Tuesday 25th October 2016

NNPC: Sale of Petrol at N145 is No Longer Sustainable, Product is Subsidised Chinese investors arrive today to hold talks on $5.5bn investments in oil and gas Inter-ministerial c’ttee to work on MoUs inaugurated Ejiofor Alike After months of struggling to sustain fuel imports under

the current foreign exchange regime, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) finally admitted

yesterday that the sale of petrol at the current market price of N145 per litre was unsustainable due to the

prevailing exchange rate.

NNPC also admitted that despite the preferential exchange rate made available

to oil marketers to import petrol, many were reluctant to do so because they would be selling at a loss at the prevalent

pump price, implying that NNPC that continues to import Continued on page 8

Nigeria, EU to Begin Talks on Sending Economic Migrants Home...

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Africa Initiative for Governance Announces Professor Attahiru Jega as First AIG Fellow... Page 12

Presidency, NJC Standoff Continues as Council Sets up Ethics Committee Falana insists arrested judges be placed on suspension

Davidson Iriekpen in Lagos and Tobi Soniyi in Abuja As the myriad of reactions continue to trail the arrest of some judges by the Department of State Security (DSS) and the probe of others by the Economic and Financial

Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of corruption, leading to mounting pressure that the affected judicial officers step down until they are exonerated, the standoff between presidency and the Continued on page 6

APC Accepts Responsibility for Economic Hardship in the Country

Lalong confirms ambassadorial list was drawn up without consultation Tallen, Bugaje turn down nominations

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja with agency report

After months of blaming the ousted Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government for Nigeria’s economic woes, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday finally accepted responsibility for the dire economic situation

in the country.

The Chairman of the Progressives Governors' Forum and Imo State Governor, Rochas Okokorocha, who spoke after the governors of the ruling APC met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Continued on page 6

Senate Probe: CBN Orders Banks to Suspend Payment of MTN Dividends... Page 10

APC GOVERNORS’ SOLIDARITY VISIT…

L-R: Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima; Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar; and Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum and Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, during a meeting of governors of the All Progressives Congress and President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja… yesterday godwin omoigui

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PAGE SIX PRESIDENCY, NJC STANDOFF CONTINUES AS COUNCIL SETS UP ETHICS COMMITTEE National Judicial Council (NJC) on the fate of the judges has continued to linger.

This was evident yesterday when the Chairman of the NJC and Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed inaugurated a 10man Judicial Ethics Committee with a mandate to review the code of conduct for judicial officers in the country.

A former CJN, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, will head the committee while another retired justice of the Supreme Court and erstwhile Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, is also a member.

Other members of the committee include the former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi; President of the National Industrial Court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo; Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Bello; President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN); two retired justices of the Supreme Court, as well as a former President of the NBA, Chief Okey Wali (SAN).

The inauguration of the ethics committee, explained legal pundits yesterday, was indicative that neither the NJC, nor the presidency was willing to back down on the judges indicted for corruption.

A senior lawyer who spoke to THISDAY explained that

the presidency would rather that the judges accused of corruption step aside until they are cleared of the charges.

However, the NJC has doubled down insisting that doing so would amount to cowing to the executive arm of government. Specifically, the CJN at the weekend described the arrest of the judges as an assault on the judiciary.

Justice Mohammed also said that two weeks after the DSS raided and arrested the judges, Nigeria’s secret police was yet to furnish it with any complaint against the indicted judges.

According to the lawyer, “If the NJC succumbs by asking the judges to step aside, the council will lose its independence forever.

“Besides, the general feeling among the judges and NJC is that the executive arm is persecuting judges whom it feels did not give the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) favourable judgments during the appeals on election cases challenging the victories of some PDP governors.

“This is seen by the NJC as a political vendetta, so the NJC cannot ask the judges to go on compulsory leave as suggested by the NBA and some other groups.”

He also explained that it would be foolhardy for the executive arm of government to think that it can arraign the judges, because their colleagues who would preside on the alleged corruption cases would never find them guilty.

“It will be foolhardy for the presidency to charge the judges, because they will not get rulings to jail the judges and the presidency knows this.

It is for this reason it is getting the NBA, among others, to ask them to step aside,” he explained.

Under the circumstances, the lawyer said that the standoff between the NJC and presidency will continue until one side backs down.

While inaugurating the Ethics Committee yesterday, Justice Mohammed urged the members “to do all such things necessary to ensure a continuous high standard of judicial accountability and probity”.

The CJN acknowledged that corruption was a major problem in the nation’s justice sector.

He said measures were being intensified to curb the menace, which informed the unveiling of a National Judicial Policy (NJP) in Abuja yesterday by the NJC. He said: “It would be stating the obvious to opine that the greatest single menace that challenges the justice system in Nigeria today is corruption.

“This endemic vice is not peculiar to any region and ethnic group, cutting across faiths, religious denominations, levels of education, and economic status.

“Corruption has serious implications for both the rule of law and access to justice, and must be fought both

institutionally and individually.

“This is why the National Judicial Policy contains clear provisions restating the judiciary’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

“This is clearly spelt out in Paragraph 5.1 of the National Judicial Policy 2016, thus: ‘The National Judicial Policy recognises that the greatest and most damaging challenge to administration of justice is corruption and that tackling this challenge must go beyond mere exhortation and sentiments.’

“The policy gives the legal backing for several multifaceted strategies and guidelines to be developed while the judiciary continues to walk the talk in ridding corrupt judicial officers from its ranks, strictly in accordance with due process and the rule of law.”

Justice Mohammed, who spoke at the launch of the NJP, noted that the absence of the policy in the past had resulted in an uneven growth of the judiciary.

“Certainly, the absence of a blueprint has resulted in a demand for the transformation of the Nigerian judiciary into a modern judicial system.

“For a number of years, each jurisdiction has had to muddle along in developing core values and objectives and this has led to a mixed bag of standards and policies.

“This has also been compounded by the challenging deprivations and paucity of resources, without

which critical development was limited.

“The National Judicial Policy is a charter of commitment to the values that elevate not only our judicial institutions, but also those who are employed by or involved in it,” the CJN said.

The committee was also mandated to conduct periodic surveys on behalf of the NJC to measure public perception of the level of compliance with ethical standards by the judiciary.

It will also “monitor and report on laxity by judicial officers in the observance of ethical standards in the performance of judicial duties”.

Justice Ayoola, who gave a synopsis of the new policy, said it is a “codification of best ways to ensure an integrity-driven judiciary whose hallmark is a reliable and effective justice system”.

A former CJN, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, who was chairman of the policy launch, stated that the Nigerian judiciary in the past lacked a clear and over-reaching policy structure that defined its core ethics.

He described the new judicial policy as “a laudable and exemplary document that will set a better focus for an effective judicial system in the country”.

Legal luminaries at the unveiling ceremony included a former CJN, Justice Mohammed Uwais; CJN-designate, Justice Walter Onnoghen; President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa;

Administrator of the NJI, Justice R.I.P. Bozimo; as well as chairmen and members of the Senate and House Committees on Judiciary.

Among issues covered by the new judicial blueprint are policies relating to the appointment of judicial officers, Judicial Discipline Policy, JudicialCode of Conduct, Judicial Education and Training, Judicial Performance Policy, Access to Justice Policy, Case Flow Management Policy, Judicial Administration and Court Management Policy.

Others are Transparency and Anti-Corruption Policy, Judicial Independence Policy, as well as issues relating to the office of the CJN. Under the Judicial Code of Conduct Policy, judges and court employees are barred from accepting gifts from other arms of government.

According to the document, “Judges must be accountable for public funds and property in their care and should be prudent in the management and use of resources.”

Likewise, under Judicial Discipline Policy, allegations of misconduct against judicial officers or employees of the judiciary shall not be leaked or published in the media.

It gave institutions of the judiciary concerned with investigation or implementation of decisions taken on complaints against judicial officers to cease further action

nomination was announced, the kind of uproar that followed it necessitated the intervention.

“And I think as a mature politician, she stepped down and sacrificed that for the people of Plateau. We are still working on a replacement for that. It is not a big issue, but sometimes a little consultation would have solved that problem because these are issues in the interest of the state.

“So you cannot have two appointments, very key appointments like that coming from a particular zone that is already overloaded with appointments. All the federal appointments are from the southern zone, so it would not be fair. So it is the issue of fairness on which we approached Mr. President.”

“Secondly, proper consultation was not done. My governor was not consulted because I called him when he was in the United States to ask, he said that he was not aware.

“For me, I was consulted and I turned down the appointment even before the announcement was made,” further revealing that her husband’s ill-health is another reason why she cannot accept the appointment.

Tallen said that the president gave her another option and assured her that Plateau would not miss its two slots.

The former deputy governor, who thanked Buhari for the honour, said her name was supposed to have been removed from the list of nominees, but was surprised when the announcement was made and her name was still on it.

Other than Tallen, Alhaji Usman Bugaje from Kastina State also turned down his nomination by the president, reported online news medium, The Cable.

Continued on page 8

APC ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR ECONOMIC HARDSHIP IN THE COUNTRY Abuja, however, said the party was also determined to fix the problems.

Owing to the government’s refusal to accept responsibility for the economic recession, the president had come under heavy criticism for always blaming the economic problems in the country on past administrations.

But Okorocha yesterday said: “We are only trying to clear the mess of the past. But we must take responsibility and we must never shift the responsibility to anyone.

“As APC, we are responsible for everything happening in Nigeria, we are responsible: the good, the bad, the ugly. But we are promising Nigerians that we shall fix it.”

When asked to provide more insight on what was discussed on the floundering economy, Okorocha said: “There is no surgery that is not painful.

Nigeria is going through a very serious economic surgery and that is the pain we are experiencing.

“We share the pains of Nigerians, every human being must feel it. We also feel what they are going through, but we are asking for a little patience, let us do things the right way and do it once and for all.

“I am sure that by next year you will begin to see changes.

The price of rice will drop, price of the dollar will begin to stabilise and we will see a lot of changes.

“But at this painful moment, nobody likes it. It is like a woman in the labour room, when she is in the labour room there is no joy, but she has to pass through that moment and in that moment she doesn’t wear her high heel shoes, no makeup, no champagne, no party because she is going through a process. But shortly after that process, joy cometh

once she sees the child.”

On this basis, he appealed to Nigerians to bear with the government.

However, Okorocha said that the economic hardship was not a problem brought

by APC government. Instead, he said it was a problem that existed long before APC came to government.

He said the governors came to encourage the president and congratulate him for securing the release of the 21 Chibok girls.

The governor also said his colleagues advised the president not to relent in securing the release of the remaining schoolgirls still in captivity.

He added: “Also, we came to report to Mr. President that his agriculture policy is producing results, because this time around, we will have a bumper harvest in most parts of the country in rice production and other things, so that policy should be sustained.

“And the funding policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme should be encouraged because it is yielding results.

“In the next couple of years, Nigeria would be self-sufficient in agriculture and would not need to import any more food into this country. That is a great achievement.”

Okorocha said the governors also urged the president to go on with the fight against corruption.

He said the governors understood that in the pursuit of good programmes, certain lapses would be noticed, but said that such lapses should not stop him from pursuing a good cause.

“We encouraged and thanked him for the efforts he is making to move this country forward,” he added.

He also revealed that the governors and the president also discussed the Ondo State governorship election.

“We are happy that we have delivered the first state under his administration which is Edo but in Ondo, the governors have decided to show support for that election so that APC will take over the government of Ondo State,” he said.

On if the controversy surrounding the party's nomination in Ondo State would not affect the party’s chances during the election, Okorocha said: “I agree with you to some extent, but I believe before the election all things will be fixed, because Ondo is coming back to APC and we would do all we can to make that happen.”

However, Okorocha said the governors did not discuss the lingering face-off between the judiciary and the Department of State Services (DSS).

He also revealed that the issue of asking the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to resign did not arise during the meeting with the president.

According to him, “We are not talking about anybody resigning. We are talking about rebuilding the party to make it a stronger party, right from the booth level to the national level.

“Let me say to you, the chairman of the party and the party itself are having friction, yet could be said to have done well. We come from a party that nobody expected will ever win this election.

“So we need to give them kudos and if there are areas that need adjustments we must do that.”

Asked what was the reaction of the president to their visit, Okorocha said Buhari was very quiet but appreciated

the support the governors had come to show him.

He said: “The president was quite happy, but said he appreciated our support for him and we are looking forward to how we can work together to strengthen the economy and the party.”

Also speaking, the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, explained why the former deputy governor of the state, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, rejected her ambassadorial appointment.

He also confirmed THISDAY’s report yesterday that some of the governors had issues with the ambassadorial nominations from the president.

He said: “Pauline is an astute politician from my state, and part of the issue we also raised was on some of the appointments that were made. So all the states that had complaints are going to put them in writing and the president promised he is going to look into them.”

Asked if the excuse given

by Tallen for rejecting the appointment was convincing enough (she had cited her husband’s ill-health for rejecting the nomination), Lalong said: “Well, it is not only about her husband, I think there is the dimension of Plateau politics, because I had already made complaints to Mr. President that appointments should not be concentrated in one zone.

“And so all these appointments came again from one zone. So the complaints that are coming from our state are not about her own personal interest, it is the fact that two ambassadorial appointments are coming from the same zone that we had complained about, and that is my zone.

“We had asked that the next appointment should go to the other zones – the central and the northern zones. So when that

Tallen Explains Why She Rejected Nomination Earlier yesterday, Tallen announced that she had turned down her ambassadorial nomination in order to be fair to other parts of the state in terms of federal appointments, reported the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Confirming THISDAY's report yesterday on the rising disenchantment in the APC over the names of ambassadorial nominees sent by Buhari last week to the Senate, Tallen, a former Minister of Science and Technology and Labour Party governorship candidate in Plateau in 2011, made this known in Abuja.

“I hail from the same local government and tribe with Governor Simon Lalong. I turned down the nomination because of balancing of appointments, I don’t think it is right for me to accept the appointment.

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TUESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2016 T H I S D AY

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NEWS

VFS: US, UK are Most Travelled Destinations by Nigerians Mr Jiten Vyas, the Chief Operating Officer of VFS Global in Africa, a visa processing company, has said that the United States of America and the United Kingdom are the most travelled destinations by Nigerians.

Vyas said in Lagos yesterday that data from his organisation had also revealed a rise in the number of Nigerians travelling to Europe, South Africa, Dubia and India, reported the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“There has been a significant rise in travel by Nigerians, be it student travel, leisure or

business, largely due to the improvement in income levels in the last few years.

“Several multinational companies have also set up base here and more Nigerian residents are becoming increasingly keen to travel or study abroad.

“The U.S. and UK remain popular travel destinations amongst Nigerians today; they also travel to Europe, Dubai, India and South Africa,” he said.

Vyas said that more countries had in the last decade taken advantage of outsourcing their visa application services to his

organisation.

The VFS boss said that Nigeria had always been one of the top priorities of his organisation in the sub-Saharan region.

Vyas explained that his organisation was currently providing visa application services to 13 client governments in Nigeria, adding that the company was currently working on a project for the Nigeria Interbank Settlement Services to provide Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) for Nigerian account holders abroad.

“This initiative by the Central bank of Nigeria is aimed at providing a more secure banking platform for boosting Nigeria’s conventional security.

“Over the last decade more governments are seeing the advantages of having an outsourced visa services model,” he said.

Vyas also disclosed that VFS Global was currently in touch with Nigerian government departments to introduce technology, citizen services, immigration, foreigners and national identity registrations to them.

Passengers at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos

PRESIDENCY, NJC STANDOFF CONTINUES AS COUNCIL SETS UP ETHICS COMMITTEE where such complaints are leaked or discussed in the media.

The Judicial Appointment Policy stressed that the process must be transparent, meritbased and skills-based.

“A transparent and carefully designed appointment process is indispensable to an efficient and independent judiciary, able to command public confidence in the administration of justice and capable of promoting and protecting the rule of law and human rights.

“Every aspect of the judicial appointment process should, therefore, be such as would command public respect and confidence that the best persons in terms of skills, learning, integrity and courage are appointed as judicial officers,” the document stated.

But as the judiciary seeks to clean up its act, Lagos lawyer and rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has called on the NJC to commence investigation into the allegations of judicial corruption levelled against the embattled judges who are still in service without any further delay.

According to him, having

regard to the embarrassing disclosures in the letters addressed to the CJN by the judges, the NJC should take the advice of the NBA by placing them on suspension, pending the conclusion of full scale investigation in line with Section 2.2.3 of the National Judicial Policy of the NJC which stipulates that the council shall have the “powers of interim suspension”.

He said: “However, both the NJC and the NBA should demand a public apology for Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, as the DSS has not been able to link him with any corrupt practice or misconduct whatsoever.”

He said it was wrong for the NJC to refuse to order the affected judges to step down, without allowing the judges to react to the advice of the NBA. He argued that given the gravity of the allegation of judicial corruption and the far reaching implication for the image of the nation’s judiciary, the NJC should have instituted an inquiry into the matter, notwithstanding the fact that DSS had not submitted any report to it.

He said: “The NJC has

allowed the allegation of judicial corruption to continue to hang menacingly on the heads of the judges like the sword of Damocles.

“If the NJC had treated this national crisis with the urgency required, it should have investigated the matter based on the avalanche of materials placed before it.”

He said the NJC had handled a similar complaint of judicial corruption about decade ago.

Falana recalled that in 2006, there were allegations that the members of the Akwa Ibom governorship election petition tribunal had received bribes to pervert justice.

He said: “Without prejudice to the innocence of the judges, the NJC suspended them and requested the Director-General of the DSS to conduct a discreet investigation into the allegation.

“Upon the receipt of the report of the investigation, it was found that each of the members of the tribunal had received a bribe of N10 million while a judge of the Federal High Court had acted as a conduit pipe in the scandal.

“At that stage, the judges

were confronted with the allegations. As their defence was found unsatisfactory, the NJC recommended their removal from the bench.

“Furthermore, the NJC referred the matter to the Independent and Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC). One of the indicted judges collapsed and died when the ICPC operatives wanted to arrest him in his house in Makurdi, Benue State!”

EFCC Probe on Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia In a related development, more information has been unearthed on why Justice Rita Ofili-Ajimogobia of the Federal High Court in Lagos is currently being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

THISDAY gathered that the judge, among other allegations, is being investigated for transferring the sum of $900,000 abroad.

Operatives of the anti-graft commission were said to have been surprised over the huge

sum of money with the judge, which raised a red flag.

Confirming that the anti-graft commission was aware of the huge sum transferred by the judge, the Head of Public Affairs of the commission, Mr. Sammin Ammadin, said the judge was not only being investigated over the transfer but for sundry offences relating to breach of trust.

Ammadin said the anti-graft commission was equally investigating other petitions against the judge and would make them public soon.

“It is not enough to say that the commission is investigating her for the transfer of funds.

There are other allegations against her for which petitions were lodged and are being investigated. At the appropriate time, we will make them public,” Ammadin said.

The anti-graft agency had recently invited Justice OfiliAjumogobia, alongside five other judges, but she told EFCC operatives that she was in the intensive care unit of a hospital and would not be able to honour its invitation.

The judge, after ignoring two invitations from the

commission to appear before it, finally turned herself in voluntarily last week.

Before turning herself in, she had claimed to be ill for two days, a claim the operatives busted by storming the medical facility in which she said she was admitted. Upon swooping on the hospital, they discovered that she was not there.

Last March, the NJC had sanctioned Justice OfiliAjumogobia, including precluding her from any promotion to the Court of Appeal or any ad hoc judicial appointment until her retirement from the profession.

It also put her on the “watch-list” of the council for four years.

The decision followed an electoral petition filed by one Victoria Ayeni, which the NJC appeared to find credible.

The petitioner had alleged misconduct and injustice by Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia for failing to deliver judgment in a pre-election suit between her and her political rivals.

Before the sanction, her residence was raided and “vital” documents were allegedly retrieved.

inter-ministerial committee to review the MoUs signed during the roadshow.

THISDAY gathered from a source in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources that NORINCO and Tiger Jade officials will be seeking to hold further discussions on the MoUs that the Nigerian government signed with NORINCO on its interest in investing $5.5 billion in upstream oil and gas projects in Nigeria.

The source also confirmed that the minister yesterday inaugurated an inter-ministerial committee to review the MoUs signed in China.

The mandate of the committee, according to him, “is to look at each of the MoUs and the projects to which they are tied, and kick start the processes that would ensure that the $75 billion investment is brought to Nigeria”.

“Members of the committee include representatives of the Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Trade, Industry and Investment, Budget and National Planning, Finance, and Foreign Affairs,” the source said.

Others include the Office of the Solicitor General of the Federation, Debt Management Office (DMO), NNPC and the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), he added.

Kachikwu, last June signed the MoUs with several Chinese

firms for over $80 billion new investments, spanning five years, in the oil and gas industry covering pipelines, refineries, gas and power, facility refurbishments and upstream financing.

The minister had told THISDAY from Beijing, China, that the agreements had been executed during his three-day roadshow in the Asian country to attract investments to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

The objective, he said, was to bridge the infrastructure funding gaps in the oil and gas sector.

He said: “I can confirm that we had a successful outing and finally raised investment commitments and signed MoUs worth $80 billion.

“Out of this, $10 billion approximately was raised on the sides with our steer and push for two Nigerian companies – Delta Tek and Salvic Petroleum – while the balance of $70 billion includes MoUs signed by investors and financiers for projects with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),” he had told THISDAY. The 28-page China Investors’ Roadshow 2016 document obtained by THISDAY described Nigeria as a critical investment destination for China and also identified key incentives that make Nigeria an attractive investment destination for China.

NNPC: SALE OF PETROL AT N145 IS NO LONGER SUSTAINABLE, PRODUCT IS SUBSIDISED it was subsidising petrol.

This came as the House of Representatives pledged to review the laws on licensing, regulation and incentives on petroleum refineries in the country.

Speaking yesterday in Lagos at the 2016 Oil Trading and Logistics (OTL) Conference, the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division at the NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari, said there was no way petrol would continue to be sold at the current pump price.

Kyari was however quick to add that the present administration would not announce another increase in the petrol pump price, because Nigerians would not accept it.

According to him, legislation by the National Assembly would be required for petrol to be sold above N145 per litre.

He said some suppliers had already stopped importation because of the current pricing regime.

“We have a very difficult business environment. It is impossible today to import products at the current market price – at the curren foreign exchange rate. There is no way today you can take the product to retail and sell at N145. It is not possible today.

“If that is true and I believe that it is true because we all go to the market, why can’t we sell above N145? That is where legislation should come

in,” Kyari said.

“I also know today that it is impossible for this government to announce tomorrow that petrol is about N150. This government cannot do it. That is the truth. The people will not take that number. That is why suppliers are not importing,” he added.

Kyari further argued that the scarcity of FX was not responsible for suppliers’ inability to import, adding that the NNPC had created “a niche FX market” for them.

“It is not FX. We have created a niche market for FX. I am part of the committee that allocates FX to marketers. But it is rejected, and the reason being given is that the FX is not enough to import. But that is not the truth,” he said.

According to Kyari, suppliers were refusing to import because they would be selling at a loss as long as the pump price is left at N145 per litre.

“The truth is that marketers go back to the international market and land the product here, that you are required to sell it at N145 maximum. I am sure they won’t make it. That is the main reason why people are not importing today. It is not FX,” Kyari explained.

He insisted that no marketer would import the product and make a profit if he sells at N145, stressing that marketers who currently sell below the N145 pump price do not import the

product.

“Today, are we in a subsidy regime, absolutely. There is no way you can bring products today and take it and sell at N145 and get back your money, and make a profit. That is not possible.

“You can see some marketers saying that fuel is N138. It is because they did not import it. But someone has taken the heat; indeed, we (NNPC) have taken the heat, and you buy from us, so you can afford to go to the market and then put a ridiculous price. It is possible, because they did not import it.

