Tuesday 10th May 2016

Dangote Donates N2bn to Borno IDPs Crusoe Osagie and Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, yesterday broke another record by making the

single largest donation by an individual of N2 billion to persons who have been displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State.

Dangote, who made the pledge while touring

internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Dalori and Bakassi in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, equally made a commitment to end malnutrition, hunger and starvation in the camps and

other parts of the country.

He said the first tranche of N2 billion would be immediately disbursed towards ending what has become a major humanitarian crisis in the country.

Dangote said apart from the funds and food items that will be donated by his company through the Dangote Foundation, he would explore avenues to drive investments and production in

the state in order to promote entrepreneurship and create opportunities for the people to work and earn a decent living in the course of time.

Continued on page 8

CBN Undertakes Special Examination and Investigation of Banks… Page 9 Tuesday 10 May, 2016 Vol 21. No 7684. Price: N250

www.thisdaylive.com TR

UT H

& RE A S O

N

Again, Buhari Promises to Exterminate Militants as Military Invades Gbaramatu Says fight against corruption not selective Reveal your identities, ex-militants tell N’Delta Avengers Osinbajo, Seriake, security chiefs, oil firms hold crucial meetings on oil industry attacks Tobi Soniyi in Abuja, Ibrahim Shuaibu in Katsina, Ejiofor Alike in Lagos, Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa and Monday Osayande in Warri Following the heightened attacks on oil industry installations in the Niger Delta, the threats by militants to bomb major cities in the

country, and break up Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday restated his determination to deal squarely with insurgents wherever they are in the country, promising that his administration would ensure the continued existence of Nigeria.

Continued on page 6

…Shell to Continue Operations, Denies Plan to Evacuate Workers

EIA: Nigeria loses 500,000bpd of crude to disruptions Ejiofor Alike Shell Companies in Nigeria have restated their long-term commitment to the Niger Delta, saying they would continue operations in the oil-rich region despite the spate of militant

attacks in recent days.

Shell has also denied evacuating its personnel from the region, saying that it was monitoring the security situation in the region very closely.

Continued on page 8

Oando Increases Gas Footprint via Ajaokuta LNG Project… Page 39

CELEBRATING SHONEKAN AT 80

L-R: Wife of the Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun; her husband, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; Head of the defunct Interim National Government (ING), Chief Ernest Shonekan; and his wife, Margaret, at the thanksgiving service to mark Shonekan’s 80th birthday at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos… yesterday

2

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016

3

4

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016

5

6

TUESDAY, may 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

PAGE SIX

Lagos to Partner Japan on Construction of $1bn Marina-Ikoyi-Lekki Monorail Project Generates N101.69bn in Q1 2016, records N4.85bn surplus Gboyega Akinsanmi The Lagos State Government yesterday disclosed its plan to construct a monorail that would link Marina, Ikoyi and Lekki, stating that the project would cost $1billion.

The state government also said that it generated N101.69 billion in the first quarter of 2016, adding that contrary to a deficit of N29.92 billion initially projected by the government, it had a surplus of N4.85 billion during the period under review.

The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, made the disclosure at a ministerial news conference initiated to mark the first anniversary of the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.

Ashade addressed the press alongside his counterpart in the Ministry of Information &

Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Planning & Budget, Mr. Kadiri Abayomi Adebisi, among others.

At the briefing, Ashade said the Ambode administration had partnered the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA) “to invest in a possible monorail project that will link Marina to Oniru in Victoria Island, and Ikoyi”.

The commissioner, who put the cost of the monorail project at $1 billion, added that the project would be designed “to later connect to the Lekki rail project which is also in the works”.

He clarified that the monorail project “is an urban mass transportation project different from the ongoing Light Rail (Blue Line) project that will connect Mile 12 to CMS and the

Light Rail (Red Line) project”.

He said a detailed feasibility study had been commissioned on the monorail project to validate the initial survey, which would eventually lead to an investment of $1 billion in the construction if the results of the feasibility study are positive, amongst other conditions that must be met.

Ashade explained that his ministry was coordinating and managing the state’s existing relationships with development partners, as well as identifying new potential ones to drive further development.

On the revenue generated by the state, Ashade said the N101.69 billion was above what the state government recorded in the first quarter of 2015, which stood at N97.28 billion, adding that in absolute terms, the revenue performance was N4.4 billion more than the

comparative period of 2015.

Ashade said the remarkable feat was achieved despite the diminishing statutory allocation from the Federation Account and also gave credit to Governor Ambode.

He expressed optimism that with the implementation of multiple revenue collection channels and broadening of the revenue base, the state government would achieve tremendous progress in its revenue drive.

A breakdown of the revenue generated by the state showed that it raked in N76.06 billion as the internally generated revenue (IGR) in the first quarter, representing 72 per cent of the budgetary estimates for the quarter and 75 per cent of total revenue, as against the N67.21 billion generated in the first quarter of 2015, representing 74 per cent of

budgetary estimates and 69 per cent of the total revenue in the corresponding period of last year.

He said revenue from the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) for the first quarter of 2016 stood at N67.25 billion, representing 90 per cent of budgetary estimates for the quarter and 88 per cent of total IGR and 66.12 per cent of the total revenue, compared to N60.58 billion (87 per cent of the budgetary estimates for Q1 Y2015), representing 90 per cent of total IGR and 62 per cent of total revenue in the first quarter of 2015.

“This performance was N6.67 billion more in absolute terms compared to the corresponding period in Y2015 and was due largely to more participatory structural and systemic reengineering.

“Over the course of the

first quarter of Y2016, federal transfers contributed N25.64 billion (83 per cent of the estimate for the quarter) and accounted for 25.21 per cent of total revenue.

“A further breakdown showed that statutory allocations contributed N7.48 billion while VAT contributed N18.16 billion,” Ashade said.

On capital expenditure, the commissioner said the government expended N48.88 billion on capital projects, representing a 51 per cent improvement of N15.08bn (or 24 per cent) over the first quarter of 2015.

He also said that at the end of the first quarter of 2016, the ratio of capital expenditure to recurrent spending stood at 50:50, better than the ratio of 21:79 recorded in the same period in 2015, but short of 58:42 projected for 2016.

tension in the area, as people were forced to move around with apprehension.

“At about 12.30 am yesterday, the Nigerian Army came in two gun boats loaded with its personnel, throwing the community into panic as the people scampered for safety.

Some were even forced to run into the bush to avoid being taken away by the military,” he said.

He added: “The military stayed till about 5.30 am before they moved their gunboats to an unknown location. We have seen a situation where people want to use the present crisis to cause problems in our community. We are not part of the attack and will not support anything that will bring problems for us.”

The Benemowei was of the view that the order to the military by Buhari to go after those who perpetuated the recent attacks on oil installations in the state was not enough for the military to invade the community, harassing and intimidating innocent citizens of the kingdom.

He called on the military to work on its intelligence, alleging that the attacks were the handiwork of fifth columnists who might be involved in tarnishing the image of the former Niger Delta freedom fighter, Tompolo.

While assuring that his people would continue to support oil operations in the kingdom, he stated that residents would do everything possible to protect Chevron and any company operating in their area and oil facilities in the domain, knowing fully well that any act of sabotage on an oil installation will degrade the environment.

Nonetheless, the rampaging Niger Delta Avengers, which had claimed that it has no link with Tompolo and had threatened him for denouncing the group, remained unperturbed, as sources said that it had concluded plans to extend its attacks outside the Niger Delta.

A source said leaders of the militant group reviewed their operations at the weekend and were satisfied that the group

was able to effortlessly cripple oil operations in Delta State and would continue with the bombings if Buhari fails to address their demands.

AGAIN, BUHARI PROMISES TO EXTERMINATE MILITANTS AS MILITARY INVADES GBARAMATU His threat came as the military invaded Oporoza community, the traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State in search of members of the Niger Delta Avengers who had claimed responsibility for the spate of vandalism of oil and gas facilities in the state and threatened to extend their attacks to major cities in the country.

Gbaramatu Kingdom is also the hometown of Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo, who is a fugitive of the law.

Speaking at the Emir of Katsina’s palace during his four-day official visit to his home state, Buhari recalled that the nation was embroiled in a 30-month civil war in the late 1960s leading to the colossal loss of lives and properties in the bid to ensure its unity.

The president charged traditional rulers across the country to spearhead the campaign for peaceful and harmonious co-existence among the diverse socio-political groups in the country.

Buhari said the call had become imperative in view of the activities of some groups, which had been preaching hatred, disunity and divisive tendencies among Nigerians for their selfish motives.

He enjoined all Nigerians to always ignore such individuals and groups calling for the break up of the country due to their inability to achieve their selfish goals.

The president who narrated the role he played during the civil war in Nigeria, said over two million lives were lost during the war.

“I always say that the civil war was fought for the unity of Nigeria because then we had not even discovered oil, let alone enjoyed it. But two million people were killed,” he said.

He said some people who had not even been born when the war was fought were now threatening to divide Nigeria “The way the Sahara (Desert) is advancing, with Boko Haram

growing, and the number of people displaced and uncertainty over rainfall in a land where we fought a civil war leading to the deaths of about two million, for someone to just say he will chase us is not acceptable,” he said.

He assured his audience that his administration would do all that was possible to ensure the continued existence of Nigeria as a peaceful and united entity.

Buhari also said that the ongoing war against corruption was not selective but aimed at ensuring financial and economic discipline in the country, promising that his administration would not relent in recovering all of Nigeria’s stolen funds.

He also expressed concerns over the prevailing harsh economic climate in the country, just as he called on the traditional rulers to assist in educating their subjects on the need to be patient and to always exercise restraint while commenting national issues.

The president also called on community leaders across the country to introduce monthly or quarterly meetings in their respective communities to address issues concerning their welfare.

According to him, such meetings will provide solutions to some challenges facing the people rather than waiting for the government’s intervention to resolve such problems.

Buhari appealed to leaders to always be honest and straightforward while dealing with the people in order to engender good upbringing of the younger ones in the society.

On the current economic hardship, the president attributed such hardship to dwindling oil revenue occasioned by the unstable price of the commodity.

He called on Nigerians to diversify their means of livelihood by engaging in agricultural activities to alleviate their sufferings.

Earlier in an his address, the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabiru Usman accused the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan of abandoning the contract for

dredging the River Niger.

Usman said inland waterways are the wealth of the nation, “yet some people didn’t want it here”.

He called on the federal government to fulfill its promises to complete the dredging of the River Niger as well as the Katsina State water and dam projects to boost irrigation farming in the state.

He also called on the federal government’s intervention in reviving teacher training colleges to uplift the quality of education in the country.

Masari Promises Diversification Also, the Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari, said that he administration has developed an economic blueprint that would reduce its reliance on oil revenue.

Masari who spoke to journalists after receiving Buhari at the Katsina Government House, said the purpose of his Economic and Investment Summit was to put the state on a sound economic pedestal for it to survive on revenues generated within.

Masari said: “We intend to place Katsina not only on the map of today but in the next twenty years. So the purpose of this economic and investment summit is to put Katsina on a more firm economic base in such a way that oil or no oil, the state will survive.

“This is what we are working on, to completely free Katsina from depending on oil and other states, but to depend on what we here in Katsina can do or can produce. We did it before and we can do it now for the future.”

Asked what the state hoped to leverage on to achieve economic independence, the governor said: “Let me tell you, there was a time Katsina was sufficiently economically dependent on agriculture and the supply of livestock.

“Then the native authority was responsible for the police, judiciary, prisons, the bureaucracy, health care and education, and it was doing well.

“Then Katsina was number one on the Northern Province in the area of education and was self-reliant. It was done before and it can be done now especially with the large volume of untapped water that we have in the state that is idle.

“Agriculture can free us. And in this state, we have some solid minerals. We have large deposits of kaolin; we have gold and we have diamonds. We are the number one producer of cotton.

And the cotton has the longest value addition across the country.

So I assure you that Katsina has done it before and it can done today and tomorrow,” he stressed.

Military Invades Gbaramatu But as Buhari met with leaders in his home state, the military yesterday invaded Oporoza community in Gbaramatu Kingdom in search of members of the Niger Delta Avengers who have claimed responsibility for the spate of vandalism of oil and gas facilities in the state.

The soldiers came in two gunboats at 12.30 am yesterday when residents were asleep and laid siege on the community until about 5 am when they departed, said villagers.

A source said the army reportedly acted on intelligence that the militants had secretly converged on the community.

However, the Pere (traditional ruler) of Gbaramatu Kingdom, HRM Oboro-Gbaraun II, Aketekpe, Agadaba, who was very concerned following the invasion, immediately offered to mediate in the face-off between the federal government and Tompolo despite his dissatisfaction over the neglect of the kingdom by government.

Also, speaking on the phone with THISDAY yesterday, Chief Godspower Gbenekama, the Benemowei of Gbaramatu, distanced his kinsmen from the activities of the renegade group under the guise of fighting the Niger Delta cause.

He said the presence of the military in Oporoza and the Delta waterways had heightened

Again, Tompolo Disowns N’Delta Avengers However, following the invasion of his community yesterday, Tompolo, for the second time in one week dissociated himself from the Niger Delta Avengers.

In an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, the ex-war lord informed the president that just as northerners supported him as of right throughout the presidential campaigns, he did not consider it a criminal offence for him (Tompolo) to have openly supported one of his own, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for the presidency in 2015 He urged the president to be wary of Niger Delta politicians around him, saying that the only means of getting his attention was to wickedly attribute the activities of the said group to him simply because of his running battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“This is the height of desperation and hypocrisy on the part of such people. For Continued on page 8

TOP GAINERS NGN NGN UNILEVER 3.30 35.54 ETERNA 0.20 2.90 UNITEDCAP 0.11 1.76 TRANSCORP 0.07 1.12 DIAMONDBANK 0.07 1.47 TOP LOSERS NGN NGN GSK 1.07 20.36 CADBURY 0.82 15.64 BERGPAINTS 0.42 8.11 UNIONBANK 0.24 4.66 CAVERTON 0.08 1.57 HPE Nestle Nig Plc ₦690.00 Volume: 559.96 million shares Value: N6.44 billion Deals: 3,655 As at yesterday 9/05/16 See details on Page 44

% 10.2 7.4 6.6 6.6 5.0 % 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.8

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016

7

8

TUESDAY, may 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

PAGE EIGHT AGAIN, BUHARI PROMISES TO EXTERMINATE MILITANTS AS MILITARY INVADES GBARAMATU one, I have chosen to pursue my case with the EFCC to a logical conclusion because I am yet to be convinced that the purported case instituted against me does not have an ethnic colouration masterminded by my traducers.

“Since the case is before a court of competent jurisdiction, I will refrain from making further comments on this.

“However, it will be in the interest of this great nation if Mr. President takes a painstaking study of certain political actors around him, most especially those from the Niger Delta region. I bear no grudge against any of such, but I am convinced beyond any doubt that they have taken solace in perpetual misdirection and mischief as far as my person is concerned,” he said.

He alleged that there are several elements of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) within and around Buhari’s administration, who see anything Ijaw as criminal and anti-Buhari.

The former militant leader also raised the alarm that certain non-Ijaw ethnic merchants cum bigots had expressly displayed open hatred for Ijaws in the Niger Delta region.

According to him, such persons had almost succeeded

in distorting the government’s mindset against Ijaws, whether in or outside your government.

He described the development as a very dangerous dimension that could be avoided.

Stop Being Cowards, NDLF Tells Avengers In a related development, the Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF), whose leader, John Togo was killed in an aerial battle with the Nigerian military five years ago, has dared the Niger Delta Avengers, the new face of militancy in the oil-rich region to reveal its identity or stop its destructive activities.

Describing the failure of the group to make open its identity as cowardly, the spokesman of NDLF, Capt. Mark Anthony, reminded the group that leaders of the NDLF, which took on soldiers before they were decimated by the combined land and air forces of the Nigerian security apparatchik, were man enough to operate in the open.

The NDLF warned that the new group destroying oil and gas facilities in the region should take full responsibility if innocent Ijaw citizens are attacked by the military again.

“Those bombing pipelines in the Niger Delta should not

behave like cowards. If they have a genuine reason and they are fighting for the interest of the Niger Delta,” the group affirmed.

The NDLF leadership also took a swipe at the Presidential Amnesty Coordinator, Paul Boroh, describing him as incompetent and unable to isolate the troublemakers in the oil-bearing communities.

“They (the Niger Delta Avengers) should be man enough to come out. When we (the NDLF) were bombing, our leader General John Togo did not hide his face. John Togo was a man and a hero.

“We dealt with the Nigerian Army. We were not hiding. They should not hide their identity.

Buhari is not God and they should not be scared of him and his Hausa-Fulani army of occupation. Let JTF not attack and arrest innocent Ijaw communities,” the group said in a statement yesterday.

The NDLF added: “The army should go for the real saboteurs, although we had told former President Goodluck Jonathan that the Nigerian army cannot protect the pipelines in the creek.

“We do not condemn the current bombing because during our surrender speech, we told the world that the bombing of pipelines was not over yet. The

current amnesty chairman Paul Boroh does not know the boys in Niger Delta. He is not in touch with Niger Delta major ex-agitators,” the ex-militants noted.

Despite the position of the NDLF, the umbrella body of Ijaw youths, the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide (IYC) yesterday condemned the activities of the new militant group in the Niger Delta.

The IYC spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, said that the group did not see the justification in the Niger Delta Avengers’ embarking on the destruction of oil facilities and wreaking havoc on the region’s already wasted environment.

Omare, however, appealed to Buhari to go after the real culprits and not the innocent communities and people in the region in his government's efforts to unmask the characters behind the new militancy group.

Osinbajo, Seriake, Security Chiefs Meet Meanwhile, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) yesterday evening met with some stakeholders on the current attacks on oil industry installations in the Niger Delta.

Osinbajo first met with some

security chiefs including those from the navy and army, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and other officials of government.

He also met separately with the Bayelsa State governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, and the Amayanabo of Toun Brass in Bayelsa State, King Alfred Diete-Spiff.

The vice-president also met with representatives of some oil companies in the company of Dickson and Diete-Spiff.

Firms such as Shell, Total, Agip, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company and Chevron, among others, were represented.

At the end of the meeting, Dickson informed State House correspondents that stakeholders in the Niger Delta had agreed to work together to stop further vandalism and disruptions to oil operations in the region.

He also said that the stakeholders had proposed a meeting with Buhari.

He said: “First, we are here because the vice-president took time to invite the state government and the representatives of oil companies that are operating in Bayelsa State because of the issues the government has with them in respect of taxation principally.

“But we have also used

this opportunity to talk about the need for an enabling and secure environment for the oil companies to continue with their operations.

“This is a time that we cannot afford to have any disruptions, not to mention vandalism of critical national assets. This is a time that all hands should be on the deck.

“All of us as stakeholders are concerned and we have agreed to work together to ensure that production is not disrupted and that all partners should be responsible and do what we need to do.

“I want to use this opportunity to say that yesterday at the meeting of the South-south governors in Asaba, Delta State, this issue was discussed; the need for all of us to work together in the Niger Delta, compare notes and collaborate with the federal government was discussed.

“We agreed to have a meeting with the president. We have conveyed that message and we are looking forward to a date that will be convenient for the president.

“The meeting will be on how we can jointly protect strategic national assets, and discuss our common and shared responsibilities for security and law and order.”

…SHELL TO CONTINUE OPERATIONS, DENIES PLAN TO EVACUATE WORKERS A militant group, which has identified itself as Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), had attacked Chevron’s facilities in the Escravos area of Delta State last Wednesday and Thursday.

The twin attacks affected the Escravos-Warri pipeline, which feeds the Warri and Kaduna refineries, cutting off crude feedstock to the two facilities.

While Chevron has reportedly evacuated staff from the affected facilities, Shell said it would continue to monitor the security situation in the region.

Responding to enquiries

by THISDAY, a Shell Nigeria spokesman, Mr. Precious Okolobo said last night that the company was taking all possible steps to safeguard its staff and contractors.

“We continue to monitor the security situation in our operating areas and are taking all possible steps to ensure the safety of staff and contractors. We do not wish to go into details. Our operations are continuing,” Okolobo explained.

The spokesman of the new

militant group, Mr. Mudoch Agbinibo, had placed the blame for the attacks on the doorstep of ex-militant leader and senior Ijaw traditional chief, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo.

The group, which claimed responsibility for the attacks, warned politicians, traditional rulers and other influential individuals in the oil-rich region to stop their meddlesome activities and selfish politicking aimed at putting them in the good books of the federal government.

The NDA spokesman alleged that last Thursday’s attack was pursuant to the three-day ultimatum given to Tompolo “to apologise” to the group for allegedly insulting it.

Agbinibo said that the attack was merely in fulfillment of NDA’s threat to launch an attack on an oil installation within Tompolo’s enclave in Ijaw Gbaramatu Kingdom.

While “Team 6” of the group was said to have carried out Wednesday’s attack successfully, Thursday’s operation was carried out by

its “Team 4”, the group had said, stressing its determination to deal a deadly blow on oil and gas production in Nigeria.

“This is a clear warning to all the Niger Delta politicians, traditional rulers, community leaders, and the likes of Tompolo to mind their businesses and leave the liberation of the Niger Delta people to the Avengers; and to those who believe taking sides with (the) federal government to fight Niger Deltans is the best option,” NDA had warned.

With the resurgence of militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) is estimating that Nigeria loses 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day to sporadic supply disruptions, which have resulted in unplanned outages.

EIA said in its latest report that although Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, with the largest natural gas reserves on the continent, as well as the world’s fourthlargest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2015,

the country’s production is affected by sporadic supply disruptions.

“Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and is among the world’s top five largest exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Supply disruptions, typically caused by pipeline sabotage from thieves siphoning crude oil and condensate, are common in Nigeria’s oil and natural gas industries.

“Pipeline sabotage and oil supply disruptions have increased in 2016, leading to a decline in Nigeria’s crude oil production. Because Nigeria heavily depends on oil revenue, its economy is noticeably affected by changes to its oil production and/or to global crude oil prices,” said EIA. Citing a recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), EIA said the report revealed that Nigeria earned $52 billion from oil and gas exports in 2015, $35 billion less than in 2014, which was mostly attributed to the fall in oil prices that began in the middle of 2014.

EIA noted that while Nigeria’s oil production was hampered by instability and supply disruptions, the country’s natural gas sector is restricted by the lack of infrastructure to commercialise natural gas that is currently flared.

Meanwhile, oil marketers in the country have continued to groan over the scarcity of foreign exchange, and the failure of the international oil companies (IOCs) to make available the $200 million to enable them meet their fuel import allocations for this quarter.

Major and independent marketers told THISDAY that the scarcity of dollars has affected their capacity to raise foreign exchange required to import fuel.

One of the marketers said the scarcity was worsened by the dwindling supply from the CBN and the failure by the IOCs to provide the $200 million, as earlier pledged by Kachikwu.

“What CBN gives the banks is not sufficient. One cargo of

petrol costs $15 million. When three or four marketers are requesting for dollars from the CBN through a bank, they will require up to $60 million.

But CBN gives as little as $2 million to some banks as forex for fuel importation. So it is not enough.

“The IOCs have also not been able to provide the $200 million they promised through the NNPC,” he explained.

Another marketer added that even the forex provided

by NNPC through a special arrangement with the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) was no longer forthcoming.

According to him, NNPC used to give the marketers promissory notes as guarantee that they would pay for the forex, but this was no longer available.

The monthly financial and operations report of NNPC for the month of February had revealed that the corporation would source $200 million from the IOCs for the marketers to import petrol this quarter.

devastation.

“Words are not enough to say how grateful we are and we must thank Aliko Dangote.

In this crisis, he has stood with us firmly. Initially he gave us N400,000,000 to alleviate the suffering of our people and it was given to 40,000 people in Borno.

“Our people are in dire straits and there is only so much that we can do with our limited resources. But you have done so much for us, you have given money, you have given food – spaghetti, rice, sugar and so on. Only Allah will compensate you,” Shettima said.

Also speaking at the event,

the Executive Director of Dangote Group, Halima Aliko-Dangote, stressed that her father, apart from the direct support he would be giving to the people, would also pull his partners and contacts in the private sector to collaborate and support the people of the state.

“As executive director on the board of the foundation, it was very important for me and others to actuality visit the IDP camps in Borno State ourselves. This experience has solidified our commitment to support the people during this difficult time,” she said.

The Managing Director and CEO, Dangote Foundation,

Mrs. Zouera Youssoufou, stressed that after dealing with the issue of hunger, the group will begin to boost education for children in the camps as well as create opportunities for enterprise.

“This is not the first time that I have visited the IDP camps and the Dangote Foundation’s commitment to easing the suffering of our fellow Nigerians is total.

“As early as next week, we will be meeting with the governor and his team to immediately start to bring relief and begin to think of medium-term strategies especially around education.

“We will deploy all within

our capacity, both man and material, to ensure that we improve the lives of these people,” she said.

The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai ElKanemi, in his remarks, said that the people of the state are peace loving and humble, stressing that the mayhem of Boko Haram which had seriously challenged the state was perpetrated by people from outside the state and even outside the country.

He expressed gratitude to the Dangote Group for the gesture and encouraged other well meaning Nigerians to tow the same line in order to help the state get back on its feet.

DANGOTE DONATES N2BN TO BORNO IDPS “This is not the first time I am coming here and it will not be the last. So far, we have expended about N1.2 billion in efforts to alleviate the suffering of IDPs across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.

“The first major challenge is the physiological needs of these people, and food, nutrition rank right on top of that ladder.

So we will first make serious effort to ensure that hunger is eliminated from the IDP camps and thereafter, we will begin to make effort to create jobs and boost entrepreneurship.

“The effort to create jobs and boost enterprise in this case will not be about making

money or returning investment, rather it will be primarily to create opportunities for the people,” he said.

Dangote expressed concern over the living conditions of the estimated 1.7 million people displaced in the state, making it the third place globally with the highest number of displaced persons after Syria and Afghanistan.

Speaking at the event, the governor of the state, Kashim Shettima, conveyed the gratitude of the government and people of the state to the Dangote Group for its concern for the plight of the people of his state who he said had suffered unimaginable

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

9

NEWS

News Editor Davidson Iriekpen Email davidson.iriekpen@thisdaylive.com, 08111813081

FG: We’re Carefully Studying Labour’s Demand for New Minimum Wage NLC awaits committee

Paul Obi in Abuja The federal government yesterday said it was carefully studying demands by organised labour for a new minimum wage pegged at N56,000 for Nigerian workers.

The position of the government is the first official statement in line with the proposal for a new minimum wage spearheaded by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, kept mute on the issue during the last Workers’

Day even as labour made obvious its stands and threats for a new minimum wage.

Ngige had during a meeting with officials of the Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) in Abuja hinted that the federal government was considering the demands painstakingly.

The minister said: “The demand by labour for the review of the minimum wage is a legitimate request which the federal government is carefully studying and appropriately responding to.

“The other day, the labour requested for increased wages for workers and they have only

CBN Undertakes Special Examination and Investigation of Banks

done what they are supposed to do. Therefore, nobody will quarrel with them. At the appropriate time, we shall all sit down because what the labour is asking for is the re-negotiation of an existing Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA).

“Every CBA based on an agreement is subject to renegotiation at any given time that any of the partners requests for it.” The minister said these while receiving the executive members of the today in Abuja.

Meanwhile, Ngige debunked the notion that whenever the labour makes such demand, it connotes that the Nigerian workforce is at loggerheads with the government.

“It is wrong for people to think that whenever the labour makes such demand the nation is boiling.

The labour in Nigeria has for the

first time met a labour-friendly government under President Buhari. The government has put machinery in motion as we speak because I have got a letter as the Minister of Labour and Employment for my advice.

“We shall advise the government the way such a tripartite negotiation will be handled so that everybody will be satisfied without any industrial unrest. Government in this sense includes also the state and local governments whom such wages will be binding on. When government takes a decision, we will now move to another stage in the process of re-negotiation of the CBA,” the minister said.

He further stressed that the change mantra of the Buhari administration is geared towards changing the way things are done for the better.

“We are in an era where due process supersedes others. People can only perform their roles and give way for other people to also perform theirs,” he said, adding that labour is part of the tripartite arrangement of the International Labour Organisation structure which Nigeria is signatory to.”

Speaking to THISDAY in an interview, NLC Secretary General, Dr Peter Ozo-Ezon, explained that “it is the prerogative of government to study the demands, the what we are waiting for is the tripartite committee.

“They (government) have document before them; that is their right, what we are asking for is the tripartite committee, and government has to study it so that it will bring good logic on

its bargain.

“We are waiting for the convening of the tripartite committee, the federal government can appoint the chairman, the tripartite partners will present the names of their team.”

Ozo-Ezon told THISDAY that contrary to speculations on whether NLC has presented its demands officially to government, labour transmitted its demands officially to government, “including how labour arrived at the N56, 000 as the proposed new minimum wage.”

Meanwhile, President of OTUWA, Mr. Mademba Sock, said the organisation in 2015 took far reaching decisions to revive and re-position OTUWA which was established over three decades ago but still faced a lot of critical challenges.

Assures public of financial system stability EFCC arrests A’Ibom ex-Milad for collecting N450m from Fidelity Bank Obinna Chima in Lagos and James Emejo inAbuja Against the backdrop of ongoing investigations of specific financial transactions in the banking system by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it was fully aware and also a part of the ongoing investigations of certain financial transactions in some banks by the law enforcement agencies.

The central bank also assured members of the public of the safety of the banking system, adding that it would not allow the banking system to be used as a conduit for any illicit transactions.

The CBN said this in a statement signed by its acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor. It said it was also carrying out its own special examination and investigation to ascertain the veracity of certain allegations as well as the extent and persons who may have been involved in such activities.

In the past few days, there have been reports of interrogations and arrests of some top bank chiefs by the EFCC over alleged disbursements of funds received from the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in the build up to the 2015 presidential election that was lost by former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

Also, some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were also said to have been arrested in connection with the funds said to have been routed through the banks to electoral officials in some states.

The CBN in the statement yesterday said: “The Central Bank of Nigeria wishes to inform all customers of deposit money banks, other stakeholders and the public that it is fully aware and indeed a part of the ongoing investigation of certain financial transactions in

some banks by law enforcement authorities.

“The CBN is also carrying out its own special examination and investigations to ascertain the veracity of some of the allegations as well as the extent and persons that may be involved in such activities.

“The bank would like to reiterate that the financial system stability remains a priority and therefore assures customers and stakeholders that it would not allow the banking system to be used as a conduit for any illicit transactions.

“Some of these investigations are routine and only relate to isolated transactions, therefore it is important to state that the safety and soundness of the Nigerian banking industry remain strong.”

Under the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) and Money Laundering Act, banks are mandated to report unusual transactions to the CBN and EFCC. Meanwhile, a former Military Administrator of Akwa Ibom State and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (rtd), has been arrested by operatives of the EFCC for collecting N450,000,000 from the $115million allegedly deposited by the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke with Fidelity Bank, Plc. He was arrested in Port Harcourt, Rivers State yesterday.

Nkanga was alleged to have collected the money in two tranches from a staff of Fidelity Bank in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Saint- Anthony Ejiowu.

The first tranche amounting to N350,000,000 was collected on March 27, 2015 while the second tranche of N100,000,000 was collected on March 31, 2015.

Nkanga signed for the two tranches.

A source with the commission confirmed he was in the custody of the EFCC and would be charged to court soon.

BACKTO HIS ROOTS

President Muhammadu Buhari (right), and Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman (in the white turban), admiring a horse at the emir’s palace in Katsinawhenthepresidentvisitedtheemir...yesterday

New Edo Assembly Speaker Sworn in Amidst Tight Security Former speaker accepts fate Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

The new Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly and member, representing Uhunmwode constituency, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie, was yesterday sworn in.

Meanwhile, in an interview with journalists, the impeached Speaker, Victor Edoror, said he had accepted the decision of the party to maintain the current leadership of assembly.

As this was going on, the premises of the assembly complex was cordoned off by a combined team of security operatives from the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to forestall any break down of law and order.

More than 10 Hilux patrol vehicles and an armoured personnel carrier were strategically positioned around the complex.

Ativie was sworn in by the Clerk of the assembly Mr. Lawson Ugiagbe,

in the presence of other members of the assembly, including the former Speaker, Victor Edoror.

Shortly after her swearing-in, the new speaker appreciated the lawmakers for expressing their confidence in her leadership, promising to lead the assembly with transparency.

She also urged the members to offer their support to ensure that the legislature carries out its constitutional role in the interest of the people of the state, adding that the assembly would work tirelessly with other arms of government to ensure that the state reaches an enviable height.

Ativie, who announced that the suspension of the former speaker had been lifted, said: “I wish to reiterate that all political appointees or appointments of the former speaker stand terminated.

That is how it has been in the past and even the letters given to them have always stated that they will leave with the speaker. It is not a

new thing that we are doing. So, they stand terminated.

“In the spirit of oneness, in the spirit of breaking new grounds and working harder and in the spirit of reconciliation, I wish to announce that the suspension of the honourable member representing Esan Central, Victor Edoror, is hereby lifted. So, he can come in and join us in the business of the development of our fatherland.”

The lawmakers also elected new principal officers of the assembly while new heads of assembly’s committees were announced.

The member representing Owan East constituency, Mr. Folly Ogedengbe, retained his position as the Majority Leader, while Kabiru Adjoto ( Akoko Edo I, APC) was elected the new Chief Whip, replacing Sunday Aghedo (Ovia South-West, APC), and Henry Okhuarobo (Ikpoba-Okha) elected the Deputy Leader.

In the same vein, Ganiyu Audu

(Etsako West I) and Patrick Iluobe (Esan North-East, PDP) were elected as Deputy Whip and Minority Leader respectively, and Crosby Eribo (Egor, APC) and Ugabi Kingsley (Etsako East) were appointed as co-opted members.

On his part, Edoror said: “As far as I am concerned, I am very pleased with members of the state House ofAssembly. I give them kudos for giving me the opportunity to lead them for one year. But it is another opportunity for them to test another leadership. In about two, three months, they will begin to compare. But I wish them well.

“I wish the new speaker well. I wish members of the state House of Assembly well and, above all, I wish the people of the state (well) because the party that I belong to, the government that I belong to, we have met and have resolved that it should be so and so be it. And in the spirit of sportsmanship, I think in this game there is no victor no vanquished.”

10

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016

11

12

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

FG Sets up C’ttee to Investigate Misappropriation of Grants EFCC to descend on officials fingered Paul Obi in Abuja Following the global public outcry over the misappropriation of about $3.8 million Global Fund grants to Nigeria, the federal government yesterday set up a committee to thoroughly investigate the alleged stealing of the funds by government officials.

In a report by Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Geneva-based organisation said there were discrepancies in the audit report submitted by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).

The indictment came barely two years after accusations

by Global Vaccine Alliance Initiatives (GAVI) of Nigeria’s shady handling of about $8.2 million.

The current Global Fund indictment indicated that between 2010 and 2014, the Nigerian government misappropriated the sum of $3.8 million earmarked for technological-based platforms and other logistics for interventions in HIV/AIDS programmes in the country.

Contrary, the federal government in a statement yesterday said it would go the whole hog to fish out those culpable in the alleged looting of the funds.

According to the Director

of Press and Public Relations, Boade Akinola, “the federal government of Nigeria has directed the anti-corruption agency, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to commence full investigation of the alleged misappropriation of Global fund Grants Nigeria received from 2010 – 2014.

“This was revealed today by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole who said: “President Muhammadu Buhari gave the directive as part of government’s effort and commitment to fight corruption in the country. The president has also directed the Secretary to the Government of Federation (SGF) to review earlier audit reports from the Office of Inspector General (OIG),” she said.

To that effect, Akinola stated that “the SGF has set-up two high-powered investigative panels to look into the affected programmes and the financial transactions. The first panel headed by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, will conduct in-depth review of all programmes while the second panel chaired by Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura, will review all financial transactions during the period.

The two committees were expected to submit their reports

within four weeks.

“Mr. President assured members of the international community that all funds received by Nigeria would be well utilised and accounted for under his watch to avoid national embarrassment,” he said.

“He further said that all indicted officials would be given fair hearing and those found guilty would be sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others.

“The recent OIG report by Global Fund indicted three agencies of Federal Government of Nigeria for misappropriation of specific intervention grants released,” Akinola stressed.

But speaking with THISDAY, Executive Director, SocioEconomic Right Accountability Project (SERAP), Adetokunbo Mumuni said the naked display of corruption cut across different sectors but not limited the health sector.

“The global fund of diversion is mere repeating what the overwhelming majority Nigerians already know. It is not limited to the health sector alone. Corruption, diversion of funds and shamelessness in the display of stolen funds had been the fad since at least the time of Babangida regime up till the

Cont’d on page 39

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016

13

14

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

COMMENT

Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com

BUHARI, FAYOSE, UGWUANYI AND THE FULANI HERDSMEN It is unsettling many cannot stand to be counted on issues of justice, reckons Chuks Iloegbunam

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” Martin Luther King, Jr. exed voices have, in exasperation, been asking where Reverend Father Ejike Camillus Mbaka is. They are absolutely right as they expected the priest to speak up. People should ask where Bola Tinubu is, the one who covets the feat of unknotting Pandora’s Box. People should be asking where many other previously vocal Nigerians are. People should conduct an investigation on the seemingly abrupt dryness of Niyi Osundare’s inkpot, for he has put an incongruous halt to his fondness for poetising on national questions. All those experts on radio and television, all those incisive analysts on cyberspace and concourses – know you one thing! People have a right to ask what sneaked in and stole your voices.

What crept in and rendered you incapable of standing up? What stealthily stymied your very humanity? People also have another responsibility, which in fact is more fundamental than pointing accusingly at the supposed guilty. People should be asking themselves where they stand.

People will, perhaps, temporarily desist from wondering whether Wole Soyinka had embarked on a journey out of the planet Earth. The Nobelist’s voice finally crashed against the wall of eviscerating injustice: “Impunity evolves and becomes integrated in conduct when crime occurs and no legal, logical and moral response is offered. I have yet to hear this government articulate a firm policy of non-tolerance for the serial massacres that have become the nation’s identification stamp.

“I have not heard an order given that any cattle herders caught with sophisticated firearms be instantly disarmed, arrested, placed on trial, and his cattle confiscated. The nation is treated to an 18-month optimistic plan which, to make matters worse, smacks of abject appeasement and encouragement of violence on innocents.

“Let me repeat, and of course I only ask to be corrected if wrong: I have yet to encounter a terse, rigorous, soldierly and uncompromising language from this leadership, one that threatens a response to this unconscionable blood-letting that would make even Boko Haram repudiate its founding clerics.”

Fantastic! Except that Soyinka’s reaction is like that of a fowl on virgin territory that stands tentatively on one leg. For the murderous activities of Fulani herdsmen, he faulted “this leadership”. Well, “this leadership” has at its head someone with a name. Why is the man’s name unmentionable? On Soyinka, there will be much more to say as the unfolding scalping encompasses the variegated swathes of the entity. For now, it requires to explore and expand his observation.

The Government of Enugu State received intelligence on the impending carnage by Fulani herdsmen. Dutifully, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi summoned a 10pm State Security Council meeting attended by the following on the state government’s side: Ugwuanyi, the Deputy Governor, Secretary to the State Government, the Governors’ Chief of Staff, the State Attorney-General, and the Chairman of the State Traditional Rulers

V

THE PRESIDENT HADN’T VISITED THE SCENE OF THE MASSACRES. HE HADN’T SENT A CONDOLENCE MESSAGE. HE HADN’T ORDERED AN INVESTIGATION. WHEN HE MET WITH UGWUANYI, IT WAS AT THE GOVERNOR’S INSTANCE. STILL BUHARI GOT EFFUSIVELY THANKED FOR HIS ‘PROMPT AND DECISIVE REACTION’

Council. President Buhari’s government was represented by the following: Brigadier General Olufemi Akinjobi, the Commander of the Enugu Garrison (representing the GOC 82 Division of the Nigerian Army); the Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Nwodibo Ekechukwu; the Enugu State Director of the Department State Security Services (DSS), Mr. M. Abdul Malik; the State Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Lar Stephen; and the representatives of the Nigerian Air Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigerian Prison Services, who attended as observers.

Yet, the carnage took place, costing anything between 60 and 100 precious lives; leading to widespread destruction. Would this have happened if the threat had been on Muhammadu Buhari’s hometown of Daura? The attitude of three politicians in this dispensation – Buhari, Fayose and Ugwuanyi – best illustrates contemporary Nigerian antinomies. About Buhari, his inertia and nonchalance hardly surprise. Hadn’t he told the world that his stance on governance was preferentially tied to the quantum of votes he amassed from different constituencies during last year’s presidential ballot? On Governor Fayose, there is clear evidence of leading from the front. He has not, since his election, shied away from meeting the aspirations of his people upfront, doing so fearlessly, clearly conscious of the fact that he owes his gubernatorial mandate to the good people of Ekiti, not some potentate in Abuja.

But, what has been happening to Fayose? His own people mostly – not those who elected him, mind – but his own people, nonetheless, have been vociferous in damning and condemning him at every juncture, to sustain an untenable patchwork coalition of Masters and Slaves. Some have hung a label of Afonjaism on the perversity.

And then, there is Ugwuanyi. This man looks and sounds pathetic.

This was how he started his statewide broadcast: “Four days ago on Monday, April 25, 2016, many of our brothers and sisters in Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of the state were murdered in cold blood by suspected Fulani herdsmen…” Four whole days passed before this man deemed it necessary to address his massacred and traumatised people. What was he doing in the interim, apart from leaving his handkerchiefs sopping wet with tears? He found time to be “very grateful to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, for his prompt and decisive reaction to the incident in Nimbo.”

Someone certainly is trapped in cloud cuckoo land. The president hadn’t visited the scene of the massacres. He hadn’t sent a condolence message. He hadn’t ordered an investigation. When he met with Ugwuanyi, it was at the governor’s instance. Still Buhari got effusively thanked for his “prompt and decisive reaction”. This beggars belief.

This provocative condescension was voiced in a broadcast that had the following only paragraphs away: “In less than three months, violent clashes have occurred in Enugu State in Awgu, Nike, Abbi and Nimbo between suspected Fulani Herdsmen and our people,” with absolutely no reaction from Abuja.

Iloegbunam is the author of Ironside, a biography of AguiyiIronsi

MAIL-ON-LINE AND THE NEW GRAAAA—GRAAA

I

n the past few days, a couple of my friends have drawn my attention to what they consider a demystification of President Muhammadu Buhari by a so-called Mail-onLine medium in the United Kingdom. Upon reading the story, I got thoroughly disappointed, not at the story, but the fact that some well- educated Nigerians could be taken in by what is no more than a red herring masquerading as the smoking gun that it pretended to have unearthed.

What is the story? What are the facts leading to President Buhari’s unwarranted vilification by the Mail-On-Line newspaper? There appears to be a four-count charge against the President of Nigeria by a newspaper that ought to be more preoccupied with the Panama Papers and the uncertain fate of Britain in the European Union, aka Brexit.

Count 1: That he sends his daughter to a 26, 000 pounds a year school and, perhaps without the approval of Mail-on-Line, had allegedly spent 150,000 pounds on the education of his daughter Zahra, a University of Surrey student.

Count 2: Without recourse to Her Majesty’s media, Buhari had allegedly allowed his 16-year old daughter, Hanan, to indulge in the royal privilege of flying first class from London to Abuja when her father had banned ‘public officials’ from the same privilege. Perhaps, she should have travelled by sea or better still, through the Sahara desert escorted by some Bedouin Arabs.

Count three: Buhari’s anti-corruption claim is spurious and sectional unlike what obtains in Britain where the election of Saqid Khan, a Muslim, as the new mayor of London, is being ‘applauded’ by all Britons.

Count Four: The Mail-on-Line describes Buhari, the popularly elected President of Nigeria as “the self-styled people’s President”. By implication, he

Emma Agu reckons that the British medium is mischievous

is an impostor.

What is my take on this? First, as a Nigerian, I am conscious of the public image of our leader, whomsoever that person may be; in this instance, it is President Buhari. I concede that not every Nigerian agrees with his policies, his style or his actions. The same applies to David Cameron, prime minister of Britain. I will also be the first to admit that there is no consensus among Nigerians on these matters, including Buhari’s achievements.

But that does not warrant this spurious attack on his person to the extent that he is being described as a “self-styled people’s president”.

Pray, was he not elected by the people? Yes, he flew the flag of a political party. But once elected, had he not become the president of Nigeria and its peoples? To the best of my knowledge, at no time has Buhari ever arrogated to himself the title of the ‘people’s president’, if, by that, the Mail-on-Line was referring to a long disused epithet by maximum rulers of old. The paper can conveniently spew its pejorative gibberish because Nigerians choose to be gullible and refuse to draw the line between partisan disagreement and patriotic consensus on matters of national pride and survival. If that had not been the case, for a medium in a country that taught Nigerians the ignoble art of corruption (read Professor Peter Ekeh’s Colonialism and the Two Publics), for a newspaper in a county that, for long has provided safe haven for funds stolen from Nigeria, the newspaper would have adopted greater circumspection in talking about Nigeria or President Buhari whose anti-corruption credentials date back to over three decades.

My take on the story is that it was timed as a distraction from the unprecedented anti-graft war taking place in Nigeria; the fact that in the past few weeks, millions of dollars have been traced

to shoddy processes and transactions. Coming on the eve of the London conference on corruption, one is tempted to suspect that the Mail-on-Line’s poorly executed diatribe could have been timed to take the sail from whatever presentation the Nigerian leader planned to make at the conference. In that case, we are bound to ask: whose interest is the newspaper serving?

I do not necessarily subscribe to the style of the Buhari Administration. But it will amount to sheer perfidy for any Nigerian or friend of Nigeria, to ignore the uncontroverted revelations of misuse of public funds by public officers of all political colouration. If the Mail-on-Line speaks for Nigerians, it must be the tiny cabal that turned our collective patrimony into personal wealth and turned all of us beggars either as individuals or as a country. Had that not been so, the medium wouldn’t have had the temerity to talk about the British government giving 250 million pounds to Nigeria over a period of one year because, under Buhari, there wouldn’t have been need for that.

