens at large.

The CSIRT also works collaboratively with ngCERT, established by the Federal Government to reduce the volume of future computer risk incidents by preparing, protecting, and securing Nigerian cyberspace to forestall attacks, and problems or related events.

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ECONOMY

Nigeria: Clash of Fiscal And Monetary Authorities

BY MARCEL OKEKE

T

he outright disowning and public deprecation by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, of the recent innocuous policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regarding the redesigning and re-issue of some Naira notes, now stands as the height of mudslinging amongst Nigeria’s topmost public affairs managers.

The Minister during a meeting with the Senate Committee on Finance, not only disowned the currency redesign policy of the apex bank but also warned that it would unleash negative consequences on the country’s ailing economy. Said she: “Distinguished Senators, we were not consulted at the Ministry of Finance by the CBN on the planned Naira redesigning and cannot comment on it as regards merits or otherwise.”

Continuing, she said: “However, as a Nigerian, privileged to be at the top of the country’s fiscal management, the policy as rolled out at this time portends serious consequences on the value of the Naira to other foreign currencies. I will however appeal to the Committee to invite the CBN Governor for required explanations as regards the merits of the planned policy and rightness or otherwise of its implementation now.”

But following the loud ‘Disclaimer’ voiced by the Finance Minister barely 48 hours after the policy was announced, during her meeting with the Senate Committee on Finance, disowning the Naira notes re-designing and re-issuance, a cacophony of criticisms and negative commentaries by variegated stakeholder-groups as well as the general public erupted. Some queried the timing of the exercise, even as others dismissed it as unnecessary and a “distraction” at this time in the Nigerian polity when the only issue on the front burner of public affairs ought to be the 2023 general elections.

Against a forced recanting, the CBN authorities re-asserted their position, insisting that they got the President’s approval for the exercise. And apparently to save the apex bank and its leadership from unwarranted public derision and opprobrium, the Office of the President had to issue a statement asserting the Presidential endorsement of the CBN policy.

According to a statement by the Presidency: “President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said that the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to launch new designs and replace high-value Naira notes had his support and is convinced that the nation will gain a lot by doing so.

“Speaking in a Hausa radio interview…President Buhari said reasons given to him by the CBN convinced him that the economy stood to benefit from reduction in inflation, currency counterfeiting and excess cash in circulation.”

He said he did not consider the period of three months for the change to the new currency notes as being short, adding that “people with illicit money buried under the soil will have a challenge with this but workers, businesses with legitimate incomes will face no difficulties at all.”

Even with these Presidential assurances and endorsement, the earlier statement by the putative head of Nigeria’s fiscal authority—the Minister of Finance—had triggered an ill wind that is already blowing nobody any good in the economy.

And so, rather than seeing the envisaged gains of the Naira notes redesigning, the ‘announcement effect’ of the policy has

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As it is, instead of taking the monies to the banks for official lodgement (and proper recording), the money bags will rather collude with BDCs operators to acquire hard currencies at the detriment of the Naira

unwittingly sent the Naira on a freefall against the dollar in the foreign exchange market.

In a matter of days, the national currency that was N670/$ has crashed to N865/$ in the ‘black market’ or bureaux de change (BDCs), and is still declining. Though this is surprising, but the point is that persons with huge ‘illicit funds’ stashed away in various locations, are now unleashing these humongous sums to mop up every available dollar. These persons, especially politicians, had hidden these monies in readiness for Nigeria’s money-guzzling general elections in early 2023.

As it is, instead of taking the monies to the banks for official lodgement (and proper recording), the money bags will rather collude with BDC operators to acquire hard currencies at the detriment of the Naira. Thus, whether at the Investor and Exporter (I & E) official window or at the BDCs, the Naira is losing value massively against the dollar. The ‘illicit money’ bags are bent on ways and means of evading the ‘eagle eyes’ of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that is furtively trailing the movement of money launderers.

Already, some of these shady characters are getting hooked by

Ahmed

The CBN boss also noted that the planned policy was in tandem with Section 19 (sun-sections a and b) of the CBN Act 2007, upon which the management of the CBN sought and obtained the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign, produce and circulate new series of bank notes of N200, N500 and N1,000 levels. He further explained that the planned redesigning of the notes normally should take place within the interval of five to seven years. The last time Nigeria embarked on such an exercise however was in 1984 (about 38 years ago) under a military regime.

Emefiele

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at a special press conference, announced that the apex bank would redesign Nigeria’s currency, from N200 denomination to N1,000 notes. He said that the action was being taken in order to take control of currency in circulation, stating that the bulk of the nation’s currency notes were outside bank vaults and that the CBN would not allow such a situation to continue.

the EFCC nets, as several reports indicate. Some of the reports run thus: “A prominent Nigerian politician hoarded N500 Billion cash in his house because of the 2023 elections;” “A flamboyant South-South Governor hoarded N150 Billion in his State Government House because of the N2023 elections.”

Others include: “A North Central Governor who refused to pay salaries for 12 months in his state, hoarded N130 billion because of the 2023 elections;” and “A former Governor who stashed IDP’s money during his tenure as Governor, hoarded N80 billion to achieve his dream in the 2023 elections.”

As all this is going on, the real estate industry is also getting a windfall, courtesy of the desperadoes who are also looking for people who are willing to accept (volumes of) cash as opposed to electronic transfers for purchase of properties. Through this ‘barter trade’, billions of cash are being ‘dumped’ on property owners in highbrow places, who are willing to accept cash payment. All these are in the effort to escape official records of the huge cash transactions and scrutiny of the EFCC. It must be said however that all these are avoidable ‘panic measures’ instigated by the alarm from the headship of the fiscal authorities. The pronouncement of the Minister of Finance generated unimaginable negative reactions to the CBN policy that really has a whole three months implementation timeline. But the Minister’s ‘bombshell’, as it were, actually exposed the ‘disparate enclave’ mode of operation of the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government. Over the years, more often than not, the utterances, policies and initiatives of the fiscal authority run as counterpoise to the stance of its monetary counterpart.

When the apex bank for instance goes for a tight monetary environment, the fiscal authority would embark on massive deficit budget financing that ensures the system is awash with liquidity—and vice versa. So, Minister Zainab Ahmed’s unreserved disowning and condemnation of the CBN’s planned redesigning of Naira notes can only be said to be in sync with their pattern of relationship or lack of it. It is also symptomatic of the absence of an overarching roadmap as guide for the Administration. But soon, very soon, things will come to a head!

•Okeke is an economist, sustainability expert and business strategy consultant.

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SHOTS OF THE WEEK Photo Editor: Peace Udugba [08033050729]

L-R: Chief Information Officer, MTN Nigeria, Shoyinka Shodunke; Information Security Officer, UBA Plc, Romaric Sai; Chief Information Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Oluwaseun Solanke; Managing Director, CyberDome, Chioma Iwuagwu; Manager NGCert, Col. Bala Fakandu and the moderator/ Risk Advisory Leader, Deloitte, Tope Aladenusi, during the 25th anniversary of CSCS conference with the theme, The future of Cyber Security, Emerging Issues and Solution in Abuja on October 3, 2022.

L-R: Principal, James Hope College, Abraham Swart: Head of Sustainability and Regulatory Relations, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Babatunde Dawodu;Winner, 2021 Maltina Teacher of the Year award, Taye Abanika; Corporate Affairs Manager, Lagos, NB Plc, Tayo Adelaja and Regulatory Relations Manager, NB Plc, Oluseye Olokun, during the presentation of computers to James Hope College in honour of the winner of the 2021 Maltina Teacher of the Year in Lagos on November 2022.

L-R: Managing Director, AS+A Communications, Yeye Adenike Shobajo; Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Mrs. Comfort Nwankwo and Director General, Nigerian Conservative Foundation, Doctor Daniel Onoja, at the presentation of Award of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Mrs. Comfort Nwankwo, at the AS+A Communications 2022 CSR forum Exhibition & Awards, in Lagos on November1, 2022.

L-R: Director, Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Reuben Mouka; COO, Halogen Group, Dr. Wale Adeagbo and Director, New Media and Information Security, NCC, Dr. Alhassan Haru, during the presentation of the 2022 Cybersecurity Award for Best Public Sector Organisation to NCC, during Cybersecurity Merit Awards 2022, in Lagos on November 3, 2022.