“So the issue is not FX scarcity. As I speak to you, there is stranded FX that nobody is ready to pick. We have closed the chapter on FX,” Kyari explained.

Also speaking, the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, represented by the Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Joseph Akinlaja, stated that an amendment bill on the regulation and licensing of refineries had passed second reading in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

According to him, the bill, when passed into law, will mitigate the bureaucracies and bottlenecks associated with the refining of petroleum products and also provide incentives to refinery operators.

“We are committed to

reviewing and improving legislations, especially with regard to refining, gas, petrochemicals and a host of other key areas in the downstream sector operations in Nigeria,” Dogara added.

Chinese Investors Arrive Today Meanwhile, 10 Chinese investors are expected to arrive Abuja today to hold discussions on the $5.5 billion investments in the oil and gas sector, THISDAY has learnt.

The delegation will comprise officials of China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) and Tiger Jade, the investment arm of NORINCO. Their visit, it was learnt, is a follow-up to the roadshow embarked upon by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, in China last June when he signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to the tune of $75 billion with numerous Chinese firms interested in investing in infrastructure projects in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

In addition to this, another MoU on incremental investments of $5 billion was signed with CNOOC and SINOPEC (formerly Addax) on their existing upstream assets in Nigeria.

Ahead of the visit of the Chinese team, Kachikwu yesterday inaugurated an

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NEWS

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

Oshiomhole: I Don’t Care If Obaseki Betrays Me Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has said he will not interfere with the running of the state by the Governorelect, Godwin Obaseki.

Oshiomhole, who spoke with State House correspondents in Abuja yesterday, was responding

to questions on if he was not worried that he might fall out with Obaseki in future as had been the case in some states, where former governors are at loggerheads with the successors.

The governor said he was not the type that would breath down the neck of his successor or worry over being betrayed

FG Appoints Okhiria, MD of Nigeria Railway Corporation Dele Ogbodo in Abuja The federal government yesterday appointed Mr. Fidet Edetanlen Okhiria, the Managing Director of Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC).

Confirming the appointment through a text message made available to THISDAY, yesterday in Abuja, the Director, Public Relations of NRC, Mr. Mahmoud Yakubu, said Okhiria has been on acting capacity before his confirmation.

With the appointment, the MD is now saddled

with the full responsibility of providing the much needed leadership and strategic direction for the achievement of the vision of the NRC master plan.

The statement added that Okhiria is a qualified Electrical engineer with significant records of achievement in the field of electrical/mechanical, signalling, telecommunication, ICT, installation, maintenance and repair of electrical equipment and rail transport since 1988 covering design, development, installation and supervision of several projects.

by Obaseki, when he leaves office next month.

Obaseki won the September governorship election in the state.

Oshiomhole however said he was at the President Villa to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to come for a state visit to inaugurate some impacting projects his administration had put in place, including a state-ofthe-art hospital.

He said the governor-elect’s allegiance should be to the people of the state and not him.

“That is very important if you say he will disappoint me, I am not the state; I am only one out of about four million Edo people. So his obligation and his loyalty should be to the people of Edo State. The oath of office he is going to subscribe to, says that he will defend the

constitution of Nigeria, he will do everything to uplift the quality of life of Edo people. Nothing in his oath of office will include ‘I shall not betray my predecessor’ because I have no interest to be betrayed.’

“For me, I have presided over Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) for eight years and I had a successor, there was no story of me having conflict with my predecessor. Because conflict only arises when you refuse to accept that when your tenure is over, it is over, he stated” Oshiomhole who will be leaving office on November 12, said he has no regrets campaigning vigorously for Obaseki, adding that he acquired the skills right from his labour days fighting the oppressors.

He said: “As for the campaign, and this is the

problem, the media picks the negatives from the mouth of those who are the least competent. That I campaigned for him, I was this I was that. That is the way it should be. Look at what is going on in the United States, is Barack Obama not vigorously campaigning for Clinton? Is Obama’s wife, the First Lady of US, not as vigorous perhaps much more than Bill Clinton? But these are skills I acquire from short floor which they will never acquire. I am a product of struggle as a result of my many years of being exploited fighting the oppressors, I deployed those skills and I defeated them. At a point, they said I should allow the man to talk, did the electorate complain?”

Asked what he will want to be remembered for, Oshiomhole said: “I want to be remembered as a factory worker who

worked and laboured as a daily paid worker in the most subordinates post in textile mill rising to become leader of the textile union and eventually spending eight years as NLC president, then going back home to confront the most feared and vicious godfathers that monopolised Edo State.

I fought godfathers, which is essential to make way for liberal democracy.”

On allegations that he rigged the elections, he said: “Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost because it could not convince the people of its legacy while in power. We did not rig the poll, else we would not have allowed our party chairman to lose his unit.”

Oshiomhole said he had no regrets in his eight years on the saddle, adding that being in his 60s, it was time to take a break and be a caring husband and father to his children.

Buhari to Issue Executive Order on Transparency John Shiklam in Kaduna President Muhammadu Buhari is set to sign an executive order on promoting transparency and efficiency so in order to create an enabling business environment in Nigeria.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), disclosed this in Kaduna yesterday at a retreat with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Non Governmental organisations (NGOs) on Open Governance Partnership (OGP).

According to the minister, this would mandate all ministries, agencies and departments (MDAs) to adopt openness in contracting procedures and publishing of contracts.

He said with the dwindling economy, the government is desirous to continue to provide an enabling environment to attract foreign investors in order to diversify the economy.

Malami said further that President Buhari had made it clear that Nigeria is opened for business and has assured that illicit finance would have no hiding place in the country.

“In the coming weeks, the president will sign an executive order for the creation of an enabling business environment in Nigeria that will mandate all MDAs to adopt openness in contracting and procedures and publishing contracts,” the minister said.

He maintained that corruption remains one of the biggest impediments to national development, saying the social

and economic problems being faced in Nigeria are traceable to corruption.

He explained: “In May, the president, at an international Anti-Corruption Summit in the United Kingdom, affirmed his commitment to strengthen anti-corruption reforms in Nigeria, adding that following this commitment, the federal government commitment sought to deepen institutional and policy reforms which led to Nigeria joining the OGP in July this year. “ According to him, the OGP is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving the transparency, accountability, citizen participation and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation.

He said the president recently approved the OGP National Steering Committee made up of representatives of MDAs, CSOs, the organised private sector and professional associations which are already working together to create two-year national action plan to mainstream transparency mechanism in the management of public funds across all sectors, with the Federal Ministry of Justice coordinating.

“Let me inform you that as a government, we shall remain focused, bold and result-oriented in delivering on the promises President Buhari made to provide good governance to the Nigerian people and deliver on the commitments made during the anti-corruption summit in London early this year,” Malami said.

PARLEYING INVESTORS

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (second left), in a group photography with the management team of Innoson Group, Shandoug Broadcasting Group Limited and Shandoug Cable Interactive Service Limited, during a courtesy visit at the State House, Abuja.... yesterday

Senate Probe: CBN Orders Banks to Suspend Payment of MTN Dividends The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered the suspension of MTN Group dividend payment from the Nigerian subsidiary of the telecommunications giant, until further notice.

In a quarterly update to shareholders, MTN Group said it was not guilty of the illegal repatriation charges levelled against it by the Nigerian Senate, stating that the claims are totally unfounded and without merit.

Addressing the latest developments on the alleged illegal repatriation of $13.97 billion by the group, TheCable reported that MTN said the CBN had ordered its four commercial banks in Nigeria to suspend dividend payout from the country.

“MTN Nigeria, four commercial banks, certain MTN Nigeria directors and shareholders, the CBN and others appeared before the Senate on October 20, 2016, at the outset of this investigation.”

“The allegations are that $13.97 billion was repatriated illegally by MTN Nigeria through its bankers. MTN Nigeria and its bankers are cooperating with the investigation with a view to resolving the matter as expeditiously as possible.

“In the interim, the CBN has instructed the banks to suspend any remittance of dividends until further notice.

MTN Nigeria continues to refute the allegations that MTN Nigeria had improperly

repatriated funds from Nigeria.

“Consequently, MTN Nigeria will strongly defend any action that would be prejudicial to its interest. MTN Nigeria has no intention to make any dividend payments over the next six months,” the update read.

Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria has restated its commitment to the payment of the N330 billion fine related to the late disconnection of ‘improperly registered’ SIMS. It also revealed that its subscriber base increased by 1.5 million in three months.

“MTN Nigeria reported a 2.5 per cent increase in its subscriber base to 60.5 million (QoQ). The

reported subscriber base was negatively impacted by the exclusion from our active base of approximately 3.1 million subscribers relating to a change in subscriber accounting rules.

“On the upside subscriber numbers were supported mainly by reconnection through proactive engagement following their disconnection in line with regulatory requirements earlier this year,” TheCable further reported.

After the disconnection of unregistered SIM cards mandated by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), MTN subscriber base fell to 58.98 million in Q2 2016, from 61.25 million at the end of 2015.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2016 T H I S D AY

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25,, 2016 • T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Africa Initiative for Governance Announces Jega First Fellow Obinna Chima The newly launched Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) yesterday announced the immediate Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, as its first Visiting Fellow of Practice at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.

A statement explained that the AIG entered into a partnership with the Blavatnik School based on the shared purpose of building good governance and public leadership in Africa.

The AIG said it believes that the high-calibre individuals trained at the school would drive best practice standards of governance across Africa, ensuring sustainable economic growth and social justice.

Commenting on the announcement, the Founder and Chairman of the Africa Initiative for Governance, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, stated: “Our unanimous choice of Professor Jega is based on our award criteria which require AIG Fellows to demonstrate evidence of outstanding contribution to the public good, through

exemplary leadership in public service.”

He further commented that “Jega clearly exhibits these qualities; as Executive Chairman of Nigeria’s INEC, he presided over the 2011 and 2015 general election that were characterised by openness and integrity.

The successful outcome of Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election has elevated democratic standards in Africa to new heights.”

Jega obtained a B.Sc. in Political Science from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and an M.A. and PhD from Northwestern University, Illinois, USA. Prior to his work with INEC, he was the ViceChancellor of Bayero University Kano. He has also served in various capacities such as: Director Centre for Democratic Research and Training (Bayero University); President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU); Visiting Senior Research Fellow (Nigerian Institute of International Affairs); Swedish Institute Fellow at the Department of Political Science (University of Stockholm); Visiting Fellow at St.

Peters College (University of Oxford) and Visiting Scholar (George Mason University), to name a few.

He is currently a Professor in the Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano and has published extensively on Nigerian politics, elections, democratisation, and transition to democracy.

On accepting the invitation from AIG, Jega stated: “It is an honour and a privilege to be the

first AIG Visiting Fellow at BSG. I fully subscribe to your shared purpose of building good governance and public leadership in Africa and I believe that your partnership is a commendable initiative.”

A panel of seven eminent advisors – chaired by former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo– provides strategic direction and leadership in the selection of AIG Scholars and Fellows,

and fosters the long-term sustainability of the AIG initiatives.

In a call to action issued jointly by the Advisors and the AIG Directors it was stated that: “We recognise that alone, we cannot achieve the scale of change that is required. We call for others to join us, as we seek partnerships that can exponentially increase the impact of the work that we are doing, and help us to achieve

our mission.”

In addition to the Fellowship, the statement restated that the AIG has three other schemes: AIG scholarships for a Master of Public Policy (MPP) at the Blavatnik School of Governance; the AIG Index, an independent annual statistical assessment of public sector performance in Nigeria; and, AIG Public Sector Award for high performers in the public sector.

EFCC Arrests Ex-FCT Minister, Mohammed, Reuben Abati Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja Dr. Reuben Abati, a former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Bala Mohammed, have been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged financial crimes.

THISDAY gathered last night that they were arrested yesterday and are expected

to spend at least the night at the commission.

EFCC’s source said Abati was being interrogated for allegedly receiving money from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).

The embattled former NSA is currently being prosecuted by the anti-graft commission for alleged mismanagement of funds meant for arms.

The arrest of Abati by the EFCC brings to at least four the number of former

presidential aides under the Jonathan administration, who are currently in EFCC custody.

Mohammed who was equally arrested on yesterday, has been under investigation for allegedly awarding made-up contracts running into N1billion, allocation of 12 choice plots worth billions of naira and 37 other commercial plots of land worth about N8billion to his suspected front named Tariq Hammoud.

THISDAY further gathered that he is also being investigated

for the controversial N1 trillion Abuja land swap.

The EFCC source added that more than 16 companies linked with the questionable contracts awarded by the former minister had been under surveillance and their owners grilled by the anti-graft agency.

EFCC had seized four houses valued at N872 million belonging to the former minister and his son, Shamsudeen Bala, THISDAY further gathered last night.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2016 T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016

COMMENT

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

LINGERING CRISIS OVER LOCAL GOVERNMENT Eric Teniola argues for a return to the 1963 constitution

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here is a lingering problem over the way and manner local governments have been created arbitrarily in this country. The problem became worse under the military. Some called it military nepotism.

As it is now, with the 1999 constitution very difficult to amend, it seems we will have to live with the problem for a long time.

Before independence in 1960, there were 240 native authorities in Nigeria. The North had 144, the West had 55 and the East had 47.The states in the East had 72 local governments in 1979 while those in the West, including Lagos had 60. The states in the old North had 152 local councils while the old Mid-Western region renamed Bendel State, had 19 local governments. In total we had 303 local governments.

For example Lagos State had eight local governments in 1979. The same Lagos State now has 20 local councils according to the 1999 constitution. In 1979, Kano State had 20 local governments. Now the old Kano State has been broken into two states, Jigawa and Kano States. The present Kano State has 46 local governments while Jigawa has 27 local governments.

In short the old Kano state of 1979 now has 73 local governments. Imo State had 22 local governments in 1979. Now Imo State has been broken into Abia and Imo States. Abia State now has 18 local governments while Imo State has 28 local governments. In 1979, Rivers State had 10 local governments; now Rivers State has been broken into two, Bayelsa and Rivers. Rivers State has 23 local councils while Bayelsa has eight. Kaduna State had 14 local governments in 1979, now it has been broken into two states - Katsina and Kaduna States. Katsina State now has 34 local governments while Kaduna has 23 local goverments. Ondo State had 18 local governments in 1979, now it has been broken into Ondo and Ekiti States. The present Ondo State now has 18 local governments while Ekiti has 16 local governments. Ogun State, apparently one of the few states that has not been split had 10 local governments in 1979. Ogun State now has 20 local governments.

Mid-Western Region was created in June 1973 following an act of parliament. The region was renamed Bendel State on May 27, 1967. In 1979, the state had 19 local governments. Now the state has been split into two - Edo and Delta States. Edo has 20 local governments while Delta has 25 local governments.

In 1989, we had 589 local governments in Nigeria. We now have 774 local governments. The last exercise on the creation of local governments in Nigeria was carried out by late General Sani Abacha in 1995 when he appointed Chief Arthur Christopher Mbanefo (86) as the chairman of the panel. Chief Mbanefo, a chartered accountant, later became Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United Nations during the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The secretary of the panel then was Dr. Adamu Fika, now Chairman of the National Assembly Commission. Other members of the panel were Mrs Adefemi Abeke Taire, nee Williams, former Secretary to the Lagos Government but married to Chief Torch Oritsewehinmi Taire; Chief Kunle Oluwasannmi from Ipetu-Ijesha, Osun State and brother to Professor Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, former Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

On December 16, 1997, General Abacha appointed Chief Oluwasanmi, a

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE CONSTANT CONFLICT ON CREATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN THIS COUNTRY AS LONG AS STATES BLESSED WITH MORE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS EARN MORE THAN THE OTHER STATES WITH LESS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

former Custom Officer to replace Professor Iyawose Hagher as Minister of State for Power and Steel. The other members include Mr. El- Nathan from Adamawa State, Alhaji Kofar Katsina, Chief Audu Ogbeh, now Minister for Agriculture and Natural Resources; Alhaji Kufobai,Obong Umana O. Umana, General Peter Ademokhai(rtd.), former General officer Commanding First Mechanised Division Kaduna.

There will always be constant conflict on creation of local governments in this country as long as states blessed with more local governments earn more than the other states with less local governments.

As a way out we should perhaps return to the measure adopted in 1963. Maybe that will reduce conflict. Section 140 of the 1963 constitution says (1) There shall be paid by the Federation to each Region a sum equal to fifty per cent of – (a) The proceeds of any royalty received by the Federation in respect of any minerals extracted in that region; and (b)Any mining rents derived by the Federation from within that Region (2) The Federation shall credit to the Distributable Pool Account a sum equal to thirty per cent of --(a) the proceeds of any royalty received by the Federation in respect of minerals extracted in any Region; and (b) any mining rents derived by the Federation from within any Region.

(3) For the purposes of this section the proceeds of a royalty shall be the amount remaining from the receipts of that royalty after any refunds or other repayments relating to those receipts have been deducted therefrom or allowed for.

(4) Parliament may prescribe the periods in relation to which the proceeds of any royalty or mining rents shall be calculated for the purposes of this section.

(5) In this section “minerals” includes mineral oil.

(6) For the purposes of this section the continental shelf of a region shall be deemed to be part of that region.

141.—There shall be paid by the Federation to the Region at the end of each quarter sums equal to the following fractions of the amount standing to the credit of the Distributable Pool Account that date, that is to say— (a) to Northern Nigeria, forty ninety-fifths; (b) to Eastern Nigeria, thirty-one ninety-fifths; (c) to Western Nigeria, eighteen ninety-fifths; (d) to Mid-Western Nigeria, six ninety-fifths.

142—Each Region shall in respect of each financial year pay to the Federation an amount equal to such part of the expenditure incurred by the Federation during that financial year in respect of the department of customs and excise of the Government of the Federation for the purpose of collecting the duties referred to in section 136-139 of this Constitution as is proportionate to the share of the proceeds of those duties received by that region under those sections in respect of that financial year.

Teniola, a former director at the presidency, wrote from Lagos

AMERICA AND THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

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Bisi Olawunmi argues that though Clinton is in clear lead, Trump can spring a surprise

ith the last of America’s three presidential election debates concluded on Wednesday, October 19, 2016, the two major party candidates, Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party and Donald Trump of the Republican Party are now in the home stretch of the presidential race. Over 100 million Americans are expected to go to the polls on November 8, 2016 to cast their ballots for the next president of the United States. It will be an historic moment: the first female major party candidate in contention with the first political establishment outsider. This was, however, not the race the political pundits predicted. As far back as 2012, there has been the projection that 2016 U.S. presidential election will be a battle of the emergent American political dynasties - Clinton and Bush dynasties. The projected scenario was between Hillary Clinton, wife former President Bill Clinton and Jeb Bush, son of former President George H.W. Bush and younger brother of former President George W. Bush. Jeb Bush is former Governor of Florida, during whose tenure the controversial Florida vote recount got awarded to his elder brother, a development that won him (George W.) The White House in 2000.

However, the entry of billionaire businessman, Donald Trump, into the Republican primaries contest, created unanticipated dynamics that threw spanner in the works. From being dismissed as a mere political irritant by the Republican party establishment at the beginning of the primaries, Trump was to generate an unstoppable momentum that caught the political barons gasping and grabbing for straws, any straw, to stop what has turned out a political Hurricane Trump. It was not to be. Jeb Bush, the anointed candidate, ran such a lackluster campaign that never got off the

ground and was one of the early aspirants to throw in the towel. He quitted, negating the Bush family tradition of never being a quitter. The eventual emergence of Trump as the Republican presidential candidate, against the wishes of the Republican lords, was a de-mystification of the Bush dynasty. It was, therefore, no surprise that Bush, the father, is so angry for his son’s rejection by fellow Republicans during the primaries that he was reported as planning to vote for Hillary Clinton. The trepidation in America’s political establishment now is the fear of Trump achieving the unthinkable – the defeat of Hillary Clinton come November 8. There is thus an obvious rallying of the political establishment, across Republican and Democratic political divides, in a last ditch effort to stop Trump from getting to the White House.

A stop Trump campaign at the voting stage must, however, be handled with care for him not to be incensed enough to bring down the roof on everybody. Trump served notice of a fight at the last presidential election debate by refusing to commit himself to accepting the outcome of the November 8 election. He has since modified his position that his non acceptance of the result is if it is tainted.

The boost he got in the last debate has energised his campaign, giving him a feeling of an outside chance of winning. Meanwhile, the Republican candidate has literally become a political orphan with many party leaders abandoning him after the first presidential debate but with some beating a retreat after his performances in the second and final debates. But as noted by Senator Barry Goldwater, the defeated Republican presidential candidate in the 1964 election, “Republicans, divided in a primary contest, never seem quite able to get back together” unlike the Democrats. In fact, Goldwater attributed his loss in the presidential election to his being dubbed a warmonger in the bruising primary:

“ By early September, it became apparent that I would never recover from the image of Goldwater which had been projected to the American voters by my Republican challengers in the primary period”. It would seem that 52 years later, history may be repeating itself in the Republican candidacy of Donald Trump, given the unrelenting bruising from his party members. In contrast, the Democrats have rallied behind Hillary Clinton and replicating the John F. Kennedy appeal in the 1960 presidential campaign “ built on charm, enthusiasm and the sycophantic attitude of the national press and a Hollywood-style publicity campaign”. Just like in 1960 when even at the primaries stage “the notion that Jack Kennedy would be invincible in the general election began to take shape”, so it has been with Hillary Clinton – a projection of the inevitability of her election into The White House right from the primaries. In spite of misgivings in many quarters, the Clinton machine has been able to deflect potentially fatal political blows, including those related to her husband’s sexual escapades, and seem to be cruising inexorably to the American presidency. The bright prospects of a Hillary Clinton presidency notwithstanding, this projection is not iron cast. In the few days to the election, developments could unfold that could throw the presidential election into a tailspin. Trepidations, thus, remain in political establishment circles, given Trump’s unorthodox campaign style, his fanatical grass root supporters and a daring, fighting spirit.

Should there be credible evidence of electoral manipulation, then America may face a traumatising challenge that may explode the myth of the efficacy of its democracy and expose the fraud that it is in practice. A signal that Trump is bracing for battle is his frequent use of the word ‘rigging’ in his campaign outings which until now has been taboo with regard to American elections, even when

there have been glaring instances which qualify for the word usage. Up till now, there seems to be an unwritten rule for election losers to sulk away when their low key court challenges fail to remedy an electoral heist. That may be about to change.

Controversies have trailed a number of American presidential elections, the two most quoted being the 2000 and 1960 presidential elections. In the 2000 contest between Vice-President Al Gore and George W. Bush, the battle ground was Florida State, where Jeb Bush, George W.’s younger brother, was governor. The Florida result was the last to be declared, with Al Gore having 266 electoral votes to George Bush’s 246 electoral votes. A candidate needed a minimum of 270 electoral votes to be elected President – Gore being short by just four votes and Bush 24 votes. Going by America’s winner-takes-all system, whoever has the majority of popular votes in Florida gets all the 25 electoral votes at stake, making Florida a decisive state in who gets elected president. The two candidates were running neck-to-neck in votes but with prospects of it being tilted in favour of Bush prompting Gore to demand recounts. These became protracted, including manual count, in a technologically advanced U.S.A ! According to a report published in http://quora.com, “Ultimately, the election was decided by the people who decided to stop the count and call the election for George W. Bush. It was called by Republican Secretary of State, whose boss, Florida’s Governor, was Bush’s brother”. That decision, according to the Internet site, “was upheld by the Supreme Court which voted directly along party lines, meaning the five Republican Justices ultimately put Bush in office”.