The Mail-on-Line should be told that the anti-graft war is achieving results, one step at a time. Nigerians are not under any illusion that this is just one event, no, it is not. It is not a sprint; not even a marathon. It is a process, a long term engagement with the future of the country; a process that Nigerians of every persuasion must not just buy into but take complete ownership of, if the future promised by the change agenda is to be guaranteed.

The good news is that the anti-graft war has started in earnest, with all its imperfections. Back home in Nigeria, over one trillion naira has been recovered, discovered or saved. That is far in excess of 250 million pounds. For any medium that is worth any credibility not to see this as a step, in the right direction, and to mock the

effort as the Mail-on-Line has done smacks of outright mischief, professional amnesia or culpable duplicity.

I am tempted to take the view that the Mailon-Line is being misinformed by those Nigerians who shamelessly plundered the national till for selfish reasons. It is convenient today for people to pander to ethnic, political or every other perceptible subterfuge for their woes. But how many of them obtained the permission of their restricted groups before dipping their itchy and insatiable fingers into the public purse? How many of them deployed such proceeds of official malfeasance towards satisfying the legitimate needs of their primordial groups rather than oppressing them?

I do not think we should waste our time on the little matter of Buhari’s children as the Mail-onLine provided us with no evidence of any wrong doing on the part of the president. The newspaper did not claim that Buhari, a former head of state, a former governor, a former minister of petroleum resources, a very successful farmer and a pensioner, dipped his hands into the public till to pay the fees of his children or fund their travels.

If I read the medium correctly, it is simply saying that for Buhari’s anti-corruption war to receive its endorsement, he must first commit class suicide and subject his family to the same level of penury as the poorest Nigerians. That is utter hogwash. It sound’s completely illogical and uncharitable.

If the Mail-on-Line is honest in its love for Nigeria, if it is not singing the tune being dictated by some unseen malevolent sponsors from Nigeria, the newspaper should back Buhari’s effort to repatriate all of Nigeria’s money stashed away in Britain and other Western countries. When that is done, I can assure the paper that Nigerians are prepared to swallow any home brewed bitter pills to take us out of the present situation.

15

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

EDITORIAL KIDNAPPING: BEYOND ANISULOWO’S RELEASE The security agencies could do more to arrest the rising cases of kidnapping

S

ince the release of Iyabo Anisulowo, erstwhile Minister of Education from the kidnappers den, the authorities in Ogun State have been on a media blitz. From the Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali to Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Nigerians have been regaled with interesting stories of how everything was done to secure the safe release of Senator Anisulowo without paying a ransom. “The Inspector-General of Police believes in intelligence-led investigation and that was what we did during the incident,” said Ali. “He sent all his intelligence teams to Ogun and there was helicopter surveillance. We monitored the kidnappers down to Okeho, Oyo State, and then to Jabata forest.”

While we are happy for Anisulowo and commend the police and Ogun State authorities for ensuring the safe return of the senator to her family, it is also our hope that when other citizens who may not be as prominent, but are in distress, are given the same attention. More importantly, we believe that the lessons learned from the deployment of critical assets that led to the arrest of some THE LESSONS LEARNED of the suspects in the FROM THE DEPLOYMENT Anisulowo kidnap saga will serve as a OF CRITICAL ASSETS model for cracking THAT LED TO THE the crime that has ARREST OF SOME OF commonTHE SUSPECTS SHOULD become place in our country SERVE AS A MODEL FOR today.

CRACKING THE CRIME THAT HAS BECOME COMMONPLACE

Over the past few months, Nigerians have lost count of victims of the gangs who operate virtually everywhere in the country, extorting money from people, both rich and poor, in the name of ransom.

The crime is not only well organised, it has also becoming a thriving industry with a network of support staff. From the wife and daughter of a justice of the Supreme Court to university vice-chancellors, a former deputy governor to royal fathers, the list of

Letters to the Editor

A

people who have fallen victims to kidnappers is long.

Most of them regained their freedom only after their families had parted with huge sums of money. But not everyone survives to tell their stories as many of the victims have also been killed.

Initially, the targets were rich businessmen, politicians and other well-heeled professionals.

However, kidnappers also come to the lower bracket, perhaps out of desperation. In some cases, these criminals randomly stop vehicles on the road in the hope of finding someone worth kidnapping. So notorious has our country become for this crime that when the African Insurance Organisation, a non-governmental outfit, held its forum in Mauritius last year, Nigeria was designated the global capital for kidnapping, having overtaken countries like Colombia and Mexico that were hitherto the front-runners.

Unfortunately, the authorities have been unable to find a lasting solution to combat the crime, despite increased patrols on the highways.

T H I S DAY

EDITOR IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU DEPUTY EDITOR BOlAJI ADEBIYI MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOlA BEllO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOlAfE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OlUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOlA BEllO, KAYODE KOMOlAfE, ISRAEl IWEGBU, EMMANUEl EfENI, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR OlUfEMI ABOROWA DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS PETER IWEGBU, fIDElIS ElEMA, MBAYIlAN ANDOAKA, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS HENRY NWACHOKOR, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOlA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI GENERAL MANAGER PATRICK EIMIUHI GROUP HEAD fEMI TOlUfASHE ART DIRECTOR OCHI OGBUAKU II DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (9501000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

TOMATOES AND HERDSMEN

s now a routine for me, I was at the local Sunday market to do what everyone who goes to the market does. You may want to ask what is a middle-age man doing in the market? Nothing other than what everyone else does in the market, buy food items with the list compiled by madam. The difference though is that the market falls on my way from my routine Sunday morning sports outing venue. The alternative would have been another driving trip by the list compiler to the same or other market and the additional cost of gasoline in a period when the commodity is in short supply. I wonder how many of us have adjusted our travel routine to fit the prevailing situation.

At some point in time, some goods and commodity will run into short supply, the most logical and sensible thing to do in such situation is to adjust accordingly, rather than continue to do thing the same way and just complain. Lagos BRT now runs air-conditioned buses from Ikorodu to Lagos, how many of struggling car owners, whose income cannot sustain the proper maintenance of a car, have taken advantages of the new service?

Back to the market. I was shocked by the cost of tomatoes, offered at N500 for six pieces, without the choice of selection by the buyer. So were four other buyers, women/home managers, who walked past and ignored the beyond budget offer. However, before I walked away my thought went wide on questions like- If these many buyers reject the highly

T

he accounts of some of the victims, according to a recent Global Kidnap for Ransom Update, reinforces the notion that most of the kidnap gangs now target middle class Nigerians: “They demand a high ransom from the families, and accept a much lower sum to enable a swift conclusion so that they can then move on to the next target. The risk to gangs who operate in this way is moderate, and their costs are low. Reports from victim and police accounts, following both rescues and cases confirmed that ransoms were paid for the victims’ safe release indicating that hostages are frequently held in unpopulated areas.

Such environments are in abundance close to kidnappers’ urban operating areas, and have allowed their escape from security forces on numerous occasions.”

While many see the spread of kidnapping for ransom as a symptom of a wider problem in the society, it is important for the security agencies to device strategies for tackling the challenge of this most heinous crime. We must find a way to end what has become for our country another emblem of shame.

priced tomatoes, how much sales will the seller make before the end of day under the scotching sun? How many of the perishable product will remain in good state by the end of the day? How can a tropical product be so expensive in a tropical country like ours? A country unable to feed itself is a no starter, when will the millions of unemployed/unemployable Nigerians look beyond white collar jobs in oil and gas and sundry industry. I hear and know the fact that in almost all European countries, Ireland specifically, farmers belong to the richest class in the society. Tell me, how many of our youths will be proud to announce that his parents are farmers?? We surely must be doing something wrong.

A Fulani herdsman crossed my path on my way back home, rearing his skinny, hungry looking cattle across the road to the grazing settlement some kilometres away. This incident also set me thinking as I waited for the last of the cows to cross. If the objective of cattle breeding is to provide milk and meat, none of the bony cattle I saw will meet that objective. The little a cattle eats while destroying my farm enroute the grazing path will all be lost in the energy expended in the long walk between feedings, nothing is retained. Why does this simple fact not sink into the cattle farmers’ head ? Cattle, kept and fed properly in ranches, will grow healthy and produce more milk, tender meat and reproduce in shorter time space thereby improving the return on investment for owners.

Gbade Akinyooye, Ikeja, Lagos

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR KIDNAPPERS

I

t is gratifying that the Senate has agreed to begin a process for the enactment of a law that will prescribe capital punishment for kidnapping across the country.

In a motion entitled “National wake-up call” the Senate seeks to end a national opprobrium that has become endemic because of legal lacuna assailing prosecution.

If this commendable bill goes through it would be one of the best legislative endeavours to be enunciated by the eighth National Assembly.

The next and a more exigent bill would be on corruption or stealing of public funds. Whereas the last president attempted to create a suspicious dichotomy between stealing and corruption, no translucent mind would buy into such dichotomy.

Corruption has assailed the past, the present and the future of Nigeria, perhaps more than any other known infraction since independence. It has placed Nigeria permanently on global hall of infamy, It has significantly reduced life expectancy,

caused a geometric scale of Internally displaced persons, escalated unemployment rate and blighted the potential of Nigeria to join the comity of developed nations.

The National Assembly will engrave its legacy in gold if corruption is made to attract capital punishment.

However the bill must seek to graduate punishment according to the quantum of the perpetrated sleaze.

Any sleaze in the region between half a billion naira and one billion should attract death penalty. One hundred million naira to N500 million to attract life jail ; N100,000 to N500,000 to attract 10 years imprisonment and one naira to N100 to attract one year imprisonment.

Whereas this type of legislative activism could trigger vulnerability among NAAS members, the redeeming effect can translate each member into a national hero while posterity would indelibly inscribe this heroism in the consciousness of generations unborn.

Bukola Ajisola, Victoria Island, Lagos

16

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

POLITICS

Group Politics Editor Olawale Olaleye Email wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com 08116759819 SMS ONLY

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING

The Rot in Bello’s Kogi The screening committee set up by Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello to screen state and local government workers as well as pensioners is due to submit its report this week. Based on THISDAY findings, the committee headed by General Olusola Okotima (rtd), unearthed considerable rot the governor would have to deal with, moving forward. Yekini Jimoh writes

T

he greatest challenge every successive government in Kogi State had always faced was that of overbloated wage bill. The wage bill of Kogi was always inflated through sharp practices like ghost workers engaged by top civil servants, politicians and associates of government in power. But any moment from now, the screening committee put in place by the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello is expected to submit its report on its findings.

The committee, headed by General (Rtd) Olusola Okotima and his team, is said to be rounding off after two months of screening of workers, both at the state and local government levels. In fact, the screening exercise has been described by the people of the state as one of the best ever conducted in the state.

Several screening exercises such as Head of Service screening, Accountant-General screening, Sally-Tibot and of recent, Ogunmola screening had been conducted in the past by previous governments and despite the fact that a lot of irregularities were discovered in the civil service, government did not take actions.

Today, the wage bill of the state is put at N3billion, with staff strength of over 39000 while what accrues to the state from the federation account monthly had dwindled to between N2 billion and N1.9 billion. But the governor established a new, infectious atmosphere of optimism during his inaugural speech, stating: “I will be fair to all Kogites and I belong to everybody and belong to nobody.

“I hereby declare that the Yahaya Bello administration will not tolerate corruption. I will live by example. My administration has zero tolerance for corruption and it remains so and I think Kogites should be guided in this direction.

We will see increase in our Internally Generated Revenue. We will conceive a socio-economic blueprint that will benefit the people,” he said.

But the governor recently lamented over a discovery, where a certain member of staff is taking the salaries of over 40 people while another is earning salary in four different offices in the State.

“The state is bleeding under very heavy wage bill occasioned by manipulations on the part of the civil servants, which has made government to perpetually rely on borrowing to meet up with its obligations. The issue of screening that is ongoing is very important. When we came on board, the wage bill was N3billion and staff strength of over 39000.

“When you move round the state, where are the offices? Where are the schools? Where are the hospitals and we are aware that since 2011, there has not been any advertisement for recruitment of staff, so how can we be having this heavy wage bill monthly?” he said.

Addressing workers during May Day celebration, the governor gave the breakdown of the allocation he had collected since he assumed office and said his administration had received four federal allocations since his assumption of office in January, 2016, out of which he paid full salaries for January and March.

“In January, we received about N2.6bn while our salary bill came to about N2.7bn.

We paid full salaries. In February, we received about N2.5bn and applied that the differentials between allocations and wage bills for January and March as well as other pressing needs of the state which have direct impact on the lives of the people, including you, the workers.

Bello...working to change the tide

“You will admit that Kogi State, with a population of about 3.5m people cannot spend all her money to service a workforce of about 100,000 people. Security, obligations to contractors, rehabilitation of infrastructure, etc are also pressing and unavoidable. In March, our allocation was about N2.3bn but we again

So far, the exercise had uncovered how a single local government staff included as many as 300 ghost workers in the pay role of the local government. Also, 946 ghost schools with over 6,000 staff have been uncovered in another breath, with thousands of ghost workers uncovered across the state…The committee also discovered that some people sat down in Lagos, Abuja, even abroad, and received bank alerts for salaries they did not work for

paid full salaries to the tune of about N2.9bn.

“For April, allocation is about N2bn only.

Even though the nearly N900m gap between allocation and wage bill is a huge challenge, we still hope to pay full salaries and even start defraying some arrears incurred by previous Administrations.”

The inability of the successive governments to address this issue was a function of many factors but today, the people of Kogi appear to have found a messiah in Governor Bello, who is determined to stamp out the syndrome of ghost workers from the state through the workers’ verification exercise, regardless of whose ox is gored.

So far, the exercise had uncovered how a single local government staff included as many as 300 ghost workers in the pay role of the local government. Also, 946 ghost schools with over 6,000 staff have been uncovered in another breath, with thousands of ghost workers uncovered across the state.

The committee also discovered that some people sat down in Lagos, Abuja, even abroad, and received bank alerts for salaries they did not work for.

“No more will Kogi State pay salaries to ghost workers, who are ‘serving’ in non-existing institutions discovered all over the state by the Screening Committee. We are dismantling the satanic infrastructure,” Bello said.

This, analysts reckoned, has reduced the state wage bill by about 30% thereby creating room for genuine employment and proper welfare of genuine workers of the state. Various loopholes have been further identified in the collection of revenue for the state in the past.

One of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftains in Kogi State, Chief Clarence Olafemi commended the governor for taking the bull by the horn. The former Speaker of Kogo State House of Assembly and also former acting governor of the state said the screening exercise will reduce ghost workers drastically in the state.

According to him previous governments in the state was aware of ghost workers but refused

to take action after receiving reports from the series of screening committee organised by the government. He noted that for any government to succeed, the government must remove sentiment and favoritism and then implement the report of the screening committee.

“State cannot developed in terms of infrastructural development when such government used all the state allocation to settle workers’ salary, how do you expect such state to move ahead,” he asked.

He mentioned that Lokoja, the state capital, was one of the oldest cities in the country and was the first capital of Northern Nigeria during the Colonia era, but claimed it was sad that Lokoja which boasts two great rivers – of River Niger and Benue – is more or else a glorified community. He urged the governor to go ahead and implement the report of the screening committee so that the state could move forward.

Another APC chieftain, Mallam Ibrahim Muhammed, said it was one of the best screening exercises organised by government so far since the creation of the state. He advised the governor to follow the recommendation of the screening committee and implement it to the letter, adding that whoever was found guilty among the top government officials especially among the civil servants should be punished.

A pensioner, Alhaji Umar Nnda, said the government of Bello has done well by conducting the screening exercise for the workers in the state.

“Civil servants have been a conduit pipe from which the state fund was been siphoned by those that matter in government. We have had series of screening in the state, head of service screening, accountant general screening, Sally-Tibot and of recent Ogunmola screening.

All these never saw the light of today,” he said.

In the final analysis, the general expectations of the people is that the exercise would yield positive dividends for the state and the citizens at large, when eventually all the loopholes earlier created must have been exposed and shut down.

17

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

ONTHEWATCH

Umahi’s Quest for National Unity In view of the increasing Fulani herdsmen attacks in many parts of the country, Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi made a fresh appeal for national unity and cohesion, writes Benjamin Nworie

T

his is not the best of times for Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi. It’s not the best time for Nigeria and Nigerians either. It’s all about the threat to national unity and collective existence of all the Nigerian citizens. It’s the threat against peace and security amongst the tribes and nationalities in the country.

The unity of Nigeria has been threatened by several security challenges. Umahi is not pleased with the security challenges, which have claimed several lives of innocent citizens and foreigners, who have committed no crimes at all. Not minding the economic misfortunes of the country, which has hiked the poverty level, occasioned by the depleting prices of oil at the international market, Nigeria still has pockets of social anomalies to contend with.

The menace of Boko Haram insurgency in most parts of the North, kidnapping and cult activities in the south, and the most recent dastardly acts being perpetrated by the marauding herdsmen in most parts of the country have constitute the most difficult times for the country and Peace Advocate of the salt of the nation. Umahi has advocated for national unity as a panacea for national development. To Umahi, there’s no alternative to peace and unity of the country.

Immediately Umahi assumed office, he visited some troubled parts of the North to empathise with the victims of insurgency. His mission was to give lives to the “lifeless” – people, who were dislodged from their homes as a result of insurgency. The governor gave succor to innocent people, who are gnashing teeth and living like animals for offence they know nothing about. In the spirit of national unity, Umahi identified them as “his brothers and sisters”, who are in dire need for assistance.

Umahi’s visit was seen as a nationalist movement for the oneness of the country, so that all the parts of the country would be seen and regarded as one entity in all ramifications. Some of the items donated by the governor included rice, other food items and cash gift. This feat elicited commendations and condemnation, for the ill-informed. Others said Umahi did so to lure some northern power brokers to key properly in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Other intuited he was looking for political favour.

For those who may have studied the life history of the governor, there was no need conjuring negative sentiments in a gesture that is fast becoming his trademark and bond of greatness. It is, however, a gesture that should have spurred other governors and spirited Nigerians to assist the needy, especially the displaced persons, no matter the geographical, religious and political affiliations.

In the recent cases of attacks by the Fulani herdsmen in the country, especially the massacre in Ukpabi Nimbo, Uzouwani local government area of Enugu State, the governor raised his voice in condemning the butchery. Umahi noted he was among if not the first governor in the South-east to publicly condemn the attack.

With the growing concerns generated by the bloodbath across the length and girth of Nigeria and beyond, and as a result, that the herdsmen should be evicted from the south and restricted only to their northern homes or face reprisal attacks, the governor had raised divergent views to protect and preserve the unity of the country.

He insisted that though he was the first South-east governor to publicly condemn the dastardly act, the Hausa Fulani community in the state has a long history of peaceful settlement and have not been implicated in any criminal activity. He added that those nomadic herdsmen should be allowed to pass to and fro in the state provided they do so peacefully without causing harm to the people or destruction of crops in the state.

Since the Enugu killings, security and stakeholders’ meetings in all levels have been intensified in the state to forestall any attack,

Umahi...in national interest

should there be any plan to extend the onslaught in any parts of the state. The meetings also afforded them to bear some of the alleged activities and impunities that may trigger off any squabble between the herdsmen and host communities.

According to reports, it was alleged that the herdsmen were aggrieved over the killings of their cows by their host communities. But the communities have also alleged that cows have destroyed their farmlands without compliance for compensation or relocation by the herdsmen.

This was why the governor held 18 hours security meetings with the security agencies in Ebonyi last week with representatives of the Hausa Fulani community, where he warned against financial extortion on the herdsmen,

He insisted that though he was the first South-east governor to publicly condemn the dastardly act, the Hausa Fulani community in the state has a long history of peaceful settlement and have not been implicated in any criminal activity. He added that those nomadic herdsmen should be allowed to pass to and fro in the state provided they do so peacefully without causing harm to the people or destruction of crops in the state

and also threatened to prosecute any person caught in the act.

He noted the negative impacts the call for relocation of the herdsmen portends to national unity and called for more vigilance and caution.

Umahi saw the attacks as part of the security challenges facing the country, which must be tackled with concerted efforts and nationalistic approach to protect the unity of the country.

After considering the grave implication in yielding to threats of relocation, ban or reprisal attacks in some quarters, Umahi called for the constitution of committees at all levels between security agencies, traditional rulers and the Fulani community to articulate better ways of harmonious existence in lieu of their peaceful existence for many decades.

“The Hausa Fulani community in Ebonyi state has a long history of peaceful and harmonious settlement and has not been implicated in any criminal activity. But those who are nomadic should be allowed to pass to and fro Ebonyi provided they do so peacefully, without causing harm to people or the destruction of crops in Ebonyi,” Umahi said. The committee is to see how best to checkmate the activities of others, especially identifying miscreants that may have ignited acts capable of causing infraction in any community in the state. This, Umahi felt would be better now considering the economic and security hard times of the country, instead of succumbing to the demands that may further throw the whole country into perpetual confusion, similar to the civil war.

And considering the economic status of the Igbos in most northern states, any action against the Fulanis may further endanger the lives of their people, noting also that Ebonyi people are scattered all over the country, especially in the North, it may be counterproductive to ask strangers in the state to quit their land.

Umahi insisted that waging a war against the Fulani herdsmen would have grave implications for their commercial nomads, which was the mainstay of majority of Igbo traders across the country.

Part of the implication, Umahi considered was that it would paint Ebonyi as a tribalised state, that does not want the cohabitation of other tribes and nationalities, which may boomerang in the nearest future. To Umahi, the Fulani unrest is what government and the people would sit down to solve, rather than speeding up national instability by yielding to hasty but unpatriotic demands in some quarters.

However, the South-east leaders are still articulating ways of handling the issue without

stirring up national unrest. Though Umahi dismissed the widely speculated land grazing bill as what no Nigerian in his right frame of mind would contemplate in the first place, he advised that the committees set up in the state would harmonise and create designated routes for the herdsmen, so that the grievances arising from the destruction of crops would no longer arise. The import of the grazing route may not be overemphasised though with the carnage which is still fresh in the minds of the people, especially in the neighboring Ebonyi, it may be misunderstood as synonymous with the land grazing bill that may further embolden the nomads free movement across the country.

The idea of the grazing route, according to Umahi was that the herdsmen would be restricted to the areas without crops, so that nobody would complain against damage and even if there was, the committee would articulate ways of compensation.

Some are wondering why fear of attacks should be concentrated as the only menace of the herds not considering the environmental hazard posed in some Ebonyi communities.

In some communities, herds and the people co-exist and live together.

For instance, in Ebonyi State University, cows and students live in one premise. The odour from the cow’s excreta is capable of causing epidemic. At the premises, the herdsmen have settled there for some time now, moving the cattle around the university, polluting the environment.

“Those who are settled in the premises of the university must quietly and peacefully be evicted by the Commissioner of Police because the university environment is no place for nomadic herdsmen,” Umahi said.

Aside the attacks, the continuous stay of the herdsmen and their cows is injurious to health. The danger of the herds attacking the students is put to bear. After considering the health implications, not alluding to the raging crimes of the herdsmen, the governor ordered for the quiet and peaceful relocation of the herdsmen.

Meanwhile, the Secretary to the State government, Prof. Ben Odoh has been ordered to liaise with the state Commissioner for Police, CP Peace Ibekwe Abdallah to ensure the smooth resettlement within seven days.

NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisday.com

18

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

POLITICS&ISSUES

APGA’s Resurgence in Nasarawa Politics The All Progressives Grand Alliance is one party to watch out for in Nasarawa State politics, writes Adams Abonu

T

aking into consideration recent developments in the politics of Nasarawa State, the sudden resurgence of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the political scheme of things deserves closer emphasis. This report examines the circumstances surrounding this political revival, the prospects it holds for the people of the ‘State of Solid Minerals’ and the implications to the political party’s national visibility.

Expectedly, a political party that participated in the last general election with a profound performance should be a force of reckoning in Nasarawa State. But the nature of Nigerian politics, where the ruling party in any state is the beacon of most almost made APGA in Nasarawa State a ghost of itself. It took the sense of purpose and the resilience of faithful party – the men and women – to keep the cock crowing and the flag flying.

APGA’s gubernatorial candidate in the last election, Mr. Labaran Maku had been the enduring rallying point against all popular expectations to the contrary. The bid to reassert itself politically in Nasarawa could be attributed to this gesture and the loyalty to a cause shown by other faithful, among whom is the party’s dedicated State Secretary, Emmanuel Yaro and Alhaji Abu, Maku’s running mate during the election.

Emboldened by some form of disenchantment over the shortcomings of the Governor Tanko Al-Makura All Progressives Congress (APC)-led state government, APGA in Nasarawa seems to be getting its grooves back.

The recent division in the APC-dominated House of Assembly further enhanced the resurgence of the opposition party. When six members of the Assembly led my Mr. Makpa representing Kokona West constituency expressed their displeasure to Governor Al-Makura’s

Maku...Nasarawa’s face of APGA

The recent division in the APC-dominated House of Assembly further enhanced the resurgence of the opposition party. When six members of the Assembly led my Mr. Makpa representing Kokona West constituency expressed their displeasure to Governor Al-Makura’s appointment of 11 Sole Administrators to administer Local Government Councils upon expiration of the two-year tenure of the elected councils, APGA released a statement supporting the aggrieved six lawmakers

appointment of 11 Sole Administrators to administer Local Government Councils upon expiration of the two-year tenure of the elected councils, APGA released a statement supporting the aggrieved six lawmakers.

“APGA as a political party committed to progressive ideals wholeheartedly supports the position of the members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, who opposed Governor Al-Makura’s anti-democratic moves. We urge the lawmakers not to relent on their bid to checkmate the excesses of the APC administration of Al-Makura.

“Nasarawa State is a state that should enjoy peace and this, Al-Makura wishes to breach with his undemocratic action and we call on the lawmakers to stand their ground to ensure that our state remains peaceful,” APGA’s press statement signed by Mr. Kure read in parts.”

Speaking to THISDAY on the blossoming chances of APGA in Nasarawa State, a member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, who spoke on the conditions of anonymity, said “because we have seen the direction of the state government in addressing pressing issues in the state with draconian means, it behooves every reasonable mind to rethink the situation.

“I can tell you today that many of our members from the APC are in talks at various levels with APGA because of the promises the party now holds before Nasarawa people. Remember that Nasarawa electorate gave APGA unexpected support during the last election and we can consolidate on this pedestal. We cannot continue to stay in the APC where some of us are clearly told that we are not wanted.”

Nasarawa State’s demographic dynamics also seems to be favouring APGA’s resurgence. With religion and ethnicity still driving a better part

of the state’s politics, certain indicators like the sentiment of majority of the Eggon nationality and a religious restructuring around political platforms seems to be playing into the party’s expectations. The Eggon ethnic group expresses some sense of entitlement over the politics of the state being the ethnic group with the most wide-spread identity.

Since the creation of Nasarawa State in 1996 by the General Sani Abacha junta, the Eggon nation has not produced a governor from their extraction. This has led to wide-spread agitations from the elements of the nationality.

While notable politicians from the state like Senator Solomon Ewuga; Deputy Governor Silas Agara and Mary Akwashiki belong to other political parties, APGA is gradually assuming the political platform for the realisation of the Eggon aspiration. Mr. Kure told THISDAY in an exclusive interview recently that the party was better prepared to “reclaim the peoples’ mandate” in subsequent elections in the state.

The party’s scribe expressed confidence that Nasarawa electorate have seen the differences APGA could make and would “overwhelmingly” vote the promises offered.

“Our people have sensed that the current situation of under-development in Nasarawa would not have been if APGA was the party in power. The people now know that APGA would not have relegated their affairs to the background as we are seeing in Nasarawa today.

“There is wide-spread yearning for change but we have seen that Governor Al-Makura is not prepared to deliver the change the people so crave for. The vacuum in development created by the current administration has placed a responsibility on APGA to salvage the expectations of the people and this we

are prepared to do.

“When you go around Nasarawa State, you will observe that the people are being short-changed by this APC administration as salaries are being owed workers and issues of development are relegated to the background. We cannot continue to allow this maladministration to go on and this is why we must rise to the occasion.

“APGA has been better positioned to give better governance to meet the expectations of Nasarawa people and APC and Al-Makura are already in the quandary over this development.

Let Al-Makura conduct free and fair local council elections today and see how Nasarawa people will express their displeasure with APC,” Mr. Yaro told THISDAY in Lafia.

However, APGA’s bid to revive and reassert itself could be encumbered by the growing taint on the party as a sectional interest with “narrow aspirations to power.” Many political watchers and players in Nasarawa dismissed the party’s bid as sheer sectionalism smacked with religious and ethnic irredentism.

An aide to the State Chairman of APC, Mr. Phillips Shekwo, told THISDAY that “APGA is a party of those who have narrow interests and are only interested in taking power to fuel their narrow aspirations. The people in the party are politicians, who have nothing serious to offer apart from sentiments and propaganda.

“This is not the time for Nasarawa to go back in history and the people are too wise for APGA’s antics. Let us meet at elections and test our acceptability.”

As various approaches towards administering Nasarawa State are being projected by various political parties, APGA has a chance of a time to show what it could offer differently to the people of the state.

19

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

UPDATE&TRENDING

Despite Saraki’s Trial, Kwara is on Course The ongoing trial of the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki is not in any way affecting governance in Kwara State, writes Hammed Shittu

T

here is no doubting the fact that the current travails of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki over his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal over allegation of false assets declaration, when he was governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011 has begun to create an impression that it would affect governance in the state.

But government in the state is focused on delivering on its electoral promises to the people even though it has left the Saraki matter in the hands of God. Apart from this, residents of the state especially his kinsmen in Ilorin have been praying fervently as the only weapon believed could bail him out from his predicament.

Recently, organisations, opposition PDP and groups in the state had commented on the perceived political persecution being meted out to Saraki despite his contributions to the electoral success of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). They rallied support for Saraki as a way to reduce tension occasioned by his emergence as Senate President against the wish of some persons in the APC. Among the organisations siding with Saraki are Concerned Citizens on CCT, the Nigeria Need Positive Change Group (NNPCG), the Congress of Nigeria’s Political Parties (CNPP), Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the state’s chapter of the APC and its Kwara Central zone, leaders of thought in the North Central and the state Secretary of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Rex Olawoye.

In the build-up to the commencement of Saraki’s trial at the CCT, hundreds of youths and women in Ilorin, the state capital took to the streets and expressed solidarity with the Senate President. The state chairman of APC, Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani while addressing the protesters lamented that from what has transpired so far at the tribunal, there was no need guessing that Saraki’s trial is a political set-up. Some of the inscriptions on the placards carried by the protesters read: “Saraki’s case is political”; “CCT has two laws: one for Tinubu and one other Nigerians”; and “Sahara Reporters based in United States is an agent of evil.”

Leader of the protesters, Mr. Yinka Dalas asked the APC leaders to pass the message of the youths and women to the party’s hierarchy in Abuja, expressing disgust that Saraki was being persecuted after he had worked to help the party. “We as youths and women are concerned and that is why we have come here today.

Senate President Bukola Saraki’s ongoing trial at the CCT is politically-motivated.

“This is a man that single-handedly exposed the fuel subsidy scam. We are protesting in his support today and we want APC leadership in the state to take our case to the appropriate quarters. They claimed he mismanaged our money, when he was the governor of Kwara State, but every discerning mind knows that it this same man that opened up Kwara to the whole world. His achievements in office are there for all who care to see.”

The Nigeria Needs Positive Change Group (NNPCG) in a statement by its Secretary, Mr. Jide Jokotade, re-echoed its stand that the CCT should re-arraign Chief Bola Tinubu to answer charges preferred against him “because it is the same tribunal and the same Judge that has delivered different rulings in similar matters.”

Also, the state’s chapter of APC alleged the hijack of CCT by those it described as desperate politicians. The party warned that the judiciary may throw the country into needless chaos and pandemonium. The APC made the allegation in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari.

It said President Muhammadu Buhari “should not be seen to be watching helplessly when politicians hijack a crucial arm of the government to carry out political vendetta against perceived political adversaries. Like the c ounsel to the Senate President rightly noted, we are convinced that the right thing has not been done as far as the charges are concerned. It is now clear and glaring that due process has not been followed and the CCB has broken its own laws.”

Saraki and Ahmed...undistracted!

However, as the rallying of support continues for Saraki in the state, the day-to-day administration of the state is not lagging behind as both the state House of Assembly and the executive led by Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed have been working round the clock to ensure the timely delivery of electoral promises to the people.

In the legislative arena, the state assembly led by its speaker, Hon. Ali Ahmad has been rising to the needs of the people of the state in the issues of series of resolutions aimed at bringing government closer to the grassroots.

The lawmakers have been meeting as and when due to deliberate on how the state can move forward.

Among the resolutions passed by the lawmakers are summoning of the Commissioner for Environment and Forestry; Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency (KWEPA); agencies and other relevant stakeholders on the indiscriminate felling of trees; passage of

As the rallying of support continues for Saraki in the state, the day-to-day administration of the state is not lagging behind either as both the state House of Assembly and the Executive led by Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed have been working round the clock to ensure the timely delivery of electoral promises to the people

resolution on indiscriminate or illegal parking on the roads and abuse of no parking signs by shop owners on major roads in the Ilorin metropolis; resolution on erratic power supply and over-billing by the PHCN officials in the state; resolution urging the state government to see to the reconstruction of Ohan and Moro bridges and resolution to prohibit illegal issuance of certificate of origin in the state.

In the executive arena, Governor Ahmed has put in a lot of efforts for the inauguration of the verification committee to determine the higher increase in the wage bill of the government every month occasioned by the consequences of ghost workers. The committee which has commenced work has fished out a lot of ghost workers in some of the local government councils in the state. The governor has also set up Kwara Internal Revenue service during the issue under review and this has now improved the internally generated revenue in the state in view of the dwindling monthly federal allocations to the state in the recent time.

Apart from this, the governor has been meeting various stakeholders on how to develop the state and this was done during the ongoing travails of his leader, Senator Saraki.

Speaking with THISDAY, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications to Governor Ahmed, Dr. Muideen Femi Akorede said, “Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed has sustained the pace of governance despite the current challenges posed by the CCT trial of his political father and most importantly, the problem imposed by drop in allocations.

“For example, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed recently paid N2.4 billion to contractors handling over 35 road projects spread across the state.

These include the Aduralere-Isalekoko-OjagboroSanu Sheu Road, Henry George-Agbo-Oba road, Henry George-Unilorin mini campus road, Ita-Alamuvillage road, Oloro palace road, Share-Oke 0de (lot 1) and Share-Oke Ode (lot 2).

“Others are Kishi-Kaiama road, Egbejila road, Ilorin, Arobadi Magida road in Moro LG, Baboko market road, Ilesha Baruba-Gwanara road, RoreIpetu road, construction of three span bridges in Ilala, Ifelodun LG, Oniju Street Babanloma in Ifelodun LG and Anilelerin road, Offa. Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed also announced that with the approval of the N10 billion infrastructural development bond by the Debt Management Office (DMO), the government will soon kick-start major developmental projects.”

He noted that the tempo of infrastructural development in the state would be accelerated, adding “Some of the projects tied to the bond,

included the expansion of some major roads in the state capital, construction of two new campuses for Kwara State University in Ilesha-Baruba and Osi in Baruten and Ekiti local government areas respectively, construction of overhead bridge at Garin Alimi, construction of Kishi-Kaiama road, dualisation of Michael Imoudu to Ganmo road in Ilorin, and construction, equipping and fitting of New KWASU School of Business and Governance.

“Others are renovation and equipping of the Ilorin Stadium Indoor Sports Hall, Equipping and Training for the International Vocational Centre, Ajase Ipo, renovation of Oro General Hospital and four other cottage hospitals, renovation of 481 old classrooms and 318 new ones at secondary level, contribution to the construction and equipping of the Kwara Textile Industrial Park, Compliance with Contributory Pension Scheme and sinking of 938 boreholes.

“To increase water to supply to residents of the state and alleviate their sufferings, the state government has commenced the final phase of Ilorin water reticulation project.

Similarly, as part of its vision to develop the State Housing sector, Governor Ahmed in March commenced the construction of a commercial complex known as The Hub, in Ilorin. The landmark ultra-modern shopping and office complex; a project of the Harmony Investment and Property Development Limited (HIPD), a subsidiary of Harmony Holdings, is one of government’s efforts aimed at stimulating the Kwara economy.

“The governor also commenced the construction of 1000 housing units at Budo-Osho area of Ilorin. The construction of the 1000 Maigida Housing Units aims at addressing the housing deficit in the state by providing quality and affordable shelters for low and middle class workers and free them from the shackle of landlords. The Housing scheme will comprise 700 three-bedroom flats and 300 two-bedroom flats”.

It is also worthy of note that the day-to-day governance at the 16 local government councils in the state are running smooth without any hindrance. The development has continued to give confidence to the administration that any time, the people of the state would continue to support the Saraki political dynasty in the state in view of the delivery of dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of the populace.

NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisday.com

20

TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

FEATURES

Acting Features Editor Charles Ajunwa Email charles.ajunwa@thisdaylive.com

Stakeholders at War over MOPICON Bill Stakeholders in the Nollywood are singing discordant tunes over a proposed bill for the establishment of the Motion Picture Practitioners Council of Nigeria, writes Adebiyi Adedapo

T

he Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday 12th of April 2016 inaugurated a 28-member ministerial committee, headed

by Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe as the Coordinator and Mohammed Ali Balogun as deputy coordinator, to review the proposed bill for the establishment of Motion Picture Practitioners Council of Nigeria (MOPICON).

The bill seeks to establish Motion Picture Practitioners Council of Nigeria (MOPICON) as an umbrella body of professionals in Nigeria’s movie industry (Nollywood) incorporating film producers, cinematographers, directors, script writers, actors and other stakeholders in film production.

However, there have been discordant tunes over the proposed bill, membership of the committee as inaugurated by the minister and whole philosophy behind the establishment of MOPICON. Coupled with the division among stakeholders in the industry, over who and who should not to participate in the review process.

This formed the basis for the minister’s apprehension and scepticism as to whether he can achieve an harmonised copy of the proposed bill or not. “I am wondering if I can get that kind of support with the level of disunity in the industry and the prevailing structural deficiency, which have not allowed the industry to speak with one voice. I cannot count the number of petitions I have received either for non-inclusion in this committee or against the idea of MOPICON since I announced the constitution of the review committee. Some have even suggested that we are about to set up another agency that will muzzle creativity and dictate to them the kind of movies to produce.”

Perhaps, the suspicion that a MOPICON bill, when enacted will impose stringent conditions based on structured membership for motion pictures practitioners, as against the current system, which allows any interested individual or group to produce movies, makes the establishment of the body very difficult. For over two decades, Nigerian Motion Picture practitioners under various bodies craved for the council, which in their own view will engender sustainable growth of the industry based on best practices as well as practitioners’ protection.

While some entertained the fear that government will establish another regulatory body to censor activities in the industry, others are of the opinion that the establishment of MOPICON will stifle creative minds in the industry while at the same time create cumbersome conditions for new entrants into the Nollywood. For instance, an awardwinning movie director, Chukwudi Obasi expressed opposition to the bill, saying it was unnecessary and one-sided. According to Obasi, the MOPICON bill is not the solution that the film industry requires.

“I sense a change in the air. I have been asked why I don’t support MOPICON. So I have decided to articulate my points, so as to make clear that I have never been anti association. I may be a rebel at heart, but I realise and appreciate the function of organisation and structure within a system.

I have never contradicted that in any of my statements.” To solve the problem of ineffective distribution, he urged the government to build enough cinemas in every state of the federation, ensure that content buyers and cinema chains pay good money to producers.

Obasi also enjoined government to empower the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and enhance its capacity for optimum

Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed (right), exchanging pleasantries with movie practitioners

performance to stamp-out piracy.

Popular film maker, Uduak Isong, in his analysis noted that establishing MOPICON would be counter-productive, as he said the bill seeks to gag fresh creative minds from coming into the industry.

According to Isong,” the bill seeks to

We are going to try as much as possible to have an open session, where we will make available these documents that have been handed over to us now, and get all the stakeholders to understand what we are trying to do. A lot of misunderstandings have gone out about what MOPICON is trying to do, it is not another regulatory body, it is not going to stop anyone from being a creative, but it’s going to help who the professionals are within the creative

determine what standard of knowledge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as Motion Picture Practitioners and reviewing those standards from time to time. At the same time, it seeks to secure in accordance with the provisions of this bill, the establishment and maintenance of register of persons entitled to practise as professionals in the motion picture Industry, and the publication, from time to time, of lists of those persons.

“One question has stayed on my mind, why does anyone want this bill? How does it move not just Nollywood as an industry to the next level, but the practitioners as well? It looks to me like gagging, and why would anyone seek to gag Nollywood.”

Isong added that: “Anyone, anyone at all, should be able to pick up a phone, a camera, to express their art without fear or prejudice. We already have the censors board for ratings and other checks, why do we need this bill?” Also, the intense power struggle and leadership crisis that may ensue over the control of MOPICON is a subject of concern. Despite series of harmonisation attempts by the minister, prior to inauguration of the committee, arguments over who should and should not be members of the review team never ceased.

There are diverse interests in the industry, which renders the industry porous and uncoordinated, this probably is one of the reasons why government is in support of establishment of MOPICON. The minister while inaugurating the committee which has three weeks to conclude the review, explained that it is the responsibility of government to ensure that Nollywood plays a meaningful role in national development.

“Today's inauguration is a fulfilment of the promise I made at the 3rd edition of the Kannywood Awards in Abuja on March 12th 2016 to set up a Ministerial Committee to review the MOPICON document with a view to fast-tracking its passage into law. I have heard all the arguments for and against MOPICON. Some have argued that government has no business in helping Nollywood

to set up a self-regulatory structure. I want to state here that in line with our overall responsibility for the nation's information, a culture and tourism policy, our role in helping to set up MOPICON is simply to enable Nollywood to play meaningful role in national development.”

He also said that the umbrella body as a central decision making body, will effectively combat challenges facing the industry, noting that government had no hidden agenda aside the overall development of Nigeria’s creativity sector.

“One of the ways we think we can tackle frontally the many challenges militating against professional and career fulfilment in the movie industry is to have a central body we can always refer to in decisions aimed at improving and modernising the motion picture industry. Also, government's interest in the setting up of MOPICON is driven by the fact that we at the supervising ministry need to work with a formidable representative group that is to lobby for the growth, development and welfare of the industry and its practitioners as well as make for a better organised and more visible and vibrant Nollywood industry. We have no hidden agenda and we will not be part of anything that will stifle the growth of the burgeoning industry.”

The government also assured that MOPICON, when established will not assume the function of another regulatory body, but strictly an industry-run lobby and pressure body which will maintain the highest professional and commercial standard in the industry.

“It is however important at this juncture to clarify that this is not another attempt to set up another content regulatory agency or another parastatal of government. Government is even thinking of merging existing institutions; hence it is not prepared to waste scarce resources in establishing another agency. MOPICON is and will remain an industry-run lobby and pressure body that will foster the achievement and maintenance Continued on next page

21

• T H I S D AY TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

Herdsmen Killings as Anti-Buhari Phenomenon Ikeogu Oke

T

here is a sense in which the murderous rampage of the so-called Fulani herdsmen and the other recent killings in the country – particularly of the members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOD) movement and the Shiite Muslims – can be construed as anti-Buhari I have to point this out because, in a country where self-interest seems to trump everything else, especially in leadership, it may be an effective way to get President Muhammadu Buhari to use every means available to him to arrest this murderous march of anarchy being viewed by some as a devious manifestation of the 2015 post-election triumphalism of his Fulani people, and its nationwide and decidedly southward spread that threatens our very existence as a nation.

For we are witnessing a pattern of seemingly well-orchestrated violence whose legacy of death and hate may likely pit the south of the country against the north, with predictable consequences for our nation’s peace, unity and stability should it be allowed to fester any longer.

In the unlikely case that President Buhari’s initial reticence to the carnage is the result of his having asked himself, “What’s in stopping it for me?” and having not seen what, drawing his attention to how stopping it might benefit him personally may prove advantageous to the effort to end the menace, with him leading the charge as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces and the person ultimately responsible for securing our country and the lives and property of its citizens being destroyed by the herdsmen.

Now, as an agent of change, Buhari promised to put a stop to the reign of impunity in the land, with emphasis, it would seem, on the way some of our public office holders allegedly helped themselves with the contents of the public till, looting it without facing sanction and without consideration for our country’s future.

But the change that replaces a situation in which we had our treasury plundered with impunity with one in which we are having our lives destroyed with impunity, in our country, in peacetime, under the rule of law, cannot be deemed as an improvement. In fact, it is a worse situation in so far as we humans generally regard the loss of life as the greatest of all losses. Who would rather not have their money stolen than be robbed of their life?

And it is this metamorphosis of impunity into a greater evil that President Buhari seems to have ignored, maintaining a curious silence until he spoke by proxy following the most recent killings by the herdsmen in Enugu State that reportedly left scores dead, as the previous one in Agatu, Benue State, had done.

How many such attacks, and deaths, should it take a sensitive and responsible leader to personally reassure his people that their lives matter to him regardless of their ethnicity, especially one who, before he became President, reportedly interceded with the then Governor Lam Adesina of Oyo State to stop the killing of his Fulani people

President Buhari

in his state during an ethnic clash with their hosts? And didn’t another of our leaders, former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, boast that the Fulani herdsman can now dismantle and reassemble an AK47? Could his words have anticipated the recent killings by people believed to be Fulani herdsmen?

In sum, these killings are anti-Buhari because they put the President at risk of being judged by history as a leader who promised to make things better but left them worse; and not because he didn’t know what to do or lacked the capacity to act as his said intercession with former Governor Lam Adesina suggests.

And it is in his interest to stop the killings to avoid such a permanent stain on his reputation, besides justifying those who portray him as a sectional leader ruled by primordial impulses.

Also, having designated security as one of his major concerns in his inauguration speech, the rising insecurity reflected in the attacks portrays him as a failing President.

And stopping the attacks would nip this negative portrayal in the bud, in his interest.

Incidentally, the Fulani herdsman used to be a romantic figure, gentle and charming in his rusticity, the type whose life inspired pastoral poetry.

