Thursday 15th December 2016

Trump Formally Unveils Bayo Ogunlesi as Strategic and Policy Forum Adviser Chika Amanze-Nwachuku with agency report U.S. President-elect Donald Trump yesterday formally unveiled Nigerian-born, U.S.-based Bayo Ogunlesi as a member of his Strategic and Policy Forum charged with

advising the president on economic matters.

According to AFP, Trump’s Transition Team, in a statement yesterday, said the presidentelect also announced three additional members to join the forum.

“Earlier this month,

President-elect Trump established the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum and announced an initial round of 16 members.

“The Forum is composed of some of America’s most highly respected and successful business leaders.

“They will be called upon to meet with the president frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge as the president implements his economic agenda.

“The Forum will be chaired

by Stephen A. Schwarzman,

the Chairman, CEO, and CoFounder of Blackstone.

“America has the most innovative and vibrant companies in the world, and the pioneering CEOs joining this Forum today are at the top of their fields,” the Trump team said.

According to Trump, “My administration is going to work together with the private sector to improve the business climate and make it attractive for firms to create new jobs across the United Continued on page 8

Eminent Nigerians Converge on Ughelli as Michael Ibru is Interred...

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Buhari Presents N7.3tn Budget to N’Assembly

Says proposal will drive infrastructure, guarantee economic recovery, boost local content Saraki: Best produced budget remains a proposal Dogara urges extension of capital component of 2016 Appropriation Act Omololu Ogunmade and Damilola Oyedele in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday presented a N7.298 trillion 2017 budget before a joint session of the National Assembly, stating that the budget was designed to drive

infrastructure, enhance growth and investment, boost local production and consumption and create jobs.

Buhari, who arrived the chamber of the House of Representatives at 1.59 p.m., Continued on page 8

Senate Calls for SGF’s Resignation, Prosecution over Mismanagement of IDP Funds They’re talking rubbish, says Lawal

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja The Senate yesterday called for immediate resignation and prosecution of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, over allegations that he exploited his vantage position

to award contracts on Northeast rehabilitation project to his company, Rholavision.

The call for Lawal’s resignation was the fallout of the presentation of the report of the Senate ad-hoc Continued on page 9

Rivers Rerun: APC Govs Donated N1bn Each to Rig Elections, Wike Alleges... Page 57

MICHAEL IBRU’S FINAL JOURNEY...

L-R: Son of the deceased, Olorogun Oscar Ibru; widow, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru; and son, Oboden, during the funeral service of Olorogun Michael Ibru, at the All Saint's Cathedral Church (Anglican Communion), Ughelli, Delta State… yesterday

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

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FG Recovers N1.44bn from Unremitted Operating Surpluses, Renames YouWin Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The federal government has announced the recovery of N1.44 billion from the N450 billion operating surpluses that some revenue generating agencies reportedly failed to remit into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) between 2010 and 2015.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, penultimate week disclosed that 17 defaulting agencies, including the Central Bank of Nigeria

(CBN), had been summoned for a meeting with a committee set up to recover the revenue and headed by the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.

The meeting, according to her, was to avail the agencies the opportunity to present proposals on how and when to repay the funds.

A statement issued by the Finance Ministry yesterday, said an additional N793 million had been recovered from three federal government agencies

by the Idris-led recovery committee.

The Nigeria Shippers Council had earlier refunded N650 million.

Further recoveries totalling N793 million were said to have been made from the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), N278 million; Nigeria Shippers Council, N407 million; and Nigeria Export Promotion Council, N108 million.

According to the statement, “So far, the cumulative total

amount recovered is N1.44 billion, given the earlier recovery of N650 million from the Nigeria Shippers Council, even as several other agencies are in the process of submitting repayment plans for approval.”

Four agencies which were unable to make it to the meeting due to the short notice have been rescheduled to appear before the recovery committee, the statement said.

They include the CBN, National Pensions Commission (PenCom), Nigeria Television

Authority (NTA) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

Revenue generating agencies are required to pay their operating surpluses to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federal government not later than one month following the statutory deadline for the publication of their accounts, as provided under Section 22(2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission Act. Also, the federal government

said it has enhanced and restructured the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin) programme into a multimedia-based programme and re-launched it as YouWinConnect!