Dr. Olawunmi, former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016

EDITORIAL THE RESURGENCE OF KIDNAPPING The security agencies could do more to contain the scourge

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he crime of kidnapping is now on a steady rise and it targets the high and the mighty as well as the poor. Except that, as more recent events showed, whenever the rich are abducted the police authorities are quick to crack the crime and haul in the criminals involved in the dastardly operations. It is usually not the same when not-so-prominent victims are involved. In the latest incident which graphically outlines this trend, members of the criminal gang involved in the kidnap of Mrs Margaret Emefiele were arrested within days. Meanwhile, there are many such cases involving the less privileged that go unreported and are never really resolved.

This trend portends grave danger as citizens may perceive law enforcement agencies as attaching less value to the lives of the less privileged, a perception that may exacerbate the growing urge for self-help in the country. Already, there are concerns about the brazen manner with which the criminal gangs opTHERE IS AN URGENT erate without much NEED TO REVIEW THE inhibition by the PROFILE OF THE NATION’S security agencies.

SECURITY PERSONNEL, The abduction of WEED OUT THE BAD EGGS the CBN governor’s AND STRENGTHEN THE wife for instance occurred even as CAPACITY OF THE REST TO DO THEIR WORK MORE she was reportedly escorted by some DILIGENTLY armed policemen.

However, what is particularly disturbing is that following the arrest of the men that abducted Mrs Emefiele, it emerged that four of them were service men, two each from the police and the army. This no doubt is a very serious development which the government must act quickly to deal with it; if, as we warned earlier, the citizens are not to feel helpless and resort to self-help.

The inclination towards self-help arises not only from a feeling that the security agencies appear not to be doing enough to arrest the situation but

Letters to the Editor

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also that they are part of the problem as several arrests continue to show the involvement of retired and serving military and police men in the crime. That some of those are paid by the state to protect the people are now using their official weapons to commit such heinous crime is a dangerous development that must not be allowed to continue.

For a country that is in economic recession with the mass of its people barely able to eke out a living, kidnapping could only worsen the security deficit that scares away the required investments that the economy needs to rebound. This is not what the country needs at this time. To that extent, the federal government, which has come under intense criticism over its handling of the economy, cannot afford to allow this sort of development to fester. At a period kidnapping for ransom has become a symptom of a wider problem in the society, it is important for the security agencies to device strategies for tackling the challenge.

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

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herefore, while we commend the police authorities for ensuring the safe return of Mrs Emefiele to her family, it is also our hope that when other citizens who may not be as prominent are victims, they would be given the same attention. More importantly, we believe that the lessons learned from the deployment of critical assets that led to the arrest of some of the suspects in Mrs Emefiele’s kidnap saga will serve as a model for cracking the crime that has become commonplace in our country today.

As we have said on several occasions, it is high time government reviewed its security architecture and revamped it to bring it up to speed with the requirements of the exigencies of the moment.

Apart from making more investments in this area, we think there is an urgent need to review the profile of the nation’s security personnel, weed out the bad eggs amongst them and strengthen the capacity of the rest to do their work more diligently and professionally.

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, BOKO HARAM AND CHIBOK GIRLS

fter his triumphant outing in the poll last year, President Muhammadu Buhari reiterated his campaign promise to adopt a different approach in tackling the Boko Haram insurgency, and securing the release of the girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, abducted in 2014 by the terrorist group.

In his inaugural speech to the nation on May 29, 2015, Buhari, as part of his strategies to ensure that the insurgents are completely subdued, announced the relocation of the Military Command and Control Centre from Abuja to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, the headquarters of the Boko Haram sect. For Buhari, who was obviously worried by the extent of damage done to lives and property by the Islamic sect, nothing meaningful could be achieved in the battle to checkmate the militants with the command and control centre based in Abuja.

The authorities of the Nigerian military seeing the seriousness the president attached to his directive wasted no time in heeding the order. The centre served as a forward command base for the Chief of Army Staff and other service chiefs with an alternate command centre established in Yola, the Adamawa State capital. With the president’s motivation and the moving of the command centre to the North-east, the military, via well-coordinated operations was able to reclaim

all the Local government areas that were fully taken over by the dreaded Islamic terrorists, within one year of Buhari’s assumption of office.

Former Governor of Yobe State and senator representing Yobe East Senatorial District, Abba Bukar Ibrahim, attested to the remarkable achievements recorded by the Buhari administration in its effort to decimate the Boko Haram group when he said: “Definitely, there have been a lot of improvements compared to what has happened during Jonathan presidency.

When President Buhari took over there were at least 18 local governments which were totally under the control of Boko Haram. As of today, not a single local government is totally under the control of Boko Haram. They are just going round hitting and running – hitting of soft spot and the military are doing their best to flush them out.”

Buhari’s pragmatic approach to the fight against terrorism in the country yielded further fruitful results with the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls on October 13, 2016. The news of the release of the schoolgirls was greeted with great joy and excitement by Nigerians who have continued to pour encomium on the president for the determination he has shown in fulfilling his promise to rescue the girls alive. Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State said the release of the teenage girls has proved Buhari’s sincerity in ending the Boko Haram insurrection. The outgoing United Nations Secretary-General,

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon hailed the release of the 21 Chibok girls, but also expressed deep concern about the safety and well-being of the remaining schoolgirls and other victims of abduction

by Boko Haram, who are still held captive. Disclosing that negotiations are ongoing for the release of another set of the abducted girls, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, warned against unguarded utterances by commentators and analysts on the issue of the Chibok girls.

The Islamic fundamentalist group, Boko Haram was founded by the late Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 in Maiduguri.

It moved to Yobe State in 2004 to set up a base in Kanamma and later spread to other parts of the North-east. The controversial militant group wanted the imposition of Sharia law in all the states of the northern region of the country and engaged in the eccentric and unorthodox preaching that “Western Education is a sin” which is precisely the direct translation of the word “Boko Haram”. The Boko Haram sect was ranked as the world’s deadliest terror group by the Global Terrorism Index in 2015. Over 20, 000 lives and property worth billions of dollar have been destroyed by the heartless and bloodthirsty Boko Haram adherents since 2009, with not less than 1.8 million persons displaced. The resolve by the federal government to fully cater for the freed Chibok schoolgirls is, indeed, a step in the right direction.

Michael Jegede, Abuja

16

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016

POLITICS

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

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING

Irony of Nigeria’s Investment Drive In one breath, Nigerian leaders travel abroad in search of foreign investments and in yet another, turn around to frustrate the investors, writes Davidson Iriekpen

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ince President Muhammadu Buhari assumed leadership of the country on May 29, 2015, he has so far visited no fewer than 20 countries, with the latest foreign trip to Germany penultimate week. With each of these trips come an avalanche of criticism from across various sections of the country, condemning the president for embarking on too frequent foreign trips rather stay at home to do what he was elected to do: solve the myriads of problems and challenges confronting the nation.

Though there are those who feel the president’s trip are necessary to help tackle the plethora of socio-economic challenges confronting the nation, many others quietly sit on the fence waiting to see how the trips would help better the lots of the mass of the Nigerian people.

In each of these trips, the president usually takes time to address the business communities on the need for them to invest in Nigeria and promising to protect their interests. Apart from Buhari, virtually all the state governors across the country have had cause to travel abroad on different occasions in search of foreign investors.

In some cases, some governors tag along with him in some of his trips. But the question begging for answer is: how are these investors treated when they finally invest in the country? While many analysts are against over-pampering, they feel that a lot of concessions be granted to them in order to attract more.

Since Buhari came on board, more and more businesses have closed shops while others are divesting and leaving in droves, thereby rubbishing the gains made by previous administrations.

Willing to tolerate dilapidated infrastructure, complicated red tape and expensive rent, some of the companies can no longer cope with the import and foreign exchange restrictions and the hardline postures of the regulatory agencies in the country. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 4.58 million Nigerians have lost their jobs since Buhari came into office.

The NBS disclosed that 2.6 million Nigerians became unemployed within the first and second quarter of 2016. It also revealed that 1.46 million Nigerians became unemployed in the third quarter of 2015, while another 518,102 became unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2015. The details were contained in the agency’s second quarter unemployment and underemployment report released on August 31, 2016.

Many observers feel that these are attributed to the poor management of the economy by the federal government and its agencies as well as the utterances of the president, which according to them, scare away investors.

For government agencies and parastatals, particularly regulatory agencies, rather than continue to set the rules, have under the pretext of wanting to be seen to be assertive and firm have in recent times come down hard on companies and in the process, frustrating their activities.

One of such hardline positions is the one recently taken against MTN Nigeria. After surviving a debilitating fine imposed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently, the telecoms giant is again enmeshed in another round of controversy with the Senate.

The Senate had on September 27, 2016 alleged that MTN in connivance with the Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, and four commercial banks exploited the porous Nigerian financial system to move the sum $13.9 billion out of the country without the required authorisation. The upper legislative chamber, according to a motion moved by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) on September 27, alleged that MTN smartly beat Nigeria’s financial regulatory laws by failing to obtain a certificate of capital importation (CCI) as authorised by CBN Financial and Miscellaneous Act within 24 hours between 2006 and 2016 before moving the money out of the country.

But at the commencement of investigative hearing into the allegations before the Senate

Buhari in a handshake with the National Chairman of his party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, upon his return from a foreign trip

Committee on Banks, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, MTN had flatly denied allegations of violating the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act. While appearing before the committee last week, the Chief Executive Officer of MTNN, Ferdinand Moolman, debunked the allegation, adding that Elenemah had not connived with the company to move funds out of Nigeria.

Moolman said: “We would like to reiterate that

Since Buhari came on board, more and more businesses have closed shops while others are divesting and leaving in droves, thereby rubbishing the gains made by previous administrations.

Willing to tolerate dilapidated infrastructure, complicated red tape and expensive rent, some of the companies can no longer cope with the import and foreign exchange restrictions and the hardline postures of the regulatory agencies in the country

at no point did MTN Nigeria (MTNN) illegally repatriate funds out of Nigeria or collaborate with Nigerians to loot the external reserves of the country. MTNN is a Nigerian company and is proud to be conducting business in Nigeria.

It therefore categorically refutes any accusations of money laundering, economic sabotage or tax evasion levied against it.”

According to Moolman, monies repatriated by the company were in respect of dividend payments and capital investment originating from legitimate foreign direct investment.

“The dividend payments were made to shareholders, who imported foreign capital for investment in MTNN. We would like to state that Elenemah has never been a director or shareholder of MTNN,” he added.

Also, Mr. Pascal Dozie, Chairman of Diamond Bank, who denied the allegation of illegal repatriation by MTN, argued that MTN had invested $16 billion in Nigeria within 16 years.

He said the money imported to Nigeria was done in three tranches as he insisted that the allegation by the Senate “was completely false.”

According to him, when MTN came to Nigeria, it offered 40 per cent shares to Nigerians while it took the other 60 per cent only to find that it was difficult to get Nigerians to invest 12 per cent of the 40 per cent offer. He added that MTN had to bring other investors before it could secure 25 per cent of the offer.

Dozie further said it was these Nigerians who constituted Celtelecom adding that a conversion of Celtelecom investment was done in 2007 through its bankers with CBN approval as he exonerated Enelamah, saying he was not a shareholder in MTN but only a director of Celtelecom and CEO of Capital Alliance whiche said midwifed the Celtelecom.

Assuming the telecoms company was guilty of the offence, where were the regulatory agencies while these were going on?

However, the reprieve the company got during the hearing came from the Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), Mr. Jim Obaze, who in his submission, said regulatory agencies should be blamed for the infraction. He added the Department of State Services (DSS) had investigated the issue and pledged to make a copy of the report available to the committee. The question therefore is: does the government want to kill MTN, a company

that has contributed to the growth of the country in the 15 years or this is some politics beyond the reach of the operators of the company? Is it aware that intending investors all over the world are watching its activities?

This was perhaps why the company, in a paper it presented to the Senate committee, said: “It is our reasonable belief that Standard Chartered Bank of Nigeria, as an entity regulated and supervised by the CBN, made the prescribed returns to the CBN within the prescribed time of receipt and conversion of the funds. We are not aware that the CBN has at any time queried the bank for any default in this regard.

“As a Nigerian telecommunications company, MTNN is regulated by the NCC. MTNN’s obligation with regard to the issuance of CCIs is to provide the necessary evidence of inflow and purpose of inflow to the relevant banks.

Following receipt of the CCIs, the responsibility of ensuring compliance with the CBN regulatory framework rests with the individual banks.”

That MTN has contributed immensely to the nation’s economy since 2001 when it made its debut cannot be over-emphasised. With an equity contribution of $402,035,000, debt capital of N329 billion and offshore loan capital of $1,297,000,000, the company is among the biggest growth-driven companies in the country.

For instance, from when it commenced business in Nigeria to date, it has paid well over N1.6 trillion to the government in taxes, levies, regulatory payments, etc. It has done these in compliance with extant provisions of the law, and continues to fulfill its obligations as a good corporate citizen.

With 78 trade partners, 95 data trade partners and 25 convenience channel partners; the telecoms giants has created directly and indirectly, over 500,000 job opportunities in the Nigeria. The total subscriber base as at Sept 2016 is 60.07million and estimated population coverage of 92 per cent. Since its inauguration, MTNN has led the growth in the voice and data market, altering the way Nigerians live, work and play. MTNN is now positioned to deliver a bold, new digital world, leading growth in broadband deployment and digital services.

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

17

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016

UPDATE&TRENDING

Kwara APC in Crisis over LG Appointments Hammed Shittu writes that crisis is brewing in the Kwara State chapter of theAll Progressives Congress over the appointment of persons into the Transition Implementation Committee

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fter the successful electoral victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in some states of the federation including Kwara, members and supporters of the party have been waiting endlessly for appointments into boards/parastatals either in their states or at the federal level.

This ugly development has put many of them in a very poor condition as the current administration in both the state and the federal levels are moving on and by the middle of next year, another politicking would commence and this would not be good for them, as their contribution to the success of their party might have been in vain.

In Kwara, this is not different as some members and supporters of the party that had worked for the electoral victory of the APC have been waiting to get secure appointments since the inauguration of the present administration led

by Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for second term in office. Apart from the appointment of some commissioners, special assistants and advisers, no other appointment has come either as chairman or members of boards and parastatals for the members of the APC in the state.

In view of this development, the recent move to constitute the Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) for the 16 local government councils in the state after the expiration of tenure of office of the present council chairmen in the state has started to cause ripples among the members and supporters of APC in the state.

The outgoing council chairmen came into office on October 26, 2013 and their tenure of three years would come to an end on November 10, this year. The outgoing chairmen were elected into office under the banner of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2013 but later defected into the APC, citing intra party crisis in the PDP ahead of 2015 general election.

Since then, the outgoing council chairmen have been functioning and ruling their councils under the banner of the APC till date. However, in order to ensure justice and equity in the appointment, the leadership of the party in the state led by Governor Ahmed and the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Isola Balogun Fulani has asked for the submission of names across the 193 wards in the state.

Sources close to the APC told THISDAY that the action of Governor Ahmed came on the heels of “recent developments within the party that necessitated the new decision” among others.

The APC, it was gathered, has directed party chairmen across the councils in the state to submit names for consideration as TIC members.

It was further learnt that the decision was part of the outcome of the meeting the APC leadership held in Ilorin, the state capital recently.

According to another source, the governor has settled for a streamlined member-TIC to cut cost due to the current economic reality in the state and the country at large. The source added that, “Yes, barring any last minute changes in decision, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed will put in place a Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) upon the exit of the 16 local government chairmen in the state.

“And already, the state chapter of the party has directed party chairmen in the local governments to submit names to be considered for appointment into the committee after the meeting that was held on the matter at the party secretariat on Friday.

“The party is always very conscious of the existing laws when taking any decision on the issue of governance to better the lots of the state and this one is not an exception”.

It added that the governor would settle for a 4-member TIC to drastically reduce cost and meet salary obligations of the local government workers. But since this development, the nomination of names has started causing crisis in some of the local government councils in the state. For example, in Moro local government council of the state, the release of names of the transition committee had caused crisis among the top chieftain of the party in the local government.

The chairman of the party in the local

Saraki and Ahmed...taming the monster early

government, Alhaji Ladi Amao, according to THISDAY checks, has been accused of not following the due process as laid down by the leadership of the party in the nomination of persons to be appointed as members of the transition committee in the local government councils in the state. Chairman of the Elders Forum of the local government, Alhaji Ibrahim Adisa accused the chairman of the party in the local government of violating the laid down procedures, rules and directive of the main organ of the APC in the state, adding that “In the process, we identified seven wards out of 10 wards that would not benefit from the arrangement as one of the nominees for the TIC is from the Malete ward, where the present lawmaker representing the area in the state House of Assembly comes from”.

He said “Apart from this, the vice chairman of Moro local government council and the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commissioner as well as the nominee, who is also the husband of the present vice chairman of the council come from Malete ward of the council”.

He however threatened that he would petition the state secretariat of the party and Saraki

It is therefore worthy of mention that the TIC idea may be dead on arrival and if care is not taken, the APC could play into the hands of the opposition, legally speaking. The truth is that the law of the state does not support the idea of TIC but does the extension of the council chairmen pending the time an election is held

over the ugly development in the council.

But the senatorial leader of the APC, Alhaji Isiaka Oniwa has denied the allegation being raised in some quarters in Moro council area, saying the candidates that emerged were true representatives of the people of the council.

As the dust raised by this exercise is yet to settled in Moro, the members of the APC in Ilorin West and East local government councils have kicked against the purported imposition of some names in the proposed composition of the TIC members in the council.

Reports from some council areas in both Kwara North and South senatorial districts remain the same as some members of the party in the affected council areas have bemoaned the perceived imposition of names on the list of the proposed TIC members in the affected local government councils.

The development, according to THISDAY investigations, might not be unconnected with the recent suspension of the chairman of the APC in Ilorin West local government council of the state. In a terse statement issued by the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji sulyman Buhari, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY, “All Progressives Congress wishes to announce the suspension of the chairman of the party in Ilorin West local government council, Alhaji Suleiman Olarnewaju Balah.

“This action became inevitable owing to Alhaji Balah’s deliberate insubordination and willful sabotage of lawful party directive. The suspension order takes immediate effect. In his instead, the next ranking officer of the party has been directed to take over the leadership of the party in Ilorin West local government.

“We urge member of the party in Ilorin West local government council and indeed other local government council areas of the state to be steadfast and rededicate themselves to the good ideals of the APC and its leadership”.

Meanwhile, as this infighting continues in the party over the composition of the TIC, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to oppose the composition of the TIC in the state.

Chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Iyiola Oyedepo described the move as unconstitutional and illegal. Oyedepo, who berated the low performances of the outgoing council chairmen in the state vowed that the PDP would challenge the planned composition of TIC in the 16 councils of the state if the state government goes ahead to do so.

But the chairman, Association of All Local Government Council of Nigeria (ALGON), Alhaji Lateef Okandeji, who denied the claim

of non-performance by the outgoing chairmen in the state said, “Despite the dwindling federal allocations to the councils in Kwara, the outgoing council chairmen have been able to add values to the socio economic growth of the rural populace in the last three years”.

Okandeji, who is the chairman of Ilorin East local government, said that “The council chairmen in the 16 councils of the state have impacted positively on the lives of the rural populace in the areas of education, health and infrastructure among others”.

But with this current intra-party crisis in APC over the nomination of the transition implementation committees, it clearly behooves the leadership of the party especially Saraki to rise up to the challenge and bring it under control by ensuring that things are done right.

It is therefore worthy of mention that the TIC idea may be dead on arrival and if care is not taken, the APC could play into the hands of the opposition, legally speaking. The truth is that the law of the state does not support the idea of TIC but does the extension of the council chairmen pending the time an election is held.

This much, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of the state, Hon. Kamaldeen Ajibade was said to have ironed out with the state assembly sometime ago, when a similar circumstance arose. Even the Commissioner for Local Government, Alhaji H.I Mohammed, sources say is not comfortable with the idea because he is not in a position to defend it as it is brazenly against the law of the administration of the local governments. But a majority of those opposed to the idea are counting on the Speaker of the state assembly, Hon. Ahmad Ali, who holds a Ph.D in law to intervene, using his legal and legislative experience to douse the simmering tension.

Curiously too, while the governor is seriously pondering the ITC idea, perhaps for political expediency and which has hitherto generated ill-feelings in the party in the state, he is yet to formally brief the state assembly knowing clearly that he could not do any such thing without the approval of the assembly as far as local government affair is concerned.

As it is, the way out seems to lie in political and legal common sense without having to stretch the patience of the people, who are already wearied by the seemingly unrealistic promises of change by the APC. But should the governor pulls this through, which is unlikely given the complexity of the dynamics involved, the APC might open its flaks to the bashing of the already hurting PDP and the outcome is certainly unpredictable.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016 • T H I S D AY

FEATURES

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

Empowering Businesses at the Grassroots Ksley Group of Companies has carved out a niche by empowering low income earners to start small-scale businesses, Chinedu Eze writes

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igeria’s economy today and in future will favour those who create job opportunities than those who are looking for job with certificates.

The present economic recession has forced people to put on their thinking caps, prompting people who hitherto were looking for jobs to think of creating some. This scenario has lent itself to the truism that innovation is key to success.

But the challenge that many Nigerians who have ideas of one business or another are facing is how to raise capital to establish business.

The residents of Enugu State especially, the South-east and beyond seemed to have discovered the answer to this major challenge. A finance organisation, known as Ksley Group of Companies, a household name in that area, has in the past five years impacted positively in changing the lives of people through its services that have greatly enhanced the living standard of the populace.

According to the beneficiaries of this credit facility, the company has carved a niche for itself with transparency, integrity and a reputation that has endeared it to the people with exemplary service that has benefited all segments of the society.

Ksley Group of Companies is a holding company with subsidaries in both financial investment and production. These include, Ksley Mega Vision, Ksley Mega Microfinance Bank, Ksley Mega Farms as well as Ksley Mega Lottery. The company also plans to establish a university that would extend scholarships to intelligent but indigent students.

Ksley Mega Vision is a financial institution with unique innovation and creativity that has separated the organisation from what people operate today that is called “Wonder Bank”, proving small businesses funds with little or no collateral but the goodwill of the beneficiaries.

The company is registered with the Enugu State as a financial institution that is purely into lending services, as the management of the company explained that what it does is to get money from people who have it

At the grassroots, we look at the people and say to those who need little loans to come and take money and start their businesses including agriculture at little or no interest rate, we are really targeting the grassroots to bridge the gap between the banks and people.

The farmers in the villages, the petty traders have been given hope by our services

Ubenyi (2nd right), flanked by staff during the presentation of cheques to rural dwellers from the bank's low income loans

and give it to those who don’t have at a relatively low interest rate to do businesses.

The management explained that the company has a tested plan, which any individual can be part of, “you give the company your money and the company trades with it and returns the amount to the owner whenever the person needs it.”

The company is duly licensed and incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ksley Mega Group of companies, Dr. Kingsley Ubenyi in a recent briefing with journalists at the corporate headquarters of the organisation in Enugu, said the success of the business in the past years of its existence depended firmly on transparency, accountability, integrity and a collaborative effort of the organisation to involve all the investors, stakeholders and other publics in the management and activities of the company.

“Ksley Mega Vision as a financial institution is quite different from what you hear out there. We are unique in such a way that as an investor, we give you what you want and the percentage that is involved.

“We don’t give flamboyant financial assistance that would not last the test of time.

We don’t live flamboyant lifestyle in what we do here. We are open and sincere with our business and services. We are not the type that collect money from people and promise them higher interest rate and at the end of it you default. We give little money to people to assist them do business and now we have graduated into Microfinance Bank proper,” Ubenyi said.

According to him, the company has the vision of transparency and that is why it has gone into proper banking “because we started from the scratch with little financial assistance given to people before we decided to go into banking proper.”