And I have had occasion to celebrate him in a prose poem entitled “Yola,” thus: “…Have you seen the cows returning from pasture? A mere lad herds them; he wears a straw hat daubed with bright colours, and holds his goad aslant behind his back, and whistles a jaunty tune, and leads them from behind.

At his finger even the wildest licks itself to submission, and will stay subdued unto death: everything bends at the kind wand of love, even these huge beasts of the Yola grasslands.”

But Nigeria, with its extraordinary capacity to pervert, has corrupted the person and idea of the Fulani herdsman.

Under her negative influence, he has traded his harmless stick for an AK47, arguably the deadliest weapon on the planet, and in place of his charming rusticity we now have a wild being whose presence evokes dread, a personification of mindless terror that creeps in by night to unleash death on innocent people in their sleep. And this gory transformation is happening under the leadership of President Buhari, giving a cynical twist to his change agenda! And as some of his supporters in the 2015 election might say, “This perversion of the Fulani herdsman is not the change we voted for.” And I might add a prayer to Mr. President: Please restore him to his original state of innocence.

There is an impression in certain parts of our country that the attacks by the herdsmen are backed by a hidden jihadist and hegemonistic agenda backed in turn by the President and some of his allies who, like the herdsmen, are Fulani.

And it would be worthwhile to convince those who hold this view that it is not an evidence of complicity in high places that herdsmen could execute such seemingly well-coordinated killings repeatedly in parts of our country where they are supposed to be strangers and succeed in escaping without

In sum, these killings are anti-Buhari because they put the President at risk of being judged by history as a leader who promised to make things better but left them worse; and not because he didn’t know what to do or lacked the capacity to act as his said intercession with former Governor Lam Adesina suggests.

And it is in his interest to stop the killings to avoid such a permanent stain on his reputation, besides justifying those who portray him as a sectional leader ruled by primordial impulses. Also, having designated security as one of his major concerns in his inauguration speech, the rising insecurity reflected in the attacks portrays him as a failing President.

And stopping the attacks would nip this negative portrayal in the bud, in his interest trace the same security agencies that have hunted down the Shiites and members of Boko Haram and IPOD, sometimes killing people who, unlike the herdsmen, posed no lethal threat to anyone.

In Abuja, I have recently sighted the oddity of herds of cattle and their drovers moving around the metropolis with a swagger that suggests their awareness that someone who especially has their interest at heart is in power, under whose charge they can get away with mass murder, let alone obstructing traffic.

And I think a system that seems to value cattle above humans calls for our critical attention, if we are human enough.

Oke, a poet and public affairs commentator, wrote from Abuja Email: ikeogu.oke@gmail.com

STAKEHOLDERS AT WAR OVER MOPICON BILL of the highest professional and commercial standards in the motion picture industry as well as ensure the protection of the rights and privileges of motion picture practitioners in the lawful exercise of their profession. I therefore urge the various interest groups to rise above their differences and work towards the harmonisation of their positions.

I have no doubt that things will change for the better for Nollywood once you all work towards properly setting up MOPICON. I believe that like APCON, MOPICON will emerge the most important intervention tool that the Nollywood requires to address some of its structural deficiencies.”

The minister who handed over the Report of the Steering Committee of the Motion Picture Council of Nigeria Vol. 1; Report of the Steering Committee of the Motion Picture Council of Nigeria (MOPICON) Appendix (One-Nine) Vol. 2; Draft Bill for the Report of the Steering Committee of the Motion Picture Council of Nigeria Vol. 3; and the Proceedings of the Steering Committee of Report of the Motion Picture Council of Nigeria Vol. 4, to the committee, said sending the documents back to its source for a review should absolve government from suspicion.

“The fact that I am sending the documents

back to the same source it came from for a review should absolve government from the allegation that we are about to set up another agency. The document I am handing over is your document, so please review as appropriate. Coordinator of the committee Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe promised to engage and sensitise stakeholders on the real intent of the bill.

“We are going to try as much as possible to have an open session, where we will make available these documents that have been handed over to us now, and get all the stakeholders to understand what we are trying to do. A lot of misunderstandings

have gone out about what MOPICON is trying to do, it is not another regulatory body, it is not going to stop anyone from being a creative, but it’s going to help who the professionals are within the creative, who decides what a professional is? There are certain areas which you will have to know what a professional is, a cinematographer is a professional, a creative designer is a professional, a script writer is a professional, so all these areas, we will need to have professionals looking at them and having entry points and at what level. It is actually a lobby group between government and practitioners.”

22

IMAGES

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

Photo Editor Abiodun Ajala Email abiodun.ajala@thisdaylive.com

L-R: Editor-in-Chief, Tell Magazine, Mr. Nosa Igiebor; Minister of Agriculture, and Rural Development, Mr. Audu Ogbeh; Publisher Abuja Enquirer, Mr. Dan Akpovwa; Minister of Information, Art and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; his counterparts in the Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed the Publisher, The Diplomat Newspaper, Mr. Omah Djeba, during the ministers meeting with members of NPAN, in Lagos…recently KOLA OLASUPO

L-R: Financial Secretary, Association of Assets Custodians of Nigeria (AACN), Bunmi Arowosafe; Vice President, Akeem Oyewale; President, Taiwo Sonola; General secretary, Biodun Adebimpe; and Publicity Secretary, Solomon Ikeanyi, during a briefing to announce the 5th Annual Investor Conference of AACN, holding in London, in Lagos…..recently

L-R: Human Resources Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Victor Famuyibo; Winner of 2015 Maltina Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Roseline Obi, Corporate Affairs Advisory, Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Kufre Ekanem and the Deputy General Secretary, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr. Wale Oyeniyi, during the Maltina Teachers of the Year 2016 media briefing, in Lagos...recently DAN UKANA

L-R: Channels Development Manager (Distributors and Original Equipment Manufacturer), Total Nigeria Plc, Mr. Emmanuel Emeghara; Managing Director, Mr. Alexis Vovk and the Head, Tata Motors Limited, Mr. Suraj Prakash, during the lubricant agreement signing ceremony between both companies, in Lagos… recently

L-R: Marketing Manager, GOtv, Johnson Ivase; Public Relations Manager, Efe Obiomah and the Managing Director, Strategic Outcomes Limited, Jenkins Alumona, during the GOtv Media round table with discussions with the Medias, in Lagos......recently KOLA OLASUPO

Representative of the President and Minister of State for Education, Prof Anthony Anwuka (Left) exchanging banters with the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, during the convocation ceremony of University of Nigeria Nsuka....... recently

President, International Institute for Petroleum and Energy Law Practice (IIPELP), Mr. Niyi Ayoola-Daniels (right) with Director General, Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mrs Dupe Atoki. during an NBA award presentation ceremony on Mrs. Atoki, in Abuja.......recently

23

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY , 

BUSINESSWORLD NIBOR OVERNIGHT 1-MONTH

R A T E S 4.4583 .

A S

NITTY 1 MONTH 2 MONTH 3 MONTH

A T . . .

GroupBusinessEditorChikaAmanze-Nwachuku Emailchika.amanzenwachukwu@thisdaylive.com 08033294157

M A Y 6 , 6 MONTH 9 MONTH 12 MONTH

. . .

2 0 1 6

EXCHANGE RATE N /  US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes Total, Tata Sign Partnership Deal

Total Nigeria Plc has signed an after-market partnership agreement with Tata Africa Services Nigeria Limited to supply high performance Total-branded lubricants. This local partnership is to trail and reinforce the global partnership agreement signed between Total Lubrifiants and Tata motors in Mumbai, India in September 2015. Total will support the Tata Motors service network and its customers to provide latest generation lubricants to enhance performance of Tata Motors Commercial vehicles.

The networks will receive access to high performance Total Quartz automotive lubricants that will exceedingly suit all Tata’s equipment specification. Included in the agreement is a full programme to provide technical training, marketing support tools and lubricant analysis services to Tata network for equipment monitoring.

Managing Director, Total Nigeria Plc, Alexis Vovk said the partnership would provide a channel for OEMs like Tata to have access to genuine TOTAL Lubricants and world class technical and marketing support.

“Satisfying our unique customer needs is very important to Total, which is why Total is dedicated to continuous investment in research and innovation. This dedication has led to the development of over 400 unique Industry applications that are tailor made to suit a wide range of Industrial Lubricant needs.

ENHANCING TAX REVENUE

L-R: Board Secretary, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mr. Jimi Aina; Director, New Growth Areas, LIRS, Mr. Ayodele Adebayo; Director, Tax Audit, LIRS, Mrs. Bolaji Akintola; Executive Chairman, LIRS, Mr. Olufolarin Ogunsanwo and Director, Administration and Human Resources, LIRS, Mrs. Arinola Kola-Daisi, during the Tax Audit Monitoring Agents conference and training by LIRS in Lagos… recently

Amendment of NLNG Act Threatens $25bn Investments, 30,000 Jobs Stories by Ejiofor Alike The proposed amendment of the Nigeria LNG Act, if carried out by the National Assembly, will potentially jeopardise $25 billion in investments and 30,000 jobs in the Niger Delta as the shareholders in Train 7 may not proceed with the Final Investment Decision (FID), the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NLNG Limited, Mr. Babs Omotowa has revealed.

Speaking to THISDAY in an exclusive interview at the weekend, Omotowa said if the Act was amended as proposed, Nigeria would be perceived as an unreliable country to do business, having

ENERGY reneged on the assurances and guarantees originally enshrined in the NLNG Act to assure the investors that the legislation would not be changed to wipe off their earnings from the $6 billion they staked to build the company.

He said the NLNG was on the drawing board for over 30 years because the foreign investors had felt that Nigeria was not safe for such huge investments, stressing that the assurances and guarantees that were provided in the NLNG Act were to assure the shareholders that the law would not be changed later to erode their earnings.

Omotowa said the attempt by the National Assembly to change the Act would send strong signals to international investors that Nigeria is not reliable, thus affecting the current drive by the present administration to attract investments from China and other countries.

“For example, we are making progress in building Train 7.

If we get to final decision on this, it will attract $10 billion of investments in building our facilities and additional $15 billion to build the upstream gas feed projects that need to be done. That, itself, will create more than 30,000 jobs in the Niger Delta in both NLNG and upstream companies. If

you make this kind of changes that in itself, will send signals to investors that you are not a reliable country, then you can forget about such investments.

I don’t think that is what the country needs now. We need jobs; we need more projects; we need more revenue for the government and to create activity in the contractor environment,” he explained.

Omotowa said the successful completion of Train 7 of NLNG would increase the activity of the company by 40 per cent as Train 7 represented 40 per cent of the company’s LNG volumes.

According to him, this will Continued on page 24

Fashola: Why Buhari Did Not Probe, Cancel Power Privatisation Denies scrapping CAPMI metering scheme The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has explained that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration did not probe or cancel the privatisation of the power sector carried out by the previous administration because such actions in the past did not successfully address the intended challenges.

Fashola has also described as inaccurate, reports that he had scrapped the Credit Advance Payment Metering Initiative (CAPMI) introduced by the Nigerian Electricity Regula-

ENERGY tory Commission (NERC) to boost metering of electricity consumers.

In a paper presented at a public lecture in Lagos at the weekend, Fashola said he should also have taken some of the more traditional steps such as promising the disappearance of epileptic power supply within one year to grab headlines, adding that such statements were also made in the past but power was not delivered.

Fashola further stated that

on assumption of office, he could also have started by telling Nigerians how many people would be probed for all the money spent on the power sector.

The minister, whose public lecture was on “Nigeria’s Electricity Challenges: A Roadmap for Change,” recalled that the federal government had probed almost everybody and every institution concerned with power in the past and the country still did not have enough power.

He said he could also

have started by announcing or recommending that the power privatisation process should be cancelled, stressing that he knew that cancellation of contracts was not a good signal to send to investors.

According to him, even if it grabs the headlines it would be for the wrong reasons.

“History also tells us that we have revoked, cancelled or reversed previous privatisation initiatives with refineries before and we still haven’t overcome Continued on page 26

US Oil Drillers Cut Rigs

US oil drillers cut rigs for a seventh week in a row to the lowest level since October 2009, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said Friday, although as analysts see an end to the nearly two-year slump in drilling for new wells.

Drillers cut four oil rigs in the week to May 6, bringing the total rig count down to 328, that compares with the 668 rigs operating a year ago, Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report.

In 2015, drillers cut on average 18 oil rigs per week for a total of 963 for the year, the biggest annual decline since at least 1988 amid the biggest rout in crude prices in a generation.

Before this week, drillers cut on average 12 oil rigs per week for a total of 204 so far this year.

The US rig count may finally be bottoming out as companies look for oil prices to rally just a bit more, a signal that the time has come to deploy more capital and get production moving again, analysts say.

Energy firms have sharply reduced oil and gas drilling since the collapse in crude markets began in mid-2014 when U.S. crude futures fell from over $107 a barrel to hit a near 13-year low at around $26 in February.

After climbing to a six-month high around $47 last week, U.S. crude futures this week were heading for their first weekly loss in four weeks, trading around $45 as investors cash in on the prior month’s gains.

Brazil’s Fuel Consumption Shrinks

Brazil’s consumption of gasoline and diesel is falling as the country’s commodity-driven boom falls apart and the economy shrinks.

Brazil’s gasoline sales grew at an average annual rate of nearly 7 percent between 2004 and 2014 while diesel use was up by more than 4 percent per year.

Like many other commodity exporting economies, the revenue boom stimulated rapid growth in incomes and consumption at home, which in turn became an important source of extra commodity demand.

Brazil’s gasoline sales went up from 400,000 barrels per day in 2004 to 765,000 barrels per day in 2014 according to government data.

Diesel sales grew from 675,000 bpd to more than 1 million bpd over the same 10-year period (“Monthly Statistical Data”, ANP, 2016).

We remain very resolute about the resilience of the Nigerian economy, which we hope to be part of, for a very long time” Managing Director, NIPCO Plc, Mr. Venkataraman Venkatapathy

24

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016

25

A

10.05.2016

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

‘LEGAL AID SHOULD BE ELEVATED TO L OF A THE LEVEL L RIGHT’ FUNDAMENTAL

Chief Bolaji Ayorinde SAN

2/DASHBOARD

10.05.2016

A Plaintiff has a Duty to Include as Parties, all Persons Who will be Affected by the Judgment of the Court PAGE 3

Idigbe Memorial Lecture: Alegeh Urges Urgent Passage of PIB PAGE 4

Lagos Chief Judge Extols the Virtues of Justice Kayode-Ogunmekan as She Retires PAGE 4

Punuka Annual Lecture: Professor Lawrence Implores Nigeria to Take another Look at Currency Devaluation PAGE 5

QUOTABLES

‘You Have to Cultivate Law With the Tools of Study and Scholarship, Water it with Industry’ PAGE 5 A ‘ nybody who can’t explain his wealth must be brought to account. Everyone who has served in public office must account for what they own.

This is the change we want Nigerians to support.

The dream of the Buhari government is to have a country where integrity is our national culture.’

– Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN

Agriculture and Food Production in Nigeria: Matters Arising Before the 8th Senate in 2019 PAGE 6

‘We canvass the view that law scholars in Nigeria should re-imagine the intellectual content and breadth of their fields of study.

They should now be thinking of moulding and shaping future advocates who would have audience not only in Nigerian courts but also in the global community of courts’ – Hon. Justice Centus Chima Nweze, JSC

The Kaduna State Street Begging and Hawking (Prohibition) Law, 2016: Some Contentious Issues PAGE 7

COLUMNISTS IDOWU OLOFINMOYIN The ‘White wing-tipped Collar’ is synonymous with the Advocate and the Advocate with oratory on what is pertinent, significant and what is poignant to contemporary life. And that is what The WhiteCollar column is, a variety column that discusses, by various written mediums, the legal issues that affect contemporary Nigeria, and hopes to inform meaningful discourse toward the ideal of our national community.

Idowu is Counsel with Norfolk Partners, and as well as expertise in Law and Litigation, he has interests in Culture, Sports and Entertainment. He obtained a B.A. in Business Law and Marketing (Joint Hons.) from London Metropolitan University before his Post-Graduate Diploma in Law, Professional Training for the Bar and qualifying as a Barrister in England and Wales. He has an L.L.M from BPP University London.

EMEKA AZINGE Emeka Azinge a.k.a Mr .Emedith holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Cardiff University, United Kingdom and a Masters of Law degree from the prestigious King’s College London, United Kingdom and is currently pursuing the prestigious Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) with the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. Emeka has been called to Nigerian Bar, and is also a certified soft-skills and entrepreneurship facilitator, coach and mentor, who equally coaches lawyers on legal soft-skills.

He is a member of the International Association of facilitators (I.A.F) and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, U.K. Nigeria Branch. He is the Managing Partner, EMEDITH SOLICITORS, a Corporate and Commercial Law practice in Lagos, Nigeria, as well the Head-Consultant, EMEDITH CONSULTING- a personal development and soft-skills coaching firm.

‘Legal Catalyst’ is aimed at encouraging, motivating and inspiring legal practitioners around the nation and beyond grow, thrive within whatever environment they find themselves as well as maximize their potential essentially by gaining self-awareness about their skills, interests, and values, and amplifying these via a plan of action for achieving goals.

MAY AGBAMUCHE-MBU EDITOR JUDE IGBANOI DEPUTY EDITOR TOBI SONIYI ASSISTANT EDITOR AKINWALE AKINTUDE REPORTER TUNDE BUSARI GROUP HEAD OCHI OGBUAKU II ART DIRECTOR

LAW REPORT/3

A Plaintiff has a Duty to Include as Parties, all Persons Who will be Affected by the Judgment of the Court

I

t is trite in law that no cause or matter shall be defeated by reason of the mis-joinder or non-joinder of a party.

Although a Court might typically have the jurisdiction to hear a suit, the absence of a proper or necessary party before the Court renders the entire suit an exercise in futility, as a Court cannot validly make an order or decision which will affect a stranger to the suit, who was never heard nor given an opportunity to defend himself. In the instant appeal, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the decision of the Court Appeal which set aside the judgment of the trial court on the ground that the trial court lacked the jurisdiction to have entertained the Appellants’ originating summons.

Facts The 1st and 2nd Respondents were the National Chairman and National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (“APGA”) from the year 2006. On the 1st day of December, 2010 the National Executive Committee of APGA held a meeting, where it was resolved that the tenure of the reconstituted members of the National Working Committee be renewed for another four years. At the national convention of APGA, which was held on the 10th day of February, 2011 a motion was passed, extending the Respondents’ tenure for another four years.

As at the 10th day of February, 2011 the 1st Appellant was not a member of APGA, having been expelled from the party in 2005. Upon his return to the party in February 2013, he was issued a new membership card, and subsequently elected as a member of the National Working Committee of APGA, during the national convention of APGA that was held on 8th April 2013.

Meanwhile, the Appellants who were not satisfied with the election of the 1st and 2nd Respondents conducted on 10th February, 2011, instituted an action at the Federal High Court, Abuja (the “trial court”) by way of originating summons seeking various declaratory reliefs. The 1st and 2nd Respondents filed a notice of preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the trial court to entertain the suit. The learned trial judge in determining both the 1st and 2nd Respondents’ preliminary objection and the Appellants originating summons together, overruled the preliminary objection and granted the reliefs sought by the Appellants in the originating summons.

Dissatisfied with the decision of the trial court, the Respondents appealed to the Court of Appeal, Abuja (the “Court of Appeal”) which allowed the appeal and set aside the judgment of the trial court.

The Appellants, being dissatisfied with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, appealed to the Supreme Court, by its notice of appeal filed on 12th December, 2014. At the hearing of the appeal, all parties adopted their respective briefs of argument, save the 3rd - 5th Respondents, who failed to file any process and defend the appeal, although they were duly served with the court processes. In addition, the 6th Respondent in adopting its brief, opted to remain neutral and had nothing to urge the court.

The Appellants formulated the following issues for the determination of the appeal: (i) whether the Court of Appeal was right when it overruled the preliminary objection of the Appellants challenging in effect the validity of the appeal of the 1st & 2nd Respondents to the Court of Appeal; (ii) the effect of non-joinder of a party to an action particularly when the party not joined has not complained against such non joinder; (iii) whether the Court of Appeal was right when it held that the 1st Appellant did not have the locus standi to bring the action when (a) he had enough interest in the suit since he was claiming to be the duly elected National chairman of the party as against the 1st Respondent (b) the action was brought in a representative capacity and was not his personal action; (iv) whether the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the suit No. CA/E/84/2013 - UMEH v EJIKE decided any other thing apart from deciding that the plaintiff in that suit did not have locus standi to present the action and when none of the issues presented to the trial court and the Court of Appeal in this suit were decided in that appeal by the Court of Appeal Enugu Division; and (iv) whether the Court of Appeal appreciated the case of the parties as presented to it before arriving at its decision.

The 1st and 2nd Respondent, on their part, submitted the following issues for determination: (i) whether the Court of Appeal rightly dismissed the preliminary objection of the Appellants challenging the competence of some grounds of the 1st and 2nd Respondents’ appeal to the Court of Appeal; (ii) Whether the Court of Appeal rightly held that the trial court has no jurisdiction to determine the suit; and (iii) whether the Court of Appeal properly appreciated the case of the parties before arriving at its decision.

The Supreme Court decided to first resolve the Appellants’ issues two and three and the 1st and 2nd Respondents’ issue two, together since all three issues border on jurisdiction.

On the Appellant’s issue number two, the Appellants submitted that the non-joinder of necessary parties does not defeat an action and neither affects the potency of the action nor the jurisdiction of the court to determine the case as between the parties actually before the court. In support of this submission they relied on the following cases: AZUH v UBN PLC (2014) II NWLR (Pt. 1419) 580 at 610-611 and LSBPC v PURIFICATION TECH. NIG. LTD (2013) 7 NWLR (Pt.1352) 82 at 109. The Appellants

J.I Okoro, JSC

In The Supreme Court of Nigeria Holden at Abuja On Friday the 15th Day of January, 2016 Before Their Lordships Suleiman Galadima Olukayode Ariwoola Kudirat Motomori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun John Inyang Okoro Amiru Sanusi Justices, Supreme Court SC.565/2014 Between 1. Chief Maxi Okwu 2. Chief Dickson Ogu .................... Appellants (suing for themselves and all other National Officers elected at the National Convention of APGA held at the Women Development Centre, Akwa on the 8th day of April, 2013] And 1. Chief Victor Umeh 2. Alhaji Sani A. Shinkafi ((For themselves and on behalf of the Members of the National Working Committee “elected” by a motion on the 18th day of February, 2011 at the Women Development/ Centre Awka) 3. Comrade Ibrahim Carefor 4. Dr. Gbenga Afeni ................... Respondents 5. Alhaji Abubakar Adama 6. Independent National Electoral Commission Judgment Delivered By John Inyang Okoro, JSC submitted further that the presence or absence of APGA did not affect the just and effectual resolution of the suit. It was their further submission that the 1st and 2nd Respondents do not have the legal vires to protest the non-inclusion of APGA as a party to the proceedings, as it is only APGA that can make such a complaint.

On their issue number three, the Appellants argued that it is unfortunate that the Court of Appeal held that since the 1st Appellant was not a member of APGA in 2010, when the 1st and 2nd Respondents were re-elected National Chairman and Secretary of APGA respectively, he lacked the locus standi to bring the action. They, thus argued that no one questioned the validity of the convention of 10 of February 2010 which produced the 1st and 2nd Respondent. They submitted that the questions which relate to the 2010 convention were whether the said convention satisfied Article 18(4) of the APGA constitution and whether a motion which produced the 1st and 2nd Respondents equate to an election of the National Executive Committee of the party.

He argued that the 1st Appellant as plaintiff, has the locus standi to bring the action since he claims to be the authentic National Chairman of APGA which was pleaded by him in his pleadings.

He relied on the case of BAKARE v AJOSE-ADEOGUN (2014) 6 NWLR (Pt. 1403) 320 at 351.

They further argued that being a representative action, it is not only the plaintiff or defendant that are the parties, as others who are not named are also parties, and therefore the fact that the 1st Appellant and three other Plaintiffs withdrew from the suit, does not preclude the 2nd Appellant from continuing with same. They relied on NDULE v IBEZIM (2000) 5 SCNJ 247.

In conclusion they urged the Supreme Court to resolve the two issues in favour of the Appellants.

On issue two of the 1st and 2nd Respondents, which deals with the non-joinder of APGA, the 1st and 2nd Respondents submitted that the judgment of the trial court made against APGA,

which was not a party to the suit and which had a direct and massive impact on the activities of APGA, could not be allowed to stand, and that, the Court of Appeal was right to hold that the determination of the suit in the absence of APGA amounted to a gross violation of APGA’s entrenched right to fair hearing and thus palpably unconstitutional. They further argued that by virtue of section 80 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), APGA is ‘a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in its corporate name. They relied on the case of NDP v. INEC (2013) 6 NWLR (Pt.1350) 392. It was their further submission that it is impracticable to question the actions or conducts of principal officers or organs of a corporate entity such as APGA, without making the corporate entity a party to the suit. They relied on the cases of OLAWOYE v JIMOH 13 NWLR (Pt.1371) 362 and OLONODE v OYEBI (1984) NSCC (vol. 15) 286 at 297.

On the locus standi of the 1st Appellant, they submitted that to the extent that, it is evident that the 1st Appellant was not a member of APGA as at 10th February 2011, when the 1st and 2nd Respondents were elected chairman and secretary of APGA respectively, the 1st Appellant had no locus to bring this action either in his personal capacity or even in a representative capacity.

That having only returned to APGA in November, 2012 as shown in his membership card or “came back to APGA in February, 2013 or thereabout” as admitted by him, he had no locus standi to challenge actions of APGA which took place in 2011.

On the Appellants’ contention that the APGA Convention of 10th February 2011 was never challenged, they submitted that both issues 3 & 4 and reliefs 3, 7 and 8 in the originating summons, were targeted at the APGA National Convention of February, 2011.

They submitted that as long as the APGA National Convention took place prior to “November, 2012 and/or February, 2013 or thereabout”, being the dates of the 1st Appellant’s re-admission into the party, the 1st Appellant remained without the requisite legal standing to maintain the action.

They further submitted that the issue relating to the 3rd plaintiff being the sole plaintiff since others had withdrawn was never raised at the trial court nor was it an issue at the Court of Appeal.

Thus, being a fresh issue, leave ought to have been sought and obtained. They relied on the case of UOR & ORS v LOKO (1988) 2 NWLR (Pt. 77) 439. In conclusion, they urged the Court to resolve this issue in favour of the Respondents.

The Court’s Rationale and Judgment On the issue of jurisdiction, the Supreme Court held that although the trial court had jurisdiction to hear the suit as constituted, the judgment generated which had a massive impact on the activities of APGA, including its leadership, cannot be allowed to stand, in the absence of APGA as a party to the suit. The Supreme Court took the view that APGA was a necessary party to the suit and that although on the state of the authorities, an action is not defeated by the non-joinder of a party, the absence of APGA in the instant action, a necessary party, who was not afforded an opportunity of being heard, is against the tenor of section 36 of the Constitution and rendered the entire suit a nullity. In the words of the Supreme Court; “a plaintiff is not bound to sue a particular party. However, where the outcome of the suit will affect that party one way or the other, it will be fool hardy not to join him in the suit. It would in fact amount to an exercise in futility as the party will not be bound by the outcome of the case.”

On the issue of the locus standi of the 1st Appellant to institute the action either in his personal capacity or in a representative capacity, the Supreme Court observed that it is evident that the 1st Appellant was only readmitted into APGA sometime in November 2012 and was certainly not a member of APGA as at 10th February 2011, when APGA held the convention which produced the 1st and 2nd Respondents as National Chairman and National Secretary respectively. On the premise of this observation, the Supreme Court held that the 1st Appellant had no locus standi to challenge the election of the 1st and 2nd Respondents, which election occurred prior to his membership of APGA. The Supreme Court held further that, the 1st Appellant’s apparent lack of locus standi deprived the trial court of the jurisdiction to grant the reliefs sought by the Appellants in their originating summons.

In view of the foregoing, the court dismissed the appeal and upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal which set aside the judgment of the trial court and awarded cost of 100,000.00 in favour of the 1st and 2nd Respondents only.

APPEARANCES For the Appellants: G. S. Pwul, SAN with Oba Mudubuchi, Esq., Hello L, Ibrahim, Esq. Kenechukwu Maduka, Esq., V. M. G. Pwul, Esq., A. A. Nyam, (Miss), Adewale Odeleye, Esq, Oluwatosin Odeleye, (Miss) and P.E. Okoife, Esq. For the 1st and 2nd Respondents: P. I. N Ikwueto, SAN with G. I Mbaer, Esq., Isaiah Bozimo, Esq., C. Ogbuefi, Esq., and N. Odumegwn.

Rahimatu Aminu (Mrs.) for the 6th Respondent.

Reported by Afun Adenike Adedolapo, Aluko & Oyebode, Lagos.

4/NEWS

10.05.2016

L-R: Vice-Chancellor, University of Benin, Professor V.O Orunmwese, NBA President, Mr. Augustine Alegeh SAN and Professor Paul idornigie SAN at the 2016 Justice Idigbe Memorial Lecture at the University of Benin Law Faculty, recently

L-R: (front) Hon. Justice Amoke Oyekan-Abdullahi, Hon. Justice Opeyemi Oke, Lagos State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade, Hon. Justice Adebisi Kayode-Ogunmekan (Rtd) and Hon. Justice Kazeem Alogba at the Valedictory Court Session in honour of Justice Kayode-Ogunmekan at The High Court Foyer, Igbosere, Lagos, recently

Idigbe Memorial Lecture: Alegeh Urges Urgent Passage of PIB Jude Igbanoi

Until the Petroleum Industry Bill is passed, the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria will continue to witness a massive devastation of its ecosystem, youth restiveness and insecurity.

President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Augustine Alegeh SAN made these submissions at the University of Benin Law Faculty last Thursday when he delivered the 2016 Justice Idigbe Memorial Lecture.

The annual lecture was instituted in 1988 by the erudite human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN in memory of the late Hon Justice Chukwunweike Idigbe JSC who was applauded as one of the leading jurists in his time at the Apex Court.

Mr. Alegeh SAN is the first president of the NBA to deliver the lecture which is the 15th in its series. His lecture which was titled “Law and National Development” drew a sizeable population of the University to the Akin Deko Auditorium which was filled to

capacity. The NBA president also had the rare privilege of being an Alumni of the University of Benin pioneer class of the Faculty of Law in 1981.

He described Justice Idigbe JSC as an erudite and fearless judicial officer with great intellectual prowess whose judicial pronouncements remain indispensable till date.

In his paper, Alegeh said ‘Nigeria’s crude oil and gas reserves have continued to increase over the years. However, despite our enormous endowments, we have not been able to record significant economic growth and development relative to our resources. The reasons for this setback are not farfetched and are easily identifiable as absence of the rule of law, corruption, insecurity, failure to implement extant laws etc.

He however noted that ‘The Petroleum industry Bill has undergone several modifications and reforms in order to better serve the needs of the public.

However, we are yet to achieve the much desired reform in this

sector. It is rather unfortunate that despite discovering crude oil over 59 years ago, we are yet to enact an Act that has the capacity to regulate all activities within the petroleum sector.

‘The attempt by our National Assembly to balkanise the Petroleum Industry Bill and pass it piecemeal is certainly not the solution to the problem. Our neighbour, Ghana understudied the Nigerian Petroleum Industry Bill and have long passed and amended their version several times over. It behoves on our legislature to do the needful by being courageous enough to pass a PIB that is holistic and reflects the interests of all Nigerians and Stakeholders in the industry. The Nigerian Bar Association has constituted a Think-tank that will review the various versions of the PIB and come up with a final Bill which the NBA will seek sponsorship and support of our members at the National Assembly to ensure its passage.’

He stated that the PIB is expected to address the constant

face-off between Oil companies and their host communities.

That the PIB should address the issue of the destruction of the ecosystem via pollution of the water system leading to the death of fishes and other sea animals. The PIB should also be able to address the issue of youth restiveness and militancy in the Niger Delta region. These and many other issues are expected to be addressed by the PIB as part of the reforms expected to be introduced in the oil & gas sector.

On the nation’s justice delivery system he emphasised that ‘In Nigeria, there are several archaic and anachronistic laws which remain in our body of Laws and which militate against the progressive development of our Country. These laws need to be reviewed and amended for there to be proper progressive change in Nigeria and on our lot as Nigerians. Additionally, we need to enact several other Laws to meet modern-day challenges and put our Country on the path of progressive development.’

Lagos Chief Judge Extols the Virtues of Justice Kayode-Ogunmekan as She Retires Akinwale Akintunde Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade has described Justice Adebisi KayodeOgunmekan as a woman with profound intellectual depth of knowledge of legal jurisprudence and an eloquent demonstrator of fair Judgments and judicial pronouncements.

Justice Atilade extolled the virtues of Justice KayodeOgunmekan last week at a Valedictory Court Session held at the High Court, foyer in her honour as she retires from the state Judiciary.

In her address, the Chief Judge stated that Justice KayodeOgunmekan’s rich wealth of experience and ingenious resourcefulness at the Bar and in the Public service proved valuable as they were brought to bear on the job and earned her the deserved elevation to

the High Court Bench of the Lagos State Judiciary almost two decades ago.

‘Not only has our retiree proven her worth as a jurist of immense quality, Her Ladyship has also stood the test of time.

A woman of excellence with a keen eye for details, whose strength of character was ably exemplified in her reliability, uprightness and forthrightness.

Little wonder that she is loved and admired by all, including her brother and sister judges in the Lagos State Judiciary.’

She added.

Also speaking at the Valedictory Court session, Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos Branch, Mr. Martin Ogunleye described the retired Judge as an asset to the justice delivery sector of Lagos State who promoted reconciliation in many cases that came before her.

“We at the Lagos Branch of

NBA wish you a deserved rest and blissful retirement after 38 years of fruitful and rewarding public service, you have played your part and history will be kind to you when your role and time on the bench is chronicled”, Ogunleye said.

The retired Judge in her remarks at the occasion attributed her success in both the Public service and the Judiciary to the grace of God the Almighty. She expressed her profound appreciation to the State Judiciary for the well-deserved honour bestowed on her by all and sundry in the justice sector and more especially her brother and sister judges at the Bench.

She used the occasion to call on the appropriate authorities to provide better welfare packages for legal practitioners while also advising lawyers and judges alike to be mindful of their limitations in all legal proceedings by hold-

ing tenaciously to the guiding principles of the legal practice.

Justice Adebisi Omolara Kayode-Ogunmekan is an exceptional jurist, erudite, focused, diligent and committed to service. Born into the family of Prince Michael Adedipupo Ogun - The late Olofin Ajaiye of Orugbo Ikosi-Ejirin LCDA, in Lagos State on the 12th of August, 1950. The young Adebisi commenced her formal education at the Anglican Girls School, Broad Street, Lagos from January 1956-Decemebr 1958, and Children’s Home School, Molete, Ibadan between January 1959 – December 1963.

For her post primary education, she enrolled at the prestigious Queen’s School, Ede in 1963 where she successfully completed her West African School Certificate Examination

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

LEGAL UPDATES CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP AT THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF ARBITRATORS, NIGERIA BRANCH At the 16th Annual General Meeting of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators held on the 21st of April, 2016, the leadership of the Branch changed as Mohammed Dele Belgore,SAN, FCIArb handed the reins of power over to Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes -Vivour, FCIArb after 3 years of serving as the Branch Chairman. At the same event Mrs. May Mbu, MCIArb also retired as the Branch Secretary and Mrs. Folashade Alli, FCIArb has been appointed as the new Branch Secretary.

Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes- Vivour was the former 1st Vice Chairman and has been a long standing and founding member of the Institute. She is an ardent ADR practitioner. There is no doubt that the Branch will benefit from her wealth of experience and she will definitely take the Branch to the next level.

NIGERIA TO HOST 1ST ICC AFRICA REGIONAL ARBITRATION CONFERENCE IN LAGOS The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Paris, in conjunction with the International Chamber of Commerce Nigeria (ICCN), will from Sunday, June 19 to Tuesday, June 21, 2016 hold the 1st ICC Africa Regional Arbitration Conference in Nigeria.

Scheduled to take place at the Eko Hotels & Suites,Victoria Island, Lagos, the theme of the Conference is,“Arbitration and Africa – Prospects and Challenges”.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is partnering with ICCN as a supporting organisation for the Conference, with both the President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, Mr. Alexis Mourre and the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Augustine Alegeh, SAN, FCIArb, delivering keynote speeches at the Opening Ceremony of the Conference.

The three day conference will focus on the relationship between inward foreign investment in emerging markets in Africa, the types of disputes which may arise, and the African experience resolving investment and other business disputes by Arbitration.The Conference will also offer a veritable platform for CEOs of companies investing in African countries to share their experiences in investing in Africa, as a backdrop to the subsequent discussions of the relationship between Arbitration and Investment, particularly FDI. According to the Chairman of the Planning Committee and Vice President ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, Mrs. Dorothy Ufot, SAN,“there is currently, a rapidly growing interest in African arbitration and this Conference being the first to be hosted by the ICC International Court of Arbitration on the continent will offer an opportunity for a wide range of experts and participants to discuss the challenges and prospects of Arbitration in Africa, with a view to enlightening delegates on the arbitration process and the common pitfalls to avoid in the quest for expeditious and cost effective resolution of business disputes by arbitration.”

“Other participants at the Conference include, Monica Mbanefo, former Director, International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations, Sami Houerbi, Director, ICC Dispute Resolution Services for Eastern Mediterranean, Middle-East & Africa, and Jimmy Kodo, Special Advisor to the President, Common Court of Justice and Arbitration of OHADA, Abidjan and a host of others who will examine the ICC experience dealing with Africa related arbitration” She added.

The conference will have in attendance practising lawyers, arbitrators, judges, engineers, architects, accountants, quantity surveyors, academics, corporate counsel, LL.M. students as well as prominent corporate sector players who will all add value to the conference as speakers on various panels and sessions. Registration for the conference has since commenced and intending participants can take advantage of the extension of the early bird rate by visiting http://iccn. org/register.php for more information about the Conference.

10.05.2016

/5

Punuka Annual Lecture: Professor Lawrence Implores Nigeria to Take another Look at Currency Devaluation Jude Igbanoi Contrary to the general perception by Nigerians, devaluing the Naira does not equate to economic doom for the nation, it may actually revive and stabilise the economy.

For Nigeria to attain economic stability and sustainable development, her currency should be subjected to free market forces, which could involve the devaluation of the Naira.

Professor Robert Lawrence of the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government made these recommendations as Keynote Speaker at the Punuka Annual Lecture Series which held at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island Lagos last Thursday.

According to the Principal Partner at Punuka, Chief Anthony Idigbe SAN, “the choice of theme for this year’s lecture ‘The Challenge of Balancing the need for Protection of Developing Economies and the Provision of an Enabling Environment for Foreign Investment and Trade’ was influenced by the current social-economic upheaval that our great country Nigeria is facing. We decided

to take on a topic that is not only a source of great debate and controversy but out of which we believe strategies for positive change in development of our great nation can be conceived.”

“The global meltdown of 2008 has apparently refused to abate. Recent instability in commodity prices such as crude oil has exacerbated the situation for most developing economies.”

“There is an apparent need for developing economies to look inwards and discover how to diversify their economies. As they endeavour to diversify, the other economies place barriers to protect their local producers. The quagmire was aptly captured by Franklin R. Root when he stated that ‘the issue of free trade versus protection has been in dispute since the eighteenth century. The arguments are complex and subtle, although the controversy itself is obvious.’

“Reliance on commodity trade has left developing economies vulnerable to the global market crises. Milton Friedman in his book titled Capitalism and Freedom stated ‘Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces

real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.’”

Professor Lawrence’s paper was on ‘Growth & Trade Policy: Concepts & Implications for Nigeria.’

In analysing Nigeria’s present socio-economic policies, the erudite scholar stated that “In education, Nigeria needs to improve basic skills level and build better policies and programs that would boost access and market relevance of technical vocational education and training.

In agriculture, increase access to markets, inputs, credit, and technology.”

“To help grow private businesses and increase their employment capacity, Nigeria will need to improve the business climate.”

“The biggest gains in productivity would come from reducing crime, improving access to credit, reducing losses due to power outages, improving legal system to enforce property rights.”

LAGOS CHIEF JUDGE EXTOLS THE VIRTUES OF JUSTICE KAYODE-OGUNMEKAN AS SHE RETIRES with distinction between 1964 and 1968. She thereafter proceeded to Ijebu Ode Grammar School for her Higher Secondary Education Certificate (HSC) from 1969-1970. She went further to obtain her General Certificate Examination (A-Levels), and her excellent performance in her chosen subjects earned her a direct admission to the University of Lagos, Akoka in 1971 for her Law degree.

Having obtained her Law Degree in 1974,

she enrolled at the Law School Lagos between 1974 and 1975 where she was called to the Bar in July, 1975. Between 1975 and 1976, she was mobilised for the mandatory national service and deployed under the 3rd set of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) first, to the Ministry of Justice Kaduna and later to the Force Headquarters, Lagos for her primary assignment.

She commenced her journey to a flourishing

Professor Lawrence submitted that Nigeria’s trade regime as it presently stands does not promote structural transformation that the nation must take steps to ensure that the exchange rate regime promotes competitiveness.

It was on this basis that he recommended a devaluation of the Naira, saying that undervaluation is the second-best tool for promoting efficient structural change and growth in a developing economy.

The advantages of devaluation according to him include, “high domestic saving relative to investment, a structural fiscal surplus, Countercyclical regulations on capital flows and tax or restrict inflows in good times.”

In conclusion Professor Lawrence stated that there are opportunities in the current global environment, but that Nigeria is poorly equipped to achieve them. That what Nigeria needs right now are policies that facilitate structural change, industrial and trade policies can help, but that an appropriate macroeconomic environment with a competitive exchange rate is essential.

This year’s event was chaired by Dr. Sonny Kuku, with Nigeria’s former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon as Special Guest of Honour.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

and rewarding career in the legal profession when she joined the firm of Muyiwa Sotuminu & Co as a junior Counsel from July 1976 to February 1977. On the 13th of June 1977, she gained employment at the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), as a Legal Officer and rose to the rank of Senior Legal Officer in 1980, when she was seconded to Land Use and Allocation Committee from 1981 to 1982.

Focused and purpose driven, Her Ladyship’s resourcefulness and commitment was recognised by her re-deployment to the Lagos State Ministry of Justice in 1983. While in the Ministry of Justice, she distinguished herself in several positions and capacities. She rose through the ranks from a Principal State Counsel II, to Director Legal Drafting in 1998.She was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Lagos State on the 17th of September 1998.

Legal Personality of the Week Ayodeji Olabiwonnu

‘You Have to Cultivate Law With the Tools of Study and Scholarship, Water it with Industry’ My name is Ayodeji Olabiwonnu. I am from Arigidi-Akoko in Ondo State. I am a Legal Practitioner with special interest in General Dispute Resolution and Property Law.

the Court graciously recalled my case, heard my oral application for a temporary order and granted same as I prayed. My client was greatly impressed and I felt proud too.

Have you had any challenges in your career as a lawyer and if so what were the main challenges?

Oh yes, there have been challenges in my career and I think those challenges are necessary for growth in any career at all. Firstly, I faced the common challenge of poor remuneration as a young lawyer while I was still in the employment of seniors.

Then when I set up my private practice some few years back, I faced the challenge of acceptance and earning the trust of prospective clients as a young lawyer. You see, we are in a society where your knowledge and abilities are measured by your looks.

It is a surface-value oriented society. So, an average Nigerian client would ordinarily prefer a lawyer who is more advanced in age to a younger lawyer, regardless of the actual abilities and capabilities or even the year of call of the younger lawyer. To an average client, the younger you are in age, the less knowledgeable you are. At the time, many of my mates and even juniors at the Bar who were much older in age would find it easier landing briefs, even if I was more competent. But then, like I said earlier, those challenges should be the impetus for more work to drive growth. I made sure I worked harder on my cases to impress clients, win and retain their trust and confidence. Of course it paid off with time and I got more referrals from those clients and slowly I overcame that challenge.

Who has been most influential in your life?

Many people have influenced me in different areas of my life whether in religion, politics, career, business, e.t.c. Prophet T.B Joshua has really inspired me in a lot of ways, but the greatest influence that easily covers almost all areas of my life is my mother. She is a very strong woman. She taught me so many of the things I know today. She thought me resilience, tenacity, integrity, boldness, fairness, hard work and strength in the face of adversities. She is a recurring decimal when you consider every area of my young life.

What was your worst day as a lawyer?

My worst day as a lawyer came up during the early stages of my private practice. I was representing a client who was resident in the U.K in a matter at the Lagos State High Court. I had wrongly recorded the adjourned date one day later than the one actually given by the court and I had

Ayodeji Olabiwonnu

communicated this wrong date to my Client.

My client had travelled all the way from the U.K for the matter only for us to get to court and find out that the case had come up a day earlier. It was an embarrassing situation.

What was your most memorable experience?

I have quite a number of them but the one that easily comes to mind now is the day I successfully prayed the court to recall my case, which it had earlier adjourned, and to hear my oral application for a temporary order pending the next date. We had made a written application which the court refused to hear despite our pleas.

Instead the court gave a ruling refusing to hear our motion and adjourning the matter to a further date. The adjournment was very sudden and unexpected. My Client needed an urgent order to protect a vital interest pending the next date so I pleaded with the court to recall my case and hear my oral application for a temporary order.

The court found my application funny, strange and unusual but upon a tense advocacy session,

Why did you become a lawyer?

Well, I think I did not choose law, Law chose me instead. Fresh out of the secondary school, I never set out to study law. I wanted to study Economics but I could not secure early admission into the University so I proceeded to study Mass Communication at the Polytechnic, Ibadan. It was during my study that a brother in-law encouraged me to study law at the University. By the time the admission came through, I had had a brief stint of journalism at the then NTA Channel 7, Tejuosho, Lagos and I had already fallen in love with journalism and broadcasting generally.