L-R: Co-Chair, National Child’s Rights Implementation Committee (NCRIC), Mr. Mac-John Nwaobiala; Head of L-R: Bishop of Jalingo Diocese, Rev'd Foreman Nedison; Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma and Bishop Operations, NCRIC, Archibong Anderson and the Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Buki of Isi Mbano Diocese, Rev'd Godson Ukanwa during the 10th synod of the Diocese of Isi Mbano held at St Peter's Ponle, during a visit of NCRIC delegation to the Agency’s Headquarters, in Abuja on November1, 2022.

Anglican church Amaraku, Isiala Mbano LGA, Imo State on October 31, 2022.

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VICTOR MUOGHALU Gaming With A Difference

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The Chief Executive Officer/Founder of Kobobid Games, Victor Muoghalu, speaks with IVORY UKONU about the rapidly changing betting landscape in Nigeria. Excerpts:

POVERTY, RELIGION, DRIVE GAMBLING IN NIGERIA – VICTOR MUOGHALU U

nlike many other gaming platforms in Nigeria, Kobobid Games isn't a sports betting company, considering the fact that we are a nation of football lovers and gaming companies take advantage of this. Any particular reason why?

This is deliberate because there is already a proliferation of betting companies in the country. Why saturate the market with another solely football betting company?

Kobobid has many other interactive and exciting features deliberately designed to fuel interactions, as well as provide alternative ways for people to afford goods that are considered expensive. However, there is a feature called football fantasy which isn't directly football betting.

Trickery and breach of trust are often the fate of Nigerians who participate in gaming and lottery, with brands failing to deliver on their promise. Is Kobobid like other gaming brands?

No, because Kobobid is not only doing something different from the traditional style where the highest bidder wins within a limit of time, but also because there is no baseline cost for any item put up for auction. The bidders are in absolute control of determining the baseline cost for every item with their bids.

Despite the upheaval in the economy, the gaming industry has continued to defy economic downturns as more and more Nigerians are getting involved in one way or another in it. Why is this so?

If I must answer honestly, that is one of the reasons I relocated. The gaming industry is recession proof. I did research and what I discovered shocked me beyond my imagination. I did the first research on the American economy, and I found out that 84 per cent of the total people that play in the betting market are Africans, the minority. It all boils down to the religious factor. The more religious you are, the more you are willing to bet. There are more gamblers in the poorest and most impoverished countries in the world than there are in developed societies because people believe in luck, that their luck will shine.

They pray to win and believe God will answer their prayers to win. That is the psyche of gamblers. So when you look at Nigeria with its economic upheavals, inflation, some finding it difficult to acquire the basics, coupled with the religiosity, gambling will thrive as Nigerians are THEWILLNIGERIA

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alu Muogh

always looking for the next miracle. Now when the situation becomes better and the income of a Nigerian improves, he could perhaps say one day, 'oh I have multiple streams of income, I can afford to do this' it then becomes just a habit, not because you are looking for a miracle. So gambling is here to stay, it isn't going anywhere, not only in Nigeria but in Africa as a whole. Today, every month, there is a new betting company in Nigeria opening up and I thought, if 50 Muoghalu million people bet daily and I get only 1 percent of 50 million people to sign up on Kobobid, that makes me happy.

What do you consider to be the impact of gaming companies on the economy of Nigeria?

With an estimated 60 million Nigerians actively involved in sports betting alone, and over 60 betting sites operating in the country, the betting and gaming industry has, no doubt, experienced a massive surge in Nigeria and it is consequently having a huge impact on the economy.

Nigeria is the second largest online gambling market in Africa, after South Africa. The Gross Gaming Revenue is massive. As at 2018, it was $58 million and it has risen beyond that by 16 per cent. We provide more employment opportunities, with thousands of Nigerians now working for both the local and foreign companies. At Kobobid, we are looking at penetrating the wider African market, thus providing jobs for the unemployed. Apart from employing Nigerians, betting companies create jobs by inviting people to become agents and own physical outlets. These outlets have become very prevalent in Nigeria and have provided an excellent source of income for their owners.

The shop owners also have their own employees, who earn their small share from the gaming and lottery jackpot.

At Kobobid, we are starting an agency where anyone can become an agent with no sign up, registration or retainer fee. That way, Kobobid is able to give back to society by empowering the teeming youths who outnumber the few available job opportunities. And you don't need to know anyone to become an agent. You just sign up online to become one. Again, betting companies have also aided the Nigerian economy by forming partnerships and signing sponsorship deals with several organizations,

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both in the sports and entertainment industries. Betting companies in Nigeria do not operate in isolation, but with other industries, notably the banking, information technology and telecommunications industries. That is more money for these industries which goes right back into the economy. Not also forgetting the huge taxes paid by betting companies into government coffers. So yes, betting companies have a positive effect on the economy of Nigeria. The potential in the industry is huge. We (the gaming industry) have not even scratched the surface at all.

How has it been running Kobobid these past two years?

It has been good, but it has been a learning curve coming to join the fray in Nigeria but with something different.

Even though I was in the military, I never managed people and managing people, particularly in Nigeria is a different ball game entirely. But I had to learn, and I am still learning. Also, I made sure I hired people who knew what I wanted and who bought into my vision. Also, since running Kobobid, I have now come to realise that you start out giving the people what they are familiar with, then you can add other features they are not exposed to, but you believe will be beneficial to them. So, yes, we took the hard risk at first but here we are. We started out with something called Penny Auction, an auction where bidders pay-per-bid for an item and the time increases with each bid. The winning bidder is the bidder who is the last to bid when the timer counts down to 0 seconds. But we eventually settled for Kobobid.

Why did you switch?

Penny Auction requires you to be smart. It requires some

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thinking skills and we had to think about it in terms of intelligence. Some people won't just get it. It is like me trying to teach someone who is used to a touch phone how to use an iPhone. The person won't find it easy to use and would consider it a scary experience and may never get to use it because the person would think he would never get it. So, Penny Auction was not for everyone, and this got us to create Kobobid with different games to capture everyone. On it, there is something for everyone.

entry level. The odds were not in my favour but the school representative I was speaking with assured me that despite this, there is light at the end of the tunnel, but it didn't seem that way to me. And I had to think hard to figure out what my passion is. They say if your passion becomes your job, great, if not then you have to change course and what was utmost at that time for me was how to take care of my family. So back to your question. What pushed me was the numbers and the interest in it began as far back as 2011 but I didn't start until two years ago. Like I said earlier, I am not just joining the fray for joining sake, I wanted to bring something different to the table.

Any regrets taking the hard risk?

At the end of the day, experience, they say, is the best teacher. I wouldn't know what I know today if we didn't do certain things, made mistakes and learned from it. So in business, you can only figure out what worked, what did not work, why it didn't work and what did it work for because there is no right or wrong.

Beyond the numbers and providing employment opportunities, how else do you make your impact felt?

I am very interested in growing the next generation of youths by showing them that you can actually work hard and achieve greatness. They do not have to subscribe to cheap, easy or fraudulent money. They do not have to beg their parents to survive or their friends for handouts.

What their parents owe them is a good education and what they end up becoming is a function of how positively they channel their minds and resources. They have your smart phones, their laptops, and the internet, there is a whole lot they can achieve on the internet by just doing the right thing and gradually moving to the next level. So, beyond Kobobid, that is what I’m trying to build among Nigerian youths. I’m looking for people who are hungry to prove to themselves and show them that they can actually achieve greatness. I do not care where you come from or whether you come from money or not, what matters to me is, are you hungry enough, are you honest enough, do you have integrity?

Since returning to Nigeria to set up Kobobid, what would you say has been your greatest achievement so far?

There was a time I thought Kobobid would never be launched. At some point, I didn't have the tools to get it started or people to run with my vision but finally, it took off and the feeling was like that of a new child being born.

It was magical for me as it was what I have always wanted to do in Nigeria. So, launching Kobobid has been my greatest achievement.

What is it about your background that you believe must have significantly shaped you to be what you are today?

My dad. He was in the military and had the greatest influence in my life. My dad wanted me to join the military. It was his dream, not mine, but I obliged him.

I attended the Nigeria Military School and the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA). I left in my final year because I was diagnosed with cancer and that cut short my military career. I went through chemotherapy for 13 months in Nigeria. Being at the crossroads of death made me an emotional person. If I had stayed in the Army, I would have become a Brigadier-General by now.

So your military career got truncated because of cancer. What happened next?