THISDAY investigations confirmed that hundreds of the company’s customers have benefited from the services of the Ksley Mega Vision as a financial institution within and outside Enugu and many businesses and production companies due to the services rendered by this company.

Apart from the direct beneficiaries of the financial assistances of this company over 1000 staff are also in the payroll of the company, thus creating jobs for the people.

“Our target is to create jobs for our people, help them establish their businesses and

productions and realize self sustenance in whatever they do. That is why we also have diversified into agriculture as a business to create wealth, job, and food for our people.

“Soon you will be hearing about Ksley Mega Lottery and Ksley Mega University and these are the subsidiaries we are considering and by the grace of God, the focus and vision to see how we can help alleviate our people from poverty, grow the economy, and create employment,” Ubenyi said.

He stated that these expected subsidiaries would complement the existing services of the group in the financial institutions of the Ksley Mega Vision and Ksley Mega Microfinance Bank.

According to the CEO, the service of the company is designed to accommodate politicians, traders, manufacturers and all those who want to do genuine business but lack the resources to begin.

“We source fund for them and these loans are with little or no interest and in a situation where you are unable to repay the loan at the approved time we also have an amicable way of resolving it without terminating the business.

“We have touched lives positively, we are no ‘Wonder Bank’. At Ksley Mega Vision, investors are part of the business.

We are trading and alleviating the financial constraints for the people.

“We are not sharing or dashing money to people or living a flamboyant lifestyle but we are into proper licensed lending that stands the fast of time and solves the financial constraints of people,” he said.

He further stated that the company held its, Annual General Meeting (AGM) last February where all stakeholders and investors including the general public gathered to brainstorm on the services, successes, challenges and vision of the company.

Ubenyi stated that at the AGMs, the investors confirm that there is future in the business and that has been the strength of the company because so far at the end of AGMs, every member of the public is satisfied with how far the company has gone.

He stated that one core target of the company is the grassroots where majority of our people reside and poverty is immense and the people cannot have direct access to the banks to do petty businesses.

He said: “At the grassroots, we look at the people and say to those who need little

loans to come and take money and start their businesses including agriculture at little or no interest rate, we are really targeting the grassroots to bridge the gap between the banks and people. The farmers in the villages, the petty traders have been given hope by our services.”

Ksley Mega Microfinance Banks he stated has a vision of assisting investors into the agricultural sector.

Ubenyi explained that all that the country needs now to come out of the present economic recession is to diversify the mono-economic dependence of the nation on oil to agriculture and other rewarding sectors, adding that the company has a large farm located in Enugu and also encouraging other farmers.

“I am not a politician and not in government but targeting the grassroots as a way of lifting the living standards of majority of our people and make both our investors, depositors and other clients happy at the end of the day,” he added.

He stated that the Modus Operandi of the company is based on credibility and confidence so that at the end of the day the public should understand what the company is doing.

He therefore called on government at various levels to come to their aid and partner with the company by giving them interest free loans which the company can extend to the grassroots.

“Our records are there if we are into bad business we can’t be calling on the government to come and partner with us. The people can testify,” adding “We have efficient strategies and can handle government agricultural loans and know how best to utilise it to accomplish government aims and objectives. The failure of previous government loans is that it went into wrong hands and that is why there are no results.

“We are at the right position to boost agriculture and achieve government plans and programmes in the agricultural sector through improved food production and sustenance as well as create employment for our teeming youths by making agriculture attractive,” he noted.

Ksley Mega Microfinance Banks is providing a succour to the people of the East and with the partnership of government and its agencies in a defined empowerment programme for the grassroots dwellers, the heavy poverty in the land will be degraded.

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• T H I S D AY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

Of Public Opinions, Debates and Perception Venatius A. Ikem

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t what point does private opinion matters in governmental affairs? There are a myriad of opinions expressed daily on sundry national issues, most of them unsolicited, through the media, including recently the most resented new media, Private memoranda, private advise etc.

I am using "private opinion" as distinct from the opinion of those charged with the responsibility to advise government on sundry issues. Some are not so titled but from my experience and practice, every appointee of government, nay every public office holder, is an adviser of government.

There are people in government who do not see their responsibility in such broad terms but often restrict themselves to the narrow confines of their schedules. As far as they are concerned, anything outside their schedules is not their business. Others show interest in any and every aspect of governance, concerning themselves with the daily image, performance and overall perception by the public of the entire efforts of government and its output, measured of course, in terms of its deliverables, both tangible and intangible; the goodwill it generates and the satisfaction perception of many public commentators. All these are usually and mostly reported by the media as the most organised sector of mass information dissemination.

Some people often create the impression that negative criticism of a government is immaterial to and not reflective of its performance and so critics are often seen at best as interlopers. They are dismissed and sometimes even berated. It is not uncommon therefore to hear a senior public office holder boasts that he does not watch certain news channels or does not read newspapers. At its worst some just say, "don't mind those press boys."

You cannot be more wrong.

In today's world, the new media has added a whole new dimension to this problem.

Everybody is his/her own publisher.

The good, the bad, the ugly assault our sensibilities with horrifying aggression and speed without pretence to decorum.

Insults are hauled, abuses are thrown around unabashedly. Yet, if a public office holder of today is not on any these platforms to assimilate, guage and weigh opinion, he might just be living in a fool's paradise.

Even the Pope is very active in the social media. And not just for the "social" function of it, but for the purpose of dissemination of information as well as sampling of public opinion and gauging public reaction to his policies, projects and programmes.

I have heard many public office holders, including some in the more "civilised " or if you like, advanced democracies like the USA even say the same when it suits them. Some say glibly that they do not take decisions based on media reports. Of course the media more accurately captures the public mood and perception than any other organisations that I can think of. So why the veiled discomfort, even contempt with its reports and what it represents?

A discomfort with the media is directly proportional to a public officer's discomfort with criticism. The irony often times is that those who dislike criticism and the media the most, are often those who court the most publicity. As long as it is "good publicity ", meaning some ego massage of their imaginary achievements and attributes which are often either not true or exaggerated beyond recognition. That this tends to obfuscate true public perception and fail to reflect the reality, no matter how negative, but which can rather help in shaping and reshaping public policy and performance is immaterial.

I think generally, the problem is that government officials merely pay lip service to the notion of being "servants" of the people while living in the euphoria of their elevation as being a reflection of being above average persons by deserving their privileges of office! Nothing can be more

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed

wrong too. The idea of philosopher-kings never worked in practice in any democracy before now. The number of never-do-well students populating our legislative houses points clearly to this assertion, even as repulsive as it sounds.

Having said this, the media itself must be conscious of why some of its obvious positives are largely ignored in preference for the odious. I believe that as a public office holder, if you pay attention to media reports of your performance or the lack of it, the direction or misdirection of your handling of your assigned schedules, advise on expectations of the public of you, marry it with the reality of available resources

A discomfort with the media is directly proportional to a public officer's discomfort with criticism. The irony often times is that those who dislike criticism and the media the most, are often those who court the most publicity.

As long as it is "good publicity ", meaning some ego massage of their imaginary achievements and attributes which are often either not true or exaggerated beyond recognition

vis-a-vis, personal ingenuity in overcoming the problems you face daily, you may never fail. Indeed there is no better way to be on the side of the media than being seen to be responsive to public opinion, often reflected in media reports.

I am aware of the evolution of our media in the advent of the current democracy especially when the oil boom of this era injected so much cash into the system in such a hurry that governors hardly had the time to think of creative investments.

Evidently, it has been argued that the introduction of the 13% derivation formula which gave the Niger Delta Governors more money than they could manage, contributed grossly to the monetisation of the media leading to very unsavory consequences to media reportage and by extension the low perception of the media practitioners in our society today.

The young Turks in the media suddenly realised not just the altruistic value of their trade, but the cash value as well. Armed with cash, they easily over ran their senior colleagues who had lived through more austere times, battling one dictatorial regime after another, without cash benefits to cushion their retirement. One after another, old and established media houses have been caving in under the weight of ideals and principles while newer ones funded by new money and new journalists have seen to the emergence of "new journalism" sustained by political patronage and ego massaging of the right people.

Whatever the shortcomings of some media practitioners, truth be told, the media has still lived up to its mandate as the watchdog of society. Regardless the omnipresent and often intrusive new media in its own way, it still battles to share in some of the higher values that are admired and respected in a civilised society. Questions of integrity are routinely asked. Double standards are lampooned and public accountability is demanded constantly. Opinions are expressed freely and suggestions on alternative remedies are made regularly.

Are government officials responding adequately? I hardly think so. The wife of the President said recently, maybe it is true, that the President did not know most of the people he appointed ministers well

enough. But I do not believe intimate personal knowledge is critical for appointment to serve. On individual capacity, I hardly see many ministers who seem lacking from their public presentations at least, but there seems to be a lack of energy and drive, in the entire collection. Is it that the president's disposition towards corruption is affecting his cabinet members? Some commentators have posited so and it seems to have credence.

If a minister insinuates that his inability to perform has to do with his inability to award contracts, what is he saying?

The same goes for many heads of agencies, who are hardly heard of after swearing-in ceremonies. There was a time heads of government agencies like Prof. Dora Akunyili of NAFDAC, Professor Osintemehim of NACA, Nuhu Ribadu of EFCC, Obi Ezekwsili of Due Process, just to mention a few were the face of government. They were also the darlings of the media then. They defined their schedules with audacity and bestrode the political space with confidence. That should even be more so in a government harbouring revolutionary ambitions, like CHANGE! Moving forward, I think PMB is in dire need of a salvaging retreat with his ministers on the CHANGE agenda and what it exactly means. I do not mean those perfunctory one day retreats that achieve nothing. I mean like one month schooling! It can be done without crippling governance by scheduling a couple of critical hours per day. The sacrifice will be worth the while. For now, the only minister I see with some energy for the CHANGE agenda is the Minister of Information. Don't ask me my assessment because it is inborn as a practicing politician.

I think Lai Mohammed stands out in his passion in defense of this administration and what it represents.

The warning shots coming from the inner chambers of the Presidential "kitchen, parlour and other room" are disturbing and time is of the essence. Say what you might, if public opinion and perception means anything to this administration, Aisha Buhari is coming out as the voice of the voiceless masses and majority of APC supporters.

Ikem, former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP wrote in from Abuja

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016

IMAGES

L-R: Members of Arise Women, Omowumi Adewole; Tope Akinbola; CEO, Arise Women, Siju Iluyomade; Barbie Akomolafe; and Helen Adesanya, at the Arise Women Health Walk tagged: “Walkforlife” held as forerunner to forthcoming Arise Women’s Conference at R.C.C.G, City of David, Victoria Island, Lagos... recently

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

L-R: Trainee Manager, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Miss Edna Sodje; winner of N1 million, Mr. Uche Valentine; Portfolio Director, Innovation and Lagers, Guinness Nigeria, Ms. Jody, Samuels Ike; Senior Executive Officer, Legal, Lagos State Lotteries Board, Mrs. Simisola Muniru; and CEO Elev8 Sports, Mr. Biola Kazeem, during a prize presentation, of the Guinness every minute made of black promotion, in

Members of Rotary Clubs International, during the ìEND POLIO NOWî walk organised by the club to mark 2016 polio day in Abuja...recently

ENOCK REUBEN

L-R: Deputy President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr. Kunle Mokuolu; President, Mr. Otis Anyaeji; and Executive Secretary, Mr. Sola Obadimu, during the society’s world press conference on the state of the nation, in Abuja...recently

L-R: Sustainability/Regulatory Relationships Manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc., Edem Vindah; Portfolio Manager, International Premium NB, Sampson Oloche; Head, Learning Business Partner, Supplychain, Toyin Ismail; and Human Resource Director, Nigerian Breweries, Victor Famuyibo, at a media briefing to unveil the Nigerian Breweries Go Places Campaign, in Lagos...recently SUNDAY ADIGUN

L-R: Asiwaju of Ijesaland, Chief Yinka Fasuyi; his wife Dr Olubisi; Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof Idowu Olayinka, and his wife, Wumi, during the installation of Fasuyi as the Asiwaju of Ijesaland at Owa palace, Ilesa, Osun State...recently FELIX ADEMOLA

L-R: Dr. Chales Oladeinde Willies; President Family ARK Mission, Dr. Oludare Okusanya; CLAM Church Elders Pastor, Pastor. Akin Dania and Sole Adminisator, Mosan Okunola LCDA, Barrister Rotimi Ogunwuyi, during 2016 World Elders’ Day organised by Family ARK Mission in Lagos...recently.

KOLAWOLE AL

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BUSINESSWORLD NIBOR OVERNIGHT 1-MONTH

R A T E S 16.625 19.8021

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S E P T E M B E R 2 1 ,

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Quick Takes ‘Enugu Disco Staff Not Electrocuted’

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has clarified that one Mr. Patrick Okonkwo who was electrocuted in Nsukka recently was not a staff of EEDC, neither was he in any way engaged by the distribution company.

The Head of Communications at EEDC, Mr. Chukwuemeka Ezeh said in a statement at the weekend that the late Okonkwo was a staff of Veetek Engineering Company, a contracting firm handling the relocation of electric poles at the ongoing road dualisation in Nsukka.

“As a distribution company, part of our responsibility is granting outage permit to contractors whenever they are embarking on any exercise that will involve our network, but there has to be an application for that. In this very case, on Wednesday, October 19, 2016, the contractor applied for outage permit to re-string the electric line. Consequently, outage permit on Township 11KV Feeder was granted. However, they did not complete the work that day and the outage permit was therefore suspended,” Ezeh explained.

Ezeh further stated that following the suspension of the outage the previous day, the contractor was expected to apply for a reactivation of the outage permit whenever they needed to resume work, but that was not done.

Russia to Boost Non-OPEC Cooperation

WELL DESERVED AWARD

R:L: Founder & Executive Chairman of Bua Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, receiving the ‘Industrialist of the year’ award from former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi at the CNBC All Africa Business Leaders awards ceremony in Lagos... recently

Why Repairs on Forcados Subsea Pipeline Experienced Delays Ejiofor Alike Despite the ceasefire by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the main militant group in the oil-producing region, fresh attacks on the Forcados subsea pipeline and persistent threats by several militant groups on contractors delayed the repairs of the 48-inch pipeline, THISDAY has learnt.

THISDAY gathered from one of the producing companies that utilise the pipeline for crude evacuation that even though the Avengers declared ceasefire, unknown groups continued to cause fresh damages on the pipeline.

The militant groups, it was learnt, also threatened the contractors carrying out the repairs on the damaged

ENERGY pipeline, despite the heavy military presence in the region.

Investigation revealed that the pipeline is currently undergoing test-running amid threats by the militants.

After the February 14 oil spill on Forcados Terminal subsea crude oil export pipeline, which forced Shell to declare force majeure on exports of Forcados crude on February 21, 2016, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu had promised that the repairs would be completed by May 29.

Also, a representative of Shell had corroborated the minister’s claim when he told the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and the operators of the power sector

in their 5th monthly meeting held on May 9 at the Shiroro Hydroelectric Power Plant in Niger State,that the repairs would be completed on May 29, 2016 as scheduled.

Trans-Forcados Pipeline, which is operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), belongs to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Despite the assurances by the minister and Shell, a fresh threat by the NDA to attack oil workers and contractors involved in the repairs, had frustrated efforts to meet the May 29 initial target.

Chief Executive Officer of Shoreline Group, Mr. Kola

Karim was later quoted as saying that the pipeline would resume operation by the middle of September.

“We are hearing Forcados is due to return at the middle of next month (September). It has been a tough situation for us these past couple of months,” Karim said.

THISDAY gathered that Shoreline Natural Resources, which owns 45 per cent interest in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 30, is one of the companies that evacuate crude through the Forcados pipeline to the Forcados Export Terminal.

However, the militant threats and fresh attacks on the pipeline made it impossible to meet the new target of September.

Continued on page 22

‘Nigeria’s Projected 2.5mbpd Oil Output Cannot Grow Economy’ Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE) has said Nigeria’s constant projection of 2.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) of crude oil production in her national budget will be inadequate to grow her economy, stressing that the country needs to produce at least 4 million bpd to boost the economy.

NAEE also said the country’s continued reliance on generating sets to provide the energy needed by her economy was abnormal. It said the country appeared unserious with the kind of energy policy it wanted to pursue for her economic

ENERGY growth.

President of NAEE, Prof.

Wumi Iledare made the remarks at the association’s celebration of the 2016 World Energy Day in Abuja.

He noted that the 2.5mbpd oil production projection of the country showed that her economy is not competitive and growing at a rate commensurate with that of her competitors.

“My premise is that if you look at the population of Nigeria and what you need energy to do, and I gave an example of the population of the United States with 300 million people, they consume

16 to 8mbpd and translated that to us that if the Nigerian economy is actually growing the way it is supposed to grow, the 2.5mbpd will be used by our economy and there won’t be any to export,” said Iledare.

He added: “I foresee a situation where if we are going to have any oil export at all, we should be targeting at least 4mbpd. If we are going to grow our GDP at 12 per cent per annum to be able to catch up with the world, we cannot use our oil for money, we should use our oil for power and 2.5mbpd cannot generate the electricity that we need to grow our economy. Oil is an input of production and that

is what it should be. If this economy expands, 2.5mbpd will not sustain it.”

Iledare also spoke on the country’s electricity sector, saying that the economy’s reliance on generating sets as an energy source was unsustainable.

According to him, “4000MW of electricity for 170 million people cannot grow the economy and the only reason why we are still happy is because we are looking at energy from a residential point of view. 4000MW for an economy like ours is a child’s play and that is why we depend on generators.”

Continued on page 22

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday he had invited his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak to meet Gulf Arab energy ministers in Riyadh as part of efforts to cooperate with non-OPEC members to stabilise the oil market.

“Russia is one of the world’s biggest oil producers ... and is one of the influential parties in the stability of the oil market,” Falih said at the opening session of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Falih said Novak had welcomed the invitation, “as a clear indication of sincere desire to continue cooperation and coordination with the oil producing and exporting countries for more stability in the market.”

Novak had said on Friday he would take “some” proposals to the meeting in Riyadh.

Last month in Algiers, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed modest oil output cuts. The goal is to cut production to a range of 32.50-33.0 million barrels per day (bpd).

“The Algeria meeting last month was successful in pushing the path of cooperation between oil producing and consuming countries and included important talks between experts from OPEC countries and outside of OPEC about oil markets,” Falih said calling on his Gulf energy counterparts to work together as a bloc.

Falih also said that the low oil price environment had led to a decrease in investments which could lead to a shortage in supply in the future and have a negative effect on the global economy.

Petrobras to Settle US Lawsuits

Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras said at the weekend that its board had approved settlements for four lawsuits sought by investors in New York federal court and it currently estimates a provision of $353 million to cover the costs.

Petrobras said the settlements include lawsuits led by Allianz SE’s Pimco Total Return Fund, Dodge & Cox International Stock Fund, Janus Overseas Fund and Al Shams Investments.

Investors are suing Petrobras in New York accusing it of covering up a sweeping graft scheme and publishing misleading accounts. They believe the corruption and mismanagement helped destroy nearly $200 billion of shareholder value in Petrobras since 2008.

Petrobras said on Friday it would include a provision for costs related to the settlements in its third-quarter earnings report due to be released soon.

“We are no longer the beautiful bride because we do not have the enabling laws; our reserves are low; our investor confidence is low; our ease of doing business index is not encouraging” Chairman, PETAN, Mr. Bank Anthony Okoroafor

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD WHY REPAIRS ON FORCADOS SUBSEA PIPELINE EXPERIENCED DELAY

“The main militant group has declared ceasefire but criminal elements cause fresh damages on the pipeline and threaten contractors to abandon repairs at the initial stages.

They also made it difficult for contractors to deliver materials used for the repairs at the sites.

That is why the repairs were delayed,” said a CEO of one the companies that utilise the pipelines.

The company boss who spoke off the record, however told THISDAY at the weekend that given the assurance by the contractors, the pipeline would resume operation before end of the year. Forcados pipeline transports over300, 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to the export terminal for upstream companies operating in the western Niger Delta and Shoreline accounts for over 40,000 bpd.

‘NIGERIA’S PROJECTED 2.5MBPD OIL OUTPUT CANNOT GROW ECONOMY’

“It is inefficient to use generators to power an economy and that is why the cost per dollar of GDP in Nigeria is significantly high, meaning that our economy is using energy inefficiently,” he stated.

He said on claims by electricity operators in the country that they do not have a tariff that is cost reflective for investment in the sector: “All over the world, when you are in a monopoly market, you cannot allow the supplier of that monopoly product to fix the price. In the energy sector, the price cannot be uniformed because the cost of distributing energy to different sectors of the economy will be different.”

“When you find out the cost of what it will take you to deliver your energy, you go to the NERC and debate it to get the tariff that will fall within the expected investment costs. You cannot increase tariff without investment that is where the problem is, the Discos cannot ask for a higher price if they do not have the evidence that they actually invested money to improve services,” he added.

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 (Cap Mkt)

NEWS

NERC Scores Benin Disco High in Deployment of Meters Ejiofor Alike Benin Electricity Distribution Plc. (BEDC) has emerged tops in metering progress performance rating report amongst distribution companies (Discos) carried out by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in its second quarter 2016 state of affairs of the electricity supply industry.

According to a statement by the distribution company, NERC’s report came on the heels of additional 100,000 metering plan for the remainder 2016 announced by the company at the recent power sector stakeholders it hosted in Benin. The statement noted that NERC’s report showed that BEDC scored 65.30 per cent to emerge overall lead performer in metering progress aspect of the report, which indicates the percentage of customers metered. BEDC added that it has been proactive in installation of meters having installed over 120,500 meters since takeover.

It has taken advantage of both the Industry CAPMI Scheme and own funded meters. More than 90,000 out of these have been installed in 2016 alone.

In its metering rollout plan for the rest of the year, BEDC said it planned to achieve 100 per cent metering of all Industrial and Maximum demand customers by the end of November 2016; installation of another 100,000 meters for domestic and commercial customers for the remainder of the year; extension of the existing Automated Meter Reading (AMR) capability to 3,000 maximum demand

recertification and rectification of existing Maximum Demand customers, massive meter sealing exercise for domestic and commercial customers.

Prepaid Meters recertification and rectification exercise and shifting meters from customer premise to external visible locations/poles is on the way.

The company said it recently commenced installation of over 10,000 small high performing transformers called High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) to reduce technical loss and provide better quality of power to customers to enhance reliability.

In addition, BEDC disclosed

meters, and metering of at least 1,000 distribution transformers in order to adequately account for energy billing to customers.

To achieve the targets set, the company has in addition to the existing stock of 32,000 meters; placed order for another 45,000 units for distribution, while it has also recently re-engineered its metering process with a view to eliminating all administrative bottlenecks to reduce processing and installation time.

The company has also implemented some projects to ascertain the health of the customer meters; 100%

Nigeria has accepted to lead West African countries in their plan to implement the Paris Climate Change Agreement and subsequently access the green bonds attached to the agreement, the President of Sustainable Energy Practitioners Association of Nigeria (SEPAN), Dr. Chidi Onuoha has said.

Onuoha said in an interaction with THISDAY shortly after the closing ceremony of the sixth edition of the Nigeria Alternative Energy Expo (NAEE) in Abuja, that the decision to allow Nigeria take the lead in West Africa’s desire to tap into the green bond was based on her recent show of passion for renewable energy deployment.

Green bonds are standard bonds with a green as a bonus feature. They were created to fund projects that have positive environmental and/or climate benefits. According to reports, the green bond market which took off in recent years with $42 billion issued in 2015, has continued to grow with issuance in 2016 hitting over $50 billion by September.