Instead of going to complete my registration at the Faculty of Law, I went to the then Head of English Department in LASU, Professor Leke Fakoya (then Dr. Fakoya) to change my course of study to English to enable me continue in the broadcasting field. The man felt I was crazy and he sent me out of his office. That was how I got stuck with Law, but looking back now, I would not have forgiven myself if I had turned law down. Law is one of the best things that

has happened to me.

What would your advice be to anyone wanting a career in law?

My advice to young lawyers or aspiring lawyers is that they must be ready to give their all to the profession or else they have no business here.

Law is a very jealous profession which demands 150% time and dedication from practitioners. They should also know that It is like a perennial crop which does not bear its fruits early. You have to cultivate it with the tools of study and scholarship, water it with industry and hard work and when it eventually bears its fruit, you can be sure of great yields.

If you had not become a lawyer, what would you have chosen?

If I had not become a Lawyer, I probably would have been a journalist. I would also have been able to explore the artistic parts of me. I love photography and fashion designing. I would also have done something with music.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

In the next 10 years, I see myself at the top of my career. I am putting my best into practice and I am quite hopeful that the result cannot be anything but success by the grace of God. I have my eyes in politics too, lawmaking particularly. I have always had a great desire to impact lives directly. Law is one way of doing this but i think sincere participation in the management of people's affairs is a bigger way. I said sincere participation because many people see politics first as a profession and as a means of acquiring fortunes and this is antithetical to the real purpose of politics. However, I am not going into politics until after I must have made my mark in the profession and built my practice to a level where I can afford a "political leave of absence". I can't say how soon or how long that would be for. Only God can.

6/

10.05.2016

Agriculture and Food Production in Nigeria: Matters Arising Before the 8th Senate in 2019 Olumide K. Obayemi

N

OW, more than ever, with the downturn in the international Oil Market, there is a need for the Nigerian Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and invariably, private capitalised and artisan farmers to succeed. One of the key advantages of astute Statesmen is to plan ahead, and so, we examine how the next 8th Senate (Congressional Session) that would be ushered in, in 2019 should tackle the perennial local production and food shortage within the context of existing and pending Statutes in Nigeria while using the Ife/ Ijesa communities as case studies in measuring the efficacy of such laws.

The February 2016 Final Report of the Professor Paul Idornigie-led Comprehensive Review of the Institutional, Regulatory, Legislative and Associated Instruments Affecting Businesses in Nigeria has clearly highlighted the importance of the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to the Nigerian economy, based on their capacity to adapt in an ever-changing environment, making them vital for the growth of the nation’s economy. Because most private capitalised farming in Nigeria is carried out by MSMEs, we assert that the next Senate must reinvigorate legal and socio-economic basis for the promotion of agricultural development. Further, the Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and National Bureau of Statistics Collaborative Survey: Selected Findings, further state that: • A Micro Enterprise is an Enterprise whose total assets (excluding land and buildings) are less than Five Million Naira (NGN5,000,000.00), with a workforce not exceeding 10 employees; • A Small Enterprise is an Enterprise whose total assets (excluding land and buildings) are above than Five Million Naira (NGN5,000,000.00), but not exceeding Fifty Million Naira (NGN50,000,000.00) with a workforce not exceeding 49 employees; and • A Medium Enterprise is an Enterprise whose total assets (excluding land and buildings) are above than Fifty Million Naira (NGN50,000,000.00), but not exceeding Five Hundred Million Naira (NGN500,000,000.00) with a workforce between 50 and 199 employees.

Supporting the need to boost capitalised farming in Nigeria, the Idornigie Report also showed that • An estimated 96% of Nigerian Businesses are SMEs; • 22.75% of all Small/Medium Businesses in Nigeria are female-led; • MSMEs contribute 48.47% to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Nominal terms; • 432.32% of all Micro Businesses in Nigeria are female-led; and • Nigerian MSMEs employ about 57.74million people, representing 84.02% of the Nigerian workforce.

In fact, MSMEs are at the heart of the Nigerian communities and form the backbone of the Nigerian economy, making up 96% of all businesses in Nigeria. Yet, there are challenges facing Nigerian MSMEs, based on the relative ease and/or difficulty of opening and running a small to medium-size business while complying with local regulations, Nigeria is currently ranked 169th out of 189 countries, globally. (See, the October 27, 2015 Doing Business 2016

Report published by the World Bank Group). It is within this context that the President of the Nigerian Senate, Honourable Olubukola Saraki (through the Coordinating Office, under the Senior Special Assistant to the Senate President on Legislative Matters and Strategy) has stated that there would be a partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID) through its programs: Enhancing Nigerian Advocacy for a Better Business Environment (ENABLE2) and Growth & Employment in States (GEMS3) towards undertaking a detailed review of existing Nigerian federal legislation that affect, positively and/or negatively, Nigerian economic activities. Further, Honourable Saraki declared that the federal legislature considers Nigeria’s ranking as unsatisfactory, leading to the initiation of the Senate President’s Roundtable and Nigeria’s Business Competitiveness Project, with the aim of improving the regulatory environment for doing business by engaging with the private sector and the business communities and towards crafting a legislative agenda for economic reform that will improve and sustain the Nigerian private sector.

Honourable Saraki’s vision is to create a platform that would bridge the gap between the legislature, the executive and the business community, and the Roundtable will provide an opportunity for private sector to work more closely with the government in developing the right legal tools and instruments to accelerate business and investment across the various segments of the economy and give confidence back to the business community.

This author agrees with the Senate President Saraki that Nigeria’s ranking is unsatisfactory, and that Nigeria must become economically competitive, sufficient energy must be devoted to creating an enabling business environment in Nigeria, and Nigerians must be conscious of the fact that investment funds are scarce and there are many destinations competing for investment.

Therefore, Nigeria must offer an investment proposition that is attractive to the investor, and put in place sweeteners that will attract investors to come to Nigeria instead of going to other competing countries. The common traits shared by jurisdictions that successfully attract foreign investment are stability of fiscal regime and the strong observance of the rule of law.

Long term investments require long term planning and these require clear and stable fiscal regime, laws that are enforced and a business culture that defends sanctity of contracts. Nigeria must learn to do the things that others like Singapore, South Korea and Brazil have done, especially in the face of evolving global economic trends; low crude oil prices, the bourgeoning cost of deep-water operations (Nigeria’s prime opportunities at the moment), the emergence and the appeal of alternative energy sources and so on and so forth, while putting forward investment policies that will attract new investors while encouraging those that are already here to stay.

In sum, the incoming 8th (post-2019) Nigerian federal legislature is hereby strongly advised to focus on enacting appropriate laws governing the following areas: • The National Building Code (2006): This Code sets the minimum construction standards, with provisions for inspection, approval and obtaining certificate of completion. Even though the Building Code has been ratified by the Nigerian Federal Executive Council, it is yet to be either adopted or implemented by the various States, through the amendment of the States’ respec-

Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh

tive Urban and Regional Planning Laws. As Idornigie Report noted, good-practice codes are important for creating a transparent environment for investors and developers and for avoiding delays and disputes, with the lawmakers adopting existing and international model codes (including the International Building Code— IBC) with adjustments to suit the constraints of the Nigerian industry allowing for: risk-management, periodic updating of the codes, process & transparency, prompt fees payment and collection, efficient dispute resolution, and online permit administration.

• Electricity and Power: The Nigerian power sector has always been in crisis, and much of the power generation, transmission and distribution facilities are either worn or damaged. The Idornigie Report also noted that the average annual per capita power consumption, at 155KWh is among the lowest in the world.

According to World Bank, Electric Power Consumption (KWh per capita), Nigeria’s per capita electricity consumption is 7% of Brazil’s and 3% of South Africa’s. The Nigerian legislature must make laws that will enhance the efficiency of power production, increase transparency and accessibility to existing and new tariffs, availability of materials and equipment, and stipulations for notices of power outages. Nigeria must adopt global best practice that would establish a robust independent regulatory framework with right oversight and incentives towards improving reliability of supply and with the Regulators adopting a strategy towards reducing of power outages by setting a limit on the frequency and duration of outages and requiring Utility Companies to pay compensation to customers if they exceed that limit, as obtains in Bolivia and Turkey.

• Registration of Properties: it appears that the land registration system is dysfunctional, leading to a profoundly negative impact on different levels, and with the lack of clearly titled land creating additional risk to potential investors and lending credibility. Loan facilities that underpin investments are difficult to obtain in the absence of collateral. The time has come to amend the Land Use Act, by expunging the requirement for Governor’s Consent or delegating

the consent function to a subordinate to minimise the waiting time. Further, appropriate amendments to existing law must: introduce flat rates/fees similar to Egypt’s 3% registration fees, electronic payments, a standardised deed of assignment to be validated by a Notary, consolidation of procedures as to Stamp Duty, assessment of deeds, consent, assessing property value, and stamping of the deed; digitalising the Land Registry; establishing a dedicated website for all procedural requirements including guidelines and provision of advisory services targeted at end-users; introduction of systemic Land titling and Registration system; improvement of property valuation system; and establishing a verifiable dispute resolution system.

• Obtaining Credit Facilities: The 8th Senate Post-2019 Federal Legislature must enact laws making provisions for: alternatives to collateralbased lending criteria; Transparency; Maintaining a collateral Registry; and Strengthening the Credit Reporting system.

• Protection of Minority Investors: Laws must be made that will import the Delaware-model of corporate laws into the Nigerian Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) such that minority shareholders—especially, foreign investors are well protected.

• Multiplicity of Taxes: The Taxes and Levies Act (2004) and the 2015 Executive Order must be revised, so that all stakeholders will be able to contribute towards eliminating multiple taxes.

No doubt, as Olaniwun Ajayi has noted, the above proposals are laudable, yet, it remains indubitable that enforcement mechanisms, rather than elaborateness of the provisions of a code, remain key to good corporate governance both in Nigeria and in all parts of the developed and developing world. If enforcement mechanisms remain weak or virtually non-existent, codes will come and go with very little impact on stakeholder interests. Good corporate governance is also germane to securing investor confidence, and thus, the importance of stakeholder vigilance and commitment to ensuring compliance with the laws cannot be over-emphasised.

Olumide K. Obayemi, is an attorney admitted both in California and Nigeria.

10.05.2016

/7

The Kaduna State Street Begging and Hawking (Prohibition) Law, 2016: Some Contentious Issues James Kanyip

S

ometime last year (2015), the Kaduna State Government, vide an Executive Declaration, banned street begging and hawking in the State. This generated a lot of discourse.

In response to a question posed by Garba Shehu, Esq., my very good learned friend and the immediate past Commissioner of Justice and Attorney-General of Kaduna State as to the justiciability of the right and freedom to beg, I wrote a legal treatise on the 13th of July, 2015 contending that the right and freedom to beg could be justiciable depending on the interpretational approach adopted. At that time, there was no legislation prohibiting begging in the State.

On Tuesday, the 12th of April, 2016, the Kaduna State House of Assembly passed into Law a Bill entitled: “Street Begging and Hawking (Prohibition) Law, 2016. I have no qualms about the constitutionality of the Law. It is indeed constitutional.

However, the Law has some contentious issues which we shall highlight here.

The Law has eleven (11) sections. Section 1 contains the short title, while section 2 states the commencement date. Section 3 is the definition section where the following words have been defined: ‘Court’, ‘Governor’, ‘Goods’, ‘Hawking’, ‘State’, ‘Street begging’, and ‘Public places’.

Sections 4 and 5 provide that: Section 4: “street begging is hereby prohibited in the State”.

Section 5: “sixty days from the commencement of this Law, any person found to be engaged in street begging in contravention of this Law commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a term not exceeding three months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding N10,000.00 (Ten Thousand Naira) or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

The contentious issues arising from these provisions lie in the definitions of the terms ‘street begging’ and ‘public places’ in section 3 of the Law. ‘Street begging’ is defined as “the act of soliciting for any financial assistance, gifts, alms or favour from members of the public along public highways, streets, or public places within the State”; and ‘public places’ is defined as “Markets, Parks, Roads, Resort, Stadia, Schools and other public institutions” A marriage of the provisions of section 4 and 5 and the interpretation of the word ‘street begging’ and ‘public places’ will indicate that the philosophical underpinning of the Law is to prohibit street begging along the public highways and in public places only. This is evident in two ways: first, from the qualification contained in the part of the title of the Law which is “Street Begging”; and, second, the general and correct perception that all public places are owned, managed, and/or controlled by government.

This is in tandem with the ejusdem generis rule or canon of interpretation.

The shortcoming of this Law is that it does not prohibit street begging in private places.

Therefore, the implication is that begging in private markets, private parks, private resorts, private stadia (if any), private schools, and other private institutions, churches and mosques (not owned by the government), private homes, private hotels , etc does not fall within the contemplated realm of prohibition. This is more so, a fortiori, that begging in these places is not on the streets, public highways and public places, but in private places.

This brings to the fore a marked difference between a public beggar and a private beggar.

While a public beggar can be tried under the Law for street begging in public highways, streets, or public places, a private beggar cannot because the Law does not prohibit him from begging in private places.

Sections 6 and 7 of the Law provide thus: Section 6: “Hawking in public places is hereby prohibited” Section 7: “Any person who engages in the act of hawking in contravention of this Law commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term not exceeding six months imprisonment or to a fine not exceeding N20,000.00 (Twenty Thousand Naira) or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

(1) Any Law Enforcement Agent may ar-

Beggers on the street of Kaduna

rest without warrant any person found to be contravening any of the provisions of the Law. (2) Upon arrest of any person engaged in hawking, the arresting officer shall have powers to seize any goods or items constituting the subject matter of the offence.

(3) The Police shall, within a period of 24 hours or such period as may be practicable, considering the circumstances of the case, arraign the offender before the appropriate Court for trial.

The same contentious issues with street begging apply here. Thus, like the prohibition on street begging, only hawking in public places is prohibited. Hawking in private places is not covered by the Law. Sub-section (1) of section 7 empowers any law enforcement agent to arrest an offender without warrant; and sub-section (2) thereof goes further to empower him to seize from the offender any goods or items constituting the offence.

The problem here is that the Law has failed to define who a law enforcement agent is. This definition is important because under sections 26 to 46 of Chapter IV of Part III of the Criminal Procedure Code Law, Cap 43, Laws of Kaduna State, 1991, the power to arrest and search is vested in the Police, Justice of the Peace, and private persons; and clearly spells out the procedure for arrest. Specifically, section 39 of the Criminal Procedure Code Law provides thus: “39 (1) Any person, except a police officer or a justice of the peace, making an arrest without a warrant or an order of the justice of the peace shall without unnecessary delay take the person arrested to the nearest police station or hand him over to a police officer. “(2) If the arrested person appears to be one whom a police officer is authorised to arrest, the police officer shall re-arrest him; otherwise the arrested person shall be at once released."

The Criminal Procedure Code Law, being the principal law regulating arrests, searches and prosecution in Kaduna State vests such powers in the Police and has primacy over the Kaduna State Street Begging and Hawking (Prohibition) Law in respect thereof. This is trite law. Therefore, sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 7 should have been made subject to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code Law, especially its section 39; and couched in a such manner as to make it mandatory for any law enforcement agent who arrests an offender to immediately hand him over to the nearest police station or police officer.

Sub-section 3 of section 7 of the Law makes it mandatory for a police officer to arraign an offender before the appropriate court within 24 hours or such period as may be practicable, considering the circumstances of the case. This provision is superfluous, overreaching and amounts to an unnecessary fifth wheel to a coach. Section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 has adequately covered this field.

Thus, there is nothing again to legislate upon.

To us, the sub-section will serve no legal and practical purpose.

Section 8 of the Law provides: Section 8: whoever procures, aids or abets the commission of any of the offences under this Law commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a term of one year imprisonment or a fine of fifty thousand (N50,000.00) or both.”

This section is aimed at making it an offence for those who engage their children or wards in the acts of street begging and hawking instead of sending them to school or engaging them in other productive ways. Making procuring,

aiding and abetting street begging and hawking an offence under this Law is laudable. This is because children, who by their nature are vulnerable, have been turned by some parents and guardians into street beggars and hawkers instead of going to schools, thereby killing their future and constituting a nuisance to their immediate community and the State.

Sections 9 and 10 of the Law provide: Section 9: “any court in the State shall try summarily all offenders arraigned before it, and impose such punishment, sanctions and make order(s) including the confiscation of any goods or items and such further order(s) as to their disposal or otherwise for the use and benefit of rehabilitation centres, homes or other institutions established under the Rehabilitation Board Law, 2005.”

Section10: The Chief Judge of the State may however constitute such Mobile Courts as may be necessary or expedient for the speedy trial of offenders found to be in contravention of this Law.” The word ‘court’ has been loosely employed in this Law. Section 3 defines the word to mean “Magistrate Court and includes such Mobile Courts as may be constituted by the Chief Judge of the State pursuant to this Law.” If this definition is the intention of draftsman, then we find it inconsistent, conflicting and confusing for the same Law to use the words ‘any court’ in section 9. If the court in contemplation and vested with jurisdiction is the Magistrate’s Court or any Mobile Court established by the Chief Judge, then it is preposterous to also vest jurisdiction in “any court”.

Aside from the Kaduna State High Court which has criminal jurisdiction under section 272 (1) of the Constitution to “hear and determine any criminal proceedings involving or relating to any penalty, forfeiture, punishment or other liability in respect of an offence committed by any other person”, other courts in the State have limited jurisdiction, especially in respect of the subject-matter being discussed. Which courts have jurisdiction in respect of offences under the Law? The ones specifically mentioned by name under section 3, or the ones mentioned by generalisation under section 9? These provisions are contradictory. Until this issue is resolved, the definition of ‘court’ under section 3 will be otiose.

Section 11 repealed the Kaduna State AntiHawking Edict of 1985. Since this Law has now harmonised, codified and prohibited street begging and hawking in the State, the repeal of the 1985 Edict is necessary to avoid duplication of legislation.

Another contentious issue is the area of coverage of the Law. Section 3 defines ‘State’ to mean “Kaduna State of Nigeria”. This presupposes that the Law is applicable in the entire State. Is this enforceable? Does the Government have the personnel to enforce this Law throughout the State? The Government knows the flash points in the various Local Government Areas of the State used for begging and hawking. These areas should have been the target of the Law for ease of enforcement.

By and large, the Kaduna State Street Begging and Hawking (Prohibition) Law, 2016 is enacted by the State Government with good intentions and meant to sanitise the State. The issue of street begging and hawking is not only a State but also a national embarrassment. Much as we agree with the Sociologists that one of the major reasons why people beg or have taken to begging is because of the failure of the government to

provide jobs and basic human amenities like food, shelter, health facilities, education, etc, this act should not be encouraged because of its social and societal ills.

When I wrote my treatise on the 13th of July, 2015 entitled: “Is Begging a Justiciable Right Capable of Being Enforced by a Court of Law?: The Expansive View”, two of my learned friends took a serious swipe at begging. M. T. Mohammed, my class mate in the University and Law School with whom I share robust academic and practical legal discourse threw the first salvo thus: “…Begging, though a sign of failure of good governance, has assumed a social menace that must be curbed. I do not want to comment on its justiciability because it is. Certain laws may be promulgated to outlaw begging on the street and nothing can be done except if someone wants to challenge the legality of an aspect of the law.

What is not clear is whether Mr Governor can outlaw begging by executive pronouncement in the absence of a law…Begging to my mind should not define who we are.”

Yusuf Dankofa, Ph.D, my lecturer in the University back in the days and an astute academic and legal scholar, had this to say: “…For any group to constitute itself into a coterie of beggars whereof they move along major highways seeking to trigger or provoke unnecessary sympathy does not find any support from any known convention or laws. The sociology of begging in itself is partly rooted in the mercantilist instincts of majority of the beggars who have turned the entire venture into a full blown profession. Some of these beggars from empirical data have acquired properties and investments far above some members of the society who are formally and informally employed. Yes, it might be argued that the Nigerian state has failed a lot of its citizens having excluded them from benefiting from the resources of the state both materially and in human capacity development, however, the question that should come to mind is, is it only the northern part of the country that has continued to suffer the fate of excruciating poverty? If the answer is no, then why is it that other tribes in Nigeria hardly beg and why is it that even in the north, the majority of beggars are from the Muslim population, when Islam clearly forbids begging and if one must beg, then you can only beg for the meal or the need of the day only. Clearly something is wrong with the nature of the social organisation of the Hausa society which continues to promote this kind of attitude. And the solution must be education. Without education minds cannot be liberated. Even the nature of Islamic education being promoted by our local clerics largely is built on this kind of feudalistic tendencies which does not promote independent thinking. This approach is even unislamic, because Islam as a religion is so progressive that its first casualty was ignorance. How then can a religion that came to fight oppression, prompted learning and argues for the emancipation of the oppressed be reduced into a comical enterprise. No, that cannot be Islam. I think the argument should promote a vigorous campaign for education, both Islamic and conventional to pull the wool out of the eyes of the beggars so that they may come to terms with the benefit that comes with education - enlightenment and empowerment. It will, therefore, be a great disservice to humanity to legalise an action that debases human minds and intellect…”

They have said it all. Need I add anything?

No, I do not think so.

The Kaduna State Street Begging and Hawking (Prohibition) Law, 2016 does not adequately cover the field both in form and substance. With the way begging and hawking have been institutionalised in our system and seen as a profession to some, enforcement of the Law may be a big problem.

Fuller, L. (1997) an American legal scholar gives eight (8) attributes and qualities of a good law.

I find three (3) of these attributes persuasive to this write-up. They are: first, law should be written with reasonable clarity to avoid unfair enforcement; second, law must avoid contradictions; and, third, law must not command the impossible.

Until the Kaduna State Government eschews political whims and imbibes political will, this Law may only exist in principles but not in practice.

James Kanyip.

8/COVER

10.05.2016

Chief Bolaji Ayorinde SAN PHOTOS: Sunday Adigun

‘Legal Aid Should be Elevated to the Level of a Fundamental Right’ Access to justice, especially by indigent litigants has remained one of the most debilitating challenges of the Nigerian justice delivery system. Apart from the seemingly interminable delays in the system, litigation in Nigeria is expensive, this informed the setting up of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria over three decades ago to provide legal services to the less privileged members of the society. Chief Bolaji Ayorinde SAN is the immediate past Chairman of the Council. In his discourse with May Agbamuche-Mbu, Jude Igbanoi and Tobi Soniyi, he gave an account of his four-year stewardship of the Council and how he managed to rebrand the nation’s premier legal aid institution. He also spoke on a myriad of other national issues.

I

n spite of the establishment of the Legal Aid Council, the poor and indigent in society still find access to justice quite challenging. Could you recommend a national strategy to improve access to justice for the poor and vulnerable members of society?

It is all about political will and allocation of resources. Politically, we must have a strong policy direction from the Attorney General of the Federation. The Attorneys General of the states will naturally take a cue from this direction. The policy direction must elevate Legal Aid to the level of a fundamental right of deserving citizens. It must not be seen as charity for the poor but a fundamental right.

We will then see a situation whereby Legal Aid becomes a must have. Unfortunately the issue of Legal Aid was not even a campaign issue at the last elections. However the Government can still develop a National Strategy that elevates

the provision of Legal Aid to its rightful place.

You cannot imagine the mileage that the Government and Nigerians will acquire from the Legal Progression. As for resources, even in this austere times, resources could be better allocated. Once the structure is supported, more than half of the funding needed can be provided outside Government and Government will still get the credit. At this point the A.G.F will do well to set up a high powered committee comprising of all stakeholders to put together a National Strategy to improve on the current system. Such a committee will take advantage of both local and international contributions. I had the advantage of looking at the existing system in England and Wales. I was also privileged to be exposed to what some other African countries have been able to achieve. A comprehensive National Strategy must include all Legal Aid service providers who may not even be lawyers, such as paralegals but who have sufficient training to assist indigent

people with direction as to access to the justice system. It can only be achieved with a determined leadership from the Ministry of Justice.

As Chairman of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, you embarked on the uphill task of rebranding the Council. What is your assessment of the council? What challenges does the council face in carrying out its

"THE POLICY DIRECTION MUST ELEVATE LEGAL AID TO THE LEVEL OF A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF DESERVING CITIZENS. IT MUST NOT BE SEEN AS CHARITY FOR THE POOR BUT A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT"

pro-bono work?

I knew from the onset that the tenure was short and with the help of a very diligent management team led by the Director General, we decided to raise the profile of the Legal Aid Council. Our yearly lectures and Seminars touched on topics that exposed the all-important functions of the Council and its usefulness to the society at large.

We embarked on a programme in collaboration with the Bar to make pro bono work attractive to lawyers not only for the purpose of meeting set targets for qualification for the award of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

We created Legal Aid Council Partner Firms. This work begun all during my tenure as Chairman.

The LAC Partner Firms were to assist the Council with pro bono work. Being a Legal Aid Council Partner Firm was to be like a badge of honour for any law firm or establishment. They were to be allowed to use our crest in their offices and even on their stationaries. This is in line

10.05.2016 "WE EMBARKED ON A PROGRAMME IN COLLABORATION WITH THE BAR TO MAKE PRO BONO WORK ATTRACTIVE TO LAWYERS NOT ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF MEETING SET TARGETS FOR QUALIFICATION FOR THE AWARD OF THE RANK OF SENIOR ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA" with international best practices.

It would therefore be a great advantage for any law firm or organisation to have a relationship with the Council. Local and International clients hold such firms in very high esteem because of this status. However this innovation needs to be properly or adequately captured in a national strategy. This innovation and many others need to be institutionalised. For continuity Pro-bono work must be regulated so it is not abused.

The Legal Aid Council is well placed to do this but it must be backed up by deliberate political support. It must also be supported by stakeholders outside the Council. Regulation and thereafter monitoring of Pro-bono work is very important.

Constant review and improvement of the system is also important.

Many prisons across the nation are congested and filled with Awaiting Trial Persons, based on your role as former Chairman of the Oyo State Committee on the Decongestion of Prisons, what solutions would you proffer to the problem of prison congestion in Nigeria?

Our Prisons are overcrowded and underfunded. This makes nonsense of rehabilitation of offenders by the Penal System. There are so many forms of custodial sentencing that we have not exploited. We have suggested in the past, daytime custody for certain lesser offenders who can report at detention centres during the period of the sentence. They could be made to do community work during the period. The consequences of absconding will be made grave.

We need to produce sentencing guidelines for both the lower Courts and the Superior Courts of Record. We need to look at the fundamentals of our plea bargain regime and rules so that everyone understands the parameters. The inability to access legal aid and support is the main cause of prison congestion by awaiting trial persons.

We suggested many reforms. No police station should keep any arrested person for 24 hours without access to a lawyer. Where an arrested or detained person does not have a lawyer, it should be the additional duty of the police to ensure that contact is made with the nearest Legal Aid Service provider. This duty must be documented as the Courts must enquire before any trial commences whether such persons were given access to counsel or whether counsel from a Legal Aid provider such as the LAC or Public Defender office was invited. In fact the failure to do this ought to constitute a strong ground for a dismissal of the charges. This is how you elevate Legal Aid to the status of a fundamental right.

The Buhari administration has resolved to deal decisively with corruption. However for this campaign to be successful we need to effectively root out corruption from our consciousness as a nation. What role should lawyers play in the fight against corruption in Nigeria?

Lawyers have always played a significant role in the fight against corruption. Now, there is a difference in fighting corrupt persons and fighting institutionalised corruption.

In the fight against corrupt persons, you must ensure due process is strictly followed. As the state brings down its full might on the Defendants, the Defendants must be allowed to also vigorously defend themselves. This is good for the integrity of the process. It is not the job of any lawyer to aid corruption but it is the duty of a retained counsel to put forward all legitimate defences.

The system should be allowed to work properly and we should have less trials by the media.

These could even lead to a distraction from the main work of the prosecutors.

With regards to institutionalised corruption, we need a total restructuring of the polity. There must be fairness and equity in the system. A perception of unfairness weakens the system. Where the law does not apply equally to all, then the people raise all manner of excuses for their prosecution.

They scream about persecution and we all get

COVER/9 distracted. Corruption in the structure of our polity stems from the absence of checks in the system of governance. No executive office holder should have control over disbursements of favour or money. What we run now is governments of contracts. It should never be so. We marvel when we see in other climes how government officials even though respected, never have scores of people hanging around them like we do here. The answer is simple. Those leaders do not have the powers to dispense favour or public money. Once campaigns and elections are over, promises should become policies and the process of contracting, implementation, monitoring and remuneration must never be under the control of government officials. There are independent procurement agencies to do this worldwide. They will have a professional reputation to maintain.

Ministers and Governors will not be under pressure to satisfy their hangers-on because they will not have the capacity to disburse funds and favours.

You will see that if we achieve this, only people with competing ideas will move near elective offices. There should never be unaccounted funds. Nothing like security votes. It amazes me how our leaders have so much control over public funds. It should never be so. This affects the systemic fight against corruption. We are too busy looking for and dreaming about Messiahs and Saints to rule us. Take access to public funds away from governors and you will find the right people. Water will find its level as they say. When it is so hard to take public funds then anyone who dares will be severely punished by the law.

You published a book titled “Boko Haram, Terrorism and Fundamental Human Rights; the Challenges that concern us". Could you enlighten us on the human rights issues arising from the war against insurgency? How can government effectively handle these issues?

Terrorism is a worldwide scourge. No one is safe from the menace. It is borderless and its dimensions are limitless. I advocated for due process in the prosecution of captured and arrested persons charged with terrorism offences not because I condone terrorism but because I am an ardent believer in the rule of law and due process. I conducted a detailed research on the September 11 twin towers attack in New York and the consequent moves by the United State Government prosecuting terrorists. Deep emotions can derail due process. Allegations of torture were prevalent and the procedure for interrogation in detention facilities like Guantanamo Bay led to questions by the International Society.

One of the major objectives of terrorists is to dehumanise the rest of the society and in this, everyone behaves in the exact way the terrorist would have us behave. That is why I suggested due process in prosecuting even these heinous crimes. Following due process and transparent processes will prevent a situation where we have to be reacting to statements by groups like Transparency International.

Ghana recently tackled judicial corruption aggressively by removing over 20 judges in one day. Kenya has also achieved a measure of success in that direction. How do you advice we tackle judicial corruption in Nigeria?

Nigeria has had and still has many great men and women of impeccable character and integrity serving in our Courts. They toil day and night sometimes in unbelievable conditions to adjudicate on cases everyday. Like every endeavour of life there will be bad eggs and when this happens, naturally they are over blown in the press. There is a well- oiled system under the National Judicial Council that deals with discipline of justice. That Council is performing well.

Sometimes there is ignorance about how decisions are reached by the Courts and such decisions become unpopular and people call for the heads of the Judges. This should not be so.

Even in the United Kingdom or the United States, the Supreme Court and other Courts in those Countries sometimes hand down unpopular decisions. This is however not an excuse for corruption. Where this is found, it must be addressed and dealt with. Again we must revisit the working conditions of the Judiciary.

How do you justify the jumbo remuneration of political office holders who come into office for 4 to 8 years while Judges are not properly remunerated. Sometimes their salaries are unpaid for months. We should address all these issues.

Stakeholders in the judiciary have expressed concerns over the poor infrastructure of the nation’s courts blaming it on dwindling allocations from both the Federal and state governments. In your opinion what immediate steps can be taken by the government to improve the state of the nation’s judiciary?

Again this is about not applying resources properly by Government. Law and order is most paramount in any civilised society. Everything revolves around law and order. The economy, social behaviour, everything you can think of.

The physical structures in most Courts are crumbling. This is a minus for litigants and lawyers. The Judicial system must not only be free of corruption, it must encourage confidence in the end users including foreign investors.

In England, courts are structured to give users confidence. It is a deliberate system. Justice must be visible, it must be respected. This cannot be so where Court halls are of a poor standard. A lot of work needs to be done in the construction and maintenance of our Court buildings.

The Justices of the Supreme Court have been criticised by certain members of the Bar with regards to the judgments they delivered in some electoral appeals. What does it portend for our democracy when the apex court comes openly under criticism?

The Supreme Court is the highest Court in the land. Lawyers rarely agree as to interpretation of the law. Criticism may come by way of intellectual discourse of decisions and this can even be documented in journals for continuing

education.

However it is wrong for any lawyer to be disrespectful of the Supreme Court or indeed any Court. I have read one or two comments and I must say that they were in bad taste. Lawyers should restrict themselves to an intellectual analysis of the decisions without being disrespectful. Ours is a noble profession of very high ethical standards, behavior and demeanour.

Severe delay of cases in courts by unnecessary applications and interlocutory appeals have been identified as a major setback in the administration of justice in Nigeria. There have been suggestions that interlocutory appeals should be concluded at the court of appeal. What is your opinion on this suggestion? What further steps can be taken to tackle delay in the courts?

I agree that our laws need to be amended to restrict the type of cases that go all the way to the Supreme Court. However this calls for constitutional amendments. Delays have been greatly reduced by the front loading process introduced in the High Courts. We still need to do more. We should be able to predict with some degree of accuracy the period of litigation.

This is a question that most litigants will ask you.

In particular foreign clients are very pessimistic about litigation in Nigeria Courts. This is negative for the foreign investment drive in the country.

I have advocated that trial dates once given ought to be sacrosanct. This now happens to a large extent in criminal matters under the Administrative Criminal Justice Act. A similar provision must be introduced in civil litigation.

This will improve the time spent at the trial stage.

Again Judges must have the courage to make reports to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee regarding any counsel who fails to appear in Court without any reasonable excuse or who persists in filing unreasonable application to delay cases. This is done routinely in England.

Laws on Educational Standards and provisions for Educational Institutions appear to be given more attention today, but Nigerian universities do not seem to reflect global best practices. As Pro-Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, in your opinion how can we make national Universities more competitive regionally and globally?

I think we are losing sight of what University education should be. Quite a number of Universities, particularly the private ones are run like secondary schools or colleges. I attended Government College Ibadan in the 70’s. By the time we left school, everyone’s character was fully formed and developed. The University is not where students are treated like children. Do you know that the University of London which is one of oldest modern Universities in the world was established by groups of Jewish Students who came together and employed instructors in order to acquire knowledge. We keep playing down the role that University Students are expected to play in the society and this affects the development of our Universities. When I became Pro Chancellor at LAUTECH, it was in the middle of a strike by students.

I invited the students for a meeting and my first statement was ladies and gentlemen, we are all mature adults and I would be glad if you all spoke your minds to address the issues at stake.

They were surprised as I did not look down on them as children. I put them on the spot as mature adults. The strike was called off the next day and we did not have closure for one day after that. The same students nominated me for a National Honour after my tenure. There is lack of freedom for the academic staff and authority to be regionally competitive or globally relevant. The University must be a place for Cross-fertilisation of ideas. There must be freedom of thought. Again resources must be well managed to create a conducive atmosphere for academic emancipation.

The Independent National Electoral Commission recently voiced concerns that Courts, especially the Court of Appeal, were delivering conflicting judgments on issues that are similar. INEC stated that because of these conflicting Judgments it could not identify which of the Judgments to comply with. How can the court of appeal ensures that its various divisions interpret similar provisions similarly?

You remember that a group of leading lawyers representing INEC held a press conference on this issue. They were very clear as to the interpretation of the decisions of the Supreme Court. There was no controversy. INEC needs to be fiercely independent so as to maintain the trust and confidence of Nigerians. Nigerians are very conscious of their electoral rights now. The Supreme Court has made significant pronouncements and that is the law today.

10/

10.05.2016

The Legal Framework of Extradition in Nigeria: A General Overview Chibueze Muobuikwu

E

Introduction

xtradition is defined by Halsbury‘s Laws of England as the formal surrender by one country to another, based on reciprocal arrangements partly judicial and partly administrative, of an individual accused or convicted of a serious criminal offence committed outside the territory of the extraditing state and within the jurisdiction of the requesting state which, being competent by its own law to try and punish him, requests the individual’s surrender.

In UDEOZOR v FRN (2007) 15 NWLR (PT. 1058) 499 at p. 522, para B, it was also defined as the process of returning somebody, upon request, accused of a crime by a different legal authority for trial or punishment. From the above definitions, it can be gathered that the concept of extradition applies only to criminal matters.

The concept of extradition dates back to the Medieval era, it was evidenced in the Treaty of Peace between Ramses II, Pharaoh of Egypt, and the Hittite King Hattusili III. The document was written in Hieroglyphics and carved on the Temple of Ammon at Karnak and is also preserved on clay tablets in Akkodrain in the Hittites archives of Boghazkoi.

It must be observed that the concept of extradition has somewhat not been well practiced in Nigeria, little wonder there are very few reported cases on extradition in Nigeria, Nevertheless, there have been several instances of extradition in Nigeria, though some of them have not been successful.

The incidence of extradition that brought this paper to fore is the recent attempt to extradite Senator Buruji Kashamu to the United States of America over drug charges.

Applicable Laws The major laws that regulate extradition in Nigeria include: • The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended): the Constitution being the grund norm in Nigeria vests jurisdiction over extradition matters on the Federal High Court.

• The Extradition Act, Cap E 25, Laws of the Federation, 2010: this is the principal legislation for extradition matters.

• The Immigration Act, Cap 11, Laws of the Federation, 2010: this makes provision for the procedure for the transfer of the fugitive criminal to the requesting country.

• Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015: this makes provision for the procedure for search and arrest of fugitives.

• The Evidence Act, Cap E14, Laws of the Federation, 2010: this makes provision for the mode of documentation and tendering of evidence regarding extradition.

• Various treaties between Nigeria and other Countries on extradition: the treaties are the basis upon which extradition could be made. They determine the offences which are extraditable.

The Application of the Extradition Act, Cap E25, LFN, 2004 (The Act) In Nigeria: By virtue of 1(1) and 2(1) of the Extradition Act, the Act applies only in respect of countries that have a treaty or “extradition agreement” with Nigeria and Commonwealth countries. Nigeria has extradition treaties with several countries, prominent among them include United States of America, South Africa, Liberia, Britain. Recently, Nigeria signed an extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the treaty that enumerates what offences the two countries consider extraditable. In effect, it is only the offences enumerated in those treaties that could warrant extradition. The general rule is that extraditable offences must be those commonly recognised as malum in se (acts criminal by their very nature) and not those which are malum prohibitum (acts made crimes by statute).

Authority Designated for Extradition Matters in Nigeria Section 6 of the Extradition Act confers the authority for extradition matters on the Office

of the Attorney General. Section 6(1) of the Act provides thus: “A request for the surrender of a fugitive criminal of any country shall be made in writing to the Attorney- General by a diplomatic representative or consular officer of that country and shall be accompanied by a duly authenticated warrant of arrest or certificate of conviction issued in that country”.

This is in line with section 174(1) (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, which provides that the Attorney General shall have the power to ”institute and undertake criminal proceedings against any person before any court of law in Nigeria, other than a courtmartial, in respect of any offence created by or under any Act of the National Assembly”.

Jurisdiction over Extradition Cases In Nigeria The effect of the combined provisions of sections 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Extradition Act is that the court that has jurisdiction over extradition matters is the Magistrate Court. However, section 251(1) (i) of the 1999 Constitution provides that it is the Federal High Court that has exclusive jurisdiction over extradition matters, and given the exclusive nature of the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, both Courts cannot be said to have concurrent jurisdiction, more so the fact that the Magistrate Court is not a Court of superior record. Thus, by virtue of the supremacy of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the court that has jurisdiction over extradition matters is the Federal High Court. In EHINDERO v FRN, (2014) 10 NWLR (pt. 1415) 281 at 304, para D-C the Court of Appeal held that section 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution applies only to civil causes, and that the word, “exclusive jurisdiction” was not used in section 251(2) & (3) of the 1999 Constitution, which applies to criminal causes. However, the Supreme Court has pronounced in some cases (which were decided before that of the Court of Appeal) that the Federal High Court has exclusive jurisdiction over criminal causes relating to some items listed in section 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution. For example, in GEORGE v FRN, (2014) 5NWLR (pt. 1399)1 at 28, paras F-H it was held that the Federal High Court has exclusive jurisdiction over criminal causes relating to section 251(1)(p) of the 1999 Constitution. Also, in MAIDERIBE v FRN, (2014) 5 NWLR (pt.

1399) 68 at 98, para B. the Supreme Court held that the Federal High Court has exclusive jurisdiction over criminal causes relating to section 251(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution. It also appears that all these cases decided by the Apex Court were not referred to by the Court of Appeal while reaching its decision in EHINDERO v FRN (the cases having been decided before the Supreme Court’s decision in the above mentioned cases).

It is also a trite principle of law that a decision of the Court of Appeal cannot override that of the Supreme Court, thus the decision of the Supreme Court still remains the law. Nevertheless, several definitions of “extradition” are to the effect that it applies to only criminal causes, and extradition is also one of the items listed in section 251(1) (i) of the 1999 Constitution. The Guidelines for Authorities Outside of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that it is the Federal High Court that has jurisdiction on extradition matters. It is worthy of note that the Extradition Act was enacted in 1966 during the Military regime by virtue of Decree No. 87 of 1996, and came into force on the 31st of January, 1967. However, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), which vests the jurisdiction over extradition cases on the Federal High Court was enacted in 1999. In ORHIUNU v FRN, (2005) 1 NWLR (pt. 906) at 55-56 it was held that in the light of section 315 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999,the Extradition Act, being an existing law shall have effect with such modifications as may be necessary to bring it in conformity with the provisions of section 251 of the 1999 Constitution.

Until date however, the Act has not been amended to replace the Magistrate Court with the Federal High Court as the Court that has the competent jurisdiction to entertain extradition matters in line with the provisions of the Constitution.

It is hoped that the National Assembly would do the needful in the nearest future in order to make the Extradition Act tidier. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this paper, anywhere the “Magistrate Court” or “Magistrate” is mentioned, it shall be read to mean “the Federal High Court” or “the Judge” as the case may be.

The Procedure for Extradition in Nigeria According to section 6 (1) and (2) of the Extradition Act, a request for surrender of a Nigerian fugitive criminal of any country should be made in writing to the Attorney – General by a diplomatic representative or consular officer of that country and shall be accompanied by a duly authenticated warrant of arrest or certificate of conviction issued in that country. Where such a request is made to him, the Attorney – General may by an order under his hand signify to a Magistrate that such a request has been made and require the Magistrate to deal with the case in accordance with the provisions of the Act; but the Attorney General shall not make such an order if he decides on the basis of information then available to him that the surrender of the fugitive criminal is precluded by any of the provisions of subsections (1)-(7) of section 3 of the Act. Those bars include: • If the offence is of a political character.

• If the request was made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing him on account of his race, religion, nationality or political opinions or mala fide or without the interest of justice.

• If the offence for which the request for the fugitive is trivial.

• If the time the offence was committed has long passed and it would, having regard to all the circumstances in which the offence was committed, be unjust or oppressive, or be too severe a punishment, to surrender the offender.

• If the fugitive has earlier been convicted of the same offence he is requested for (autrefois convict).

• If he has earlier been acquitted of the offence for which he is requested (autrefois acquit).

• If criminal proceedings are pending against him in Nigeria for the offence for which his surrender is sought.

• If he is currently serving a sentence imposed in respect of the same offence by a Court in Nigeria, until the expiration of such a sentence.

• If the Attorney – General discovers that there is no provision in the law of the country in question regarding extradition, or that no special arrangement has been made so that the fugitive will not be detained or tried for any offence committed before his surrender other than any extradition offence which may be proved by facts on which his surrender is granted.

The documents that would accompany the request include: the affidavit deposed to by the designated officer of the requesting State; a copy of the indictment or Charge Sheet; duly authenticated Warrant of Arrest and/ or a copy of the judgment and sentence passed on the fugitive criminal; and a copy of the extract of law in which the request is based from the requesting State.

Where request for the surrender of the fugitive criminal is made by more than one country, whether for the same offence or different offences, the Attorney General shall determine which request to be accorded priority. In doing so, the Attorney General must put the following into consideration: a) The relative seriousness of the offences, if different; b) The relative dates on which the requests were made; and c) The nationality of the fugitive and the place where he is ordinarily resident.

Upon receipt of the order from the Attorney General, the Judge shall issue a warrant for the arrest of the fugitive if in his opinion there is enough evidence to justify such a warrant of arrest, and the offence was committed in Nigeria or the fugitive had been convicted of the said offence in Nigeria. And, once arrested the fugitive criminal shall be brought before a Magistrate as soon as practicable. In view of the provisions of sections 6 and 7 of the Extradition Act, the discretion to

Senator Buruji Kashamu

grant an extradition request is that of the Attorney General of the Federation and not the court. The role of the court is just to issue a warrant of arrest and undertake other adjudicatory functions as are required to enhance the statutory powers of the Attorney General. According to Dogban- Mensem JCA, in UDEOZOR v FRN supra: “The powers of the Attorney General in this issue are similar in extent as when the Honourable Attorney General initiates criminal proceedings or enters a nolle prosequi in a criminal matter.

The Court does not question that exercise. It has become a well-guarded legacy that this Court does not undermine the doctrine of the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (refer: THE STATE v S.O. ILORI & ORS (1983) All NLR pg. 84; (1983) 1 SCNLR 94). The discretion to accede to an extradition request is that of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation not of the Court. (Refer: section 6 of the Extradition Act).

The role of the Court is to issue a warrant and undertake such other adjudicatory functions as are required to enhance the statutory powers of the Attorney General. (Refer to section 7 of the Extradition Act).”

However, the Attorney General must act bona fide and in compliance with the provisions of the Extradition Act. Thus, if the Attorney General does not act in compliance with the Extradition Act while exercising his powers, such acts should be quashed by the Court.

Provisional Warrant for Arrest Request for provisional arrest is usually made by the requesting country as a matter of urgency, especially if the fugitive is about to abscond. In this instance, no evidence is required; information about the fugitive criminal will suffice. By section 8 of the Extradition Act, the Magistrate can issue a provisional warrant for the arrest of a fugitive criminal whether accused of or unlawfully at large after conviction of an extradition offence.

