THEWILL PREVIEW EDITION

PREVIEW EDITION • DECEMBER 2020

SEUN & YEIDE KUTI’S Year Newly-wed Romance

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PR E V I E W ED I TI ON DECEMBER 2020

‘Dead’ Airlines Resurrect Over N4bn Covid-19 Palliative

Two Deaths Unforetold, New Novel

By Nobel Laureate, ANA on The March

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Obaseki, PDP On Collision Course

● Disagreement Delays Cabinet Composition Till February 2021 ● Governor Wants Key Positions For APC Loyalists ● No Issues With Governor - Aziegbemi, PDP State Party Chair

NORTH AND THE POLITICS OF INSECURITY ■ SEE page 8

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www.thewillnigeria.com

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COVER Obaseki, PDP On Collision Course •Disagreement Delays Cabinet Composition Till February 2021 •Governor Wants Key Positions For APC Loyalists •No Issues With Governor - Aziegbemi, PDP State Party Chair

BY AMOS ESELE

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do State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, might be heading for a big collision over appointments into the state cabinet, according to feelers from sources with knowledge of the behind the scene power play in the state.

The governor, who was sworn into office on November 10, is yet to appoint Commissioners and other agency staff into his cabinet with the singular exception of the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Osarodion, Ogie. Ogie’s swearing-in, penultimate Wednesday, drew expected applause but also a prolonged buzz.

The buzz, it was learnt, followed the statement made by the governor during the swearing-in ceremony.

“We started this journey together, and I am not going to sit down here and give you the charge, you know the charge, you are part of the whole process. The only advice is that, you are going to face pressure you have never faced before.

“Trying to get an aged system to now begin to work efficiently and respond to the needs of our people. There will be extreme pressure on you, since you had that interface with the political system because people will want to do things in the way they are used to,” Obaseki had stated.

That reference to pressure was a subtle allusion to the ongoing tiff between the governor and his party, regarding appointments, THEWILL has learnt. Ogie, in his acceptance remarks, left a trail of hints.

“I have been one of the pillars and I want to give my word today that I will remain a pillar in that struggle in that journey to make Edo a better state.

“Let me thank our party leaders, we fought an unusual election, but they have shown understanding. I want to join the governor to appeal to you to continue to show that understanding, because at the end of the day all our interest are the same,” he said.

Curiously, some of the dignitaries present at the event included Mr. Tony Aziegbemi, the state chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Mr. Dan Orbirh, PDP South-South Vice Chairman and Mr. Anselm Ojezua, state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This has continued to fuel the talks that the governor still enjoys the better of the two worlds of both rival parties and may either continue to play them against one another to his advantage.

Ojezua is the legally-recognized chairman of the opposition APC in the state and has been a strong ally of the governor since his supremacy battle with former National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole and all through the September 16 governorship polls, an assistance that allowed Obaseki to use both rival platforms to realise his re-election.

THEWILL has learned that appointments of key officers into the administration may be delayed till sometime in February and March 2021, because of a disagreement between the governor and the party over the choice of key officers to be appointed.

According to a dependable government source, three

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“

We have to agree first about the positions that are to be shared before you talk about submitting a list.

They have not even got to that stage yet.

But I can tell you, there is a yawning gap between him and the PDP.

scenarios are playing out currently on the matter. The first is about the PDP. The party, he said, had been out of power for many years and cannot afford to remain in opposition.

“They cannot afford to call his bluff even though they can insist that they gave him the platform, allowed him to retain the Deputy Governor and now the Secretary to the State Government, all of whom are his men. These are very powerful positions in government,” a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, told THEWILL. Secondly, the governor, he said, still has his eyes on the ball in the courtroom where cases are still pending.

“He would want to see how that pans out probably up to the Supreme Court.” Thirdly, “ the governor is an economist. A lot of money was spent during the elections.

He may want to run a lean government. Why, for example, should he appoint people and then commit resources to buy vehicles, and start another battle against financial leakages.?”

The governor is still contending a suitability suit brought against him by the APC and one of its stalwarts, Mr. Edobor Williams. In the suit, marked FHC/B/ CS/74/2020, the plaintiff prayed the court for an order to disqualify Obaseki from contesting the September 19 governorship election in Edo State on the grounds that he supplied false information on oath to INEC, an act said to be contrary to Section 31(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act, 2010.

The suit, which was filed on July 14, 2020 at the Benin Division of the Federal High Court, suffered some setbacks before Justice Mohammed of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court took it over. The PDP and INEC are the other respondents in the suit. The presiding Judge had adjourned further hearing to November 18 for the plaintiffs to open and close their case after which Obaseki would do the same.

Before granting the request, the judge however reminded both parties that the suit was a pre-election matter with a life span of 180 days and so would end in January next year.

When asked if the ruling party had submitted a list to the governor for consideration, as a starting point, the source said: “ That is not the way we do it in politics.

We have to agree first about the positions that are to be shared before you talk about submitting a list. They have not even gotten to that stage yet. But I can tell you, there is a yawning gap between him and the PDP. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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NEWS

COVID-19 Vaccine Coming to Africa Jan. 2021 – Okonjo-Iweala

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r Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, has assured Nigeria and other African countries of access to COVID-19 vaccines as from the end of January through the first quarter of 2021.

This was revealed in a statement by the Ministry of foreign Affairs quoting Okonjo-Iweala as disclosing this after a closed-door meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, in Abuja.

“As long as one person has it in the world, no one is safe. And that is why poorer countries, lower middle-income countries like Nigeria, need to get it as quickly as possible”, she was quoted as saying.

Okonjo-Iweala is currently the African Union Special Envoy on mobilising international economic support for the continental fight against COVID-19 and Nigeria’s candidate for the Office of the Director-General of the World Trade Organization

(WTO) and has been voted in.

She disclosed that the international initiative involved to get the vaccines delivered to developing and poorer countries, in an affordable manner and quickly, include the World Health Organisation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), GAVI and the international community.

According to her, the Pfizer vaccine and the AstraZeneca were being negotiated so that poor countries don’t have to stand in a queue behind rich countries.

The former finance minister described Africans as blessed, for not having the same incidence rate of COVID-19 like other continents, but warned African nations against complacency.

“So, the Pfizer vaccine, the AstraZeneca, those are being negotiated now so that poor countries don’t have to stand in line behind rich countries. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

Sabotage: Nigeria Shell Employees Vandalise Oil Pipelines For Profit - Report

•Company Denies Alleged Complicity of Staff

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igerian employees of the Anglo-Dutch oil company, Shell, ordered the deliberate vandalisation of oil pipelines for personal gain, a documentary in the Netherlands has reported.

Dutch television documentary programme, Zembla, together with Dutch environmentalist organisation Milieudefensie, reported in a programme aired on Thursday, that “multiple witnesses declared that SPDC, a subsidiary of Shell, caused the oil leaks”.

“According to sources, Shell employees profit from these intentional oil leaks by pocketing money from clean up budgets,” the report said in a statement summarising an 18-month investigation of various leaks between 2010 to date.

It added that the SPDC, along with the Dutch embassy in Nigeria, were aware of the accusations but had failed to address them. Millions of litres of oil have leaked into the Niger Delta since Shell began oil extraction in 1958. Shell says that 95 per cent of leaks are as a result of sabotage. It denies responsibility for the leaks, which it blames on local criminals and organised gangs. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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•Okonjo-Iweala/BLOOMBERG

Nda-Isaiah: Nigerian Media Has Lost A Big Fish - Buhari

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resident Muhammadu Buhari said the Nigerian media has lost a big fish as he expressed “shock and sadness” at the death of the publisher of Leadership Newspapers, Sam Nda-Isaiah.

Describing the late media mogul as “a friend and ally,” President Buhari, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, condoled with the media fraternity, the NdaIsaiah family, friends and associates of the deceased, saying “the country has lost a man of conviction, a resolute and dogged believer in a better Nigeria.”

Buhari said the late pharmacist, renowned columnist, and one time presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) “will be sorely missed,” adding “This is a massive fish gone out of the media ocean.”

FG Slashes Data Price By 50%

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he Federal Government has given a directive to the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to slash the price of data by more than 50 per cent.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ibrahim Pantami, who disclosed this said the action was in line with the directive he gave to the regulatory agency (NCC) to put measures in place to reduce the average cost of data in the country.

According to him , “The average cost of 1GB of data has reduced from the January 2020 cost of N1,000 to N487.18 in November, 2020.

“This was based on a report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) submitted to the Honourable Minister following the implementation of the directives,” Dr Pantami’s Technical Assistant, Mr Femi Adeluyi, said in a statement. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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NEWS ASUU Strike Has Turned Me to Newspaper Vendor, Says 400L Student

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400 Level Computer Science Student with the Federal University Lokoja, (FUL), Thomas Kehinde, has decried the prolonged strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), insisting that both the academic body and the government are playing games with the lives and future of Nigerian youth.

Kehinde, in an exclusive interview with THEWILL, said the ASUU strike has turned him into an emergency newspaper vendor just to survive with the harsh economy of the country.

Kehinde, who is from Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State, told our reporter that his parent fed from hand to mouth just to see him through school, in a bid to pursue his academic dream of becoming a great computer scientist.