I left NDA with one month left to complete, but I never went back even after I was done with chemotherapy. I moved to the University of Lagos and started from the second year and graduated with a degree in History and Strategic Studies. Thereafter, I left for America, and I began working in the hospitality industry. I did that for a number of years, got bored and decided to try something different. I had had enough and wanted out of the industry.

I wanted a new challenge and began thinking of coming back to Nigeria. I came back in 2016 and I saw the whole betting system and how it works and how it had blossomed from when I left and how the internet has really changed the way things work in Nigeria and that's when I decided that Penny Auction needed to come to Nigeria to be added to the offering in the gaming space.

Yeah, but what piqued your interest in the gaming industry in the first place?

What piqued my interest was the sheer numbers. I did say that as at 2017, over 50 million people in Nigeria place a bet daily. That is massive. So if you think about it in terms of market change, 1 percent of that market is just about 50 thousand people doing the bare minimum daily and that puts one in a situation where one can build and grow the business. And that was when I decided I needed to be a part of this, where Kobobid will become a phenomenon in the gaming industry.

If you wanted something more challenging, why didn't you show interest in another profession, like say, becoming a pilot?

Oh I did actually Really?

Yes, I wanted to. I went to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest and most respected university specializing in aviation and aerospace. The

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Muoghalu

“

There are more gamblers in the poorest and most impoverished countries in the world than there are in developed societies because people believe in luck, that their luck will shine. They pray to win and believe God will answer their prayers to win. That is the psyche of gamblers

university has been at the forefront of ground-breaking aeronautical milestones since the early days of flight. It is in Florida, United States. When I finished having a conversation with a representative of the school, I found out I needed to get $95,000 to get in for flight training. I didn't have it and that meant I had to go borrow. And when I finish, I was expected to start making between $35,000 and $40,000 a year if I get employment. And I wondered to myself, so I borrow $95,000 to go to school to make less than half of that a year. And that is no guarantee I will get the job as there are lots of pilots who currently (at that time) did not have jobs, talk more of me coming in at

For someone who is involved in an industry that the youths consider to be their playground, how are you able to advise them to strike a balance, know when to apply the brakes and not go overboard?

Betting is akin to smoking and eating. Anything you do in excess is bound to hurt you. Moderation is key and this is where Kobobid is different. You do not need a lot to bet. The bidding starts at zero naira and each time there is a bid, it goes up by one unit, one kobo which is why it is called Kobobid. But beyond that, I think everyone is entitled to experience a feel-good factor where you get to reward yourself, no matter how little for either a job well done or to uplift your spirit.

Muoghalu THEWILLNIGERIA

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STORIES BY IVORY UKONU

DOROTHY ATAKE JOINS SPOUSE’S LAW FIRM

Atake

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ocialite, Dorothy Atake has found a pride of place in her husband's law practice, Eyimofe Atake & Co, a law firm that specializes in maritime law, oil and gas, arbitration and commercial litigation. She is a partner in the law firm. Dorothy, who is also a lawyer but yet to attain the status of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria like her husband, obviously had the foresight to know when to jump off the ship of Addax Petroleum, an international oil

and gas production and exploration company.

It is a subsidiary of the Sinopec Group, one of the largest oil and gas producers in China, the biggest oil refiner in Asia and the third largest worldwide. Dorothy was the General Manager, Human Resources and Administrative Services, Community Relations, Security and External & Government Affairs, before the company ran and ended its rather controversial course in Nigeria. During the week, the company announced that it was finally packing up and leaving Nigeria.

It signed a settlement and exit agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to exit its four major oil mining blocks in the country and transfer its assets to NNPC Limited. The decision to exit Nigeria may not be allegedly unconnected with the revocation

by Nigeria’s oil regulator, of the four oil mining licenses it had signed with the company on two occasions within 12 months. First in 2021, the second time in early 2020. The oil regulator claimed the company was unable to meet its obligation in line with the provisions of the award, noting that the breach meant the annulment of the process of awarding the licences. It added that

the licences were cancelled when it was discovered that over 50 per cent of the assets had remained underdeveloped, resulting in loss of badly-needed revenue to the Federal Government. The Department of Petroleum Resources then proceeded to award the OMLs to money bag, Sir Emeka Offor's largely controlled Kaztec Engineering Limited/Salvic Petroleum Consortium. However, the decision was overturned by President Muhammadu Buhari who considered the implications on the Nigerian economy and the diplomatic relationship between the country and China if the revocation was not reversed. He also realized that not reversing the oil regulator's verdict could create an unprecedented level of contingent liability of well over $1 billion for the corporation as the party in contract with Addax, as well as reputational damage to the country. Well all that is now past tense as Addax has decided to leave the murky waters of Nigeria's business environment.

What that portends for Nigeria remains to be seen but Dorothy at least exited in the nick of time and landed in a safety net. No doubt she will bring her extensive experience in the energy industry as well as in foreign investment, governmental relations and environmental issues to bear on her husband's practice where she is a partner. While in Addax, she had a brilliant career where she held several positions. She was the first female General Manager in the company and also the first female Executive Director in four of Addax Petroleum’s subsidiary companies.

and LLM from Lagos State University.

Before moving into real estate, he was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of West African Waste Management Limited, an oil waste treatment company servicing the oil majors like Shell, Exxon Mobil, AGIP etc. He was also involved in both Shenker Shipping Limited and Linktel Shipping Limited, both oil tanker logistics companies.

Nweke’s expertise and experience include transportation and logistics of oil waste management and handling particularly from offshore locations, job costing, personal training, HSE and regulatory compliance. He is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Periwinkle Residences Limited developers of Periwinkle Lifestyle Estate, Lekki, Lagos and Managing Director and CEO of Swampsea Construction Company Limited, the technical arm of Orange Island Development Company Limited. In

these positions, he supervises some of the biggest real estate and infrastructure developments in Nigeria. He sits on the board of several companies including Orange Island Development Company Limited, a company he founded with his partners in FW Dredging Limited.

Oba Saheed Elegushi Honours Chiedu Nweke, Wife, Chinelo

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is Royal Majesty, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi, Kusenla III, the Elegushi of Ikate Elegushi, recently decided to honour a few individuals who have impacted his people, his state and indeed Nigeria. Two of those he chose were real estate mogul and philanthropist, Chief (Dr.) Chiedu Nweke and his wife, Chief (Mrs.) Chinelo Nweke who he gave the titles of Aare Atunluse and Yeye Aare Atunluse of Ikate Kingdom. Amiable, indefatigable and cerebral, Nweke who is well versed in the real estate industry, particularly in the area of hydraulic sand filling and large reclamation of swampland for real estate development. was besides himself with joy on being bestowed with such a prestigious title by the monarch. That his giant strides via his Orange Island and Periwinkle Lifestyle Estate, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos didn't go unnoticed in the centre of excellence obviously means that before long, a national recognition will not elude him. A Lawyer and a Senior Member of the Lagos Bar Association, Nweke holds a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), LLB from the University of Nigeria THEWILLNIGERIA

The Nwekes

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Kenneth Gbagi Woos Voters in Delta

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ontroversial businessman and politician, Kenneth Gbagi is doing everything within his powers to ensure he gets to occupy the government house in Asaba, Delta State in 2023. Gbagi who recently celebrated his birthday decided to use the same opportunity to build and donate a fully furnished 40-bed hospital to Oginibo community in Ughelli Edeh South Local government area of the state. Gbagi is hoping that with his Greek gift, he will easily emerge victorious in the general elections in 2023 on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, SDP. The former Minister of Education had initially vied for the position on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but suddenly announced his withdrawal from the race.

Gbagi in his resignation letter to the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, alleged that his action was informed by intimidation and threat to his life everend Father Emmanuel Mathew by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who he claimed had compromised Edeh may just be the richest Catholic priest in the world if the the governorship primary of the indices used to measure his wealth party in the state. He claimed is anything to go by. The influential the governor intimidated and powerful Reverend from Enugu and witch hunted ad hoc State is arguably worth $90 million. delegates using the pomp and A philanthropist of no small measure, circumstances of his office and Rev Edeh has contributed so much to tax payers’ money to overawe humanity but hardly makes noise about it. His impact on society is unprecedented the delegates. He alleged that yet you rarely see him even on television. Okowa issued threats against He focuses basically on servicing any person who he said would humanity. This is very unlike some of engage in anti party activities his ilk who make political statements or by voting against his preferred project themselves in the media. Many candidate in the forthcoming people outside the Catholic church do primary elections of PDP and not even know that such a priest like him also openly offered inducement exists. in the range of N1 million and A lover of education, Rev Edeh owns above. But sources say nothing four educational institutions in Nigeria; could be farther from the truth, Madonna University, Anambra State; Caritas University, Enugu State; Our alleging that Gbagi must have Savior College of Education, Enugu State; seen the signs that his chances Osisatech Polytechnic, Enugu State; tens at the primaries were slim and of Secondary and Primary Schools in and next to nothing prompting him outside Nigeria. to raise allegations they claim With regards to financial institutions, is unfounded to ease his exit Rev Edeh owns Oha Microfinance Bank, to the SDP. In actual fact, what Enugu; Mayfresh Mortgage Bank, LTD Gbagi fails to realise is that his and Umuofor Microfinance Bank, LTD. sins of yesterday still haunt him.

