Thursday 2nd June 2016

T H I S D AY THURSDAY JUNE 2, 2016

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

NEWS

WHO: Nigeria Has Four of the Most Polluted Cities in the World Onitsha, Kaduna, Aba and Umuahia feature in report The word “Africa” often evokes romantic images of elephants crossing the Kalahari, the thundering water at Victoria Falls, or panoramic views from Table Mountain.

But an increasingly common sight for Africans — especially those in Nigeria — is that of smog, rubbish and polluted water, according to a new report.

According to CNN, four of the worst cities in the world for air pollution are in Nigeria, according to data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Onitsha — a city few outside Nigeria will have heard of — has the undignified honour of being labelled the world’s most polluted city for air quality, when measuring small particulate matter concentration (PM10).

A booming port city in southern Nigeria, Onitsha recorded 30 times more than the WHO’s recommended levels of PM10.

The other three cities named and shamed in the WHO report for high PM10

levels are the transport hub of Kaduna in the north, which came fifth, followed by the cities of Aba — in sixth place — and Umuahia, in 16th position, which are both trade centres in southern Nigeria.

Last year, the World Bank reported that 94 per cent of the population in Nigeria is exposed to air pollution levels that exceed WHO guidelines (compared to 72 per cent on average in sub-Saharan Africa in general) and air pollution damage costs about 1 per cent post of Gross National Income.

The WHO study tracked the growth in the two different sizes of particulate matter, PM10 and PM2.5, per cubic metre of air.

PM2.5 particles are fine, with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (µm) to more than 40 micrometers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

PM10 particles are less than or equal to 10 micrometers in diameter.

Nigeria did not feature in the top 10 for PM2.5 levels.

The cause of Nigeria's

Garbage in Onitsha pollution problem is a complex story.

“The contributing factors to pollution are a reliance on using solid fuels for cooking, burning waste and traffic pollution from very old cars,” Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, told CNN.

At home, due to unreliable electricity supplies, many Nigerians rely on generators, which spew out noxious fumes often in unventilated areas.

On the streets, car emissions go unregulated.

Neira added: “In Africa, unfortunately, the levels of pollution are increasing because of rapid economic development and industry

without the right technology.”

Indeed, Nigeria's economy has raced forward in the past decade, overtaking South Africa as the continent’s largest economy in 2014, following a recalculation of its GDP. Agriculture, telecoms and oil are all driving this growth — at a certain environmental cost.

The latest WHO report may highlight Nigeria, but the

true story in other parts of the African continent remains unknown.

The report only included pollution levels from cities with a population of over 100,000 residents that monitor their pollution levels — something many African cities don’t do.

“We need to do an assessment of the sources of pollution at city level, also work on better planning of urban collective transport systems, and take very old cars out of service,” said Neira.

“Regarding the four cities in Nigeria, we would actually like to praise them. They are at least monitoring the pollution levels, others are not even monitoring the air, we know that some are very polluted.

“These four cities are moving towards taking action to reduce pollution.”

With more than 50 per cent of the world’s population predicted to live in African cities by 2030, according to global accounting firm KPMG, the health of the continent’s urban areas is a key concern.

Jonathan Returns after Six-week Foreign Trip Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday returned to the country after a sixweek trip to the United States and other western

capitals on a speaking tour and holiday.

The former president, during his trip, had spent about two weeks

in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

The former president, who landed at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State at 6

pm local time, was received on arrival by different groups led by the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC).

During the former

president’s absence, fears were raised that he had gone into exile for fear of arrest by the government of President Muhammadu

Buhari.

But he debunked the news, saying he was out of the country to get some rest and would soon return.

Trustees (BoT) of the party, Mr. Ojo Madueke, PDP said there was only one approved National Convention which took place in Port Harcourt on Saturday, May 21, 2016, which it said was in accordance with the PDP constitution.

The statement added that the party “approved some far reaching resolutions that had the unanimous support of those who attended the Port Harcourt convention with subsequent endorsements of another PDP political meeting that took place in Abuja on the same day”.

The statement added that the conveners of the Abuja meeting had since integrated their positions with the structures and resolutions of the Port Harcourt convention.

“Subsequent meetings of first, Board of Trustees members, and secondly, meetings with the PDP Governor’s Forum, leadership

of National Assembly and former Ministers in PDP Government Forum, and a PDP Former Governor’s Forum, held and decided to work together,” the party said.

It also added that aggrieved members are being reconciled across the length and breadth of the country.

“The rank and file of the party have resolved to work together and PDP has never been stronger than it is now since its entry into the honourable role of a robust and principled opposition.

“Any suggestion of a faction, is at best ill-informed and ignorant, and at worst, is part of a grand plan to decimate the only political platform today that is ready, experienced and able to honour the nation’s invitation to have a credible opposition party that will hold government of the day accountable and thereby strengthen and nourish our

young democracy.

“Let it therefore be understood by those of our members in the National Assembly who may be tempted to jump ship, or have already jumped, that on the basis of clear decisions of cases decided in the Supreme Court, they stand the risk of losing their seats in parliament if they go ahead with their latest indulgence,” PDP said.

The party added that it would insist on a declaration of vacancy and subsequent elections in the affected constituencies in the event of such “misguided defections”.

“The pattern of PDP electoral victories all over the federation since the 2015 general election shows that where there are elections arising from such vacancies, PDP will return a more credible and more loyal representative of the people,” the statement said.

was taken after an emergency meeting of leaders of the various militant groups in the region.

Arrow heads of Niger Delta People’s Democratic Front (NDPDF) and Concerned Militant Leaders (CML), Precious Iyoyo (General Playboy) and General Ben, respectively speaking on behalf of their colleagues, said it was disheartening the level of insensitivity of security men against the citizens.

The Niger Delta militants, in the statement, claimed that many of them, who are sympathisers of Biafra, witnessed how members of MASSOB, IPOB and the Biafra Independent Movement (BIM) were killed in unprovoked

circumstances.

“The Nigerian government killed many innocent people.

So many Niger Delta militants witnessed what happened in Onitsha. We are too pained to keep quiet.

“If the federal government fails to release them by Friday, June 3, 2016, they will hear from us from Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Edo States,” General Playboy declared.

Similarly, he stated that what the federal government did by the activities of soldiers and policemen last Monday, was a clear declaration of war on innocent and helpless Nigerians.

“It is now war between the militants and security men.

Since innocent and helpless citizens, especially from the South-south and South-east have been marked out for extinction, we will defend our people.

“We will go after security men in an unprecedented manner both at sea and land.

The federal government should expect more attacks from us.

“We’ll tell the federal government that the Niger Delta region is our terrain and no amount of military troops and their armoury will dampen our spirit.

“The federal government should know that the more attacks on Biafra, the more aggressive we become. This is war that involves all of us,” General Ben stated.

HOUSE IN ROWDY SESSION AS TWO PDP MEMBERS DEFECT TO APC has been divided into three factions headed by Prof. Jerry Gana, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.

Nwoye and Emmanuel’s letters stated that they do not wish to belong to any of the factions.

The announcement was welcomed by APC members who chanted the party slogan, “change, change, change” for several minutes before calm was restored.

However, Minority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, raised a point of order insisting that there was no faction in the PDP. But his point of order was overruled by Dogara who said there was no need to debate the matter on the floor of the House, as such should be handled by the affected party.

THISDAY however gathered that both men might have defected for personal reasons.

Nwoye is reportedly gearing up to contest the governorship

election in Anambra State and is uncertain of the ticket of the PDP since he is not in good terms with the powers that be in the party.

Speaking to THISDAY, Ogor expressed disappointment in the two members.

He insisted that there was no basis for their defection as there is no faction in the PDP, adding that no court had ruled otherwise.

“The Supreme Court ruling says for there to be a faction, some members of the executive of the party have to be a part of the faction. The convention took a decision of setting up an ad hoc committee to organise elections in three months,” he said.

He said he would approach the party first thing today with the votes and proceedings of the House.

“We would head to court to make sure they vacate those seats, then we go for

bye-election to replace those interlopers. They think they can go to APC so easily, but they are wrong. So as long as we have a Supreme Court ruling on this matter, they are history,” Ogor said.

Ogor admitted that as minority leader, he was taken completely unawares by the defections.

“I am so shocked and highly disappointed. I would have thought they would have discussed this kind of issue with me. They know there is no faction but they are trying to create one.

“They did not do proper consultations on this. These are young men who do not know their right from their left in politics,” he said.

Similarly, the PDP threatened to ensure that Nwoye and Emmanuel lose their seats in the House.

In a statement signed by the Secretary of the Board of

N’DELTA AVENGERS BLOW UP MORE CHEVRON OIL WELLS world and try to manufacture evidence for your colleagues in the DSS so that they can use it against the leader of IPOB, but the incontrovertible fact is that nobody can stop the restoration of the nation of Biafra.“ The group also stated that it duly sought the consent of the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Hassan Karma, for the Biafra Day rally, and also requested security coverage through a letter signed by its head of directorate of state, Uchenna Asiegbu, and as such could not have shot at them.

The letter dated May 23, 2016, read: “As a follow-up to our telephone conversation, the Indigenous People of

Biafra hereby officially inform the Commissioner of Police Anambra State that a remembrance rally for the victims of the Biafran genocide will hold on the 30th of May 2016 in Anambra State.

“The rally seeks to remember, recognise the sacrifices made and honour those past and present that laid down their lives for the collective good of Biafrans.

“The Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra is desirous of holding a hitchfree May 30th Biafran Heroes Remembrance Day as was the case in Enugu State in 2014 and Abia State in 2015, and is confident that Anambra State Police Command will provide the enabling environment for

a peaceful May 30th 2016 Remembrance Rally.”

Ultimatum for Release of Corpses Meanwhile, militants in the Niger Delta have given the federal government up till tomorrow to release the corpses of pro-Biafra agitators allegedly killed on Monday, or risk more uprising from them.

They also said they had declared a total revenge against security agents, following what they described as “unprovoked massacre of peace-loving Biafra people” in Onitsha, Anambra State.

In a statement issued online, the militants said the decision

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THURSDAY JUNE 2, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

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

Tompolo’s Town Still under Military Lockdown, Students May Miss Exams Oshiomhole asks Niger Delta Avengers to have a rethink

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja and Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa The Nigerian military yesterday continued its siege on Oporoza, Gbaramatu and its environs in Warri Southwest, Delta State yesterday in search of members of the violent group, the Niger Delta Avengers and Government Ekpemupolo, aka, Tompolo, declared wanted by federal government.

THISDAY also learnt that if the blockade does not ease before Monday next week, students who are supposed to sit for their Junior Secondary School (JSS) assessment, popularly called Junior WAEC, could miss their exams, as they have all fled the community for fear of attack.

A source in the community told THISDAY yesterday that though the fighter jets deployed three days ago had stopped flying around the town, the troops deployed in the area were still in control there.

Students of the only two public schools in Oporoza, a coastal area, the Gbaran Grammar School and Syewe Primary School, it was learnt have also fled into the bush from the troubled zone.

The source added that the king was still under house arrest, noting that all the sources of water and electricity supply to the community were still being controlled by the troops.

Three foundation students (those

on scholarship) who live just behind the school, the source noted, were also rounded up by the Joint Task Force, who are in charge of the operation.

But the military had defended its action, saying that those who had no hand in the bombing of pipelines should go about their normal duties, promising that they would not be molested.

Also, Chairman of the Federal government’s Amnesty Office, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh, during a visit to the place, had noted that the security operatives were on a ‘’cordon and search operation,’’ to recover arms and ammunition he said were in the wrong hands.

When contacted, one of the community sources who said he had fled into the bush and was on his way to an unnamed community near Oporoza, said that even the aged women who had remained in the area had started fleeing.

“They (military) are still there.

Some old women have started fleeing too. People are in no hurry to return. Our children who are supposed to start their junior WAEC on Monday next week, cannot even return. They have all fled into the bush.

“There are no teachers. The fighter jets that we saw on Monday have disappeared, but the soldiers are still everywhere. Even the king has still not been allowed to move.

As we speak, I am running away,’’

he said.

He added that other neighbouring towns like Azama and Kurutie, which the soldiers had earlier stormed in search of Tompolo’s father, Thomas Ekpemupolo, had become ghost towns.

Another source, who said he was still in hiding, told THISDAY that residents have continued to live in fear of a sudden attack in the pattern of what happened in 2009 when Oporoza was levelled by the army.

“We are still looking for some of our children. Some children are looking for their parents. Even my in-law who was arrested, we haven’t heard from him,’’ he lamented.

The Commander of 4 Brigade, Benin, Brigadier General Farouk Yahaya, had while parading some suspects noted that the army recovered 28 detonator cords, two pistols, 196 rounds of 7.62 special ammunition, one round of nine millimetre ammunition,

a live cartridge and five daggers.

Other items found in the area, he said, were 15 handheld radio sets, 18 phones, 203 SIM cards, five swimsuits, two headlamps, a laptop, two ipads and a camera.

Meanwhile, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has called on militants in the Niger Delta to embrace peace saying that the region would not benefit from blowing up oil facilities.

Oshiomhole, who spoke with State House Correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari said such destructive tendencies would leave the region worse off.

He said: “I appeal to all of us in the South-south, we need to wake up, it is for our own self interest that we make the region the most investor friendly that even challenges that we face, the assets being destroyed are not just national assets, they are our own assets.

“It is what makes the South-south the hub of the Nigerian economy and when we nutralise that

through whatever pretenses, there is something Abiola said which I think is apt in this case, that if a tree falls in the forest chances are it can only kill somebody in that forest not somebody at home.

“So if somebody for whatever reasons decide to destroy pipelines and thereby compounding the problem of pollution, the cost of cleaning up that area making it attractive either for fishing, farming or other business is a huge cost. Cost not just naira and kobo, cost in terms of time and in terms of human lives.”

He said Buhari deserved the support of everyone adding that there was no part of Nigeria that could be better off without the other part.

He said: “The sooner we accept this reality the better it is for all of us. The days of ethnic champions and imaginary divides will not help anyone.

“I believe that the president has shown leadership, he has shown determination to keep the country

going, for once we are enjoying respect in world capitals, in different continents.”

The governor stated that part of the challenge the country was facing was lack of job for many young people.

He said this informed the decision of Buhari to devote as much as half a trillion naira to social investments targeted at the poorest.

He said: “We don’t need to be security experts to accept the universal truth that wherever there is insecurity there will be no investment because no investor will go to where is unsafe. And where there is no investment poverty will be endemic because there will be no job for our people.”

Oshiomhole said blowing up oil facilities would not bring the nation closer.

He said all Nigerians should converge around a common idea on how to ensure that the nation’s natural endowment remained truly a blessing.

Venezuelan Energy Minister: Nigeria, Others Forcing ‘De Facto’ Oil Production Freeze OPEC ministers welcome market movement Chineme Okafor inAbujawith agency report The Venezuelan Energy Minister, Eulogio Del Pino, has described the unplanned disruption of crude oil production in Nigeria, Canada and Kuwait as the primary reason for the recent price recovery in the global oil market.

Del Pino, according to Bloomberg yesterday said the recent upward movement in prices of oil had more to do with unexpected supply disruptions in fields of some member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and not from OPEC’s strategy.

The report which THISDAY monitored in Abuja, had Del Pino describing unplanned disruptions in Nigeria, Canada, and Kuwait as effective measures which capped crude oil production, and then forced a ‘de facto’ production freeze.

He said this while oil ministers of the OPEC who are gathering in Vienna for the group’s biannual meeting expressed delights that the oil market was currently moving in the right direction as a supply glut dissipates.

The report said the United Arab Emirates (UAE) minister, Suhail Al Mazrouei and Nigeria’s, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had signalled that the strategy of letting low prices eradicate

surplus production was working.

Al Mazrouei and Kachikwu, it said spoke with journalists in Vienna on this, in addition to some of the world’s biggest oil traders also agreeing that accelerating demand was helping to rebalance the market.

“From the beginning of the year until now, the market has been correcting itself upward,” Al Mazrouei was quoted to have said.

He added: “The market will fix itself to a price that is fair to the consumers and to the producers.”

His comments, the report added was echoed by Kachikwu to suggest renewed optimism among producers.

“I think the market trends are better now and the sense of urgency that spurred producers to mull an agreement to freeze production in April has dissipated.

“While prices are moving in the right direction, I think it needs more acceleration of the pace,” Kachikwu said.

However, Del Pino who still rues the decision of Saudi Arabia to block a freeze arrangement earlier in March because Iran wouldn’t participate, disclosed that more than three million barrels of daily oil production are currently out of the market.

He stated: “If you take into account what happened in the last three or four months, there has been a ‘de facto’ freeze.”

SEPLATMEETS ITS SHAREHOLDERS

L-R: General Manager, External Affairs and Communications, SEPLATPetroleum Development Company Plc, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku; Chairman, SEPLAT, Dr. ABC Orjiako; Chief Executive Officer, SEPLAT, Mr. Austin Avuru; and Senior Counsel/Company Secretary, SEPLAT, Dr. Mirian Kachikwu, at the annual generalmeetingofthecompanyinLagos…yesterday

Investigative Hearing Reveals Shady Deals in 2005-2007 Oil Bid Rounds Committee invites Kachikwu, Daukoru Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating all oil bid rounds has heard details of shady deals in the tenders for the 2005-2007 bid rounds.

The committee yesterday heard that none of the companies that won the existing OML 109 and OPL 75 bids have relinquished 50 per cent of blocks back to Nigeria after 10 years, as required by law.

Memoranda available to the committee showed how allocations from bid rounds won by certain companies, were awarded to different companies.

It also revealed how allocations were cancelled after the signature bonuses have been paid by the

companies that won the bids.

The committee raised eyebrows at the case of Tankers System Engineering Limited which won the bid for OPL 280 in 2006, and was expected to pay a signature bonus of $210 million.

The company paid only $21 million leading to a cancellation allegedly by the President Olusegun Obasanjo for not paying up the full signature bonus. Curiously the same block was later allocated to Sterling Global Company, which did not participate in the bidding round for $57 million.

The Deputy Director, (Basement, Assessment and Lease Administration) of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Sunday Babalola, said $1.2 billion

was offered as signature bonuses in 2005 with $765 million paid by the companies.

Twenty four of the OPLs and four OMLs have expired, while several of the blocks are caught up in litigation, Babalola disclosed.

Although he could not explain the discrepancies observed by the lawmakers, Babalola insisted due processes were followed in the allocations.

The former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Funsho Kupolokun, admitted that the bid rounds were complicated and called for reforms to ensure transparency.

“The 2005 round was done through competitive bidding

involving people from different parts of the country, but because there were so many people paired up together, manyofthemwerefighting each other, so it did not go well,” he said.

Kupolokundecriedthesituationwhere thelawallowstheMinisterofPetroleum Resourcestoallocateoilblocksbydiscretion.

ThePermanentSecretaryoftheMinistry ofPetroleumResources,Dr. JamilaSuara, described the hearing as timely.

“Yes,theprocesseshavenotbeenvery tidy..the matter of insisting that signature bonusesbepaidindollarsisbetterforus, thantotakethepaymentinprojects,”she said.

ThecommitteeinsistedthattheMinister ofStateforPetroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and former Minister Edmund Daukoru must appear to provide

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NEWS

Ohanaeze Condemns Killing of Pro-Biafra Protesters, Demands Panel of Inquiry 101 protesters arraigned, granted bail in Enugu, Ebonyi

Christopher Isiguzo, Patrick Egwu in Enugu and Benjamin Nworie inAbakaliki The apex-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday in Enugu condemned in strong terms last Monday’s killings of scores of pro-Biafra agitators under the aegis of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Onitsha, Anambra State by security agencies comprising a detachment of Nigerian Army, Navy, Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and National Drug Law EnforcementAgency (NDLEA).

The organisation said it would not accept the defence put up by the Nigerian Army that they acted in self-defence and out of provocation.

Ohanaeze in a statement signed by it’s Secretary General, Dr, Joe Nwaorgu therefore asked the President Muhammadu Buhariled federal government to set up investigative panels to unravel the true picture of the sad development, which it described as “totally outrageous.”

Nworgu also urged Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State to equally constitute an investigative panel to get a full record of what occurred from the state government’s perspective.

The organisation said it remained traumatised by the outrageous massacre of the non-violent members of the two organisations in the early hours and afternoon of Monday, May 30, 2016.

Nwaorgu insisted that they were unimpressed and unconvinced by the “talk of provocation,” wondering what level of provocation would warrant the firing of tears gas, without first calling on a crowd legal or illegal to disperse.

While calling on all Nigerians to condemn in its entirety the heinous display of brutality, the group alleged that after the firing of tear gas, there was a “salvo of gunfire with live bullets.”

“We are traumatised by the outrageous killing of the members of the IPOB and MASSOB in could blood in the early hours of Monday, May 30, 2016 and then in the afternoon of same day.

“The two organiations are sworn believers in non-violence. They say, and we believe them that were totally unarmed at the times of the onslaughts. Consequently, Ohanaeze calls on the Anambra State Government to immediately set up an investigative panel to get the full record of what occurred.

“The federal government also should set up its own inquiry to give the world the true picture.

This is necessary so that justice is seen to be done. We are unhappy with the continued blood letting visited on our people and want such nefarious events to cease forthwith.

He condoled with the families of the victims and prayed that the sad development would not happen again in Igboland.

Meanwhile, the Enugu State Police Command yesterday arraigned 13 pro-Biafra agitators arrested last Monday at the Edinburgh axis of the state while marking the 50 years of Biafra Republic before a Magistrate Court presided over by E.N. Alukwu.

The suspects believed to be members of the MASSOB and

IPOB were however granted bail by the court.

Also in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, 88 members of MASSOB arraigned before a Magistrate Court on a four-count charge of conspiracy, belonging to unlawful society, membership of unlawful group and possession of items calling for the declaration of Biafra.

After the arguments, the trial Magistrate, Stella Ogoke, in her ruling, granted the accused persons bail to the tune of N500,000 and seven sureties who must be within the magisterial jurisdiction.

She said the sureties must be civil servants or businessmen and adjourned the matter to July, 18, 2016 for definite hearing.

Amaechi: Buhari to Inaugurate Abuja-Kaduna Railway Service in July Dele Ogbodo in Abuja

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday promised that President Muhammadu Buhari would inaugurate the completed Abuja-Kaduna rail line services next month.

The minister who made the disclosure during the first official test-run of the rail modernisation project which connects Abuja and Kaduna State, said the project was ready and would commence full commercial operations once the president inaugurated it.

Amaechi said: “As for this rail transport, we are good to go. The reason why we are not letting

it start now is the fact that we have to consider the president’s several engagement and religious obligation.

“However, we are looking at the first week of July, because we are good to go. In two weeks from now, they (contractors) will test-run the tracks without carrying passengers.

“In another two weeks, they will test-run it with passengers free of charge and that will take us till the last week of June.

“So by first week of July, the president will come to flag it off for commercial activities. After the flag off, anyone who boards must pay and that is why I told the director of railway and the managing director of Nigeria Railway Corporation

(NRC), to start ensuring that within this one month they should make sure that people who are going to use the railway have a form of identification.

The minister explained that individuals without identification should not border coming to board the trains, adding: “we will not let you in if we don’t know you.

“What worries me more is about the rural dwellers and what I think the Ministry of Transportation should do is to work with the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure that in every station, there is an NIMC outlet so that they can do all the registration in one or two weeks. This is to ensure that we

know who is boarding our train and where he lives for security purposes.”

The minister said the government was working on insurance packages for passengers who board the facility, adding that about 1,000 police officers would provide security for the rail service daily.

He said: “Any ticket a passenger buys is covered with a premium insurance and the coaches are going to be insured.

We cannot start the process without resolving that. We are getting the Nigerian police as well as the railway department and they said they needed about 1,000 police officers from Idu, Abuja to Kaduna everyday.”

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COMMENT

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

NIGER DELTA AVENGERS AND THE OGONI CLEAN-UP Uche Igwe argues the Niger Delta struggle leaves more questions than answers

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari, today, June 2, will be in Bodo, Ogoniland, to officially kick off the environmental clean-up of oil polluted sites in the Niger Delta region. This is consistent with the recommendation of an assessment conducted by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The visit will lay to rest speculations about whether the Nigerian president will fulfill the promise he made to Ogoni people during his campaign visit to Bori, the headquarters of Ogoniland. The timing and political symbolism of the visit are multidimensional. After one year of Buhari’s administration, part of the criticism is that he has paid insufficient attention to some parts of the country which did not vote substantially for him. Although as an individual, I have always argued against such misleading narrative, I hope this visit will help challenge it. No one part of the country contributed more to Buhari’s victory than the other. The block votes from Northern Nigeria and the resistance against rigging mounted by the opposition leaders in the Southern Nigeria contributed equally to the defeat of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in 2015. One important takeaway from the last election is that no one part of the country can make it to the presidency until it learns to take other sections along. I am sure the president knows this but anyone who is still in doubt should look at the numbers from the results of the Presidential elections in 2011 and 2015 and make comparisons. That is why I will remain grateful to President Buhari and Niger Delta leaders like immediate past governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe for their roles in making the clean-up happen. It is important that all citizens to get a feeling of dividends of democracy. The UNEP Report we celebrate today is a product of the foresight of some people. We must put on record that as governor of Rivers State, it was Amaechi who insisted that the UNEP investigators should be provided community access to do their work and gave them adequate security throughout their stay. His role exemplifies the level of progress that is possible in the region when there is positive vision, selfless sacrifice and enduring political will. Those who understand the history of agitations of marginalisation in the region will appreciate that the damage that arose from the ecological footprints of oil exploration originally defined what will later be known as the struggle. Therefore, anyone (like Buhari and Amaechi) associated with remedial measures on the Niger Delta environment should be given their right places in the annals of history.