According to him, his hopes of graduating from the University in his four years course in 2020 has been dashed by the tussle between the Federal Government and the Academic Union.

He pointed out that he decided to venture into newspaper business in order not to sit at home or engage in any social vices, as the strike has impacted negatively on his future.

He described the over nine-month-old ASUU strike as unfair, appealing to the aggrieved bodies to sheath their swords and allow students return to the classroom. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

•Sanwo-Olu/THE Guardian

Alleged Impersonation: DSS Detains Osun #EndSARS Coordinator

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he Department of State Services, DSS, has detained one of the coordinators of the #EndSARS Movement in Osun State, Emmanuel Adebisi, for alleged impersonation.

Adebisi had recently led a group of protesters to the Osun State House of Assembly and demanded the disbandment of the panel probing police brutality in the state, saying no member of the #EndSARS movement was accommodated in the panel.

He also called for the release of one Wale remanded in Custodial Centre for participating in the #EndSARS protest.

But a security source said that Adebisi was invited to the State Headquarters of the DSS, where he is currently being detained.

The source further explained that, “Adebisi was invited based on a petition written against him, where he was alleged of claiming to be a Captain in the Military”.

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2021 Budget: LASG To Prioritise Employment, Food Security, Youth Empowerment

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he Lagos State Government said it would prioritise employment generation, food security and youth empowerment in the 2021 budget.

The State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Sam Egube, stated this while conducting members of the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) of the National Economic Council (NEC) round some projects of the state government.

Revealing that the new year would witness the commissioning of completed projects and development of new infrastructure, Egube said the inspected projects cover major thematic areas adopted by the State, in line with the 71-Point Resolution set as a template for greater and integrated economic development by the National Economic Council in March 2016.

The Commissioner expressed delight that various projects of the State Government monitored by the IMC were either completed or at various stages of completion, noting that the projects would add value to the quality of lives of Lagosians.

While conducting the team round the 1.4km Pen Cinema flyover in Agege, the Commissioner expressed optimism that the project, billed for commissioning before the end of this year, would permanently solve the traffic problems often encountered in the area and boost economic activities.

Egube commended the Federal Government for initiating various economic reforms towards stabilising the economy of individual states against recession, maintaining that monitoring of projects

across states would spur healthy rivalry and synergy towards realising sustainable economic development across the country.

Giving details on some ongoing projects of the present administration, the Commissioner said the Blue and Red Line Rail projects are part of the transport sector reforms embarked upon towards achieving a multimodal transport system that would meet the needs of a teeming population in an emerging Smart City of Lagos.

He also disclosed that the state government is adopting geospatial data system to enhance quality governance and interact in a practical way with stakeholders in all sectors, envisaging that the platform would help to provide adequate information in the area of business development, health, agriculture, food security, education and transportation, among other services.

In his response, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, who led the delegation, commended Lagos State Government for embarking on people-oriented projects and noted that various development projects showcased will bring democracy dividends to the grassroots.

The Minister hinted that the Federal Government is developing an app to monitor projects in order to bridge the trust gap between government and citizens, while a National Development Plan involving all states of the Federation and Local Governments will be rolled out in due course.

*Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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NEWS

Transport Owners Task FG On N10bn Covid-19 Fund, Land Border Reopening

BY ANTHONY OKECHUKWU

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our months after the Federal Government approved N10 billion to help road transportation survive the negative effects of COVID-19, members of Public Transport Owners of Nigeria Association (PTONA), have appealed for an urgent disbursement of the fund in order to save their businesses from collapse.

PTONA has also called for an immediate re-opening of the land borders closed by government about 15 months ago, even as they decried the unfair implementation of the COVID-19 protocol of 50 percent seating capacity which is biased against their branded inter-state buses on various routes nationwide.

This was contained in a communiqué issued by PTONA at the end of a two-day Annual General Meeting held recently at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Ikeja, Lagos, which was anchored on the theme Road Transportation and the Future of Nigeria Economy.

The 2nd AGM had the representatives of the governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemi Saraki; Minister of State of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, and many other personalities, as guests of honour.

Signed by the National President, Engr. Isaac Uhunmwagho, and the Secretary, Frank Nneji, PTONA appealed to the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff to immediately remove all the numerous Police/Army checkpoints on the highways.

Such roadblocks, the statement said, have tripled journey time on various routes, thereby making road transportation a nightmare.

The public transport owners stated that with experts in transportation as resource persons, over 120 members participating in the summit, and about 10 bus makers

Nigerian Army Cancels CAS Annual Confab As GOC Dies of COVID-19 ...Directs Participants to Go Into Self-Isolation

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he Nigerian Army has directed participants at the Chief of Army Staff’s Annual Conference 2020 in Abuja to go into self-isolation following the death of the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Div, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Maj-Gen Olu Irefin. He was said to have died in Abuja of complications related to COVID-19.

Irefin, appointed GOC of the 6 Division in July 2020, was a participant at the CAS conference.

Prior to his last appointment, he was the GOC 81 Division, Nigerian Army, Lagos.

Conveying the army authorities’ directive, army spokesman, Brig-Gen Sagir Musa, said in a statement that the army has cancelled the programme and asked all participants to be in self-isolation.

Brig-Gen Musa said; “The Nigerian Army wishes to inform members of the public that due to resurgence of COVID 19 Pandemic in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in what appears to be a second wave of infection cycle and the unfortunate incident on Tuesday 8 December 2020, where an officer participating in the ongoing Chief of Army Staff’s Annual Conference 2020 here in Abuja tested positive to COVID 19, the remaining activities of the conference have therefore been immediately cancelled.

“All the participants have been mandated to immediately proceed on self isolation in line with the Federal Government’s protocol for COVID 19 and to prevent any further spread of the disease.”

Senate Asks Buhari To Reinstate Sacked NDE DG, Argungu

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he Senate has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to rescind the presidential directive, sacking Dr Nasiru Argungu, as the substantive Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment.

The resolution of the Senate followed a point of order raised on the floor by the Senator representing Jigawa East Senatorial District, Ibrahim Hadejia.

The Senate also urged Buhari to probe the frosty relationship between Argungu and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Kayamo.

The red chamber argued that the removal of Argungu could delay the take-off of the Federal Government’s programme aimed at providing jobs for 774, 000 jobs.

The presidency had last week announced the sacking of Lawan as DG, NDE. Argungu was relieved of his post in a memo issued Friday, December 4, 2020, taking effect from Monday, December 7.

The Federal Government also appointed Abubakar Fikpo as the acting DirectorGeneral of the NDE.

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exhibiting their vehicles, the forum provided a veritable platform for deliberating on the burning issues confronting the sector and making recommendations.

The resolutions were distilled from the papers presented by the guest speakers, Dr John C. Isemede and Alban Igwe, and the interactive session that ensued thereafter.

The communiqué included a call on government to: reverse the closure of the nation’s land borders because the situation is adversely affecting their members’ businesses and cannot be sustained as a policy measure by the Federal Government.

The association also called on the federal government to deploy technology in checking the illegal activities of smugglers on the nations land borders.

“Stop the unfair policy in implementing the 50 percent seating capacity on our members’ inter-state buses nationwide. This is because it is only our members’ branded inter-state buses that have been observing the social distancing safety protocols on board since the measure was introduced up till this moment. Other unorganized inter-state buses, airline operators, schools and markets are now operating at full capacity without following the guidelines on social distancing,” it added.

PTONA lamented that members were still reeling from the impact of COVID-19, stating that they are ”panicking and agitating” that the N10bn palliatives measure announced in August by the Minister of State. Ministry of Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, on behalf of the Federal Government, was yet to be disbursed to the transport owners.

The communiqué further stated, “Consequently, they {PTONA members} are afraid that with barely few weeks to the end of the current fiscal year, the fund, if not disbursed immediately, could be returned to the treasury by the end of the year. Therefore, we call on the Federal Ministry of Transportation to ensure immediate disbursement of the fund.

“There is a skewed emphasis of the government policies and programmes on the provisions of infrastructure rather than on the bus owners/operators and the public. The association calls on federal government to always involve the bus owners/operators whenever they are designing policy for passenger movement in the country”. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

‘Food Security, Agriculture, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Crucial for Africa’s Post-COVID-19 Recovery’

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he agriculture sector is among the most vulnerable. Agriculture is important not only for food security issues but also for interregional food integration,” African Development Bank Director of Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research, Hanan Morsy, said during a news conference on the opening day of the African Economic Conference 2020.

“We see this as an area that needs particular support, an area of opportunity going forward to increase inter-regional integration and to increase resilience against external shocks,” Morsy noted.

The three-day annual conference, which opened Tuesday was hosted virtually. It was organised by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), under the theme, “Africa beyond COVID-19: Accelerating towards inclusive sustainable development.”

Earlier, during a high-level panel session titled Africa beyond COVID-19: How to move towards inclusive and sustainable development, participants proposed tapping renewable sources of energy, adopting new technologies and leveraging the African Free Trade Agreement as some of the ways African countries are working to build back better from the COVID-19 crisis.

Members of the panel acknowledged that the pandemic had sharpened Africa’s challenges.

“We are seeing a catastrophic health crisis, a devastating economic crisis, a climate crisis that is ravaging communities, a crisis of inequality laid bare by the pandemic and a crisis of democracy reflecting citizens eroding trust in their governments. No single stakeholder group can tackle these crises on its own,” said Pradhan.

*Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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POLITICS

•Buhari

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It’s not true the North is totally free of these SARS excesses. I was personally involved in a case of a young man called Gaddafi who was shot and killed in Kano in front of his family home by SARS operatives. He was not armed and he did not commit any crime

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North and The Politics of Insecurity

BY AMOS ESELE

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he North, comprising four of the six-geopolitical zones of the Nigeria’s political structure with a sizeable number of 19 states, appears to have woken up to the dire insecurity in the region with the warning by the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, that things have gone out of control.

Speaking at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria InterReligious Council on Thursday, November, 26 in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, Sultan Abubakar III, said that the security system in the region has completely collapsed and lamented the high rate of insecurity, which has made the North the ‘worst place’ in the country to live in.

According to the Sultan, who is the spiritual head of millions of Nigeria’s Muslims; “The security situation in Northern Nigeria has assumed a worrisome situation. A few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in a day. I was there with the governor to commiserate with the affected community.

“Unfortunately, you don’t hear these stories in the media because it’s in the North. We have accepted the fact that the North does not have strong media to report the atrocities of these bandits.

“People think the North is safe but that assumption is not true.

In fact, it’s the worst place to be in this country because bandits go around in the villages, households, and markets with their AK 47 and nobody is challenging them. They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed. These are facts, I know because I am at the centre of it.

“I am not only a traditional ruler, I am also a religious leader.

So, I am in a better place to tell the story. I can speak for the North in this regard because I am fully aware of the security challenges there.”

On the Zabarmari incident, the Sultan- led JNI on Wednesday, Dec 2, reportedly called “on the Federal Government to rise up to its responsibility and do well beyond the traditional condemnation,

as lip service on security matter should stop…”

The Sultan had been railing against the state of insecurity in the north, except that his recent statement gained much traction by the Saturday, November 28 murder of 67 farmers, according to a Senate independent investigation, at Zabarmari village in Jere Local Government of Borno State.

By July 2020, the Jama’ atu Nasril Islam, led by Sultan Abubakar, had credited the destructive violence and insecurity ravaging the country, especially the north, to the inefficiency of the country’s security architecture. This was followed by the Arewa Consultative Forum’s condemnation of the arrest of some youths of Arewa Youths Organisation, for protesting against the spate of killings in the north with a call on President Buhari to sack the service chiefs. But the recent statement by the Sultan has really triggered a wave of support and critical comments from groups in the region. The Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development, CONEPD, applauded the Sultan for his courage to speak up on the worsening security situation in the northern part of the country.

In a statement, the group’s National Coordinator, Zana Goni and National Women Leader, Hajia Mario Bichi, urged President Buhari to heed the clamour for a reorganisation of the security architecture and appointment of younger officers with new set of ideas to change the situation.

Besides commending the Sultan, the Northern Elders Forum led by Professor Ango Abdullahi, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign, because, according to them, “he has failed in carrying out the chief function of a central government, which is to secure and protect the territorial integrity, live and property of the citizenry of Nigerians.” *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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POLITICS

APC, PDP Rivalry: Testing The Waters Through By-election

BY AMOS ESELE he December 5 by-elections conducted in eleven states by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has opened another chapter in the ongoing rivalry between the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The elections took place in nine State House of Assembly consituencies and six Senatorial zones.

The senatorial by-elections were conducted in Bayelsa Central and Bayelsa West; Cross River North; Imo North; Lagos East and Plateau South senatorial districts, while the Assembly polls took place in Nganza state and Bayo state constituencies in Borno state; Obudu state constituent in C/Rivers; Bakura state constituency in Zamfara; Dass state constituency in Bauchi; Katsina state constituency in Katsina; Ibaji state constituency, Kogi and Kosofe II constituency in Lagos state.

Except for Zamfara state, where the results of the House of Assembly by-election State was declared inconclusive by the INEC, the other results showed that the ruling APC won three senatorial seats in Imo, Plateau and Lagos as well as seven House of Assembly seats in Lagos, Kogi, Borno, Katsina and Bauchi States. The PDP won the three senatorial seats in Bayelsa (two) and Cross River and the House of Assembly seat in Enugu State.

INEC had barely finished with the official announcement of the results when both parties raised their ongoing rivalry a notch higher.

Indeed, the Presidency sparked off the politicking with a statement by Presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, on Sunday, December 6. According to Malam Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, the ruling APC remains the chosen party of Nigerians.

“Nigerians, who appreciate the efforts of the administration in making life better for all citizens, especially under an economy facing the severest test from the global Coronavirus pandemic, will not be disappointed.

“We thank them immensely for their trust in the party and government,” he said.

The presidential spokesperson, said, “President Muhammadu Buhari, in particular, is very pleased with the election outcomes, thanked party and leaders, members for working “for this brave and impressionable performance.”

On Tuesday, expectedly, spokesmen of the APC and the PDP took up the fight. First to fire the salvo was the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yekini Nabena. In a statement, he said the voters had demonstrated national support for the Buhari administration by overwhelmingly voting for the party’s candidate.

“From Imo, Bauchi, Lagos, Plateau and other states, where Saturday’s concurrent legislative byelections were conducted across the country, the massive electoral victories recorded by the APC are a solid display and pointer that the APC remains the only political party with a true national appeal and acceptance by Nigerians, across geo-political

T

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Buni

Secondus

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President Muhammadu Buhari, in particular, is very pleased with the election outcomes, thanked party and leaders, members for working “for this brave and impressionable performance

zones and sundry groupings.

“As a governing party, the APC does not take the massive national support for granted. This is indeed a true demonstration that President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC government he leads remains massively popular with Nigerians, despite the warped narrative some opposition partisans try to sell,” he stated.

He said, in line with the yearning and aspirations for inclusiveness, the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee was working to reposition the party by accommodating all interests and ensuring peace, unity, fairness, equity, justice, inclusion and internal democracy in the party.

In its response, the opposition PDP said the claim by the Presidency on Sunday that the ruling party swept the polls, was a diversionary tactic to paper over the failures of the administration’s failures.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said: “Perhaps Mr. President’s handlers ought to have informed him that out of the six senatorial by-elections, the PDP freely swept three in free, fair and credible contests, while the APC only muscled the other three in polls that were marred by manifest irregularities and rigging.

“Moreover, the PDP is in a clear lead in Zamfara where the INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Ibrahim Magatawa, openly betrayed the plot between INEC and APC to allocate votes for the APC and rig the Bakura State Constituency by-election.

“Such resort to rigging by the APC only confirmed its heightened unpopularity given the failures of its administrations, both at federal and state levels, including wrecking our economy and pampering terrorists, bandits and kidnappers who are ravaging our communities and murdering our compatriots in the most vicious manner. “It is indeed appalling that at a time Nigerians expect Mr. President to frontally tackle the escalated insecurity under his incompetent watch, particularly in dealing with the recent massacre in Borno State, he is more interested in praise-singing of a party that has been rejected by Nigerians.”

The APC/PDP renewed rivalry was triggered by the recent defection of Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and the Senator representing Adamawa South, Elisha Agbo, from the PDP to the APC. Umahi’s statement that he was leaving because the *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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EDITORIAL

Insecurity and Growing Food Crisis

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igeria’s security challenges are negatively impacting the agriculture sector. Farmers across the country have been finding it difficult to continue their farming activities because of the dangers posed by armed bandits and kidnappers.

The fear of the unknown has forced many farmers to abandon their farmlands with many being killed and maimed by hardened criminals who now operate freely across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

In some areas, especially in the North, farmers are now left at the mercy of these armed bandits, who even force the farmers to pay what has been described as “harvest tax” before they could be allowed to access their farms. Zamfara State is a classic example of this scenario as armed bandits, cattle rustlers and kidnappers have driven farmers out of business. Farmers in other food baskets in the Middle Belt region have, for long, been subjected to incessant attacks from these bandits, who kill and even burn down their victims’ villages after looting and stealing from them. The South West region and indeed the entire South is not immune, either, to the attacks as killer- herdsmen continue to unleash terror on innocent farmers as they hibernate in the various forests across the region to wreak untold hardship on the people.

The inability and failure of government at all levels to rein in the activities of the terror-gangs have contributed in no small ways to not only the food crisis but the imminent famine that is staring Nigerians in the face. A member of the National Food Security Council, Simon Lalong, who is also the Plateau State Governor, once offered some explanations on the cause of the current food crisis, blaming it on what he described as the devastating effects of insecurity such as kidnapping and banditry against farming activities in the entire North.

Only recently, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar II, re-echoed what Lalong and others have been saying over the years on the general state of insecurity in the North.

According to the highly revered monarch, who is also a foremost religious leader, the North is the worst place to live in Nigeria.

It is very unfortunate that it is not only in the North that people are losing sleep, the general insecurity in the entire country does not even allow anybody to sleep with all eyes closed any longer.