Onuoha stated that so far, Nigeria, which recently signed the Paris agreement with the possibility of quickly ratifying it, was better positioned to drive the initiative for West

“Revamping of existing 33kv feeders transverse through difficult terrain: thick and mangrove vegetation, flooded and swampy forests with their peculiar vegetation management problems were also challenges”, BEDC added.

The company announced that part of key initiatives taken to improve operational and financial performance include; metering of over 95per cent 11KV feeders and over 120,000 customers including 4,000 covered as backlog at takeover and the introduction of High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) and pole metering.

COURTESY VISIT

L-R: Ogun State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru; Lead Consultant for Nigeria Investment Certification Programme for States, Mr. Trevor Killen; Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Ms Adenrele Adesina; and Chief Operating Officer, Agusto Consulting, Okey Okere, during their visit to the state...recently

Nigeria to Drive West Africa’s Green Energy Bond Chineme Okafor in Abuja

that it has developed action plan towards reducing technical loss through capacity addition by implementing network improvement projects as described in its Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) plans. This includes the installation of power and distribution transformers, line refurbishment by replacing undersized/damaged conductors and HVDS deployment.

It noted that part of the challenges BEDC was facing in reducing technical losses ranged from; very long 33KV feeders with average length of 100kilometeres each causing high technical loses and poor reliability.

Africa. He said a framework had been set up in this regard.

“The president said in Paris that Nigeria will reduce carbon emission under the climate change agreement by 20 per cent unconditionally, using renewable and energy efficiency sources and ending gas flaring.

That is our own Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

“We have been able to design a framework for Nigeria’s achievement of this NDC. With this, we are going to be able to earn revenue from the carbon market which is huge with billions of dollars,” said Onuoha in his summary of the expo’s overall takeaway.

He said: “If Nigeria ratifies this, the practical aspect of implementing this will attract so much of this funds.We saw the need to set up the West African Emission Trading Association, we have it in South Africa where their cities have green bond initiatives, as well as in East Africa. These are some the things we will use for the Paris agreement and West Africa which sees Nigeria as a hub has asked Nigeria to develop the process, and that is what we have done.”

According to him, “We have been able to set up the West African Emission Trading Association. With this, we want to be ready to tap into

the business opportunities that the carbon we save can give us. We want to be able to trade the carbon for money because emission trading is key in this business.”

Onuoha also said operators in Nigeria’s renewable energy sector have decided to continue to push the government to see the economic benefits of supporting the sector. He added that the sector had more potential to employ more people than the oil and gas sector which the government is more interested in.

“We have made sure that renewable energy and energy efficiency has been mainstreamed in Nigeria’s energy policy. The government recently signed a PPA with 14 developers for solar power. This is a good thing and the direction we have been pushing for.

“Because we still have a rent mentality and Nigeria still look to oil as a revenue source, we want the government to begin to drive the narrative that this sector is a huge one. We want Nigerians and government to know there are huge potentials in this sector because for every 1 megawatts deployed, 3000 people are employed in terms of solar installers and technicians amongst others, and that is a constant,” Onuoha added.

Sterling Bank, Consortium to Create 20m Jobs through Solar Power Project Ejiofor Alike Sterling Bank Plc and a consortium of African Energy Summit, Africa Clean Energy Group Incorporated of the United States, Always Green Power & Systems and The Environment Communications Limited are set to create 20 million direct and indirect jobs through the supply of solar energy to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) under a national power programme across the country.

Speaking recently in Lagos during the first inception media chat and presentation of the roadmap for the programme, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar said her ministry was partnering with the consortium on this project because consistent power supply is critical to the survival of MSMEs. The minister further stated that clean energy such as solar power could be a right step to actualising the implementation of Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP).

She noted that the task involved in the diversification of the economy is enormous, adding that it will neither

happen quickly nor easily.

Abubakar said she was aware that the consortium was into collaboration with the National Association of Barbers and Salons Employers of Nigeria with the understanding that the association would mobilize over 10 million of its members to subscribe to the supply of solar power generators.

“Also, they are partnering with the Bank of Industry (BoI) and NEPAD, who have shown interest in the project and collaborating to roll out the first batch of the solar generators to members of the National Association of Barbers and Salons Employers of Nigeria under the solar generators supply and installation agreement for empowering MSMEs in Nigeria. The Consortium is partnering with the Covenant University, Ota in the area of research, capacity building and innovation for solar installers/ maintenance and technicians,” she explained.

The minister who was represented by a senior official of the ministry, Dr. Francis Alaneme stressed that in implementing NIRP, seven supporting structures of enablers are identified for which infrastructure is one that is addressing energy challenge.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2016 T H I S D AY

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BUSINESSWORLD

ENERGY

Okoroafor: Huge Investments Needed to Grow Nigeria’s Crude Production, Reserves The Chairman of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, Bank Anthony Okoroafor in this interview with Chineme Okafor, posited that Nigeria’s longtime aspiration to increase her crude production to 4million barrels a day and reserves to 40billion barrels can only be achieved with huge investments in exploration and development. He also advised that the fiscal terms be reviewed urgently to attract the needed investments in the oil and gas industry. Excerpts: Following recent requests for government to divest some of its shares in national oil and gas assets, does it make any economic sense at a time the country is in a peculiar financial straits and seems desperate?

Not advised; What is required is to employ and retain professionals to run these assets in NNPC. After all, is Statoil not a 100% Norwegian government owned company? But they don’t behave like us. A change of behaviour is all that is needed.You do not sell your house because the key to your house is not working. Find out if people running our refineries are refiners, if NNPC put the wrong people in some of the assets, they should replace them with the right people who will do the job and get it right.Take the case of Eleme Petrochemicals in Port Harcourt that was sold to Indorama, Indorama did an audit of the entire staff and kept those with knowledge of petrochemicals to run the place and immediately turned to heavy profitability. There was not much to be done to return to profitability except putting the right people to the right jobs . Our national oil and Gas assets have been poorly managed.

Why are IOCs’ assets doing much better? It is because they have always put square pegs in round holes . They use subject matter experts to add value in the various value chain. When NNPC had 80% of the shareholding in Jv’s, the divested some of their shareholding , what did we achieve with the money realised from those divestments? Nothing. If you sell some of these assets, you will not create new jobs, they will use the existing staff or drop some of them. People who want assets should bid for blocks. We should do bid rounds, when people get new blocks, it will create lots of new employment, add value , real money will be brought into the company. We should learn to honour our obligations and maintain sanctity of agreements and contracts. We should create greater institutions and not greater personalities. That is the problem with our joint venture (JVs). If you have the right people with the right attitude running the JVs as a business and professional entity, organisations would not be complaining.

If the government decides to sell, what or which oil and gas assets would you recommend it divests parts of its shares in?

My first option will be to put square pegs in round holes to run all NNPC assets. If we are unable to do that, then government can reduce NNPC’s JV equity. Other parties including capable Nigerian companies may bid for the divested equity. We should not sell our crown jewels or assets that are being run profitably well.

NLNG is being run profitably well because it is run like a private company because the government is not the majority shareholder.

The inefficiencies in government assets are not there. The NNPC owns 49% of the shares, Shell Gas owns 25.6%, Total LNG owns 15%, Eni owns 10.4%. Statoil is a 100% Norwegian company like the NNPC, it is not a private company but it is one of the best performing companies today because of their government and management discipline. Assets that are not running profitably that we are not able to put subject matter experts to run them profitably should be sold to private organisations with the technical and commercial know-how. We must remove sentiments and politics in taking pure and fundamental economic and business decisions. Statoil has a lot of patents both in upstream and downstream. What is NNPC Research and Development (R&D) doing, it

case in point. We should understand that not all oil companies will be able to operate like the NLNG. It will be quite cumbersome. You can get your partners to fund some of your activities without necessarily going to incorporate IJV or ceding or pledging assets. We just need to create a trustworthy template that the Ministry of Finance and IOCs will have confidence in.

Okoroafor

Our biggest danger is that our reserves are going down in an uncomfortable manner. Lower reserve creates lower investor confidence. It weakens us as a country. We no longer command the respect that we used to have. It also weakens our currency power.

The strength of Saudi Arabia is on its oil reserve, which is about a 268 Billion barrels.

That makes its currency strong. Saudi Aramco is a force to reckon with.

Our reserve is less than 30 billion barrels. We have been suffering negative reserve growth since 2007

looks like a place to dump people not liked by the Corporation. It is just a cost centre with nothing to show. They do not do any research or any intellectual development. Egg heads must be sent to head R&D departments and has it properly funded with key performance deliverables.

There are insinuations that Nigeria’s oil industry is fast losing its competitive edges - we’ve lost our status as Africa’s top oil producer, lost market shares in the global LNG destinations and rely heavily on imported fuel, are these real issues to be worried about?

We are no longer the beautiful bride because we do not have the enabling laws, our reserves are low, our investor confidence is low, our ease of doing business index is not encouraging.

As an investor, you want to know the laws the country has because it is those laws that determine whether your investment is safe.

We do not have the laws or fiscal regimes required to invest. Is it decree 51 or which version of PIB? We are in a state of loss on petroleum laws. We should as a matter of urgency review our fiscal terms to maintain attractiveness and investment. Investment goes to friendly environment. People are not investing in refineries because we set prices for the products. We do not allow market forces of demand and supply to determine the prices.

To date, are you able to quantify or evaluate the impacts or imbalances the lack of needed reforms in the industry has created or caused?

It has cost us so much on lost investments and opportunities.

- No enough gas to power our power plants; - Negative growth in reserves; - Our dream of 4m bopd still a mirage and Loss making ventures Some people are canvasing for Incorporated Joint Ventures (IJVs), citing the NLNG as a

The country’s oil reserves are depleting, no new developments to grow them, what best option is available to overcome this?

Our biggest danger is that our reserves are going down in an uncomfortable manner. Lower reserve creates lower investor confidence. It weakens us as a country. We no longer command the respect that we used to have. It also weakens our currency power. The strength of Saudi Arabia is on its oil reserve, which is about a 268 Billion barrels. That makes its currency strong. Saudi Aramco is a force to reckon with.

Our reserve is less than 30 billion barrels. We have been suffering negative reserve growth since 2007. Our best option now is to stimulate exploration. The initiatives should not be left with government because its intentions are mostly political and short terminism. Let’s stop blaming cash calls.

- Put an executive bill to National Assembly to put aside one billion dollars every year to fund exploration; Take some percentage from the oil exploitation tax to fund exploration on a yearly basis; The PTDF should fund exploration; New blocks should be given out for people to explore; Conduct blocks and marginal bid rounds so people will explore and share with government; Incentivise people to come and explore new areas; new bid rounds under laws that are friendly to investors.

If we did not give favourable terms to deepwater, we would not have discovered Bonga.

We should stop talking and start working.

It takes a lot of efforts to discover one new barrel of crude oil. If you discover a new field, it creates more jobs, creates a field in the offering, more facility work to develope and produce the field and add to reserve. Our proven reserve is less than 30 billion barrels as at 2015. The target of increasing our crude oil reserves to 40 billion barrels and production to four million barrels per day can only be achieved when we invest in explorations and developments. There are many factors that contribute to this. Oil & Gas projects tend to have medium - long term gestation periods particularly gas projects. The decisions we take today will shape the outcomes in seven to ten years’ time in future. We must explore to grow our reserves and drill several wells to increase our production. We have not added any reserve in the past 10 years. We need attractive fiscal terms. The failure in the passage of the PIB when the price of crude was high and oil companies were willing and able to invest was a missed opportunity. The objectives of the PIB were to enhance exploration and exploitation of petroleum resources; to significantly increase domestic gas supplies especially for power and industry; create competitive business environment for the exploitation of oil and gas; establish fiscal framework that is flexible, stable and competitively attractive. Also our inability to explore our inland basins is also a big issue.

The NNPC recently announced its foray into exploration in the frontier inland basins, is this new venture economical, does it make Continued on page 26

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INDUSTRY

In Pursuit of Self-sufficiency in Rice Production Crusoe Osagie and Obinna Chima who were in Anaku-Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State for an assessment tour of Coscharis Farms Limited last week, report that there is hope in the horizon for Nigeria’s rice sector

Rice farm In Nigeria, necessity has indeed given birth to innovation and unprecedented effort to develop the real sector.

Until recently, when the government seems to have lost firm control over an economy galloping away like a derailed train, the nation’s financial institutions and other components of the private sector were only interested in sales and importation transactions which return investment in only a few months.

Not anymore. Now, Nigeria must produce or perish and if Nigeria perishes, so will all the financial institutions and other arms of the private sector.

It is on the back of the present realities that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has now focused on areas in the agriculture sector where the country has comparative advantage, in their quest to drastically reduce the country’s huge import bill. One of such areas is the local production of rice.

An analyst at International Grains Council, Jade Savage, recently noted that rice shipments to Nigeria have been limited by government’s effort to prevent cross-border illicit trade.

Rice prices in the global market remain subdued and, according to Savage, “….the reopening of rice imports into Nigeria could have some stabilising impact on global prices.”

Nigeria is the world’s second largest rice importer, with an estimated annual demand of 2.5 million metric tonnes, well above the country’s about 500,000 metric tonnes local capacity. However, internal stakeholders in rice business insist that local rice production is way ahead of the production figures bandied in the international commodities markets.

But a report by Lagos-based CSL Stockbrokers Limited showed that since 2011 the federal government has been making substantial efforts to encourage domestic cultivation of rice and to completely eliminate imports using incentives such as subsidised loans, cheap fertilizers, free farm land, and tax rebates.

Despite these efforts, domestic production still falls significantly short of local demand. But with the depreciation of the naira and forex scarcity facing the nation, there have been deliberate effort

to significantly boost domestic rice cultivation.

The CBN last year restricted importers of 40 items, which included rice, from accessing dollars from the interbank market and bureaux de change. Also, other fiscal policies are making it increasingly unfavorable for the importation of rice. Rice imports through land borders are restricted, while imports that come in through the ports attract sizeable import duties and levies.

Therefore, these restrictions have led to a gradual decline in imports and have resulted in an 86 per cent rise in the price of imported rice. Consequently, the price gap that made cheaper imported rice more attractive appears to be closing gradually, making it a favourable time to ramp up local production.

Also, the CBN through its Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) as well as its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) has continued to support genuine local rice manufacturers, in line with its development finance function.

Economic diversification is no longer an option for us, it is the only way for economic momentum and the drive to prosperity

One of such firms is the Coscharis Farms Limited, which has nearly 3,000 hectares of land under cultivation of different varieties of rice in Anaku-Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State. In line with their commitment to local rice cultivation, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh and some state governors went on assessment tour to the Coscharis Farms last week.

The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme That ABP programme was designed to assist small scale farmers to increase the production and supply of feedstock to agro-processors.

The programme is an initiative of the central bank aimed at creating an ecosystem to link out-growers (small holder farmers) to local processors, increase banks’ financing to the agricultural sector enhance capacity utilisation of agricultural firms involved in the production of identified commodities and as well as the productivity and incomes of farmers.

Already, the pilot phase for rice farmers had been adjudged as successful as it led to increase rice yields and financial rewards to the local farmers. The anchor borrowers’ programme is also a platform to build capacity of banks in agricultural lending to farmers and entrepreneurs in the value chain, reduce commodity importation. It is also expected to reduce the level of poverty among small holder farmers and create jobs while assisting rural small-holder farmers to grow from subsistence to commercial production levels.

The programme is hinged on three pronged approach namely the out-grower support programme; training of farmers, extension workers and banks; and risk mitigation.

The ABP is expected to be taken to 26 states.

But at the initial stage, the 14 states been targeted are Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Zamfara, Admawa, Plateau, Lagos, Ogun, Cross-Rivers and Ebonyi for rice and wheat farmers to advance their status from small holder farmers to commercial or large growers. Under the programme, the Central Bank of Nigeria had set aside N20 billion of the N220 billion micro, small and medium enterprises development

fund to be given to farmers at single digit interest rate of maximum nine per cent per annum, in line with government’s aspiration to achieve food security. Already, N15.7 billion had been disbursed.

According to Emefiele, the fall in oil prices had given the country a timely reminder that it has no other choice but to diversify the economy away from oil, and into agriculture, manufacturing, services, and other non-oil sectors.

He added: “We have our agenda at the CBN. Our agenda is to see how, instead of importing rice, we produce rice locally. By doing that, what you will find is that the demand for the importation of rice would cease and we would begin to see ourselves as a rice exporting nation. That would help to conserve our forex reserves. We are very determined to attain this.

We spend huge amount to import items which could be produced locally, thereby exporting jobs to other countries at the detriment of our local industries.

“The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme is one of the CBN’s policy initiatives to pursue the aforementioned development objectives, namely the creation of jobs, reduction in food imports, and diversification of our economy.

“The Programme aims at creating economic linkages between over 600,000 smallholder farmers and reputable large-scale processors with a view to increasing agricultural output and significantly improving capacity utilisation of integrated mills.”

President Muhammadu Buhari had during the inauguration of the scheme, decried the huge sums spent by the country importing food items that could be produced locally.

He added: “The importance of agriculture in the economy cannot be overemphasised. Prior to the advent of oil, our country survived on agriculture production. During this period, the economy was built on agricultural activities and our gross domestic product grew steadily.

“Economic diversification is no longer an option for us, it is the only way for economic momentum and the drive to prosperity.” he added. According to him, the only way to do Continued on page 26

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INDUSTRY IN PURSUIT OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN RICE PRODUCTION

this was to go back to the land and develop agriculture.

Self-sufficieny in Rice According to Ogbeh, with the gradual extension of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme to 26 states in the country, the federal government would end importation of rice in the next one year.

The Minister of Agriculture aid this during an assesment tour to the Coscharis Farms Limited.

Ogbeh stressed that unless Nigeria is able to feed itself, the country cannot be said to be truly independent. According to him, the food importation bill of the country which stands at between $2 and $3 billion is unacceptable.

“This amazing, I have seen similar things in Kebbi and I am seeing this big one (the rice farm), and am very proud of Coscharis and the effort the Anambra State governor is making to support him. In another one year, we will have no need to import one grain of rice into this country. “ In fact we may stop rice importation sooner than that. It is final word I am telling you, because Nigerians have proven that they can do it and I am proud that I can see this thing in Anambra.

Because peole who don’t know Anambra do not even know what potential exist for agriculture.

“I am also proud of the role the CBN is playing because they are giving a lot of credit support, even allocating the scarce foreign exchange that we have to a critical sector like agriculture.

To the younger people here, there is future in agriculture. Don’t run away from it even though it is tough,” the finance minister said.

CBN Pledges Support Also, Emefiele who was in Anambra State, said the central bank was spurred to raise its support to the agricultural sector because the country ran into a situation where it reserves had been badly depleted.

The central bank governor wondered why Nigeria, despite its vaste arable land would continue to import rice, tomatoes, and even milk.

He said 26 states that have shown interest in the ABP, adding that the Ministry of Finance as well as officials of the central bank are currently on assessment tour of the state that had shown interest in the project which is aimed at ensuring that Nigeria becomes self sufficient in food.

Ogbeh Furthermore, he said the Kebbi state governor, the state where the pilot phase of the ABP was carried out, had been mandated by President Muhammadu Buhari to head all the state governors that would be involved in the ABP. Emefiele explained: “We have been importing milk for over 60 years. There is a company that has been producing milk for 60 years, and I say it is time those kind of companies begin to produce our diary in Nigeria. We like to encourage and congratulate Coscharis. We are congratulating him because this is a man that for over 30 years has been in the business of machines, spare parts, and car importation.

“But simultaneously, about 29 years ago, he started cultivating the idea that agriculture is the base. We started this with him almost about two years ago when we granted him a N2 billion CACS. With his own resources, he added to it and that is why he is where he is today. Those are the type of things we need to continue to encourage.

“And about a month ago, he came to the CBN that we need to come and see what he has done with the CACS fund we gave to him.

I must say that I am delighted that he has used the money well. And when he came, he

requested for more money because he wants to have the capacity to produce rice all-year round, that is three harvests in a year. To do so, he needs irrigation and he needs his mill.”

To this end, Emefiele disclosed that the Committee of Governors of CBN on Wednesday gave approval for Coscharis Farms to set up a mill as well as an irrigation.

“That is the kind of support we would give people who have shown interest, because there is no foreign exchange to import food, when we can produce food in the country. After that, the next stage is to begin to encourage Coscharis Farns together with the Anambra state governor for supporting the initiative, to be able to create jobs for the youths and other people called Anchor. The Anchors grow the rice, you take them up from them, harvest it, mill it and sell to Nigerians.

“We have naira, and we would lend to people so that we can grow our food and feed our people. Forecast has it that by 2050, Nigeria would have the third largest population in the world. So, we need to begin to prepare for that day. Nobody is going to prepare for us and we must be able to feed our people,” Emefiele added.

Coscharis Boost for Job Creation The Chairman of Coscharis Group, Mr. Cosmas Maduka, in his remarks, stated that Coscharis Farm Limited will provide full time employment for about 3000 people as well as drive ancillary industrial growth in the state when all the phases of the investment are complete.

He said the farm phase of the business currently employs over 250 people, adding that the rice mill and irrigation components of the investment for which the CBN has given approval in principle to finance, will significantly enhance the capacity of the business to create more jobs and boost economic activities.

Maduka however called on other arms of the federal government to be more responsive to requests from the private sector to enable them achieve their set business goals in good time.

“Although the government is providing support, a lot more assistance is still required from the government. Government should respond to our needs and requests faster to help us meet our investment goals. For example, we have

made a request for waivers for the importation of our farm equipment and it has been lying there for over a year without any approval. The government should respond faster,” he said.

He commended the CBN for agreeing to provide financing for its rice mill and irrigation, while also thanking the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for the decisions to allow the company use its silos for the storage of grains harvested from the farm. Recalling how he took the decision venture into agriculture, Maduka said the plan began about 29 years ago but only became tangible two years ago, commending governor Willie Obiano for his intervention in the land dispute with the host community which had stalled the venture for almost three decades.

“It is a dream of 29 years before becoming a reality two years ago. It did not happen by accident at all. Obiano gave us the push to actually do it. He gave us the enabling environment. He took care of the problem of insecurity and now we have expatriates from Europe and other parts if the world without any problem,” he said.

He stressed that it was essential for Nigerians to raise their capacity to produce food and feed the teeming population, noting that with the population of the country set to hit 500 million by the year 2050, there would be certain humanitarian crisis if the nation cannot produce what it eats.

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State said: “We are hoping to catch up with Kebbi. We are currently doing 210,000 metric tonnes. We call on CBN to support Coscharis Farms and other small holder farms because they are structured here. Through the agro-intervention funds we got N1.5 million and disbursed it and now we want N5 billion.

There is much money in farming- you feed yourself and sell others.”

His Kebbi State counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, who was also at the event said: “We are happy that since last year when the president launched CBN’s anchor borrowers scheme in Kebbi, the state governments have been keying into the project. This shows that the president’s call, with the support of the Minister of Agriculture and the Central Bank of Nigeria was heard. With these developments, it is obvious that we are on our way to rice sufficiency.”

OKOROAFOR: HUGE INVESTMENTS NEEDED TO GROW NIGERIA’S CRUDE PRODUCTION, RESERVES sense at all?

Some people will want the money to be applied to offset cash call obligations. But I believe that exploration in all our sedimentary basins is the right thing to do. Timing is also right, as we stand a good chance to get the services at a minimum price. When you have sedimentary basins in your country, there is always a need to explore them. You have to stimulate a growth for investors to come in. Government should take the lead and stimulate it. Money should be provided for it on a yearly basis. We should not compel the IOCs to go there now. We have to prove what is there first. It belongs to us.

IOCs are always not interested unless they see interesting opportunities. All major discoveries were stimulated by NNPC before IOCs started showing interest. All the discoveries were sold to the IOCs but they were stimulated by NNPC before IOCs started showing interest.

