Sunday 25th September 2016

Two Years after it was Deserted, Bama Ready for Return of Residents US heeds Buhari’s call for assistance, pledges additional $41m for Lake Chad Basin Region

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja and Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri The Borno State Environmental Protection Agency yesterday said Bama town would be fit again for residents’ habitation by the next two weeks.

The town, one of the largest in the state, had been completely abandoned by residents since September 2014 following attacks and subsequent occupation by Boko Haram terrorists. The sole administrator of BOSEPA, Alhaji Nassir Surundi, who disclosed the town’s

imminent readiness to receive returning residents, said massive clearance of weeds and fumigation to rid the area of pests and rodents had commenced.

This was as the United States yesterday announced more than $41 million in addi-

tional humanitarian aid to help people affected by the current insurgency in the North-east, which has resulted in severe food shortages, particularly, in communities within the Lake Chad Basin. The basin, spanning parts of seven countries, including principally Nigeria,

Chad, Cameroon, and Niger – but also the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Algeria – is notorious as the central point of the Boko Haram insurgency.

More than six million people in the region are said to be in need of emergency food assistance, while 2.6 million people

are displaced.

The US assistance came after President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent appeal for assistance from the international community to take care of the humanitarian crisis caused by Continued on page 8

Stakeholders Decry Attempts to Gag Free Speech, Press Freedom ...Page 12

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Anxiety as Militants Claim Attack on Strategic Bonny Export Terminal Military sources refute claim

Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt, Alike Ejiofor, Chiemelie Ezeobi in LagosandBasseyInyanginCalabar Anxiety was palpable yesterday when Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) claimed it attacked a pipeline in the Bonny Export

‘Operation Crocodile Smile’ suffers casualty, as N’Delta militants launch attack

Terminal, which is strategic to the Nigerian crude oil production and export and most importantly, the economy.

The reported attack came barely two weeks after Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) lifted force majeure on exportation of

Bonny Light grade of crude oil.

Shell had on September 7 lifted the force majeure, which was declared on August 12 following the shutdown of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) by the operator of the pipeline, Nigerian independent, Aiteo Eastern E&P Com-

pany Limited, a subsidiary of Aiteo Group.

The NCTL and the 180,000 barrels per day capacity TransNiger Pipeline (TNP) are the two major pipelines used by Shell and other upstream companies operating in the eastern Niger Delta to evacuate their

crude to the Bonny Export Terminal in Rivers State.

NCTL has a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day but about 600,000 barrels of liquids can be evacuated at the Cawthorne Channel end of the facility.

It was not clear which of the

two pipelines the Niger Delta Avengers claimed to have attacked as a Shell Nigeria spokesman told THISDAY last night that the company would investigate the claim by the militant and issue an update.

Continued on page 8

Udoma: Stimulus Plan Not Meant to Sell Off All Critical National Assets As Saraki seeks executive, legislative collaboration to tackle recession

Stakeholders, Clark panel to work for N'Delta Peace

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja andOlawale Olaleye in Lagos Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has said that the primary objective of federal government’s fiscal stimulus plan was not to sell off all major critical national assets but to source immediate funds to reflate the economy and implement capital projects in the 2016 budget.

The minister said Federal Government was exploring several angles in the asset sale proposal, including repurchase option, which will make provision for buy-back of those assets when the nation’s economic situation improves.

Also at the weekend, Senate President Bukola Saraki called for executive/legislative collaboration to steer the nation out of the current recession.

Meanwhile, following the wave of militancy in the Niger Delta region, where the nation’s oil wealth is located, a cross-section of stakeholders, under the aegis of the Initiative for Peace, Governance Continued on page 8

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CELEBRATING LADY NWANNEKA

L-R: Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu; his wife, Lady Nwanneka Ekweremadu; and Senate President Bukola Saraki, at the Golden Jubilee celebration of Lady Nwanneka, at their country home in Mpu, Enugu State …yesterday

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

25.09.2016

SUNMI SMART-COLE @ 75

ALL SIDES OF HIS ROUGH COIN

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 • T H I S D AY T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

PAGE EIGHT UDOMA: STIMULUS PLAN NOT MEANT TO SELL OFF ALL CRITICAL NATIONAL ASSETS and Development, yesterday, met at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja and resolved to work with Chief E. K. Clark’s committee on how to achieve lasting peace through constructive engagement of the various tendencies in the region.

The National Economic Council (NEC) had last week approved the sale of some national assets as part of overall measures to take the economy out of recession, a move that has been opposed by many.

A statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media to the Budget and National Planning minister, Mr. Akpandem James, on Saturday, said Udoma gave the explanation on the proposed assets sale in Lagos while briefing newsmen on the forthcoming Nigeria Economic Summit (NES).

The intention of government, according to Udoma, is just to get enough money to fund the 2016 budget and get the economy back on the path of recovery.

Government, he stated, needed to inject a large dose of funds into the system to get the economy back on track and to faithfully implement those provisions in the capital budget tailored at reflating the economy and aiding the diversification process.

Udoma explained that the country had lost almost half its expected revenue and would need to urgently source the shortfall to enable government faithfully implement the budget.

This unfortunate scenario, he explained, prompted the Economic Management Team to urgently work out a fiscal stimulus plan to generate immediate large injection of funds into the economy through asset sales, advance payment for license rounds, infrastructure concessioning, use of recovered funds, among others, to reduce the funding gap.

The other option, according to the minister, would have been to source for additional loans, beyond the level of borrowing already projected for in the 2016 Budget. He said this would not be a wise option as it would raise the level of debt service to an unsustainable level.

Udoma insisted that the country’s economy may not have gone into recession but for the drastic fall in oil production levels due to disruptions caused by militant activities. At worst, he pointed out, it would have been a flat performance that would have sign-posted a new curve in the economy trajectory that would subsequently put it on the path to recovery and sustainable growth.

He added that the government appreciated that the downturn in the economy had brought hardship to the

people, but he assured that government was committed to redressing the situation.

“Our goal is to unlock the economic potentials of the non-oil and high-employment sectors, so as to achieve a sustainable inclusive growth that will ensure that the majority of Nigerians become more productive, thereby reducing poverty.

“Thus, we are deliberately working towards diversifying the Nigerian economy by ensuring that the non-oil sector drives the economy because this is the sector that contributes the most to GDP; and, has more capacity to employ.”

The basic strategy, he pointed out, is to reflate the economy through fiscal stimulus and strategic implementation of annual budgets.

“What this means is that we are geared to strategically spend our way out of recession. Unfortunately, we have not met all our planned expenditures for 2016 due to low revenue outturns. However, we have ensured that the resources that we release are targeted at priorities that will stimulate activities in the economy. We are also developing a more robust monitoring and evaluation framework to track performance”, he explained.

Udoma said bad as it is, the current situation provides the country with an opportunity to revamp the economy and put it on the path to sustainable growth; but in doing so, Nigerians must reduce their demand for foreign products, focus attention on refining petroleum products locally, return to agriculture, develop the solid minerals’ sector and stay the course even if the price of oil goes up again.

Calling for collaboration between the executive and the legislature to steer the nation out of the current recession, Senate President Saraki at the weekend said he was impressed with the patriotism demonstrated by senators during the debate on the state of the economy last week irrespective of political party affiliations, Saraki said, “all the Senators really contributed on the issue of solutions in their opinion, in their own analysis, from their own research and they came up with what we believe is the best way to help the country get out of recession, as regards solutions that we in the National Assembly need to do and as regards what the executive needs to do.”

He said the Senate, when its reconvenes Tuesday, would work on the report of the ad hoc committee mandated to harmonise the various contributions of senators on the issue.

“We set up an ad hoc committee to put together all the recommendations that were

put forward by different senators. Our plan is that on Tuesday, we will now take them and be able to pass resolutions on some of those issues and communicate those resolutions to the executive.,” he said.

Saraki explained the precarious situation in which the nation had found itself adding that there was need to think out of the box in order to get out of the recession.

“The problem is that we are in a situation where the forex inflow, and the forex inflow comes from different sources, it comes from government's sale of crude oil, it comes from export proceeds, it comes from foreigners and Nigerians investing in companies in Nigeria, it comes from hedge funds that believe in the market, that invest in our bonds, treasury bills, and stock market. It even comes from Nigerians that have money abroad, that bring money in. I think I have counted five. Out of these five, only one is functioning today – that is government money. All these other four have dried up.

“So your FX inflow has gone down, your reserve is low, your demand is still up there, there is no confidence in the economy that will encourage these four sectors to bring money in, either because they believe the naira has not yet found its bottom, so if I bring in my FX, I am going to lose straight away, so for as long that that continues, you are not going to see any inflow.”

Buttressing his point, Saraki said: “Then you have the Niger Delta problem on top of that. So generally, your FX inflow is low, your reserve is depleted because in the period when you should have saved, we didn’t. If for example, the reserve had been like $60billion, even if oil went down to $40 as it has gone down now, we would not have gone into recession as we have gone now, that is the blunt truth.

But at the same time, even if oil went to $40, we shouldn’t have gone into recession if we had the confidence of those four sectors, if they continued to believe in the Nigerian economy and they were putting money in.

“Now, so the naira started coming down, now the Naira is about 436 and it is going down further because anybody who is looking at it can predict. I look at your balance sheet, I see you only have 20 billion there, I see your demand, I see money is not coming in, so first of all, there are speculators who believe that by next month, it is going to go to about 500 so everybody is demanding. But there is only one way it is going to go to. The complicated part of that is that because it is a complicated situation, CBN is facing two things, “First, it is trying to save

the naira, that is preventing excess liquidity going to chase the dollar, so because of that CBN through its monetary policy, is mopping up, that is why government did not reduce the interest rate, because they are concerned that if they do that the other problem they are going to have is that all that liquidity is going to chase the dollar. Which means that at the end of the day too, you cannot bring interest rate down.

“It is my own humble opinion that if you can build your foreign reserves, and that was why government thought that they were going to borrow externally, that has not worked. No dime has come in, promises are coming but they are not coming. Even if you do that, maybe the best government can raise is $5, $6billion, that cannot really, in my view may be it can help government fund projects, it is not enough to give that confidence.

Looking at asset sale as a veritable option, Saraki said, “My take is that if you can build your foreign reserves, say about $15, $20billion you now have a reserve of about $45 billion. The guy sitting outside with his portfolio now knows that you are strong. If you decide to defend your currency, you have the capacity and the wherewithal to defend it. It will likely stimulate them and they will now begin to say, ok, let’s go to Nigeria.

Currently, everybody has just put an amber on Nigeria and that is why we’ve not got the value for devalue. We devalued but nothing happened because some of these policies did not go with it. People still believe that Naira is still going to go further down. If they believe that you have the capacity to say that Naira is going to stay at 400 and you have to capacity stay at 400, then I can project as an hedge fund manager that I want to go and invest in Nigeria.”

Meanwhile, following the wave of militancy in the Niger Delta region, where the nation’s oil wealth is located, a cross-section of stakeholders, under the aegis of the Initiative for Peace, Governance and Development, yesterday, met at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja and resolved to work with Chief E. K. Clark’s committee on how to achieve lasting peace through constructive engagement of the various tendencies in the region.

The meeting, which had in attendance, governors, ministers, political leaders, opinion moulders and youth agitators, amongst others was believed to have been at the instance of the Minister of Transportation and former Rivers State Governor, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi.

A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting stated that the meeting had become

ANXIETY AS MILITANTS CLAIM ATTACK ON STRATEGIC BONNY EXPORT TERMINAL But the spokesman of the militant group, Brig-Gen. Mudoch Agbinibo, said in a statement published on the group’s website yesterday that the group attacked the Bonny 48-inch crude oil export line on Friday night.

“On the 23rd September 2016, our strike team at 20:40pm hours time has brought down oil productions activities at the Bonny 48 inches crude oil Export Line,” Agbinibo said.

Agbinibo described the attack as “a signature to the overdramatisation of the so-called dialogue and negotiation process on the side of President Muhammadu Buhari and his

government.”

According to the group’s spokesman, “since, the cessation of hostilities and the commitment of the PAN Niger Delta Elders and stakeholders team, the Nigerian government and her agents are turning the expectations of the Niger Delta to shameful scenes obtainable in Nollywood acts and as well intimidations, blackmails and continuous profiling of Niger Delta sons and daughters.”

“This is only a wake-up call; we may not have other way to say it better,” the group added.

The militant group, however, reiterated its determination to embrace dialogue, stressing

that it is “still in favour of the dialogue and negotiations.”

But it warned against what it described as “the peace of our time.” “We want the peace with honour,” the group said, “We will resist all actions undermining the ceasefire from side of the government and its security agents/ agencies. The world is watching, time is running against the Nigerian state; while we were promised that the concerns of Niger Delta will be addressed once a truce is declared, the activities of the government and her agents are not assuring enough, there has been no progress and no breakthrough.

We cannot be continuously

fooled, the government cannot justify the indiscriminate targeting of Niger Delta youths while glorifying on the victimisation of law abiding citizens of the region,” the avengers explained.

NDA had in August hinged its decision to end hostilities to the Niger Delta stakeholders’ conference convened to engage the federal government on issues affecting the region.

The conference held in Warri, Delta State, was jointly convened by elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.

See the concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com

imperative in view of the recent events in the region, to discuss pressing issues relating to peace and sustainable development in the region as well as to collectively fashion out pragmatic strategies to chart a way forward.

The communiqué signed by all those present at the meeting, reads: “After very frank discussions and extensive deliberations, the meeting agreed to focus on coordinating as well as deepening efforts to restore peace and ensure sustainable development in the region.

“The meeting reiterated the fact that insecurity still remains the biggest challenge to development in the region and that concerted efforts must be made to restore security and peace in the region, while recognising the constitutional responsibility of the federal government as the ultimate guarantor of peace and security anywhere across the nation.”

In view of this, the meeting resolved “To resume a robust and comprehensive engagement strategy with all levels of government and service providers in the Niger Delta region in pursuit of projects and programmes that will promote the aforementioned objectives.

“To engage citizens, traditional institutions, non-governmental and other relevant organisations to foster relationships and partnerships to promote crisis resolution and guarantee peace in the short to medium term as a means to sustainable development and to identify relevant subthemes and form clusters for action (C4A) to advance solutions to the challenges in the region.

“To inaugurate a Technical Committee to engage with all stakeholders, especially the aggrieved and agitating youths, to ensure sustainable peace, security and development of the region. The meeting acknowledged and commended the contributions and efforts of the Chief E. K Clarke’s Committee in pursuit of dialogue and peace in the region and urged the Technical Committee to work with the Clarke’s committee for the

actualization of this objective.

“That it be, and was indeed, set up a 3-man committee to examine the issues relating to the proposed Maritime University in Okerenkoko and advice the meeting and the Ministry of Transportation for the purpose of engaging the Presidency on a way forward and to reconvene every other month to evaluate progress and respond to any emerging issues.”

Apart from the initial resolution, the meeting also resolved “That the Statutory contributions due to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from the federal government and all stakeholders should be paid.

“That the Niger Delta Development Commission should rebrand, reform and refocus to become the Regional Development Commission that it was envisaged to be rather than the contract awarding body that is now appears to be.”

Some of those who attended the meeting were the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who was also said to be the convener; Governor of Cross River State, Professor Ben Ayade; Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Mr. Donald Duke, Sen. Bassey Otu, Sen. Florence Ita-Giwa, King (Dr) Edmund Dakoru, King Ebitimi Banigo, HRM Frank Okorakpo, King W. S. Joshua Igbugburu, Navy Capt Walter Feehabo-Amain, Adm. Poberni (Rtd), Prof. T. Turner Isoun, Sen Inatimi R. Spiff, Chief Timi Alaibe, Sen. E. W. T. Diffa, Olorogun Frank Kokori, Barr. Justin Rewane, Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo and Hon E. T. Agbonayima Others were Obong Victor Attah, Rt. Hon. Emah Bassey, Rt. Hon. Bernard Udo, Rt. Hon. Ignatius Edet, Obong Bassey Inuaeyen, Prof. Okon Eminue, Chief Don Etiebet, Obong Umana O. Umana, Dr. Akpan Micah Umoh,. Nsima Ekere, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, Prof. Nimi Briggs, Prof. B.B Fakae, Barr. Boma Obuoforibo, Dr. I. N. Iragunima, Prince Tonye Princewill , Chief Andrew Uchendu, Sen. Magnus Abe, Chief Tony Uranta, Hon Betty Apiafi, and Hon. Mene L. Derek, among others.

TWO YEARS AFTER IT WAS DESERTED, BAMA READY FOR RETURN OF RESIDENTS Boko Haram’s devastating attacks in the North-east.

Surundi said 1,000 personnel had been deployed to Bama to facilitate the clean-up of the town, which at the peak of the Boko Haram terrorist assault was a "killing field". The insurgents were said to have thrown thousands of corpses into the Yedzaram River and boreholes in Bama town and left many carcasses of both humans and animals on the streets of the town when they were pushed out by the military last year after about one year occupation.

Speaking to journalists in Bama during the supervision of the on-going fumigation and cleaning work, Surundi said he was acting on the instructions of the state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima.

Shettima was also on a weeklong relocation to Bama to supervise reconstruction works as part of the efforts to make the town ready for human habitation.

The BOSEPA boss said 17 streets had so far been cleared of giant weeds that had taken over the town since residents fled in the wake of attacks by Boko Haram insurgents in September 2014. He also said fumigation and other sanita-

tion exercises were being carried out against snakes and other reptiles that had turned residential houses into their abode due to the absence of human habitation.

In the continuing effort to succour the suffering people of the North-east, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, told a highlevel gathering on the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Basin that his country would contribute an extra $41 million to the relief work. The meeting was on the margins of the 71st United Nations General Assembly.

With the latest announcement of assistance, the US would be providing more than $359 million in humanitarian aid since last year to help people affected by Boko Haramrelated conflicts.

The US Department of State said the country continued to be the single largest humanitarian donor to the region.

This new funding to United Nations and NGO partners will help tens of thousands of people receive critically needed humanitarian assistance, including food, water, shelter, and services to address acute hygiene, protection, and nutritional needs.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

SUNDAY COMMENT

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

RIDDING JUDICIARY OF NOTORIOUS JUDGES

O

The judiciary is increasingly polluted. The stakeholders must take action to cleanse it

utgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, last week lamented what he described as the growing perception of the judiciary as a confused institution populated mostly by morally bankrupt officers. Justice Mohammed, who attributed this negative perception to the misconduct of a few judicial officers, confirmed that the case of some Federal High Court Judges whose actions brought shame to the bench was already before the National Judicial Commission (NJC).

Without quibbling, the CJN indeed recaptured the fundamental problems with the Nigerian justice delivery system today. “I will not behave like the proverbial ostrich and hide my head in the sand, pretending that all is well at the Federal High Court,” he said. “Recent events have once again thrust the issue Although the of conflicting judgments National Judicial Council has continued to the forefront of our consciousness. Indeed, it to discharge its is no longer uncommon to constitutional hear legal commentators responsibility of and other observers flay the recommending the Judiciary for creating greater removal of judges instability in the land and involved in acts expressing doubt over our of misconduct, its methodology has not competence and desire to meet the ends of justice.” achieved the desired Noting that the departure objective. By waiting from established norms for petitions from by certain judges was lawyers, litigants on the increase, Justice and other concerned Mohammed said: “When members of the public, we create confusion in our the NJC has allowed jurisprudence, then it would some corrupt judges be impossible for the courts to continue to adorn to convince people that it the bench is not befuddled. In such a situation, it is difficult to see how our fellow citizens will entrust us with their lives, property and indeed our nation’s future.”

While we commend the CJN for his candour, there is need to go beyond mere lamentation if the judiciary is to be redeemed. It is now common knowledge that justice in Nigerian courts is most often denied or robbed of its effects by the antics of some unscrupulous judges. Therefore, it is high time all stakeholders sat down to salvage the judiciary from inefficiency and corruption that have combined to

Letters to the Editor

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render it ineffectual.

Although the National Judicial Council (NJC) has continued to discharge its constitutional responsibility of recommending the removal of judges involved in acts of misconduct, its methodology has not achieved the desired objective. By waiting for petitions from lawyers, litigants and other concerned members of the public, the NJC has allowed some corrupt judges to continue to adorn the bench.

With the current dispensation, where no petition has been sent to the NJC concerning judges who engaged in corrupt practices, no one is likely to be sanctioned. This is not good enough.

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S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR TOKUNBO ADEDOJA DEPUTY EDITOR VINCENT OBIA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, EMMANUEL EFENI, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR OLUFEMI ABOROWA DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS PETER IWEGBU, FIDELIS ELEMA, MBAYILAN ANDOAKA, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS HENRY NWACHOKOR, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI GENERAL MANAGER PATRICK EIMIUHI GROUP HEAD FEMI TOLUFASHE ART DIRECTOR OCHI OGBUAKU II DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

esides, in many instances, the NJC had allowed petitioners to withdraw complaints alleging grave misconduct due to pressure from the judges involved. Even when the NJC has taken up cases of misconduct against some judges, it has acted too slowly. There were also allegations of selective investigation of judges.

Although the CJN announced last week that judges who recently gave conflicting judgments in the leadership crisis of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were being investigated by the NJC, their embarrassing conduct should never have happened. Unlike the established practice whereby the heads of court would consolidate two or more cases on the same subject matter, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, allowed the Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt branches of the court to hear three cases on the same subject matter at the same time. Questions must be asked as to why he allowed such a situation.

However, Nigerians are watching and waiting to see how the NJC will resolve the misconduct that played out in the public arena. Since these judges are rational and aware of what they were doing and why, the general conclusion is that this is only a symptom of a larger malaise. In our country today, while poor people get severe sentences for minor offences, privileged citizens who commit heinous crimes easily get away. These range from corrupt politicians to fraudulent bank chief executives and other classes of high-heeled fraudsters. It is almost an unwritten rule that in Nigeria there are separate judicial regimes for the rich and the poor.

Yet we must reiterate the point we have made on this page on several occasions in the past: when our judiciary is perverted by the very people who should maintain its integrity, the inevitable outcome is bare-faced injustice and ultimately, anarchy.

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

ONE NATION OF T WO UNEQUAL H ALVES am deeply steeped in tearful affection that, we, the Nigerian poor, occupy the deplorable statistics of the unemployed, the vain categorisation of the illiterates, and the tainted seclusion of the extreme

poor.

We, who are the last to lose our smile in this soulless entanglement with our leaders, we, who have been forced, by the failures of poor leadership, to desperately sort ways away from the same nation we zealously lost our lots fighting for her freedom.

We, who remember that we belong to the country, not because of the dividends of good government professed by the American people but because we daily lose all we have fighting for a nation where we have been reduced to alien of countrymen.

We, who didn’t intend to resign to this fatality but retreat to allow the bruises of this unfriendly leadership heal. It is my fear, shared by all, that an end to this evil

is far from view.

We who received, from our leaders, packages of illiteracy as incentive for their excellencies.

We, who watch our leaders excel in the crime of pious promises. We, whose romance with silence has triggered a motivated callousness on the part of our leaders. Our leaders were the first to test the maiden joy of independence and the virgin yield of democracy, but will be the last to extend it to the poor.

We, who by the crippling of our dreams have been delivered, perpetually, to this hopeless resignation. We, who fear to keep than lose a miserable life.

The international agency may know our population, but of our suffering, not much is known to them. Not much is known to them of our captivity, not much of our helplessness because we exist in those weary hinterlands beyond the reach of their probing humanity.

There are those of us in the vast forgotten hinterland hindered from your reach by

bridges yet built and paths so narrow yet you think you have known us. We, nevertheless, retain the hope that your speeches before the council of world leaders capture our silence in the near bother of death where our shacks perch: falling and rising by our hands after each major or even weaker flood.

We, who are happy people, as our delusive countenance will suggest, but beyond pretence, upon the template of our hearts, the pains are engraved - we carry them about because we are fairly reminded of them by its furtherance.

We, who are satisfied, even to the brim, if not by the goodness of our country but by the miseries that strange leadership tabled before us. We are all under manacle like our brethren abandoned behind the bars of prison for their innocence by an unjust justice system.

Our companions - mothers and fathers - count their days in those hospitals that see us through the last days

of our travail; there we lay as we wearily recount, in those perilous moment, to our children, our trials from the tyrannical tendencies of one military administration to the subtle deceitfulness of pretentious democrats.

We, who envisage on death, our ‘tiny’ sufferings of today being made manifold to make our children servants than masters of their destinies.

We who endured seeing the reverse of the dreams so thought of by Luther King, delivered to us. From one spectacular inaugural speeches to another, our expectations have waned and fear has replaced hope.

We, who are always at the end of every unfair attack on liberty, freedom; in this, we indeed confirm that we have entrusted our lowly lives to the wrong hands. We, who, by the geography’s pen, have been set apart along regional and state lines; denying us the strength that unity generously offers. Thus, on state lines, on the maps, and in the borders,

our common resolve falter against a more resolute line of the state exploiters who trade the safety of the state in the riskiest threshold of corruption.

We, who sold ourselves to captivity when we tamed the yield of democracy by trading our liberty, with shameless indignity, upon the offer of gifts on elections by our actions, we render our drive towards an ideal country unattainable.

But I know, without needing a reminder, that an endless evil might, should God and humanity clutch to silence, destroy our children dreams for a fatherland that yet lives and only in our dreams.

It is in our words that we must first win in order never to lose. Only in silence have we staged a funeral where evil can prevail over good.

All we seek, therefore, is a country where the tyranny of leadership will be far-fetched.

Orji Sunday Sylvester University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

SUNDAYNEWS

News Editor Abimbola Akosile E-mail: abimbola.akosile@thisdaylive.com, 08023117639 (sms only)

Buhari Felicitates with Ace Photographer, Smart-Cole, at 75 Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

BUSINESS FORUM L-R: Chairman UBA PLC, Tony Elumelu; President Olusegun Obasanjo, and GMD UBA PLC, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka at a reception hosted by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) during the UN General Assembly and the US Africa Business Forum in New York...recently

With Sustained Ceasefire, Kachikwu Forecasts 2mbpd Oil Output by December • Marketers sourcing forex for import at N313/$, says NNPC source Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said Nigeria could end the year averaging a daily crude oil production of 2 million barrels per day (mbpd) from her oil fields, if the ceasefire on production disruptions declared by militants in the Niger Delta region is sustained.

Kachikwu said so far the ceasefire has enabled production from oil fields in the region to come up to 1.75mbpd, he added that this however is expected to rise to 1.8mbpd by October and then 2mbpd by December.

He stated these in a presentation made at the recent presidential quarterly business meeting with private sector stakeholders in Abuja. Though he was reportedly represented by his Senior Technical Adviser, Johnson Awoyemi, a copy of his presentation was made available to THISDAY.

Until a recent ceasefire on production disruption was reportedly extracted from the militants by traditional rulers and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s oil output had consistently dropped, allowing Angola to overtake it as Africa’s top oil producer.

The drop also created some shortfalls in the country’s revenue projections in its 2016 national budget. Kachikwu however said at the meeting that given the country’s budget production target of 2.2mbpd, its production was still about 29 per cent short of expectation.

He said this gap would have to be closed quickly for Nigeria to be able to meet the targets in the budget, adding that while the ceasefire offered such opportunity, stakeholders in the country have to ensure that it is maintained.

The minister also said the crisis in the Niger Delta had shut in about 2.5 billion cubic feet of

gas per day (bcf/d) from being produced. He said about 60 per cent of gas (850 million scuf/d) that should go to the country’s power sector has also being shut in.

“It is a developing situation and not just one element that impact the market place- you have Platt and the forex rate. What we have had in the past few months and up to this week is typical and fluctuates but largely we have been lucky that Platt has cushioned the effects of forex and deterioration in the value of naira against the dollar,” he added.

Meanwhile, a highly placed source in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has told THISDAY that oil marketers who import petrol into the country are still being protected from the vagaries of the naira/ dollar exchange rates by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and International Oil Companies (IOCs).

The source was responding

to the paper’s enquiries on the downstream market’s current fundamentals given that the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had last updated its pricing template in May while the exchange rate has continued to fluctuate.

He explained that oil marketers who import products do that with the support of the CBN and IOCs, and that they get forex at the official interbank rate of N310313 to a dollar, and that there was no government subsidy as assumed. “If FX is going up and Platt is coming down, (Platt is international cargo price), then there is an offset and ultimately, we are still within the N145 band and marketers do not have a reason to go for a higher price.

“Of course, we also look at two markets – Rotterdam which is basis for pricing international cargos in Europe and European cargoes coming to Africa, and then West Africa Lome, which is a small market but have for several reasons kept a lower price than Portugal.

Recession: CAN Urges FG to Buckle Up, Desist from Complaining The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday asked the federal government to buckle up and confront the scorching economic recession and refrain from buck passing.

CAN President, Rev. Supo Ayokunle stated this at the Thanksgiving and Appreciation Service at the National Christian Centre, Abuja to usher in his administration and honour other Christians leaders in the country.

He said: “The Church does not have the political and economic power to bring the change that Nigerians are expecting, what the Church has is the spiritual power and CAN

just conclude a three-day prayer as fasting. We will continue speak to our leaders to do what is right. Many workers have not received their salaries for several months and they have wives, children, aged parents and relatives to take care of.

“Government should buckle up and know that it is not time to complain, government should know that it is the last resort for the people. Government is the one managing the national purse, so they should courageously address the economic challenges confront the country and not chicken out.”

Ayokunle stated that CAN “encourage Nigerians to be hopeful and know that the solution is not in going to commit

suicide or go into depression or venting anger on people around them. The economic downturn is not only in Nigeria, it is in Brazil and other countries of the world but we want to kick it out of Nigeria and with concerted efforts we will all get there. Let us also change our attitude to work, some people don’t want to work, they just want to while away time.

“You cannot earn salary when you are not adding value; our attitude about work must change, hard work is what will lead this nation out of the economic recession we have found ourselves.”

He explained that “the challenge of being a Christian today in Nigeria is the challenge of

...Describes His Trip to UN as ‘Very Successful Outing’ Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that he had ‘a very successful outing’ at the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA71) held in New York, United States of America.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina said Buhari adjudged his outing at the UN successful at a press conference where he reviewed all his major and side events at the UN. The statement said Buhari used the meeting to send a clear and direct message to world leaders on issues affecting Nigeria.

The president said: “I highlighted the need for the international community to work together to liberate humanity from poverty, save our planet from the devastation of climate change and rid the world of terrorism for a morepeacefulandprosperousfuture. “I mentioned that the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) arising from Boko Haram terrorism is of particular concern to us. For this reason, we have taken concrete steps to address their humanitarian needs and to

ensure that necessary conditions are established to enable the voluntary return of the displaced persons to their homes in safety and dignity.”

While acknowledging that “Nigeria as a developing country has been adversely affected by the global economic downturn,” he however, stressed that “we are undeterred and have embarked on a wide range of reforms in our efforts to diversify our economy and shift emphasis to mining, agriculture, industrialisation, infrastructure development and the creation of the enabling environment for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).”

He also noted that “fighting corruption remains of prime importance to our administration,” adding that the campaign is already yielding positive gains including significant stolen assets recoveries.

The president stated clearly Nigeria’s position on Climate Change,developmentindevelopingcountries,youthdevelopment, statehood forthePalestinians,and reform of the UN Security Council with Nigeria ready to serve on a reformed Council to “advance international peace and security.”

BBOG Set to Mark 900th Day of Chibok Girls’ Captivity Kasim Sumainaand Oluwatosin Komolafe inAbuja

• Warns against complacency on Boko Haram insurgency Paul Obi in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated ace photographer, media entrepreneur and author, Sunmi Smart-Cole, as he turns 75 on September 25 (today).

Buhari, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina commended the versatile and multi-talented artiste for the beauty, glamour and depth he brought to the chronicling of Nigerian history through hard work and perseverance, starting out early as a photo-journalist.

The statement reads: “As one of the pacesetters of professional photography in the country, the president believes Smart-Cole’s place in Nigeria’s history is assured as early in his career

he was a story teller but later as he progressed he became part of the story with his signature creative and innovative style.

“Looking into his background as a barber, jazz drummer, environmentalist and a multiple award winning photographer, Buhari affirms that Smart-Cole succeeded in almost all his endeavours because of his passion, integrity and commitment to making life better for others through his art.

“Apart from learning his art, the president urges younger photographers and mentees to also emulate his life style of magnanimity and contentment.”

The president prayed that the Almighty God would grant the media entrepreneur longer life, good health and more inspiration to serve his country.

standing firm for what is right because it appears the society of today has itching ears and don’t want to listen to the truth. They only want you to praise them and never to challenge them.

“There is evil in the society, the righteous does not have any value, we celebrate people who are half naked and call them celebrities so it is becoming a more dangerous world but as Christians, we owe it a duty to stand for the truth, build the body of Christ and not crisis.

The church and the country already have a lot of crisis to deal with. Our togetherness and unity depends on the leadership of CAN. We need to lead by example and the fear of God.”

The Bring Back Our Girls Group (BBOG) has made public its intention to mark the 900th day of the Chibok girls in Boko Haram captivity with a press conference.

The group in a press release issued yesterday in Abuja hinted that a press conference scheduled for Friday September 30 would be held to mark the 900th day of the Chibok girls’ abduction, which took place in April 2014.

One of the leaders of the group, Aisha Yesufu, in the statement, disclosed that the press conference is to cut across their demands as well as a formal response to the federal government’s press briefing held on September 16.

The statement read in part, “We hereby announce our decision to hold a World Press Conference on Friday, September 30, the 900th day of the abduction of our #ChibokGirls.”

She stressed that, “Critical areas to be covered during the press conference include a chronicle of events and messages, our body of demands and a formal response to the federal government’s press briefing of Friday, September 16.

“I crave the indulgence and participation of the general public as well as media personnel to commemorate the day with them as everyone is directly or indirectly involved.

We call on all citizens and our friends in the media, from within Nigeria and across the world, to join us,” she added.

T H I S D AY SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

NEWS Rotary’s $35m New Fund to Boost Nigeria, Others’ Polio Eradication Efforts

• Lake Chad countries to receive $8.15m Paul Obi in Abuja with agency reports

In a strategic move to fiercely combat Wild Polio Virus, Rotary International’s new fund of $35 million is to boost Nigeria and other countries’ polio eradication efforts around the world to fight the virus.

In a statement released by Rotary’s Head of Media, Michelle Kloempken, the organisation said Nigeria and other Lake Chad Basin countries are to receive $8.15 million out of the $35 million fund.

According to Rotary, the organisation is “committed to an

additional $35 million in grants to support the global effort to end polio, bringing the humanitarian service organisation’s contribution to $105 million in 2016.

The announcement follows recent reports of three new cases of wild poliovirus in Nigeria: two cases in July, and one in August.

The three cases are the first to be detected in Nigeria since July 2014.

Kloempken explained that “with these cases, funding for polio eradication is particularly vital as rapid response plans are now in action in Nigeria and surrounding countries to stop the outbreak quickly and prevent its spread.

Stakeholders Decry Attempt to Gag Free Speech, Press Freedom in Nigeria Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s constitutional democracy have decried what they described as an attempt by government agencies and personnel to muzzle up freedom of press and expression in Nigeria.

This is coming as findings revealed that over seven journalists and bloggers have been jailed within the last one year of the current administration, using various Cyber Crime laws that tend to suppress freedom of speech in Nigeria.

The stakeholders at a conference in Abuja yesterday, called for the speedy passage into law of the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill (HB. 490), which has passed second reading at the Federal House of Representatives, so as to guarantee freedom of speech and press in the country.

The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Communication, Hon. Chukwuemeka Ujam, said the consensus reached after the stakeholders’ roundtable session to discuss the Bill, was aimed at bringing up to speed on the legisla-

tive activities around the HB.490.

Ujam, who sponsored the Bill at the National Assembly in support of advocacy efforts of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria and other coalition partners, expressed hope of its passage before the end of the year.

He noted that in its core objectives, the Bill seeks to guarantee that the rights that apply off-line also apply in the digital space to promote freedom of expression online, freedom of assembly and association online, guarantee the fundamental right to privacy of citizens,definethelegalframework regarding surveillance and seek protection of the data of every Nigerian citizen.

He explained that the Bill will not only assist in the legal framework for every Nigerians’ digital future plans; but will also be a tool for education of the masses, law enforcement officers/agencies and as well as the judiciary. He stressed that “a free digital environment in Nigeria will ensure active participation of citizens towards socio-economic development.”

Military Partnering NHRC to Address Alleged Rights Violations, Says Defence Minister Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

The Minister of Defence, Muhammad Mansur Dan-Ali, has assured international communities that the Nigerian Armed Forces is partnering the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to address the allegations of human right violations against its troops in the country.

Dan-Ali gave the assurance in New York during a high level meeting with a team from US Department of Defence led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Africa, Ms Amanda Doyle.

The minister in a statement issued yesterday by his Public Relations Officer (PRO), Col. Tukur Gusau, informed the American team that Nigeria’s armed forces have taken proactive majors to address any pos-

sible human rights violations by its personnel.

“Some of the majors include establishment of human rights desks in all the formations of the Armed Forces and close collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission,” he said.

Speaking, Doyle expressed satisfaction with the success achieved in the fight against terrorism and the way human rights issues are being addressed. The Deputy Assistant Secretary also advised on the need to publicise more on the efforts of the Nigerian armed forces towards improving its human rights records.

She also assured Dan-Ali of the US’s continuous support to the Nigerian Armed Forces especially in its fight against insurgency and terrorism.

Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are acting to immunise children in Nigeria and countries in the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, northern Cameroon, southern Niger and the Central African Republic).

“Nearly one-fourth of the funds Rotary announced ($8.15 million) will support the emergency response campaigns in this at-risk region, and last month Rotary provided $500,000 to immediately assist with the outbreak response.”

Rotary maintained that “while significant strides have been made against the paralysing disease, with just 26 cases reported in 2016,

polio remains a threat in hard-toreach and underserved areas and conflict zones.”

According to the Chair of Rotary’s International Polio-Plus Committee, Michael McGovern, “while we are disappointed with the recent news coming out of Nigeria, this situation underscores the extreme importance of widespread immunisation campaigns and strong disease surveillance in all countries of the world until polio is fully eradicated.

“This funding will help ensure that Rotary and our GPEI partners are doing all that we can to redouble our efforts and protect the progress in polio-free parts of

the world, as well as stop transmission in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and now Nigeria,” McGovern stated.

He said “To sustain this progress, and protect all children from polio, experts say $1.5 billion is urgently needed. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralysing disease could return to previously polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk.

“Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion and countless volunteer hours to fight polio.

Through 2018, every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication will be matched two-to-one by the Bill

& Melinda Gates Foundation up to $35 million a year.”

He added that “Rotary launched its polio immunisation programme PolioPlus in 1985, and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and was later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 per cent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 26 confirmed to date in 2016.

T H I S D AY SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 • THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

OPINION

O

A Glimmer of Hope

Africa could be the great economic success of this century, writes Michael R. Bloomberg

ver the last eight years, America has written a new chapter in our relationship with Africa. Under President Barack Obama’s leadership, we have worked to transition our support for the continent from aid to trade and empowerment.

We have started to build a full, equal, advanced economic partnership — a partnership that holds as much promise for African countries as it does for America. The U.S.-Africa Business Forum is a key component of that new partnership.

Africa is primed to be one of the great economic success stories of this century. Incomes are rising.

Investments in infrastructure and technology are accelerating growth across a range of industries. Africa today is home to 700 companies with revenues greater than $500 million. Consumer spending is on track to climb to $1 trillion over the next four years. The workforce is projected to be the largest on the planet by 2040. The continent could make up a quarter of the global economy by the year 2050.

African markets are also poised to benefit from several long-term trends, including the fastest-growing middle class in the world, an expanding urban population, and increasing access to mobile technology and the internet. By the end of this century, some estimates predict that 40 per cent of the world’s youth will be African, which would be an unprecedented concentration of young consumers.

Today, on both sides of the Atlantic, there is a clear desire to deepen our ties of trade and investment. Doing so will spur growth and support new jobs across both the U.S. and the countries of Africa. But with only 2% of total U.S. exports going to Africa, we still have

a long way to go before we fully realise the promise and potential of our economic relationship.

The U.S.-Africa Business Forum was created two years ago to accelerate our progress in realising that potential.

The forum brings together heads of states and business leaders for a conversation focused on strengthening our commercial ties. So far, the results of this dialogue have exceeded our expectations.

Today, the billions in investments that were announced during the 2014 forum are on track to be completed — investments in everything from manufacturing and worker training to clean energy and IT modernisation.

There have also been private-sector deals in aviation, banking, construction and transportation. In addition, the Department of Commerce has doubled its presence

Africa is primed to be one of the great economic success stories of this century.

Incomes are rising. Investments in infrastructure and technology are accelerating growth across a range of industries. Africa today is home to 700 companies with revenues greater than $500 million. Consumer spending is on track to climb to $1 trillion over the next four years

in Africa to better serve American firms looking to access markets and create business partnerships, and last September conducted the largest trade mission to Africa in the history of our country.

At this year’s forum, the scope of that progress has widened to include billions more in new partnerships and investments in areas critical to Africa’s future, like technology and the digital economy. Investments in thermal and wind power in Senegal, urban solar farms in South Africa, TV white space and low-cost bandwidth to rural areas of Kenya, and the building of a metro-fiber network in Liberia are just some of the exciting announcements made last week.

Other programmes are helping to spur these and other new investments. The Commerce Department’s Power Africa initiative has helped fuel power-generation projects that are essential for economic growth across sub-Saharan Africa. Trade Africa has increased trade both within the continent and between Africa and the world. And the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act for another 10 years will help more African products reach American customers duty-free.

At this year’s U.S.-Africa Business Forum, we look forward to laying the groundwork for the next chapter — one that sees our commercial connections deepen and our trade partnerships mature. With every deal signed and every investment made, we build bridges between our businesses, we open new lines of communication between our governments, and we create new opportunities for our citizens.

–– Bloomberg is former three-term mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies

Transforming The Nigerian Judiciary

Akaa Bee Joseph contends strategic planning will enable the judiciary achieve its full potential

W

e are in the era where it has become fashionable to question the work ethic and commitment of the judiciary in very uncomplimentary terms. Speeches by politicians at even family gatherings or wedding ceremonies are now commonly punctuated with criticisms of the judiciary and toasts are ended with “the judiciary is the problem of Nigeria” as a staple punch line.

Today, most Nigerians have been led to believe the judiciary is the problem with our country but this assumption is wrong.

From the outside, the court system appears like just another government department, so it is very easy to assume that the human resource policies, procedures, and practices are the same with that of other government departments. However, it is imperative to note that the staff of the judiciary must support and appear to support the independence, impartial process and decision making.