We know that the situation is now slightly different and more complicated. We know that what started as an environmental struggle has now been hijacked, commercialised and criminalised. Many young people have taken to arms to advance their own interpretation of the struggle- no matter how delusional. It is now a full-fledged conflict economy with sophisticated and well-resourced networks. Their sponsors and patrons are merchants of instability in our midst who use violence as their own bargaining chip for access to power and the powerful. Today, whatever remains of the Niger Delta struggle leaves more questions than answers. It is often said that the struggle is about the ordinary Niger Delta citizen. However, since the struggle started, no one has ever bothered to do an honest cost -benefit analysis and stock taking. Is the average Niger Delta citizen better off now than before the struggle? Is the environment of the region more polluted now or then?

Are the communities not more fragmented, dislocated, devastated and more desolate than ever before? We must note that President Buhari is visiting the Delta at an interesting time when another amorphous group known as the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) is on the rampage. In the last few weeks this group has continuously and successfully gone on the offensive destroying many strategic oil installations in the region. I have looked at their shabby website in search of their purpose without success. So what or who are they avenging against? At least one of their demands includes the cleaning up of the region. We all know that this could be a mere smokescreen masking their real intentions; however it will be useful to see if the meeting of one of their demands through

IF THE AVENGERS CLAIM TO BE PROTECTING NIGER DELTA INTEREST, THEY SHOULD START

BY ADOPTING A METHOD THAT WILL LEAD TO ANY PROGRESS BEYOND ECONOMIC TOKENISM

clean-up can force them to any form of ceasefire or dialogue. Many observers insist that the so- called avengers may be a political response to the defeat of the former President Jonathan in the last elections. The avengers pointed implicitly to the detention of some of the former president’s allies as part of their grievances. No one will deny that the signs have been there. So why will anyone defeated take to arms?

When shall our politicians learn to be magnanimous in defeat and reorganise for the future? Where is the politics of ethic-based instability leading this country to? What is surprising is that the government in power could not engage them early before they went ballistic with their reprehensible vengeful mission. I am more interested in the response of government than the predictable ranting of the avengers. I hate to suggest that these renegades need to be engaged before they bring our economy to a halt. The Niger Delta region is too strategic to be overtaken by violence again. The avengers should be told that contracts, cash and temporary appeasement cannot lead to sustainable solution to the problems of the region.

Yet I must highlight the complacency, myopia or collusion of our leaders for what has become of this blessed but impoverished region.

For too long they have refused to speak with one voice or be on the same page with one another. They are the ones whose hypocritical silence created the space for the avengers to thrive and have a voice. I do not know who these delinquents speak for but they at least do not speak for me. Sometimes I try to imagine that the agitations of violent militant groups are simply reflections of the anger exclusion by the elite – business and political. I may be wrong but it is always the elite and community support- however covert- that sustain these hostilities and you can take this to the bank.

Many of these people pretend to be less concerned at least publicly while offering their full sympathy privately. Typical of Nigeria, our ethnic affiliations continuously blur our sense of objectivity. There are others whose business interests are enhanced by insecurity and you can imagine where their loyalties will lie. The issue such as the fate of the Maritime University in Okerenkoko in Gbaramatu Kingdom readily comes to mind- a project that was derailed because N13 billion of public funds were squandered in acquiring the land alone. Such amount of money could have been used to completely build and equip a brand new university. No one has been courageous enough to question how such a humongous amount of money disappeared or call corruption by its name because they do not want to offend an individual. Why have the avengers not directed their rage at the individual who sold a land at N13 billion? Why the selective vengeance?

What about those who parade themselves around that they have relationship with these clandestine groups? They assert an imaginary patent of constant access and capacity to call the ‘boys’ to order anytime. It is a sort of meal ticket. If they knew as much as they claim, how come the problem of purposeless agitation had not been completely solved over the years? These claims have often turned out to be false and misleading and further exposes the kind of divisive and opportunistic thinking that has taken root among the Niger Delta elite.

For them, it is an entitlement mentality, making bogus but unsubstantiated claims of territorialism and creating a living out of it, that matters.

In many ways they pretend to be part of the solution but indeed they are part of the problem.

My counsel is that the Niger Delta Avengers should leverage on the president’s visit to drop their guns and embrace dialogue. Taking arms against the state is a suicide mission that leads to unintended consequences. They should watch how Boko Haram was degraded from one of the deadliest terror organisations in the world to one at the verge of extinction. If the avengers claim to be protecting Niger Delta interest, they should start by adopting a method that will lead to any progress beyond economic tokenism.

Igwe wrote from School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, UK

FULFILLING THE OGONI PLEDGE

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Rivers State Government is making a difference in Ogoniland, writes Simeon Nwakaudu

he campaigns leading to the 2015 general elections were thorough and tortuous.

One of the key deciding grounds in Rivers State was Ogoni land. The reason is not far-fetched. The Ogoni Ethnic Nationality forms a major power block in

the state.

Therefore, all political interest groups moved over to Ogoniland to sell their programmes to the people.

This came on the heels of the fact that the then outgoing administration had conned the Ogoni people, pledging to accommodate them politically, without doing so. In all of the political engagements the issue of credibility cropped up.

Smarting from extreme political deceit of the outgone administration, the Ogoni people needed a trustworthy politician and statesman to invest their votes in. The political godson of the then outgoing leader presented himself as someone who lived amongst the people and schooled in their midst.

According to him, this would make him different from his political godfather. The Ogoni people were not deceived. They rejected him and his political party because they knew nothing would change.

The Ogonis unanimously endorsed and accepted

the candidature of Nyesom Ezenwo Wike. This was done after the governor’s deep-rooted consultations with Ogoni stakeholders came up with key pledges that his administration would accomplish upon election. This was at the Grand Rally in Bori.

The most prominent of the pledges was the governor’s acceptance that he would dualise the Sakpenwa-Bori Road. He also pledged to ensure that Ogoni people play prominent roles in his administration. As an apostle of pro-people politics and leadership, Governor Nyesom Wike has lived up to his pledges. He has taken proactive steps to develop Ogoni land and improve the stand of living of the people.

For over three decades, the Ogoni people were denied access to a safe road to their traditional homeland as the Sakpenwa-Bori Road degenerated into a notorious death trap which claimed the lives of the people on a daily basis. It was on this premise that the Sakpenwa-Bori Road became a source of persistent political deceit.

Politicians used road to gain political capital, claiming that they would dualise the strategic road.

The immediate past administration was the worst culprit. Therefore, when Governor Wike made the

pledge that he would dualise the Sakpenwa-Bori Road if elected, most people did not give it much thought.

On Thursday, May 26, 2016, Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike made good his pledge. He took concrete steps to actualise the dream of the Ogoni people. He flagged off the dualisation of the Sakpenwa-Bori Road. The road cuts across Tai, Gokana and Khana Local Government Areas of Ogoni land. It also links communities of Andoni and Opobo-Nkoro and Akwa Ibom State.

The joy of the Ogoni people and their neighbours knew no bounds. They put aside political differences and rolled out the drums to celebrate Governor Wike’s commitment to their development. Governor Wike declared that he would complete the road in record time because of its importance.

Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People’s (MOSOP) Mr. Legborsi Saro Pyagbara praised Governor Wike for living up to his promise, saying the governor has by his action served the interest of all Ogoni people, irrespective of their political differences and affiliations.

Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, King GNA Giniwa commended

the governor for his work in Ogoni land. He said the dualisation of the Sakpenwa-Bori Road and the key appointments extended to Ogoni people in Wike’s administration were praiseworthy.

Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Hon Kenneth Kobani said the commencement of the construction of the road was a dream come true for Ogoni people while a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Dum Dekor declared that

by Governor Wike’s investments in Ogoniland, he would continue to enjoy the support of the people.

In addition to the dualisation of the Sakpenwa-Bori Road, Governor Wike has started the phased total rehabilitation of the Birabi Memorial Grammar School, Bori, which is one of the most prominent public schools in the area.

The governor further announced that the GokanaBodo road will be reconstructed to open up other Ogoni communities.

Governor Wike has proved to be a lover of the development of Ogoniland .The projects will definitely stimulate economic growth in the entire Ogoniland.

Nwakaudu is Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media

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T H I S D AY THURSDAY JUNE 2 , 2016

EDITORIAL THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING CHALLENGE

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The relevant authorities could do more to curb the illegal business

espite all the efforts by government, human trafficking is still a serious issue in the country given the revelation last week by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP).

The agency said about one million persons, most of them women and children, were trafficked in Nigeria annually. Even if we query the figure, given that statistics are often patchy, we must nonetheless support the efforts of the NAPTIP’s acting Director General, Alhaji Abdulrazak Dangiri, to get all the critical stakeholders to come together to tackle the problem.

According to Dangiri, 75 per cent of the victims were trafficked across the states, 23 per cent within states while two per cent were trafficked outside the country.

Human trafficking is prevalent in 20 states, namely Lagos, Ondo, Edo, Benue, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Rivers. The others are Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, Jigawa, Kwara, Taraba, Niger, Borno, Yobe and Kebbi States. But more revealing was the disclosure that women SINCE POVERTY AND from China, Ukraine, UNEMPLOYMENT ARE Philippines, Belarus THE MAJOR CAUSES and Molodovia were OF PROSTITUTION, also being trafficked GOVERNMENT AT ALL to Nigeria to work as LEVELS SHOULD SIT prostitutes in some UP AND CREATE THE adult clubs.

ENABLING ENVIRONMENT The organised interFOR JOB CREATION state sex-trafficking should worry the authorities. These days a lot of young Nigerian girls are being trafficked from one state of the federation to the other just for sex. A research carried out by Sympathy Worldwide Foundation, a non-governmental organisation fighting sex slavery and child trafficking, reveals that most of these young girls were trafficked to Lagos with promises of greener pasture, but as the promises become unfulfilled, the girls take to the streets.

Letters to the Editor

Outside the shores of the country it is even more lamentable. The various reports indicate that the largest group of prostitutes from Sub-Saharan Africa is from Nigeria. According to a recent United States Department of State report, out of the 2,500 minors engaged in full-time prostitution in the streets of Italy, 2,300 are minors from Albanian and Nigeria. Italy has long been described as the capital of Nigerian prostitutes as they outrightly dominate the sex trade there. Something definitely has to be done about this unsavoury situation that destroys not only our image as a nation but the future of those involved.

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IGBO LEADERS ANDVIOLENCE IN THE SOUTH-EAST

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o stem the tide of incipient breakdown of law and order as well as continual infringing on human rights as currently being witnessed in the South Eastern part of Nigeria, the South East leaders especially those we entrusted with the mantle of leadership such as the South East governors, ex-governors, serving legislators in the National Assembly, elder statesmen, Ohaneze Ndigbo, serving and past ministers as well as other well-meaning Nigerians, must take certain decisive steps.

First, the South East leaders must discard the age-long stoic trademark of cowardice and offer more emotionally intelligent responses to the killings of their compatriots for exercising their fundamental human rights. Hence, they must unearth this trait from wherever it is buried beneath layers of “Igbotic” aloofness and decorum.

However, our concern is that everyone including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has the right to engage in a peaceful protest in order to show their grievances as long they are not in possession of any arms.

It becomes worrisome when a certain group cum tribe is being denied this constitutional right when we can all attest to the fact that never a day passes by without one protest or the other - ranging from OccupyNigeria to WeSupportSaraki to BringBackourGirls and many others. One is then left with the rhetorical question on why the Igbo’s are different.

Serial bloody violence in recent times involving armed policemen/soldiers and the IPOB agitators across the

part from Italy, Nigerian prostitutes have successfully invaded Spain, Germany, Belgium, Austria, United Kingdom, among other countries. Nigerian girls constitute the largest group of prostitutes in Norway. There are over 400 under-aged Nigerian prostitutes in the Netherlands.

Majority of these prostitutes are recruited through the human trafficking industry. Most of the victims of this trafficking are unsuspecting young girls who were enticed with promises of good jobs abroad only to be coerced into prostitution.

But what is not in doubt is that there is an international criminal cartel behind human trafficking and until the authorities are able to get those behind it and bring them to justice, the problem will continue. We therefore call on government at all levels, anti-prostitution NGOs, parents, churches, mosques, the police and all relevant stakeholders to take concrete steps in addressing the issue. Since poverty and unemployment are the major causes of prostitution, government at all levels should sit up and create the enabling environment for job creation.

Besides, the family institution needs to be re-invigorated. If parents were at home performing their parental responsibilities, their daughters would probably not have taken to the streets. Nigeria possesses an enviable rich cultural heritage which includes living a chaste life.

That is why all should join hands in tackling all forms of human trafficking in our country.

country, notably on the anniversary celebrations at Onitsha, Asaba, Umuahia, has brought this dynamic into sharp focus. This abuse of human rights if not checkmated can threaten to the fabric of the society and undermine the very essence of the state.

Their persistence not only negates the possibilities of fraternal coexistence and civic mutuality but also depicts depth charges at the foundations of public order which if not defused, will detonate, bringing down society as a whole.

Thus, these acts should commandeer the moral attention of South East governors and legislators and the full weight of their coercive powers irrespective of their political party affiliations.

More so, the subsequent recrimination has keyed into the narrative of Nigeria as a nation fractured by deep sectarian cleavages. The federal government glacial reactions to the violence on Ndi-Igbo are without doubt enabling bigoted demagogues paint circumstantially-coherent conspiracy theories that dangerously fuel mutual distrust and paranoia.

In conclusion, the immediate unified statement by the Northern Governors Forum, irrespective of their party affiliations, as regard the Fulani herdsmen attacks in the country was a clear affirmation that all diverse societies have their patterns of sectarian strife. Hence, the South East governors, lawmakers, elder statesmen, Igbo social political group, past governors and other reputable Ndi-Igbo should rise to the occasion and protect the future of Ndi-Igbo.

K.C. Eze, southeastpatrioticyouths@gmail.com

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IS THIS THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR?

outhern Nigeria Peoples Mandate (SNPM), a human rights Organisation, wishes to draw the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress, to the plight of Nigerian masses who are being subjected to the worst hardship which they did not experience even under the evil days of the Peoples Democratic Party, the party that ruined Nigeria for 16 years. During the 2015 electioneering campaigns Buhari promised Nigerians that if voted as president that our suffering would be a thing of the past. Nigerians accepted because we had no choice then than to vote PDP out.

After his swearing in on May 29, 2015, Buhari promised dividends within a short time. Today the administration has spent one year in office without any impact on the life of the average Nigerian.

Instead things are getting worse on daily basis and our leader

continues to promise Nigeria that his administration will alleviate our suffering.

Today the prices of food and other commodities have shot through the roof. The naira weakens against the dollar daily and the government is not doing anything to arrest the situation; instead it is heaping blame on the PDP that is no longer in power that’s to show that president Buhari has no agenda on how to transform our economy and improve the well-being of every Nigerians who are now going through hell to survive.

This is a government that promised Nigerians 24 hours of electricity, good roads, job creation, health care, cheap fuel and kerosene, and low electricity tariff, etc.

Nigerian’s today pay higher electricity bill while power supply has dropped by over 50% per cent.

Is that the change Nigerians voted for?

Augustine Chukwudum, Onitsha

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

POLITICS

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

T H E G U B E R N AT O R I A L I N T E RV I E W

Bello: Workers’ Screening Exercise Inevitable Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, recently addressed some journalists on the pertinent issues in the state, especially the issue of the workers’ screening exercise. Yekini Jimoh presents the excerpts:

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eople are complaining in some quarters over the ongoing workers’ screening exercise. What do you think is their problem?

The state and local government staff screening exercise has been going on since inception of this administration, which came on board in January 27, 2016.

The screening involved the verification of all the workers of state, local government areas, teachers and tertiary institutions in the state.

The verification has been completed and the committee is in the process of collating the reports. I have taken my time to go over the preliminary report to ensure that the final report of the screening exercise does not go the same way as others during the previous administration.

It is also important to re-echo it once again that the President had released part of our bailout funds and I do not want the funds to remain in government account for too long.

The screening exercise was very interesting as a lot of revelations and shoddy deals were unraveled. I took my time to visit the collation centre to have firsthand information about the exercise and after that I visited some schools in Lokoja to see if what is being collated at the collation centre tallies with the reality on the ground.

Having met with the NUT representatives and various head teachers in the state, I decided to visit some schools within the state capital, particularly Army Day Primary School and two other primary schools. From my findings in those schools I visited, it was exactly what is being collated at the collation centre. By virtue of the ghost workers discovered during the screening, if we say we should pay salaries of local government workers immediately, we will pay billions of naira into the pockets of a few individuals and it will not be healthy for the state.

I was on my visit to the school when the first list of those, who are through with the screening were released and there are some workers, who took to the street to protest that their names were excluded from the list.

I went to the venue of the protest to listen to them and I explained to them what the current administration is doing to ensure that the issue of payment of percentage salary will not resurface again in the state. I equally warned them against doing things that will subvert the law. I advised them to always channel their complaints to the appropriate quota.

There is palpable fear amongst workers that about 50 per cent of the workforce will be laid off. Is this true?

There shouldn’t be any fear about the ongoing screening exercise. No single genuine worker of Kogi State will be sacked. If you are a genuine worker, you will be screened, paid and you will be in the service of the state or local government.

What is happening now where people are protesting comes from those, who have been benefiting from the rotten system, whereby one person had a multiple names on the payroll and those types of people will definitely be affected by the screening exercise and they don’t want it to succeed. That’s why they decided to send their cohort to take to the street.

Like I often said, this exercise must succeed by the special grace of God Almighty. There are a few Kogi indigenes, who have decided to get the state rotten without recourse for the future of the state and its people. I don’t think there should be tension because after the exercise, if anybody is left out and has genuine complaint, he or she can forward it and I want to make it clear that we are

across the state.

Also, the newly appointed local government administrators are already organising vigilante groups to assist in fishing out the hoodlums at the grassroots and with all these efforts put in place, we will go after the criminals; we will hunt them down to their hideout; we will pursue them into the bush and smoke them out until the state is free of all heinous crimes.

In addition, as a result of bad system practised in the past, where few leaders or individual carted away the wealth of the state at the detriment of the masses, whose population is over three million, the attitude of this few people, who so much believed in milking the state had thrown the youths who are in their prime age into total joblessness.

To restore hope in the youth of this state, we are planning to go into agricultural programme, where they will be fully engaged to earn a living. Though there are some of the youths, who are recalcitrant and don’t want to do anything meaningful that will add value to their lives, we are appealing to them so that they can be part of government’s gesture to enable them better their future.

Again, those who have been stealing Kogi’s wealth through over-bloated payroll, we will fish them out and recover the money they carted away.

We will not stop at that, they will face prosecution to serve as deterrent to others. I am assuring the people of the state that there will be no sacred cow in this fight against fraudulent activities that had retarded the development of the state.

Bello...we are tackling the accumulated rot

not retrenching. We are not downsizing, rightsizing or leftsizing because it is not our focus for now.

We cannot be intimidated to the point of abandoning the screening. I am particularly

Those who have been stealing Kogi’s wealth through over-bloated payroll, we will fish them out and recover the money they carted away. We will not stop at that, they will face prosecution to serve as deterrent to others. I am assuring the people of the state that there will be no sacred cow in this fight against fraudulent activities that had retarded the development of the state

aware that the bailout fund that was computed earlier by the immediate past administration was heavily padded and if we should allowed that, the bailout fund is not a grant; it is not free money. Kogi State will pay back and every kobo that is being paid will affect the economy of the state.

So, a few individuals cannot continue to be packing billions of naira while the people continue to wallow in abject poverty. If we allow that to continue unchecked, we will end up leaving a heavy burden for the generation yet unborn.

So, the right thing must be done this time around and I am not ready to renege on my promise to reform the civil service, both at the state and local government council, though this effort is taking our time, we have to painstakingly take our time to remove the ghost-workers from the payroll.

Therefore, I don’t think there should be any form of tension or rancor that will arise from this very important exercise, which is ongoing in the interest of Kogi workers. It worries me a lot when some workers especially those at the local government take percentage salaries at the end of every month. That was the main reason we are resolute to remove the cause of such hardship on workers.

What efforts are you putting in place to rid the state of criminal elements that are now terrorising the state?

Before I took over the mantle of leadership of the state in January this year, the security situation in the state is better forgotten than imagine as kidnapping and other criminal activities were already at the highest point in some parts of the state.

I am using this medium to thank and appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase for deploying four unit of mobile policemen, 32 Special Anti-robbery Squad and a helicopter for aerial surveillance

What are your plans for the disbursement of the bailout funds? Will there be any committee to that effect?

To the best of my knowledge, the bailout funds was meant to pay the arrears of workers’ salaries and other allowances they were entitled to because they have not been paid in the past. Government does not need a committee to pay monthly salaries and as such, we will follow all the processes that normally lead to the payment of workers’ salaries using government machinery. Involving a committee for that purpose will mean that we have to pay their allowance and we don’t even have money for that.

We have the list of genuine workers that government owed salaries both at the state and local government levels. The record of various unpaid salaries and the months are there.

Once the screening exercise is completed, we will disburse the funds through government machinery the way and manner monthly salaries are paid to the workers through their various bank accounts. I am also assuring the workers that no kobo will be paid cash; it will be through bank transaction.

We will make sure that the disbursement is properly done so that we can also access the balance of the bailout to put smile on the faces of Kogi workers especially the local government staff, who for long have been collecting percentage salaries. In addition, I have said it often without numbers that this administration will not spend a kobo belonging to the state without recourse to accountability. This state has suffered enough in the hands of fraudsters, who do not believe that Kogi state should grow.

Therefore, whoever that is willing to work with me should have it at the back of his mind that he is not coming to siphon the state resources because such characters can never go on in the same train with me.

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

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

INTERVIEW

Nwanyanwu: Force Can’t Solve N’Delta Crisis Public analyst and former National Chairman of the Labour Party, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu has dismissed the military option in dealing with the resurgent conflict in the Niger Delta. In this interview with Onyebuchi Ezigbo, the politician also spoke on various burning national issues, including the perceived neglect of the Igbos by the Muhammadu Buhari administration. Excerpts:

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s a lawyer, who specialises in criminology, how do you assess Federal Government’s handling of the ongoing attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta?

I must say that I am opposed to the destruction of infrastructure whether in the north or in the south. Once an infrastructure is destroyed, you need resources to put it back. I am not comfortable when our infrastructure is usually destroyed, be it power infrastructure such as gas pipelines or petroleum pipelines conveying crude or petroleum products. And I think this present government should borrow a leave from what the late President Yar’Adua did when he took over from President Obasanjo.

President Yar’Adua came in when oil production was at its lowest ebb, and he sat down and articulated his position on the matter after discovering the reasons for this. The reason we have unrest in the Niger Delta region is no longer news. What happens is that you come to their land, you take resources in billions of dollars, you leave the place devastated to the point that they can no longer farm, they cannot fish, there is no water to drink, no school for their children, no medical facilities.

That was the point that President Yar’Adua saw and then took the bull by the horn. He struck a deal with the militants and that was what gave rise to the Timi Alaibe Commission which was later taken over by Kingsley Kuku, to train the Niger Delta people and to give them opportunity for participation and put some on payment. Even President Jonathan widened the scope of the deal by allowing those who destroyed the pipelines to guard the facility.

In Igboland, there is a saying that ‘Dog does not eat the bone hung on its neck’. But immediately

Let him engage more in discussion.

The late President Yar’Adua did it and it didn’t take him time and there was peace in the land. The destruction stopped, oil production increased and we started getting our funds back…The late President Yar’Adua was from Katsina State. We must have an open mind when we are leaders. We should not listen to everything by the advisers, who believe that they know Nigeria more than Nigerians

Nwanyanwu...Buhari must change his ways

President Muhammed Buhari came in, those who think that Nigeria belongs to them and that they know Nigeria more than Nigerians convinced him to start dismantling all these things. You and I read how even those who were overseas on training could not get the payments from government, including tuition and maintenance.

Whether we like it or not, people like me will continue to be blunt. It doesn’t matter how it hurts, whether you take it or not, the wealth of this nation is coming from somewhere and the people are entitled to some substantial percentage of that wealth to check the devastation on the land. Would you be shocked that you may not get somebody from the Niger Delta owning one oil blocks. So you see, if we are one, we should forget our prejudices, our hunches and look at Nigeria as a country that should develop as one.

I listened to the president and he said he would deal with those who are destroying the pipelines, that he would do this and do that.

Yes these are powerful statements, but he will not be there when they will destroy it. They will destroy it and go away and wait for you to come and repair it and by the time you blink, they will destroy it again. This thing has been occurring in the past 30 years and President Buhari should know that. The only solution to this problem is to engage them and hand over those facilities to them.

Let anybody advise the president, no it will enhance them and let the person go and handle it himself. It is their land and they know the terrain better. Take the whole soldiers and put there, there would be a time they would blink and they would destroy the place and go away which is condemnable. But we are looking for solution. It is like the warnings that have been given to those who are eking for the independence of Biafra.

It is another warning, good, but the president and his advisers forgot to realise that those who are agitating for this did not see the civil war.

They were not born then and so they don’t care. They don’t even understand what you are saying. There is no one that saw the war that is in that group and President Buhari should know this and those, who are misleading and ill-advising the president, let it get into their head that these young people are not afraid

of dying. Engage them, where is the position of dialogue?

President Jonathan made some attempts to discuss with Boko Haram but people wanted to do 419 with that and he backed out. Boko Haram has done more damage in the land than any group since the creation of Nigeria and we have said we are going to cut-off their heads. We are still willing to say, drop your arms, come let’s talk. So, why is it ‘I will do this and I will do that, I will kill and I will exterminate’ when it comes to Niger Delta militants. This doesn’t solve any problem in today’s Nigeria’s contemporary politics and governance.

It is dialogue and we should do a rethink and go back to the drawing board. Those who are advising the president just want to praise him and perhaps massage his ego. It will not help the president and that is why we must continue to say it publicly so that way or other, somebody will draw the attention of the president to the other side of the argument because they will shield him and block him. President Buhari should realize that if he doesn’t succeed in all these concomitant of our problems, Nigerian people will not trust any government and we don’t want to turn into either Iraq or Syria.