The effects of all these on agriculture and food chain are very worrisome. The farmers and the average Nigerian are the worst for it as prices of food items have really gone beyond the reach of the ordinary Nigerian. The jerk in the prices of onions, in particular, is just one of the several effects of the growing insecurity on food production, though the government attributed the increasing cost of food items to the transportation problems.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) food price watch data for August 2020 indicated a spike in the pieces of major consumer staples between August 2019 and August 2020. According to the report, the sharp increases in the prices of food items is consistent with the increase in food inflation from 13.17 per cent in August 2019 to 16.0 per cent in August 2020. The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has also listed Nigeria among the countries to experience acute food crisis even as the global organisation acknowledged that the crisis in Nigeria is being compounded by the prevailing security challenges which have virtually driven away agricultural workers from their farmlands.

The outbreak of Coronavirus further came to compound the already bad situation for Nigerians as the many months of general lockdown that was imposed to curb the spread of the killer-virus succeeded in making the food crisis worse for Nigerians. The various interventions by the Federal Government to salvage the situation were further frustrated by the effects of climate change which resulted in either drought or flooding of hundreds of hectares of farmlands across the country.

THEWILL feels the pains of vulnerable Nigerians, who are the ones mostly bearing the agonies, and calls on the government to double its efforts in ameliorating their sufferings .

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OUR VISION, OUR MISSION

HEWILL Newspaper is the newest branch of the bold and groundbreaking media project founded in October 2009 by Austyn Ogannah, journalist/publisher, advocate for good governance and promoter of social change in Nigeria and Africa.

Coming a decade after the online THEWILL news service was established in California and has successfully carved a niche for itself in the industry, THEWILL Newspaper is extending the vision of its founder by stimulating and expanding the national conversation, reporting the news as it breaks, providing a platform where readers and contributors contribute to public policy, influence public opinion, and ultimately, contribute towards bringing the change that we desire in our country, Nigeria.

THEWILL Newspaper will continue to fight the good fight; our journalism will be robust, assertive, fearless. We will see issues as Nigerians have always sought to see them—just and fair. We will take on the big issues of our time (especially corruption and bad governance), issues responsible for the social decay and institutional weakness in our country today.

THEWILL Newspaper will advance our contribution to the struggle for a better country and a fulfilling future. We will hold those entrusted with power accountable for its daily exercise and advocate for social justice, equity, and human and gender rights. We will also be relentless in our pursuit of the truth with un-biased investigative vigor that represents the hallmark of journalistic practice.

We pray for God’s guidance as we launch out as a Sunday weekly Newspaper, then becoming a daily soon.

Welcome to our world!

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 PAGE 10

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DISCOURSE

#EndSARS: ‘Unstoppable OC Akwuzu’

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‘My son refused to let them take the money, he fought them. So, when they got to Awkuzu SARS, they killed him.

When I went to see him after his friend who was smuggled out told me of it, James Nwafor (SARS boss) told his men to lock me up that I was a father to an armed robber’

BY MICHAEL JIMOH

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here are good and bad cops. Some good ones become bad in the line of duty and are, sometimes, consumed in their badness. DSP George Iyamu is one infamous example of a good police officer-turnedbad that a certain generation of Nigerians now only dimly remember.

He it was who connived with the still infamous Lawrence Anini robbery gang in the mid-nineteen eighties such that their reign of terror topped the agenda during two or so meetings of the Armed Forces Ruling Council headed by military president Ibrahim Babangida. In one such cabinet meeting at State House Dodan Barracks, Obalende in Lagos, IBB was said to have turned to Inspector General of Police, Etim Inyang, and famously asked him: “My friend, where is Lawrence Anini?”

Unmasked eventually, convicted and condemned to death as an officer on the take from robbers he sold guns for operations, tipped off before police raids, Iyamu went to the stakes and was shot along with more than a dozen members of Anini’s gang by firing squad on Valentine’s THEWILLNIGERIA

Day in 1987.

Today in Nigeria, as a result of the ENDSARS youth uprising from early to mid-October, the picture of a formerly good cop-turned-bad is gradually emerging.

And that portrait is of none other than CSP James Nwafor, former OC Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Akwuzu in Anambra state. It is a damning portrait.

More than a dozen families of victims of police brutality have stepped forward before the Anambra State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality, ExtraJudicial Killings and Other Related Matters presided over

by Hon. Justice Veronica Umeh to back up their petitions with testimonies.

According to Comrade Abdul Mahmud, human rights campaigner and lawyer present at the sitting, more than ninety percent of the 18 petitions so far are about the former police officer whose whereabouts is unknown as at the time of writing.

Let’s consider some of them. Chijioke Iloanya was home in Ajali community in Anambra state when he told his mother he was going to a friend’s child dedication

sometime in November 2012. She implored her son not to. He wouldn’t listen and so proceeded to the venue of the child dedication. They were still there when some officers from Ajali Police Station stormed and arrested everyone present including Chijioke and transferred them to SARS Akwuzu.

Testifying to the panel, Chijioke’s sister, Ms. Iloanya said inter alia: “The last time any member of the family saw Chijioke was the day her parents went to SARS office in Awkuzu. Our mum saw her son in their premises, (but) the officer in charge, James Nwafor, denied he was there.

Some officers said he was bluffing and told my parents he wanted them to bring money.”

Of course, the Iloanyas could not afford the money requested by Nwafor. On the next visit, according to Chijioke’s sister, “Mr. Nwafor told my parents that he had killed my brother; he looked my father in the face and told my dad he could do nothing.” Ms. Iloanya had just turned 17.

Okwuchukwu Onyemele was a graduate of Architecture when his path crossed with Nwafor’s not in any criminal hideout but right in front of his father’s house.

The architect was with his sister when Nwafor along with other SARS operatives stormed their father’s residence in Ontisha and arrested him in June 2014. Okwuchukwu was beaten and detained without access to his family or lawyer.

“While Okwuchukwu was in detention,” the petitioner said, “members of his family kept visiting SARS Awkuzu with the hope of seeing him. They were prevented by CSP James Nwafor from seeing him.” It was after several visits spanning years that “Mr Nwafor told Mr Onyemulue’s father that he killed his son.” Another petitioner, a school proprietor, Emma Adimachukwu, told the hearing how Nwafor as Commander of SARS Akwuzu demanded for N400, 000 to feed his son, Obinna, a businessman, in their custody in 2014.

After graduating from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka where Obinna read Business Admin, his father (the petitioner) opened a shop for him at Mount Olive Plaza in Onitsha. In Adimachukwu’s words, Obinna “travelled to India to buy clothes. On March 14, 2014, he went to Nnewi and collected $10,000 owed him by a friend and proceeded to Onitsha to take delivery of his goods that just arrived. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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ARTS

Two Deaths Unforetold, New Novel By Nobel Laureate, ANA On The March

BY MICHAEL JIMOH he year 2020 began on a mournful note for those in the literary community in Nigeria. On February 28, news came from South Africa that Professor Harry Oludare Garuba had died of leukemia.

He was a poet, renowned scholar on African Literature and professor of English and African Studies at the University of Cape Town South Africa where he taught for more than a decade.

With a confirmed place among the intellectual superstars the African continent can boast of (for his selfeffacing nature, Harry would have politely declined such ranking). News of his untimely death was numbingly shocking, eliciting something of a horrible déjà vu when, on March 10, the previous year, another well respected professor and scholar, Pius Adebola Adesanmi of the Institute of African Studies, Carlton University Ottawa in Canada, died in an Ethiopian Airline which blew up shortly after take-off in Addis Ababa. Harry was only 61 while Adesanmi was not even 50.

I was in Benin City doing research work for a client when I heard of Garuba’s death, prompting me to immediately call his fellow poet and brother, Odia Ofeimun, in whose house, 20, Sanyaolu Street, Oregun, Harry lived for much of his time in Lagos before relocating to South Africa in 1998.

At the time I called in early March, Ofeimun’s 70th birthday was just about two weeks away, March 16, which his family, friends and colleagues had been planning to celebrate. Ofeimun didn’t dwell on his own forthcoming anniversary. Instead, what I heard was that, on my return from Benin, I should endeavor to see him as soon as possible, for he was, along with some of his and Harry’s friends, planning a special tribute for Garuba in the coming days and weeks.

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But then, the outbreak of Covid-19 and the resultant oxymoronic-sounding social-distancing would put all of that in abeyance - no grand celebration of the late poet as planned, nor for the living one on his landmark birthday. (It must be said however there was a reading or two for Garuba somewhere in Lagos and Ibadan in his remembrance during the period and the Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA) celebrated Ofeimun last month on his 70th. But at both events, writers and those, who would have compulsorily attended, were denied the opportunity of meeting one-on-one, as they were wont to, pre-pandemic.

Even so, for professionals, who long for the kind of solitude imposed during the lockdown, some of them probably benefitted more from the pandemic. At least, the restrictions made sure you would be pretty much left alone. If family or friends were necessary hindrances you couldn’t do without, here was a chance – thanks to a virus – to be by yourself for as long as you want, supplicate your muse for even longer and then write that elusive masterpiece.

In his response to the effect of the pandemic on writers during the lockdown, James Eze, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra state and a poet whose first ever collection, dispossessed, won ANA Poetry Prize at the Association of Nigerian Authors International Convention in Ilorin last month, said the lockdown is a blessing for writers.