With respect to the judiciary, these processes are quite complex because of the various agencies that have to come together to make the judiciary work: the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Institute (NJI) and the State Judicial Service Commissions). All factors considered, the judiciary has made giant strides with the little it receives from the state and federal budgets. For example the NJC has raised the bar for the performance evaluation of judges while a code of conduct is in place for judicial officers.

The judiciary now has Judicial Information Technology Policy (JITPO); a case management system has been deployed at the Supreme Court, while that of the Court of Appeal is being worked on. The NJC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Judiciaries of Bahamas, Barbados, Eastern Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago to enable them use the Nigerian case management software, while an arm of the government with a bigger budget doesn’t have a functional electronic voting system.

The Nigerian judiciary has been meeting challenges and taking advantage of opportunities while preserving its core values, but it also needs a strategic plan to enable it reach its full potential. A strategic plan is a systematic process of envisioning a desired future, and translating this vision into broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them. In contrast to long-term planning (which begins with the current status and lays down a path to meet estimated future needs) strategic planning begins with the desired end and works backward to the current status.

Various judiciaries around the world have their strategic plans; these plans are put in place to serve as a guide for the judiciary over a period of time usually from three-five years or more. The plan usually sets forth a framework to enhance

the public trust and confidence in the judiciary by improving services, accessibility and accountability. Such strategic plans are made from information gathered, analysing trends (social, economic, judicial, technological, policy and political, etc.) that are likely to affect the judiciary in the upcoming years, the impact of these trends on the judiciary, as well as organisational assessment of the judiciaries’ strengths and weaknesses in a bid to develop strategies to address these impacts and also align limited resources to support the plan.

The judiciary does not exist in isolation. So it is always good to put into consideration other factors that might affect its performance. For example, the drop in the price of oil will likely affect the budget of the judiciary. Similarly a change in labour laws might also affect the employment policy of the judiciary. In the same vein the floating or possible sinking of the naira will definitely have an impact on the judiciary Almost all the courts in the United States have strategic plans and even county courts have strategic plans that are linked to that of the state and other federal courts. The list of judiciaries that have strategic plans in place is endless, because strategic plans provide a sense of direction and outlines measureable goals. It is important to organisations because it synthesises and distills the overreaching idea linking its practical strategies, enabling management and employees to align the specifics of their actions and decisions with a clearly defined vision and direction. The human resources and other court functions reflect the vision of the courts, if there is one.

Courts are fairly insular and closed with respect to educating the public and funding agencies on the functions and performance of the judicial branch. With court budgets typically comprising only a small fraction of states or the federal budgets, court leaders could successfully make a funding request to the states and National Assembly’s without providing extensive justification, long-term plans, or performance data .The judiciary does not usually invest a lot of time or effort figuring how to effectively “tell the story” of the judicial branch because they feel it is not necessary.

The National Center for State Courts led by David Anderson, Robert Becker, Heike Gramekow and Kate Harrison conducted a budget development training in Nigeria in 2000, and arranged study tours for judges, budget officers, legislators and the executive branch in Maryland, USA. This led to significant improvements in presentation and justification of the budgets of the judiciary. The budget of the Nigerian judiciary increased from N10 billion to N22 billion in 2001 out of which N5 billion was allocated for capital projects.

This shows that if there is a strategic plan in place and it is well publicized. The judiciary can seek funding from the executive and legislative arms of government without any problems or delays because the budget request is

framed around the strategic plan. In this way, now there are parameters to use in measuring the performance of the judiciary.

Perhaps because the strategic planning process usually involves gathering inputs from court stakeholders (court litigants, attorneys, law enforcement personnel and representatives of other justice system agencies, and other members of the community who interface with court, etc.) it becomes a basis of conversation between all involved, leading to a better understanding and support of the courts.

The terms of the Chief Justice of the Federation and Chief Judges of the various states are short in duration, because the legal profession prides itself in traditions. There is the principle of Stare Decisis; that is judicial precedence. The tradition of appointing the heads of court, and committee assignments is based on seniority, thus, there might be frequent changes in leadership and leadership styles at different levels of the judiciary. Court budgets requests often reflect the changing priorities of judicial leadership but once there is a strategic plan in place, the goals and outcomes remain the same.

Integrating strategic plans and management practices in court operations allow for continuity and stability during leadership transitions, which is a key governance challenge that every organisation experiences from time to time. A change in designation of a chief judge, registrar or court administrator will not mean much if there is a plan in place with the appropriate monitoring mechanism that ensures its implementation during the leadership change.

Once there is a plan in place, the next step is to align the individuals, functions, systems, and processes of the organisation to this plan. For example, if the judiciary plans to make sure all courts have stenographers by 2023, the NJC will have to budget for the stenotype machines, the human resources arm of the FJSC will have to deploy people to man these new departments or hire additional personnel as required and the NJI will have to make provision for their training. If these types of alignments are not done, the strategic plan will just be another report on the bookshelf.

The process of strategic planning can be as good as the results, because it usually includes employees in all departments and at all levels of responsibility, thinking about how their activities and responsibilities fit into the larger picture and about their potential contribution. A feedback mechanism helps in motivating staff, as goal setting has a way of motivating individuals when a group of individuals work towards reaching a goal or goals and receive feedback as to their progress. This enhances motivation.

––Joseph is a Research Fellow 1 at the National Judicial Institute, Abuja.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

LETTERS ZUCKERBERG, NIGERIA AND THE POWER OF IDEAS

F

ew weeks back, famous co- founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, visited Nigeria.

The visit was devoid of the traditional fanfare often associated with such high profile visits. For most part of his stay, Zuckerberg was in the company of ordinary Nigerian folks.

Seeing him completely at home in the company of regular Nigerian youths, kept one wondering if this is, indeed, the genius who created the globally acclaimed billion dollars brand that has effectively integrated the world into a truly global village.

It is instructive that despite being a leading global entrepreneur, Zuckerberg’s lifestyle doesn’t in any way reflect his stupendously wealthy pedigree.

Let me, however, state that the essence of this piece is not to celebrate Zuckerberg’s simplicity.

Rather, it is to call attention to what, in my opinion, has turned Zuckerberg into a captivating global phenomenon. And this is the power of ideas.

I

Zuckerberg

Famous Nigerian success coach and motivational speaker, Rev. Sam Adeyemi, once affirmed, and rightly so, that ideas rule the world. The quality of ideas available in a given society determines the quality of life and opportunities available in such society.

Many people seem not to understand that the quality of our lives

as human beings is substantially a reflection of the quality of ideas we generate. Many still seem not to comprehend that the ideas which we conceive, like kola in Igbo culture, is life in itself. It is the kind of ideas that we give to our space that it gives back to us. No more, no less. Zuckerberg invented Facebook in his 20’s and as a university

undergraduate. Thanks to the strength and depth of his idea, today, he ranks among the world top billionaires. The source of his kind of wealth is quite instructive for the average Nigerian youth.

His wealth was founded and driven on the power of ideas.

Presently, our nation is passing through a painful economic route.

Oil, which has been our major source of revenue for decades, no longer commands huge financial status in the international market. Even if it still does, Niger-Delta militants’ activities remain a major worry. So, we are stuck; wallowing in self pity and indulging in destructive blame game that leads to nowhere.

But the Zuckerberg model has shown us clearly that having fertile and bright minds is better than possession of billions of oil wells. The utility of the latter is tied to the earlier.

Without the required human resource, whatever prosperity that any nation possesses will eventually amounts to nothing. This,

A LETTER TO DOYIN OKUPE

f the statement credited to you and published in different newspapers actually emanated from you, then you should be the one that needs a rethink and not Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

In case you do not really know her well apart from serving in the same Jonathan’s government, then you may benefit from the first paragraph of her biography from Wikipedia which describes her as thus: “Dr (Mrs) OkonjoIweala is a Nigerian and a highly respected and influential global leader, economist, policy maker and thinker on Finance and Economic Development. She has been listed five years consecutively as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World

by Forbes Magazine and in 2013 was listed as one of the Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine. In 2015, she was also listed as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders by Fortune.”

Now that you know her better, let me go on to offer my advice. First, Mrs Okonjo never politicised her observations about the causes of the economic recession we are currently witnessing. She has never been a politician; she can be better described as a technocrat. As the then coordinating minister of the economy, she handed over the Africa’s largest economy to this current administration but today we are no longer talking

about our position in the African continent rather we are talking about economic recession.

How long does it take a bulldozer to destroy a building? Compare the time it takes to destroy a building and the time it will take to set it up again, you will find out that destruction is faster and easier. In less than 18 months of this administration we are now talking about economic recession and not Africa’s largest economy. What a shame!

I remember vividly at the twilight of Jonathan’s administration she wanted to offer a piece of advice to the incoming Minister of Finance. She was shouted down and called a failure. The same people threatened to petition a foreign university that was about conferring a doctorate degree on her. They told us that Jonathan’s government with all her technocrats was clueless and inept and that they needed a change. An Igbo adage says that a child carried at the back does not know how far a journey is. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala as a technocrat virtually carried us at her back and we were buying fuel at N97 per litre and a bag of rise was less than N10, 000. But when the changers came on board, we now feel the impact of the journey more than those carrying us at their backs. We are labelled as being corrupt by our own people. Thus, the immediate past British

Prime Minister had the effrontery to describe us as “fantastically corrupt.”

After those unguarded statements, do you still want foreign investors to come and invest in our country? If you were a foreign investor would you invest in an environment where statements are unguarded, describing the citizens as being corrupt? That is what Prof. Pat Utomi called ‘Applying Intelligent Leadership’ as we are going to see below.

In case you are not aware, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala is not the only technocrat who has blamed the current administration concerning the current economic recession. In fact Prof. Utomi while addressing the gathering of Catholic Men Organisation (CMO) recently at Festac Town, Lagos, stated that our current administration really caused the current economic recession for failing to take three major actions which are not applying intelligent leadership, not borrowing against its assets and not devaluing on time. He summarised the benefits if the government had taken these three important actions as thus: That would have made people to start transacting normally.

But they said how can we devalue? We will not devalue, people who have money and who wanted to bring in money felt that these people are about to make decision

that might jeopardise our money tomorrow.

So they didn’t bring it.

Even oil companies were not bringing back their receipts and Nigerians who were exporting were not bringing back, so there was a major crisis.

So it is self-inflicted.

Will you also call Utomi to have a rethink?

The truth needs to be told, this current administration thought the act of governance at the national level was ‘bread and butter.’ But on getting there it became clearer to them why Jonathan developed more grey hairs in Aso Rock.

It is a question of time Nigerians will choose between Jonathan’s administration and the current administration, which one is clueless. Tell me a government in the world which will abruptly throw up economic policies that will discourage importation of goods without setting up import substituting companies.

What we have today is the government of trial and error while the masses are bearing the brunt of their economic mistakes.

Recently, they launched ‘Change Begins With Me’. I thank God that you recognised in your response to Dr OkonjoIweala that such change mantra should have been the content of Mr President’s speech on May 29, 2015 ––Dr Paul John, mazipauljohn@gmail.com

sadly, is the story of Nigeria.

Without bright ideas, there cannot be innovations. And it is innovations that bring development. Innovation is the natural by -product of idea. Innovation is the prime basis for socio-economic progression in any society. We must be under no illusion. Societies that fail to harness the power of innovation will eventually become the customers of those that do. There is no magic about it. Our economy is presently at comatose because we have relegated innovation to the background for a long time. Rather, we celebrate overnight billionaires with no visible entrepreneurial and cerebral pedigree while we sentence our younger folks with bright ideas to a life of misery and frustration.

A failure to frame and harness innovation might consign future generations of Nigerians to material dependency on those nations that had seized the mantle when they had the opportunity.

We must be able to create an environment in which young entrepreneurs can come up with the most innovative products and services. Innovation is a journey. But it is an endless one. For us to be relevant in the emerging world order, we must ensure that our youth keep thinking, developing and working.

To integrate innovation into our daily living, we must take on a leading

role in promoting science, technology and modernism as core policy areas that not only hold the key to the future, but could also make our nation one of the continent’s innovation leaders.

It is only in successfully doing this that we could effectively harness the untapped potential of our youth, thereby unearthing our numerous but hidden Mark Zuckerbergs. In Zuckerberg’s own words: “This trip has really blown me away by the talents of young entrepreneurs and developers in this country, and making a difference and making a change. It reminds me of when I wanted to start Facebook. I wasn’t starting a company at the time but wanted to build something to see if it would work. And that is what I see people here do, pushing through challenges, building things that you want to see in the world. You are not just going to change Nigeria and the whole of Africa but the whole world.”

The future belongs to ideas and ideas naturally feel right with the youth.

It is in realisation of this that Zuckerberg, perhaps, shunned older key players in the nation’s telecommunication and media industry and chose to rather associate with the youth as he understands that the future can only be driven by young talents.

––Tayo Ogunbiyi, Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Lagos

AISHA BUHARI AND CANCER CENTRE

T

he buzz in Minna, Niger State, this last couple of days was the eye-catching spectacle of a great impression concerning the visit of Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the President’s wife, to town. Three aeroplanes and a convoy of over a 100 vehicles on the First Lady’s entourage mesmerised the inhabitants of semi-rustic Minna in no small measure. The aircraft and vehicular traffic count beat what was ever on display by the former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

Throw-in in the mix of security guards comprising the army, air force, police (conventional), police (mobile), police (anti-terrorism), police (traffic wardens), customs service, civil defence corps, NDLEA, immigration service, road safety corps, VIO corps, yan baga (vigilante corps), hisbah

guards, first aid corps of JNI, etc., then Aisha made a really grand entry to Minna. But all this in these days of economic slowdown?

Just to inaugurate an apartment not much bigger than a threebedroom flat. This old building, hurriedly re-painted, is now some high sounding “Cancer Screening Centre.” Ooch1 Cancer screening in the midst of common and everyday ailments like malaria, typhoid fever, and dysentery? Let it be known to Aisha Buhari that the wasteful cost of this trip is “probe-able” by a future EFCC not under the behest of her husband. Today, Patience Jonathan is suffering and everyone smirks at her; what goes round comes around!

Sunday Adole Jonah Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER • SEPTEMBER 25,

INTERNATIONAL

China’s ‘Heart for Africa’and the Nigeria-China Local Government and Business Dialogue

T

he Nigeria-China Local Government and Business Dialogue was held on Wednesday, 22nd September, 2016 at the Lagos Hall of the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. It was preceded by a reception dinner and a post-dialogue summit. The reception was organised by the Nigerian-China Business Council (NCBC) in collaboration with the NigeriaChina Friendship Association both of which are currently chaired by Chief C.K. Jacob Woods, MFR, and Head of the Chinese Community in Nigeria. The summit was sponsored by the NCBC and the Government of Liaoning Province.

The dialogue provided a unique opportunity to unveil China’s ‘Heart for Africa.’ According to the Chargé d’Affaires in the Embassy of China, Abuja, Mr. Qin Jian, as a follow-up to the FOCAC Johannesburg summit, the G-20 Hangzhou summit came up with an agenda of supporting industrialisation, as well as sustaining inclusive growth in Africa. More important, His Excellency, Qin Jian, had it that the Hangzhou summit had mandated ‘an action plan to facilitate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.’ And perhaps most importantly, he said the G-20 has a plan ‘to pursue an international agenda to stop people indicted of corruption in their country from hiding themselves or their loot in any country. That, if implemented, would be of great benefit to African countries, including Nigeria. This was what the Chargé d’Affaires had in mind by saying that ‘the G-20 Hangzhou Summit... should be appreciated for ‘having a heart for Africa.’

Having a heart for Africa is a very symbolic expression, especially in terms of international politics of North-South Dialogue and even in Nigeria. The Niger Delta State is often referred to as the State with the ‘Big Heart.’ Internationally speaking, countries of the South, especially those in Africa, have always looked at their ties with the developed countries of the North from an exploitative perspective. As a result, foreign policy attitude has is largely guided by much caution. A ‘heart’ for anyone can be big or small, caring or not caring, and can also be good or bad. However, from various revelations by the Chinese, China’s ‘heart’ can be rightly argued to be a good one, if not a very good heart. Two illustrations support this observation.

First, the Chargé d’Affaires made it clear that China is ‘making unremitting efforts to promote industrial transfer and industrial capacity cooperation with African countries,’ and that ‘Nigeria has 36 states with abundant natural and human resources, while China’s provinces comparatively have the capital, technology edge, as well as developing experience, which are all needed by the Nigerian side.’ This is a truism. What Nigeria needs is capacity building through transfer of technology and provision of development capital. There can be no disputing the fact that the Chinese have the technology edge, as well as the funds.

A second illustration can be gleaned from another statement by the Chargé d’Affaires: China is a ‘sincere’ and ‘partner’ of Nigeria, and therefore, ‘the Chinese Government will firmly implement the policy of “sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith” towards Africa’, as put forward by the Chinese leader, President Xi Jinping. In this regard, this can be considered a declaratory policy the implementation of which remains another issue on the one hand.

On the other hand, if we take a look at the nature of agreements done by both countries, it can be easily seen that the spirit of seriousness of purpose predicated on sincerity and goodwill to assist Nigeria is not far-fetched. For instance, both countries did an agreement on January 8, 2010 in Abuja on economic and technical cooperation. In the six-paragraphed accord, emphasis was placed on Nigeria’s development needs, the need for joint definition of projects to be funded, and on the need for accountable procedures.

Article 1 of the agreement says, ‘in accordance with the need of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Government of the People’s Republic of China will provide the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with gratis assistance of 60 million RMB (Sixty million Yuan Renminbi) only. We are talking

The Chinese counterparts were well prepared for the dialogue and summit and do know precisely what they want to do in specific terms.

The same cannot be said of the Nigerian counterparts.This largely explains why China is a ‘developed developing’country and why Nigeria is neither developed nor developing

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

China’s President Xi Jinping

about a development grant here. While Article 2 provides that the grant ‘shall be used for implementation of project(s) agreed upon’ and other specific matters are to be covered under separate agreements, Article 3 requires ‘detailed accounting procedures’ at the level of implementation. More noteworthy is Article 4 on validity of the agreement: it is valid with effect from the date of signature by both sides and ‘remains valid until both sides have fulfilled all of their respective obligations under this agreement.’ The agreement was signed on behalf of Nigeria by Professor Sylvester Onye, the Secretary to the National Planning Commission, and on behalf of China, by His Excellency, Mr. Xu Jianguo, Ambassador of China to Nigeria.

This provision is quite significant from the perspective of the need to have all obligations fully met before talking about expiration of the agreement. This provision is consistent with the principle of sanctity of agreements in international law. Consequently, China’s ‘Heart for Africa’ should not be simply taken but with more seriousness it deserves.

The Dialogue and Issues

The dialogue was organised on the basis of a three-day complementary agenda: reception of the Chinese delegation to Nigeria on the first day, September 21, in Lagos; presentation of bilateral speeches by invited stakeholders on the second day in Abuja; and business interactional summit on the third day, also held in Abuja.

At the level of reception, it was a working dinner organised in honour of the visiting delegation by the NICAF and held at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos. High-level stakeholders who attended the dinner meeting included Chief Arthur Mbanefo, Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Ambassador Adeuga Adekuoye, former Ambassador to China; Ambassador and Royal Majesty, Gboyega Ariyo, who was former Director of Asian Affairs; and Mr. Sola Onadipe, former Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of Nigeria, Beijing, and also former Director of Asian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry.

Two particular points of note at the dinner were those of the leader of the delegation, His Excellency, Mr. Abulaiti Abudurexiti, President of the Chinese-African People’s Friendship Association (CAPFA) and Chief Arthur Mbanefo. Mr. Abudurexiti, in his address, said China wants to deepen ties with peoples of the world and particularly with Africans. In his words, China needs ‘new friends.’ Chief Mbanefo drew attention to the fact that the Chinese are more actively present in East Africa, and particularly in Nairobi, Kenya. He noted, for instance, that Chinese biggest school in Africa is in Nairobi. He believed that Nigeria merits greater attention than what it really is as at today. Chinese are believed to be doing well but not well enough. There is still room for greater cooperation and this explains the main rationale for the Local Government and business dialogue.

The dialogue took place on September 22. The issues raised in the various speeches are thought-provoking. Mr. Abudurexiti underscored the importance of and need for cooperation between and among Local Governments as an instrument of economic growth and development. As he put it, ‘China-Africa cooperation cannot develop without the cooperation between Chinese and African Local Governments, while China-Africa cooperation development cannot be achieved without the development of Local Governments.’ It is within the context of this belief that, in the period from 2011 to 2015, 148 African governors and mayors have been invited to visit China, while 30 Chinese governors and

mayors have also been sponsored to visit Africa. Additionally, not only have 100 African ambassadors been invited to visit China and participate in the ‘Lecture Tours by African Ambassadors,’ China also played host to two Forums on China-Africa Local Government Cooperation (CALGC Forum) in 2012 and 2015.

The third day was the business summit organised by the Government of Jiangxi Province, China and the Export-Import Bank of China, Jiangxi Branch, in collaboration with the Nigeria-China Business Council, whose Chief Executive Officer and National Coordinator, Chief Mathew Uwaekwe, called on all participants to focus greater attention on how to deal with the challenges of investment and financing of major projects in States and Local Governments in Nigeria and China. As he saw it, the summit was a unique opportunity for business entrepreneurs to strike business cooperation deals before the conclusion of the meeting.

In this regard, the importance of the need for cooperation and understanding was further explained by the representative of the Government and People of Liaoning Province, Ms Lin Ye, who is also the Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. She recalled what the Liaoning Province stands for in the making of China as a great country and the essence of the proverbial saying that ‘a bosom friend afar brings a distant land near.’ As she further put it, ‘Liaoning is the birthplace of China’s first molten steel, first machine tool, first steam locomotive, first wheeled tractor, first Jet aircraft, first 10,000-ton oceangoing freighter, and first nuclear submarine.’

Thus, Liaoning is China’s base for equipment manufacturing; iron and steel, with an annual production capacity of 70 million tons; petrochemical raw materials and products, with a refining capacity of 80 million tonnes, etc.

In reaction to China’s quest for cooperation, Benue State offered one answer. As explained by its Deputy Governor, Benue State attaches great importance to its cooperation with China. In 2016 alone, the Governor has visited China three times and will soon put in place a more friendly investment policy to boost cooperation as Nigeria is not only a fertile ground for investments but only temporarily witnessing technical recession which does not mean that the national economy has reached the end of the road or that it is not robust or that the country can no longer produce.

Consequently, he made it clear that his state wants to make agriculture the mainstay of its economy in such a way as to make it account for not less than 45% of the State’s GDP. He asked the Chinese to come and invest in the small and medium scale businesses, noting that the state appreciates the small and medium enterprises more than the big ones. In fact, it is scientific agriculture that he wants the Chinese to be more engaged in, promising not only land but also issuance of approval to all genuine investors within one month of request for it.

The Deputy Governor of Katsina State, Munir Yaqub, underscored the conduciveness of the Katsina environment to business investment: more than 50% of the population are youth and of ages between 15 and 64 years; in terms of climate and vegetation, it is friendly; politico-economic wise, Katsina is the largest producer of cotton in Nigeria, second largest for sorghum, produces 13% of total Nigeria’s sugarcane thus placing the state in the second position; has an average per capita income of $6,002, and therefore ranked the 17th in Gross State Product; it is internationally ranked the 7th in the ease of doing business ahead of Lagos, Kano and Cross Rivers.

More important, Katsina has a cultivable land of 2.4 mls hectares of which 800,000 hectares are readily available for cultivation. It has many solid minerals in commercial quantities. They include kaolin, feldspar, gold, marble, quartz, talcum, granite, and precious stones like diamond. On the basis of this good environmental conditionings, Katsina wants foreign direct investments in the areas of agriculture, solid mineral development, hospitality and creative arts, power and energy and property development.

In the eyes of the people of Katsina, their state is most suitable for solar generation because it has the largest sun power. Besides, less than one month is required for conclusion of administrative formalities and a five-year tax holiday is given.

In the same vein, the Abia State Commissioner for Industry, Science and Industry, Chief Henry Ikoli placed emphasis on the provision of machinery for its state rather than exportation of finished goods to Nigeria, in order to promote domestic productivity.

For instance, he explained that every household uses ceramics to build and meaning that there is the need to produce titles locally.

As such, the Abia doors are widely opened to the Chinese to enter through and take advantage of.

Beauty and Challenge of the Dialogue

The beauty of the dialogue is that the Chinese counterparts were well prepared for the dialogue and summit and do know precisely what they want to do in specific terms. The same cannot be said of the Nigerian counterparts. This largely explains why China is a ‘developed developing’ country and why Nigeria is neither developed nor developing. Some deputy governors explained clearly the readiness of their people to cooperate, but the Federal Government (Minister of State for Trade and Investment, as represented), did not indicate any direction of government policy, which is very critical in promoting Local Government cooperation. Government’s statement could not even be reproduced for public records and consumption.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

17

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

BUSINESS QUICK TAKES Naira Falls

The naira fell to an all-time low of N436 to the dollar lastThursday at the parallel marke t , as against N428 to the dollar of the previous day, as the perennial scarcity of the greenback in the market took a turn for the worse.

The effect of the dollar shortage was also felt at the interbank FX market where the spot rate of the naira also depreciated to N313.07 to the dollar Thursday, from N310.08 to a dollar the previous day.

ThisisjustasNigeria’sexternalreserves fell further to $24.759 billion as at last Wednesday.

The situation at the parallel market was attributed to the refusal by banks to sell dollars to Bureau de Change (BDC) operators.

ThePresident,AssociationofBureaude Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Mr. Aminu Gwadabe, said none of his members were able to access dollars from banks as directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“As I speak to you, no BDC has been able to access FX since Monday. It is very unfortunate that the liquidity in the market has dried up.That is too bad for the market,” the ABCON boss said in a phone chat with THISDAY.

SMEs

A view of Marina, Lagos

Photo: Getty Images

Banking Credit to Private Sector Grew by 13.5% in Q2 Kunle Aderinokun

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that at N21.425 trillion, banking system’s credit to the private sector grew by 13.5 per cent in the second quarter over the preceding quarter.

CBN, which made this known in its Economic Report for the Second Quarter 2016, obtained by THISDAY at the weekend, attributed the development to the growth in claims on the core private sector.

“Over the level at end December 2015, banking system’s credit to the private sector grew by 14.5 per cent, compared with the growth of 0.9 per cent and 4.3 per cent recorded at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2015, respectively,” it also noted in the report.

However, the CBN quarterly report showed that banking system’s credit (net) to the Federal Government fell by 23.5 per cent to N2. 893 trillion.

This was in contrast to the growth of 30.7 and 26.5 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2015, respectively.

The development, the apex bank pointed out, was due to the fall in banks’ holding of government securities.

“Relative to the level at end-December 2015, net claims on Federal Government rose marginally by N0.96 million (0.00003 per cent) at the end of the review period, compared with the growth of 30.7 per cent and 118.5 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2015, respectively.”

MONEY

Taking a broader view of the monetary and credit developments, the CBN revealed that, at N24,318.14 billion, aggregate domestic credit (net) to the economy, on quarter-on-quarter basis, grew by 7.3 per cent. This compared with the growth of 4.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2015, respectively.

According to the banking regulatory authority, “The development, relative to the preceding quarter was attributed to the 13.5 per cent growth in claims on the private sector. Over the level at end December 2015, net domestic credit rose by 12.5 per cent, compared with the growth of 4.9 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter. The development reflected the growth in claims on the private sector.”

Generally, the Central Bank noted in the report, “On quarter-on-quarter basis, growth in the key monetary aggregates accelerated in the second quarter of 2016,” stating that, “over the level at the end of the preceding quarter, broad money supply, (M2), grew by 5.9 per cent.”

The development, the apex bank explained, “reflected the increase in net foreign assets, domestic credit (net) and other assets (net) of the banking system, respectively. Similarly, narrow money (M1), grew by 0.9 per cent over the level at the end of the preceding quarter.”

However, noting that developments in banks’ deposit and lending rates

were mixed during the second quarter of 2016, it found out that, “the spread between the weighted average term deposit and maximum lending rates widened to 21.43 percentage points at the end of the second quarter of 2016.”

Similarly, the CBN also showed in the quarterly report that, “the margin between the average savings deposit and the maximum lending rates widened to 24.10 percentage points.” “At the inter-bank funds segment, the weighted average inter-bank call rate rose by 12.55 percentage points to 15.56 per cent in the second quarter of 2016, reflecting the liquidity condition in the banking system.”

It therefore followed, according to the report that the total value of money market assets outstanding at the end of the second quarter of 2016, stood at At N1,159.05 billion, total federally-collected revenue was 51.3 and 8.6 per cent lower than the quarterly budget estimate and the preceding quarter’s receipts, respectively

N10. 461 trillion, showing an increase of 6.7 per cent, compared with the level at the end of the first quarter of 2016.

The apex bank noted that, “The development reflected the 8.09 and 2.73 per cent increase in FGN bonds and treasury bills, respectively. Developments on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) were mixed in the review quarter. “ Nevertheless, in his analysis of revenue receipts, the CBN , in the

report, revealed that, “At N1,159.05 billion, total federally-collected revenue was 51.3 and 8.6 per cent lower than the quarterly budget estimate and the preceding quarter’s receipts, respectively.”

Explaining that, “at N537.19 billion or 46.3 per cent of the total, gross oil receipt was lower than both the provisional quarterly budget and the receipts in the preceding quarter,” it attributed the development to “the continued fall in receipts from crude oil/gas exports arising from persistent low price of crude oil and incidences of shut-ins and shut-downs at some NNPC terminals, owing to pipeline vandalism.”

But on the other hand, the CBN stated that, “Non-oil receipts, at N621.86 billion or 53.7 per cent of the total, was above the level in the preceding quarter by 3.2 per cent, but was significantly lower than the proportionate quarterly budget.”

According to the report, the Federal Government retained revenue was N677.88 billion, while total expenditure was N1.769 trillion, resulting in an estimated deficit of N1.091 trillion in the second quarter of 2016, compared with the proportionate quarterly budget deficit of N555.49 billion. “Agricultural sector activities increased due to well distributed rainfall in most parts of the country. Major activity in the South was harvesting of maize and yam, while planting and off-season harvesting dominated in the North.

In the livestock sub-sector, farmers engaged in the breeding of poultry and migration of cattle from North to South in search of green pastures.”

With the Nigerian economy in a recession,supportforsmallandmediumscale enterprises (SMEs) could be one of the key ingredients to carrying the country through these tough times .

Assistingthemshouldbecomeapriority for big businesses and the government.

ThatwasthesubmissionoftheRegional DirectorforSageinWestAfrica,Magnus Nmonwu, who noted that small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria face challenging times, even as the economy slides.

In addition to the country entering a recession–definedasadeclineinGDPover twoconsecutivequarters–theupcoming Communication Service Tax Bill could also affect Nigerian businesses. Yet Nigerian businesses and entrepreneurs are creative and resilient – and might play an instrumental role in lifting the economy out of recession, given the rightsupportandbusinessenvironment.

“Nigerian entrepreneurs and business owners are the engines that drive the country’s economy,” Nmonwu added.

“During recessions, big companies are able to adjust by downsizing and cutting costs. Small businesses, however, keep going and carry the losses. They need our support, as they can contribute to turning the economy around, far more quickly.

Trade Facilitation

The Customs Area Comptroller, Tincan Island Port, Mr. Yusuf Bashar, has said that he has brought ideas that will fasttracktheconcertedeffortsoftheNigeria CustomsService(NCS)toensurepractical trade facilitation.

He stated this at a stakeholders’ meeting comprisingexecutivesofFreightForwarders, Tin Can Island Chapter, held at the command.

Accordingtohim,themeetingwasaimed atidentifyinggreyareasthatcouldhinder the concept of trade facilitation and promotion of international trade, with a view to proffering solutions.

He said trade facilitation can be achieved in an atmosphere of honest declaration, whichwillultimatelyallowforaseamless flow of documentation in the system.

The Comptroller posited that all effort would be made to create on enabling environment for honest declarants to thrive in their business in the spirit and letter of trade facilitation.

He noted that the Service has what it takes in terms of advanced technology to monitor transactions and ensuring revenue leakages are blocked.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25 , 2016

18

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

From Economic Retreat, an Ambitious Stimulus Plan

The intention of the Federal Government to reflate the economy with N4.72 trillion has provoked discourse among experts, writes Olaseni Durojaiye

A road under construction

T

he disclosure by the Federal Government that it would stimulate and pull the nation’s economy out of recession with a N4.72 trillion (up to $15 billion) stimulus package has begun to generate debate. It has also raised questions as to how the government hopes to raise the fund within the context of the prevailing economic situation in the country.

The announcement, which was one of the highlights of the recently held ministerial economic retreat that was convened by the Federal Executive council to tinker with the economy was coming even as it was announced that government had so far released N770 billion out the budgeted N1.8trn capital vote.

The need for government to tinker with economy became necessary against the backdrop of the current economic recession which analysts contended was inflation induced.

It will be recalled that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently disclosed that the economy had slipped into one of the worst recessions in its history. The official confirmation also gave alarming employment rate in the country as well as declining purchasing power due to rising cost of goods.

Funds Drive Resolutions from the retreat also included a strategic plan to generate the needed capital. The sum is expected to be generated through various sources. According to the Minister of Budget and Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, funding is expected to come from sale of some national assets, advance payment by joint venture operators for license renewals, infrastructure concessions, use of recovered funds etc, and long term, low interest loan among

others including a $1 billion through Euro bond capital raise.

Among the infrastructure to be concessioned are the existing Lagos to Kano and Port Harcourt to Maiduguri rail lines.

Udoma, who disclosed this, stated that General Electric (GE) had committed to bringing $2 billion through the concession.

He added that the concessionaire would take over the rail lines, revamp them and build coaches in the country adding that the process of getting it through would however take some time.

Additionally, $1 billion will be raised through Euro bond capital raise, according to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.

This is in line with the external borrowing plan approved recently to enable government borrow lowest interest borrowings available to fund key projects.

Adeosun also said the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), and other multilateral and international lending institutions, have already approved plans for loans at interest rates of 1.5 per cent, and repayment tenors as long as 40 years adding that the facilities would help the government intervene in some key areas, like agriculture, education, health, rebuilding of transportation facilities, railway and other projects considered vital to government effort to revamp the economy.

Economy watchers, who welcomed the plan, opined that the initiative is to stimulate growth, which is necessary under recession as against simply managing the inflation.

They posited that the current inflationary trend was structurally induced and brought about partially by the foreign exchange rate crisis, collapsing infrastructure and increasing cost of inputs.

According to them, headline inflation (food plus core indices) has been driven by increasing prices of energy, electricity, fuel, and high cost of transportation services as

against a scenario where too much money was chasing few goods. Analysts argued that is why we could see unemployment and inflation moving in same direction Stakeholders React In announcing the planned stimulus, the resolution emphasised the need to ensure quick injection of fresh capital into the economy and proposed the immediate implementation of the social intervention programmes, namely the school feeding, teachers’ assistance scheme and local debt repayment, particularly to states and contractors.

In addition, priority attention must be given to infrastructure, including power, rail and public works; agriculture and agro processing, mining and solid minerals, and human capital development among others.

Stakeholders agreed with the sectors that government planned to intervene in. Many believe intervention in the rail sector will restore the past glory of the sector and create a value chain and argued that it would see to a rebirth in commerce and economic activities along the rail routes which will further pull a sizeable chunk of the unemployed population into the employment bracket. It would also reduce capital expenditure on road infrastructure as the sector is likely to witness reduced usage translating in reduced expenses on road maintenance.

In his reaction to THISDAY enquiries, a research analysts with a Lagos-based economy advocacy group, Rotimi Oyelere, contended that, “During recession, government must reflate the economy through various means and stimulus spending is one of the many available options. If the fund is directed at production and productivityenhanced activities, it guarantees quick wins by fast-tracking money flow into the system and this will increase consumer

spending. Aggregate demand must be enhanced at this time.

“When consumer spending is enhanced, or demand for goods and service increases, industries will be motivated to increase production/output and where necessary expand capacity. These activity chains have huge impact on employment and job creation. In the first instance, opportunities will be created for disengaged workers/ individuals, who recently lost their jobs due to the contraction in the economy. In addition, unemployed individuals and new entrants into the labour market can find jobs to do and earn income,” he stated.

Others argued that investment in the power sector could not be overemphasised due to its spiral effect on economic activities in the country, arguing that it was capable of reducing production cost and prices of commodities.

However, beyond the initiative being the right step in the right direction, there are doubts in some quarters as to how government will raise the stated N4.72 trillion even as they insisted that if government is able to raise the said sum and inject same into the economy the impact on the economy will take some time to become visible.

Those who hold this position, pointed at the current state of oil business both locally and in the international market and argued that tax receipts cannot fill the gap in short falls in the revenue from the oil sector.

Besides, one analyst noted that it was imperative to shorten the procurement process and take another look at lending rate in the country and insisted that doing same will fast track the impact of the initiative on the economy.

“Procurement process needs to be fasttracked if we must see a quick turnaround in the economy,” stated Port Harcourt, Rivers State economist and entrepreneur, Ezeh Wordu.

“Both monetary and fiscal policy authorities also need to take another look at lending rate in the country to stimulate manufacturing activities which will, in turn, boost employment generation as many factories are currently either shutdown or operating at reduced capacity,” he added.

Doubts about Funds Sourcing Speaking to THISDAY, Chief Executive Officer of Cowrie Assets, Johnson Chukwu, expressed doubt about government’s ability to raise N4.72 trillion as it has stated “even at the best of times, it will be difficult to raise the kind of money”, and pointed at the declining oil production level and price in the international oil market.

Chukwu agreed that sales of assets is the “low hanging fruit” option, he however insisted that while some assets might not be problematic to trade off, others might not be that easily sold particularly the joint venture assets which he argued will take some time.

“The first question we should ask is how government plans to raise that kind of money. I can’t see how they’ll be able to raise it; oil production is down, oil price too; revenue from tax cannot account for it, if we’re talking of government spending.

“Selling assets, especially in the oil sector of course is the low hanging fruit; government could sell off some assets like stakes in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) easily but one cannot say so of joint venture assets; sales of joint venture assets will take time to materialise,” he explained.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Recession: Harmonisng Fiscal and Monetary Policies

The just-concluded 252nd meeting of the monetary policy committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has brought to the fore the urgent need to have a robust fiscal policy to complement the monetary policy, requisite for the economy to swim out of the murky waters of recession, reports Kunle Aderinokun

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t its last meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decided to hold monetary policy instruments at their respective rates. The MPC explained that it took the decision to allow the positive effects of the current monetary policy stance and other measures like the foreign exchange market reforms to fully manifest. The committee, however, pointed out that at the appropriate time, it would consider easing the policy stance.

Essentially, the MPC rose from its 252th meeting in Abuja and left unchanged the monetary policy rate (MPR) at 14.00 per cent; cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 22.5 per cent; liquidity ratio at 30.00 per cent; and asymmetric window at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR. By retaining the rates, especially the MPR, the CBN has defied pressure from the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, and the manufacturers, amongst others, who have pushed for reduction in the benchmark interest rate to stimulate consumption and spending.

Addressing the media shortly after the bi-monthly meeting, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, noted that, even though the MPC considered the numerous analysis and calls for rates reduction, it however, concluded that, “the greatest challenge to the economy today remains incomplete fiscal reforms which raise costs, risks and uncertainty.”

The calls, Emefiele acknowledged, came “mainly from the belief that reducing interest rates will spur credit growth, not only in the private sector but also by the public sector, which will help provide liquidity to stimulate consumption and investment spending.”

While the CBN noted that it understood the importance of increased consumption and massive spending in times of recession, it, however, argued that rather than serving its desired objectives, rates cut in times past, had given undue advantage to traders who secured liquidity to fund their insatiable appetite for forex, thereby putting pressure on the foreign exchange market and pushing up the exchange rate.

Besides, the apex bank contended that if the MPC cut the rates, the resultant effect would worsen inflationary pressure.

According to Emefiele, “The committee was of the view that in the past, the MPC had cut rates to achieve the above objectives; but found that rather than deploy the available liquidity to provide credit to agriculture and manufacturing sectors, the rate cuts provided opportunities for lending to traders who deployed the same liquidity in putting pressure on the foreign exchange market which had limited supply, thus pushing up the exchange rate.”

He explained further that, “with respect to providing opportunity to the public sector to borrow at lower rates to boost consumption and investment spending, the committee agreed that while it was expected to stimulate growth through aggressive spending, doing so without corresponding efforts to boost industrial output by taking actions to deepen foreign exchange supply for raw materials will not help reduce unemployment nor would it boost industrial capacities.

“The committee was also of the view that consumer demand for goods which will be boosted through increased spending may

A Lagos market

indeed be chasing too few goods which may further exacerbate the already heightened inflationary conditions.

Aligning with the MPC decision, the Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Muhammadu Sanusi II, was pleased with the committee for leaving the MPR and other rates unchanged.

According to Sanusi, “To be honest, when the fiscal authorities and many people in the private sector said they wanted a lower interest rate, I was concerned that the central bank would succumb to pressure. The fact that the central bank did not, shows that the central bank is beginning to reclaim its independence, which to me is a very good thing.

“I was very pleased with the MPC. In fact, I was waiting for the outcome of the meeting. When the central bank said they are not bringing the interest rate down, then I said ‘yes’, that is what I like to see.

These are economic issues and you make choices.

“As an interested party and a former central banker, I can see why the central bank was not willing to reduce the interest rate at this point in time. If you lower the MPR by 100 or 200 basis points (bps), it is not going to lead to a rapid increase in credit growth. You will not see an increase in credit growth that would reverse the downward trend in output by lowering MPR by 100 or 200 bps.

“You would however further fuel inflation and you would reduce the yields on fixed income securities at a time when you are trying to attract foreign exchange.

“The immediate oxygen that this economy needs is foreign exchange and portfolio investors are important.”

Acknowledging the poor outing of the economy, Emefiele emphasised that the MPC indicated that to get the economy out of the quagmire, monetary policy must be complemented with robust fiscal policy, which was currently non-existent.

“The committee acknowledged the weak macroeconomic performance and the challenges confronting the economy,

but noted that the MPC had consistently called attention to the implications of the absence of robust fiscal policy to complement monetary policy in the past,” he noted.

Due to the foregoing, the CBN governor stated that, “the urgency for a monetaryfiscal policy retreat along with trade and budgetary policy, to design a comprehensive intervention mechanism is long overdue.”

However, economic analysts and market watchers have greeted the MPC decision and policy direction of the CBN with mixed feelings and cautious optimism.

Managing Director, Global Analytics Derivatives Consulting Ltd, Tope Fasua, believed that by holding the rates, the MPC members were only being cautious.

According to him, “With this decision, the MPC has decided to watch the economy for a while.”

Fasua recalled that, “The reason why MPR was increased to 14 per cent two months ago, in the first place, was because they had an eye on inflation and decided to curb the rise,” pointing out that, “they intended to stem the apparent stagflation in the economy.”