That is the truth of the matter. Let him engage more in discussion. The late President Yar’Adua did it and it didn’t take him time and there was peace in the land. The destruction stopped, oil production increased and we started getting our funds back. At that time, we were producing less than one million barrels per day and we were making very low turn-over on oil production. President Yar’Adua quickly arrested that ugly trend and solved the problem.

The late President Yar’Adua was from Katsina State. We must have an open mind when we are leaders. We should not listen to everything by the advisers, who believe that they know Nigeria more than Nigerians.

That is the problem and I want to also appeal to those who are carrying out these attacks to think about our country. They should think about Nigeria and when opportunity for dialogue comes, they should embrace it because if we continue with what they doing now, we may not even achieve anything with this year’s budget and we will get back to square one. Everybody will suffer it. Both the

new militant group and Federal Government should not hesitate to go into dialogue. What matters at the end of the day is not whose ego is brushed but that peace reigned.

What do you say about the delayed passage of the 2016 budget and lop-sided nature of the funds appropriated?

You see when there is imposition of authority that is what you have. There are many people who do not believe that there are other interests and considerations other than where they come from. This is the problem we have today in this government. They don’t believe that there are other considerations, other areas that should be cued into the Nigerian project. The reason we have to say it is because everybody should hear it.

It very, very sad that in this century, people are still thinking the way some other people looked at issues before independence and immediately after independence before 1966 and thereafter. I spoke a lot about the way things were done in this government, the way appointments were made and I am saying so because I am from the South-east geopolitical zone. The South-east and the North Central are the worst hit. Go and check the total project in budget. The reason of the South-east case is simple because they did not vote for the president. So, the president must shut them out of participation. If the constitution had not guaranteed one state, one minister, I can bet my life for it, President Buhari and his government wouldn’t have given the South-east any ministerial slot.

Look at the ministries given to them, Labour and Employment. Where is Chris Ngige going to generate such employment when industries have been shut down? Then, Science and Technology or Foreign Affairs, whose job is just that of an errand boy! I am just saying it.

If these appointments have favoured the Igbos as against other tribes, I will speak in the same manner. I am a fair person. Every group, every tribe must have a sense of belonging in this government and every government.

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

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

Looking Beyond Headlines President Muhammadu Buhari will better appreciate the state of the nation by looking beyond the headlines, writes Magnus Onyibe

A

s President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC mark one year in office, the media have been full of screaming headlines in praise or denunciation of the leadership style and its positive or negative impact on the lives of Nigerians. To achieve a more holistic assessment of the new Aso Rock occupant and the new ruling party, we have to look beyond the headlines by focusing more on the trend of events since power changed hands in the presidential seat of power on May 29, 2015.

To borrow the phrase made popular

by Mario Cuomo, the former charismatic governor of the state of New York, USA, President Buhari and APC campaigned in poetry and are now governing in prose. Let me explain. Literarily speaking, presidential adviser, Femi Adesina’s piece in the vanguard newspaper of Saturday, May 28, 2016 titled “Beyond the Iron and Steel” where he regaled readers with the humane side of his boss, is one of the many headlines extolling the political and social virtues of the ‘new Sherrif’ in Aso Rock villa.

In all honesty, Adesina’s headline article was rendered in very fine prose, which underlines the title of this article and justifies Mario Cuomo’s popular political mantra ‘campaign in poetry and govern in prose’. The kernel of Mr. Cuomo’s famous quote is that when politicians are on the campaign trail, they are long on promises, but when they take office, they resort to speaking in prose, when they can’t deliver on their promise, as we are currently witnessing.

The truth is that no matter the superlative and fabulous adjectives presidential husbandmen deploy in airbrushing President Buhari, he remains a stern man, who is on a mission to change Nigeria, but too much in a hurry to catch economic thieves, than to fix the broken economy.

So, my worry is that he has been a tad inflexible in policy formulation and a bit strenuous in his approach to bringing about the change which he promised.

Although these shortcomings could be excused as vision-related challenges and are therefore amenable to modification in future, after all, he is only one year in office of four years tenure. But President Buhari and his government would only be compelled to conform to democratic tenets, when men and women of goodwill call a spade a spade by continuously reminding him of his failure to meet the expectations of the

A situation where the president on his own suspends the constitution with respect to the rights of individuals that he deems guilty rather than relying on court judgment is an anathema and a throwback to the days of military despotism, which should not be condoned

by Christians, Muslims, civil society organisations or international comity of nations

Buhari...the problems are attitudinal

masses that constitute his core support base.

That’s my raison d’ete for this intervention as a public intellectual as opposed to personal animosity against the president and his team, as some are alleging in some quarters. The truth is that, a dispassionate assessment of Buhari’s first year in office would reveal that there has been tremendous adversity in Nigeria and as the saying goes, not even all the spices in India, can wash that away or cover the odium.

Vox populi, vox dei is Latin phrase for the voice of the people is the voice of God. If you conduct a random vox pop on the streets of Kano, Lagos or Port Harcourt today, you would easily discern that the approval rating of President Buhari by Nigerians is at its lowest ebb. As Mr. Adesina pointed out in his piece, Mr. President just laughs at and dismisses public advice, which he deems ridiculous and as some of President Buhari’s critics allege, he scoffs at admonition, which he considers enemy barb and sets government’s numerous ‘law’ enforcement agencies after the culprits and that should be of concern to Nigerians.

If in indeed he does the later, it is a blithe on governance that a despotic government should not be proud to have as legacy. For the sake of posterity, we must all seek to remedy any vice observed in government high command by offering constructive advice or intervening particularly in human rights, than in socio-political and economic matters, so as to attain a more progressive and not repressive society.

That’s the avowed duty of the media as the fourth realm of the estate which should not be abdicated.

Publishing screaming headlines of accolades and encomiums on the president is in my view, putting President Buhari in a bubble, and my understanding of his personality from a distance is that the president prefers being told the truth including all the warts that may be contained.

In that regard, four critical areas in which President Buhari has performed below par in the past one year of being in the saddle are scrutinized below with probable solutions proffered.

Currently, the experience with the

continuous detention of Sambo Dasuki, former National security adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, for misappropriating defence funds and Nnamdi Kanu, director of unlicensed Radio Biafra, for agitating for the sovereign state of Biafra as well as El-Zazakky, leader of an extremist Muslim Shiite group, for constituting threat to public security, against several court orders granting them bail, erodes President Buhari’s democracy credentials and reinforces his negative reputation as an autocrat, which he earned during his 20 months rule between 1984 and 1985.

For the sake of posterity and to safe guard the sanctity of our constitution and democracy, we must all frown at selective application or neglect of the rule of law at the president’s behest and in consonance with his whims and caprices. How could government have morally justified going against the Nigeria Labour Union (NLC) if she had discountenanced court order not to embark on strike action, when same government is known to have ignored court order to release Kanu, Dasuki and El-Zarzarky on bail.

It is settled law that it is only the National Assembly in conjunction with the presidency that can suspend the constitution by declaring a state of emergency in a state that is suffering from uncontrollable violence leading to breakdown of law and order. Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo once took that extreme but not without the approval of National Assembly – Ekiti, Plateau and Anambra States.

A situation where the president on his own suspends the constitution with respect to the rights of individuals that he deems guilty rather than relying on court judgment is an anathema and a throwback to the days of military despotism, which should not be condoned by Christians, Muslims, civil society organisations or international comity of nations.

Given the judicial atrocities being committed by existing special judicial bodies like the EFCC, ICPC and CCB, I loathe to think of what a monster the proposed special courts dedicated to adjudicating on corruption matters for speedy dispensation of the burgeoning number of cases would be.

The truth is that the number of cases awaiting trial is rising simply because the anti-graft agencies don’t conduct proper investigations before they arrest suspects and haul them into the public arena for mob justice that would earn them cheap accolades. That’s why the jail houses are full. Statistics recently reeled out by Femi Falana, human rights advocate, indicates that of 160 arrests by EFCC, less than a handful have been convicted.

Appallingly, while 62,000 people are cramped in our jail houses, only 12,000 are convicts and a whooping balance of 40,000 are awaiting trial. I doubt if the president is aware of such injustice to fellow humans because having been a victim of abridged freedom, he was once placed under house arrest, I doubt that President Buhari would condone such inhumanity. For the reasons above, I would recommend that the National Assembly does not approve the establishment of the special courts as desired by the executive arm of government so that anti-crime agencies would look very well before they leap.

What the anti-graft agencies are currently doing is akin to President Buhari’s joke about the German Sentry, which Femi Adesina narrated in his article as being one of the president’s favorite rib crackers. For those, who have not read the article, it is a joke about the German Sentry guard who releases a volley of shots at an intruder in the dark, before asking “who goes there” as opposed to the proper rule of first asking, before shooting if response is unsatisfactory.

The peace team headed by former head of state, Abdulsalam Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, and Bishop Mathew Kukah amongst others representing various faiths and ethnic groups, should not relent in their advocacy for peace and respect for the rule of law by engaging further with President Buhari on the abysmal human records under his watch. This government has also not fared well in the sphere of economic development.

In fact, there is an embarrassing void in policy formulation in governance under President Buhari’s watch. The existing atmosphere of uncertainty, which hampers innovation and production, also stymies growth and development which is the condition Nigerians are now grappling with.

A situation whereby the president rejected the advice of experts – ministers, economists, development strategists and sociologists – in his transition committee, who recommended removal of fuel subsidy but was only convinced nearly one year after to remove the obnoxious subsidy based on survey by the directorate of state security service, DSS is frightening.

Removing fuel subsidy was an economic case, not a security matter. If the president’s mandate to DSS was to gauge the mood of Nigerians to determine if fuel subsidy removal would lead to riots, that was okay but if otherwise, then Nigerians are in deeper trouble than they ever imagined.

The situation reminds me of the police maxim: “If you don’t trust the police, call a thug”. Apparently, the president did not trust the judgment of the economists and ministers that he appointed into his transition team and later cabinet, so he invited DSS operatives to help him determine if fuel subsidy was good for Nigeria or otherwise. Such attitude and approach to governance have dangerous implications which need no further elucidation.

-Onyibe, a development strategist and former commissioner in Delta State is an alumnus of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford Massachusetts, USA. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

Buhari and the Tragedy of Politics Nigeria has fallen on hard times and the decision to chart a new path must be collective, writes Abiodun Komolafe

“

He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood. He who faces no calamity will need no courage.

Mysterious though it is; the characteristics in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of troubles.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick.

I am a professed and an active Buharist and I am glad I made a wise choice!

Impliedly, given the opportunity again, I will not hesitate to repeat my preference for Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president.

With that said, one cannot but be worried about the direction in which Nigeria is headed. That there is a cloud of darkness surrounding the country is no longer in doubt. No thanks to the impunity of the Jonathanians, which turned her into a veiled entity unworthy of incense. As things stand, Nigeria’s foundation is not only threatened with predictable consequences, its economy is also castrated. The masses are in total hardship, toiling and suffering; and it seems as if the spirit of Saul is pursuing our David! In this ‘fantastically corrupt’ country, demigods and untouchables in high places, who once stole Nigeria blind are using Nigeria’s money to torment Nigeria. And it is as if their Cain is plotting to assassinate our Abel!

Civil servants are living in avoidable stress and agony; and it’s as if the Pharaoh which knew Joseph has passed! Though we seek to behave as a country run by laws, there’s an increase in electricity tariff without any corresponding increase in its availability. As if to compound our woes, our intelligence system has become so weak that criminals’ propensity to succeed in their acts has increased. As such, rather than collaborate, our security agencies find it more convenient to compete for recognition

I am a professed and an active Buharist and I am glad I made a wise choice!

Impliedly, given the opportunity again, I will not hesitate to repeat my preference for Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president…With that said, one cannot but be worried about the direction in which Nigeria is headed. That there is a cloud of darkness surrounding the country is no longer in doubt.

Buhari...the mindset too must change

and attention.

A recently-released Livelihoods and Economic Recovery Assessment 2016 report on the North-East of Nigeria is not only revealingly disturbing, it is also symptomatic of a looming disaster unless urgent steps are taken to reset the button of Nigeria’s socio-economic situations.

According to the report, unveiled by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with Oxfam Nigeria, “46 per cent of households in that part of the country borrow money to buy food; one economically active member of a household sustains 2.3 non-active members, while a majority of them do not have sufficient food supply.”

It did not end there: “41 per cent rely on alternative health care, 21 per cent have migrated to other locations, while 20 per cent send their children out to work and beg. 11 per cent support a member with a mental or physical disability, while 21 per cent include, at least, one member with a chronic illness.”

In another report, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), inflation in April 2016 jumped to a nearly six-year high, shooting up from March’s 12.8% to 13.7%. Elsewhere, government’s promise of better days ahead has been likened to the promise of a fully-loaded duplex in a highbrow city centre to a poverty-stricken family, whose immediate need is food for the belly. This is the sorry state of our country and the story continues!

Inadvertently or in-house, Nigeria has fallen on hard times and it’s time we reawakened our collective preparedness to confront the situation and chart a new way forward. Currently, the future gives very little hope for any meaningful change unless very concrete and urgent steps are taken to salvage the situation. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, politics in this part of the world is not only seen as the art of the possible, it’s also regarded as war by other means.

Perhaps, it is the opposition’s somewhat better understanding of the texture of Nigeria’s politics that has catapulted it into presenting the ruling party as one of

‘pick and choose’; and its leaders as mere noisemakers unmeritorious of administering a country as vastly endowed as Nigeria.

To the opposition, the race to 2019 started the very moment it lost the last presidential race, which informs all manners of unethical tactics by bad actors and vulgar heroes to re-seek relevance in the consciousness of the people. From loungers’ incitement of the people with nauseous and unrhymed lyrics to the shadow-chasing, noise-only wailing wailers’ peddling of half-truths and outright falsehoods against the Buhari-led administration, the tenuously stalemated opposition seems to be leaving no stone unturned in its desperation to recapture power.

Unfortunately, however, it’s as if the ruling party is still in its first day in office, endlessly-yet-needlessly savouring the joy of victory. And that’s where the problem lies! Indeed, this is why this administration needs to increase its speed with unquestionable courage and uncommon amount of guts.

Goodluck Jonathan’s government has died of its own free choice. May its carcass continue to find peace in its pieces! But then, how did we get here and why has Nigeria suddenly become an ‘until it happens again’ country, sanctifying the footprints of her conquerors?

Why is our economy dollar-determined and why does it look as if the poor is being unnecessarily taxed in order to fund government’s stimulus packages? Taking the issue beyond our current cut, what can the president do about the Delilah at the door, waiting to betray Samson to the Philistines and the crowd of pharaohs who, out of pure mischief and political miscalculations, is carousing the exigencies of intellectual acrobatics and deliberate distortions to cause disunity among Nigerians?

To the best of my knowledge, Nigerians do not hate this government per se.

Instead, it is because their expectations of the dividends of ‘Change’ are taking somehow too long to come to fruition.

In like manner, it’s not that some notable

achievements have not been recorded in the life of this administration. Rather, it’s because bad news travel fast!

For instance, they are quick to insult our collective intelligence by accusing the president of courting Fulani herdsmen for ulterior intentions without mentioning that herders’ terrorism is a new phenomenon, which neighbouring countries are also grappling with. They are also good at regaling us with moonlight tales on the parlous state of the economy without conceding that corruption as the mother of recession was actuated by the immediate past administration.

The tragedy of our politics is that Nigeria is blessed with intelligent-but-value-starved political elite, who thrives in throwing confusion into the midst of the electorate with a view to making them too oppressed to take intelligent decisions. I’ve had cause to ask Buhari’s traducers if Nigeria under Jonathan wouldn’t have collapsed but none, so far, has been able to supply satisfactory answers beyond their Israel’s quest to continue slaving in Egypt.

Pain nourishes courage! But are the gods angry with Nigeria? No! The gods are not! Instead, at the end of the tunnel is the exhilaration of victory! After all, Buhari has with invincible determination and measureless vigor applied himself to the crisis of value, compounded by crisis of structure, currently threatening her sovereignty.

Yes, there’s a wilderness! Yes, there’s a desert! From an analytical perspective, the God who created the garden also created the wilderness. But, if all we see is a desert without rivers of water, then, there is a problem! In any case, given the prevailing circumstances, is one year enough for the president to “dream the impossible dream, fight the unbeatable foe and reach the unreachable star”?

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

-Komolafe wrote from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State

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THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016 • T H I S D AY

FEATURES

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

Breaking New Grounds With the recent receipt of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme approval registration certificate, making it the first-ever ETLS certificate covering no fewer than 18 of its products, NASCO group of companies has recorded a new milestones, writes Seriki Adinoyi

T

he ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), which first came into existence in 1979 stipulates that for any product to qualify, such a product must pass certain criteria including possession of at least 60 per cent of its total quantity of raw materials originating from within ECOWAS region, input of other materials deployed in production has received a value-addition of at least 30 per cent of the ex-factory price of the finished goods, and that the product must prove substantially changed in the tariff heading, among others.

While many see this new achievement as a pleasant surprise, those that are conversant with the history and tract record of NASCO, makers of various consumer goods with its corporate headquarters in Jos, Plateau State, know very well that the company has broken many similar records in the past.

The story of NASCO is indeed a story of innovation, diversification and growth. Its rich heritage is filled with the pioneering and visionary spirit of its founder.

The company started operations in 1963 with the establishment of a jute bag factory in the central city of Jos, Nigeria - the very first in sub-Saharan Africa. This was in response to the desire by the founding fathers of Nigeria on the eve of independence, to meet the challenge for the effective bagging, storage and export of the large agricultural yields within the nation at the time.

Since then, NASCO has been building a company whose values are deeply held - a commitment to people and communities, to quality and customer service, and to success in the marketplace and its abiding faith through robust reinvestment in the business here at home in Nigeria, without any iota of doubt whatsoever. Successive generations have continued to grow the company and adapt the business as markets evolved, demonstrating the entrepreneurial flair and strength of purpose that is required for a business to survive for over half a century now.

Over this period, NASCO has achieved many milestones and contributed significantly to Nigeria's rich agricultural and industrial heritage. With faith in the local economy, many new factories were established in diverse areas from food and household products to packaging materials and industrial chemicals.

In all of these companies, NASCO sources for, and depends on almost 80 per cent or more on locally sourced inputs, for its production processes across board with the aim of growing Nigeria economy.

The company’s business expansion model has been majorly driven by a conscious, deliberate backward integration focus. This is why nearly 95 per cent of its investment in new machinery, technology and manufacturing plants have been specifically tailored annually, to grow and sustain the value chain in agriculture; further assuring, empowering and guaranteeing the livelihood and continuing survival of thousands of Nigerian farmers, their dependents and middlemen of all classes, among others.

NASCO Group is one of the largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies in the West Africa region. From its headquarters in the heart of Nigeria, the company manufactures and distributes an outstanding collection of popular brands across the food and household sectors. NASCO takes great pride in making superior products in a manner that is consistent with the highest standards of corporate behaviour, placing consumers at the centre of everything it does.

NASCO Foods Nigeria Limited is a membercompany of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN). And it’s indisputably one of the pioneer biscuits manufacturing companies

NASCO complex, Jos

in Nigeria. In 1984, NASCO Foods Nigeria Limited made history when it became the first indigenous company to pioneer the local production of cornflakes and allied cereal products in Nigeria, a brand that has today become a market leader; preferred by many because of its crispy, fresh and delicious taste.

Contributing immensely to the economy of the country, NASCO is today the largest private employer and tax payer in Northern Nigeria and Plateau State. It is equally one of the largest private employers in all of northern Nigeria. It directly employs thousands of talented people across its various sites and offices, and indirectly sustains the employment and livelihoods of over 500,000 people across the nation. Students on Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) from various higher institutions of learning across the country have also found a fertile ground for their industrial training in NASCO.

Successive generations have continued to grow the company and adapt the business as markets evolved, demonstrating the entrepreneurial flair and strength of purpose that is required for a business to survive for over half a century now

Recently highlighting the various brands of the company, Mr. Haroun Harry Audu, a Marketing and Communication consultant to NASCO said, “The Group is comprised of several distinct business divisions, though each and every one of them is devoted to the same ideals. We apply rigorous quality management procedures across all aspects of our operations which exceed the requirements of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).”

He said, “We constantly enhance these procedures to ensure our products are always of the highest quality possible. Today, NASCO's factories are all IS0900 I: 2008 certified, with member group including; NASCO Foods, which is the biscuit, cereal and snack unit of the group, and is a leading producer of many popular brands. It produces the nation's favourite breakfast cereals, as well as a rich variety of quality biscuits and snacks.

“NASCO household is the detergent, soap and cosmetic unit of the Group, and is a manufacturer of a variety of renowned products as well as industrial chemicals. It is a customer-oriented business with a dedication to unique products and brands that have become an integral part of peoples' daily lives, while NASCO Pack is the packaging and paper converting division of the group, and serves the packaging needs of the associate NASCO units as well as external clients. It specialises in multi-colour offset printing and corrugated board cartons, and is a strong player in the packaging sector of the economy.”

He said the Fibre group is the longest established company, and was founded in 1963 as a manufacturer of jute bags for the country's thriving agricultural sector. Over the years it has diversified into the production of carpets and blankets, and today it is a major supplier of felt to the mattress industry and automotive industry.

The Riceco group is the milling and processing division of the Group, and its central location provides easy access to some of the best arable cropping areas in the region. It processes a variety of grains such as rice, maize and wheat flour, further supporting the nation's farming community and agricultural development.

NASCO Trade (Nastrade) is the general trading arm of the Group. It focuses on the external conversion and distribution of various NASCO branded products such as cube sugar and quality tea. NASCO Property (NIPCO) specialises in the investment, management and provision of high-quality residential and commercial properties for rent, from executive homes and smart apartments to modem offices and vast warehouses.

On ETLS certificate award, Audu, said it first came into existence in 1979 with agricultural products and artisan handicrafts products covered at the initial state.

He said that by 1990, the scheme was expanded to include industrial good, which created the need for rules defining the notion of ECOWAS 'originating products' and 'rules of origin'.

Rules of origin, according to Audu, stipulates that for any product to be traded duty and quota free within the sub-region, it must among other criteria be wholly produced within the sub-region. That is, it must possess at least 60 per cent of its total quantity of raw materials originating from within the ECOWAS region; that input of other materials deployed in production has a value-addition of at least 30 per cent of the ex-factory price of the finished goods. “The product must also prove substantially changed in tariff heading.” He said NASCO had filed the application in July, 2015 and after a workshop for consultants on April 13, it was approved barely a year after, with Unimark Consults as lead marketing consultant.

Also speaking of the company’s support, partnership and collaboration scenario in various facets of Nigeria’s growth, the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of NASCO Group, Mr. Attia Nasreddin said, “An intentional corporate policy through the last 50 years and counting, has afforded the group the unique opportunity to support, partner and collaborate with thousands of Nigerian farmers, their families, and suppliers of local raw materials and inputs, which constitute 80 per cent of the raw materials we use.

“This partnership is not accidental. It is Continued on next page

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• T H I S D AY THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

FEATURES In 1984, NASCO Foods Nigeria Limited made history when it became the first indigenous company to pioneer the local production of cornflakes and allied cereal products in Nigeria, a brand that has today become a market leader; preferred by many because of its crispy, fresh and delicious taste L - R: Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and NASCO representatives signing MoU on commercial production of high nutrient density biscuit for school feeding

NASCO Group

NASCO organise Polo tournament

consistent with our devotion to continually grow the nation’s agricultural value chain (replicated in other areas such as petrochemicals arising from our previously robust relationship with Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited). Today we stand out as the leading FMCG advocate, walking the talk of backward integration in practical, meaningful terms for the benefit of the Agric sector especially in central Nigeria, our immediate neighbourhood.”

He said that between 1963 and 2013 therefore, NASCO has engaged directly, and indirectly, 15,000 thousand farmers who have continued to supply it various produce and raw materials.

CEO/Chairman NASCO, Attia Nasreddin

As part of its social responsibility to the country especially the host community, the management of NASCO Group recently organised a Peace Polo Tournament in Jos to further boost the much needed peace in the state and indeed, other neighbouring states of Kaduna, Adamawa and Bauchi.

The tournament witnessed clubs like Malcomines and Rano, both of Jos. Others include Bauchi Polo Club, Zaria Polo Club, Yola Polo Club, Abuja Polo Club and the host club, Jos Polo Club.

At the closing ceremony of the tournament which held at the Hassan Usman Katsina Polo field, a large adherents of both faiths, turned out to cheer their teams to victories.

Buoyed by the display of friendship witnessed at the event, NASCO promised to continue to sponsor similar events with the return of peace to the state.

The company has also given robust annual scholarships to several students of various higher institutions of learning from the host community of Jos. NASCO group has also on several occasions organised health programmes such as vaccination, distribution of mosquito nets and the like to the Jos communities where it is situated. It has also built pedestrian bridges across its host communities to better the lots of the people.

NASCO therefore became a nominee for the prestigious THISDAY Awards as best

company in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The company in a recent press interaction in Jos also noted that it is not unmindful of the health of the people of its host community, adding that it has devised a way of recycling its wastes to ensure that they do not constitute hazards to the people.

So the ETLS certificated awarded NASCO was just one of those many feathers it had added to its cap for its many good works and quality products.

The certificate confers several types of advantages and benefits to qualified, duly registered and Nigerian entities and their counterparts across the sub-region which include increased market access, duty-free and quota-free for registered and certified products, expanded promotion of economic integration within the West African sub-region, anticipated increases in profitability margins for participating entities, participation in international trade fairs within the sub-region at Government expense, as well as access to loans and grants from the federal government and other multi-lateral agencies among others.

Obviously elated Nasreddin, who briefed journalists in Jos at the weekend disclosed that the companies' products approved and admitted under ETLS were the five cornflakes brands made up of original, vanilla, strawberry, banana and frotyz, adding that in the biscuit category, were the various brands such as short cake, banana cream, strawberry cream, lemon cream, orange cream and crackers.

