Monday 24th October 2016

Access Bank Eurobond Paves Way for Nigeria Funding

Obinna Chima

Relief may soon come the way of Nigeria's foreign exchangestarved economy, following the successful raising of $300 million by Access Bank Plc via a Eurobond from the international market recently.

N E W S A N A LY S I S The acceptance of the bank’s offer is expected to spur other Nigerian lenders to raise dollar-denominated debt, as well as pave the way for the federal government’s

proposed $1 billion Eurobond issue expected to be floated before the end of the year.

In addition, it is expected to result in improved inflow of foreign exchange into the

economy, thereby boosting economic growth.

The Access Bank issue has a maturity date of October 2021 and a coupon rate of 10.5 per cent. The Eurobond issue made the bank the first Nigerian lender to raise a bond from the international market since

2014, despite the country’s macroeconomic headwinds.

The bank said the successful outcome of the bond demonstrated its strength, resilience and international endorsement.

Indeed, it has also helped in strengthening confidence in

the Nigerian banking system as well as the economy in general.

Fitch Ratings recently warned that the sharp rise in the level of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the Nigerian Continued on page 12

MEND Accuses FG of Reneging on Agreement, Endorses Buhari, Clark Meeting...

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Monday 24 October, 2016 Vol 21. No 7858. Price: N250

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Rumblings in APC over Ambassadorial Nominees

Olawale Olaleye

Except there is a rethink capable of halting the rising disenchantment in the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the choice of non-career ambassadorial nominees whose names were submitted last week by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Senate for screening and confirmation, some of the nominees may not scale through screening.

Indeed, if the executive arm

of government fails to get the buy-in of APC chieftains in some states over the choice of ambassadorial nominees, THISDAY gathered that quite a few may end up the way of some members of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) who were not confirmed by the Senate recently following the plethora of petitions against the nominees to the board of the regional commission.

Continued on page 10

Ondo Guber Race: Ibrahim Accuses INEC Staff of Demanding $1m Bribe

Allegation is false, says electoral commission Mass defection looms over choice of PDP running mate Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and James Sowole in Akure The tussle over the rightful candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 20 governorship election in Ondo State assumed a new dimension at the weekend, when the candidate of the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the party, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, alleged that an official of the Independent National Electoral

Commission (INEC) demanded a bribe of $1 million from him.

Ibrahim, who recently got a court order declaring him the PDP candidate, said that an INEC official had asked him for $1 million in order to list his name as a candidate ahead of the poll.

But, in its response, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the INEC chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, described Continued on page 10

TRADITIONAL RULERS RUB MINDS ON THE ECONOMY...

The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, and and Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, at the first annual conference of The Point Newspaper on the Nigerian economy, held in Lagos... weekend

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FG Asks AfDB to Fast-track Budget Support Loan Expresses hope oil output will rise to 2.2mbpd by year ending Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has called on the African Development Bank (AfDB) to fast-track the disbursement of the $1 billion budget support facility it promised the country.

The pan-African bank recently promised to extend a billion dollar loan support facility for the 2016 budget.

The loan is expected to cover the 35 per cent shortfall in the 2016 budget.

Udoma, who made the appeal in Abuja weekend

at a meeting with an AfDB team, thanked the bank for its support.

“I want to thank you for the support. We value the relationship with ADB and we appreciate the budget support. We want AfDB also to fast-track the loan facility.

What is important to note is that the AfDB is standing with us,” Udoma said, according to a statement issued by the Director (Information) in his ministry, Mr. Adedeji Ajibade.

Giving an overview of the government’s plan to reflate the economy and come out of the recession, the minister stated that the federal

government was trying to contain the militancy in the Niger Delta region, which has impacted oil production in the country.

According to him, with the containment of militancy, the government was hopeful of restoring oil production to 2.2 million barrels a day by the end of the year.

He also stated that the government was committing funds to infrastructure development, processing of export zones, as well as providing loans through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at a single digit to support farming in Nigeria.

According to the minister, the economic recovery plan was designed to consolidate and harmonise all the sectoral plans in a single document and would set out in broad details an integrated roadmap for the growth and sustainability of the country’s economy.

He noted that it was also part of the commitment the federal government made to Nigerians, irrespective of whether there was a recession or not.

In his remarks at the meeting, the Director General of the Budget Office, Mr. Ben Akabueze, spoke on what the

present administration was doing differently concerning budgetary releases.

He said the government had shifted from the old practice of releasing monies on a quarterly basis, explaining that releases are now based on specific requests that are tied to projects.

Akabueze revealed that so far, over N750 billion had been released for capital projects, adding that it was hoped that revenue would improve in the second half of the year as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs

Service would perform better, having overcome some of the challenges they faced in the first half of the year.

AfDB's acting Director for Governance and Reform, Mr. Coulibaly said his team was in the country to seek further clarification on the policy reforms of the government, as well as the level of budget implementation vis-à-vis capital budget releases.

He also stated that they had come on a fact-finding mission on whether or not the administration would introduce new policies in the 2017 budget as well as on the social protection policy.

defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) was contained in a statement signed by a PDP leader from Ese-Odo, Hon. Sunday Tundigha, on behalf of aggrieved Ese-Odo PDP Leaders’ Forum.

The statement faulted the emergence of Mafo, saying it “defied all known logic and political justice”.

Ese-Odo Local Government Area is a PDP stronghold and accounted for over 60 per cent of votes the party garnered in the 2015 general election.

“Our local government is the only Ijaw-speaking local government area and delivered thousands of votes for the PDP in the last presidential and National Assembly elections with over 90 per cent of the votes cast in the local government area.

“We were, however, surprised that the leadership of the party decided to turn logic on its head by giving the deputy governorship slot to a local government without any voting value for the PDP. “This is more so that Alliance for Democracy’s Olusola Oke is from the same local government area. This defies logic and every known political justice.

“We are therefore giving Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the leadership of the PDP 48 hours from now, to

withdraw Mafo and replace him with an indigene of EseOdo. Anything short of this will result in mass defection from the party.

“It is sad that an individual from Ese-Odo could sell out this golden opportunity for our people just because of his future political ambitions.

We will resist this selfish and short-sighted political calculation,” he said.

According to Tundigha, the aggrieved leaders of the PDP had resolved to work for the success of the APC candidate, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu.

“Between now and the expiration of the ultimatum, we have put all our supporters on notice to mobilise for Chief Rotimi Akeredolu of the APC. This is because his running mate, Hon. Agboola Ajayi, the ambassadorial nominee, Mr. Sola Iji, as well as the Senior Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr. Donald Ojogo, are distinguished sons of our local government,” he added.

One of the deputy governorship hopefuls from Ese-Odo, prior to Mafo’s emergence, Chief Pere Ganfo, had also warned that the PDP might face dire electoral consequences over the decision it took against the Ijaw-speaking area of the state.

“Honestly, since the announcement of Mafo, I have received several complaints from our people who feel short changed, used and dumped. They are unhappy because the party did not deem it needful to consider our current electoral value to the PDP. “It means we are not needed in the party. But as a party man, I have been trying to assuage their feelings, trying to calm them but I doubt if I will continue to have such capacity to do that, and you know what that means,” Ganfo said.

Meanwhile, Ojogo and Senator Heineken Lokpobiri have urged all Ijaws in the state to vote massively for the APC in the coming election.

“The people of Ondo State are well informed and conscious of the fact that the present administration in the state under Dr. Olusegun Mimiko had impoverished the state long before now.

“The deceit and self-serving style of the governor and his cohorts must be brought to an end and only a massive turnout for Akeredolu can rescue the state from further impoverishment, hunger and directionless leadership.

“I believe all Ijaws in the state will key into this agenda that is aimed at connecting the state to the centre,” he said.

elder brother of the Ooni of Ife in Osun State and Ashimiyu Olaniyi were nominated without consultations with Governors Rauf Aregbesola and Abiola Ajimobi of Osun and Oyo States, respectively.

The THISDAY source said: “This is the same thing the wife of the president, Aisha, was talking about. These same people are the ones who drafted the list as they wanted and pushed it through without consulting anyone.

“Even in Ogun State where the governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, is assumed to be very close to the president, was said to have had no say in the choice of nominee from the state, as Ade Asekun was said to have been nominated by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.”

Although the Ogun governor may not have a problem with this, the source said, he should have at least been consulted.

Similarly, the choice of Justice George Oguntade from Lagos was said to have

been entirely the decision of the president, because it was seen as compensation for the retired Supreme Court justice’s minority report in 2008 when Buhari challenged the outcome of the presidential election that the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua won in 2007.

Other ambassadorial nominees, sources said, were decided by the presidency. It is for this reason aggrieved leaders of the party have vowed to turn to the Senate to assert their place in a government they helped to install.

THISDAY gathered that the leaders are particularly worried because of the way the government is being run without recourse to the party leadership’s input.

When contacted on the discontent within the party over the ambassadorial nominees, the president’s media aide, Mr. Femi Adesina, said if the grievances are genuine they would be looked

into.

“Whatever grievances there are, if genuine, they will looked into,” he said to THISDAY.

ONDO GUBER RACE: IBRAHIM ACCUSES INEC STAFF OF DEMANDING $1M BRIBE the allegation as uncharitable and ungodly.

The INEC chairman’s spokesman explained that the two members of staff of INEC who witnessed the encounter between Ibrahim and the said INEC official confirmed that the politician had tried to impress it upon her to collect the court judgment.

Ibrahim and Hon. Eyitayo Jegede had emerged as separate candidates of the two factions of the PDP in Ondo State. But a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday, presided over by Justice Okon Abang, ordered INEC to recognise Ibrahim as the candidate of the PDP. Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, Ibrahim alleged that the acting Legal Adviser of INEC, Mrs. O.O. Babalola, demanded the $1 million bribe from him to effect the judgment of the court which certified him as the candidate of the PDP. Ibrahim, who said he had reported the incident to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, also made available a petition he had written to President Muhammadu Buhari on the allegation.

Ibrahim’s petition dated October 21, 2016 and addressed to the president stated in part: “This petition

is written to inform Your Excellency of the demand by one Mrs. O.O. Babalola of INEC for the payment of one million US dollars before she would obey a court judgment marked exhibit A attached.”

Ibrahim insisted that he remains the authentic candidate of the party in the upcoming election, adding that INEC was not an Appeal Court and therefore could not determine who the PDP candidate in the election should be.

He expressed concern that INEC, which had said it would obey the court judgment immediately it was served, suddenly started to change its earlier stance.

“After the service, the music changed. INEC should not allow one governor to destroy its reputation. We are not saying that INEC will not obey the court judgment.

One of the officials demanded for one million dollar bribe from me to process the court judgment,” he alleged.

Apart from the bribery allegation, the PDP chieftain also curiously demanded the removal of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ondo State, accusing him of being a card-carrying member of the PDP. Jimoh said he could not be trusted to conduct a free and fair election in the state.

However, INEC has reacted to Ibrahim’s allegation, describing it as “utterly false and ungodly”.

Oyekanmi, who spoke to journalists yesterday, said that it was not true that Mrs. Babalola demanded $1 million from Ibrahim.

“It is not true that Mrs. Babalola demanded $1 million from Jimoh Ibrahim.

Two other officials of INEC witnessed the encounter between Mrs. Babalola and Jimoh Ibrahim.

“Jimoh Ibrahim brought a copy of his judgment and wanted to impose it on INEC to accept it. But we told him that we already have it.

“It is uncharitable and ungodly for a businessman of his stature to make this kind of allegation,” he said.

As if PDP’s problems in the state were not enough, THISDAY also learnt yesterday that mass defections may soon hit the party in Ese-Odo Local Government Area, which is the Ijaw-speaking area of the state, following the rejection by political leaders from the area of the choice of the deputy governorship candidate of the PDP. The PDP had submitted the name of the former Commissioner for Information in the state, Mr. John Mafo, as Jegede’s running mate.

However, the threat of mass

RUMBLINGS IN APC OVER AMBASSADORIAL NOMINEES Although the Bukola Sarakiled Senate has, since assuming office, tried to co-operate with the executive arm of government by clearing most of its nominees to positions in government, the situation could again find the Senate caught in the middle between the presidency and ruling APC over Buhari’s choice of ambassadorial nominees.

Whilst this is not a direct battle of the Senate, the upper legislative chamber is the only avenue available to aggrieved interests in the APC to challenge what is now being described as the scant regard for party supremacy in the appointment of persons into government positions.

THISDAY gathered last night that a majority of the party leaders across the country, including APC governors, were not happy with the way the latest ambassadorial list was handled, as they were completely alienated from the selection process, rendering

them inconsequential in the power equation in their home zones.

This disappointment was said to have been more pronounced in the South-west geopolitical zone, where a majority of the APC leaders claimed complete ignorance of the persons appointed from their respective states.

Apart from the likes of Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, Mrs. Paulin Tallen, Mr. Usman Bugaje, and a few others whose appointments, many of the party’s leaders can justify, the aggrieved APC chieftains have vowed to frustrate other ambassadorial nominees on the grounds that they do not represent the reality and endorsement of party leaders in their states.

According to a source in government who is also a chieftain of the APC, there are indications that aggrieved leaders and their respective governors might have concluded plans to

frustrate the screening exercise through their representatives in the Senate “because this disregard for party leadership and supremacy must stop,” the source said.

In Ekiti State for example, the nominee, Ayodele Ayodeji, is said to be unknown to all the three former governors of the party, who are prominent members of the APC, in addition to the fact that he just finished serving the country as the Ambassador to Greece, thus negating the understanding that anyone who was once an ambassador would not be qualified under the current dispensation.

Also, in Osun and Oyo States, the governors were said to be unaware of how the nominees from their states were shortlisted, in the same manner Buhari had surprised them during the ministerial appointments by not consulting with any of the party leaders.

Adegboyega Ogunwusi, the

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T H I S D AY MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2016

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STARTERS

Air Traffic Controllers Call for NEWS State of Emergency in Aviation

Two-Minute Briefing SERAP Challenges CJN to Speak out on Justice Okoro’s Allegations against Amaechi Following the allegation by one of the arrest Justices of the Supreme Court, Justice John Inyang Okoro, that the Minister ofTransportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, visited his official residence to allegedly discuss election appeals in respect of Rivers State, Akwa Ibom State and Abia State, a civil society organisation...

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SERAP Challe ng Okoro’s Allega es CJN to Speak out on Jus tice tions against IPOB flays Buha Amaechi ri, APC over silenc e APC dismi Email davidso

Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia

sses allegations

News Editor

n.iriekpen@thi

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Davidson Iriekpe

sdaylive.com,

0811181308

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1, 2016 on the alleged visit Amaechi. by The group in Following the the letter to the In a letter dated allegation by one Amaechi to October 21, CJN, said the allegation should the arrest Justices of be thoroughly have prompted of the Supreme 2016 and signed by its Court, Justice appellate court.

Executive a thorough investigated “because the Director, John says that law that the Minister Inyang Okoro, SERAP Adetokunbo Mumuni, and transparent investigati The party said ploy by those and where there ons, that takes he that gives and he of Transportat said it considered not happy with Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, ion, allegations moral justificatioAmaechi has no role Amaechi bribes is corrupt.” is as a serious threatthe evidence of political prima-facie played to dislodge the “It is dangerous official residence visited his the independe office as a ministern to remain in PDP at interference in to the ajudicial the the centre to for the to allegedly of the Federal governme system, matter discuss election and accountabil nce, impartiality have The media aide destroy him. should corrupt nt to still retain those Republic of Nigeria. been to ity of the judiciary, of Rivers State, appeals in respect and should to the people, if it still The Akwa Ibom State anti-corruption the appropriate in fighting believes chapter Chairman of the state APC Chairman, Chief state in the ordinary and Abia State, commissions Chukwuem Eze of the PDP, and level of corruption with high a civil society of duties, have prompted course agencies for further organisation, Felix allegations eka, described the Obuah, said transparen investigatio in Socio-Economic from the CJN and the action and possible by the judges as “Nevertheless, cy.

Rights and Accountab prosecution. n Port Harcourt a statement in and unfounded NJC. baseless Justice Okoro all Also, that: “Amaechi ility in the governme those cabals is facing the Indigenou .

Project, letter in (SERAP), has s People serious “I consider PDP’s nt of Nigeria to the CJN, his recent of Biafra (IPOB) Chief Justice challenged the he reported stated that two reputable accusations by that suggestion has upbraided who claimed that the of Amaechi should Supreme Court and Chairman Nigeria (CJN) Amaechi the alleged visit by President Muhammadu Buhari belong to them have country Justices of resign because being and of destroyed to two the his his ruling behind their drowning justices the country and official residence National Judicial Council looking for a it cannot be the travails, including the Congress (APC)All Progressives same (NJC), Justice to allegedly discuss how tool to stay afloatare raiding of Mahmud Mohamme again.” their residences, for ignoring the to win election appeals not only laughable, as d, to speak According to in respect of weighty corruption allegations out on the issue. mischievous and carting awayarrest, detention but exposure Rivers State, IPOB, made both of various Akwa Ibom President of a group that Mr.

by Supreme SERAP State and Abia so Court condemneand APC should be items and documents as vital desperate to expose urged Justice Okoro State to the CJN. Justice Justices against the Minister well Mohammed their blackmail by to also operatives of as against a man whom evil plots of Amaechi d for supporting and the council explain what he the visit said he the CJN about Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.

DSS. they Obuah in his alleged of Mr. Umana In a statement ignoble authoritiescalled on the relevant the arrowhead that dislodgedsee as mission allegation basedknew about the his residence Umana to them from power at head of Media signed by the to deliverto induce for the judges to immediate to allegedly make the Inyang Okoro’s on Justice John the same commence ly election cases “These useless centre.

Emma Powerful,and Publicity, the governors request report that he against allegations investigation into the informed the IPOB win the appeal of assistance to that , calling on Amaechi on the unfounded calls based CJN on February the tacit support noted Ibom, Ebonyi of Rivers, Akwa to first at the Supreme Court. step attempted bribery and baseless and that the former governor Similarly, PeoplesAbia States. out nationalaside from carrying the allegations against of Rivers former Rivers assignments Democratic State has been Party (PDP) State in capacity as in Rivers a member of the confirms our fears and governor the presidency enjoying from called on Amaechi State has Federal Executive the the two stand rubbished the and APC has from to resign discredited justices that Council to his office allow for anti-corruption made these allegations posture of President it described following what objective an uninterrupted and as part of a political Buhari strategy as investigatio his party. and revelations “stunning relevant governmen n by the fortunes to run down the political ” indicting The Biafra separatist of this rising him of and attempting to The Kano State star. anti graft agencies.t security bribe some “PDP is only group of the said there was threatened to Government has Ganduje Supreme Court justices Meanwhile, the frustration over acting out its probe the tenure for the bribery enough reason justice by the movemen the immediate the in the governorshto pervert has dismissed APC in the state that of he fails allegations against t if Amaechi played key role past Governor to the allegations ip election the matters that the state, Rabiu of cap within stop wearing red to end the by corruption judges were before Musa engineered by 48 hours is the laughable, against Amaechi as In a statement Kwankwaso. most laughable, the past the PDP administrat saying they were by the state pathetic, clear ion Commissioner part of the indication Rivers APC said.at the centre,” and Culture, for Information the law of their ignorance of Alhaji Muhamma and history of Garba, the d struggle political government in Kano.

Kwankwaso’s said “They should penchant for have known peddling unsubstantia ted allegations red cap was introduced by that might put him the Aminu late on Kano and popularised with the state a collision course him, his by government. followers It said: “This for which Governor and disciples deliberate Ganduje distortion of facts among. was and spreading falsehood is capable of “He was also of provoking the governme of its re-introduc at the forefront nt to drop tion during non-confrontational its second tenure of Kwankwa the institute commission stance and 2011. Who so in probe the previous of inquiry to the red then could better claim cap doctrine?” administration particularly on The statement illegal land deals, noted that “this education and unfortunate behaviour infrastruct lacking in The state governmen ure.” any tint of civility, t’s reaction decency and came after an responsible politicking ultimatum by Kwankwasiyya the movement asking become the hallmark of that has Governor Ganduje top echelons of the Kwankwas to drop his iyya movement red cap within is, 24 hours or face to say the least, laughable, a lawsuit. pitiful and desperate pathetic, attempt to The statement misguide threat of legal added: “The administratthe public and bring the action against ion of personality to Ganduje and his disrepute.”

EDITORIAL The Banks and The Depositors

against minis ter as

laughable

Kano Govt Threa tens to Probe Kwankwaso

NAF to Buy 10 Super Mushs Aircraft from hak Pakistan

PARLIAMENTAR IAN CONFEREN CE

Pakistan has struck R-L: Senate President, with the Nigerian a major deal (PAC) Dr. Abubakar Bukola status as a Air Force (NAF) to sell 10 Pakistani-m world-class Bayaro Nafada, during the meeting of the Saraki; Deputy Speaker, ade advanced aviation industry producing trainer aircraft.

African geopolitica House of Represent supersonic JF-17 the THIS l group at the ongoing Thunder and Super atives, Hon. Lasun D AY • MONDAY According to the Yusuff; and Senator 135th IPU Assembly , OCTOBE Indian-based Jindu Mushshak trainer aircraft,” Times, Air Vice Usman in Geneva, Switzerlan The Super Mushshak, it added. R 24, 2016 Marshal Iya Ahmed Abdullahi and d....yesterday. which is based on the Chairman the Pakistan Aeronautica of built undera Swedish design but licence in Pakistan, Air Marshal Arshad l Complex already is in service Malik signed the contract last Oman, Iran and in Saudi Arabia, Ejiofor South Africa.

Alike PAF spokesman Friday in Abuja, Talks , are Air also at an Senator Ken Syed Mohamma Commodore stages Nnamani with Qatar and advanced The Constitutio d Ali said.

Turkey for The contract includes n and Electoral Secretary, Dr. Mamman and the Otherissuesinclude: the delivery Lawan, the memoranda shall training and technical operational The Express of Super Mushshak, Reform Committee set and their prosecution;electoraloffences be President up concise the by more than Tribune quoted federal governmen support and assistance to a senior the 2,500 words, precise- not of electoral institutions the efficiency had earlier Muhammadu Buhari PAF official as the NAF. electoral system t to review well-articu this month saying.

Independent and National “This contract lated. in Nigeria and Super Mushshak Electoral Commission the 24-man committee constituted would not only According to is an advanced make recommendations open new avenues (INEC), the and state electoral to address variant and the defects statement, of draft bills for the Mushshak commissions) There is memoranda shall the aviation equipmentfor export of trainer, the laws and in Nigeria’s electoral basic system the improvem entneed be any of the role of security agencies in of the to which was also streng constitution. to foreign has called issues the electoral countries but also thenon concerning process; or any

by PAC. regulat here produced Members were from members for memoranda 1999 Constitution review other issues directly are obvious of theoryrelevant rules drawn from civil revenue for the help in generating challenges of the public, The PAF put upmany of society to in the the country (Pakistan),” political electoral bankin with affects electoral as amended (as it parties, stakeholder process. g sector organisations, academia, Super Mushshak the commer a PAF statement Thememoranda for static as well in matters), the Electoral profession, traditional legal cial banks s, Civil Society Organisatio said. country today. as thedisplay “The deal further submitted latest ,which should be as well institutions ns (CSOs) and Act 2010 as amended and/or last year’s Dubai ofaerial in other interest In a period as former legislators. ,

by November other relevant piece Air econom any Show, where ic recession Pakistan Aeronautic strengthens some groups.

3, The of legislation; the 2016, would be in six hard cally nations expressed , this understa In a statement al Complex’s is ndable will review the copies in the committee and a soft copy issued yesterday application of technology in face of falling the aircraft. in bygiven is no interest that there the the Chairman crude electoral way the oil prices and export environme nt, laws, banking of the committee process; and the decisions electoral to the Secretary to be submitted experience and dwindling can be divorced industry and former of courts in Room 2Aexisting creditvolumes . And with from recent 31, conducted sfacilities elections that, a lot of from the Senate President, electoral matters and their impact on 2nd Floor, Federal ment where is, however in Nigeria and in the loan the the electoral process.

Ministryhave on Justice, it operates. environof come under , unclear is books of banks make 71B Shehu severe pressure What the oilrecommen That precisely how bad the and gasdations to strengthen Maitama, Abuja. Shagari Way, and situation is. achieveand power sectors, particularly in Meanwh the assuranc is why many are worried the conduct ile, bank and fair electionsstocks of free of the economy despite that the (CBN) that es from the Central are at very in the country. . entire Bank all low believe there is well with the bankingof Nigeria To compou economy is now bleeding levels such nd the problem is need to . sector. We unemployment because if , inflation banks failed strengthen regulato are on the and Domestic Product ry rules again. in the past, rise they can fail (GDP) is on at a period the Gross Some banks Indeed, both a steady decline.

Bloomberg retrenching have reacted by cutting recently that and Moody’s said costs and customers staff. Many of them facing a lot the banking industry now that they are of these, it is were under turmoil and that at in Nigeria was not lending. tell their difficult to least Given all sustain the the banks embark on severe pressure, requirin six banks are in sound argument imminent that all Bloomberg, capital raise. g them to health.

According full blown “Nigeria’s banking industry to owever, it is financial crises is facing not all as doom and failed fiscal as there is WE RECOM gloom and some good MEND CLOSER regulation news. Banking etary policiesmonSUPERVISION, demands that lead CONTINUOUS to a credit lot STRESS TESTING Elsewhere, of capital for uncertai banks keep a crunch”. as The internati nties like this.

TIMELY REMEDI AND capital adequacbanks implement Basle analysts said onal AL ACTION TO ENSURE to which the y ratio which measure 3, minimum that S the acid tests risk weightedbank’s capital can take s the degree FAILURE OF AGAINST ried out on carANY OF OUR per cent. The assets (loans) has beencare of its some BANKS banks revealed put at eight adequacy ratioCBN in its wisdom has that if they of 10 per cent for banks in Nigeria kept capital toxic assets, were to provide for at higher rates for internati for national banks one trillion there could be possible all their and onal banks. naira ($3.2b) deficit of over buffer of between This action 15 per cent in capitalis has ation. given two in Nigeria. to seven per a While the cent for banks CBN should giving confiden All said, we continue recommend ce to the economy in its role of continuous tive that the stress testing closer supervision, tions to ensure our banks. nation should know , it is also imperaand timely the true state It remedial acWe also believe against failure of the situation will be tragic to live of in that the banks any of our banks. economy generall claimed. A is dire in some banks denial if indeed cursory look as many reports y will benefit in particular and the and stable credence to from monetar the fact that at the economy lends President Muham y policy framewo more sound banks. Exchang all cannot be well with rk. We e rates have madu Buhari current ad the shot up astronom to go beyondurge hoc economy by approach to the manage the iputting in team that will a place a strong ment of the the difficult help him in the efforts economic situation to manage we have no as a nation. found ourselve s

Electoral Refo rm from Members Committee Seeks Mem oranda of Public

THE BANKS

There are obvious challenges with T many of the commercial banks in the country today. In a period of economic recession, this is understandable given that there is no way the banking industry can be divorced from the environ- ment where it operates. Page 15 W

EDITORIAL

AND THE D

H

Letters to the Editor

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

ith the way of President Nigerians have made Muhamm interview adu Buhari’sa stupendous parody his her name appropriate wife, Aisha, had with response to the the way Mrs. the BBC, it whole lot Buhari does meaning to to assume that there about who is more as a fashion is the her It is rather magnate and interest to But wherever phrase “the other more than ordinary ironic that husband is. room”.