“I believe though, that if a downward pressure is commenced against interest rates for now - as the Minister for Finance proposed - inflation will not necessarily climb. This is because the banks are not really lending, and will not lend more just because interest rates are lower. I believe the MPC can begin lowering interest rates by its next meeting,” he posited.

In his own analysis, Executive Director, Corporate Finance Department of BGL Capital Ltd, Femi Ademola, said the MPC decision was not “totally unexpected based on the comment attributed to the CBN Governor that the economy has attracted $1 billion since the introduction of the flexible exchange rate and probably due to the monetary tightening.”

Ademola said, “Since the MPC has stated that they would rather focus on attracting foreign investors to help the exchange rate than support growth, their action is in sync with their belief,” however pointing out

that, “It is just that it may not be exactly what we need at the moment.”

According to him, “We have been consistently deploying monetary tightening for over five years in bid to fight inflation and attract foreign investment. Unfortunately, the results don’t suggest that it would continue to work hence it would be a good time to test lowering interest rate and focusing on targeted withdrawal of excess liquidity from the sector that has liquidity surfeit.

This blanket high interest rate across the market may not be making sense again.”

But he pointed out that, “in most economies, the likely immediate reaction is monetary easing, although cautiously at first, but later strong enough to push likely back to the economy, increase domestic production and improve employment.”

“This is why most analysts and economists expected that the MPC would at the last meeting commence the process of monetary easing even if a little and probably introduce policies that would boost liquidity to the productive sectors of the economy as the most potent mean of getting the country out of recession.”

Nevertheless, Ademola, advised “Nigeria to create its unconventional monetary policies (UMP) to move out of recession”, which are “mostly home-grown and fit for purpose.”

According to him, most economies depended more on UMP to get out of the financial crisis since 2008.

To the Macroeconomic and Fixed Income Research Analyst at FBN Capital Ltd, Chinwe Egwim, the MPC decision was a surprise.

According to her, “We expected a hike in the MPR by 100 basis points on the basis of attracting foreign flows which would assist in stabilising the new FX regime as sizeable autonomous inflows will supplement the CBN. The fastest route to this destination is through investment by the offshore community in naira-denominated assets.”

Egwim noted that by holding the rates, the CBN’s MPC preferred to adopt a wait and see approach, believing that the tightening of the last MPC meeting was sufficient.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25 , 2016

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

A view of NLNG facility

Divergent Views Trail Calls for Sale of National Assets

Nigeria is currently battling its worst economic recession in 29 years, leading to suggestions to sell national assets. Omololu Ogunmade writes on the controversy

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ince the business magnate, Aliko Dangote, advocated the sale of national assets to cushion the biting effects of recession on the economy, the matter has become a national controversy which has polarised Nigerians into two main camps.

The recession has made it difficult for Nigeria to secure low-interest foreign loans as a result of poor credit ratings.

Hence, Dangote, Africa’s richest man, had in an interview with a cable television, CNBC, advised the federal government to sustain its foreign reserves by disposing its stakes in major assets such as the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Other assets being considered for sale are refineries, financial institutions and airports.

Dangote’s call received the immediate backing of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, and his predecessor, Muhammadu Sanusi II, as well as the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

According to Emefiele, when the idea of selling the national assets was first conceived in 2015, it was reported that the sale of the assets had the potential to yield a whooping $40 billion to the nation.

However, he said with the current flexibility in the market, sales output from the assets could only yield between $10 billion and $20 billion at present. Nevertheless, Sanusi and Emefiele added that the assets could still be sold with a caveat that the federal government could buy back such assets when the economy eventually recovers.

Said Emefiele: “In the short run, we can sell assets. You will recall that as at April 2015, I had an interview with Financial Times of London during which even before the government came on board, I had opined that there was need for the government to

scale down or sell off some of its investments in oil and gas, particularly in the NNPC and NLNG as at that time when the price of oil was around $50-$55 per barrel “We actually commissioned some consultants that conducted the study and at the end of that study, we were told that if we sold 10 per cent to 15 per cent of our holding in the oil and gas sector, we could realise up to $40 billion.

“Unfortunately, the markets have become soft. Now, if we choose to do that now, we could still get $10-$15billion or maybe $20 billion. I would imagine that that option is still on the table because more people, even in the cabinet, have made the same suggestion and if it happens, that will be fine, including the option to buy back the assets at some premium if we contemplate buying back when the crude prices move up and the assets value also move up. You know that in government, there are those against and those in favour. The argument in favour of selling the assets has gained a lot of credence recently.”

On his part, Sanusi said the option of selling the assets could be explored with the consciousness of preserving notable interests in such assets by making the sale transparent and also positioning it to yield expected value.

“One option is to sell down some assets; sell down some refineries in a manner that does not hurt your strategic interest; sell down some oil assets; sell down some refineries in a transparent manner that gives you value. You can also have options to buy them back later. You should expect basically forex,” he said.

In the same vein, Saraki who had earlier told the Financial Times that disposing of the assets could provide an escape route from borrowing at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), argued that Nigeria’s habit of borrowing over the years had not been

helpful to the nation. He said the “singular strategy we are using of borrowing obviously is not working,” and hence, the need for the government to “look for alternative ways.”

Saraki found a better and more visible platform to express his opinion on the sale of the nation’s assets on Tuesday when upon the resumption of the National Assembly from a two-month recess, he bluntly advocated the sale of the assets as one major way the nation could come out of the current recession.

Saraki’s call altered the shape of events in the polity as it provided the broader platform for more Nigerians to join the debate over the calls for sale of the nation’s assets.

According to him, the move will help the federal government to raise capital and consequently improve its foreign reserves, calm investors and in the long run, stabilise the economy.

“The executive must raise capital from asset sales and other sources to shore up foreign reserves. This will calm investors, discourage currency speculation and stabilise the economy. The measures should include part sale of NLNG Holdings; reduction of government share in upstream oil joint venture operations; sale of government stake in financial institutions e.g. Africa Finance Corporation; and the privatisation and concession of major/regional airports and refineries,” Saraki said.

However, the call stirred the hornets’ nest as it awakened the consciousness of notable institutions, organisations and individuals to the depth of seriousness of the call and its consequence for the troubled nation. The intensity of the actions and reactions which followed Saraki’s call since Tuesday have shown that Dangote’s quest which many had earlier dismissed as mere investment drive is now seen as a serious matter after all.

RMAFC Opposes Asset Sales

Against this background, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), organised labour, the National Economic Council (NEC), senators and a host of Nigerians have either agreed to or rejected the calls.

Opponents of the calls have argued that selling promising assets will be counterproductive, saying it makes greater sense to call for the sale of non-performing assets which require a huge sum of money for their maintenance.

Examples of non-performing assets which Nigerians want to be sold are some of the aircraft in the fleet of the presidency. There were reports, for instance, that in the past 15 months since President Muhammadu Buhari ascended the seat of power, it has cost the nation a huge sum of N5 billion to maintain nine aircraft in presidential fleet.

Therefore, many Nigerians believe that there is no better time to sell some of the aircraft which they consider to be drains on the nation’s income than now. According to them, selling five of such aircraft and other unproductive assets this season will help Nigeria to raise money which can assist it in addressing the economic crisis bedeviling it.

RMAFC on its part, vehemently disagreed with advocates of the sale of the assets.

In a swift reaction to the calls, its Acting Chairman, Shettima Abba Gana, said acceding to such calls would be an unwise decision by the federal government. Instead, the commission advised the government to secure loans from IMF and subsequently deploy revenues realised from the assets to offset the loans over a period of 10 or 20 years. The commission reasoned that after the loans would have been offset within a decade or two, the nation would still continue to enjoy the income from such assets.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25 , 2016

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Saraki

Adeosun

Dangote

Buttressing its argument that it will not be strategic to sell income yielding assets, RMAFC recalled how the National Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) 2013 audit and financial report on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, had shown that whopping $12.9 billion was paid to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)

by NLNG within a period of eight years. But regrettably, NNPC failed to remit the income to the federation account.

It added that another audit report showed that NLNG remitted a dividend of $1.289 billion in 2013 which he said implied that the asset was highly productive.

RMAFC therefore submitted that Nigeria should not sell valuable assets such as “NLNG and other strategic national resources...to meet a short-term financial obligation.”

the federal government, the calls for sale of assets would be unnecessary as he argued that selling oil assets in this era of drastic fall in oil prices would be at a great loss. He also accused those making the calls of being unpatriotic and possessing ulterior motive to acquire the assets.

“From these and from monies going through other sources, at least, we should be able to recoup over $50 billion. If we succeed in doing this, do we still have to sell our assets as it is being canvassed? The thing is very straight forward - there is a buyers’ market and there is a sellers’ market. If you want to dispose of your oil assets at this time when the prices of oil have crashed, precisely how much are you going to realise?

“We are making a mistake here - what we are intending to do is to be very unpatriotic and ensure that those who are within the bracket of the stolen dollars still come to buy. I believe that this is not the time to strip these assets.

“Fortunately, the CBN governor made a very powerful statement that the worst days of the recession are over and therefore, we have to look elsewhere and not sell our assets. We should rather focus on industrialisation through agriculture and try to revamp this economy. I am worried because people who are telling us to sell these assets are people who have huge pockets. Our assets must remain for us: even Saudi Arabia didn’t sell parts of their national assets as alleged,” Akume submitted.

On his part, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said only non-performing assets should be sold as he emphasised the need to restructure the system by unbundling the federal government. According to him, selling productive assets will be unfair to the next generation as he disclosed that countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia guard their assets jealously.

He said: “I have heard about the issue of selling of our assets. I need to caution that other countries are not doing the same. UAE does not even allow you access to the oil wells talk less of selling them. And of course, in a country like Saudi Arabia, their budget each year is run by investments from their oil revenue. While other countries are investing and with all the investments we have, I am sure we will not be fair to the next generation. So, if we must sell, we have to sell the non-performing assets so that people can turn them around and create employment. We need to amend Section 162 especially from 3,4,5,6 where each money in the federation account is enjoined to be shared among the other levels of government.”

Other senators who kicked against calls for the sale of the nation’s assets were Senators Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta Central), Andy Uba (Anambra South) and Adamu Abdullahi (Nasarawa West).

Omo-Agege described the call as misplaced, arguing that if selling assets would offer solution to the recession, what would the nation sell if it found itself in another recession in future? His position was backed by Uba. But Adamu, without mincing words, said: “I will not join the team of leaders who call for the sale of our assets to solve national problems.”

However, Solomon Adeola (Lagos West) supported the sale of some of the nation’s assets with the intention to raise funds especially those that have become moribund such as refineries which he said usually consume resources of the country.

Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, at the meeting.

The disclosure was made by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Thursday.

He said: “The President’s Economic Management Team is working on plans to generate immediate larger injection of funds into the economy through assets sale, advance payment of licences renewal, infrastructural concession, use of recovered funds et cetera to reduce funding gaps and implementation of fiscal stimulus/budget priorities.”

NLC, TUC, NUPENG Reject Calls

RMAFC is not alone in the opposition to the sale of the assets as the organised labour had not only rejected the move but also warned the federal government against yielding to the calls.

During the week, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as oil workers vowed to resist the move.

According to NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, an asset such as NLNG, which yields over $1 billion to the nation every year, is a valuable asset which should be treasured.

NLC believe embarking on such venture would be fruitless as it recalled how past sales of assets have added no value to the lives of citizens because it was skewed in favour of only few individuals at the expense of the citizenry.

“It is on record that dividends, in excess of $1billion, have accrued annually to the national coffers from the gas company over the past 12 years. These calls are more worrisome when one considers the history of sovereign assets divestiture in the past.

“Where are the proceeds from sales of the assets in the power sector for instance? With the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious that these assets were distributed to favoured individuals and surrogates of the ruling elite without any appreciable benefits to Nigerians,” NLC said.

In the same vein, TUC said the federal government should be prepared for turbulence if it proceeds to sell the assets. According to the congress, proponents of the idea are Nigeria’s enemies.

“The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria warns those calling for the sale of national shareholdings in Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited and concession of the country’s airports to drop the idea if they do not want to incur the wrath of workers. Those suggestions are disgraceful and portray them as enemies of the state,” TUC President, Mr. Bala Kaigama, and the Acting SecretaryGeneral, Mr. Simeso Amachree, said in a statement.

Echoing the labour unions, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), through its President, Igwe Achese, said instead of selling the assets, the federal government should attract investors by building refineries and set the tone for economic recovery through short-term, medium-term and long-term economic measures to alleviate the plights of traumatised Nigerians.

Senators Also Reject Calls

Nigerian senators during the week distanced themselves from the call by their president, Saraki, for the sale of the assets. The senators, while lending their voices to debates on the economic recession on Wednesday and Thursday, said the sale would do more harm than good.

For instance, Senator George Akume (Benue North-east), criticised the calls for the sale of government assets. He recalled how two former governors of CBN, Charles Soludo, and Sanusi, had once alleged that several billions of dollars were missing. He said if such funds were recovered by

NEC Okays Sale of Assets

But while the debate on the matter was still generating controversies across the polity, some Nigerians were shocked on Thursday when the National Economic Council (NEC) presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo rose from a meeting in Abuja and threw its weight behind the sale.

The NEC said the endorsement was predicated on the recommendations of the Minister of Budget and National

How US Managed Depression of 1929

The United States of America went through a bad experience eight decades ago when its economic recession snowballed into depression, popularly known as the Great Depression of 1929, without selling its assets. Instead, the US created institutions to manage the crisis.

The depression was so acute that it spread into other parts of the world and lasted for 10 years. But the US exited the depression within three years while it still continued to ravage other parts of the world.

It began on a “Black Thursday,” October 24, 1929 when 12.9 million shares of stocks were sold in one day. This figure tripled the usual figure being sold in the stock market at the time and thus resulted in the fall of the prices of stocks by 23 per cent.

The aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929 was the rise in unemployment rate from 3 per cent to 25 per cent. It also led to the crash of wages for workers by 42 per cent while the gross domestic product (GDP) reduced from $103 billion to $55 billion. Manufacturing industries were also dying as there was no money to purchase goods, resulting in a fall of prices of commodities by 10 per cent every year. The US government had to adopt what was known as Smoot-Hawley tariffs to protect domestic industries and jobs while the general effect was the decline in world trade by 65 per cent.

The agricultural sector was also hard hit by the depression as many farmers lost their farms while several US citizens became homeless and living in shanties. The depression was actually caused by the decision of the US Federal Reserve, an equivalent of Nigeria’s CBN, to introduce “tight monetary policies.”

The trouble began after the Federal Reserve continued to raise funds in the spring of 1928 in the stock market, leading to recession after the stock market crashed. This turned investors’ attention to the currency markets at the time that “dollars were backed by gold held by the US government,” while speculators began to sell dollars to secure gold in September 1931 which caused the dollar scarcity.

The situation compelled the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in order to preserve the value of the dollar without increasing money supply to control inflation, a move which further led to scarcity of funds to run businesses.

This led to the collapse of more industries.

The situation forced investors to withdraw their dollars from banks, resulting in the collapse of many banks and following the indifference of the government to the plights of banks, depositors lost confidence in the banks, withdrew their funds and kept them at home.

But hope was restored in 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt was newly elected as the US President. He came up with a number of initiatives which included the creation of 42 new agencies with the mandate to create jobs, provide the platform for unionism and unemployment insurance - social security. Some of the agencies created were the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which helped to protect the economy and stabilised the economy.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

BUSINESS/ENERGY

Well head of a crude oil pipeline

Kachikwu’s Seven Steps to Halting Nigeria’s Falling Competitiveness

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, within the week disclosed that there were certain actions Nigeria would have to take to reclaim the competitive edge she once had in the global oil and gas industry. Chineme Okafor in this report takes a look at the options he proffered

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report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had during the week quoted Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, to have identified seven key strategies the country would need to adopt and undertake to boost the fading competitive edge of her petroleum industry by 2019.

According to the report, Kachikwu indicated that Nigeria was undergoing a very difficult time in her oil and gas industry, and would have to be proactive to rebuild her competitiveness in the global oil industry, as well as become a net exporter of refined petroleum products as planned by 2019.

Represented by his Senior Technical Adviser, Johnson Awoyemi, the minister said at the quarterly presidential meeting between Nigeria’s private sector operators and the government’s Economic Management Team (EMT) in Abuja that sustaining peace and security in the oil-rich Niger Delta region was crucial to helping Nigeria’s oil industry regain her competitiveness.

He mentioned policy and regulation, business environment and investment drive, transparency and efficiency, stakeholder management and international coordination as crucial to this, and which his ministry was concerned about.

He also stated that pivoting into gas through a gas revolution plan as well as increasing the country’s refineries capacity and local production was important in this plan.

Kachikwu explained that the country’s unstable production levels were going to be an impediment to her plans to grow the industry.

He said: “Oil and gas will drive diversification but the drop in oil production to 1.56 billion barrels per day from the annual estimate of 2.2

billion barrels per day will negatively affect growth.”

Strategic Highlights

While underscoring the need to improve socio-economic investments in the Niger Delta region, ensure peace in the region by stopping militancy, and enhance the country’s oil and gas production levels, Kachikwu said that a lot of companies in the sector were indebted to Nigeria in payment of royalties.

He disclosed that companies operating in the region were in default of about $4 billion royalties’ payment to the country owing more to downtown in production from their oil fields.

According to him, Nigeria needs to urgently move things around for policies on oil, gas, downstream and fiscal reform to take root.

He added that the proposed petroleum industry bill (PIB) had become very imperative and the country should hasten its passage.

In retrospect, the Senate President Bukola Saraki had recently opined when the senate resumed from their vacation that the seeming foot-dragging of the country’s ruling class in the passage of the PIB was hurting the oil industry in a very great way.

Kachikwu also pointed out that such challenges in the country’s oil and gas sector had contributed to the recent drop in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth from six per cent to four per cent. He noted that this had led to shortage of funds to build critical infrastructure.

Significant Decline

While current analysis suggests that across the globe, oilfield decline rates range from 4.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent per year, Kachikwu reportedly explained that Nigeria has a 29 per cent decline rate in oil production, amounting to the

loss of an average of 700,000 million barrels per day (mbpd) of oil.

He noted also that the country had a 32 per cent decline rate in gas production from 8,000 million cubic feet per day (mscuf/d) to 5,500mscuf/d.

Usually, production decline and disruption are either caused by socioeconomic events or reserve depletion. In cases of a socioeconomic induced production decline which is also termed ‘aboveground’ constraints, parties may, with proper measures, resolve it. However, a depletion-driven decline which is often intrinsic and involves ‘below-ground’ physical constraints, may be difficult to alleviate.

Kachikwu in this regard said that up to 3,000 pipeline vandalism incidents were recorded from 2010 to 2015 – a space of five years, while 643 million litres of petroleum products amounting to N51.28 billion was lost in 2015 alone.

He explained that between January and June 2016, his ministry recorded 1,600 vandalism incidents despite efforts to boost local production and refining of products by the country’s refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt.

“Until we are able to locally refine what we produce, we won’t be able to go forward.

“It is the plan of the ministry that by 2019 the country has to export Premium Motor Spirit (PMS),” Kachikwu stated while requesting investors to embrace the government’s policy to create modular refineries.

He equally noted that some successes were recorded in the oil and gas sector since November 2015. These, he said, included the elimination of subsidy payments and savings of N15.4 billion monthly for the government.

According to him, plans were on to increase Nigeria’s oil production to 1.8 million barrels per day by October and to two million barrels by December.

That way, the country may begin to regain parts of the competitive edge it has lost to countries like Angola which has effectively overtaken it as Africa’s top oil producer.

Lofty Dreams?

But responding to this, energy and business re-engineering expert, Dan Kunle, told THISDAY that the minister’s proposals were quite ambitious but would need government to take the right steps to move them from the drawing boards to reality.

Pointing to the refineries and their near-dead status, Kunle said governments of serious economies across the globe had really moved away from being managers of businesses to becoming facilitators of economy-changing ventures.

He noted that the Nigerian government should cease from being a clog in the progress wheels of the petroleum industry, adding that its chronic failure to meet cash-call obligations in its joint venture businesses with international oil companies had proven its inefficiency in being in businesses.

Kunle also said that the government had done very badly in regulating the country’s downstream oil industry, as well as its gas market. He asked that deliberate policies to move the country’s critical sectors away from government’s unfavourable controls should be pursued for an inclusive economic to take place in the country.

“Just consider the fact that Dangote, who the government refused to allow refurbishing the country’s refineries some years back when it was privatised, is now building his own refinery. When that refinery is completed, it’s capacity will surpass that of the three refineries we have in the country, meaning that he will most likely meet all of our daily demand for refined petroleum products,” said Kunle.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

BUSINESS/CONSUMER

Battle for Leadership in Apple Segment of Soft Drink Market

In recent years, the apple segment of the carbonated soft drink market has emerged with marked and superior quality as well as brand innovation and technology assuming the hallmark of clear leadership in the market, reports Kunle Aderinokun

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he consumption of Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD) particularly among young adult has become very popular in recent times. The consumption of soft drink dates back to the early 1670s with the introduction of fruit-flavored drinks. Water imperial was one of the first forms of soft drinks in Tudor England, and it was a sweetened drink with lemon flavour containing cream of tartar.

By 1767, scientists had made significant progress in the production of carbonated mineral water, which is a major ingredient in the production of CSD. Since then, several companies and individuals have gone into the production of CSD which comes in different flavours such as Orange, Apple, Ginger, Cola, grape, Lemon etc.

The CSD market in Nigeria commands a unique hold in the food and beverage sector of the economy despite the huge popularity of fruit juice, functional beverage, energy drinks, alcohol and water- bottled or sachet.

Over the years, manufacturers of CSD products have adopted different tactics to expand and convert new consumers, thus increasing the ever-growing demand for CSD products and intensifying the battle amongst manufactures for a bigger chunk of the soft drink market.

Multiple flavours, alluring advertisement, incentives, promotions, pricing, product availability, etc have been some of the efforts embarked upon by manufacturers to increase their consumer base in the market. But Irrespective of the manufacturers’ effort, without the insistent purchase of the product by consumers, the growth that the CSD market boasts of will not have been achieved.

International brands especially in the CSD segment have in the recent time found Nigeria as an investment delight.

This is attributed to the country’s huge market size with an estimated population of over 170 million people (comprising of 90 million youth population) and a fast growing middle-class population.

This statistics makes it difficult for any investor in the Nigerian economy and the CSD market to ignore the profitability of investing in Nigeria.

Despite the infrastructural challenges, Nigeria remains an attractive market for international investors because of its potential to yield high profit, available cheap labour and the purchasing power of the consumers.

Market-intelligence firm, Euromonitor International was reported in market realist website as saying that consumerexpenditure growth in emerging markets has surpassed that of developed markets every year since 2000, and it is expected to continue to increase in the coming years.

CSD was first introduced into Nigeria in 1951 as a product of The Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the A.G Leventis Group with the franchise to bottle and sell products of The Coca-Cola Company in Nigeria; and not until 1960 when the Seven-up Bottling Company started business in Nigeria, the leadership status occupied by Coca Cola remained unchallenged. Since then the carbonated soft drink market has been dominated by these two big international players and their brands have been a toast for consumers of all ages.

In the 80’s, other brands like Goldspot, Krest, Crush, Dr Pepper, AfriCola,

A carbonated soft drink plant

Parle Soda, Limca, Tandi Guarana tried piercing into the CSD market with their aggressive media, promotional campaigns and strategy. While some are still in the market under the custody of the big brands, others have simply fizzled out with time.

The Coca Cola brands and the ever strong-willed Pepsi brands have dominated the Nigerian carbonated soft drink market with products packaged in glass bottles, thereby leaving consumers with the fright of bottle breakage, or even the use of these bottles as deadly weapons in the wake of a street brawl; not to mention the hassle which comes with carriage of glass bottles, and the incessant stress of making monetary deposits when these products are purchased from convenience stores.

Coke and Pepsi, which have remained major players in the Nigerian CSD have over the years marched from strength to strength without a possible overthrow in sight until the year 2001 when the tables turned around with the entry of the game changer.

In the year 2001, the Nigeria CSD market experienced a rebirth as La Casera Apple Drink from the Stables of Classic Beverages perforated the entire nation with a refreshing Apple soft drink in PET bottles, spiking the brand’s popularity and adoption by several consumers across the country.

Interestingly, the La Casera brand was the first to introduce PET in Nigeria, thus making it accessible and accepted by all.

Consumers therefore experienced a new found love in the Brand La Casera, because of its ease of purchase and convenience of consumption as an on-the-go CSD thereby changing the landscape of Carbonated Soft Drink consumption in Nigeria. These unique qualities of the La Casera brand challenged the two previous giants to followed suit in launching theirs in the year 2004; three years after the birth of La Casera.

The heat of the competition was turned on, and consumers soon began to flock in the direction of La Casera which

contained real apple juice as against the other flavour filled brands which dominated prior to its entry.

Fifteen years down the line, various market reports have shown that the La Casera brand gave the Coca-Cola and Pepsi brands a good run with the introduction of PET bottles; quaking the age-long dominance of the two giants in the Nigerian Carbonated Soft Drink market.

In 2014, the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), makers of Coca-Cola engaged in a direct battle with La Casera- the only apple drink with real Apple Juice concentrate in Nigeria, by introducing Fanta Apple Drink to directly compete with La Casera Apple Drink, which has already gained the love of consumers and has been dubbed as the “King of the Road.”

This competition was short-lived as the flavoured taste of the Fanta Apple Drink led to a reduction in consumption by consumer who initially adopted the brand. The drawn battle line between Coca-Cola’s Fanta Apple and LaCasera Apple Drink was therefore won as La Casera remains the Leading Apple Drink in the Apple Drink as Fanta Apple was just a flash in the pan.

While hundreds of products are launched yearly, a few products often survive competition due to consumer taste appeal, brand loyalty, propaganda etc. But market and health analysts have questioned the health implications of all these products for the Nigerian Consumers. Are they really safe for consumption?

Hence, referring to The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) as the lead safety authorities in Nigeria, and whose certification could be taken as a final arbiter for any product safety concern.

According to a report made public after a routine laboratory analysis of La Casera Apple drink samples obtained from retention samples, samples bought from various markets and finished product

stores, NAFDAC declared that “La Casera apple drink product ingredients conformed to laid down specifications NIS, Codex, NAFDAC regulations, with the absence of pesticides and chemical hazards.”

It should also be noted that just recently, officials from NAFDAC, SON, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and a team of media professionals were on a factory visit to the La Casera Company where tonnes of La Casera drink are manufactured, and once again the agencies commended the company on its adherence to safety and health guidelines for beverage production.

The Special Assistant to the Director General, NAFDAC, Mr. William Effiok, who represented the NAFDAC DG, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, praised the company on its state-of-the-art Ultra-modern production line which operated under minimal human interference, thereby making human contact during production of the beverage almost non-existent.

Also present at the factory visit was the Director, Product Certification, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Bayo Adigun, and on his part, told Nigerians that his visit to the production facility was more of an exercise to foster greater relationship, as the beverage has already been certified by SON since inception, and its consumption as a healthy drink is guaranteed.

La Casera Apple drink, which has an undeniably attractive golden colour and refreshing taste, has no doubt earned its seal of quality in the Nigerian apple CSD landscape since its inception, and beyond all contradiction, it is safe and healthy for consumption.

La Casera has become many consumers “great Apple taste” That’s because La Casera Apple drink is carefully made with 4 per cent real fruit juice which one cannot find in any other carbonated apple drink in the country. La Casera remains the market leader with over 75 per cent share of the Apple CSD market in Nigeria according to studies

by Nielsen market research agency.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

BUSINESS/INTERVIEW

Seibel: Nigeria is a Fertile Land for Investments in Tech Startups

Mr. Michael Seibel is the CEO of Y. Combinator, the most successful early stage fund and incubator company from Silicon Valley, USA, who is in Nigeria to invest technology startups. He spoke to Emma Okonji about the company’s interest to invest big in Nigerian startups

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hat is the interest of Y Combinator in Nigerian technology startups?

invest in more startups that have marketable solutions. Those startups are doing great and they currently worth over $70 billion in value.

We are a large incubation company and we are interested in mentoring global startups with great ideas that could rule the world. We have large companies that applied to us from Africa and we need more of them, hence our interest to be in Nigeria at the Startups Friday show, to invest in more technology startups from Nigeria and bring them on board. Already we have about four Nigerian startup teams in our network and we need more to invest in. This is our interest to be in Nigeria. We were also motivated to come to Nigeria

by Maya, the founder of www.ingressive. co, who is also interested in investing in Nigerian startups.

We think Africa is a huge market place that needs to join the rest of the world in the technology space, and Nigeria is a fertile ground to invest in technology startups, because there are signs of future growth.

In Nigeria, infrastructure is not at its fullest, and this may not bring out the best from the startups. What is your view on this?

The truth of the matter is that the startups are creating value, even in the midst of poor infrastructure. Nigeria has the market in terms of population and once a solution is good, it becomes scalable and people will want to invest in the solution.

What kind of support do you give to tech startups on your network?

We support them through mentorship and financing for those that have good ideas that could be turned into viable ventures.

At the initial stage, we give each team $120 and they are mentored in our three months incubation programme and we organise a Demo Day for the large number of startups in our company and we bring investors to invest in their solutions. So we mentor them, give them money and support that will make them excel.

What is your expansion plan like?

We have plans to expand our network, hence we are in Nigeria to invest in technology startups. Now 50 per cent of co-founders in our company are not from America, in fact 30 per cent of our founders are from outside America. So we are big and we are expanding, and encouraging people and companies from all over the world to apply to our company for possible investments What are some of your criteria for the selection of startups?

We look at the quality of the teams to know how viable their solutions are. We consider the technical talents of the team and provide the appropriate mentorship.

The team must understand themselves and be focused on their targeted solution.

Such teams must be building products and solutions and marketing such products. We are interested in investing in teams that show viability of solutions that address essential challenges.

What plans do you have for those teams that may not be successful to the final stage of selection, since only few of the teams will be selected for investment?

Yes, all the teams that pitch will certainly not be selected for our investments plan.

But the truth is that those that will not make it to the final stage, must have learnt something during the period of incubation that will make them smarter and they could begin in their own small way to either grow from that level or try creating more solutions and improving on them over time. Our initiative is to fund as many startups as possible and present to them opportunities to grow big and also support them as they continue to grow.

What category of startups is Y Combinator looking out for in Nigeria?

We are not looking at categories of startups, but we are looking at talented teams that have solutions that can address societal and economic challenges. We are looking at solutions that will address what Nigerians need.

Bearing in mind that Nigeria is a late starter in the technology startups space, do you still see Nigeria catching up with the rest of the developed economies of the world?

Definitely yes. Nigerian startups still have ample of opportunities to tap into in the technology space and I see them catching up fast.

Some people could start late in life and end up very successful. It does not really matter when the team starts, what is important is the commitment of the team to their project and the end results.

Seibel

How do you ensure the protection of solutions of startups before they are ready for the global market?

In the United States of America, protection rights are slow to guarantee, when it comes to breaches. But the truth is that if startups concentrate too much, thinking of how to protect their products and solutions, they will

We have plans to expand our network, hence we are in Nigeria to invest in technology startups.

Now 50 per cent of co-founders in our company are not from America, in fact 30 per cent of our founders are from outside America. So we are big and we are expanding, and encouraging people and companies from all over the world to apply to our company for possible investments

end up not developing the solution as fast they could because attention will be divided.

What most teams do is to concentrate on their solutions and ensure that the solutions are good enough to attract public attention.

When that is achieved there will be less need to be afraid of intellectual property theft, which will always rear its ugly head.

What is your assessment of Nigerian technology startups?

They are just great and passionate about developing solutions that work, and I see great potentials in them. Since I came to Nigeria for the Startup Friday show in Lagos, I have seen several startup companies that have viable products and what they need is the push in terms of support and investments in their solutions and that is the reason we are in Nigeria to invest in the Nigerian technology startups.

So where do you see the Nigerian startups in the next five years?

This is a tough question to attempt, but what I see today in the Nigerian startups, is that they are building platforms that future startups will ride on. For example we are investing in Paystack and the number of Nigerians using Paystack payment platform is amazing. People want to identify with good solutions and when the team has good solutions they are bound to grow faster than imagined. So communities will continue to create bigger communities and five years from now, I see bigger communities of enthusiastic startups in Nigeria.

So how many startups has Y. Combinator invested in so far, and what are their prospects till date?

We have invested in over 1,500 technology startups globally at the moment in the past 12 years and we are still investing in more and it is the reason we are in Nigeria to

So how can startups move their ideas from ground zero to greater heights?

There is need for startups to think big and conceive great ideas that are scalable and economically viable, but they must start from a humble beginning. Not all ideas are great but some startups will always think that their ideas are great when actually they are not. The truth is that ideas rule the world, but the ideas must be driven by strong passion to succeed. So idea without passion is as good as not having idea. Again, not all ideas are successful at the first instance. Some fail in the process of implementation, but the team must always remain resolute and determined to succeed against all odds.

Startups should therefore not be afraid of failed ideas. They should continue to try and improve on their solutions, because most solutions that are making the waves today globally, have suffered some set of setbacks at the initial stage.

What kind of advice do you have for upcoming startups?

My advice for them is to remain focused with their ideas and projects. They should always think of solutions that could address peculiar issues in Nigeria and in the entire world. They should be able to share ideas among their team mates without hiding things from one another. Ideas shared will attract great inputs from others. The solution that will be created out of such inputs will definitely attract more market value.

They should have trust for one another as well as mutual understanding. There could be arguments among team members but such arguments should be considered as necessary to move forward. There must be guidelines which all team members must abide with. No team member should see himself or herself as more important than another. Collaboration and team work are the best ways to excel among startups.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

BUSINESS/INTERVIEW/ MEDIA

Dairo: Cliqliteworld is Designed as a One-Stop-Shop for Education, Fun Digital technologies are constantly evolving and they are rapidly becoming part of children’s sociocultural experiences outside formal educational settings. In this interview with Olaseni Durojaiye, Director, Consumer Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Adeolu Dairo, explores the role of technology in early childhood education

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ow can ICT contribute to child-focused development efforts?

ICT has a lot to offer to support and amplify the impact of a variety of child education and development efforts. For this to be successful, the focus will has to first and foremost be on the needs of the child, not just the fact that the technology is available, and certainly not for the sake of innovation only.

It is important to establish the needs of the child and consider the local context of the child’s learning environment. Factors such as availability and reliability of electricity, affordability of internet access and the local education curriculum play a major role in developing technological solutions that can benefit the child.

It is also important to assess the role that intermediaries such as parents, teachers, community or social workers, play in the lives of children especially in the African context. At Etisalat we take cognizance of such considerations in developing innovative solutions such as Cliqlite and Cliqliteworld.

Do you see technology playing a major role in the Nigerian Educational system?

Certainly, technology can play a major role in childhood education. It has become essential to support learning, and assist communication, creativity and language development in young children and provide greater access to curriculum.

The issue is not, whether technology should be considered and used in early childhood education settings, but how it is applied.

Today’s children are born into a digital world, they are native users of technology, fluent in the digital language of computers, video games and the internet. It is therefore necessary to engage them with technology if they must become relevant in the society.

This is what inspired us at Etisalat to develop Cliqlite our child-friendly educational tool.

Cliqlite is designed to engage children, raise their confidence and motivate them to study more. It is motivational because of its capacity to make school work more enjoyable and also its ability to appeal to the children’s perceptions of achievement since children regard technology as ‘cool’.

ng and begin the simple signup process.

Is there any requirement for registration?

To gain full access to all the content on Cliqliteworld, children must be on the Etisalat Cliqlite package. However, parents can also complete the registration process for their children on the portal without necessarily being on the Etisalat network.

Many parents try as much as possible to keep their underage children off the internet because of the obvious threats of sensitive content online.

Does Cliqliteworld in any way protect children while surfing the net?

We are very aware of these threats and that is the reason we created both a Data and Voice Parental control feature on Cliqlite. For the Data control feature, parents can be rest assured that their children are safe online as they are able to select sensitive words and content that they do not want their children to access. To use this service just dial *229*11# from an Etisalat line.

To access the voice parental control just send Help to 704 also from an Etisalat line.

Dairo

Etisalat recently launched a new product called Cliqliteworld, tell us how Cliqlite evolved into this new product.

Cliqliteworld is an online platform that has been specially designed to be a one stop shop for everything education and fun. The portal contains approved content for Kindergarten, Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary school students. There are textbooks as well as practice questions that cover all subjects. Cliqliteworld brings to life the Cliqlite vision, which is to make learning fun by introducing educational games as well as moral building and entertaining comic books. With Cliqliteworld, we are using what children love (that is devices and technology) to give them what they need (quality education).

What is the difference between this new product Cliqliteworld and the Cliqlite tablet that was launched two years ago?

Cliqlite is the main product that delivers both telecommunication and educational services to Children, particularly those aged 8-15 years old.

Cliqliteworld is simply one of the features of Cliqlite same as the Cliqlite tablet. The Cliqlite

tablet comes preloaded with approved NERDC and IGCSE text books, interactive lessons, JAMB, SSCE and IGCSE past questions while Cliqliteworld offers the same content in a more affordable format as it can be accessed from any internet enabled device.

Cliqliteworld is the first-of-its kind within the Nigerian Telecom Industry. It is a true reflection of the innovative nature of Etisalat. At Etisalat, we are always looking for new ways to create and give extra value to our numerous customers that is why it is not surprising that we have come up with this innovative product.

Who are the target audience for Cliqliteworld?

Cliqliteworld is targeted at children and teenagers, on Cliqliteworld; you have content for children as low as 2years old and you have content for teenagers preparing for entry exams into Tertiary institutions. So it is very rich and diverse. To register on Cliqliteworld is very easy. For new customers, just buy an Etisalat SIM, register it, dial 200 and press 5 to select Cliqlite. Existing Customers need to dial *244*10# to migrate to Cliqlite, then login to www.cliqliteworld.com.

With the slow internet penetration in Nigeria, do you think students for whom the product is meant for would be able to access it, most especially students in the rural areas?

Internet penetration is on a rapid increase in Nigeria and as a Network we are part of this expansion of internet services to rural areas. We have also gone a step further to give complimentary data to customers who subscribe to either the daily, weekly or monthly service on Cliqliteworld, thus making access -even more affordable.

Access to Cliqliteworld is as low as N50 and this gives full access to textbooks and practice questions. There are also educational games which help to develop children’s memory. We have entertaining comic books that teach morals and the product would not be complete without the traditional Etisalat freebie, so in addition to all the bonuses on recharge, Children also get free credit on their registered birthday.

With initiatives like Adopt-A-School, School Support Programme, Merit Award and other initiatives, Etisalat’s CSR footprint is quite obvious in the education sector. Is there a particular reason for this?

Why GOtv Lite is Light on Your Pocket Charles Ponuwei

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bout a month ago, GOtv launched a new package called GOtv Lite. Described as “currently the most affordable pay-TV bouquet in Nigeria”, GOtv Lite targets existing subscribers, and gives those who opt-in access to over 20 channels. One interesting thing about the package is its alias, Small Pepper. The brand curators explain that they played on the use of ‘pepper’ as a slang for money. Small Pepper thus translating to small money, connoting the affordability of the package.

So how affordable is Small Pepper?

The monthly subscription for GOtv Lite is N400. Subscribers are also given the option to pay N1,050 quarterly which works out to N350 a month or N3,100 yearly. The annual subscription also gives subscribers a further discount as it works out to N258.33 for one month.

I did a little comparative analysis to find out what one can buy with N258 in present day

Nigeria, especially when one considers the current devaluation of the Naira, and here’s what I came up with – a loaf of bread, GSM airtime, a bar of bathing soap or a packet of detergent. At the end of the exercise, I realised that the pricing of GOtv Lite essentially places pay-TV in the category as basic necessities, or what economists classify as essential goods.

This is worthy of note because pay-TV is a discretionary service. In economics, a discretionary consumer good is a non-essential item such as entertainment, a vacation or car. They are purchased with excess income after other essentials such as food and shelter have been taken care of.

Value for money

Some subscribers have questioned the channel selection, saying that they do not see the value of the package because it carries majorly local channels. They say they will rather watch free-to-air using an antenna. To them, GOtv Lite would be an option if Africa Magic, Zee World and Telemundo were added to the bouquet, but that is debatable.

For those consumers, the first and very

fundamental value they will be missing is the better picture and sound quality which GOtv offers.

I was at the drycleaner’s a few days ago and while waiting to be attended to, I was reminded of what watching on an analogue transmission feels like. The picture quality was deplorable although the TV was connected to an antenna booster.

The TV was tuned to Wazobia TV (which is also available on GOtv) but the clarity of the pictures on analogue transmission cannot be compared to what you see on GOtv. For the first time since I became a pay-tv subscriber about four years ago, I appreciated the value which low-end services such as GOtv have added to the masses.

Whilst still trying to come to terms with the poor picture quality on the TV, I saw a poster with a number requesting for suggestions on to how to improve service. I couldn’t hold back, so I sent a text advising the outlet to get on GOtv Lite – at least a N3100 annual subscription should be negligible to a Lagos-based dry-cleaning outfit.

The second benefit of GOtv Lite are the international channels which have been strategically selected. And I say strategically because they target different viewing needs. There is JimJam which

gives children access to cartoons. If you do not know anything about this channel, I believe you are familiar with Barney, one of the channel’s famous characters, which most children love. As Nigerian music takes centre stage, subscribers can enjoy the best of homegrown music and sounds from across Africa on Afro Music Pop. Al Jazeera gives access to international news. e.TV Africa is a general entertainment channel showcasing Nollywood movies, series, talk shows, sports and news. I particularly find the ‘Did You Know’ segment on this channel very informative and a good source of current affairs for children.

Emmanuel TV, Faith, and Islam channel offer religious programming and SuperSport Blitz, needs no introduction. For women who are hooked on Nollywood and Bollywood series or telenovelas, they will find similar content on Galaxy TV, ONtv Max and TVC Entertainment.

Given the current economic recession, I believe that the launch of GOtv is timely and I would recommend it to anyone who is feeling the bite of the harsh economy.

-Ponuwei, a brand expert, writes from Lagos

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

NIGERIA’S TOP 50 STOCKS BASED ON MARKET FUNDAMENTALS

WAPIC INSURANCE PLC: Motor Insurance, Fire Insurance, others drive gross premium written

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APIC Insurance Plc (WAPIC) is a composite insurance company with operations in both the life and non-life insurance businesses. WAPIC, formerly known as Intercontinental WAPIC is now a subsidiary of Access Bank Plc following the bank’s acquisition of the insurance company’s former parent company, Intercontinental Bank Plc. The company offers a wide range of insurance products and services, and boasts of solid industry know-how having been in operations for over five (5) decades.