Other businesses he owns are; Triumph

MEET WORLD’S RICHEST CATHOLIC PRIEST R

Bottling Company LTD, Triumph Papermill LTD, Our Savior Press, LTD and Triumph Chemical Industry LTD. He allegedly owns a large oil well.

As a writer, he is an author of several publications including a book titled, Towards An Igbo Metaphysics.

As a theologian, Rev Edeh is the founder of National Shrine, Rivers State. For those who may not know, a national shrine is a Catholic church or other sacred place which has met certain requirements and is given this honor by the national episcopal conference to recognize the church's special cultural, historical, and religious significance.

He is also the Founder of Fathers of Jesus the Savior, Rivers State, a national pilgrimage centre; founder of Sister of Jesus the Savior, a female religious institution in Rivers State and founder of Contemplatives of Jesus the Savior, also in Rivers State.

An astute and vibrant preacher of the gospel, Rev Edeh is the shepherd in charge of Catholic Prayer Ministry of the Holy Spirit in Rivers State which has been in existence for over four decades.

Gbagi must have thought that the people of Delta State would develop amnesia like him, to quickly forget the inhuman treatment he meted out to his staff once he declared his governorship ambition. Perhaps he thought that the court dismissing the case in his favour would count for him during the PDP primary but failed to remember that getting the SDP ticket is nothing but temporary relief. Gbagi once assaulted and dehumanised his workers by allegedly stripping them naked.

While he walks about a free man without consequences, his victims still battle trauma two years after the incident. In 2020, he had accused Precious Achibong, Roselyn Okiemute Diaghwarh, Victor Ephraim and Gloria Oguzie, who were working in his Signatious Hotel in Warri, Delta State, of stealing the sum of N50,000. The victims, one of whom was a pregnant woman, said the money Gbagi accused them of stealing were tips given to them by a customer who had lodged at the hotel.

He had allegedly stripped them naked, taken photographs of them and videoed them before handing them over to the police, who detained them for four days and subsequently charged them to court. This provoked women, girls, and human rights activists to embark on a mass protest across the state to call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Gbagi. The affected workers, with help from some human rights lawyers, instituted a suit against Gbagi in a High Court sitting in Effurun, Delta State. But in September 2021, the court dismissed their suit for lack of merit. Despite this, a criminal proceeding against Gbagi opened at the Federal High Court in Asaba. Although the victims are yet to get justice, they have hope that in February 2023, karma will be served frozen to Gbagi.

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STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN

Frank Nneji Buries Mother

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he Founder and Chairman of Eventful Limited, Yewande Zacchaeu, has marked the 20 years anniversary of the company. Eventful limited was founded in 2002 to serve both corporate and individual clients in event management and it has consistently delivered excellent and professional services over the years. Zacchaeus opted for a quiet celebration instead of a full-blown party. She put together a virtual event where she spoke about the lessons she had learnt in life, in leadership and as an entrepreneur over the past 20 years. Zacchaeus retired as the

Chief Executive Officer of the company in 2021 and handed over to Fisayo Beecroft, who is now the Managing Director. The change of leadership, however, has not affected the operations and growth of the company which has so far successfully planned over 2,000 events and remains on top as one of the pioneer event companies in Nigeria. Within the course of its 20 years in operation, Eventful Limited has given birth to three projects: Fashion Souk, Street Souk and Beauty Souk. Fashion

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rank Nneji, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Associated Bus Company, ABC rolled out the drum in celebration of the life and times of his aged mother, Lolo Maria Celine Nneji who was buried in Aboh Mbaise, Imo State last week. Lolo Nneji died three weeks ago at the age of 93. Aboh, Mbaise in Imo State played host to traditional rulers, state governors and business moguls who came to honour the businessman as he laid his mother to rest. The four-day ceremony started on Thursday with a Noveno mass at St Charles Catholic Church, Ezuhu. A vigil mass took place on

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Friday at St Charles Catholic Church which was followed by a service of songs on the same day at St Jude’s Villa. Lying-in-state and funeral mass took place at the same church while the deceased was interned at St Jude’s Villa. Guests were treated to an elaborate reception at Group School, Ezuhu Nguru. The renowned entrepreneur had a thanksgiving service on Sunday at St Catholic Church, Aboh Mbaise in Imo State. Late Lolo Nneji was a nurse, midwife, social reformer and religious crusader who was the first person to establish a hospital, St Jude’s Maternity Home in Lagwa, Okwuato, Mbaise.

Traders Call Out Folashade Ojo Over Alleged Power Abuse

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he Iyaloja-General of Lagos State, Folashade Ojo, has been accused of abuse of power by traders.

It was gathered that some traders were allegedly forced to part with their hard-earned money because they did not comply with the directive given by the Iyaloja General that all stalls in some selected markets were to be closed for a rally, which took place to support Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition two weeks ago. Some market women were allegedly forced to pay a fine of N5,000 each after the rally for failing to comply with the ‘order from above’. Businessmen and women, especially in Alaba International Market, were affected. They had to pay

Souk is a fashion fair and veritable platform for emerging fashion entrepreneurs and industry icons.

Beauty Souk is a niche fair for beauty enthusiasts, while Street Souk is a streetwear convention that celebrates a vibrant street culture in Nigeria.

Chris Okafor Accused of Manipulation

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he General Overseer of Grace Nation International ministry, otherwise known as Liberation City, has been enmeshed in a controversy triggered by a prophecy, which he allegedly gave to Philip Anochie’s family.

Anochie alleged that the televangelist is the reason why his wife and children left their home and had not been in contact with him for some months.

According to him, his wife and six children, who attend the cleric’s church, were allegedly given a prophecy that he would make his daughter, Lucia, mad. He claimed that his wife, Vivian Anochie, was brainwashed into taking his children to another apartment close to the church which was allegedly rented for them by the ministry after the

prophecy was allegedly given to them. They locked the house he rented for them and blocked him on all contacts he could reach them. His wife also ensured that their children stopped contacting him.

Although he is based in Delta State because of his nature of work, he has been fulfilling his responsibilities to his wife and children since he started working outside Lagos State. All efforts to contact them had proved abortive since they relocated from the house he rented for them. Two of his children who passed their Jamb examination were allegedly prevented from taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME which will avail them the opportunity of going to the University.

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Titi Adenuga Joins Diamond Jubilee Club

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iti Adenuga, wife of billionaire businessman, Otunba Mike Adenuga, has joined the diamond jubilee club. The woman who has a heart of gold spared no cost to host a classy party announcing her grand entry into the landmark age. The event which was attended by close friends, family and some dignitaries had Teni Apata and Omawumi Megbele thrilling guests with melodious and classy tunes.

The matriarch of the Adenuga’s family is a lover of simple but exotic jewelries which only the fashion forward would love to adorn. She is believed to have taken after her late mother,

Mrs Susannah Okome, who was an importer of George fabric and head ties before going into manufacturing of fashionable materials. The late Okome was a fashionable woman who loved jewelry, rings and sunshade. She was a businesswoman well known for her business exploits and remarkable dress sense. The graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife who enjoys living a conservative life found love in the arms of Otunba Adenuga at the defunct Devcom Merchant Bank which led to the beginning of a forever journey with the billionaire businessman.

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the fine in order to avoid losing customers. Members of the Lagos State Park Management Committee were allegedly sent to deal with defaulters. They prevented the latter from transacting business until the levies were paid. A video of one of the alleged members preventing a woman from entering the market surfaced online last week. Market men and women said that most decisions to close a market were usually made by the Iyaloja-General to commemorate a national event or for political purposes. They complained about the ease of doing business and questioned why markets should be closed because of political rallies.