However, the Magistrate shall forthwith send a report of the facts to the Attorney General, together with the information and evidence on which he acted, and on receipt of the report the Attorney General may, if he thinks fit, order the warrant to be cancelled and the fugitive criminal, if already arrested to be released. The fugitive criminal when arrested, shall be brought before the Magistrate, who shall either remand him in custody or grant him bail, pending the receipt from the Attorney General of an order signifying that the request for the surrender of the criminal has been received or an order for the cancellation of the warrant and the release of the fugitive. In this instance, the Magistrate shall have powers to remand the fugitive as if he was brought before him charged with an offence within the jurisdiction of the Magistrate. If after the period of thirty days beginning with the day on which he was arrested, no such order was received from the Attorney General, the fugitive criminal shall be released. However, his release does not preclude the fact he could be arrested again and surrendered to the requesting State if request for his surrender is made afterwards.

Hearing of the Extradition Matter and the Commital or Discharge of the Prisoner

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

10.05.2016

/11

The Mechanism of a Rights Issue Uzo Ekwegh

E

very company in the course of its lifetime will encounter certain challenges, as well as embark on a number of risks in the pursuit of its objectives, at the core of which is to remain a viable going concern. Based on the foregoing, the law recognises the need for companies to raise capital to fund its operations. To this end, capital is popularly referred to as the life blood of every company.

It is trite that a company can raise capital either through debt, by borrowing from third parties such as banks and other financial institutions, or through equity; by issuing its shares to potential investors in exchange for cash consideration. The difference between these two methods is that the former creates an obligation on the company to repay its debt, whereas the latter confers the rights of a shareholder on the accepted investors. This paper is concerned with the latter - raising capital through equity (equity capital).

The Companies and Allied Matters Act 2004 (CAMA) provides in Section 117 that a company, subject to the limitations of its authorised share capital and any pre-emptive rights prescribed in relation to shares as contained in its articles of association, can issue shares up to the limit of its authorised share capital. This means that as long as the company has not exhausted its authorised share capital, it has the power to issue its shares as it deems fit (subject to the stated limitations). It should be noted that CAMA in Section 102 provides that a company shall have the power to increase its share capital.

Hence, where the company has a need for equity capital but has exhausted its authorised share capital, it can increase its share capital to accommodate the proposed issuance of shares.

A Rights Issue is basically defined as an offer/issuance of shares by a company to its shareholders at a discounted price. However, a more explicit definition is that it is the offer of units known as rights (hence the term “rights issue”) by a company to its shareholders, which gives the shareholders the right to purchase the company’s shares in proportion to shares already held by them, at a discounted price at a future date.

There are three core elements of a rights issue.

First, the offer is made to existing shareholders. Second, the shares are to be purchased in

proportion to the number of shares already held by the participating shareholder. Third, the shares are to be purchased at a discounted rate.

The Mechanism of a Rights Issue: Company ABC ltd.’s market value is N4 per share and it has resolved to offer a rights issue at the discounted value of N2 per unit and a ratio of 3-to-10 (i.e. for every 10 shares held in ABC ltd, the shareholder is offered 3 shares at the discounted rate of N2 per share).

As a participating shareholder in the Rights Issue, if you hold 1,000 shares in ABC ltd you are entitled to pick up 300 shares (3 new shares for every 10 held shares) at N2 each, which is a total price of N600.

It is important to note that upon the completion of the Rights Issue, the market value of the company’s shares will be diluted as a result of the introduction of additional shares. However, this is where the worth of the discounted rate is put to the test. It is impossible for any shareholder to predict the future value of his shares, nevertheless there is a formula to determine the theoretical market value of the shares upon the completion of the Rights Issue (i.e. the ex-rights share price) in order to ascertain the worth of the discounted rate.

This formula is the division of the total price paid for all shares in the company by the total number of shares held in the company.

By virtue of our scenario above, the formula works thus: 1,000 existing shares in ABC ltd at N4 each: N4, 000.00 300 new shares in ABC ltd at N2 each: N600.00 Value of 1,300 shares in ABC ltd: N4, 600.00

Post Rights Issue market value: N3.54(N4, 600 divided by 1,300 shares) It is clear from the foregoing calculation that the market value of N4 has been diluted by the introduction of new shares resulting in a drop to N3.54. However, this drop is cushioned by the fact that the 300 shares acquired at N2 have an appreciated market value of N3.54.

It should be noted that the shareholders are not obliged to participate in the Rights Issue when the offer is made. A shareholder may choose to ignore the offer and let the rights offer expire. However, this is not advised because the effect of not participating is the dilution of the shareholding of any non-participating shareholder. It is also important to note that a shareholder can trade with his rights until the future date at which the shares are to be purchased. This means that apart from either accepting or ignoring the offer, the shareholders have the third option of trading with the units on the market, as they would an ordinary share of the company.

Why Opt for a Rights Issue?

Contrary to the common perception that a company will offer a Rights Issue when it is going through financial difficulties it must be stated that companies may also offer a Rights Issue during a green patch, as part of a growth plan such as the funding of revenue generating projects or corporate acquisitions. Whichever the case may be, shareholders must ensure that they are satisfactorily informed on the reason behind the Rights Issue. They must demand full disclosure from their Board on the benefits and risks attached to this option of raising capital.

An important feature of a Rights Issue is

the fact that the existing group of shareholders remain the same. The essence of this is that the ideals of and vision for the company are not under threat by new investors who may have a different approach and agenda on the operations of the company.

Another factor that may influence the decision of companies to raise capital through a Rights Issue is the fact that there are less ancillary costs related to offering rights as opposed to a new issuance of shares. It is also believed to be a faster method of raising equity capital due to the familiarity of the shareholders with the product (i.e. the company), and does not attract the same level of strict regulation when compared to public offers.

In spite of the aforementioned, a few drawbacks to Rights Issue have been identified over the years. These drawbacks border on the willingness of existing shareholders to invest only so much more in the company, thereby limiting the capital to be raised via a Rights Issue, as opposed to a public offer. There is also the perception that Rights Issues are more prone to be employed in order to rescue the company, as opposed to securing the growth of the company. This leads to apprehension on the side of the shareholders when a Rights Issue is proposed, as majority of the shareholders become wary of the reason for the Rights Issue and begin to question the level of the directors’ disclosure vis-à-vis the health of the company.

In Nigeria, the Rights Issue has become a popular means of raising capital. This can be linked to the near collapse of the stock market in 2008 and the effect it had on investors. The aftermath of the foregoing is that investors are increasingly risk averse and companies have observed this. Hence, the bias for raising capital through Rights Issues, as opposed to the primary market. It became evident post 2008 that companies are wary of their ability to raise capital through public offers. Hence, the emergence of the Rights Issue as a viable alternative.

Conclusion It is important for the shareholders of the company to understand clearly the terms of the Rights Issue. They should seek professional advice in order to determine that they are indeed getting a good deal. For example, where additional capital is being raised to fund the acquisition of another company, the proposed acquisition should be justified with respect to profitability.

Uzo Ekwegh is an Associate at the law firm of Austen-Peters & Co

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF EXTRADITION IN NIGERIA: A GENERAL OVERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 It is noteworthy that the purpose of the hearing is not to ask the fugitive criminal if he desires to be extradited. The purpose is to determine whether the request made shows sufficient cause to warrant the extradition.

When the fugitive criminal is brought before the Magistrate on a warrant or on a provisional warrant upon the order of the Attorney General, the Magistrate shall proceed with the case in the same manner as near as may be, and shall have the same jurisdiction and powers, as if the fugitive were brought before him charged with an offence committed within his jurisdiction. The Magistrate shall receive any evidence which may be tendered to show that the offence of which the fugitive criminal is accused or alleged to have been convicted is not an extradition offence or that the surrender of the fugitive is for some other reason precluded by the Act or by the extradition agreement in force between Nigeria and the country seeking his surrender. If the case is an extradition offence, and there is a warrant issued outside Nigeria authorising the arrest of the fugitive criminal, the Magistrate shall satisfy himself that: a) The warrant is duly authenticated, and relates to the prisoner; b) The offence of which the fugitive is accused is an extradition offence in relation to that of the requesting country; c) The evidence produced would, according to law of Nigeria, justify the committal of the prisoner for trial if the offence of which he is accused had been committed in Nigeria; d) The surrender of the fugitive is not precluded by the Act (especially, section 3(1)-(6) of the Extradi-

tion Act) or the extradition agreement between the requesting country and Nigeria or the order.

The Magistrate shall commit the fugitive to prison to await the order of the Attorney General for his surrender.

If the fugitive is alleged to be unlawfully at large after conviction for an extradition offence, and there is a certificate of conviction to that effect, the Magistrate shall satisfy himself that: a) The certificate of conviction records a conviction to which the Act applies, is duly authenticated and relates to the prisoner; b) The offence of which the fugitive is stated to have been convicted is an extradition offence in relation to that country; c) The surrender of the fugitive is not precluded by the Act (especially, section 3(1)-(6) of the Extradition Act) or the extradition agreement between the requesting country and Nigeria or the order.

The Magistrate shall commit the fugitive to prison to await the order of the Attorney General for surrender.

However, if committing the fugitive to prison would in the opinion of the Magistrate be dangerous to the life or prejudicial to the health of the fugitive, he may order that the fugitive be detained in custody in any place named in the order instead of the prison, and while detained the fugitive shall be deemed to be in legal custody. On committing the fugitive to prison, the Magistrate shall inform the fugitive that he will not be surrendered until after fifteen days beginning with the day on which he is so committed, and that he has a right to apply for habeas corpus, after which the Magistrate shall send a certificate of committal to the Attorney

General and such a report on the case as the Magistrate thinks fit. But, if the Magistrate is satisfied by the evidence before him, he shall order that the fugitive be discharged.

After the committal of the fugitive, he shall not be surrendered until after fifteen days, and if a writ of habeas corpus has been issued, until the court gives its decision on the return of the writ, whichever is later. Where a habeas corpus has been issued and the fugitive is not discharged by the decision of the court on the return of the writ, the Attorney General, unless it appears to him that the surrender of the fugitive is precluded by law, may by order direct the fugitive to be surrendered to any person authorised by the country requesting the surrender to receive him, and the criminal shall be surrendered accordingly.

If the fugitive criminal has been charged with an offence that can be tried before any court in Nigeria; or is serving a sentence imposed by any court in Nigeria, until the expiration of the term, he shall not be surrendered except as permitted by any law in force in Nigeria. It is worthy of note that if upon the arrest of the fugitive, the police finds any property in his possession, which can be required in proving that the fugitive committed the offence he is accused of, such property shall be seized and detained.

The fugitive may be discharged upon application at the High Court of the territory he is detained if he is not surrendered within two months of his committal, or within two months beginning with the day on which the court gives decision on the return to writ, whichever is later.

Returnable Offences

According to section 20(1) of the Extradition Act, a fugitive may only be returned for a returnable offence. A returnable offence is defined by the Act as an offence which is punishable by imprisonment for two years or a greater penalty both in Nigeria as well as the Commonwealth country seeking his surrender. By section 11(2) of the Extradition Act, a prisoner serving such a sentence as earlier mentioned in section 10 of the Act may at the discretion of the President of Nigeria, be temporarily returned to another country within the commonwealth in which he is accused of a returnable offence to enable proceedings to be brought against the prisoner in relation to that offence, on such conditions as may be agreed between the President and the country requesting the surrender of the prisoner.

According to the Court of Appeal in UDEOZOR v FRN, the essence of the above provision is so that the fugitive criminal will not be surrendered for a trivial offence.

Conclusion Although, the law on extradition in Nigeria has been rendered redundant for a long time, the readiness of the present administration to collaborate with the foreign countries in the fight against corruption has revived the interest in the concept of extradition in Nigeria. However, in order to strengthen this, there is need for the present Extradition Act to be revised by the National Assembly so as to make the Act tidier, especially the aspect of the jurisdiction of the court on extradition matters. This would also make the Act reflect the present situation in Nigeria.

Chibueze Muobuikwu is an Associate Counsel at Marine Partners.

12/

10.05.2016

10.05.2016

THE LIGHTER SIDE/13

LEGAL HUMOUR

We Hold Your Brief JUDE IGBANOI jude.igbanoi@thisdaylive.com

Dear Counsel, I read the cheering news that President Muhammadu Buhari has passed a law prohibiting female circumcision. I work with an NGO in Akwa Ibom State and the state already has a law against female circumcision, but it is not effective as it is still going on illegally.

What is the effect of the passage of the new law

by Buhari? Will it make the state law irrelevant or more effective? I would appreciate it if you could throw more light on this matter.

Mrs. C.A., Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

before he left office.

It is known as the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 and it was passed by the Senate on May 5 2015. The human rights community in Nigeria actually hailed it as one of the last good acts of the former President, Goodluck Jonathan. President Buhari gave his assent to the law to give it full legal backing.

Female genital mutilation is the act of either partially or totally removing the external female genitalia or causing injury to the female genital organs for non-medical purposes. Under this new law, it is a criminal offence for any parent or ward to carry out or procure such an act on their female child or ward. The penalty is a six-year Dear Mrs. C.A., prison term. Indeed some states in the south have The truth of the matter is that the law prohibiting similar provisions in their laws, but being on female circumcision was actually passed by the the concurrent legislative list, both the federal Goodluck Jonathan administration a few weeks and state legislative houses can make laws on it.

Carlson and his Lawyer Carlson was charged with stealing a Mercedes Benz, and after a long trial, the jury acquitted him. Later that day Carlson came back to the judge who had presided at the hearing. "Your honour," he said, "I wanna get out a warrant for that dirty lawyer of mine."

"Why?" asked the judge, "He won your acquittal. What do you want to have him arrested for?"

"Well, your honour," replied Carlson, "I didn't have the money to pay his fee, so he went and took the car I stole."

Court Shorts "You seem to have more than the average share of intelligence for a man of your background," sneered the lawyer at a witness on the stand.

"If I wasn't under oath, I'd return the compliment," replied the witness.

14/

10.05.2016

THE WHITE COLLAR IDOWU OLOFINMOYIN

idowu.olofinmoyin@norfolk-partners.com

The Cost of Cold Calling 4:45pm on a Friday, a tense business conversation between Kene Rimii an investor and an auctioneer at the Bank of Industry assures the Kene that he has been short listed to participate in a private auction where his company and two others can gain exclusive access to five start-up companies and their lucrative technologies. The auctioneer informs Kene that the bids are closed and they must be by text message to a specified number within a five minute period, after which if there is no reply text each company must rebid. All is well with Kene’s bid, he does get a reply text, but then he opens it and reads “Congratulations! You have won 5 Days FREE Trial of inspirational tips & messages send ‘INSPIRE ME’ to 001100”. As he reads this another message comes in from the auctioneer informing him his company narrowly lost out to another bidder’s second bid.

Value of Text Alert Business It goes without saying that anyone with a mobile phone in Nigeria can relate on some level to Kene’s frustration. Millions of mobile network subscribers everyday are bombarded with unsolicited messages and telephone calls from vendors or all kind that have acquired access to the varied and lucrative market of mobile phone users. In fact in some countries these markets are so lucrative that with proper analysis mobile phone users’ data can be cross-referenced with other information to identify buying patterns and even political ideology, and so the power inherent in that information cannot be underestimated. In fact today it is not strange for mobile phone users to receive phone calls from perfectly legitimate numbers which then turn out to be conduits for mechanical-automated services selling the next best miracle product.

While of course some of these messages and “cold calls” are received because the mobile phone user somewhere consented to some direct marketing correspondence program, most are never aware nor are they informed of the manner in which their personal information will be used or sold to and by third parties trading in bulk customer data. The difference with our relatively nascent telecommunications industry is that while this might be a legitimate means of contacting willing and consenting users, there are very few ways of restricting the abuse and misuse of personal data that is obtained often by data theft, data ‘phishing’ i.e. the acquisition of sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy source, or simply by misapplication.

CAMPBELL v GOMEZ An interesting case of this nature decided recently at the Supreme Court of the United States in CAMPBELL-EWALD COMPANY

v JOSE GOMEZ 2016 (cited as 577 U. S. No. 14–857 (2016)) gives an interesting perspective on unsolicited messaging and cold calling. A United States Navy Contractor Campbell-Ewald Company was engaged for the purpose of developing a multi-media campaign for young adults that had “opted-in” to receive such direct marketing information on topics that concerned U.S Navy service. Campbell’s subcontractor then generated a list of mobile telephone numbers and transmitted the U.S Navy’s message to over 100,000 recipients including Mr. Jose Gomez who claimed he did not “opt-in” to receive the information and being 40 years old was not part of the U.S Navy’s catchment age group. Mr. Gomez then started a class action against Campbell claiming that the company breached section 227(b)(1)(A) (iii) of a U.S Statute, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U. S. C., which prohibits “using any automatic dialing system” to send a text message to a mobile telephone.

Now while the statute breached in the above matter is a U.S. statute and inapplicable within our Nigerian shores, we do have similar laws passed to protect the same intent here at home, the most significant being the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations (CCP Regulations) 2007 formed pursuant to section 106 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003.

The Consumer Code of Practice For the most part the NCA 2003 sets the framework for the regulation of the Telecommunications industry in general, but the Consumer Code of Practice sets the regulations regarding the protection of Consumers and acceptable standards of consumer related practices. Section 35 of Part II of these regulations deals with the Protection of Consumers Information. It stipulates: “(1) A Licensee [mobile network provider] may collect and maintain information on individual Consumers reasonably required for its business purposes. However, the collection and maintenance of information on individual Consumers shall be— (a) fairly and lawfully collected and processed ; (b) processed for limited and identified purposes ; (c) relevant and not excessive ; (d) accurate ; (e) not kept longer than necessary ; (f) processed in accordance with the Consumer’s other rights ; (g) protected against improper or accidental disclosure ; and (h) not transferred to any party except as permitted by any terms and conditions agreed with the Consumer, as permitted by any permission or approval of the Commission, or as otherwise permitted or required by other applicable laws or regulations.”

Subsection 2 continues to identify the principles of fair information collection to which mobile network operators should adhere and section 36 goes further to make compulsory the formation and application of a policy regarding the

proper collection, use and protection of Consumer information collected.

Therefore, following on from the spirit of the U.S’ TCPA as seen in CAMPBELL v GOMEZ above our CCP Regulations seem to impose a similar duty to treat Consumer information with care. This is of course separate from the implied and express contractual obligation owed by mobile network operators to their Customers to use Customer data for the purpose it is given.

Business Purposes Nonetheless some clear differences exist between the protection the U.S’ TCPA provides and the intent in the CCP Regulations. For instance a cursory examination of the wording of the TCPA’s duty will show that it creates a peremptory strict liability duty actionable immediately upon breach.

Section 227 states: “It shall be unlawful for any person …(A) to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice—” (iii) to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call, unless such call is made solely to collect a debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States;” Whereas our CCP Regulations create an intent, by identifying principles upon which mobile network operators should operate when dealing with Customer information the TCPA stipulates exactly what is prohibited, it creates a negative obligation “not to do” something which is easier to enforce than an obligation to “act in accordance with certain principles”.

Also the CCP Regulations permits the use of customer information reasonably required for its business purposes a very welcome exception to every shrewd mobile network operator because there is no limitation inherent in that, against the use of Customer information for new businesses i.e. Customer information may be used in new promotions even where they have not requested to be included in such. Customer information may then be viewed as a secondary “work product” or asset developed in the primary operation of providing mobile network service, and if viewed that way the information now belongs to mobile network operators rather than individual customers.

The general perspective that becomes clear comparatively across both the Nigerian and American approach to the same breach is that the Americans take it more seriously and so they place greater requirements of accountability for Customer information. Our approach on the other

hand is to afford mobile network operators, rightly or wrongly ample leeway to create the mobile networks necessary for the Telecommunications revolution we have experienced since 2001 when the first licenses were issued. Still, we need to ask ourselves at what cost it has come.

Quantifying Frustration So how much is your frustration worth? What is the value of these interferences into our daily lives? How many times do we rush to the phone hearing a message or a call come through hoping to see a “bank alert” or talk to a human being, only to find that we “have won” something we are really paying for? The TCPA says in section 227 (3) : “A person or entity may… bring in an appropriate court of that State(b) an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater, or (C) both such actions.”

That means ordinarily to every American customer every unsolicited marketing message, call or page, wherever they come from, is worth $500 or more, and there aren’t many more effective deterrents to abuse of Customer information than a punitive monetary fine. So if a punitive monetary fine is deterrent to the abuse of customer information what is the effect of its absence? And what does that say your customer information is worth?

Customer is King We are a nation 150-170 million strong, mobile cellular usage penetration is 107% greater than economies in Europe and more than even the U.S. We are the delight of any business operator that can manage to learn to thrive in the understandably difficult business conditions we have come to know as our economy. We have a voice. But consistently we see the reinforcement in our laws, our businesses and thinking the ideology that the ordinary Nigerian consumer is insignificant.

One out of 170million can be ignored especially when they have no connections or influence, while the same principles we claim to protect make other nations great as they ensure that they go beyond words to actually protect their citizens. The comparisons may seem clichéd, but the truth is in today’s global economy best practices become apparent in spite of what we know and have become used to. So what should we do? How do we begin to protect ourselves and the privacy of our information? By beginning to ask for accountability and asking that those who have our information use it only in ways that we permit. If we do not then we can all just get used to the unwanted intrusions we every time we hear the phone ring or that phantom bank alert comes through.

Panama Papers and Tax Planning - Beyond the Hysteria

Tunde Esan

T

he headlines are mind numbing “# Panama Papers: How Tinubu operated 12 Shell Companies in Tax Havens”; “EFCC to probe Nigerians named in Panama Papers’’; “Topmost Cleric, TB Joshua caught in Panama Papers Money Laundering Scandal”. From Dangote to David Mark and to the perennial ‘suspect’, Bukola Saraki, the ‘criminality’ of individuals and corporate bodies for operating tax havens are ‘exposed’ daily.

While one may excuse the ignorance of a lot of contributors who may be truly ignorant on the usage of a tax haven as an instrument of tax planning, the deliberate blurring of the fine line between tax avoidance and tax evasion by informed commentators in order to fit a preconceived narrative of the thieving elite is inexcusable.

A Tax Haven is described as a State, country

or territory where on a national level certain taxes are levied at a very low rate or not at all. It also refers to countries which have a system of financial secrecy in place while the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (‘OECD’) identifies the absence of any form of taxation or only nominal taxation as the most vital ingredient in determining whether a jurisdiction is a tax haven (Wikipedia).

The question that arises is whether it is criminal for an individual or juristic person to plan his/its financial affairs in a manner not prohibited by law to pay the least possible tax on his/its income?

In 2009, Google reported a gross profit of €5.5billion and an operating profit of €45million claiming it had spent €5.46billion on administrative expenses at its Bermuda Headquarters as licence to operate. Amazon had a running battle with the Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America in 2011 over an alleged U$D 1.5 billion in back taxes over its Permanent Establishment (PE) hosted in Luxembourg.

Barclays, Ikea, AIG, GlaxoSmithKline, HSBC, Microsoft, FedEx, Citigroup, Black & Decker, JP Morgan, Vodafone and other companies which pride themselves in best practices have utilised tax havens in tax planning.

A cursory look at the upstream sector of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria reveals that while Shell with its extensive interests in the Niger Delta Area has only 18 (eighteen) subsidiaries registered in Nigeria it is reported to have 455 (Four Hundred and Fifty Five)subsidiaries registered in tax havens. In the same sector, the registration of the drilling rigs employed in the sector with the exceptions of Akpo, Trinity Spirit, OES Integrity and a few others registered in Nigeria are in far flung places like Singapore, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Marshall Islands, Panama, Liberia, Belize and other tax havens.

The implication of the two preceding paragraphs above should be a condemnation of the usage of tax havens which robs the country of tax but the reverse really is the case that as long

as the usage of tax havens is not criminalised it may raise ethical questions and not a lot more.

J. Matsen Esq, speaking on tax havens and the litigious propensity of the average American said “Imagine spending years of your life building your financial empire only to have all seized and lost in a legal battle…when created in a legal manner, an offshore bank account can be an effective part of your asset protection plan and protect you from future creditors. Offshore bank accounts aren’t and don’t have to be a grey area of law’’.

In the classification of countries in 2013 which would fit into the definition of a tax haven 82 counties were listed while a body calling itself the Federation of American Scientists launched a report on 15 January 2015 where it listed 49 countries as tax havens spanning British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands, Mauritius, Liberia, etc.

Tax matters are a function largely of sovereign

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

10.05.2016

/15

LEGAL CATALYST EMEKA AZINGE

emeka@emedith.com

The Value of Emotional Intelligence to Legal Practitioners “Law is human interaction in emotionally evocative climates. Any lawyer who can understand what emotions are present and why, is at a tremendous advantage”-Peter Salovey

colleagues and others: As a legal practitioner, It is imperative to fully appreciate that communication involves a lot more than what is being said. Hence, empathy can be developed through listening carefully and observing clients’ and colleagues’ body language and facial expressions in order to accurately discern their instant emotions. The point being made here is that as legal practitioners we should make the effort to learn to read non-verbal cues in the eyes, voice tone and body positioning of clients, colleagues and even judges with whom we communicate with in different circumstances. Consequently, client interviews can be used as a tool to gain information not only about facts but also how your client feels about such facts, as well as mastering the art of discerning the emotions that underpin your opponents’ actions.

T

here has been a traditionally held notion to the effect that emotions and emotional responses have no place in the legal profession, for reason that tapping into one’s emotional data distorts impartial and rational legal reasoning.

Consequently, it is common to find legal practitioners who are totally disconnected from their emotions; the resultant effect is that legal practitioners score lower than the general public in their level of emotional intelligence due to this traditional, stoic and puritan view that emotions are best jettisoned from legal analysis; Thus, the idea of Emotional Intelligence (EI) has hitherto been discouraged, however, it is pertinent to point out that legal practitioners have no qualms about routinely engaging in anger-related emotions such as frustration, disagreement, outrage, contempt, dislike and hostility, and often inappropriately.

Moreover, emotions like fear are employed by legal practitioners as a tool to motivate other subordinates, whilst they avoid sad emotions such as grief, sorrow, disappointment, suffering or regret. Similarly, legal practitioners often express discomfort in talking about feelings and emotions with their clients and this is where legal practitioners get it terribly wrong, for reason that the lawyers who are of this flawed notion are missing out on the inherent benefits that come from having a developed EI. Such legal practitioners are not giving themselves the supplementary advantage and benefit that comes with a high Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ). Therefore, it is most necessary that legal practitioners begin to appreciate how to maximise the use of their emotions, in addition to how such emotions can positively influence their actions as well as positively influence and enhance their careers as legal practitioners.

Thus, the major components of EI which legal practitioners must take cognisance of are selfawareness, self-management, social-awareness and relationship-management.

Additionally, there is equally the defective idea that strong and sound analysis be advanced in place of emotions, and this notion has seemingly thrived in the legal profession. There cannot be the slightest doubt that sound analysis does, indeed, bring various forms of legal success, however, this should not in any way, shape, or form serve the flawed narrative that legal practitioners do not need to develop their EI skills as a result of the existence of strong analytical skills; to my mind the two are mutually exclusive. Accordingly, Professor Chris Guthrie stated: “Lawyers are analytically oriented, emotionally and interpersonally underdeveloped”.

Emotional Intelligence as relates to legal

practitioners refers to the ability of lawyers to process emotion-laden information and employ the result of such processing in order to better appreciate and resolve client issues and other legal issues. Accordingly, it is that ability of a legal practitioner to recognise and manage both his/ her emotions and that of the client or any other party in a manner that increases the intrinsic value of his/her proficiency as regards a given client instruction or legal scenario. Furthermore, Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ) is a measurement of emotional intelligence, that is, that ability, capacity or skill to perceive, assess and manage the emotions of one's self, clients others and groups. EQ incorporates the ability to empathise and work with others, and manage their emotions even while under stress. Hence, It has been stated: "IQ gets you through law school, but EQ gets you through your legal career".

In recent times, the practice of law no longer merely entails just an appreciation of intellectual legal concepts, but embraces how the law affects people- clients and colleagues alike, and that stirs up a huge range of emotions. Legal practitioners work with people continually within their firms, with clients and with other parties. They constantly deal, persuade, talk and negotiate with people and often times these people are under some kind of stress, be it emotional, financial or personal.

Thus, legal practitioners with high IQs, but low EQs, are unable to relate effectively with clients as well as the people they work with and cannot handle stress as constructively as legal practitioners who have taken the time to develop their EQ. Accordingly, it is the considered view of the writer that EQ radically enhances the ability of a legal practitioner to negotiate, convince, influence, build loyal clients and even limit liability claims as the case may require.

On the other hand, a lack of EQ, especially in modern times, certainly has a negative effect on the capacity of legal practitioners to execute a range of intellectual and social undertakings.

PANAMA PAPERS AND TAX PLANNING - BEYOND THE HYSTERIA authority of individual States, subject to treaties on financial openness and cooperation and individuals both natural and juristic will organise their affairs to take advantage of differences that may exist between a low tax jurisdiction and a high tax jurisdiction.

On the issue of lost tax revenue to the host States the said countries can enact laws such as the Controlled Foreign Corporation Act designed to limit the perceived artificial deferral of taxes by usage of offshore low taxed entities; enforce Transfer Pricing rules between related entities; impositions of Withholding taxes at a higher rate when payments are made to offshore companies; forced disclosure of tax mitigation rules; taxation of receipts from the entity in the

Consequently, here are 4 ways in which legal practitioners can practically improve their EQ: Increase awareness of your emotion: As a legal practitioner, you must learn to recognise your own feelings by taking a step back from them. In other words, it is that ability to observe an emotion and the reaction it produces within you that will set you on the path to being an emotionally intelligent legal practitioner. Therefore, practice identifying your emotions and their real triggers. E.g. you may find that the emotion of anger that you often feel may result from frustration or self-doubt.

Accordingly, it is important that legal practitioners take reflective breaks in order to identify regularpatterned emotions, determine their cause as well as decipher the response they elicit. This action serves as a catalyst for a legal practitioner to heighten his or her EQ when done regularly and especially when confronting demanding or intense situations.

Manage the emotion(s) you become aware of: As a legal practitioner once you become aware of the emotion you are dealing with, it is most prudent that you determine the ideal way to express that emotion, to whom it should be directed and to what extent- if at all -it should be expressed. It is critical that as a legal practitioner, you learn to restrict your emotions to the extent that they are useful and find ways to stop negative feelings escalating unnecessarily. Thus, it is important that as legal practitioners, we work on managing our feelings to avoid any form destructive communication; it is equally important to know which feelings are appropriate to express in a particular situation, and which are better kept private. Thus, the idea being postulated here is that as legal practitioners, we should learn to control our emotions and not merely suppress them.

Discern the instant emotion(s) of clients,

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

tax haven; enactments of laws such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act; Declaration of Assets including assets owned in tax havens and foreign countries by all persons in filing their tax returns; Amendment of the ALMs(Anti Money Laundering) Acts for full disclosure by all citizens of all assets and monies held in tax havens and foreign countries; provisions for dealing with tax exiles for individuals who exploit the length of days rule to avoid paying income tax in Nigeria on the residency rule and introduction of the blunter rules as obtainable in France by more jurisdictions.

The issue of tax havens should only strengthen the resolve of countries to block loopholes in their administration of taxes and tax laws and

perhaps take another look at the suffocating effects of taxes on tax payers which force the tax payers to seek more tax friendly jurisdictions.

Professor Idornigie recently on the issue of competitiveness and ease of doing business in Nigeria mentioned that in Lagos State of Nigeria alone there are 18 different taxes levied on citizens.

Before we crucify Tinubu, Joshua, Dangote and the rest, as at today the use of tax havens is perfectly legal and the ‘’put them to the sword’’ discourse should cease while we collectively search for ways to block loopholes in our tax laws to generate more revenue for the state.

Tunde Esan is a Legal Practitioner at Lexagon Practice.

Influence others’ emotions as you become aware: As a legal practitioner, it is important to understand how you can harness or diffuse emotions in others to elicit specific responses, minimise conflict and build trust between clients, colleagues and others. Appreciating these skills advances the consolidation of client relationships in addition to bringing out the best in co-workers.

Therefore, it is important that as legal practitioners we deepen our connections with other people, develop the ability to empathise, to talk about feelings, to listen patiently and to calm down situations where necessary before discussing pertinent and pending issues; all these are best achieved when we make a conscious effort to fine-tune our mindsets towards a heightened EQ Having elucidated the ways that legal practitioners can heighten their EQ, it is also prudent to state some of the advantages of such heightened EQ: higher productivity resulting from improved judgment, enhanced business development and client relationships, heightened ability to manage a firm’s people and assets if need be, more effective team building and most importantly an added and extra edge over competition. Fittingly, it is asserted by the writer that a legal practitioner’s development of their EQ can lead to career advancement as well as better client and work relationships. In addition and bearing in mind that the average legal practitioner spends more time interacting with people than reading and arguing cases, human relations training in the form of EI might be a necessary addition to the current law school syllabus, such that law students can be professionally trained to better understand their emotions and the needs of their clients before they even set foot into the legal profession.

In conclusion, the writer asserts that a high level of EQ helps legal practitioners interact with their clients, as well as enhances the ability to sympathise, discern and detect necessary information if and where need be. It will equally enable legal practitioners read the emotional disposition of the clients they are dealing with in order to better appreciate their concerns. Legal practitioners with a developed EQ make better day-to-day decisions about everything from the best course of action for their clients to how to get new clients.

Clients need legal practitioners to listen to them, be empathetic and communicate clearly, and to understand their emotions and how those feelings are impacting their decision-making. Furthermore, the ability to identify through abilities-based assessment those associates and partners who are best able to deal with their own and others’ emotions should prove useful in improving law firms and law department management.

Therefore, it can be safely emphasised that legal practitioners who take into account all factors, including emotions- theirs and their clients'- will ultimately be the ones with more successful and rewarding legal careers. Therefore, with a bit of brain-training legal practitioners can and should improve on being the unemotional products of the traditional law system, for the advancement of their careers as a whole.

16/IMAGES

10.05.2016

The law firm of Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors held its Annual Lecture last Thursday at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, Lagos. These are some of the personalities who attended the event. photos: Kolawole Alli

L-R: Senior Partner, Punuka Attorney & Solicitors, Chief Anthony Idigbe SAN, Former Head of State and Special Guest of Honour, Gen. Dr. Yakubu Gowon, Chairman of occasion, Dr. Sonny Kuku and Guest Lecturer from Harvard University, Professor Robert Z. Lawrence

Managing Partner, Punuka Attorney & Solicitors, Mrs. Elizabeth Idigbe (left) and Partner, Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Enedah

L-R: Panel Discussants: Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, Ms. Tinuade Awe and Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, representing the Inspector General of Police

Professor Fabian Ajogwu SAN (left) and Mr. Sylva Ogwemoh SAN

Ms Funke Aboyade SAN (left) and Mrs. Dorothy Udeme Ufot SAN

Representative of Asagba of Asaba, Chief John Edozien (left) Senior Partner, Punuka Attorney & Solicitors, Chief Anthony Idigbe SAN

Partner, Perchstone & Graeys, Mr. Olawale Adebambo (left) and Associate of Jaiye Agoro & Co., Mr. Jeremiah Banjo

L-R: Mr. Chike Mokwunye, Miss Sheila Ezeuko and Mr. Tochukwu Onyiuke

Federal Commissioner Public Complaints Commission, Mr. Funso Olukoga (left) and Lagos State former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan

L-R: Chief Don Ezeh, Lady Nkiru Ezeh and Oladotun Maile

Director, Eko Disco, Mr. Ernest Oji (left) and Mr. Emeka Ugwu Oju

Mr. Biodun Akindipe (left) and Dr. Jinesh Dutad

26

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10. 2016

BUSINESSWORLD AMENDMENT OF NLNG ACT THREATENS $25BN INVESTMENTS, 30,000 JOBS

translate to an increase of the NLNG revenue to the federal government by 40 per cent.

“So, when you think about it that last year, NLNG contributed $4 billion to the Nigerian economy through the taxes we paid; the dividends we paid; and what we used to buy gas from the upstream companies.

So, if you take 40 per cent of that, it gives you an indication of what we will be delivering every year when a project like this is built,” Omotowa added.

He further revealed that the shareholders were ready to take FID in 2008 but discussions on other priorities of the federal government at that time stalled the signing of the FID.

FASHOLA: WHY BUHARI DID NOT PROBE, CANCEL POWER PRIVATISATION

the problem,” he added.

He insisted that the country must depart from these routes, the federal government had previously travelled if the country must overcome the electricity challenge.

The minister added that in charting the roadmap for change, Nigerians must first tell themselves what was wrong.

According to him, there must be incremental power before the country delivers steady power and then go on to uninterrupted power.

In the quest for incremental power, the minister said the country must not overlook the things done poorly in the past.

“They range from improperly erected distribution poles, characterized by poor quality materials, poor workmanship, poor standards by local and foreign contractors who were employed to deliver the services and did not give us value for money. We must look at cable theft, vandalisation of pipelines and transformers, power theft by consumers who use energy without meters or consumers who pay unscrupulous people who help bypass meters.

Group Business Editor

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Maritime Editor

John Iwori

AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Crusoe Osagie

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) Linda Eroke (Labour) Eromosele Abiodun (Cap Mkt) Ejiofor Alike (Energy) James Emejo (Nation’s Capital) Obinna Chima (Money Mkt) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (AgriBusiness)

NEWS

Belgian Envoy Advocates Improvement in Nigeria’s Oil Refining Capacity Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano The Belgian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stephane De Loecker, has said that trade relations in oil between his country and Nigeria have been more favourable to Belgium and called for improvement in Nigeria’s refining capacity.

“The problem for Nigeria is it is exporting tremendous amount of oil to Belgium, which is refined and reexported to Nigeria,” stated the envoy.

He noted that although his country is benefiting from the transaction, Nigeria should take steps to address the situation.

Loecker, who noted that the queues in filling stations around the country did not project the oil-rich country positively, pointed out that improving Nigeria’s refineries would save a lot of foreign exchange.

The ambassador who made the remark during a visit to the governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, in Kano, maintained that relations between his country and Nigeria have been very warm.

He assured that Belgium and indeed the European Union would continue to support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle the security issues affecting parts of northern Nigeria. He also pledged his country’s support for the federal government’s economic diversification drive.

Loecker described Kano as very important to his country

in view of its commercial status and agricultural potential, saying his country is desirous of partnering with the state in agricultural development, in view of Belgium’s expertise in crop production and raising livestock.

In his remarks, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje,

promised the envoy that Kano will provide an enabling environment for Belgian Direct Foreign Investment, especially in agricultural production and processing.

Ganduje said the state was taking advantage of the federal government’s new food policy, which aims at

The Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) along with the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) recently announced plans to partner the Nigeria government in the area of quality infrastructure development in order to strengthen bilateral economic ties between both countries.

The partnership agreement was aimed at developing a solid road map to achieve significant improvement in infrastructure and quality of life. It will also focus on sustaining Nigeria’s economic growth through sharing of experiences and technologies from the Japanese government.

Speaking at a Public-Private sector infrastructure conference organised by the MLIT, JETRO and the Lagos State Chamber of Commerce (LCCI), the Deputy Minister for Construction, Engineering and Real Estate Industry, from MLIT and the government of Japan, Yasuki Kaibori, stated that Nigeria’s potential for development of infrastructure such as roads, bridges and port has been increasing. He also noted that the conference was an opportunity for many leading Japanese companies to introduce their good practices of high quality infrastructure to Africa and the world.

Kaibori expressed confidence

tolerant to corruption. Stolen money is being returned to the country and the government is working with our neighbours and the EU, among other partners, to ensure security,” the governor assured, emphasising that the business climate in Nigeria has greatly improved recently.

BUSINESS EXPANSION

L-R: Managing Director, Nestle Nigeria, Dharnesh Gordhon; Managing Director, SPAR, Haresh Keswani and Deputy Managing Director, SPAR, Prakesh Keswani, during the official opening of SPAR Hypermarket’s ultra-modern Mall in Ilupeju Lagos…recently

Nigeria Partners Japan on Infrastructure Devt Crusoe Osagie and Ugo Aliogo

halting importation of rice and wheat, adding that Kano has vast water resources and arable land which could be exploited by Belgian investors for mutual benefit.

“Corruption used to scare away investors from Nigeria in the past but the Buhari administration is now zero

that the conference will provide the platform to broaden Japan’s efforts in a regional-level partnership across Africa, adding “it will also strengthen deeper understanding of high quality infrastructure in Nigeria and African.”

In his address, the Executive Vice President of JETRO, Dr. Katsumi Hirano, stressed that the conference will help the Nigerian economy to understand the technologies Japan has cultivated over the years.

He further noted that the conference will also enable the participating Japanese companies to become aware of the potential to assist in developing infrastructure in Nigeria, “we want to see Japanese companies proactively take part in related projects.”

Hirano remarked that despite the immense benefit of the oil and gas industry in sustaining economic growth, the Nigeria economy needs to empower the service industry to become a strong driving force for economic development.

He added: “After recalculating its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014, the Nigeria economic scale has become the largest in Africa. Simultaneously, its industrial structure has been changing well. It is imperative to strengthen the competitiveness of the various industries to ensure sustainable growth in the economy.

“Lagos is the largest city in Africa. The city faces many

problems that are associated with urbanisation; traffic congestions, deficiency of lifeline utilities including water and electricity, and strains on waste management. Japan had faced similar issues during the period of high economic growth from 1950s to 70s, and we succeeded in solving them through infrastructural reform.

“In light of our experience, we are confident that we can make effective proposals to Nigeria regarding its own urbanisation. We would like to introduce some of them in this seminar.”

The President of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Nike Akande, noted that the critical level of Nigeria’s infrastructural deficit has continued to hinder economic growth and development, adding that statistics from the African Development Bank (ADB) estimate the country’s core stock of infrastructure at only 20-25 percent of GDP, compared with 70 percent recorded by other middle income countries.

She added that the statistics leaves an infrastructural deficit of $300 billion, while there are considerations on the use of pension funds for infrastructural financing and the 2016 federal budget allocating about N1.8trillion to capital expenditure, “there is a need for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to deepen finance for infrastructure in the country.”

Stakeholders Want FG to Strengthen Mining Sector James Emejo in Abuja The acting Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr. Shettima Abba Gana has said the solid minerals sector contributed N12billion to the federation account for the first time, and called for enhanced policies to strengthen the sector.

He also decried the attitude of some foreign companies, which engaged in illegal mining practices in the country.

Speaking in Abuja at a oneday national seminar on the role of the mining sector in diversifying the revenue base of the Nigerian economy, he said illegal mining activities had resulted in environmental devastation and loss of revenue to government.

Participants noted that though the country had potentially abundant mineral resources spread across the country, revenue profile from the mining sector was insignificant due to inherent challenges.

The sector currently contributes less than 1percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but the Solid mineral revenues could be significantly increased if efforts are made to fully develop the sector by pursuing and implementing the right policies and pro-

grammes, participants agreed in a communique issued at the end of the workshop.

Among other things, multiplicity of taxes in the sector and the tendency to discourage potential Investors; the presence and duplication of Regulatory and Monitoring Agencies in the sector with conflicting and duplicating roles; Incessant conflicts between host communities and the Mining Title Holders leading to disruptions and interferences in their activities were identified as challenges to the development of the sector.

The Seminar further recommended that stakeholders should key into the new Mining Road Map while government should continue to formalize the activities of Informal artisanal miners for purpose of control and funding.

It also recommended that the Federal Ministry of Environment should segment the fees paid for carrying out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)based on capacity and scale of operation which should be made public.

It stated that government’s current efforts on infrastructural development such as roads, power, etc, should be fast tracked to create impetus in the mining sector.

27

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

ENERGY

Dahomey Basin as Emerging Frontier The commencement of crude oil production offshore Lagos in Dahomey Basin’s gasrich Aje oilfield exactly 60 years after the discovery of hydrocarbons in the Niger Delta region, has rekindled hopes of new finds in other frontier basins. Ejiofor Alike reports At last, Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum, in partnership with Panoro Energy ASA and First Hydrocarbon Nigeria (FHN) Limited, among others, recently catapulted Lagos State into the league of oil and gas producing states in the country, after 25 years of exploratory and development activities, off the coast of Lagos.

With this feat, Lagos has joined nine other states - Ondo, Imo, Rivers, Abia, Cross River, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo and Akwa Ibom to constitute the oil-producing states.

This development is symbolic as it has the potential to change the country’s energy dynamics, with the production of hydrocarbons outside the traditional Niger Delta terrain, which faces increasing challenges in the areas of insecurity, community restiveness and devastation of the environment.

As oil companies in the Niger Delta contend with exploratory and production challenges in terms of operating cost and developing new technology, curbing violence has also become part of the conversation with its attendant huge cost on security. The discovery of hydrocarbons in Lagos has also rekindled the country’s hopes of success in Chad and other basins, thus diversifying the sources of hydrocarbons, boosting government’s revenues and reducing ethnic tensions and volatility associated with over-reliance on Niger Delta as the main source of the country’s oil revenue.

Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu recently said the commitment of the federal government and the NNPC to explore for oil and gas in the inland basins, especially Chad Basin and the Benue Trough was unwavering and on the front burner.

According to him, the NNPC through its Frontier Exploration Services and Renewable Energy Division (FESRED) had progressed reasonably with seismic acquisition activities in the Chad Basin frontier area up until Boko Haram insurgency necessitated the suspension of operation.

Kachikwu said eight phases, out of the planned 12 phase project, to cover 3, 550 square kilometres had been acquired by the date of suspension of operation on November 24, 2014. “ A total of 1, 962 square kilometres have been acquired and processed, interpretation is currently on-going at about 90 per cent completion, and drilling activities will commence by the last quarter of 2016,’’ Kachikwu reportedly said.

The minister said the seismic activities were carried out with due regard to environmental protection and in accordance with international standards and best practices.

According to him, the project was being handled by the Integrated Data Services Limited, a subsidiary of the NNPC, and BGP, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.

Kachikwu argued that exploration in the Chad basin would increase the nation’s oil and gas reserves and add value to the hydrocarbon potentials of the Nigerian inland basin, provide investment opportunities, boost the economy as well as create millions of new jobs.

“The decision to diversify our business portfolio is about all of us and about the future of our dear country, the vision is clear, and we are determined not to fail,’’ Kachikwu added.