WAPIC Insurance currently operates two subsidiaries; WAPIC Life Assurance Limited and WAPIC Insurance (Ghana) Limited.

The company’s results for the half year ended, June 2016 shows a complete turnaround to an enormous improvement in performance indicators, as both top-line earnings and bottom-line earnings grew significantly.

INCREASE IN GROSS PREMIUM INCOME DRIVEN VAST INCREASE IN GROSS PREMIUM WRITTEN For the half year period ended, June 2016, WAPIC reported an increase of 11.81% in gross premium written to N4.49 billion from N4.01 billion in the corresponding period of 2015, despite stiff competition in the Nigerian insurance sector with regards to the sales of various insurance packages and products. The significant growth in gross premium was driven primarily by Motor Insurance, Fire Insurance, Marine Insurance and Aviation Insurance which increased by 64.07%, 23.29%, 15.57% and 6.14% respectively. Therefore, leading to an increase of 27.73% in gross premium income to N3.53 billion in June 2016 from N2.76 billion recorded in June 2015. However, reinsurance expenses also grew to 47.50% on the back of the insurance types aforementioned, plus life assurances to N1.38 billion from N932m over the period.

Strong growth of 17.64% was recorded in in net premium income to N2.15 billion from N1.83 year on year and in company’s fee and commission income which increased by 21.35% to N215m in June 2016 from N177m in June 2015. Expectedly, net underwriting income for the period ended, June 2016 grew by substantially by 17.97% to N2.37 billion from N2.00 billion in the corresponding period of 2015 INCREASE IN CLAIMS EXPENSES LEAD TO RISE IN UNDERWRITING COST The company’s claims expenses

THE POTENTIAL OF THE INSURANCE SECTOR IN NIGERIA REMAIN RELATIVELY HUGE. WE BELIEVE THAT THE COMPANY’S MANAGEMENT PUT IN PLACE AN ADMIRABLE STRUCTURE IN TERMS OF COMPLIANCE, CUSTOMER ACQUISITION, RETENTION AND CAPACITY BUILDING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE IDENTIFIED OPPORTUNITIES IN THE SECTOR AND TOWARDS DELIVERY OF EFFICIENT PERFORMANCE WHICH STRENGTHENS EARNINGS, INCOME GENERATION CAPACITY AND GROWTH IN LIQUIDITY BASE. increased massively by 109.94% to N1.22 billion in June 2016 from N580m in June 2015, while claims expenses recoverable tripled itself by 363.46% to N723m from N156m over the period due to strong risk management practices. Expectedly, net claims expenses consequently increased to N1.35 billion in the period ended, June 2016 from N568m in the corresponding period of 2015.

Consequent upon significant rise in net claims expenses and 23.64% rise in underwriting cost, overall underwriting expenses grew by 78.80% to N2.10 billion from N1.17 billion year on year.

INCOME FROM ASSOCIATES BOOSTS PROFITABILITY For the period ended June 2016, the company recorded a massive drop of 391.65% in operating profit to N317m from N109m recorded in June 2015.

However, share of profit from associate to the tune of N685m significantly pull up profitability as profit before tax set a new record at N368m compared to N109m reported in June 2015, representing an outstanding

growth of 237.82%. Net income also followed suit with a better increase of an eight-fold per cent of 797.67% to N168m in June 2016 from a June 2015 figure of N18m.

IMPROVED ASSET QUALITY At the half year ended, June 2016 the company’s balance sheet shows positive changes in total assets, net assets and total liabilities, when compared to December 2015 figures.

Total assets grew by 10.35% to N26.15 billion from N23.69 billion in December 2015. The key drivers of the company’s total assets were a 53.84% increase in other receivables and prepayments to N1.88 billion from N1.23 billion, 45.69% increase in deferred acquisition costs to N604m from N415m and a 162.51% rise in reinsurance assets to N2.42 billion from N923m recorded over the period.

On the other hand, the company’s total liabilities shows a growth of 21.23% to N10.59 billion in the period ended, June 2016 from N8.73 billion in December 2015. The key drivers of the increase in liabilities were an increase of 81.11% in investment contract liabilities to N2.17 billion from N1.20 billion, and a 176.51% rise in other payables to N6.90 billion from N2.50 billion over the period. Expectedly, the company’s net assets grew by 4.00% to N15.56 billion from N14.96 billion during the period under review.

The company’s return on assets (ROA) rose significantly to 0.64% in June 2016 compared to 0.08% in June 2015 while return on equity (ROE) followed suit as it rose to 1.08% in June 2016 from 0.13% in June 2015.

WE MAINTAIN OUR BUY RECOMMENDATION The macro-economic headwinds of 2016 saw inflation rise to 16.48%, MPR at 14%. Nevertheless, WAPIC Insurance Plc delivered an impressive performance despite harsh and unstable business terrain.

The potential of the insurance sector in Nigeria remain relatively huge. We believe that the Company’s management put in place an admirable structure in terms of compliance, customer acquisition, retention and capacity building to take advantage of the identified opportunities in the sector and towards delivery of efficient performance which strengthens earnings, income generation capacity and growth in liquidity base. In the meantime, the bourgeoning middle class in Nigeria over the last three years, rising awareness about insurance, and improved operational performances of the emerged insurance companies

Valuation Metrics 23-Sept-16 Recommendation

BUY

Target Price (N)

0.67

Current Price (N)

0.50

Market Cap (N'm)

13,383

Outstanding Shares (m)

6,691

Rolling EPS (N)

0.11

Rolling PE Ratio

4.62x

Forward EPS (N)

0.15

Forward PE

3.23x Source: NSE Data, BGL Research

Half year June 2016 unaudited Results Gross Premium Income (N'm)

4,489

Profit Before Tax (N'm)

368

Profit After Tax (N'm)

169

Pre-tax Margin (%)

8.19 Source: Company Data 2016, BGL Research

FYE December 2015 Audited Results Gross Earnings (N'm)

7,101

Profit Before Tax (N'm)

1,668

Profit After Tax (N'm)

1,297

Pre-tax Margin (%)

23.91 Source: Annual Report 2015, BGL Research

Shareholding Information Shareholders

% Holding

Reunion Energy Ltd Strategic Alliance Inv.Ltd

21 7

Blakeney GPIII Ltd

14

Public Float

58 Source: Company Report 2015, BGL Research

post reform have been paying off on the industry. WAPIC has strong corporate governance put in place by the company also provide an attraction to investors.

We have valued each unit of WAPIC’s stock using the Net Assets Valuation (NAV). Therefore, using an Industry average price to book value of 0.65 consisting of peer insurance companies (Mansard, Custodian & Allied Insurance, AIICO and Continental Re) in comparison to WAPIC’s book value per share, we arrive at a 6-month target price of N0.67 of each share of WAPIC Insurance Plc. Since this represents an upside potential of 33.91% on the current stock price of WAPIC Insurance Plc, we place a BUY recommendation on WAPIC Insurance Plc.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

NIGERIA’S TOP 50 STOCKS BASED ON MARKET FUNDAMENTALS

FORTE OIL PLC: Notable growth in gross profit tumbled by finance cost and taxation

F

orte Oil Plc (Forte Oil), a downstream oil marketing company has been in existence for over 50 decades during which it has undergone several restructuring arrangements. It started operations originally as British Petroleum (BP) before changing to African Petroleum (AP). In 2007, Zenon Petroleum acquired 28.7% stake in the company through shares divestments by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

This was followed by a restructuring exercise that led to the adoption of the brand name “Forte Oil Plc” in December 2010. The Company has maintained its strong downstream petroleum operations with about 500 retail outlets located across the thirty-six (36) states of the country which has facilitated enhancement of the company’s visibility and sales strength.

REVENUE GROWTH OUTPERFORMS INSTABILITY BURDENED MARKET OUTLOOK For the half year period ended, June 2016, Forte Oil showed a significant rise of 38.02% in revenue to N84.42 billion from N61.17 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015 resulting from increased revenue generation from two of its main business line: sales and distribution of fuels - petroleum products and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) – which rose by 45.99%; plus 49.11% rise in sales of lubricants and greases. The growth was despite the incessant scarcity in the supply of petroleum products and unstable foreign exchange prevalent during this period.

Cost of sales also followed suit with an increase of 36.38% to N72.06 billion in June 2016 from N52.84 billion in June 2015. The increase in cost of sales was a direct upshot of the instability and growing upsurge in foreign exchange rate since the commencement of the year, which have also led to further reduction in stock available for sale reduced by 36.50% and 15.04% to N6.39 billion from January and March 2016 figures of N10.06 billion and N8.55 billion respectively. However, increase in cost of operation attributable to power generation can be traced to emanating depreciation charges due to the turbines used in power generation.

HOWEVER, WE ARE OF THE OPINION THAT FORTE OIL IS APPROPRIATELY POSITION TO BENEFIT FROM CURRENT REORGANISATION IN THE INDUSTRY, PLUS EFFECTIVENESS IN MANAGEMENT’S STRATEGIC PLAN TO CONTROL ITS GROWING COST OF OPERATION AND COST OF BORROWING TO ENSURE ITS ATTAINMENT OF ITS PROFITABILITY GOAL AT THE END OF THE YEAR

SECOND QUARTER OPERATION LEADS TO MASSIVE INCREASE IN GROSS PROFIT Gross profit in the second quarter 2016 rose by an enormous 76.70% compared to 18.56% recorded in the first quarter 2016. Hence, half year period ended, June 2016 reported a significantly growth in gross profit of 48.41% to N12.36 billion from N8.33 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015. Hence, improvement in gross profit margin which increased to 14.64% from 13.50% in the first quarter, and 13.62% in the corresponding period of 2015.

Other income grew by 2.59% to N1.61 billion from N1.57 billion in June 2015. Freight cost resulted in notable growth of 51.45% in distribution expenses which increase to N1.82 billion in June 2016 from N1.20 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015; while administrative expenses on the other hand declined by 10.61% to N5.31 billion from N5.94 billion over the same period.

RISE IN TAXATION TUMBLES PROFITABILITY For the half year period ended, June 2016, Forte Oil’s aggregate borrowings and overdrafts grew by 13.55% to N43.12 billion from N37.98 billion as at January 1, 2016. Hence, net finance cost turns negative to a marked N2.58 billion from N495m reported in June 2015.

Thus, profit before tax grew to N4.26 billion showing a substantial

increase of 30.92% in June 2016 compared to N3.26 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015.

However, due to the massive rise of 179.86% in taxation to N2.03 billion from N725m in June 2015, Forte Oil’s net income declined to N2.23 billion from N2.53 billion over the period of 2015, representing a negative change of 11.75%.

MIXED RESULT IN ASSET QUALITY Total assets grew by 11.68% to N135.98 billion as at June 2016 from N121.76 billion as at December 2015. However, the Company’s total liabilities rose by a significant 23.35% to N93.10 billion as at June 2016 from N75.48 billion as at December 2015.

The rise in total liabilities can be attributed to 472.50% increase in deferred tax liabilities to N423m from N73m, 36.19% growth in trade and other payables, 23.36% rise long term borrowings and 12.79% increase in short borrowings. Net assets reported a decrease of by 7.35% to N42.88 billion from N46.28 billion over the period due majorly to decrease in retained earnings which decline by 32.49%.

Declines were recorded in Return on Asset (ROA) and Return on Average Equity (ROE) which dropped to 1.64% and 5.21% as at June 2016 from 2.13% and 5.47% as at June 2015 respectively.

WE MAINTAIN OUR HOLD RECOMMENDATION Myriad of developments that are expected to change the shape of this industry norms over the medium term have evolved as expected, nevertheless we look forward to total deregulation which will make prices of petroleum products to be determined by the total cost per unit till point of sale. Federal government must ensure that its price ceiling mechanism, especially in a period of continuous rise of foreign exchange rate do not upset with downstream petroleum companies’ policy to cover both landing cost and freight expenses towards ending any further disruption in the sale of the products.

We do Forte Oil to maintain its power generation as the country’s power generating capacity appears bleak towards positive implications for the downstream oil and gas in the shortterm.

However, we are of the opinion that Forte oil is appropriately position to benefit from current reorganisation in the industry, plus effectiveness in management’s strategic plan to control its growing cost of operation and cost of borrowing to ensure its

Valuation Metrics 22-Sept-16 Recommendation

HOLD

Target Price (N)

160.46

Current Price (N)

163.11

Market Cap (N'm)

212,448

Outstanding Shares (m)

1,302

Rolling EPS (N)

4.22

Rolling PE Ratio

38.65x

Forward EPS (N)

4.42

Forward PE

36.88x Source: NSE Data, BGL Research

Half year June unaudited 2016 Results Turnover (N’m)

84,423

Profit Before Tax (N'm) Profit After Tax (N'm) Pre-tax Margin (%)

4,262 2,233 5.05%

Source: Company’s Data 2016, BGL Research

Audited 2015 Full Year Results Turnover (N'm)

124,617

Profit Before Tax (N'm) Profit After Tax (N'm) Pre-tax Margin (%)

7,012 5,794 5.63%

Source: Company Report 2015, BGL Research

Shareholding Information Shareholders

% Holding

Zenon Petroleum & Gas Ltd

48.87%

Thames Inv. Incorporated

14.50%

Femi Otedola

14.10%

Public Float

58

Free Float

22.53%

Outstanding Shares (m)

1,302

Source: Company Report 2015 AC, BGL Research

attainment of its profitability goal at the end of the year.

To this end we are cautiously value Forte Oil Plc’s shares, given that the key price multiples - price to earnings, price to book, and price to sales are lower compared to previous results. Based on Company’s current performance and the industry prospect, we maintain our gross revenue projection at N127.16 billion and our net income projection at N5.97 billion for full year December 2016; leading to a forward EPS of N4.26. Using price multiples valuation method, we arrive at a target price N160.46 over the next 3 months. Since this represents a downside potential of 1.62% on the current price, we therefore recommend a HOLD on the stock of Forte Oil Plc.

28

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 T H I S D AY

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

25.09.2016

SUNMI SMART-COLE @ 75

ALL SIDES OF HIS ROUGH COIN

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T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

COVER

SUNMI SMART-COLE @ 75

ALL SIDES OF HIS ROUGH COIN He has been working since he was 15. Starting as a teacher, he became an architectural draughtsman at 17. But Sunmisola Smart-Cole is better known as a photographer and journalist, which were largely self-taught vocations. He also acquired the skills to barb and play the drums on his own steam. On his 75th birthday today, Nseobong Okon-Ekong captures snippets of his very stimulating life

Smart-Cole

H

e doesn’t need prompting to talk. From the volume of chatter, a discerning mind can pick up several layers of didactic narratives.

But you need all the patience you can muster in a conversation with famous photographer and journalist, Sunmisola Smart-Cole. The challenge begins with trying to describe him. For a man who has many parts and the debatable distinction of attaining excellence in all of them, you can only compartmentalize him at the risk of being confronted with irrefutable evidence of his serious engagement in another field.

I was aware of his tendency for bitter disparagement, so I arranged to get to his Yaba home ahead of the appointed time.

I got a hint of his mocking temperament when we spoke on the phone. I had tried to take the usual Nigerian latitude with time by saying I will be with him between 2pm and 3pm. He rebuked sharply. “My friend, when exactly are you coming? I don’t want to hear between this and that!” I was waiting for him when he drove in from church. I may not often be prompt, but I was on time, this time. He would commend this later and one little about me. He loved

Photos: Abiodun Ajala

my shoes! Then he insisted I see his shoes.

Calling on his cook, he instructed him to take me upstairs to his bedroom. Wow! I saw three rows of shoes. And my guide told me there are more in the wardrobe.

Spending time with Smart-Cole is a privilege to learn. And even though tales can be long and winding, with scattered sequence of events, it is a pool worth drinking from. An unschooled interviewer would end up listening and nodding in agreement all the way. He takes his precious time to answer one question and extends the frontier of the discourse with unsolicited gist. The good thing about this was that even though he was given to repetition like many 75 year-olds would, if one has the presence of mind, he would get more than he asked for.

You could come back to your question later, but he doesn’t like to be interrupted, for any reason. The admonishment was frequently unleashed like a whip of the cane: “Wait! Don’t stop me.” He had started talking as soon as he arrived. I was surprised to observe that he walked with a staff. He didn’t wait for me to probe. “I had an accident a couple of years ago caused by a crazy policeman who was trying to stop a truck on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.

This is the third time I would drive my car

in three years. I disobeyed my doctor.”

Definitely, the most traumatic outcome of that unfortunate incident is that he has not been able to work since 2013. On medical advice, he has been warned to stay away from his camera. This, to him, is like being confronted with a death sentence. So he has sought escape in writing. Recording his thoughts and impressions in words may have his attraction, after all he is the author of three books, but there is this enchanting love story between him and the camera.

Last year, against better judgment, he covered a wedding. As it is common with photographers, he stood for over seven hours, taking pictures. Now, he is in a selfimposed penitentiary. “I am still paying the price for that act of disobedience.” No doubt, Smart-Cole has affluent friends who have taken upon themselves to make sure he lives in the same comfort that he is used to; what with a cook and driver to boot.

Although, he does not wear his Christianity like a badge, God has been good to Smart-Cole and he quickly admits that he signed on to a life of piety early in his teenage. “Occasionally, I smoked cigarettes when we went to the cinema. We would chew some mint to mask the smell on our breath. I do not drink alcohol and I have never involved myself in anything

SPENDING TIME WITH SMART-COLE IS A PRIVILEGE TO LEARN. AND EVEN THOUGH TALES CAN BE LONG AND WINDING, WITH SCATTERED SEQUENCE OF EVENTS, IT IS A POOL WORTH DRINKING FROM. AN UNSCHOOLED INTERVIEWER WOULD END UP LISTENING AND NODDING IN AGREEMENT ALL THE WAY. HE TAKES HIS PRECIOUS TIME TO ANSWER ONE QUESTION AND EXTENDS THE FRONTIER OF THE DISCOURSE WITH UNSOLICITED GIST. THE GOOD THING ABOUT THIS WAS THAT EVEN THOUGH HE WAS GIVEN TO REPETITION LIKE MANY 75 YEAROLDS WOULD, IF ONE HAS THE PRESENCE OF MIND, HE WOULD GET MORE THAN HE ASKED FOR

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

31

COVER

Smart-Cole

dubious. I am not about church. I am a practical Christian. I try to keep to Two Great Commandments-Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your might.

The other one is Love your neighbor as yourself. I got into trouble in my local parish five years ago when I called for the removal of the Bishop. I ended up on his enemies list.

I believe as an elderly person in church, that time I was 70, that anything that goes on in church or wherever, the older people who have seen it all should be able to speak up if not you will be committing a sin for not doing what God wants. My only alcoholic drink was at the age of 14. My last cigarette was at the age of 17. I then swore to God that I will never do anything immoral or criminal to make money. Instead let me die poor. Twice, I have been offered money by ministers in government to be their conduit, I refused. In Jonathan’s government, somebody offered me money to give him my company headed-paper in exchange for N45 million. Whatever he was going to type there, I do not know. That time I needed money like fish needs water. I have not had an income since March, 2013. In 1986, a lorry smashed my car and a bone chipped in my leg, not that I can’t walk. I have to use a walking stick.”

After confessing such a high moral standing, I asked him about his sexual morality. He paused for a while. I thought I had his back against the wall. But he made light of it by answering the question in a manner that left many possibilities on my mind. “I do not womanise but I like women and I tell you the truth. And there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you don’t overdo it. It depends on who interpret it. I like women. I do not try to hide it. You can say that I am modest about it. I do not over do anything.” He told me this story of a romantic escapade that nearly went sour.

This was when he was still a bachelor.

“Onikan had a Love Garden. I was caught there by a policeman once with a daughter of a traditional ruler. We were there, they provided bench and all that. The policeman said it was late at night. I had to give the man four Shillings as bribe to allow us go. When he asked the girl her name and she mentioned it, he said ah, that he had caught a big one. And I didn’t have money to pay my fare back to Yaba. Luckily, I had a friend on Military Street. I went to borrow money from him.”

Talking about Yaba in particular and Lagos in general brings out the sentimental and the sensual in Smart-Cole. Perhaps, the Lagos State Government, should, like the United Nations, consider endowing persons

like Smart-Cole with the honour of being classified as a Living Heritage. His recall of events, persons and places in Yaba and Lagos is a good commentary on the state of his mind - an amazing feat for a man whose formal education stopped at the primary level, but went on to edit a title in one of the most successful media houses in Nigeria, rising later to the designation of Managing Editor of titles in that group of newspapers.

“I am mostly self-thought. I started teaching after my primary school. In order to learn to speak the English language, I read the Bible back-to-back, three times (not for spiritual purposes). I listened to the BBC radio religiously. I read publications like Readers’ Digest, National Geographic, Newsweek and Time. You can call me a news junky. His television was tuned to BBC that afternoon.

Before I left, he flipped it to a sports channel showing a football match.

More than anything, it was a silent underscore to his humble antecedents in journalism, which he started as a sports reporter by keeping the acquaintance of Mr. Fashina-Thomas, who was then reporting for Daily Times under Peter Osigo. When Fashina-Thomas moved to Happy Home, the lifestyle magazine that gave birth to The Punch, Smart-Cole moved with him. And the rest, as they say, is history which cannot be accommodated here.

Smart-Cole explained his fascination with Yaba since 1962. “This is the most central part of Lagos. Except for the 10 years that I lived in America, I have spent the better part of my life in Yaba. Yaba is where he had his barber shop, which was sponsored by Chief Adetunji Soyode, the paternal grandfather of Dolapo Osinbajo, the vice-president’s wife. Yaba was home to the band (in which he was the percussionist) he co-founded with Segun Bucknor. Before his life-long sojourn in Yaba, Smart-Cole had lived with a cousin, Galbrina Bright, who worked at the Federal Palace Hotel and lived on Falolu Road in Surulere.

“Believe it or not, ‘my first home was a single room in a ‘face-me-I-face-you’, using a communal toilet, with about four or five rooms on one side, making about ten families who may have three or five children. At that time we had night soil men.

Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door. I had to taste that kind of life. Only the well-to-do or civil servants were lucky to get housing in Apapa, Ikoyi and GRA- Ikeja.

But going to GRA Ikeja was like leaving Lagos because Lagos stopped at Jibowu and

Moshalashi near Fela’s house. Fela used to live at No 14A Agege Motor Road. After that, you had Western Region and they had signboard, saying you are entering Federal Territory.

“And you won’t believe that all male citizens of Western Nigeria were forced to carry their tax receipts in their pockets because tax officials will grab anybody and say ‘show me your receipt’. Some of them will outrun the policemen and cross over the only signboard. There was no line sign of demarcation except for that signboard. So they will just run across and face them and tell them ‘come and catch me’ in Yoruba.

Of course, they didn’t cross that signboard.

When the colonial administration fashioned Yaba, it was called Yaba Garden City because a lot of the people here were either young civil servants or professionals who had just moved out of their fathers’ houses on Lagos Island and so they had to come here to buy land for 500 Pounds per plot.

The very first place called a stadium in Nigeria, the first time the word was used in a sporting ground was at Sabo-Yaba.

They had City College, Zik’s press where the newspaper was produced and printed.

That’s where Chukwuma Bamidele Azikiwe became managing director of West African Pilot at the age of 21.

“Next door, Mr. Philip Louis Ojukwu had a private petrol station. He didn’t sell petrol but his lorries came there to tank up and then leave to distribute goods across the country. The Ziks Athletic Club had people running and playing football, they had their stadium. The walls of that stadium still stand there. And don’t forget people praise Ike Nwachukwu for being a good speaker, having a good diction. Do you know his foundation? A school called Ladi-Lak in Yaba. That’s where he went to school and then City College, before he became a journalist and later joined the army. That Ladi-Lak has trained a lot of people. You had a Yaba people of West India descent who had returned to Africa, they had returned home. Like we had the Boardman, Pete Grave, the father of Mrs Adefarasin, the mother of Paul and the pastors. She is also the sister of Boardman, the sister of Mrs Anyaegbunam and sister of Mrs Araka. So we have three sisters married to three lawyers who later became chief judges of their various states.

“There was Mrs Francesca Emmanuel.

Her grandfather John Phildore NelsonCaulrick, was in charge of engineers. He was the town planner who designed Yaba.

Some people when they hear think Little Road got its name from being narrow. There

TALKING ABOUT YABA IN PARTICULAR AND LAGOS IN GENERAL BRINGS OUT THE SENTIMENTAL AND THE SENSUAL IN SMART-COLE. PERHAPS, THE LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT, SHOULD, LIKE THE UNITED NATIONS, CONSIDER ENDOWING PERSONS LIKE SMART-COLE WITH THE HONOUR OF BEING CLASSIFIED AS A LIVING HERITAGE. HIS RECALL OF EVENTS, PERSONS AND PLACES IN YABA AND LAGOS IS A GOOD COMMENTARY ON THE STATE OF HIS MIND-AN AMAZING FEAT FOR A MAN WHOSE FORMAL EDUCATION STOPPED AT THE PRIMARY LEVEL, BUT WENT ON TO EDIT A TITLE IN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MEDIA HOUSES IN NIGERIA, RISING LATER TO THE DESIGNATION OF MANAGING EDITOR OF TITLES IN THAT GROUP OF NEWSPAPERS was an engineer Little. His own assignment was to design Sabo Market. Caulrick and other engineers did not name the street after themselves. There is a street people called Maye. It is named after the first doctor who settled in Yaba. In those days, people that moved to Yaba were civilised, they used to have gardening competitions. I made sure that everybody in this estate has some kind of greenery because that’s how civilised people live. In my opinion any civilised person must love nature, animals and be kind to children and old people. There was a man called Peter Henry Moore. He had first of all settled in Calabar, he came here as a civil servant. He lived at the corner of Queens Street. He used to win most of the

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

32

COVER EXPECTEDLY, SMART-COLE’S LIVING ROOM IS A MINI-MUSEUM FOR THE DISPLAY OF ANTIQUE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT AND REVEALING PAINTINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS. HIS DRUM SET OCCUPIED A PRIDE OF PLACE. IT WAS DIFFICULT TO DECIDE IF HE VALUED THE CAMERAS ABOVE THE DRUMS AND PIANO OVER THE CAMERAS. HIS PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT SAT LIKE ROYALTY ON TWO SEPARATE SEATS

gardening competitions and yours truly used to go and help him weed his garden.

The first horticulture society started in Yaba and they had a place called Botanical Gardens in Ebutte Metta.

“Talking about Yaba people, we were totally different from people in EbutteMetta. People that lived in Ebutte-Metta were not civilised. Don’t forget a lot of them were Yorubas, the Saros and all that.

And in an average Saro house, you will see godliness and contentment. Most of them had pedigree, they didn’t commit crime, the kind of things people are doing these days. There was a family in Yaba-papa, mama and all the children had been to prison. We had Adekunle police station named after Adekunle Wright who was also a Saro man. If you went to that police station to complain that your house was burgled, the police would first of all go to that family to check every room. If they don’t see what they were looking for, they will now go somewhere else. And we didn’t have burglary proofing in our homes. Taxis ran all night. There was no armed robbery. There was no way you lived among those we were talking about that some of their lifestyles won’t rub off on you. A lot of them went to church. We didn’t have fly by night church like the born again churches. We’ve always had the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist.”

For a significant period of his life, Smart-Cole admitted that he was insecure as a result of lack of formal education, but a certain female acquaintance who later became a judge admonished him and this restored his self-confidence. At the age of 17, I started training as an architectural draftsman. I actually qualified. Many people assumed that I must have attended a trade school. When they asked me of my certificate, I will just tell them that they

Smart-Cole and Nsebong Okon-Ekong

would have seen my drawings, I will bring it the next day. I didn’t know how they would feel if I had told them that I was not trained. I was always neat. I dressed and spoke well. The first company that gave me a job without asking for my papers was a British and German company. About a month later, they said they needed my certificate. I told them the truth that I was mostly self-trained. The person who taught me actually taught me the rudiments of architecture. I told them the truth and they gave me two weeks to quit. Before the two weeks elapsed, I was going for lunch, then I saw Mr. Steve Rhodes. He was a Lagos boy and his father was a judge. Himself and a man called Ayo Vex rented a whole floor and I was given the job title artiste and road manager, instead of artiste and repertoire manager, because I could not read music.

I was road manager for Fela. He was managing Fela and others, putting them in clubs and collecting 10%. So we road managed Fela, Victor Uwaifo and others.”

Expectedly, Smart-Cole’s living room is a mini-museum for the display of antique musical instruments, telecommunication equipment and revealing paintings and photographs. His drum set occupied a pride of place. It was difficult to decide if he valued the cameras above the drums and piano over the cameras. His photographic

equipment sat like royalty on two separate seats.

Going down the memory lane again, he said: “I have always loved music. From light-hearted music, soul music, sometimes a little bit of European and American pop but mainly American soul music. Jazz is number one for me. I am a jazz drummer and I have been privileged to have played with top class musicians. What we mean by sitting-in, you are not a member of the group but you are in the audience and they say they want to invite Sunmi Smart-Cole to come and play percussion. I am working on a fourth book, that I wanna call ‘Lagosians at Play’ but the other book which is a major one is going to be my autobiography. I’m privileged and blessed that anything I touch or sell goes well. I became a teacher at the age of 15 because I couldn’t go to secondary school. I never had a day of secondary school education. I met one of the BBC African Service presenters, Pete Mayers.

I designed his home which he built in his mother’s country in Venezuela. He had a swimming pool on top but made to order plastic. So it was over the bedroom. So if you are lying on the bed, you could see the silhouette of somebody swimming.

“I have the dubious distinction of having designed the Ikoyi club golf pavilion toilets. I designed the country home of

the late Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, Albert McGuire. I still do something everyday to improve my mind. I used to go through UNILAG Consult to teach those who need photography for their disciplines, say architectural students, mass communication, town planning, survey and geography students. They used to pay me N500 for each lecture but every time they say 45 minutes, but it would go on for two hours and nobody was tired. I organised the very first jazz music festival in 1965 at Kings College Hall. Art Alade who was having a full-time work paid for most of the expenditure. A man called Sidney Moss of Indian descent but a very good piano player.

He was a printer. He did the printing of the posters free of charge with his friend Kunle Maja. Art Alade and the Jazz Preachers, Wole Bucknor and the Afro Jazz Group, Fela and some Kuti Quintets, and we had the Modern Jazz thrill. That’s me drums, Segun Bucknor on piano and a man called Don Amaechi on Bass. I will play you one tune called Sakowo (or Sack of Woe?).

It was a failure because we didn’t have people. The Principal of Kings College at the time Mr. PH Davis refunded the money, five pounds, that I paid for the venue. So we played music for fun. In Sierra Leone, I play with a group called the Jazz Disciples, in Nigeria, Jazz Preachers.”

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

Onoshe

Nwabuikwu

airtimeplus98@gmail.com

S

Time to Change the Chivita TVC

ometime in February this year (2016), I wrote this article under the headline: “Does Van Persie Still Drink Chivita? “It’s doubtful if Dutch International and Fernabahce Robin Van Persie (RVP) ever drank Chivita Orange to begin with. But let’s believe that like some other English Premier League players, RVP lived for Nigerian drinks like Chivita Orange and Malt. But what’s the justification for still running Chivita’s TV commercial shot when RVP was (still) a Manchester United player? The man doesn’t even play in England anymore as he has since left for Turkey. Shouldn’t it matter?

I suppose it makes sense to query whether these players even know about

M

the existence of Chivita’s orange juice?

That’s certainly not more far fetched than continuously showing viewers an advert of Van Persie in a Man Utd jersey. Right after the commercial, Van Persie can be seen playing for Fernabahce in the European Champions League.

Then there’s the issue of using money made from Nigerians to promote foreign players. Shouldn’t there some kind of advertising body that can regulate this?

Or is it possible to catch Kelechi Iheanacho Super Eagles/Manchester City being advertised on Dutch TV enjoying whatever juice is popular? Not even with a name like Iheanacho (The One We’ve been Looking For).

I know a part of it is caused by our

TRIBUTE

They could bring in people like Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Van Nistelrooy.

And Dwight Yorke could fill in the Black space. Surely they too can testify to the goodness of Chivita in their lives? And why not? Any foreign endorsement is good enough. Our elected leaders are happy to tell us about foreigners praising them.

Like we who feel it don’t know it. Why should a product making all its money from Nigeria, spend its hard earned forex on some foreign players? Not foreign-based Nigerian players, mind you. Sounds like I made this point earlier. Anyhow, repetition can’t be bad in this case.

And in case you’re wondering about the prominence given to this story (by me), seeing that the first time didn’t do the magic, perhaps someone would help us tell someone to tell someone until it reaches the good people at Chivita.

And My Father Died

COME AGAIN?

y father Honourable Frederick Sunday Uduzeli died on August 25, 2016 and was buried September 9, 2016 at the age of 76. Not so young yes but it was a shock. Not only because he wasn’t a sickly person, a fact my husband and I always thanked God for but the fact that his mother is still very much alive. And because of my grandmother, we always assumed her son would outlive her. But well, man proposes…

In the immediate aftermath of his death I was consumed with the needlessness of it all and the big role Nigeria had to play. Barely a month before his death, he along with my stepmother had travelled from Lampese to Benin-City for one big verification exercise. That was the 5th or 6th though. Previous ones had taken place, sometimes for days on end at Igarra, the Akoko-Edo LGA headquarters. They promptly fell in on their return because of the horrible nature of the road especially from Ekpoma to Benin City. And he never quite recovered until he died.

My father along with other pensioners was (is) being owed pension of over 12 months by the Edo State government presided over by Adams Oshiomhole.

In the early hours of August 25, 2016 when my father took ill, they were turned back from the nearest point of help, the Ibillo General Hospital due to lack of drugs and/or doctors. Two days later when we were discussing plans to move him, Irrua Specialist Hospital which would’ve been the best wasn’t possible because doctors were (and might still be) on strike.

However, in trying to put things in perspective, I think my tribute read the funeral service best captures how I wish to remember my father: “Growing up as a child, I felt your love through the stories my mother told me. As I grew older it became clearer just how much you loved each of your children. You took your responsibility to us very seriously.

With time I’ve also come to appreciate that you did not bring me up to be hindered by my gender because you always wanted me to get to the very top.

fixation on foreign leagues/footballers.

Still.”

Fast forward to August 13, 2016. The Chivita TV commercial was still running.

That’s when I noticed that in addition to Van Persie, almost every footballer in the advert had left Manchester United. There’s Di Maria, I think there’s also Radamel Falcao and I’m sure one or two who have left. With the possible exception of Rooney (who’s probably going to retire at Old Trafford), that Chivita TVC of Man Utd players ‘drinking’ and recommending the fruit juice is made entirely up of (now) former Manchester United players. This prompted a friend to suggest that perhaps what Chivita is actually aiming for is a ‘Man Utd Veterans’ Endorse Chivita’ TVC.

Uduzeli

In fact, your plan was for me to have a ph.d even before marriage.

You named me Priscilla (after Prof.

Mrs Priscilla Aletor) for a reason. You always gave me examples of women from around us who were doing well in academics. I didn’t know how revolutionary this was for any part of Nigeria. Yet, you were doing this at a time many hadn’t yet seen the light. All this in an environment with different values.

You were a ‘live and let live’ man. Nevertheless, in your own quiet way, you were unflappable in your beliefs. How else would you have withstood all opposition and married my late mother, Margaret Olufunmilayo ‘Ilayo’ Ajulo (as she then was) over 50 years ago? Neither the fact that she was older or had been previously married nor the fact that she had had children could deter you. And to those who said she

could never have children, you said you were not marrying her because of children! Even in these ‘modern’ times, it would still be difficult to do.

If not for your dogged determination to marry the woman you loved, I would probably not be here as your proud first child.

Papa, you were a man of dignity and integrity. You were also a very grateful man. Anything anyone did for us your children, you thought it a debt you owed them.

We cannot question God. He alone knows best. But in our grief, we are happy to discover that unknown to us, you were a pillar to many. The legacy of integrity you are leaving behind is good enough for us. The Uduzeli name is valuable.

Paul and I will miss you, especially your phone calls.

Sleep on Papa as you are reunited with my mother.”

“VP Osinbajo says accelerated infrastructure development critical to sustainable growth.”

-AIT News, Tuesday September 20, 2016, 2.53 pm-ish.

“Economic revival, key to reducing human trafficking in Nigeria-Buhari.”

-AIT News Headlines, Tuesday September 20, 2.54 pm-ish.

I don’t know whether you’ve noticed but I took a conscious break from ‘political’ Come Again? For all kinds of ‘wonderful’ reasons which I won’t bore you with. However, I couldn’t help myself when I saw the two aforementioned headlines the other day.

It would appear that the president, his vice and quite a few people in the executive do not get that the campaigns are over. Elections were ‘won’ and ‘lost’ close to 20 months ago. There’s now no need for anyone to talk as if they are addressing one ‘inaccessible’ being at the Villa. What’s more, these two speakers are the new occupants of (the increasingly expensive to run) Villa.

So when Osinbajo says “accelerated infrastructure development critical to sustainable growth”, who is he talking to?

If he must say “accelerated infrastructure development critical to sustainable growth” at all, that statement must be followed by words like: ‘this is why the federal government has set up’ or ‘created’ or ‘disbursed X sum to tackle…’

Even words like ‘plans to’,or plans to inject’ or ‘about to… set up’ are no longer good enough.

And as for the president telling some people about economic revival being key to reducing human trafficking, say what? You don’t say? Really? If this were social media banter, I’d say ‘Flesh and blood have not revealed this…’

(Matthew 16 verse 17). So where’s the blueprint for this economic revival.Or is the current recession part of it? Sorry, I forgot recession was just a word. Aren’t people more likely to engage in human trafficking now more than before?

Just because of the general lack a clear economic direction.

Nigerians are resilient, yes. Nigerians are optimistic, we know. While most of us Nigerians are getting on or trying to get on with being resilient, it would be good if our elected leaders didn’t add (expensive Dangote) salt to our open wounds.

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entertainment

with nseobong okon-ekong 08114495324, nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com

Onyeka Onwenu, Kcee, Humblesmith, Emma Grey Storm Onitsha for Iheaku Nseobong Okon-Ekong

N

o one saw them arrive or mingle with guests, so when popular comedian Okey Bakassi who doubled as Master of Ceremony announced the line-up of acclaimed musicians, many sneered at the statement believing it to be a gimmick frequently employed to retain the company of invitees to an event and keep them glued to their seat till the end of the programme. They could not be persuaded with the presence of a band that was already serenading the assembly as people settled down.

The band was there. But it could be anybody’s band!

The first sign that the children of Sir Godson and Lady Esther Iheaku, who had organised a joint bash to celebrate their parents’ 80th and 70th birthdays respectively, were going to deliver on their promise of a good time for everyone was when Onyeka Onwenu who is becoming used to the sobriquet Lady of Songs, stepped on stage to perform.

Allowing Onyeka to take the first shot was a well-executed plan by the organisers. With her knowledge of Igbo, her songs like ‘Ekwe’, Iyogogo’ and the refrain to ‘You and I’ became easy sing along for a largely Igbo gathering.

The guests warmed up to her, even as she established a few precedents that became the order of the evening; like stepping down from the stage to pay courtesies to the grand old couple who were being honoured and being recalled for an encore when the audience could not get enough of her.

A hint of indigenous entertainment was presented by a troupe from the Anambra State Ministry of Culture, Tourism and the Diaspora who were well applauded for their performance. Emeka Rollas and his Gyration group kept many dancing on their feet to a string of fast-paced home-grown beats made popular in institutions of higher learning by a social group known as the Kegites Club.

Within that belt of untainted form of Nigerian composition came a group that claimed to have been with Oliver de Coque.

Entertaining at the Onitsha Sports Club venue of the event where their mentor had performed many times brought back mutual memories of the late Ogene Highlife exponent.

Perhaps, the real surprise of the evening was a presentation by the grand-daughters of the Iheakus. Many guests were taken aback when they turned out donned in attires that depicted the Igbo culture and dancing to late Christy Essien-Igbokwe’s ‘Tetanu’, despite the fact that many of them live in America and Canada. It was a moment that many could not hold back their emotion.

For the first time that evening Granpa Iheaku, who was previously cajoled to dance, stepped down from his exalted seat of honour on his own accord and was followed by his wife. They went into join the circle of fun created by their grandchildren. They relived

GLOBAL APPLAUSE FOR ‘76 Movie lovers from around the world recently gathered at the Isabel Bader Centre in Toronto to witness the premier of ‘76, the soon-to-bereleased Nigerian military thriller.

The event which was witnessed by key players in Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood and stakeholders in the movie industry, was graced by a large colourful crowd. Some of the celebrities present at the premiere include Rita Dominic, Ramsey Nouah and Chidi Mokeme; who were key cast in the movie. Other Nigerian celebrities present at the premiere were Desmond Eliot, Fred Amata and Kunle Afolayan.

The movie which had a well-stocked-up redcarpet was displayed on the screen and caught the attention of all. After the screening, there was standing ovation and an echoing round of applause with many viewers soaked in tears.

The screening was immediately followed by a question and answer session, where viewers expressed their opinions and sough to know more from the director and cast.

‘76 was screened three times at the 41st

Iheaku’s granddaughters

their childhood in that flighty split second!

All too soon, it was time for intense Nigerian and international old skool pop and soul music rendered by Emma Grey who came all the way from Warri. With tunes like ‘Knock on Wood’ and ‘I Want You to be Mine’, ‘Grey’ hit home, taking the party to another level of pleasure.

By the time ‘Osinachi’ crooner, Humblesmith came on stage, the heat was on as many surged forward to catch a glimpse of him and to dance close to the stage. He had riveted every attention to himself with several chants of ‘Igbo Kwenu’. It was difficult to drag Humblesmith away from the stage.

Although, he was made to return ‘by popular demand’, he had to exit for a while for the headline act of the evening, Kcee.

For the Limpopo crooner, it was an easy ride. The crowd was hungry and ready for him. But he did not take them for granted because the previous had hit a high note that he had to maintain. It was just as well for him to open his act singing, “baby give me tonight…I’m going crazy…let me be your lover…I wanna be your lover.” The crowd needed no further prompting. They took it over. From then on, everyone became Kcee’s chorus, intoning after him, whether he was singing ‘Baby Pull Over’, Reggae Blues’ or Fada Fada’. But Kcee did what no other entertainer did that night. He rewarded some members of the audience with cash for outstanding dance.

It was one of those parties that the house was still full and bubbling even though it was going to midnight. And the DJ was just warming up to take over from where the performing artistes stopped.

Humblesmith

Kcee... entertaining guests Toronto International Film Festival and had a sold out hall on all the dates. The film has also been selected to show at the BFI Film Festival in London.

WHAT’S JOS CHILLIN’?