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STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN

Suleiman Adamu, Mohammed Abdullahi Make Top 100 Environmental Resources Professionals List

BIMBO ESHO'S PASSION FOR HIGHLIFE MUSIC Bimbo Esho, daughter of music promoter, Femi Esho, has developed a passion for highlife music, a genre that seems to be gradually fading out of the music scene. The music enthusiast has been walking in the footsteps of her septuagenarian father who established Evergreen Musical Company and has over 150,000 vinyl records.

Bimbo became the Managing Director of Evergreen Musical Company, the music label managing old school musical acts, including Orlando Julius before his death, and some other veteran artistes. She is so passionate about reviving highlight music that a foundation known as Evergreen Music Heritage Foundation was established which she uses to organize workshops and seminars to sensitise people on

how to keep the highlife flag flying. She is making efforts to transform the foundation to a research, educational, cultural and experience center where musical artefacts of the past, present and future will be kept. A fun centre will also be built where people can walk in, have fun, listen to music and watch live band performances by living legends of Sakara music, Waka, Highlife and Juju music. The Anthropology graduate was able to get the sympathy of the Lagos State government by partnering with the National theatre to kick start Thrillerbandz, a musical contest spotlighting musician of different local Nigerian genres. Her passion also led to the establishment of a music social media group, Members of Music Icons, MMI where great music minds network and rob minds together.

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he duo of Minister of emerged on the list includes Water Resources and those who have developed Environment, Engineer advocacy which has shaped Suleiman Adamu and former policies and changed major Minister of State for Science dynamics of interactions within and Technology, Barrister the sector. And those who have Mohammed Abdullahi have mentored others within the been named among the sector. The two will be issued a 100 Living Environmental certificate of recognition which Professionals in Nigeria. will be presented in a few The recognition was given weeks.

by TwoFourSeven Communications, a company based in Lagos State that specializes in recognizing top dignitaries who have contributed their quota to the development of the country. The two were honoured for their contribution to the environmental sector in the country and their dynamic initiative in paving new pathways and strengthening the growth in the environmental sector.

Part of the criteria used in choosing those who Abdullahi

ADEWALE ADEBAJO Dele Momodu Remembers Abiodun, Amosun Bury The Hatchet FETES GUESTS Osibona, Bob-Oseni One Year After AT 50TH F D BIRTHDAY Esho

ormer governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun and the incumbent governor of the state, Dapo Abiodun seems to have put their differences aside and embraced peace. The duo had not been on speaking terms with each other for about five years and their rivalry had assumed a different dimension ahead of the 2023 governorship election in Ogun State. A few weeks ago, Amosun had stated he would oppose Abiodun’s second term ambition the same way he did in 2019. Both Abiodun and Amosun had been at daggers drawn prior to the 2019 general election over the governorship ticket of the state, which went to

Abiodun eventually. Amosun had thrown his support behind his anointed candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, who ran on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement.

The two engaged in an unending altercation a few months ago over what many people don’t understand. Amosun had alleged that the 2019 election was rigged in favour of Abiodun and vowed to ensure his removal in 2023.

Abiodun, who couldn’t take the insult, described his predecessor as suffering from self-delusion and political amnesia. Not long after their altercation, Amosun openly declared his support for Biyi Otegbeye, the governorship

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candidate of African Democratic Congress in Ogun State while dumping Abiodun again who is seeking a second term bid.

However, things seemed to have changed when both politicians met recently at the coronation ceremony of the 14th Olowu of Owu Abeokuta, Oba Saka Adelola Matemilola. They greeted each other warmly, even as Abiodun recognised and acknowledged Amosun as his predecessor amidst cheers from the crowd, while delivering his speech at the occasion. Those in attendance applauded the two politicians for displaying maturity, hoping and praying that they wouldn’t resume their rivalry again.

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ele Momodu, the publisher of Ovation International and former presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP has remembered his friends, Femi Osibona and Wale Bobt was a gathering of diplomats, Oseni, who tragically died in business moguls and other the Ikoyi building collapse a dignitaries from different works of year ago. Femi Osibona was the life when the political adviser to the Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Limited, a real estate British Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, Wale Adebajo, celebrated firm developing a three-tower his golden jubilee. The man of many luxury apartment in Ikoyi parts who mingles with high profile Lagos State but unfortunately collapsed killing the developer personalities in Nigeria threw his and his friend, Wale Bob-Oseni, lavish party at the Queens Parks a United State based real estate Event Centre, Victoria Island last dealer and Executive Director week. At the venue of the party, of African Bureau for Legislative framed pictures of the celebrant Empowerment. Bob-Oseni was were placed at strategic point on his way to the airport when

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to welcome invited guests who came to celebrate with him on his birthday. The venue was beautifully transformed into a deluxe setting arrangement which had a large board where names and sitting arrangements of all the guests were displayed for easy identification as each guest walked into the cozy hall. The compere of the day, Gbenga Adeyinka treated those in attendance to rib cracking laughter while recognizing and eulogizing dignitaries as they matched into the hall. One of the highlights of the event was the special dance move of the celebrant who displayed his dancing skills as he boogied down the aisle accompanied by his beautiful wife.

Momodu

he got a call from his friend, Osibona who invited him to see the luxury edifice he was erecting. Unfortunately, the two did not make it alive from the rubble of the building. Many workers were also killed in the tragic incident. Momodu took to Instagram to celebrate the memory of his good friend while praying for the repose of their souls. The journalist cum politician had been friends with Osibona for two decades. He was greatly hit with the tragic incident and had to defend his late friend in a lengthy write-up when it was rumoured that greed and the quest for quick money pushed the real estate businessman to use substandard materials for the 21-storey building. In the writeup titled, ‘The unsolvable Jigsaw of the Ikoyi Tragedy,’ Momodu eulogised the late Osibona while narrating how they met and lost touch when he was in exile in the United State. Their reunion and how Osibona made his stupendous wealth from regenerating ghetto neighbourhoods in East London. He emphasised that the businessman might have made some mistakes which led to the tragedy but definitely not the case of cutting corners for selfish gains. He encouraged a thorough investigation into the tragic incident.

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ARTS

L-R: George Pemba, Between Life and Death (1976) | Yusuf Grillo, Eyo (1993).

Grillo, Pemba's Iconic Works For Split And Lease Auction on ARTSPLIT A

RTSPLIT, the pioneering African art trading platform, on Friday, November 4, kicked off another round of contemporary masters auction that would run through November 26, featuring two iconic works by Nigerian artist, Yusuf Grillo and South African artist, George Pemba.

Between Life and Death (1976) by George Pemba and Eyo (1993) by Yusuf Grillo will be available for Split and Lease auction during the period..

George Pemba is a well-known South African artist known for his bold use of colour, with many of his paintings inspired by his time in the hospital, where he spent much of his time drawing his surroundings, fellow patients, and doctors. Pemba is regarded as a forefather of African social realism, and in 2004 he was posthumously awarded the Order of Ikhamanga for his contributions to art and literature.

Yusuf Grillo is a renowned Nigerian artist and the founding president of the Society of Nigerian Artists. Grillo is regarded as one of Nigeria's most distinguished academically trained painters; he rose to prominence and international acclaim in the 1960s and 1970s, exhibiting an extensive collection of his early works.

Many of his paintings incorporate elements of his western art training, combining western art techniques with traditional Yoruba sculpture characteristics. His use of blue in natural settings paintings is sometimes reminiscent of adire or resistdye textiles used in Nigeria.

The auction will coincide with Africa's premier contemporary art fair, ART X Lagos, where ARTSPLIT will also be hosting a satellite event Art As an Alternative Investment, a seminar series produced in collaboration with Omenka magazine

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This November auction follows the massive success of MOCONA, a Modern and Contemporary African Arts Auction held in July and attended by key figures in the Lagos art scene and exhibiting artists Edosa Ogiugo, El-Dragg Okwoju, and Abiodun Olaku

featuring some of the most notable voices in art and business, including Giles Peppiatt, Director of Modern & Contemporary African Art at Bonhams; Ruarc Peffers, Founding Director of Aspire Art Auctions; and Oba Nsugbe, Pump Court Chambers' Head of Chambers and others, with each panel moderated by Oliver Enwonwu, Editor-in-Chief of Omenka magazine.

The ARTSPLIT app allows users to own fractions of prominent African artworks, also known as "Splits," and keep or sell them on the app at the end of the Split Auction." The Splits allow multiple people to coown a single iconic piece of art, which no other art platform currently does. Users can also participate in

a 'Lease Auction' on the app to win physical custody of these co-owned artworks for a set period.