Lagos success story Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited was granted an Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 309 in June 1991 as a Sole Risk Contract under the federal government’s indigenous allocation programme, designed local participation in the upstream sector.

The total area covered by the concession block is 1699 square kilometers.

After the acquisition of 2D Seismic data in 1994-1995, and the drilling of the Aje-1 well in 1996, the Aje field was discovered.

A second well, Aje-2, was drilled the following year in 1997 and after the successful drilling and testing of both wells, OPL 309 was converted to Oil Mining License (OML) 113 in 1998 with an initial term of 20 years.

Front Puffin FPSO in Aje Field Under the Petroleum laws, marks the recognition by the federal government that an exploitable hydrocarbon accumulation has been discovered. The OML 113 mining lease runs through July 2018 and is subject to renewal by the federal government.

Panoro Energy, an independent oil and gas company based in the United Kingdom, announced recently that oil production had commenced from the Aje oil field offshore Lagos, on Tuesday, May 3.

THISDAY reported that of greater significance also is the disclosure that the oil field holds untapped reserves of about 650 billion cubic feet (bcf), which if harnessed in two to three years’ time, according to a company source, could supply Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, all the gas feedstock it needs for the thermal power stations and other manufacturing concerns domiciled in the state and its environs.

In addition to boosting the state’s revenue potential with its new status as an oil-producing state, this will also catapult Lagos to the league of world industrial cities as it will guarantee uninterrupted power and gas supply to power plants and industries, respectively.

A statement from Panoro, which has assets in Nigeria and Gabon, said that the subsea installation activities had been underway at Aje since January and were completed in early March, ready for the hook up of the Front Puffin Floating Production Storage Offshore (FPSO), which arrived in Nigeria on March 16.

According to the statement, oil produced from the Aje field will be stored in the Front Puffin which has a production capacity of 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and storage capacity of 750,000 barrels.

“Flow rates will be provided in Panoro’s next operations update, following a period of inauguration and well stabilisation,” the statement added. However, a company source informed THISDAY that the first two wells in Aje were expected to peak at 12,000 barrels of oil per day, and the flow rates would increase as more wells are drilled on the field.

Panoro’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. John Hamilton, said his company was extremely pleased to announce the start of the first oil production at Aje. “This is a transformational milestone for Panoro and represents a great achievement by

the Aje project teams. It is also a key building block in our strategy to become a full cycle E&P company focused on West Africa.

“The commencement of production at Aje is also significant for Nigeria as it is the first commercial production for the country in the emerging Dahomey Basin,” Hamilton said.

Located in the extreme western part offshore Nigeria, adjacent to the Benin border in the Dahomey Basin, the field is situated in water depths ranging from 100 to 1,500 metres, about 24 kilometres from the coast.

Dahomey Basin, according to geologists is a rift basin considered part of the West African Transform Margin, which includes basins in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The field is situated 64 kilometres from Lagos and 12 kilometres close to the West African gas pipeline operated by Chevron.

In geological parlance, the field contains hydrocarbon resources in sandstone reservoirs in three main levels – a Turonian gas condensate reservoir, a Cenomanian oil reservoir and an Albian gas condensate reservoir.

With the field’s multiple oil, gas and gas condensate reservoirs in the Turonian, Cenomanian and Albian sandstones, geologists said the Aje field, which was discovered in 1997, has hydrocarbon resources similar to the nearby producing Jubilee field, offshore Ghana.

The current Aje partnership, which was formed in August 2013, is made up of Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum (operator), New AGE (African Global Energy), FHN, Energy Equity Resources (EER), Panoro, and Jacka Resources.

The partners to the Aje field had in January 2014 submitted the Field Development Plan (FDP) to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and this was approved in March 2014, primarily for the development of the Cenomanian oil reservoir.

THISDAY had reported that the partners had missed the December 2015, January 2016 and March 2016 targets for first oil, apparently due to the late arrival of the FPSO from Singapore, delay in the completion of the anchor handling operations, and late completion of the installation of the subsea equipment, including the manifold and flowlines.

After leaving Singapore for Nigeria, the FPSO had stopped briefly in Cape Town, South Africa.

According to the field development plan,

the development of the Aje Cenomanian oil reservoir would be implemented via two subsea wells, the new Aje-5 well and a recompleted Aje-4 well, and a leased FPSO. The initial two wells were scheduled to start oil production early in 2016. Two further wells – Aje-6 and Aje-7 – are expected to bring total Cenomanian oil production up to over 50 million barrels.

The field development plan also provides that a third Turonian gas condensate development phase that was conceptualised by the partners would involve three or four wells that would produce over 500 billion cubic feet of gas, 22 million barrels of condensate and 40 million barrels of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Social implications Since Nigeria started producing hydrocarbons 58 years ago, the country has produced all its crude from the Niger Delta basin in the south of the country.

However, in the last two decades, insecurity and recurring violence have led to production challenges, with deferments, frequent declaration of force majeure and other forms of disruptions due to sabotage. Though the amnesty programme introduced by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua helped to curb militancy, the return of violence in the oil-rich region in recent weeks has posed fresh threats to oil and gas operation in the region.

The bombing of the subsea Forcados export pipeline in February and the multiple attacks on Chevron facilities in Escravos represent renewed hostilities in the troubled region and strong evidence that the country cannot guarantee unhindered production of hydrocarbons in such restive terrain.

Though Aje asset, a gas-rich field with small volume of oil of 12,000 barrels per day at peak over 15-year period, cannot rival the prolific Niger Delta fields, the new Dahomey finds represent new hopes of diversification of the sources of the country’s hydrocarbon resources.

Lekoil-operated Ogo Field is another commercial discovery in the Dahomey Basin, but no significant development was known to have taken place. Already, the Anambra Basins contains Oil Prospecting Leases (OPLs) 905, 907 and 917, with existing seismic evaluations and undeveloped gas discoveries.

28

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY , 

BUSINESSWORLD

ENERGY

NNPC Advocates Cost Optimisation to Curb Effects of Dwindling Oil Prices Stories by Ejiofor Alike The Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in charge of Gas and Power, Dr. Seidu Muhammed has advocated cost optimisation, rather than cost cutting as the panacea to the current slump in crude oil prices.

Speaking to reporters on the recent Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, United States, Muhammed said if substantial parts of fabrication and engineering in all projects were done in Nigeria, it would reduce cost of production.

“I will not call it cost cutting, I will call it cost optimization - you optimise your cost when you are in difficulty and at the end of the day, what is the bottom line? Like I said what we do you do? What are the inputs in what you do in terms of production? You look at the input and apart from the human beings, you need machinery.

So, how can you lower the cost of those inputs like the machinery; the chemicals you use day and nights. How do you reduce the cost? You can only reduce the cost when you produce them locally and that is why with the direction we are going now that is why we all appreciate Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) and its membership.

We need to be more coercive; we need to be focused and we need to be determined to make sure that Nigeria oil and gas industry completely controlled

by Nigerians,” he explained.

He revealed that substantial parts of the engineering work were being done in Nigeria and also added that substantial part of the construction cannot be done anywhere outside Nigeria.

However, Muhammed said the issue of procurement had been a headache.

“With the capacity building in terms of the Nigeria entrepreneurship that is today going on with fabrication of equipment that needed in the oil and gas industry, you can be sure that of course, that Nigeria is going in the right path. Yes, I agree that so many things are happening with the oil and gas industry particularly with the dwindling prices of oil today but nevertheless what does it call for? It calls for us is to look inwards and see how we can optimise cost - reduce, the cost of production so that we can remain afloat. You cannot reduce the cost of production if you do not have Nigerian expertise in development of procurement materials and that is really what we need to commend PETAN and its membership in that regard,” he added.

Muhammed declined to comment on the issue of laying

House of Rep Committee on Downstream Insists on Deregulation The House of Representatives’ Committee on Downstream Sector of the oil and gas industry has insisted that the solution to the frequent fuel scarcity in the country is full deregulation of the sector.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the Apapa head office of NIPCO Plc in Lagos at the weekend, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Joseph Akinlaja said deregulation would not only give equal opportunity to all operators but also allow market forces to guide the sector.

Akinlaja said regulation in a society that was not welldisciplined would continue to breed corruption as the common man, which the policy seems to protect, may be worse off at the end of the day He lauded the seamless operation of NIPCO terminal, stressing that the level of automation and housekeeping was exemplary.

“What I have seen here today is akin to what operates in developed countries of the world that I have been privileged to visit in my over 35 years experience in the oil and gas industry,” he said .

He noted that the terminal is world class by any indices with an unequalled contribution by any indigenous operator.

Akinlaja said NIPCO remained a pacesetter in the industry especially taking into consideration its pioneering efforts in the realm of promoting cleaner energy with natural gas.

The Downstream Committee chairman said the contribution

of the company especially in the fuel scarcity period had gone to confirm the dream of the promoters to propel the organisation to be a reliable partner in fuelling the nation.

According to him, the company had not only come to the aid of the nation through its thru –put for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) but had also gone ahead to import petroleum products to meet the nations fuel needs.

He explained that as someone, who was part of the formation of the company, he felt fulfilled with the accomplishments of the organisation in barely twelve years of operations.

In his remarks, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Venkataraman Venkatapathy said the company would continue to support government to achieve meaningful growth in the oil industry as the main stay of the nation’s economy.

“We remain very resolute about the resilience of the Nigerian economy and the ample opportunities therein which we hope to continuously be part of for a very long time,” he added.

According to him, the great upbeat in the nation’s economy explained the increase in the level of investment by the company in the realm of natural gas utilisation either as Liquefied Natural Gas or as Compressed Natural Gas for powering of vehicles and machines.

off staff.

“I am not going to comment about laying off of staff here, I mean I am not here to talk about laying off staff; what we are talking about here is about cost optimising. You optimize what you have and get the best out of it. Contrary to what the people think, we have we are building the human capacity and we are extending the resources we require in the oil and gas industry,” he added.

With the slump in crude oil prices, some of the international oil companies (IOCs) and the Nigerian companies have em-

Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu barked on various cost-cutting

measures to remain afloat.

While some have deferred or outrightly cancelled projects, others also sacked some contract and permanent employees.

The downsizing of workforce has set some of these companies on a collision with the oil workers’ unions, creating labour unrest in some of these firms.

Oil workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) have protested some of the actions of these oil firms, in terms of downsizing.

FOR STEADY POWER SUPPLY

L-R: Immediate past Chairman, Odigbo Local Government Area, Ondo State, Mr. Joseph Ikumamoyi; Chief of Staff to Ondo State Governor, Dr. Bola Ademutimi,; Secretary to the Government, Dr. Rotimi Adelola; Chief State Head, Ondo/Ekiti States, Benin Electricity Distribution Plc. (BEDC), Ernest Edgar; Chief Technical Officer, Ashok Acharya, and Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade at the signing ceremony of an agreement between BEDC and Ondo State on power restoration to indebted councils held in Akure… recently

CWC: NOG 2016 to Impact on Diversification: FG to Set Up Businesses in Oil and Gas Sector Intervention Mining Fund The 2016 Nigeria Oil and Gas International Exhibition has been structured to improve the operations of businesses in the Nigerian petroleum sector, especially during these challenging times, CWC Group, organisers of the event has revealed.

Director of African Operations at CWC Group, Mr. Scott Shelton, said in a statement that new initiatives had been included to the preparatory stage to design an exhibition that would enhance the capacity and overall success of participating companies.

According to him, companies participating in the international exhibition will be provided a unique platform to showcase their projects, their products, and the services they offer.

“Companies can put on display their entire portfolio of projects to an audience comprising the most influential in the global oil and gas industry. The display of companies’ ongoing projects to the right audience can help them generate new leads on future ventures. In addition, the networking opportunities provided by the exhibition will bring these companies face to face with Nigerian government officials and others that shape the policy direction of the industry” Shelton explained.

He further revealed that the international exhibition, which will hold next month in Abuja, would help to position the companies, their capabilities and their successes before key international and Nigerian oil industry players.

Shelton assured those taking part in the exhibition that the platform would enable them have access to new businesses as they interact with others whose projects would also be on display. The range of projects on display will cover the entire value chain of the petroleum sector, he noted, adding that 250 companies are expected to showcase the latest technologies and services in the industry, attracting over 7000 trade visitors.

According to him, the interactions will provide companies with the opportunity to find new partners, investors as well collaborators for projects, old and new.

“NOG16 will enable participants to discover the latest technologies and industry developments that will be shaping the future of the oil and gas industry. The oil and gas industry is technology driven.

Every year visitors discover new and better ways to improve efficiency and position the industry at the cutting edge.

Raheem Akingbolu As part of the strategies being put in place by current administration to speed up the diversification of the economy and create jobs through the solid minerals sector, the federal government has put in place arrangement for the setting up of an intervention mining fund.

According to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the fund is designed as incentives for local miners and investors in the bid to stimulate growth in the sector.

The Minister, according to a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, made the disclosure during a breakfast meeting organised by the Stanbic IBTC Bank with investors in the Iron and Steel sector, in Lagos at the weekend.

Fayemi said the ministry was already working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Bankers Committee and the Bank of Industry to achieve this.

He said the intervention fund is part of the incentives government is putting in place to increase local production.

He said the ministry was committed to exploiting the

nation’s mineral endowments in an environmentally sustainable manner and establish a vibrant minerals and metal industry for wealth creation, poverty reduction, promotion of economic growth and significant contribution to the country’s GDP. Fayemi decried a situation where the country currently imports an estimated $3.3 billion of processed steel and associated derivatives representing 80 per cent of the $4.2 billion total metal products imported per year.

He said despite the country’s relatively robust iron ore reserves, there are only 30 steel rolling mills in the country with combined installed capacity of 6.5MT/annum. Only 18 are operational, producing about 2.8 MT/annum using 100 per cent scrap metal.

He said the government would realise its plan for a major turn around in the sector, through a strategic support for the local and foreign investors as well as creating enabling environments, through the right policy, for mining activities.

The minister lauded a few banks that have set up solid minerals desks and urged others to look into that direction as well.

29

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

ENERGY

Musa: Innovation Made the $16bn Egina Project Possible The Deputy Managing Director of Total E & P in charge of its Deepwater District, Mr. AhmaduKida Musa told Ejiofor Alike that the company would neither cancel projects nor sack staff on account of the current challenges in the operating environment. He explained that Total embarked on the $16 billion Egina deepwater project due to the company’s boldness. Excerpts: We understand that the NNPC owes Total huge amount of money as arrears of cash calls. How are you coping with the joint venture projects and what efforts are you making to get paid?

We are not coping very well because we have to look for the shortfall of the money that we are not able to cash call. So, we typically borrow from the banks; we typically look for corporate funds in order to be able to fund our normal operations. We are hopeful though that with the new dispensation, and we have seen signs and we have seen some form of acknowledgement, that this is going to be addressed very soon. There is the question of arrears though, which is a huge backlog of money that was not paid in the past. We are also confident there that government through the NNPC is looking at it and we have a lot of engagement in that respect.

How has Total been able to respond to the slump in oil prices? I mean have you sacked staff or defer projects to cut costs?

Total is a good corporate citizen and as a responsible corporate citizen, is not different from the normal citizen. Our people are our biggest asset. Total, despite the turbulent time, will maintain staff. We have learnt our lesson that laying off staff is a very big mistake when the booms start. Be it as it may, we have it as a policy to keep our staff. Total has it as part of its core attitude, the notion of respect for Nigeria, staff and host communities.

You said that you have not sacked staff and that you are not going to sack staff in the face of the drop in crude oil prices, which has led to loss of jobs and investments in the sector. What are you doing that others are doing that you are able to sustain your operation and survive the operating environment without lay-offs?

Total is different from the rest; there is no doubt. We are not looking at only the present; we are also looking at the future. Clearly, we believe that this is a cycle and as with all cycles, we will come out of it. And when we come out of it, we will need people and who are the people you can have best more than the people that you do have. So, we as a company, we have as a policy to bear it out right now; suffer the pains right now in order that the future will be much better for the rest of us.

How has it affected your JV Projects? Have you deferred projects or cancel any out rightly?

Again, Total believes in the long term. So, we have not deferred any major project. In fact, we are just completing them now. Egina is typically one; investment on injection of $3.5 billion every year for that project. We are still doing it; we did it even when the environment was very uncertain. We will continue doing it because we believe in Nigeria.

Egina is the next field in development phase.

It was discovered in 2003 and Final Investment Decision (FID) taken in 2013.

Total targets 200,000 barrels per day by May 2018. That shows Total’s boldness because when it was sanctioned, nobody was willing to invest. But Total sanctioned the $16 billion project on the environment of Akpo in same Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130. Total committed hundreds of millions of dollars without any guarantee. Egina FPSO is one of the world’s largest. Egina is almost two kilometers into the waters. We have drilled 11 wells – seven oil producers and four water injectors. A lot of fabrication has been completed in Nigeria – in Aveon, Nestoil, Saipem, Nigerdock, Ladol and others. The project is 53-54 per cent completed. The framework of Egina is always local content and 70 per cent of the

Musa project is local content.

After Total has completed Egina project, what are the next projects we should look out for?

That is a very good question. After Egina we have one other project in the deepwater; coming back to the Joint Ventures (JVs), we have plays in Ubeta; we have Ogbagidi - these are all plays that we will get into as what next.

Other IOCs are complaining about vandal-

Total wants a PIB that would encourage investment; that would encourage the growth of our oil and gas industry here in Nigeria and also make good revenues for the government and people of Nigeria

ism and activities of restive communities.

How have you been able to manage your relationship with your host communities that you can do these projects without community interruption?

Again, Total is different in the way they manage the communities and their hosts than others.

Like I said, the results are there to show.

So, we don’t have as much vandalism. But I am quick to also say that there are others that have bigger footprint than Total. So, they are very well spread out. So, the risks are much more. But for what it is that we control in Total; we don’t have such incidents; we don’t see it rampant simply because the host communities have a sense of belonging in our activities.

Controversy has trailed the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for the past eight years with the international oil companies (IOCs), including Total kicking against certain provisions of the previous reform bill. Projects have also been differed or cancelled due to the uncertainty created by the PIB. Now that this new administration is drafting a new document, what kind of PIB does Total want?

That is a very tough one because it is a matter of opinion or so, depending on who you are asking about the PIB, you will get a completely different answer.

But I guess the best way I can answer you is: Total wants a PIB that would encourage investment; that would encourage the growth of our oil and gas industry here in Nigeria and also make good revenues for the government and people of Nigeria. So, however or whatever PIB or in whatever form it is going to come out; if it does not address all these there will always be one party that will feel left out. So, we are

for a PIB that is very robust; that is very sustainable and that gives due to everybody.

Total is committing $900 million on just one domestic gas project- the Northern Option Pipeline (NOPL) project to supply 300 million standard cubic feet per day of gas to the Alaoji Power Plant, Indorama and one fertiliser plant when other IOCs are not investing in domestic gas supply because they said that the price is not commercial to guarantee good returns in investment.

Does it mean Total is comfortable with the domestic price of gas in Nigeria?

Total believes in the future of Nigeria. Total believes that yes, our domestic gas prices may not be where the market may want it to be but we do believe in the very near future, there will be a willing buyer and willing seller market and the equilibrium of a good price will be established then. That is our belief and that is the reason why we are not hesitating in investing in domestic gas.

Why is Alaoji not taking all the 300 million standard cubic feet of gas from the NOPL, considering that it is the largest NIPP project that needs much gas?

I think the question should go to Alaoji because they actually specified what their demands are.

I know that other gas producers are also providing gas. As a matter of fact, what we are providing to Alaoji depends on the number of turbines they have that are in operation.

After your company’s OUR and NOPL projects, are you considering embarking on any other domestic gas project?

We are always there. It all depends on whether it makes good business sense or not. But we are always there.

30

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT RIVTAF Golf Estate: Untouched by Economic Slow Down The multi-unit high-profile RIVTAF Golf Estate in Port Harcourt, being developed through a public private partnership, has waxed stronger despite the nation’s trying economic environment.

The Chief Executive Officer of RIVTAF, Mr. Mustapha Njie credits his project’s success to a simple model with easy funding arrangement, and a good face-to-face interaction with all parties, Bennett Oghifo writes

T

he RIVTAF Golf Estate development has the backing of both the previous and present administrations in Rivers State, which is one of the reasons it has a great boost on investors’ confidence. Construction work is going as scheduled and some investors have put most their homes in the secondary market while others are in the tertiary market.

“Everything is going on just fine,” said the developer, Mr. Mustapha Njie. “Governor Wike has seen the project and he is impressed. We were not the only ones the government gave land for housing development but we are the only ones still working.”

Besides, the implementation of the partnership is very transparent, considering the caliber of people on the board like the Commissioner of Lands, Attorney General and Commissioner of Finance.

What is on ground…

The development of the huge city-estate has a land area of 25 hectres and is being built in two phases; the first phase is done and the second would be ready by July, said the Regional Manager, TAF Africa Homes, Mr. Assan Sosseh.

The second phase has a total of 250 units, comprising Terraces and Duplexes. There are 110 completed units and the first batch of residents has already moved in.

There will be a 9-hole golf course at the rear of the estate close to a slow-moving natural river. Other amenities include; man-made beach with bush-bars, club house, creche, sports/ recreation area (tennis court/soccer etc) The first phase has 700 units, a mixture of apartments, terraces and duplexes. It is 95% completed with the full completion expected next month.

Regardless, it is 97% sold out and 250 RIVTAF Golf Estate, Port Harcourt residents have moved in. To retain the beautiful ambiance of the estate, the residents have formed have been sold already,” he said. an association with a board of trustees (BOT) and management committee and have taken The partnership… over the management of the estate. They are The Golf Estate’s construction began, after finalising a contract with a renowned facilities an official signing of a memorandum of management company to manage the estate understanding event was hosted by former on their behalf, Sosseh said.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi.

The clubhouse in the first Phase is well The estate is a Public, Private Partnership underway and will be completed in June. between a real estate developer, Taff Nigeria There will be a restaurant, bar, gym, pool, Homes Limited, with 80 per cent holding events area, office, among others. and the Rivers State Government that has The Estate has other facilities like: centrally 20 per cent, represented by the land equity supplied 24-hour electricity from PHED and it provided. standby generator (no individual gens allowed).

Taff Nigeria Homes Limited is chaired by a There is also centrally supplied water former Managing Director of Shell, Mr. Basil throughout the estate with central sewage Omiyi, an engineer and the estate is being management and water treatment station. built using a special purpose vehicle (SPV) Security is provided by a mixture of armed known as RivTaf Nigeria Limited. and unarmed security with electric fence Njie said, “The project started when I was around the perimeter of the estate. introduced to the Rivers State Government Residents have efficient garbage collection by the World Bank.” service, lawn and cleaning service, car wash The estate is being built on Peter Odili station, among others.

Road, Trans Amadi Layout, Port Harcourt.

The main entrance road, connecting from Njie, a reputable developer with vast property newly commissioned Woji Bridge, is 90% holding in The Gambia that are located just completed and will be operational by June. across the road from the Atlantic Ocean, said the Port Harcourt Golf Estate is designed Shopping Mall… to be sold Residents of the estate need not go far to off-plan and that “of course people had shop as there will be a 140-shop modern mall doubts but I think that, so far, our clients are located on the outer fence of the estate. The quite pleased and have developed confidence mall’s construction will begin in May and in us. We are pleased to say that all our will be completed by January 2017. “Shops Town Houses and Villas sold out within a are available for outright purchase and 47% month. At the moment, we don’t have any

Town House or Villa on sale. We only have our apartments on sale.”

The apartment building has a ground floor plus three upper floors. Total floor area of the 2-bedroom is 84sqm and the 3-bedroom is 131sqms. Every floor has four apartments.

Each 3-bedroom Town-house has a total floor area of 182sqms with front and back garden; 4-Bedroom Townhouse; comprises a total floor area of 203sqms with front and back garden; 4-bedroom Villa has a total floor area of 231sqms with large garden and servant’s quarters; and the 5-bedroom Villa has a total floor area of 247sqms with large garden and servant’s quarters.

All the houses are designed to be fitted with; Porcelain floor and wall tiles; external security external doors, wooden internal doors; POP decorative ceiling; alluminium windows and patio doors; decorative roofing tiles; fitted kitchen cabinets and wardrobes; and ceramic sanitary ware.

Services that would be offered in the estate upon completion are; 24-hour electricity and water supply; round the clock security (gated community); garbage collection; maintenance of streets and public areas.

Community support…

The developer had sweet words for the host community, which he said has been very supportive. The work on the property and they are very diligent, he said.

He also commended the local community for cooperating with them on the project as well as with the local contractors. “Every construction work done here was by local contractors. All the contractors are small/ medium size companies. They were hired locally and we are trying to build their capacity by equipping them.”

In the beginning, he said Taff Homes bought new mixers and other equipment for them and they are expected to pay in small installments, adding that the contractors were being trained. “Meetings are held with the contractors, the site Engineers to train them and build their capacity. I’ve been working in the construction sector for 35 years and I’ve worked in every sphere of construction; as an Engineer assistant, a surveyor, architect and so, I think I owe it to these young people to share my experience with them and that is the vision.”

He said by the time the estate was fully built, it could be replicated elsewhere and that by then the contractors would have been fully trained and “I hope that they would be beyond my size. So, within the next four to five years, we will have 12 or more contractors of this size, which can be replicated beyond the borders of this country.”

Construction supervision is provided by the project manager, Samson Abu, who works with every member of the team, including the drivers and cleaners. “We are all members of the same team.”

31

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT

NIOB Trains Members on Capacity Building for Artisans Bennett Oghifo Worried by the paucity of competent artisans in the Nigerian construction industry, the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) organised trainers’ workshop for builders across the nation.

The workshop, which was titled ‘Agenda for Skills Development in the Nigerian Building Industry’ was designed to upgrade the skills of builders to enable them give theoretical and practical training to artisans in the building sector.

The 2–day workshop was held in four centres; Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and Kano. The workshop in Lagos and Abuja were held on Wednesday, 27th & Thursday, 28th April, 2016 while the one in Enugu and Kano were held on Wednesday, 4th & Thursday, 5th May, 2016.

The National President of The Nigerian Institute of Building, Mr. Tijjani Shuaib was in Lagos centre to declare the workshop open.

Also present at the beginning of the ceremony were the Honorary General Secretary of the institute, Mr. Alao Adbulrazzaq,

the second Vice President of the Institute and the Chairman of the Professional Development Committee that organised the workshop, Mr. Kunle Awobodu.

The Special Guest at the workshop was the Group Managing Director of Eteleson Industries, Mr. Obinna Etele. Speaking on the workshop theme; ‘Agenda for Skills Development in the Nigerian Building Industry’, the National President emphasised the need for training and re-training of artisans and craftsmen in the construction industry as a response to the Federal Government’s desire on job creation and youth empowerment.

The workshop, he said would advance the drive for the assessment and certification of artisans and craftsmen by the institute, as a certificate awarding body; encourage members to open up training centres, and ultimately ensure that Nigerian youths are gainfully engaged and that the best workmen are used for construction works for quality outputs to curb building collapse. “The workshop would also ensure that foreigners do not take up jobs Nigerians

should do.”

During the technical session, seasoned building professionals were on ground to do justice to the various topics like; ‘Scope of Building and Construction Skills’; ‘Skills Acquisition Infrastructure in Nigeria’; ‘Construction Practices and Skills Gap in the Construction Industry; National Vocational Qualification Framework; National Occupational Standards for Construction Trades in Nigeria; Setting up and running of Training Centres; and

Emerging trends in the use of Solignum as wood preservatives in construction process in Nigeria.

As a solution to problems of skill shortage, the participants were encouraged to embrace the attitude of “Do it yourself” and acquire necessary level of skills through attendance of continuous professional training.

He said, “The training and re-training of skilled and competent workforce in the construction industry in Nigeria need to be revisited to ensure

the availability of competent workforce in Masonry, Carpentry, Cabinet maker, Furniture and wood work, Spray painting, Welding, Arch welding, Iron Bending, Fabrication and Felting. The National Vocational Qualification Framework was explained to be skill and competency based. It comprises of 6 levels from entry level to senior management level.”

Members were informed that NIOB has endorsed Solignum for use as the preferred wood preservative for the built

environment for two years running after carrying out research on the product that lasted over nine months and thus encouraged participants to embrace the product that has been in existence for over 50 years in Nigeria.

According to him, information received from the various groups in the break-out sessions would help channel and guide future thoughts on the training and certification of artisans and craftsmen in the Nigerian Building industry.

Participants at Abuja Housing Show to Win Land in Raffle Draw The organiser of the Abuja Housing Show, FESADEB Communications Limited, has said a piece of land will be the grand prize at this year’s event.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of FESADEB Communications, Festus Adebayo, there would be lottery and award dinner to mark the 10th anniversary of the show and appreciate stakeholders for their efforts in the industry.

“Star prize for the lottery is a vast piece of land to be won through a raffle draw.”

He said 10 countries and 200 companies have shown commitment to attend the event. “The 10 countries are: Turkey, China, Netherlands, UK, USA, Ghana, South Africa, Ireland, Kenya and Brazil; 20 organisations and 200 indigenous companies have indicated interest to participate in this year’s annual gathering of housing stakeholders tagged the 10th Abuja Housing Show.”

FESADEB Communications Limited, producer of Housing Programme on AIT Abuja and Housing Time on Raypower will also showcase top building materials producers and housing finance companies at the show.

He said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is expected to declare open the event which theme is, “Expanding Access to Affordable Housing in Africa.”

He said eminent speakers from Spain, South Africa, USA, Gambia and Nigeria have been carefully selected to deliver lectures on diverse topics.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola is the Chief Host while the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Muhammad Bello is Guest of Honour.

Guest speakers are the MD of Hydraform from South Africa, Mr. Robert Plattner , MD of Global Green Built from Spain, Mr. Alejandro Pons, Mr. Mustapha Njie MD/CEO TAF

Homes, Gambia, Hakeem Ogunniran MD of UPDC, Loren Zanin of Lafarge , Prof.

Mustapha Zubairu, FUT Minna and Prof. Charles Inyangete, MD of NMRC. Other eminent speakers include: Richard Esin, acting MD of FMBN, Kunle Faleti, Mortgage Consultant NHFP, Abiodun Oki Special Adviser to the minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Ugochukwu Chime, President, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, Prof. Mohammed Al- min, MD Federal Housing Authority, Sa’adiya Aminu, COO of Urban Shelter, Dr. Chii Akporji, Executive Director NMRC and Sen. Osita Izunazo, Chairman Sungold Group.

Partners in this year’s show include: AFP Furniture, a subsidiary of Julius Berger Plc; Dangote Group; cement manufacturer Lafarge, wood preservative producer Solignum; West Africa Ceramics; Haven Homes; UPDC; Platinum Mortgage Bank; Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC); Rock of Ages Properties Limited; and Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN).

Abuja Housing Show is the biggest housing event for housing stakeholders in Africa.

The forum provides opportunity to mortgage banks, developers, building material producers and professionals in the building industry to showcase their products and services as well as exchange ideas and share innovations in the industry.

According to Adebayo, the programme has led to creation of stand-alone Ministry of Housing in Jigawa, Rivers and Bayelsa states.

Abuja Housing Show which is similar to the American Builders Show has contributed immensely to housing development in Nigeria.

L-R: Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Lagos State chapter, Ladipo Lewis; President, Architects Council of Nigeria, Umaru Aliyu; Brand Ambassador, Nigerite Limited, Lanre Ashaolu; President, NIA, Tonye Braide; and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Housing, Bayo Dipe, during Nigerite’s day at the Lagos Architects’ Forum 2016 in Lagos… recently.

Activists in Nigeria Join Global Wave of Actions to Break Free from Fossil Fuels Bennett Oghifo Activists in Nigeria will take part in a global wave of peaceful direct actions, targeting the world’s most dangerous fossil fuel projects.

The activities, which started on Sunday this week, will last for 12 days and will spread across six continents, under the banner of Break Free, a group of like minds.

A statement by the group said, “Break Free from Fossil Fuels is a movement, an idea, and a call for action. To help build this movement, this online platform has been created so people and organizations who share our common values can organize or participate in large-scale actions around the world.”

The group said 2015 was the hottest year ever recorded and the impacts of climate change are already hitting communities around the world. From rising sea levels to extreme storms, the need to act on climate change has never been more urgent.

Added to that, the fossil fuel industry faces an unprecedented crisis — from collapsing prices, massive divestments, a new global climate deal, and an ever-growing movement calling for change. The time has never been better for a just transition to a clean energy system.

To harness the moment, activists and concerned citizens committed to addressing climate change – from international groups to local communities

to individual citizens – will unite to ensure that strong pressure is maintained to force energy providers, as well as local and national governments, to implement the policies and additional investments needed to completely break free from fossil fuels.

People worldwide are providing the much needed leadership by intensifying actions through peaceful civil disobedience on a global scale as so much remains to be done in order to lessen the effects of the climate crisis. This includes demanding governments move past the commitments made as part of the Paris agreement signed last month.

In order to address the current climate crisis and keep global warming below 1.5C, fossil fuel projects need to be shelved and existing infrastructure needs to be replaced now that renewable energy is more affordable and widespread than ever before.

The only way to achieve this is by keeping coal, oil and gas in the ground and accelerating the shift to 100% renewable energy. During Break Free people worldwide are rising up to make sure this is the case.

Actions taking place between 3-15 May include: Australia: On Sunday May 8, some 600+ people gathered at the largest coal port in the world, in Newcastle to demonstrate their resolve to make the climate a key issue in the coming election and show their determination to continue resisting coal no

matter who is in the Prime Minister’s chair.

Actions in Nigeria will be held in the Niger Delta in three iconic locations to show what happens when the oil goes dry, and the community is left with the pollution and none of the wealth. An action at Ogoni land will demand an urgent clean-up of decades old oil spills and underscore how it is possible for citizens to resist the power of the oil corporations, and keep their oil in the ground where it belongs. Another action will be on the Atlantic coast, where Exxon’s offshore wells frequently leak, impact fisheries and harm coastline communities’ livelihoods.

“Breaking free from fossil fuels is a vote for life and for the planet. The Paris Agreement signed by world leaders ignored the fact that burning fossil fuels is the major culprit in global warming. In these actions the peoples of the world will insist that we must come clean of the fossil fuels addiction. In Nigeria we will in addition raise our voices to demand a clean up of the extreme pollution caused by oil companies operating in the Niger Delta,” said Nnimmo Bassey, Nigerian activist from the Health of Mother Earth Foundation.

In Brazil, actions will be taking place at three locations across the country. Between 5-15 May there will be a rural fair in Maringa, which will include a big rally on 6 May, calling

for a ban on fracking. On 7 May in Toledo there will be a mass anti-fracking action with thousands of people attending.

And on 14 May there will be a march and mass civil disobedience targeting a coal power plant in Pecem, Ceará.

In Canada: On 14 May hundreds of people will take action on the land and the water in Vancouver to oppose the proposed Kinder Morgan Transmountain tar sands pipeline, surrounding the Westridge Marine terminal.

Ecuador: Action is being organised on 14 May by Yasunidos, bringing people together from around the country with a call to keep the oil in ground and protect the Yasuni National Park.

Germany: During the weekend of 13-15 May a few thousand activists are expected to come to Lusatia where they will engage in civil disobedience to stop the digging in one of Europe’s biggest open-pit lignite mines, which the Swedish company Vattenfall has put up for sale.

The action will show any future buyer that all coal development will face resistance, and demonstrate the movement’s commitment against fossil fuel corporations.

Indonesia: There will be a mass action of thousands of people at the Presidential palace in Jakarta on 11 May. The action will include participants from many of the communities leading resistance to coal projects from around the country.

32

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

PROPERTY NEWS

Raumplus Expands Operations in Nigeria Fadekemi Ajakaiye Raumplus, a leading global interior and furniture design company, has underscored its commitment to accelerate the development of the property industry in Nigeria through transfer of skills and the establishment of factories to produce its products locally.

Mr. Adeyanju Adelakun, Managing Director, Raumplus Nigeria made the assertion at the opening of the Ultra-modern office complex and showroom of the company in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja.The occasion was graced by Professor Amos Utuama, former Delta State Deputy Governor and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, represented by his Special Adviser, Mr Obafela Bank Olemoh.

Adelakun said the company has in no small measure engendered growth in the nations’ property market by creating and adding value through quality furnishing products to complement the structural developments in the nation’s property industry.

He said it is the vision of the company to commence building factories in Nigeria to promote local content development and provide employment opportunities for Nigerians.

According to him, raumplus, has brought innovations into the Nigerian interior design sector, the company with it cutting edge technology has introduce products that helps in achieving home design

dreams.

The company’s products provide solutions for living rooms and workplaces with modern day technology used in producing products like sliding doors, room dividers and cabinet systems.

Adelakun reiterated his company’s commitment to further tap into the enormous potentials the economy offers to expand business operations.

He said the global brand is deepening its brand equity in Nigeria in order to provide high value interior furnishing and quality home appliances for Nigerians.

In his speech at the occasion, Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode stated that Nigeria’s economy offers huge potentials and opportunities for investors to leverage on and establish their businesses.

He commended Raumplus for retaining a strong pedigree in the nation’s furniture industry and the Nigeria’s property market in general.

Ambode asserted that the economy is big enough for every key player to participate and showcase their business acumen and produce products that meet the taste of the people. He was represented by his Special Adviser, Education, Mr Obafela Bank Olemoh stated that the economy offers a level playing ground for every organization and as a result, urged more business to take advantage of the potentials that abound in the economy.

He commended the foresight of the franchisee,

AfDB Approves a Partial Credit Guarantee to Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company The African Development Bank Group’s (AfDB) Board of Directors, on May 5, 2016 approved a Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) of up to US $4 million in local currency to Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company (TMRC).

The Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) will support TMRC’s proposed Medium Term Note Program to raise long-term funding from the Tanzanian local currency bond markets on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) for on-lending to local banks for mortgage finance operations. The Bank’s PCG will enable TMRC’s bond to meet minimum requirements for listing on the DSE thereby enhancing TMRC’s capacity to mobilize critical long-term funding required for the growth of Tanzania’s housing finance markets, and catalyzing the construction of affordable housing.

The Bank intervention is in line with the High 5s agenda for the Bank Group, building on its existing 2013-2022 Strategy, and specifically on the 5th agenda of Improving the Quality of Life for the People of Africa. The five focus areas are essential in transforming the lives of the African people and therefore consistent with

the United Nations agenda on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Bank’s intervention will also result in multiplier effects on industries related to the real estate sector and creation of jobs in the construction industry. It will also assist in deepening of Tanzania’s capital markets by increasing the number of listed corporate bonds in the local bond market as well as match assets and liabilities of the institution. The PCG will complement the Tanzanian Government’s efforts to develop a self-sustaining long-term mortgage market in Tanzania.

Stella Kilonzo, Division Chief, Financial Markets Division, of the Bank Group stated, “By extending this partial credit guarantee, the AfDB adds on its existing initiatives to support the development of local currency financial markets on the continent and the private sector.” As one of its priority objectives, the AfDB supports investments that contribute to the widening and deepening of financial markets in Africa, and enabling the private sector capacity to mobilize long-term funding from local financial markets.

Mr Adeyanju Adelakun in maintaining a sustainable business partnership with the world’s renowned brand.

He further urged both global organizations to ensure the opening of local factories

in Nigeria to further expand their operations.

Professor Amos Utuama, former deputy Governor of Delta State lauded the emergence of Raumplus in Abuja which is a strategic move to

expand business operations in Nigeria. He said it is laudable vision for the global brands to introduce new innovative products into the Nigerian market.

Professor Utuama said the

business model of Raumplus to meet the desired needs of customers in Nigeria is commendable as the new office complex in Abuja is part of strategic business growth and expansion.

R-L: Former Deputy Governor of Delta State, Professor Amos Utuama and Managing Director, Raumplus Nigeria, Mr. Adeyanju Adelakun, at the opening of Raumplus Nigeria ultra-modern office complex/showroom in Abuja… recently

National Climate Action National Bio-Safety Seeks IntentionsisBecomingConcrete Collaboration with EHORECON under Paris Agreement on Pollution Control The UN climate change secretariat has launched a new interim public registry to capture countries’ formal climate action plans under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), they set out publicly what each country plans to do as part of the Paris Agreement to contribute to the international effort to secure a sustainable future for all by keeping the global temperature rise since pre-industrial times well below two degrees Celsius, with a preference to limit it to 1.5 degrees.

The NDCs showcase countries’ climate policies and actions to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change across many sectors, for example such as decarbonizing energy supply through shifts to renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, better land management, urban planning and transport.

The launch of the registry heralds a key step towards implementing the Paris Agreement that has now been signed by 177 countries.

“The Paris Agreement marked the start of a new era in international climate change cooperation,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres. “The launch of the interim public registry for NDCs underpins the collective trust and goodwill that led to the

historic agreement and is a new milestone on the road to its implementation.

The new interim registry for NDCs is the principal instrument to formally record action taken by countries under the Agreement. It is a fully transparent channel of communication where anyone can browse and search for information on what countries are doing to tackle climate change.

Ahead of Paris, as part of the negotiating process, countries had submitted their climate action plans based on their national circumstances and interests, which were called ‘intended nationally determined contributions’, or INDCs. The Paris Agreement included a change in legal status of these climate action plans, turning what were intentions, or INDCs, into concrete plans for action known as NDCs. If an INDC has been submitted by a Party under the UNFCCC – and there are now 189 INDCs already submitted - and that Party ratifies the Agreement, then that INDC will be considered their first NDC, unless the Party decides otherwise. Parties can also make changes to a communicated INDC by submitting a new NDC. Countries have also been invited to communicate their first NDC before their instrument of ratification of the Agreement has been submitted.

Fadekemi Ajakaiye Concerned by the growing food poisoning and diseases in the country, the Registrar of the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON), Dominic Abonyi has revealed that Environmental Health Officers will always ensure the pursuit of food safety through non-contamination or pollution.

The Registrar stated this when the Chief Executive Officer of the National Bio-safety Agency paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja, recently.

According to Abonyi, the Council has great interest in bio-technological approach to disease prevention and control, adding that in as much as National Bio-safety could help people in food production and help people in vaccine production also in health, then, “the Council can derive benefit in rolling back all the diseases that are scourging man through environmental insults.”

He opined that the primary mandate of the Council is to determine who could be called an environmental health practitioner and that the Council keeps a register of practitioners and facilitate training and certification of such individuals and also monitors the practice and regulates it for the betterment

of man.

Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer, National Bio-safety Agency, Mr. Rufus Ebegba said theirs was to ensure that the practice of modern bio-technology does not have adverse impact on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.

According to the Bio-safety boss, when looking at the issue of environment “it is to ensure that genetically modified organisms do not become super organism and are not created to distract the environment by applying the ecosystem.”

He explained that the role of the Agency was to regulate and ensure that the law was complied with, to this regard, and by extension, the law and the Act has created an enabling environment for Nigerian scientist to use bio-technology to improve the agricultural sector and also to produce raw materials for industrial purposes. It also enables the medical field to also get novel materials that can be used to enhance the medical field to produce drugs like the insulin, being used for diabetes.

Ebegba, however, revealed that the same process could also be used to develop plants that could be kept to ameliorate the impact of climate change and to also produce plants that could survive in drought-prone areas.

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016

33

34

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 T H I S D AY

35

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Global Oil Prices Rise after Canada Fire Knocks out Production

Zacheaus Somorin

Global oil prices rose yesterday after Canada’s most destructive wildfire in recent memory knocked out over a million barrels in daily production capacity, but caution among investors prevented a return to late April’s 2016 price highs.

The lost capacity is equivalent to well over a third of the country’s typical daily production, and almost all of Canada’s crude from oil sands is exported to the United States. The United States crude futures CLc1 rose 65 cents to $45.31 a barrel by 1118 GMT, having risen earlier by as much as

North Korea Defies UN, Pushes Nuclear Programme North Korea has insisted that it will strengthen self-defensive nuclear weapons capability in a decision adopted at a congress of its ruling Workers’ Party congress, its KCNA news agency reported yesterday, in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

The congress, in its fourth day, is the first to be held in 36 years and North Korea granted visas to scores of foreign journalists from 12 countries, whose movements are closely monitored. One BBC journalist, not reporting directly on the congress, was detained over the content of his broadcasts and was being expelled from the country.

North Korea has come under tightening international pressure over its nuclear weapons programme, including tougher U.N. sanctions adopted in March backed by lone major ally China, following its most recent nuclear test in January.

The congress’s decision formalises a position previously held by North Korea, which declared itself “a responsible nuclear weapons state”

$1.28, while Brent crude futures LCOc1 gained 40 cents to trade at $45.77 a barrel.

The fire, which broke out on May 1, has forced three major oil firms to warn they will be unable to deliver on some contracts for Canadian crude. The impact of the production loss has been far more marked in the U.S. crude market, where prices for West Texas Intermediate oil for delivery in July CLN7 are now above those for Brent.

Investors now hold nearrecord high bets on a rising oil price, which analysts say

might mean there is less scope for Brent to rally after having gained 25 percent in a month. “Positioning has been already very stretched in the oil market ... Some must have taken the opportunity to exit, so that’s one angle that momentum is slowing down,” Barclays Capital commodities strategist Miswin Mahesh said.

“There is a slight fear that prices have recovered too quickly, and we risk repeating the same price trajectory seen around Q2 2015, where the rally slowed down the market balancing process,” he added.

Canadian officials on Sunday showed some optimism as favorable weather helped fire fighters, driving the flames away from the oil sands town Fort McMurray, but there was no timeline for a restart of operations at evacuated sites.

“The market is close to balanced ... when we consider the large amount of supply offline in Canada and elsewhere, which could last for months,” Morgan Stanley said. U.S. shale oil output is in decline and production is also falling in Latin America, Asia and Nigeria, eroding a 1-2 million barrels per

day supply overhang that pulled down oil prices by 70 percent between 2014 and early 2016.

Markets were also watching Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, where a government shake-up over the weekend included the appointment of Khalid al-Falih as head of the new Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources. “Changes in Saudi Arabia oil leadership only underscore the shift in strategy to one focused on market share over price,” Morgan Stanley said.

and disavowed the use of nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is first infringed by others with nuclear arms.