Nigerians that tells a president that room especially freelancers, of reducing many of those who is, is not the who have did not provide his wife to today are more important been feastingarmy of opposition the subject of lampoonin living room a room social tions. And, g the on attendant to them is make it look truth be told!for their wives to explore are people the narrativethe presidential faux media as if the president who This is Africa pas. they her business Of course, and in this has committedare so eager to pushWhat is orientathe president part of to the allegation out and an irredeema talked a sentence s made by ble sin. the truth of too much his the matter is that wife in that controvers in responding president the is ial interview. spade by its for the very reason very reason why Nigerians But that he is name. That adore the an honest president is the essential – Buhari that man who calls a of space anda man who wouldn’t Nigerians sugar-coat time. voted as the truth for It may be the convenien remarks he true that President ce Buhari was can accuse gave about the role of his wife politically incorrect the president with wife in a manner in their of stifling the economic marriage, but no the that that he is one against the suggests that the president and social mobility personalities empowerm ent of women. is a hater of womenof his Mrs. Aisha of past first ladies With due or Nigerians Buhari elegantly respect to have come sive businessw the across oman withT H Icuts image and S Dthe husband.

AY character of in recent time, • MONDAY I cannot recall a name to herself a progresbeyond, OCTOBE any other the business R 24, 2016 first lady who has a business of her brand to

POLITICS War on Corruption Gets Messier

POLITICS

I 17 Group Politic s Editor Olawa Email wale.o le Olaleye laleye@this 0811675981 daylive.com 9 SMS ONLY

THE MO

A legal luminary and immediate past National Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Kayode Ajulo recently recalled a true life story involving the late sage, Chief during Obafemi Awolowo, when he was the Premier of the oldWestern Region.

A Page 17

15

EPOSITOR S

War on CorruN D A Y D I S C O U R S E ption Gets M essier

The recent recri political class mination between som over allegation e judges in scourge is a the country of corrupti hard nut to and a section crack. Shola on is a clear indicatio n that this reca of the Oyeyipo writ lcitrant es

Buhari and

M n ster of State for Av at on Had S r ka Ch nedu Eze A r Traffic Contro ers (ATC) who manage the radar and commun cat on n N ger a s space have ca ed for an urgent mprovement n contro erp ot commun cat on and are ask ng the government to dec are a state of emergency on a r safety so that t wou d attend to the prob em w th the ser ousness t deserves before a rcraft start fa ng from the sk es Poor commun cat on n N ger a s a rspace has rema ned an ntractab e prob em over the years and has defied a efforts by the N ger a A rspace Management Agency (NAMA) to so ve The contro ers ca ed the attent on of NAMA and the federa government to th s prob em fo ow ng the poor commun cat on between contro er/ p ot and contro er/contro er at the two contro centres n Kano and Lagos Speak ng at the 45th annua genera

meet ng he d over the weekend n Jos the Pres dent of N ger a A r Traffic Contro ers Assoc at on (NATCA) Mr V ctor Eyaru sa d poor commun cat on has rema ned a n ghtmare for p ots and a r traffic contro ers not ng that ts reso ut on wou d save the country from any embarrassment that cou d ar se from the current ep ept c system Eyaru recogn sed that the nat on was pass ng through a recess on but sa d certa n cr t ca nfrastructure that wou d need to mprove and secure a r serv ces must not be treated w th ev ty Accord ng to the NATCA pres dent the government shou d a so rebu d the Kaduna and Ma dugur a rport contro towers wh ch were razed by fire n 2014 Eyaru a so drew the attent on of government to the d ap dated state of the Abu a a rport runway descr b ng t as a nat ona embarrassment add ng

that the runway deserved urgent attent on He noted that the Ch nese-financed term na bu d ng under construct on at the Abu a a rport was not proper y s ted as far as aerodrome contro s concerned and adv sed the government to rev ew the ocat on of the aerodrome contro before comm ss on ng the pro ect React ng a source from NAMA sa d that there has been effect ve commun cat on between p ots and contro ers add ng that the agency had not rece ved comp a nts from p ots He sa d nonethe ess that efforts were ongo ng to mprove commun cat on The source a so sa d that NAMA has a trad t on of work ng and mprov ng on ts system and that was why t had effect ve y carr ed out the duty of manag ng the a rspace and had been commended by both fore gn and oca a r nes n add t on to nternat ona av at on agenc es

ACCESS BANK EUROBOND PAVES WAY FOR NIGERIA FUNDING bank ng ndustry as a resu t of the tough macroeconom c env ronment cou d ead to the downgrade of the financ a nst tut ons Bank ng sector NPLs rose to 11 7 per cent at the end of June 2016 F tch a so expressed concern about weaken ng cap ta adequacy rat os for banks A so the Centra Bank of N ger a (CBN) had sa d t was expect ng cont nued deter orat on across banks o and gas portfo os dur ng the second ha f of 2016 as the sector faces susta ned ow o pr ces and product on d srupt ons Accord ng y tapp ng from the Eurobond market wou d he p bo ster banks cap ta bases and put them n a pos t on to finance b g-t cket dea s n Afr ca s argest economy w th w de nfrastructure defic t On the sovere gn debt the F nance M n ster Mrs Kem Adeosun at the weekend expressed opt m sm that the $1 b on Eurobond wou d be ssued before the end of the year The ssue s part of N ger a s p ans to borrow a tota of N1 8 tr on from abroad and at home to fund an expected budget defic t of N2 2 tr on th s year “We are appo nt ng part es th s week we are hop ng t w come before the end of the year We have the headroom and we are very fortunate n that regard we have a very ow debt to GDP rat o ”

she sa d at a London conference Adeosun nformed her aud ence that N ger a had started a ourney wh ch wou d take ts economy from be ng dependent on o as a pr mary commod ty to a more product ve economy To the ch ef execut ve of F nanc a Der vat ves Company L m ted Mr B smarck Rewane the move by Access Bank wou d be pos t ve for N ger a s quest to ra se debt Rewane exp a ned that the Eurobond ssue by Access Bank was a strateg c n t at ve Accord ng to h m Access Bank has franch ses across var ous ur sd ct ons and so runs a mu t -currency ba ance sheet “Therefore Access Bank s move was strateg ca y re ated to the bank But the fact that Access Bank has ts headquarters n N ger a doesn t mean the funds wou d be used ent re y n N ger a “Access Bank s address ng ts own cap ta adequacy requ rements so that t wou d cont nue to meet the regu atory requ rements n markets where t s operat ng such as n the Un ted K ngdom and across Afr ca “Access Bank s fu y aware that the rat ng agenc es have had concerns about the soundness of the N ger an bank ng system So go ng ahead at th s t me to ra se fund ng shows the versat ty of

Access Bank ts depth and courage So that by the t me they have matur ng ob gat ons n do ars they wou d not on y have adequate cap ta they wou d have the qu d ty to meet those ob gat ons w thout underm n ng the bank s cred b ty “I th nk t was a w se move W t have some effect on N ger a? Yes t w If a N ger an bank succeeds that means the N ger an economy can succeed a so n ts ssue So t wou d have pos t ve effect on N ger a ” Rewane to d THISDAY Another financ a market ana yst noted that w th the h gh cost of ra s ng funds n the domest c economy a Eurobond ssue wou d be a succour for both the federa government and corporates “Th s wou d he p shore up the r ba ance sheets and max m se the r capac ty to o n oan synd cat on c ubs ” he sa d “There s a ot of cash w th nvestors n Europe and Amer ca ook ng for where to nvest ” the source who p eaded to rema n anonymous sa d C ear y the federa government and other corporates that seek to turn to the Eurobond market cou d r de on the coatta s of Access Bank by tak ng advantage of ower borrow ng cost to respect ve y fund the budget defic t for nfrastructure pro ects and bo ster the r ba ance sheets

the Chief Justice

of Nigeria, Mahmud

Mohammed

with other

judicial officers legal luminary at the National past National and immediate Judicial Institute, close friend Abuja, at the of Labour Party Secretary of the commencem Awo got theJustice Adetokunbo Ademola. ent of a workshop, Ajulo recently (LP), Mr. Kayode gist and on the role out-of-court of Judiciary story involving recalled a true life settlement promptly opted for strive to know the Judge in the fight judge because good capital the late sage, and Justices against graft and of Chief of TOSthen was Justice Ademola,the presiding the Premier Obafemi Awolowo, when Quite a lot it. And that is it! Case make From Benson. a bosom pal he was of Nigerians settled! Buhari-ledthe above, it is clear incident, he of the old Western Region.

The point in when men were bewildere that said happened of the above narration This relationsh was conversin d corruption government, which has the President (DSS) raided the Directorate of State while ips is vowed to the residences Security Akintola over g with the late ChiefAwolowo existed over between judges and that unholy Abuja, the exercise a stand-still was fully in to tackle of some justices Port Harcourt, lawyers a long Ladoke the and the DSS support of the governme a legal tussle that ensued in Garba Gombe, recent developm period. In the same had Calabar, during spokesman, also said successes after sibility Abdullahi light, and which justices Kano, Enugu and the ents Oyo State for nt had acquired land are pointing to were recorded John Okoro that as it was series of the at Idi-Ose, the use of a posof the SupremeSylvester Ngwuta some special during of Tropical then, so it is now. While Adeniyi Ademola, Agriculture International Institute the ‘brilliant hardwork Court as well of the suspectedsting operations involving and (IITA). ing’ as the law and According its technicalit lawyers may know Federal High Court in Nnamdi Dimgba of the Appeal and Federal judges of the Supreme, families that to him, some of the ies, some others High Courts.

Abuja, Muazu in Gombe had land owner hinted were aggrieved State, Justice The agency further that Pindiga some only and tion paid by with the compensa Samia during Kabiru Auta in Kano States in Sokoto State then of the judges made useful interrogations, to go to court.the government had custody and a few of them were taken statements Akintola reported threatened questioned to Awolowo have denied but on graft related into despite evidence Amidst the their threat and suggested issues. resolved without that was foundbeing culpable first of its kindpublic outcries that that the matter greeted the in cash, documents against them recourse to anti-corruption be But Awo, as the position litigation.

The DSS, accordingand property. war in of with him and he was otherwise called, to reports, recovered Special Assistantthe presidency through Nigeria, of N93, 558,000.00 disagreed boasted that the to Senior President solid legal team, a total , $530, 087, the governme on Media and 5, 680 (Euro) Muhammadu which comprised nt had Publicity, Mr. from just three £ 25,970 (Pounds) Buhari recovered (an authority instructive.

FRA Garba Shehu judges aside currencies Fani-Kayode on Civil Procedure), the Williams was real According estate document, banking document other late Remi to the presidenc Law at the (the best lawyer in Constituti s and s. against It is no y, the time) and Bode some judicial versatile in officers was operation practically news that corruption Thomas (who onal targeted at Commercial is a scourge corruption and specifically each arm of was who was a Law). Thus, in an institution governme legislature not lawyer himself, to Awo, and the judiciary. nt – executive, – an indication at the judiciary as families was smelt the hopelessly threat rat that of Nigerians among government by the waited that have Akintola was no consequence. better and “In a robust the affected judges. said to have a time will the situation will get democracy leader (Awolowo is bound to retorted thus: be a plurality such as ours, there cease to be a respecter come that justice will ), e fu’ra o.

“My procedure. given issue, L’ooto ‘Timi of of that, the of opinions Mo gba pe but people were persons. But in spite mo on any the oba tion, bee ni that the country there is a convergen sharply divided Thomas l’oga ni Fani ninu constituhas a corruption ce of views in move to look into the evidence o, over needs to be the judiciary. issue of corruption sugbon awonninu commercial ati problem that corrected. ti gba TOS “But reports Truth is, former Benson. Eyin family ti a n so yi by a section Ademola o.” na si mo pe Chief Justice giving us a (CJN), Justice of the media TOS mo cause of Nigeria Maryam Aloma What he simply task of reporting,for concern. In undertakin are other well-mean implied g the there government ing Nigerians Mukhtar, like about the fault the media should paraded a very was that although are real lamented be careful lines they open. the relationsh good team present this the judiciary cases of massive corruptionthat It is incident as which have could have ip between a lawyer of lawyers, a confrontat wrong to Just like in the executive an and Mukhtar, Buhari, impugned its integrity. ion between and in any case. effect on the judgments a judge Ababa, “The presidencjudicial arms of governme during He obtainable y has received the aggrieved emphasised to Awolowo nt. meetingEthiopia, while speaking a trip to Addis from the DSS with Nigerians at a town hall assurances that the services family members had including the that all due processes of TOS Benson, employed of the law, said the ongoing fight living in the country, warrants were possession of search who was a against corruption and arrest Nigeria could be effectively very suggest that obtained before the tackled with in searches. To strong support of the the the law in a the government is acting judiciary.

The president dictatorial manner outside reaching alluded to interest of is to the fact that the state”, reforms of farGarba stated. breach the the judiciary remained a

FEATURES The Menace of Erosion in Anambra

The resolv e by the federal gover to end corru nment the judiciaryption in is long overdue, lauda commendab ble and current comple…The of the Niger osition Council is ia Judicial shrou ded in ‘judicial absolutismgang ’.

The implication of this is that the comp is somewhat osition confined in judicial sect that places proce above credibdures competenc ility and e

FEATURES

Theb The biblical b ca va valley eyoftheshadowsof of the shadows of used to depict a condition of death issusedtodep ctacond t onof fear and harm, but innAnambra Anambra, there fearandharm exist physical valleys of the shadows exstphys ca va eysoftheshadows of death scattered around the state. ofdeathscatteredaroundthestate There are huge erosion gullies that are threatening the existence of The Mena eo people in their communities.

T Page 20

BUSINESS CBN Set to Settle $270.6m FX Futures

T H I S D AY

NEXT PAGE

E o on n Anamb

a

R 24, 2016

BUSINESSW NIBOR OVERNIGHT 1-MONTH

Contract This Week The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to settle OTC FX Futures contract to the tune of $270.6 million on the interbank market this Wednesday.

Page 23

CITYSTRIGNS Traffic Light Vandalism in the FCT

• MONDAY, OCTOBE

CONT’D ON

R A T E S 16.625 19.8021

A S

3-MONTH 6-MONTH

ORLD

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Group Busine

O C T O B E R

ss Email chika.a Editor Chika Amanze-Nw manzenwach ukwu@thisda achuku ylive.co 0803329415m 7

2 0 ,

6-MONTH 9-MONTH 12-MONTH

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EXCHANGE RATE N304.75 / 1 US DOLLAR * *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

17.8059 21.3887 21.6151

Quick Takes

China Mobile

MERITORIO US AWARD

L-R: Deputy Managing Director, Borha; and Chief Stanbic Borha received Executive, Stanbic IBTCIBTC Bank, Dr. Demola Sogunle; Chief the Business Bank, Yinka Executive, Stanbic sanni; during Woman of the the Year Award, West Africa All Africa Business LeadersIBTC Holdings Plc, Mrs. 2016...recently Sola DavidAwards in Lagos, where David-

CBN Set to Settle $270.6m This Week FX Futures Con tract

Sees Profit

China Mobile Boost by 4G, as it notedreported a strong mobile it is at a “critical performance “There is a relatively driven stage” in its transformation. high demand fronts including for resources the growth wireline broadban from various of 4G d as well as the business, the developm it said. ent of deployment of digital services,” It also said it its operation had “proactively enhanced s, deepened transformation cost efficiency across model, and promoted more efficient of its sales and marketing The company’ s strong performa use of resources closest rival nce contrasts ”.

China with that At 30 Septemb Unicom, which is struggling er, the world’s with profitabil of customers, largest operator ity. compared with had 844 million million were 837 million 4G customer at in its 4G subscribe s, up from 429 30 June. Of these, 481 million. That’s r base from 57 per cent.

51 per cent of a total customerjump China Mobile s to has sped up in a move to the migration adjust The company tariffs “in a balanced to flat-rate packages, steadily developalso said it has “continue and orderly manner”. with a focus on its wireline business d with its endeavours to using boosting For the nine months network speed and a high-end approach, targeted developm to 30 Septembe a net profit of ent”. r 2016, the operator up 4.3 per cent.$13 billion, up 3.1 per cent year-on-year, reported on revenue

Apple’s Battle

Rages

On Four Australian of the country’s banks accused Apple terminals for network of Near Future of seeking exclusive use Obinna Chima iOS Communications The allegation devices.

(NFC) featured in a and Adelaide joint statemen The Central Bank, ECONO MY t made by Bendigo Bank of Nigeria Australia Bank the Commonwealth bank last week (CBN) is expected Bank of Australia, and Westpac allocated $314 Consumer Commiss million to Nigerian to the Australian National to settle OTC FX Futures banks for to the amount of forwards onward sale contract to We expect the apex The banks accountion (ACCC), the country’s Competition and the tune receive for to their customers bank to open a new of $270.6 antitrust regulator. for three each through Special Earlier this million on the interbank October “Therefore, of the sectors. year, the four of the country’s four largest antitrust regulator, market this futures contract with 2017 Market Intervent Secondary sales this applied to banks.

Wednesday. a total value of $1.0bn was meant round of ion Apple over access for permission to the ACCC, the country’s to meet to replace the Sales (SMIS). Accordin Retail both matured The transactio negotiate collective maturing instrume to Apple n CBN to g In Pay. to be settled the meantime obligations a source, the on the FMDQ ly with nt.

“However, intervention, and finance new trade OTC Securities which counter “incorrect , the four banks have we believe Exchange would put out a statemen at the parallel rate sale, was a sixty-day forwards the senior CBN officialLCs,” and potentiall to the ACCC was futures contract be the fourth be t to had by their opponent y misleading submissio pressured market will meeting aimed specifically at informed THISDAY to mature The ns” made s. the introduct in banks argue . since At the close ion of the flexible ahead on the back the weeks matured the FX payment of to the NFC functionby wanting to lock out of the intervenFX regime. tion, he any independe bank’s decision of the apex importat obligations for on its devices, access to the the valid said the CBN received But analysts to maintain ion network of NFC-base Apple aims to gain nt access status-quo and industria of agriculture that application (that is Australia. on the exclusive the central bankanticipate that of d terminals in those l raw materials met the criteria 19 banks from suspension machiner would open retailers across “Yet, this infrastruc , new futures stipulated contract expecteda to BDCs, suspensiodollar sale well as ies and equipment as in the circular for the banks and merchant ture was built to mature spare auction) amounting n of naira debit cards October 2017. s for the benefit and paid for by Australian to $814,208,5 sale remittancparts and ticket Of statement. for FX transactio Afrinvest 35.82. of all Australian this amount, es for airlines. ns West Africa and Travelex’s inability He said in it intervene In addition, s,” said the Limited, with the sum order d which disclosed the rising foreign to meet that of cess to NFC the banks attack Apple’s these sectors to ensure this explained A sectoral $313,916,711.09. on iOS devices claim : “In the week demand from BDC currency to enjoy continue experience. breakdown would weaken that providing acahead, the showed that They Afrinvest stated. operators,” banking the support of central bank total demand all offer access said Android, Windows security or customer the the agricultur be settling will system in from 40 In an effort US$270.6 million sourcing raw materials for contactle to NFC “in line with globaland BlackBerry devices to meet part in open $31,941,640.73,e sector stood at and machiner ss payments futures contracts the pent up demand standards of the of chief executive set out by the which of y maturing 26th for foreign card schemes.” security s of deposit per cent, or $19,718,15 61.73 October 2016. exchange by critical money banks Vendors: Middle 3.67 was met by the sectors (DMBs) of the economy CBN. East to Lead Major vendors , the central undertakings to open signed Total demand 5G like Nokia, Huawei new letters of credit by airlines was Middle East (LCs) equivalen on a global stage T H I and S D Qualcomm want to put the AY • MONDAY the need for t close partnersh for launch of 5G Continued services, , OCTOBER access to spectrum on page 24 ips across the 24, 2016 ecosystem and stressing to ensure and US and deploy networks the region can compete improved To date, most Acting with Asia by 2020.

Featur bullish on plans operators in Asia andes Editor Charle the US launch 5G by recent developmtoEmail Goddy Egene the end of this have been most s Ajunwa charles ents, it became .ajunw decade. doesn’t want a@this But with STOCK MARK daylive.com to get left behind. apparent that the Middle East The London PublicSector ET Business Stock visibility Exchange Developm (LSE) has provided Mobile Network to these companie Solutions, Noel entEMEA,fromNokia $26.1 billion are listed in London He has therefore s. (IPO) for African as a target Advanced Kirkaldy, cited than any other internatio via this new event for launch companies restated the Dubai the commitm mechanism last 10 years, in the followed by nal exchange ent of Nigerian in 2014, and the Qatar World of 5G services in the Expo2020 The the .

Chief bourse 112 was Execucompani tive Officer has previously Middle East, the first to the collabora Cup in 2022. company to of the Nigerian said, have a combined es, he simultaneously tion.

Onyema said Stock Exchange to launch 5G been more closely associatedThis 2020 time frame dual list shares market 2014, capitalisa in Novembe in Japan in London r Oscar Onyema (NSE), Mr. billion, tion in excess of LSE Group “We have some at the Tokyo Summerwith Docomo’s efforts and NSE and Nigeria,” he said. the largest concentra$200 signed has said.

Olympics. key timelines Middle East,” Onyema disclosed Also speaking we need of African tion agreemena capital markets quoted companie this while , the speaking at undoubtedly said Kirkaldy. He explainedto work towards in the the third “London outside of Johannes be a major issue s African t aimed at supporting LSE Nikhil Rathi saidCEO, that spectrum & Lagos Capital companies seeking conference burg. with launch the Out of these was a reflection of 5G services. would Markets in Partnership’ companies, listings in London and dual of the global eight Lagos.

“This made investment at the LSE conference held Londoncompanies listed significantly community’s strong at the weekend on more Stock Exchange efficient the desire to According .

Group(LSEG) listing and be a part of the Nigeria to him, Nigerian markets with trading of ordinary story.

“As companies eight their primary “We don’t offer area of business Nigerian compani shares of internatiothe world’s most among those were in Nigeria grants. We give nal exchange that benefitte es listed access to our members. from the internatio are ideally d capitalisa with a total market in London, as well , we We positione as of have tion those nal United more than capital raising on the on the success d to build three million Kingdom Onyema saidof $6.5 billion. compani companies, which (UK) of existing more African LSE, noting that tion the us the largest make between NSE collabora- market. es on the Nigerian dual listings in Nigeria companies business federation (112) assisted Seplat, and LSE has London, boosting and the world” in in giving internatio business, raisedthe oil and gas tor global invesawareness $500 nal in an of the country’s Initial public million Director for Policy offering

CITYSTRING S

London Stoc African Comk Exchange Provides $26b panies in 10 n for Years

It was a peak afternoon when workers were about heading homes after the official working hours. Adeyinka Ogunkola felt a deep sense of outrage with the traffic that had ensnarled him at the junction linking Micheal Okpara Road with Herbert Macaulay Tr affic Light Va ndalism in th Road inWuse Zone 6. Page 40 e FCT Continued

A vandalised

traffic light in

on page 24

in Africa Chamber of Commerce, at the United States

Dr. Leila Ndiaye

FCT

In the face of perennial vand a challenge for alism of traffi c lights in the motorists in natio the city, repor ts Olawale Ajim n’s capital, driving has t was a peak afternoon when become were about otokan heading homes workers their key official working components after the

I

and dispose hours. Adeyinka off in the market.

Ogunkola felt them the a deep sense In fact, 90 Federal Secretaria with the traffic of outrage per t, down to Similar situation that had ensnarled installed on the cent of the traffic him at Wuse 2. lamps junctions along can Bello Okpara Road the junction linking the Ahmadu Macaulay Road, Yakubube said of Herbert hours in traffic especially Micheal long Way are not active.

Tafawa Gowon Crescent, partnered with at The in Wuse Zonewith Herbert Macaulay the Chinese peak hours, Road in theroad is strategic as it 4.6 kilometres Obafemi Balewa Road, some to install a scrum informed 6. There was a vehicular government runs from sections south west Awolowo Road new set of Apo area of the traffic lights to the North-weof city centre. lights installed by the malfunctioning Abuja through of the FCT in addition in the traffic st at the junction. to that serve The FCT lost several as arteries several inner roads Ogunkola Bello, said Minister, Muhammed to the major In the day through a productive minutes, most of the Musa roads. stretch of road wafting old model to junctions traffic wardens are assigned lights were replaced kilometre for of less than without traffic one with modern traffic improve vehicular the night, when area of Abuja.an appointment in the lamps, ones to Utako movement bedlam usually the wardens are offbut in Administration after the FCT His plight is completed duty, for There are 168 ensues as of lack of patience technical survey the job. motorists and similar to the hardship motorists, out which He decried In reality, driving disregard traffic regular basis commuters pass through intersections traffic light the laws. on activities on on most the who vandalise peak period major roads roads in the in the FCT Capital Territory. of hoodlums during in the light public facilities Federal but about reasons, requires of the identified light undergrou Dysfunctional like two-third of wits and traffic lights ducts as well nd cables, telecommu street “The traffic impede free the nication in the FCT lamps are left as traffic light lights rarely guts. flow of ing The traffic, cases, result derelict by the risk of equipment. minister’s concern and in many crimin fatal accidentsfunction, rais- Director in was echoed particularly als, who There are 168 accidents and loss of in the in charge of at junctions lives.

Traffic Managemby the traffic light that are not night, FCTA Transport by traffic wardens. the FCT but their key compovandalise intersections manned ent at Secretariat, Vincent about two-third When drivers in from different Igberaese, who are left derelict nents are coming is an engineer, Igberaese. by criminals,6 1of the lamps dispose the spate of give way, therejunctions and they refuse them off in and bemoaned who vandalise vandalism of can only be to traffic lights accident,” the one outcome: of concerted public market in spite lamented Ogunlola enlightenm by his team But the FCT ent campaign . to rein in the Administ the to tackling and reducing ration with regard of vandals continued to monster. He said sabotage the government loss of productiv efforts to deliver e obtainabl e in advanced a service that is MONDAY OCTOMBER countries through 24, 2016 •

INTERNATIONAL ‘TrumpWould‘100 Percent’ Accept Election Result if It’s Fair’ Republican presidential candidate DonaldTrump will “100 percent” accept the results of the U.S. election if it is fair, his son, EricTrump, said yesterday. “I think what my father is saying is, ‘I want a fair election,’” Eric Trump said on ABC’s “ThisWeek.”

Page 61

SPORTS Algeria Plots Eagles’ Downfall, Contacts Wilmots, Courbis The Algerian Football Federation (FAF) has placed former coach of Belgium, MarcWilmots on top of its wish list for the 2018World Cup showdown between Nigeria and Algeria in Uyo on November 12.

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INTERNATIO NAL email:foreigndesk

T H I S D AY

‘Trump Would ‘10 Percent’ Accept 0 Ele Result if It’s Fair’ ction

@thisdaylive.com

Republican presidential candidate a cornersto Donald Trump ne of American will “100 percent” democra cy indicate he accept the by refusing results of the would come commit to to under honoring significan t it is fair, his U.S. election if result the pressure son, said yesterday Eric Trump, “What of the U.S. election. to accept the result if he were to lose. . “I think what I’m saying my father is that I will tell is Republic an want a fair saying is, ‘I I’ll keep you at the time.

Party Chairelection,’ ” man Reince you in suspense Trump said Eric . by asking Priebus said that on ABC’s “This OK?” Trump said.

Week.”

Trump to In the aftermat agree to concede, the media “If it’s a debate, Trump h of the making fair outcome an extraord was he will absolute said he , would accept inary request. ly accept the election He said Trump it. There’s no outcome that.” With question about campaig “if I win.” Trump’s would only fight if national opinion election were the n manager polls showing , close Kellyanne and not is trying to dispute an increasin Clinton with pressed Conway, also was a fair election. on Sunday Trump ahead g lead over CNN’s on “State of the of the Nov. “That’s not election, Donald 8 Union” quite what Trump has on whether Trump would he’s saying. What repeatedly accept the said the election election results. ing is he wants he’s sayis being “rigged” to reserve “The system against him. He has is rigged, all options and if there ground for not offered especially against the is evidence a recount little guy,” said and numerou I’ll Conway without reserve all options,” studies have s Priebus said on CBS’s shown that directly respondi ng the U.S. election to the “Face The question. which is decentral system, challeng She spoke of any Nation.”

Clinton and es to the election ized and run by the results as states, campaign on Trump will “hypothe tical.”

At last week’s is sound.