This November auction follows the massive success of MOCONA, a Modern and Contemporary African Arts Auction held in July and attended by key figures in the Lagos art scene and exhibiting artists Edosa Ogiugo, El-Dragg Okwoju, and Abiodun Olaku. The MOCONA auction, titled Ode to Mastery, featured five prominent Nigerian artists who are key drivers of the continent's contemporary art scene: Abiodun Olaku, Duke Asidere, Edosa Ogiugo, El-Dragg Okwoju, and Oliver Enwonwu.

ARTSPLIT is an art trading company driven by the shared goal of enhancing the investment status of African art by allowing users to co-own rare and valuable artworks on a platform that guarantees price discovery and market liquidity.

Its mission is to position African art and artists as the preferred alternative investment choice by democratising access to iconic African art alongside developing the African art ecosystem through technology and co-ownership. We believe that, in this way, we can make wealth accessible through alternative investments.

The platform (ARTSPLIT mobile app) allows its users to own fractions, also known as “Splits,” of prominent African artworks on the app and in the “Split Auction”, where they can either keep or sell in its secondary market to other users for profit.

These “Splits” (fractions) enable multiple individuals to co-own a single iconic piece of art on the platform.

Following the Split Auction, users on the app can also bid to win physical custody of these co-owned artworks for a set period via the “Lease Auction.” And this cycle is repeated on the app as far as multiple individuals own splits of that artwork.

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NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

FEATURES

Japa-ing Nigerian Doctors Cry Over Exploitation If so, why are doctors Enekwechi, Johnson and many others from Nigeria complaining? NES Healthcare, according to BBC investigations, “specializes in employing doctors from overseas, many of them from Nigeria, and using them as Resident Medical Officers, or RMOs – live-in doctors found mainly in the private sector.”

They spend eight long years in institutions of higher learning in Nigeria for their MBBS degrees more than any other class of professionals. With the worsening insecurity and downturn in the economy, it is no surprise some doctors are now leaving Nigeria to take up appointments in Europe – the UK especially. But as some of them have now found out, the exploitative work condition is far from what they expect. THEWILL considers some recent cases of the griping medics against their employers. Michael Jimoh reports…

Enekwechi himself has said that when NES Healthcare got in touch and apprised him of a possible job offer with a private hospital, he was so excited “that he barely looked at the NES contract. In fact it opted him out of legislation that protects UK workers from excessive working hours, the Working Time Directive, and left him vulnerable to a range of punishing salary deductions.”

Faced with such humiliating working conditions in private hospitals in the UK, especially for those in a privileged profession (doctors are the first to see an individual at birth and the last to see him when he dies) why are they still flocking to work outside Nigeria?

Follow the money The attraction is nothing but money and better working conditions, as some of those the Beeb spoke with admitted.

“The Nigerian doctors who spoke to the news agency, said they were attracted by the potential of higher salaries and better working conditions.”

Though the World Health Organisation long ago warned against poaching medical personnel from Third World countries where their services are needed most in red-list countries like Bangladesh, Ghana, Pakistan and Sudan, private health institutions in the UK have continued to make overtures to doctors from these nations.

Enekwechi had done his PLB 1 successfully. He was in the second phase when NES Healthcare got in touch with him, with “visa sponsorship and a potential job.” He accepted. Then things began to go the way he never expected. Like a plough horse, he worked round the clock for his employer, all through the day, week to week and so on. The result was only too predictable. He was exhausted. He broke down.

Quoting the Nigerian medic in a recent BBC publication, Enekwechi said “his hours were extreme; on-call 24 hours a day for a week at a time,” adding that “he’s unable to leave the hospital premises which feels like being in a prison.”

Possibly abiding by the Hippocratic oath, doctors do their best to not cause any harm to patients under their care. Even so, there is a limit to how long the human body can function. Like other professionals in the line of duty, doctors need time for rest, to relax their mind and body for optimal performance. It was clearly not so in Enekwechi’s case. Since he was constantly on his feet, moving from hospital bed to another, performing this or that surgery and generally attending to patients 24/7, the good doctor himself felt he couldn’t function properly. “I knew that working tired puts the patients at risk and puts myself also at risk…I felt powerless… helpless, you know, constant stress and thinking something could go wrong.”

Another Nigerian medic Dr. Femi Johnson may also have been recruited the same way his compatriot was. He had a similar fate with Enekwechi though not in the same hospital. By his own admission, he said he was “expected to work 14 to 16-hour days and then be on call overnight. I was burnt out. I was tired, I needed sleep. It’s not humanly possible to do that every day for seven days.”

Unable to follow the punishing schedule and to retain his sanity, Johnson took some time off. His employers, NES, promptly deducted from his salary, insisting it will “cover the cost of finding a replacement doctor,” prompting Johnson to conclude that doctors like him hired by NES are “in a terrible dilemma.”

Continuing, the Nigerian doctor said such frustrating situations made him reevaluate his current job status. “In situations like that, THEWILLNIGERIA

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You finish from school and go to NYSC and after eight years of medical school, one year of houseman-ship during NYSC, someone pays you N80, 000 when you know you can earn better with that certificate in another country. If Nigeria had enough incentive, work/ life balance, people would not leave

I always make that internal discussion with my inner self, ‘Femi are you doing right by yourself and are you doing right by the patient?' Unfortunately, I haven’t always been able to answer that question.”

No one seems to find an answer yet to the complaint by the Nigerian doctors even though the British Medical Association has called the action of the private hospitals “shocking.” To stop the practice of overworking medics, especially those from Third World countries, BMA is insisting that the private sector “needs to be brought in line with the NHS working practices.”

But Nuffield Health has defended its actions, saying “its doctors are offered regular breaks, time off between shifts, and the ability to swap shifts if needed,” adding that “the health and wellbeing of patients and hospital team members is its priority.”

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efore Dr. Augustine Enekwechi, a Nigerian medic, arrived the UK some time ago to take up appointment at Nuffield Hospital Leeds, he hoped all would be well. Though with a medical degree from his home country, Enekwechi still had to sit for Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board to be recruited. He did. Overseen by the General Medical Council in London, PLAB is the first of a series of recruitment tests for foreign doctors to secure a license in the UK as required by the British medical authorities.

In a Punch report of June 2021, for instance, 200 fresh Nigerian doctors swelled the number in the UK to 8, 384. The numbers are still rising. In an interview with Dr. Seun Yusuf, president of the Nigerian Doctors in the UK, she noted that “the number of Nigerian doctors migrating would continue to increase as long as doctors were not well paid and hospitals lacked equipment,” insisting that “in the last three years, more than 6,000 doctors would have left Nigeria to different places but because the UK is the easiest place, the pathway becomes very easy so the UK gets a higher percentage of Nigerian doctors migrating. Some people are still in the UK writing their exams and they are not included in these statistics.”

According to her, poor pay and incentives were possible causes of the exodus. Hear her: “The doctors who finish school struggle to get house job placement and they don’t get paid. Imagine attending school for eight years and you don’t get a job on time and when you get it, they don’t pay you.

“You finish from school and go to NYSC and after eight years of medical school, one year of houseman-ship during NYSC, someone pays you N80, 000 when you know you can earn better with that certificate in another country. If Nigeria had enough incentive, work/ life balance, people would not leave.”

One major consequence of the mass exodus of Nigerian doctors to foreign countries is depriving their own countrymen and women much needed services. The WHO warning against poaching doctors from developing countries is not for nothing. In a report published by International Centre for Investigative Reporting, last March, Marcus Fatunmole wrote that there are four Nigerian doctors to 10, 000 Nigerian citizens. “Only four doctors could attend to 10,000 people living in Nigeria, and the trend has been so in the past two decades.”

With the recent outflow of medics from Nigeria, the ratio is bound to get higher. It also means that many of them are likely to end up like the Enekwechis and Johnsons in foreign hospitals. Even so, a medical doctor in Edo state told THEWILL in a phone interview late last Friday that cases of exploitation are not peculiar to doctors working in the UK. Overworking doctors also happens here, he said.

In his view, private hospitals in Nigeria, unlike governmentowned hospitals, are profit-oriented businesses. The proprietors of such health facilities, he contends, make bricks of cash at the expense of those they employ, including doctors. They also put them to work, he went on, like galley slaves. The difference between doctors working in private hospitals in foreign countries and their equivalent here is that such exploitative tendencies are barely talked about, let alone make the headlines as Enekwechi and Johnson’s case.