By Seriki Adinoyi Mees Palace Entertainment in collaboration with Buckwyld Media Network is set to partner the Plateau State government to grow the tourism and entertainment industry through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative.

This initiative, according to Mr. Emmanuel Adukwu, CEO of Mees Palace Entertainment, will return tourists and investors to Jos and the Plateau in a bid to recover from over 10 years of hostilities, which had shattered the peace of the state and driven away tourists.

Christened Jos Chillin’, the initiative was launched in Government House, Rayfield Jos, by the state governor, Mr. Simon Lalong, who was represented by his deputy, Prof. Sonni Tyoden, in company of representatives of the private sector partners, Mees Palace Entertain-

ment and Buckwyld Media Network.

Tyoden, who was obviously elated, congratulated his guests for not just sitting back and dreaming about it. “Government has a lot of intention regarding unveiling potentials in Plateau, but for finance; that is why we are ready to partner you on this. We will do all to ensure that your intentions become a reality.”

A national launch of the project championed by 2Baba using a blend of entertainment to drive the revival of ‘Peace and Tourism’ to the depressed city is in the works according to Adukwu, team leader of Mees Palace, and Mr. Efe Onovogbe of Buckwyld Media Network.

GLOBAL RIGHTS UNVEILS CELEBRITY AMBASSADORS In line with its mission to promote and protect human rights irrespective of their race, social status or gender, Global Rights, a nongovernmental organisation recently teamed up with top entertainers to campaign against sexual violence.

The advocacy was spurred from startling

figures from Sexual Violence facts which stated that one in four girls and one in ten boys will have experienced sexual violence before they turn 18 and only about 5 per cent of these victims will receive any help.

Corroborating this statistics, a representative of The Mirabel Centre for rape victims Juliet Olumuyiwa-Rufai revealed that rape survivors cut across all age and sex. “We’ve had a four months old baby sexually molested. There have been cases of boys too molested by a relative.

But more often than not, we have more female victims.”

The Country Director of the organisation, Abiodun Bayeiwu lamented about the inaction of the government and the society at large in ending this menace.

“Sexual violence is a form of violence that we rarely talked about in our society. There has been an erroneous narrative that sexual violence only happens to women. That’s not true. It is a vicious cycle that has gone on unaddressed in our society. It is something that we have to grapple with because someone you know

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ENTERTAINMENT has been or in danger of becoming sexually molested. It breaks people, it destroys lives.

In order to change this narrative, the NGO recently unveiled some Nigerian entertainers as their ambassadors in their fight against sexual violence in the country. They include AMVCA winner Tope Tedela, filmmakers Ego Boyo and Bose Oshin, Aramide, David B and actor/musician Charles Granville.

“These celebrities have agreed to lend their voices to raise awareness in a bid to fight the crime of sexual violence in our society. These persons have over time, been actively involved in advocacy campaigns against all forms of violence, they have a thorough understanding of the kind of influence the entertainment industry has on the Nigerian populace and they have decided to take the time out of their busy schedules to join Global Rights in curbing the menace that is, Sexual Violence,” said Bayeiwu The ambassadors pledged to use their various works to campaign against sexual violence.

“I feel naive when I hear people talk about rape because of my family background. We were taught as boys to respect women so it baffles me when a man will forcefully abuse a woman sexually. For me, it’s all about letting men know that a no is a no. If a woman decline your advances, respect her wishes and move on,” said Tope Tedela.

Other campaigns adopted by the organisation include a documentary series ‘My Story’, on the radio where survivors share their story.

SUPREMACY CONCERT RULES ON OCTOBER 1 After several weeks of buzz on different platforms, the much talked about concert of the year the ‘Supremacy Concert’ will finally berth at the iconic Eko Atlantic in Victoria Island, Lagos amidst pomp and pageantry.

The concert which has been on the front burner these past weeks has been tipped to the best show concert goers have experienced in recent times judging by the rave reviews the event has been getting especially on different social media platforms.

Organised by Main Group, the Supremacy Concert is a world-class audio-visual experience which would feature Nigeria’s top five performing artistes. Billed to perform is the King of World Beats King Sunny Ade (KSA), multi-talented Songstress Asa, African Queen Honcho 2Baba, the Kokomaster Dbanj and Star Boy Records Boss Wizkid. It will be first time these artistes would be performing on the same stage.

Also expected to be at the Supremacy Concert is the Legend and pioneer Nigerian DJ Jimmy Adewale Amu popularly called Cool DJ Jimmy Jatt and the amiable Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola popularly known as DJ Cuppy, daughter of billionaire businessman Mr. Femi Otedola on the wheel of steel.

The Made in Nigeria Festival is being organised by the MaIN Group, a collaboration of private sector organisations. Board of Advisors of the initiative include: Prince Adesegun Oniru, Mr. Aliko Dangote, Dr. (Mrs.) Stella Okoli, Mr. Ronald Chagoury, and Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

How Makurdi Received Star Music Trek…

Abuja is Next Thousands of music lovers recently gathered at the IBB Square in the city of Makurdi, capital of Benue State for the debut of Star Music The Trek 2016.

The concert hosted by Gbenga Adeyinka started on an exceptionally high note with an array of budding music talents who dazzled audience with their performances.

A pre-gig event, which held the previous night to herald Star Music The Trek in Makurdi, featured a surprise appearance from 2Baba as he excited the appetite of fans ahead of the main concert on Saturday night.

During the main concert, fans in Makurdi witnessed amazing performances from their favorite artistes; Burnaboy, Ice Prince, Cynthia Morgan and Wande Coal.

Wande Coal took his stage craft a notch higher at the Makurdi concert as he gave his fans a thrilling night by performing classic hit singles like ‘Bumper to Bumper’, ‘Se na like this’, ‘Super woman’, ‘Booty call’, ‘My woman - My everything’ and a host of other songs.

Ice prince gave a dexterous performance while singing to timeless singles such as Oleku, Aboki, Excellency and That could be us.

The concert also saw an amazing dance routine from Cynthia Morgan, who performed her new single Bubble bup and scintillated the cheering crowd with songs like ‘I’m Taken’, ‘Lead Me On’, ‘Popori’ and the crowd-pleasing song ‘German Juice’, which left the audience yearning for more.

Burnaboy had his A-game on, as he connected with the crowd throughout his 40 minutes set on stage. He serenaded the crowd to amazing songs like Don Gorgon, Yawa Dey, Won da mo, Oluwa Burna and a couple of other songs from his stable.

With the combination of skillful backup singers, music icon and headline act, 2Baba kept the party on a high mode through to the early hours of Sunday morning.

Star Music Trek – the Makurdi concert, which was a homecoming gig for 2Baba was fully packed with tens of thousands of teeming fans, keen to set eyes on their hometown hero.

2Baba closed the concert with a one-hour live performance through which he dished out some philosophies about life.

The Deejays weren’t left out on the night. DJ ‘BIG N’ and DJ Neptune brought incredible life to the city of Makurdi, turning up the mix and gracefully giving upcoming acts a shot at fame during their moments on stage.

Having set the tone for an amazing concert experience in Makurdi, the next city to rock is already warming up. On Saturday, October 8, the Star Music trek train heads to Abuja for the second concert in the lineup of its five-city tour.

AQUAFINA ELITE MODEL LOOK UNVEILS 2016 FINALISTS Twenty contestants will go on the runway for the grand finale of the Aquafina Elite Model Look Nigeria 2016 crown in Lagos on October 1.

The annual event is a gateway to the glamorous world of international modeling and fashion for the winners in both male and female categories, as they will represent Nigeria alongside 80 other countries and stand a chance of winning $150,000 at Elite Model Look International world finals. In addition there is a chance to win a modeling contract with elite model management worldwide and two years modeling contract with Beth Model Management Africa.

Commenting on the Aquafina Elite Model Look Nigeria 2016 final event, Mr. Norden Thurston, Head of Marketing, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc (SBC) makers of Aquafina premium table water from the makers of Pepsi said: “We cherish our partnership with Elite Model Agency Nigeria in providing the platform for young Nigerians to aspire to the peak of global modeling and fashion through the Aquafina Elite Model Look Nigeria contest.”

dining restaurant, specialty steakhouse and outdoor terrace, spa, pool deck and events place among others. In a rare feat, it equally parades eight conference rooms of different capacities ranging from 10 to 500 comfortable seats.

According to Ahmed Tajudeen, Director of Projects, Avalon International, owners of the hotel, the glamour of the assortment of marblelike finishing on the floors and walls, combined with a unique carport at the entrance, will make lodging irresistible for guests.

“The suspended glass floor and glass bridge at the reception area is to create a unique class for a hotel that is first of its kind in Africa. With an underground car park, security within the premises is reinforced, starting with electronically controlled bollards at the gate, at the car park entrance and body scanners at the entrance to the reception area,” he explained.

The date for the grand opening ceremony of the hotel would soon be announced.

MARRIOTT LANDS IN NIGERIA WITH RENAISSANCE History will be made in Lagos as the first Mariott Hotel in sub-Sahara Africa opens its doors to customers.

Strategically located on Isaac John Street, GRA, Ikeja, Marriott, the global luxury brand in hotel management, will make its debut with the grand opening of Renaissance Lagos Ikeja Hotel.

All over the world, Mariott Hotel is reputed as an embodiment of luxury, high taste, class and safety. From the gate to the reception and to the exquisite rooms, Mariott oozes class and panache.

Apart from the 155 tastefully furnished rooms of varying classes on nine floors, the Lagosbased Mariott also boasts of a boutique, all-day

EDGAR, ADIBUA DRAMATISE 14TH CENTURY LAGOS Encouraged by the warm reception for his satire on Nigeria which carried the name of his popular column -Loud Whispers- in THISDAY Newspapers, My Joseph Edgar, Investment Banker turned entertainment entrepreneur is conniving again with the usual suspects who made his debut foray into theatre a success.

Popular OAP and Entertainment Entrepreneur, Olisa Adibua will offer all the support he muster as co-executive producer, while William Benson who gave interpreted and gave live to the production is set to play the same role again as director.

Programmed to captivate the discerning Lagos audience on Valentine Day, February 14 2017, the play will look at the struggle for

Cynthia Morgan supremacy between the Kosoko and Akitoye families amidst the confusion of the slave trade.

Kosoko is the ruthless slave trader who dethroned his uncle Akitoye who was sophisticated and did not want anything to do with the slave trade.

Upon his dethrone meant he fled to the UK to seek the support of the British to regain his throne from his nephew who by this time has entrenched himself on the throne with the active support of his son who was very aggressive and extremely powerful warrior.

In one of his exploits, the prince had captured a bunch of slaves including the very beautiful and exotic songbird who unbeknownst to him was a Bini princess who had unknowingly wandered too far from the palace and had been captured and sold to slave dealers. He falls in love with her after hearing her wonderful voice and begins a secret tryst with the slave girl.

However, as tensions rise, the Bini kingdom has suddenly heard the sad news of their princess being in captivity by Kosoko who by this time is a vassal king who pays homage to the Bini palace.

The war drums begin to beat, the Binis are marching towards Lagos to reclaim their princess, the British are marching with Akitoye towards Lagos to reclaim his throne, Kosoko ever so deviant his preparing his troops led by his ever-ready but unknowing to him weakened by love warrior son.

The stage is set, the battle of the three armies is about to begin and just as the sound of war is about to be heard, love takes over.

PLAN THIS ON ENTERTAINMENT PAGE. A Musical Feast for Spirit Life Conference Micah Stampley, Sammie Okposo, Eno Michael, Nathanel Bassey will be bringing the house down with soulful ministrations at House

on the Rock today.

The musical celebration brings to end the annual Spirit Life Conference which kicked off on Wednesday.

Themed ‘Glory to Glory’, the event had great ministers of God like Abel Damina, Jamal Bryant, Tudor Bismark, Jasmin Sculark and the host Paul Adefarasin.

The annual event is part of the church’s mission to impact, empower and spiritually refresh thousands of souls through anointed men of God and music ministers across the country.

GANDOKI’S NEXT BIG JOKE Old-timer stand-up comedian Gandoki is geared to break an impressive record as the longest stand-up comedian performance. The announcement was made recently at a press briefing.

The comedian targets to perform for 48 hours stretch in an attempt to beat the 40-hours and 8 minutes performance by American comedian, David Scott in 2013.

Speaking to journalists, he said that his interest in participating in the event was to promote the nation to international frontiers.

“I’m doing this just to showcase Nigerians to the world. And also I’m doing it for my Niger Delta brothers, we still have talents, we are not violent people. I want all Nigerians to support me.”

He further told the press that he ensured that he adhered to all the rules and regulations set by the Guinness Book of Record. “It’s not easy. Pause is not allowed. That means I can’t use the toilet if I’m pressed. You are allowed to talk for four hours and rest for 20 minutes. If you miss any minute, your performance will be cancelled.”

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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Shocking Celebrity Break-ups in 2016

From the longest to the shortest relationship life span, these celebrities left us in awe with the news of their break-up, writes Vanessa Obioha

T

hey are young, old, actors and musicians. They are all celebrities.

Due to their propensity to influence opinions, their relationship status is constantly observed by the media and the public who are not always generous with their compliments.

For this category of persons, the battle to keep the media at bay has spurned such pastime or vocation as paparazzi. Their separation of ways always thunders home with a bang-hugging headlines and trending in mainstream and online media.

The causes of these break-ups vary. From cheating to abuse, celebrities have a reason to walk out of the door on the guilty spouse.

However, there are some affairs that exude the make-believe happily-ever-after story, while others are like a ticking time bomb that the public can’t wait for its explosion.

As 2016, enters the home stretch, quite a few famous couples who began the year glued together like stamp and letter, have come unstuck, barely able to stand each other, leaving the public numbed with their split.

1. ANGELINA JOLIE AND BRAD PITT: A HAPPILY NEVER-AFTER AFFAIR Fans are yet to recover from the shocking separation of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt recently whom they fondly nicknamed Brangelina. Their love story started on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith in 2004 where they played a couple who became rival assassins. Pitt at the time was married to actress Jennifer Aniston. By the time the movie hit theatres in 2005, it was alleged that Pitt divorced Aniston to be with Jolie.

Not until in 2014 did Jolie and Pitt finally legalise their marriage in a private ceremony in France. Together they had six children, out of which three are their biological children in their 12 years of marriage.

Jolie in her divorce suit cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the break-up, while Pitt who expressed surprise was questioned about child abuse allegation shortly by the Los Angeles Police Department.

2. TAYLOR SWIFT AND CALVIN HARRIS/ TOM HIDDLESTON: PRIDE AND CONFUSION The Wildest Dream singer gave her fans a series of shock with her latest love life saga.

First it was her break up in June with music producer Calvin Harris (real names Adam Wiles) whom she dated for 15 months. What followed next was a breach of secrecy over Harris’ smash hit ‘This is What You Came For.’ Harris in a series of venomous tweets

Casper Smart and Jennifer Lopez

accused his ex for breaching their secrecy code by revealing to the public she co-wrote the song. Expectedly, public opinions were divided and camps of solidarity were pitched between the two singers.

But things utterly went south when few days after her break-up, Swift was seen hanging out with actor Tom Hiddleston.

Quite a few believed it was a publicity stunt but it turned to be real. However, the romance fizzled out with the same alacrity it started. Swift and Hiddleston went separate ways after three months of whirlwind romance.

3. JOHNNY DEPP AND AMBER HEARD: LOVE IS BLIND Domestic violence was at the core of this celebrity break-up. Amber Heard in May filed a divorce from the actor Johnny Depp after a year in marriage. They had met during the filming of ‘The Rum Diary’ in 2011 and married in a lavish ceremony in 2015.

The divorce came three days after Depp lost his mother.

The divorce took an interesting turn when Heard filed for a domestic abuse restraining order accompanied with pictures of her bruised face. Although Depp got moral support from Lily his daughter with his ex, Vanessa Paradis, it did little to calm Heard who didn’t sign a prenuptial agreement with Depp. After months of allegations and stalling, the couple reached a settlement of $7 million which Heard donated to a charity.

4. OZZY AND SHARON OSBOURNE: TOO MUCH TESTOSTERONE After nearly 34 years of marriage, rock star Ozzy kissed his wife Sharon goodbye. With four years difference in age, the Osbournes have been onscreen delight right from Ozzy’s days as a member of the band ‘Black Sabbath. Sharon soon became his manager.

They had a beautiful wedding on July 4, 1982 and had three children: Aimee, Kelly and Jack. The family except for Aimee had their reality TV show on MTV in 2002. The show was a hit but only lasted for three years.

Ozzy had in the past struggled with alcohol and drugs but his divorce from Sharon had nothing to do with his addiction. It seemed rather that Ozzy had a sex addiction.

Although, the metal-rock singer is trying to patch up with his ‘The Talk’ co-host wife, the green light is still blurred.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

how to be in a relationship again or is it just distraction? The Canadian singer is yet to embrace a relationship as he is now officially single. At first, it seemed Sofia Richie, daughter of legendary singer Lionel Richie had the Midas touch. But not for too long. After a blissful summer holiday in Mexico, the couple ended their six-weeks relationship.

6. IGGY AZALEA AND NICK YOUNG: A SAD TALE OF KISS AND TELL Their split was rooted in infidelity. Nick Young in a careless chatter with his Lakers teammate, D’Angelo Russell, revealed that he had affairs with other women other than his engaged girlfriend, rapper Iggy Azalea. Unknown to him, his trusted friend was taping his confession. Russell posted the video on YouTube in March and it went viral. The media painted the scandal in different shades. All the while, Azalea maintained a calm disposition. Her veneer finally cracked when she called off her engagement to the NBA pro in June. The split came on the heels of the speculated news that Young impregnated his ex-girlfriend Keonna Greene.

5. JUSTIN BIEBER AND SOFIA RICHIE: NOT YET READY Is it too late for Justin Bieber to learn

7. TAYLOR KINNEY AND LADY GAGA: THE ONE THAT WAS NOT THE ONE There was no doubt in Lady Gaga’s heart that she had found her missing rib when she crossed paths with Taylor Kinney. The couple had met on the set of Gaga’s ‘You and I’ music video in 2011. She was very confident that he was the one for her. On Valentine’s Day 2015, Kinney proposed to her. Fans were ecstatic. She was all over the moon planning her Big Day and choosing

Kendu Isaacs and Mary J. Blige

Lady Gaga and Taylor Kinney

the right dress. But the happy news was soon replaced with a sad one when the pair broke up in June. A lot of factors were weighed in but none strong enough to pardon the adorable couple for breaking their fans’ hearts.

8. MARY J. BLIGE AND KENDU ISAACS: RULES AND PERFECTION He was her manager and husband for 12 years. Their marriage was built on rules to help build a perfect marriage. For example, Blige banned Isaacs from having the opposite sex as friends. Despite that, on more than one occasion, Isaacs was alleged to have cheated on Blige who expectedly took solace in the bottle. Blige finally called it quits in July and saved Isaacs from churning out money by declining a spousal support from him. The pair had no children.

9. JENNIFER LOPEZ AND CASPER SMART: A LOVE TEST? J Lo surprised her fans when she called it quits with her young love dancer, Casper Smart. They met in 2011 and started dating in 2012 after Lopez divorced from her husband Marc Anthony. In August, they both went their separate ways amicably.

10. KHLOE KARDASHIAN AND JAMES HARDEN: JUST A FLING The list won’t be complete without a Kardashian. Khloe Kardashian whose revamped look is a turner ended her less than a year relationship with NBA player James Harden in February. Distance and personal goals were cited as some of the reasons for their breakup.

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

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ON THE COUCH

MODUPE SASORE (LAWYER)

Why I Am Passionate About Humanity Interviewed by Funke Olaode Can we have an insight to your background?

I was born in Lagos and I am married into a popular family in Lagos, the Sasores. My father was a medical doctor. I attended St. Gordric’s College, Hampstead London, I studied Law at University of Lagos, and I was also at the University of London and attended the Harvard Law School where I completed a programme on Negotiation. So, I am an advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration, UK, and an accredited mediator of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, UK. I currently work in a law firm as an associate.

I know that all fingers are not equal. Under our economic/ community development project, we have adopted Itamarun, a village on the outskirt of Lagos at Lekki Free Zone. It is a local community that is in need of basic amenities. For instance, they don’t have electricity there and drinkable water. It is a beautiful setting situated in a coastal area that is overseeing the high sea. We first visited the place on a sanitation day and taught them how to keep their environment clean. We swept the entire village with them. We built an incinerator for them. I was chairman of economic and community development, I saw that the major occupation of the women is trade in palm kernel which they cracked by hand. I asked them how long it takes to fill one drum and they said 10 days.

I knew that they needed help. So, I arranged with my team and we got them a palm kernel cracking machine.

This project of the Rotary Club of Lagos was a major empowerment tool for the local women. We asked them to form themselves into a cooperative which they did. We built and installed mechanised palm kernel cracking centre for them and a drum of palm kernel that used to take them 10 days to fill now lasts a few hours.

Would you say your parents influenced who you are today?

It was a privileged beginning.

When I returned from England, I worked at Lever Brothers, Portland Cement Company. I later studied Law at the University of Lagos and started practicing as a lawyer.

I served the nation in different capacities: as special adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on exports programme. I was appointed Director-General of Nigerian Export Promotion.

How do you feel becoming the President of Rotary Club of Lagos?

I was invited to the club by Mrs. Hairat Balogun in 2008. I have been active since I joined this noble gathering. I am happy particularly when one knows what the club stands for. For me, it is an opportunity to serve the less the privileged. I served as chairman of Micro Credit Committee which grants loans to small scale operations. In July, we organised micro finance credit for Sangrouse Market traders and the butchers later joined them. Today, the microcredit fund has enormous growth of 1500 per cent.

As president what are your plans?

In the Rotary Club, we have a theme for each month. For

If you can rate your satisfaction with life, out of 10 what would you score yourself?

I will score myself seven over 10. I believe there is room for an improvement.

instance, our theme for September is basic education and illiteracy. We recognise education as the bedrock of development in any society. It is obvious that education at the basic level is the first step towards creating a community aware of its rights and enabled to take advantage of economic opportunities that abound.

Recently, our club has just obtained the Lagos state government approval

to carry out a pilot project called ‘Lab-in-a-Box’. This is in collaboration with JANYAA Foundation of India. It is aimed at improving the knowledge of secondary students in Science and Mathematics. We also plan to promote the reading culture.

Why are you so passionate about humanity considering your comfortable background?

If you could turn back the hand of time are there things you would do differently?

I don’t have regrets. I wish I had joined the Rotary Club earlier. I also wish I had started law much earlier, as a profession.

What is your philosophy of life?

Giving my all in whatever I am doing. Love the neighbour as thyself; support and take care of others.

Always strive to assist the humanity.

This is one of the purposes of existence.

EVENT

Memorable Night for Eagle Toastmasters

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he balmy night at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, was just the right atmosphere for a new man to be crowned the president of Eagle Toastmasters International. Welldressed guests mingled amidst glasses of cocktails as they exchanged pleasantries.

Before long, the main event began. It was a change of guard night in honour of Oladele Olunike, to be sworn in as the new president of Eagles Toastmasters International.

A non-profit organisation, with clubs worldwide to help members improve on their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills, Toastmasters has been in Nigeria for over a decade.

Olunike said he joined the club in 2009 and has remained very active ever since attending Eagle Toastmasters Club’s bi-monthly meetings. According to him,

his experience at the club has made him better in personal, professional and public life, through the many transformational programmes of Eagle Toastmasters.

Olunike believes his new position is a call to serve the club better. “I wouldn’t see it as being honoured; some people may see it as honour to be a president, but I see it as a call to service because of the ideals of Toastmasters. One of our core values is service and I see every promotion in every aspect of life as a call to higher responsibility.”

As part of his plans to take the club to the next level, Olunike said his vision for the club, in 2016 is titled Eagle Vision three V… Bigger, Bolder and Brighter milestone, which is the payoff line.

“The three Vs stand for viable, vibrant and visible. Our vision statement is to

make the club more viable, vibrant and more visible nationally. Our mission is to intensify capacity development, through the development of people’s communication and leadership skills.”

A 35-times best speaker and 52 times best evaluated award winner, Olunike said: “in the last 65 days, we have been steering the ship of the club in the direction of making the club more visible through our educational programmes.”

While giving her valedictory speech, immediate past president of the club, Keji Sanni, encouraged both men and women, young and old to achieve success.

Currently in 136 countries, Toastmasters began in 1924 in Santana, California, USA. In over 92 years, it has helped over four million people to conquer their fear, to find their voice and release their success.

assistant editor nseobong okon-ekong senior correspondent funke olaode correspondent vanessa obioha designer ibirogba ibidapo CONTRIBUTORS onoshe nwabuikwu, temilolu okeowo, kelechi nduka THISDAY ON SUNDAY editor adetokunbo adedoja deputy editor vincent obia STUDIO art director ochi ogbuaku jnr THISDAY NEWSPAPERS editor-in-chief & chairman nduka obaigbena managing director eniola bello deputy managing director kayode komolafe

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

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High Life

wiTh LANRE ALFRED 08076885752

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

How Long Can You Be Cute? For Helen Prest-Ajayi, The Answer Will Probably Go… ‘Eternally!’

T

he splendor of her womanhood and the earthly rind of her humaneness and poise resonate that ageless prettiness and élan characteristic of the loveliest of fabled Greek goddesses.

But while you may be forgiven for associating Helen’s femininity with that historic grandeur evocative of medieval Cleopatra, you won’t be forgiven if you fail to divorce her stateliness from the guile and chicanery emblematic of the fabled Greek goddess.

Unlike Cleopatra, she is in totality, a mortal husk of humility and compassion. Little wonder she enjoys the prayer and goodwill of many as she clocks the golden age of 57 some days ago. Helen who is married to Dr. Tosin Ajayi of the First Foundation, was celebrated by her children and It was a

gathering of age-long friends and close family members on September 18, 2016 at the Sky Lounge Eko Hotel, Lagos.

The dinner was organised by her daughter Tomisin.

Dressed in a print dress, Helen Prest-Ajayi was in high spirits as her friends took turns to celebrate her and posed for photographs with her. The celebrant took charge of the party herself, and endeavoured to treat every guest to a good time. The ecstasy of the event and innumerable treats made available to every guest at the celebrant’s behest tinged the atmosphere with a euphoric hue of sort; it all felt surreal.

And not a few guests could attest to that.

She was as usual, in her element as she radiated faultless beauty and delight that has kept her husband persistently head over heels in love with her through the years.

Seinye Lulu-Briggs

MUMMY DEAREST! OVUNDAH AKAROLO SERENADES SEINYE LULU BRIGGS

If the face of Greta Garbo was an idea, and that of Audrey Hepburn was an event, the Executive Vice Chairman of Moni Pulo, Seinye Lulu Brigs’s gorgeousness redefines the bounds of loveliness and grace. “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite

variety. Other women cloy the appetites they feed, but she makes hungry where most she satisfies,” mused William Shakespeare in his epic work Cleopatra.

Were the great dramatist and poet alive now, it would be interesting to know what he would write about Seinye, the wife of Chief Lulu Briggs.

Whatever he writes, the greatest metre and rhyme will never be enough to idolize the beauty and depth of Seinye. But even at that, she is hardly given to fickle idolatry, unlike most of the women she shares the right to acclaim and celebrity status with. Every day in her life portends a fresh adventure; it’s enchanting, melodic, like the coming together of lovelorn soul mates caught in an interminable whirlpool of passion. Perhaps it’s her captivating beauty, maybe it’s her capacity to win and tame even the most frigid heart that enchants her husband and binds him to her love – for each day spent in her presence necessitates a fresh wooing. However, son inlaw, Ovundah, serenaded her last Wednesday on her birthday. It was a show of

Helen Prest-Ajayi and hubby

love. Ovundah Akarolo is married to, Solate LuluBriggs. Besides feeling and showering unparalleled love on his wife, Ovundah also shares joint bank accounts with her. Further findings revealed that the MoniPulo Group boss does not operate an individual bank account but instead operates several joint accounts with his wife as a mark of unwavering love and loyalty to her.

They run Solate’s family business together. It’s love actually.

abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.

Where the majority plays rogue, Dapo opts to play the people’s champion.

Interestingly, however, Prince Dapo Abiodun, the All Progressives Congress, APC candidate in the last Ogun East senatorial election, has continued to

MAN OF THE PEOPLE! HEYDEN BOSS, DAPO ABIODUN, CROSSES THE RUBICON

In a coven of greedy merchants, it takes unprecedented restraint to scorn the lure of extreme commerce. Such marvelous trait depicts the soul of a selfless magnate - an indisputable rarity in contemporary Nigeria.

Dapo Abiodun is however, cut of such rare stock.

The chairman of Heyden Oil flaunts a reputation for good judgment, for fair dealing and rectitude - which in itself is good fortune. Dapo, like the proverbial ethical rebel understands that the one thing that doesn’t

Dapo Abiodun

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HIGHLIFE

In Their Fathers’ Name…Lucky Igbinedion’s Daughter, Orobosa, Marries Ibrahim Mantu’s Son, Umar

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e chose his wife, as she did her wedding gown; not for a fine glossy surface, but for such qualities as would wear well. Thus when Umar Ibrahim-Mantu married Orobosa LuckyIgbinedion last Saturday, he was at once making a rational decision and living his dream. Last Saturday, the city of Benin lost its balance for the Igbinedions. The joy of the newlywed couple knew no bounds as they swooned with joy and excitement on the dance floor. The pair waltzed across the reception hall like two royal scions at the threshold of their dreams.

Every detail about their wedding was undeniably gorgeous. The rich and enviable social contacts and affiliations of the bride’s family, was fully displayed and amply felt by everyone present at the occasion as the hall was packed full with the crème of the pack of Nigeria’s

business and political high societies. Orobosa, the most well trained and well groomed of the Igbinedion daughters, was practically swooning with joy as she married her heartthrob, Umar. Riddled with joy and a hearty smile that electrified the venue and lasted through the celebration, they clung to each other like a meticulously wrought jewel. Indeed, the couple couldn’t have had a better wedding; a reality not a few of their guests unhesitatingly admitted.

Yes, immediately after the Abuja ‘leg’ of the party where the Mantus will host the who is who, the couple would be crisscrossing the world for their honeymoon playfully running after each other and picking pebbles on the sandy esplanade of holiday resorts while retiring under the moonlight of Europe’s scenic cities among other idyllic vacation spots. So we heard.

add value to the people.

The oil magnate has just opened a lifestyle Heyden Mega Station Lagos. The grand opening attracted those who matter in the town and beyond.

Situated in a picturesque part of the town, the lifestyle station flaunts pristine and enchanting ambience evocative of the most classic architectural delights. Everywhere is spick and span and has the halo of an Eden for business. Dapo is a man who sees something in everything that the rest of us don’t. But his genius is not just his ability to see what others cannot but how he applies it. Yes, his enviable tact, diplomacy and statecraft is indeed deserving of such fulsome compliments and more.

Jide Omokore. They intend to stand by him through the fire and storm of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s inquisition of his life and dealings in the oil sector during the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

While it is tempting to commend them for their love and loyalty to their embattled friend, it need be understood that they are not just standing by

Orobosa Igbinedion and Umar Mantu

Omokore for the sake of doing so. It would be recalled that Omokore was instrumental to the entrepreneurial success of many of his friends and associates. He was reportedly generous to both his male and female friends. So generous was he that he impacted every aspect of their lives positively with his astounding wealth. He rented apartments for some in highbrow areas and paid the bills. He bought houses for others.

HOW TIME FLIES! TINA VUKOR QUARSHIE AND BEN BRUCE’S SON, CODY, COME OF AGE

LOYAL TO THE BONES! WHY KOLA ABIOLA, SEGUN AWOLOWO ARE LOYAL TO JIDE OMOKORE

Their minds fan with the beauty of friendship as fire flames from red hot embers. Thus they will not stay quiet while their friend is strung up on the altar of vendetta and high powered politics, so argued friends and associates of oil magnate,

He also bought cars for many beneficiaries and set them up in business with very large start-up capital. This earned him the loyalty and love of most of his friends and associates as they lived in awe and appreciation of his unending generosity.

Even silver spoon children from superrich families were very close to him. They include Kola Abiola, Segun Awolowo, Karen Koshoni, among others. They are all praying for the man who they all called “The Leader.”

Jide Omokore

Industry is the greatest fact in her life; wifehood and marriage are but incidental relations.

Little wonder Tina Vukor Quarshie offers a rare education in human industry and romance.

Like two reflections from the same mirror, Tina’s exploits as a professional and her romantic entanglements offer contradictory images of her life. Tina has undoubtedly distinguished herself as a force worth

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HIGHLIFE

Setting the Records Straight...Capt Hosa Okunbo and Ex-wife, Evelyn, are Happily Divorced

Y

es, except on very rare occasions, it is hard to see rich men, especially those whose depth of wealth cannot be measured like Capt. Hosa Okunbo, billionaire businessman, gets angry. However, that flipside of billionaires which decades of romance with the valuable lucre has helped to temper may flip over in Okunbo. And the outpour, you can guess, would not be too palatable.

Okunbo has come out to denounce once again, and for the last time perhaps, repeated insinuations that he is still married to Evelyn, his former wife he divorced years ago. Some mischief makers went to town last week with news that Hosa didn’t attend Evelyn’s 60th birthday in Lagos. But we can tell you for free that Hosa and Evelyn are happily divorced and Hosa is now married to a beautiful woman, Nosa Hosa-Okunbo. According to Hosa who spoke to HighLife last week, “ I’m married to only one wife- Nosa Okunbo. I divorced Evelyn years ago” Nosa, the ravishing wife and mother of Okubor’s kids, is undoubtedly the

hottest and most desirable woman in Captain Hosa’s life, even as you read.

Very close friends of Nosa however, urge that no one begrudge her claiming that she had paid her dues courtesy her loyalty to her billionaire husband when the going was rough.

Interestingly, few couples manage the tricky trails of romance and class like Okunbo and his beloved wife, Nosa. Simply put, they blaze the trail, others follow. Hosa and Nosa effortlessly present the portrait of an alpha couple at every public and private appearance. Not only do they turn heads when they make appearances, they appear so much in love that other couples begin to wish for a bit or too much of what they have.

The lovebirds once again caused a stir at Daisy Danjuma’s son wedding, which held in Lagos last Saturday. Their presence didn’t go unnoticed as many stopped in their tracks to admire them. They were impeccably dressed in stylish apparels and their dapper looks elicited applause from the fawning crowd. So, mischief makers beware.

Tina Vukor Quashie

reckoning with in the world of business and industry. Painstakingly, she has made excellence her watchword and thereby rose to enviable heights in her career. This much is noticeable in her appointments as twotime Executive Director in Platinum and Zenith Banks respectively. The same could hardly be said of her marital life: the professional Amazon was once married to Dr. George Novisi Quarshie, a Ghanaian lecturer, whom she met when

she was a student of the then University of Ife; now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). They were together for almost a decade before their marriage hit the rocks.

Though she was also involved with a top banker whose brother was also a bank MD, she never had it smooth sailing with men.

Shortly after her dalliance with the bank MD ended, she got involved with Ben Bruce, the boss of the Silverbird Group whom she eventually had a son named “Cody” with. Their romance was widely celebrated by the nation’s soft-sell media even as it hit Bruce’s legitimate wife and almost wrecked his home. But for the intervention of the Bruce brothers, it would have done just that.

Even so, Tina and Bruce seem to have devised an ingenious way to sustain their relationship as they practically work together now. And their very handsome son, Cody, has really come of age. He’s no longer the baby of years ago.

WILL SECOND TIME BE HER TREAT? BAMANGA TUKUR’S DAUGHTER, JAMILA, MARRIES WIDOWER

Abuja listed like a cruise

Hosa Okunbo and wife, Nosa

ship on the day Jamila, daughter of former PDP Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, married Sports Minister, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, in a classy wedding not too long ago.

There, top notch politicians and businessmen gathered to celebrate with the couple. However, Jamila’s marriage to Adedoja will be her second attempt at marriage. It would be recalled that she quit her first marriage in London, due to incompatibility with her first husband. Jamila’s first marriage was severely hampered by irreconcilable

Taoheed Adedoja and Jamila

differences with her estranged husband. The marriage which produced beautiful kids eventually crashed despite friends and family’s heartfelt attempts to reunite Jamila and her first husband. Jamila is the product of Alhaji Bamaga’s relationship with his Calabar wife, Aminat.

Tukur married Amina soon after she clocked 30. Rumour has it that he gave Jamila to Adedoja to cement their bond and friendship. It is an open secret that Bamanga Tukur is a mentor to Prof.

Adedoja.

ARTS & REVIEW A

PUBLICATION

PERSPECTIVESONIGBOHISTORY ANDCULTURE: AFESTSCHRIFT FORA RESPECTEDHISTORIAN… PAGE 68

25.09.2016

BRYMO ALL THE WAY UP! EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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ARTS & REVIEW\\MUSIC

BRYMO: ALL THE WAY

From being the hook-man to the artist behind Wakaa the Musical theme song, Brymo has developed the right muscles for the challenging tasks that he heaped on his shoulder in a painstaking solo effort towards a successful music career. Yinka Olatunbosun reports

Y

ou may have spotted the fliers around town.

Olawale Olofooro, otherwise known by the stage name Brymo, is ready to shake Lagos come October 2 at Freedom Park, Lagos Island. It’s no news that this talented singer-songwriter was on the A-list of embattled artists for his controversial contract deal with Chocolate City, which legally expired in April 2016.

This reporter had watched from the side-lines as the artist and his former producers took their matter to court while the social media fuelled the dispute.

You can’t really write Brymo’s biography without this controversy being at the centre of it. It is a defining moment in a career. Brymo may stand strong alone today but he owed much of his experience to the Chocolate City, good or bad. His landmark hit single, “Ara” was a club-banger, an OAP’s delight and a cross-over classic. Having done a rare blend of fuji and pop for close to 15 years and professionally for a decade, it seems apt to seek him out as to what’s next in his music juke box.

A fortnight ago, this reporter met him at the Rhapsody’s, a lounge atop the Ikeja Shopping Mall. He drew some attention as he walked in quietly to sit beside his waiting reporter-guest. Clad in black t-shirt and denim, he had this boy-next-door look. Still, his simple appearance didn’t fool anyone as they congregated at a respectful distance to watch him.

Brymo grew up in a home where juju and apala music were being played. As a teenager, he listened to Westlife and other pop bands.

“I listened a lot to R-Kelly, Usher, and after a while, I imbibed the American music culture,” he began. “But then, if you sing pure R&B, Nigerians won’t buy it. So I blended the genres so that I can have an international appeal. I still have to do songs that Nigerians can relate to. To the core fuji artists, I don’t sing fuji well. And when they try to sing pop too, it doesn’t sound that good to pop fans.”

Brymo recorded his first album in 2006. Personally, he wouldn’t rate a successful artist by his album sales and sell out concerts. For him, success is more than that. Brymo was catapulted to limelight when he did the hook on Ice Prince’s smash hit, “Oleku”. He also did the hook in MI’s “Action Film’’ and several other songs. But then, Brymo was determined not to be “the hook man”. He didn’t sign a contract to be just that. And for the past three years, his music has evolved and he can be appreciated as an individual artist.

“The thing about life is that people see you the way your people see you,” he continued. “I was in a recording label and my efforts were being undermined. It was part of the reason why I had to leave. ‘Ara’ was my hit single that shot me to limelight and that has been the trend in Nigerian music.

People always remember you for the first hit song. I don’t think that is right because there are a lot of artists trapped in that phase.”

He performed the theme song of Wakaa the Musical, which was a recent

Brymo hit in Lagos and London. The song, “Waka Waka” is refreshingly different and has enjoyed some airplays too. Brymo revealed how he got invited to the production.

“The production team for Wakaa the musical got in touch with my management and I read the script. I was very interested. It was quite different from doing a soundtrack for a movie. I did a soundtrack once for a movie, In the City by Udoka Onyeka. For Wakaa, it was different. The script actually inspired the song and it was fun. I did two songs for them. There is actually an album for Wakaa the musical. ‘Waka Waka’ was the official theme song for the stage play but Viva was not published until the album release,” he disclosed.

Meanwhile, the song grew and became profitable. Brymo thought it was a worthwhile venture.

“It was amazing. It was a single and it has become a big song. I was at a university once for a performance and the audience kept calling out for me to perform ‘Waka Waka’. For me, it was profitable. There was an initial payment that covered the cost of production, song-writing, engineering and the likes. Afterwards, my people were in touch with their people and there was some kind of agreement on the royalty split between BAP productions and Brymo.

So it is quite fulfilling. I have done more soundtracks after that.”

“Dem Dey Go” was a patriotic track from his new album titled, Klitoris. It ended on a disturbing note where the singer asks that if the three cannot remain together, they

should go their separate ways. Brymo had to defend himself that he wasn’t preaching national disintegration in the song.

“The essence of the song is that it is my piece about the state of Nigeria at present. I was making particular reference to the three major tribes.

I was not suggesting that Nigeria should break but I was only preaching that we should make this unity work.

We should not let ego and pride ruin us. Everybody must work and earn his position. Nobody must act as if he has more right to life than others.

I am a Nigerian. I live in this country and I am very conscientious about the situation in the country. I am a musician and I am famous. It is easy to use my fame to talk to people. ‘Dem Dey Go’ is about fixing the problem. It is not about pointing accusing fingers.

But then I ended it with the clause, that if they no wan gree however, they should go their separate ways. Nigeria has been together for so long and I don’t think it pays anyone for us to divide.”

Brymo usually writes his song before going to the studio unlike many afro-pop singers. But for Ara, he dropped his lyrics spontaneously on the beat and voila!, a hit song was born. Despite that singular success, Brymo prefers proper song-writing routine.

“Ara was produced by Legendary

Beatz in 2011 and I got the beat from them. That was the first time ever that I would write my song on a beat. I usually compose the song before I hit the studio.

But with Ara, I like the beat and I was able to do the song on it. I produce my music here in Nigeria. My producer lives in Igando and has his studio there. He is one of the best in the continent right now,’’ he revealed.

On his recent collaboration effort, he said he had worked with a Ghanaian artist and is still looking forward to working with afro-centric artists; the type that wears beads and native attire. Also, TMG, an American label just signed him on for a marketing contract for the distribution of his works in the US only. Brymo gave an insight into how he got so fortunate.

“Annually TMG select African artists that they want to market in their own American market. Whoever they are bringing, they sign him on. The end is to break into the actual American market.

That usually takes time. It is not an easy thing to grow your brand in another man’s country. But we have been getting more and more recognition abroad. Close to 200 radio stations are playing my music worldwide, according to the email they sent to me. For me, that is the beginning of something different,” he remarked.

He has released the video to the song, “Something Good is Happening” drawn from his new album which this reporter got curious about. The first track on the album is titled “Naked” and it features

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AY UP!

Brymo his love, Ese. But, why pick such title?