Sunday in the The key efforts debate with swing states by members Democra tic of Florida and North rival Hillary of Trump’s inner Clinton, Trump Carolina, where circle to the latest polls challenged downplay his remarks show about the integrity of the election within only a few they are points of each other.

T H I S D AY

•MONDAY OCTOBE R

24, 2016

MONDAYSPO RTS

2018 WO RLD CUP QUALIFIE

69

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ik hazuagbe@th isdaylive.com

Algeria Plots Ea Contacts Wilmgles’ Downfall, ots, Courbis R

Olawale Ajimotok an in Abuja The board The Algerian to announceof FAF is expected Football a Federation (FAF) has placed soon as possible new coach as former coach after studying the reports of the technical Marc Wilmots of Belgium, committe wish list for on top of its Fennecs e to galvanise the the 2018 World preparati Cup showdow n between the must-win clashons for Nigeria and against old adversari es, Nigeria. on NovembeAlgeria in Uyo Wilmots, who r The other 12. was at the helms of Belgium Rolland Courbis, favourite is campaign Euro who in France where 2016 coached were Niger in 2012 they in charge of and was recently final eliminated in the quarter French club, Rennaias. The Stade have by Wales, is reported to is also familiarformer defender salary demanded a monthly having coached with Algeria FAF of 100,000 Euros from to take the plunge Alger between local club USM Algeria. with Algeria which2012 and 2013.

The Africa qualifyingis in a tough been two technicians have presented with the race to Russia Group B in to qualify a mandate Algeria for the 2018 along Zambia, Camerou World Cup 2018 n and and Nigeria, has been left with quarter final berthat least a an Mount Everest at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations following Serbian to climb, in Gabon.

Rajevac’s departureMilovan But in the Algeria there are fears that wake of the 1-1 home draw may not be in with Camerou position to afford a wage n.

Various media Euroes because bill of 100,000 reports Algeria last of decline in night said in government revenue FAF President that , Mohamed from the sharp fall arising Raouraoua, in the internatio met Wilmots Brussels on Thursday in oil, the nal prices of crude mainstay of to sound economy. him out on Algeria’s the national the prospect of Apart from team job, while that Algeria he held further competing is discussions Paris the following in Schalke with German club 04 in the race day with Wilmot Courbis. to and may match lure Belgian’s monetary the demands.

French Nigerian Player Loses in Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Final

Kelechi Iheanacho

celebrating the equaliser

against Sunderlan d at the Etihad

Super Sub Ihea nacho Rescues City

stadium yesterday

A French player Duro Ikhazuagb descent, Calvin of Nigerian against e with the Spanish in his spirited Hemery failed of City to the top star as one agency report the toughest effort to win second leg (Futures in recent, but League on goalof the Premier but the his goal was Kelechi Iheanacho difference.

6) of 16th proud of himself in defeat. edition of Governor Pep disallowed He was so happy proved a worthyonce again began Guardiola’s side, who for a Sergio Aguero Power Stadium. ’s Cup Lagos Lagos Tennis coming the season Saints remained offside.

The Nigeria with 10 on Saturday. Championship Cup to play the Governorto Kevin De Bruyne sub for straight victories, a threat on when he ’s made an Tennis for the from outside forward struck have now the break and Claudio gone Hemery, whose immediat first father was adding that he would time, scoring Manchest e impact, in all five games without a win saved well from Charlie Bravo good work the area following a Nigerian,

by Algerian competitions, love to lone represent Nigeria Austin Islam er City’s striker equalling on 74 minutes while Aguero goal watch with was a delight to he Slimani, who went is called to someday if Southampin the 1-1 draw with the Spaniard’s worst spirit, giving his determined run as whereclose at the other end, impressive upper-boddisplayed do so. a manager. ton at the Bello, Etihad y strength Stadium yesterday Raheem Sterling before teeing number one, the tournament Governor who stood in It could have for .

The Super Eagles’ been even constant threat as City was a delightful ball.him up with a Perez of Spain,Enrique Lopez- applaudeAkinwunmi Ambode worse for City pushed for the elusive forward a good run for after they who came d the performa Musa had his money; winner. of the two men the option nce after the on in the second half Southampton the lead gifted Earlier on Saturday, passing of light drizzleeven despite the thumbed when a finalists Citizen’s wayward and first half, miserable pass from John Super Eagles forward, another his right to Riyah Mahrez on up the their more that disrupted of but showed Ahmed and Musa, scored than three hours the Internatioorganisation range after scored from close Stones put Nathan Redmond the belief gruelling match. on scorers’ nal Tennis Fernandinho Federatio Leicester City his first goal for to firecomposure of a veteran sheet after found minutes.

It was circuit, n, ITF, approved Leroy Sane with however the as past Palace goalkeepe the 27 champions beat Crystal cross-field pass. an exquisite saying that Steve carried the best man that Lagos Palace 3-1 in r Moments That draw has day as Hemery the out. Mandanda from 20 yards later Stones English Premier League.

State Governm the however returned fell to Lopez-Per will Manchester thought he had atoned ent Musa struck It was Musa’s set of 5-7,5-7 ez in straight to always give its support bundling the on 42 minutes by as the first the in ball into the competiti goal for the men’s singles the final of of net a tightFoxes took the lead in Leicester since completin its numerou on because first half at the Centre Court decided on developm s values the King move from Russian club g his of the Lagos ent and projection to CSKA Moscow in Lawn Tennis the summer.

Lagos of Club, as one Former Onikan. mega of the Hemery, Governor of cities of the emerging State, Otunba Ogun number twothe tournament world.

Gbenga Daniel, government and It was, however, at the weekend out in the seed, who lost revenge wealthy a Nigerian profession described Nigerians to do for Conny sweet sports as the of the first quarter finals of Perrin most effective invest effectively inmore and if channeled al league Switzerland was cheeredleg (Futures 5), perennial the sector. beating her instrument for employm into it,” stressed which his administ According the former Ogun foe at the Governor’ generation ent “sports ration to guests, who all the way by Cup him, executive in the country.

State chief brought Ogun State into is the most s Lagos Tennis, Speaking conscious representative included the Majeric . the effective instrume Tadeja National ness of people when nt of employm While thanking the national limelight State Governorof the Lagos thrilling from Slovakia in and ent recognizin SWAN the Committ Executive generation, it is the greatest , Mr. Tunji final through Bello who g his contributifor the hosting of instrument singles that of the women’s Sports ee (NEC) of is the Secretary the National on Sports of economic to sports developm ended in straight to the State Writers Associatithe emancipation.”

Festival set of 6-3,6-3. ent in the Ogun State, on (SSG), ChairmanGovernment Perrin Majeric beat of Nigeria (SWAN) U-17 World in 2006 and Otunba He specifical Cup in 2009. to win the of the LOC, paid on ly called said the award shouldDaniel Chief Pius He first leg a courtesy visit on him wealthy Nigerian (Futures 5) gone to his have these added that in hosting Sagamu, the on in Aliko President ofAkinyelure, Vice events, other former governor Perrin told the15 October.

Dangote and s like of Sports, Commissioner of said if sectors Federation, Nigeria Tennis the Bukola the state’s economy Mike who NTF, Mr Yemi match that media after sports properly harnessed, Adenuga Jnr to invest he said workedOlapade, infrastruc Owoseni, President and she was not can be used sports in ture were opened tirelessly to tackle of Lagos surprised with this to a way in the country as to fulfill the vision Lawn Tennis development. sweet open unemployment and revenge, adding of his of contribut administration Rotimi Edu Club, Barrister had National doors for ing to in sports. and a crowd President always been that she prosperit economic manpower developm “Our schools children. of of doubles and empower y.

Majeric’s ent the sportsachievements in SWAN, Mr Honour partner in Sirawoo, ment.

Otunba Daniel commended Hemery described “There Daniel for a prepared sector was part vision is his match tournament and they Lagos conferred with who was wrong his nothing documen each other in trying to t with during in promoting sports the award which we ran very well. knew of national patron acquire the state Arsenal FC his tenure of the association leading of England our first tenure,” he during to the provision recalled. challenged but a percentage Otunba of sports of Daniel said facilities in different money can turn aroundthat sports was part of parts the major of the to the state, in addition avenues through hosting international national and compe

Former Ogun Gove rnor

from Home Defe at

Challenges Wealt hy Nigerians on Sports Devt

T H I S D AY MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2016

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

COMMENT

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

NEED TO PLACATE THE GODS

N

The NCC should sanction telecom’s network operators until they attain better standards, writes Patrick Dele Cole

igeria should seek to be included in the Guinness World Records as the only country that has defeated all kinds of communications – telephone, radio wave and GSM. None has worked successfully in Nigeria; but the operators of each have made billions. Do you know that when you ring someone and the person does not pick up your call, you are charged for the call? Nigerian air waves are populated by millions of flying objects, mostly located in the Benin/ Akure axis. These objects are described as witches, or similar derivatives that fly and send millions of messages through the air.

The hapless inventors of GSM, Internet, Microsoft, and Facebook are facing problems of a congested airspace where unlicensed pilots are sending Jazz communications to all and sundry. It is no wonder that the leaders of all Pentecostal churches see our crowded airspace and pray that we be covered by the blood of Jesus so that jazz messages cannot penetrate. They go on further and throw Holy Ghost fire to burn up all these evil fliers and their jazz messengers.

The air waves are their domain and GSM and the like go to the air at their peril. You may have noticed the gradual deterioration of the GSM services and then constant blackout of our internet services. As usual Nigerians accept these failures of the GSM on something called “network”. It would seem that the spirit fliers maybe responsible for attacking the network.

Before these services, many airlines have tried to operate in Nigeria.

They all have failed. Okada, ADC, HAKA, AL BARKA, KABO, Nigerian Airways, Belview, etc. We should ask ourselves why Kenya Airways, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Emirates, etc., work and none of ours work. Of recent, Virgin Nigeria, Aero, even Arik airlines have been threatened. There may be other reasons for their failure but people have not noticed that given the crowded flying objects, perhaps this is the main reason why the airlines do not work. Someone would blow ash or powder in Enugu and the person named in the incantation dies in Lagos. Has the Nigerian Army thought about these flying agents and employ them to fight Boko Haram?

I know many people would wonder how an urbanised person like me could say such things. I am moved by the evidence before my eyes – GSM is failing, NITEL failed, the Nigerian airlines failed or are failing, our police do not seem able to solve our crimes, husbands are jazzed into love by wives, and vice versa. What can possibly be responsible for this?

Think about it.

In Milton’s Paradise Lost, he describes the power of the Dark Angel, (Lucifer or Satan), as nearly as great as the power of God. But the Dark Angel was consumed by ambition and rebelled against God. He was expelled. I believe he landed somewhere in the middle of Nigeria. So all the seven deadly sins are alive and thriving in Nigeria. Luckily there is an antidote for all evil flying jazz spirits. We must pray and ask God to help us expel Lucifer and his actions so that we may live again in Paradise Regained, the last in Milton’s fourth book (1671).

In divination, young boys are used to tell what the spirits are saying.

This is usually because the boys are bull virgins. You may wonder why our boys won the Junior World Cup for the under 16. They may all have been bull virgins. I won’t say more. As for the senior Eagles we really have been unable to copy the feat of the Eaglets, maybe because they

I AM MOVED BY THE EVIDENCE BEFORE MY EYES – GSM IS FAILING, NITEL FAILED, THE NIGERIAN AIRLINES FAILED OR ARE FAILING, OUR POLICE DO NOT SEEM ABLE TO SOLVE OUR CRIMES, HUSBANDS ARE JAZZED INTO LOVE BY WIVES, AND VICE VERSA. WHAT CAN POSSIBLY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS? THINK ABOUT IT

are no longer bull virgins. It is true we won the Olympic gold against Brazil in 1994. Brazil is a country teeming with flying spirits and deities, Ogun, Shango, and Yemoja, etc. When they met with Nigeria, the original home of these deities, the result was a foregone conclusion!

And yet the new standard answer to all our problems in Nigeria is corruption. Really? Do we need to placate these flying spirits to clear our airways which obviously seem congested? Usually these spirits fly at night but lately they claim that they also fly in the daytime, their spiritual mentor does not doubt their existence; but she insists her spirits fly well above the congested airways. I was told of a village near Ekpan where NNPC wanted to give the village electricity but they refused because it would unbalance their spiritual nocturnal activities.

Okada and Arik have owners from the middle of Nigeria. Maybe the problem of the airline is spiritual: we are all witness of Bishop Idahosa’s historical and mighty fight against the evil empire. He lost his life before he could defeat them.

Normally the operations of GSM, Internet, etc., are precise scientific activities based on algorithms which translate letters and words into the algorithms that convey the volume of words and data. This is a scientific, mathematic technology with a 100% certainty. The system may occasionally crash when it is overburdened or when hacked or someone introduces a virus into the system. To prevent this, elaborate defensive firewalls are built to protect the system. If the system is breached, this is noticeable quickly and dealt with. So also is the business of running airlines. So why do we have problems in Nigeria?

We should be able to eliminate these problems scientifically.

I am merely suggesting that maybe there are forces out there that may occasionally defeat science. Maybe we should as advised, occasionally think outside the box.

This is all, of course, tongue in cheek. The National Communications Commission (NCC) should be able to hold GSM and Internet companies to higher standards. It is not an acceptable level of service delivery. When they fail, the NCC should punish them until they attain best standards. It is not acceptable that calls do not get through and everybody merely says it is “network” as if that is a perfectly reasonable answer to chronic inefficiency.

On the airlines, just last week the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) denied a claim that it took N750 million bribe to clear the Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on a charge of embezzling N3 billion. On the same week a delegation left for Canada to secure the election of Dr. Muyiwa Aliu as president of ICAO. The delegation comprised the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Alhaji Sabiu Zakari; Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika; Managing Director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma; Director Safety and Technical Policy, MOT, Talba Alkali; Director General Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) (the same authority that bought two bulletproof BMW cars for Stella Oduah) Captain Muktar Usman. These are the same set of people who want to concession our airports with no reference to Bureau of Public Enterprise, the body statutorily charged with such functions. And we wonder why our Airlines and FAAN are not working!

Dr. Cole (OFR) was Nigeria’s ambassador to Brazil

AISHA: A HERO OF OUR DEMOCRACY

“

After receiving complaints upon complaints, I decided to tell him, but all the same a lot of people have been coming on their own and also collectively to tell him that things are not going the way it should; that is when it comes to like putting people in certain positions. Because most of these people that are occupying some agencies, number one, nobody knows them; number two, they don’t know our party manisfesto, they don’t know what we campaigned for, they were not part of us. They don’t have a mission, they don’t have a vision about APC. I have my own rights you know, to say how I feel about something.

If it continues like this I’m not going to be part of any movement again, because I need to work with the people that we started the journey collectively as a team work so that we can achieve what we want to achieve, so that he will leave a legacy”. The above was said in English by the Wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari in one of the BBC interviews. There has been trouble in paradise since her interviews were made public. The nation is basically split down the middle by this unprecedented event. No other Nigerian first lady has so ‘outed’ their husband in this manner. I cannot even remember anywhere in the world this has happened. Many people have advised the president to divorce the woman, and we have heard many stories of what is happening between husband and wife. Whereas many Nigerians are ready to get in-between this couple and see to their severance, I have since taken a position that everything must be done to assist Nigeria’s first couple and ensure their relationship does not break down.

In the final analysis, we have cause to be worried in Nigeria that over the years, we seem unable to

Tope Fasua argues that Aisha Buhari is an asset to the country

get things right. How many times will our hopes be dashed? For as long as I’ve been alive and aware of my political environment, it has been one disappointment after another. Save for short periods, Murtala Muhammad and the first coming of Muhammadu Buhari, there hasn’t been any time when we felt the need to celebrate the type of leadership we have had.

Even now, people are saying Buhari has demystified himself, and he will find it tough to argue against this.

Some 16 months into a government of unprecedented hope and look where we are! Suddenly we have given voice to even those who say Murtala is not what we say he is; that he destroyed the civil service and so on.

In 1999 not all Nigerians were sure that the military would vacate for Obasanjo’s government. But as the reality dawned, we relaxed and some hope came. The military regimes themselves had promised a better Nigeria at every turn but our dreams quickly turned into nightmares. Umaru Yar’Adua seemed an unlikely guy, but he did a few things in his time that endeared him to me. I didn’t even know what he stood for until mass criticisms even on his death bed made me take a second look. Here was a man who has set an insurmountable barrier for our leaders, Buhari inclusive.

He declared his assets openly and set about running a fairly open government according to the rule of law.

Since democracy returned, Umaru’s government is the only one that has not – at least under his watch – gone daggers-drawn against the people. Obasanjo paraded the Okupes, Nwekes and Fani Kayodes who daily insulted the people on behalf of the government.

Jonathan retained Okupe and added Abati. Abati called the youth of Nigeria ‘children of anger’, just as Femi Adesina nicknamed everyone who had cause

for concern about government deliverables ‘wailing wailers’. It is beyond surprise that we would have this antagonistic relationship in this people’s change regime. Beyond imagination really!

So, whereas many people have castigated and excoriated the first lady, with many – especially men – asking that Buhari divorce her right away for being disloyal, I choose to see it differently. Those who are against her statement hold on to the first part wherein she spoke about incorporating in government those who worked hard to ensure victory for her husband. Ordinarily, no one needed to remind Buhari of that salient fact. Buhari’s own cross is that he frittered away goodwill faster than any other leader in the history of leadership. For even in the USA from whence we copied this democracy, those who worked for electoral victories are quickly recognised and given responsibility, not to talk of a Nigeria where we say we want to enact a CHANGE and then we totally ignore, impoverish, neglect and even brutalise those who had shown that they are ready to be change agents. How can you drive change without change agents? Why did Buhari start his appointments with people like Ita Enang, a serious anomaly. The truth is that Buhari set out to play a very toxic type of politics, egged on by the likes of Lai Mohammed, Femi Adesina, Garba Shehu, and the new trolls on social media, now known as Hailing Failers (for they support governments to fail)! That politics has now boomeranged.

In all of this, and since most of Buhari’s ministers are afraid of him, plus we hear that they are all subordinated to his Chief of Staff, the only person on earth that can tell him some truth is his wife. She must therefore have been quite frustrated and unable

to reach him before granting this interview. If we must share blames, Baba will carry the lion’s share. All we have heard since he came is how people must suffer more, yet the people see with their own “korokoro” eyes how government officials still purchase their luxury cars and make themselves comfortable on the taxpayer’s dime. And he it was who denied or caused his people to deny ALL the fantastic promises his party made during the elections; from the N5,000 promised indigent youth, to the N15,000 promised post-NYSC unemployed graduates, to the meals promised school children, and scholarships.

APC refused to heed then when we cautioned that they go easy on the promises. Now that it’s time to fulfill promises, all we have is denials, and they are not even doing that nicely. They basically told the suffering and expectant masses to buzz off! Nice. But there are repercussions.

This same Aisha Buhari had spoken up in November last year, when we were still waiting with bated breath for Baba’s goodies, and amidst all the reneging by Baba, that the APC should please make sure they fulfill their promise to the youth, especially the N5,000 monthly matter. The newspapers reported that she BEGGED. See here https://www.thecable. ng/aisha- buhari-begs-apc-fulfill- promise-paying-n5000-jobless- youths. So I believe that this frustration did not start today and is not merely about some of her people getting appointments as alleged by some people. Her actions and speech in 2015 – including her visit to Bola Tinubu’s home to placate the APC bigwig – exonerates her from the nonsense people are saying. This is a good woman; an asset to any man, indeed any country.

Fasua, an Economist, wrote from Abuja

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

EDITORIAL THE BANKS AND THE DEPOSITORS

T

There is need to strengthen regulatory rules in the banking sector

here are obvious challenges with many of the commercial banks in the country today. In a period of economic recession, this is understandable given that there is no way the banking industry can be divorced from the environment where it operates. What is, however, unclear is how bad the situation is.

That precisely is why many are worried despite the assurances from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that all is well with the banking sector. We believe there is need to strengthen regulatory rules because if banks failed in the past, they can fail again.

Indeed, both Bloomberg and Moody’s said recently that the banking industry in Nigeria was facing a lot of turmoil and that at least six banks were under severe pressure, requiring them to embark on imminent capital raise. According to Bloomberg, “Nigeria’s banking industry is facing full blown financial crises as failed fiscal and monetary policies lead WE RECOMMEND CLOSER to a credit crunch”.

SUPERVISION, CONTINUOUS The international STRESS TESTING AND analysts said that TIMELY REMEDIAL ACTIONS the acid tests carTO ENSURE AGAINST ried out on some FAILURE OF ANY OF OUR banks revealed that if they were to BANKS provide for all their toxic assets, there could be possible deficit of over one trillion naira ($3.2b) in capitalisation.

While the CBN should continue in its role of giving confidence to the economy, it is also imperative that the nation should know the true state of our banks. It will be tragic to live in denial if indeed the situation is dire in some banks as many reports claimed. A cursory look at the economy lends credence to the fact that all cannot be well with the banks. Exchange rates have shot up astronomi-

Letters to the Editor

cally in the face of falling oil prices and dwindling crude export volumes. And with that, a lot of the existing credit facilities in the loan books of banks have come under severe pressure, particularly in the oil and gas and power sectors of the economy.

Meanwhile, bank stocks are at very low levels such that the entire economy is now bleeding.

To compound the problem, inflation and unemployment are on the rise at a period the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is on a steady decline.

Some banks have reacted by cutting costs and retrenching staff. Many of them now tell their customers that they are not lending. Given all these, it is difficult to sustain the argument that all the banks are in sound health.

H T H I S DAY

EDITOR IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU DEPUTY EDITORS BOlAJI ADEBIYI, JOsEph UshIGIAlE MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOlA BEllO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOlAfE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OlUsEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOsA UWUGIAREN

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

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOlA BEllO, KAYODE KOMOlAfE, IsRAEl IWEGBU, EMMANUEl EfENI, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR OlUfEMI ABOROWA DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS pETER IWEGBU, fIDElIs ElEMA, MBAYIlAN ANDOAKA, ANThONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEh ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS hENRY NWAChOKOR, sAhEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOlA TAIWO, UChENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOsERI GENERAL MANAGER pATRICK EIMIUhI GROUP HEAD fEMI TOlUfAshE ART DIRECTOR OChI OGBUAKU II DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION ChUKs ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

owever, it is not all doom and gloom as there is some good news. Banking regulation demands that banks keep a lot of capital for uncertainties like this.

Elsewhere, as banks implement Basle 3, minimum capital adequacy ratio which measures the degree to which the bank’s capital can take care of its risk weighted assets (loans) has been put at eight per cent. The CBN in its wisdom has kept capital adequacy ratio for banks in Nigeria at higher rates of 10 per cent for national banks and 15 per cent for international banks. This action has given a buffer of between two to seven per cent for banks in Nigeria.

All said, we recommend closer supervision, continuous stress testing and timely remedial actions to ensure against failure of any of our banks.

We also believe that the banks in particular and the economy generally will benefit from more sound and stable monetary policy framework. We urge President Muhammadu Buhari to go beyond the current ad hoc approach to the management of the economy by putting in a place a strong economic team that will help him in the efforts to manage the difficult situation we have no found ourselves as a nation.

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

BUHARI’S OTHER ROOM AND REMINISCENCE OF EGYPT

W

ith the way Nigerians have made a stupendous parody of President Muhammadu Buhari’s response to the interview his wife, Aisha, had with the BBC, it is more appropriate to assume that there is more than ordinary meaning to the phrase “the other room”.

But wherever that room is, is not the subject of interest to Nigerians especially the army of opposition social media freelancers, who have been feasting on the presidential faux pas. What is more important to them is the narrative they are so eager to push out and make it look as if the president has committed an irredeemable sin.

Of course, the president talked a sentence too much in responding to the allegations made by his wife in that controversial interview. But the truth of the matter is that the very reason why Nigerians adore the president is for the very reason that he is an honest man who calls a spade by its name. That is the essential Buhari that Nigerians voted as president – a man who wouldn’t sugar-coat the truth for the convenience of space and time.

It may be true that President Buhari was politically incorrect with the remarks he gave about the role of his wife in their marriage, but no one can accuse the president of stifling the economic and social mobility of his wife in a manner that suggests that the president is a hater of women or that he is against the empowerment of women. With due respect to the personalities of past first ladies Nigerians have come across in recent time, Mrs. Aisha Buhari elegantly cuts the image and character of a progressive businesswoman with a name to herself beyond the business of her husband. I cannot recall any other first lady who has a business brand to

her name the way Mrs. Buhari does as a fashion magnate and that tells a whole lot about who her husband is.

It is rather ironic that many of those who today are lampooning the president of reducing his wife to living room attendant are people who did not provide a room for their wives to explore her business orientations. And, truth be told! This is Africa and in this part of the world, the primary responsibility of married women is to look after their homes. No responsible wife in this country will want another person to usurp her role as the custodian of the home front.

If President Buhari doesn’t want his wife to dabble into the world of politics so be it! It seems to me that much of the bad commentary being run on the president on this matter is the handiwork of PDP’s social media freelancers. We are all living witnesses to the immediate past administration and how the former first lady’s larger than life presence in the political arena was roundly condemned by Nigerians.

It therefore beats imagination that Nigerians who scorned Mrs. Jonathan for mingling into the politics of her husband’s government will in the same breath commend Mrs. Buhari for asking her husband to put their family friends and cronies into government.

May be we as Nigerians have forgotten too soon that we didn’t vote for President Buhari because he could fill government positions with his family friends and acquaintances; perhaps we have also forgotten like the Israelites, that the first lady mafia belongs to the Egypt we just got freed from.

Babajide Balogun, Isheri, Ogun State

BEDC: GIVE US LIGHT

I

am writing this with the hope that the management of Benin Electricity Distribution Company, in charge of electricity supply in Ogwashi-Ukwu and Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State to act quickly before things get out of hand.

As I write, residents of Ogwashi-Ukwu and the entire Aniocha South Constituency are living in total darkness and officials of BEDC are to blame.

The officials of BEDC have refused to fix and erect all fallen poles and faulty transformers that had been abandoned for the past 11 years.

Feyisetan Akeeb Kareem, Ogwashi-Ukwu

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

POLITICS

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

T H E M O N D AY D I S C O U R S E

War on Corruption Gets Messier The recent recrimination between some judges in the country and a section of the political class over allegation of corruption is a clear indication that this recalcitrant scourge is a hard nut to crack. Shola Oyeyipo writes

Buhari and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed with other judicial officers at the National Judicial Institute, Abuja, at the commencement of a workshop, on the role of Judiciary in the fight against graft

A

legal luminary and immediate past National Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Kayode Ajulo recently recalled a true life story involving the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, when he was the Premier of the old Western Region. This incident, he said happened while Awolowo was conversing with the late Chief Ladoke Akintola over a legal tussle that ensued after the government had acquired land at Idi-Ose, Oyo State for the use of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

According to him, some of the land owner families that were aggrieved with the compensation paid by the government had threatened to go to court. Akintola reported their threat to Awolowo and suggested that the matter be resolved without recourse to litigation.

But Awo, as he was otherwise called, disagreed with him and boasted that the government had solid legal team, which comprised FRA Williams (an authority on Civil Procedure), the late Remi Fani-Kayode (the best lawyer in Constitutional Law at the time) and Bode Thomas (who was versatile in Commercial Law). Thus, to Awo, who was a lawyer himself, the threat by the families was of no consequence.

Akintola was said to have retorted thus: “My leader (Awolowo), e fu’ra o. L’ooto ‘Timi mo procedure. Mo gba pe oba ni Fani ninu constitution, bee ni Thomas l’oga ninu commercial ati evidence o, sugbon awon family ti a n so yi ti gba TOS Benson. Eyin na si mo pe TOS mo Ademola o.”

What he simply implied was that although government paraded a very good team of lawyers, the relationship between a lawyer and a judge could have an effect on the judgments obtainable in any case. He emphasised to Awolowo that the aggrieved family members had employed the services of TOS Benson, who was a very

close friend of Justice Adetokunbo Ademola.