Others, according to Nasreddin, include the Brytex and Bonus detergent as well as Plus Lemon dish wash, plus lily dish wash, Beauty ocean hand wash, beauty Lavendar hand wash and beauty rose hand wash.

Outlining the benefits of the ETLS authorisation, Nasreddin said this would give NASCO increase in market access, which means that all the registered products would be traded duty and quota free with expanded promotion of economic integration within the West African sub-region.

This, he added, will also lead to anticipated increases in profitability margins, for participating entities and products.

Nasreddin also said that exports through the scheme would enable exporters to access loans and grants from the Federal Government and other multilateral agencies, and these are spelt out from time to time by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other quasi financial institutions.

He added that qualified and certified entities would enjoy participation in international trade fairs within the sub-region at government expense through the Nigerian Export Promotions Council (NEPC) while exporters would key into and benefit from reimbursements under the soon-to-be revived Export Expansion Grants (EEG) scheme of NEPC. He applauded Nigerians and indeed other customers across the globe for their continued support, stressing that his company will continue to enhance and deliver products of the highest quality which aims to satisfy not only its numerous customers but one that will also ensure value-chain addition to the overall economy of Nigeria.

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IMAGES

L-R: Group Chief Executive Officer, Afromedia, Mr. Akinola Olopade; Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Isiyaku; and Company Secretary, Mrs. Ifetola Fadeyibi, during the 50th annual general meeting of Afromedia in Lagos... recently KOLA OLASUPO

L-R Branch Manager, Diamond Bank Retail Branch, Owerri, Ezeji Chinwe; winner, Salary4life, DiamondXtra Season 8, Augustina Azuanuka; and Area Manager, Owerri II Retail Branch, Okechukwu Ehimere, at the Diamond Season 8 Winnersí cheque presentation ceremony in Owerri...recently

L-R: Representative of the Lagos State Governor, Prince Olanrewaju Elegushi; Head, Media Relations and Strategy, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Bisi Kazeem; and representative of the Corps Marshal, FRSC, Mr. Charles Theophilus, during a stakeholders’ forum on implementation of speed limit device in LagosÖrecently

L-R: Associate Communications Director, Carolina Desmeules; Chief Commercial Officer, Olufemi Arosayin; Chief Executive Officer, Mohamad Darwish; and Head Marketing and Communication, Adeola Olasewere, all of IHS Towers, at the presentation of a report commissioned by IHS on Renewable Energy in Africa and written by The Economist Intelligence Unit in Lagos...recently

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

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

L-R: Chairman, Baboko Market Men and Women Association, Alhaji Abdulrasak Lasoju; Chairman, Ilorin West LGA, Alhaji Tajudeen Sulu Oloje; and Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, during the governor’s sympathy visit to the Baboko market gutted by fire in Ilorin...recently

L-R: Business Development Executive, Peacock Travels, Ms Patra Adukpe; Business Manager, KLM/ Airfrance, Mrs. Ikoabasi Akpan; Sales Support Manager, Peacock Travels, Ms Adesola Ogunbanjo; Regional Manager, France Tourism Development Agency, Ms Helene Bezuidenhoudt; Chief Human Resources Manager, Peacock Travels, Mr. Aderemi Awolaiye; Sale Manager, Galeries Lafyayette, Mr. Simon Louvel; and Business Development Executive, Peacock Travels, Ms Eno Archibong, after a business meeting held to discuss collaboration tour packaging on France...recently

L-R: Director, Business Development for Africa, Ibrahim Mohammed; Co-founder/CEO, Michael Simeon; Cofounder/Director, Marketing, Legal and Compliance, Geoffrey Weli-Wosu; Board Advisor, Daniel Steeves; and Head, Digital Media, Ogunlade Oluwole, all of VoguePay Limited, during the presentation of the Best Emerging Online Payment Platform in Africa award to Voguepay.com at the African Information Technology and Telecom Awards (AITTA) 2016 in Accra, Ghana...recently

Managing Director/CEO, Halogen Security Company Limited, Mr. Wale Olaoye (left), receiving the “Outstanding Leadership and Professional Civil Security Award” from the Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Lagos Chapter, Mr. Sanusi Suleiman, during the presentation of the award

by NANS in Lagos...recently

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T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD ‘NIGERIA LACKS POLICY DIRECTION TO ACHIEVE 30% BROADBAND PENETRATION BY 2018’ capacities from the shores of the country to the hinterlands, where they are most needed

by Nigerians.

Adebayo also called on the government to have a rethink of its forex exchange policy and begin to consider placing telecommunication companies on the list of foreign exchange beneficiaries, since they depend heavily on foreign currency for the purchase of telecoms equipment, for network expansion and maintenance.

He insisted that the country’s policy direction should focus on achieving ubiquitous broadband access, since broadband is a technology tool for national development.

Having acknowledged the internet and broadband as the foundation for knowledgebased economy, the federal government, in 2012, inaugurated Presidential Committee for a national broadband strategy and roadmap.

IHS SPENDS N2.6BN MONTHLY TO POWER 16,000 BTS we acquired it and became the largest mobile telecoms infrastructure company in Nigeria, and the whole of Africa, including Europe and the Middle East, controlling 23,000 BTS locations in five African countries, Darwish added.

He further explained that the company was considering investing in renewable energy to power its entire operations, since the cost of renewable power solution is decreasing, while cost of other source of power like diesel and petrol is on the increase.

Darwish, who dismissed recent claims that the telecoms industry in most African countries is becoming saturated, said the African telecoms market is not in anyway, near saturation level and advised telecoms operators to continue to invest and expand their networks, in order to provide quality telecoms service to the African fast growing telecoms markets.

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 (AgricBusiness)

NEWS

Buhari Tasks PR Practitioners on Africa’s Image Raheem Akingbolu President Muhammadu Buhari has challenged public relations practitioners under the aegis of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), to change the narrative about the continent in a bid to attract the necessary investments. The President gave the advice in his goodwill message at this year’s edition of the annual APRA conference held in Calaber, Cross River State. With the theme, ‘Leapfrogging Africa: The Role of Communication’, Buhari said Africa, no doubt, is the next frontier of global civilisation.

“With an unparalleled economic growth rate averaging five per cent across the continent; it is definitely a bride to be courted by all”.

He said the negative narrative about the continent has been one key problem that shapes the perception of Africa to the outside world. “But much as Africa is confronted with primordial issues such as infrastructural development, social welfare, education, manufacturing and agriculture, these are our opportunities; though not denying the many struggles impending Africa’s progress.

They are quite numerous but not insurmountable.

“Africa is often perceived as a continent of strife, war, pestilence, anarchy, corruption and massive poverty; yes, a lot of these are prevalent, but the truth is that there are a lot of good stories about Africa.

Across the globe, Africa and Africans are achieving phe-

nomenon feats in their various endeavours. It is therefore time for us to change that narrative.

It is time for us to start selling the positive Africa; one that is full of hope and for a brighter tomorrow”.

He therefore charged APRA to fashion out practical ways of changing narrative about Africa in a way as to help her fulfill her potentials especially in the area of attracting foreign investments and good balance of trade.

The five-day conference being held in Nigeria for the first time at the Calabar International Convention Centre, Cross Rivers State, Nigeria, had delegates attending from across Africa, Europe, America.

In his welcome remarks, the National President of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr. Rotimi Oladele, thanked the APRA council for bringing the conference to Nigeria. He also appreciated the

Executive Governor of Cross Rivers State, Benedict Ayade and the people of Calabar.

He specifically thanked the Secretary General of APRA Mr. Yomi Badejo-Okusanya for raising the flag of Nigeria on the continental level.

The keynote speaker at the opening day was the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the doyen of Public Relations practice in Nigeria and former President of APRA and NIPR, Mazi Mike Okereke,

who chaired the occasion.

Ayade was represented by the Cross Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Frank Tamuno. Other practitioners from global Public Rlations bodies in attendance were President, International Public Relations Association (IPRA), from Holland, Mr. Bart de Vries and President, International Communication Consultants Organisations (ICCO), from Bulgaria, Mr. Maxim Behar.

MEDIA PARLEY

L-R: Executive Director, Finance and Strategy, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman; Executive Director, LEAP Africa, Mrs. Iyadunni Olubode and Board Chair, LEAP Africa, Mrs. Nadu Denloye, at a press conference on the 11th edition of the LEAP Africa CEO Forum, sponsored by Sterling Bank in Lagos…recently

Point Raises the Alarm Nigeria is Ready for e-voting, Ekeh Tells Reps Check over Increased Cyber Attacks Emma Okonji The Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh has said that the time was ripe for Nigeria to deepen its democratic culture through the full deployment of electronic voting (e-voting) at all elections.

Ekeh, who made the disclosure at a recent retreat organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matters in Abuja, listed the benefits that would come to Nigeria, if the country deploys electronic voting at all elections.

Ekeh, who featured as the keynote speaker at the retreat, disclosed that with the rapid pace of global technological advancements, Nigeria stands to reap a lot of benefits from the deployment of e-voting.

He stressed that the initiative will go a long way in reducing litigations and strengthening the faith of Nigerians in the electoral process.

While delivering a paper titled ‘New Thoughts, Ideas and Innovations on use of ICT in Elections’, the Zinox Group boss affirmed that the gains recorded with the use of the card readers in the 2015 general elections, showed that with the adoption of e-voting, the country would take a huge leap towards sound democratic governance.

“The country is ripe for

transition to electronic voting.

A lot of us are in this business because technology does not lie – it’s either you are right or you are wrong. With the use of the card readers in the last general elections, we saw a significant reduction in electoral fraud and other electoral malpractices,” Ekeh said.

He, however, explained that a few challenges were also encountered as no technology can be said to be 100 per cent perfect.

“There are about 774 local governments in the country and each one with about 10,800 polling units, some of which are in the riverine areas. Even if the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) purchases 1000 vehicles, it will still find it difficult, logistics wise, to cover all the areas and this leaves the process open to manipulation by emergency contractors as INEC lacks the requisite man-power, “ he said.

If finally adopted and implemented, he said, voters would no longer have to travel back to their wards to cast their votes. He added INEC can also monitor the entire process easily as each electronic voting device is equipped with a tracker and can be configured to shut down immediately voting ends.

Tracing the country’s march and transition towards elec-

tronic voting, Ekeh examined the benefits and challenges of the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines used during the 2007 elections and the painstaking process which eventually culminated in the use of the card readers for the 2015 general elections.

He pleaded with the law makers to support INEC in its effort to adopt electronic voting, insisting that until Nigeria embraces this, the nation will not move forward.

Also speaking at the retreat, INEC Chairman, Prof.

Mahmood Yakubu disclosed that one of the major cost of elections being borne by the commission was as a result of the numerous litigations which were a recurrent feature of conducted elections in the country.

Reiterating the Commission’s commitment to the conduct of credible elections, Yakubu affirmed that the journey to electronic voting is a gradual one which would undoubtedly go a long way in strengthening the nation’s democracy.

The retreat, which was supported by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), also featured a review of current electoral laws in Nigeria and a status report on amendment bills before the committee.

Emma Okonji Check Point Software Technologies, a global cybersecurity vendor, providing industry-leading solutions on cyber attacks, has raised the consciousness of Nigerians to the growing rate of global cyber attacks.

According to the software security solution vendor, quarterly analysis of the global threat index by Check Point Software Technologies, revealed deep disparities in the threat environments in Africa, and the potential for increased attacks as cybercriminals now target mobile devices.

The Country Manager, Check Point, Mr. Rommy Okonkwo, who disclosed the continuous rise in cyber attacks, at a press conference in Lagos, said there was need to raise the consciousness of Nigerians over such attack.

According to him, most organisations are either ignorant of the cyber threats in their business environment, or have refused to implement the full software solution that would detect and prevent cyber attacks.

Analysing the current trend in cyber attacks at the end of the first quarter of 2016, Okonkwo said Nigeria was ranked16th highest country, that are vulnerable to cyber attacks, moving up two places from 18th position in the

preceding quarter. Developing and African nations are highly represented in the upper rankings of the index, and Nigeria was surpassed by a handful of other African countries, including Namibia and Malawi. Kenya improved their ranking by 24 places, moving from 45th position at the end of 2015, to 69th at the end of the quarter.

The Index is based on threat intelligence drawn from Check Point’s ThreatCloud World Cyber Threat Map, which tracks how and where cyber attacks are taking place worldwide in real time.

Area Manager for East and West Africa at Check Point Software Technologies, Rick Rogers, said Nigeria’s worsening ranking may be due to a dramatic increase in threats targeting mobile devices specifically, while Kenya’s improvement could reflect a growing maturity in security awareness.

“It’s not immediately clear why the East and West African hubs are experiencing such different moves in terms of cyber-attacks, and we are generally seeing a lot of volatility month to month for many of the countries on the index.

But this quarter, mobile malware ranked as one of the ten most prevalent attack types affecting corporate networks and devices for the first time ever,” Rogers said.

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T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

E-BUSINESS

ICT Marred by Retrogressive Policies Stakeholders in the Information and Communications Technology sector are disappointed that the policy direction of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the last one year has been inimical to the sector’s growth, writes Emma Okonji

Buhari

Nigerians voted massively for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the presidential elections last year because they needed a change in government that will better their lots. Muhammadu Buhari, who was the APC presidential candidate and his running mate, Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo, promised Nigerians a positive change. Hence, votes were cast in their favour.

But one year down the line, Nigerians have started singing a new song, calling on Buhari to deliver on the actual change they needed, through policy formulation and implementation that are friendly to the masses.

Nigerians in the ICT sector are beginning to groan under the leadership of the present administration, and they are calling for a new policy direction that will complement the gains of the ICT sector.

Most industry stakeholders who spoke with THISDAY about the impact of Buhari’s administration on the ICT sector in the last one year, were quick to condemn his policies, insisting that nothing significant has happened in the sector in the last one year. They blamed the situation on what they described as the retrogressive policy formulation and implementation of the Buhari’s administration.

The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ATLTON), Gbenga Adebayo, and the former President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Lanre Ajayi, came down hard on the government, faulting its policies on the ICT sector, which they said are inimical to the growth and development of the sector.

They called on the president to change his anti-ICT policies and come up with policies that will enhance development in the sector.

Although both industry leaders spoke the minds of the majority of stakeholders, but some of the stakeholders said it is premature to assess the impact of Buhari’s policy on ICT in just one year.

Impact of policy on ICT In the assessment of Adebayo nothing significant has happened in the last one year, saying that there has been no clear government policy to assist and inspire industry players. According to him, the current government is rather coming up with policies that are stringent to telecoms

Shittu

growth and could stifle development in the sector.

Another industry stakeholder, Lanre Ajayi, is of the view that ICT expectations were not met in the last one year, blaming the situation on poor policy formulation and implementation of the present administration.

“We expected a better broadband penetration in the last one year, but this was not met, because no better progress was recorded in broadband penetration in the last one year, even though broadband is key to ICT development of any nation,” Ajayi said. According to him, many Nigerians in the rural communities do not have access to broadband, despite the fact that broadband is key to business growth, both in the urban and rural communities of the country.

Ajayi, however, said he would not blame the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu for the failure in the ICT sector in the last one year, because he is just six months old in the telecoms industry, having been appointed by the current administration in November 2015.

Spectrum auction Using the analogy of the 2.3GHz and the 2.6GHz spectrum licences, which government brought up for auction in February 2014 and May 2016 respectively, Ajayi concluded that the investment climate in Nigeria is becoming unattractive, based on wrong policy formulation and implementation by government.

Bitflux, which won the bid for the 2.3GHz spectrum in February 2014, paid $23.25 million to win the auctioned frequency licence, but could not roll out immediately because of harsh business environment. In the 2.6GHz spectrum that was supposed to be auctioned last month, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, could not carry out the spectrum auction because only one bidder indicated interest. According to Ajayi, the fact that only one bidder indicated interest showed that investors were beginning to be scared of the Nigerian business climate for wrong policies.

Multiple taxation While blaming the situation where all manners of government agencies at the federal and state levels impose taxes on telecommunication

operators, Ajayi said the scenario would not only force telecoms operators to hike cost of telecoms service offerings, but would also scare investors who may have interest to invest in the country’s ICT sector, from investing.

Condemning the recent proposed plan by the National Assembly to hike communications services tax also known as ICT Tax, Adebayo said it would prevent millions of Nigerians from having internet access.

He said the bill would threaten Nigeria’s ability to achieve its goal of 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018 and would undermine the socio-economic progress spurred by increased connectivity. The Communication Service Tax (CST) Bill 2015, currently before the National Assembly, will require consumers of voice, data, short message service (SMS), multimedia message services (MMS) and pay TV services, to pay a 9 per cent tax on the fees paid for the use of these services. The tax will be collected in addition to the 5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) that consumers already paid when they purchased devices and communication services, as well as the 12 per cent custom import duties paid on ICT devices, and the 20 per cent tax levied on SIM cards.

Adebayo, who described the bill as antipeople, blamed the Buhari’s administration for formulating policies that are harsh to industry development.

MTN’s N1.04 trillion fine Ajayi also knocked Buhari’s administration for the manner in which it handled the MTN fine that was imposed on the telecoms company in October last year, by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). According to him, the NCC was in a hurry to impose a whopping N1.04 trillion fine on a single company that has contributed so much to the country’s GDP in terms of job creation and employment. He said he expected the Buhari led government to handle the matter in a better way, but explained that he was surprised at government’s position that the fine be paid in full. Ajayi said the fine was outrageous in the first place and could ground the operations of MTN, if compelled to pay. He warned that the action of Buhari’s government over the fine since it was imposed on MTN last year, could send wrong signals

to foreign investors who want to invest in the country, and called on government to think of better ways of reaching amicable resolution on the matter.

Other views Although the performance of Buhari’s government has come under heavy criticism, some stakeholders have different views. For instance, a member of council, Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Mr. Rogba Adeoye has said it is too early to assess the impact of Buhari’s administration on ICT in the last one year. According to him, delay in the budget approval and implementation affected every sector of the Nigerian economy, including the ICT sector. He said with the 2016 budget approval, Nigerians would begin to see positive changes across all sectors, including the ICT sector.

The Chief Executive Officer of Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, said the delay in the appointment of ministers that are supposed to drive policy implementation in various sectors of the economy, contributed largely to the slow development in the ICT sector. He commended the minister of communications, for his passion and commitment in driving the ICT sector, since his appointment late last year.

“The minister is committed to developing the ICT sector. Few months after his appointment, he has visited several parastatals under his ministry to find ways of mutual collaboration that will drive the ICT sector. He has held stakeholders’ consultative forum in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof.

Umaru Danbatta was also newly appointed by the Buhari’s administration and he has shown great zeal with his eight point agenda to move the ICT industry forward, and should be given the chance to do so,” Ekuwem said.

Way forward Most of the stakeholders have advised that the Buhari’s government should focus more on deepening broadband deployment in the county in order to meet and surpass the 30 per cent penetration level by 2018. They also want government to develop polices that will remove all forms of bottlenecks and promote ICT development in the country.

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T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

E-BUSINESS

Redefining Employee, Employer Relations through Technology Emma Okonji examines how the newly introduced online solution by Careers24 will redefine the Nigerian employment landscape as far as employee-employer relationships are concerned

A global view of employee/employer relationship

Careers24, penultimate week, introduced a new online solution called the ‘Company Review’, specifically designed to assess the performance of employees and the employers across organisations.

The new solution democratises employer performance assessment, thereby providing a two-way seamless communication pathway for both the employee and the employer to make informed decisions.

It is a feedback mechanism that provides unfettered access to employees to rate their employers, thereby driving employer/employee relations. It also provides an opportunity for employees to give completely anonymous feedback to their former or current employers.

The platform also provides potential employees or candidates with reliable information and gives them valuable insights while researching potential employers.

The Company Review was created as a suitable platform for people to find and share reliable information about what it is really like to work for companies across Nigeria and to help businesses attract more relevant talents and ultimately, employees who are engaged and are a great asset.

How it works To review a company, all a potential reviewer has to do is visit the careers24 website, www. careers24.com.ng and click on companies.

One can pick either Company Reviews or Company Directory. Next, is to search for the company you would like to review and then click on Add review and follow the step-by-step guide. A reviewer can review former employers or current employers.

Already, the platform boasts about 5,000 registered companies which are available for review with over 500 reviews for different companies. Companies such as Guinness

Nigeria Plc, Unity Bank Plc and Nigerian Bottling Company Plc, have already garnered several reviews based on information given by their employees. This number is expected to increase daily as the platform also allows reviewers to add new companies for review.

Significance of the solution Speaking about the solution, Careers24’s Business Development Manager, Adegbite Oreoluwa said the most significant role the solution would play in the job market, is

It is a feedback mechanism that provides unfettered access to employees to rate their employers, thereby driving employer/ employee relations.

It also provides an opportunity for employees to give completely anonymous feedback to their former or current employers

driving healthy competition, especially for quality talents among employers.

He said: “Employers will have to review the management of talents and ensure they create a lively, work environment. This will also make employers competitive in their hire and management process. Let’s use this analogy; we have two companies in the same sector competing for the same talent. Company A has received 80 per cent positive reviews while company B has received 80 per cent negative reviews. Automatically company A would gain more candidates for hire than company B. The company with the highest rate of negative reviews might even lose quality staff to the other company, hence helping to achieve organisational goals.”

According to Oreoluwa, “Job candidates in Nigeria have never been in a better position to research potential employers, and employees have never been more empowered to spill it all when it comes to reviewing their current workplace. This feedback will ultimately affect the future of recruitment and business growth.”

Improving quality Client Relations and Business Services, Careers24, Francesca Oghide, said: The Company Review online solution is the voice of employees and it provides employers with insight into areas of employee’s dissatisfaction, which can be treated urgently to make current employees happy and to attract the right potential employees. I strongly believe Company Review is a right step to redefining the way employers handle employee relationship in Nigeria.”

According to her, from the candidates’ perspective, it is no longer about finding the right job but also about looking for the right company.

“This is why Careers24 has created a

platform where you can find and share honest and trusted information about companies/ organisations in Nigeria, written anonymously by current and previous employees of these companies.”

“When I speak with Human Resources managers, they talk consistently about employee retention issues. Therefore feedback is very important; companies can make informed decisions from the reviews gotten to reposition their organisation. If your employees love their work and the environment you have created, they will treat your customers better, innovate, and continuously improve your business instead of looking for the next available job opportunity,” she added.

Boosting productivity Also speaking on how the online solution will enhance productivity at work place, the Head of Marketing, Careers24, Temitope Niyi said: “As a business, our goal is to provide a place where candidates or potential employees can get detailed information at the right time to help them make career-related decisions. We also wanted to give companies an objective insight into what their employees think about working for them. This inspired the creation of the Company Review feature.”

He added: “Our idea of the Company Review is to help improve employer/employee relations. We want to ensure that the reviews by employees are balanced and respectful which means employers can take the advice and improve on the office environment. For example, if 80 per cent of the staff of a particular company complains about inadequate training on the careesr24 Company Review page, the affected company can take that feedback and provide adequate training for their staff. This will keep the employees motivated, increase productivity as well as improve staff retention.”

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

27

BUSINESSWORLD

E-BUSINESS

Guimba-Saidou: Nigeria Needs Digital Content Ahead of Digital Switchover Senior Vice-President, Commercial at SES, Ibrahima Guimba-Saidou, spoke with Emma Okonji on Nigeria’s journey to digital broadcasting, and the need to boost digital content ahead of the switchover date. Excerpts: As a satellite communications services and digital content provider with several years of experience, how will you rate the readiness of Nigeria for the planned digital switchover in June 2017?

The digital switchover (DSO) is a process that will take some time to achieve, it requires a lot of efforts and coordination. As a global satellite operator, we have witnessed how even matured TV markets in Europe take several years to complete their digital switchover. As such the switchover in Nigeria will take time to complete but we are optimistic it will happen as Nigeria takes the switchover seriously. In fact, they have been actively involved in coordination and meetings with international organisations such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to seek best practices and learn from other countries’ mistakes and ensure they experience a smoother transition to digital broadcasting.

CCNL. What value will the partnership bring to Nigeria and to both organisations?

Having local partners is key for any successful venture. In this specific case, we are making use of our expertise and experience to help our customers in mature TV European markets and to make such markets available to the Nigerian market through CCNL. As a digital content provider, what plans do you have to boost digital broadcasting content in Nigeria, ahead of the country’s digital switchover in June 2017?

SES is rather an enabler and we put our expertise at the disposal of content providers to have the most robust technical facilities to take their content to a greater audience.

Your new partner, CCNL, is a certified content aggregator and platform owner for the freeto-air DTT and DTH platforms in Nigeria.

How can Nigerians take advantage of the free-to-air services?

The platform that has being set up for the Nigeria switchover is going to all key components of the ecosystem available: pay-tv, free-to-view and free-to-air. People who have the CCNL approved equipment (box) will have the opportunity to benefit from all content delivered through CCNL. Local manufacturing of set-top-boxes for the digital switchover has been an issue in Nigeria in terms of funding. What is your advice on this?

Now that the process has effectively started, we are confident that this issue will be fully addressed.

Twice, Nigeria failed to migrate from analogue to digital, occasioned by poor preparations.

Do you see Nigeria learning from her past mistakes?

In Africa, the process of DSO has been a coordinated approach between several African countries with ITU and other relevant partners, which contributed to the delay. The initial deadline of June 2015 was not met by a number of countries and not only Nigeria. However the delay hasn’t deterred the country and we can see that Nigeria is moving forward to implement the switchover in a timely manner.

In what ways can SES help Nigeria to successfully migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting?

SES will fully support Cable Channels Nigeria Ltd. (CCNL) and ensure that government’s mandate is met. At SES, our main objective is to ensure that everything is put in place for a successful switchover with little or no hiccups.