“What album title?” he paused, waiting to hear this reporter repeat the name and he continued saying, “Oh thanks for saying the name. Some people don’t like to say it. I stumbled on the fact that ‘Klitoris’ is the key to a woman’s sexuality. And I was considering calling my album key so I just called it that. Other factors such as the beauty and mystery of the woman inspired that album.

Though Brymo sees himself touring the world in a few years, holding it down for the folks at Madison Square and Staples Centre, nothing is as good as the freedom he enjoys. In his reaction to the widely read article published in THISDAY on his sour deal with the Choc boys, he stated affirmatively that he never wanted to return to the recording label.

“I didn’t say I was sorry. I didn’t tell Toni Kan that I was sorry I left Chocolate City. But at the end of the day, it is business. The industry itself needs fixing. We need to fix how the albums are sold and distributed. We don’t have a proper structure. I thought that being an entrepreneurial artist would pay more and it does. The label system doesn’t work. I like to fight my war alone,” he said just as the waiter placed his beverage bottle on the table.

When asked how he feels now without the contract hanging over his head anymore since April, Brymo responded that he had been free since the day he realised that he had to leave the recording label.

“I have been a free man since 2013. If I wasn’t free I wouldn’t be putting out albums. My father didn’t raise a fool.

I had to continue doing my work,” he said, sipping on his cold drink.

ARTS & REVIEW\\MUSIC The Inverted Pyramid; Adapted from a novel by Emeka Dike

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ARTS & REVIEW\\LITERARY CAFÉ

PERSPECTIVES ON IGBO HISTORY AND CULTURE: A FESTSCHRIFT FOR A RESPECTED HISTORIAN

I

Ernie Onwumere

n the ivory tower, a Festschrift is a book honouring a respected and accomplished academic and published while he or she is alive. It is usually a compendium of original essays written by the honoured academic’s close colleagues as well as his or her former doctoral students. The essays could dwell on the honouree’s contributions to their specialized scholarly field, but can include important original research by the authors. According to Wikipedia, the term Festschrift, of German origin, is typically translated as a celebration publication or celebratory (piece of) writing which literally means ‘party-writing’ or ‘feast-script’.

Now, a new book titled Perspectives on Igbo History and Culture: Festschrift in Honour of Mazi Professor Okoro Ijoma is indeed a Festschrift, but it is more than just a mere ‘party-writing’ as mentioned above. Of course, the book is in celebration of Mazi Professor Okoro Ijoma, a highly respected Nigerian scholar, teacher, intellectual and authority on Igbo history, culture and civilization. Published just last year and edited by a trio of Dr. D. I. Ajaegbo, Kelechi Johnmary Ani and Dr. Paul Obi-Ani, Perspectives on Igbo History and Culture: Festschrift in Honour of Mazi Professor Okoro Ijoma is a voluminous text of serious multi-disciplinary scholarly studies, explorations and reflections on the past, present and future of the Igbo, a major ethnic nationality in southeast Nigeria and one of the world’s most culturally rich, socially dynamic and entrepreneurially profound peoples in history.

By the way, the scholarly study of history has always been an engaging discipline. From a distance, history may appear as an arcane and tedious subject which bears no direct relevance to contemporary human realities. That perception of history is grossly misleading. More than anything, what today’s human experience or reality relies on is our understanding of history and our ability to make decisions based on that history for our collective future.

History is not linear. What we gain from history is the knowledge of the past, the recognition of that information in the present, and the ability to change the future. When recently, the US First Lady Michelle Obama said in her speech at the 2016 National Democratic Convention that the White House was built by slaves, what she was doing was inserting history into America’s present to light a flame beneath Americans. So, history is indeed a relevant reflection as well as a dynamic reconstruction of human experiences from the past, through the present and into the future. Any nationality or people without a sense of history are a people without a sense of identity and direction.

Thus Perspectives on Igbo History and Culture: Festschrift in Honour of Mazi Professor Okoro Ijoma is no doubt a quintessential contribution to the body of knowledge about the history, culture and civilization of the Igbo people.

Anyone interested in understanding the origins and dynamics of the Igbo would find within the pages of the book a treasure trove of information and insights never before available elsewhere. And any serious scholar of Igbo history and culture would ignore this new book at his or her own intellectual peril.

At a glance, Perspectives on Igbo History and Culture: Festschrift in Honour of Mazi Professor Okoro Ijoma flaunts an attractive blue-yellow cover festooned with the picture of the honouree in typical Igbo-Aro attire, while the book’s title looks like a shy footnote in the right top corner. To a scholar’s eyes, the book from its cover may not strike one as a serious academic text. But once you begin to delve into the 526 pages of the hefty book, you discover profound scholarly thoughts of thirty eight diverse authors who know their onions on the multidisciplinary subjects they write about.

Structured into thirty one chapters, Perspectives on Igbo History and Culture covers virtually every ramification of Igbo nationality, ranging from politics, education, religion, economy, security, culture, political economy, colonialism to war and diplomacy. The rich literature is further organized into five sections, each section covering a broad theme of study. Section A covers Historical Traditions and Igbo Cosmology. Section B deals with State Formation, War, Diplomacy and Security. Section C dwells on Colonialism and Religious Activities while Section D is all about Political Economy. And Section E covers Education and Social Formations.

Now, what makes the book under review outstanding in content and import is the sheer magnitude of the diversity of subject areas covered. This also reflects the unique enormous ramifications of Igbo history and civilization as a people.

The thirty one chapters of the book open up to excellent reading at the turn of every page. Right from chapter one to the last, the multifarious subjects extensively covered include personal recollections by former two students about the Festschrift honouree, Mazi Professor Okoro Ijoma, as an eminent historian of over four decades pedigree and distinguished scholar at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Going further, the book’s interesting chapters also deal

with such subjects as “The Pure ‘Tribe’ Notion and the Origin of the Igbo; Living Together in African Cosmology: A Case Study of Igboland; Oral Tradition and Cultural History of Pre-Literate Segmentary Societies in Igboland: A Case for Inter-disciplinary Approach; State Creation and Nigerian Unity: The Case of Igboland Since 1967; The Igbo Factor in the Evolution of the Nigerian State; Nigerian Civil War and the Spirit of Entrepreneurship and Industrialization among the Igbo: A Sociological Examination; War and Diplomacy in Traditional Igbo Society up to 1914; The Tutsi and the Igbo: A Nexus of Genocide in Rwanda and Nigeria, 1959-1994; Societal Policing and Peace Building in Abakaliki Division during the Colonial Era; European Influences on Traditional Igbo Crafts; The Missionary Activities of Rev. Isaac Uzowulu Ejindu in Ngwo Clan in Agbaja Area of Old Udi Division, 1917-1930; Beyond a Man of God: The Life and Legacies of Bishop Madubuko Uzodike; Afikpo Women in Traditional Religion, Christianity and Islam; Mamam Shaib and the Introduction of Islam in Ovoko, Northern Igboland; Aba Women Riot: A Protest and Resistance to British Colonial Rule; Beyond Mere History: Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative as a Veritable Tool in Igbo Development Agenda; Slavery, Slave Trade and Emancipation: The Ogbaru Experience; Merchants of War: A History of Igbo Women’s “Afia Attack” in the BiafraNigerian Civil War; Re-inventing the Dwindling Igbo Politics in Nigeria’s Polity; Natural Resources and Economic Growth: African Historical Perspective; The Struggle for Derivation and Resource Control by the Niger Delta; The World Bank and the Changing Pattern of Development in Orie Orba Market in Enugu State; Igbo Enterprises in Kano: A Study of Igbo Automobile Spare Parts Business, 1969-Date; Dynamics of Girl-Child Education in Igboland; Reinventing the Igbo Personality in

21st Century Nigeria: Challenges and Imperatives; Uju Ede Cult and Gender Equality in Pre-Colonial Ikwuano Community; The Place of Title System in the SocioPolitical and Economic Organization of Pre-Colonial Imerienwe; Masquerades and Kola-nut Culture in Igboland: Continuity and Change; and Onitsha Society and its Institutions: The Place of Diokpala in Onitsha, 1900-1999”.

From all the foregoing insightful themes comprehensively covered in the book’s chapters, the patient and perceptive reader will come away much more enlightened by new insights, knowledge and facts never before known about the history and culture of Igbo people.

History not only comes up in the book as an exciting journey down memory lane, the Igbo culture, mores, nuances, folklore, peculiarities, dynamics and civilization become more real and exposed more than ever before. All this makes Perspectives on Igbo History and Culture: Festschrift in Honour of Mazi Professor Okoro Ijoma a truly befitting immortalization tribute to the honouree who is himself a widely respected authority on Igbo history in general and Arochukwu civilization in particular. The book comes highly recommended for all those who seek a better, deeper, fresher understanding of the Igbo nationality and those scholars and institutions who are serious about Igbo history and culture discipline in academics.

––Mazi Onwumere is a culture activist, and brand management consultant based in Lagos.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

CICERO

Editor Vincent Obia Email vincent.obia@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08054681757

IN THE ARENA

As World Celebrates the Virtues of Peace The World Peace Day celebrated on Wednesday ushers in fresh opportunities for understanding and peace in Nigeria, writes Vincent Obia

W

ith Boko Haram terrorism wreaking some of the worst forms of death and destruction man has ever known on the North, militant agitation straining virtually every cord of national unity in the South, and harsh economic conditions getting even the most laidback of citizens more and more agitated, Nigeria is truly a troubled country. But optimism and belief that the trouble with Nigeria is mostly man-made and can, thus, be redeemed by a change of attitude are what have marked the character of the citizens in the face of all the adversity.

Nigerians are on a daily basis striving to come up with ideas for the renewal of faith in themselves and their country. The World Peace Day, marked on Wednesday, signals a strategic moment for deeper reflection by Nigerians on the things that have damaged relations, sowed fear, heightened suspicion, and disturbed the peace among the citizens. Fortunately, it coincides with the period for Nigeria’s 56th independence anniversary, which another important time for critical thinking on the country’s journey so far. The World Peace Day could not have come at a more opportune period.

Celebrated worldwide on September 21 every year to remember the virtues of peace and good neighbourliness among the world’s diverse peoples, the day was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. In 2001, the General Assembly voted to designate the day as a time of nonviolence and cessation of hostilities.

This year’s World Peace Day holds a special significance for Nigeria. It offers an important opportunity for Nigerians to step up actions to dismantle anti-peace barriers that have been erected over the years by politics and dogmatism. Tuesday’s meeting of the Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi II, with Pope Francis and about 450 other religious leaders from across the world at the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy, was a good launch pad. It was during the closing ceremony of a three-day event organised to bring together religious leaders from different faiths to pray for world peace. The World Day of Prayer for Peace ushered in the World Peace Day. Pope Francis, who presided over the closing ceremony of the event with the theme, “Thirst for peace: religions and cultures in dialogue,” appealed for collective action to enthrone peace, saying, “Everyone can be an artisan of peace.”

He said, “We have prayed to God, asking him to grant peace to the world. We recognise the need to pray constantly for peace, because prayer protects the world and enlightens it. God’s name is peace. The one who calls upon God’s name to justify terrorism, violence and war does not follow God’s path. War in the name of religion becomes a war against religion itself. With firm resolve, therefore, let us reiterate that violence and terrorism are opposed to an authentic religious spirit.”

Pope Francis also urged, “May a new season finally

PEACE DA D L R Y WO

WELCOME TO THE VATICAN

begin, in which the globalised world can become a family of peoples. May we carry out our responsibility of building an authentic peace, attentive to the real needs of individuals and peoples, capable of preventing conflicts through a cooperation that triumphs over hate and overcomes barriers through encounter and dialogue. Nothing is lost when we effectively enter into dialogue.”

Those words are particularly apt for Nigeria in its present circumstances. For a highly religious society like Nigeria, the basis from which the peace building process can start is the religious and traditional institutions, where the religious and traditional rulers wield a lot of influence.

Following on the interfaith prayer meetings at the World Day of Prayer for Peace and the World Peace Day ceremonies, it behoves the country’s religious and traditional rulers to bring home to their congregations and subjects the message of peace through cooperation.

The spirit of unity of faith and purpose that pervaded

the events should encourage greater association and understanding, especially, among the leaders and members of the two main religions in Nigeria, Islam and Christianity. And more unifying words from the religious leaders would, no doubt, provide the spur the people need to respect and appreciate each other more.

The political leaders, too, need to be more attentive to the needs, aspirations, and complains of the people, for the country to enjoy the permanent peace that everyone craves. Dialogue should always be the primary tool of engagement with people and groups having divergent views on how society should be run. It is only dialogue that can bring peace based on consent – which is the authentic peace that the country needs. Peace achieved through force is more often than not weak and uncertain.

Ultimately, the leaders of the people at the religious, political, and traditional levels hold the key to peace in the country. They should be committed apostles of peace at all times, in the spirit of the season.

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

The Nigeria Police’s Misguided Phobia About Public Protests

T

Idris

he Nigeria Police is manifesting a strong unreasonable fear of public protests that is embarrassing the whole country. Just last week, the Anambra State Police Command issued a curious statement dubbing a planned protest by the Indigenous People of Biafra an “attempt to cause breach of peace.” It said its attention had been “drawn to the information that some misguided elements have perfected plans to cause public disorder and conduct themselves in a manner that is likely to cause breach of the peace.”

The statement was in response to last Sunday’s announcement by IPOB that it would carry out a worldwide rally on September 23 to protest the continuous incarceration of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, by the federal government.

Earlier in the month, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, described the activities of a harmless organisation, the Bring Back Our Girls group, as a “threat to public peace and order.” The BBOG group has been trying, through rallies and advocacy, to inspire more proactive steps by the federal government to rescue the over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in April last year from Chibok, in Borno State, by the Boko Haram terrorist sect.

Rather than the aversion for public protests, the police ought to be concerned with ensuring that such protests, which are part of the citizens’ fundamental rights, are kept peaceful.

The Nigeria Police must try to overcome this protest phobia, which is diminishing it and the country, generally, before civilised humanity.

– Vincent Obia

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

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CICERO/ONTHEWATCH

Sheriff

Makarfi

PDP Reconciliation: How the Warring Factions Caved In Onyebuchi Ezigbo, in Abuja, looks at the negotiations that produced the recent settlement by the two contending factions of the PDP

I

f there is anything that has excited members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in recent times, it is last week’s decision by the party’s warring factions to drop their acrimony and embrace each other in true reconciliation. Before last Tuesday’s reconciliatory move, both parties to the leadership tussle, the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee and the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction, had fought themselves almost to a standstill with little or no room for further manoeuvring. The warring PDP groups, whose disagreement started since the May 21 ill-fated national convention in Port Harcourt, had failed several times to settle their differences on the dialogue table, thus leading to plethora of court cases.

Another attempt to hold the PDP national convention in Port Harcourt on August 17 also hit the rocks, as the Sheriff faction successfully deployed the legal instrument to scuttle it. Not even the intervention of the party’s Board of Trustees could resolve the crisis. Rather than bringing the two parties together, the peace committee led by Professor Jerry Gana tnded to further alienate Sheriff and his group, accusing them of being influenced by external forces.

Road to Peace

But first sign of a possible end to hostilities from both sides came when recently Makarfi said only a peaceful settlement could end the leadership crisis in the PDP. Addressing journalists after the Sallah break, Makarfi said PDP was committed to reconciliation with all the different interests in the party. He said even if the party was victorious in court, there would still be need for reconciliation, stating that the party is making serious efforts to resolve the internal crisis.

However, Makarfi said such reconciliation must be based on rational demands. The PDP caretaker committee chairman said the committee was not about personalities but the interest of the party and, therefore, would do anything the generality of PDP members want.

Makarfi stated, “Not only shall we rise and run. We shall rise and fly. We are doing everything possible. Even if you are victorious in court, you still need to come home and do reconciliation.

So it is better if we can achieve that before, instead of leaving it to litigation to settle.

“We are not representing ourselves. Whatever the party wants, we will do. We don’t have personal interest in this matter. We listen to the opinions of the overwhelming members of the PDP. “Reconciliation is something you talk less about. Because certain actions being taken, if you talk about it, you will indirectly be undermining the process. We are open to the reconciliation. There must be flexibility when you are talking of reconciliation. And, of course, the overwhelming views of majority of the members, even whoever you may classify as minority, cannot also be ignored. You must make concession here and there and I believe that the party is ready to do that. But that will be on the basis of rational and

reasonable demands so that we can all work as one family.”

Similarly, the secretary of the caretaker committee, Senator Ben Obi, said the committee was committed to restoring the party to its past glory.

Obi said, “We are deeply committed in making sure that the PDP comes back to its old self. That is what the chairman has been busy doing in the last three, four weeks, meeting various leaders across the country in search for peace.”

Makarfi’s position came on the heels of the insistence by factional national chairman, Sheriff, that he will only accept a peace deal that is in line with the PDP constitution. In an interview last weekend, Sheriff said he believed dialogue was the way forward and that genuine reconciliation should be pursued in line with the PDP’s constitution.

Obi believed, “The solution is very simple: we must have a solution based on truth, sincerity, something that can stand the test of time.”

In a similar vein, while speaking on the botched peace efforts, former PDP national vice chairman (South-south) and the deputy chairman of the Sheriff- led NWC, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, said only a political solution could to end the crisis – rather than the adjudications by the court on the matter. He noted that the way to fully reconcile aggrieved members was to ensure the return of the party to the people.

“Sheriff keeps telling them and we keep telling them that we must sit down as a party to grow this party. When I say it, God doesn’t make mistake; Sheriff is an agent of change to say no to impunity and that is why those of us who are with him are supporting him. As at the last count, the party has had not less than 15 such court cases with several rulings and judgements, some of which were contradictory to each other. From all indications, all the cases against the party have the potential of causing maximum damage to its political interest and may likely linger if they all get to the Supreme Court.

“Perhaps, it was in realisation of this fact that both Makarfi and Sheriff accepted last Tuesday to sheathe their swords and to embark on genuine reconciliation in the party.”

Cessation of Hostilities

On Tuesday, the party witnessed a major shifting of grounds by both sides in the conflict. Not only did Makarfi and Sheriff hold a meeting at the latter’s private office at Maitama, Abuja, but they came out to issue a joint statement stating that they had resolved to end their differences and work towards full reconciliation of all aggrieved members of the party. The two principal actors in the dispute, Makarfi and Sheriff, said they had agreed to sheathe their swords and were determined to end the leadership crisis that engulfed the party following the national convention in Port Harcourt early this year that resulted in the ouster of Sheriff as the party’s chairman.

The position of both factions was made known at a joint press conference held on Tuesday by Obi Ojougboh. Ojougboh,

who read the resolutions reached at the meeting, said the two factional leaders met and make a holistic review of the state of affairs of the PDP. The joint statement reads, “In reviewing the crisis that has engulfed our party since the loss of the 2015 general election after 16 years of uninterrupted leadership at the centre, it became obvious to both of us as principal actors that it is time to heal the wounds and bring about a united, focused and constructive opposition party that can bring sanity to our democratic process, bring relief to the teeming supporters of our great party and to the benefit of our great country.

“Based on the above, we have both agreed to consult widely with all relevant organs of the party, set up a joint committee that will carry out a holistic reconciliation of all aggrieved segments of our party across the country and in Diaspora and to pursue the vision of the founding fathers of our great party.”

In the spirit of reconciliation, they also called on PDP members to remain calm and refrain from any actions and utterances that could further bring about divisions or disputes in the party.

Reservation

However, until the party comes out with the agreed terms of reconciliation it may be too early to say whether the PDP crisis is over or not. The meeting of last Tuesday never said anything about the numerous court cases against the party and how issues around them will be resolved. But what gives hope for possible settlement and an end to the leadership crisis is the fact that the key actors, Makarfi and Sheriff, have expressed their willingness to surrender to another set of leadership in the party to be elected at a national convention.

There is also burning a desire by members to see the party come together as one family to fight the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

But the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, believes the reconciliation effort may be doomed to failure if the various court cases are not discharged first.

Fayose was quoted as telling journalists in Ado-Ekiti, “I’m not against anything called resolution within the party, but everybody must wait for the Court of Appeal to resolve this matter. Matters are in court, nobody has withdrawn any matter and they are resolving. What are you resolving? When matters are in court, you allow the court to lay them to rest.

“The moment this thing doesn’t go with one side, they’ll tell you, we’re still in court. But allow the court to take a stand and reconciliation would be made easy.

“I’m not against anybody reconciling with each other, but when you see that meeting, ask the conveners if governors were briefed. I was not briefed. I’m not the only person in the party, but then, I’ve a stake.”

The next few weeks will be interesting, as the country watches how the former ruling party navigates the road to permanent peace.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

CICERO/ISSUE

APC Governorship Primary: As Party Submits Akeredolu’s Name to INEC The confusion over the candidate of the All Progressives Congress ahead of the November 26 governorship election in Ondo State came to an end on Thursday, as the party’s National Working Committee submitted Akeredolu’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission. James Sowole, in Akure, reports

R

elief came the way of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State, particularly the camp of the former president of the Nigeria Bar Association, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, on Thursday, as the National Working Committee of the party submitted his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission as the party’s candidate for the November 26 governorship election in the state.

Petition

Akeredolu won the September 3 primary election of the APC after defeating 23 other aspirants in a keenly contested election. But the results of the primary election was challenged by three other aspirants, Dr Olusegun Abraham, who came second, Chief Olusola Oke, who came third, and Senator Ajayi Boroffice, who placed fourth.

The aggrieved aspirants in their petitions alleged irregularities in the process that led to the actual voting.

They said some delegates were smuggled in to vote while genuine voters were disenfranchised. The petitioners therefore called for cancellation of the primary.

In line with the petitions, the appeal committee that reviewed the complaints upheld the prayers of the petitioners and recommended a fresh primary to the NWC of the party.

Stalemate

However, the suspense created by the silence of the NWC on the recommendation of the Mrs Helen Benbager-led appeal panel resulted in a stalemate, as stakeholders became confused about the next action to take because of the power play in the leadership of the party. The delay by the NWC in taking a decision on the recommendation of the panel created speculations, as parties in the issues circulated information that would suit their own interests in order to retain their supporters.

While the party loyal to the winner of the primary poll, Akeredolu, said the NWC had thrown away the recommendation of the appeal panel and upheld the return of the former resident of NBA as the party’s standard bearer, the petitioners maintained that the recommendation of the panel remained sacrosanct.

Pre-empting the decision of the NWC, the camps of the aggrieved aspirants took an action, which they thought could protect their interests.

THISDAY learnt that some aspirants had sponsored their protégés to emerge as candidates of smaller political parties before the expiration of the deadline for the holding of primaries with the hope of having their names substituted in case the decision of the NWC did not tally with their own expectations. The essence is to ensure that they are able to contest the governorship election.

In a statement, Abraham appealed to his supporters to remain calm, assuring them that the right thing would be done.

He stated, “Thankfully, and as you know, our party’s Electoral Appeal Committee has given a recommendation that is consistent with facts and the anti-corruption stance of our great party, with the hope to right the many wrongs of the September 3 primary election.

“As we await the ratification of this recommendation by the National Working Committee, some desperate ones have rushed to the media to give misleading, wrong, unauthorised and anti-party information, in a contemptuous attempt to jettison the on-going deliberations of our NWC.” As the deadline for the conclusion of primaries of political parties that would participate in the November election expired on Monday, September 19, INEC could not state categorically whose name was submitted for the commission as the APC candidate. When asked, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ondo State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, said in line with the law, names of the parties’ candidates would be displayed to members of the public 30 days before the election date.

Uncertainty

Delight

Members of the party in Ondo East and Ondo West local government areas of the state on Wednesday took to the streets to protest the decision of NWC to reject the recommendation of the appeal committee. The members led by the chairman of the party in Ondo East, Mr Temitope Akintunde, said the decision of the NWC to accept the governorship primary showed that they were insensitive to the aspiration of the party to win the governorship election. The party members and sympathisers moved round the town with placards protesting the outcome of the NWC’s decision nullifying the appeal panel report. Some commercial motorcyclists joined in the procession that moved round the town.

Some of the inscription on their placards were “We reject the NWC report”, “Let the decision of the appeal committee stand”, “Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Baba Akande are our leaders”, “Bola Ilori is a hero”, “Bola Ilori, thank you for been the voice of the voiceless “, “A candidate that disrespects leaders is an emperor in the making “, “Ondo East and West say thank you all’.

Akintunde regretted that his petition, which was favourably considered by the appeal committee, was rejected by NWC. Similarly, one of the aspirants, Dr Segun Abraham, told his supporters not to panic as the decision of the appeal committee on the governorship primary stood.

Akeredolu

Akeredol, in his reaction to the NWC action, described his affirmation as the work of God. “What can I say than to thank God who has done it again? God does not abandon his projects, notwithstanding the challenges that may arise.”

Akeredolu in a statement issued by the Aketi Media Group, thanked members of the NWC, especially the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, national leader of the party Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and President Mohammadu Buhari for making sure that justice was done to all parties in dispute.

The statement read, “I make bold to say to my coaspirants in the APC that we are all winners. None is vanquished. We are all victors. None is a loser. I hold the ticket of the party in trust for all of you. I am not perfect.

No one is. But I will make up for my imperfections by drawing from your collective strength. Together we shall work in one accord to achieve success in the November 26 governorship election. Now is the time to pool our energy and resources and rescue our state from misery and misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party-led government. United we stand. United we shall be victorious.”

The APC flag bearer also thanked the election committee led by the Jigawa State governor, Mohammed Abubakar Badaru, and the security agencies for creat-

ing an enabling environment for a free and fair contest, as attested to by the NWC. While those who were in support of Akeredolu’s candidacy saw the NWC decision as welcome development, those who opposed his emergence described the action as the beginning of another round of crisis.

Crisis

The primary election outcome has already taken its toll on the APC in the state. Many believe it would be difficult to resolve the crisis because of the personalities involved.

The crisis has also created opportunities for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state to advance in its effort to retain the governorship of the state. Already, the PDP candidate, Mr Eyitayoo Jegede, SAN, has taken over billboards and spaces in conspicuous places in major towns of the state for his campaign.

The PDP candidate has also been poaching on the membership of the APC in the state, as many have reportedly defected to the ruling party. One of the defectors is an APC leader in the Akure South Local Government Area, Mr Idowu Yusuf. He was said to have led about 2,000 others to the PDP. Yusuf, according to a statement signed by the PDP publicity secretary, Banji Okunomo, was the state’s director-general of the Buhari Campaign Organisation in the 2015 presidential election.

Receiving the defectors, Ondo State Governor Segun Mimiko, who was represented by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Kayode Akinmade, urged the people of the state to reject the APC in the interest of the state.

Mimiko said the people should allow the good work to continue because APC had planned to privatise the Mother and Child Hospitals, mega schools and Free Bus Shuttle programme if elected to power.

But reacting to the grounds covered by the PDP candidate in his campaign, the APC vice chairman, Mr Ade Adetimeyin, who is a leading supporter of Akeredolu, said what the candidate needed was to engage in reconciliation with the aggrieved members.

He expressed optimism that with the ratification of the NWC things would normalise very soon. He said APC would within two weeks meet and overtake the PDP candidate on the field.

According to Adetimeyin, the people of the state are tired of the PDP government in the state and are yearning for a change, which only the APC can provide.

However, many believe the position of the NWC may worsen things for APC in the state.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

CICERO/INTERVIEW

Jegede: In this Election, We are Confident Our Record Will Speak for Us Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the upcoming governorship election in Ondo State. In this interview with Tokunbo Adedoja, Jegede, who served as the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice for over seven years, says he is going into the election with a track record of achievements and bold new ideas to consolidate the gains recorded by the current administration and set the state on the path of rapid growth

H

ow has it been campaigning for the topmost political office in the state?

It’s been interesting, it’s been very exciting, it’s been very educative in the sense that you see, first hand, the plight of our people. Because most of the time, the theory is different from the practical, and again you must match your vision against the reality on ground. In the last few months, I have had the opportunity to see our people first hand. I have visited all the local governments, I have visited the traditional rulers, most of the time I visited our religious leaders, I have met with our party leaders, I have met with the people, I have seen the market women, I have seen the artisans, those who control the life of our economy.

I have seen those who are high there and those who are low and then this has sharpened my perception about what governance is all about and about what governance should be. I have seen and felt the emotions of our people and the sentiments they expressed. I have seen the needs to be focused and to do what one has to do not only for this period but also for the future, for generations that are not yet born. So it is very exciting, very educative, very interesting and it has again propelled my commitment to keep my hands on the plough and to keep my head up high and be focused and not be distracted.

It’s been good.

For 7 years or so, you were a commissioner in the administration of Governor Mimiko, at what point did it occur to you that you would want to take the baton of leadership from him?

First, at the beginning of our second tenure, but it is not as if one did not have the idea, not about myself, but the idea to preserve those legacies that we were working on and were yielding results, and because, again you will not want to build a house and somebody will come and dismantle it. I am aware that it takes a lot of energy, strategy, deep thinking to build and it takes a lot of time to build, but it takes seconds to destroy. And that was the main reason why I believe that somebody who shares in the vision of Dr. Mimiko should succeed him, somebody who shares in the vision of making people the central focus of governance should be the person that would succeed. But then this idea crystalize into the next stage during the second tenure. Because the motive was to serve, I did not go about it in a way that others would want to go about it. There was no drama about it and because I am a man under the authority of the law, I tried as much as possible not to breach the law even though I had an ambition, but my ambition was moderated by my deep sense of contentment. If you want to serve and the people have issues with you serving, then you should pull back. You shouldn’t insist that you want to serve. If you want to serve and the people know that you want to serve, they should also encourage you to say because of what you are bringing on board, you should prepare to serve. And because I know that it is a thankless job, basically, the business of governance is a very tedious work, from experience. I have friends who have been governors, and I have friends who are still governors, I have worked with my boss, my leader for seven and half years, I have learnt one or two things in the process. I have very clear ideas about what I would want to do and I do know that all those ideas are centered basically on service and the need to develop our people and develop our state and offer prosperity to our people and consequently offer prosperity to the state and do some things in a way that will touch other sectors that have not been touched. And that is why I am in the business of campaigning for election.

You have had a successful legal practice and also a successful stay in government for 7years or thereabouts, why would you want to be a governor at a time when governors are unpopular because they cannot fulfill their electoral promises because of lack of resources caused by recession, and you are also making promises?

I have a fairly long experience in private practice, it was a life of struggle but we made a success out of it. I have a fairly long experience in public service, it was a period of service and I have also learnt from it. Now if I have learnt from these sectors and I cannot translate this experience into practical, of what use is it for me? Of what use is it for the people? That is why I think that at a period like this, we need dedicated hands, people who have very clear vision, people who are interested in governance and less in the politics of it to be in the saddle and that is why I have decided to take a shot a the highest office in the state, and that is the office of the governor because I believe I have a lot to offer. And again, these are challenging period and they say in Yoruba, Ibi to ba le lan ba omokunrin. And again I believe this period demands and compels that we must come up with our best hands and I believe I am one of our best hands in terms of experience, in terms of training, in terms of commitment, in terms of integrity, in terms of dedication and in terms of service.

Jegede And I believe that even in this challenging period there are good sides to it and we must leverage on those good sides to develop our economy, to make our states more self-reliant to be able to provide resources for governance, to be able to change the fortunes of our farmers, to be able to provide the platforms for employments, to be able to go to those areas of our states that would need very daring and bold steps, and I am talking about the sourthern fringes of the state where there is need, absolute need for us to develop the deep sea port which this government has started in terms of obtaining the required licence but which we need a very bold step, a very daring step, a step that will be clearly focused on the objective of the commercial focus of that idea. And also the need to go to the northern side and talk about those very fine natural resources, minerals that they needed to be developed. I was talking to somebody about the granite potential in our northern side called Supare and I was told that what we have there is one of the most qualitative granite you can find anywhere in the world. I know we have bitumen and I know a lot of our people have paid lip-service to the need to develop this potential and I believe that we can take a very bold step to develop it, maybe not for today but for tomorrow, and because I believe that there is need for us to leverage on our potential in cocoa production where Nigeria is the fourth largest producer of cocoa in the entire world, where ondo State produces about 30 per cent of the Nigerian products, where we do about 78,000 tonnes per annum out of the about 250,000 or thereabouts that Nigeria produces in a year.

We should be able to leverage on those potentials to develop our economy and that is why I believe that time has come to now look more on the side of developing economy of our state, creating an industry, ensuring that we provide jobs for our people and also providing the necessary protection and comfort for our farmers. We are coming with brand new bold ideas, not the normal one of providing equipment, providing seedlings, no. We want to go further than that, we want to make the farmers our positive targets, we want to give them a life that they would be proud of, we want to make sure that at the end of the day, a farmer should be able to say that I am a farmer not because he represents poverty but because he represents wealth. We want our farmers to be given the support that they need in terms of clearing the land for them, give them free seedlings, but more importantly ensure that they have immediate reward for their products. If today you are able to harvest your products and you need money, you should be able to approach a government agency and say, look I have five tonnes of maize and I need money, and

government should be able to provide the funds for those maize for him and take in those maize, capture it, so that he can be able to go back to the farm, so that he can pay his bills, so that he can pay his health bills, so that he can pay his children’s school fees, he doesn’t have to go and put those crops on the street or in the market and wait endlessly for some shylock merchants who will come and take it away from them and sell it at a very high price and make money for themselves and keep the man in perpetual poverty. We should be able to provide risk takers for them. A farmer who is producing his maize, who unfortunately will have interference, negative interference from either natural disaster or from human disaster or from cattle herders who will come and destroy it and once he does that, where do you leave him? We should not leave him in the cold.

We should be able to pay some small premium to some insurance companies so that in the event that this damage does occur please give this man some comfort so that he can take some money. If he cannot get that, then government should have a responsibility, the same way we provide roads, and provide free medical services for our people, we should be able to compensate the person that has genuinely put his sweat on the line and work so that he can feed us and give us food security, to be able to say, look you can’t lose out completely. Those are some of the bold, daring ideas we want to bring on board. We want to ensure that even those farmers, genuine farmers, who have a small acreage to cultivate we provide larger acreage for them and insist that even if you are producing five tonnes and we are giving you additional 100 hectares cleared for you, you should be able to provide 200 tonnes for us and then our investment would be recouped at the end of the day but you are in charge. If we do that, I am sure that we would have provided food security, we would have provided employment, genuine one, because the farmers that we are bringing on board, he is going to employ other people, genuine ones, and those other people who will work for him and those that are coming are going to be genuine farmers and we will also have products to show for it. We want to ensure that even cattle breeding is done here in a set up that provide example for others so that this idea of herding cattle in the night, destroying crops, is not given a place of prominence. And unless and until we are able to have some sense of self-sustenance in terms of our needs even for cattle, then there will be a problem because those cattle herders will always come in and create this security challenge that we are facing now. I believe that the potential that lies in the southern belt, Ilaje axis, is unimaginable. There are ships that come into this country to berth but they cannot because it is not deep enough

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CICERO/INTERVIEW • ‘What We are Offering Our PeOPle SurPaSSeS What Our OPPOnentS have’ • Continued from Pg. 72 and they stay far (on the high sea) and discharge their cargoes with smaller ships going there to bring those cargoes to Lagos or Apapa ports, whereas we have along Ilaje/Ese-Odo axis our deep shore, deeper than the one you have in Calabar or Lagos. But because it is not developed, and because we’ve not invested as we should in that axis, you do not draw on the commercial potentials of that axis.

Just close your eyes for a while and imagine a port, a deep sea port in Ondo axis and you can imagine the transformation that deep sea port will compel, in terms of rail, in terms of road, in terms of leisure, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of investment. My belief is that some of these things are achievable and they can be done by a person that has a clear focus about the economy, not taking away the need to provide for the welfare of our people and make sure that nobody is denied medical service because of inability to pay and nobody is denied education just because he cannot afford tuition. Those are some of the things I want to marry together, but we need both and that is why I am in this business.

Having served under Mimiko, which in a way could be described as your learning process, how would you respond to the view in some quarters that you will be tied to his apron string as governor?

I will be tied to the apron string of the people and the apron string of God. And I tell you this, Dr. Mimiko is a person that has very good respect, deep respect for those who have ideas, and if along the line, people like me are given support, it is because they realize the potential that people like us have. And again, don’t forget that the governor will be the chief executive of the state, he takes responsibility, so he should be able to take responsibility for himself. And let me say this again, because I have attained the highest distinction possible in the legal profession, I am also a person that has paid his dues, I did not join this government while I was not a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, I joined this administration as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and while I was there, it was my responsibility most of the time to chair a sub committee meeting of the State Executive Council that deals basically with tenders in the state.

And again, even while I was still serving, it was my privilege to coordinate the activities, when I was there, of the Attorneys General of the 36 states of the federation. That is a position of responsibility.

We are also bringing onboard integrity, we are bringing onboard clear focus, clear vision and those are the things that propel us. And let me allay the fears of those who insinuate this that for me, we will be clearly focused and we will draw ideas from everybody, even those who are complaining now, if they have very bright, beautiful ideas, bring those ideas on board, I will be tied to their apron strings once they have good ideas that can move our state forward, and we are going to run an open government, everything will be on the table, and we are going to develop a principle of access, that is one of the things that I learnt in this business. Let people know what you are doing, if you are going to criticize, yes, it doesn’t matter, but you will be rest assured that we will take the best decisions. Even their criticisms will also serve to sharpen our views about some of those things we do. Nobody can be perfect. So we will leave our options clearly open for everybody to access, and we will leave our position known to everybody.

Campaigns are based on two platforms - record and promise.

Fortunately for you, the government in which you served is the incumbent and it has a record of achievements. Even though the governor is adjudged in several quarters to have performed well especially in the areas of roads, education, health and urban renewal, there are those who also feel there are other areas he has not lived up to expectation, particularly in the area of non-payment of workers’ salaries which ordinarily should be a routine administrative thing. How do you intend to capitalize on its achievements and explain its shortcomings?

Let me say this, that the challenges of delay, I don’t call it nonpayment, I say delay in payment of salaries, is something that is global, it is affecting virtually all states of the federation, Ondo State is not an exception, federal government is also not an exception because it also borrows money to pay salaries. But the states cannot borrow because before you can borrow you need some form of assurance or guarantee from the federal government which has not been provided.

And secondly, if you are borrowing money, you are borrowing

jegede money from banks and banks also will want a fair assurance that you will pay the money back. And because state governments don’t have central bank, they don’t print money, they only run their economy within what is provided in the country, to that extent, the state government will have a lot of challenges and there is no need to downplay anything. Every worker deserves his wage, we should be able to compensate people who have worked, but faced with the reality of our economy, there would at some point be an understanding, the economy is in recession, there is no doubt about it, and that again is the reason why some of us are in this business, we are in this business so that we can bring new, refreshing ideas to meet these challenges, so that we can make preparations for what I call occasions like this, we can develop the economy that will be able to adjust itself, to be able to fill in the gap where federal government somehow is not coming in with the required funds and when the economy is failing. And again, because there is need to have a self -sustaining economy, even though the money that is credited to the federal government actually is the money that belongs to the states, if for instance you have oil well in Bayelsa and you have in Ondo State, and those economic potentials are meant to develop the state and you have the entire funds taken away from here and given to the centre for redistribution, then you must have creative ideas to be able to maneuver your ways so that you can also develop your own independent economy where you have some level of independence to propel the economy and generate revenue. Now, there is going to be some form of restructuring in the economy of the state and draw in on those areas that will have bigger IGR. We have 20 per cent of our land area in Ondo state, or about that, covered by forest reserves, so we have this potential there, and every day people go there to fell trees and take them out to run a private economy and government does not adequately benefit from this.

Everyday we have our cocoa products being taken to neighbouring states and neighbouring states are collecting great levies on it, even though the cocoa is grown on our soil. Everyday you have our logs being taken through our waterways to other cosmopolitan states, I won’t mention their names and then we lose revenue. And then

It is not about constantly contesting for election. I think the issue is going to be what ideas do you have? And that is why I talked about issue-based politics. What are you bringing on board? What is it that you want to do? And how do you want to improve our economy? How do you want to provide opportunity of employment for our people? How do you want to bring more IGR? And are you in touch with the people? These are very critical things that the people will consider. Like I said, I won’t be able to be the judge for this and that is why I am convinced that clearly in this business of election, what we are bringing on board and what we have surpasses what anybody can bring onboard or what any other person has. Whichever way you look at it, we are confident that our records will speak for us

again, there are a lot of mineral resources deposited on our soil which we have not gotten investors to tap. All our efforts to date to bring investors have translated to some level of success and we have some things to show for it. Now, yesterday I was in Ese-odo and despite the high rate of piracy on the high sea, Ondo state coastal areas are still relatively very safe. Despite the fact that you have bunkering, Ondo State coastal areas are still relatively safe. Despite the fact that you have the people you call militants in other Delta areas, Ondo State is still relatively very safe, and this is because of our security partnership that we have with independent organisations, who are locals and who are able to provide a form of security that even our military cannot provide, that even our security forces cannot provide, but they are able to provide it. And they are security services that have locations and stations on top of the waters, I have seen it.

They have built what they call mini barracks in every measured distance along our coastal lines and you see them in uniforms. They cooperate with the police, and once in a while, you have the navy and the soldiers superintending over what they do, but they are physically there 24 hours and they are on guard to protect our coastal areas and protect our people. And these are areas of partnerships that will translate into economic gains because if our coastal areas are safe, then investors will come. Now, we have also done some other partnerships in terms of commerce. We have what we call the mall. I am aware Osun does not have a mall, I am aware Ibadan has about two, I am aware Ekiti does not have. I am aware Edo does not have. So we have created a small location here as a commerce centre through partnership, we didn’t have to spend money but then we are taking benefits from it. We have a power plant that is almost completed, we brought in the best equipment that you can think of. We are trying to use that to propel our economy and our industries and we have done it by bringing the best hands to come and do it.

My vision is that we need to get people who can run it. Government may not be able to do it but then the equipment that we provide, we must make sure that we keep it there and make it to serve our proposed industry around that axis and then get some revenue from it. Now, those things, if we have the mandate, and I believe the mandate will come, will serve as the platform to change a lot of things and bring in revenue and then close the gap that exists now in terms of salary payment. And there is something we call force majeure, some things happen because you have no control over it but as soon as its happens, you create revenue for you to overcome it or get around it, but it doesn’t stop it from happening. Our economy is in recession, what is happening to Ondo State now is something that is just there, it is not the fault of the state government, it is an occurrence, you can call it economic, you can call it natural, whatever name you want to call it, it is a reality that we must face, but we must find a way to navigate around it and still continue with our journey.

Your party, PDP at the national level, pioneered zoning as a political concept to deal with the fears of the minorities and ensure power goes round. The incumbent governor is from Ondo Central and you are also from Ondo Central. How does the political equation in the state benefit your aspiration?