The NNPC started exploration in Chad basin in 1983. Chad basin is a very wide place. We need to adopt a sound strategy. Only government can do it.

We are all beneficiaries of the Shell D’Arcy until they struck Oloibiri. They explored all over the place. Government has that responsibility to explore the frontier basins. Once there is discovery up there, all the IOCs will want to expand their coast there.The inland basins of Nigeria include Anambra basin, the lower, middle and upper Benue, the southeastern sector of the chad basin, the mid Niger Bida basin and the Sokoto basin. Upper Benue was done 20 years ago, but not very intense, they drilled one or two wells.

The NNPC carried out exploratory seismic work in Anambra basin more than 20 years ago.

No serious work has been done in Bida basin.

Geological survey was done in Sokoto basin.

We do not have much data on Inland basins.

Now with improvements in technology and seismic, it will do our country great in acquiring reliable data on the inland basin; relaunch a licencing rounds in our inland basins.

We just need to optimise what we have. We do not need additional bureaucracy. Do you need to discuss Non Associated Gad (NAG) or Associated Gas (AG)? If Non associated gas, if exploring for gas and run into oil, do you shut down or close down. If Associated gas, what happens if gas is standalone?

Gas and oil should remain as a single industry complementing each other.

If Gas is a standalone, it will depend on what oil producers are doing, if they shut down, you shut down. Today, all export terminals are shut down, we are not exporting from them, all tanks are full, all inland flow stations tank farms are full, only FPSOs are operating now.

If you have a gas business, you are forced to shut-in.

Okoroafor When you consider that this is happening at a time the global industry is on a very low ebb, do you think there will be genuine interests for investments into this?

Government should take the lead and stimulate it. Others will follow once the hydrocarbons are proven. The IOCs are always not interested unless they see interesting opportunities. All major discoveries were stimulated by the NNPC before IOCs started showing interest.

Has gas been given the kind of policy thoughts it needs to drive the Nigerian economy, what

do you think about it as a stand-alone industry, can it happen in Nigeria?

There is none. At best we have tactics driven by the need to sustain current power sector demand. There is no policy on oil and gas by this government, but they are acting on impulse laced with politics. Gas does not really need to stand alone as an industry, but all the plans already in place need to be properly and efficiently executed. We don’t need additional bureacracy for this. Gas tracks oil both in price and availability, and we need to look at this together. Gas should not have an industry of its own. It plays complimentary role to oil.

Are you able to honestly define or spot the policy thoughts of the current government for the oil and gas sector?

None has been articulated so far. There are no defined goals not to talk about strategy.There is no policy on oil and gas by this government, but they are acting on impulses laced heavily with politics. You do not make policy peace meal, it has to be holistic. Exploration of frontier oil needs to be a policy; Spending one billion dollars every year to fund exploration should be a policy; Government should focus more on exploration.

We should have gas pipelines going to all corners of Nigeria. We should make a policy, which allows people or makes it practical to: - Transport any associated gas from any field to the nearest gas line taking gas to a power plant, it should be metered and paid for; - Any body producing oil or gas should be guaranteed that the gas will be taken off him from the nearest backbone; - The idea of gas re-injection or flaring should not be accepted, It will also take care of stranded gas. If I am developing in a remote location, I will know that there is a backbone closeby to take my gas.

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, COCTOBER 25, 2016

PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT NigeriaDevelopsBroad-basePolicyonEnvironment Nigeria now has an implementable policy on environment, courtesy of the validation of a draft document by multi-faceted groups of stakeholders. The new national policy incorporates and consolidates all aspects of Nigeria’s environment. It is a single document from which states government are expected to draw their action plans. Bennett Oghifo reports

F

or two days last week, various groups of stakeholder dissected a draft document on Nigeria’s Policy on Environment, presented

by Professor Emmanuel Oladipo, the lead consultant engaged by the Federal Ministry of Environment, at a stakeholders’ validation workshop in Abuja, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The groups worked on aspects of the draft document and came up with a concise document that would be Nigeria’s Policy on Environment.

Policy thrust...

Nigeria formulated its first national policy on the environment in 1991. It was revised in 1999, and 17 years later, it is due for another revision in order to capture emerging environmental issues and concerns, said Prof.

Oladipo. “Thus, the purpose of this National Policy on the Environment is to define a new holistic framework to guide the management of the environment and natural resources of the country.” As a framework document, the policy prescribes sectoral and cross-sectoral strategic policy statements and actions for the management of the country’s environment for sustainable development, he said.

In addition to the existing 1991 and 1999 draft policy documents, this Policy derives its strength from the fundamental obligation for the protection of the environment as stated in section 20 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which provides that the “State shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wild life of Nigeria.” In addition, Nigeria is party to several international treaties and conventions governing environmental issues. It is on the combined thrust of these instruments that the National Policy on the Environment rests.

According to him, “Development will be meaningful if it does not increase a country’s vulnerability to environmental impacts. If a nation’s environmental foundations are depleted, its economy may well decline, its social fabric may deteriorate, and its political structure may even become destabilised.

“The environment is, however, a complex and interactive system consisting of the atmosphere, land surface and bodies of water, as well as living things. The degradation of an element of the environmental system will have positive or negative feedback effects on the others. For example, human induced increased injection of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has resulted in global warming with its consequent large variability in climate in the form of extreme weather events that are generating floods (e.g. the 2012 major flood disasters witnessed in

development, security and poverty reduction in a sustainable manner.” The government, he said recognised that unless these challenges were addressed within a coherent policy framework, it would not be positioned for the sustainability of the environment.

The review of the National Policy on the Environment, he said was significant, “as many emerging environmental issues have become the main challenges at: global, regional and national levels. One of the most important of these is climate change which already affects one of the many aspects of our national life.

“As we thrive to validate the draft Policy, we must ensure that all existing sub-sectoral policies are subsumed into the new National Environmental Policy. This way the environmental sector will be driven by a single policy which the sub-sectors will develop their strategies from the new Policy.”

Mallam Ibrahim Usman Jibril

more than half of the States of Nigeria) and massive erosion of land.

“Thus, the environment must be managed in a coherent and integrated manner through the implementation of a well formulated policy framework.”

Draft document review...

There were various groups that worked on sections of the draft document and these included: Goals, objectives and Guiding Principles; Conservation and Management of National Resources; Waste and Pollution; Emerging Issues; Cross-Sectoral Issues; and Policy Implementation.

Each of the sections subsumes issues within its purview. For instance, land degradation falls under Conservation and Management of National Resources; air quality/pollution issues are taken care of by Waste and Pollution; and Emerging Issues’ section is where climate change, urban water resources, conflict and the environment, among others.

Environment Ministry’s thoughts...

The Federal Government intends to have a single Policy on Environment to take care of all issues in the country, said the Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mallam Ibrahim Usman Jibril.

The minister, who declared open the validation workshop, said the meeting was very important, because it was called “to have a

Pa Lamin Beyai

national consensus on a policy framework that will guide our national response to the management of our environment. Our environment constitutes the basic foundations for human survival which we all depend on, for our needs in one form or the other, either directly or indirectly.”

Jibrin said there were clear indications of neglect of the environment and that “recent evidences point to the fact that our interaction with the environment is creating a number of serious challenges including land degradation, flooding, drought, desertification, sheet, gully and coastal erosion and loss of bio-diversity leading to the present global challenge of Climate Change. Others are poor environmental health and safety, urban waste, pollution and ozone depletion.” He said development would be meaningless if it increased the nation’s vulnerability to environmental impacts. “If a nation’s environmental foundations are depleted, its economy may decline, its social fabric may deteriorate, and its political structure may even be affected. Today, environmental degradation has become a significant source of economic loss and stress in our lives. The major challenge is to improve our approach to the management of the environment by adopting sustainable concepts to increase productivity and livelihoods. It is also imperative that we institutionalize and strengthen capacities for sustainable environment governance in order to contribute to the achievement of economic

UNDP’s message...

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been part of the policy formulation from the beginning and would see it through, said Pa Lamin Beyai, Country Director, UNDP, in goodwill message at the National Policy on Environment Validation meeting.

“It is my pleasure to be part of this validation meeting of the National Policy on Environment for Nigeria. UNDP is very delighted to be part of this project from its inception to date.

You can count on our continuous support to see the project to its conclusion.”

Pa Lamin Beyai said the National Policy on Environment was “a guide to action in regulatory reform, programmes, and projects for environmental conservation, reviews and enactment of legislation, at the Federal, State, and Local Government levels.”

The Country Director said, “We live in a complex environment, which is a life supporting system for human survival. While a properly managed environment can be geared towards productive requirements, a poorly managed one could easily threaten human survival.

“So far, the known drivers of environmental degradation are population growth, inappropriate technology and consumption choices, and poverty. Other drivers include lack of clarity or enforcement of rights of access, and use of environmental resources. This policy becomes handy in filling that gap.

“The newly launched SDGs neatly fuses human development and sustainable development. As we go through the validation meeting today, let us pay particular attention to the various sections of the policy that would enable us achieve our desired goals. I have no doubt that, together we can promote and build a sustainable and healthy environment for our existence.”

NMRC Reports N482m Profit in 2015 Bennett Oghifo The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) recorded significant increase in its profitability, which came up to N482 million in 2015 as against N160 million in 2014.

The nation’s leading and foremost mortgage Refinance Company also recorded total assets of N39.01 billion in 2015 against N10.6 billion in 2014.

This result was presented at NMRC’s 2nd Annual General Meeting in Lagos. Shareholders of the Company approved all

the proposals put forward by its Board of Directors at the AGM, including the appointment of four independent Directors, Dr. Charles Okeahalam – Chairman; Mr. Charles Candide-Johnson, SAN; Dr. Anino Emuwa; and Mrs. Fatima Wali-Abdurrahman.

The appointment of Mr. Adeniyi Akinlusi as a Non-Executive Director was also approved.

The Company’s Chief Executive Officer, Professor Charles Inyangete noted that as NMRC continued its journey towards greater financial strength, the main focus and long term

strategy of the company was on improving mortgage penetration by growing the supply and the demand side of the housing value-chain. Professor Inyangete also stated that despite the headwinds confronting the housing sector in Nigeria, the Company would continue to explore opportunities presented by its access to long-term funding from the Capital market to drive its mandate and ultimately reverse the widening housing deficit, while ensuring superior performance and returns to investors and stakeholders.

The Chairman of NMRC, Dr. Charles Okeahalam said there was an improvement in the performance of the company, adding “We are very pleased with the achievements of the management, led by the Chief Executive; the effort they have made in the difficult socioeconomic environment Nigeria has presently. The currency has a number of values, interest rates are very high and inflation has doubled from 9% in May 2015 to almost 18% with the latest number that has come up.

According to analysts,

NMRC’s profit in 2015, though higher than the previous year, could have been much higher if conforming mortgages were readily available in the market for the Company to refinance.

They expect that as the mortgage market grows, the Company’s footprint would expand substantially.

The Company’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Kehinde Ogundimu noted that the company was taking necessary steps to preserve and grow the organisation’s capital with a view to deepening and

sustaining its core refinancing operations.

According to Dr. Femi Johnson, a Director of NMRC and President at Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria, the performance of the company was “fine, considering the economic clime we find ourselves, despite that the company made good profit, even though it is in its second year of operation. We are impressed with the performance and we are also looking at areas that require strong improvement but the overall it is a good performance.”

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PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT

Firm Decries Unauthorised Dealing on its Land Akinwale Akintunde The Oyetubo Joko-Tade Estate Resources Ltd, has asked the Lagos State Government to refrain from granting any consent to prospective applicants who wish to trade on its land without their authorisation.

The firm, in a letter to the Lagos State Registrar of Titles, Lands Bureau, dated October 17, 2016, stated that it has disengaged the services of one Mrs. Folashade Ogundare, who was formerly invested with the power of attorney over the company land located in Sangotedo area of the state.

The letter was signed by a director of the company, Otunba Babatunde Rahman and five shareholders namely, Chief

Muka Bajulaiye, Alhaja Ajimot Ashaku Adisa, Chief Adelaja Nureni, Mrs Racheal Tokede and Mr. Saliu Tajudeen.

The holding company owned by the Oyemade Royal Family stated that it has been having a running battle with its erstwhile Secretary / Attorney, Mrs. Ogudare over mismanagement of proceeds of sale of the company’s land located at Sangotedo area of Lagos.

The letter further stated that the services of Mrs. Ogundare as attorney of the company has since been disengaged and that legal actions has also been taken to enforce same.

The letter reads in part: “We as director and shareholders ( being members of the three branches of the family that

make up the three classes of the shareholders) of Oyetubo Joko Tade Estate Resources Ltd, write to inform the Bureau as follows; “That Oyetubo Joko-Tade Estate Resources Ltd is the bonafide and beneficial owner of the large expanse of land

situated and being a Sangotedo Area of Eti-Osa LGA, Lagos State and covered by a certificate of occupancy registered as 75/75/1996AE. “That Oyetubo Joko-Tade Estate Resources Ltd is a holding company of Ibeju/ Oyemade Royal Family.

“That the company has since disengaged the services of Mrs. Ogundare as it Secretary and Attorney and has taken action in court to effectuate this position.

“That the Bureau should refrain from dealing with the said Mrs. Ogundare with respect to the company’s land/property.

“That the company and the family has now nominated the under signed persons as it accredited representative with whom the Bureau should deal and relate with in respect to all transactions relating to any part of the company’s 201 hectares of land.”

Ifitech to Deliver 2,000 Housing Units Across Nigeria by 2017 Unveils Estates in Lagos, Imo and Enugu A real estate development company, Ifitech and Associates Limited has said it plans to build over 2000 housing units in different parts of the country before the end of next year.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Ifeanyi Isaac, the objective of Ifitech and Associates Limited from 2008, when it was established and incorporated to start the business of developing and managing estates in Nigeria was to provide affordable and low-cost housing to ordinary Nigerians in the most convenient way.

“To achieve this objective, over the last eight years, we have dedicated ourselves to acquiring land in three states in Nigeria, namely Lagos, Enugu and Imo State. In Lagos; at Ibeju-lekki to be precise, we currently have six schemes, in Imo State we have to two schemes and in Enugu we only have one scheme. All these schemes come under the name; Westpoint Gardens and Solid Base Gardens Estate.”

“Since we target prospective landlords in the lowest end of the property ladder or those that are considered to be lowincome earners, prices of plots in our estates start from as low as N250k. Our most expensive estates are the ones in IbejuLekki axis near the Dangote Refinery, Free Trade Zone and other upcoming landmark projects in Lagos and the price of plots in these estates range from between N1million and N2.5million, Isaac explained.

He added that in also ensuring the objectives of the firm is achieved, payment for plots in all the company’s estates have been structured to run over a period of six to twelve months.

“Buyers who pay out-rightly will be able to buy at cheaper prices, while those that want to spread payment over twelve months will only have to pay a little higher that those than can make full payment”.

“We currently have over 2,000 subscribers and they have

all started to build their own houses added to the ones the firm is building and selling to those who may not want to go through the rigors of starting from land ownership. We hope that by the end of 2017, we would have been able to deliver a minimum of 2000 housing units and that by 2020 we would have been able to deliver over 10,000 housing units. We are determined and we already have more than 200 personnel helping to push this ambition.

We understand the challenges in the economy but with the determination we will surely get there”.

Despite building these estates to target low-income earners, Isaac explained that Ifitech and Associates Limited will also ensure that residents of the estates and property owners have access to top-notch infrastructure. “All our estates currently have perimeter fencing with road networks, drainage systems, water, security, play areas for family and shopping centers. We are hoping to create estates that will function with a communal lifestyle, where people will live in peace and harmony irrespective of religion or ethnicity”.

On the challenge of reducing Nigeria’s housing deficit, Isaac says the government should start to partner with competent real estate developers like Ifitech and Associates Limited. “This can be done through Private Public Partnership (PPP) where the government provides land to developers at reduced prices and ensure that houses that are built come into the property market at reduced prices. The government can also ensure that Mortgage Banks provide long term payment facilities for the developed houses and ensure that the interest rate is at single digit. The government should also give concessions in the areas of payments for land documentation and titles so that developers can be able to give bargain prices to ordinary Nigerians.

L-R: Secretary to Managing Director, Ella Louis Kent; CEO, Ifeanyi Isaac; Executive Director, Susan Isaac; General Manager, Ngoha Johnson; and Human Resource/Admin Manager, Uchechi Oyakhire, all of Ifitech and Associates Limited at the unveiling of Westpoint Gardens and Solid Base Estate held at Ibeju Lekki Lagos... recently

Builders to Focus on Vocational Training at FESTAC 2016 Fadekemi Ajakaiye Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Lagos State Chapter will discuss the imperative of Vocational Training in the nation’s socio-economic development, at this year’s Conference/ AGM, tagged FESTAC 2016.

The Chairman, Conference/ AGM Committee, Bldr. Fadil Elegbede stated this at a press briefing in Lagos, recently, adding that the theme, ‘Vocational Training: Bedrock for Nigerian Housing & Infrastructural Development’ has been divided into four sub-themes, which are to be handled in syndicate sessions, namely: Skills Gap in Construction Practice; Innovative Construction Materials with Modern Technology; Public Private Partnership in Skill Acquisition in Construction Sector; and The Structure and Impact of Vocational Institutions in other Developing Countries – Lessons for Nigeria.

The theme and sub-themes, he said were well-chosen and that articulate seasoned professionals would be in attendance to coordinate the syndicate sessions. “The Event comes up at Golden Tulip Hotel & Conference Centre, Amuwo, Mile 2, on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th of October, 2016.

“There is no doubt, the theme for this year is very germane and timely than ever considering the massive shortfall in the acquisition of vocational training in the housing industry by our teeming youth population. Even majority of the few who had hitherto managed to acquire one skill or the other have now turned to Okada or Maruwa operators. To worsen the situation, some have decided to join the notorious gangs of kidnappers, robbers, abductors and others.

“The question of skills and

skilled workmen in the building and construction industry in Nigeria has continued to attract attention. The dearth of skills is so severe that skilled labourers from neighboring countries are largely patronized, to the disadvantage of indigenous workforce.

“It has been observed long time now that some of our own trained youths have abandoned their trades, and laboures from neighboring countries like Ghana, Togo and Republic of Benin have capitalized on this great opportunity by flourishing our Construction industry and taking advantage of the benefits therein. We should not forget also that the Chinese Construction industries in our Nation have also adopted the system of bringing in their labourers to take over the vacuum created by our youths in this regard.

“With the economic downturn that the Nation is experiencing now, our vocational skilled labourers from neighboring countries have started returning to their respective countries, since it is more profitable for them to earn their local currency which is now getting stronger than the Nigerian Naira.

This has again brought in an increased shortfall in the number of technical manpower in the Housing infrastructure and Development.

Thus, the best time for our youths to think aright and take this wonderful opportunity to acquire the needed vocational training that would earn them the required legitimate income they desire and thereafter drastically reduce unemployment in the housing infrastructure and Development.

“It is good to note that the Federal Government of Nigeria having noticed this trend and the danger therein introduced the National Vocational Qualifi-

cations Framework (NVQF) as a comprehensive package for the training and Certification of workmen. The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) /Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) has been assigned the role of Awarding Body in the Framework.

“The theme for this year’s Conference/AGM is therefore apt, and it is being dealt with at the best time ever. The sub themes and their Coordinators

are perfectly chosen for an on course delivery with various issues on skills in general as related to the National Vocational Qualification in particular.

“The Conference is going to be interactive and at the end, it is highly believed that all stakeholders concerned, would this time around better key into the process of making vocational training the bedrock for Nigerian Housing and Infrastructural Development.”

Jagun Becomes First African Fellow of IFMA A former President of International Facility Management Association, (IFMA) Nigeria Chapter, Pastor Stephen Jagun, has been decorated as fellow of IFMA. A statement by the international body, said Jagun is the first African to be so honoured with IFMA fellowship. IFMA Fellow is the highest honour the association bestows upon members.

The Fellowship recognises outstanding contribution and service rendered to the association and creates an elite core of respected leaders who can be called upon to act as advisors to and ambassadors for the association.

Jagun, the immediate past Chairman, Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos chapter, was decorated with the fellowship, during the Award of Excellence segment at the IFMA World Work Place Conference, recently.

Jagun said, “There are only about 90-95 of us out of 24,000 members. That’s a really select group.”

IFMA’s Fellowship pro-

gramme was established in 1992 to recognise members’ lifetime contributions to the association and the facility management community.

Fellowships are awarded annually by a jury consisting of the current IFMA chair, the president/Chief Executive Officer and three fellows.

Past chair of the association has executive oversight for fellows programme and acts as the spokesperson on matters pertaining to fellows.

“When considering a candidate for fellowship, the nominating committee assesses professional experience and accomplishments; association involvement; and how that person has enriched the profession.

No more than 0.5 percent of the membership may hold the title of fellow, and with the induction of the 2015 class, 103 members in total have been awarded this distinction.

“Fellows form a core of IFMA advisers and ambassadors, who are frequently called upon for their unmatched knowledge of facility management profession.”

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INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Gunfire, Protests Erupt in CAR Capital The United Nations peacekeepers and armed men exchanged fire yesterday in Central African Republic’s capital Bangui, the United Nations said, while hundreds of protesters gathered to call for the mission’s departure.

Crowds gathered near a major roundabout, carrying anti-U.N. posters, throwing stones and shouting at their troops who responded with warning shots, a Reuters witness said. One injured man was carried onto a police truck but it was unclear how he was wounded.

Central African Republic has been in chaos since early 2013 when fighting between mostly Muslim Seleka rebels and anti-Balaka Christian militias prompted the establishment of the MINUSCA mission a year later.

Criticism of the 13,000-strong mission has mounted in recent weeks with local people accusing the peacekeepers of not doing enough to protect them. Civil society groups

called for a general strike on Monday to pressure the mission to leave. “We have seen that their mission has no use and it’s just better that they leave,” said IT engineer Didier Fabrice Balandegue as gunfire rang out in the background.

Spokesman for MINUSCA Herve Verhoosel said a brief firefight broke out in the morning when a U.N. patrol was fired at by unidentified armed men.“There were other cases where we fired warning shots and removed barricades,” he said by telephone, adding that he was not aware of any casualties. The streets are now calm, he said.

The civil society groups launched a petition last week calling for MINUSCA’s departure and the rearming of the national armed forces, currently subject to an arms embargo. Most residents in the city of 1 million people heeded the call not to go work on Monday and many shops were shut and taxis were in short supply.

MINUSCA has been

dogged by dozens of allegations of sexual abuse, prompting a broad U.N. inquiry. Chadian troops

PUBLIC NOTICE I formerly known and addressed as BRIGHT NNAMDI NWOKONKO, now wish to be known and addressed as BRIGHT NNAMDI IBEKA. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

the lines before commencing its journey. Technicians from the firm have been made to help police with their enquiries and psychological support is being offered to victims, the firm added.“A crisis unit was immediately created in the train stations of Yaounde and Douala,” Camrail’s Hamadou Sali told reporters.

withdrawal of its troops.

This month 30 people were killed and dozens wounded during an attack on refugees

by Seleka forces, although violence in the capital in recent months has been rare.

Cuba: Falana Urges Nigeria, Africa to Vote against US Embargo at UN General Assembly Alex Enumah in Abuja As the United Nations General Assembly meets today to revisit its resolution on United States embargo on Cuba, Human Rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has enjoined the government of Nigeria, Africa and lovers of peace and democracy world over to vote en mass against the blockade in order to restore the dignity, independence and right to self determination of Cuba.

At the last general assembly, the UN for the 24th consecutive year in a resolution condemned the US embargo; the resolution was adopted by 193 members of the General Assembly with 191 voting in favour of lifting the ban.