For example, we have invested so much in Nigeria, through Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), which is SES’s local teleport partner. SES brings technical support to CWG and CCNL. SES Satellites at 28.2E are co-located, robust and reliable satellites which are part of SES’s largest commercial fleet investment programme ever and our video platform delivers the fastest access and largest reach of over 5m FTA HH in Nigeria and Ghana with a Uplink to SES satellites including SES-4, SES-5, NSS-12 from SES teleports worldwide. Additionally, through the SES Elevate programme where we train installers to enable the speedy roll out of DSO, we ensure that installers are motivated and engaged in network system to support the DSO growth.

From experiences in other parts of the world, we offer the most reliable services in space and ground segment, in a combination and

Guimba-Saidou

thus an end-to-end solution. We are closer to our customers and drive local partnerships.

We support the business of our customers to build up technical reach through several installer training, which is known under the ‘Elevate’ programme, marketing activities, and measurement of technical reach among others.

Additionally we offer innovative business model to support our customers monetise their content. Finally, and most importantly, we see our customers as partners and want to build up a long term partnership, as we have now done for the last decades in other regions.

Last month, Nigeria launched another pilot phase of her digital switchover in Jos, Plateau State. What is your assessment of that launch?

The launch was a success. The approach was good because it allowed the stakeholders to confirm that the solution chosen by Nigeria is working. This will also enable further improvements in other states.

What are the economic implications, should Nigeria fail again to migrate to digital

broadcasting?

SES believes that Nigeria is on the right track.

Also the success of the pilot phase in Jos, makes us even more optimistic that the migration will be a success this time around, so there is no point looking at the economic implications of not migrating.

What are the economic benefits of digital migration?

Many governments and public institutions on the continent have already begun to develop broadband policies to address the digital inequality, but again we are hindered by costs, and lack of infrastructure. Satellites have vast coverage and a reach that is unhindered by mountain, desert, jungle or savannah. Digital communications and broadband internet are increasingly important to Africa’s social and economic development. SES, through its satellites, is able to provide vital connectivity needs to urban as well as non-urban communities on the continent.

SES recently had a partnership deal with

How equipped is SES to drive digital broadcasting in Nigeria?

SES can provide full turn-key services locally as well as turn-around services in Europe using same satellite contribution feed. End-users can enjoy the most attractive local channels available at hand and also free of charge. For example, we offer most reliable services, which makes us an end-to-end solution provider. We are closer to our customers and we see them as partners and we want to build up a long term relationship with them.

We understand the need for a trained, motivated and engaged installer network to support DTH growth. Elevate accreditation of an installer is sought after across Africa.

So far, we have trained over 5000 installers on the continent in more than 12 countries and we keep growing. Through Elevate we provide: technical training on how to do best-in-class installations; marketing training by giving installers the tools to market the customer’s product and themselves, and also training them on how to use those tools. We also do business training and we train people on how best to increase their call rates and how to grow their business.

International CyberSecurity Conference Billed for Nigeria An international Information Security Conference, named Ngsecure 2016, is billed to take place in Lagos in July this year.

The conference is expected to set the pace in understanding and tackling CyberSecurity in Nigeria and across the globe, because in today’s global village there is the need to address issues of security in the cyberspace holistically.

According to the Conference Director, Mr. Kayode Eyinade, “New and innovative surveillance and monitoring systems have become very

imperative with the increasing sophistication of criminal and terrorist acts. Globally, next to terrorism, socio-economic wise, CyberSecurity challenges pose the next major threat to humanity. Nigeria is strategic to the CyberSecurity campaign, being the largest internet user in Africa.”

“Out of the estimated 3.5billion internet users in the world, Nigeria records 67,101,452 million in a population of more than 170 million, which is about 37 per cent internet penetration.

The non-existence of a national

policy on information security or even the guidelines on monitoring and censoring internet content, makes CyberSecurity a daunting task,” Eyinade said.

InfoSecurityNigeria Conference 2016 will bring to the table all security issues.

“These critical issues will be highlighted, discussed and dissected by thoughtful leaders and professional players in the field of ICT, Telecommunication, Financial Services, Civil Services, National Security, Law Enforcement Agencies, Judiciary, and the Legislature,” he added.

Security, Money Laundering, Data Breaches, Electronic Fraud, Cyber Laws and Compliance Legislation, Social Media Security, National Identity and Privacy Issues in today’s changing security landscape will be discussed at the conference and solutions proffered.

“Cyber threats no doubt have evolved and increased exponentially, occurring on a more frequent basis and with greater sophistication than ever,” Eyinade said, adding: “Because financial and almost all institutions are now dependent on

cyber technology for critical operations, they are ordinarily exposed to vulnerabilities that need to be anticipated and managed. These are necessities that gave birth to Diffensore Consulting, organisers of NgSecure Conference 2016,”he said. Discussants and special guests include: the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase; member, Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Femi Odekunle; and a Cybersecurity expert,

Prof. Olumide Longe. Many international CyberSecurity experts are also on the bill.

Organisations and firms that have products and services for business technology, disaster recovery, data security, anti-virus intrusion detection, among others, can use the opportunity of the conference to exhibit their products and services, Eyinade said.

The co-founder of the Lagos Business School and Founder of Centre for Values and Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi, will chair the conference.

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BUSINESSWORLD Phase3 Telecom Pushes for ICT Gender Equality Phase 3 Telecoms has restated its commitment to ensuring gender parity. The firm, which sponsored the 2016 International Girls in ICT Day global celebrations, said it believed strongly in the girl education, adding that women are adjudged to be better managers of resources.

Phase3 Telecom said it would continue to be associated with moves aimed at sustaining global awareness of the imperatives of early ICT education and consistent training of girls to advance technological innovation, eradicate poverty and boost the role of the female gender in global development efforts.

It is notable that in West Africa, women are significantly under-represented across the board in ICT sector – from education and training programmes right through to high level careers both in the academia or industry. The Girls in ICT is an initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in its global effort to raise awareness on the need to empower and encourage girls and young women to consider studies and careers in ICTs. Chief Executive Officer of Phase3 Telecom, Mr. Stanley Jegede said championing great initiatives that open women and girls to great technological possibilities, was not only key to Africa’s sustained development but are morally just platforms to ensuring that the girl-child harnesses the right opportunities aimed at empowerment and growth.

Phase3, he said, would continue to support/drive programmes that encourage girls and young adult females to pull careers that will grow

the IT/STEM sector and transform the world positively.

“To also eradicate poverty and solidify the role of women in nation building; the sustained representation of women in the world of technology is very key especially when they are encouraged early to see the advantages and dividends of the dynamic and fast-evolvingsector. Thus, maintaining that is basis for Phase3 Telecom’s commitment to continue to support the International Girls in ICT day initiative,” Jegede said.

Meanwhile, Jegede has emerged “Africa Telecom Entrepreneur of the Year” during a ceremony organised by Africa Information Technology and Telecom Awards (AITTA) in Accra, Ghana.

Represented at the awards by its General Manager, Sales and Marketing, Mr. Akeem Adeshina, the CEO expressed gratitude to the organisers for the recognition, adding that it is a call to do more in the area of connecting the entire West African sub-region.

Jegede, who is currently on Phase3 project tour said: “The continuous painstaking effort and hard work put into expanding West Africa’s largest and indigenous telecom infrastructure network to enhance the sub-region’s options for route diversity, local/international redundancy and to remove heavy reliance on traditional connectivity; is made all the more worthwhile by the AITTA acknowledgement and could not have come at a more better time not just for me but for the entire Phase3 family.”

MainOne, Radware Partner on Managed Security Services MainOne, the premier connectivity and data center solutions company in West Africa, and Radware, a leading provider of cyber security and application delivery solutions ensuring optimal service level for applications in virtual, cloud, and software defined data centers, have announced their partnership to offer service providers and enterprises an outsourced Managed Security Service.

The service is specifically targeted at deploying the Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack detection and mitigation solution to safeguard the security of critical corporate customers on its network.

The Radware DDOS mitigation service, which will be deployed within the MainOne Tier III Data Center facility in Lagos, MDX-I, will provide best-in-class managed enterprise applications and network security against DDOS volumetric attacks, SSL Based Attacks, and Application Layer Attacks which have plagued financial institutions across the continent at an increasing rate over the past year.

According to MainOne’s

Chief Information Security Officer, Chidinma Iwe, “Africa has experienced an unprecedented increase in sophisticated DDOS attacks across industries including Financial Services, Oil and Gas, Manufacturing and eCommerce.

As the DDOS landscape continues to evolve, with stronger, more sophisticated attack methods, enterprises need to not only proactively protect themselves but also provide a scalable means of remediation and we are investing to make the best solutions available to our customers.”

Radware’s Vice President, Cloud Services Business, Haim Zelikovsky, said MainOne had identified an opportunity to address a pertinent issue facing enterprises in the region.

“The increase in frequency of DDoS attacks provides an opportunity for providers such as MainOne to mitigate attacks that can disrupt their customer’s networks. MainOne is committed to protecting businesses in West Africa from these disruptions and we are pleased they have chosen Radware as their business partner,” said.

E-BUSINESS

Card Expo Set to Boost e-commerce Across Africa Stories by Emma Okonji Intermarc Consulting, the organiser of the annual CBN Cashless Card Expo Africa Exhibition, has reiterated its commitment to driving e-commerce business across Africa, through its platform, by encouraging entrepreneurs to put their businesses online in order to get better exposure.

The Managing Director, Intermarc Consulting, Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemi, said that many businesses lack national and international exposures because they fail to maximise the power of the internet to grow their businesses.

“It is for this reason that we encourage traders in open markets in Lagos like Alaba, Computer Village, Ladipo,

Aspanda, among others to put their stock online,” he said.

He explained that Intermarc would be holding its 2016 CBN Cashless CardExpo Africa in Lagos from 14 – 16 June 2016, with the theme: “Retail Payment and eCommerce.”

According to him, young entrepreneurs, who are developing solutions for e-commerce and e-payment will also be featured during the event, just as the platform continues with its tradition of showcasing the most exciting development in the payment industries.

“With a variety of new innovative technologies, it’s never been more important to keep pace with industry developments, with banks, payment companies and other industries,

including new entrants, as they all are vying for their place at the centre of the ecosystem,” he said.

He said the CBN Cashless CardExpo is the biggest card conference in Africa.

“The conference has contributed its fair share to the development of the electronic payment in Nigeria as the conference continues to push the frontiers of payment thereby promoting the usage and adoption of the various electronic channels of payment in the market. The retail payment industry is experiencing a dramatic shift as e-commerce is already capturing a larger share of sales than ever before. New trends in e-commerce shows that purchase of goods and services can occur with payment

made on the point of sale (POS) at a merchant location, through the internet, or by telephone,” Adeyemi added.

He explained that ecommerce has been one of the major catalysts for retail industry across Africa and globally, but however said that the huge factor to the growth of retail sector and e-commerce in Africa lies in the usage of internet.

“CBN Cashless Card Expo Africa 2016 will focus on the future of retail payment and e-commerce and how innovation will drive this process. The conference and exhibition will focus on new users as well the service delivery strategy that will deliver the future of retail payments and e-commerce,” Adeyemi said.

WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS

L-R: Director, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Eziaku Ethel Obidegwu; Director, Chief Andrew Stephen Odigie; Chairman, Mr. Obinna Ekezie; Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Eddie Efekoha; and a Director, Prince Ben Onuora, at the pre-annual general meeting cocktail 2016 of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance PLC in Lagos … recently

UNN Students Commend Service Providers Boost Konga Etisalat on Service Quality e-Commerce with Kesh mPOS Students of the University ing them the opportunity to Solution of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN), have commended Etisalat for the quality of service they are currently enjoying on campus and the Nsukka environ.

The commendation was made during a customer forum session, which was part of the Etisalat Cliqfest campus tour held at the school recently.

The forum, which was designed to get students feedback, examined issues such as network quality in the areas of voice and data, customer experience and product integration. The essence is to take Etisalat’s products and services closer to the students as well as offering customers, seamless interactive opportunities to resolve any issue they may need the attention of the telecoms company.

The students gave useful suggestions on how Etisalat could do even more in meeting their peculiar needs.

Zeal Okorie, a 500 level student of Mechanical Engineering, thanked Etisalat for not only bringing Cliqfest to their campus but also giv-

express their thoughts on their experience with the brand so far, while urging Etisalat to do even more.

Head of Youth Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Olayiwola Onafowokan, thanked the students for their honest contributions and went on to say that Etisalat was in the process of releasing more innovative products and services that will cater for their needs. One of the things he said Etisalat was planning is to set up a mobile hub on their campus.

“We have thought through the process of establishing a hub in your school and we will begin talks with the school authorities so that you can experience our unique services up close and personal. When this hub is set up, you will be able to make purchases, resolve any network issues and source for any form of telecommunication services.

More importantly, you will also experience quality customer service that we provide all over the country,” he said.

NIBSS’s certified mobile point of sale (mPOS) service provider, Innovectives, in conjunction with MasterCard and United Bank for Africa (UBA), have collaborated with Konga, Nigeria’s e-commerce company, to create a seamless delivery and payment system by integrating mPOS solution into Konga’s delivery system.

Payments on mPOS are 100 per cent secure. It is accepted on all local and international cards.

The Kesh mPOS, which is powered by Innovectives, and supported by MasterCard and UBA will make it easier for Konga customers to pay for their orders and enhance payment acceptance while making reconciliation easy for Konga customers and sales agents.

The new mPOS will accept MasterCard, Visa and Verve cards from all banks, and it enables Konga delivery agents to easily capture sales. Other cards accepted on mPOS are UnionPay, Freedom Card and

Genesis cards. Customers can also confirm payments on the spot thus improving accountability in e-commerce transactions.

Divisional Head, Digital Banking, UBA, Dr. Yinka Adedeji, explained that Konga delivery would be able to accept payments from a phone like POS terminal.

“UBA is powering this with its advanced digital payments technology,” Adedeji said.

Managing Director and Chief Executive of Innovectives, Mr. Emmanuel Agha, said: “The level of e-commerce transactions conducted in Nigeria in the past three years has increased exponentially but the challenge is that 95 per cent of the transactions are pay-on-delivery, which are largely settled with cash. Our mPOS solution is designed to improve the delivery process and reduce cash handling in the entire order fulfilment process as well as make reconciliation seamless.”

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BUSINESSWORLD

ADVERTISING

Marketing Budgets Shrank in Bahari’s First Year When the economy is in contractionary mode, the first casualty is marketing. This was evident in the last one year, as players in the Nigerian marketing communications industry struggled to survive. Raheem Akingbolu reports The business of the Advertising and Public Relations practitioners thrive when the economy is good. The success of the players is determined by activities in other major sectors of the economy, especially manufacturing. In Nigeria, things are not looking up for local and multinational companies and this has dealt a blow on the marketing communication industry.

To this end, marketing communications practitioners have used many fora to express their worries about how consistence shrink in marketing budget is killing their businesses. At the maiden edition of the Marketers’ Conference organised by the Advertisers’ Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) in Lagos, business owners were urged to involve in more engagement.

This was also the situation at the April edition of the roundtable meeting of the Public Relations Consultant Association of Nigeria, where practitioners spoke glowingly on how Economic recession is affecting Public Relations. During the business session at the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), held at the of the association in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, recently, members of the association opened up on their challenges and the fact that many advertising agencies have closed their businesses in the last one year because of lack of account to survive on.

According to the association, registered agencies that have been delisted from AAAN list because they couldn’t meet their outstanding financial obligation are; 24-7 Communications Limited, Comex Limited, Grant Advertising Limited, Media Plus International Limited and Adpure Limited. Others are BTAS Communications Limited, Novitas Limited, Sloane Communications Limited, Pemetad Limited, Elsia Communications Limited and Platform Branding Limited. The rest are; Campaign Palace Limited, Alder Media Limited, Angels Communications Limited and Explicit Communications Limited.

THISDAY findings have also revealed that most of the existing advertising and PR agencies in Nigeria have reduced their staff strength by over 50% for lack of business.

Reasons for marketing decline Despite the drop in oil revenue, marketing communication practitioners still had hope when President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in May last year. The administration’s brand promise that was cleverly weaved around ‘change’ fired up the hope in the practitioners.

Another thing that encouraged agency owners was the promise that the administration would control waste in the public sector and increase capital expenditure.

The first signal that things would not be as easy as assumed was the long time it took the administration to form a cabinet. For months Nigerians waited in limbo to see the list of cabinet members who would design policy direction for the new government. After ministers were eventually appointed, the passage of the 2016 budget became another subject of controversy.

Again, for months, Nigerians waited in vain until few weeks ago when the issue was resolved.

The current situation in the Nigerian foreign exchange market has also not favoured many companies in the country as most manufacturing companies could not access raw material.

As a result of this, it was difficult to engage Advertising or PR Agencies, when they are recording any success.

The immediate past president of AAAN, Mr. Kelechi Nwosu, admitted when he spoke to THISDAY that things have been difficult in the last one year for his members.

“Our clients are majorly in the manufacturing sector and things are not easy for them.

Our industry has recorded low performance more than any year in recent time because marketing budget has suffered. Manufacturing companies are not sure of getting raw material and they are not sure of whether they would sell because consumer’s confidence has nose-dived.

When they are not sure of what to sell, why should they engage ad agencies? It is a simple

Lai-Mohammed

Economics –you don’t supply when there is no demand. Another critical issue is that there is no government patronage. In most countries, the major chunk of advertising revenue comes from the government but in Nigeria, things are different. Finally and one instructive thing; decline in GDP will always affect marketing budget and every other things we do.”

Another issue that appears to have also affected the marketing communication industry is lack of proper marketing of Nigeria and her potentials by President Buhari and his Information Minister, Mr. Lai Mohammed. At every opportunity, within and outside Nigeria, the duo present Nigeria as a bad product and this, according to experts, is scaring investors.

A former President of AAAN and Managing Director of SO&U, Mr. Udeme Ufot, while reacting to this said: “There is nothing Nigerians enjoy more, both the lowly and the highly placed, than to denigrate their nation, even in the midst of foreign audiences, laying before them all our dirty linen. As marketing communicators, you would obviously feel scandalised if the marketing director of a brewery consistently tells whoever cares to listen how bitter the beer he sells is, how overpriced it is and how it is no better than other beers, you would be even more shocked if he proceeds to warn you that you could become an alcoholic if you start drinking beer, and how better off you would be saving money for your family’s upkeep and investments than buying beer.

“It may sound extreme, but that is what our chief marketing officers do to our country sometimes, not because they do not love their country, it is just that they do not understand the full implications of their utterances as it impacts the image of their country,” Ufot stated.

Consumer index Measuring 120 points in Q1 2016, Nigeria’s consumer confidence is reported to have dropped to its lowest levels in about two years, according to the latest Consumer Confidence Index released in May 2016 by Nielsen, a global information & measurement company.

The report stated that confidence levels in Nigeria dropped by 7 index points from Q4 2015 as FX challenges, Naira depreciation, higher energy & food costs drove inflation to a 4-year all-time high of 13.7% ; negatively impacting consumer disposable income and spending intentions.

Meanwhile, in the last one year, the confidence level of consumers in the economy has witnessed

Ufot

a downward slide amid rising cost of living and prices of basic goods including foodstuffs.

The global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers want to buy had confirmed earlier that consumer confidence in Nigeria dropped in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The analysts noted that Nigeria’s Consumer Confidence Index for the fourth quarter of 2015 dropped to 100 points from more than 120 points recorded earlier. The CCI is an indicator designed to measure consumer confidence, which is defined as the degree of optimism in the state of the economy that consumers are expressing through their activities of savings and spending.

The Managing Director, Nielsen West Africa, Mr. Lampe Omoyele, said Nigeria’s CCI was very high before 2015.

He said: “While Nigeria has always been very high and the highest in Africa, we were concerned when, for the first time in quarter three of 2015, there was a decline in the points.

So, while it was still over 100, it had declined and this was driven by a number of factors: the inflation and other macroeconomic issues and the oil prices. The non-approval of the budget had a lot of impact because wages were static; some were cut. So, consumer disposable income had declined. While ours was still high in relation to other markets in Africa, the concern for us is that it was declining,” he said.

Given the declining condition of the outlook for many consumers; they are expected to re-prioritise spend to survive the times. The impact of this is already being seen with decline in consumption of many FMCG categories.

To win, FMCG players must strive to position themselves to consumers as offering the best “value” for their products in terms of pricing & packaging. Driving availability, awareness and trust would equally be critical APCON dissolution Another reason stakeholders cited for slow activities in the marketing communications industry was the sudden dissolution of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) board along with other government parastatals by the president. One year after, the body that is saddled with the regulation of the entire industry is yet to have a board. For a council that was just coming out of crises when Buhari assumed office, following the imposition of a non-professional in the person of Prince Ngozi Enioma as the APCON Chairman, by

the former President Goodluck Jonathan, many expected a better regime under Buhari. But the sudden ban of a newly constituted council led

by Udeme Ufot, a thorough-bred advertising man was considered a setback for the industry.

As at the time Ufot came in, it was expected that regulation, especially as it concerned the recent industry reform would get good attention, which probably would have aligned with the ‘change’ mantra of the Buhari’s administration. Unfortunately, the sudden ban of the council scuttled this, and killed the hope of many practitioners, who had earnestly waited for the implementation of the long-awaited advertising reform. Meanwhile, there is a pending clog in the whole process over the belief in some quarters that government made a mistake, while the late Prof. Dora Akunyili was Information minister, to have wrongly listed APCON as a parastatal instead of being treated as a regulatory body.

To say this is not the best of times for players in the industry is like stating the obvious. Now that marketing has naturally become the first casualty of the current economic recession, stakeholders are calling on President Buhari to give his policy a human face. Though his fight against corruption is applauded in many quarters, many marketing communication practitioners have faulted it on the basis that it is scaring away investors.

“The hype in our fight against corruption is more than the substance and this is not good for our image as a nation, we are simply telling the rest of the world that, go, go we are thieves. New businesses are not coming in and the existing ones are cutting down the budget. As I talk, most agencies are downsizing, throwing more people into the labour market,” a concerned practitioner said.

Meanwhile, the Publicity Secretary of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Mr. Yinka Adebayo, has urged the current administration to give marketing communications professional good recognition.

“I can only advise government to build on what was achieved during the electioneering campaigns when most of them engage professionals to handle their campaigns. By the recent statistic, our industry now worth N120 billion and about 80 percent of this is contributed by registered media independent firms. With this, I think the industry is critical to the economy and so government should endeavour to give us more recognition,” he said.

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016

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ADVERTISING

How Traditional Advertising Business Nose-dived in Nigeria Raheem Akingbolu writes on how specialisation, digital marketing and the proliferation of agencies pushed traditional advertising to the back burner The then Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAPN), conference, which took place at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Ikeja, Lagos in June 1998, was very epochal.

It was a conference that also marked the 25th anniversary of the association.

It was with funfair that the conference was held and the milestone was marked.

On hand to beam the event live to the world was the Africa Independent Television, AIT. It was those days when the advertising business in Nigeria was flourishing and agency owners were smiling to the banks.

Business was good. Clients were satisfied.

Everyone was happy.

The association seemed to have undergone massive metamorphosis in the last eighteen years and one of these was that the name was changed from AAPN to Association of Advertising Agencies in Nigeria (AAAN).

And part of that metamorphosis was the atmosphere at the last conference of the association held in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, last month.

The number of representatives of member agencies who attended the conference showed all was not well in terms of welfare of members.

Apart from this, many former presidents of the association who usually grace the annual event did not attend the Uyo event.

Business challenges While many might explain away these developments but they were manifestations of the reality of situation surrounding the business of advertising in the country. It was a situation predicted as long ago as 1998 when the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), posited that in third world countries, the practice of advertising might face some challenging times in the new millennium.

The challenging times mentioned was actually an assessment of changes taking place in how the business is being practised at the international level.

As at then, an integrated marketing communications company as was still known in the country then was undergoing massive

Various Media platforms

transformation that would have fundamental effect in the way the business was being run locally here.

Besides, the period of this transformation was coming at period (mid 90s) when affiliation was the fancy of major agency owners.

That was when names like Rosabel Leo Burnett, STB McCann, CentreSpread FCB and so on were the commonest in the industry.

For you to be reckoned with in looking for business, you needed to be affiliated to a foreign agency.

When we started, it was a monolithic agency as everything was done under one roof. But there had been developments outside Nigeria that indicated that the media was leaving, PR was leaving, event planning was leaving and so on. All these were driving by business consideration and not professionalism

Emergence of media independent However, what started as a positive development for the business of advertising over almost two decades ago might have become the nemesis of traditional advertising as it is known.

When the idea of media independent first came, many agency heads kicked against it.

Perhaps, according to a senior player in the industry who spoke to THISDAY a couple of weeks back, only a couple of industry players agreed with the idea then. Ironically, both of them were agency owners.

“It was after this that many people began to understand that you can run a media independent agency under the mother agency,” he explained.

But that was where the excitement ends.

Those big agencies that have media buying companies under their umbrellas might not be feeling what the smaller, one business agencies are facing.

Reasons being that since those big agencies have become a group, even while the mother agency is not doing well, the other subsidiaries

will keep the group afloat.

First to leave the core business of advertising to become its own separate business was actually public relations.

In the past, this was being done by advertising agencies even while the practice had already started in the country then.

Then came media buying in the late 90s.

Then even events planning were taken out of advertising business.

The next to opt out was experiential marketing and then lately, production outfits and creative agencies have started coming up as separate business.

A top practitioner, who set up his agency in the early 90s, told THISDAY that while many welcomed the development then and hailed as being good for professionalism; little did industry players know that they were killing traditional advertising business.

“Before, if you have a client like say, First Bank. You would be in charge of their core advertising, public relations and events planning whenever they had any function even including their annual general meetings.

You also would do media placement for them and you would print their calendars and diaries. In fact, you would have been made if you did only their diary and calendar for one year.

But tell me: which of these I listed is being done by traditional advertising agency today?”

He said all these have been taken away from the agency and said if business is not good for AAAN members, how would they be able to pay almost half a million naira annual membership fee that would guarantee a member a space at the annual conference?