Awo got the gist and promptly opted for out-of-court settlement because the presiding judge then was Justice Ademola, a bosom pal of TOS Benson.

The point in the above narration is that unholy relationships between judges and lawyers had existed over a long period. In the same light, the recent developments are pointing to a possibility that as it was then, so it is now. While the ‘brilliant hardworking’ lawyers may know the law and its technicalities, some others only

The resolve by the federal government to end corruption in the judiciary is long overdue, laudable and commendable…The current composition of the Nigeria Judicial Council is shrouded in ‘judicial gang absolutism’. The implication of this is that the composition is somewhat confined in judicial sect that places procedures above credibility and competence

strive to know the Judge and Justices and make good capital of it. And that is it! Case settled!

Quite a lot of Nigerians were bewildered when men of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) raided the residences of some justices in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu and Calabar, during which justices Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro of the Supreme Court as well as Adeniyi Ademola, and Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Muazu Pindiga in Gombe State, Justice Samia in Sokoto State and Kabiru Auta in Kano States were taken into custody and questioned on graft related issues.

Amidst the public outcries that greeted the first of its kind anti-corruption war in Nigeria, the position of the presidency through the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu was instructive.

According to the presidency, the operation against some judicial officers was specifically targeted at corruption and not at the judiciary as an institution – an indication that government smelt rat among the affected judges.

“In a robust democracy such as ours, there is bound to be a plurality of opinions on any given issue, but there is a convergence of views that the country has a corruption problem that needs to be corrected.

“But reports by a section of the media are giving us a cause for concern. In undertaking the task of reporting, the media should be careful about the fault lines they open. It is wrong to present this incident as a confrontation between the executive and judicial arms of government.

“The presidency has received assurances from the DSS that all due processes of the law, including the possession of search and arrest warrants were obtained before the searches. To suggest that the government is acting outside the law in a dictatorial manner is to breach the interest of the state”, Garba stated.

From the above, it is clear that the President Buhari-led government, which has vowed to tackle corruption to a stand-still was fully in support of the exercise and the DSS spokesman, Abdullahi Garba also said successes were recorded during the series of the special sting operations involving some of the suspected judges of the Supreme, Appeal and Federal High Courts. The agency had hinted further that during interrogations, some of the judges made useful statements but then a few of them have denied being culpable despite evidence that was found against them in cash, documents and property.

The DSS, according to reports, recovered a total of N93, 558,000.00, $530, 087, £ 25,970 (Pounds) 5, 680 (Euro) from just three judges aside other recovered currencies, banking documents and real estate documents.

It is no news that corruption is a scourge in practically each arm of government – executive, legislature and the judiciary. Nigerians have hopelessly waited that the situation will get better and a time will come that justice will cease to be a respecter of persons. But in spite of that, the people were sharply divided over the move to look into the issue of corruption in the judiciary.

Truth is, former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Maryam Aloma Mukhtar, like other well-meaning Nigerians lamented that there are real cases of massive corruption in the judiciary which have impugned its integrity.

Just like Mukhtar, Buhari, during a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while speaking at a town hall meeting with Nigerians living in the country, said the ongoing fight against corruption in Nigeria could be effectively tackled with the strong support of the judiciary.

The president alluded to the fact that farreaching reforms of the judiciary remained a CONT’D ON NEXT PAGE

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POLITICS

THE MONDAY DISCOURSE WAR ON CORRUPTION GETS MESSIER

key priority for his administration.

“On the fight against corruption vis-à-vis the judiciary, Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now. If you reflect on what I went through for twelve years when I wanted to be the president, I attempted three times. At the fourth attempt, through God and the use of technology, it was possible for Nigerians to elect an APC candidate as president.

“In my first attempt in 2003, I ended up at the Supreme Court and for 13 months I was in court. The second attempt in 2007, I was in court close to 20 months, and in 2011, my third attempt, I was also in court for nine months”, President Buhari who believed he won the elections recounted because he lost all the cases.

While many have applauded the DSS action as one long overdue and also capable of reversing the culture of inherent corruption in the nation’s judicial system, some others see the arrest and detention of the judges as part of the dictatorial tendencies of the current government taken too far.

Even as the proponents and opponents of the anti-corruption drive argue from their different perspectives, there was a new twist to the development – the allegations by some of the affected judges that a former Rivers State governor and current Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi was behind their ordeals because he had approached them with incentives to rule in favour of the APC in Rivers, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Abia and Akwa Ibom States.

This is no doubt raising the curiosity of many discerning citizens as to the degree of innocence of the affected judicial officers in the matter.

First, it was Justice Okoro that accused Amaechi of attempting to bribe him over three election petition matters that were resolved earlier this year in a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed.

Okoro pointedly said Amaechi came to his house to inform him that both President Buhari and the APC asked him to tell him that they must win their cases in three states of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia States. Apart from alleging that the Transport Minister told him he sponsored Umana Umana for the Akwa Ibom governorship, he added that Amaechi promised him a monthly pay From Umana once the candidate is declared the winner of the election by the Supreme Court.

Shortly after Okoro, another justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ngwuta, also alleged that Amaechi and the Science and Technology Minister, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu begged him to remove Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, stressing that his predicament was because of his refusal to concede to help the APC pervert justice in the governorship election disputes involving Ekiti, Rivers and Ebonyi States.

Earlier, Justice Ademola had sent a statement to the media in which he blamed the AGF and Minister for Justice for his woes.

According to him, “A DSS official finally informed me that my arrest was based on these three allegations: petition of Hon. Jenkins Duvie dated 4th of April 2016 to the National Judicial Council (NJC); granting bail to Col. Sambo Dasuki and the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu; and using my office to secure my wife’s appointment as the head of civil service, through Senator Bola Tinubu.”

Ademola said he considers his arrest as revenge from Abubakar Malami, whose arrest and detention he ordered over a professional misconduct while he was judge in Kano between 2004 and 2008.

Damning as the allegations may be, apart from the fact that the information coming from the revered judges are belated, coming at a time they are under immense pressure, sounded more political – as a PDP-APC renewed war?

It is also more of an afterthought designed to discredit the clampdown on them and the attendant embarrassment.

Otherwise, people should be asking why they waited this long to reveal this crime. Does it not also bring to question, the possibility that the judges had been used to having curious out-of-court deals with people, who have cases before them if they had kept the allegation against Amaechi to their chests till now.

The judiciary has been a source of concern to seekers of justice over the years with many lawyers identifying loopholes in judgments of all the courts. Related to the subject matter now is that at the conclusion of litigation that trailed the Rivers State governorship election, the APC candidate, Honourable Dakuku Peterside and

Amaechi...Justice Okoro lied

Amaechi had accused Governor Nyesom Wike of influencing the outcome of the judgment of the Supreme Court.

The apex court had, on January 27, 2016, upturned the verdicts of both the election petitions tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which nullified the disputed governorship election in the state and upheld Wike as the winner of the election. Though in disagreeing, Wike said the allegations were aimed at inciting the presidency and the Nigerian Armed Forces against the people of Rivers State and the entire Niger Delta region. He dismissed the unproved accusations against him.

Nevertheless, the role played by Wike when the DSS raided Justice Mohammed Liman’s residence, believed to be in possession of $2 million in Port Harcourt, by preventing the security officers from carrying out their assignment was suspect because if the judge had nothing to fret about, there was no need to obstruct the course of justice. He could have made himself available for interrogation after all some of the other judges arrested by the DSS had been released. In fact, some of them are back on the bench now.

Expectedly, this has constituted a huge debate on the polity. First was whether or not a judge could be arrested the way the men of the DSS went about it and it was soon understood that they were not in any way insulated from investigation, interrogation, arrest and conviction. Though there are procedures, which require the intervention of the Nigerian Judiciary Commission (NJC), as people are getting to understand that the raid on the judges was a sting operation designed to nab them with evidence for prosecution, Nigerians are beginning to see the matter differently.

Addressing Okoro’s claim, the Rivers State APC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Chris Finebone said: “He claimed to have mentioned the matter to the CJN at the time but never bothered to follow the prescription of the law in such a circumstance, which required him to put it in black and white to his boss and also report to security agencies.

“In his hurry to manufacture lies, a supposed experienced Supreme Court judge conveniently forgot the provisions of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission Act 2000; 23(1) which says ‘Any public officer to whom any gratification is given, promised, or offered, in contravention of any provision of this Act, shall report such gift, promised or offer together with the name, if known, of the person who gave, promised or offered such gratification to him to the nearest officer of the commission or police officer.”

He therefore concluded that “What has become very apparent is that there were several wellorganised rehearsals by these embattled and alleged bad eggs in the judiciary to hit back at the very heartbeat of the Buhari administration as corruption fights back.

“We know that the idea is that the easiest way to hit at the very heart of a strongman is to harm his favourite offspring. Same persons who are hell bent on humiliating the PMB government continues to explore from their mischief box. They started with avenging the defeat of their man, which seems to be failing.

Now, they have turned on Amaechi and that will also fail.”

A Lagos based stock market expert, Mr. Seyi

Adeyinka, who feels that the revelations being made by the judges do not add up said: “If attempt to commit a crime is criminal; if at all it is true that anyone met the judges as they are saying, then they aided and abetted crime by keeping sealed lips till now.”

The President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Mahmoud Abubakar (SAN), last Thursday urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to order the immediate stepping down of the seven justices accused of judicial fraud.

“Our position is well known. It appears to the NBA that it is extremely important that the NJC take very urgent steps to safeguard the public image and sanctity of the courts.

We therefore strongly recommend that, without prejudice to the innocence or otherwise of the Judges involved in the ongoing investigations, they should be required to excuse themselves from further judicial functions.

“Better still, they may be required to proceed on compulsory leave until their innocence is fully and completely established or until the conclusion of all judicial or disciplinary proceedings.” Abubakar stated during valedictory service held for a judge.

For Ajulo, the way to go is to embark on an urgent overhaul of the NJC, which he said is the best way to ensure that justice does not extinct from Nigeria, considering that the current situation borders on the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary.

“The resolve by the federal government to end corruption in the judiciary is long overdue, laudable and commendable. However, this can only be achieved through total overhauling of the entire National Judicial Council, without which the anti-corruption campaign will end up in futility.

“The current composition of the Nigeria Judicial Council is shrouded in ‘judicial gang absolutism’. The implication of this is that the composition is somewhat confined in judicial sect that places procedures above credibility and competence. The composition and its process create so much room for compromise and questionable lacuna”, he argued.

He suggested the need for the creation of Investigation & Prosecution Unit in the NJC, exercising discipline on erring judicial officers which is one of the major functions of the NJC as established by extant laws.

“There should be clear-cut distinction between judicial misconducts and crime and it should be treated differently. It is advised that there should be other measures to deal with erring members apart from the ones available currently for the body, which recently has stirred up public outcry and vituperation.

“It is also imperative to conclude that the process of appointing judicial officers must be transparent, and aimed at attracting the best and committed in the Bench. The Buhari government must confront various challenges facing the judiciary and the time is now. There must be an amendment to judges appointment process, with less emphasis on litigation as a means of resolving disputes, and ensure that corruption is dealt with”, he said.

Sharing his thoughts on the threat by Amaechi to sue the judges who accused him of attempting to induce them to give favourable judgment in an online debate, author and social public analyst, Mr. Obi Nwakanma said it may be

difficult to prosecute the judges.

“As you know, Mr. Amechi’s suit will be a futile exercise, just like all these convoluted drama about trying Supreme Court judges.

There is no basis, either in the constitution or in precedence where a suit can be brought against the person of a Supreme Court Justice, either in his personal capacity or in his official capacity as a justice of the court. No court will hear the case. Secondly, the APC administration under the current precedent has embarked on a constitutional war with the institution that interprets the constitution, and it will come out extremely defanged.

“The Attorney General cannot bring a suit before the courts suing, or seeking to convict sitting justices of the Supreme Court. It would amount to an infringement of the separation of powers. The Nigerian constitution is very clear: there is only one means by which a Supreme Court justice can be removed or sanctioned: on the recommendation of the NJC, which is constituted by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

“No court is permitted by the constitution to hear a case against a sitting justice, and for as long as the Supreme Court still exists, and the NJC is constituted, Justice Inyang Okoro remains a Justice of the court, and the Attorney General has no authority to bring a suit before any court seeking his conviction either in a civil case or in a criminal case. The judges enjoy institutional immunity until the NJC, and no other body, not even the courts, recommends otherwise”, Nwakanma posited.

However the matter is resolved, the affected judges who have adjudicated in several cases now know that they are now defendants in the court of public opinion. Others too must watch their back because what is becoming glaring is that there is not likely to be sacred cows in the war against corruption in coming days.

For some state chief executives, who are currently using the opportunities of the immunity they enjoy to trample on the law, they must also be making plans for the day of reckoning; when apart from making a lot of noise, they would have to explain to Nigerians why they acted the ways they did at certain points.

Political Notes This Victory is Still Fragile!

Although the federal government would rather have it described as “technical victory”, it would, however, be delusional to not know that the victory being currently savoured against the Boko Haram is the fleeting type. Perhaps, it is the reason it is technical in nature. It may have been signed but neither sealed nor delivered.

A concerned Nigerian, last week, sent a SOS message to THISDAY on behalf of the Nigerian troops and warned about an ugly development that could possibly erode federal government’s “technical victory” over the Boko Haram sect.

Here is the warner text sent through a Short Message Service: “For the past 3 months now, troops in the North East are being starving (sic) of food and allowances. Should lions break zoo, too bad for the community. FG, be warned”.

How does a government go to town boasting about victory over a terrorist group being funded internationally and yet, allegedly leaves its troops hungry and without allowances? This had better be some foul crying by enemies of the state; it had better not be true otherwise, government will be in for a very ugly season.

If there is anything that this government has going for it now in the midst of the enveloping disappointment, it is the fact that it claims to be gaining control over Boko Harm and taking back local governments said to have been seized long ago by the anti-social group, as part of a collective plan to securing the country.

But where the troops that put their all on the line are not motivated or incentivised, government is by itself inviting the last day doom to itself – clearly! You cannot send people to the war front and leave them at the mercy of their enemies – without food and allowances?

At least, the alleged “substandard weapon” inherited from the Goodluck Jonathan government is helping to make Boko Haram retreat; it should not be difficult, therefore, for the incumbent government to ensure that their wellbeing is not in contemplation of any sort.

Above all, pray this isn’t true!

T H I S D AY MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2016

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IMAGES

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OctOber 24, 2016

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

L-R: General Manager, Gas, Shell Nigeria, Phillip Mshelbila; CEO, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Austin Avuru; Senior Technical Assistant on Gas to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Gbite Adeniji; CEO, GasInvest Ltd, David Ige; Partner, Advocaat Law Practice, Ola Alokolaro; and Dapo Otunla, Group General Counsel, Notore Chemical Industries Plc, Dapo Otunla, at the Adocaat inaugural conference on gas in Lagos... recently

L-R: Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Boff & Company Insurance Brokers Limited, Mr. Babajide Olatunde-Agbeja; special guest, Mr. Oba Otudeko; and the Deputy Commissioner (Finance & Administration), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. George Onekhena, during the 25th anniversary and unveiling of the new company identity in Lagos...recently SUNDAY ADIGUN

L-R: Brand Protection Manager, Guinness Nigeria, Mr Emmanuel Umaru; Head of Regulatory Affairs, British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), Mr Sola Dosunmu; Partner/Head, Brand Protection Technology Media and Entertainment, Jackson, Etti and Edu, Mr Obafemi Agaba; and Head of Enforcement, NAFDAC, Mr Kingsley Ejiofor, at the International Trademark Association (INTA)/Anti-Counterfeiting Collaboration (ACC) Nigeria Policy Roundtable in Lagos...recently

R-L: THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT ON MEDIA & PUBLICITY TO THE KADUNA STATE GOVERNOR, MR SAMUEL ARUWAN; HIS TECHNICAL ASSISTANTS, MEDIA & COMMUNICATION, MR PETER IBRAHIM AND NABILAH HASSAN, DURING A PRESS BRIEFING ON THE STATE GOVERNMENT’S BAN ON THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA (IMN) IN KADUNA...RECENTLY IDRIS EGAJI

L-R: Corporate Affairs & Media Relations Officer, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited, Mr. Rafiu Mohammed; Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Shepherds Limited and guest speaker, Mr. Idorenyen Enang; Group Head, Corporate Affairs, FCMB, Mr. Diran Olojo; and Head, Corporate Affairs & Media Management, Mr. Louis Ibe, during a media parley organised by FCMB for financial journalists in Lagos...recently

L-R: Members, Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA, Jide Akeredolu; Tolu Onalaja; District Governor, Rotary District 9110, Patrict Ikheloa; and President, Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA, Alhaji Aliyu Umaru, at the commissioning of a fourway test bill board/the district governor’s visit to Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA in Lagos...recently ETOP UKUTT

L-R: Director, Compliance, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Bede Obayi; Director, Corporate Affairs & SON Consult (representing DG, SON), Dr. Paul Angya; Head, Brand Protection for Africa, Unilever, Desmond Adeola; and Chairman, Anti Counterfeiting Collaboration (ACC) and Uche Nwokocha, Secretary, Anti Counterfeiting Collaboration (ACC), Uche Nwokocha, at the policy roundtable of the association...recently.

L - R; Joe Mbulu, Transformation Director; Carlos Wanderley, Head, Retail Banking; Dayo Odulate, Head, Elite & Royalty Banking; Paul Aseme, Head, Segment, Retail Banking, all of Union Bank at the bank’s official launch of the Elite Banking Segment in Lagos...recently.

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD NIBOR OVERNIGHT 1-MONTH

R A T E S

A S

3-MONTH 6-MONTH

16.625 19.8021

A T

20.2709 23.0356

NITTY 1-MONTH 2-MONTH 3-MONTH

Group Business Editor Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Email chika.amanzenwachukwu@thisdaylive.com 08033294157

O C T O B E R 16.9846 17.1103 17.3967

6-MONTH 9-MONTH 12-MONTH

2 0 , 17.8059 21.3887 21.6151

2 0 1 6

EXCHANGE RATE N304.75 / 1 US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes China Mobile Sees Profit Boost

MERITORIOUS AWARD

L-R: Deputy Managing Director, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Dr. Demola Sogunle; Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mrs. Sola DavidBorha; and Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Yinka sanni; during the All Africa Business Leaders Awards in Lagos, where DavidBorha received the Business Woman of the Year Award, West Africa 2016...recently

CBN Set to Settle $270.6m FX Futures Contract This Week Obinna Chima The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to settle OTC FX Futures contract to the tune of $270.6 million on the interbank market this Wednesday.

The transaction to be settled on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange would be the fourth futures contract to mature since the introduction of the flexible FX regime.

But analysts anticipate that the central bank would open a new futures contract expected to mature October 2017.

Afrinvest West Africa Limited, which disclosed this explained: “In the week ahead, the central bank will be settling US$270.6 million in open futures contracts maturing 26th October 2016.

ECONOMY We expect the apex bank to open a new October 2017 futures contract with a total value of $1.0bn to replace the maturing instrument.

“However, we believe rate at the parallel market will be pressured in the weeks ahead on the back of the apex bank’s decision to maintain status-quo on the suspension of 19 banks from dollar sale to BDCs, suspension of naira debit cards for FX transactions and Travelex’s inability to meet the rising foreign currency demand from BDC operators,” Afrinvest stated.

In an effort to meet part of the pent up demand for foreign exchange by critical sectors of the economy, the central

bank last week allocated $314 million to Nigerian banks for onward sale to their customers through Special Secondary Market Intervention Retail Sales (SMIS). According to a CBN source, the intervention, which was a sixty-day forwards sale, was aimed specifically at meeting the FX payment of matured obligations for the importation of agriculture and industrial raw materials, machineries and equipment as well as spare parts and ticket sale remittances for airlines.

He said in order to ensure that these sectors continue to enjoy the support of the banking system in sourcing raw materials and machinery the chief executives of deposit money banks (DMBs) signed undertakings to open new letters of credit (LCs) equivalent

to the amount of forwards receive for each of the sectors.

“Therefore, this round of sales was meant to meet both matured obligations and finance new trade LCs,” the senior CBN official had informed THISDAY. At the close of the intervention, he said the CBN received valid application (that is those that met the criteria stipulated in the circular for the auction) amounting to $814,208,535.82.

Of this amount, it intervened with the sum of $313,916,711.09.

A sectoral breakdown showed that total demand from the agriculture sector stood at $31,941,640.73, of which 61.73 per cent, or $19,718,153.67 was met by the CBN. Total demand by airlines was Continued on page 24

London Stock Exchange Provides $26bn for African Companies in 10 Years Goddy Egene The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has provided $26.1 billion for African companies in the last 10 years, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema has said.

Onyema disclosed this while speaking at the third “London & Lagos Capital Markets in Partnership’ conference held at the LSE at the weekend.

According to him, eight Nigerian companies were among those that benefitted from the international capital raising on the LSE, noting that more African companies (112)

STOCK MARKET are listed in London than any other international exchange.

The 112 companies, he said, have a combined market capitalisation in excess of $200 billion, the largest concentration of African quoted companies outside of Johannesburg.

Out of these companies, eight companies listed on London Stock Exchange Group(LSEG) markets with their primary area of business in Nigeria with a total market capitalisation of $6.5 billion.

Onyema said the collaboration between NSE and LSE has assisted in giving international

visibility to these companies.

He has therefore restated the commitment of Nigerian bourse to the collaboration.

Onyema said in November 2014, LSE Group and NSE signed a capital markets agreement aimed at supporting African companies seeking dual listings in London and Lagos.

“This made significantly more efficient the listing and trading of ordinary shares of Nigerian companies listed in London, as well as those of United Kingdom (UK) companies on the Nigerian market. Seplat, the oil and gas business, raised $500 million in an Initial public offering

(IPO) via this new mechanism in 2014, and was the first company to simultaneously dual list shares in London and Nigeria,” he said.

Also speaking, the CEO, LSE Nikhil Rathi said the conference was a reflection of the global investment community’s strong desire to be a part of the Nigeria story.

“As the world’s most international exchange, we are ideally positioned to build on the success of existing dual listings in Nigeria and London, boosting global investor awareness of the country’s Continued on page 24

China Mobile reported a strong mobile performance driven by 4G, as it noted it is at a “critical stage” in its transformation.

“There is a relatively high demand for resources from various fronts including the growth of 4G business, the development of wireline broadband as well as the deployment of digital services,” it said.

It also said it had “proactively enhanced cost efficiency across its operations, deepened transformation of its sales and marketing model, and promoted more efficient use of resources”.

The company’s strong performance contrasts with that of closest rival China Unicom, which is struggling with profitability.

At 30 September, the world’s largest operator had 844 million customers, compared with 837 million at 30 June. Of these, 481 million were 4G customers, up from 429 million. That’s a jump in its 4G subscriber base from 51 per cent of total customers to 57 per cent.

China Mobile has sped up the migration to flat-rate packages, in a move to adjust tariffs “in a balanced and orderly manner”.

The company also said it has “continued with its endeavours to steadily develop its wireline business using a high-end approach, with a focus on boosting network speed and targeted development”.

For the nine months to 30 September 2016, the operator reported a net profit of $13 billion, up 3.1 per cent year-on-year, on revenue up 4.3 per cent.

Apple’s Battle Rages On

Four Australian banks accused Apple of seeking exclusive use of the country’s network of Near Future Communications (NFC) terminals for iOS devices.

The allegation featured in a joint statement made by Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country’s antitrust regulator.

The banks account for three of the country’s four largest banks.

Earlier this year, the four applied to the ACCC, the country’s antitrust regulator, for permission to negotiate collectively with Apple over access to Apple Pay. In the meantime, the four banks have put out a statement to counter “incorrect and potentially misleading submissions” made to the ACCC by their opponents.

The banks argue by wanting to lock out any independent access to the NFC function on its devices, Apple aims to gain exclusive access to the network of NFC-based terminals in retailers across Australia.

“Yet, this infrastructure was built and paid for by Australian banks and merchants for the benefit of all Australians,” said the statement.

In addition, the banks attack Apple’s claim that providing access to NFC on iOS devices would weaken security or customer experience. They said Android, Windows and BlackBerry devices all offer access to NFC “in line with global standards of security for contactless payments set out by the card schemes.”

Vendors: Middle East to Lead 5G

Major vendors like Nokia, Huawei and Qualcomm want to put the Middle East on a global stage for launch of 5G services, stressing the need for close partnerships across the ecosystem and improved access to spectrum to ensure the region can compete with Asia and US and deploy networks by 2020.

To date, most operators in Asia and the US have been most bullish on plans to launch 5G by the end of this decade. But with recent developments, it became apparent that the Middle East doesn’t want to get left behind.

PublicSectorBusinessDevelopmentEMEA,fromNokiaAdvanced Mobile Network Solutions, Noel Kirkaldy, cited the Dubai Expo2020 as a target event for launch of 5G services in the Middle East, followed by the Qatar World Cup in 2022. This 2020 time frame has previously been more closely associated with Docomo’s efforts to launch 5G in Japan at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.

“We have some key timelines we need to work towards in the Middle East,” said Kirkaldy. He explained that spectrum would undoubtedly be a major issue with launch of 5G services.

“We don’t offer grants. We give access to our members. We have more than three million companies, which make us the largest business federation in the world” Director for Policy in Africa at the United States Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Leila Ndiaye

24

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD CBN SET TO SETTLE $270.6M FX FUTURES CONTRACT THIS WEEK

$216,738,717.57, of which 31.91 per cent, or $69,164,224.83 was met; demand for machinery stood at $167,638,045.08, of which 65.09 per cent, or $109,117,686.71 was met; and demand for raw materials of $397,890,132.44, of which 29.13 per cent, or $115,916,711.09 was met.

In fulfilment of its pledge to fund forward sales under the flexible FX regime, the CBN also guaranteed letters of credit (LCs) for importers to ship in required goods.

A statement from the acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor had explained that the move by the CBN to settle the 60-day forward sales would further ease pressure on the naira and improve market liquidity.

The naira closed at N455 to the dollar on the parallel market on Friday. However, on the interbank FX market, the spot rate of the naira closed at N455 to the dollar on Friday.

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE PROVIDES $26BN FOR AFRICAN COMPANIES IN 10 YEARS

exciting growth trajectory.

Our strong partnership with the NSE allows us a unique opportunity to showcase the rapid developments in Nigerian capital markets and the Nigerian economy,” Rathi said.

In his speech, United Kingdom Minister of State for International Trade, Greg Hands said:”I know from my own time in Nigeria that the UK and Nigeria have long enjoyed a close and prosperous business relationship. The UK is one of Nigeria’s largest investors and the Government is committed to boosting trade between our two countries.

We are actively helping British companies export to Nigeria and Nigerian businesses to locate and expand in the UK. I welcome this initiative as a further step to deepen the commercial links between our nations.”

Group Business Editor

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Crusoe Osagie

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) Linda Eroke (Labour) Eromosele Abiodun (Maritime) Ejiofor Alike (Energy) James Emejo (Nation’s Capital) Obinna Chima (Money Mkt) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (AgriBusiness)

NEWS

Experts List Measures to Address Solid Waste in Nigeria Emma Okonji Experts in environmental waste management have called on the federal government to consider proper waste management solution system for the country, while listing measures that could address the challenge of solid waste.

The experts raised concern that the increase in population, urbanisation and industrialisation, is creating challenge for solid waste management in Nigeria, insisting that the situation may worsen, if not tackled on time.

A group of experts from Intermarc Consulting, who raised the alarm, said contributory factors to the challenge include inadequate regulatory framework that has manifested in lack of interest of private sector investment in service delivery; uncoordinated institutional functions; low political will, low capacity to discharge duties; poor data for planning; wrong attitude of waste generators among others.

They therefore demanded for good waste management services for public health and environmental protection.

The Chief Executive Officer of Intermarc Consulting, Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemi, who led the group, said: “There is no national waste management plan in Nigeria and if any is available in any of the states it is likely it will not be substantial. Recently, a draft policy on Municipal and Agricultural Wastes was reviewed in 2011.