“2020 is a gift to workers of the imagination,” Eze wrote recently in a WhatsApp message. “The Covid-19 pandemic forced many writers across the world to return to their desks and re-imagine the world. We shall soon begin to see the work sired by the lockdown. Most of them are still going through the various stages of

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The Covid-19 pandemic forced many writers across the world to return to their desks and re-imagine the world. We shall soon begin to see the work sired by the lockdown.

Most of them are still going through the various stages of production process and might take years to come out.

production process and might take years to come out.

I think that Covid-19 2020 may yet turn out to be a special year for Nigerian literature.”

One Nigerian writer, a senior one with a Nobel to boot, benefitted immensely from the lockdown, using the period to triangulate from his desk to the dining and bedroom wherever Professor Wole Soyinka found himself – in Ghana, Nigeria or Senegal. The result is a second novel, Chronicles of the Happiest People on Earth, after his first, The Interpreters, published more than half a century ago.

Already, Chronicles is receiving rave reviews from enthusiastic readers/ critics. One of them, a selfconfessed Soyinka disciple and avid reader of his works, Onyeka Nwelue, reconfirmed the Nobel laureate’s mastery as a storyteller.

“What comes across is the fact that you cannot deny that Soyinka is a master when it comes to telling stories,” Nwelue wrote of Chronicles in The Lagos Review recently. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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We Need Direction To Run The Economy Efficiently – Agbakoba

‘Dead’ Airlines Resurrect Over N4bn COVID-19 Palliative PAGE 16

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Businesses Struggle Amid Tumbling Naira •Experts Point The Ways Out

BY SAM DIALA

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usinesses across Nigeria are gasping for breath under the rapid depreciation of the Naira. The local currency has witnessed intense pressure since the lockdown enforced in Q2 ’20 to curtail the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although various fiscal and monetary policies were created to ameliorate the impact of the pandemic on the already fragile economy, the measures failed to save Nigeria’s economy from sliding into recession.

Latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Nigeria’s economy retreated by 3.62 percent in Q3 ‘20, thereby throwing the country into another recession after four years, and the worst in three decades.

Virtually all the sectors experienced a contraction of various degrees suggesting that businesses will walk a tight rope in the days ahead.

This has induced a spike in inflation and unemployment rates – immediate casualties of the tumbling Naira value.

The local currency has shrunk by over 100 per cent in five years since a major price shock in the international oil market in 2014. Despite a robust show of regulatory strength by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to uphold the Naira, the apex bank was ‘forced’ to devalue the local

currency again, this time by N6, on November 27.

The Naira has now depreciated to N395/$ from N386/$ in the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) foreign exchange window while the parallel market rate oscillates between N470 and N490/$. This was after a ‘riotous’ N500/$ dip on November 30, – the lowest since February 22, 2017. The Bureau de Change (BDC) operators now sell N392/$ to end-users while the CBN retains the N380/$ ‘nominal’ rate in its official window.

This development has put the Naira on track for another steep fall, pushing inflation and unemployment rates to 14.23 per cent in October and 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, respectively. The latest trend brings to a peak the runaway inflation that has plagued the economy since August 2019 when the inflation rate recorded 11.02 percent.

Coming shortly after the Covid-19 lockdown, with the land border closure still in effect 15 months after, many businesses are passing through trying times that demand extra measures and resources to survive. With mounting operating expenses and increasingly challenging operating environment worsened by continued regulatory pressures, some businesses are being forced to lay off workers or to cut down on their operations.

Additionally, the recent upward adjustment in

Naira Deprecia3on For Foreign Exchange USD 1973 to 2016 350

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We have a budget of N13 trillion for 200 million people for the 2021 fiscal year. The budget itself is already in a deficit; we are going to embark on borrowing. Yet, a small size of the population will consume a huge chunk of the budget through salaries and wages. electricity tariff and pump price of petrol have added another dimension to the upheaval faced by businesses in all sectors. “It has put pressure on their running cost, forcing employers to opt for either of two hard choices: cut down on emoluments or reduce staff strength,” said Bismarck Rewane, CEO, Financial Derivatives, during a national television programme recently. Many property owners have also gone for rent increase as state and local governments introduce punitive taxes to diversify their revenue sources.

In the education sector, some private school owners, especially in the urban areas, are experiencing hard times following the drastic reduction in student enrolment as parents had to withdraw their wards to patronise cheaper fee-paying schools. “We lost almost 50 per cent of our students and pupils this period, yet the government imposes multiple taxes on us,” a school proprietor in Surulere, Lagos, told this newspaper on point of anonymity to avoid being persecuted by the authorities.

Among the worst-hit are businesses in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector, because of their fragile state and low capital base. Many are among the firms that suffered the effects of the prolonged land border closure with no end in sight.

Last month, Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Muda Yusuf, frowned at the disruptions and losses that businesses and individuals have suffered because of the prolonged land border closure. He observed that many informal sector players and individuals doing legitimate businesses across the borders have been crippled.

“Jobs have been lost, prices have skyrocketed, legitimate exports to the sub-region have been halted, intermediate products for some manufacturers have been cut off and some multinational companies have been delinked from their sister companies in the sub-region”, *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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INTERVIEW regard. But they do not have the required political cover.

They are doing fantastic job but there is no cover; that is why their effort is not having the impact. The current plan we have now is the Economic Sustainability Plan which came into being because of the Covid-19 crisis. That is commendable.

However, the problem with the plan is that it has two sides – the operational and the business sides -- both of which are in the hands of government.

Government is not in the business of doing business.

It is not the role of government to build 300,000 housing units across the country. The role of government is to pump money into the economy for the private sector to undertake the project. I think government has taken the wrong tool by opting to do it by itself. It also wants to buy 5,000 solar plants. Why? Everyone wants to have control. Throw it open to the private sector and play the role of a regulator.

If government wants to know what is involved in fixing the East-West Road, for instance, it can divide it in four parts to work effectively. The four parts involved are policy, execution, regulation and the private sector.

The first role of govt is Policy. You cannot imagine the British prime minister talking policy and wanting to operationalize the policy. There is no way Raji Fashola (Works & Housing minister) can fix all the roads and bridges and build all the houses in Nigeria. There is no way Rotimi Amaechi (Transportation minister) can build and operate all the rails and ports. It is not possible. The work of the minister is Policy. You plan the policy on the projects and get it approved. You then pass it to the executing agency for execution – either directly or through the private sector. In a well-structured system, you have these four arms: Policy, Executor, Regulator and Private Sector. Here, government wants to do everything by itself. Every official wants to have control of everything. That is the problem.

Agbakoba

We Need Direction To Run The Economy Efficiently –Agbakoba Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), former chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Senior Partner, Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL) Arbitration & Mediation Centre, recently held a forum with financial Journalists under the aegis of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Lagos. SAM DIALA attended the event which focused on the 2021 budget and challenges in managing the economy. Excerpts: The challenge of leadership

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igeria’s economy is in a terribly sorry state. But our leaders are more engaged with politics – defection and talks about 2023 elections. The problem with politics is that it beclouds economic judgement. I am not sure how our leaders are understanding the issue. Imagine if Nigeria was pushed into an emergency ward and all the doctors are busy discussing things other than medicine. I see a distraction; and that distraction might be very costly.

Nigeria is like a cracked building. The problem with fixing a cracked building is that you are not quite sure about what to do. The architects of our economy have stressed the need to call in the experts to look at this edifice which appears so irredeemable, with cracks everywhere in the wall.

The question will be, how do you fix the cracks? Do you bring the building down or do some patching? What is the THEWILLNIGERIA

way to go? I do not think that the foundations are sufficiently deep to hold up the political and economic structure. So, we must take a drastic action.

The challenge in managing the economy and ways out The problem is we do not have economic ideology. It is very important we have that. What is Nigeria’s economic ideology? That is part of the question that the architects will have to answer when they want to fix the building that is cracked. The Constitution says the commanding height of the economy shall be owned by the state. That makes it a socialist country. Many of us are not sure that is it; that is why we need to define Nigeria’s economic ideology because we run through a lot of problems.

I give great credit to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, for their efforts in this

Impediments to result-oriented budget This attitude reflects in our budget. We have a budget of N13 trillion for 200 million people for the 2021 fiscal year. The budget itself is already in a deficit; we are going to embark on borrowing. Yet, a small size of the population will consume a huge chunk of the budget through salaries and wages. I had in recent years recommended a couple of critical things that we need so see in our budgets. This borders on the principle of Public Sector Borrowing Requirement, PSBR, which you must consider before embarking on borrowing.

The first thing to ascertain is what your borrowing requirements are. That will help you know the gap. Then you know what to borrow. When you have ascertained what you need to borrow, you then ask, where do I get the fund? One of the best ways to realize money is to look within to see if there are assets you can dispose of. I agree entirely with the present policy of getting rid of unwanted assets. Government should get out of a lot of things it should not be doing so it can focus on working the economy.

Government should get rid of the airports, for instance.

I am surprised that it is planning to build new ones. The best run airport in Nigeria today is in the hands of a private person. He wants is money back; that is why he is efficient.

Why not give the airports to private persons to run and pay taxes? That is the best way to generate revenue – from tax; not from running business.

Government should get out of all those things – trying to build roads, bridges, houses, airports, railways … Let the private sector build them while government collects taxes.