Well, let me clear this. I have not seen anywhere where it is written that there is a zoning arrangement in Ondo State. I have not seen any contest before now that was contested on the basis of zoning arrangement, what I have seen is that at all times, Ondo State people want to put their best leg forward. What I have seen is that at all times various individuals and actors have always contested from the various sections and zones and one of them will emerge. The last example was the election between Dr. Mimiko, from the Central, Akeredolu from the North, Sola Oke from the South. For God’s sake, if there was zoning, would they all come from different zones? And then come to think of it, why is this issue of zoning rearing its head up now? And I tell people, I say go to Ilaje and ask the fish seller there that he should give the names of the towns that are in the northern zone, he doesn’t know, central zone, he doesn’t know. This is a contraption of politicians who because they want to stop a particular candidate, not on the basis of merit but on the basis of their own primordial and emotional interests, and most of the times, those who propagate this interest do not mean well for the state. If you want to barb your hair you go to the best barber, if you want to see a doctor, you go to the best doctor, if you want to travel you look for the best driver, if you want to fly go to the best airline.

How come that when it comes to such things that touch other people you don’t look for the best for them, you look for a zoning arrangement. And I think it’s high time our people stopped this because they are not in the interest of our people. Of course, I want to concede to them, because most of them have nothing to offer in terms of merit, they want to go and take refuge under zoning. They know that under a plain platform where you look for your best hands, they may not be able to achieve it and the best way to achieve it is to develop a cleavage or develop a principle that will eliminate the best hands and let the people continue to suffer. I hope the people will realize the fallacy in this and be focused. And for God’s sake, if you don’t want a governor, stop him because there is no merit in his ambition.

But don’t stop him (because of zoning), even though he has something to offer, even though he is going to take our state forward and then you go for the last eleven when you have the best eleven that are aspiring for the office. I will give you example of some people who want to fly, you have two aircraft parked, you have two pilots, one is a trained pilot, who will take you to your destination, the other one is not a trained pilot but he is from your zone or from your town, will you enter the plane that is going to be piloted by a person that is not trained? That has no experience, but because he is from your town, will you enter that plane and allow him to fly you? Because somebody is going to take charge, the governor is going to pilot the plane, you must put in a well trained pilot.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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CICERO/INTERVIEW

Victor Oye: APGA Has No Plan to Merge With APC for 2019 Election As the country grapples with the present economic challenges, the leadership of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has said that it would ask Nigerians to support its quest to take over power at the centre using the success story of Governor Willie Obiano in Anambra State as campaign point. In this interview with Onyebuchi Ezigbo, the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Oye, gave insights into the secrets of APGA governance model in Anambra which is fast becoming a reference point and also spoke on other national issues

W

hy do you think Governor Obiano deserves to be elected for a second term?

Yes as you can see, he has done very well, irrespective of what anybody might think about the governor, he has done very well. The world has also acknowledged his sterling performance.

Within just 18 months in office, he has won the best governor award, the Sun Man of the year award and 21 months after his swearing-in as governor, he won the Zik’s prize for leadership, in addition to numerous other prizes he had won since he came in as governor. In fact, if you come to Anambra, the state is passing through steady transformation. Look at the capital territory, it has been totally transformed. It used to look like a local government headquarter but now we have fine structures springing up here and there, three brand new Fly-overs traversing through the centre of the city and connecting Anambra state to Enugu and other parts of the country. The traffic snarls that we used to have along that stretch of the road have been drastically reduced or even eliminated. The erosion that used to eat-up that road thereby causing traffic congestion has also been dealt with permanently.

So the esthetics of the cities have improved, with new street lights here and there in most cities in Anambra, like Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi. Then security has also received adequate attention. This is the safest state in the country now. We do not have herdsmen attacks on the natives because of an understanding between the Anambra state government and the Hausa community in the state. This is a governor who has been very proactive in dealing with crucial issues. Again he has been very prudent in managing the resources of the state and that is why the state pays salaries of workers as and when due.

Like some of the states in the country have been finding it difficult meeting their obligations due to low IGR. How can you score the state. What strategy is the APGA-led government adopting to cope with the harsh economic situation?

Yes, I can score Anambra state 100 percent, because the state has remained number one in the payment of workers salaries. The state is not owing workers salaries including pension and even payment of gratuities. Once you retire from the service, you get your entitlement and go. It is unlike that in some that are owing about three to six months and some of them for many years have not paid gratuity or pension. In Anambra State, managing the resources is done prudently by the governor. In fact, all leakages have been blocked and what the government is doing is instead of cutting down cost, government is cutting down waste. It is wastages that keep causing the problem in the management of the resources of the state but now the governor has plugged all loopholes and leakages in the system. Collection of government taxes and revenues have been done prudently as well and instead of going to private pockets, they are channeled into government coffers from where they are appropriated for providing services for the people of the state. So generally things are not done the way they were used to be done, things are now done more professionally and more humanely. The people’s interest overrides every other interests as far as this government is concerned.

How has the state fared in the area of security and making lives safe from criminal elements?

You know the first thing we addressed when the governor came into office was the issue of security and we reasoned that there is no way the state could develop without adequate security.

Investors will not come with their investments at all. It was from that time that the governor came up with a very strong strategy to protect the people of the state from rampaging marauders, kidnappers and other miscreants. So Anambra state is the safest state in Nigeria. In December last year, from the 21 day to January 7, about 12,000 exotic cars came into Anambra state but none of them was stolen nor burgled and the people went to sleep with both eyes closed. So it is feat yet to be attained by any other state. In order to ensure steady security, the state continued to collaborate with other governors in the South East and Delta State and that was why on August 25 last year we set up the first committee to organise a security conference, inviting security experts and the six state governors from the South East states and Delta. The result of that conference is the greater security for the people of Anambra state and even for the people of neigbouring states and other state governors are coming to our state to learn one or two things from us on how to develop their one state. So this is something that is worth emulating. You can see what Senator Ben

Oye

Bruce said about Anambra state. He advised the Federal Government to come to Anambra state to take some tutorials about how to run scarce resources of the country. As you can see in Anambra state, things are happening because the governor is focused and the people are cooperative. I believe that by the time he ends his first tenure, Anambra state would have been a new Dubai in terms of development.

What do you make of the insinuations that the leadership of APGA and Governor Obiano are making moves to align forces with the APC ahead of the 2019 general election?

All that is rumour. Nobody has ever talked about it here. Our party is a very strong brand, globally even. We don’t need a merger with any political party to give a second term to Governor Obiano and we are not merging with the APC. This has never been discussed and it has never been canvassed at all. So nobody is thinking along that line, I do not expect it to happen and there is no need for it to happen anyway.

What about the alleged strained relationship between the party, Governor Obiano and the immediate former governor of the state, Mr. Peter Obi? As far I am concerned, their relationship is very personal and at that level, they are friends. You see some of these things are magnified beyond reason. You can see Governror Obiano extended an olive branch to former Governor Peter Obi during the celebration of the centenary of the Christ the King College, Onitsha. As it turned out, it became a big reunion and Governor Obiano in his humility, openly extended a hand of friendship to Peter Obi in order to dispel all kinds of wicked insinuations being made in different quarters and that was why he did that openly to show that he is not harbouring any ill-feelings against the former governor. Why should he harbour Ill-feelings against former Governor Peter Obi? Obi’s tenure has come and gone and we are in a new era. I do not even see any need for any conflict at that matter.

They should continue to cooperate and Nigerian governors should understand that once their tenure ends, they should give way and allow the next person to take charge, to take responsibility for his actions. I think that is one of those things some past governors are yet to imbibe when they are out of power and that brings friction.

Any reasonable person will know that once your tenure ends, you are gone and a new phase will set in that will try to take care of the interest of the masses.

What happened to the vision of APGA not only to take over control of governance in all the South East states but also at the national level. Has that vision died with the demise of its late founder, Chief Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu?

You know what happened during the last election, APGA won in Abia state but it was short-changed. In Imo state, APGA is still in control of affairs, not minding that Chief Rochas Okorocha is hobnobbing with the APC. The Nigerian constitution do not allow somebody to leave his political party and move to another party just like that. The way Okorocha did it was too simplistic to be true and this was an election everybody contributed his resources, time and energy to achieve and you can see the level of wickedness amongst our people. By now APGA should be controlling the five South East states and that was our own projection and understanding. Every political party in Nigeria has a regional base from where it sprung to national limelight. APC is a conglomeration of three parties, ANPP, CPC and ACN. While the CPC controlled Nassarawa and has its strong roots in Katsina in the north west, ANPP controlled Borno and Yobe in the north east and the ACN controlled five states in the south west. So as you can see in the Southeast we almost achieved the unity but because of bad blood of some people, it was scuttled. Now by 2019, I can assure that aim would be achieved because there is greater desire by the Southeast people, there is a burning desire by the people to cooperate. Now APGA has gone beyond the regional bias and is operating as a global brand. We have a branch in the United Kingdom, we have branches in some West African countries like Togo. And we also have branches in Malaysia, Japan and United States of America.

What do you think is hampering the efforts of APGA to stamp its authority on the South East politics and possibly extend its influence nationwide.

In the reasons I gave earlier, I said that our mandates were stolen. They used federal might to snatch our mandate. But you can see the level that APGA has gone, the party controls state Assembly seats in Bayelsa, Taraba and we also control the second largest local government councils in the FCT, the Gwagwalada Area Council in the FCT. This is the first time an opposition party will be winning a chairmanship in the FCT where the ruling party is always in control. APGA has an Assembly seat in Niger state and defeated the governor in his own ward. This is Not a party that you can take for granted. We have emerged as a strong brand.

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CICERO/INTERVIEW

Oshiomhole

Oshiomhole: Edo People Will Punish PDP with their Votes on Sept. 28 In this media chat, Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, speaks on this week’s governorship election, declaring that it will be a time to reward the APC-led government for it’s numerous development projects across the state. He also speaks on the security issues that led to a shift in the election date. Olaseni Durojaiye brings excerpts

H

ow prepared is your party for Wednesday’s governorship election?

We have been prepared long ago. Actually we had what we call our final mega rally on the 6th of September because for us we were ready for the 10th. Even the postponement was more of additional challenge for us. I believe people have already formed opinion as to what they will do. I have gone round the state and everywhere we have gone to, what has made our campaign easy, which is the burden that the PDP has, is that there is no ward in this state, the 192 wards, where we are not able to list

the projects that we have done. The question I ask, before we tell you what the next APC government will do, we have a duty to account for the support, the mandate you have given us these past eight years. Then we tell them, when the PDP come to you ask them what they have built in this wards or Local Government. The truth is the PDP leaders are not able to point at any existing project that they have in any ward, local government or senatorial district. They may have been able to escape defeat, assuming they have fielded a candidate who is not known to the people. You remember in 2012 when General Airiavbere was their candidate, they were saying new PDP, they were able to say it was a new PDP because their candidate then was new,

On our side, they can see what we have done and also the fact that our own candidate is not a stranger in government and we are not just picking him from the road to go and lead us. He has been at the heart of the basis of progress in my government. Our candidate was the Head of our Economic Team, so from day one till today he has been the brain box.

So you will, on one hand, look at APC and our track record and PDP and their disastrous record, look at the fact that IzeIyamu was central to the PDP administration under Lucky Igbinedion. Everybody in this state knows that Ize-Iyamu was the resident governor while Lucky Igbinedion was the flying governor and they know the outcome

so the people may just have said let’s give their candidate a benefit of doubt. Even at that as you know, Edo people said look, from our father the Oba of Benin, the Enigies, the Ohens, to the ordinary man on the street, they said well this general may be good but the man we already know, is better. So if PDP had brought a new face, they may have had the basis to interrogate whether this new face will change the face of the PDP. Happily for us and very sadly for them, they brought a candidate who was at the center of PDP misrule through out the tenure of the PDP in this state. He was SSG, Chief of staff, and anybody who was up to the age of 14 at that time, would have very good memories about the disaster that PDP and Ize-Iyamu represent in Edo State.

But you’ve said all these about the PDP, what makes you any different from the Nigerian politician?

On our side, they can see what we have done and also the fact that our own candidate is not a stranger in government and we are not just picking him from the road to go and lead us. He has been at the heart of the basis of progress in my government.

Our candidate was the Head of our Economic Team, so from day one till today he has been the brain box. So you will, on one hand, look at APC and our track record and PDP and their disastrous record, look at the fact that Ize-Iyamu was central to the PDP administration under Lucky Igbinedion. Everybody in this state knows that Ize-Iyamu was the resident governor while Lucky Igbinedion was the flying governor and they know the outcome. The two key issues in this election is that our people want continuity of the Ogbemudia, Oyegun, Oshiomhole and then Obaseki legacies which has brought light to our people and not that of Ize-Iyamu and his band of home based and Abuja based godfathers, including but not limited to Gabriel Igbinedion, Lucky Igbinedion and then their boy Ize-Iyamu which will bring darkness. And the reasons are quite clear.

Continued on Pg. 76

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

CICERO/INTERVIEW • ‘Oshiomhole: Edo People Will Punish PDP with their Votes on Sept. 28’ • Continued from Pg. 75 Security was the key reason the INEC gave and, therefore, decided to shift the election to 28th September, do you think those concerns have been taken care of?

Though governors are chief security officers but we don’t control the army, police or the SSS. But I think the point made by security agencies for the postponement, which many people did not listen to due to their fixation, I think they were trying to say that they have committed themselves to deploying as much as 24,000 policemen to Edo state for the election. To do that they had to mop them from other parts of the country and if you have a Sallah holiday, you will have to secure those areas Muslims do their prayers and if you do that you may not have the numbers to secure Edo State for the election. Secondly, their is nobody who does not know that over the past four years, during such holidays, Boko Haram wants to destroy to make a point.

But the issue of militants....

Now there are two issues here, why do they have to import militants?

They’ve denied that. They said they did not import militants?

That is what they will say. They went for the militants’ option because all the youths they had used over the years for thuggery, through the opportunities we created for these youths to get engaged, all of them have left the PDP. The PDP infantry division which they have over the years used to cause destruction, have left them. Because the boys know those who used them in the past and do not want to see them again, they now had to go outside the state to import militants to come and fight for them and undermine security. And for those who have doubt, recent events have confirmed this. Under the former Commissioner of Police, Ezike, some militants who came from Delta and Rivers were arrested. They came to register for the purpose of violence in Orhiomwon, Ikpba Okhai, Ovia South West and they were apprehended. Number two: We raised concern about the collaboration between some Electoral Officers and PDP leadership. Again as we speak, during the registration some EOs were found at the residence of some PDP leaders with Data Capturing machines, coercing youth corpers to carry out illegal registration not only of militants but to distort the voters register. Again as we speak, some of them were arrested and as we speak one has been remanded in prison with the EO because the youth corper confessed that he was kidnapped by this PDP leader and forced to his residence in collaboration with the EO. So these are no longer speculations, they are facts. Last week, at Ologbo about four militants came in, again security agencies apprehended some of them and as we speak they are in prison awaiting trial. Three days ago, the DSS got intelligence and they picked up a number of militants from different parts of the country who came in two buses, all tinted buses. And one of the buses was registered in Delta State which confirms my point that militants are coming-in from there. Very very significantly, one of them has been confirmed to be one of those on the wanted list of the Nigerian Army. And they found with him a military ID card which was expired and other ID cards. He is not from Edo State, none of them is from here. They came into the state at about 1am and were quartered in a hotel. PDP leaders are making phone calls explaining to security agencies to insist that these people be released, that they are journalists. But my worry is that are these politicians NUJ members to ask for the release of journalists, according to them? By the special Grace of God, they will be neutralised. By the special grace of God one man one vote will prevail and we will defeat them.

You have been fighting the Edo political god fathers, now you say they are after you in this election, how successful is this your war against god fatherism so far; because some are now saying you are attempting to become the new godfather?

I believe my war against god fatherism has been won and lost. The fact that today the opprobrium and angst against Igbinedion on the street of Benin, on the streets of Esan land, in Edo North is proof that they have been defeated. The Igbiendion family which according to the former governor boasted that they will produce the next governor sounds funny

because Nigerians know that Lucky Igbinedion had to do plea bargain and you only do plea bargain because you’ve been caught; so if he says that his family wants to bring another potential convict to come and govern because for me they have made our job much easier because that is the point I have always made.

For me there is nothing personal against anybody, I do not have anything personal. But I am committed even by my training and my background, to fight those who think that it is their birth right to feast on the blood of others, to privatise the people’s common patrimony.

But I think Edo people are now aware of the real reason why they are campaigning. Lucky Igbinedion said a member of his family will be the next governor in the person of Ize-Iyamu and they also have this plan of making igbinedion’s birthday a state event if they come into government. And I think they have for once exposed their inner intentions and that is what this struggle is all about - that the resources of the Edo state government will never again be used for the comfort of one family. It must be used not for the pleasure of the godfathers but for the development of Edo state.

The other godfather from Esanland went to the Enogie for support, that they should not allow me to cause them shame as an Esan elder. The Enogie reminded the Chief that when Ekpoma produced Ambrose Ali he collaborated with others to remove Ali as governor. He also asked Onolemenme that as Minister of Works, you have never visited any Enigie in Esanland and the only small job you did was only in Uromi. That you did not see Ekpoma as part of Esanland, you did not see Opoji as part of Esanland, you did not see Irrua or Ewohimi as part of Esanland but the Comrade you said marginalised us constructed a major road in Ekpoma, we have built several primaries schools in Ekpoma; he has built secondary schools there, constructed road linking Irrua to Usigbenue, to Ugbegun, Ugbegun Ujuoba, Igueben to Ewohimi, Ewihinmi to Ohordua, Ohordua to Emu. We have provided water in Ekpoma, Iruekpen even in Anenih’s village Uzenema.

Then you go to the other man, Chief Ikimi.

We thank God that he has returned to where he belonged because he was in PDP. He said he was cheated and frustrated out of PDP and he joined APC. And because he wanted to be national chairman of APC but everybody in APC said no. When he was the leader of our party in Esanland, our party was never able to win Igueben where he comes from. We have always lost there because of his one-man show. The moment he left for PDP, we have continued to win election in Igueben. Today he is being represented in the House of Assembly

by APC lawmaker. Today we have connected Igueben to several communities. The reason why these people are after us is that we refused to make governance a personal property of these politicians because that is what they have always done and that is why the state was never developed.

Chief Ogbemudia recently endorsed Obaseki but...? (cuts in) The only person you cannot discredit as a leader is Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia.

He is an outstanding elder you must respect on account of his own record of having laid foundation for the old Bendel State. That is the only person who can speak with his pedigree.

And for me it is not a coincidence when Ogbemudia said he is withdrawing from politics, he knows the qualities of a governor that can make a difference in the life of a state and he has openly endorsed Obaseki because of what he knows about him. For me, this is the easiest election we are going to have and I have no doubt that Edo will punish them for their crime against Edo people. We have heard they are planning to rig by using fake result sheets, using thugs but we are waiting.

This is going to be the final burial of PDP. Their final burial will take place on the 28th and our sons and daughters will participate in this burial with their PVCs. I am in the best of shape, I am ready. They even lied that I was fighting with my deputy, but I and my deputy have been campaigning together. But in PDP, Ize-Iyamu and Iduoriyekemwen cannot see eye to eye and even most of their leaders are not with him. We are not even sure even as we speak who is the actual candidate of the PDP but the court will decide that.

Oshiomhole But there is this fear among APC members that the current recession may affect your party in this election, don’t you have such fears?

It will not affect us because Nigerians understand the root cause of the present economic recession. The PDP here are using that against us but it will not work. If you look at the argument, I have listened to most people and commentators about the economy, one of the things they blame the Federal government for including the Emir of Kano, is that the Federal government delayed the devaluation of the naira, that they should have allowed the naira to start floating immediately they came in because they knew that the economic fundamentals could not sustain the official exchange rate that General Buhari inherited.

But President Buhari was relunctant to oblige these proponents of devaluation because he knew what the immediate consequences will be, namely that when an economy is so hopelessly dependent on imported food, when you devalue the currency, the price of imported items including rice will go up and that is what has happened.

Now after pressure from these economists, the CBN caved in and the naira was floated and it suffered heavy devaluation. And ones that has happened, anything that is imported, the price goes up correspondingly. So you cannot blame this government for this high cost of product because it is the result of the devaluation which across the divide, the establishment economists have argued that the naira should be devalued. Because they argued and I believe correctly that because of the huge gap between your in-flow of forex and your out flow, your in-flow has dropped considerably not only courtesy of the drop in oil price but compounded by the sabotage of our pipelines which affects not just the price but also your volume. When your foreign earnings is far less than your import, there is a lot of pressure on the exchange rate and if you refuse to devalue and you allocate dollars to bankers, the banker simply sells the dollar at the black market rate.

So the government earns revenue at the official rate and transfer wealth to bankers and others who have access to official allocation to collect rent. They also argued that by not devaluing, those who get forex for the purpose of importing raw materials found that it is better to divert the forex to black market and earn money without effort rather than importing the raw materials which was the primary purpose for bidding for the exchange rate. So in bowing to this public pressure from various economists of both side of the divide, the naira went into a fluctuating regime which has led to huge devaluation and of course the consequence is that anything you import the price goes up to the extent of the devaluation.

Devaluation is not PDP’s problem but that of this....

(Cuts in) So you cannot but locate the foundation of this problem from the looting which even these same people had pointed out that

Sanusi raised alarm about billions of dollars that were never accounted for under the PDP. And you know for raising that alarm he was punished and was removed as CBN governor...

So we are explaining to the people - and this is the truth - that the PDP created this problem with their looting. What is more interesting for us here in Edo is that among those who participated in the sharing of the money from the CBN you had the PDP candidate here and the god fathers who are behind the candidate.

So they cannot delete themselves from the crisis. These people are refunding money as I speak to you.

Also importantly, we remind them that this is a state election not a federal election and the price of food in Edo State is not higher than the price of food in Asaba, or Rivers, Bayelsa or Akwa Ibom. The issue in this election in terms of the recession is that the poverty in our sub region is worst in PDP controlled states because the hardship is more in Delta and other PDP states because their own hardship is compounded by the fact that Delta state is not paying salaries. When they pay they pay level 1-9 and they are owing several months of arrears to their lecturers, they are in default in the payment of primary school teachers, they are in default in the payment of civil servants and of course in the payment of local government employees and pensioners. Now the cumulative effect of the inability of Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa not to pay their workers salaries means that their landlords in those states will not get rents. And because they are not paying their people salaries the markets in these PDP controlled states have been depressed. But in Edo State we are up to date in the payment of salaries and pensions. We even increased our minimum wage to N25,000 and we are paying.

But in Rivers teachers have served Wike notice to shut down, the same thing in Delta state. So if you talk of the impact of the economic recession, Edo is far ahead of the rest of the PDP states in the South South because our economy is booming, people get paid to spend in the markets. Poverty is more endemic in Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa States. And what makes the difference, we receive the least allocation from the federation account in the South South zone.

Secondly, we also receive the least IGR because the oil companies are based in these states in spite of that the PDP states in the South South are serial defaulters in meeting their contractual agreement with their workers even though they are raising money for their PDP candidate in Edo at the expense of the salaries of their employees.

And today, you see teachers, workers endorsing Obaseki because they recalled that during the PDP government here, they sacked over seven thousand workers, closed down Ambrose Ali University for one year so they know the difference and they will reject PDP any day any time. I am very proud to say that Edo is working and Edo will continue to work with Godwin as governor after my tenure. Our people know who caused their problem - the PDP.

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 • THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

PERSPECTIVE

R-L: Immediate past president of Unilag Alumni Association, Professor Olayide Abass; 1st national vice president, Otunba Seni Adetu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; president of the association, Olor’ogun Sonny Kuku; and 2nd national vice president, Deaconess Arit Ibanga, during a visit to Osinbajo, who is an alumnus of the school

Alumni Associations and National Devt: The Unilag Example Adewale Okoya

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led other committee members on the delegation told the Vice President that the Federal Government can draw from the Association’s various uccessive governments in sectoral groups as resources and think-tanks.

Nigeria have invested heavily in the establishment of univer- The delegation delivered a letter to the Vice sities over the decades hoping President who is also an alumnus of the widely fervently that these institutions acclaimed university of first choice stating the views of the alumni on the way forward for the can play a ground-breaking nation and its economy as well as its perspecrole in addressing problems tives on improving the nation’s university of underdevelopment such as system. poverty, social wastefulness, low production, In the letter to the Vice President, the associaunemployment, hunger, illiteracy and diseases, among others. Although the direct contribution tion said its members are keen to support the Federal Government in Nigeria’s trying times of the nation’s universities in solving identiand listed the association’s perspectives on fied problems has not been independently social development especially relating to human established, very little attention has been paid capital development, security and the provision to this enormous lapse from the nation’s ivory of quality social services. The association towers due to the myriad of challenges which emphasized the challenges of infrastructure they face. improvement, diversifying the economy through Nonetheless, a second line of intervention agriculture and manufacturing, resolving foreign in national development is available through exchange issues and providing a more businessthe alumni associations of these universities. friendly environment. They also presented Indeed, the strength of any university alumni the Alumni’s perspectives on improving the lies in the pool of skills and talents available to be tapped for national development and not in university system in terms of funding and autonomy. its ability to serve as a money pot to its parent The association urged the government to seek institution. University alumni associations can ways of engaging the youth, particularly on also be invaluable as a coaching network that Information and Communication Technology significantly enhances the employability of (ICT), as a way of ensuring that the contribufuture graduates.

As the Conference of Alumni Associations of tion of this vital segment of the population Nigerian Universities (CAANU) noted during a is efficiently exploited. They added that the visit to Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti in 2013, government needs to accelerate and sustain its interventions in power and transport sectors. alumni associations should participate actively Highlighting the need for the government in the development of their various institutions to make agriculture a top priority, the asand their nation like their counterparts in sociation said the government should focus on developed countries. CAANU reasoned that policies and programmes that would lead to the challenges of university education and significant improvements in agricultural yields development can only be properly addressed and products quality. “There must be proper with the involvement and contributions of those who passed through its four corner walls. administration, void of corruption and misappropriation of funds. It is time for a change. It is It is in this regard that the recent courtesy time for a revolution.” visit by the National Executive Committee Declaring that doing business in Nigeria is of the University of Lagos (Unilag) Alumni still very tough in spite of the government’s best Association to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo efforts, the Unilag Alumni Association remarked at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja highlights the that there is a need for clarity and consistency in critical role that university alumni associations can play in national development as well as the policies as well as alignment between monetary and fiscal regimes in order to build confidence development of the alma mater. and grow foreign direct investment (FDI). “To The Olor’ogun Dr Sonny Kuku OFR, FAS; this extent, the government should streamline National President of the Unilag Alumni, who

the work of the ministries for co-ordination and effectiveness.”

The association recommended a 3-point solution to the perennial problem of funding in the nation’s university system. It wants the Federal Government to pay the universities per student instead of the current arrangement where subventions are doled out. Also, the Association wants our universities to place less emphasis on the tedious task of driving internally generated revenue because this distracts them from offering resourceful solutions to the nation’s challenges by way of inventions and breakthrough research, among others. “Lastly, the students must be encouraged to pay reasonable fees and all levels of government (local, state and federal) give scholarships and student loans”, just as individuals, communities and well-meaning organizations should also come to the party, the Association said.

Giving the Association’s perspective on university autonomy, the letter noted that members “believe that universities should become autonomous and governed independently, rather than through the Federal Ministry of Education, which could remain a regulator… We also believe that the structure of appointments to university councils should be reviewed.”

The association expressed delight with the Library Funding support by the Federal Government to the University of Lagos recently.

It sought further intervention in addressing housing deficiency in the system, land reclamation and structural changes in financial autonomy to cut red tape and enable the university to fast track development.

Welcoming the Alumni to the Villa, Vice President Osinbajo said the task of nation building is a demanding one and the Federal Government needs all the help it can get from every Nigerian. He assured members of the Association that he would continue to do his best in the discharge of his duties as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and make the University and its Alumni association proud.

Responding to the delegation and the views expressed in the letter, the Vice President expressed his appreciation to the Alumni for the time taken to visit and share with him their

ideas on moving the nation forward. He said the issues mentioned by the Alumni are very valid and believes the country is fortunate to have credible men who are concerned about the challenges facing the nation’s economy.

On issues regarding the University of Lagos, the Vice President promised to think through the concerns raised and get back to the National Executive Committee of the University of Lagos (Unilag) Alumni Association. Prof. Osinbajo also assured the Alumni that he will continue to cooperate with the Association and with the University of Lagos He reassured all present that the government is completely focused on dealing with issues the country is grappling with and is determined to make the country better. He said the present administration is committed to empowering the relevant anti-corruption institutions to ultimately foster an environment where the kind of astounding corruption that has held sway becomes a thing of the past.

The Vice President reminded the delegation of some of the government’s quick wins including the reversal of the insurgent onslaught which would have resulted in the complete takeover of local governments in the North East, had the corruption impeding the country’s fight against Boko Haram not been stemmed.

Prof. Osinbajo said the government is looking at self-sufficiency in the agricultural sector, particularly with rice and wheat production. The government has made arrangement to subsidise and buy up produce from farmers to encourage local rice production. He said the government has also placed some restriction on importation of rice.

In his vote of thanks, the 1st National vice President of the Association, Otunba Seni Adetu, expressed the appreciation of the association for the quality time spent with Prof. Osinbajo; and suggested that this channel of engagement should not be a one-off but continuing to the mutual benefit of the national government and the unilag Alumni.

Other members in the Alumni Association’s delegation to the Villa included Deaconess Arit Ibanga, 2nd Vice President and Professor Olayide Abass, the immediate Past President of the Association.

––Okoya wrote from Lagos

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

What Does The President Carry In His Pocket?

Banji Ojewale

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here is this apocryphal tale that the president of the United States of America, said to be our planet’s most powerful country, travels carrying a bag that holds the key to war and peace in the world. It is claimed that the briefcase contains the code the US leader may unravel to release the huge atomic arsenal of God’s Own Country in the event of an attack.

If he is away from the US and he is briefed on his hotline, all he does to enable a lethal hit-back is to go for the bag and probably a key in his pocket. But if he wants peace, he simply allows his pocket be at peace.

Early in 2016, however, sitting President Barack Obama spiked this story of one man playing God, one man who upon a cryptic call thousands of kilometres from Washington, can decide the fate of billions of souls worldwide, can trigger a contest to destroy mankind. He told a YouTube interviewer that all he holds in the trousers pocket are harmless mementoes, none approximating a nuclear lock.

The gay broadcaster Ingrid Nilsen fired the question that laid all bare: what does President Obama carry in his pocket?

The US leader dug into his right trouser pocket and out came an assortment of keepsakes: a rosary given to him by Pope Francis, a tiny Buddha, a metal poker chip he said he got from “a bald biker with weird moustache” in 2007, a Coptic Cross from Ethiopia, and a Hindu statuette of monkey god.

A strange collection for a head of state

to carry! But he says when he feels tired or discouraged as he battles American and global headaches he reaches into the pocket for relief and mental refreshment.

According to Obama, they inspire him and help him “get back to work”.

Now after thrilling myself with Obama’s revelation and observing the travels of our own President Muhammadu Buhari, I have begun to wonder what the Nigerian leader also takes along in the trousers under his flowing agbada. Surely Buhari, the leader of the world’s most populous black nation, would have run into numerous people and well-wishers who would deposit some gifts with him after each encounter. It is doubtful though if this Spartan ex-general would encumber himself with the sentimental symbolism that these oddities appear to stand for.

By the way, Buhari, being a devout Muslim, would not be expected to be a devotee of images. Islam forbids any appearance of idol adoration, which the possession or admiration of a metal bust suggests. Not known to be a faith extremist, Buhari would, nevertheless, not lend himself to breach Islam’s tenets on images.

So what does our president carry in his pocket? We can safely submit he carries with him his prayer beads. These would encourage and animate him, not weigh him down as heavy metal trinkets might.

If he is away from home in Nigeria and unpalatable news reaches him, the president can go for the supplication chain in his pocket and cry to God for help.

If the Nigerian leader is at a gathering where it may look out of place to pull out the tesbiu to pray for Nigeria, I think the president, while silently praying, can simply press his fingers against the beads

in the pocket for assurance that God is always there for Nigeria. There cannot be a greater source of succour.

This reminds me of an undercover policeman who went to a newspaper house to arrest an editor and one of his deputies in the dark days of military dictator Sani Abacha. He and his colleagues failed to get their quarries and in exasperation as the journalists milled about in defiance, the officer kept on touching his trouser pocket for assurance that a pistol was within reach for action if the newsmen tried to be heroic.

But Buhari has gone beyond the age of personal metallic security the pistol stands for. He enjoys what they now call virtual security surveillance. Buhari must travel light; he must guard against adding to the burden brought on him daily by worrying about his 170 million compatriots.

Ironically, Obama says he shifts the lumbering weight and stress of office on to the metals he carries around. They are items from two groups of people: fellow Americans and those from outside keeping a partisan watch on his conduct.

The mementoes therefore are not hollow tokens.

When they tinkle in the pocket they assume a cry urging the president not to fail to deliver. Obama sees them as citizens groaning and prompting him to remember his campaign promises.

So what should our own Buhari carry in his pocket?

In Nigeria, the underclass, like Obama’s “bald biker”, would not enjoy space enough to pump a gift into the president’s palm. So let’s rule out such precious experience.

Now there are more inspiring items

Buhari needs to have with him as he travels. He must have an independent record of what the citizens say of him and his government beyond what the media report and what his aides tell him. When he is taken up and down in his numerous trips in and out of Nigeria, let him observe closely the palpable frown and anxiety on the faces of his people. Let him breach protocol by showing up unannounced at public places at odd hours.

Let him make random calls to fellow Nigerians and to interactive radio and TV shows. Let him follow it up with visits to the people in their homes and offices.

What Buhari comes up with is what he would put in black and white and carry about to reorient and inspirit him.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, the man Buhari has picked to oversee three utility departments, attributes his phenomenal success as Lagos governor to a pact he struck with a small document he called Black Book. He packed it with his campaign promises along with “little things” he observed among the people. He had the book as his companion wherever he went.

Each time the heaviness of work seemed to overwhelm him, Fashola would fetch the book in his sokoto. Reinvigorated, he would say, like Obama,”I better get back to work.”

Let President Muhammadu Buhari also carry with him ‘little things’, not in his pocket, not in his briefcase, nor in his iPad. He should keep his own Black Book in his heart. No safer place to secure a sacred treasure! The ancient Latin scholars called such dear notes vade mecum (carry me wherever you go).

–– Ojewale is a writer and journalist in Ota, Ogun State.

Buhari, Change and Condemnable Murmurings Chinwoke Mbadinuju

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igerians are in for change; change that is working, one that is capable of bringing about the country of our collective destination. The tenets of this CHANGE mantra are premised on the fact that this great nation of great people has been conducting – or having – her affairs conducted with reckless abandon, which portends ill for the prosperity of the giant that we are. We, as a people, have been kept at a point of low attitude for long, owing to the conduct or misconduct of a few, and the time for change has come.

When I addressed a World Press Conference on 23 February 2015 under the subject, “The Dice is Cast,” I mentioned in clear terms within the text of that statement, “whosoever the (PDP) government patronised turned out to be dishonest, or turned into a mediocre; thus making dishonesty and mediocrity take the centre-stage of government and politics in the country.

We painfully endured it for long hoping that with leadership change, things would change too. But from Obasanjo, to late Yar’adua and to Jonathan, nothing changed; if anything, the situation kept getting worse.

“Obviously, things cannot continue like that, lest society collapses. It is therefore the responsibility, nay the duty, of all Godfearing citizens and men of good standing in our country to do something so as to get us out of the present national quagmire. As the famous philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, ‘Evil thrives when good men do nothing.’ I believe what Burke said and, therefore, we cannot continue to sit by and do nothing when all around us things are falling apart.”

President Muhammadu Buhari symbolises the change that we have earnestly asked for and this is our chance for true change as Nigerians. Like childbirth, the beginnings of most good things come with pains, but afterwards, there is always a reason to be happy for the pains. Like the biblical

children of Israel, Nigeria has stood at a dark valley of maladministration and rape of her own people for too long and our Moses came in the person of Buhari and we are on a journey to our promised destination of greatness.

Since the administration came on board, those who are sincere with their conscience would accept that the national scheme of things has not remained the same: there has been a marked difference in the approach to governance, a shift from serving selves to serving the nation. There has been a steady assault on graft and a reinvention of government as a means to serving the people; there has been a continuous barrage on insecurity, with the menace of Boko Haram curtailed to the barest minimum, and there has been whole-hearted commitment to the task of securing the socio-economic lives of the people.

When Buhari recently launched the Federal Ministry of Information’s initiative, “Change Begins With Me,” it was a reflection of the conviction of the administration to steer national consciousness towards a greater country. By the central theme of the orientation campaign, the government has appreciated the desire of the people for greater destiny. This very campaign has the potential to reinvigorate this genuine desire, regardless of what naysayers might want us to believe.

Let it be reiterated again that this government has shown considerable commitment to changing the lots of Nigerians for the better beyond the lip service paid to national development in the past. The administration’s success in securing our lives and property in the months since Buhari’s assumption of office, the drive towards ridding our nation of the evils of corruption and abuse of office that had been the bane of national development, and the prospects of a greater and more prosperous country that has a diversified source of foreign exchange earnings have been the prelude to what can be achieved with this change mind-set.

Instructively, Buhari possesses the needed wherewithal to bring about the desired change that Nigerians, and indeed, the

Mbadinuju international community yearn for.

The very idea of change has always come with pockets of opposition at first, before the usually worthwhile outcome brings smiles on the faces of the expectants. Change has always met stark resistance, especially from quarters that have exploited the status quo to their nefarious advantage.

The truth is that when God intends to bless his people, He takes them to the height He has prepared for them, to effect a change through someone He anointed for His purpose. God has prepared a greater destiny for Nigeria but the lamentations, wailings and murmurings of some disgruntled elements, who are intent on holding Nigerians to ransom, tend to blur the visions of the people.

Unfortunately, these murmurings are being orchestrated from the disgruntled opposition whose only aspiration is to cast aspersions on the genuine intentions of Buhari and the progress of the country. The Peoples Democratic Party, a party that is obviously bereft of any moral standing and cannot, in all honesty, govern Nigeria when they cannot effectively administer a local government from what we are seeing today.

The murmurs we hear are at the forefront of this clandestine campaign of calumny and sheer mischief.

The recent resort to calling for the resignation of Buhari is another needless prank to distract the president from the beckoning work of salvaging a battered economy from their iniquities of fraud and large-scale corruption. Until PDP purges itself of the iniquities committed against the progress of the country, problems await them and those still remaining should honourably join Buhari in APC, as they say, “a stitch in time saves nine.” PDP is a party of injustice, corruption in all facets of the party, stealing and a trademark of murmuring against that which is good.

The Almighty God gave a clear injunction against murmurings when He reprimanded the children of Israel from murmurings against those He chose to administer them in the wilderness. Our national situation today is likened to the circumstances at the camp of the Israelites in the wilderness. In the book of Numbers (Numbers 14 verses 26 to 28), the Almighty God came down hard on those who murmured.

“How long will I bear with this evil generation who complain against me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in my hearings, so will I do.’”

For their evil murmurings, the children of Israel had an entire generation roam the wilderness for 40 years. This is a clear message to those who rather use their energy to wail and grumble against change that God originates for Nigerians. Murmurings hinder our progress as a nation and engender corruption that hinders our economic growth.

It did not pay the people of old, and can certainly not pay us as a country today.

It behoves all compatriots of goodwill to rally round Buhari and the APC-led government in their bid to turn around the economic fortunes of Nigerians for the better.

It shall surely be well with Nigeria under Buhari’s vision for change and progress.

––Mbadinuju (ODERA) is a former governor of Anambra State.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

Ideals,ImperativesandPatienceTowardsaNigeriathatWorks Laolu Akande

A

n ideal situation is one where things work most perfectly, and as desired. It is where and when expectations and fulfillment dovetail. We all live for ideals.

There is a way the quest for the ideal gravitates our lives towards feats and accomplishments that otherwise could have been missed.

Imperatives on the other hand are the unavoidables, necessary and required things or better still, actions that must be taken. But in order to attain ideals, there would always be imperatives on the way, some of them possibly unflattering and inconvenient.

For example in 1776 when the American elites of the day took a firm decision to declare independence from King George III of Britain, they fashioned out a well crafted vision of freedom, liberty and equality which the emergent United States of America would represent and advance.

That was a noble ideal. But they had to fight fatally and fiercely, for a total of 8 years in all, to clinch their ideal of independence. The war, which British historians named “revolt of the colonies,” but which their American counterparts rather called “war of independence,” (or American Revolutionary war, was the imperative.)

Nigerians voted for President Muhammadu Buhari, in good part, because as a people we had gotten to the point that majority of us could no longer tolerate the astounding level of corruption in government and the then seeming intractable security catastrophe in the Northeast. For good measure, the Buhari/ Osinbajo ticket also did an excellent job during the campaigns, depicting the possible economic resurgence that could be attained in the country and how. The ideals were very clear, agreed and well embraced. What many of us possibly did not imagine were the imperatives that would have to be confronted on the journey to the ideal.

One lesson I have surely learnt in public service in the last 15 months is the virtue of patience: it’s the useful conduit between ideals and imperatives. But mine is a story for another day. It is the ideal relationship that ought to exist between a master/superior and his/her servant that I want to talk about in laying a background to say some other things.

The master hires a servant and assigns a duty, expecting performance as soon as possible. That is the ideal. The servant tackles the assignment but there is a time lag between effort and result, including certain unpleasant imperatives which prolong the expectation of the boss, and the boss becomes understandably impatient, questioning

Buhari the servant.

Let us assume that this looks like what is happening in our country today. The people are the masters, those of us in the Buhari administration are the servants. We got the message, the expectations were that there would be swift turnarounds and the prosperity promised would kickoff much earlier.

Yet, the master cannot in good conscience ignore what the imperatives are, nor the explanations of the servant, especially if there is trust between the boss and the servant. Clearly, Nigerians have shown tremendous trust in President Muhammadu Buhari. Indeed, at the recently concluded Aso Rock Retreat on the 2017 Budget last week Thursday, one of the invited economic experts, after making his presentation regarding how best to steer the country out of recession said to the president “it is better to be trusted than to be loved.”

Now, to get the Nigeria of our desire, the ideal, there has to be some urgent imperatives, especially in the economy. No one in all truth can deny the main causes of our present economic condition. It is not about a blame game but it is what it is. Even the immediate past Finance Minister made it abundantly clear that some of the things that had to be done when the economy was buoyant were simply left undone because of lack of political will.

Past governments left out some critical imperatives and with increasing intensity from one administration to the other, corruption became the order of the day.