According to the Ministry of Finance, the new programme, which is an offshoot of YouWin initiated by the previous administration, is coming with a sharper focus on supporting young entrepreneurs with fresh business management ideas for sustainability.

construction activity throughout the country.”

He said higher allocations had been made for infrastructure projects because they would have multiplier effects on productivity, employment and would boost private sector investments in the country.

The president added: “Efforts to fast-track the modernisation of our railway system will receive further boost through the allocation of N213.14 billion as counterpart funding for the Lagos-Kano, Calabar-Lagos, Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Warri rail line and the Kaduna-Abuja railway projects.

“As I mentioned earlier, in 2016, we invested a lot of time ensuring the paper work is done properly while negotiating the best deal for Nigeria. I must admit this took longer than expected, but I am optimistic that these projects will commence in 2017 for all to see.

“Given the emphasis placed on industrialisation and supporting (small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the sum of N50 billion has been set aside as federal government contribution for the expansion of existing, as well as for the development of new export processing and special economic zones.

“These will be developed in partnership with the private sector, as we continue our efforts to promote and protect Nigerian businesses.

“Furthermore, as the benefits of agriculture and mining are starting to become visible, I have instructed that the export expansion grant should be revived in the form of tax credits to companies.

“This will further enhance the development of the agriculture and mining sectors, thereby attracting more investment and creating more jobs. The sum of N20 billion has been voted for the revival of this programme.

“Our small and mediumscale businesses continue to face difficulties in accessing long-term and more affordable credits. To address this situation, the sum of N15 billion has been provided for the recapitalisation of the Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture.

“In addition, the Development Bank of Nigeria will soon start operations with US$1.3 billion focused exclusively on small and medium-sized enterprises.”

Buhari further said agriculture remained the expression of the federal government’s commitment to diversify the economy with what he described as an historic allocation of N92 billion to the sector.

He said the sum would compliment the efforts by both the Ministry of Agriculture and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to boost agriculture output “through increased intervention funding at a single digit interest rate under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, commercial agriculture credit schemes and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending”.

The president also said the government’s agriculture policy would “focus on integrated development of the sector by facilitating access to inputs, improving market access, providing equipment and

storage, as well as supporting the development of commodity exchanges”.

He also said the government in 2017 would pursue job creation by improving the skills of the labour force, especially young people and consequently work with the private sector and state governments with a view to establishing and operating model technical and vocational education institutes.

Buhari said the government had proposed to boost healthcare through the expansion of coverage to primary healthcare centres and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

On the Special Intervention Programme, the president added that the 2017 budget proposal had retained the allocation of N500 billion for the programme which he said would comprise the Home-grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, and the N-Power Job Creation Programme, The N-Power programme, he said, would provide loans for traders and artisans; effect conditional cash transfers to the poorest families and provide funds for the Family Homes Fund (social housing scheme).

“The N-Power Programme has recently taken off with the employment of 200,000 graduates across the country, while the School Feeding Programme has commenced in a few states where the verification of caterers has been completed,” he added.

He said the government had also made significant

BUHARI PRESENTS N7.3TN BUDGET TO N’ASSEMBLY said the budget comprised N2.98 trillion non-debt recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure of N2.24 trillion (including capital of statutory transfers) and a fiscal deficit of N2.36 trillion (about 2.18 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

He said the deficit would be financed mainly by projected borrowing of about N2.32 trillion, while N1.067 trillion or about 46 per cent of the borrowing would be sourced from external sources and N1.254 trillion to be borrowed from the domestic market.

Furthermore, he said the budget consisted of statutory transfers of N419.02 billion, allocation for debt service of N1.66 trillion and a sinking fund of N177.46 billion for the retirement of certain maturing bonds.

The president added: “Based on these assumptions, aggregate revenue available to fund the federal budget is N4.94 trillion.

This is 28 per cent higher than 2016 full year projections.

“Oil is projected to contribute N1.985 trillion of this amount.

Non-oil revenues, largely comprising company income tax, value added tax, Customs and Excise duties, and Federation Account levies, are estimated to contribute N1.373 trillion.

“We have set a more realistic projection of N807.57 billion for independent revenues, while we have projected receipts of N565.1 billion from various recoveries. Other revenue sources, including mining, amount to N210.9 billion.