When that happens, government shrinks. If government continues to spend 40-60 per cent of its revenue paying one million Nigerians who are in the public service, we have problem. The bulk of the money government raises goes to pay salaries; the capital expenditure is very small. That is why government must shrink. It should be part of the primary fiscal responsibility for the government to shrink out of business. We should carry the unions along.

Time to end doing the wrong things officially Look at the four refineries. They are idle -- doing nothing.

They can be sold. Just for the pressure government is feeling, it suddenly put up Afam and Omotosho power stations for sale. Government is going to realize huge money from the sales. If government thinks deeper these things can be done.

Look at Ajaokuta Steel plant; someone is still thinking about putting money into the facility whereas all you need to do is to sell it.

The number of businesses government has across Nigeria can fetch it about N20-30 trillion. The East-West Road needs about N100 billion to build. The Federal Secretariat in Lagos has been abandoned for about 30 years. It is worth about N120 billion. Just sell it, to build the East-West Road. That thinking is not coming out at all. It is not about someone sitting down to write a budget. Before you write a budget, resource your brain and ask yourself critical questions: What do we really want? Are we going to increase in size or reduce our size? When that is done, a lot of efficiencies will come out of the budget. That is the reason government is in such trouble. Government is now spending about N80 out of every N100 it earns on loan servicing. We cannot survive that way. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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Any ‘Dick and Harry’ can apply but only functioning and performing airlines will benefit from the intervention fund Hadi Sirika

‘Dead’ Airlines Resurrect Over N4bn COVID-19 Palliative The N4 billion Federal Government intervention fund approved for the aviation sector to cushion effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is causing ripples among industry players, writes ANTHONY OKECHUKWU

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he number of operating domestic airlines has been increasing recently, following the federal government recent approval of the much-awaited N4 billion palliative for airlines in the country.

Although stakeholders are contesting the amount which they say is a far cry from what domestic airlines need to stay afloat, more worrisome is the rate at which seemingly moribund airlines are putting up efforts to benefit from the intervention fund.

THEWILL observes that since the approval of the fund, airlines, especially those in charter operations and even scheduled commercial airlines which had stopped operations before COVID-19 outbreak, are warming up and putting up structures to show that they are still in business.

Warning operators who are planning to shortchange the process, DirectorGeneral of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Musa Nuhu, said that any ‘Dick and Harry’ can apply but that, only functioning and performing airlines will benefit from the intervention fund.

Capt Nuhu said: “What I can guarantee you is that anybody can apply, it is their right, whether they are functioning or not, but the issue of palliatives is a policy of the federal government driven by the minister of aviation and they have their guidelines and one of it is that you must be a

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functioning and performing airline before you get any palliative, that is all I can say. If you don’t have an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC), you are not entitled to it. The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), I believe, also have their guidelines; they are also part of the input and know who and who will get these palliatives from the guidelines”.

Explaining further, Nuhu said: “I don’t expect them to put airlines that are not functioning into that list. I can guarantee you from the government side, if you are not functioning, forget it; you can try your luck doesn’t mean you are going to get it”.

An Air Operator Certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a national aviation authority (NCAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and system in place to ensure the safety of its employees and the public. The certificate lists the aircraft types and registrations to be used, for what purpose and in what area – specific airports or geographic region. At the moment, Nigeria has twenty airports and many regulated airstrips and heliports; 23 active domestic airlines. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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Emefiele

Reprieve For Banks As CBN Adopts Aggressive Recovery Strategy

BY EMEKA EJERE

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he 90-day special bill recently unveiled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), permitting release of excess cash reserve to commercial banks, is expected to bring relief to the lenders after a year-long liquidity crisis occasioned by regulatory actions. This is part of desperate measures by the apex bank to revive the economy which slipped into recession in Q3 ’20 – the second in five years and the worst in 36 years, according to the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS).

Before now the CBN had, on the contrary, vigorously enforced the cash reserve requirement (CRR) and minimum loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) policies thereby sustaining a tradition of periodic, punitive debiting of banks’ accounts over regulatory compliance failures.

The wielding of the big stick by the apex bank, ultimately, weakened the lenders’ ability to generate optimum returns for their stakeholders, a move seen as

discouraging investment in a lagging economy. It also compounds the challenge of upward inflationary trend which hampers moves towards credit expansion to the real sector – objective the CRR and LDR regulatory guidelines aimed to achieve.

The latest of the enforcement on November 20, 2020, saw the deposit money banks (DMBs) collectively suffering a debit of N226 billion, after a whopping N917.5 billion debit was recorded the previous month for failing to meet the 27.5 per cent CRR threshold.

In January 2020, CRR, the percentage of customers’ deposit expected to be domiciled with the apex bank, was increased by 5 per cent from 22.5 per cent by the CBN Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), a decision, it explained, was intended to address monetary-induced inflation while retaining the 65 per cent LDR policy. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

Demutualisation: NSE’s Shares To Go Live On Stock Market

NSE Migrates Four Companies From Alternative Market To Growth Board

B Y DAVID OPUTA

he Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced the migration of four companies from the Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) to the Growth Board Index.

The companies are Chellarams Plc; Living Trust Mortgage Plc; McNichols Plc; and The Initiates Plc. The migration follows the launch of the associated Growth Board Index and the receipt of applications from these companies requesting to be migrated from ASeM, and consequent screening and approval by the National Council of The Exchange.

The NSE Growth Board was launched to assist small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and growth-oriented companies looking to raise capital and promote liquidity in the trading of their shares. It offers relaxed entry criteria with less stringent listing requirements making it easier to attract capital flows along with reduced pre and postlisting obligations.

Commenting on the development, the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, stated, “This migration affirms the notable efforts of the four companies to meeting corporate governance standards and underpins the robustness of our market.

“We congratulate and are pleased to migrate Chellarams Plc, Living Trust Mortgage Plc, McNichols Plc, and The Initiates Plc to the Growth Board where they will have access to a suite of value-added services that will give them a competitive edge beyond access to capital. We believe that the inclusion of these companies on the All-Share Index and the Growth Board Index of the NSE will provide increased visibility that will attract global investors.”

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embers of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have given approval for the listing of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGXG) on the exchange market once the demutualisation process is completed.

This was approved at the 59th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and under the resolution passed subject to the receipt of requisite approvals of relevant regulatory authorities.

Following the conversion and re-registration of NGXG, the group is authorized to undertake a listing by the introduction of its shares on the stock exchange implying that the NSE will no longer be wholly owned by its dealing and non-dealing members.

THEWILL recalls that members, had in March 2020, at its court-ordered meeting, unanimously approved the NSE’s demutualisation subject to the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria.

Commenting on the resolution, the Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Oscar Onyema, said the approval by members has cleared the way for the listing of NGXG and for a new structure that will enable the exchange to realize its vision of becoming Africa’s leading exchange hub.

“We would like to thank the membership of the exchange for their overwhelming support of the listing plans. This marks the beginning of the exchange’s transformation into a listed company with the flexibility to raise additional equity and/ or debt capital.

“It is our aim that under this new structure, the Nigerian capital markets will be able to play a role that is commensurate with Nigeria’s status as Africa’s biggest economy.

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B Y DAVID OPUTA

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1. L-R: Captain, Qatar Airways, Khan Sameer Ali; Crew, Ouimama; Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa; Qatar Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Mr Abdulaziz Mubarak Al Muhannadi; Charge d’affaires, Nigeria Embassy in Qatar, Auwalu Jega Namadina and Co-Pilot/First Officer, Adeola Sowemimo, at the inaugural flight touchdown of Qatar Airways in Abuja, recently.

2. L-R: Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Architects, Enugu State, Chinwe Sam-Amobi; President, Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Dipo Ajayi; Special Adviser/DG Bureau of Special Projects, Temitope Ogunleye; and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; during a courtesy visit by ARCON Council members to the Governor, in Ado-Ekiti recently.

3. L – R: Chairman, Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, House of Representatives, Ibrahim Babangida; CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Oscar N. Onyema, & DG, Securities and Exchange Commission, Lamido Yuguda, at the enlightenment tour to The Exchange in Lagos recently.

4. From left: Country Director, Agence Francaise, Pascal Grangereau; France Ambassador to Nigeria, Jerome Pasqvier; and Minister of Environment, Muhammad Mahmood-Abubakar, during the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement with the Ministry of Environment on Climate Change, in Abuja recently.

5. From right, Chairman, Ayedire Local Government, Hon. Adeboye Mukaila; Osun State Governor, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola; his deputy, Mr. Benedict Alabi; The Olowu of Kuta, Oba Hammed Adekunle and the Olu of Ileogbo, Oba Abeeb Adetoyese, during the commissioning of Ultra Modern Market at Ileogbo and Kuta, Osun state recently.

6. From left: South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Thamsanqa Dennis; Senator Uba Sani; Author, Omano Edigheji; Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State; and his wife, Ummi, during the presentation of a book titled: “Nigeria Democracy Without Development and How To Fix It”, by Dr Omano Edigheji, in Abuja recently.

7. Mrs Aishatu Umar (R) assisted by the Chairman, NSE Bwari Branch, while presenting an award to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekan Adegbite (2nd, L), during the investiture of Mrs Adediran (2nd,R), as Chairman and inauguration of 2020/2021 Executive Members of NSE Bwari. With them is Mr Farouq Sultan, (left) in Abuja recently. PHOTOS: PEACE UDUGBA.