Falana, while predicating his call on what he described as the immense contribution Cuba

Cameroon President Vows Probe after Rail Crash Cameroon’s President Paul Biya on Sunday pledged to investigate the causes of a rail crash that killed at least 75 people, as rescue workers scoured wreckage for more bodies.The packed passenger train carrying more than 1,400 people between the capitalYaounde and the central African country’s port city of Douala derailed on Friday near the town of Eseka, causing carriages to flip over at high speed.

Two days later, some were still seeking news of friends and family members on hand-written lists of passengers pinned up outside medical centres in the two cities. On Sunday, the government appealed for additional blood donations to assist with the treatment of some 600 people who suffered injuries.

“I have ordered an in-depth inquiry into the causes of this accident,” Biya told state TV in French on returning to Cameroon on Sunday afternoon after a trip in Europe.“I have ordered for victims’ (medical) costs to be paid for by the state,”he added.

Operator Camrail, a unit of French industrial group Bollore, said on Sunday it had set up a special train service to fetch bodies from the crash site. Witnesses said that before the crash extra carriages had been added to the train to accommodate exceptionally high demand for the service, due partly to the collapse of a portion of the main road linking the two cities after heavy rain.It was not clear if that had played a role in the accident.

Camrail said on Sunday it had received permission from the command post managing

within the mission were also accused in 2014 of killing 30 civilians in a crowded market, prompting the

A day of mourning is planned for Monday and in parts of the capital religious leaders from both the Christian and Muslim communities led additional prayer services. Several African leaders including Senegal’s Macky Sall and Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou expressed their condolences on social media.

MISSING DOCUMENT THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT LAND CERTIFICATE NUMBER - MO 5060 BEING THE TITLE DOCUMENT COVERING THE PROPERTY SITUATE AT AND KNOWN AS NO 55 ADENIRAN OGUNSANYA STREET SURULERE, LAGOS STATE, ALSO KNOWN AS PLOT NUMBER 1989 AT ADENIRAN OGUNSANYA STREET BY MODUPE JOHNSON STREET SURULERE, LAGOS STATE BELONGING TO DR OLUSOLA IBIKUNLE ADE-ONOJOBI OF NUMBER 36 OKESUNA STREET LAFIAJI, LAGOS IS MISSING. LAND REGISTRY LAGOS STATE TAKE NOTE. SIGNED: DR OLUSOLA IBIKUNLE ADE - ONOJOBI.

has made not just to Nigeria and Africa but the entire human race, particularly in the field of medicine, argued that a country such as Cuba that has her medical personnel in almost all part of the world, helping people suffering one epidemic or the other; should not be allowed to be trodden under feet by the anti retrogressive policy of the US which according to him, has since failed to achieve desired results.

The human rights activist who was speaking at a press briefing organized by the Cuban Embassy in Abuja, yesterday to solicit Nigeria’s support at the UN General Assembly, to vote for an end to the US embargo over Cuba, wondered why African countries would continue to spend huge amount of dollars yearly for the acquisition of mosquitoes nets and insecticides from America and the west, whereas a simple collaboration with Cuba can completely eradicate malaria from the continent.

“When we had Ebola Cuba sent 265 medical personnel to Liberia and Sierra Leone and we

were able to defeat Ebola. This shows the level of medical feat Cuba has attained, and Nigeria stands to benefit from Cuba in the fight against malaria because they have developed a vaccine that can abolish malaria.

“So instead of bringing bed nets and insecticides, we can get Cuba to eradicate malaria in Nigeria and avoid the over one million deaths annually in Nigeria due to malaria”, he said.

He appealed to Obama to go beyond mere restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba and remove all hindrances that are impeding on smooth and effective bilateral relations.“The US is rich in resources and Cuba is rich in terms of ideas and medicine, so there is need for the two countries to work together for the benefit of humanity.”

Earlier, Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, Carlos Trejo Sosa appealed to Nigeria to support her cause as the world body meets this Wednesday, October 26 to decide on the matter.

He lamented that contrary to

wide held belief the restoration of diplomatic relation with the US under the Obama Administration had not helped at all as the laws blocking economic flows between the two countries still remains.

He said,“In spite of the reiterated calls of president Obama on congress to put an end to the blockade and the measures passed until now by the White House, which are positive but insufficient, the financial persecution of Cuban transactions abroad and the extra-territorial scope of the blockade have remained unchanged”.

While insisting that the total elimination of the blockade is essential for the emancipation of the people of Cuba, the envoy expressed confidence, the international community would as usual rally round Cuba to ensure that the US embargo is finally lifted this time around.

The economic damage of the ban which was placed about 55 years ago is estimated to be around $121bn.

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NEWSXTRA

At N2.01tn, FAAC Disbursements Slump by 30% in First Half of 2016 FG relies more on statutory allocation than states, LGs

Obinna Chima The total allocation from Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to the three tiers of government decreased by 30 per cent to N2.01 trillion in the first half of 2016, compared with the N2.89 trillion recorded in the first half of 2015.

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which stated this in its latest publication released yesterday, pointed out that the drop in allocation to the federal, states and local governments has implications for governance, security and development.

The reasons for the reduction in FAAC disbursements included the drastic fall in oil prices and lower oil production as a result of militant activities, which led to lower oil revenues.

Also, owing to lower government revenues, there was decline in consumption and investment expenditure, which resulted in lower taxes.

This also led to lower non-oil revenues.

The report also showed that historically, FAAC disbursements in second half of the year is always lower than those of the first half of the year.

According to the report, the federal government took most of the hit as its total receipt from FAAC fell from N1.23 trillion in the first half of 2015 to N854 billion as at June 2016. This represented a 30.9 per cent decline.

The federal government relies more on the statutory allocations than state or local governments, the report stated.

On the other hand, total

disbursements to states tell from N1.009 trillion in the first half of 2015, to N701 billion in the first half of 2016.

For the local governments, allocations from FAAC dropped by 26 per cent from the N580.63 billion they were allocated in the first half of 2015, to N429.43 billion of the first half of 2016.

“Reduced FAAC allocations across all tiers of government will likely constrain the capacity of governments to fully implement their budgets.

Borrowing likely to increase, deepening budget deficits and debt burden across tiers of government,” it added.

A breakdown of the FAAC disbursements showed that the total amount received in May was the lowest in the first six months of 2016. Also, disbursements to the federal government were lowest in the month of May in both 2015 and 2016.

Precisely, in May 2015, the federal government received N160.63 billion while the figure for the corresponding month in 2016 was N118.09 billion.

Similarly, disbursements to the state and local governments were lowest in May in 2015 and 2016.

For states, the highest allocation received for the first half of 2016 was N141.75 billion in January while N99.29 billion was received in May. This represented a fall of 29.9 per cent.

Local governments also received the largest allocation in the first half of 2016 in January (N85.4 billion) while they received N61.94 billion in May, representing a 27.4 per cent fall.

According to the NEITI

report, for half-yearly aggregate FAAC disbursements from the first half of 2013 to the first half of 2016, showed a general decline.

It was observed that between the “first half of 2013 and first half of 2016, FAAC disbursements have been falling every half. With the exception of the second half of 2015, FAAC disbursements are lower in the second half of the year when compared to the first half.”

The report added: “While total disbursements were N5.17 trillion in the first half of 2013, they had dropped to N4.57 trillion in the second half of

2013. Total disbursements in 2014 also fell from N4.54 trillion in the first half to N4.05 trillion in the second half. While total disbursements in the first half of 2016 were N2.02 trillion, it is likely this trend may not continue given the rise in oil prices and the exchange rate and decline in militant activities.

“It is easy to see that total FAAC disbursements have followed the trend of oil prices.

This shows the dependence of governments at all tiers on the oil sector, and this fact highlights the vulnerability of public revenue to global oil market developments.

“On average, statutory

allocations constituted 86 per cent of total disbursements to the federal government in the first half of 2016. Statutory allocations make up 71 per cent of total disbursements to state governments and 67 per cent of disbursements to local governments. Thus, the federal government relies more on statutory allocations than the states or local governments.

“This should not be surprising since the FG gets 52.68 per cent from the federation account, while the states get 26.72 per cent and the LGAs receive 20.60 per cent. Because states and local

governments receive more than the federal government from VAT, disbursements from VAT account for a larger share in their allocations.”

Furthermore, it showed that in the first half of 2016, while VAT accounted for 6.59 of total allocations to the FG. Allocations from VAT accounted 26.79 per cent of disbursements to states and 30.65 per cent of disbursements to LGAs. It would be recalled that the federal government takes 15 per cent of VAT, while states and LGAs receive 50 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.

PHOTOGRAPH WITH A ROLE MODEL

Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, flanked by students after delivering a lecture at the Oxford Union, Oxford University in London...yesterday

Enelamah Unveils Diversification, Nigeria, EU to Begin Talks on Sending Economic Migrants Home Growth Master Plan Europe plans to raise 60bn Euros for infrastructure to stem migration

Nigeria and the European Union (EU) are to start formal talks in Abuja this week on a deal to send economic migrants back home, as part of the bloc’s latest move to stem the exodus of Africans to Europe.

According to the London-based Financial Times, the delegation of 15 EU officials to Abuja will also be discussing plans to direct private European money to infrastructure projects in the West African country.

This is part of a longer term goal to raise up to €60billion of private funds to stem migration from nations, including Nigeria.

Diplomats say all this is aimed at addressing not only the ramifications of migration in Europe, but also dealing with the root causes of migration from the world’s poorest continent.

The EU has already outlined plans to retarget about €8billion during the next four years to help countries with large numbers of would-be migrants.

“There is a lot more emphasis now on the role of private sector

investment…and not just development aid,” said one European diplomat in Abuja.

“We are seeing political attention in Brussels that certainly in the case of Nigeria did not exist before.”

But the “return and readmission” deal the EU is seeking first with Nigeria and then with four other states, including Ethiopia and Niger, is the sharpest tool in the EU’s arsenal — and the most technical and sensitive aspect. It is not clear how many Africans would be returned but Preben Aamann, an EU spokesman, said last week that “there are virtually no Syrians” among the nearly 132,000 people who have arrived in Italy this year. The EU says most of them will have their claims for asylum rejected. This makes their “readmission,” or deportation to Africa, “a key issue for European diplomacy,” he said.

Officials have set specific targets.

“We want to reach 50 per cent

within the next three or six months and we want to reach 75 per cent in 18 or 24 months,” one official said. “We want an overarching EU-level deal…certainly the sooner the better,” he said.

Citizens from Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, constitute the largest number of arrivals by sea to Italy this year. Most are fleeing poverty, not the violent Boko Haram insurgency in their country’s north-east, according to both the EU and Nigeria.

On the table are proposals to bring Nigerian officials to Italy to identify citizens who have either lost or destroyed their identification documents.

The focus on Africa comes after the EU stemmed the flow of refugees from the Middle East, after it inked a contentious deal with Turkey and closed Greece’s borders. The chaotic mass movement to Europe that began in 2015 and was sparked by the war in Syria has deeply divided the bloc.

Buhari approves council on ease of doing business

James Emejo in Abuja The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, yesterday unveiled his strategic masterplan for the growth and diversification of the economy.

The plan is anchored on three major pillars - creating a business-friendly environment; ensuring coherence between monetary, fiscal and structural reform policies so that economic policies of government are coordinated and targeted at a common purpose of structural transformation, elimination of distortions and sustained growth as well as provision of hard and soft infrastructure for growth.

Announcing the roadmap at the opening of the eighth National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment (NCITI) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, he said the plan would be executed by “Partnering private and development capital to leverage, and catalyse resources for

diversification and growth.”

According to the minister, other priority areas of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI) plan include creating an enabling environment to improve the ease of doing business; implementing the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP); providing support for Micro- Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to enhance job creation; promoting trade and investment as engines for growth as well as promoting a digital economy.

It further emerged that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of the Presidential council on ease-of Doing Business (PEBES) which is chaired by the Vice President while the secretariat of the Enabling Business Environment Secretariat (EBES) is currently being set-up.

However, Enelamah in a statement by his Strategic

Communications Adviser, Ms, Constance Ikokwu, said the present business environment must be transformed in order to woo foreign investments.

He said: “The global perception is that this country is a tough environment in which to do business. We must change this negative perception. Positive perceptions will attract investors, capital, technology and best practices.”

He said the EBES Secretariat would among other things, facilitate the establishment of a Single Window initiative for registration of businesses, obtaining land titles, expedited clearance of goods from ports, obtaining business visas on arrival and payment of taxes.

Enelamah added that already, “we are seeing results of these efforts at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), a parastatal under the Ministry, with the 24-hour online registration of businesses.”

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NEWSXTRA

Nigeria Needs N222bn to Conduct 2018 National Census Senate tasks Buhari to initiate proclamation of exercise

Paul Obi in Abuja The National Population Commission (NPC) yesterday in Abuja said Nigeria needs about N222 billion in order to conduct a thorough and efficient national census in 2018, two years after the due date.

The national census exercise was due this year, 2016 but for reasons one of which dwell on paucity of funds, the exercise was postponed to 2017 and again shifted to 2018 for the same reasons.

The NPC Chairman, Chief Eze Duruiheoma, told the Senate Committee on Population and National Identity when the

committee visited the commission yesterday on oversight tour of the agency that the NPC was ready for the exercise if given the necessary resources.

According to Duruiheoma, “The commission requires the sum of N222 billion that will cater for the preparation, conducting census and postplanning and analysis of the conducted census in 2018. That is the budget we are proposing to enable us executive the 2018 national census.”

While giving further details on the budget, he explained that the total amount released from the 2016 appropriation budget of N4.4billion did not

Ondo: Ibrahim Tried to Compromise Our Officials, Says INEC Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has alleged that one of the contenders for the gubernatorial ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Ondo governorship election, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, tried to lobby for favour from officials of the commission.

INEC which was responding to a $1million bribery allegation made against its staff by Ibrahim, said yesterday that it was the politician who through an intermediary, attempted to lure the officials of the electoral body by trying to arrange a meeting with the Ondo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in London.

Ibrahim alleged that the acting Legal Adviser of INEC, Mrs. O. O Babalola, demanded $1 million bribe from him to effect a judgement of court which certified him as candidate of the PDP candidate.

Ibrahim, who said he had reported the incident to the Chairman of the commission, Prof.

Mahmud Yakubu, also made a available a petition he had written to President Muhammadu Buhari on the allegation.

In a statement issued yesterday

by National Commissioner, Prince Adedeji Soyebi, said lbrahim’s allegation cannot be the correct account of what actually took place.

The commission said at no time during the encounter that lasted less than 15 minutes did Babalola ask for $1million or any amount for that matter.

The statement read: “INEC’s attention has been drawn to several newspaper reports published on October 24, 2016, in which Ibrahim alleged that the commission‘s acting Director, Legal Services, Babalola asked for $1 million bribe from him, before the order made by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division could be complied with by the commission. He also accused the commission’s REC for Ondo State, Mr. Segun Agbaje of some ‘dirty deals.’

“According to a front-page report by the National Mirror of October 24, 2016, a newspaper

in which Ibrahim has substantial interests, Babalola was alleged to have said: “I should bring $1million before she can do her job. She insisted that she will not obey the court order and if I don’t pay, she will not do it unless we bring another court order.

“In the same report, Ibrahim also alleged that the Ondo REC “requested to hold a meeting with him (Ibrahim) in far away London.

“The Commission hereby states, for the record, that from its preliminary investigation, nothing can be farther from the truth. On the first allegation. our investigation revealed that Ibrahim turned up at the INEC headquarters, Abuja, unannounced, made his way to Mrs. Babalola’s office, brandished a copy of the court document and insisted that INEC should accept him as the official candidate of the PDP for the Ondo governorship poll.

“0n sighting the unexpected guest, Mrs. Babalola called three other lawyers in her department to witness her encounter with Mr. Ibrahim and politely told him that the commission was already in possession of the court document.

“At no time during the encounter that lasted less than 15 minutes did Mrs. Babalola ask for $1million. Therefore, the allegation by Ibrahim is false.

“It should however be noted that court orders/judgments are served by court bailiffs and not individual parties. Furthermore, INEC only receives nomination papers from the national chairmen of political parties or their designated officials and not aspirants.

“In the second instance, the commission discovered that it was Ibrahim, who through an intermediary, tried to arrange a meeting with the Ondo State REC in London.

“This, Agbaje promptly declined and insisted that if Ibrahim wanted to see him (Agbaje), he was free to do so at the Ondo State INEC office during official hours. Therefore, lbrahim’s allegation cannot be the correct account of what actually took place.”

justify the proposal for the next census to hold in 2017, hence, the proposal for 2018.

He added that about N94 billion was required for precensus stage, N120 billion for the census and over N8 billion for the post census stage.

Duruiheoma said: “It will not be probably news to inform the distinguished Chairman and members of the Senate Committee that paucity of fund is a major challenge of the commission.

“This address will not be complete until I have drawn your attention to the intricate manner the chronic and persistent underfunding of the Commission has hindered the attainment of its noble objectives.

“Funding of census activities has become a periodic affair which virtually ceases after the conduct of the exercise. This has led to decay of structures and thefacilities for census taking and

Urges NPC to commercialise data, services

Commission has to start afresh whenever there is a census to be conducted.

“Much more importantly, it has prevented the commission from deriving maximum benefits from census taking. The actual enumeration of the census is the planting season while the harvest is the post census period when the results are properly analysed and widely disseminate for planning purposes,” Duruiheoma observed.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on National Population and Identity, Senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi, who led members of the committee to the NPC headquarters, said the 2018 national census is critical, given that data generated from the exercise would be needed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prepare for the 2019 elections The Senate Committee Chairman stated that “it is a

shared opinion that 2018 is a critical year to hold that exercise because a year after that which is 2019 is an election year.

“I think for so many reasons, the two should not be contemplated to happen the same year. Infact, the data, information that INEC would require to plot its graph accurately in the exercise will certainly arise out of the exercise of the 2018 census.”

He informed the gathering that a motion had already been moved by the committee, urging President, Muhammadu Buhari to make a proclamation to that effect.

Hunkuyi said: “To contemplate that this regime should have a wherewithal of holding a successful census in 2018 is we at this end, this committee and the Senate and the national assembly as a whole has already prepared its mind that is why early last week, we moved a

motion calling on Mr. President to make a proclamation.

“Since the instrument has not been part of legislation, embedded in our constitution as to say after 10 years, there will be a census, we require a proclamation by Mr. President and the senate, I can assure you that the Senate committee on population is articulated, resolved, prepared to apply itself on the possibility of this government to hold census by that 2018 as projected.

“We would do all we could, after calling on Mr President, we are creating an interface with the Office of the Secretary to the Federal Government which is the supervising front to this commission in government to draw the attention of government that if census is to hold 2018, there are unavoidable prerequisite arrangements that must be followed.”

INDUSTRIALIST OF THE YEAR

Chairman of BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu (right), receiving his ‘Industrialist of the Year’ award from former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, at the 2016 CNBC All Africa Business Leaders Award in Lagos....recently

Fani-Kayode Slumps in EFCC Custody

Ugo Aliogo

The embattled former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi FaniKayode, yesterday slumped at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), where he is being held for allegations of corruption.

His Special Adviser, Mr. Jude Ndukwe, who made the disclosure last night, said the incident confirmed the fear Fani-Kayode’s lawyers had earlier raised over his health.

According to him, “When Fani-Kayode was rearrested last Friday, in the premises of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, we raised a number of issues which included that the re-arrest was not only unnecessary but that it was also reckless.

“We made known our fears that Fani-Kayode’s life was in dire danger as long as he remained in EFCC custody or in the custody of any agency of the federal government

based on discreet information available to us.

“This is apart from the fact that his health has been badly affected since his incarceration for a whopping 67 days based on some questionable ‘detention orders’.

“This fact is well known to the EFCC as Fani-Kayode’s lawyers have written several letters to the commission reminding them of the health conditions of the former minister of aviation (Kindly see attached).”

Ndukwe stressed that it was shocking that having known these facts, the EFCC still acted in a most unprofessional and crude way by re-arresting a man who has never been known to turn down their invitation even for once.

He noted said the treatment was most unwarranted since he was earlier granted administrative bail by the same commission, after meeting the stringent conditions set

by them.

“This is a man who is also supposed to be on bail as granted by the courts after fulfilling the conditions, and who even has his international passport still lodged with the commission.”

The spokesman said although Fani-Kayode was yet to complete the recovery therapy he was undergoing after spending the initial 67 grueling days in EFCC custody wherein he was also physically attacked by one of the commission’s agents, in deference to the law and the commission, he painfully but willingly cut short his therapy and medical checks to attend court proceedings.

“One would have thought that these were enough to convince EFCC that FaniKayode was very willing to face his persecutors in court. But rather than be humane in their conduct, EFCC hounded him for

the umpteenth time on that fateful Friday and have since kept him in custody.

“It is therefore little wonder that based on the history of his medical conditions which the Commission is very much aware of, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode slumped while in detention on Saturday, October 22, 2016.”

“But for the quick and professional intervention of the medical team in the EFCC medical facilities, the story could have been different, it could have been fatal!

“We must commend the medical staff at the commission’s medical facility. They were prompt in their response, and very impressive in their care. It is very heartwarming to know that some professionals have not allowed the political witch hunt and persecution of political opponents and perceived enemies taint their professional calling.

42

TUESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2016 T H I S D AY

43

T H I S D AY •TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Fitch Rates Access Bank’s $300m Eurobond ‘B’ Obinna Chima Fitch Ratings has assigned Access Bank Plc’s issue of $300 million 10.5% senior unsecured notes due 2021 a ‘B’ rating.

A statement from the global rating agency yesterday put the Recovery Rating of the foreign currency debt at ‘RR4’, which denotes average recovery prospects given default. The notes were issued under the bank’s $1 billion global medium term note (GMTN) programme.

Part of the new notes issued were pursuant to Access Bank’s exchange offer on its existing $350 million 7.25% of senior unsecured notes due 2017 issued by a special purpose vehicle, Access Finance BV. At the same time, Fitch

has assigned final long and short-term ratings of ‘B’ to the bank’s $1billion GMTN programme following a review of the final documentation.The senior unsecured notes were rated in line with Access Bank’s Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘B’.

In the agency’s view, the likelihood of default on these notes reflects the likelihood of default of the bank.

Furthermore, the statement said Access’ IDR was driven by both potential support from the Nigerian authorities, if required, and the bank’s standalone creditworthiness as defined by a Viability Rating (VR) of ‘b’.

“The rating on the senior unsecured notes is sensitive to a change in Access’ IDR, including

a lower propensity and ability of the Nigerian sovereign to provide support, particularly in foreign currency. The IDR is sensitive to deterioration in the bank’s regulatory capital ratios, asset quality or liquidity.

“Like its peers, the bank’s financial metrics are under pressure from the current challenging operating conditions in Nigeria,” the statement added.

Fitch recently acknowledged that banks in the country had experienced a sharp rise in non-performing loans (NPLs), adding that other key concerns in the banking industry include forex scarcity, weakening capital adequacy ratios, and the sovereign’s ability to support banks, given its weaker financial flexibility.

FCMB Supports Internally Displaced Women in Maiduguri As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), in partnership with Sesor Empowerment Foundation recently gave succour to some internally displaced women in Maiduguri, Bornu State, under an economic empowerment programme aimed at alleviating poverty.

The first batch of beneficiaries, 60 women in all, were given initial start-off funds by the bank for the establishment of small scale businesses.

According to a statement, the gesture would help them cater for themselves and their

immediate families.

The beneficiaries also went through training, skill acquisition and other capacity building activities prior to the disbursement of the funds, the statement.

“Thousands of women and children have been made homeless, and driven out of their socio-economic activities due to insurgency in the North East part of Nigeria in the recent years,” it added.