“We will consistently take hold on the strategic line of simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force and boost self-defensive nuclear force both in quality and quantity as long as the imperialists persist in their nuclear threat and arbitrary practices,” KCNA said.

The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea regularly threatens the South and its major ally, the United States, which it accuses of planning a nuclear attack.

Officials and experts in South Korea believe that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is using the congress to consolidate power. Kim became leader in 2011 after his father’s sudden death.

FATAL DAMAGE

Smoke rises in a burned-out neighborhood in Fort McMurray, Alberta…yesterday

Migrants Freed from Greek Detention Migrants and refugees are being freed from detention centres in Greece but remain trapped on its islands until their asylum requests are processed, exposing them to dire living conditions and even the risk of people smugglers, human rights groups say.

At least 1,100 people have been released from centres on three islands and more will follow as their 25-day detention limit expires, police officials said. They are forbidden from travelling to the mainland, where most state-run shelters are.

Some 8,000 people, many escaping the Syrian war, have arrived on boats from Turkey

since March and are held under a European Union deal with Ankara designed to seal off the main route into Europe for over a million people since 2015.

Under the deal, those who do not seek asylum in Greece - and those who are rejected - will be sent back to Turkey. Asylum applications are piling up and rulings can take weeks. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said it was supporting government efforts to create new spaces.

“All parties are working very hard to meet the needs of the human beings present on Greek islands,” said Chris Boian, a spokesman in Greece.

Asked if those stranded on

the islands were vulnerable to human traffickers offering to take them to the mainland, Boian said: “The risk does exist and that is the one reason UNHCR advocates full access to asylum and expansion of the asylum service and alternative legal entry channels (to Europe).”

Human rights groups said the government was not doing enough to provide asylum seekers with shelter and medical care while they wait. On Lesbos, many head to an open, municipalityrun site. Those who can afford it check into hotels. Others sleep in the open.

“Every country that asks people to wait in a certain place has to

provide them with basic facilities.

That’s not done by Greece,” said Amnesty International’s deputy Europe director, Gauri van Gulik.

“It’s either - you’re in prison, or you can sleep rough on an island,” she told Reuters.

A government spokesman, Giorgos Kyritis, said the government was doing its best to support refugees and migrants in Greece at the open reception centres, nearly all of which are on the mainland. “The government cannot afford to support these people financially on an individual basis. It’s doing whatever it can to support them in the context of its limited capabilities,” he said.

China Landslide Death Toll Climbs to 22 The death toll in a landslide in China’s southeastern Fujian province has risen to 22, with 17 people still missing, state media said yesterday.

The landslide, triggered on Sunday by heavy rain, hit a hydroelectric power station that was under

construction in Fujian’s Taining County. President Xi Jinping had demanded that local officials step up rescue efforts.

“As of 1 p.m., 22 bodies had been found at the scene and two people who were on the missing list had been found alive and

safe,” the official Xinhua news agency said, citing authorities.

Persistent rain has made rescue work more difficult, Xinhua said. In December, a landslide in the southern city of Shenzhen buried 77 people. The government has blamed breaches of construc-

tion safety rules for that disaster and a number of officials have been arrested.

Sunday’s landslide is the latest accident to have raised questions about China’s industrial safety standards and lack of oversight over years of rapid economic growth.

36

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 T H I S D AY

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

37

NEWSEXTRA

Philip Morris’ Plans to Import N156bn Cigarettes Uncovered Cigarette maker denies allegation Eromosele Abiodun Despite the alarm raised recently

by Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth International (ERA/FoEN) of the flooding of Nigeria with “unlicenced, tax-notpaid” cigarettes and the deliberate violation of the National Tobacco

Control Act, American firm, Philip Morris International (PMINTL), has again made moves to import 550 million cigarette units, worth about N165 million into the country.

During President Goodluck Jonathan administration, Philip Morris International, one of the world’s biggest tobacco

Witness Says He Has No Document Showing Badeh Instructed Him to Purchase Properties Alex Enumah inAbuja A prosecution witness and former Director of Finance and Account of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Aliyu Yishau (rtd), for the second time yesterday insisted that the former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, gave him verbal instructions to carry out all his transactions.

Yishau made the revelations during a cross-examination by lead counsel to Badeh, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN).

At the resumed trial yesterday, Yishau told the court under crossexamination that even though he was aware of the financial regulation for public service which stipulates that all expenses should be documented , he could not request for documentary authorisation because things operate differently in the military.

“By virtue of your experience, when payment are authorised, it is necessary to have it in writing,” lead counsel to the first defendant, Akin Olujimi, put it to the witness.

Responding, the witness said: “When a request for expenditure is made through the Chief of Air Staff, it has to be in writing, but if the Chief of Air Staff is making a request for expenditure, he does not put it in writing. It has been so through out the period I worked as Director of Finance and Accounts at NAF.” Also, when asked whether the account of the Nigerian Air Force was audited annually by the Auditor-General of the Federation and being the DFA, he has a duty to justify every expenditure with appropriate document, the witness however, responded by stating that the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) does not need to justify his request for any expenditure, adding that the fund was already earmarked for

the office of the CAS. He went further to say: “If the CAS asked me to buy a N50million car for his friend, he does not need to write, and I will not question his request because he is the chief accounting officer, that is how we operate in the military.”

Olujimi then asked the witness if he was aware of the Financial Regulations Document for Public Service. He said yes, but admitted that he did not ask Badeh to put into writing the instruction in respect of the alleged properties, when asked whether, the document stated that he should not ask Badeh to put into writing request for expenditure.

However, the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, was forced to adjourn the trial midway after the prosecution counsel requested that the witness be given his statement to go through in order to refresh his memory on the new line of questioning.

The trial was adjourned to today to enable the prosecution get the certified statement of the witness.

Badeh and a company were also accused of removing from the accounts of the NAF, and did use dollar equivalent of N650 million to purchase a commercial plot at plot 1386, Oda crescent Cadastral zone Ao7 Wuse ll Abuja.

The offence, the EFCC said, is contrary to Section 15 (2) (d) of money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act. The defendants were said to have between March 28 and December 2013, in Abuja used an aggregate sum of N878,362,732.94 removed from NAF accounts and paid into account of Rytebuilders Technologies Limited with Zenith Bank Plc for the construction of a shopping mall in plot 1386, Cadastral zone.

Buhari Congratulates Shonekan at 80 Tobi Soniyi in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated elder statesman and former Head of the Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, on his 80th birthday.

A statement issued yesterday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, said Buhari commended Shonekan’s immense contribution to national peace and development which he has exemplified as an accomplished

administrator, astute businessman and patriot.

Shehu said: “The president believes that the historic role played by the octogenarian in forging and maintaining the unity of Nigeria will continue to endear him to many.”

Buhari said this administration would continue to look forward to Shonekan’s fatherly counsel on how to move the nation forward.

The president prayed that God Almighty would grant Shonekan more years of good health and happiness to see the Nigeria of our dreams.

manufacturing companies, had secured approval to import 122 million ‘units’ of cigarettes into Nigeria from September 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016.

PMINTL Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of American global cigarette and tobacco company, was registered in Nigeria on December 11, 2014.

Five months later, the company got the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) certificate for five PMI brands – Marlboro Gold, Marlboro, Chesterfield Blue, Chesterfield Mint Burst, and Bond Street Blue.

Philip Morris International, through Philip Morris Manufacturing Senegal Sarl, applied for and got approval of the country’s Ministry of Industry and Mines in July 2015 to benefit from the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme for the five cigarette brands.

Having imported, cleared and sold its first shipments of cigarettes (122 million units), PMINTL has again applied for further import approval to bring another 550 million cigarette units into the

country.

In a letter to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, titled: ‘Application for importation of Marlboro, Marlboro Gold, Bond Street, Bond Street Blue, Chesterfield Mint Burst and Chesterfield Blue cigarettes under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme,’ the company urged the federal government to allow it import 550 million cigarette units into Nigeria.

Part of the letter exclusively obtained by THISDAY, read: “We appreciate the opportunity to share our long term commitment with Nigeria and our investment plans with you and look forward to our future in Nigeria. We would like to follow up with you on an issue of critical importance to our ability to move forward with this long term commitment.

“On September 18, 2015, the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) granted PMINTL Nigeria Limited (PM Nigeria) approval for the import of 122 million cigarettes from Senegal under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation

Scheme (Harmonised System Code 24.02) (ETLS). We have already imported and cleared these products into Nigeria in line with our sales projections. In January 2016, we applied for further import approval to the BOF, now for 550 million cigarette units.”

THISDAY findings also revealed that the company had not obtained authorisation from the Ministry of Health to conduct tobacco business in Nigeria as required by law, a position the company admitted in the letter.

According to the company, “The BOF denied our application for such import. We understand the BOF has taken the position that our application will be granted only after we obtain authorisation from the Ministry of Health to conduct tobacco business in Nigeria. We believe that this requirement is not applicable.”

But Section 29(1) of the National Tobacco Control bill signed into law last May says: No person shall manufacture, import or distribute tobacco or tobacco products except

the person has obtained licence or is authorised in writing by the minister.

The law stipulates a fine of “not less than N10 million and a term of imprisonment of not more than 10 years or both” among others for defaulters.

PMINTL however denied that it has violated Nigerian law.

In a statement, the company said it plays by the rules in all the over 180 countries it operates.

“In every market where we do business, we operate in accordance with national laws and regulations, including in Nigeria,” Vera Nwanze, General Manager, PMINTL Nigeria Limited, said.

Nwanze added: “PMINTL Nigeria Limited is an affiliate company of PMI and has been an established legal entity for a year in compliance with all statutory requirements of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and meeting all legal requirements for product’s registration and importation including the payments of all relevant taxes to the concerned authorities.”

I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE

Former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode (centre) walking into the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja...yesterday Kingsley Adeboye

Fani-Kayode Honours EFCC Invitation Ex-minister granted administrative bail Senator Iroegbu inAbuja The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday commenced the interrogation of former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, over alleged fraud and money laundering.

Fani-Kayode, in response to the commission’s invitation last Friday, arrived at the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Abuja yesterday at about 9.30a.m.

The former Media Director of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Presidential Organisation, who alighted from a black sport utility vehicle (SUV) in a light-blue traditional attire, waited for one hour before he was ushered in for questioning at exactly 10.30a.m.

“He was ushered in for interrogation at exactly 10.30a.m.

but what we are not sure is whether he would be allowed to go home today,” a source close to the former minister said.

Fani-Kayode had last Friday raised the alarm via his facebook page that officers of the anti-graft agency had laid siege on his Abuja home shortly after sending him a letter inviting him for questioning.

He had stated: “Today the EFCC invited me to come to itsoffice on Monday. I have their letter. I agreed to be there. Now they have surrounded my house.

“The letter of invitation was served this morning and it was dated May 6. They said I should report on May 9.”

“Can someone please tell me why they are at my gate? They can’t even wait because they want to detain me so badly and keep

me away for the weekend.

“I never refused their invitation.

Why all this? I leave them to God,.”

Meanwhile, part of the letter of invitation for the former minister, dated May 6, 2016, and signed by the acting Head, CTGI/Pension Fraud Section on behalf of the Executive Chairman, read: “This commission is investigating a case of criminal conspiracy, fraud and money laundering involving Joint Trust Dimension Limited in which you featured prominently.

“In view of the above, you are requested to kindly report for an interview with the undersigned, scheduled as follows: “The request is made pursuant to section 38 (I) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004 and section 21 of Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.”

Fani-Kayode who had earlier denied benefiting from the alleged fraud of the arms purchase deal involving the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), also said he was not on the run from the EFCC. The former Minister of Culture and Tourism was still with the EFCC as at the time of this report.

The former minister was however, later granted administrative bail.

He Fani-Kayode was yet to meet the bail conditions as at the time of this report.

A source who is close to the former minister disclosed the conditions to include “two sureties at the directorate level of the federal civil service, and must own houses in Maitaima, Abuja and their international passports.”

38

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Dogara: N’Assembly will Study 2014 Audit, Ensure Appropriate Punishment for Corruption Cases River Niger in danger of drying up Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The National Assembly is to study and follow through the recently released 2014 Auditor’s Report to ensure that justice is served on anyone or group with proven cases of corruption or lack of transparency.

Among others, the report which was recently submitted to the parliament by the Auditor-General of the Federation, Samuel Ukura, had claimed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) did not remit N3.2 trillion in 2014.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday at the 13th African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institution (AFROSAI) E-Governing Meeting for English-speaking African countries, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, promised that the House was committed to the implementation of the Auditor General’s Report.

“This is because the AuditorGeneral’s Report is a major instrument of legislative oversight over activities of all organs of government, and has capacity to check corruption and abuse of office.

Security Agencies will Apprehend Culprits of Pipeline Attacks, Says Boroh Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd), has expressed confidence in the ability of the security agencies to fish out those behind the recent destruction of oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta.

Boroh said following the presidential directive to arrest the situation, he was confident that the perpetrators would be nabbed soon.

Boroh admonished communities in the Niger Delta to become more vigilant in order to protect the oil and gas pipelines, which are national assets located in the region.

“Security is everybody’s responsibility because the implications and consequences of insecurity equally affect everyone. The Presidential Amnesty Programme is a security stabilisation programme and is not responsible for the placement and deployment of security personnel in the oil and gas facilities and assets of the federal government in the Niger Delta.

Individuals and communities therefore have their role to play to complement government’s effort to ensure peace and security, which are

sine qua non for development of the region,” Boroh said.

He explained that his office was set to commence a series of stakeholder engagements within and outside the region towards addressing the current situation because of its belief in dialogue even when the security agencies are doing their job.

Boroh said he had observed that some persons were trying to exploit the current situation occasioned by the attack on the pipelines to cause tension in the region, whip up sentiments and unnecessarily politicise the issue.

“The call for persons with grievances to embrace dialogue is not an indication of weakness on the part of the government or managers of the amnesty programme. Rather, we are in a democracy and people should be allowed to ventilate their grievances without recourse to violence. If their complaints are genuine and reasonable, they will be looked into,” he said.

He implored the various stakeholders in the region to show utmost patriotism at a time the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has given a firm commitment to tackle the developmental and environmental challenges of the Niger Delta.

Bode George’s Mother Passes on at 91 The death has occurred of Mrs. Violet Oluremilekun Phillips-George who passed on at the age of 91. She was the mother of Chief Olabode George, the South-west leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

A devoted Christian, Mrs. Phillips-George who trained as a certified nurse in the 1930s and spent several decades at the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital where she distinguished herself as a professional with selfless focus and instinctive humanitarian mission.

After her retirement from the Lagos Maternity Hospital, she devoted the rest of her life to the service of the Lord at the Olowogbowo Methodist Church in Chapel Street. She was a leading member of Ladies Friendly Society, the Egbe Ife

Group and the Helpers Union.

Mrs. Phillips-George was a humanitarian and community builder.

She was industrious and hardworking, ultimately latched to the principle that the good life must be about service to fellow man and the sincere devotion to God. She was the head of the Phillips- Ijotun family of Abeokuta and the Aganga Williams family of Idumota Lagos.

Until her peaceful transition, she lived a fulfilled life and dedicated the rest of her existence to the tenets of Christ.

She is survived by Alhaja Enitan Majolagbe, Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George and Mrs. Ibironke Onojobi and many grand children and great-grand children.

“As I said elsewhere, the auditor-general has just released the 2014 Auditor’s Report. I can assure Nigerians that the National Assembly will study the report and cause same to be thoroughly investigated and would ensure that any proven cases of corruption or lack of transparency or accountability is appropriately dealt with,” Dogara said.

The Speaker, who was represented by the Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Chinda Kingsley Ogundu, noted that one of the major challenges of leadership in Africa, particularly in Nigeria was how to institute transparency and accountability in all spheres of government business both at the national and state levels.

Dogara stated that this was the only way to ensure that “our people enjoy the full benefits of democracy and good governance.”

According to him, it was for this reason that the present government was tackling corruption issues head-on with the active support of the legislature.

“Government is building structures and strengthen ng legislations that will eliminate corruption and ensure prudent management of government resources, for the benefit of all.

“We are partnering with the international community to achieve this. The era that government sat by and watched our common resources being plundered by those responsible for their custody is gone,” Dogara stated.

He disclosed that the House had recently passed a new audit law to provide for additional powers to strengthen the Office of the Auditor-General of he Federation.

“We sincerely hope and believe that this will give the Auditor-General added impetus for improved efficiency and effectiveness to deliver,” he said.

The Speaker noted that all over the world, the emphasis is on transparency in government , noting that African countries can no longer afford not to be counted among those with zero tolerance for corruption.

He regretted that Transparency International has remained very critical of African governments due to the perception hat leaderships on the continent are lukewarm in fighting corruption and punishing the vice.

Dogara noted that corruption continues to thrive in Africa because auditors appear to lack the necessary skills, competence and professionalism to effectively exercise appropriate control over government finances and expenditure.

In his address at the fiveday meeting with the theme “Leadership Driving Action”, the Auditor-General of the Federation, Samuel Ukura said the meeting provided a form for sharing knowledge and experiences among member countries, noting that Nigeria was hosting it for the first time in the West Africa sub-region.

Ukura noted that the challenges facing Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and public sector audit have no national limitations.

“SAIs across the world are facing various challenges among which are

their independence, encompassing financial as well as administrative independence.

“On this aspect, SAI-Nigeria faces serious issues of human resource and financial independence in the absence of a viable audit bill,” Ukura said.

He disclosed that the Audit Amendment Bill had been passed by the House of Representatives, adding that what was remaining was for the Senate to concur before the president’s assent .

“Once that is done, the Office of the Auditor-General will have more powers to sanction some people and organisations and reject certain expenditure. As it is now, we don’t have the autonomy.

“The other autonomy we are talking about is administrative and financial autonomy.

Now we send our budget to the Finance Ministry before they send it to the National Assembly for consideration and those are institutions we audit. How can somebody you audit determine your expenditure?

That is not independence.

BILATERAL BONDING

Chief Executive Officer, CEPIG, Essis Emmanuel; Ambassador of the Republic of Cote d’Ivore to Nigeria, Mr. Toure Toure nee Kone Maman; Chairman, Skye Bank/Consul Honorary, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire in Lagos, Mr. Olatunde Ayeni; Special Assistant to Ayeni, Mr. John Darlington, at a meeting held at Ayeni’s office, preparatory to the Cote d’Ivoire-Nigeria Economic Forum to be held in Lagos this week

Nigerian Troops Inside Sambisa Forest, Kill over 18 Terrorists Repel Boko Haram ambush, clear more camps Senator Iroegbu in Abuja Nigerian troops engaged in the ongoing ‘Operation Crackdown,’ have intensified their offensive deep inside the Sambisa Forest to rout the remaining Boko Haram enclaves.

The Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman, in a statement yesterday, said the troops of 21 Brigade, 7 Division, had sustained their offensive operations against the terrorists still hiding in the infamous forest.

Usman said the troops on Sunday, cleared four villages in the terrorists’ enclave which included Bala Karege, Goske, Harda and the famous Markas 3.

He disclosed that there was no encounter with the terrorists in all

the villages as they seem to have abandoned their huts and ran away.

Unfortunately, he said the troops ran into an ambush at Harda village, while advancing.

“The resilient troops successfully cleared the ambush without any casualty and proceeded with the operations,” he stated.

The army spokesman said the formation recovered suicide vests and quite a number of high calibre weapons which included a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Bomb, 18 rounds of 23mm Shilka ammunition, barrel of AK-47 rifle, extra-barrel of General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), three AK-47 rifle magazines, metal link of 12.7mm ammunition and a heavy-duty solar panel battery.

He said the troops also

recovered 10 vehicles and 50 motorcycles belonging to the fleeing terrorists.

In a related development, Usman said terrorists from another part of Sambisa forest, were reported to have taken advantage of the heavy downpour that occurred to move closer to the troops.

“However, the troops were very vigilant as they decisively and successfully dealt with the intruders. So far, two vehicles were recovered from Boko Haram terrorists and over eight Boko Haram terrorists bodies were counted before nightfall.

Usman also noted the possibility of recovering more by day break, by “exploiting aftermath of the attack

by Boko Haram terrorists on their location last night the Sambisa forest

despite the unfriendly weather.”

He said eight more Boko Haram terrorists dead bodies were found yesterday morning in addition to other recoveries made on Sunday night.

In addition, the DAPR military and Civilian JTF were informed of the presence of three Boko Haram terrorists who went to Puchi village to tax the community.

“On arrival, they found out that the residents had apprehended two of the terrorists and lynched them, while the third one narrowly escaped according to reports,” he said.

According to him, the troops recovered one AK-47 rifle, a rifle magazine and eight rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and a Dane gun.

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

39

NEWSEXTRA

Obi of Owa Mourns Oba Erediauwa Sunday Okobi The Obi of Owa Kingdom in Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Onyike Efeizomor II, yesterday mourned the passing of the Oba of Benin, Omo-N-Oba Uku Akpolokpolor, Oba Erediauwa The Obi, in a statement he signed and made available to THISDAY, noted that he received the news of the demise of the Oba of Benin with great shock, urging the people of great Benin Kingdom to raise their heads high as well as take heart over the death of the great monarch because he lived a life of total fulfilment.

According to Efeizomor in

the statement, “The Imperial Majesty, Oba of Benin means many things to many people.

“Here in Owa Kingdom, the Omo-N-Oba represents a father, a sign post of peace, a great light of civilisation, a bridge builder and a helper. Oba Erediauwa was a great teacher and a good listener. His sense of humour and personal accommodation made conflict resolution easy.”

The Owa king added that the late Oba of Benin brought great respect and industry into the institution of traditional rulership in Nigeria, adding that the deceased raised the intellectual bar of the institution and caused various authorities

to understand and respect the institution.

“He made it possible for both the high and mighty to understand the true meaning of the institution and how best the institution could be applied for national benefit to mankind. Today, it is true that persons of all facets embrace traditional institution.

“Omo-N-Oba N-Edo, the Oba of Benin has left the traditional institution with a flood-gate of interest, aspiration and unlimited drive as a most sort after position in Nigeria,” the statement stated.

In the condolence message, the Owa monarch, whose traditional headquarters is in Owa-Oyibu, the political headquarters of Ika North

East Local Government Area, explained that Oba’s visits to co-royalties were a baptism of unity and progression.

He added: “By his generous disposition, he (Oba) became the head of traditional Jerusalem to the extent that traditional rulers across the country will continue to reflect on his spirit as the nerve of Africa tradition.

“His new definition of the traditional institution has resurrected and promoted the study and preservation of culture and civilization.

Oba Erediauwa was the greatest king of our time, I therefore urge the Binis, their friends, admirers inclusive, to preserve the heritage of our demised leaders in God’s name. Amen.”

Oando Increases Gas Footprint via Ajaokuta LNG Project Oando Gas and Power Limited (OGP), the foremost indigenous developer and provider of gas and power solutions, and a fully-owned entity of Oando Plc, has commenced development of a mini Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility through its Transit Gas Nigeria Limited (“TGNL”) subsidiary in Ajaokuta, Kogi State.

The liquefaction plant is primarily directed towards fulfilling the gas supply requirement for captive power plants, embedded generation, and industrial clusters in the Northern region, as well as stranded customers in the South.

Off-takers, particularly, power plants and industrial customers who currently utilise liquid fuels such as diesel and LPFO, will be able to lower energy costs by up to 40 per cent, while significantly decreasing carbon emissions.

Commenting on the initiative, OGP CEO, Mr. Bolaji Osunsanya said: “The establishment of the Ajaokuta mini LNG project is in firm alignment with our mid-tolong term gas conversion strategy.

This venture further emphasises our push to broaden our asset portfolio and strengthen our market play within the gas sector; and by providing the gas advantage, we will help spur the development of self-sustaining industrial clusters to bolster the country’s socio-economic growth.

LNG is a viable provisional solution and an industry gamechanger for the development of gas markets ahead of the actualisation of a far-reaching nationwide gas pipeline network as stipulated by the Nigerian Gas Master Plan.”

With an unlimited supply radius across the country, the Ajaokuta mini-LNG project will provide the solution to the perennial power challenges suffered in certain regions by supplying gas to key foundation off-takers including strategic power plants and commercial concerns.

OGP provides gas and power solutions to over 170 industrial and commercial customers nationwide ensuring cost-savings across board, powering economic development, and engendering environmental awareness.

The company inaugurated its expanding Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) programme in 2013, and is currently spearheading several long term projects including a 400-kilometre

South-west to North-west gas pipeline and a Central Processing Facility (CPF) which will serve as the primary gas gathering and processing hub in the Niger Delta.

Commenting further on the company’s strategic direction, Osunsanya said: “We are focused on aggressively developing Nigeria’s gas infrastructure and the Midstream sector at large as evidenced by the ongoing expansion efforts of our various assets. We are poised to conclude the 10km Ijora to Marina expansion of our Greater Lagos pipeline to increase our supply capacity and market, while providing a cheaper power solution for industries and commercial enterprises along the axis. In cooperation with the Rivers State Government, we have also begun the 8km build out of the Central Horizon Gas Company pipeline franchise within the Trans-Amadi area which will have a socio-economic multiplier effect via the availability of power generated, job creation, and the growth of businesses.”

Though Nigeria boasts proven natural gas reserves of 187 trillion cubic feet (TCF), the 8th largest in the world and the largest in Africa, the gas industry has failed to realise its true potential due to a number of challenges including the lack of a suitable long-term fiscal and regulatory framework, insufficient infrastructure, sabotage in the Niger Delta, and slow market consolidation.

Analysts have continually touted gas as a means of diversifying Nigerian revenues from the usual reliance on oil.

“Gas must occur as a marketdriven development, and Nigeria is not an exception. With oil, there is a ready global market existing for the product. However in gas, you start with an end market and then you develop the gas infrastructure, including extraction, processing facilities, pipelines and connecting infrastructure,” said Osunsanya.

Oando’s holistic gas integration strategy includes methods of transmission and distribution through virtual pipeline solutions such as LNG and CNG to fulfill market requirements while the gestation period for the implementation of the Nigerian Gas Master Plan elapses.

The multi-billion Naira Ajaokuta LNG facility will commence operations in Q2 2017.

COURTESY VISIT

Member of the defunct Jackson 5 Group, Jermanine Jackson (left), and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, during courtesy visit on the APC leader at his residence in Lagos...yesterday

Kogi Assembly Crisis: N’Assembly Yet to Receive Notice of Court Process Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The National Assembly is yet to be served with the notice of court process in the suit filed by the Kogi State Government at the Supreme Court, challenging the resolution of the House of Representatives to take over the state House of Assembly.

The House of Representatives, backed by the Senate had announced its take over of the state assembly following the protracted crises among the lawmakers resulting in their inability to hold proceedings.

Citing Section 11(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),

the House had directed the Inspector General of Police (IG) to seal the premises of the state assembly on March 9, 2016, but it had been unsealed following a counter directive from the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami. The House, last Wednesday, re-directed the IG to again seal the state assembly, immediately, pending the resolution of the crises which has resulted in the emergence of two Speakers.

The Kogi State Government, on April 29, 2016, under Order 3 Rule 5 of the Supreme Court, filed the suit, challenging the resolution. The National

Assembly is listed as the first defendant in the suit, while the AGF is the second defendant.

In the suit with number SC.340/2016, the plaintiffs (Kogi State Attorney General, and the state House of Assembly) is asking the apex Court to declare the resolution of the National Assembly as a breach of Section 11 (4) as factional disagreement is normal in a democracy.

The plaintiffs also claimed that the disagreement in the state legislature, which hindered its sittings, did not create any adverse security situation in the state, echoing the argument put forward by

Malami, when he directed the IG to unseal the premises.

THISDAY checks however revealed that neither the Senate nor the House has been served with any notice of court process.

The Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, said he was not aware of any service on the green chamber.

A bureaucrat in the legal department of the National Assembly who spoke off record also confirmed that there was no receipt of any court process on the matter.

“Nothing of such, whether from the Supreme Court or the High Court has been received here,” he said.

FG SETS UP C’TTEE TO INVESTIGATE MISAPPROPRIATION OF GRANTS and economic justice to Nigeria,” immediate pass regime.

“The sincere hope is that Mumuni said.

Further, THISDAY checks the present regime will stem this criminal tide and bring revealed that Nigeria’s future whoever is fingered to justice regarding sourcing for funds according to due process of law from foreign donors now appears and further as a socio-economic bleak.

The withdrawal of GAVI which rights activist my opinion is that real and true justice to resulted in Nigeria refunding the the overwhelming majority of looted sum of $2.2 million, the the economically pauperised anticipated withdrawal of the Nigerians who are the victims United States government from of corruption, should not merely funding Nigeria’s HIV/ADIS end in sentence of imprisonment programmes and the Global Fund to the perpetrators of these indictment of the government acts of corruption, that will have worsened Nigeria’s chances simply be legal justice. It is the to seek foreign funding in the recovery of the stolen proceeds of midst of economic recession corruption from the perpetrators and plummeted global oil price.

Conversely, NACA officials that will serve the ends of social

said: “Information carried in the media a few days ago, that the Global Fund, a Health Financing Institution, which supports Nigeria, among other countries to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has not suspended its support to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria programs in Nigeria.”

The agency further stated that “the investigation confirmed the Local Fund Agent’s initial findings and found seven out of ten DPRS staff and three consultants were linked to the misappropriation of funds, including through inflating hotel bills, falsifying receipts, claiming expenditures for travel

not taken, and colluding with and receiving kickbacks from hotels and suppliers.

“The OIG concluded that DPRS-FMOH did not have an effective system of internal controls to safeguard grant funds.

Our checks also revealed that before the publication of the findings by Office of the Inspector General, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had been notified of the findings of alleged fraud and embezzlement of funds by the Department of Planning Research, Federal Ministry of Health and the EFCC had since commenced investigation of the issue,” NACA stressed.

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

40

CRIME&PUNISHMENT

How Friends Dissuaded Shonde from Committing Suicide, Convinced Him to Turn Himself in Chiemelie Ezeobi Barely five days after Lekan Shonde, a port worker at Apapa, allegedly killed his wife, Ronke at their Egbeda residence and fled, he yesterday turned himself to the police due to pleas from friends.

This was just a day after the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, Fatai Owoseni, launched a manhunt for him based on allegations that he strangled the wife to death.

Shonde, who had earlier refused to report himself to the police, yesterday made a sudden turnaround and in the company of some friends reported at the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) headquarters in Alausa, Ikeja.

He was later taken to the state Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, in the company of his friends and RRS Commander, Olatunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

Dressed in a blue shirt and black trousers, the suspect who was seen at the state police command headquarters, was barefooted as he walked up and down with his lawyer.

Although he declined to speak with THISDAY, he was overheard maintaining his innocence and the allegation that his wife cheated on him, while talking to his friends.

THISDAY gathered that the suspect, prior to turning himself in, had allegedly tried to commit suicide but was again dissuaded by friends, especially one Sunday Iwobi.

In an avalanche of text messages (about 70) he sent to Iwobi, the suspect while maintaining his innocence, expressed his desire to end it all.

The text message he sent on May 7, Sunday, read thus, “I want to die. Please help me. I can’t face the police or jail. They will kill me.”

Apparently, the reply Iwobi sent back was convincing enough for him not to commit suicide but turn himself in, because yesterday he acquiesced to go to the police.

Another text message sent by Iwobi to the suspect was for him

to make himself available since they have acquired the services of a lawyer for him.

In his reply sent by 11.50a.m. informing Iwobi of his decision he wrote, “Thanks for everything you have done.

I want to go to Alausa (RRS command headquarters).

“You are the only one that adviced me not to kill myself.

Because of this, I will respect you till I die. Thank you.

On how they were able to convince him to report to the police, one of his friends, Gbenga Soloki, an activist and founder of Campaign Against Impunity and Domestic Violence, said justice must be done.

He said, “When the information came to us, as law abiding citizens we asked him to come out for the law to take its course.

“According to what he told us, he had confronted his wife that Thursday about her cheating on him. She was apologising and she knelt down.

“When she tried to hold his leg, he pushed her and went to bed. In the morning, he left to work by 5am as usual and he said it was his son that opened the door while he looked it from outside.

“According to him, he was in the office that Friday when the nanny called and informed him about what happened. He said he couldn’t believe it.

“Initially, he said he didn’t want to run but the landlady’s son convinced him to because the police were already in the compound. It was misrepresentation of facts that chased him away.

“While he was in hiding, he told us that he called his wife’s alleged lover, one Kayode Oluokun, the General Manager of Foursquare Publishing and accused him of breaking his home and he apologised.

“Also in hiding, he was able to speak with his 91-year-old father, who also convinced him to report to the police. He also spoke with his mother-in-law who said she

Mob Sets Suspected Criminal Ablaze in Warri Monday Osayande inWarri An angry mob yesterday set ablaze a middle-aged man Emma, Blue, suspected to be a criminal in Warri, Delta State.

The deceased was burnt to death at the First Marine gate junction along the Warri-Sapele road, Warri South Local Government Area of the state.

The alleged criminal was said to have been picked-up by the mob on Sunday night and held in custody till yesterday before he was burnt to death.

The incident caused gridlock on the busy Warri-Sapele while onlookers watched pitifully.

Some of the people who spoke with journalists on condition of anonymity, said the deceased was a notorious criminal in the area. ‘’The boy’s name is Emma Blue; he is a notorious criminal in this

area; he has been arrested several times and released by the police. ‘’This time around, he went to rob and was caught in the process. ‘’They should continue to burn them to serve as deterrent to others,’’ the source said.

Another source said the jungle justice meted out on the suspect would go along way to stemming criminalities in the metropolis. ‘’Setting criminals ablaze is good because people don’t have much confident in the police. When a criminal is arrested before you know it, he is released,’’ he said.

It would be recalled that four suspected criminals were set ablaze on April 24, 2016 at various locations in the Warri metropolis by mobs.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Delta Command, Celestina Kalu, said she was yet to be briefed on the development when she contacted on phone.

has forgiven him.

“Our stand is that if he is responsible, the law should take its course. We don’t just want speculative analysis, we want the police to investigate the matter thoroughly.”

On the allegations of infidelity levelled against the deceased, Soloki said: “During investigations, we hope the police will get the call log of both Ronke and the said friend. Then we will know if Lekan is lying.”

Asked to describe the suspect he said: “He is not a violent person by nature. He is a very loving man who loves his wife. Go to his Facebook wall and see the encomiums he poured on his wife in February.

“Even the joint account that they have, it was in the care of the wife as she had the ATM card. As at now, he can’t even access the account because it was in the wife’s name.”

In an interview with THISDAY afterwards, CP Owoseni said investigations had commenced already to enable the police unravel the situation appropriately.

He said: “As have rightly said, the man allegedly killed his wife, because we are not a court of law. The right word is alleged and he has turned himself to us.

“He is in our custody and we will make sure that we get to the root of the matter and investigation is conducted.

Presently, detectives are asking him questions and at the end

of the day, we will ensure that justice is done.”

On the claims that the deceased

The Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi, yesterday disclosed that over 800 repentant members of Boko Haram terrorist group were currently undertaking trainings in vocational skills under the supervision of the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin.

Sidi, who made this disclosure at the opening of a two-day public hearing in the National Assembly on North-east Development Commission (NEDC) Bill, said the repentant Boko Haram insurgents were undertaking the training under the aegis of “Safe Corridor initiative.”

According to him, the programme was designed to rehabilitate the insurgents.

“It is not correct that the federal government does not have a plan for repentant sect members. The federal government has set up the safe corridor programme. I do know that over 800 sect members have been registered in it.

“They have exited the Boko Haram through the programme in line with the International best practice. They are currently receiving various skills acquisitions programme, which is being handled by the military. It’s being by the Chief of Defence Staff,” he said.

Furthermore Sidi said a return

scientific examination and autopsy to determine the circumstances surrounding her death.”

I SURRENDER

Lekan Shonde at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters yesterday after turning himself in . : Chiemelie Ezeobi

NEMA: Military Rehabilitating 800 Repentant Insurgents Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

had marks of violence round her neck, suggesting strangulation, he said: “That will be left for

to formal education, sustainable agriculture, paternalism, infrastructural reconstruction, environmental protection and remediation should be the focus of the North-east Development Commission.

A participant at the hearing, Kaka Kyari Gujbawu, suggested the need to formally incorporate the Civilian JTF into government establishment.

“With all the military myth, the help by the civilian JTF assisted in routing the sect. So there is need for government integration,” he said.

Earlier, while declaring the public hearing open, Senate President Bukola Saraki noted that in the last seven years, the people of North-east had been battered and bruished with both their private and public lives destabilised.

“The North-east has endured unprecedented pervasive brutality, satanic barbarism meted out against them; Christians and Muslims alike, young and old, men and women by the activities of Boko Haram.

“In an orgy of unabating and indiscriminate attacks on the Nigerian state and its circularity, they employed everything destructive to threaten our national security and socio-economic stability; maiming, bombing, attacking every institution that would help us remain a virile and united nation.

Gunmen Kill Five Policemen in Rivers Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt A yet-to-be-identified gunmen yesterday killed five policemen, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr. Nasiru Halidu, at Okobe Community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rives State.

THISDAY gathered that the policemen were attached to 30 Police Mobile Force (PMF) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State who were returning to their duty post at the end of their special mission in Yobe State.

The policemen were said to have been ambushed by the hoodlums at about 3a.m. The hoodlums opened fire on the unsuspecting policemen, killing all five of them in a police van.

The attack was said to have lasted less than 10 minutes before the hoodlums dispersed into the bush.

A civilian, said to be a motor boy (conductor) attached to one of the petrol tankers parked at the venue of the incident, was also hit by a stray bullet.

Okobe community, has been a stop-over point for petrol tanker and other truck drivers. It was also in Okobe that more than 200 people died in July, 2012 following a petrol-tanker explosion.

A police officer, who would not wish to be named, lamented, “One of my course mates, a DSP; his name is Nasiru Halidu, was among

those ambushed and killed by the hoodlums. He was among the police officers and men, who went on a special duty in Yobe State.

“They were going back to Yenagoa after ending their special assignment. It was at Okobe in Ahoada West, along the East-West Road, that the incident happened.”

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations (PPRO), Mr. Ahmad Muhammad (DSP), said the hoodlums laid ambush for the policemen that were travelling back to their base in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

He explained that the attack occurred in the early hours of Monday, adding that all the policemen, who were occupants of a vehicle, died.

He dismissed claims in some quarters that the policemen were involved in a shootout with some members of a cult group, insisting that the policemen were not attached to the Rivers State Police Command.

“It is not true that they (policemen) were involved in a shootout with cult members.

The truth is that they were coming from Yobe State after their special assignment and they were ambushed in Okobe, Ahoada West LGA. “They (policemen) were from 30 PMF and were going back to their base in Yenagoa when the incident happened. It has nothing to do with any shootout,” Muhammad said.

TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016 • T H I S D AY

41

NEWSEXTRA

APC Leadership Wades into Oshiohmole, Deputy’s Feud S’South PDPgovernors’ meeting, exercise in futility, says party Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abujaand Adibe Emenyonu inBeninCity The national leadership of of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday waded into the succession crisis brewing between the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiohmole and his deputy, Chief Pius Obudu, by setting up a five-man committee to reconcile them.

The National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has set up a five-man fact-finding and reconciliation committee headed by the former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, to visit the state as part of efforts to arrest the crisis between the state governor and his deputy.

Other members of the committee are Senator Osita Izunaso, Senator Ndoma Egba, Hajiya Fatimah Mohammed and Alhaji Ahmed Abdullahi.

Speaking during inauguration of the committee, Oyegun expressed concern over crisis that has suddenly engulfed the party in the state.

“It is a matter for concern and has been at all levels of party and government. That is a state we hold so dear to our heart.

A state where there has been a lot of breakthroughs in terms of

development which it has not witnessed for a long time.

“A state under an APC governor who has done so much to uplift virtually every part that suffered neglect over a long period of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration that just a matter of months to an election and weeks to primaries should be engulfed so to speak in the kind of unfortunate intra-party dispute at virtually all levels-party, government and now the state assembly level,” he said.

On the tussle over the state governorship candidate, Oyegun said: “I cannot and national headquarters cannot except a situation where the party itself, is seen to be discriminating among the aspirants.

“That cannot be accepted, we are a party of change and we must emphasised that in every thing we do the example was set with our presidential primaries and that is one of the major catarpault that has placed us where we are today and we are not going to go back on the need, the necessity, for free and fair primaries, which means that the party itself must be as neutral as possible because all aspirants are its children,” he added.

Meanwhile, the state chapter of the APC yesterday described the gathering of the PDP governors in the South-south as an exercise in futility, saying their gathering to promote what people of the state have rejected, would be in vein.

Governors of PDP in the Southsouth met in Asaba, capital of Delta State, last Sunday to strategise on how to wrest power from the APC-led government in the state in forthcoming governorship election slated for September 10 this year.

The Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, who brief the media disclosed that one of the issues they discussed was how the party in the region will put its house in order to win Edo State election.

But the APC Publicity Secretary in Edo State, Godwin Erhabor in a telephone chart with THISDAY in Benin City, said there was no cause for alarm.

He said the PDP governors should first tell Edo people where they were since the state was being vandalised between 1999 to 2008.

According to him, “They should tell us why they watched Edo looted and what was their reaction. Why did they choose to remain silent when the state was being vandalised?”

Ekweremadu: Disregard for Court Pronouncements, Rule of Law, Threat to Democracy Christopher Isiguzo inEnugu The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday identified strict adherence to the rule of law and respect of the provisions of the constitution as sure ways to prevent tyranny and oppression in a democracy.

He also bemoaned the alleged selective approach in the present anti-corruption fight, noting that: “It’s being pursued according to the whims and caprices of those in power who persecute people according to the party they belong to.”

The lawmaker who disclosed this while speaking on the topic: ‘Strengthening the Foundations of Rule of Law in Nigeria’, at a public lecture in honour of late Prof. G. O. S Amadi, a renowned Professor of Law from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu Campus (UNEC), noted that anything short of respecting the rule of law would lead to anarchy.

He insisted that flagrant disobedience to judicial pronouncements remained a major threat to rule of law and survival of Nigeria’s democracy.

“The efficacy of the rule of law is hinged on the compliance by governmental bodies and agencies with decisions of courts and other judicial or adjudicatory bodies. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, disobedience to court orders appears to be the norm rather than the exception in many facets of our national life,” Ekweremadu stressed.

At the lecture, organised by the Faculty of Law, U NEC, and Prof. G. O. S Amadi Foundation at the Moot Court Complex, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Ekweremadu further stressed that the rule of law was indispensable in any society that craves for justice, equity, and fairness.

While noting that the foundation

of the rule of law in Nigeria was the 1999 constitution, as amended, the Senate deputy president who is an alumnus and former lecturer at the Faculty of Law, was however quick to add that to make the foundation strong, all Nigerians have a duty and role to play.

“Those who think the strengthening of the rule of law is not their business are only playing the dangerous game of the cockerel, which refuses to attend a meeting of the animal kingdom, claiming it is not his business. But, sadly for him, it is agreed at the meeting that his lineage would be used as sacrifice to the gods. The cock and his kindred are yet to recover from that I-don’t-care attitude. The rule of law is, therefore, everybody’s business.

“We must all be ready and willing to live by the spirit and letters of our laws. Much of our problems are not about the laws themselves, but about our disrespect for them.”

Ayade Commended for Exemplary Workers’ Welfare Improvement Sunday Okobi A Civil Society Group, Coalition of Civil Society and Media Executives for Policy Stability (COCMEP), has commended the Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, for setting the pace in workers’ welfare improvement in the country.

A statement issued and signed by the President of COCMEP, Innocent Okadigbo, which was made available to THISDAY yesterday, described the payment of the state workers’ May 2016 salary on May 1 as a “pleasant and motivating surprise” which

is a great advancement from the payment of his workers’ salary between the 13th and 20th of every month.

COCMEP therefore urged the ‘worker-friendly’ governor to sustain the culture of timely and prompt payment of workers’ salary as this would multiply commitment, dedication, performance, discipline and productivity of the workers.

Okadigbo described the award bestowed by Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on the governor as ‘the most labour-friendly governor in the country’ as most befitting and truthful “because no governor has

surpassed Ayade in prompt and timely payment of workers’ salary in Nigeria” further describing him as “a motivator, trail blazer, role model, galvaniser and successful manager in human resource development.”

The group leader urged erring governors and employers of labour in Nigeria to emulate the Ayade’s model in workers’ welfare matters, urging the state workers to reciprocate the kind gesture of the governor by observing public service and work ethics in their respective places of work.

42

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2016

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

AMCON Pledges to Support Partners on Recovery of N200bn Debt James Emejo in Abuja The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Ahmed Kuru yesterday vowed full support for 115 Asset Management Partners (AMPs) it engaged to recover over N200 billion debts, holed up in about six thousand accounts in various companies.

He said although AMCON had done a good job in stabilising the Nigerian banking sector, restructuring and collecting some of these loans, it still has a total portfolio of over 12,000 loans of various sizes across different sectors.

Kuru said AMCON’s staff strength of about 300 was currently inadequate to effectively pursue and recover debts-thus, the need to outsource its efforts to partners.

He noted that unlike in the case of the initial recovery agents, the AMPs would be part and parcel of AMCON, effectively carrying the full authority of the company in

their responsibility.

The AMCON boss said the AMPs will essentially trace and recover loan balances of N100 million and below. But these “small loans” are worth over N200 billion.

The new recovery consortia are also being educated on how to track hidden assets which may be stashed in company shares and bonuses.

Speaking in Abuja during the induction ceremony of the AMCON’s Asset Management Partners (AMPs), Kuru noted that “much of our work in AMCON is debt recovery, and debt recovery is not and had never been an easy task.”

But he said a guiding protocol and processes for the AMP programme will be shared with the new recovery vehicles within the next couple of days as well as provide them with a feedback channel that will attend to their professional needs.

“AMCON will stand by you all the way,” he assured.

He however warned that

the AMPs must abide by AMCON’s guiding principles in the discharge of their jobs.

He said: “Strict adherence to the AMCON’s policy and corporate governance are nonnegotiable in this engagement.

We must all strive to do what is right, what is just and what is fair in discharging our duties as AMPs. “We must never entertain actions that can bring the name of AMCON, the AMP programme and our individual organisations and persons into shame and unwarranted litigations. Let us at all times endeavour to keep and maintain the laid out standards.”