PREVIEW EDITION • DECEMBER 2020

www.thewillnigeria.com

SHOTS OF THE WEEK

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Aderibigbe

Radio is My First Love - Aderibigbe He is considered one of the pioneers of music video shows in Nigeria but is today, one of the biggest players in content creation and production for television. Femi Aderibigbe, who churns out his magic via his Virtual Media Network Limited, spoke to IVORY UKONU about content creation and the evolving nature of the broadcast industry.

ou have evolved immensely from your days as a radio presenter to presenting music videos on television via your own independently produced programme, to now owning several channels on television including a production studio. How is that like?

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in Nigeria. If the trend continues in the next five, six years, one may not get anyone to employ because everyone wants to be their own boss these days and they are so poorly trained that they don’t have the skill set, are so confused and do not want to learn. That is probably the biggest challenge.

Why so many channels, what do you hope to achieve with them?

We are going to the digital media to meet them. As attention shifts to social media, content is still content, regardless of the format you choose to present it. It is all about reformatting it for the social media and mobile audience.

We are trying to expand our operations; have the creative team, digital team, innovation team for technology etc. TV is still a good platform, at least in Nigeria, even across Africa. We will have some exciting contents that will deliver appointment viewing for people, like football, game shows, talk shows etc. Shows that connect with them, they will still go to TV to watch them.

Considering that producing worthy and enduring contents is a herculean task, don’t you sometimes find it overwhelming?

MTN Project Fame was probably the best organized music reality show of its time and the producers did a fantastic job. MTN gave it massive support and it was widely accepted. The show served its purpose as one can see from its products like Iyanya, Chidinma, Praise, Monica, Bisola Aiyeola etc. It added value to the system, changed lives and made an impact. I first had an initial one-year contract, then another three-year contract and after that, I had to leave.

I am simply taking the back seat in the public space but working twice as hard behind the scene trying to make things work with the Nigezie brand, a music channel; the Orisun brand, a Yoruba channel; the Isimgbido brand, an Igbo language channel; the Area 10 brand, a pidgin English channel and the Nollywood Plus brand, the movie channel. All of which are on the Star Times platform for now. I am working on several other things which I will reveal in due time, one of which is a Hausa channel.

We are playing big on language. It is not by accident that you see BBC has English, Yoruba, Swahili, Hausa channels and the rest of them. Before you can truly conquer a people, you must be able to speak their language. Language breaks down barriers. So, we have a unique strategy where we do almost similar contents but in different languages. You can enjoy the best content in your own native language. English is formal but your native language makes it personal. Having these channels in different languages gives it diversity and uniformity. That is the strategy.

It is all about structures. Setting templates and putting structures in place is the most difficult thing to do but once you are able to get that done, every other thing becomes easy and falls into place. You know in Nigeria, businesses are mostly like a one man show but if you are able to set up the right template and structures, then the next thing to do is to get people who will drive those structures and work on the templates you have set. It then becomes easy to identify who isn’t doing their job and then you replace the person.

What would you say has been your greatest challenge keeping these channels open?

The usual everyday challenge we face in Nigeria ranges from everything like providing your own electricity, the sorry state of the roads etc. It is crazy in terms of infrastructure but the biggest challenge of all is man power. The more technology advances, the easier things get and I think it is causing a retrogression in the minds of young people because they are getting less passionate, less committed, less interested in this. Most of the time, they see the glitz and glam and don’t realize there is a lot of hardwork that goes into this. When you hit them with a lot of hardwork, you become an enemy to them. Man power is critical and I keep saying that entrepreneurs are in trouble

THEWILLNIGERIA

With social media becoming the in-thing and people slowly moving away from TV and sourcing news from social media, how are you able to handle the emerging reality?

You were a judge on the now rested MTN Project Fame Reality show. What was that experience like and why did you leave?

Have you thought of doing something along that line?

Yes, but to do a reality show like MTN Project Fame, you will require a lot of money. But I definitely have that planned and as I am able to convince brands and investors to put down the money, it will be activated. I have been more focused on building platforms and because I don’t have all the money in the world, building these platforms was like a brick-by-brick approach. If I had all the money, it would have been done in two years. It has been a long journey but thank God for progress.

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A lot of young people these days don’t show as much commitment as we did back in the days. They don’t have to hustle as much as we did and so they are not as passionate because they have it so easy

You started off as a presenter with Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation. One would have expected you to own a radio station and build platforms long that line.

Radio is my first love, I did it well and probably won all the awards to win including Fame Music Award, which was a big deal that time, for Best Music Presenter which was like the highest award I won on radio. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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PREVIEW EDITION • DECEMBER 2020 www.thewillnigeria.com

E-WEEKLY Angela Okorie debunks rumour, says marriage is off the table

Ubi Franklin: Having children from multiple women is draining

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arriage is generally considered to be an achievement for many on this side of the divide. But not so for Nollywood actress and singer, Angela Okorie, whose first attempt at marriage may have left a bitter taste in the mouth making her reach the conclusion that she will never give marriage another chance as she seems to be scared of getting divorced again.

A few months ago, there had been rumours that she had tied the knot with a younger man but it turned out that the visuals for a supposed union which many assumed was a real-life union and which she posted lavishly on her social media handle, were visuals for a new song.

While debunking tales about her marriage ending because of domestic abuse and cheating allegations, the Ebonyi State indigene and mother of one revealed that her ex wasn’t a bad person but had issues, which only him needed to fix. She said, “It is not only about being nice; there are many things that come with marriage. One just has to marry one’s best friend; somebody one could tell everything. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

2Baba floats fashion business to raise funds for human rights,

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inger, businessman and humanitarian, Innocent Idibia, more popularly known as 2Baba, has launched an online clothing store to raise funds for human rights and education in Nigeria.

Breaking the news over the weekend, he said funds raised from the initiative would be used to support some of the issues affecting the society. He also provided a link to the platform which houses different kinds of customised clothes including hoodies, shirts and branded facemasks.

“Good day my neighbors! The hoodie and the t-shirt, along with some branded facemasks are available via the link in my bio, as part of my commitment to raising funds for human rights, and education causes in Nigeria. Funds raised here will be used for these causes. Grab your bank cards and let’s do some good deeds. One Love,” he said.

THEWILL Entertainment Weekly recalls that this isn’t the first time 2Baba will be getting involved in charitable causes. In 2017, on World Refugee Day, he made good his promise to release a charity single in honour of the plight of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria. 60 per cent of the proceeds from the single, ‘Hold My Hand’ was channeled towards raising awareness for them.

In the same 2017, 2Baba who is a regional goodwill ambassador of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), donated assorted relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Makurdi, Benue State.

Oritsefemi turns a new leaf to save marriage

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Ex beauty queen, Anna Ebiere Banner, dumps baby daddy, Flavor N’Abania, for new lover

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ith singer, Oritsefemi’s marriage to his wife, Nabila Fash, all is well that ends well. The singer whose marriage was on the brink of collapse a few months ago, had taken to social media to beg his wife who abandoned her matrimonial home to return as he could no longer bear her absence.

His wife of over two years had left home to register her displeasure at his philandering nature and even going as far as bringing them to the home they shared together.

This is in addition to claims of domestic violence that got her hospitalized. She eventually took refuge at her friend, actress and businesswoman, Caroline Danjuma’s Banana Island home. Oritsefemi confused, decided to take the social media route to plead for his wife to return home while also urging Nigerians to beg her on his behalf. He did not hesitate to openly accuse his wife’s friend, Caroline, of being behind his marital woes. Well, things

or music executive and businessman, Ubi Franklin, having children from multiple women can be quite draining.

This much he revealed recently when he said the exercise takes its toll on people in such situation. According to the 34-year-old, the only joy from this type of circumstance is the children as they make one feel special. Every other thing including one’s finances and emotion suffers for it.

Ubi while advising younger men said, in part, “If you are a young man, please don’t have kids with different women. The stress of managing the emotions of different women is draining. Splitting your income into four alongside other business challenges isn’t easy.

Anyone who tells you it is swag and big ‘boyish’ is lying. Even if you can afford it financially, the emotional stress will kill you if you are not strong. The only sweet part is the kids, they will make you feel special.”

THEWILL Entertainment Weekly notes that Ubi, who is also the Special Assistant on Tourism to Governor Ben Ayade, has four children from four different women. His only son, Jayden, with his ex-wife, actress, Lilian Esoro; a daughter, Shiloh with a South African, Nicole Siyo; another girl, Ariella with a Nigerian, Sandra Iheuwa and a daughter with another lady he simply refers to as Mama Zaneta.

F happened quite fast from then on, as his wife forgave him and moved back home.

To further prove that all is forgiven and he is a changed man and a supportive husband who is committed to his wife’s progress, he recently played the perfect host when his wife launched her luxury brand, Nabillionaire, a store for football memorabilia, athleisure wears etc. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

ollowing her inability to get high life singer, Chinedu Okoli, more popularly known as Flavour N’abania to commit to her solely, former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Anna Ebiere Banner, has decided to move on with her life and is currently in a hush hush relationship with another man. The man is Abdulahi Ahmed Osikhena Sa’ad and he runs Osikhena Global Investment LTD, located in Garki area of Abuja. The twist however to the relationship is that Abdulahi is a married man hence the hush hush nature.