“With regards to expenditure,

we have proposed a budget size of N7.298 trillion which is a nominal 20.4 per cent increase over 2016 estimates, of which 30.7 per cent of this expenditure will be capital, in line with our determination to reflate and pull the economy out of the current recession.

“Distinguished members of the National Assembly, the 2017 budget is based on a benchmark crude oil price of US$42.5 per barrel; oil production estimate of 2.2 million barrels per day; and an average exchange rate of N305 to the US dollar.”

Buhari, who said the budgetary allocation to the judiciary had been increased from N70 billion to N100 billion, added that the increase was meant to enhance the independence of the judiciary and simultaneously enable the judges to perform their functions effectively.

He gave the breakdown of recurrent expenditure to include N482.37 billion for the Ministry of Interior; N398.01 billion for Ministry of Education; N325.87 billion for Ministry of Defence; and N252.87 billion for Ministry of Health.

According to him, the government had decided to maintain the personnel cost of about N1.8 trillion in order to complete the work that had been started, which he said would include the elimination of all ghost workers from government payroll.

He pointed out that adequate provisions had been made in the budget to ensure that all civil service personnel who had not been enrolled on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform were

captured.

The president also informed his audience that the Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance had been mandated to cut certain overhead costs by 20 per cent in order to eliminate all non-essential costs and consequently free resources to fund the capital expenditure.

A breakdown of capital allocations to various sectors as presented by the president shows that the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got the lion share of the budget with N529 billion. This was followed by the Ministry of Transportation with N262 billion.

Others are: Special Intervention Programme, N150 billion; Ministry of Defence, N140 billion; Ministry of Water Resources, N85 billion; Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, N81 billion; Ministry of Interior, N63 billion; Ministry of Education, N50 billion; Universal Basic Education Commission, N92 billion; Ministry of Health, N51 billion; Federal Capital Territory (FCT), N37 billion; Niger Delta Ministry, N33 billion; Niger Delta Development Commission, N61 billion; Presidential Amnesty Programme, N65 billion; and rehabilitation of the North-east, N45 billion.

The budget also includes N100 billion for Special Intervention Programme “as seed money into the N1 trillion Family Homes Fund that will underpin a new social housing programme”.

The president said: “This substantial expenditure is expected to stimulate

Continued on page 9

TRUMP FORMALLY UNVEILS BAYO OGUNLESI AS STRATEGIC AND POLICY FORUM ADVISER States from Silicon Valley to the heartland.”

Members of the Forum will provide their individual views to the president, informed by their unique vantage points in the private sector on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation and productivity.

The Forum is designed to provide direct input to the president from many of the best and brightest in the business world in a frank, non-bureaucratic and non-partisan manner.

With yesterday’s announcement of three additional members, the individuals on the Forum now include: Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi, Chairman and Managing Partner, Global Infrastructure Partners.

The others are Stephen A. Schwarzman (Forum Chairman), Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Blackstone; Paul Atkins, CEO, Patomak Global Partners, LLC,

former Commissioner for the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO, General Motors.

Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic; Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co; Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock; Travis Kalanick, CEO and Cofounder, Uber Technologies.

Also in the Forum are Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company; Rich Lesser, President and CEO, Boston Consulting Group; Doug McMillon, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Jim McNerney, former Chairman, President, and CEO, Boeing; Elon Musk, Chairman and CEO, SpaceX and Tesla; and Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. The list also includes Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President, and CEO, IBM; Kevin Warsh,

Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics, Hoover Institute, and former Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and Mark Weinberger, Global Chairman and CEO, EY; Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO, General Electric; and Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winner, Vice Chairman of IHS Markit.

Through Global Infrastructure Partners, Ogunlesi has a majority stake in London Gatwick Airport.

His company acquired the stake at the airport in 2009 in a £1.455 billion deal.

Global Infrastructure Partners is a joint venture whose initial investors included Credit Suisse and General Electric.

Ogunlesi is also an independent director of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. He serves on the boards of Callaway Golf Co. and Kosmos Energy Ltd. He is the chairman of Africa Finance Corporation, where the

Nigerian government holds the majority state, and serves on the boards of various nonprofits ranging from New York Presbyterian Hospital to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Ogunlesi is from Sagamu, Ogun State. His father, Theophilus Ogunlesi, was Nigeria’s first professor of medicine.