He said: “It is important that we approach our assignment in a way that effective result is achieved. To this end, you must understand the goal of the corporation, ensure that resources are aligned toward those goals, and reduce crossfunctional inefficiencies. More importantly, confidentiality mixed with professionalism is non-negotiable.

Fayemi Seeks Expansion of Mineral Processing Industry Nume Ekeghe and Rebecca Ejifoma Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said that for sustainable growth in the mining sector in the country, there must be a clear focus on expanding the domestic iron ore and the mineral processing industry.

This, he said would help promote the economic growth and contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Fayemi said steel is the world’s most important engineering material and the key to any country’s industrialisation objectives.

“Nigeria imports an estimated $3.3 billion of processed steel and associated derivatives, representing 80 per cent of the $4.2 billion total metal products imported per year.”

The minister, who stated this at the 2016 Stanbic IBTC Bank Iron Ore and Steel Business

Session in Lagos, recently noted that the forum was focused on strategy to improve the iron and steel industry and the Nigeria economy.

“The steel sector is weak due to poor infrastructure for extracting, processing and transporting bulk material such as freight rail transport, access roads to mines and electrical power,” he said.

He further added that the federal government was of the view that the steel industry would be attractive to investors due to the large untapped demand potential similar to cement in 1990s. The current market size of $3.3 billion per annum has potential to grow to $15.1 billion per annum with increase industrialisation.

Meanwhile, the minister said his ministry was working with banks on how to create low cost funds for the mining sector, adding that banks are working hard to establish mining desks.

He affirmed that some of the strategy for unlocking the sector’s full potential include: comprehensive turnaround of the board mining and metals sector; to build a world class minerals and mining ecosystem designed to serve a targeted domestic and export market for minerals and ores; and to return to global ore mineral markets at a market competitive price point.

According to a recent report by the National Integrated Master Plan (NIMP), to fund the infrastructure needs of its growing economy over the next 30 years, Nigeria would need to spend about $3 trillion.

The Head of Mining at Standard Bank, South Africa, Anders Alfredson, told participants that Nigeria market has potential to develop domestic iron ore and other steel raw material resources and abundance of attractively priced energy sources available locally.

Diamond Bank, Natures Gentle Touch Reward Card Holders As part of efforts to provide hair and scalp care solution to Nigerian women, Recare Limited, owners of Natures Gentle Touch has gone into a partnership with Diamond Bank to reward customers with discounts. Recare Manager, Chijioke Anaele, who inaugurated the campaign in Lagos, said that the discount partnership would run for six months.

A statement quoted Balogun as saying that “within this period, customers who used Diamond Bank cards to purchase products would enjoy an instant 15 per cent discount on all products purchased using the discount code Amazingwoman15”.

This partnership would provide an opportunity for women to achieve a healthy natural hair with the availability of Natures Gentle Touch range of products, proven to solve

various hair challenges at a discount. “We understand every woman’s wish to achieve her set beauty goals and are continually seeking for ways to meet them,” he emphasised.

Diamond Bank has remained a reliable driving force in mobile payment innovations in the financial services sub-sector, leading the digital revolution in Nigeria and providing efficient and cost-effective services to its customers.

Head, Corporate Communications of Diamond Bank, Ayona Trimnell stated that the partnership with Recare was not just to enhance only the beauty of the woman but also to boost their purchasing power while making payments with the Bank’s cards.

“Diamond Bank believes in the wealth and wellbeing of women. We are helping

to make the total woman by providing payment options that enhances their lifestyle without tinkering with their individuality”, Ayona stated.

According to Ayona, Diamond Bank has stamped its feet as the leading bank with the most digital innovations in Nigeria.

“Our Mobile App is the first to record over a million users in the financial services sub-sector with 1.3 million customers downloading, registering and being active users of the service.

“It is the first bank in Africa to launch the fingerprint recognition feature on its Diamond Mobile App, a fingerprint reader that allows users of the Mobile App an easy and seamless login to their accounts by simply recognising and identifying their individual fingerprints,” the statement added

Ahmed Kuru

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

FEBRUARY 2016 Broad Money (M2)

20,489,166.72

-- Narrow Money (M1)

9,095,578.34

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,377,483.11

---- Demand Deposits

7,682,095.23

-- Quasi Money

11,429,588.38

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

5,471,351.78

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

15,017,814.94

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

22,414,322.75

---- Credit to Government (Net)

3,424,029.62

---- Memo: Credit to Govt. (Net) less FMA

4,807,604.55

---- Memo: Fed. and Mirror Accounts (FMA)

-1,383,574.93

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

18,990,293.13

--Other Assets Net

-7,396,507.81

Reserve Money (Base Money)

5,095,380.23

--Currency in Circulation

1,711,623.51

--Banks Reserves

3,383,756.72 • Source - CBN

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Price (N) Stanbic Balanced Fund

Buying Price(N)

Selling Price

1,660.29

1,685.29

Stanbic IBTC NEF

1,000.00

11,002.32

11,326.67.11

Stanbic SIBond

20

120.47

120.47

Stanbic IBTC Ethical

1

1.10

1.13

Stanbic IBTC GIF

142.90

143.38

UBA Balanced Fund

1.2563

1.2493

UBA Bond Fund

1.3443

1.3443

UBA Equity Fund

0.8205

0.8074

UBA Money Market Fund

1.1510

1.1510

ARM Aggressive Growth Fund

N13.0544

N13.4480

ARM Discovery Fund

N288.2515

N296.9425

ARM Ethical Fund

N22.5268

N23.2060

ARM Money Market Fund

13.1030 (Yield % ) • Monetary Policy Rate - 13%

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT FRIDAY 6 MAY 2016 The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $40.55 a barrel on Friday, compared with $41.15 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

43

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, may 10, 2016

Nigeria’s top 50 stocks based on market fundamentals

9-May-16

01 7-Up Bottling Comp. Plc.

6-May-16

% Change

Capitalisation

EPS

P/E

P/S

Div. Yld

Price/ Book Value

145.00

145.00

0.00%

92,885,602,635.00

11.12

13.04

1.19

1.52%

3.87

02 Access Bank Plc.

4.28

4.20

1.90%

123,811,718,580.68

2.28

1.88

0.37

12.85%

0.34

03 AIICO Insurance Plc.

0.81

0.79

2.53%

5,613,465,628.80

0.28

2.93

0.17

6.17%

0.58

04 Cadbury Nigeria Plc.

15.64

16.46

-4.98%

29,375,079,905.60

3.21

4.88

0.87

8.31%

2.84

05 Cap Plc

38.50

38.50

0.00%

26,950,000,000.00

2.49

15.49

3.82

2.99%

17.73

06 Cement Co. Of North.Nig. Plc

6.67

6.99

-4.58%

8,382,040,699.22

0.96

6.98

0.64

1.50%

0.83

07 Continental Reinsurance Plc

1.03

1.03

0.00%

10,683,926,641.36

0.21

4.99

0.54

11.65%

0.69

08 Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc

3.79

3.80

-0.26%

22,292,265,299.05

0.71

5.31

0.75

3.69%

0.86

168.00

168.00

0.00%

2,862,805,244,040.00

10.64

15.79

5.82

4.76%

4.44

10 Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc

5.80

5.79

0.17%

69,600,000,000.00

0.96

6.03

0.69

8.62%

1.20

11 Diamond Bank Plc

1.47

1.40

5.00%

34,045,771,782.96

0.24

6.02

0.16

0.00%

0.16

14.51

14.50

0.07%

266,251,988,129.65

1.39

10.42

0.52

4.27%

0.71

13 FBN Holdings Plc

3.60

3.50

2.86%

129,223,054,051.20

0.42

8.53

0.26

4.17%

0.22

14 FCMB Group Plc.

1.03

0.99

4.04%

20,396,792,104.43

0.24

4.28

0.13

9.71%

0.13

15 Fidelity Bank Plc

1.17

1.13

3.54%

33,886,225,259.64

0.48

2.44

0.23

13.68%

0.18

16 Fidson Healthcare Plc

2.13

2.03

4.93%

3,195,000,000.00

0.50

4.29

0.39

2.35%

0.51

23.40

22.34

4.74%

61,407,150,175.80

1.84

12.71

0.19

8.55%

0.60

219.26

219.92

-0.30%

285,582,006,643.78

4.45

49.29

2.29

1.57%

6.17

19 Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig. Plc.

20.36

21.43

-4.99%

24,348,045,295.68

0.81

25.23

0.79

1.47%

1.85

20 Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.

18.00

17.47

3.03%

529,761,226,032.00

3.38

5.33

2.31

9.83%

1.28

21 Guinness Nig Plc

95.00

95.00

0.00%

143,059,377,860.00

0.78

122.06

2.87

0.00%

3.20

1.57

1.50

4.67%

12,450,410,323.06

0.14

11.11

0.25

10.19%

0.58

23 International Breweries Plc.

20.00

20.00

0.00%

65,884,985,600.00

0.64

31.29

3.56

1.25%

5.47

24 Julius Berger Nig. Plc.

43.00

43.00

0.00%

56,760,000,000.00

1.85

23.26

0.42

3.49%

2.34

25 Lafarge Africa Plc.

71.50

71.50

0.00%

325,675,479,415.00

5.93

12.06

1.22

4.20%

1.85

2.03

2.13

-4.69%

21,315,000,000.00

0.16

12.82

1.29

2.46%

1.22

155.09

155.09

0.00%

55,924,719,183.58

13.51

11.48

0.87

4.64%

3.64

8.38

8.17

2.57%

22,202,293,607.64

0.79

10.54

1.37

6.56%

3.13

690.00

690.00

0.00%

546,932,813,880.00

29.95

23.04

3.62

4.20%

14.39

3.90

3.80

2.63%

6,334,453,125.00

0.33

11.78

0.75

5.13%

1.04

116.70

115.08

1.41%

925,326,073,629.60

5.37

21.74

3.35

3.08%

5.43

4.56

4.55

0.22%

54,877,862,156.64

0.50

9.12

0.10

16.45%

0.35

33 Okomu Oil Palm Plc.

29.11

29.11

0.00%

27,768,320,100.00

2.76

10.55

2.85

0.34%

2.30

34 P Z Cussons Nigeria Plc.

20.62

20.62

0.00%

81,871,236,667.90

1.10

18.79

1.13

6.30%

1.95

35 Presco Plc

35.70

35.70

0.00%

35,700,000,000.00

3.28

10.89

3.14

0.28%

1.59

0.50

0.50

0.00%

5,664,866,202.00

4.68

0.11

0.02

0.00%

1.89

340.00

340.00

0.00%

188,125,506,420.00

23.48

14.48

1.67

4.68%

0.67

1.03

0.99

4.04%

14,296,710,452.30

0.85

1.21

0.10

29.13%

0.10

14.15

14.50

-2.41%

141,500,000,000.00

2.04

6.95

1.20

0.71%

1.26

1.63

1.64

-0.61%

46,928,381,545.38

0.36

4.56

0.43

5.52%

0.49

152.00

157.00

-3.18%

51,607,319,224.00

11.92

12.75

0.25

9.21%

3.18

1.12

1.05

6.67%

43,367,517,116.00

0.05

21.35

1.06

0.00%

0.50

18.60

18.01

3.28%

35,728,077,598.20

2.70

6.89

0.49

5.38%

0.48

4.20

4.20

0.00%

7,218,749,979.00

1.81

2.32

0.64

16.67%

0.22

35.54

32.24

10.24%

134,458,348,725.00

0.32

112.77

2.27

0.14%

16.80

46 United Bank for Africa Plc

3.40

3.40

0.00%

123,350,389,494.80

1.64

2.07

0.39

17.65%

0.37

47 Unity Bank Plc

0.66

0.66

0.00%

7,714,963,041.72

0.54

1.22

0.12

0.00%

0.09

48 Wapic Insurance Plc

0.50

0.50

0.00%

6,691,369,126.00

0.10

5.16

0.94

6.00%

0.45

49 Wema Bank Plc.

0.75

0.77

-2.60%

28,930,849,560.75

0.06

12.43

0.63

0.00%

0.63

50 Zenith Bank Plc

13.75

13.15

4.56%

431,701,789,557.50

3.37

4.09

1.00

13.09%

0.73

09 Dangote Cement Plc

12 Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

17 Flour Mills Nig. Plc. 18 Forte Oil Plc.

22 Honeywell Flour Mill Plc

26 Mansard Insurance Plc 27 Mobil Oil Nig Plc. 28 National Salt Co. Nig. Plc 29 Nestle Nigeria Plc. 30 Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc 31 Nigerian Brew. Plc. 32 Oando Plc

36 Resort Savings & Loans Plc 37 Seplat Petroleum Dev. Co. Ltd. 38 Skye Bank Plc 39 Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc 40 Sterling Bank Plc. 41 Total Nigeria Plc. 42 Transnational Corporation Of Nigeria Plc 43 U A C N Plc. 44 UACN Property Development Co. Limited 45 Unilever Nigeria Plc.

TOTAL

8,289,864,466,495.92

TOTAL MARKET CAP

8,884,454,462,515.60

% OF MARKET CAP Annotation - MA* = Simple Moving Average

93.31%

Table 1 Market Statistics Mkt Indicators

Open 6-May-16

NSE All Share Index NSE Market Cap (N'Trillion)

25,701.60 8.84

25,828.30 8.88

0.49% 0.49%

105.61 8.22

106.47 8.29

0.81% 0.81%

Thisday BGL 50 Index Thisday BGL 50 Market Cap (N'Trillion)

Close 9-May-16

Change %

Table 3 Top 5 Gainers Stock

Open 6-May-16

Unilever Nigeria Plc. Transnational Corporation Of Nigeria Plc Diamond Bank Plc Fidson Healthcare Plc Flour Mills Nig. Plc.

Close Change % 9-May-16

32.24 1.05

35.54 1.12

10.24% 6.67%

1.40 2.03 22.34

1.47 2.13 23.40

5.00% 4.93% 4.74%

Table 4 Top 5 Losers Stock

Open 6-May-16

Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig. Plc. Cadbury Nigeria Plc. Mansard Insurance Plc Cement Co. Of North.Nig. Plc Total Nigeria Plc.

Close Change % 9-May-16

21.43

20.36

-4.99%

16.46 2.13 6.99 157.00

15.64 2.03 6.67 152.00

-4.98% -4.69% -4.58% -3.18%

Trading week resumes on a bearish note as ASI drops 0.34% Market pulse on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today – Monday, April 25, 2016 was bearish as the market closed red due to intense selling pressure. This was further highlighted by negative performances from all the NSE Sub sectors; Banking, Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas (Save Insurance). Trading activities decreased in volume as 144.68 million shares worth N763.01 million in 2,729 deals exchanged hands today.

This is a decrease from the 188.72 million shares worth N1.51 billion in 3,050 deals carried out on Friday. Topping in volume terms was Access Bank Plc, FCMB Group Plc and Zenith Bank Plc, while Nigerian Breweries Plc and Zenith Bank Plc ended trading as the most active stocks in value terms.

The All Share Index (NSEASI) closed negative with a 0.34% (-85.01) decrease to 24,765.10 from 24,850.11 the previous trading day. Market Capitalization depreciated in tandem to N8.52 trillion from N8.55 trillion of prior trading day.

However, the Thisday BGL 50 Index also followed suit with a decline of 0.66% to close at 101.35 from 102.02 the previous trading day, while its market capitalization stood at N7.89 trillion from N7.94 trillion of the previous trading day.

A total number of 22 stocks gained on the bourse today while 15 stocks declined, leaving 152 stocks unchanged. CCNN Plc emerged the toast of investors as it topped the Thisday BGL 50 Index gainers’ list with a gain of 4.93% to close at N7.45 per share. It was followed by AIICO Insurance Plc with a gain of 4.11% to close at N0.76 per share.

Others on the gainers list include; Access Bank Plc, 7-Up Bottling Comp. Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc, while on the decliners’ list; Forte Oil Plc led with a loss of 9.13% to close at N250.00 per share. It was followed by Mansard Insurance Plc with a loss of 4.89% to close at N2.14 per share. Others on the losers list include; Unity Bank Plc, Honeywell Flour Mill Plc and Wema Bank Plc.

REQUIRED DISCLOSURE This report has been prepared by BGL Plc. BGL Plc does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report. Investors should use this report as one of many other factors in making their investment decisions.

For more details go to www.thisdaylive.com

44

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MAY10 , 2016

MARKET NEWS

NSE Introduces New Compliance Status Indicators for Companies Goddy Egene and Eromosele Abiodun The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has introduced a new Compliance Status Indicator (CSI) codes for listed companies as part of efforts to further improve transparency and integrity, provide timely information for investment decisions as well as enhance the protection of investors in

the capital market.

Under this initiative, the NSE will tag all listed companies with a three character code that indicates the compliance status of the listed company at any particular point in time.

According to the exchange, this compliance code will enable investors to make informed decisions whilst ensuring a transparent

T H E MAIN BOARD

DEALS

MARKET PRICE

market guided by timely information. The NSE said in all, the exchange plans to review the codes currently existing in X-Compliance to make them more robust and informative.

The codes include: Below Listing Standard (BLS), Missed Regulatory Filing (MRF) Delisting Watch-list(DWL); Delisting in Progress (DIP); Awaiting Regulatory Approval

N I G E R I A N QUANTITY TRADED

STO C K

VALUE TRADED ( N )

Daily Summary as of 22/02/2016 Printed 22/02/2016 14:36:10.010

Daily Summary (Bonds) No Debt Trading Activity Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board EQTY AGRICULTURE Crop Production OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals AGRICULTURE Totals CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. Diversified Industries Totals CONGLOMERATES Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Infrastructure/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Totals Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals CONSUMER GOODS Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Totals Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. Beverages--Non-Alcoholic Totals Food Products DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. TIGER BRANDED CONSUMER GOODS PLC Food Products Totals Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Food Products--Diversified Totals Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. Household Durables Totals Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. Personal/Household Products Totals CONSUMER GOODS Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. SKYE BANK PLC STERLING BANK PLC. UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC UNION BANK NIG.PLC. UNITY BANK PLC WEMA BANK PLC. Banking Totals Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC WAPIC INSURANCE PLC Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals Micro-Finance Banks NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC Micro-Finance Banks Totals Other Financial Institutions AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS PLC CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC UNITED CAPITAL PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals HEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC

(AWR);Restructuring( RST); Below Listing Standard and Awaiting Regulatory Approval (BAA); Below Listing Standard and Restructuring(BRS); Missed Regulatory Filing and Restructuring(MRS) and Below Listing Standard, Missed Regulatory Filing and Restructuring(BMR).

Commenting on the development, the General Counsel and Head of Regulation, NSE,

6 6 12

30.00 34.00

12,629 11,640 24,269

374,530.15 421,345.20 795,875.35

19 19 31

1.25

1,078,511 1,078,511 1,102,780

1,358,964.30 1,358,964.30 2,154,839.65

5 68 13 86 86

0.77 1.13 20.47

33,500 6,740,423 65,995 6,839,918 6,839,918

25,070.00 7,635,453.96 1,344,425.15 9,004,949.11 9,004,949.11

13 13

41.50

31,970 31,970

1,409,214.78 1,409,214.78

5 5 18

5.20

28,901 28,901 60,871

154,716.48 154,716.48 1,563,931.26

6 24 7 98 135

2.85 118.85 20.00 99.00

190,900 53,000 15,200 429,541 688,641

528,079.00 6,201,924.95 293,757.00 42,728,789.84 49,752,550.79

9 9

168.50

166,476 166,476

28,285,937.95 28,285,937.95

54 38 6 12 1 29 140

5.61 19.00 1.37 6.86 6.65 1.27

2,120,306 314,421 40,000 119,863 433 3,285,739,119 3,288,334,142

11,610,520.13 5,953,792.96 55,716.00 842,442.48 2,736.56 4,074,348,894.07 4,092,814,102.20

11 54 65

17.86 700.00

18,825 98,360 117,185

329,518.50 68,567,962.00 68,897,480.50

11 11

4.46

99,050 99,050

420,455.00 420,455.00

13 21 34 394

21.90 28.00

36,887 133,117 170,004 3,289,575,498

820,034.75 3,737,067.92 4,557,102.67 4,244,727,629.11

82 51 21 25 200 41 16 147 11 15 67 676

4.10 1.49 15.60 1.21 16.70 1.07 1.76 2.95 5.30 0.63 0.98

3,962,506 2,163,396 278,470 790,900 4,847,312 1,969,858 1,204,932 8,586,418 39,752 501,617 5,920,564 30,265,725

16,210,255.82 3,314,106.88 4,136,459.40 958,864.34 80,963,793.44 2,115,552.11 2,087,767.85 25,302,954.71 205,645.40 316,018.71 5,813,502.17 141,424,920.83

14 8 2 3 7 10 1 1 46

0.80 0.90 0.50 0.50 2.06 0.76 0.50 0.50

200,107 276,500 5,004,000 1,000,000 351,540 327,285 37,708,135 10 44,867,577

160,838.67 251,350.00 2,502,000.00 500,000.00 720,728.80 245,325.31 18,854,067.50 5.00 23,234,315.28

1 1

1.08

4,760 4,760

4,950.40 4,950.40

31 7 105 7 20 170 893

2.46 4.00 0.85 14.15 1.31

1,149,464 27,041 31,257,120 38,035 708,255 33,179,915 108,317,977

2,830,722.84 104,002.06 26,613,309.20 537,985.34 931,556.31 31,017,575.75 195,681,762.26

27

2.69

614,065

1,572,223.05

Ms. Tinuade Awe, said: “The revision of the existing codes and introduction of new CSI codes complement existing compliance structures of The exchange and it will work in tandem with the X-Compliance Report, which we publish weekly on our website. This initiative of the NSE, which is in line with global best practices, is designed to maintain

market integrity and protect the investors.”

Speaking in the same vein, the Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology, NSE, Mr. Ade Bajomo said: “We are implementing the CSI code to improve the quality of our market data as well as ensure transparency in providing compliance related information about listed companies.

E XC H A N G E

MAIN BOARD GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC Pharmaceuticals Totals HEALTHCARE Totals ICT IT Services TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. IT Services Totals ICT Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials ASHAKA CEM PLC BERGER PAINTS PLC CAP PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. Building Materials Totals Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC. Electronic and Electrical Products Totals Packaging/Containers BETA GLASS CO PLC. Packaging/Containers Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC Energy Equipment and Services Totals Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors CONOIL PLC ETERNA PLC. FORTE OIL PLC. MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD Exploration and Production Totals OIL AND GAS Totals SERVICES Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Totals Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC Courier/Freight/Delivery Totals Printing/Publishing LEARN AFRICA PLC Printing/Publishing Totals Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC Transport-Related Services Totals Support and Logistics CAVERTON OFFSHORE SUPPORT GRP PLC Support and Logistics Totals SERVICES Totals EQTY Board Totals Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board ASeM CONSUMER GOODS Food Products MCNICHOLS PLC Food Products Totals CONSUMER GOODS Totals ASeM Board Totals Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board PREMIUM FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC Banking Totals Other Financial Institutions FBN HOLDINGS PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials DANGOTE CEMENT PLC Building Materials Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals PREMIUM Board Totals Equity Activity Totals

DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

32 4 6 69 69

25.33 0.94 0.69

551,998 16,020 597,000 1,779,083 1,779,083

13,903,164.18 15,299.40 412,110.00 15,902,796.63 15,902,796.63

1 1 1

1.69

500 500 500

805.00 805.00 805.00

16 9 4 6 10 31 76

24.00 9.30 35.78 8.62 3.36 80.50

110,727 40,229 26,700 142,300 299,900 14,373,223 14,993,079

2,707,053.97 362,501.29 992,680.00 1,227,076.00 966,480.00 1,157,057,077.16 1,163,312,868.42

6 6

1.51

134,500 134,500

204,240.00 204,240.00

5 5 87

50.00

24,529 24,529 15,152,108

1,165,135.50 1,165,135.50 1,164,682,243.92

2 2

0.50

24,262 24,262

12,131.00 12,131.00

90 90

3.47

3,827,573 3,827,573

13,288,632.05 13,288,632.05

21 7 8 21 7 64

18.34 1.84 342.00 150.00 145.00

81,125 100,300 20,300 16,295 13,699 231,719

1,505,034.50 182,832.00 6,595,470.00 2,396,080.60 1,959,692.96 12,639,110.06

33 33 189

318.00

389,934 389,934 4,473,488

124,037,602.56 124,037,602.56 149,977,475.67

1 1

0.50

941 941

470.50 470.50

5 5

3.80

32,870 32,870

127,756.40 127,756.40

13 13

0.89

624,500 624,500

538,430.00 538,430.00

1 22 23

2.29 4.00

4,588 251,094 255,682

10,001.84 1,001,583.80 1,011,585.64

1 1 43 1,811

1.68

10,000 10,000 923,993 3,428,226,216

16,000.00 16,000.00 1,694,242.54 5,785,390,675.15

2 2 2 2

1.21

270,464 270,464 270,464 270,464

327,261.44 327,261.44 327,261.44 327,261.44

306 306

11.45

13,929,679 13,929,679

159,605,439.23 159,605,439.23

278 278 584

3.74

10,438,552 10,438,552 24,368,231

39,515,087.18 39,515,087.18 199,120,526.41

35 35 35 619 2,432

139.83

38,770 38,770 38,770 24,407,001 3,452,903,681

5,304,666.00 5,304,666.00 5,304,666.00 204,425,192.41 5,990,143,129.00

2 2 2 2 2 10 10 10

2,330.00 2.33 6.02 11.09 18.07

3,000 20 20 20 15 3,075 3,075 3,075

6,986,000.00 46.70 120.20 221.80 270.65 6,986,659.35 6,986,659.35 6,986,659.35

Daily Summary (ETP) Exchange Traded Fund Name NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND (ETF) VETIVA BANKING ETF VETIVA CONSUMER GOODS ETF VETIVA GRIFFIN 30 ETF VETIVA INDUSTRIAL ETF Exchange Traded Fund Totals ETF Board Totals ETP Activity Totals

45

T H I S D AY •TUESDAY MAY 10 2016

TUESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

A F C O N 2 0 1 7 FA L LO U T

CAF Slams $5,000 Fine on Nigeria for Overcrowding

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The Confederation of African Football (CAF) yesterday imposed a $5,000 fine on Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for overcrowding during the Africa Cup of Nations 2017 qualifying match between Nigeria and

Egypt in Kaduna.

NFF incurred the wrath of CAF for poor crowd control measures that saw about 40,000 fans lumbered into the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna in the AFCON 2017 Group G fixture on March 25.

The decision was made by

the CAF Disciplinary Board which reviewed the case in Johannesburg, South Africa on April 16.

CAF also warned Nigeria that further sanctions would be applied in the event of similar incidents in the future.

The board acted on the

report submitted by Match Commissioner Abbasi Ssendyowa of Uganda and live television coverage which established the lapses against the Nigerian federation.

The Kaduna State government had thrown the gates open, leading to

overcrowding by spectators, who breached the perimeter fencing and spilled into restricted technical areas.

Some of the fans even mounted on the floodlights, scoreboard and television stand, putting their lives at great risk to cheer the Super

Eagles.

Nigeria, however, conceded a late goal to Egypt to end the match 1-1, while their dream to appear at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations final came to a sad end three days later, when the Pharaohs defeated Nigeria 1-0 in Alexandria.

ZENITH BANK WBL

AHIP Queens Crash as First Bank, Dolphins Move First Bank Basketball Team of Lagos yesterday out-dunked AHIP Queens of Kano 106-38 to maintain 100 per cent unbeaten runs at the ongoing Final 8 of the 12th edition of the Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League.

The Elephant Girls are now to play IGP Queens who similarly defeated Delta Force 60-58 in the semi final slated for this evening.

With three straight losses without a single win, AHIP Queens have therefore chalked up the unenviable record as the first team to crash out of the Final 8 play off this season without winning a single game. Delta Force is the other team that did not also win any game.

The Kano team which got its first basket in seven minutes in the final group match against First Bank also lost to the Nigeria Customs team and Benue Princess to say goodbye to the 2016 Zenith Bank women’s league.

Defending champions, Dolphins, who defeated Plateau Rocks 74-67 in their last group game are to take on Customs in the first semi final game. Customs had earlier out-dunked Benue Princesses 53-39 to book their passage to the semis.

Captain of AHIP Queens, Victoria Ofiri, said her team’s defeat was expected since this is the first time they will be competing in the Final 8 play –off.

“The stake is too high for us and we cannot do more than we did here. May be, we are hoping that next year will be better for us with better play.”

Meanwhile, Classification matches are to hold today before the semi final matches take place later in the evening.

The All-Star match of this edition has been slated to hold on Wednesday while the grand finale will take place on Thursday.

Pinnick, Others off to Mexico for FIFA Congress The President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, the 1st Vice President, Seyi Akinwunmi and the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, are on their way to Mexico City for the 66th Congress of the world football –governing body, FIFA. Mexico’s picturesque and historical capital city will play host to nearly 1,000 very important personalities in world football on Thursday and Friday this week.

NFF spokesman, Ademola Olajire, said yesterday: “Every FA President of the 209

members of FIFA is presently on the way to Mexico City. They are specially invited by FIFA alongside their Vice President and General Secretary. Nigeria’s Amaju Melvin Pinnick, Seyi Akinwunmi and Mohammed Sanusi are on their way as we speak.”

The 66th FIFA Congress will start at 9.30am Mexico time on Friday, at the Centro Banamex.

The Congress will bring all 209 Member Associations up to speed on governance reforms approved by the Extraordinary Congress of February, 26 2016 and FIFA’s plans to enhance football development.

Patience Idoko of Benue Princess (right) drives hard to the hoop during the clash with Customs in the ongoing Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League Final 8 in Lagos...yesterday

NPFL… NPFL… NPFL…

Wike Puts Smiles on Faces of Former Sharks, Dolphins’ Players, Officials Orders immediate payment of outstanding sign on fees

Rivers State Governor, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has approved the immediate payment of sign on fees for the 2013/2014 owed players and officials of the defunct Sharks FC and Dolphins by the previous administration. The two teams owned by the state were collapsed into the new Rivers United FC. Wike’s magnanimity is in 1 8 T H N E ST L E M I LO B ’ B A L L C H A M P I O N S H I P recognition of the recent brilliant performances of Rivers United FC in the ongoing Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), especially Action resumes today at the state, represented by Saint Charles its recent away win against Warri Indoor Sports Hall of University College Ilorin, Kwara State failed to of Ilorin Kwara State for the Central impress with their depleted team all Conference of Nestle Milo Secondary through the qualifying match and School Basketball Championship were roundly beaten by Government as the semi final matches of zone Secondary School Gboko, Benue The match commissioner State in first quarter final game. for gets underway.

Sunday’s Nigeria Although Kwara girls struggled Professional Football League In the girls’category, FCT will take on Kaduna, while Niger engages in all departments of the game they (NPFL) match between could not keep up with the pace and Kano Pillars and Ikorodu Benue State in the other clash.

In the boys category, Niger will tenacity of the Benue girls’ power United, Tanko Nuhu, is face FCT, while Kwara will take play who won with a convincing dead.

57-6 points to the dissapoinement on Nasarawa.

Nuhu from Nasarawa To reach this stage, the host of the home fans.

State,who lives in Abuja

FCT, Benue in Central Conference S’Final

Wolves in Warri, Delta State.

The state’s Commissioner for Sports, Boma Iyaye, who confirmed yesterday the governor’s approval charged the players and officials of Rivers United FC to gun for this season’s Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) title.

United has been in impressive form in recent weeks, dispatching the log leaders, Enugu Rangers 3-1 in Port Harcourt on May 1 before following it up with a 1-0 away victory over Warri Wolves last Sunday.

“The governor has shown he

is a man of action and a man of his words by ensuring that their priority is placed at the top burner.

“I am urging you all to reciprocate this commendable gesture by ensuring that you go all out to win this season’s NPFL title.

“If this feat is achieved, it will go a long way in putting smiles on the faces of all Rivers people and also justify the huge investment in the club,” Iyaye noted.

Rivers United currently occupies sixth spot in the NPFL standings with 25 points from 15 matches,

three points adrift of the leaders, Enugu Rangers

Iyaye...Rivers’ Sports Commissioner

Match Commissioner Found Dead in Hotel Room with his family, was found dead in his hotel room yesterday.

Pillars Spokesman, Idris Malikawa, confirmed the match official’s death to AfricanFootball.com “He was found dead in his hotel room this morning

(Monday) when all efforts for him to open his room door proved abortive,” said Malikawa.

“It is really tragic because he was hail and hearty on Sunday night.”

Malikawa further disclosed that Dr Sani Zakari of the

Murtala Muhammad Hospital in Kano confirmed the death as natural. Hypertension medications were found in his room.

Hosts Pillars defeated Ikorodu United FC 2-1 in the Match-day 15 clash last Sunday.

46

T H I S D AY •TUESDAY MAY 10 2016

TUESDAYSPORTS

Platini to Quit as UEFA President UEFA President, Michel Platini, will resign from European football’s governing body after failing to have a six-year ban from football overturned.

A Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel reduced the ban to four years yesterday.

Following the judgement, the 60-year-old said he would be stepping down.

Platini and former FIFA counterpart, Sepp Blatter, were last year found guilty of ethics breaches over a 2m Swiss Franc (£1.3m) “disloyal payment”.

The pair, who deny wrongdoing, had their original bans reduced from eight to six years by the FIFA appeals committee.

Platini had taken his case to CAS seeking to get the ban overturned, but a three-man panel said it “was not convinced by the legitimacy of the payment”.

The two said the payment in 2011 was made for consultancy work Platini had carried out for Blatter between 1998 and 2002, and that they had a “gentleman’s agreement” on when the balance

was settled.

The matter is also being looked into by Swiss prosecutors.

After CAS returned its judgement, Platini said in a statement: “I am resigning from my duties as UEFA president to pursue my battle in front of the Swiss courts to prove my innocence in this case.”

He added that he considered the judgement “a profound injustice”.

However, the CAS panel was damning of Platini, saying his “behaviour was not ethical or

loyal”.

It found his dealings with Blatter had breached the ethics code of world governing body FIFA and while his six-year ban was “too severe”, it decided a four-year punishment should be handed down - the equivalent to a presidential term in office.

It also said an 80,000 Swiss Franc (£57,200) fine should be lowered to 60,000 (£42,900), but stressed: “The CAS panel was of the opinion that a severe sanction could be justified in view of the superior functions carried

out by Mr Platini (FIFA vicepresident and UEFA president), the absence of any repentance and the impact that this matter has had on FIFA’s reputation.”

UEFA said it would meet on May 18 “to discuss next steps”.

“In the meantime, there will be no UEFA president appointed ad interim,” it added.

StarTimes to Beam Copa America Centenario Exclusively Africa’s frontline digital television platform, StarTimes, has further stepped up its game of exciting subscribers with competitive sporting programmes as it again just acquired another exclusive broadcast right across Africa.

The Pay TV firm at the weekend in Lagos announced that it has signed a fresh deal to beam the much anticipated Copa America Special Centenario edition live all over Africa.

The landmark edition which commemorates 100 years existence of Copa America and slated to begin June 3 through 26 in United States of America will definitely glue viewers to their seats and have them thrilled all the way as most of the superstars playing in European clubs will be in live action at the championship with 32 countries competing in games across 10 cities.

Aside enjoying superstars like Lionel Messi, Luiz Suarez, Sergi Aguero, Sanchez and others in action, StarTimes viewers stand the chance to predict and win fantastic prizes likes cash, LED Digital Television with inbuilt decoders, Projector Television sets, telcom recharge cards and other prizes.

There will be various programs on radio, television, online, on StarTimes App and social media platforms like facebook and twitter through which Nigerians can participate and win.

The Copa America 2016 will be enjoyed exclusively on StarTimes sports channels, including ST World Football (Channel 254) and ST Sports Focus (Channel 250), all on StarTimes digital terrestrial and digital satellite platforms.

Marketing Director, StarTimes Nigeria, Oludare Kafar, said “StarTimes is very excited to bring

Copa America Special Centenario edition onto the platform and believes the various matches will provide sport loving subscribers with some high quality entertainment.

“This is a historic moment for the championship and will contribute greatly to the development and followership of professional football within the African continent.

“We are excited to feed the appetite of football lovers all across Africa and are particularly glad that our viewers can enjoy all the games in its HD glamour and be a part by participating in our prediction games and winning fantastic prizes on StarTimes App and social media platforms,”stressed the StarTimes director.

Platini...to quit as UEFA president

Giwa Fails to Show up at NFF Chris Giwa failed to actualise his vow to resume at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) secretariat as the validly elected president yesterday as the tension about Nigerian football refused to douse.

Giwa was arrested and detained briefly by the Divisional Police Officer of Wuse Zone 3 Police Station,

Abuja, Superintendent Irek Sunday when he visited the NFF office last Friday.

The Jos-based club proprietor went to the Glass House after the football house management was served a court order emanating from Justice Musa Kurya of Jos High Court, purportedly annulling the September 30 election in

Warri, which produced Amaju Pinnick as the NFF President.

Giwa claimed that all court orders since 2014 legitimised his claim that he was validly elected by the congress at the August 26 election at Chida Hotel, Abuja, which was declared invalid by international football body, FIFA. On the strength of that

he said he would resume to uphold his mandate yesterday.

That was before he was arrested for trespassing.

While the NFF secretariat was cordoned off by police yesterday, Giwa and his factional board was reported to have held a parallel meeting at a location in Gwarimpa, a suburb of Abuja.

T H I S D AY TUESDAY MAY 10, 2016

47

TR

Tuesday May 10, 2016

UT H

& RE A S O

N

Price: N250

MISSILE Military to Herdsmen

“I want to promise you that whoever is involved in this killing will be brought to book and tried in line with the law of the land... We are working hard to apprehend those who have committed heinous crime in the past. I also wish to state that the military will not tolerate any excuse of armed groups to unleash violence on innocent Nigerians for whatever reasons or guise. Innocent people should not be attacked.” – The Nigerian military warning the Fulani herdsmen that it would not tolerate any excuse for killing innocent Nigerians.

CHIDIAMUTA GUEST COLUMNIST

S

A Take on China

ome understandable degree of excitement greeted the recent state visit of President Buhari to China. The visit has been marketed by government spokespersons as full of promise for our critically injured economy. There will be investment by Chinese companies in mega projects- railways, manufacturing plants, power plants and even universities. These initiatives when realized will offer employment to our army of young hands and increase our manufacturing capacity so that we become less dependent on imports, hopefully including those from China itself!

Among common folk, China is being projected as the New Jerusalem of economic salvation. In fact, according to a palm wine version of this narrative, some arrangement has been worked out to demystify the US dollar by flooding our banks and bureaux de change with the Chinese Yuan. A more up market version of the same story says the arrangement is meant to weight most of our import bills in Chinese Yuan rather than dollars so that we pay less for imports, mostly from China.

At the height of the euphoria, I asked some friends who are very knowledgeable about economic matters to explain to me the meaning of the financial arrangement with China. Hardly anyone has reverted to me with anything worth my while. The Central Bank called it a ‘currency swap’: Give me Naira, I give you Yuan. The Minister of Foreign Affairs who insisted it was not strictly a swap quickly countered this.

But he stopped short of saying what it is exactly. Then the Finance Minister in far away Washington insisted it was a variant of a swap.

Conflicting and confusing explanations climbing over one another: It is an import finance loan. It is a monopolistic trade deal that ropes Nigeria into utilizing a standby credit facility from Chinese banks to pay for only imports from China. One deal.

Many explanations. One government. More confusion among ordinary Nigerians. In the run up to and the immediate aftermath of the Buhari visit, I guess the Chinese achieved a massive public relations harvest in Africa’s largest market without spending a Yuan.

This China fever may be understandable in our present sad state. When your economic realities are as desperate as ours, you literally clutch at any straw and name it hope. But we need to ensure that our relationship with China is anchored on a proper understanding of what China means in today’s world. We must be sure of what we need to take away from the Chinese embrace and what we could lose if we misinterpret China. Even as the hype subsides, I think we urgently need to locate our relationship with China within a solid foreign policy context.

At the official government level, Nigeria is in fact a late entrant into the China rush among cash strapped African economies,

Buhari

coming behind Sudan, Angola, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and even Ghana. Giant strides in technology, manufacturing and construction in the aftermath of the opening up of China to free market forces in the late 1970s has transformed China into an active agent of change in the world. From being a passive vehicle for conveying the material products of Western globalization to a world hungry for consumer goods, China has graduated into an agent of change especially in Africa.

African economies are desperately in need of infrastructure projects and affordable consumer goods while China’s huge industrial base is hungry for raw materials especially hydrocarbons. China has the cash to pay for what it cannot get by barter. And China attaches no silly conditionalities to its credits to African countries unlike the West, which hides its daggers behind the pinstripe jackets of IMF and World Bank executives.

I greatly admire the Chinese and what they have done for themselves in recent history.

The miracle that we are witnessing today began literally in 1978 when the late Deng Xiaoping addressed the 3rd Plenum of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party. In that landmark speech, he directed the party to shift away from ideology to economic development. Ever since, China has not looked back.

For those enamoured of the new mantra of ‘change’, China is the most glowing example.

Irrespective of how desperate our economic situation may be, we are strategically vital to Western interests in Africa

Until very recently, China has grown at a rate in excess of 9 percent per annum for close to 30 years, the fastest in recorded history. In the process, the country has migrated over 400 million of its nationals out of poverty, again another record in human history. In a period of three decades, average family incomes have increased over seven times.

In 1978 (when our military was handing over to President Shehu Shagari!), China made only 200 air conditioning units. But by 2005-2006, it made 48 million units!

There is nothing wrong with trading with or importing substantially from China. The United States does it and has even had to move some of its factories to China where the cost of labour is still cheaper. For instance, Wal-Mart, America’s largest retail chain, which accounts for 2% of US GDP and employs 1.4 million people, imports goods to the tune of $18 billion annually from China.

And China has money. It has accumulated a massive reserve of $3.2 trillion through a strong savings and investment culture as a matter of public policy. Its reserves are 50% more than that of Japan and three times the total holdings of the entire EU. The Chinese also know that our public officials are essentially undisciplined and prone to corruption. So, whatever money they put in our hands will be watched closely. The Chinese do not want to burn their money the way we do ours.

But the Chinese are no fools with their money either. When they lend you money, the interest may be small but they ensure that it is tied to projects to be handled by mostly Chinese contractors. The materials will have to come mostly from Chinese suppliers as well as the workers, who will be shipped here in droves if only to decongest China of some of its 1.3 billion citizens. It is your business to worry about repaying the ‘low interest’ loans when the time comes. If in doubt, go take a look at the new airport terminals under construction in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt As a country with a huge population, we must also not lose sight of the large migration of Chinese citizens that travels along with their investments, contracts and loans to various parts of Africa. In his recent book, China’s Second Continent, Howard French, who has studied the phenomenon in 16 African countries, puts the number of Chinese immigrants in these countries at close to two million and still counting. Of course productive diversity is very much needed in Nigeria’s demographic mix. Yet we need to carefully watch our numbers since we are already too many for our resources.

At the diplomatic level, greater dexterity is needed in expanding our relationship with China perhaps more than in any other area. Nigeria is no banana republic that can be easily ignored. What we do is important to the rest of the world when it comes to thinking about Africa. Similarly,

whatever China does anywhere in the world today is important to the rest of the world especially the West and specifically the United States. There is a subsisting world order in both diplomatic and economic terms, an order that has prevailed since the end of the Second World War. That order has traditional spheres of economic and diplomatic influence. Nigeria has never been part of a non-Western sphere of influence. Irrespective of how desperate our economic situation may be, we are strategically vital to Western interests in Africa.

The rise of China as both an economic and potentially a military power is an affront to that order no matter how much veneer both the US and China put on the growing war of nerves between them. The contest for global supremacy between the US and China is underway and is most active in the economic sphere. Trade wars are nearly always the precursor of armed muscle flexing. A major issue in the ongoing US presidential campaign season is what to do with China in terms of trade policy and currency engineering.

As John F. Copper has pointed out in his recent three-volume book, China’s Foreign Aid & Investment Diplomacy, China conducts its international economic policy in a manner to sustain its economic prosperity and maintain peace and stability at home. On the contrary, the US does business abroad to sustain its global pre-eminence. The two positions can only co-habit through relentless diplomatic engagement. Every step has to be rigorously negotiated. What is Nigeria looking for in China beyond cheap Yuan and short term trade accommodation? Where does Nigeria stand or wish to go in the emerging global arrangement? What foreign policy underpins the Buhari administration’s slogan of ‘change’?

Any student of big power games will know one thing. Big powers are like powerful co-wives in a polygamous setting. They tend to be aggressively jealous and guard their spheres ferociously. Any attempt by Nigeria to use trade and finance to increase China’s influence in the Gulf of Guinea will be seriously watched by Washington and its European allies, especially France which has a number of satellite states in our neighbourhood.

As President Buhari flies around the world ostensibly in quest for solutions to our present adversity, on no account must Nigeria’s national interest be reduced to a begging bowl diplomacy. Nor should we make a habit of marketing our current economic problems as the essence of Nigeria’s stake in the world. Nigeria may be broke. But the will of our people is not broken.

As for the deals with China, perhaps our current distress leaves us little choice. In the words of Deng Xiaoping: ‘It doesn’t matter if it is a white cat or a black cat. As long as it catches mice, it is a good cat.”

• Dr. Chidi Amuta is the Chairman of Wilson & Weizmann Associates Ltd., Lagos

Printed and Published in Lagos by THISDAY Newspapers Limited. Lagos: 35 Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos. Abuja: Plot 1, Sector Centre B, Jabi Business District, Solomon Lar Way, Jabi North East, Abuja .

All Correspondence to POBox 54749, Ikoyi, Lagos. EMAIL: editor@thisdaylive.com, info@thisdaylive.com. TELEPHONE Lagos: 0802 2924721-2, 08022924485. Abuja: Tel: 08155555292, 08155555929 24/7 ADVERTISING HOT LINES: 0811 181 3086, 0811 181 3087, 0811 181 3088, 0811 181 3089, 0811 181 3090. ENQUIRIES & BOOKING: adsbooking@thisdaylive.com