It remains to be seen if Abdulahi who is a Muslim, will start a harem which will include Anna, or if Anna is just a past time for him.

Anna who represented Nigeria at the 2013 Miss World pageant met Flavour in 2014 and featured in his music video for ‘Golibe’ where she was his love interest. They began a relationship shortly after and in 2015, welcomed a baby girl together named Sofia. Sofia is one of Flavour’s three daughters from his two well-known baby mamas. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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PREVIEW EDITION • DECEMBER 2020 www.thewillnigeria.com

E-WEEKLY Bianca Ojukwu celebrates daughter as she commences doctorate degree programme

Between Ndi Okereke-Onyuike and Erastus Akingbola

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STORIES: IVORY UKONU

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t the moment, Bianca Ojukwu, the widow of late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, is celebrating.

She could care less about what her stepson, Emeka Ojukwu Jnr, thinks about her recent speech. She had recently criticized the leadership of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, a party her late husband founded, over its plan to name Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano, the leader of the party. Ojukwu Jnr didn’t let the criticism pass by and proceeded to give his late father’s wife a tongue lash.

The former beauty queen is over the moon as one of her offsprings for the late warlord, recently rounded off her masters degree programme at the University of Loughborough, United Kingdom. Bianca, who was Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Spain, took to her social media to praise her only daughter, Chineme and to ask friends and well-wishers to rejoice with her.

She said, “Dear friends, please thank God with me! My beloved daughter and travel companion, mummy’s ‘handbag’ who was ‘locked down’ with me in Namibia for several months just returned to England to receive her masters degree certificate (Msc in International Business) from the University of Loughborough.

“She worked so hard in between acting as my PA as well as ‘bodyguard on our tourism trips and has now commenced her Doctorate degree in Tourism Dynamics and Development.

Bianca Ojukwu with daughter I am so proud of her accomplishments at such a young age.

Her father would surely have been so proud that ‘Daddy’s Secretary Gburugburu’ has done so well. They were so close.

It is God’s grace that she has coped so bravely in spite of what was to her, such a devastating loss. After night comes day. A big CONGRATULATIONS to you, Chi Nnem, May the sky always be your limit!”

The former Miss Intercontinental has three children with the late warlord; two boys and a girl. The boys are named Afamefuna and Nwachukwu.

Tony Elumelu’s undying love for his cute triplets

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ntil recently, not many knew that the hardworking chairman of HEIRS, UBA and TOE Foundation, has seven children, much less triplets with his wife, Awele, a medical doctor. He has five girls, three who are triplets and two boys who are twins and are the last born. While he is immensely happy about his boys, he is particularly chuffed at his female triplets named Ugo, Nneka and Onyinye respectively. These three he fondly refers to as ‘TOE angels.’

They are known to mingle with the high and mighty and their father never hesitates to show his triplets off to them, have them visit and take photographs with them, which he makes public.

t the peak of their career and height of their fame, both were highly regarded corporate titans courted by some of the most important personalities in both the public and private sector.

With Erastus Akingbola as the MD/CEO of the defunct Intercontinental Bank and Chairman of Inspiration FM; and Ndi Okereke-Onyuike doubling as both the director general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Chairman of Transnational Corp of Nigeria.

Both were clearly in the range of the deciders of the economy. Well, that was until circumstances beyond their control forced them out of power. For Erastus, it was allegation of granting unsecured credit facilities worth billions of naira to different companies, an offence that violates the Money Laundering Act of 2004, while for Ndi, it was clearly a case of misusing her powers, allegedly, by mixing politics with business which was considered corrupt and unethical. Her activities were mostly conducted under the umbrella of ‘Corporate Nigeria’.

Both have been out of reckoning, disappearing into oblivion with Erastus still battling his mistakes of yesterday as well as tending to both his radio business, his pastoral work with The Redeemed Christian Church Of God and his foundation. Ndi on the other hand has been running her private businesses, one of which is in the health sector.

Both recently joined the septuagenarian club and the day like any other, passed quietly. Unlike in their days of yore, when the pages of newspapers would be filled with birthday messages and gifts in their numbers jostling for space in their homes and offices, their birthday passed by without so much of a public announcement. While Erastus’ birthday was on October 26th, Ndi’s birthday was on November 2nd.

Good enough, both are alive and in good health and that is what matters most.

Okereke-Onyuike

Akingbola

Tony Elumelu’s triplets

Senator Smart Adeyemi’s daughter’s wedding: The inside story

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all it the mother of all weddings and you won’t be totally wrong. In fact, the wedding was the perfect ceremony to end a year as tumultuous as 2020. From the invitation card right to the décor, the gifts etc, the wedding of Adeola Smart Adeyemi, daughter of Kogi senator, Smart Adeyemi was opulent in all ramifications with all the trappings of wealth and luxury. Days before the wedding, the couple, Adeola and her partner, Olusola Michael Awujoola, a jeweller popularly known as Malivelihood, had announced that they would be giving out Hublot wristwatches as wedding souvenirs to guests. Now Hublot isn’t your average over the counter kind of wristwatch. It is a luxury brand retailing at over $16,000.

On the day of their traditional wedding, Olusola wowed his wife when he presented her with a Porsche Cayenne as a wedding gift. For many who may not know, Olusola is in the habit of spoiling his women silly with expensive guests. So while many who witnessed him presenting the gift to his wife may have been surprised, not Adeola to whom it has become a norm to receive such gifts and to give also. In fact on his birthday which was a few months to the wedding, she presented him with a brand new SUV as his birthday gift Their humongous wedding cake, which was a replica of a castle, took 12 bakers, four months to bake and it cost a whooping 4million naira. To cap it all off, a lucky person won a Lexus car at the wedding which held at the Ecumenical Centre, Abuja. Ironically, the winner of the car turned out to be an uninvited guest who is an Uber driver named Austin. He won the car after answering correctly a question posed to him. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com THEWILLNIGERIA

The Adeyemis, the new couple and the Osinbajos

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PREVIEW EDITION • DECEMBER 2020 www.thewillnigeria.com

SportsLive

Can Boxing Again Bring Glory To Nigeria?

Joshua

BY JUDE OBAFEMI

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ecent events in the world of boxing have turned the world’s attention to the pugilistic sport once again. Most notable of these events was the much-anticipated return of “Iron Mike,” Mike Tyson to the ring that brought him fame and renown, after 15 years of absence, in an exhibition bout against a former fellow world heavyweight champion, Roy Jones Jr. Their exhibition bout was a much-hyped event that gave boxing fans nostalgic feelings of the good old days and made many recall boxing spectacles from years gone, when Tyson was nicknamed the “Baddest Man in the Planet” for his deadly hook and wicked uppercut, which brought many of his fights to an early end even as some spectators who were not early enough were still trying to make their way to their seats.

Apart from Tyson, Anthony Joshua, the British professional boxer and heavyweight champion with a trio of boxing titles such as the World Boxing Organisation (WBO), World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) to his name, has been whipping up a storm in the press ahead of his title defence against Bulgarian challenger Kubrat Pulev. The fight is scheduled for the SSE Arena on Saturday, December 12, 2020 in front of a small number of boxing fans due to Coronavirus restrictions.

The implications of Joshua’s fight has made it a crucial event. Should Joshua win, it clears the path for another much-anticipated boxing bout, the chance for a unification fight for the emergence of an undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World as Joshua’s belts will be on the line against Tyson Fury, the British heavyweight champion who will also have his World Boxing Council (WBC) title on the line as well so that the winner is expected to unite all the heavyweight titles.

With all these receiving constant, regular press coverage, boxing is getting plenty attention and all for positive reasons.

Although Joshua has some Nigerian heritage, he fights under the British flag and identifies as a Brit.

What immediately comes to mind, is a recollection that they used to be a time when Nigerian boxers held their own among heavyweights and in other weight categories of boxing around the world.

Samuel Peter, for instance, put Nigeria on the global stage for boxing-related honour when he conquered his heavyweight category with victory over RussianAmerican Maskayev for one of the country’s last great triumphs in the sport.

However, not much can be said of Nigerian boxers today, as it appears an entire generation of pugilistic talents was swept away after showing much promise and having attained the summit of boxing glory, like Peter, only to be gone without as much as a whimper.

It is opposite to see how well Nigeria fared historically in the sport and trace a trajectory of past glory to the present absence of the country at the highest levels of the competition.

As difficult as it may be to believe today, it must said that there was a time in Nigeria’s storied history when boxing was more popular than football. It was an age of boxing glory when the country produced talents of prolific boxing skills, the likes of which we can no longer boast of today.

In the 50s and 60s, Nigeria produced two enterprising boxers of renown. One of the most popular at the time was Hogan Bassey. The late pugilist, nicknamed “Kid”, was the first boxer of Nigerian descent to be boxing champion. In a remarkably impressive boxing career of 74 bouts, Bassey won 59 of them with 21 knockouts included. He had 13 losses and three draws.

His spectacular professional career began within the Featherweight division where he won the Empire Featherweight championship and fought his way up to victory to win the World Featherweight crown in 1957, beating Cherif Hamia in Paris. *Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com

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FASHION

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