It is hoped that the policy

will lead to development of a comprehensive legislation and possibly a plan that will address the issue of waste management in the country.”

He said one major challenge in Nigeria is the enforcement and implementation of policy.

Waste management, he said, remained a growing industry in Nigeria as all stakeholders have consistently continued to worry on how to achieve a “Clean Nigeria” in a manner that is economically viable as a business.

In order to further proffer solution to waste management in Nigeria, Adeyemi said Intermarc has decided to

organise a conference on waste management, with a view to sensitising government and the Nigerian populace on the dangers of solid waste.

“The objective of the conference is therefore how to ensure that Nigeria’s major cities are ranked among the cleanest cities in Africa. This ambition is developed on the back of the September 2015 sustainable development goals 6, which aims to ensure availability and sustainable sanitation for all , among other things as well as 1992 Rio declaration on environment and development,” Adeyemi said.

According to him, the SDG

could only be met within the framework of revitalised global partnerships for sustainable development. However, such partnership may be elusive without cohesive nationally sustainable development strategies supported by national frameworks.

The National Waste Management Conference therefore reiterates the need for national policy as well as enforcement as a way to engender national stakeholder partnership for the overall agenda of the SDGs with the primary objective of stimulating action in the areas of critical importance such as achieving access to adequate

equitable sanitation and hygiene for all to end open defecation by 2030.

At the corporate level, given increasing tons of waste, there has been a review of available policy options with conclusion that placing the responsibility for the consumer phase of certain goods on producers could be an option. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) was therefore conceptualised as the policy approval under which producers are given a significant responsibility, financial and or physical, for the treatment or disposal of post- consumer products, Adeyemi said.

WORTHY OF RECOGNITION

L-R: Executive Secretary PTAD, Barr. Sharon Ikeazor being presented with a plaque by the Ag. Chairman EFCC Mr. Ibrahim Magu at a meeting in Abuja ...recently

‘Merging Biometric Capturing NPA: LADOL Can Help FG End Forex Scarcity with BVN will Boost current efforts to check stakeholders’ dialogue to Eromosele Abiodun Pensioners’ Verification’ the lingering scarcity of address all the lingering Verification of Lagos State pensioners will soon witness a boost as the biometric capturing in the ongoing exercise will be merged with Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) for easy withdrawal of pensions.

The Consultant to the Lagos State verification exercise, Mr. Taiwo Popoola, said that with the merger, retirees would only need to thumbprint in their banks to withdraw pensions.

Popoola, of the Taiwo Popoola and Co., said that frequent pensioners verification had been due to inability to generate biometric information that could be used to verify pensioners’ banking transactions.

He also blamed constant verification on failure of relatives to report death of retirees. The consultant said that there was a database for Lagos State pensioners but it needed to be cleansed regularly due to lack of biometric information.

“This exercise will capture biometrics and obtain BVN to trigger validation. Provision of BVN is critical to this assignment,’’ Popoola said.

According to him, about 9,000 Lagos State pensioners are participating in the exercise going on in selected local government secretariats.

Popoola said that provision was made to seat the retirees comfortably under a controlled environment.

“We provided sequence numbering to avoid stampede. Government hospitals close to verification centres were put on alert to provide prompt ambulance service, if required,’’ he said.

Meanwhile some of the retirees have hailed the state government for putting in place logistics to make the verification easy.

They expressed satisfaction that the government provided seats and sequence numbering as well as made arrangements for ambulances.

For instance, Mrs. Veronica Edoh disclosed that at a verification centre in Surulere Local Government Secretariat that provision of a hall with enough seats for the pensioners prevented collapse of the retirees while queuing.

She, however, called for a reduction in the number of times pensioners would be verified, adding that the government should ensure timely payment of retirees’ entitlements.

“Only a part of my entitlement was paid during Fashola’s administration; I was hoping I would get the remaining balance after we did the November, 2015 verification and another in June, 2016,’’ she said.

Another retiree, Mr. Adebola Babajide, also commended the seating arrangement, saying that it saves lives.

Babajide, however, said that the process of verification was slow.

Chairman of the board of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) Emmanuel Adesoye Olajide has stated that the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL), can generate foreign exchange to assist the federal government in checking the lingering foreign exchange challenges currently facing the country.

He stated this when he and members of the board of directors of the NPA visited the Apapa port-based logistic service provider on facility assessment.

LADOL base, a 100 per-cent indigenous-owned facility is currently playing host to the first-of-its-kind integration of a $3.8 billion Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil platform, otherwise known as Egina project.

The visiting team, which comprised the board members and accompanied by seven general managers of NPA where received in audience by the Managing Director of the logistics base, Dr. Amy Jadesmi.

Describing LADOL as a huge investment that is generating job opportunities as well as revenue base for the economy, he said LADOL is vital to government’s

foreign exchange that has hit the country.

According to him, “I am greatly impressed by what I have seen here which shows that there is hope for the country…the fact that you have a facility here that is the only one of such in Africa, and a foreign exchange-earner, it makes it a win-win situation and a seller for the president.

“The president needs people and organisations that can generate forex at this critical time…and you are one of them, hence we must make sure that what we have seen here goes directly to the table of Mr. President,” he said.

Olajide described LADOL as a unique organisation and assured that the board would do all that was necessary in order to ensure a level playing field for all operators in the industry to strive.

The chairman, who was responding to earlier calls by the LADOL boss, Jadesimi, that only a healthy competition in a level playing field would guarantee efficiency of service delivery in the industry pointed out that NPA was concerned about reducing costs hence it would convene a

issues.

“What you are doing here is huge and you a changing the games…so you can’t do that without a fight. But that is where resilience comes in…and this is where we as the board come in to ensure a level-playing field where everybody can co-exist. As NPA, we are much concerned about the need to reduce cost in order to attract more foreign investors into the system such that can impact on the revenue of NPA and the federal government,” he said.

In her presentation, Jadesimi noted that aside from being the only indigenous service provider in the sector, LADOL also boast of being the only logistics service provider in the oil and gas sector that currently operates the most modern blasting and painting technology in Africa.

“As a fact, we also parade other main distinguishing factors such as our unique quay wall and draft capacity of 500 meters that can handle a 35 tons entity.

There is currently no dry dock facility in Africa to handle an FPSO vessel, except LADOL” she said.

25

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

MARKET REPORT

Equities Market Bearish as Investors Adopt Cautious Trading Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie The Nigerian equities market was characterised by cautious trading as investors await third quarter corporate performance of companies. Following the cautious trading, lower volume and value of trade were recorded while the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) AllShare Index (ASI) fell by 0.95 per cent to close at 27,596.82 compared with a marginal growth recorded the previous week. Market capitalisation closed lower at N9.479 trillion. The market recorded declines in four out of five trading days of the week, to bring the year-to-date decline to 3.65 per cent.

Apart from the ASI, all other indices finished lower during the week with the exception of the NSE Industrial Goods Index that appreciated by 0.52 per cent.

The NSE Industrial Goods Index appreciated by 0.52 per cent. But the NSE Oil & Gas Index recorded the highest decline of 2.98 per cent following losses by Forte Oil Plc (12.2 per cent), Oando Plc (2.1 per cent) and Eterna Oil Plc (1.0 per cent).

Consumer Goods Index followed with a decline of 1.94 per cent as a result of loss suffered by Cadbury Nigeria (16.2 per cent); Guinness Nigeria (3.6 per cent) and Nigerian Breweries Plc (2.5 per cent). Similarly the NSE Insurance Index and NSE Banking Index fell by 0.64 per cent and 0.50 per cent in that order.

Daily Market Performance Summary Last Monday, the market opened on a bearish note as huge sell offs in bellwethers across sectors – Nigerian Breweries (-3.1 per cent), Forte Oil Plc (-5.0 per cent) and Zenith (-2.0 per cent) - dragged the benchmark index 0.81 per cent lower to close at 27,634.99.

Similarly, market capitalisation shed N77.6 billion to close at N9.5 trillion. Activity level in the market was mixed as volume traded improved 15.8 per cent while value traded declined 49.2 per cent to close at 255.8 million units and N778.4 million respectively.

Performance across sectors was bearish as all indices closed in red except for the NSE Insurance index, that rose by 0.1 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index declined the most followed by the NSE Consumer Goods Index.

The bearish trend was sustained on Tuesday with the NSE ASI declining by 0.29 per cent to close at 27,555.31 The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NSE ASI) depreciated by 0.29 per cent to close at 27,555.31, compared with the depreciation of 0.81 per cent recorded the previous day. The depreciation recorded in the share prices of Diamond Bank, Cadbury, UAC of Nigerian, Seplat and GTBank were responsible for the loss recorded in the NSE ASI. This negative performance was broadly driven by sell pressure on Seplat (-5.0 per cent), ETI (-2.6 per cent), Guinness (-3.9 per cent) and Nestle (-0.7 per cent). Consequently, market capitalization dipped N27.4 billion to settle at N9.5 trillion.

Similar to the previous trading session, performance across sectors was bearish as all indices closed in the red save for the Industrial Goods index which rose 0.3 per cent

on account of bargain hunting in Lafarge Africa Plc(+0.8 per cent).

The market recorded its third consecutive decline on Wednesday as the NSE ASI fell by 0.28 per cent to close at 27,478.04. Similarly, the market capitalisation depreciated by 0.28 per cent to close at N9.44 trillion. The depreciation recorded in the share prices of Forte Oil, Dangote Sugar, Cadbury, Oando and Zenith Bank were responsible for the negative performance.

Just as the previous two trading sessions, sectoral performance showed negative in all except the NSE Industrial Goods Index which rose 0.3 per cent driven by bargain hunting in Lafarge Africa. The NSE Oil & Gas Index fell by 3.0 per cent, while the NSE Insurance Index went down by 0.2 per cent.

Similarly, the NSE Consumer Goods and Banking indices dipped 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent in that order.

Thursday was the only day the market recorded a positive performance last week as appreciation recorded in the share prices of GTBank, Seplat, UBA, Oando and Access Bank lifted the NSE ASI to close 0.44 per cent higher.

However, the rebound witnessed in the market on Thursday could not be sustained on the Friday, which was the last trading day for the week. The market remained flat as the NSE ASI closed at 27.596.82.

The total value of stocks traded on Friday fell by 83 per cent to N656 billion, from N4.01 trillion the previous day, while the total volume of stocks traded was 70.93 million in 1,973 deals.

Market turnover for the week stood at 674.721 million shares worth N7.657 billion in 12,290 deals compared with a total of 1.163 billion shares valued at N9.251 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 14,992 deals. The Financial

TOP TEN BROKERS(BY VALUE)

Services Industry led the activity chart with 495.992 million shares valued at N2.767 billion traded in 6,522 deals; thus contributing 73.51 per cent and 36.14 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 80.885

AS AT LAST FRIDAY

BROKER

VALUE % VALUE

STANBIC IBTC STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

2,653,015,391.64

14.33

CHAPEL HILL DENHAM SECURITIES LTD - BRD

2,576,651,781.08

13.92

CSL STOCKBROKERS LIMITED A.R.M SECURITIES LIMITED - BRD

1,655,716,362.97 1,398,658,943.18

8.94 7.56

EFCP LIMITED

1,152,503,998.75

6.23

RENCAP SECURITIES (NIG) LIMITED

995,361,476.80

5.38

FBN SECURITIES LIMITED

937,546,407.54

5.06

AFRICAN ALLIANCE STOCKBROKERS LTD

872,955,461.47

4.72

EDC SECURITIES LIMITED

427,030,835.36

2.31

371,420,808.59 13,040,861,467.38

2.01 70.45

CARDINALSTONE SECURITIES LIMITED

TOP TEN BROKERS

(BY VOLUME)

BROKER CHAPEL HILL DENHAM SECURITIES LTD - BRD

AS LAST FRIDAY VOLUME

%VOLUME

599,698,268

25.78

FBN SECURITIES LIMITED

175,996,076

7.57

STANBIC IBTC STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

155,242,018

6.67

CSL STOCKBROKERS LIMITED RENCAP SECURITIES (NIG) LIMITED

93,031,770 87,527,993

4.00 3.76

CARDINALSTONE SECURITIES LIMITED

86,061,427

3.70

REWARD INVESTMENT AND SERVICES LIMITED

84,742,994

3.64

A.R.M SECURITIES LIMITED - BRD

76,377,688

3.28

INVESTMENT ONE STOCKBROKERS INTL LTD-BRD

57,919,502

2.49

ELIXIR SECURITIES LIMITED

56,256,112

2.42

1,472,853,848

63.32

million shares worth N95.212 million in 536 deals. The third place was occupied by the Construction/Real Estate Industry with a turnover of 32.484 million shares worth N18.498 million in 70 deals. Trading in the top three equities namely – Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc accounted for 263.199 million shares worth N1.033 billion in 637 deals, contributing 39.01 per cent and 13.49 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Also traded during the week were a total of 10,779 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N63,890.18 executed in 22 deals, compared with a total of 119,743 units valued at N600,589.51 transacted the previous week in 25 deals.

Similarly, a total of 1,700 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N1.518 million were traded in 1 deal compared to a total of 1,510 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N1.558 million transacted two weeks ago in one deal.

Gainers and losers Meanwhile, the price movement chart showed 16 gainers, which is lower than 22 equities of the previous week. Conversely, 38 equities depreciated in price, lower than 42 equities of the previous week, while 126 equities remained unchanged.

Caverton led the price gainers, rising by 13.1 per cent. The stock had similarly led the gainers the previous week.

N.E.M Insurance Plc followed with a gain of 5.0 per cent, just as Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc and Wema Bank Plc rose by 4.8 per cent apiece. Beta Glass Plc and GTBank Plc appreciated by 3.3 apiece.

Other top price gainers included: Skye Bank Plc(3.2 per cent); Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc (3.0 per cent); Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc (2.1 per cent ) and Learn Africa Plc (1.6 per cent).

Conversely, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, which led the price losers, shedding 16.2 per cent trailed by GSK Nigeria Plc with 14.1 per cent. A.G Leventis Plc fell by 12.9 per cent, while Forte Oil Plc and NAHCO declined by 12.2 per cent and 11.5 per cent in that order.

Ashaka Cement Plc and E-Tranzact went down by 9.7 per cent and 9.5 per cent respectively. Other top price losers included: ETI(9.1 per cent) and Livestock Feeds Plc (7.2 per cent).

26

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

INSIDE BROAD STREET

A view of Lagos financial district

AKINWUNMI IBRAHIM

Overnight Lending Rate Crashes on Cash Inflows Obinna Chima The overnight tenor of the Nigerian Interbank Offered Rates (NIBOR) fell on Friday after the central bank repaid matured treasury bills and cash meant for government’s capital projects reached the system, traders said.

Overnight lending rates fell to 11 per cent, below the central bank’s benchmark 14 per cent, from 15.5 percent the previous day.

Rates had risen above 100 percent at the start of the week because of a central bank dollar auction, Reuters reported.

Traders said the bank repaid about N138.7 billion in matured treasury bills on Thursday to boost liquidity. They also said the market was flush with cash after the central bank sold fewer dollars than expected and returned excess naira.

The central bank sold $313 million at a special auction meant to clear a backlog of dollar demand .

Furthermore, traders said an unspecified amount of naira was released on Friday to fund government spending on capital projects and that additional inflows was expected before the end on the day.

Nevertheless, the NIBOR is expected to reduce further in the coming days as inflows from federation allocation to the three tiers of government for the month of September that was shared last Thursday hit the banking system.

The sum of N420 billion was approved for sharing at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in last Thursday.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, of the net statutory allocation, the federal government got the highest sum of N120.351 billion, states N61.044 billion while local governments received N47.062 billion. The sum of N13.729 billion went to oil producing states as their share of 13 per cent derivation.

MARKET INDICATOR Meanwhile, the drag in system liquidity on the back of banks’ provisioning for FX forwards auction kept open buy back (OBB) and overnight lending rates at triple digits at the start of the week. However, the refunds for unsuccessful bids at the auction in addition to inflow from maturing treasury bills improved system liquidity levels.

Afrinvest West Africa Limited in its analysis of events in the interbank Naira market last week, showed that with aggregate system liquidity at N84 billion deficit at the start of the week, OBB and overnight rates rose 21.7 and 16.7 percentage points to close at 125 per cent and 128.5 per cent respectively last Monday, remaining at last week’s triple digits close.

Liquidity remained tight on Tuesday with rates at high levels; however, OBB and overnigh rates reversed uptrend by mid-week as both declined significantly by 132.8 and 133.0 percentage points to 18.9 per cent and 20.5 per cent respectively due to impact of the refunds for unsuccessful bids at the FX forwards auction which bolstered financial system liquidity.

In addition, the inflow of net N138.2 billion in treasury bills maturities last Thursday further improved system liquidity, resulting in a 4.1 per cent and five per cent decline in OBB and overnight rates to close at 14.8 per cent and 15.5 per cent last Thursday.

But activities in the treasury bills market started the week on a bearish note as sell sentiment was evident on the back of pressured financial system liquidity. Average treasury bills rate moved in similar mode to interbank money market rates as it inched higher in the first two trading sessions of the week but declined towards the end of the week

on the back of a treasury bills maturity of N138.2 billion, closing at 17 per cent last Friday, down 62 basis points week-on-week.

“In the week ahead, we expect the inflow of circa N200 billion in FAAC allocation to improve system liquidity and expect money market rates to moderate from current levels.

However, there is a high probability the CBN will react by mopping up excess liquidity through OMO auctions in pursuance of its tightening objective,” Afrinvest analysts estimated.

Forex Market In a move similar to the special secondary market intervention auction of $4.1billion in forwards commitment held in June to clear pent-up FX demands, the CBN sold circa $313 million worth of two months forwards at rates ranging from N310/$ to N350/$1 in a special intervention auction the preceding Friday.

The dollar forwards auction was targeted at clearing backlogs of FX demands from agriculture and agro-allied businesses, airlines and manufacturers amongst others. In line with past trend, the naira remained stable at the interbank market lasr week as it firmed 1.2 per cent week-on-week, strengthening to N304.75/$ last Friday from N307.77/$ the previous week. Nonetheless, persistent interventions by the CBN with dollar sales at the interbank segment as well as tight foreign inflows continues to pressure the external reserves as it currently sits at $23.9 billion from $26.4 billion as at the first half of 2016.

At the parallel market, the naira/dollar exchange rate remained stable at N455/$1 on all trading days of the week save for Tuesday when it appreciated to N453/$ as Travelex continues to provide an alternative source of dollar supply for travelers and licensed Bureau-De-Change operators.

Keystone Bank, Town Planning way, Ilupeju, Lagos Nume Ekeghe Situated at the intersection leading to the highway, this branch is very big and is not a sight to overlook. Its exterior and banking hall are equally big.The banking hall on the day of this investigation was very clean, beautifully decorated with balloons and had a friendly

atmosphere.

Inside the banking hall, towards the right was a customer service personnel and a little to the left were three tellers attending to all banking transactions. At the time of this observation, there were not a lot of customers at this branch and yet the tellers were very slow in attending to both deposit and withdrawal transactions.

The customer service personnel was also slow and he was constantly leaving his seat to attend to other issues thereby keeping the customers waiting. He was however polite to the customers and apologised for his actions.

Also, the only ATM machine this branch had was not working. The management is therefore advised to improve on its service delivery.

In the futures market, the OTC FX Futures contracts calendar as at October 21, 2016, showed value of open contracts at $3.7 billion as investors continue to take advantage of the attractive prices of instruments on offer.

In fulfilment of its pledge to fund forward sales under the flexible FX regime, the CBN last week disclosed plans to within the next few months, fund the 60-day forward sales and request from the agricultural, aviation, machinery and raw materials sectors, thus guaranteeing letters of credit (LCs) for importers to ship in required goods.

A four-paragraph statement from the acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor confirmed that the CBN would fund the requests from the various sectors in the secondary market interbank thereby giving a boost to the importation of required goods for the overall development of the economy.

Okorafor explained that importers in the agricultural sector would be getting the largest percentage allocation of 62 percent of their requests, while importers of machinery would receive 53 per cent of their requests. Other sectors to receive allotments are the airlines, which will have 32 percent of their request settled, as well as the importers of raw materials. According to him, the move by the CBN to settle the 60-day forward sales amounting to over $300 million would further ease pressure on the naira and improve market liquidity.

Bond Market Sentiment in the domestic bonds market was mixed but largely bearish last week as investors reacted to the release of September inflation numbers last Friday - which indicated a 17.9 per cent year-on-year rise in Headline Inflation - in addition to decreased system liquidity, Afrinvest stated.

The market started off the week bearish but sentiment turned bullish mid-week following improvement in liquidity. Weakened sentiment for long-duration bonds last Friday however sent prices down at the long end of the curve.

On week-on-week basis, yields on benchmark bonds trimmed one basis points on average to 15.1 per cent on Friday driven mainly by a rally on short and medium tenor bonds, while yields rose at the long end of the curve. In the short term, we imagine that investors in the local bonds market will continue to price in current inflation and inflation expectations in their valuation of bonds instrument; as such, expecting yields to remain at current level as inflationary pressure subsides and MPC holds off on further hike in interest rate.

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Ndiaye: Nigeria Firms that Succeed Have Potential to Expand in Africa With increased focus on business opportunities in Nigeria and other African countries, the United States recently established the U.S.-Africa Business Center.

The Director for Policy in Africa at the United States Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Leila Ndiaye, in this interview with Obinna Chima, spoke about the objectives of the initiative as well as its capacity to enhance bilateral trade between African countries and the U.S. Excerpts: We promote entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship comes with a spirit. So, it is something that you need to have within your system, to build and create jobs. I don’t have anything about people’s inheritance, that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about money coming from the government, money laundering.You have to be a real entrepreneur.

And any company with government funding cannot be part of the U.S. Chamber

Ndiaye What is the objective of the U.S-Africa Business Center ?

The objective is to increase bilateral trade between the U.S. and Africa. The other objective is to make that American companies are being understood and take part in the emerging Africa. That is because everywhere you go today, they talk about emerging Nigeria and emerging Africa. So, we want to be part of this emerging trend. But most importantly, we want African companies and business leaders to sit down on the same table with American companies and tell them how to do business with Africa as well as how they can together, partner to do business. It is either we help them do business in America or together they do business as partners. We have realised a long time ago that Africa is an untapped market.

We know that Africa is not just one country, it is made up of 54 countries, compared with a lot of people who think Africa is one country. We know that Nigeria is the biggest market, etc. But, how is it that we can help? It is a win-win situation because we want to make money, and you (African businesses) also want to make money. But it comes with very favourable investment climate, it comes with the know-how of the market. But only you can tell me how to do business in your country , just as I am the only one that can tell you how to do

business in my country. So, that is a win-win.

But why did the Chamber come up with this initiative when we had the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), or has AGOA failed?

AGOA didn’t fail. But one can say that

The first thing we are concerned about is the Foreign Practice Act. So, you can be as wealthy as you want, but you have to pass some criteria. If you never worked in your life, and because your father was a Governor, and he stole money and gave you a company, you can be the wealthiest person on earth, but you can never be a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

it didn’t reach its full potential. And both sides did not benefit from it. You have to understand that AGOA has more than 6,000 products that can enter the U.S. free of taxes, back and forth. But people are not aware of that. Only a handful of companies in Nigeria and everywhere in Africa, really benefitted. We have extended AGOA for another 10 years. So, we must focus on what is beyond AGOA. We established this center because we are proactive. We launched it last December. We advocated strongly for AGOA, we did the same for the American-EXIM Bank and as you can recall, last July, it was history. Some people had to fight so that the Congress would re-authorise what the U.S. Chamber can do.

So, what we did was to make sure that we can do business in a very sane environment between both regions.

Does the Chamber have specific criteria for organisations or even individuals that intend to join the center?

You know, we never had any African company as a member of the U.S Chamber.

But we have opened the door for African companies. The first thing we are concerned about is the Foreign Practice Act. So, you can be as wealthy as you want, but you have to pass some criteria. If you never worked in your life, and because your father was a

Governor, and he stole money and gave you a company, you can be the wealthiest person on earth, but you can never be a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We promote entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship comes with a spirit. So, it is something that you need to have within your system, to build and create jobs. I don’t have anything about people’s inheritance, that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about money coming from the government, money laundering.

You have to be a real entrepreneur. And any company with government funding cannot be part of the U.S. Chamber.

What about a company that got its seed capital through government funding and after some years it developed capacity and has been sustaining itself, is such a firm not qualified to be a member of the Chamber?

If you are a company, and you participated in a bid and for example, the government gives you licence to import rice, we won’t say know to such a company. But if you create your company and its revenues come from government, we cannot accept such a company.

We have to make sure that everything is clean. Then, you have to understand the philosophy. The philosophy is the triple ‘A’ solution, which is - we advocate on your behalf, we advice you and we give you access. But the access tag we give you is unthinkable. At the government level, the private sector level, we host approximately 130 delegations in a year at the Chamber.

There is no Head of State in this world that comes into Washington to meet the Department of States, President Obama or any U.S. government official, without stopping at the U.S. Chamber. This is because that is where CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

NDIAYE: NIGERIA FIRMS THAT SUCCEED HAVE POTENTIAL TO EXPAND IN AFRICA Last year, we hosted President Muhammadu Buhari during his first official visit and we had more than 400 people in a room. That tells you how Nigeria is portrayed and how much the U.S. private sector is involved. So, we give you access, we advise you and we wish you goodluck. Not goodluck in a way that we want to get rid of you. That is because we would be there with you until we make sure you find a solution

the same. Procter & Gamble has more than 300 hundred products in Africa. These are American products. Where I agree with you is that we didn’t hear much about the U.S in areas such as infrastructure as much as lately, the Chinese. That is where I think the Chinese have made so much noise by building railroads, bridges, etc, across Africa. Maybe that is why some have the feeling that the U.S has not been present. But the U.S has always been present. But we want to do more infrastructure because there cannot be any development if there is lack of infrastructure.

We have started with the programme, Power Africa. We need electricity in Africa and the U.S. has taken the step. So, we want to be more present in things that people see and feel. So, we want to be more involved in all sectors and we want to help Africa move from raw materials to develop the value chain processes in Africa. Why is it that Africa will always sell its coffee or cocoa as a raw material to the West? Why can’t they be processed into finished products, using our technology and sell in the African market? These are the things we want to be involved in.

the economy of America resides. That is where the dollars really reside.

Does the center offer grants to members?

We don’t offer grants. We give access to our members. We have more than three million companies whichmake us the largest business federation in the world. Consider the U.S. Chamber to be like the federal Chamber.

Beneath us, you have 2,800 Chambers, both local and regional. Then, we have Chambers all over the world totaling 117. So, that is the network. We don’t give grant to anybody because we are not a bank. We are a policy shop. But we give access to where the resources can be, because we advice you and we open the door for you. Now, if your product is bankable, of course, we would look for who is interested within our members and it would be your responsibility to do your business pitch. However, I will make sure that you get to the right person or partner. I can give you an example of a success story of a company. We talked about AGOA, now we are talking about funding and how you do things. There is a company from Senegal that is in agro-business. It was the only company in the country that was really doing huge volumes in terms of refines, jams, juices in America, coming from the West Coast. She is a member of the U.S. Chamber and actually the second African companies that joined the Chamber. Exactly five months ago, we invited the President of Afreximbank. He came, they sat down and discussed. She is already in five states and our plan was for her to go to Walmart. Walmart is my member.

I want her to be in Whole Foods, which is also my member. Walmart has 700 stores in Africa, but not with the name Walmart and I want her to be in at least 20 of those stores.

We sat down, we looked at the products.

She was exporting to the U.S via AGOA, a member of the Chamber. Ninety per cent of her employees are women, 10 per cent are deaf people and so she is like socially responsible. And the Afreximbank promised to take the business to the next level. It took him just two hours to instruct his people to invest $15 million into this company for the lady to double her capacity of production.