He attended Kings College, Lagos, before proceeding to Oxford University, where he graduated with a First Class honours in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

He also graduated from Harvard Law School in 1979 and later got an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ogunlesi had a banking career with Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) from 1983 and rose to become its executive vice chairman.

During his stint at Credit Suisse, he advised clients on

transactions and corporate finance in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Before joining Credit Suisse, Ogunlesi was an attorney in the corporate practice group of the New York law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

From 1980-81 he served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court.

He was a lecturer at Harvard Law School and the Yale School of Organisation and Management, where he taught a course on transnational investment projects in emerging countries.

Ogunlesi has served as an adviser, though informally, to Nigerian governments. He was an informal adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on privatisation.

Despite having lived in the US for decades, he still maintains ties with his homeland.

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

NEWS

Nigerians to Pay More for International Passports Dele Ogbodo in Abuja The Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. Muhammad Babandede yesterday said Nigerians would now have to pay more for their international passports.

According to him, the hike in fees was necessitated by the high cost of producing the booklets abroad, which had become unsustainable and uncompetitive under the current dispensation.

Babandede made the disclosure at the flag off of a capacity development programme for 500 immigration

officers on ICT organised by the NIS in conjunction with Huawei Technologies in Abuja.

He said it had become increasingly difficult for the immigration service to pay for the passport booklets outside the country because of the fall in value of the naira.

“You will agree with me that air tickets have doubled, you are also aware that a lot of things have changed, but the passport fees have not changed.

We cannot afford to service these passports with the current charges,” he said.

He added that service delivery would improve as soon as the federal government

approves the new fees for the passports.

The production of the booklets, he said, is done under a private partnership arrangement and is not funded by government.

While acknowledging that NIS is a revenue generating agency, he said government’s investment in the NIS was limited to the work force and the offices that it provides, adding that funding of the booklets is handled in conjunction with a private sector company.

“Government is not giving any money, but we are revenue generating agency. If we

continue this way, government will not get any revenue.

“Our intention is to make sure that these changes take place and we will improve the efficiency of service delivery.

“We will bring more booklets and we will make sure that services are done within a stipulated time, but this will only be possible when services are reviewed,” he said.

He urged the officers to take advantage of the ICT training

by Huawei to improve their skills and improve service delivery in the organisation.

He said: “The future of NIS rests on ICT in 2017. There will be no more manual

examinations, as they will now be computer-based.”

According to him, the NIS has 84 issuing passport centres in the world, all connected to a single database, which has the biometrics of six million persons.

He said nine million passport booklets had been issued because about three million persons have two passports, adding that with the ongoing biometric registration, such abnormalities would be eliminated.

He added that NIS had surpassed its 2016 revenue target by N6 billion, disclosing that it made N25 billion in 2015.

Babandede

said the country cannot rely on the public sector alone, to save the country.

It is therefore critical, he said, that private sector business and investment be mainstreamed into the economy, to make it easier and more efficient for people to invest and do business in Nigeria.

“Further to this, we are also aware that if we must attract private investments to play a central role in our economic recovery efforts, we must make deliberate efforts to market Nigeria as an attractive brand through a very robust and highly coordinated process of engagement.

“This effort must necessarily start with injecting confidence in the market through clarity and consistency of policies. We must speak the right language and show that we are open to and ready for legitimate business,” Saraki said.

He also called for continued engagement with all sections of the country particularly the Niger Delta and other regions where instability is impacting on national economic and security aspirations.

The Senate President stressed that Nigerians are grappling with the effects of the current economic hardship, and demanding that their elected officials justify the trust reposed in them.

“Mr. President, the feedback we get from visits to our various constituencies is that there is hardship in the land. We can see it and we can feel it.

“This situation therefore commands all of us as

government to a greater sense of urgency. We cannot work magic, but we must continue to work the clock… It is in times like this when we are challenged from all sides that we need to develop new relationships and cultivate more friends.