Commenting on the initiative, the Group Head, Corporate Affairs of FCMB, Mr. Diran Olojo said: “Our bank is not unaware of the massive hardship faced by thousands of helpless and

innocent Nigerians, victims, who have been affected in years of disrupting insurgency in the North-east.

“We are concerned about these people who have suffered serious lack, hunger-induced diseases and absence of adequate medical care, having been denied of peace and completely cut-off from their social life, farming and other economic activities. FCMB is motivated to support government effort in providing for them and forms part of our commitment to enhance the standard of living of the populace.”

Ecobank Launches Mobile Banking App Nume Ekeghe Ecobank has launched its Mobile App, an instant and convenient way of banking via the mobile phone. It is the first unified app delivered by any institution for use in 33 countries, the bank said.

Group CEO, Ecobank Group, Mr. Ade Ayeyemi, unveiled the new product at a huge launch in Lagos at the weekend. The event had in attendance customers, students, professional work-

ers, traders and transporters.

Board members, shareholders, Ecobank staff and the media also attended.

Ecobank Mobile App uniquely leverages the power of digital to deliver real convenience to customers, the bank explained.

The Mobile App gives Ecobank the scale and capacity to achieve its 100 million customer ambition in a profitable and sustainable way, it added.

Continuing, Ayeyemi said: “The Ecobank Mobile App

opens up opportunities for customers by allowing them to shop, transact and do business without cash. At scale, this will be transformational for Africa.

Through its purchasing power and Ecobank’s partnerships with Visa and Mastercard, the Ecobank Mobile App will be an accepted means of payment.

With its removal of barriers to entry and affordable price points, the Ecobank Mobile App will empower the consumer to be on the move.”

RoSF Partners to Train 300 Widows A non-profit making organisation (NGO), Rose of Sharon Foundation has partnered Yabatech College of Technology, Empretec Nigeria Foundation, StreSERT Services, FADAN, Women in Technical Education and others to provide succour to widows across Nigeria and the rest of the world in its programmes.

According to the NGO, its training and entrepreneurship programmes are in consonance with its mission and values which seek to respond to the challenges faced by widows, their children and orphans as well as empowering them with economically viable vocational skills and business management techniques to improve their

earnings.

Speaking at the empowerment programme tagged: “RoSF Enterprise Development Training and Skills Acquisition Programme”, the Founder, Mrs. Folorunso Alakija said if you empower a woman, you have empowered a whole family and by extension, the world.

H. Pierson: Effective Risk Management Necessary for Companies’ Survival Eromosele Abiodun Companies operating in the financial services, manufacturing as well as oil and gas sectors can overcome the many challenges that have bedeviled them in the last few quarters if they imbibe effective risk manage-

ment culture, a report by H. Pierson Associates has revealed.

For companies in Nigeria, H. Pierson pointed out that the last few quarters to date has been very challenging but also very sobering.

Challenges, it stated, have ranged from the impact of

price risks for oil and gas firms, foreign exchange risks for manufacturing firms, credit default issues for financial institutions, costly compliance risk challenges against purported regulatory breaches by major firms across sectors and liquidity and capital risks for power companies.

Broad street

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

2,893,190.01

---- 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) Stanbic Balanced Fund

Buying Price(N)

Selling Price

1,660.29

1,685.29

Stanbic IBTC NEF

1,000.00

11,002.32

11,326.67.11

Stanbic SIBond

20

120.47

120.47

Stanbic IBTC Ethical

1

1.10

1.13

Stanbic IBTC GIF

142.90

143.38

UBA Balanced Fund

1.2563

1.2493

UBA Bond Fund

1.3443

1.3443

UBA Equity Fund

0.8205

0.8074

UBA Money Market Fund

1.1510

1.1510

ARM Aggressive Growth Fund

N13.0544

N13.4480

ARM Discovery Fund

N288.2515

N296.9425

ARM Ethical Fund

N22.5268

N23.2060

ARM Money Market Fund

13.1030 (Yield % ) • Monetary Policy Rate - 14%

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT FRIDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2016 The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $48.08 a barrel on Friday, compared with $48.51 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

44

T H I S D AY •TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016

MARKET NEWS

Zenith Bank Grows Profit to N121bn,Total Assets Hit N4.7trn Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc should expect higher dividend at the end of the current financial year given the impressive results the bank has recorded for the nine months ended September 30, 2016.

According to results released yesterday, Zenith Bank recorded gross earnings of N380.4 billion

in 2016, showing an increase of 12.9 per cent from N337.9 billion in the corresponding period of 2015. Net interest income grew by 17.6 per cent from N161.4 billion to N189.8 billion, while impairment charges rose by 124.8 per cent to N9.7 billion to N21.9 billion. However, other income soared from N9.7 billion in 2015 to N32 billion in 2016.

Hence, Zenith Bank ended the period with profit before

tax (PBT) of N121.2 billion, showing an increase of 16.6 per cent above the N104 billion posted in the corresponding period of 2015. Profit after tax (PAT) recorded faster growth of 20.4 per cent to N100 billion, up from N83 billion.Also, the bank attracted more deposits and also gave out more loans and advances. Deposits rose from N2.557 trillion to N2.692 trillion, while loans and advances grew

from N1.841 trillion to N2.425 trillion. Total assets hit N4.654 trillion, up from N4.0 trillion in 2015. Reacting to the results, analysts at FBN Quest said given the nine month profit before tax of N121 billion, the N123 billion made by the management for the full year would be surpassed.

The analysts said:” On the back of these results, we would expect consensus PBT for 2016 to move up strongly, from N123bn

currently, given that the nine months result is N121 billion. The operating expenses and interest expense figures are disappointing and would draw some scrutiny from the market.

However, we expect the fx-related gains to more than compensate for these, given their magnitude and the fact that it was the absence of such gains in second quarter (Q2) (especially on the non-interest income line)

that led to a muted to negative reaction by the market.”

Also assessing the results, analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said Zenith Bank reported an increase in earnings per share (EPS) to N3.18 for the period, compared with an EPS of N2.64 in the previous year. Return on average equity (RoAE) improved to 19.2 per cent versus the 14.8 per cent recorded as at the previous quarter.

DAILY STOCK MARKET REPORT T H E

N I G E R I A N

STO C K

E XC H A N G E

45

tuesDAY, october 25, 2016 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

NASCON Allied Industries Plc Posts Gross Profit of N4.2bn Goddy Egene Nascon Allied Industries Plc yesterday reported its financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, posting improved performance despite the macroeconomic headwinds.

The unaudited results, made available by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed gross revenue of N12.8 billion, up 25 per cent from N10.2 billion in the corresponding period

of 2015.

Cost of sale rose by 23 per cent to N8.6 billion, from N7.0 billion, while gross profit appreciated by 30.9 per cent to N4.2 billion, from N3.2 billion.

Apparently impacted by the rising cost of doing business, characterised by high inflation, operating expenses rose by 53 per cent from N1.0 billion to N1.5 billion.

Consequently, profit before tax (PBT) grew by only 8.9

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

per cent to N2.6 billion, from N2.4 billion, while profit after tax (PAT) stood at N1.8 billion, up from N1.6 billion in 2015.

The Managing Director of the Nascon Allied Industries Plc, Mr. Paul Farrer had in June assured shareholders that the board was optimistic about the future of the company.

Farrer said: “We remain optimistic for the future of our business. Our product lines remain a huge value driver for us as we play in categories

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 21-Oct-2016, unless otherwise stated.

that are life-necessities for average Nigerian and for which significant supply gaps continue to exist in the market.

This situation enhanced by our renewed focus on capacity building, operational efficiency, financial discipline and aggressive trade along with consumer marketing across our active categories will position Nascon Allied Industries Plc now more than ever to access and achieve sustainable growth in the future.”

Nascon Allied Industries Plc is engaged in the refining and marketing of salt of different grades including kitchen, table and industrial salt. It also engages in the production and refining of seasoning, tomato paste and vegetable oil. The company has a combined production capacity for salt of 567,000 metric tonnes (MT) from plants located in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

It boasts of 65 per cent market share in the salt market.

Nascon Allied Industries

entered into the production of tomato paste in response to an identified supply gap within the Nigerian market.

The company inaugurated its tomatoes plant in third quarter of 2015. Before then it had entered the seasoning market and inaugurated its product Dan-Q in Q2 2015, which is a brand of seasoning, producing two distinct flavours. The company, which is a member of the Dangote Group, also generates revenue from its freight business.

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 124.70 Nigeria International Debt Fund 217.08 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 125.37 11.63% 217.98 8.45% info@acapng.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.69 10.63% ammf@aiicocapital.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

100.00

15.34%

enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Bid Price 12.59 290.80 22.47

Offer Price 12.97 299.57 23.14

Yield / T-Rtn 3.29% 4.04% 1.90%

1.00

1.00

12.56%

investmentcare@axamansard.com Bid Price -

Offer Price -

Yield / T-Rtn -

1.00 1.00 13.30% investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Bid Price 2.08 9.29

Offer Price 2.13 9.53

Yield / T-Rtn 2.18% -5.71%

82.75

84.87

2.02%

invest@fbnquest.com Bid Price 1,068.96 110.52 100.00 $101.76 $101.66 111.41

Offer Price 1,070.01 111.02 100.00 $102.38 $102.28

Yield / T-Rtn -1.22% 1.63% 12.57% 2.07% 1.97%

112.92

12.17%

fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Bid Price 0.92 2.51

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.94 2.20% 2.51 7.86% coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com

Bid Price 2,209.19

Offer Price 2,235.62

Coral Income Fund 2,045.74 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 1.57%

2,045.74 8.15% enquiries@investment-one.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund

1.00

1.00

11.16%

Vantage Balanced Fund

1.64

1.66

0.71%

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 11.40% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 988.83 988.83 -1.12% 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 9.65 9.73 -1.36% 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 10.27 10.31 2.89% 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 106.12 106.86 4.17% 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 1,805.42 1,815.98 7.51% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 154.07 154.07 4.75% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.79 0.80 6.00% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 180.51 180.51 6.38% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 133.97 135.54 -1.03% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 15.83% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,666.03 7,768.70 6.67% 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 1.14 1.15 7.78% United Capital Bond Fund 1.26 1.26 16.14% United Capital Equity Fund 0.68 0.69 -8.03% 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 9.69 9.86 1.54% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.22 11.33 -2.03% Zenith Income Fund 16.60 16.60 3.48%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.43 122.32

2.69% 5.58%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

8.81 78.22

8.91 79.70

-8.00% -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

2.70 7.24 12.50 16.73 -

2.74 7.32 12.60 16.93 -

16.74% 13.22% -0.40% -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.

46

T H I S D AY •TUESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2016

TUESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

Algeria’s Mahrez in 30-man Ballon d’Or Shortlist Usual suspects: Messi, Ronaldo, Vardy, Bale, Aguero also nominated

Duro Ikhazuagbe with agency report Nigeria’s next foe in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Algeria, has gained a psychological advantage as the team’s arrow-head, Riyad Mahrez, who plays his club football at Leicester City, was listed in the 30-man 2016 Ballon d’Or award released yesterday by France Football magazine.

FIFA ended its association with the award in September.

Mahrez who along with his compatriot at Leicester, Islam Slimani, are leading the Fennecs of Algeria to Uyo for the Russia 2018 qualifying showdown, has been in terrific form, fueling the speculations that the three points at stake could go either way.

Slimani though may not be on the 30-man Ballon d’Or is however hot for the Premiership champions.

He announced his arrival in the English league from Portuguese club, Sporting Lisbon, with two goals against Burnley in September.

Although the Fennecs are burdened by the departure of their former Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac, the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) is believed to be making frantic efforts to hire former Belgium coach, Marc Wilmots, before the showdown with

Nigeria.

The other coach on plan B of the Algerians 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 is in a tough Africa qualifying Group B in the race to Russia 2018 along Zambia, Cameroun and Nigeria.

Mahrez’s Leicester teammate, Jamie Vardy is also on the 30-man Ballon d’Or list with usual suspects like Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi included.

Messi, who claimed a record fifth award in 2015, or Ronaldo has taken the prize every year since 2007, when AC Milan’s Kaka took the honour.

Others include; Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, and Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero also featured.

Other Premier League names on the list are West Ham midfielder Dimitri Payet and Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

Vardy and Mahrez won the Premier League with Leicester last season with the Algerian Mahrez named

SHORTLIST

Mahrez (left) and Vardy celebrating a previous win for Leicester City Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year.

Bale scored three goals as Wales reached the Euro 2016 semi-final and won the Champions League with Real alongside Ronaldo.

Pogba, Payet and Lloris are included after finishing runners-up with France to

Ronaldo’s Portugal at Euro 2016.

Luis Suarez and Neymar are included alongside Barcelona team-mate Messi, the trio having scored 106 club goals combined in 2016.

The prize has been awarded by France Football every year since 1956, but

for the past six years it became the FIFA Ballon d’Or in association with world football’s governing body.

Five Premier League players - City’s Aguero, De Bruyne and Yaya Toure, Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and Chelsea’s Eden Hazard - made a 23-man shortlist

Sergio Aguero (Man City), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Dortmund), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Kevin de Bruyne (Man City), Paulo Dybala (Juventus), Diego Godin (Atletico ), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico), Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Man United), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Koke (Atletico), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Neymar (Barcelona), Dimitri Payet (West Ham), Pepe (Real Madrid), Paul Pogba (Man United), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Luis Suarez (Barcelona), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich). last year, with Bale the only British player on the list.

Ibrahimovic and Pogba were also included last time for their performances for Paris St-Germain and Juventus respectively.

The shortlist has traditionally been trimmed to three players before the awards evening in January.

Ojukwu Dominates at Ihonvbere Wins IBB Ladies Closed Championship Etisalat Cup Play-off Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Abuja, Ilorin qualify for finals Goal poacher and 13-year old striker, Chidera Prosper Ojukwu, scored 13 goals to inspired FOSLA Academy of Abuja to victory at the weekend by qualifying for final of ongoing season three of the Etisalat U-15 School Cup football competition at the Ilorin Township Stadium.

Ojukwu’s predatory instincts in the goal mouth has earned him a reputation as one of the brightest stars of his school team, FOSLA Academy founded by a former President of the Nigeria Football Federation and Soccer Administrator, Sani Lulu Abdullahi.

Ojukwu opened his goal account in the first match with four goals and an assist in the 5-0 drubbing of Mbagwa Commercial Secondary School from Nasarawa State.

In the second match against Minna-based Government Day Secondary

School, he scored a brace in a 3-0 victory.

Ojukwu, in company with Adejoh Gabriel and Kumater Shina, proved a terrifying lot for their counterparts as he hit six goals to take his tournament tally to 13 goals. He missed a penalty in the same match.

“I like football. When I play football, I feel happy. It is something that gives me pleasure. I feel happy and I thank God for making me to reach this level. I also want to thank my team mates without whose cooperation I would not have got to this stage,” Ojukwu said of his time on the pitch.

Meanwhile, Socrates Secondary School, Ilorin also qualified for the Lagos National Finals billed for November. The team picked up the maximum nine points from three matches after defeating Kogi State 3-1, Cross River 1-0 and Benue 4-2.

Grace Ihonvbere at the weekend emerged the overall winner of the 17th IBB Golf Club Ladies Closed Championship in Abuja. The 15-handicapper exhibited relentless character on her to victory on a sun-drenched golf course, winning with a five-shot margin.

It was a special win as she will have the honour of being the club lady champion till October next year. A combined field of 160 players, 110 gentlemen and 50 ladies, competed in the 18-hole event.

Ihonvbere saved shots that turned the game on the head on the back-nine, taking advantage of the high scores across the board. She eased her way into the tournament with a net score of 78 after a quadruple bogie eight start on par 4, Hole number one, nearly lowered her confidence.

“Overall, I am glad I won the tournament after a shaky start. Besides the weather was hot and I felt that I was going to pass out. Hard-work is rewarded in golf and eventually my effort on the practice range paid off in the long run. I just ploughed on, played some bad

holes and goods holes. Now I am the champion,” Ihonvbere chuckled.

Nanwon Nanven shot 83 nett to win the ladies Handicap 0-18 prize ahead Adekunbi Usman (85), Anne Abimiku (91), Mirabel Edozie (92) and Nanfe Audu, who wound up in fifth place with 95 nett.

C. Osarunwenwense won the men category 1 (HDC 0-12) prize with a nett score of 72, while Michael Adeleke finished three strokes outside the lead for second position.

The Lady Captain, Lami Ahmed, expressed delight at the number of players

that turned out at the event.

She added that the closed competition, aside from helping the ladies to evaluate their skills and ability has similarly brought them together to play with the gentlemen as a team, fostering the spirit of love friendship and understanding.

The ceremonial tee shot was performed by former Minister of State for Science and Technology Mrs Pauline Tallen.

Tallen said she was excited to finally step on a golf course for the first since 1994 when friends had been selling the idea of golf to her.

Med-View/NUJ Media Games 2016 Begins After several weeks of planning, the annual MedView/NUJ Media Games started yesterday with the official ceremonial match past and football at the Legacy Pitch inside the National Stadium in Lagos.

The annual event put together by Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists involves media practitioners in the state competing for honours for their respective organisations.

Speaking during the press conference to herald the

Games at the auditorium of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Lagos Chapter, the Executive Director, Med-View Airline, Alhaji Naalah Isaq, said the management of the airline was pleased to sponsor the Games this year in spite of the economic recession in the country.

He said: “Our relationship with the Lagos Council of the NUJ is a cordial one and we intend to keep the relationship, hence our decision to sponsor the Games

for the third year running.

“We’ve also resolved to continue with the sponsorship of the Games as long as the relationship keeps going,” he said.

Speaking at the event, Chairman of the Lagos NUJ, Deji Elumoye, thanked the management of the airline for keeping the sponsorship going and promised that they will not regret the relationship.

The games which started yesterday is to end on Saturday at the same venue.

Among the events the

journalists are competing for honour include; athletics; table tennis; chess; draught; scrabble; ayo; tug-of-war, and football (five-a-side).

Already 16 media houses have been drawn into four groups with only two teams to progress into the knockout stage.

Defending champions, Lagos Information, The Nation; The Detective and Voice of Nigeria are in group A while The Sun; Vanguard’ The Champion and New Telegraph are in group B.

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MISSILE Ibrahim to INEC

“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” – The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, alleging that an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) demanded a bribe of $1 million from him.

C.DONADINUBA GUEST COLUMNIST

Anambra: Mea Culpa and Pope’s Plea to Nigerians

W

hile serving as director general of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Bolaji Akinyemi who was to become the foreign minister, argued that a major weakness of African politics is the stubborn refusal by African leaders to admit they had ever erred, let alone apologise for it. The only exception, noted Akinyemi, was Julius Nyerere of Tanzania who admitted that the nationalisation of farms as part of the socialist Ujamaa ideology was in error because it resulted in acute food shortages. Nelson Mandela was to become another exception when he apologised to victims of the anti-apartheid armed struggle in South Africa. Yakubu Gowon joined the list of African leaders who have pleaded mea culpa (“I am sorry”) when he apologised to victims of the Nigerian civil war of 1967-70. Upon all the profound social and political dislocations which accompanied his annulment of the June 12 1993 presidential vote which Moshood Abiola won fair and square, as former finance minister Adamu Ciroma put it, Nigeria’s erstwhile military ruler Ibrahim Babangida has refused to acknowledge it was an error.

African leaders want to be seen as superhuman, infallible. In contrast, leaders of developed nations frequently admit errors and apologise where and when necessary.

Barrack Obama has stated that his policy on Libya was a faux pas because it created chaos in Libya; there was no concrete strategy for post-Muammar Gaddafi Libya. Contemporary leadership researchers who consider humility and frankness not just tremendous personal virtues but key leadership values must be embarrassed at the mindset of African rulers.

The recognition of the great impact of these leadership values on organisations and societies has led such scholars as Peter Guy Northouse to develop leadership approaches like servant leadership and authentic leadership which have in the last few years captured global imagination. The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua said his administration would be guided by the servant leadership philosophy. This leadership approach requires the leader to see himself or herself as a servant; in other words, the leader must epitomise humility.

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State on Sunday, October 16, 2016, called his media team to a meeting and directed them to stop responding to unfavourable remarks from the camp of his predecessor, Peter Obi. The governor had on August 4, 2016, scored a bull’s eye when at a requiem mass for the legendary principal of Christ the King College, Onitsha, Nicholas Tagbo, a Catholic priest, he apologised to his predecessor, Obi, also a CKC old boy, for the frosty relationship between them. According to media reports, the huge audience was moved to tears and it interrupted the speech every few seconds with a loud applause.

Different meanings have since been read into Obiano’s olive branch. Obi’s partisans argue Obiano wants to use his predecessor to return to office in 2018. True, Obi was the person who convinced Obiano to join politics and campaigned vigorously for him to be Anambra governor. However, no sooner Obiano assumed office on March 17, 2013,

Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano

than the godfather-godson syndrome reared its head. Still, it is doubtful that Obiano is so desperately in need of Obi’s support that he would apologise to him in public. Obiano has been in the political ascendancy in the last few months arising out of service delivery, or what ex World Bank vice-president Oby Ezekwesili has famously described as his evidence-based record.

The governor took even the closest of his advisers unawares over the apology. If he had confided in them, he would have been stopped for fear of being regarded as an ultra pacifist, if not a wimp or weakling. What most people do not know is that Obiano is deeply influenced by Pope John Paul II. When John Paul visited Nigeria in March 1998, for the beatification of Blessed Michael Cyprian Iwene Tansi, interestingly Obiano’s uncle, he came with a far-reaching political message to not just Nigerian rulers but also African leaders. It was a particularly difficult period in Nigeria’s history, with scores of prominent Nigerians, including Abiola who won the free and fair 1993 presidential election, in jail; human rights abuses were on an industrial scale. On arrival at State House on March 21, the pope handed a list of about 68 political detainees to Head of

State Sani Abacha, requesting their immediate release in the interests of justice, peace and stability of the country.

While celebrating mass for Tansi’s beatification at the Oba airstrip in Anambra State with the whole world focusing on him, John Paul delivered what the BBC World Service called the most political of all his homilies in his pontificate since 1978.

It was entitled “Nigeria: Be Reconciled”.

The message was relevant to Nigeria and the rest of Africa then as it is today. Here are excerpts: “All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing...

“When we see others as brothers and sisters, it is then possible to begin the process of healing the divisions within society and between ethnic groups. This is the reconciliation which is the path to true peace and authentic progress for Nigeria and for Africa. This reconciliation is not weakness or cowardice. On the contrary, it demands courage and sometimes even heroism. It is victory over self rather than over others”. Abacha did not act on the

pope’s request, perhaps for fear of being judged weak. Three months later he died.

John Paul provided leadership by personal example, practising what he preached. While addressing Camerounian intellectuals on August 14, 1985, in Yaoundé, he apologised to Black Africans for the participation of white Christians in centuries of slavery and slave trade. He on March 13, 2000, at St Peter’s Square in Rome apologised to Jews for the failure of the church to act more decisively to stop Nazi Germany in its anti-Semitism, and apologised to Muslims for the two centuries of the Crusade. He always apologised without someone demanding it and without expecting the other party to reciprocate. Scholars regard him as one of the greatest leaders in global history.

With his open apology, even though he says he does not know how he offended his predecessor, Governor Obiano has brought back memories of Pope John Paul’s noble admonition to the Nigerian, nay, African leadership. Venerable Michael Cyprian Tansi, Obiano’s uncle, must have watched his nephew from heaven. He must be feeling good. And Obiano may well be a leader to watch.

•Mr. Adinuba is head of Discovery International Communicators

The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua said his administration would be guided by the servant leadership philosophy. This leadership approach requires the leader to see himself or herself as a servant; in other words, the leader must epitomise humility

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