That is what we do. So, when a Head of State comes and if you are our member, you have the opportunity for one-on-meetings. There, you can address your priorities. Last year, we hosted President Muhammadu Buhari during his first official visit and we had more than 400 people in a room. That tells you how Nigeria is portrayed and how much the U.S. private sector is involved. So, we give you access, we advice you and we wish you goodluck. Not goodluck in a way that we want to get rid of you. That is because we would be there with you until we make sure you find a solution. But, I will never instruct a bank.

So, what does it take to be a member?

First of all, at the national level in the

Ndiaye U.S, you just need to be registered in the U.S, no matter the size of your company.

But if you are an international, then we have different programmes. There is the international division with all the different continents represented. I represent Africa as the Director. But there is a Know-YourCustomer (KYC) procedure that I do. KYC is very important. As someone with African origin, I want the best for my continent. I want to show America the best from my continent. So, I want the best entreprenuers who can roll their sleeves with Americans.

For me, that is how I see emerging Africa.

If you are the CEO of Dangote, Zenith Bank or any company from Africa, you should be able to sit down with the CEO of Procter and Gamble and agree on what they want to do together.

I think there have been a misrepresentation of the presence of U.S. businesses in Africa. A company like Procter and Gamble or even General Electric. General Electric has been in Africa for over 100 years. The U.S private sector businesses have always been here. I always laugh because I tell people that there is no village where you don’t find gillete blade, which is made by Procter & Gamble. When you want to search for information on your phone, what do you use? Google. So, Africans consume America everyday. From Microsoft when you turn on your computer, from using using Google, you are creating jobs both sides (Africa and America), you use Facebook, you do

Presently, how many Nigerian companies do you have as members?

We cannot say, but we have considerable number. For Nigeria, what I like to do is to create a specific programme to be called the U.S-Nigeria CEO dialogue, which would be a specific Programme for Nigeria. It would take place in the first quarter of 2017 and by then I hope to have gotten more members from Nigeria, so that they can participate. It is also for us to have medium-sized and large sized American companies in the meeting. But at the first edition of the programme, I will just go with the top 10 Nigerian companies and top 20 or top 50 US companies.

For Nigeria, what I like to do is to create a specific programme to be called the U.S-Nigeria CEO dialogue, which would be a specific programme for Nigeria.

It would take place in the first quarter of 2017 and by then I hope to have gotten more members from Nigeria, so that they can participate. It is also for us to have mediumsized and large sized American companies in the meeting. But at the first edition of the programme, I will just go with the top 10 Nigerian companies and top 20 or top 50 US companies

Top 10 in terms of what?

In terms of the longevity of the company, turnover and as I said before, it has to be a company with a success story and a representative of the private sector. That is because any company that succeeds in Nigeria, should be able to spread or expand to Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, etc, and we can help. The company I talked about in Senegal, today, her products are on the shelves in Ivory Coast, Gambia, Burkina Faso, and every where. But how did it start?

It started with the meeting she had with us.

But why did it take the U.S this long to integrate businesses in Africa?

Currency is a major part of trade and we have FX controls in some countries in Africa. How does the Chamber assist its members in areas such as FX, Customs as well as the issue of multiple taxation faced by businesses in Africa?

We do and I will give you some examples.

Firstly, you know that you have the Common External Tarriff (CET) in ECOWAS. One morning I recieved an e-mail from one of our members about that. Secondly, there was a specific product that the tax was supposed to be 10 per cent, we sent our material to this country, and suddenly they said it was 35 per cent. That souldn’t have been because they have a common tarriff. So, I looked at it and said that wasn’t right because it is the same law that should be applied and implemented. So, that was how we engaged ECOWAS and we had an MoU with ECOWAS, which took care of the problem. So, that was why I said we are a policy shop. So, if the law is not favourable to any private sector person, we would make that that the law becomes a reality.

The second question was about FX controls.

This year, we signed an MoU also with the West Africa Bankers Association (WABA) and we were very concerned about the naira and the implication of the FX issue for foreign companies. We also invited the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, to address our members in Washington on the FX issues in Nigeria.

We chose Aig-Imoukhuede because of his experience as a former bank CEO and he understands the issues. Our members asked him questions and he was able to advice them better. Those who wanted to withdraw did not after the session. So, that is the kind of platform that we offer so as we come out solution and to enable each person to prosper. The U.S-Africa Business Center is going to turn a year by December and the Africa Department of the U.S. Chamber is just nine years old. But it doesn’t mean that the U.S. was not interested in Africa. The U.S. has always done business in Africa.

But, it is the will of the private sector that made the U.S. Chamber to create the Africa Department.

Does the Chamber also support startups?

We do have a programme at the national level because you have to start somewhere.

Of course, we support startups. Recently, we met with young entrepreneurs from 30 nations in Africa, startups only. We gave them the opportunity to present their projects. They went into a competition and we selected those that had the best business plan, etc.

So, we do once in a while, engage with startups to make sure that we coach them.

But our priority today is at the macro level.

Our second priority is to make sure we have a strong programme for SMEs. Our third priority is to have a programme for women and make sure that we give them all the tools to prosper, especially in three sectors where we don’t see a lot of women - energy, agriculture and ICT.

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Kachikwu and Nigeria’s Rising Profile in Global Oil Politics Wole P. Ajayi writes that beyond the promotion of an inclusive and mutually beneficial plan to stabilise crude oil prices, other initiatives by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu are helping to re-establish Nigeria’s position in the global oil industry “When I started that whole move, I was criticized and told that it would not hold, but I am happy that over the last few weeks we see that everybody has bought into that and we are beginning to see prices inch up very slowly. It is still very challenging but at least we are inching up and for the first time we are beginning to have both the Saudis and the Russians come back on the table” –Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, March 2016 For a long time, Nigeria’s influence has not been strongly felt as a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the global oil industry. The country has, to a large extent, exercised limited clout, led no high profile initiatives and was perceived as far below the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait in the pecking order of influence. This is in spite of the fact that it is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world and the 8th largest exporter.

However, the picture is changing as Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the current Minister of State for Petroleum Resources in pursuit of President Buhari’s vision of a Nigeria, which takes its rightful place in the comity of nations works hard to make the country an important player in the global oil industry.

As global oil prices start inching upwards within the context of a gradual but strong improvement in the underlying variables of the global oil industry, it will be useful to recall Nigeria’s contribution under Kachikwu’s watch to this positive development. For the first time in over a year, the price of crude has hit $53 per barrel in the international oil market. This is the first positive significant development in many months.

There are many factors responsible for the current positive outlook in the fortunes of oil. The greater involvement of Russia and the Saudi Arabia-Iran rapprochement are two key factors. Another factor that has also contributed to this process is the combination of Kachikwu’s global network reach, innovative approach and strong personality which has helped to transform Nigeria into a respected rallying point in the global oil industry. This has enabled the country to play an active role in rallying other OPEC members and stakeholders towards solving a common problem. Kachikwu has demonstrated thought leadership, initiative and effective stakeholder communication, engagement and networking that is leading to visible results and concerted action.

This is evident in the intensive diplomatic shuttle which he embarked upon earlier this year to mobilize OPEC members in support of the oil output freeze. His idea – to get the major oil producers to talk and agree to an output cap – has now gained wide acceptance and endorsement as a logical way forward for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members including Russia.

Beyond the promotion of an inclusive and mutually beneficial plan to stabilise crude oil prices, Kachikwu’s efforts are helping to re-establish Nigeria’s position in the global oil industry as an influential, well respected and active member.

It will be recalled that Kachikwu’s global rally for a production freeze to stabilize prices marked a turnaround from OPEC’s initial response to falling oil prices. OPEC had in December 2014 taken a decision at its meeting in Vienna to set aside the daily production target. Guided by its biggest

Kachikwu producer Saudi Arabia, OPEC increased output in an oversupplied market in a bid to force higher-cost producers to scale back their operations.

While the strategy led to some reduction in supply by non-OPEC members like the US Shale producers, the price of crude fell by 65% to a 12year record low with both major as well as smaller producers suffering a huge squeeze on revenues.

There was therefore an obvious need for a change of strategy to protect the oil industry within OPEC countries as well as the economies of these countries which depend on oil for their survival. Kachikwu made a strong case for a multi-pronged strategy to achieve this multi-dimensional objective.

In his words: “We need to see how we can balance the need to protect our market share with the need for the survival of the business itself, and survival of the countries. I think ultimately for the interest of everybody some policy change will happen. Now will the amount of barrels that you can take out because of that policy change necessarily make that much of a dramatic difference?

Probably not, but the symbolism of the action is even more important than the volumes that are taken out of the market.”

In the light of the current gradual shift in the direction of higher prices, after a two year price crash that has been devastating to countries like Nigeria, Kachikwu’s comments were very prescient. The re-alignment and the unity of purpose which he advocated then

which at the point seemed ineffectual and academic is turning out to be a key factor in the turn around that is being witnessed.

Back in March, almost all countries who now back the idea had either dismissed it as unworkable or fought publicly against it when he first raised it. For instance, during the Gulf Intelligence UAE Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi in January, where Kachikwu first tabled the idea of an emergency meeting to get Saudi Arabia and Russia to agree on production cuts, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) threw cold water on the idea. Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei, the UAE energy minister argued that the OPEC’s strategy is “working.” This was despite the fact that the mere talk of an emergency meeting to discuss production cuts earlier that same led to an instant hike in oil prices, with crude climbing above $32 a barrel. This price rally quickly faded and crude fell 4% after the UAE Minister’s comments.

Kachikwu didn’t give up. Later that same month at the World Economic Forum, Kachikwu while speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum called on OPEC to meet as soon as possible to discuss the production freeze. Saudi Arabia, Russia, Azerbaijin and other members of the panel opposed the idea.

In spite of this hostility and opposition from the major players, Kachikwu remained optimistic and undaunted and kept pushing on. Determined to make a difference, Kachikwu led concerted efforts along with other countries like Venezuela in a shuttle

diplomacy to rally support for the idea with the backing of President Muhammadu Buhari.

These efforts eventually paid off with the agreement by Saudi Arabia and Russia, the two biggest oil producers to freeze oil production.

As subsequent events show, this agreement in principle did not lead to an immediate improvement in oil prices which remained tepid. But the recent increase in oil prices has shown that those initial moves were far from useless because they contributed significantly to the latest long anticipated good news for oil producing countries like Nigeria.

As it stands today, there is a general understanding and agreement by both OPEC members and non-OPEC members like Russia to freeze production as canvassed

by Kachikwu. His innovative thinking and optimism about the possibility of reaching beyond the initial strategy of protecting individual member market share to a more inclusive and mutually beneficial arrangement has no doubt boosted Nigeria’s influence in the international oil industry and established Nigeria as an active member of the global oil industry.

At a time of crashing oil prices with bookmakers and analysts predicting doom for the oil industry, Kachikwu has been the voice of optimism. He has helped to keep the faith alive that something could be done to get the price back up again.

Speaking at the sixth African Petroleum Congress in Abuja, Kachikwu waxed poetic in expressing his conviction that contrary to the predictions of many pundits, oil will rise again as it has done many times in the past. But his rendition was not just creative, it also included a huge dose of realism, a reflection of the truth that oil must adapt to the realities of a vastly different world in order to survive and thrive: My name is oil, the very kind people who are kind to me call me black gold.

The ones who hate me call me crude.

I worry for my future; everyone now talks down on me.

Even farmers who trembled at the sight of my name are now strategizing against me.

And all my beneficiaries, me have they abandoned.

All because the producers have lost their tracks.

But I would rise again, and when I do, I will take no prisoners.

I would new technologies control, I will new technologies control. I will my supremacy confirm. I will my respect regain.

And my pricing, not too low, not too high, but I would not allow prices to humiliate me…

The poetic reflection confirms that Kachikwu is one oil minister who has proven locally and internationally that he knows his onions, understands industry politics and possesses sufficient strategic confidence to go out of the script when necessary. While the meetings hold, the agreements are firmed up and oil prices rebound, Kachikwu who is working hard to realize President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for a re-energized, transparent and profitable oil sector will count among those who have earned deserved gratitude for working with OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers to find a way out of the crisis situation.

- Ajayi is a public analyst based in Lagos.

Email: woleajayip@gmail.com

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Okonjo-Iweala Now Board Member Asian Investment Bank A former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been appointed a member of the international advisory panel of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The AIIB is a multilateral international Development Bank set up on December 25, 2015, with an initial capital of US$100 billion, one million shares and an initial paid-up capital of US$20 billion.

A statement at the weekend announced that Okonjo-Iweala would join 10 other key persons on the panel.

“The panel provides impartial, objective and independent

advice to the President, allowing the Bank to benefit from the international experience and expertise of panel members,” AIIB Senior Communication Officer, Mr Song Liyan said.

The AIIB President, Jin Liqun also said the panel members would advise the Bank on the development of its strategy.

He said: “It is a great honour to convene such an experienced and diverse group of international leaders to advise on the development of the Bank’s strategy.

“I have no doubt that the advice the panel provides will help shape the development of

the Bank in the years ahead.

“I could not ask for a better group of ambassadors to help promote our new Bank to the world,” Jin said.

The panel members include former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Dr Zeti Aziz, former Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, and former Swedish finance minister Anders Borg.

The others are former TimorLeste finance minister Emilia Pires, former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Global Foundation secretary-general Steve Howard.

Digital Encode Founders Receive Georgia Honorary Award The duo of Oluseyi Akindeinde and Obadare Peter Adewale, founders of Digital Encode, a leading consulting and integration firm that specialises in the design, management, and security of business-critical networks, telecommunications environments and other Information Technology (IT) infrastructures, have been conferred with ‘Honorary Georgia Citizen’.

The company also received the Keys to the cities of Georgia state from the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, USA. Presenting the certificates, Chairman of the Georgia

Legislative Black Caucasus, Dee Dawkins-Haigler, said the award was given Digital Encode founders in recognition of their outstanding entrepreneurship contributions and leadership towards the growth and development of Information and communications technology sector, free enterprise and the private sector as agents of social change in Nigeria, and their passion towards economic empowerment of the citizenry.

Digital Encode is recognised in the industry for its vendor independent perspective, the firm’s expertise lies in solving multifaceted, complex enterprise

network security and audit problems.

This informed the company’s appointment by Central Bank of Nigeria as the sole technical partner to the Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), an initiative set up for the identification, mitigation, prevention and prosecution of all electronic fraud-related acts perpetrated in the country.

The Chief Technical Officer, Digital Encode, Oluseyi Akindeinde, said the award actually meant a statement of their commitment to fostering technology entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

T H I S D AY MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2016

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CALL FOR PARTNERS' TO PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE SURVEY The Federal Ministry of Health is calling for all donors and implementing partners working in the Family Planning terrain to be part of an ongoing mapping exercise across the country.

There is no doubt that a lot of resources have been invested, particularly in the last decade on Family planning interventions. In addition to a number of donor-funded projects targeting reproductive health and family planning, the Nigerian government has also made some investments of its own. While it could be argued that funding gaps still remain, there is no doubt that there currently exists a lot of inefficiencies in programmatic spending and duplication of efforts. Donor funded projects, sometimes in contiguous geographic areas, do not speak to one another, resulting in duplication of efforts and cost inefficiencies.

The main goal of this intervention is to contribute to ongoing efforts by the Federal Ministry of Health to strengthen the coordination of the (FP) activities of all implementing partners across the country, so as to maximize the efficiency of the specific interventions This first of its kind event will enable the Federal Ministry of Health have accurate data on all the donors and implementing partners that are contributing to reaching the FP 2020 GOAL; a platform will be established to this end which will give partners' more visibility and also support them to leverage more resources.

Kindly click on this link https://goo.gl/forms/sjbjRria8CZmRgAw2 and

complete the questionnaire if you are a donor or an implementing partner

MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2016 T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2016

2016/2017 NNPC/TOTAL NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME APPLICATION Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI), in pursuance of its Corporate Social Responsibility, invites applications from suitably qualified candidates to its 2016/2017 NNPC/TOTAL National Merit Scholarship Scheme

ELIGIBILITY: To qualify for consideration, applicants MUST: o Be registered FULL TIME undergraduates in a recognized Nigerian University o Be certified 100 or 200 level students at the time of application PLEASE NOTE: The following categories of students need not apply o Students with less than 200 score in UTME o 200 Level Students with less than 2.50 CGPA on 5-point scale, or equivalent o 300 level students and above o Current beneficiaries of similar awards from any International Oil Companies (IOCs)

Application Forms are available online ONLY. To apply, applicants should visit the website: https://scholarships.totalcsredu.com This application opens today October 24, 2016 and closes on November 13, 2016. Selection tests will hold on December 3, 2016 at designated Centers nationwide, which will be communicated to shortlisted candidates only. Please note that candidates shall bear fully the cost of transportation to/from test venue. Candidates are therefore advised to choose test centers closest to them.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for the selection tests.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016 • T H I S D AY

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Ajibola: Bad Loans Are Cankerworm, Disincentive to Banks’ Performance Obinna Chima The President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Prof. ’Segun Ajibola has described non-performing loans (NPLs) in the books of banks as a cankerworm as well as disincentive to the financial institutions to perform their intermediation roles.

The CIBN boss also described bad loans as a direct loss to willing equity holders in the form of opportunity cost of investing in banks.

Therefore, as part of efforts to address the distortion being caused in the system by bad loans, the CIBN boss disclosed that the institute would soon approach the National Assembly for necessary amendments to the extant law, the CIBN Act No 5 of 2007.

Ajibola said this in an address he presented at the 16th National Seminar on Banking and Allied Matters for Judges held in Abuja recently, a copy of which was made available

to THISDAY. According to him, every single loan created by a bank is a product of financialisation made possible by mobilised funds in the bank’s kitty, either in equity or deposit form. Therefore, he pointed out that any portion of such loan lost to a recalcitrant borrower is therefore an impairment of the bank’s equity of deposit portfolio.

“Depositors of different categories may ultimately suffer loss of their hard earned sums invested in the bank. The ultimate victim is the Nigerian economy which is rendered prostrate by the attitude of the delinquent borrowers. This is why every stakeholder in the Nigeria’s project must be concerned about the rising cases of delinquent loans in the banking industry, ditto financial crimes and must join hands together to fight the rampaging monsters,” the CIBN president added.

Therefore, Ajibola noted that a well-functioning legal system was critical to resolv-

ing the lingering problems of non-performing loans and financial crimes. The menaces of delinquent debts and financial crimes are impinging on the abilities of the banking sector to discharge its critical role in the economy, he stated.

Furthermore, he said while there had been existing laws to deal with these issues, they have continued to rear their ugly heads, saying it was important for concerted efforts to be made to redress the situation.

“Therefore, the theme of this year’s edition - Emerging Challenges in Debt Recovery and Financial Crimes - could not have come at a better time. It is indeed germane considering the persistent increase in the number of loan defaults to the tune of N649.63 billion (NDIC, 2015) and the alarming dimension financial crimes have taken in the country with reports in particular of ever increasing number of ATM/Card-Related cases – 8,039 in 2015 (NDIC),” Ajibola said.

Wema Bank, Others to Finance Refinery Construction Nume Ekeghe Wema Bank Plc and three other companies- Petrolex Oil and Gas, Hyundai and Ajayi Legal Partner recently signed a deal with the Ogun State Government to build the second largest refinery in sub-Saharan Africa and the largest petroleum product depot in Nigeria.

The refinery and tank farm project expected to generate over 2,000 jobs was announced in a statement.

The Chairman, Petrolex Group, Mr. Segun Adebutu, while speak-

ing at the signing ceremony said the two projects which would be located in Odogbolu Local Government Area of the state, when completed, would greatly increase the socio-economic condition of the host state.

Commenting on the project, Head of Corporate Banking at Wema Bank, Henry Alakhume, expressed delight at the deal.

Also, the Head of Oil and Gas, Wema Bank, Mr. Segun Oderibde said: “Wema Bank is proud to support Petrolex Group in the refinery and petroleum depot project. We

believe this will significantly boost Nigeria’s economy and create much needed jobs.”

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, assured Wema Bank and members of the consortium of his administration’s commitment to fully support the project.

“We have the political will and we would support the project fully. You can be rest assured that I will get involved, when necessary, in order to ensure that the project is a success,” Amosun said.

StanChart Promotes Internationalisation of Chinese Currency This week, experts from Standard Chartered’s China region will host a roadshow to Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa to outline the benefits and investment opportunities China’s latest ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative and global currency, the Renminbi, bring to the continent.

The roadshow was timed with the Renminbi’s officiation into the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) ‘Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) list of global currencies, effective 1 October 2016.

A statement from the international bank explained that Standard Chartered had been at the forefront of the

journey towards recognisng the Chinese currency, by partnering with Chinese authorities and supporting global clients in leveraging the opportunities the Renminbi and investment partnerships bring.

China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’, is a development strategy launched by the Chinese government in 2013.

A member of the bank’s delegation and Standard Chartered’s Head of Renminbi Solutions for Corporate and Institutional Banking, Carmen Ling said: “One Belt One Road’ aims to promote cooperation between more than 60 countries along the

route, in key areas such as policy coordination, infrastructure, trade relations, financial integration and intercultural exchange. With a presence in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Standard Chartered has the products, insight and experience to support and guide governments and corporate clients on how they may benefit from China’s ongoing investment and trade.”

According to him, 68 per cent of Standard Chartered’s global markets across Africa, Asia and the Middle East stand to benefit from China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ network - 16 of those markets are in Africa.

ANAN, CPA Ireland Partner on Capacity Building The President, Certified Public Accountants (CPA) Ireland, Nano Brennan has said the partnership between the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) Ireland and the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) was based on mutual respect as well as to produce more effective accountants.

Brennan said this in a Goodwill message she delivered at the 21st annual conference of ANAN held in Abuja recently.

She said: “We hold ANAN in

high esteem. We look forward to continued successful relationship with ANAN. CPA Ireland supported ANAN to take its rightful place in the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). It is wonderful to see ANAN playing a leading role in the Accounting profession in Africa.

“I come from a country with five million people, yet have had made a big impact in the world of Accountancy and imagine the great impact Nigeria and ANAN will make in future.”

She urged accountants at every level of public and private sector in Nigeria to be more efficient. Brennan described ANAN as a professional body in Africa that offers online education.

“CPA Ireland is ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with ANAN to ensure that ANAN becomes the leading accounting professional body in Africa.”

The accountant urged the Council of ANAN to develop the post-graduate college to an enviable status in Africa.

Ajibola

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JUNE 2016 Broad Money (M2)

21,684,965.22

-- Narrow Money (M1)

9,125,933.16

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,379,187.93

---- Demand Deposits

7,746,745.22

-- Quasi Money

12,559,032.07

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,105,663.47

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

14,579,301.76

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

24,318,143.03

---- Credit to Government (Net)

2,893,190.01

---- Memo: Credit to Govt. (Net) less FMA

5,004,677.26

---- Memo: Fed. and Mirror Accounts (FMA)

-2,111,487.25

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

21,424,953.01

--Other Assets Net

-9,738,841.27

Reserve Money (Base Money)

5,370,199.87

--Currency in Circulation

1,684,725.89

--Banks Reserves

3,685,473.98 • Source - CBN

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Price (N)

Buying Price(N) 1,660.29

1,685.29

1,000.00

11,002.32

11,326.67.11

Stanbic Balanced Fund Stanbic IBTC NEF

Selling Price

Stanbic SIBond

20

120.47

120.47

Stanbic IBTC Ethical

1

1.10

1.13

Stanbic IBTC GIF

142.90

143.38

UBA Balanced Fund

1.2563

1.2493

UBA Bond Fund

1.3443

1.3443

UBA Equity Fund

0.8205

0.8074

UBA Money Market Fund

1.1510

1.1510

ARM Aggressive Growth Fund

N13.0544

N13.4480

ARM Discovery Fund

N288.2515

N296.9425

ARM Ethical Fund

N22.5268

N23.2060

ARM Money Market Fund

13.1030 (Yield % ) • Monetary Policy Rate - 13%

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT 20 OCTOBER 2016 The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $48.51 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $49.06 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Rabi Light (Gabon), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Bleak Future for Shareholders as Cadbury Records N842m Loss Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie Cadbury Nigeria Plc last Friday reported a loss in its operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, thereby dimming hopes of shareholders receiving a dividend at the end of the financial ending December 31, 2016.

The unaudited results showed a revenue of N21.326 billion in 2016, up marginally from N21.073 billion in the corresponding period of 2015.

Cost of sale rose from N14.671 billion to N16.848 billion, making the company to close the period with gross profit of N4.476 billion, as against N6.402 billion in 2015.

However, Cadbury recorded

T H E

a negative bottom-line, showing a loss after tax of N842 million, compared with a profit after tax (PAT) of N28.55 million in the corresponding period of 2016.

Analysing the results, analysts at FBN Quest said the third quarter (Q3) sales stood at N7.4 billion, indicating a growth of 6.8 per cent due to base effect.

N I G E R I A N

“The company recorded pre and post-tax losses of N1.1 billion and N989 million respectively. The losses were driven by a gross margin contraction of 2,709 basis points (bps) to 5.8 per cent, offsetting a 22.3 per cent decline in operating expenditure (opex) to N1.5 billion,” they said.

The analysts added that although opex declined by

STO C K

14.5 per cent for the nine months to N5.5 billion, a 939bps contraction in gross margin to 21.0 per cent had a more significant impact on profits.

“The results show that Cadbury, like most consumer goods firms, is yet to overcome the negative impact of macro headwinds. The continued devaluation of the

E XC H A N G E

naira, which moved further down to c. N305/US$ as of end-September (having fallen to N280/US$ as of end-June from N199/US$), weighed on gross margins. Production inputs such as sugar and milk are mostly imported,” they added.

According to them, compared with their estimates, sales were 15.5 per cent ahead.

38

MonDAY, october 24, 2016 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Wema Bank Records N1.5bn Profit, Grows Deposits by 18% Goddy Egene Wema Bank Plc last Friday reported its financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. Despite the challenging operating environment, Wema Bank posted profit before tax of N1.494 billion, showing a marginal decline of 2.2 per cent compared with N1.528 billion in 2015. Profit after tax stood at N1.269 billion, compared with N1.299 billion in 2015.

Speaking on the results,

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank, Mr. Segun Oloketuyi said Wema Bank continued to record growth amidst tough operating environment.

He said the bank’s gross earnings increased by 16.36 per cent to N37.89 billion from N32.57 billion in the corresponding period of 2015.

According to him, the bank optimised its balance sheet, as loans to customers rose by 20.78 per cent to N177.01 billion with interest income expanding by

A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

20.12 per cent to N31.93 billion compared to last year while fees and commission increased by 16.79 per cent to N4.41 billion.

He said: “The bank maintained its commitment to innovation, introducing *945# and other digital initiatives. These efforts continue to engender confidence with our customers, leading to a growth in savings deposits by 18.10 per cent from N35.58 billion as at December 2015 to N42.02 billion as at the end of the period. The streamlining of our processes and the

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 20-Oct-2016, unless otherwise stated.

leverage on technology, led to improving efficiencies and cost optimisation, with operating expense declining by 1.77 per cent from N17.49 billion in September 2015 to N17.18 billion in September 2016 compared to a general inflation level of 17.9 per cent. We will continue to seek opportunities to improve our cost-to-serve through alternative channels and continued strategic improvements of our business model without compromising our service quality.”

The MD/CEO added that the bank’s prudent risk management model continued to enable it to deal with the industry-wide spikes in loan defaults and attendant rise in Non-Performing Loans (NPL).

“The NPL ratio for the bank stood at 2.99 per cent as at Q3’16 which is below the regulatory threshold of 5.0 per cent. The coverage ratio for the bank remained adequate at 124.82 per cent. Going into the final quarter of the year, we do not envisage any material improvement in

the operating environment.

Rather, we expect the gains of the fiscal and monetary policies to impact between Q1 & Q2’ 2017. However, we believe we would close the year with improved performance,” he said.