“No one can clap with one hand and expect to be heard. This is the time when compromise and engagement are the tools necessary for successful collaboration and cooperation,” Saraki said.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara, in his address, called for the extension of the 2016 budget, particularly the capital component until May 2017, twelve months from when the current budget was signed into law.

Dogara said this was necessary because whilst the recurrent component of the budget is usually implemented to an appreciable level, the implementation of the capital component is usually very low.

“It is crystal clear that the capital component of the 2016 budget cannot realistically be implemented for only six months considering the time required for procurement process and the raising of revenue including loans by government,” he said.

On this basis, he asked that the Appropriation Act be allowed to run uninterrupted for 12 months.

He warned that the 2016 budget would become another failed budget if the lifespan was not extended, resulting in a vicious cycle replicated every year.

“It is certainly frustrating that we go through the annual budget cycle/process of budget presentation by Mr. President, the processing of same by the National Assembly, passage and signing into law every year, without unlocking the full potential of such budgets for our citizens.

“This is because implementation and execution of the agreed budget are always the major challenges year in year out.

“Sometimes, the implementation rate is as low as 30 per cent, at the best of times, it is never higher than 50 per cent. This has led to unacceptably high rates of abandonment of projects and distortions in Nigeria’s economic planning.

“Of course, this is an inherited problem for Mr. President as he has only effectively passed through one budget cycle.

“We must therefore put on our thinking caps and ensure that the change promised Nigerians is reflected in our budget process, as we cannot really make appreciable progress as a nation without significant implementation of the capital component of the budget,” Dogara said.

Dogara further urged the president to add the distorted budget cycle, abandoned capital projects and white elephant projects to the list of corrupt practices which must be killed.

This, he said, would establish a new order, making the existing order an obsolete one and creating real change.

It also said the BPP should undertake a re-evaluation of all contracts awarded by PINE under the emergency arrangement to recover any proceeds from overinflated contracts.

It resolved that “contracts partially executed but fully paid for must be completed by the concerned contractors, or they be asked to refund the equivalent money of outstanding jobs to the government treasury; and any public officer culpable of contravening any aspect of the Public Procurement Act and federal government financial rules and regulations pertaining to the award of the contracts should be duly prosecuted by the relevant authorities”.

Reacting to the resolutions reached by the Senate, Lawal dismissed the allegation, saying the upper legislative chamber “was talking rubbish”.

He said: “The Senate is talking balderdash; it has developed the habit of the ‘bring him down syndrome’.

“Nigerians have decided that

we should destroy our best, we should all destroy the promising and best among us by bringing people down without a cause.

This is just how I see it.

“I have the report of the Senate Committee in which it was said that I didn’t resign from Rholavision Nigeria Limited. Let me tell you, Rholavision was formed by me in December 1990, and it has been a company that has been run very successfully.

“When I was appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation, I resigned from that company on August, 18 2015. I can see that in their report, they were talking about 2016. I don’t know where they got their facts from.

“By the way, it is very instructive that when the committee was sitting, no effort was ever made to invite me to come and make a submission.

It is therefore surprising that they devoted a whole session today (yesterday) to malign me, claiming what was not true without even giving me the chance to state my side of the story before them,” he said.

BUHARI PRESENTS N7.3TN BUDGET TO N’ASSEMBLY allocations to the Ministry of Water Resources, explaining that in pursuit of economic recovery and inclusive growth and development, significant importance must be attached to integrated water resource management.

Against this background, he said many river-basin projects would be completed in 2017 while an increase of N9.52 billion, representing a 92 per cent increase, had been allocated to the Ministry of Environment as a mark of the government’s attention to environmental matters including climate change and the clean up of the Niger Delta.

Also giving an account on the implementation of the 2016 budget, Buhari said: “On the basis of the budget’s assumptions, aggregate revenue was projected at N3.86 trillion while the expenditure outlay was estimated at N6.06 trillion.

“The deficit of N2.2 trillion, which was about 2.14 per cent of GDP was expected to be mainly financed through borrowing.”

However, he said the assumptions were not achieved as a result of relatively low oil prices in the first quarter of 2016 and disruptions in crude oil production, which he said led to significant shortfalls in projected revenue.