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SportsLive

World Cup 2022: Qatar's Human Rights Problem

BY JUDE OBAFEMI

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he popularity of football in France is incontestable and only Cycling and perhaps, Handball, come even close to commanding the type of influence that football carries in the country. This influence was quadrupled when the country's national team, Les Bleus, won the FIFA World Cup in 2018, exactly 20 years after its previous victory, when it hosted and won.

The concatenation of the impact of these pair of global honours, two decades apart, brought even more influence to football in France, making the sport all the more popular and the bodies attached to it, even more powerful.

The expectations of the French for their national team have come to see them as contenders for the trophy, whether within Europe, in the Euros football competition, or at the worldwide football extravaganza that is the World Cup. French football fans have therefore been feverishly expecting to celebrate the commencement of this year's FIFA World Cup in Qatar alongside friends and family in dedicated fan zones throughout the country, while cheering the French team to victory in defence of their 2018 trophy. It was therefore shocking for the authorities of the football-loving country to purposely decide against setting up giant screens at these fan zones as a protest against the human rights situation in the host nation Qatar.

Last month, Paris joined a set of French cities that were taking some action against Qatar's human rights record and environmental concerns when it announced that there will be no giant screens and fan zones for the World Cup. The decision is ballsy for the fact that the 2022 World Cup is expected to draw high numbers to these fan zones as France is the defending champion and several French players including Kylian Mbappe (PSG), William Saliba

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The government in Qatar has engaged a formidable PR effort to deflect criticisms of its human rights record

(Arsenal), Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid), Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig) have a dedicated fan following and have created some excitement for the national team's prospects at the tournament. Yet, Paris is only one of the big French cities to rule out the giant screens in protest, as Lille, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Reims had also made that decision earlier on ethical grounds.

Qatar's human rights and environmental problems, at the foundation of the protests from these French cities, have been the subject of extended media attention. In equal measure has been the power of the Arab nation's financial muscle to get what it wants. An instance of this was its

winning bid for the World Cup in the first place, especially given the competition it faced. In addition to that, the odds stacked against it as a country in the Arab region with very strong conservative Muslim customs and traditions, on the one hand, and the extreme, sweltering weather conditions that made it challenging to host football matches without regular breaks, made it seem impossible for it to get a winning bid through.

About 12 years ago, at the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup, it was up not only against countries that did not have these negatives but countries that had stakes in football, that had organised international football competitions and that had influence within the game such as the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia.

However, Qatar shocked the world when it won the bid. The remarkable aspect about Qatar's win was how convincing it was. After the first round of voting, Qatar already had more supporters than three of its four competitors put together and this support increased with the elimination of Australia, Japan, and South Korea. In the end, it was just the United States left and Qatar ultimately defeated the weight of America with an outstanding 14-8 result in its favour. In the aftermath of the winning bid, the amazement of the results soon turned to suspicion. It was not long before a barrage of claims of bribery and general corruption overshadowed Qatar's winning bid. But, the bid held after it was determined that the Qatari proposal followed the due bidding process.

As at the time the hosting rights went to Qatar, the country had only three stadia and not much in terms of the infrastructure necessary to successfully host THEWILLNIGERIA

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NOVEMBER 06 - NOVEMBER 12, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

SportsLive an expansive competition like the World Cup. There was also that bothersome disadvantage of summer temperatures that could go up to 50 degrees Celsius. This heat issue was particularly worth pointing out because Qatar’s desert temperatures exceeded levels allowed for both fans and footballers. FIFA rules explicitly state that play cannot be allowed in more than 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit) without mandatory cooling breaks. To sidestep this hurdle, Qatar promised to build solar-powered air cooling stadiums, and pour money into providing every necessary infrastructure to make the hosting of the competition possible. They were plans for a metro system of transportation, a new airport, and a substantial number of hotels to accommodate the near two million expected to enter the the Gulf peninsula state, with a native population of just over a million.

As dedicated to these promises as Qatar was, with the financial heft to make it happen, neither FIFA nor the government fully considered the work that will go into bringing this dream to life from the perspective of the workers involved. What came to light as Qatar put its enormous resources to work to bring about desired results was an unfortunate story of degradation of the human person. The conditions for the millions of migrant workers needed to build the massive infrastructure and stadia for the World Cup under the most extreme heat and despoiled state saw low-paid migrants from Asia and Africa become an exploited workforce. They were the significant human resources employed for the considerable number of infrastructure projects to get Qatar ready for the hosting and there were no labour rights commitments from Qatar requested for by FIFA even with the existence of human rights reports detailing abuses against migrant workers there.

In a 2016 report titled "Qatar World Cup of Shame," Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch brought attention to the mistreatment of workers building stadiums.

A subsequent study by The Guardian in 2021 revealed that between 2010 and 2020, at least 6,751 migrant workers— mostly from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka—died in Qatar as they worked to get the country ready for the World Cup. Additionally, Qatar's treatment of these labourers constructing the country's World Cup infrastructure has come under fire, including allegations of non-payment of wages, crowded living quarters, and forcible evacuation in advance of the competition.

Tens of thousands of employees have suffered from physical or mental health problems as a result of wage theft and other abuses, sacrificed their health working in the intense heat in Qatar, or have passed away in avoidable, unexplained, and uninvestigated accidents while abusive employers retain unchecked power over employees.

Then, there is also the country's institutionalisation of homophobia to keep in mind as well.

As a result of pressure from groups like Human Rights Watch, Qatar implemented some late reforms, including labour safeguards and the repeal of the kafala system, which forbade immigrant workers from changing jobs without the employer's express approval. However, the efficacy of these reforms have been queried, with the new minimum wage being little over N1 an hour and scepticism regarding whether the kafala system reforms actually took place. Many of the injured and deceased did not receive these amendments to their working conditions until it was too late for them to benefit, and the majority of these reforms were either weakly enforced or had a limited scope. As a result, many workers who contributed to the construction of the World Cup's infrastructure did not actually benefit, and both the government and FIFA have not yet agreed to set up remedy funds for the grieving families.

French cities are protesting these issues with the ban of giant screens, but they are hardly alone. To express their disapproval of these transgressions, the Danish clothing company Hummel declared that the jerseys of the national

team of Denmark would bear a fading logo. Some team captains, like England's Harry Kane, will use rainbow armbands to show their opposition to the homophobia in Qatar. A German minister openly questioned Qatar's eligibility to host the competition, which caused Qatar to recall its ambassador to Germany. The Australian football team published a film denouncing violations of human rights in the Gulf state. Like the French cities, Barcelona announced that there will be no public viewings of World Cup games. At recent Borussia Dortmund games, supporters waved signs urging a boycott of the World Cup. But, as Olivier Véran, the French government spokesman said: "If we were to make the decision today, we would not give the World Cup to Qatar. However when something was decided 10 years ago by 100 countries, it's difficult to say stop just a few weeks before it gets under way."

The government in Qatar has engaged a formidable PR effort to deflect criticisms of its human rights record. The government-funded and Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network posted a video on its O2 digital platform in which it claimed that Western criticism of Qatar was motivated by "Qatarphobia," with the West singling it out because it is an Arab and Muslim nation. But, a study by Amnesty International released in October and titled "Unfinished Business: What Qatar Must Do To Fulfil Promises On Migrant Workers' Rights", discovered that thousands of workers were still being denied wages or having them delayed, being denied rest days and were being exposed to unsafe working conditions.

Qatar still argues that progress has been made and that the tournament will be a force for good in the country.

In a few days, the country will be at the centre of world attention for football's most prestigious event. It is hoped that some remedy funds are obtained for the maimed, bereaved and those who put life and limbs at risk to make Qatar 2022 a reality.

Continued from Back Page

Naira Redesign: Nigeria and Its Black Economy Problem low: strong leadership and even stronger laws and institutions. The chance is before us as Nigerians go to the polls next year to pick a President that is forthright and has the vision of the type of country that the largest black nation in the world intends to be within the continent and globally.

This manner of leader is one who can create an environment where the economy can thrive, where businesses can blossom, where free enterprise can grow with the enabling infrastructure that will bring all of these to reality and the power generation and distribution to sustain them.

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This will naturally engender the rise of creativity and industry of Nigerians who will evolve businesses that will grow the economy and be rewarded for their creativity, industry and hard work, which will in turn grow the country's GDP. This will be inimical to the Black Economy and it will considerably shrink enough to be rendered insignificant as a thriving economy is the antidote to the large footprint of the Black Economy.