Chairman of the Prima Garnet Group and former president of the association, Lolu Akinwunmi, in an interview with THISDAY three weeks ago, said business considerations were the main reasons why these so-called specialised agencies sprouted up and which might have inadvertently sounded the death knell of traditional advertising practice.

He said anyone talking of professionalism was being economical with the truth.

“When we started, it was a monolithic agency as everything was done under one roof. But there had been developments outside Nigeria that indicated that the media was leaving, PR was leaving, event planning was leaving and so on.

All these were driving by business consideration and not professionalism. I sat on the board of Ogilvy for Africa.

I was aware that the decisions we took were driven by 95per cent by financial considerations.”

Perhaps he was right. Even in those days when there were no operational incentives offered by modern technology, advertising agencies were still handling brief, was it core advertising, media buying, event planning and so on, with professionalism and brilliance.

And to worsen the situation, it is not as if those who are setting up these specialised agencies came from another planet; they were actually trained by the traditional advertising agencies.

For instance, Steve Baba-Eko honed his creative skills from his days as the creative guru at 141 Worldwide, a subsidiary of the Prima Garnet Group.

The list goes on.

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BUSINESSWORLD

CONSUMER

Omoyele: Low Disposable Income Has Weakened Consumer Confidence in Nigeria Managing Director, Nielsen West Africa, an international research agency, Mr. Lampe Omoyele, in this interview, gives some insight into the drop in consumer confidence in the country. Raheem Akingbolu presents the excerpts: What is your assessment of consumer confidence in Nigeria?

Based on feedback from Nigerian consumers, we did the Nielsen consumer confidence index and analyse it. Any figure over a hundred is considered as the consumer having a positive outlook, anything below hundred shows a negative outlook. The lower below hundred is more negative, the higher above hundred is more positive.

When we started this in Nigeria it was above hundred in the 4th quarter of 2014 and it steadily increased until 4th quarter of 2015 when it declined for the first time and it went down to 104.

Whereas it is still higher than hundred it was a red flag for us that it declined for the first time and that for us was a concern. The concern was driven by the macroeconomic environment and the weaken consumer disposable income and the inflation, and that then on the way consumers are beginning to feel about the future. I think we were also concerned with the budget not seen and all that.

What is this concern and how did players in the FMCG approach it?

What we have seen is consumption of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) product practically began to decline. What happens is that when consumers’ confidence begins to decline people begin to look at reprioritisation of what they spend their money on, and with inflation and consumer disposable income not increasing, what you are finding is that people are spending more money in education and housing and then having less disposable income to spend on branded items.

What FMCG businesses therefore have been able to look at is, because their consumption is being impacted, one of the things I have said to them is first thing they have to do is to hold market shares. How do you hold market share? Ensure that the people who are already consuming you keep on consuming you, and do not reduce the quantity that they are consuming. Drive branding and drive loyalty to at least sustain your consumers.

As you do that it means you must keep quality and you must keep engaging them.

That is why I used the Coca-Cola campaign ‘Share A Coke” as an example. It was a different kind of campaign/promotion; it was not a promotion that said buy one and gets one free. It connected with the emotions of the consumers in using their names.

Despite the economic crisis, it was observed last year that the alcoholic segment recorded growth, what is responsible?

The growth of the alcoholic segment was driven by the Nigerian breweries. It was driven primarily from my view by two main factors; one is the acquisition of consolidated breweries.

They consolidated the result of consolidated breweries into Nigerian breweries then drove that growth. It was driven by value brands, so a lot of consolidated breweries brands are value brands. When you have a situation where consumer confidence is reducing and access to funding is lowered, what consumers are doing are reprioritising, so they are spending more on value for money brands and that drove the alcoholic segment. The other point for Nigerian breweries is that they have consistently engaged with their consumers.

Generally speaking, can you please highlight the important of research in business?

Speaking from a generic perspective, research in anything like life, in marketing or integrated marketing communications, it helps to shed light where there is darkness when things

Omoyele are not clear and when there is unknown.

More specifically, around integrated marketing communication it helps to understand who the target audience is, what their usages and attitudes are around products and services, around media usage and the channels that they use and as a result, IMC practitioners can formulate strategies and execute campaigns that are appropriately targeted.

What happens when there is no research document concerning a particular industry?

The implication is that the communication

I think the key things for brands to do in this season that we are in is to hold market shares and that means engaging with their core loyalists. It means that the quality of the services must be sustained. It means they must be engaging in various ways, either through different communication channels that are most appropriate to the target market that they are addressing

strategies might be like shooting in the dark, and when you shoot in the dark you may not always get good eyes.

In some cases you might get lucky but in more cases than not you may not be appropriately targeting and therefore, the strategies you implement are likely not to be the appropriate ones. So one is likely to waste resources and at the end of the day the campaigns will not succeed.

Do you mean other failed campaigns are as a result inadequate insight?

There are a lot of factors; one may not be having the appropriate insight and information about the target market. If the research is not done to truly understand what the potential impact will be then campaigns will never succeed. At times, it may also be the quality of execution of the various campaigns that could have an influence.

At a time like this, how can brand owners maintain their relationship with consumers?

I think the key things for brands to do in this season that we are in is to hold market shares and that means engaging with their core loyalists. It means that the quality of the services must be sustained. It means they must be engaging in various ways, either through different communication channels that are most appropriate to the target market that they are addressing.

It is all about understanding the media usage and how to use it. This is not the time that marketers or public relations experts will say they don’t spend money. This is the time they will keep engaging because when we come out of these economic challenges, it is the brands that constantly engage with them that they will talk to.

Lowering prices may ultimately affect some brand equities, so the thing to do is how to get consumers to keep using or use more.

Many brands have realised that when they reduce price it does not necessarily increase purchase. The thing is how you add value to consumers which could be putting in place promotions or campaigns that connects with them emotionally so that when they pay they get instant value.

It is often said that PR measurement in campaigns is difficult. What is the way out?

It is about understanding measurement indices.

When the public relations is going to run campaign it is about saying, what are the objectives of the campaign? Is it about raising the awareness levels or changing perceptions and coming up with specific matrix that they can then say they will use to evaluate the campaigns?

Once they can show every depths of a change in perception and impact on change in behavior of the relevant publics that they are addressing, then they can make stronger cases with clients.

The challenge at the moment is that a lot of PR campaigns have not been founded on specific measurable objectives that from the beginning already determine the metric that they will use to measure.

Does PR play a part in the brand building process?

PR plays a part. The point is that public relations have not yet been elevated in the minds of the general public as much as advertising.

We do not have a specific data that says it has this impact. I think we are going to do a research that says, what is the impact of PR in influencing change in perception and publics?

How credible is the research that emanates from Nigeria?

I think that most research works that are done in Nigeria are credible. The challenge is that it can be better but in a company like Nielsen, we have quality checks.

That means there are checks to the data that comes out. If we have researchers, supervisors, mangers and other research agencies in Nigeria that are monitoring what is going on, that means we have some quality checks.

So research in Nigeria is credible, I will say that with confidence.

I think the big point is that there are lots of data in Nigeria, and the issue is having access to data, understanding how to mine the data and generating interest from it. I have a persuasion, which is having 50 percent data is better than having no data.

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Grand Oak Redefines Class with Relaunch of Lord’s Dry Gin Stories by Raheem Akingbolu Grand Oak Limited, renowned marketing and distribution company in the Wines and Spirits sector recently relaunched one of its brands -Lord’s Dry Gin, with a classy new label and pack.

The newly innovative packaging upgrade was targeted at consumers with a distinctive and classy lifestyle.

The rebranded alcoholic spirit was unveiled at the company’s 2016 Distributors Conference held in the cozy ambience of Golden Tulip Hotel, Festac, Lagos, amidst pomp and pageantry.

The gin is made of exceptional international quality and has been in the market for 34 years.

To further entrench Lord’s Gin as a premium brand, a new television commercial was exposed at the relaunch supporting the brand’s positioning as a gin for distinguished consumers with discerning taste.

This new television commercial along with radio commercials and press advertisements in Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa languages will soon be exposed around the country.

Speaking at the re-launch, acting Managing Director of Grand Oak, Aare Fatai Odesile said that Lord’s Dry Gin is unarguably the top proudly Nigerian gin brand that has consistently led other brands in the gin sector.

“In line with its position-

ing, it is the only Nigerian top brand that comes with its own customized bottle.

We consistently respond to consumers changing lifestyle and feel that the relaunch of Lord’s Dry Gin in a refreshing new bottle and attractive pack of Lord’s is timely.”, he explained. As part of the speech made during the relaunch event, the Brand Manager, Jacob Akaade explained that the dry gin market in Nigeria is highly fragmented but can be divided into three essential segments: the value segment, the mixed price segment and the premium segment where the international players are.

As such, Lord’s is positioned at the premium segment for discerning ladies and gentlemen”, he said.

Furthermore, the Category Manager, Amuwo Olayinka revealed that the “Lord’s brand has enjoyed leadership in the spirit market.

Top bars and hotels use it for their cocktail mixes and it can be compared with international standard gin with London heritage, hence rebranding was carried out with the company’s international partners in a bid to raise the bar in the Nigerian spirit market.

At the product re-launch, distributors bought over 10,000 cases of the repackaged dry gin which shows the overwhelming acceptance of the brand. Speaking on the demand of the new Lord’s Dry Gin at the product relaunch, Fatai Odesile said:

“It is a reaffirmation of the confidence in Grand Oak Limited.

You see, a brand like ours has given a lot of promises and our consumers can already testify to the quality of the brand.”

When asked how Grand Oak intends to combat the

activities of counterfeiters?

The acting MD emphatically stated that incidence of products being faked is an acceptance that the brand is popular as counterfeiters don’t fake failed products.

“They only fake very successful products so we are happy that we are successful.

However, our own way of combating this is incessant repackaging and innovation, which we have just done is to consistently educate our consumers on means and ways of identifying the original products.

In addition, the company also intends to undergo

regular market place raiding in collaboration with NAFDAC, CPC ad other relevant government agencies over faking of products.

The re-branded Lord’s Gin comes in 17.5cl Solo, 75cl Regular and 75cl Gift box packs. It is available at all alcohol retail stores in Nigeria.

A BOOST FOR TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION

L-R: Managing Director and Chief Executive, Neo Media and Marketing, Mr. Ehi Braimah; Presenter, Tech Trends on Channels TV, Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata and Head, Digital Marketing, Neo Media and Marketing, Mr. Vincent Braimah, at a press conference to announce the forth coming Nigeria International Technology Exhibition and Conference (NITEC 2016) in Lagos...recently

CSCS Gets Thomas Murray’s A Rating Positive Outlook Naira Depreciation Compels NNF Rallies Support for The Central Securities Clear- acknowledges actions taken Secondary School Education ing System (CSCS) Plc has by CSCS over the past few CIMA to Reduces Exam Fees been upgraded from A- to A, which indicates ‘Low Overall Risk’ by Thomas Murray Data Services, the United Kingdom specialist custody rating, risk management and research firm.

The overall rating of ‘A’ reflects a weighted average of seven risk components.

The outlook of CSCS rating is ‘Positive’ owing to developments taking place in the course of 2016-17, with a positive impact on counterparty risk, asset safety risk, operational risk and financial risk. Commenting on the rating, , Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of CSCS Plc, Mr. Kyari Bukar said: “The upgrade from A- to A is a significant milestone towards being a globally respected and leading central securities depository in Africa.

The key upgraded areas further indicate that we made notable improvements in managing our market’s overall risks to low level in line with best practices.

I am glad that the efforts made in this regard over the years is of significant impact due to the collective effort of all our committed staff.”

Chief Risk and Ratings Officer of Thomas Murray Data Services, Nick Bradley, said: “The overall rating upgrade

years to mitigate risks.

This is the result of CSCS’s continuous efforts toward adopting international best practices.”

The three risk components upgraded are: Asset Commitment Risk from A to AA-, based on the shifting of settlement value ratio in favour of OTC bond transactions which overall have a shorter asset commitment period than on-exchange transactions; Operational Risk from A- to A, reflecting improvements in internal controls, operational procedures and business continuity planning and disaster recovery procedures; and Governance and Transparency (G&T) Risk from A- to A, on account of better disclosure of corporate and statistical information on CSCS’s website, and improved performance management standards and user group arrangements.

Other major developments which have contributed to reducing settlement risks in the market include the new SEC minimum capital requirement for brokers/ dealers (N300 million) and the shifting of cash settlement for on exchange transactions from the afternoon to the morning of settlement date (SD).

In response to the weakened performance of the Naira against the Sterling Pound, CIMA, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants has announced reductions in its exam fees from April 4.

Reductions will range from 12.6% to 19.6% depending of the paper sat.

Africa Regional Director, Samantha Louis, said the reduction in exam fees is in response to feedback got from the body’s students and various other stakeholders in the wake of the weakened Naira.

She said: “CIMA has historically operated a single global pricing strategy for all its members and students.

But the current economies in Africa and exchange rate variations dictate that we relook our strategy in the plight to support our students’ progression.”

The new pricing format applies to all students in Africa and has a tiered approach recognising the price sensitivity of this market and its prohibitive effect. In this format exemption pricing remains the same – on a single global pricing structure.

Responding to the news, Head of Nigeria, Ijeoma Anadozie said: “The new

pricing strategy is in line with our vision to help people and business to succeed. It will allow more Nigerians to become CIMA members and management accountants. This in turn will help Nigerian businesses, and will power up their decision-making abilities.”

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), founded in 1919, is the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, with over 227,000 members and students in 179 countries, working at the heart of business.

CIMA members and students work in industry, commerce, and the public sector and notfor-profit organisations. CIMA works closely with employers and sponsors leading-edge research, constantly updating its qualification, professional experience requirements and continuing professional development to ensure it remains the employers’ choice when recruiting financially-trained business leaders. Professionalism and ethics are at the core of CIMA’s activities with every member and student bound by robust standards so that integrity, expertise and vision are brought together.

New Nigeria Foundation (NNF), a non-governmental organisation that promotes sustainable community development initiatives through public private partnerships, has reiterated its commitment to support calls to enhance the quality of secondary school education in Nigeria.

The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Prof Obafemi Ajibola made this known at the celebration of the 15th anniversary of NNF, which took place in Lagos recently.

He explained that NNF since its inception has continued to work hard to justify the vision of its founders by implementing social sector development activities that reduce poverty and enhance economic growth through the facilitation of partnerships between public and private sector organisations.

Ajibola said that the management of the foundation focused on education as a key area of concern in the celebration of its anniversary partly because of observable steady decline in the performance of students in national examinations in the last 10 years.

“We must find a solution to this problem and we must

prepare our young people in such a way that they will be able to deliver the Nigeria of our dreams,” he said.

As part of NNF’s contribution to enhancing secondary school education, the Foundation hosted a symposium with the theme “Making Secondary School Education Relevant for the 21st Century Student.”

The event featured a keynote address by renowned educationist, Prof Abiola Lanre Awosika and a panel of discussants that comprised leading lights in education management, notably Prof Francis Adesina; Dr. Muyiwa Bamgbose; Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo and Ms. Igho Pearl Ugbogbor.

The symposium was moderated by Dr. Tunji Abimbola.

The panel discussed the role of critical stakeholders in making secondary school education effective; integrating technology in the secondary education sector – barriers, opportunities and strategies; The place of private sector investment in advancing secondary school education towards achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and mainstreaming entrepreneurial training in secondary education.

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Ongoing trading in a rural setting

ABIMBOLA AKOSILE

‘Amendment of EIA Act Will Help Tackle Emerging Global Challenges’ Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja SThe Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed has said an amendment of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act will help the country in tackling current global challenges and emerging issues like global warming.

The Minister stated this in Abuja at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by Wetland International, Africa, in partnership with the ministry, where she stressed that the ministry was making efforts towards sustainable management of wetlands in the country, including the preparation of a National Management Policy.

The policy, she said, would expectedly incorporate a system of EIA and environmental monitoring so that adverse environmental impacts could be foreseen, eliminated or mitigated.

Mohammed, who was represented by the Director of Environmental Assessment, Mr. John Alonge, said reviewing the Act is not specific to the oil and gas sector alone, but noted that the revision cut across all sectors of the economy, in order to tackle the emerging global issues in conformity with international best practices.

According to her, “If we are looking at it now, the way things are, the way the international best practices are going, there is a gap. This is an Act that was established about two decades ago, and if you look at the global trend, the climate change is coming in, the equator principle is there, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has its own standards, and what we have presently cannot reflect the way at which IFC standards and the equator principle is going.”

She added that, “we must at the end of the day make sure we are on the same page, and then therefore we have to revise the Act, in order to reflect the areas of weaknesses and gaps, so that we can be in line with international global practices.”

She emphasised that the Niger Delta wetland is rich in biodiversity and also of high economic importance to local and national development, while lamenting that it has however been under severe threat from human activities, especially pollution from oil, agriculture, development and climate change.

To protect and sustainably manage the Niger Delta wetlands, Mohammed noted that there was need not just to put strict regulatory policies

and sanctions on pollution in place, but also to implement them.

In pushing for the amendment of the Act that was enacted in 1992, Mohammed stressed that the ministry inaugurated a committee in 2014 to review the Act, though, she added that the review was done with the help of all the agencies, but stressed that the amendment has not gotten to the National Assembly.

Earlier, the Africa Regional Director of Wetland, Mr. Ibrahima Thiam said the Niger Delta and other places in Nigeria have significant natural resources, but stressed that the oil and gas sector has actually affected the natural resources.

He said, “That it is why it is very important for Nigeria as it happens in other countries to do environmental impact assessment so that they can help reconcile development objectives with the environmental needs.

“I think now in Nigeria, we have environmental impact assessment being done, our goal today is to convene the experts and other stakeholders from the oil and gas industry, also from civil society, and from government administration to discuss how we can improve environmental impact assessment, and build knowledge that can be useful for govern-

ment to pursue development goals.”

The assessment, Thiam noted,

would also make extraction of oil happen in a way that would take into account the

existence of natural resources, and the way they serve the communities in their daily life.

AfDB, Others Support Elumelu Foundation’s Initiative on Job Creation Kunle Aderinokun in Lusaka, Zambia Hope has come alive for 83,000 budding entrepreneurs across Africa, desirous of pursuing their dreams, as the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other development partners have pledged to assist them to access requisite seed capital for their endeavours.

The buddy entrepreneurs got a respite following the positive response of AfDB to the passionate plea by President of Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Mr. Tony Elumelu, who painted a gloomy picture of the future of African youths in the area of employment, at the bank’s ongoing annual meetings in Lusaka, Zambia.

The 83,000 youth entrepreneurs were the unsuccessful ones out of the 85,000, who participated in the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) in the last two years.

TEEP, which earmarked

$100 million to assist 10,000 African entrepreneurs within 10 years in such a way that 1,000 youths are provided $10 million seed capital annually, and the Foundation has empowered 2,000 businesses within two years of operation. The aim is to enhance job creation.

According to Elumelu, finance remained the bane of youth entrepreneurship across the continent. He pointed out that, it was a misconception to think that only governments, established companies and corporates, had the capacity to solve the burgeoning unemployment rate within Africa.

In his words: “Over the years we have missed the point by depending on government and big companies to provide employment for our youths.

What we need now in meeting the urgent unemployment rate to support the entrepreneurial spirit of African youths by providing the needed seed capital to jump start pockets of SMEs across the continent.

“Tony Elumelu Foundation capacity in carrying out this mission is limited to $100 million and that is why we are at the AfDB AGM to solicit support of development partners.”

Elumelu, who is also the chairman of UBA, described the AfDB offer to assist those who could not benefit from TEEP as commendable and fulfilling.

“We whole heartedly accept the offer of AfDB and other development partners participating at the meeting. All we hope to do is to transfer the list from Accenture to them.

“As a person, I am fulfilled again, as many stakeholders continue to buy into our project of developing proactive and viable SMEs across Africa.

Our belief, which has been verified is that only SMEs, in the value chain of economic transformation can help Africa meet the challenges of sustainable development, especially in the provision of jobs.”

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“Our renewed emphasis is premised on the fact that any credible effort at poverty eradication, job creation and an effective diversification of the economy as envisioned by the federal government will not meet with the required success if Nigerians are not adequately trained” - ACTING DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FUND (ITF), DICKSON ONUOHA, SPEAKING IN JOS, PLATEAU STATE

Osun Assembly Advocates Child Protection Policies CYinka Kolawole in Osogbo

Make Your Govts Implement UN 2030 Agenda, Ban Urges Youth Abimbola Akosile The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has urged youth to continue to raise their voices in pushing governments to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Ban made the call on Monday, the first day of the sixty-sixth United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organisations Conference in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, according to a UN release.

“You have unlimited power, unlimited authority, legitimate prerogative to raise your voice. Make your governors, mayors, national assembly members – even professors and business communities – make them accountable,” he said at a youth caucus event.

In a room filled to capacity, the UN chief urged youth to think about the circumstances in which people in other parts of the world live – underscoring the importance of tempering passion with empathy.

“Without compassion, the world would be strange and miserable,” Ban said. “Passion without compassion will lead to a strange way, undesirable way, sometimes destructive way and tragic way. When you have too much passion, that’s what happens in many parts of the world. Therefore, passion should be accompanied with compassion […] that’s my message to you.”

Ban also told the group that while they should be proud to be young, they must also be prepared for tomorrow.

Noting that his tenure as UN chief will end soon, he said, “who knows that [maybe] one of you will become Secretary-General of the United Nations,” he said to thunderous applause.

Before the UN chief arrived, Juan Pablo Celis, Conference Co-chair of the Youth Sub-

Active youth in Nigeria, seeking good governance

committee and NGO Youth Representative of the New York UN Association, told his peers that for the next three days, issues that linked education with conflict situations, youth employment and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), among others, would be discussed “through very creative and innovative methods, such as performances, technological interactions and live surveys.”

And then he prompted everyone to be energetic, saying: “We are the youth of the conference and we have to be ready to make some noise!”

Nigeria has a huge youth population running into several millions, who are very active on social media and many are members of non-governmental organisations working daily to make government fulfil their promises on good governance to the people of the country.

Nigeria was also one of the over 190 UNmember nations which adopted the 2030 development agenda, at the 70th General Assembly, which took place in September, 2015 in New York, USA. President Muhammadu Buhari led the country’s delegation to the epochal event.

Osun State House of Assembly under the leadership of Rt. Hon Najeem Salaam has called on parents to give priority attention to early childhood education and protection of the rights of the child.

The house also wants non-governmental organisations and child-related agencies of government to lead in the fight against out of school children as a proactive way to secure the future of the society.

This position was contained in a statement by the Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, to commemorate this year’s children Day Celebration.

The house, which acknowledged that youths and children are the future leaders, contended that the saying would hold true when adequate attention is given to children through adequate nutrition, relevant investment, exposure to healthy practices and protection from predators and abusers.

It particularly called on parents and guardians to accept responsibilities for the upbringing of their children by ensuring that they take advantage of the education and other opportunities provided by the state government.

The assembly cited that school feeding policy of government was a clear example of ways to nurture the body of children for growth as well as encourage enrolment for basic education.

The parliament also stressed the need for leaders of thought to provide springboard for affirmative action against individuals or group who abuse children either by denying them education, inflicting assault on them physically, engaging them in street hawking, trafficking and sexual abuse.

The Assembly, according to the statement, had passed Osun State Girl Child Marriage (Prohibition) Law, 2004, and Child Right Law, 2007 in the best interest of the Child.

While assuring the residents of the state that the issue of child protection will always be on the front-burner in the deliberations of the house, it also called on all implementation agencies of government to be on the top of their games to ensure that anyone who tramples on the right of the child is brought to book.

Osun Assembly pointed that the priority of good child upbringing that translates into ‘Omoluabi’ in adulthood should be also cherished by all parents and guardians.

The Assembly added that there is the need to create atmosphere that would boost self-esteem of young ones, promotes social etiquette, morals of young ones, provoked their curiosity and inspire them to creativity.

The state has equally gone further to provide educational tools to pupils in schools in the state, to help boost their educational skills and technological prowess.

The most remarkable one is the tablet, popularly known as ‘Opon Imo’ or roughly translated to slab of knowledge, which has sharpened the educational and technological skills of students and pupils in the state, and an initiative and best practice which is being copied by other states around the country.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UN MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN / UN SDG ACTION CAMPAIGN

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email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Iraq Stalls Falluja Assault ‘to Protect Civilians’ Iraq has delayed its assault on the city of Falluja because of fears for the safety of civilians, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said yesterday, as his forces halted at the city’s edge in the face of ferocious resistance from Islamic State fighters.

Abadi’s decision to halt, two days after elite Iraqi troops poured into the city’s rural southern outskirts, postpones what was expected to be one of the biggest battles ever fought against Islamic State. The government, backed by world powers including the United States and Iran, has vowed to win back the first major Iraqi city that fell to the group in 2014.

“It would have been possible to end the battle quickly if protecting civilians wasn’t among our priorities,” Abadi told military commanders at the operations room near the frontline in footage broadcast on state television.

“Thank God, our units are at the outskirts of Falluja and victory is within reach.”

Falluja has been a bastion of the Sunni insurgency that fought both the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the Shi’ite-led Baghdad government.

Islamic State fighters raised their flag there in 2014 before sweeping through much of Iraq’s north and west.

Abadi first announced plans to assault Falluja 10 days ago. But with 50,000 civilians still believed trapped inside the city, the United

Nations has warned that militants are holding hundreds of families in the centre as human shields.

After heavy resistance from Islamic State fighters, the troops have not moved over the past 48 hours, keeping their positions in Falluja’s mainly rural southern suburb of Naimiya, according to a Reuters TV crew reporting from the area.