Oloketuyi disclosed that the bank just concluded a Tier II capital raise of N20 billion, adding this will boost its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), currently at 13.36 per cent (pre-capital raise) and supporting its medium term growth plan.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 1 270 1680 Fund Name Bid Price Afrinvest Equity Fund 124.82 Nigeria International Debt Fund 217.00 ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.68 AIICO CAPITAL LTD Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price AIICO Money Market Fund ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name ARM Aggressive Growth Fund ARM Discovery Fund ARM Ethical Fund ARM Money Market Fund AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund AXA Mansard Money Market Fund CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Nigeria Global Investment Fund Paramount Equity Fund Women's Investment Fund FBN CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fbnquest.com; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name FBN Fixed Income Fund FBN Heritage Fund FBN Money Market Fund FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund FIRST CITY ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fcamltd.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Legacy Equity Fund Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Coral Growth Fund

100.00

aaml@afrinvest.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 125.48 11.73% 217.90 8.41% info@acapng.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.69 10.56% ammf@aiicocapital.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

100.00

15.34%

enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Bid Price 12.53 289.77 22.48

Offer Price 12.90 298.51 23.15

Yield / T-Rtn 2.80% 3.68% 1.95%

1.00

1.00

12.55%

investmentcare@axamansard.com Bid Price 100.92

Offer Price 101.56

Yield / T-Rtn 1.24%

1.00 1.00 11.91% investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Bid Price 2.08 9.29

Offer Price 2.13 9.53

Yield / T-Rtn 2.18% -5.71%

82.72

84.84

1.98%

invest@fbnquest.com Bid Price 1,068.58 106.90 100.00 $101.68 $101.58 111.07

Offer Price 1,069.63 107.40 100.00 $102.44 $102.34

Yield / T-Rtn -1.25% -1.69% 12.54% 2.06% 1.96%

112.57

11.82%

fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Bid Price 0.93 2.51

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.95 3.30% 2.51 7.83% coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com

Bid Price 2,204.64

Offer Price 2,230.93

Coral Income Fund 2,045.01 INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price

Yield / T-Rtn 1.36%

2,045.01 8.11% enquiries@investment-one.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund

1.00

1.00

11.06%

Vantage Balanced Fund

1.64

1.66

0.63%

LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 0.99 1.01 11.43% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 988.75 988.75 -1.13% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: www.meristemwealth.com ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 9.67 9.76 -1.12% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 14.16% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.03 1.04 4.45% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.26 10.29 2.76% SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 106.46 107.20 4.50% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.22 1.22 8.09% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 1,803.99 1,814.54 7.43% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 154.03 154.03 4.73% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.79 0.80 6.00% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 180.46 180.46 6.35% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 133.82 135.38 -1.15% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 15.82% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,658.82 7,760.98 6.56% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.15 1.16 8.50% United Capital Bond Fund 1.25 1.25 16.32% United Capital Equity Fund 0.74 0.75 5.17% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 13.00% ZENITH ASSETS MANAGEMENT LTD info@zenith-funds.com Web: www.zenith-funds.com; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 9.63 9.80 0.93% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.22 11.33 -2.05% Zenith Income Fund 16.59 16.59 3.43%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.43 122.32

2.69% 5.58%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

8.82 78.22

8.92 79.70

-7.89% -6.01%

Fund Name FSDH UPDC Real Estate Investment Fund SFS Skye Shelter Fund

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS

Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697

Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

2.65 7.24 12.47 16.73 -

2.69 7.32 12.57 16.93 -

14.59% 13.22% -0.63% -12.84% -

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

T H I S D AY MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2016

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T H I S D AY MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2016

ADVERTORIAL

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MONDAY OCTOMBER 24, 2016 • T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

‘Trump Would ‘100 Percent’ Accept Election Result if It’s Fair’ Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will “100 percent” accept the results of the U.S. election if it is fair, his son, Eric Trump, said yesterday. “I think what my father is saying is, ‘I want a fair election,’” Eric Trump said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“If it’s a fair outcome, he will absolutely accept it. There’s no question about that.” With national opinion polls showing Clinton with an increasing lead over Trump ahead of the Nov. 8 election, Donald Trump has repeatedly said the election is being “rigged” against him. He has not offered evidence and numerous studies have shown that the U.S. election system, which is decentralized and run by the states, is sound.

At last week’s debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Trump challenged

a cornerstone of American democracy by refusing to commit to honoring the result of the U.S. election.

“What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time.

I’ll keep you in suspense.

OK?” Trump said.

In the aftermath of the debate, Trump said he would accept the election outcome “if I win.” Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, also was pressed on Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” on whether Trump would accept the election results.

“The system is rigged, especially against the little guy,” said Conway without directly responding to the question. She spoke of any challenges to the election results as “hypothetical.”

The efforts by members of Trump’s inner circle to downplay his remarks about the integrity of the election

indicate he would come under significant pressure to accept the result if he were to lose.

Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus said that by asking Trump to agree to concede, the media was making an extraordinary request. He said Trump would only fight if the election were close and is not trying to dispute a fair election.

“That’s not quite what he’s saying. What he’s saying is he wants to reserve all options and if there is ground for a recount I’ll reserve all options,” Priebus said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”

Clinton and Trump will campaign on Sunday in the key swing states of Florida and North Carolina, where the latest polls show they are within only a few points of each other.

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NEWS

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

SERAP Challenges CJN to Speak out on Justice Okoro’s Allegations against Amaechi IPOB flays Buhari, APC over silence APC dismisses allegations against minister as laughable

Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia Following the allegation by one of the arrest Justices of the Supreme Court, Justice John Inyang Okoro, that the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, visited his official residence to allegedly discuss election appeals in respect of Rivers State, Akwa Ibom State and Abia State, a civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP), has challenged the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, to speak out on the issue.

SERAP urged Justice Mohammed to explain what he and the council knew about the allegation based on Justice John Inyang Okoro’s report that he informed the CJN on February

1, 2016 on the alleged visit by Amaechi.

In a letter dated October 21, 2016 and signed by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP said it considered the allegations as a serious threat to the independence, impartiality and accountability of the judiciary, and should in the ordinary course of duties, have prompted action from the CJN and the NJC. Justice Okoro in his recent letter to the CJN, stated that he reported the alleged visit by Amaechi to his official residence to allegedly discuss how to win election appeals in respect of Rivers State, Akwa Ibom State and Abia State to the CJN. Justice Okoro also said he the CJN about the visit of Mr. Umana Umana to his residence to allegedly make the same request of assistance to win the appeal at the Supreme Court.

Kano Govt Threatens to Probe Kwankwaso The Kano State Government has threatened to probe the tenure of the immediate past Governor of the state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

In a statement by the state Commissioner for Information and Culture, Alhaji Muhammad Garba, the government said Kwankwaso’s penchant for peddling unsubstantiated allegations might put him on a collision course with the state government.

It said: “This deliberate distortion of facts and spreading of falsehood is capable of provoking the government to drop its non-confrontational stance and institute commission of inquiry to probe the previous administration particularly on illegal land deals, education and infrastructure.”

The state government’s reaction came after an ultimatum by the Kwankwasiyya movement asking Governor Ganduje to drop his red cap within 24 hours or face a lawsuit.

The statement added: “The threat of legal action against

Ganduje by the movement if he fails to stop wearing red cap within 48 hours is the most laughable, pathetic, clear indication of their ignorance of the law and history of political struggle in Kano.

“They should have known that red cap was introduced by the late Aminu Kano and popularised by him, his followers and disciples for which Governor Ganduje was among.

“He was also at the forefront of its re-introduction during the second tenure of Kwankwaso in 2011. Who then could better claim the red cap doctrine?”

The statement noted that “this unfortunate behaviour lacking in any tint of civility, decency and responsible politicking that has become the hallmark of top echelons of the Kwankwasiyya movement is, to say the least, laughable, pathetic, pitiful and desperate attempt to misguide the public and bring the administration of Ganduje and his personality to disrepute.”

NAF to Buy 10 Super Mushshak Aircraft from Pakistan Pakistan has struck a major deal with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to sell 10 Pakistani-made advanced trainer aircraft.

According to the Indian-based Jindu Times, Air Vice Marshal Iya Ahmed Abdullahi and the Chairman of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Air Marshal Arshad Malik signed the contract last Friday in Abuja, PAF spokesman, Air Commodore Syed Mohammad Ali said.

The contract includes operational training and technical support and assistance to the NAF. “This contract would not only open new avenues for export of aviation equipment to foreign countries but also help in generating revenue for the country (Pakistan),” a PAF statement said.

“The deal further strengthens Pakistan Aeronautical Complex’s

(PAC) status as a world-class aviation industry producing the supersonic JF-17 Thunder and Super Mushshak trainer aircraft,” it added.

The Super Mushshak, which is based on a Swedish design but built under licence in Pakistan, is already in service in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran and South Africa.

Talks are also at an advanced stages with Qatar and Turkey for the delivery of Super Mushshak, The Express Tribune quoted a senior PAF official as saying.

Super Mushshak is an advanced variant of the Mushshak basic trainer, which was also produced

by PAC. The PAF put up Super Mushshak for static as well as aerial display in last year’s Dubai Air Show, where some nations expressed interest in the aircraft.

The group in the letter to the CJN, said the allegation should have prompted a thorough and transparent investigations, and where there is prima-facie evidence of political interference in the ajudicial system, matter should have been to the appropriate anti-corruption commissions and agencies for further investigation and possible prosecution.

Also, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has upbraided President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for ignoring the weighty corruption allegations made by Supreme Court Justices against the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.

In a statement signed by the head of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful, IPOB noted that the tacit support that the former governor of Rivers State has been enjoying from the presidency and APC has rubbished the anti-corruption posture of President Buhari and his party.

The Biafra separatist group said there was enough reason for the bribery allegations against

Amaechi to be thoroughly investigated “because the law says that he that gives and he that takes bribes is corrupt.”

“It is dangerous for the government to still retain those corrupt people, if it still believes in fighting corruption with high level of transparency.

“Nevertheless, all those cabals in the government of Nigeria who claimed that the country belong to them have destroyed the country and it cannot be the same again.”

According to IPOB, both Mr. President and APC should be condemned for supporting Amaechi in his alleged ignoble mission to induce for the judges to deliver election cases against the governors of Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi and Abia States.

Similarly, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has called on Amaechi to resign from his office following what it described as “stunning revelations” indicting him of attempting to bribe some justices of the Supreme Court to pervert justice in the governorship election matters that were before the

appellate court.

The party said Amaechi has no moral justification to remain in office as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Chairman of the state chapter of the PDP, Felix Obuah, said in a statement in Port Harcourt that: “Amaechi is facing serious accusations by two reputable Supreme Court Justices of being behind their travails, including the raiding of their residences, arrest, detention and carting away of various vital items and documents as well as blackmail by operatives of DSS. Obuah called on the relevant authorities to immediately commence investigation into the allegations, calling on Amaechi to first step aside from carrying out national assignments in the capacity as a member of the Federal Executive Council to allow for an uninterrupted and objective investigation by the relevant government security and anti graft agencies.

Meanwhile, the APC in the state has dismissed the allegations by the judges against Amaechi as laughable, saying they were part of

ploy by those not happy with the role Amaechi played to dislodge the PDP at the centre to destroy him.

The media aide to the state APC Chairman, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka, described the allegations by the judges as baseless and unfounded.

“I consider PDP’s suggestion that Amaechi should resign because two drowning justices are looking for a tool to stay afloat as not only laughable, mischievous but exposure of a group that so desperate to expose their evil plots against a man whom they see as the arrowhead that dislodged them from power at the centre.

“These useless calls based on the unfounded and baseless attempted bribery allegations against the former Rivers State governor confirms our fears and stand that the two discredited justices made these allegations as part of a political strategy to run down the political fortunes of this rising star.

“PDP is only acting out its frustration over the key role that Amaechi played to end the corruption engineered by the past PDP administration at the centre,” the Rivers APC said.

PARLIAMENTARIAN CONFERENCE

R-L: Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yusuff; and Senator Usman Bayaro Nafada, during the meeting of the African geopolitical group at the ongoing 135th IPU Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland....yesterday.

Electoral Reform Committee Seeks Memoranda from Members of Public Ejiofor Alike The Constitution and Electoral Reform Committee set up by the federal government to review the electoral system in Nigeria and make recommendations and draft bills for the improvement of the system has called for memoranda from members of the public, political parties, stakeholders, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other interest groups.

In a statement issued yesterday by the Chairman of the committee and former Senate President,

Senator Ken Nnamani and the Secretary, Dr. Mamman Lawan, the memoranda shall be concise - not more than 2,500 words, precise and well-articulated.

According to the statement, the memoranda shall be on any of the issues concerning review of the 1999 Constitution as amended (as it affects electoral matters), the Electoral Act 2010 as amended and/or any other relevant piece of legislation; the application of technology in the electoral process; and the decisions of courts on electoral matters and their impact on the electoral process.

Otherissuesinclude:electoraloffences and their prosecution; the efficiency of electoral institutions Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and state electoral commissions) the role of security agencies in the electoral process; or any other issues directly relevant to the electoral process.

The memoranda, which should be submitted latest by November 3, 2016, would be in six hard copies and a soft copy to be submitted to the Secretary in Room 2A 31, 2nd Floor, Federal Ministry of Justice, 71B Shehu Shagari Way, Maitama, Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier this month constituted the 24-man committee to address the defects in Nigeria’s electoral laws and constitution.

Members were drawn from civil society organisations, academia, legal profession, traditional institutions, as well as former legislators.

The committee will review the electoral environment, laws, and experiences from recent elections conducted in Nigeria and make recommendations to strengthen and achieve the conduct of free and fair elections in the country.

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University Admissions: FG May Jettison Uniform Cut-off Point JAMB registrar frowns at exclusion of the poor

Paul Obi in Abuja Indications emerged yesterday that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) may jettison the uniform cut-off point for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.

Presently, the federal government pegged 180 mark as the cut-off point for admission into all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Speaking yesterday, JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, said there was an urgent need to rethink the current cut-off point of 180 for admission in order to strengthen access to education, particularly for the poor.

He explained that it was critical for “all notable stakeholders to rethink the issue of cut-off marks.

I am calling for national debate on the propriety of cut-off marks, institutions should be allowed to determine the kind of candidates they want.”

He argued that “the uniformity of cut-off marks does not make any sense when colleges and polytechnics admit for NCE and diplomas while universities admit for degrees and yet we subject them to the same cut -off marks thereby starving these tier of institutions from admitting candidates who if not engaged, may likely become easy prey to social vices.”

Oloyede expressed worry

over the class opportunities as it affects the distribution of admission resources.

“The rich have multiple opportunities which include going abroad for studies while the poor only have the opportunity of struggling for the scarce spaces here. He said the rich children write JAMB and if they do not get the required cut-off marks, they are taken out of the country for studies abroad.

“They come back and they are integrated while the poor can’t afford it and are forever denied the opportunity of education. Let institutions admit what they want according to their needs.

“This means that if a university wants 250 as minimum cut-off marks why not ? And if another want less so be it. If a polytechnics like Yaba Tech wants 250 let them admit and if Gboko polytechnics in Benue State wants less than 200 let them admit.

“Institutions should be known for their individual quality and not collective standard. This will foster positive competition for the overall good of our tertiary institutions,” he said.

Oloyede urged Nigerians to look at this critically for the board to take action that would be for the good of our education.

Stanbic IBTC Clarifies Position at MTN Senate Probe Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc has clarified the responses given by its Chief Executive Officer, Olayinka Sani, at a Senate committee hearing on the alleged illegal repatriation of funds by MTN. According to the bank, Sani who spoke on behalf of the bank at the hearing, reiterated the fact that Stanbic IBTC was ready to cooperate fully with the Senate (as it had been doing with the Department of State Services, DSS) in ensuring that the truth in respect of the transactions done on behalf of MTN was unearthed.

Sani told the committee that the investigations are welcomed and would help show that StanbicIBTC has done nothing wrong and has operated to the high governance and ethics standards.

He also noted that Stanbic IBTC had provided all the necessary documents requested for by the Senate, a statement from the bank explained.

Sani also mentioned that the bank had handled on behalf of MTN its private placement when the original shareholders of MTN divested part of their shares in MTN. One of the senators at the hearing also asked a couple of questions on other issues that were not connected with the MTN transactions and Sani provided responses to those issues.

The Senate hearing was declared opened by the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Sola Adeyeye, who represented the Senate President.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions (the Senate Committee

investigating the allegations), Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, had in his opening remarks, stated that the essence of the Senate investigation was to enable the Senate understand how the transactions in questions were handled.

He assured all those who were invited to the investigation that the investigation was not a witch hunt but a fact finding exercise.

Ibrahim stated that the public hearing was the first stage of the investigation process; the second stage would involve a comprehensive review of the documents submitted by all parties and would involve the parties being invited on an individual basis to provide clarification on the documents submitted and answer necessary questions from members of the Senate committee and the consultants that had been employed for the exercise.

Afterwards, the senator who sponsored the motion that gave rise to the investigation, Senator Dino Melaye, gave an overview of the purported issues with the repatriations that were done by MTN and its bankers.

The first person that was called to speak in line with the order of the proceedings that was followed by the Senate committee was Mr. Jim Obaze of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and he spoke about the functions performed by the FRC. He went on to add, at the prompting of the Chairman of the Senate Committee, that weak accountability of the regulatory agencies was what gave rise to some of the purported issues.

He said JAMB management had resolved to ensure that the change agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari concerning education is actualised in no distance time.

The JAMB boss added that this would be made possible through reforms currently going on in the board, stating that the board would continue to make reforms that would carry the interest of every Nigerian child irrespective of whether poor or rural settlers.

Oloyede also expressed concern

over the exclusion of the poor in education, arguing that, “most policies are geared towards accommodating the interest of the elite only and leaving the downtrodden to suffer unjustly.”

He said: “In view of the above, the board has cancelled the use of scratch cards which were hitherto sold only by banks in the cities to pin vendors which can be obtained by candidates anywhere using their phones, web payment, online quick teller; ATM payment, quick teller

mobile application and bank branch (cash cards), among others.

“This is to make the services easily accessible, discourage fraudulent acts associated with the cards system and to conform with global best practice.”

The Registrar also disclosed that the board has critically looked at the process of regularising candidates and found a lot of lapses which it cannot tolerate in its drive to effect positive change towards enhancing the fortune of tertiary education

in Nigeria.

He maintained that “in its efforts to discourage this abused and perhaps stop it permanently, JAMB has designed a template to be completed on-line by candidates and endorsed by the Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, Provosts or Registrars of the candidates institutions who will then be submitted to the board’s offices nearer to the institution for the Registrar’s approval subject to available evidence.

GOOD STUDENTS

The founding Principal of Federal Government College Okigwe, Imo State, Mr. Dominic M. Ukpe (second left), Chairman, Federal Government College Okigwe Old Students’ Association (FEGOCOOKOSA), Uyo chapter, Mr. David Atadiaha (first right), and Media Adviser to former Vice President and Grand Patron of FEGOCOOKOSA, Mr. Paul Ibe (standing first left), National President of the association, Mr. Okey Chikwendu (fourth left), and others when a delegation of FEGOCOOKOSA paid a courtesy visit to the pioneer principal of the school at Okom, Akwa Ibom State.... weekend

MEND Accuses FG of Reneging on Agreement, Endorses Buhari, Clark Meeting Niger Delta Avengers breaks silence again, insist region wants control of its resources Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoaand Sylvester Idowu in Warri The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday accused the federal government of reneging on its promise to release those it called ‘political prisoners’ as part of a deal to bring peace to the Niger Delta.

Among those the ex-militant group recently said they had concessions from the government for their release were: Messrs Charles and Henry Okah, Nnamdi Kalu and “soldiers” who said supported the Niger Delta struggle in 2008.

However, the group noted that though it was still waiting for the government to start the implementation of the agreement, it fully endorsed the meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief Edwin Clark-led peace committee scheduled for October 31.

MEND maintained that as part of its commitment to peace in the region, it had dissolved its own negotiating team into the Clark-headed Pan Niger Delta

Forum (PANDEF) aimed at finding solutions to the current Niger Delta crisis.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, the ex-agitators explained that it was as a result of the agreement with the federal government that made it deploy its “vast contacts” in bringing about the relative peace which has seen crude oil exports soar considerably.

“The federal government, Nigerians and the international community would certainly agree that as part of these concerted patriotic efforts by MEND within the preceding six months of this year, relative peace has since returned to the Niger Delta region.

“The country’s oil and gas production capacity has also increased tremendously. However, in spite of MEND efforts, the federal government is yet to keep to the terms of the agreement reached with the group,” the ex-warlords said.

However, the group added: “The forthcoming meeting vindicates MEND and federal government’s continued insistence and belief ab initio that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari

meant well for the sustainable peace and development of the hitherto neglected Niger Delta region.

“MEND reiterates that we were the first and only militant group in the Niger Delta region that was meaningfully and constructively engaged in talks with the federal government with a view to resolving the Niger Delta crisis.

“And this was duly confirmed by no less a person than President Buhari sometime in July 2016 in his farewell remarks to the outgoing German Ambassador, Mr. Michael Zinner.

“His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, later confirmed our claim when he informed the media that the presidency was ‘waiting to receive the final agreement.”

Meanwhile, militant group, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), yesterday broke its silence, warning that only a genuine resolution of the crisis with the region controlling its resources in a true federalism will guarantee peace in the area.

It therefore warned that no amount of military action and surge would “Stop us from halting the flow of the oil from our land

to sustain Nigeria. This is our land that we are the masters of its battlefields.”

NDA in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mudoch Agbinibo, said it had warned earlier that it wants the “Peace with honour, no more peace of our time,” adding any meeting with the government should be seen as driving a combustible vehicle laden with fire to safety; it must be driven with carefulness, apparently referring to the proposed meeting between Clark led Pan Niger Delta Stakeholders and President Muhammadu Buhari.

It maintained that agitations were the rights of component units in a federalism, noting that it owed no authority, tribe or political group any apology.

“It is the responsibility of the central government to cooperatively manage them rather than overheating the system by thinking of fierce responses (decisive military action),” it added.

The militant group said it was disgusting for President Buhari to equate the revenue priorities of the Niger Delta region with regional comparisons of development in Nigeria.

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FG Warns North-east States against Misappropriation of Funds Paul Obi in Abuja The federal government yesterday warned the six North-east states against misappropriation of the $1.5 million intervention funds given for health care service delivery in their respective states.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isacc Adewole, cautioned Commissioners for Health in the North-east to carefully utilise the save one million lives funds given to them by the federal government in Abuja at the launching the programme, to enable them receive more funds in the second phase of the programme in 2017.

He explained that the funds should not be seen as public treasury to be feasted on, and that states are expected to account for the funds after the implementation of the said programme.

The minister gave the warning at a meeting with health commissioners during the operationalisation forum of the

save one million lives programme organised for the Commissioners for Health for Bauchi, Gombe Taraba, Adamawa and Borno, held in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Last July, the federal government presented a cheque of $1.5million each to the 36 states of the federation and the FCT to improve maternal and child health in their states.

Adewole said: “Today I am to share knowledge with you on how you can derive maximum benefits from the save one million lives initiatives. I am impressed with your presence, however, I must say it clearly that the money given to you should not replace your budget for health, rather it is an addition, it is to augment, do not allow it to be the only budget for health in your state.”

“I hope we can still score you on your budgetary allocation on health, how much do you budget for health, how much do you release, how do you utilise it, how many lives do you save, how do

Sanusi, Saraki, Aregbesola Suggest Ways Out of Economic Recession Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Policy makers have been advised to focus on the key issues that pushed Nigeria’s economy into crisis with a view to taking more proactive measures necessary to exit recession and avoid future chaos.

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola and Senate President, Bukola Saraki, gave the advice at the weekend during The Point Newspaper’s public presentation and first annual conference on economic regeneration.

Specifically, Sanusi, who was the special guest at the event, blamed the current economic recession on decades of policy failures, which he said had become a clog in the wheel of Nigeria’s economic development.

Sanusi’s remarks came just as the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, cautioned Nigerians against over-dependence on foreign products at the expense of locally produced goods.

Sanusi, who was a former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), however argued that the biggest problem confronting the country was the lack of local production of essential commodities and goods and the will to change policies that would drive the growth of quality local production and not stopping Nigerians from consuming imported goods.

Sanusi said: “We have had decades of policy failure. The last decade was Africa’s miracle decade because we moved from a continent that was known for hunger and war to a decade where as a people we were seen as a land of opportunities and investments.

“Nigeria grew at seven per cent every year through out that period as the economy doubled and we became the biggest economy in Africa but lack of policy made us lose all proceeds.”

He urged the federal government to take a decisive step on the type of economy it would want to run.

According to him, the time

had come for the government to differentiate between reality and passion.

He recalled: “I objected to the increase in the minimum wage from N12, 000 o N18, 000 in 2011 because government only had passion to reward the electorate and failed to consider the consequences along the line. By 2011, the federal government was spending about 80 per cent of its revenue on personnel and oil price was $110 per barrel and we were producing over two million barrels per day. That was a failed policy”.

On his part, Aregbesola said the theme of the annual lecture series, “What is the Economics of Change?” was “a play on word that indirectly put to task the campaign mantra of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which promised Nigerians a change for the better during last year’s election campaign.”

According to him, a decline in the price of crude in the international market had always been the cause of the recession the country had fallen into at different periods.

The governor admitted that the severity of the economic recession was a result of lack of foresight and planning on the part of government, adding that the difference between the past recession and the current one was the fact that the previous ones never lasted this long.

He said: “The fundamental problem is that we can no longer fund our imports because our foreign earnings have progressively declined while our taste for and dependence on foreign goods have continued to increase. This is what put pressure on the Naira, makes imported goods to become very expensive and put the economy in a tailspin,” he said.

Speaking in the same vein, the Senate President said the time had come for Nigeria to diversify as it was no longer fashionable to run a monolithic economy.

The Senate President, who was represented at the event by the Chairman, Senate Committee of Banking and Finance, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, said his experience at a recent trade exhibition had made it clear that there were potentials laying waste due to over-reliance on oil, which he said had made the economy weak.

you improve governance structure among others,” he stressed.

Adewole said the save one million lives initiative gives room for practical assessment of health performance and determines whether state government would be able to receive more funds in the coming year or otherwise.

He added that if there is no performance, there would be no reward and the reward is money, it means there would be no additional money to the state.

The minister urged state governors to allow states Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) manage the resources.

According to him, Primary Healthcare is closer to the people and therefore channelling the resources to PHC would enable the end users access the resources easily.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Haj. Binta Adamu Bello, said they organised the programme in Borno State to show to the world that peace has actually returned to Borno and

the North-east in general which was a’ clear manifestation of great achievement of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bello observed that ‘save one million lives programme result was a new strategy that have been employed to save lives of mothers and children and is in line with change mantra of the present administration. The programme has great benefits and multiplier effects such as accessibility and utilisation of high impact essential commodities and services to consequently reduce maternal and child mortality in Nigeria” Meanwhile, the ongoing Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) Programme which has targeted 10,150 surgeries as part of the Better Health For All Project of the federal government received a boost on Saturday as the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons (ISOFS) partnered with the programme to begin free surgeries for people with the Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) condition.

The minister was part of an operation to repair theVesico Vaginal

Fistula cases at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja.

The Society which has repaired 50 fistula cases so far also carried out this operation in four other cities in the country including; Ibadan, Katsina, Minna and Abakaliki.

Adewole, during an interview with journalists after he personally participated in the surgical operation of one of the VVF patients at the Federal Medical Centre in Abuja at the weekend, explained that the RRI Programme was borne outoftheneed to respond to the critical need of the people and deliver on the mandate of promoting health with focus on access, affordability and demand.

The minister said he was delighted to flag-off the repair of Obstetric Fistula access through the Better for All Programme, a Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) in collaboration with the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons.

Earlier, Prof. Ogadosy Ojengbede the in-coming President of the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons said that the project was a demonstration of

the commitment and passion of the federal government towards the plight of the people.

He maintained that women suffering from Fistula faced challenges in accessing treatment adding that with the commencement of this project, the poor and the vulnerable who hitherto could not afford the fistula treatment can beam with smiles.