What then is the Buhari presidency doing now?

One critical imperative is economic diversification.

Diversification in our national lexicon has become

an overused and hackneyed word, except that now we are left with no option really. Besides, we have a President who means what he says and is getting results. Even if little, lights of hope are being sighted in the area of agriculture and AgroBusiness. For instance, because of the deliberate policies of the Buhari administration, some of the states are advancing in rice production, and the country is targeting self sufficiency by 2018. (This will also reduce foreign exchange pressure.)

Let us take the example from Kebbi State where the CBN Anchor Borrowers programme launched by the President late last year is churning out exciting news. According to media reports, 78,000 farmers got some soft loans under the programme leading to the creation of over 500,000 jobs and the emergence of 40,000 millionaire-farmers this year alone. BusinessDay actually did a front page lead story last week September 15 thus: ‘Rice Production Gains Traction In Northern States’, with one of the riders saying 40,000 millionaire rice farmers emerge in Kebbi State.

This particular example goes to prove what the rice farmers told Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in May during a meeting at the Presidential Villa to discuss the Agric policies of the Buhari presidency. According to Mallam Aminu Goronyo, the President of the Rice Farmers Association, before the coming of the Buhari presidency, “farmers in Nigeria were considered useless people on the streets, but now farmers are kings.” Indeed if we can get 78,000 people on a soft loan programme and 40,000 made a million or more in profits in a few months, certainly within a year, that is significant it’s only a tip of the iceberg.

The Vice President himself had assured the farmers then at the May meeting that the Buhari presidency has a clear idea on how to execute its agricultural policy to achieve self-sufficiency in food production, and diversify the economy in the process. The results are trickling in. These are the facts, all we need is patience. This is only one example.

Facts are sacred, opinions are free, the fact is that already now in Nigeria, there has been a certain turn around that has happened in the affairs of the federal government today when compared with the past. It cannot be denied, nor gainsaid for instance that the affairs of Nigeria is now steered by a fiercely honest leadership.

A decisive message has reverberated across the country that the days of corruption with impunity are over. The mindless bleeding of the nation’s resources is being terminated. These are significant outcomes that Nigerians yearned for and it’s already in the bag.

However, what no one could have imagined is the extent of damage. The discoveries are unend-

ing, ranging from the $15B security equipment purchase scandal in a country that could hardly boast today of $25B in foreign reserves, to the open and public claim recently by an individual related to power in the past of several millions of dollars in a few accounts in one bank! Also, there has not been anything said or heard yet about the corruption in the oil sector but at least everyone knows there would be a reckoning unlike in the past when a corruption convict was even given a state pardon “before our very eyes.”

Now the fight against corruption is a big deal because in a sense it has been responsible for where we are today as a nation. Several choices and decisions by past governments were deeply rooted in corruption, thereby shutting out the people from enjoying any meaningful and enduring benefit from our collective patrimony.

Take the scams that were perpetrated in the subsidy regimes for example where we now know that people just completed forms and were paid large sums of money supposedly for supplying refined fuel when indeed there were no such supplies.

The cumulative effect is that today when we need the savings of the buoyant years, there is nothing to fallback upon due to corruption and it’s twin sister-profligacy. And so the economic situation is rather difficult and many of our people are suffering the pains. The deliberate and relentless sabotage of our oil and gas pipelines have even added a worsening streak, cutting government revenue almost by half at a time government needs to spend its way out of the recession.

But my final point is the most important: patience. If there is any government that deserves to be patiently given a chance to perform, this is it. There are indeed tonnes of questions that can be asked, and possibly a few issues here and there. But the resolve, the patriotism, the honesty, the integrity, the competence and the diligence of the Buhari presidency to restore Nigeria’s lost glory are unequivocal. When you have a president who can’t be lured into a corrupt deal, who has absolute passion for the people and utmost respect for the land, who knows what he is doing, supported by a vice president, equally committed and well tested on the issues of the day, all we have need of is a patient citizenry in the face of some rather unpleasant imperatives on our way to attaining the ideal of a Nigeria that works. As the Lord lives, that journey is now in irreversible progress!

––Akande is Senior Special Assistant Media & Publicity, in the Office of the Vice President

Strengthening Governance, Promoting Citizens Participation in Decision-making in N’ Delta Silas Akpe

N

igeria’s oil rich and revenue spring region, the Niger Delta, has been subjected to neglect and marginalisation, causing many to opine that its inhabitants are being given little or no deserved attention by the government.

Although the region is the main source of government income, it is poor and poorly governed, suffering from violence and corruption and has been the centre of international controversy over pollution, corruption and human rights violations. Activists have called for responsive governance, infrastructural development and jobs creation in the region.

In a bid to strengthen governance and promote participation of citizens in decision making at the local level, RTI International, a world leading nonprofit research institute with a vision to improve human conditions by addressing complex social and scientific challenges, extended the USAID-funded Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development (LEAD) project to the Niger Delta in 2013 through a partnership between USAID and PIND. After a rigorous selection process, Rivers State emerged as the LEAD State. The project was

implemented in Rivers from 2013 to 2016.

The LEAD project held an end of Programme review on August 30, 2016 to bring the project to a close in the State. The top-notch state event with the theme: ‘Documenting, Sharing and Learning from LEAD Partnership Project’ held at Golden Tulip Hotel, Port Harcourt, witnessed participation from the state and local governments, project partners, development partners and beneficiaries.

The forum provided an interactive platform for stakeholders and beneficiaries to share and brainstorm about the LEAD project achievements, lessons learnt and best approaches to employ for the benefit of related future projects.

At the one-day event in Port Harcourt, RTI/ LEAD Chief of Party, Tijjani Muhammad set the stage for discussion, “In a few minutes from now, you will get to hear narratives and testimonies from LEAD partners and staff on collaborative learning, accomplishments and challenges that were realized and encountered since we set out in August 2013 with a mandate to create partnership between states, local governments, private sector, civil society organizations and communities, that will engender a sustained momentum for improving local governance in Rivers state and the larger Niger Delta Region. Three years later on of working under the 3 LEAD objectives for: Strengthening the capacities of local governments and increasing transparency in their

operations, increasing the capacity of local civil society organizations, improving service delivery and support local economic development; our partnerships have created a “LEAD community” that has facilitated processes of iterative learning, innovations and adaptations.”

Muhammed gave assurance on sustainability of the impact of the LEAD project: “Our hope is that the ‘LEAD community’ will continue to thrive and expand in Rivers state, within the Niger Delta region and beyond, and for the local solutions and best fit practices that have shown the potentials for establishing inclusive governance and the emergence of more prosperous and resilient communities to be sustained.”

The Chief of Party appreciated commitment of co-funders: “On behalf of LEAD partnership, I will like to sincerely thank Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for their funding and support to LEAD in Rivers and other locations in Nigeria. We really hope that we can count on your continued assistance to build up on this partnership in the near future.”

Another centerpiece from the event was the heartwarming opening remarks by the Executive Director of PIND – Sam Daibo who spoke through the Programmes Director, Dr. Dara Akala recalled how the RTI-PIND-USAID partnership to implement LEAD in Rivers state

was arrived at: “PIND and USAID through a partnership signed in 2011 to reduce conflict, improve institutions and foster socioeconomic development in the Niger Delta agreed to build accountable and effective local government operations in the Niger Delta through the LEAD project which had started implementation in Bauchi and Sokoto since 2009. It seems just like yesterday, expanding the LEAD project from Bauchi and Sokoto to Rivers in August 2013.”

Daibo continued: “I recall vividly and with nostalgia the conversation between USAID, RTI and PIND on modality for selecting a Niger Delta state for LEAD. After setting criteria and following series of assessments across Niger Delta states, Rivers emerged as the LEAD state having met and even surpassed set criteria …

Following the selection of Rivers state, LEAD agreed to mobilize staff from Bauchi and Sokoto to commence the project in Rivers state.

One of PIND’s immediate considerations then, was the opening of the Foundation’s Economic Development Centre (EDC) in Port Harcourt alongside a Guest House to provide conducive work environment and accommodation for the project in the state.

––Silas Akpe works with Media Insight in Abuja (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

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CICERO/TRIBUTE

From Lome, Honour for Okonkwo Anayo Okolie

L

ast Saturday, Lome, the capital city of Togo hosted some prominent Nigerians as Senate and Management Board of the European-American University Commonwealth of Dominica bestowed honourary doctorate degrees on them for their various contributions to the society.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nedcomoaks Limited, Mr. Kennedy Okonkwo, was among those conferred with the prestigious award due to the role he has been playing to put an end to housing problem in Nigeria and beyond.

Okonkwo recognition was also based on his outstanding leadership achievements and contributions observed and strongly appreciated by those that recommended him.

According to a ‘Letter of Invitation’ dated September 16, which was signed by the institution’s Head, EAU All-African Operations, Dr. Ahamefula Egbuta, and sent to Okonkwo, the honourary doctorate degree being bestowed on the Nedcomoaks Limited boss was as a result of his outstanding leadership achievements and contribution to nation building, especially in the area of housing.

Apart from Okonkwo, other notable Nigerians, who had been conferred with honourary doctorate awards by the management of European-American University Commonwealth of Dominica in the past few years were: the Emir of Daura, HRH Umar Farouk Umar; former Governors Ramadam Yero (Kaduna), Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo); Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of S. Ojolowo Technical Co. Ltd. Chief Solomon Ojolowo; Chief Solomon Ojolowo; Chairman, Peace Mass Transport Nig. Ltd, Mr. Samuel Maduka; DeputyManaging Director of Eleganza City Industry Ltd, Chief (Mrs) Sade Okoya; the Ojora of Ojoraland, Oba Fatai Oyeyinka; the Rector of Maritime

Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Joshua Okpo; and former General Secretary of Bible Society of Nigeria, Dr. Fred Odutola.

Okonkwo, beyond reasonable doubt, has proven to the world that he is a man to be reckon with by providing shelter for different classes of people in the country.

The Nedcomoaks boss, who is heavily involved in the day today running of his companies with support from his staff, has used his skills to redefine real estate business in Nigeria.

To many people, especially those who are his close associates, the award conferred on Okonkwo is well deserved having distinguished himself in different aspects of life, especially as renowned estate developer, philanthropist and entrepreneur.

The honourary doctorate degree coming from a foreign citadel of knowledge is an honour not only for Okonkwo but his family, organisation and community. Okonkwo, since he started his company, has done a lot in the last eight years to provide accommodation and make life comfortable for thousands of Nigerians, especially in Lagos, where Nedcomoaks Limited built and is still building several estates and affordable apartments.

Okonkwo, who is a role model to many young Nigerians, has used his business acumen and skills to touch many lives directly and indirectly.

He has built Nedcomoaks Limited through hard work with the assistance of his dedicated and committed staff to become of one of the most highly rated and respected building construction companies in the property development business in Nigeria.

Okonkwo has also contributed immensely to the development of the economy by redefining the real estate sector through provision of affordable housing, as well as providing employment opportunities for thousands of people.

He has also touched many lives through his philanthropic gestures by developing some communities through construction of roads and houses, and

Okonkwo

putting in place other basic infrastructures that will make life comfortable for the people.

He has created employment directly and indirectly for over 2,000 Nigerians in different areas and places where he operates.

According to Okonkwo in one of his recent interviews, “I believe that when people have employment; security menace and violence will reduce because people are employed.”

Some of his remarkable achievements and track records of honesty and being a role model worth of emulation are probably the basic reasons he was honoured by the European-American University Commonwealth of Dominica, with a doctorate degree. Since the birth of Nedcomoaks Limited in 2008, Okonkwo has continued to thrive where many businesses have crumbled. His doggedness, commitment and visionary leadership paved way for him to win several national and international accolades and recognitions, including being featured few months ago in Forbes Africa Magazine as one

of the leading property entrepreneurs in Nigeria, . Okonkwo’s company, Nedcomoaks Limited, is one of the leading real estate companies engaging in the acquisition, development and management of properties across Nigeria with its properties highly diversified with respect to design and styles, especially in different parts of Lagos State.

One thing one cannot take away from Okonkwo’s various projects is their architectural and aesthetic design.

Okonkwo and his company are customer centric because he strives to ensure that the customer gets maximum return on their investment, which is part of the Nedcomoaks policy and priority since inception based on the policy to build the best properties at the best prices.

“We spend so much on our estate projects. For example, we spent hundreds of millions on infrastructural development for people to have access to Victoria Crest at Lafiaji in Lekki. We developed the road by ourselves without any support from community member or government.”

Okonkwo, who hails from Anambra, is a devote Christian and a loving father of three kids, is also a great philanthropist. He has empowered several youths in his community and beyond.

As part of his desire to give back to the community that produced him as a blessing to the world, the Nedcomoaks Limited boss is presently developing a community Hall and an ultramodern sports Complex in his home town in Ojoto, Anambra State where he hopes youths can channel their energy to positive use.

The MD/CEO of Nedcomoaks Limited is a silent achiever and one unique thing that distinguishes him from several other entrepreneurs is his level of humility and respect.

Okonkwo, who holds a Psychology degree from the University of Ibadan (UI) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from the Lagos State University, is a man who does not joke with the pursuit of knowledge.

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 • THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

GAVEL TO GAVEL

Edited by Vincent Obia Email vincent.obia@thisdaylive.com

Budget Padding: All Eyes on the House The House of Representatives resumed last week amid keen public attention on the budget padding scandal that has rocked the lower chamber since the last eight weeks. Damilola Oyedele reports

T

he House of Representatives has been in

the public eye for the past eight weeks.

The former chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin, who was sacked just as the House embarked on its annual recess, had unleashed a tirade of allegations against the House leadership. He accused Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yussuff Sulaimon Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Minority Whip Leo Ogor, and nine chairmen of standing committees of making fraudulent insertions into the 2016 budget and other corrupt practices. He further accused the four principal officers of allocating to themselves N40 billion out of the N100 billion allocated to the National Assembly for constituency projects.

Abdulmumin relentlessly bashed Dogara and others through the mainstream and social media, urged on by a public that considers the legislature as a gathering of people pursing their selfish interests.

It was, therefore, understandable that a lot of attention was on the House as it resumed from its recess. What would happen? Would he be suspended? Would the lawmakers throw punches as they had done before to settle scores? These were the questions at the forefront of many minds as the legislators resumed.

Re-emergence of groups

As Abdulmumin’s allegations raged in the airwaves, a group tagging itself Transparency Group had emerged.

It initially claimed it wanted all parties, including the whistle-blower, probed to ascertain their level of culpability in the mismanagement of the 2016 budget. But the group later did a U-turn and changed its demand to the probe of the four accused principal officers, and also demanded that they stepped aside while an independent investigation was conducted on the matter.

On the day of resumption, before adjournment in honour of a late member, Abdulmumin announced that he had formally joined the Transparency Group.

Interestingly, the group continued to claim that it had at least 185 members, who were all ready to resist any move to refer the matter to the Committee on Ethics.

However, only about six members have publicly identified with the group, while their spokesperson, Hon. Mohammed Soba (Kaduna APC), told THISDAY in a text message that they had 185 members.

Their opinion, same as Abdulmumin’s, was that the chairman of the ethics committee, Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai, as an appointee of Dogara, could not conduct a fair and impartial investigation.

The expectation, therefore, is that with the numbers, which the group claims to have, it would vote nay to an investigation by the ethics committee.

Legislatives Theatrics Properly

On the day of resumption, the procession of the body of principal officers, led by Dogara, walked into the chambers at 11.12am. Abdulmumin, clad in a white agbada, was already in the chambers. He exchanged greetings with several of his colleagues before making his way to sit next to Hon. Mohammed Zakari, on a seat behind Hon. Herma Hembe.

Zakari and Hembe are included among the nine chairmen of standing committees accused by Abdulmumin of making insertions into the 2016 budget, running into billions of naira.

Dogara, in his welcome address, hinted that the matter would be referred to the ethics committee, when he noted that plenary was “not the appropriate venue to address allegations made against individual members many of which are criminal in nature, as there are constitutional avenues for that.”

As Dogara made to continue with the “first business of the day”, the chairman of the Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Emmanuel Orker-Jev, raised a point of order. He noted that attention of Nigerians was on the House with widespread fears that the lawmakers might engage in exchange of blows.

“Let’s disappoint them,” Orker-Jev said.

Orker-Jev then sought permission to move a motion on what he called “breach of privilege of the House, breach of the privileges of the members of the House, breach of practices, precedents and usages of the House of Representatives, and sundry acts of misconduct against the members and institution of the House and the National

House of Reps in Session

Dogara

Abdulmumin

Assembly” by Abdulumin.

This was accompanied by shouts of “No” from Abdulmumin’s supporters. Orker-Jev, however, continued reading his motion, spurred on by Dogara’s supporters.

About the same time, Abdulmumin walked out of the chambers, returning almost immediately bearing a collection of documents and returned to his seat next to Zakari.

It was clear that there was a well-crafted plan. While the commotion continued, several of Dogara’s supporters were among those shouting “No” and walking around the chamber. What many did not pay attention to was that Orker-Jev continued to read his motion, even though he could not be heard by many in the awful din.

Amid the commotion, the prayer of the motion, which sought to “refer the above matter and Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin to the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges for proper investigation”, was passed by a majority of “Ayes” and a barely heard “Nays”.

in the House of Representatives. And all Nigerians have a responsibility to avail themselves of this rare opportunity to flush out corruption in the House.

“It is a known fact that the legislative investigation is used as an avenue to extort money on an organised crime aided and abetted by Mr. Speaker,” and “I dare say corruption in the House of Representatives is more than that of the executive and judiciary combined.”

The motion, therefore, accused Abdulmumin of breach of privileges of the House of Representatives, breach of privileges of members of the House, breach of the practices, precedents and usages of the House of Representatives, and sundry acts of misconduct against the members and institution of the House and the National Assembly, breach of the provision of the legislatives houses (powers and privileges) Act.

The Motion

Familiarity with the workings of the parliament would show that Orker-Jev’s motion was well crafted, without any wiggle room for Abdulmumin. This is because in his tirade against Dogara and others in the last eight weeks, Abdulmumin severally described the House as corrupt, instead of limiting it to those he accused. This part was conveniently collated; the motion did not mention any instances where he mentioned the principal officers.

Some of the collated statement culled from newspapers, and his television appearances include, “As it stands today, these corrupt elements have infected the House, making the institution a hub of systemic corruption. I repeat, there is massive individual and systemic corruption

Committee Begins Sitting

The ethics committee under the chairmanship of Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai began its sitting on Friday morning.

Orker-Jev, in his testimony before the committee, said the utterances of Abdulmumin had defamed the House and presented it as a hub of thieves.

“There is nothing like budget padding as far as the constitution is concerned…His actions have defamed everyone. It means when we go on oversight, people would say these thieves have come again. We need to redeem our image,” he said.

Abdulmumin is scheduled to appear on Monday at 12 noon.

With the current inquest by the House, the budget padding issue would, certainly, be in the spotlight for quite some time.

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NEWSXTRA

PROMOTING NIGERIA L-R: Minister of Trade Industry and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu

Enelamah and Vice President OLAM Nigeria and discussant at the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) sideline event on Investment, Mr. Ade Adefeko, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, USA...recently

HAPPY GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY L-R: Rivers PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah; his wife, Mrs. Obuah; celebrant, Mrs. Vicky Sergeant-Awuse; her husband and prominent politician,

Chief Sergeant Awuse; wife of the Rivers State governor, Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike; Governor Nyesom Wike, and Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo, during the 50th birthday dinner for Mrs. Awuse at Government House, Port Harcourt...weekend

Falana Petitions EFCC, Seeks Investigation of Alleged Diversions of Public Funds

Tambuwal Lauds Students/ Youth Discount Card Initiative

Abimbola Akosile

Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal has hailed the introduction of the Nigerian Student and Youth Corps Discount Card (NSYCDC) Initiative, as one which would assist Nigerian youths navigate through the current economic challenges being experienced in the country.

Tambuwal, speaking when he met with the initiators and backers of the initiative in Sokoto recently, said the current economic challenges of the country provide an avenue for youths to work towards economic independence, and entrepreneurship.

“This is a highly commendable initiative that will benefit our students and youth corps members. Not only that, initiatives like this have a very big role to play in the development of States and

Human rights lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana SAN, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate six major cases of alleged criminal diversion of public funds and illegal withholding of funds from the Federation Account.

In a petition signed by Falana and dated September 23 with the subject: Request for the investigation of allegations of criminal diversion of public funds and illegal withholding of funds from the Federation Account, which was addressed to The Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, 15A Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, he also promised to provide all relevant documents to fa-

cilitate the anti-crime agency’s “investigation of the serious economic and financial crimes disclosed in this petition.”

According to him, “In our letter dated 8th April, 2016 we prayed the Minister of Finance to take urgent steps to recover billions of dollars either criminally diverted or illegally withheld from the Federation Account. Apart from informing us that the letter was receiving attention no step has been taken to accede to our request. Since then the peripheral capitalist economy of the country has slumped into recession.

“However, since the actions of the few corporate bodies and individuals who engaged in the criminal diversion of the nation’s wealth border on serious economic and financial crimes we are compelled

to request the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to embark on the investigation of the following allegations: “1. By a letter dated January 27, 2016 the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) disclosed to us that from five cycles of independent audit reports covering 1999-2012 it had confirmed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, some oil companies and certain agencies of the Federal Government had withheld $20.2 billion from the Federation Account. Despite repeated requests of some civil society organisations the Federal Government has refused to recover the said sum of $20.2 billion.

“2. Sometime in 2006, former Central Bank Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo

removed $7 billion from the nation’s external reserves and doled it out to 14 Nigerian banks. Two years later, the Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (the current Emir of Kano) also gave a bailout of N600 billion to the same banks. The request of some civil society organisations for the recovery of the huge loan of $7 billion and N600 billion from the commercial banks has been ignored by the management of the Central Bank.

“3. On September 6, 2016, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced that arrangements had been concluded to recover the sum of $9.6 billion in overdeducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on major capital projects and oil swap contracts. “

UN Unveils Airport Counter-Terrorism Strategy, Urges Nigeria, Others to Commence Implementation Dele Ogbodo in Abuja

The United Nations (UN) Security Council, through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), yesterday unveiled a new security strategy aimed at checkmating terrorism and security threats in its over 43,983 commercial airports and airfields across the globe.

The UN in the security

resolution called on Nigeria and countries affiliated to the body to begin the implementation of the ICAO security resolution 2309 (2016). By the terms of the new resolution, the security council urged continued cooperation between ICAO and the counter terrorism executive directorate on identifying gaps and vulnerabilities relevant to aviation security.

In a statement made avail-

able to the media in Abuja, by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Aviation, Mr. James Odaudu, the UN called on nations to work with ICAO, on the adoption of the new safety resolution.

The statement which relied on agency reports, read: “Adopting resolution 2309 (2016) at a meeting, this morning, on threats to international peace and secu-

rity caused by terrorist acts, the Council called on States to work within ICAO to ensure that its international security standards are reviewed and adapted to effectively address the threat posed by terrorist targeting of civil aviation.

UN said global aviation system is of vital importance to economic development and prosperity.

Nigerians Rue Impact of Harsh Economy El-Rufai, Emefiele Lay Foundation Moriam Yusuf and Ibikunle Abikoye and Chiamaka Ozulumba

Due to financial travails ravaging the economy, Nigerians have continued to groan as they go about their daily transactions, with tension starting to rise against the present administration for alleged lack of coherent economic recovery policies.

THISDAY carried out a survey at Ajah market in Lagos to find out how traders and consumers have fared in the current economic situation. Mr. Victor Ibina who deals in footwear not-

ed that the Sport Easy shoe which was previously sold at N1,400 in wholesale price is now being sold at N2,000. Also Mr. Femi Adeniji said Timberland, which sold at N1,800 in wholesale now goes for N2,700 due to inflation.

Meanwhile at the Boundary Market Ajegunle, Mrs. Sanwo told THISDAY that the prices of Noodles have skyrocketed with a carton of Indomie Pepper Chicken (small size) formerly sold at N1,000 now selling for N1,500. Miss Kosi Dike who sells noodles at Garage, Ikorodu also lamented about the hike in price of consumer products.

for Biggest Potato Farm John Shiklam in Kaduna

Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele weekend performed the ground breaking ceremony for the establishment of a Potato Farm and Processing facility worth $120 million in Manchok, Kaura local government area of the state.

The project jointly initiated by the state government and Vicampro Farms Limited is said to be the biggest potato plant in

sub-Saharan Africa, cultivating 10,000 hectares of land and is expected to generate 30,000 job opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths.

Speaking during the ceremony, El-Rufai said “the project is very important to the state Kaduna as it will create jobs and stimulate a chain of economic activities that will impact positively on the economic development of the state and the nation.

Vicampro is not only going to process potato that will serve local demand. “

Damilola Oyedele

individuals,” he said.

He also called on young people to explore innovations and harness their creative potentials, rather than engage in criminality.

The discount card, also called Naija Green card, was launched in March 2016 and already has 3,421 merchants and partners in 21 states with over 4000 card users nationwide, on the platform. It was designed to provide discounts at different percentages to tertiary institution students and your corps members, for goods and services with the accredited merchants which include airlines, boutiques, book-stores, transport companies, and others.

Tambuwal however noted that the state would encourage its senior secondary students to enlist on the platform alongside tertiary education students from the state.

Okafor Honoured with Doctorate Degree by Foreign University Anayo Okolie

European-American University, an International tertiary institution based in the Republic of Togo, yesterday honoured the Managing Director of Marcopolo Group of Companies, Chief Frank Okafor with a Honorary doctorate degree. He was conferred Doctor of Science (D.Sc Hons) in Housing Development and Corporate Governance.

Okafor, the institution’s management said was conferred with the degree in recognition of his outstanding leadership and contributions to housing development and corporate governance, which was highly recommended by those who

recommended him for the award.

Speaking after receiving the honorary doctorate degree, Okafor commended the authority of the European-American University Commonwealth of Dominica for deeming it fit to bestow the honour on him and promised not to let down the institution and those who nominated him for the award.

The Marcopolo Group of Companies boss also promised not to relent in his contribution to housing development, adding that he will do his best through his company to provide suitable and affordable housing for people to reduce housing deficit in the society, especially in Nigeria.

Venue Compass Summit

Nigeria’s leading online venue booking platform - Venue Compass, is organising a first-of-its-kind summit on event centre management for venue owners and potential investors in the event venue business in Nigeria.

The maiden edition set to hold on Tuesday, September 27, aims to put the spotlight on major challenges experienced by stakeholders in the hospitality industry and enable them acquire up to date information and trending businessapproachesnecessarytobridgethevariousidentifiedknowledge gaps in event venue management. Participants will also be able to harness latest media and technology solution and services, and will be provided an excellent platform to collaborate with other key players in the sector in order to create lasting business relationships. Themed Venue Management: Adopting The Contemporary Business Approach; the summit will focus on keyareaswhichincludeEffectiveCustomerServiceDelivery,EventSafety &CrowdControl,InsuranceandFinancialServices.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

SUNDAYSPORTS

Edited by Demola Ojo Email demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

Port Harcourt to Host Eagles’World Cup Qualifier against Algeria

T

he Rivers State government has agreed to stage a 2018 World Cup qualifier between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Algeria in Port Harcourt in November, officials have disclosed.

The game is slated for the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt on November 7 after earlier reports suggested the game will be played in Uyo, which hosted a recent AFCON qualifier against Tanzania.

It will be the second 2018 World Cup qualifier involving both countries as Nigeria will face Zambia in Ndola on October 9, 2016 while

Algeria and Cameroun go toe-to-toe the same day in Blida.

Rivers State Commissioner of sport Boma Iyaye said Port Harcourt is ready to play the perfect host ahead of the big fixture. “Rivers State is ready to play the perfect host to the Super Eagles and the international community ahead of this important game,” he said.

“The Super Eagles and Olympic football team have played competitive and friendly matches here in Port Harcourt in the past so this is not novelty in any way. It is the utmost desire of the Rivers State Government to support the Super Eagles to ensure qualification for the 2018 Fifa World Cup finals in Russia.”

Balogun Injured, May Miss Zambia Qualifier Nigeria’s build-up to next month’s World Cup qualifier in Zambia has suffered a big blow after defender Leon Balogun was forced out of a German Bundesliga game yesterday.

Balogun, who has formed a superb central defence partnership for the Super Eagles with Norway-based William Troost-Ekong, limped out after just nine minutes at home for Mainz 05 against Bayer Leverkusen.

It is suspected he has suffered a hamstring injury and a scan will determine how long he

will now be sidelined.

The 28-year-old defender has featured in all five league games for Mainz this season. And only this past week, he was named in the prestigious Bundesliga Team of the Week. His club eventually lost the home game 3-2 and they are now eighth on the table with seven points from five matches.

Zambia welcome Nigeria to Ndola on October 9 in an opening round of the final phase of the qualifying series for Russia 2018.

Balogun

Sand Eagles to Face CIV, Egypt, Ghana in CAF Beach Soccer Two-time African champions Nigeria will confront familiar foes in the shape of Egypt, Ivory Coast and Ghana in the group phase of the second edition of Caf Beach Soccer Cup of Nations that Nigeria will host from December 13-18.

At the draw ceremony held at the Caf headquarters in Egypt yesterday, champions Madagascar were drawn with Morocco, Libya and last year’s losing finalists, Senegal, in Group B. NFF first Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, is at the head of the main organising committee set up by Nigeria for the event, which will be held at the Eko Atlantic Beach.

The Super Sand Eagles have won and lost

against the Ivorians before, but have never lost to Ghana and Egypt.

Nigeria beat Egypt 4-1 at the 2015 finals in Seychelles last year to add to earlier triumphs over the North Africans in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Last year in Seychelles, the Super Sand Eagles edged the Ivorians 7-6 (in overtime) in the final group phase match before trouncing them 9-1 in the third place match. However, the Ivorians came to Lagos to defeat the Nigerians at the Copa Lagos Invitational Tournament.

Nigeria defeated Ghana 7-4 at the African Championship in Morocco in 2013 and then lashed their West African brothers 5-2 at the Power Horse Invitational Tournament in South Africa last year.

Super Eagles striker Odion Ighalo is tracked by a Tanzanian defender during an AFCON qualifier recently

Arsenal Thrash Chelsea, United Spank Leicester Arsenal overpowered London rivals Chelsea 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium yesterday to mark Arsene Wenger’s 20th anniversary as Gunners boss in style. Earlier, Manchester United thrashed defending Premier League champions Leicester City 4-1 to vindicate manager Jose Mourinho’s decision to drop Wayne Rooney while Manchester City maintained their perfect start with a 3-1 win at Swansea City.

Arsenal scored twice in three minutes against a Chelsea defence missing injured captain John Terry with an ankle injury. The Gunners were 1-0 up in the 11th minute when Alexis Sanchez robbed centre-back Gary Cahill and chipped the ball over goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Minutes later it was 2-0 when Theo Walcott finished off a slick Arsenal passing move. Arsenal, who hadn’t beaten Chelsea in nine matches, were 3-0 up in the 40th minute when Mesut Ozil and Sanchez exchanged passes before the former volleyed home.

United scored four goals, three from set-pieces, as Chris Smalling, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba – with his first goal since his return from Juventus – all found the back of the net between the 22nd and 42nd minutes at Old Trafford.

England skipper Rooney was limited to a few minutes off the bench but Mourinho told Sky Sports: “Wayne Rooney is a big player for me, United and this country.”

Leicester managed a brilliant consolation goal from halftime substitute Demarai Gray but that could not stop the Foxes shipping four goals for the second time in as many away league games after doing so at Liverpool a fortnight ago.

“It’s not possible to concede three goals off corners, that means you are not concentrating,” said Foxes manager Claudio Ranieri.

Sergio Aguero marked his return from a threegame ban for a wayward elbow as Manchester City won 3-1 away to Swansea – the second time in a week they had triumphed at the Liberty Stadium after their EFL Cup victory over the south Wales side.

Aguero fired City into a ninth-minute lead but Swansea were level minutes later when Fernando Llorente lashed in a half-volley.

City, however, regained the lead with an Aguero penalty in the 65th minute after Mike van der Hoorn fouled Kevin De Bruyne in the box. Raheem Sterling, using Aguero as a decoy, made it 3-1 in the 77th minute.

“Sergio is quality,” said Guardiola. “His first step,

second step in the box is so good and that is why he is one of the best strikers in the world but I want to help him improve his game.”

Liverpool overpowered Hull City 5-1 after the Tigers spent much of the match a man down at Anfield, with the Reds 3-0 up inside 36 minutes.

Adam Lallana put Liverpool ahead in the 17th minute and Hull then found themselves down a man when Ahmed Elmohamady was sent off after blocking Philippe Coutinho’s goal-bound shot with his arm. James Milner scored from the resulting penalty and Sadio Mane then made it 3-0.

David Meyler pulled a goal back before Coutinho scored with a brilliant 25-yard strike. Milner scored his second penalty of the match after Daniel Sturridge was tripped by Andrew Robertson.

South Korea’s Son Heung-Min scored twice inside the opening 23 minutes as Tottenham Hotspur, without injured England star Harry Kane, won 2-1 away to Middlesbrough, who pulled a goal back through Ben Gibson. Spurs are second, four points behind leaders City and a point ahead of Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton.

Bournemouth ended Everton’s unbeaten start to the season with a 1-0 home win secured by Junior Stanislas’s superb shot into the top corner.

At the Stadium of Light, Crystal Palace came from 2-0 down to beat Sunderland 3-2. Jermain Defoe seized on a mistake by Joe Ledley as he fired Sunderland into a 39th-minute lead and he then scored again on the hour mark.

A minute later, Ledley atoned for his earlier error with a goal and James McArthur headed in an equaliser before Christian Benteke’s stoppagetime strike completed the south London club’s comeback and denied Sunderland a first league win of the season.

PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS & FIXTURES Man United Bournemouth Liverpool Middlesbrough Stoke City Sunderland Swansea Arsenal

4–1 1–0 5–1 1–2 1–1 2–3 1–3 3–0

West Ham

vs

Leicester Everton Hull City Tottenham West Brom Crystal Palace Man City Chelsea S/ampton

4pm

Sunday September 25, 2016

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Price: N400

MISSILE

Buhari to Nigerians

“Now that we are face to face with the vulnerabilities somehow hidden during the years of plenty, we should turn away from the unhelpful habits of the past and chart a new course.”

– President Muhammadu Buhari counselling Nigerians on the state of the economy

SIMONKOLAWOLE SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

Whose Interest is it Anyway?

B

affling. That’s the word. When Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the minister of finance, publicly canvassed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should lower interest rate, I was baffled. Although the CBN is theoretically independent of the executive arm of government, we are in such a delicate situation that you do not want managers of the economy to say things that could paint the picture that they are not on the same page. I was wondering: if the monetary policy committee (MPC) eventually decided not to lower the rate, what point would Adeosun have made? That she wanted a lower rate but the bad guys in MPC refused to co-operate with her?

For clarity, I’m not saying the minister does not have a point. The government wants to borrow to embark on projects. If the government executes big projects, there will be more money in the economy, meaning consumption will be stimulated, meaning manufacturers can produce more, meaning more jobs can be created, meaning we could take a step out of the recession. As Adeosun put it, “My position has been: this government is spending its way out of trouble, and that spending, much of it, is being borrowed.

So if you increase the interest rate, you increase our cost of debt service... when you are in a recession, you cut interest rate to stimulate activity.”

Perfect. Except that pharmacologists are obliged to list the side effects of a drug, and doctors will see if these side effects are manageable. The common paracetamol you use for headache can damage your liver if care is not taken. There is something called chemically induced hepatitis.

Google it. You are treating high blood pressure with drugs that can cause kidney failure. Your economy is afflicted by what economists call “stagflation” — which a villager like me will define as a cocktail of unrelenting high inflation, high unemployment and sluggish demand. If your super solution is lowering interest rate to encourage borrowing, you may also be asking for kidney failure.

As it turned out, the MPC decided to — how else can I put it — do nothing. They retained the monetary policy rate (MPR) — the rate at which banks borrow from the CBN before lending to one another and, if they are happy, customers — at 14%. The MPC also retained the cash reserve requirement (CRR) — a fraction of the total customer deposits that banks must keep with CBN — at 22.5%. We are already dealing with inflation at 17.6%, caused mainly by forexinduced rise in prices of fuel and food. Lower the interest rate, flood the economy with cash and your inflation headache doubles. Paracetamol overdose can kill. We must weigh the trade-offs.

So what is the solution? You are asking the wrong person. People are paid handsomely to think for the government. All of them need to lock themselves up in a room and put on their thinking caps. But before they lock the door, I have some questions and observations to whisper to them. We want the manufacturers to restart their plants, isn’t it? We want Nigerians to be able to buy goods, right? We want an inflow of foreign investment — whether portfolio or direct, not so? We want to substitute imports in order to grow the naira, correct? We want millions of unemployed youth to find jobs, sure? All said

Adeosun and done, we want to “reflate” the economy.

Then I know what is NOT the solution. One, lowering interest rate, as logical as it sounds, may not produce the desired result. Indeed, it was not only Adeosun that wanted it lowered.

Frank Udemba, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), also called on the CBN to cut rates to drive growth. “It is what we have been agitating for since and if the interest rate is brought down, it will be the best decision in the current economic dispensation,” he said. In the ideal world, Mr. Udemba, in the ideal world. The assumption is that the banks will in turn lend cheaper to industry. But that would only be in the Nigeria of our dreams. I will explain shortly.

Two, reducing the CRR may not work. Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari instructed that all public sector funds should be swept to the treasury single account (TSA). In one fell swoop, trillions of naira flew out of the banks’ vaults and landed at the CBN. The central bank governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, while addressing the media after the MPC meeting in September 2015, said CRR had been reduced from 30.5% to 25% to allow the banks to have more cash to compensate for the TSA slaughter. That alone ploughed back over N1 trillion into the banks.

Emefiele said it would allow the banks to lend to industry and agriculture to stimulate economic

It would be interesting if every bank can publish the loans they’ve given out in the last one year and list them sector by sector, showing us the percentages, indicating “before”and “after”. And for those lucky chaps in industry and agriculture who were able to get loans, at what rate?

growth. In his dreams.

What happened next? Ask the banks. How many manufacturers benefitted? How much credit went to agriculture? It would be interesting if every bank can publish the loans they’ve given out in the last one year and list them sector by sector, showing us the percentages, indicating “before” and “after”. And for those lucky chaps in industry and agriculture who were able to get loans, at what rates? The notion that giving banks favourable conditions will make them pass the benefits to the critical sectors is overhyped.

Nigerian bankers are not exactly excited by all this talk about economic growth when they are getting high on FX simply by charging customers parallel market rate.

Why can’t the CBN just bring out koboko and whip all these banks into line? As much as the CBN tries to incentivise the banking sector to lend to the real sector and help our economy grow, we are not running a command-and-control system. The CBN cannot force banks to lend to the preferred sectors. Banks have a way of enjoying concessions and incentives and passing little or nothing to customers. They will tell you it is about risks, that they are not Father Christmas. Even sanctioning them can be suicidal.

The CBN had to quickly beat a retreat recently when its action against banks for flouting the TSA directive almost drowned the markets.

We are what we are as Nigerians. If we lower the interest rate today, it is highly likely that the bankers (and even manufacturers?) will capitalise on the cheaper funds to continue the speculative attacks on the FX markets. You know how it works. Get billions of naira out of the system, buy forex, keep it, drive up the exchange rate and then sell. Profiteer on FX and return the naira to the bank. A lot of this has been happening. Certainly, the bubble in the stock market in the late 2000s followed the same pattern of financial buccaneering — until it collapsed on everybody’s head. Pray, who really has the interest of the Nigerian economy at heart? It’s always about the belly.

Before the managers of the economy lock the room, let me contribute my unsolicited input to their agenda. One, they should stop antagonising each other through the media. It helps nobody.

Two, we need a handshake between monetary and fiscal policies. Many experts have consistently said that looking up to the CBN to get us out of this crisis with interest rates is like asking a doctor to prescribe cough syrup for tuberculosis.

It may suppress the cough but it won’t kill the bacteria. Three, we need forex inflow badly. We must find ways of bringing in foreign investors.

These capitalists used to love Nigeria because of the high rate of return. What went wrong?

Finally, as I canvassed recently, we need stimulus. Government must implement the 2016 budget. The CBN has a way of providing the money without worsening inflation. States and councils must pay salaries so that purchasing power can be improved, for demand and supply to give each other a bear hug. We need a creative, comprehensive road map out of this crisis with deliverables clearly mapped out, complete with timelines and milestones. The bankers and their banks must also discipline their greed. All hands must be on deck. We need to put the interest of Nigeria above anything else in these troubled times. My two cents.

And Four Other Things...

ZAMFARA KILLINGS May I once again draw the attention of the federal government to the unending killings in Zamfara state? When Boko Haram started, we thought it was a Maiduguri problem. We now know better. Or do we?

In one attack by these Zamfara bandits last year, 48 persons were mowed down in Kizara. The gunmen moved from house to house killing and raping. With the killings still on, where on earth is Governor AbdulAziz Yari Abubakar (who likes to be called “Dr”)? Have you seen him lately? He is of average height, chocolate-complexioned, has a Fulani facial mark and speaks Hausa, Fulfude and English. If found, please drag him by his babariga to the nearest police station. Irresponsible.

SEMINAR SICKNESS Nigeria is open for business again. By that, I mean we have, again, started organising seminars and conferences in foreign countries to say we are open for business. In New York, US, on Thursday, the Corporate Council on Africa, in conjunction with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), played host to Nigerian ministers who went to “educate” the world on investment opportunities, the ease of doing business in Nigeria and the roadmaps to address the current economic crisis. I hope the investors were instructed to bring their torchlight to Murtala Muhammed Aiport? Did we also tell them two officials will check their passports on arrival?

Bienvenue.

SANUSI’S FRANKNESS My respect for the emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, has increased with his consistency in speaking truth to power. When, as CBN governor, he indicted the NNPC of not remitting $20 billion to federation account, he was accused mostly by southerners of fighting a Muslim, Fulani and northern war against President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian and southern minority. However, he has not stopped criticising President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic policies. Buhari, the last time I checked, is a Muslim, Fulani and northerner like him. I know this is a big disappointment to those who love to see Nigeria only from the blind prism of ethnicity, region and religion. Pity.

MERCI BEAUCOUP! I want to express my gratitude to everyone who sent condolence messages and prayed for me over the death of my grandmother, Mrs Deborah Oludoyi, whom we buried on September 17. I was really overwhelmed with your kind words following the publication of my tribute to her last week.

Many of my friends and well wishers were unhappy with me for not informing them I lost my grandmother — and for not inviting them to “come and eat”. I had a readymade excuse: in line with federal government guidelines on how to survive the recession, we had calculated every grain of rice, every morsel of pounded yam and every piece of meat! Lol.

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