Explosions from shelling and air strikes as well as heavy gunfire could be heard on Wednesday morning in the city that lies 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

Falluja is the second-largest Iraqi city still under control of the Sunni militants, after Mosul, their de facto capital in the north that had a pre-war population of about 2 million. Abadi’s initial decision to assault Falluja appears to have gone against the plans of his U.S. allies, who would prefer the government concentrate on Mosul, rather than risk getting bogged down in a potentially drawn out fight for a smaller, potentially hostile Sunni Muslim stronghold like Falluja.

“You do not need Falluja in order to get Mosul,” a spokesman for a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition, U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, said in a phone interview ten days ago when the government first announced its plans to recapture Falluja. However, Falluja is Islamic State’s closest bastion to Baghdad, believed to be the base from which militants have staged a campaign of suicide bombings in the capital that

has increased pressure on Abadi to act to improve security.

Abadi, a member of Iraq’s Shi’ite majority, is trying to hold a ruling coalition together in the face of public protests against an entrenched political class. He has called for politicians to set aside differences and rally behind the army during the Falluja offensive.

Falluja would be the third major city in Iraq recaptured by the government after former dictator Saddam Hussein’s home

town Tikrit and Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s vast western Anbar province. Falluja lies in Anbar on the highway from Baghdad to Ramadi, and capturing it would give the government control of the main population centres of the fertile Euphrates River valley west of the capital for the first time in two years.

The United States is leading a coalition conducting air strikes in support of the Iraqi government offensive, and says it is having

success in rolling back Islamic State both in Iraq and in Syria.

Shi’ite militia groups backed by Iran are also taking part in the offensive against Islamic State, but say they are holding back from participating in the main assault on Falluja to avoid inflaming sectarian tension.

Although most of Falluja’s population is believed to have fled during six months of siege, 50,000 people are still thought to be trapped inside with limited access

to food, water or healthcare. The United Nations’ children’s agency on Wednesday said at least 20,000 children remain in Falluja.

“We are concerned over the protection of children in the face of extreme violence,” UNICEF Representative in Iraq Peter Hawkins said in a statement.

“Children face the risk of forced recruitment into the fighting”inside the besieged city, and“separation from their families”if they manage to leave, he added.

US-backed Forces Open Major Front in Syrian War Thousands of U.S.-backed fighters opened a major new front in Syria’s war, launching an offensive to drive Islamic State out of a swathe of northern Syria it uses as a logistics base, and were reported yesterday to be making rapid progress.

The operation, which began on Tuesday after weeks of quiet preparations, aims to choke off the group’s access to Syrian land along the Turkish border that the militants have long used to move foreign fighters back and forth to Europe.

“It’s significant in that it’s their last remaining funnel” to Europe, a U.S. military official told Reuters. A small number of U.S. special operations forces will support the push on the

ground, acting as advisers and staying some distance back from the front lines, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military planning.

“They’ll be as close as they need to be for the (Syrian fighters) to complete the operation.

But they will not engage in direct combat,” the official said. The operation will also count on support from U.S.-led coalition air strikes as well as from ground-based firing positions across the border in Turkey.

Driving Islamic State from its last remaining foothold at the Turkish border has been a top priority of the U.S.-led campaign against the group.

The group controls around 80

km (50 miles) of the frontier stretching west from Jarablus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said U.S.-led air strikes in support of the ground operation killed 15 civilians including three children near Manbij in the last 24 hours.

The Observatory’s reporting is based on an activist network in Syria.

It said the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, the force that is conducting the assault to capture the tract of land known as the Manbij pocket, had taken 16 villages and were at a distance of 15 km (9 miles) from Manbij town itself.

The U.S. officials said the operation would be overwhelmingly comprised of Syrian

Arabs instead of forces with the Kurdish YPG militia, who will only represent about a fifth or a sixth of the overall force.

This is seen as important to NATO member Turkey, which has opposed any further expansion of Syrian Kurdish sway at the frontier.

Ankara sees the Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters -- who already control an uninterrupted 400 km (250 mile) stretch of the border -- to be terrorists and has been enraged by U.S. backing for the militia in its battle with Islamic State in Syria.

However, the Observatory said the Kurdish YPG militia made up the majority of the fighters taking part in the SDF assault.

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Confusion as PDP BoT Takes over Party Leadership I remain the chairman, Sheriff tells court Onyebuchi Ezigbo inAbuja There was confusion in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday following the decision of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party to take over its leadership pending the resolution of the leadership

crisis rocking the party.

The PDP has been enmeshed in deep crisis which led to the closure of the party’s secretariat from May 22 to May 30 when it was re-opened on the orders of the Inspector General of Police (IG), Solomon Arase.

Lai Mohammed Blames Tomato Scarcity on Boko Haram The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has attributed the current tomato scarcity in the country to Boko Haram.

The staple has been very expensive in the last two months as a result of acute scarcity, which the federal government blamed on tuta absoluta, a pest also known as ‘tomato ebola’.

The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, had said the government was making efforts to contain the outbreak which had ravaged six states.

But speaking in an interview on Channels Television yesterday, Mohammed said insecurity in the North-east had forced many farmers out of the zone.

“People talk about the price of tomato but they forget one thing; that the price of tomato today is a direct result of the fact that we have lost two years harvest to Boko Haram insurgency.”

“Most of the people you see riding Okada (motorcycles) in Lagos are people who would have been in the farm to

produce consumable items, he said.

When asked if he was convinced that the tomato scarcity could be attributed to insurgency, he said: “Absolutely!

Do you farm where there is war?

We have lost two seasons of harvest, in addition we have had very poor rainfall last year and this year. These are the combined factors responsible for the scarcity of tomato. Go and ask economists and agriculturists, they will tell you.”

Mohammed, according to The Cable, also said the prevalence of clashes between farmers and herdsmen was as a result of climate change, saying government refused to heed past warnings on the situation.

“When you look at the herdsmen and farmers clashes, I think it is neglect of many years. More than 15, 20 years ago, we were warned all over the world that as a result of climate change, there could be conflicts and we should take steps to avert such clashes, but we did not listen,” he said.

The decision by the BoT to take over the affairs of the party followed the failure of the parties to the disputes to withdraw their pending court cases.

Part of the resolutions reached at the stakeholders’ peace meeting comprising governors, National Assembly members, BoT members and aggrieved party stakeholders was that all the instituted cases against the party should be withdrawn.

The BoT Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, who addressed the workers at the party’s secretariat yesterday, said the board was the only legal body of the party now that has not been encumbered by any court order.

“Nobody has taken the BoT to court. Today the BoT remains the only legal body now in the whole set up and that is why we are here to play our role. We are here to perform our duty according to PDP constitution, hoping that our problems will soon be resolved,” he said.

Jibrin said the board would operate from the board room, adding: “We are not going to takeover anybody’s office.”

The BoT chairman came to the meeting in company of the Secretary of the board, Ambassador

Ojo Maduekwe; former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu; former Senate Majority Leader, Senator Stella Omu, among others.

Jibril explained that the sealing off of the national secretariat by the Nigeria Police was to protect and safeguard the party’s property.

He described the problem of the party as temporary, which would be overcome soon, adding that the BoT had reached out to those involved in the crisis with the aim of resolving it.

According to him, “We have gone very far to resolve this matter, we are making contacts and consultations and we are not here to blame anybody, but to resolve the problem.

Commenting on the forthcoming Edo State gubernatorial election and the process that would lead to selection of PDP standard bearer and how the party would meet INEC timetable.”

Jubrin said: “I want to assure Nigerians that we are putting head together with our lawyers, which will not last long, so be rest assured that everything will be in order.

“We the BoT have been asked under the constitution of the party to be in charge of the assets and the liabilities of the PDP generally. It is

in that respect that the IG having considered the importance of our constitution and having considered the importance of the staff of the PDP headquarters here, that this place be open and not only be opened but is entrusted in the hand of the BoT. “PDP will never die, we are only on sabbatical and once the sabbatical is over, we are going to take over our leadership, we are going back in 2019.”

On his part, Maduekwe, however, said the board has decided to oversee the affairs of the party to prevent a vacuum in the face of conflicting court orders.

“We are giving members opportunity to withdraw all cases in court so that PDP can rebrand,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has told the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt that he remains the party’s chairman.

He described the Caretaker Committee headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi as a group of “usurpers” and “contraption” that was set up in defiance of valid court orders.

According to the certified court processes made available to journalists in Lagos through his lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, Sheriff is

praying the court to hold that only he can preside over a convention or meeting where party leaders could be chosen.

PDP sued Sherriff, Prof Adewale Oladipo (who was PDP National Secretary), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), IG and the Department of State Services (DSS) before Justice I. Liman.

The judge had restrained Sherriff and Oladipo from parading themselves as the chairman, secretary or members of the National Executive Committee or National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP until the suit is determined.

But, Sheriff and Oladipo, in a motion on notice dated May 27, said those who sued them in PDP’s name lack “the authority and locus” to institute the suit on the party’s behalf.

They are also praying the court to discharge the ex-parte order restraining them from holding their office.

According to them, Justice Liman made the order on May 24, which is 12 days after Justice Ibrahim Buba of the court’s Lagos Division had restrained the party from conducting elections into offices of national chairman, national secretary and national auditor.

Audu/Faleke Group Condemns Soldiers’ Invasion of Kogi Assembly Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja The Audu/Faleke Political Organisation has described the invasion of the Kogi State House of Assembly premises by heavily armed soldiers under the guise of providing security cover for the G5 lawmakers as an unfortunate and shameful affront on the constitution of the country.

Heavily armed soldiers were reported to have escorted the G5 legislators from government house in Lokoja to the House of Assembly, barricaded the gates to the assembly and threatened to shoot anyone that moved near the gates including the G15 members and even the police contingent deployed to maintain security in the area.

In a statement released yesterday by the spokes person of the organisation, Hon Duro Meseko, which was made available to THISDAY, it said the action of the soldiers was a direct affront on the rule of law and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“What is happening to our state? Are we back to the Hobessian state where everything is nasty and brutish? How can

soldiers paid with taxpayers fund turn themselves to pawns in the hands of political merchants?

How can the soldiers disregard a competent order of the Federal High Court in Abuja that restored the G15 back to the leadership of the Kogi Assembly? Why would the soldiers threaten to shoot members of the G15 lawmakers including policemen attached to the assembly? The Chief of Army Staff must investigate this show of shame and bring culprits to book without delay.”

The group expressed concern with the level of impunity going on in the state at all levels and the attendant deafening silence of the federal government.

“Are we saying there is a different type of constitution guiding the affairs of the Governor Yahaya Bello government in Kogi State? Are we saying the rule of law has no space under his administration? For how long are we going to reel under the jackboot of local dictatorship?

“The time has come for well meaning Nigerians to rise up to the brazen attack on the laws of the land by Yahaya Bello led government in Kogi State,” the statement concluded.

WHAT CAN WE DO TOGETHER?

L-R: Nominee, ‘MTN What Can We Do Together Project,’ Mr. Oladele Awoleri; Human Resource and Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola; Chairman, MTN Foundation, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi and Mrs. Idowu Mohammed, during an appreciation party for the MTN Nominees in Lagos...Tuesday Kola Olasupo

Guardian of Chibok girls in US Lambasts Nigeria for Taking over Girls by Fiat Emmanuel Ogebe, a United States-based civil rights lawyer and social welfare campaigner who had been caring for 10 escaped Chibok girls in the US since 2014, has expressed shock over reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the Nigerian embassy in Washington to take possession of the girls from him.

Ogebe said the move was emblematic of Buhari’s “government of photography and press statements,” given that “no official communication” had been channeled to him to that effect.

The federal government had on Tuesday night announced a

takeover of the girls, who were amongst the lucky ones that escaped after suspected Boko Haram operatives invaded Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in April 2014.

In a statement issued by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, the government said the move was approved by the parents of the girls in Nigeria.

“Following a meeting held on May 25, between parents of the escaped Chibok girls studying in America and officials of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in charge of the

Chibok Girls Desk specially set up

by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Government, including its representatives and agents, is now in charge of the girls,” the ministry said via a statement by Temitope Bamgboye, its director of social welfare. “The parents signed declaration forms authorising the ministry to take over guardianship of their daughters.”

“Any previous guardianship arrangement has thus been revoked.”

But in a message shortly after reports on the takeover of the girls, Ogebe said the announcement was tantamount to “a military takeover

of the girls by decree,” adding that he had not been formally informed of the move.

Ogebe, according to Premium Times, however, said he would commence findings to establish the validity of the announcement by the federal government.

“I won’t know till I confirm the details whether this is govt finally waking up to its responsibility or a publicity stunt following the media mileage from the escape of Amina Ali.” Ogebe took the escaped girls to the US to rehabilitate and help them continue with their education.

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Buhari: Nigeria Needs 1m Units Annually to Avert Looming Housing Crisis Says N40bn budgeted in 2016 to build new houses Fashola outlines plans to deliver new homes to Nigerians

Chineme Okafor in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said Nigeria risked a huge housing crisis in the next four years, which is by the year 2020, if she does not build at least one million units of houses for her citizens every year.

Buhari said this when he declared open the 35th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and international symposium of Shelter Afrique in Abuja, adding that unless the country consciously builds this number of houses annually, hopes of her cutting a nationally acclaimed housing deficit of 17 million would also be an illusion.

His warning coincided with disclosure by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, at the event that a new plan to improve access to new homes by Nigerians has been drawn up by his ministry.

The president who spoke through his minister for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),Mr. Mohammed Bello, stated that his government has begun to design policies that would help him and private operators build more houses for Nigerians.

He explained that parts of such policies are contained in a new national housing development programme which when implemented guarantee low and middle income earning Nigerians access to houses through mortgages and other off-take arrangements.

The president also disclosed that as part of ways to kick-start government’s plan to strategically intervene in the country’s housing sector, N40 billion was earmarked in the 2016 budget for the housing sector.

“Ours is an administration driven by robust convictions and relentless zeal to deploy available resources into key sectors of the economy to place Nigeria back on the path of continuous growth and development.

“We are therefore very much convinced of the catalytic development potentials of the housing sector and have accordingly earmarked about N40 billion in the 2016 capital budget to implement a comprehensive programmed for housing development,” said Buhari said.

He added: “Nigeria with a population of about 170 million people and annual population growth rate of 3.5 per cent requires a minimum of additional one million housing units per annum to reduce the much acclaimed national deficit of about 17 million housing units in order to avert a housing crisis by the year 2020.”

Similarly, Fashola in his remarks, outlined what he described as the plan which he would use to deliver sustainable homes to Nigerians.

He said his ministry had embarked on proper planning to establish the real housing demands of majority of Nigerians, adding that such first steps were key

to completing housing projects; controlling costs and reducing requests variations as the case may be.

He said while there was an existing housing plan which he met on ground, its contents were however not really proactive but expressive.

“We must never get tire to explain the necessity and importance of proper planning.

It is the key to successful execution, it is the key to project completion, it is the key to cost control and reduction in variation requests and financial calculations.

“I acknowledge that there is, for example, a national housing policy of 2012. Some have chosen to call it a plan. To the extent that it is a broad statement of intent about providing housing, it is a policy statement,” Fashola said.

With regards to an active housing

plan, the minister explained what his ministry was working on, saying it was, “a clear understanding of who we want to provide housing for.”

He said: “I recognise that there are people who want land to build for themselves, there are also people who want town houses and duplexes, whether detached or semi-detached.

“The people who we must focus on are those in the majority and those who are most vulnerable; the people who are in the bracket of those who graduated from universities about five years ago and more.

“People who are in the income bracket of grade level 9 to 15 in the public service and their counterparts, taxi drivers, market men and women, farmers, artisans who earn the same range of income.”

Fashola said in order to capture the target population, the ministry needed to conduct a survey to determine what they expect and what they could pay as well as evolve agreeable housing types, between two to four designs that have a broad, national cultural acceptance.

He also said the plan requires standardisation of various accessories used in housing project so that small and medium enterprises in the country would be able to, “respond to supply all the building materials, create diversification and jobs and ensure that projects are completed with a steady supply of materials.”

Other requirements in the plan, Fashola said, included ensuring that the designs reflect behavioral patterns of Nigerians, such as adequate storage, and other lifestyle needs amongs others.

According to him, the plans also include ensuring that the process of issuing legal titles to builders and owners is in place immediately as well as systemic focus on postconstruction maintenance to ensure that the houses remain in good condition after they have been sold to the owners.

He equally disclosed that 12 state governments have responded to the request for land to build houses, and that the secured lands would be surveyed by the ministry preparatory to commencing their development.

“I know that there is a high expectancy out there. But everything tells me that as desirous as speed is, for us to respond to people’s expectations, we must be careful not to build roads that go nowhere; instead, we must be meticulous, focused and dedicated to build a road to prosperity,” he said.

Four Years after Dana Air Crash, Families of Victims Demand Release of Accident Report, Compensation Dele Ogbodo in Abuja Four years after the Dana plane which departed Abuja crashed in Lagos, families of the 153 victims, yesterday demanded the immediate release of the final report of the accident investigation by government.

Addressing a cross section of the media in Abuja, the leader of families of victims of the crash, Mr. Paul Okwulehie, who lost his wife and two other relatives also demanded a prompt and complete payment of compensation to the families of victims.

Mr. Okechukwu Obi, who also lost the wife, Chinwe Obi, a staff of the National Universities Commission (NUC), said, it had been tales of sad and bitter experience from Dana’s lawyers since the demise of his wife in that crash.

Obi said: “I have gone through so many demands with my lawyer on documents I have to present to them. I have been doing that since 2012.

“The last request they made from me was that the lawyers of the Dana Airline are requesting for tax clearance certificate from a civil servant, which is not an issue to civil servants except business people.

“The other nagging issue is they the said I should bring bank statements for the past three years from the period of her death.

Though, I told them that was not possible but we have written to the bank and they have agreed to issue me that.”

So far, Obi confirmed that only 30 per cent of the compensation had been paid, while he is still in a fix about the remaining 70 per cent. “I do not know what the position is. It is a case between our lawyer and the Dana Airline lawyers.” he said.

Corroborating Obi, Okwulehie said many others were experiencing hell, unnecessary demands and time wasting, from the management of Dana airline.

He said: “Some of them (families of victims) are not speaking about what they pass through because the whole issue of compensation is adding insult to injury, an injury that is so deep. What you have heard reflects the case in nearly all the situations.

“The issue of compensation for nearly all of them that are not here has been a very frustrating experience. They are asking for tax clearances, bank statements and all kinds of multiple configurations of demands.”

As a step to addressing aviation safety in the country, the families, while launching the Safer Sky Foundation (SSF) and a website for victims of all crashes, said the objective of the foundation was to generate intense discussion on safe travels in the country.

KADUNA-ABUJA BY RAIL

Minister ofTransportation Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (middle), with the Managing Director, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd. (CCECC) Jack Li (left); and Acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr. Fidel Okhiria, during the test run of the newly built rail line from Abuja toKaduna...yesterday

Ovia: Why We SoldVisafone to MTN Dele Ogbodo in Abuja The Chairman, Zenith Bank Plc, who is also the founder Jim Ovia Foundation, Mr. Jim Ovia, yesterday attributed the lack of efficient broadband required for speedy telecommunications service as one of the reasons Visafone was sold to South African telecommunications firm, MTN. He did not however disclose how much the outfit was sold to MTN. Speaking at the Digital Africa conference and exhibition 2016 organised by Digital Africa Global Consult in Abuja, Ovia stressed that without adequate technology infrastructure to power constant connectivity, Internet of Things (IoTs) would be difficult to achieve.

He said: “We have a lot of devices some of which will be dead equipment. Connectivity is very important and without it, internet of things or internet of everything cannot take place.

I wouldn’t say that connectivity

is the most important thing, but it is extremely very important.

“In some of this connectivity you need it by way of broadband or by way of fibre optics to give you the broadband or may be a wireless. Or may be the spectrum of between 700-800 MGHz that gives you the broadband speed that you need today, and so you can now understand why Visafone eventually sold its network to MTN.” According to him, the reason there were so many complaints was because of the resource availability that Visafone had, which had to do with the broadband, he added.

He said policymakers must ensure that Nigeria is not left behind in the technological development of the future, adding that during the great industrial revolution, Africa was left behind.

Ovia added that the present technology that enables economy to flourish is so pervasive that nobody can be restricted as students can now have access to information like their counterparts in South

Africa, Russia and other places in the world.

In his remark, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, who was represented by the Director of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Mrs. Moni Udorh, said the administration would not fail in using ICT to drive the economy.

The minister said: “We have been doing everything possible in this direction. If we continue on this path, ICT should be contributing between 20 and 30 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in few years’ time. We will strive to make it happen.”

On government’s plan to establish an ICT University, he said: “We also have plans to create ICT-focused university. We have discovered that many of the youths lack requisite skills to compete in the international market. The university will bridge the skills gap.”

While making his contribution, the Chairman of Digital Africa

Consult, Mr. Evans Woherem, said since inception of the annual event in 2013, global ICT experts have been provided a platform in the annual event to highlight the avalanche of challenges inhibiting Africa’s efforts at embracing evolving technologies and proffer solutions on how to get out of this digital doldrums.

He said: “The conference provides access to a captive audience eager to understand where the consumer ecosystem currently is, and where the opportunities lie. Also, it is an important platform to network, share knowledge on the latest developments in the technology ecosystem, do business, and sign deals.”

According to him, the 2016 edition has as its theme accelerating Africa’s Development through Internet of Everything (IoE). He added that suddenly, the Internet of Things or Internet of Everything has become the revolutionary technology trend in the world today.

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N’Assembly, Osinbajo, Udoma, Fashola, Dangote, Others Brainstorm to Revive Capital Market Tobi Soniyi and Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja Disturbed by the comatose state of the Nigerian capital market

and the protracted economic crisis rocking the nation, the National Assembly in collaboration with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, some ministers and captains of

Synagogue Collapsed Building Trial Fails to Resume Again Akinwale Akintunde

For the second time yesterday, the trial of Trustees of the Synagogue Church of all Nation (SCOAN) and the two engineers involved in the construction of the collapsed six-storey guesthouse which left over 116 dead failed to start as scheduled due to late filing of additional proof of evidence by the prosecution.

The SCOAN trustees, the two engineers, Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun and their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited were last month arraigned on 111-count charge for their involvement in the September 12, 2014 collapse of a six-storey guesthouse belonging to the church, which led to the death of 116 persons.

The 111 charges preferred against the defendants by the Lagos State Government borders on criminal negligence, manslaughter and failure to obtain building permit.

Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo had in his ruling last week directed the prosecution led by Mrs. Idowu Alakija, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to furnish the defence with the statement of the prosecution witness, Adebayo Musiliu Olayinka, who was not allowed to testify before the court by the defence counsel.

Lead defence counsel, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had objected to the witness giving evidence,

stating that his witness statement was not forwarded to the defence team as stipulated by law.

Fagbemi had argued that in criminal proceeding, the proper practice is for the prosecuting team to serve the defence with list of witnesses and their statement.

He stated that among the eight witnesses listed by the state prosecuting counsel, one three had the witness statement front load and served on the defence team.

Justice Lawal-Akapo in his ruling, upheld the argument of the defence and insisted that the witness statement should be filed and served on them.

He subsequently adjourned the matter till June 1, 2016 (yesterday) for trial to begin.

At yesterday’s proceedings, Mrs. Alakija informed the court that the state had filed the additional proof of evidence, which was served on the defence team yesterday morning.

The DPP also informed the court that the prosecution witnesses, Adebayo Musiliu Olayinka, was in court and was ready to testify.

The defence team led by Fagbemi confirmed that the additional proof of evidence had been served on them but they would need time to study the documents since it was only served them yesterday morning.

For this reason, the judge adjourned the trial again till June 3, 2016.

industry have concluded plans to organise a two-day stakeholders’ forum with a view to rescuing the market from collapse.

The move which is spearheaded by the Joint National Assembly Committee on Capital Market will also feature the effective participation of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, her counterparts in Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, as well as Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma.

Also involved in the arrangement are business magnate, Mr. Aliko Dangote; President, National Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and a host of captains of industry.

Briefing journalists in National Assembly yesterday on the unproductive state of the capital market and the effort being made by the committee to revamp the market, chairman of the joint committee, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, said the current economic downturn in the country calls for effective collaboration of all stakeholders as well as the intervention of all arms of government.

Against this background, he said the committee had perfected plans to organise a two-day stakeholders’ forum, with the theme: “Realising the Full Potentials of the Nigerian Economy through Proactive Capital Market Legislation.”

Adeleke who said the event would feature Osinbajo, ministers and captains of industry, added that the forum would come up with strategies meant to revive the capital market and consequently boost the economy through a legal framework.

According to him, the legislature will revisit all laws governing the operations of the capital market and make new ones wherever necessary adding that the trend would go a long way to enhance the importance of the capital market towards economic development.

His words: “You will agree with me that this era of change calls for major shifts in approaches to seeking solutions to our political, social, and economic challenges. The National Assembly is keenly aware of the dwindling fortunes of the capital market and by extension, the economy.

“As a mono-product economy,

with oil and gas constituting the life-blood, the global downturn has continued to negatively affect meaningful growth and development.

As a parliament, we strongly believe that the downward slide in Nigeria’s economy provides the best opportunity for major stakeholders to begin to return the economy to vibrancy. We are confident that the capital market can and should perform this role.

“The two chambers of the National Assembly have therefore, come to the jolting realisation that the Nigerian economy cannot fully develop without making the capital market the hub or pivot of its developmental strides. This market has long been neglected and denied its rightful and strategic role in our march towards economic recovery.

“The capital market is a veritable institution for the mobilisation, allocation and utilisation of long term funds, not just by the federal but also for states and local governments. The forum which intends to create an enabling legal environment for the achievement of the recommendations of the capital market master plan (2015 -2025) is

primed towards the rejuvenation of the economy.

“The desire of the Joint Committee on Capital Market and institutions in this direction is to focus its legislative work in making the recommendations of the master plan the catalyst for achieving the infrastructural and development needs of a diversified national economy.

“As Legislators, we are ready to retool the laws guiding capital market operations or make new ones that would accelerate the relevance of the capital market in national economic development.