The CBN is doing its part now and it is an incentive for others to be as formidable in making things right. Yet, the regulator THEWILLNIGERIA

needs to do a lot to regain the confidence of the public by addressing its inability to fully ensure the blockage of illicit financial flows while checkmating the use of financial systems to fund terrorism and the commercialisation of ransom by strengthening oversight of commercial banks used as conduits for corruption.

It also needs to intensify collaborations with relevant anti-corruption agencies to check dubious charges by some commercial banks, who keep shortchanging poor Nigerians whose reducing disposable income is further worsened by growing

inflation costs and unemployment, all of which play into the hands of the Black Economy as is presently the case.

The fact is that the CBN cannot fix the country’s financial crisis by itself alone.

The fiscal, which has been largely irresponsible and docile to its responsibilities must urgently plug the leakages in the system and revamp the country’s crude oil production to, at least, 2mbpd so that the badly needed petrodollars can shore up the value of the naira. The country is estimated to lose around 800, 000bpd to organised theft and production shut-ins.

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www.thewillnigeria.com • November 06 - November 12, 2022

Naira Redesign: Nigeria and Its Black Economy Problem A

t a time when Nigeria is grappling with huge fiscal deficits, the free fall of the naira, soaring inflation rates, multiple forex rates, rising borrowing costs, grave uncertainty, a fragile economy and on the eve of the 2023 general election, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, at a press briefing held on October 26, 2022, announced the decision of the apex bank to redesign the naira with new notes scheduled for circulation on December 15, 2022, Emefiele’s bold move is jarring, with the naira taking a severe battering against other currencies in the Black Market, with unemployment at record levels and the tumultuous money market witnessing lending rates squeezing out the productive sectors and the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). Yet, Emefiele knows these firsthand from his position as CBN governor and asserts that they are some of the problems he intends to solve with this move.

In the announcement of the decision to redesign the N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations, the regulator intends to primarily tackle what is perceived as the hoarding of naira outside the formal financial system, the scarcity of clean naira notes, the increased risk to counterfeiting of the naira, as well as security considerations bordering on the exchange of ransom monies.

To present the stark situation of the problems the CBN is attempting to handle with the move, Emefiele remarked that an average of 83.8 per cent of currency notes in circulation was alarmingly outside the banking system, such that by the end of September 2022, the currency in circulation stood at N3.23 trillion, compared to N1.46 trillion in December 2015. The implication is that a staggering N2.73 trillion was outside the formal banking system.

This is a very alarming, disturbing and uncomfortable development.

The currency redesign move is an attempt by the CBN to address a myriad of problems, using a single intervention.

In line with the bank's statutory responsibility to manage the national currency, ensure its integrity, its efficient circulation and its efficacy in overall monetary policy, as enshrined in Section 2 (b) of the CBN Act 2007, the regulator reached a decision to reverse the anomaly of having so much money outside the system with the attendant inflationary impact and the hassle it makes for managing inflation.

There was also CBN's need to check the increasing ease and risk of currency counterfeiting evidenced by several security reports that point to recent development in photographic technology and advancements in printing devices, which all made counterfeiting relatively easier.

The redesign is also aimed at forcing politicians, who have hoarded large sums of money for the intention of buying votes at the 2023 general election, to bring their stashed monies into the banking system and the timing points to this. It is typical of the economy to often witness an inflationary spike during election campaigns and polls giving monetary authorities a major headache.

Another issue the redesign was aimed at tackling is terrorism financing, a growing security and financial concern that requires financial regulatory intervention to make it difficult for kidnappers to seek ransom from victims, monies which ultimately create challenges for monetary authorities.

Although the global best practice is for the CBN to redesign, produce and circulate new local legal tender every five to eight 8 years, the naira has not been redesigned in the last 20 years. Since 1973, when the Federal Government changed from the British Pounds to naira and kobo, there have been currency introductions and changes in 1977, 1979, 1984, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010 and the centenary N100 note in 2014. Therefore, it was more than overdue for a change.

With the goal of the regular to monitor the return of monies into the banks in part a ploy to apprehend questionable

funds, it was obvious that those who could not account for large sums of money in their possession would seek alternatives to going into banking halls to change their hoarded monies.

Banks had been requested to put structures in place that would notice these large sums of questionable monies and inform the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

As predicted by analysts, who criticised the CBN for the move, most of those with illicitly acquired funds immediately panicked and went to the parallel forex market to exchange the naira for the dollar, which put further downward pressure on the value of the naira.

The effect was predictable. On Tuesday, November 1, at the official market, the exchange rate closed at N446/$1, but at the black market, the exchange rate was averaging N810/$1. By the afternoon of Friday, November 4, the naira had dropped to about N900/$1 and there were no indicators as to how badly the value will go.

I however predict that the naira’s drastic free-fall in the black market will be short- lived because in the coming days those with these illicit naira will find it difficult to find those who would trade them for foreign currencies because of the risks involved in holding notes that would expire on January 31, 2023.

To arrest the swift business of dubious currency exchange, some operatives of the EFCC raided the offices of some Bureaux de change operators in Abuja, arresting a number of those doing business with these hoarders wishing to cash out before the monies in their possession cease to be legal tender.

Apart from questionable individuals with huge funds in their possession, politicians and government appointees have been known to hoard monies meant for public goods for their selfish ends.

Early in 2017, the EFCC discovered that a former Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, had hidden the sum of $9,772,800 in a soakaway pit and four months ago, operatives of the Independent Corrupt and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) raided a property in Wuse 2,

Abuja, where N175 million and $220,965 were stashed.

After the CBN redesign announcement, EFCC said it was monitoring at least three serving state governors who hoarded billions of naira in various houses and were planning to launder the money through a cash payment of salaries, which was a contravention of Section 2 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act. According to reports, the Governors are Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and Bello Matawale of Zamfara State.

The impact that the activities of those acting to avoid falling into the traps that the apex bank has machined into the redesign move have had on the value of the currency and necessitated quick action by the regulatory bodies and financial watchdogs points to the power of Nigeria's Black Economy, that segment of a country's economic activity that is derived from sources that fall outside of the country's rules and regulations regarding commerce, fuelled by activities that can be either legal or illegal depending on what goods and/or services are involved. Although every country has its active Black Economy, operating alongside the taxable and legal economic processes, there are several countries where the balance tilts on the side of the untaxed and unregulated, like Nigeria.

When, in Nigeria, for instance, this informal economy is associated with illegality and illicit activities, such as Internet scams, black markets, crime, the production and smuggling of illegal drugs and money laundering that is pushed into real estate powered by selfishly acquired public funds, it presents a major source of worry for the financial authorities and money regulators.

It is this impact that is throttling the depreciation of the value of the naira. The power of the Black Economy is so strong that the action of those who thrive in the ambiance of the "dark" operating environment, where there is an ever decreasing level of market regulation, weak policy frameworks and socio-demographic drivers, such as population growth, urbanisation, rise in unemployment, widening inequality between the rich and poor, low-level education, including the harrowing effects of poverty, can have such on the country as a whole.

These individuals operating in the Black Economy do so with confidence and gusto because they are certain that they can buy their way out of any legal problems that may arise, with some of them ready to even go to jail because before long, they will have paid their way out.

They have been rattled by the CBN’s move and have reacted swiftly to shore up their illicitly acquired wealth by exchanging it for the dollar/pound/Euro to the point of severely damaging the value of the naira. I am strongly of the view that this must not be allowed to persist.

The Black Economy is not peculiar to Nigeria. Europe, Asia, Middle-East and even the United States of America, with its first world status and resurgent economy, is, like all other economies, afflicted with its own manner of dark business operated by individuals who operate outside the tax and regulatory systems to ensure that their questionable sources of wealth are neither taxed nor put under the radar of legal processes.

What is different is that whilst these pockets of counterfeiters, casino players, forgers and trunk-of-the-car salespersons do not have the economic wherewithal to make a detrimental impact on the American economy, the Nigerian Black Economy actually fuels the country's economy with illicit funds whose presence or absence in the economy makes a telling difference. No sane country with aspirations for greatness can allow this to continue to be the case.

As a remedy, I believe there is a two-pronged path to folContinues on Page 47

The Nigerian Black Economy actually fuels the country's economy with illicit funds whose presence or absence in the economy makes a telling difference PAGE 48

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