“This Initiative is a step in the right direction. RRI is an overall agenda of the Federal Ministry of Health to conduct about 1000 surgeries on women suffering from fistula,’’ he said.

Also speaking, Dr. Habib Sadauki, the Country Project Manager of Fistula Care Plus Project under Engender Health (DFID funded project) who also participated in the surgery said that the fistula care project was implemented towards getting sustainability on the fistula repair project and getting the government directly involved to provide funds and commitment to ensure that the problem of fistula was addressed in Nigeria.

GEARING UP

L-R: Cross River State Deputy Governor, Professor Ivara Esu; Governor Ben Ayade; Secretary to State Government, Mrs. Tina Bankor Agbor; and Chief of Staff to the governor, Hon. Martins Orim, dancing to the carnival rhythm shortly after the flag-off of the first carnival Calabar Dry Run by the deputy governor in Calabar....yesterday.

Innoson Group Partners Chinese Consortium to Invest $1bn in Nigerian IT Sector Osinbajo receives group today Emma Okonji The federal government’s initiative to attract foreign investments into the country is beginning to yield results, just as Innoson Group is partnering a consortium of Chinese investors to invest a whopping $1 billion into Nigeria’s information technology (IT) sector.

The investment plan includes $400 million, which will be invested in Nigeria’s Digital Switch Over (DSO) project that has to do with the country’ migration from analogue to digital broadcasting by 2017, using the Digital Satellite TV Station and an additional $600 million covering other important sectors.

Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, will today receive the consortium of Chinese Foreign Investment Group led by the Deputy Minister of Communist

Party of China in Shandong Province, Liu Baoju, who is equally the Chairman of Shandong Broadcasting Group and Shandong Cable Interactive Service Ltd, the world’s biggest TV operators, as well as the Senior Vice President of Inspur Group and President of its Overseas Headquarters, Huang Gang.

Inspur Group is China’s leading cloud computer solution supplier and cloud service provider involving all IT applications.

This visit, which comes as one of the gains of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to China, will attract a foreign investment of $1 billion. The breakdown of the investment as currently agreed by the Chinese consortium, include: Financial foreign investment credit facility of $300 million for local production and supply of a minimum five to eight million Set-Top Boxes

to support the federal government DSO project being handled by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, scheduled to hold in June 2017.

It also includes financial foreign investment of $100 million to establish the latest technology and biggest Direct-To-Home (DTH) Digital BING Television Station across all states of Nigeria.

Theinvestmentplanwillbefollowed by another $600 billion investment in which negotiations is almost fully concluded with Chinese strategic partners to cover some areas of the Nigerian economy, which include: Smart City (CCTV camera) using cloud computing total solution that is known as E-Policing to cover the whole landmass of Nigeria; Cloud Computing Total Solution on Taxation with IT applications for such institutions as Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other taxation agencies for seamless and

stress-free tax collection mechanism; and E-Education IT Solutions with big data centres for all Federal Universities and Polytechnics in the country Innoson Group, that is partnering the Chinese Consortium, is Nigeria’s first indigenous and largest local manufacturer of automobiles and the largest plastic-processing manufacturer in West Africa.

The company has decided to be part of history as one of the companies that will take Nigeria into the digital world. In order to keep up with its trend of opening new grounds, it has decided to diversify into IT and the multi media sector with the plan to launch a Satellite Digital TV operation and other services in partnership with Shandong Broadcasting Group and Shandong Cable Interactive Service Ltd China, with technical support from Inspur Group Co Ltd, China.

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CRIME&PUNISHMENT

Hunters Kill Seven Boko Haram Suspects in Adamawa Daji Sani in Yola Seven Boko Haram insurgents have been reportedly killed by hunters drafted for the fight against insurgency, at Ghantsa area of Makwan Village in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

An eyewitness from the affected area revealed that the attack started by 12p.m last Saturday when the insurgents were burning houses and shooting sporadically at the village, few kilometres to Gulak town.

The eyewitness said while they were busy with their operations, seven of them met their waterloo, while some escaped with bullet wounds.

He said while they were busy burning houses and looting properties belonging to the villagers, some Fulanis quickly alerted the hunters who were manning their duty post some killometres away from Ghantsa

area of Makwan village, and on hearing the news of the attack, the leader of the hunters, Mallam Bukar Jimeta, immediately mobilised his men to the area.

The source further explained that the hunters engaged the insurgents in a shootout for close to three hours between 10p.m. and midnight on Saturday and they overpowered the insurgents, killing seven of them, while one was caught alive with gun wounds and other escaped into bush.

Also confirming the incident, Mallam Bukar Jimeta, the leader of the Hunters Association of Nigeria, said his men killed Boko Haram but refused to speak further on the issue.

Also, a senior military officer, who did not want his name mentioned, confirmed that there was an attack at about 12p.m. on Saturday to 1a.m. on Sunday morning, resulting to the killing of one member of the Boko Haram sect.

He said some weapons and ammunitions were recovered from the insurgents and were been handed over the authority concerned.

Meanwhile, the state Governor, Muhammadu Jibrilla Bindow, has said Nigeria deserves a United States (US)-led international community support to get out of recession for it to successfully neutralise the spread of terrorism ideology among youth and vulnerable persons.

Bindow in a statement yesterday in Yola regarding his trip with some northern governors to United States (US) where they had a meeting with US officials on issues of security and humanitarian assistance, said Nigeria needed urgent international support if it must succeed in checking the spread of terror ideology among youths.

“To neutralise the attraction of terror ideology among our youth and other vulnerable persons,

the international community led by the US must support Nigeria fight corruption, repatriate stolen funds and get out of economic recession as quickly as possible.

“We cannot succeed if we are unable to meet our basic responsibilities to our people.

“The current economic recession if not overcome within the shortest possible time may reverse some of our gains in mass mobilisation and engineering a productive society.” Bindow said.

While lauding US, United Nations and other countries as well as humanitarian agencies that are supporting humanitarian activities in areas affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, Bindow said that apart from helping in securing and rebuilding the sub region, another bigger challenge is improving the institutional capacity of governance at the state and local government levels for them to be effective.

In Brief Lagos Set to Arraign Kidnappers of Iba Monarch

The Lagos State Government will today arraign the key suspects arrested in connection with the kidnap of Oniba of Iba, Oba Yishau Goriola Oseni, before a state High Court in Igbosere.The stat Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, in a statement yesterday, said the four suspects - Duba Furejo, Ododomo Isaiah, Reuben Anthony andYerin Fresh would be arraigned before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of Court 24 for offences of conspiracy to murder, murder, armed robbery and kidnapping. Specifically, Kazeemsaidthesuspectswouldbearraignedonaneight-countchargerelating to kidnapping of the monarch, murder of the palace security guard, Sunday Eniola Okanlawon, and a commercial motorcycle rider, Joseph Okeke. They would also be arraigned on attempted murder of the monarch’s wife, Olori Abosede Oseni and armed robbery of the Olori’s property. While expressing the resolve of the present administration to rid the state of all forms of criminality, the Attorney General said his office would work closely with all security agencies to ensure that all cases of kidnapping, cultism, rape, sexual and domestic violence crimes are swiftly prosecuted to a logical conclusion.

He added: “The swift commencement of the trial of the suspects in the kidnap of the Oniba is a strong signal by the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode that it is not business as usual for criminals. If you commit a crime, we will find you and prosecute you no matter how long it takes,” Kazeem said.

He assured that present administration was determined to hurt the scourge ofkidnapping,cultistkilling,rapingandmurder,addingthatAmbode,aspartof his commitment to make the state a safe place to live in, move freely around, and do business, will continue to support law enforcement agencies in the investigation and apprehension of all criminals, especially those involved in heinous crime of kidnapping, armed robbery and murder. He added: “Ambode iscommittedtoensuringthatLagosstatebecomesano-goareaforcriminals who target innocent citizens for kidnapping and collection of ransom, in an effort to get rich quick.” It would be recalled that during the unfortunate and dastardly crime on July 16, 2016, the Okanlawon and Okeke were killed, while the monarch was whisked away and kept in captivity for about three weeks.

The sustained pressure and intelligence gathering from law enforcement agencies, however, led to the rescue of the monarch, while the four suspects were apprehended in the process.

Police Arrest Man for Defiling 10-yearold Girl in Ogun

TheOgunStatePoliceCommandyesterdaydisclosedthatoneMr.FelixGbadebo, who defiled a 10-year-old girl, Rachel Opeyemi, in Sango area of Ogun State had been arrested. In a statement by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, Felix, according Rachel’s father, lured her into his room where he used pillow to cover her mouth and sexually abused her. He added that after the incident, Rachel reported the case to him and quickly informed the police. He said DPO of Sango Ota division, Akinsola Ogunwale, sent police detectives to the scene and got the suspect arrested. However, the state Commissioner for Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the anti human trafficking and child labour unit of the state criminal investigation and intelligent department for further investigations.

Heappealedtoparentsinthestatetoalwaysmonitortheirchildrentoprevent them from falling into the hands of people with criminal intent.

READY FOR EMERGENCIES

Lagos State Emergency Service staging a simulation exercise to showcase its capacity to tackle emergency in Lagos...weekend

In Search of Cultists, Police Shoot Three in Bayelsa Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa On a day that the 17-year-old Innocent Kokorifa, a teenager killed by the police in Bayelsa State was being buried, another team from the state Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) last Saturday shot three persons in the Ekeki area of Yenagoa, the state capital.

While two of the victims, including five-year old Godsgift Odoku, have already died from the bullet wounds, doctors at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa were battling to save the third as at yesterday evening.

The cops were ostensibly on a raid on cult gangs engaged in violent battles along the Ekeki Community when shots fired by them hit the three unsuspecting victims who were around the area at the time.

Residents of the area said the police who were responding to a distress call on the cult-related violence in the area, however, could not arrest any of the suspects who all fled on sighting the security operatives.

The incident which occurred

late Saturday, was said to have thrown the residents of Ekeki and adjourning streets into panic as loud gun exchanges rang throughout the encounter in which a 30-year-old man identified as Inyang was also killed.

“The cult boys came into Ekeki community at about 2p.m. to bury one of their gang members. They were in a bad mood and went to Yenezue-Epie. But the SARS team chased them away.

“But they later regrouped at Ekeki community and saw two girls entering the area to visit their boyfriends and they collected their mobile phones.

“While the girls ran away, their boyfriends called the Police. One of the girls later came back with some men of SARS and while pursuing the cultists to the waterside, they released gun shots and it missed their target and killed two innocent people.”

The SARS team immediately left the scene after confirming that their shots killed some innocent persons, it was learnt.

But in a statement yesterday, the police admitted that their men actually fired the shots, but said

one person died immediately at the hospital, while the other two were still being treated.

The state police command noted that the officer who fired the particular shot that hit the three persons was currently in detention.

“On October 22, 2016, at about 1730hours, policemen from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, responded to a distress call of a cult attack at Ekeki village, Yenagoa. The policemen were ambushed by the cultists.

“Consequently, a police sergeant fired, the bullet ricocheted, and injured three persons who were unfortunately not among the cultists.

“The victims were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, for treatment and one of them later died. The sergeant who fired has been detained.

Investigation is ongoing,” the release signed by Asinim Butswat, the police command spokesman in the state, noted.

Meanwhile, the Bayelsa State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) led by Chief Nengi James, in a statement called on the Inspector General of Police

(IG), Mr. Suleiman Abba, to set up a special probe panel into the rising spate of police killings in the state.

“We condemn the increasing rate of police killings in the state and call on the IG to immediately probe the killings of the citizens and the indiscriminate arrest and extortion of huge amounts of money from the citizenry under the guise of bail,” the CLO said.

Meanwhile, Kokorifa, the teenager allegedly shot and killed by the police in Bayelsa two months ago, was on Saturday interred amid tears at the Ebebelibiri Cemetery, Yenagoa, after an autopsy was conducted.

Innocent, first of five children of Mr. Daniel Kokorifa, an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), was shot dead by the Anti-Vice/Anti-Kidnapping team along Air Force Road in Yenagoa, on August 18, 2016.

He was on an errand for his mother, Pere Kokorifa, when he was allegedly killed by the police about 11a.m. on that day, but the cops said he was killed in a shootout, a claim disputed by civil society groups and parents of the deceased.

Native Doctor, Baby Factory Operator, Traffickers Arrested A native doctor, operator of baby factory and a syndicate of traffickers in babieshavebeenarrestedbythepoliceinAkwaIbomStateandkeptinsecured cells at the state police headquarters in Uyo pending their prosecution. The 11 suspects were paraded at the weekend at the state police headquarters, Uyo withmostofthemconfessingtothecrime.ThestateCommissionerofPolice, Mr. Murtala Mani, told journalists that the native doctor whose name was not disclosed, killed his lover’s son aged 14 for undisclosed reason and hurriedly buried the body in an attempt to escape the crime. Mani, who spoke through the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, Cordelia Nwawe, said the police, based on a tip-off swoop on the native doctor at the point he went to exhume the corpse of the deceased. The police commissioner said theskulloftheboywasrecoveredandtakentomortuaryforautopsywhilethe nativedoctorhadconfessedandchargedtocourt.Thestatepolicebossfurther disclosed that security operatives have also arrested a woman who owns and operatesillegalmaternityhomeinthestate.“Thewomanspecialisesinmaking sure that she takes in pregnant teenagers, once the babies are delivered the babies will be sold and traffic out of the state.We have intercepted her.” Mani who said children are a reward and gift to humanity, warned that they should not be traded as commodity saying, “as a matter fact, the girls have reliably informed us that this is not the first time the y sold their babies for the sum of N450,000.” Similar, the police have recovered a two months old baby girl who was sold at the sum of N450,000 through a syndicate that included baby mother,agentandthebuyer.Thestatepolicebosshintedthatthelittlebabywho was sold in Akwa Ibom state was recovered in Rivers state through intelligent reports and now under Police custody in the state saying all the culprits have been arrested. In this ember period, Mani urged parents to take responsibility of their children needs cautioning teenagers that it was a serious crime for them go about getting pregnant with intention to sell the baby. He said all those arrested and culpable in the crimes will be prosecuted stressing that no criminal in the state will be faster that the security operatives as police have step up high visibility surveillance in the nook and cranny of the state.

Some of the suspects including the operator of the illegal maternity home, Cecelia Bassey and the daughter, a computer science student in the state polytechnic,IkotOsura,EstherBassey,andoneoftheteenagerclient,Ediomo Samuel Udoh with five months pregnancy all denied the crime. However, the mother of the two baby months sold, Comfort Edem Effiong aged 22 from Ikot Akpa Etuk, Ibesikpo Local Government Area of the state confess that she sold the baby because of hardship.

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MONDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

2018 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER

Algeria Plots Eagles’ Downfall, Contacts Wilmots, Courbis

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Algerian Football Federation (FAF) has placed former coach of Belgium, Marc Wilmots on top of its wish list for the 2018 World Cup showdown between Nigeria and Algeria in Uyo on November 12.

The other favourite is Rolland Courbis, who coached Niger in 2012 and was recently in charge of French club, Stade Rennaias. The former defender is also familiar with Algeria having coached local club USM Alger between 2012 and 2013.

Algeria which is in a tough Africa qualifying Group B in the race to Russia 2018 along Zambia, Cameroun and Nigeria, has been left with an Mount Everest to climb, following Serbian Milovan Rajevac’s departure in the wake of the 1-1 home draw with Cameroun.

Various media reports in Algeria last night said that FAF President, Mohamed Raouraoua, met Wilmots in Brussels on Thursday to sound him out on the prospect of the national team job, while he held further discussions in Paris the following day with Courbis.

The board of FAF is expected to announce a new coach as soon as possible after studying the reports of the technical committee to galvanise the Fennecs preparations for the must-win clash against old adversaries, Nigeria.

Wilmots, who was at the helms of Belgium Euro 2016 campaign in France where they were eliminated in the quarter final by Wales, is reported to have demanded a monthly salary of 100,000 Euros from FAF to take the plunge with Algeria.

The two technicians have been presented with a mandate to qualify Algeria for the 2018 World Cup and at least a quarter final berth at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.

But there are fears that Algeria may not be in position to afford a wage bill of 100,000 Euroes because of decline in government revenue arising from the sharp fall in the international prices of crude oil, the mainstay of Algeria’s economy.

Apart from that Algeria is competing with German club Schalke 04 in the race to lure Wilmot and may match the Belgian’s monetary demands.

French Nigerian Player Loses in Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Final A French player of Nigerian descent, Calvin Hemery failed in his spirited effort to win the second leg (Futures 6) of 16th edition of Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship on Saturday.

Hemery, whose father was a Nigerian, was a delight to watch with his determined spirit, giving the tournament number one, Enrique LopezPerez of Spain, a good run for his money; even despite the light drizzle that disrupted their more than three hours gruelling match. It was however the best man that carried the day as Hemery fell to Lopez-Perez in straight set of 5-7,5-7 in the final of the men’s singles decided on the Centre Court of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.

Hemery, the tournament number two seed, who lost out in the quarter finals of the first leg (Futures 5), was cheered all the way by guests, who included the representative of the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Tunji Bello who is the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chairman of the LOC, Chief Pius Akinyelure, Vice President of Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, Mr Yemi Owoseni, President of Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Barrister Rotimi Edu and a crowd of schools children.

Hemery described his match

against the Spanish star as one of the toughest in recent, but proud of himself in defeat.

He was so happy coming to Lagos to play the Governor’s Cup Tennis for the first time, adding that he would love to represent Nigeria someday if he is called to do so.

Bello, who stood in for Governor Akinwunmi Ambode applauded the performance of the two men finalists and thumbed up the organisation of the International Tennis Federation, ITF, approved circuit, saying that the Lagos State Government will always give its support to the competition because of its numerous values to development and projection of Lagos as one of the emerging mega cities of the world.

It was, however, a sweet revenge for Conny Perrin of Switzerland beating her perennial foe at the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis, Tadeja Majeric from Slovakia in the thrilling final of the women’s singles that ended in straight set of 6-3,6-3. Majeric beat Perrin to win the first leg (Futures 5) on 15 October.

Perrin told the media after the match that she was not surprised with this sweet revenge, adding that she had always been Majeric’s doubles partner in Lagos tournament and they knew each other very well.

Kelechi Iheanacho celebrating the equaliser against Sunderland at the Etihad stadium yesterday

Super Sub Iheanacho Rescues City from Home Defeat Duro Ikhazuagbe with agency report Kelechi Iheanacho once again proved a worthy sub for Kevin De Bruyne when he made an immediate impact, scoring Manchester City’s lone goal in the 1-1 draw with Southampton at the Etihad Stadium yesterday.

The Super Eagles’ forward who came on in the second half after the Citizen’s miserable first half, scored from close range after Fernandinho found Leroy Sane with an exquisite cross-field pass. That draw has however returned Manchester

City to the top of the Premier League on goal difference.

Pep Guardiola’s side, who began the season with 10 straight victories, have now gone five games without a win in all competitions, equalling the Spaniard’s worst run as a manager.

It could have been even worse for City after they gifted Southampton the lead when a wayward pass from John Stones put Nathan Redmond on scorers’ sheet after 27 minutes.

Moments later Stones thought he had atoned by bundling the ball into the net

but his goal was disallowed for a Sergio Aguero offside.

Saints remained a threat on the break and Claudio Bravo saved well from Charlie Austin on 74 minutes while Aguero went close at the other end, where Raheem Sterling was a constant threat as City pushed for the elusive winner.

Earlier on Saturday, another Super Eagles forward, Ahmed Musa, scored his first goal for Leicester City as the champions beat Crystal Palace 3-1 in the English Premier League.

Musa struck on 42 minutes as the Foxes took the lead in a tight first half at the King

Power Stadium.

The Nigeria forward struck from outside the area following good work by Algerian striker Islam Slimani, who displayed impressive upper-body strength before teeing him up with a delightful ball.

Musa had the option of passing to Riyah Mahrez on his right but showed the belief and composure of a veteran to fire past Palace goalkeeper Steve Mandanda from 20 yards out.

It was Musa’s first goal for Leicester since completing his move from Russian club CSKA Moscow in the summer.

Former Ogun Governor Challenges Wealthy Nigerians on Sports Devt Former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, at the weekend described sports as the most effective instrument for employment generation in the country.

Speaking when the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) paid a courtesy visit on him in Sagamu, the former governor said if properly harnessed, sports can be used to tackle unemployment and open doors for economic prosperity.

Otunba Daniel who was conferred with the award of national patron of the association challenged

government and wealthy Nigerians to do more and invest effectively in the sector.

According to him, “sports is the most effective instrument of employment generation, it is the greatest instrument of economic emancipation.”

He specifically called on wealthy Nigerians like Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga Jnr to invest in sports in the country as a way of contributing to manpower development and empowerment.

“There is nothing wrong in trying to acquire Arsenal FC of England but a percentage of that money can turn around the

Nigerian professional league if channeled into it,” stressed the former Ogun State chief executive.

While thanking SWAN for recognizing his contribution to sports development in Ogun State, Otunba Daniel said the award should have gone to his Commissioner of Sports, Bukola Olapade, who he said worked tirelessly to fulfill the vision of his administration in sports.

“Our achievements in the sports sector was part a prepared document with which we ran the state during our first tenure,” he recalled.

Otunba Daniel said sports was part of the major avenues through

which his administration brought Ogun State into the consciousness of people and national limelight through the hosting of the National Sports Festival in 2006 and the U-17 World Cup in 2009.

He added that in hosting these events, other sectors of the state’s economy and infrastructure were opened to development.

National President of SWAN, Mr Honour Sirawoo, commended Daniel for his vision in promoting sports during his tenure leading to the provision of sports facilities in different parts of the state, in addition to hosting national and international competitions.

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Price: N250

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MISSILE NBA to Indicted Judges

! We therefore strongly recommend that, without prejudice to the innocence or otherwise of the judges involved in the ongoing investigations, they should be required to recuse themselves from further judicial functions or required to proceed on compulsory leave until their innocence is fully and completely established or until the conclusion of all judicial or disciplinary proceedings.! ! The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) asking the judges that were accused of corruption by the Department of State Services (DSS) to recuse themselves from further judicial functions or proceed on compulsory leave, until their innocence is fully and completely established.

ABRAHAM E.NWANKWO GUEST COLUMNIST

Of Debt Financing and Economic Recovery

T

here has been a cloud of ambivalence around current discussions on the need to use debt financing to exit Nigeria from economic recession to recovery. The controversy can be resolved from two broad perspectives: one is the lesson from the historical and ongoing experiences of advanced and well-knowledged economies, in response to the threats of deflation and recession; the other is an examination of the dictates of the peculiarities of the prevailing Nigerian condition.

In response to the Great Recession which started roughly with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in U.S.A. in 2008 and got re-enforced by various local economic and financial crises, the U.S.A., Japan, the Eurozone and the U.K. channelled massive new liquidity into their economies, through, mainly, their central banks. They conducted unprecedented and unconventional purchases of both sovereign and private sector securities. They also provided direct lending to the banks and other credit institutions via standing facilities.

The major goals were, and still are, to prop up economic growth and reduce unemployment by boosting aggregate demand. By June 2016, the advanced economies had spent more than US$12.3 trillion on quantitative easing.

The U.S. Fed had spent about $3.7 trillion, including US$2.394 trillion on government securities; after an initial programme of monetary financing of between ÂĽ60 trillion and ÂĽ70 trillion per month, the Bank of Japan had since October 2014 committed to a programme of purchasing ÂĽ80 trillion of government bonds, per month; the European Central Bank started in January 2015 to buy public and private sector financial assets at the rate of â‚Ź80 billion per month, for 18 months ending in September 2016.

Given that this type of unconventional monetary financing (Quantitative Easing) has been accepted, more or less universally, as being appropriate for fighting economic downturn, conventional public borrowing by a country such as Nigeria, for the same purpose of pushing back the forces of recession could be considered as being even more normal.

Looking at the issue from within, we have ample body of information to guide thinking, discussion, decision and action. Long before the structural collapse of oil export prices in mid-2014, it had been established that Nigeria needed investments of about US$25 billion per annum for seven to 10 years to cover its huge infrastructure deficit. An additional structural financing gap has arisen from the drastic drop of oil revenue; the estimate is that oil-related public revenue has dropped by about US$20 billion per annum compared to the average in the pre-2014 years. This means that Nigeria’s total investment deficit is not US$25 billion per annum but US$45 billion per annum.

What does this simple arithmetic tell us?

First, it tells us that given the enormous size of the structural financing gap (SFG), we need to tap capital from all available sources.

Therefore, ongoing debates canvassing in favour of one or a limited number of sources and against other sources, are a disservice; they are not helpful. Activities for exploring and exploiting all sources should commence

Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun pari passu, even though their realisations and impacts will follow some natural sequence – short-term, medium-term and long-term.

Second, it tells us that all public revenue sources, including monetisation of eligible public assets, when added to private sector equity and debt resources, can contribute only so much of the required total annual investment, and no more. This maximum contribution cannot be reasonably expected to be more than 50 per cent. Therefore, the balance has to be raised in the form of public debt, preferably with tenors of 15 years and above but not below 10 years.

Should the borrowing be from domestic or external sources? The relevant background information are as follows: (i) average cost of domestic debt is higher than average cost of external debt by more than 7 per cent; (ii) significant domestic borrowing will worsen the existing high debt service-to-revenue ratio, whereas the impact of more external debt on debt service is much thinner; (iii) the country’s Debt Management Strategy (2016-2019) provides for a strategic remix of the total public debt portfolio from the current domestic-to-external ratio of 82:18 to 60:40; (iv) there is a need to avoid crowding out the private sector, so that they can have enough borrowing space to play their lead role in growing the economy, in response to the enabling policy and infrastructure environment provided by government. In view of the foregoing, the preferred sources of public borrowing over the medium-term is external.

What about the foreign exchange risk associated with foreign currency debt? The starting point is to note that the country has enormous idle capacity; therefore, a well-programmed and targeted debt capital injection will have high capital-output ratio.

Hence, strong real effect. The essence of the massive investment plan is that within five to seven years, the country should be moving on a trajectory of sustainable and continuously strengthening economic recovery.

And, from about the year eight to Year 10, the economy will start generating adequate public revenue, including forex revenue

from the export-oriented diversification programme. That is why the tenor of the new debts should preferably be 15 years and above so that there will be enough time for a “break-even�. Local substitution of food and other eligible items over the next three to four years will save the country about US$6-10 billion in foreign exchange.

Diversified and expanded export earnings, will grow foreign reserves and generate a growth supporting exchange rate of the naira. For these reasons, the country will have the capacity to service and repay its external debts.

The channels and sequence of economic recovery and prosperity following massive investment with debt and non-debt capital will be as follows. Investors (local and foreign) will react positively to a credible and comprehensive recovery investment plan; inflow of external loan proceeds will substantially and immediately impact on forex reserves and moderate the naira exchange rate; the actual building of infrastructure will stimulate economic activity around construction, generating effective demand for labour and materials, which will trigger a chain of income multipliers; a boost in real sector activity in response to improvements in infrastructure will be the ultimate consequence.

At this stage, the recovery process, which was led mainly by the public sector through massive investment in infrastructure, is taken over by the private sector, which plays the dominant role in producing actual goods and services in their pursuit for profitable business opportunities.

To conclude this simple analysis, it is necessary to emphasise two points: (i) There is the need to guard the economy from committing the “sin-of-avoiding-a-sin�

(SAS): The fact that during much of the country’s past, public debt and revenues were not appropriately utilised to build a strong and inclusive economy, cannot justify failure to mobilise debt capital at this time, when the need is compelling, and the governance environment for prudent and productive use is dependable. We must act bold. (ii) Nigeria is an upside case, and discerning investors (local and foreign) should know that this is the time to take a profitable position along the recovery path. Many of them are already acting accordingly. FDIs and LDIs, imminent Eurobond and other offers in the International Capital Market – Nigeria offers a whole range of profitable investment channels. r%S /XBOLXP JT UIF %JSFDUPS (FOFSBM PG UIF %FCU .BOBHFNFOU 0Gà DF /JHFSJB

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