Therefore, we seek to grow the Nigerian capital market to be in a position to contribute meaningfully to economic growth and development.

“This will make the capital market spearhead development in key sectors of the national economy such as oil and gas, agriculture, tourism and hospitality, etc.

“To achieve the above, we have put together a seasoned faculty of national and international experts in capital market issues and securities laws to give the forum the strength and flavor it deserves.

Ogoni Clean-up: Wike Warns Politicians against Unguarded Statements over Buhari’s Visit Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt As President Muhammadu Buhari visits Rivers State to commence the clean-up of Ogoniland and other environmentally impacted areas of the Niger Delta, the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, has warned politicians to refrain from statement that could jeopardise the peace in the state.

In a state-wide broadcast yesterday, Wike noted that Buhari’s visit was historic and significant, and called on all people of the state to accord the president a rousing reception.

His words: “Mr. President’s visit to the state is both historic and significant. It is historic because it marks his first official visit to the state since assuming office as the president of this great nation.

It is most significant because Mr. President is not on a political mission but to kick-start the largest environmental clean-up in our nation’s history, for which Rivers people, and indeed the Niger Delta will remain grateful.

“Therefore, I call on Rivers people

to be peaceful, law-abiding and demonstrate the traditional Rivers hospitality towards Mr. President and his distinguished entourage throughout the visit.”

He noted that the president’s visit was not for political campaigns but as “the father of the nation.”

He advised: “Mr. President is here as the father of the nation who cares about the environmental and developmental challenges that we face as one of his primary constituencies.

“Accordingly, his presence in Rivers State is not an occasion for political campaigns by anybody or political party. Rather, it is an occasion and an opportunity for us to demonstrate unity of purpose and our readiness to work together with Mr. President to move Rivers State and the nation forward.

“Let me therefore advise desperate politicians in our midst to be mindful of the charged social and economic situation in the country and refrain from making unguarded statements over Mr. President’s visit that could inflame political rivalry and precipitate unnecessary upheavals in the state.”

50 HEARTY CHEERS

L-R: Senior Pastor, Daystar Christian Centre, Pastor Sam Adeyemi; Wife of the Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Funsho Amosun; Mrs. Godrey Ogbechie; Celebrant/Group Managing Director, Rainoil Limited, Mr. Gabriel Ogbechie; and Chief Executive Officer, Sahara Group, Tonye Cole, during the thanksgiving service to mark Mr. Ogbechie’s 50th birthday anniversary in Lagos....recently Etop Ukutt

Niger Govt Sets up Investigative Panel on Religious Crisis Laleye Dipo in Minna The Niger State Government has set up an investigative panel to establish the immediate and remote causes of the crisis which hit Pandogari town in the Rafi Local Government Area of the state last Sunday.

In the crisis, two churches, five persons and 20 shops mostly property of non-indigenes in the community were lost and destroyed.

The crisis was said to have been cause by a post on the social media which portrayed Prophet Mohammed in bad light.

A government statement signed

by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Jibrin Ndace, did not name members of the panel or their terms of reference.

It was learnt that the names of members of the panel were being kept under wraps for security reasons.

However, the statement said Governor Bello had directed top government officials to visit the scene of the disturbance and report back to him.

The governor, the statement said, had “directed Deputy Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Ketso, Secretary to State Government (SSG), Alhaji Umar Shehu Danyaya,

Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe, Commissioner for Local Government, Alhaji Kabir Abbas, member representing the area in the state House of Assembly, Danlami Bako, to visit Pandogari today (yesterday)” Also to be part of the visit according to the statement are Special Adviser Security, Brigadier General Imam (rtd), Director General state Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Ibrahim Inga, Chairman, Rafi Local Government, Alhaji Gambo Abubakar Bojo, representative of Emir of Kagara, Galadima Kagara, Alhaji Abubakar Katako, representative of the Brigade

Commander, representative of Police Commissioner and other security agencies.

The statement advised the public not to attempt to “overheat the polity by the giving the incident at Pandogari religious or tribal coloration.

“We must exercise restraint in our actions as well as comments on traditional and online media. It is neither a religious or tribal crisis.”

The governor, according to the statement, expressed displeasure over the incident saying that it was always better for various stakeholders to pursue the path of dialogue, consultation and peaceful resolution of any conflict, than resulting to violence.

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FG to Inaugurate Fuel Price Hike Palliative Committee Today Wale Ajimotokan and Paul Obi in Abuja The federal government is to inaugurate a 16-man technical committee for the implementation of the palliatives meant to cushion the effects of the increase in the pump of petrol today in Abuja.

In a statement, Director of Press, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Prince Samuel Olowookere said: “The committee which will be chaired by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has the representative of the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Prof. Adamu K. Usman as Secretary.

“Other members of the committee representing the federal government include, Minister of State, Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Hon. Minister of Budget and Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the Chairman of National Salaries and Wages Commission, Chief R.O Egbule and the representative of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

He explained that “On the other hand, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) will be represented by Peter Adeyemi, C Amaechi Asugwuni, Ibrahim Khaleel, Comrade Igwe Achese and Comrade Abdullahi Sale.

“Similarly, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) will be represented by Augustine

Etafo, Alade Bashir Lawal and Abdullahi Sale.”

According to Olowookere, “the committee will be inaugurated on June 2, 2016 at 3p.m. Venue is the Conference hall of the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).”

Meanwhile, Ngige at a meeting with the Association of Contributory Pensioners of Nigeria (ACPN) said the federal government will comply fully with section 173(3) of the constitution that makes review of pension compulsory every five years or at any increment of salaries.

“The constitution is clear in section 173(3) on how pension should be administered. It is to be reviewed every five years or upon an increment in salary. A review was done in 2011 on minimum wage, and once the minimum wage is touched, it should automatically affect the pension,” Ngige said.

“Am not a believer in George Orwell’s Animal Kingdom where some animals are more equal than others. I do not believe in different yardstick for different persons. This is the law of nature and of creation. We are all created equal. It is just that some people are more privileged than others.

Having put in the green part of your lives, serving the nation, nobody should discriminate against you.

I don’t understand why in the same country, some pensioners are receiving full benefits while others are not. This is unconstitutional.”

The minister regretted the ordeal of the contributory pensioners and promised to urgently institute an

appropriate liaison with Pension Commission, PENCOM, to rectify observed operational anomalies as relates to the group, so as to ensure that their benefits were fully paid.

He added that pension matters by the ILO Convention 102 should be under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

“We shall therefore not abandon you,” the minister stressed.

He further said the existing Pension Act makes it difficult to register two separate unions under pension as requested by the contributory pensioners.

“It is either that we get as a special concession for you or we amend the Pension Act 2004 to make a place for you as National Union of Pensioners. But let’s bear in mind that before an act of the parliament is amended, it takes all stakeholders into consideration and takes time too. We can also seek for the amendment of the Trade Union Act to give us powers to fully entertain your case.”

The Protem Chairman of the association, Chief Uche Ekpo, lamented the non-representation of the Contributory Pensioners by an organised union, insisting that what the Trade Union Registrar cited as reason for denying it registration covered only the non-contributory pensioners.

He further sought the assistance of the minister for the registration of the body as a trade union so as to better articulate and push the interests of the members of the union.

INEC Maps out Strategies for 2019 General Election Conducted 127 elections in six months Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it has already commenced work on a ‘Strategic Plan’ for elections between 2017-2021, including the Election Project Plan and the tracking mechanism.

The commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated that the INEC had since the 2015 general election, conducted 50 re-run elections in 16 states in obedience to court orders.

On the whole, Yakubu said INEC had conducted 127 elections in the last six months.

In its efforts to curb electoral malpractices, Yakubu said the commission was putting finishing touches to a comprehensive proposal for constitutional and legal amendments which would be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration and legislation in due course.

Yakubu, who spoke at a retreat organised by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matters in Abuja, said the cost of conducting elections in the country was becoming very high, adding that the larger percentage of the cost goes to payment of allowances and logistics.

“We are also looking at some

of our guidelines and manual to see what changes are needed in the light of recent experience,” he said, adding, “furthermore, work has already commenced on a Strategic Plan for 2017-2021, including the Election Project Plan and the tracking mechanism. This will be concluded by December this year, well ahead of the general election in 2019.”

In a statement issued by the commission yesterday, it quoted the INEC Chairman as having attributed the high cost of organising elections to a number of factors, including, payment of allowances, logistics and cost of litigations.

He explained that in Rivers State, where a re-run election was conducted in March, INEC had to deploy 24,000 ad-hoc staff across the state’s 4,444 polling units with 1,319 voting points.

He said: “Eighty per cent of the cost (of Rivers Re-run election) went into the payment of allowances and logistics such as transportation.”

The other major cost, he further explained, had to do with litigations.

He said: “Each and every case that goes to court, INEC is joined and we have to hire lawyers. From the last general election to date, we have been taken to court over 700 times. In fact, in the last one week alone, we have been dragged to court at least 12 times.”

According to the Yakubu, seven by-elections, occasioned by death or resignation have also been conducted in five states, while two more elections were organised at the weekend in Kwara and Nasarawa states, due to the death of two elected individuals in the Kwara State House of Assembly and House of Representatives respectively.

He said: “In the case of the FCT, it was one election, but conducted in 68 different constituencies – six council chairmen and 62 councillors.

In addition, the courts have so far upturned 23 constituency elections – House of Representatives and state assemblies – and ordered the commission to withdraw certificates from candidates adjudged not to have been validly elected.

We have since complied and issued certificates to the rightful winners from the 2015 general elections. We still have 31 more elections to conduct from the 2015 nullified elections, in addition to the forthcoming end of tenure election for governorship in Edo (September) and Ondo (November) states.”

However, Professor Yakubu reiterated the commission’s resolve to conduct transparent, free and fair elections in the country. But he insisted that the commission would never conclude any election for its own sake.

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CRIME&PUNISHMENT

Navy Arrests Three Northerners, Others for Oil Theft, Vandalism Senator Iroegbu in Abuja The Nigerian Navy (NN), in its renewed effort to checkmate the activities of crude oil thieves, pipeline vandals and other criminals operating in the Niger

Delta, has arrested some suspects in the region.

The Director of Information of the navy (DINFO), Commodore Christian Ezekobe, in a statement yesterday, said the navy, more than before, stepped up its

EFCC Witnesses Tell Court How FIRS Director Collected N5m Bribe The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has opened trial with two witnesses - Umar Dalhatu and Abdulkadir Saidu - in a case of alleged bribery involving Abumere Joseph Osagie, a former deputy director, Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS), and one Jamila Ojora before Justice O. O. Goodluck of the FCT High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja.

Dalhatu and Saidu while being led in evidence by counsel to EFCC, Joseph Uzor, as PW1 and PW2 respectively gave detailed account of how the accused persons conspired to obtain a sum of N5million as gratification from the Pro-Chancellor, Base University, Senator Datti Ahmed.

The accused persons claim the money was meant to appreciate their services for “arranging tax assessment” for the university.

The act contravenes Section 17(1) (a) and punishable under Section 17(1)(c) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) Act, 2000.

In his evidence, Dalhatu, a bursar at Baze University, told the court that, some of his core duties were to keep records of financial transactions of the university, pay salaries, liaise with regulating bodies like FIRS, NUC among others.

Narrating how Osagie and his accomplice, Ojora, collected the money Dalhatu said: “I joined the university on November 9, 2015. That time, I was made to understand that the tax assessment and audit exercise had been concluded. The registrar told me to go to FIRS and see Jamila and Osagie. I contacted them, went to their office and arrange for the Pro-Chancellor (Senator Datti Waba

Ahmed) to meet with them.

“On December 20, 2015, I received a text mesage from the Pro-Chancellor informing me that, Mr. Osagie was in the university on a familiarization tour. I conducted him round the university. During the familiarisation tour, Osagie told me that, ‘you people’ have to appreciate us with the sum of N5million. I called the ProChancellor and gave the phone to Osagie to speak with him.

“Two days after, the university received a letter of intent from the FIRS to pay the sum of N20,029,496.

The money was paid in installments to a UBA account,” Dalhatu stated.

The PW1 further stated that, “the university requested for the tax clearance, but we were not given.”

Asked why they were not given, Dalhatu said, “the accused persons insisted that, we had to pay ‘appreciation fee’ before it can be issued.

“I reported to the ProChancellor (Senator Ahmed) who called Osagie on January 27, 2016. At about 4:30p.m. that day, the Pro-Chancellor instructed me to go to our accountant, Mrs. Juliet Oture, to collect the sum of N5million naira. I collected the money and joined him (Senator Ahmed) in his car. While driving with him, he informed me that, he was taking the matter to the EFCC and we drove straight to the EFCC Head Office at Wuse II,” Dalhatu narrated.

Also testifying, PW2, Saidu, who introduced himself as the personal assistant to the Pro-Chancellor, told the court how he was involved in handing over the sum of N5million to Ojora at Sheraton Hotel car park, Wuse Zone 4.

Prosecution’s Application for Adjournment Stalls Saraki’s Trial at CCT Tobi Soniyi in Abuja The trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, for alleged false declaration of assets could not go on at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) yesterday following a request by the prosecution for an adjournment of the case.

The prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), reportedly wrote to the tribunal to demand an adjournment to enable a prosecution witness, Mr. Michael Wetkas who is still being cross-examined by the defence, to testify at the trial of a former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido.

In his letter, Jacobs requested the tribunal to fix the case for June, 7,8 and 9 but the tribunal has yet to agree to a new date.

Jacobs had in the past opposed applications for adjournment by the defence.

Saraki is charged with 16 counts which bordered on alleged infraction of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.

He was accused of not declaring all his assets while he was governor of Kwara State.

He was also alleged to have made anticipatory declaration.

He denied any wrong doing.

operations against all forms of threats in the maritime environment with more combat platforms injected into securing the critical economic assets and safer water ways.

Ezekobe therefore stated that three persons have been arrested by the Nigerian navy in connection with series of maritime crimes.

He listed the suspects as Sani aka Dogonyaro, Usman aka Smally and Adamu Mani.

Ezekobe said the suspects were still undergoing investigation and would be handed over to the prosecuting authorities for further action, adding that: “The arrest of these suspects has proven helpful in the fight against the criminals in the region.”

In a related development, the DINFO said the operatives of Forward Operation Base (FOB) at Badagry have arrested five citizens of Benin Republic in

connection with economic crimes.

“The suspects are Mr. Philmen Agboku, Mr. Penu Daniel, Mr. Sule Soka, Mr. Dosu Victor and Mr. Sodope Olivie. They were arrested on May 26 along Tongeji-Port Novo axis at about 0500hrs in a wooden Cotonou boat conveying about 900 gallons containing suspected to be fuel.

However, the suspects are being interrogated in order to get an in-depth view of the gang and

its sponsors,” he stated.

Ezekobe also disclosed that on May 26, navy operatives have continued to deter criminals from operating illegal crude oil refineries and pipeline vandals.

According to him, the Patrol team deployed from NNS Delta destroyed a large illegal refinery with storage tanks containing stolen crude oil and illegally refined diesel at Ayakurumo Community in Burutu Local Government Area in Delta State.

ALUTA CONTINUA

Members of the Oyo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), protesting during a meeting of the Education Stakeholders’ Forum at the Old Western-hall Secretariat Agodi, Ibadan....yesterday Felix Ademola

Witness: Lamido Authorised Payment for Non-existent Contracts Alex EnumahinAbuja Michael Wetkas, a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, yesterday told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that the former governor authorised the payment of various sums of money into the Access Bank account of Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company for non-existent contracts.

According to the witness, who is an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), investigations into the alleged crime started in 2007 and span through 2015.

Lamido and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha are being prosecuted by the federal government on a 27 counts bordering on the abuse of office and money laundering.

Led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel Chile Okoroma, Wetkas told Justice Adeniyi Ademola that his investigating team visited Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company to investigate the purported contracts.

He disclosed that a manager of the construction company, Mr. Sylvester Agoha, who had earlier agreed to have supervised the execution of the contracts later denied knowledge of any of the contracts, saying that he was only invited to Dantata’s company to sign the contracts papers.

Wetkas further told the court that

his investigation had revealed that Lamido and his sons companies; Speeds International Limited, Bamaina Holding Company and Gada Company had allegedly supplied bitumen, iron rods and diesel to the Dantata Yard in Kano.

He said a member of his investigating team; Mr. Kabiru Mohammed had to visit the Kano yard office of the company for the purpose of verifying the alleged supplies of those items to the company.

The witness however, told the court that there investigation revealed that their was no such transaction, adding that the said companies were unknown to the Kano Yard Office.

Wetkas said: “The position of the investigation was that such contracts never existed and such items were never delivered.

“But there were payments made by the Jigawa state government into the Access Bank Plc account of Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company between 2008 and 2009.

The witness then reeled out several sums of monies paid at different times into the said account.

“On May 16, 2008, there was payment of N164 million in to the Access Bank Plc account belonging to Dantata and Sawoe.

“On May 23, 2008, N8. 9 million was also paid into the company’s account.

“On July 13, 2009, the sum of N386.7 million was paid into Dantata’s account.”

Enforcement Team Beats Defiant Workers as Strike Paralyses Ondo James Sowole in Akure The enforcement team of the strike declared by the organised labour in Ondo State over non-payment of five months salaries arrears by the state government yesterday harassed and flogged workers who defied the strike order.

Specifically, some workers of the state Board of Internal Revenue and Local Government Service Commission, who reported for work despite the organised labour’s order incurred the wrath of the enforcement team.

The Permanent Secretary of the board was not spared as his newspapers were seized by the team that monitored the strike.

The commencement of the indefinite strike paralysed official activities in offices, hospitals and public schools in the state.

All the public schools and government offices in the state were under lock and keys as some students who thought the strike would not take pace were turned back at the gate of the schools.

Addressing journalists in Akure, the state capital, Chairman, state Joint Negotiating Council, (JNC), Sunday Adeleye, expressed regret that nonpayment of five months salaries had led to the death of two workers this week in Ondo town and Akure, while female teacher was caught stealing

garri in Okitipupa last week.

Also, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Bosede Daramola, said the strike would not be suspended until the state government meets the workers’ demands.

He said it would be morally wrong for the government to be watching its workers dying of hunger and ill-health caused by the nonpayment of salaries.

Sequel to the withdrawal of services by nurses and other health worker from hospitals across the state, families of patients have been advised to relocate their ill family members .

Meanwhile, the state government yesterday urged workers in the state to join in the growing agitation for the restructuring of the country’s system of governance to pave the way for the autonomy of its federating units and enable states carry out its responsibilities without recourse to the federal government.

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, who stated this in Akure, said labour unions and workers in the country have serious roles to play in the actualisation of the growing clamour for a workable system of government in the country which will enable states use their resources to address the needs of its people.

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T H I S D AY •THURSDAY JUNE 2, 2016

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

Iheanacho’s Contract Renewal Saga with Man City Deepens as Chikatara’s celebrated transfer to Wydad fall flat The bitter row between two agencies representing Manchester City starlet Kelechi Iheanacho is expected to drag on till September, following a sharp disagreement between the parties laying claim to the interest of the Super Eagles forward.

According to Africanfootball.com, the hearing of the case before the England FA was slated for May 9, but up till now what has happened have being arguments and defences by the agencies involved – Stellar Group who are based in the United Kingdom and First Eleven from the USA. “The longer this case drags the better it is for Manchester City and bad for the player,” one of the interested parties told AfricanFootball.com

Recently, First Eleven tabled a new Manchester City that will pay the Nigeria youngster 50,000 pounds a week, but it was later learnt the other agents told the player they could clinch him a much better deal.

First Eleven are arguing that Iheanacho breached his subsisting contract with them by agreeing to work with Stellar Group.

In a related development and what seems to be a season of failed contract agreement for Nigerian young stars, as Abia Warriors chairman Emeka Inyama has disclosed that the Nigeria league club have cancelled an agreement they signed with Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca for striker Chisom Chikatara.

NFPL

Enyimba Slips in Title Push as Wikki Goes Top Champions Enyimba yesterday slipped in their title push in the Nigeria league after they lost 3-1 at Wikki Tourists, who have now shot to top place in the standings.

The home win meant Wikki toppled Rivers United to be top on 31 points, while Enyimba slipped to third place on 30 points with a game at hand.

The result also ended the nine-game unbeaten run of Enyimba.

Enyimba fell behind at Wikki after 18 minutes when Abubakar Lawal headed past goalkeeper Theophilus Afelokhai off a free kick.

However, the champions drew level three minutes when Chima Akas conjured a magical free kick from the edge of the box.

It was the defender’s third goal this season.

However, home team Wikki left it late to deliver the sucker punches when Idris Guda Mohammed fired a shot from outside the box in the 88th minute to make it 2-1.

And on the stroke of 90 minutes, Godwin Obaje scored his 13th goal of the season, when he tucked away a penalty after he was upended inside the box on his way to goal.

Zenith MD Hails Infantino’s Proposed Visit The Managing Director and Chief Executive officer of Zenith Bank Plc, Peter Amangbo, has said that the proposed visit of the FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, is a big boost to football development in the country.

Infantino is expected to grace the final of the maiden future Eagles football championship sponsored by Zenith Bank and billed to take place later in the month in Lagos.

Amagnbo said Zenith was proud that the event of the organisation form part of the agenda of the FIFA boss in his visit to the country.

“We are number one bank and it is exciting that

the number one football personality will be present at the finals of the competition.

Our target is to get the talented youths at the age they could be identified as future super stars.

“All arrangements are in place with the NFF to ensure the young ones enjoyed themselves in the competition,” Amangbo said.

The zonal events of the U-13 and U-15 football fiesta have been concluded as the Chairman of the Lagos State FA who doubles as the 1st Vice President of the NFF, Seyi Akinwunmi, is said to be working round the clock to make the Zenith Future Eagles finals exciting.

Earlier this year, Chikatara agreed to join Wydad on a three-year contract that would have paid Abia Warriors $500,000 with the player netting a salary of $250,000 a year.

Wydad had also agreed to be paying the striker salary immediately the agreement was signed, but they failed to do so.

However, Inyama first hinted AfricanFootball.com last week that the deal was heading for the rocks as the Moroccans were yet to pay the club and player any dime.

“The deal with Wydad is cancelled,” Inyama told AfricanFootball.com The decision of Abia Warriors comes at a time when the chairman said there has been renewed interest in the striker who shone at the last CHAN in Rwanda.

“There is a renewal of interest in the player as we have received offers from all over Europe for him now – Austria, Germany, among other countries,” he informed.

“We will study these offers before we decide on the boy’s future.”

Iheanacho

Rio 2016: Oyo-Ita Named Matron Nigeria House Project Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Ekanen Oyo-Ita will serve as an ambassador and Matron of the Nigeria House Project in the Rio Olympics in Brazil.

The top civil servant, who accepted the appointment, also during a visit by the Nigeria House In Rio Project Committee led by its Project Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Abdullahi, said she was impressed and highly honored to lead other Nigerians to sell the image Nigeria to the world and bring investments for the nation in Brazil.

Abdullahi had told her that other nations have had to

appoint icons and symbols of unity who have excelled in their chosen fields as ambassadors of their houses during the Olympics and after going through the list Mrs Winifred Ekanem Oyo-lta is more than qualified.“As we speak countries already have their houses established in Rio to showcase their potentials. For us, it is all about investments drive in critical sectors like agriculture, solid minerals, health, establishment of schools like universities in Nigeria, housing, real estates, transport and so on. We are aiming to seal bilateral trades and have partnered the Nigeria Brazil Chamber of Commerce and very soon will have an investment forum in Sao Paulo in Brazil. We are saddled with the responsibility of promoting Nigeria’s image in

Rio through these critical sectors.

In this initiative, Nigeria is not operating in isolation because others countries have brought on board ambassadors as people who are icons and symbols of unity and have achieved in their chosen fields and careers which is why after checking all the lists we felt the Head of Civil Service deserves it and is qualified not just to be an ambassador but Matron of the Nigeria House in Rio during the Olympics.”

Reacting, Mrs Ekanem Oyo-Ita said from the detailed explanation of the project coordinator, the trip to Rio will not be a tea party but hard work in order to attract direct foreign investments for the nation and is willing to see that the vision succeeds.

“Listening to the project

coordinator, l suddenly realized that this is a very big project.

When l got the letter appointing me as Nigeria House Ambassador l didn’t really understand the depth of the assignment but coming here today to shed more light has really helped me to fully grasp what the project is all about.

From what l can see l am going to do more work in Rio than what l am doing here. I think this is a very noble objective for us to work together to make the 2016 Olympic Games very meaningful to Nigeria as a nation because a lot of Nigerians do not really understand the importance of participating in an international event as the Olympic Games, they only see it from the sports and participation angle.” OyoIta said.

Riding Club Commends Multichoice for Boosting Cycling Race Organisers of the Lagos Criterium Cycling Championship have commended MultiChoice Nigeria; Nigeria’s leading video entertainment provider, for supporting the maiden edition of the cycling competition in Nigeria.

Speaking at the end of the cycling competition which attracted over 200 cyclists across the country, Ladipo Soetan, Captain of

Cycology Riding Club said MultiChoice’s immense support to the competition is a clear indication that it’s an organisation committed to sports development in Nigeria. “’MultiChoice through its SuperSport channel has done a fantastic job in providing broadcast coverage for the competition. Inspite of the short notice, the SuperSport crew were on ground to cover the tournament.”

According to the Marketing Manager, DStv, Chioma Afe, MultiChoice’s decision to partner with the Cycology Riding Club is based on its commitment to provide quality sports content to its subscribers in Nigeria and Africa. While noting that MultiChoice gave similar support to Copa Lagos Beach Soccer championship which has become a world class recognized beach football championship, Afe, said it was a

great opportunity to support the maiden edition of the cycling competition.

Proof of the company’s commitment to sport development can be seen through the sponsorship of the DStv Premier Basketball League, the revival of boxing in Nigeria through the GOtvBoxing Night competitions and the continuous support of the Nigerian Football Premier League.

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