He said the situation slowed down economic recovery and negatively affected revenue generation by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

The president said that as of September 30, 2016, the

government only generated N2.17 trillion revenue (25 per cent less than prorated projections); spent N3.58 trillion on recurrent and capital expenditure, amounting to 79 per cent of the prorated full year expenditure estimate of N4.54 trillion at the end of September 2016.

He explained that N753.6 billion was specifically released as capital expenditure during the period, an amount he said exceeded the aggregate capital expenditure budget for 2015.

Buhari was accompanied to the session by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onoghen, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Lawal, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Power of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, and Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, among others.

In his welcome address, Senate President Bukola Saraki stressed that the N7.3 trillion budget remained a proposal which the National Assembly is constitutional empowered to work on, even as he expressed confidence that the legislature has received a well articulated budget proposal.

He stated that for the country to get out of the recession, private sector investment must be encouraged to play a central role in the economic recovery efforts, backed by a

highly coordinated process of engagement with investors.

Saraki said while the 2017 budget process had benefitted from greater cooperation and consultations between the executive and legislative arms of government, the problems with Nigeria’s budget and budgeting process were deeper than the progress recorded.

He, however, pledged the readiness of the National Assembly to implement the recommendations of the report of the Executive/Legislative Committee on Budget Reforms, which reviewed Nigeria’s budget system and identified ways to make it more transparent, participatory, result oriented and effective.

The highlights of the report as listed by the Senate President include pre-budgetary consultation and engagement, greater information sharing and recording, public hearings on the budget bill, drafting of an Organic Budget Bill and amendment of the Public Procurement Act. “Our hope is that the remainder of the recommendations of this report will be implemented within the 2017 budget year with the passage of the Organic Budget Law,” he said.

He also said that the National Assembly would speedily work on the 2017 budget, alongside 11 Economic Reform Bills due to the urgency needed to alleviate the sufferings brought on Nigerians by the recession.

Speaking on the role of the private sector in economic recovery, the Senate President

SENATE CALLS FOR SGF’S RESIGNATION, PROSECUTION OVER MISMANAGEMENT OF IDP FUNDS Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North-east presented by its Chairman, Senator Shehu Sani.

Sani had reported that the Presidential Initiative on Northeast (PINE), saddled with the responsibility of rebuilding and rehabilitating the region devastated by the activities of Boko Haram, took advantage of the dire situation in the region by inflating contracts.

He alleged that top government officials took advantage of the development to award contracts to companies belonging to their cronies, family members and close associates.

According to him, Lawal, until September this year was a Director of Rholavision Engineering Limited and till date remains a signatory to the account.

Senator Sani described Lawal’s failure to resign his position in the company before assuming office as the SGF as a breach of the law and should be made to resign and prosecuted.

Sani further said Rholavision got a consulting contract for

the removal of “invasive plant species” (weeds) in Yobe State, adding that all contracts awarded

by PINE had been either 95 per cent or 100 per cent paid for, even when some of the contracts had not been fully executed.

For instance, he said Dantex Nigeria Limited is yet to supply 125 units of the total 1,225 units of the temporary tarpaulin carbines valued at N302,000 per unit.

According to Sani, the company had been paid N108 million despite the outstanding 125 valued at N37.7 million.

Sani further reported that most of the contracts awarded

by PINE had no impact on the lives of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) whom he said had been languishing in hunger, starvation, disease, squalor and other deplorable conditions.

The senator said that even though the IDPs in the North-east lived in deplorable conditions, PINE opted to award irrelevant contracts such as the removal of plant species, for which he said N223 million was paid, pointing out that there was

a serious humanitarian crisis in the North-east as evident in the plight of IDPs at the camps and host communities.

He also said in all the camps visited, the Federal Ministry of Health was conspicuously absent, but a few critical government agencies such as National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) were noticed without synergy from other agencies.

He added that the Nigerian Air Force medical team was found rendering medical services to the lDPs with the little equipment at their disposal, submitting that “despite the claim by some federal government agencies that a huge amount of money was spent on the IDPs in the North-east, what was on the ground as seen by the committee neither justified nor reflected the claims”.

After the submission of his report, the Senate resolved among others that the Federal Ministry of Health must be compelled to immediately

deploy personnel to all the lDP camps to support the efforts of the international humanitarian crisis managers and the Nigerian Air Force medical team, and also provide the necessary medical assistance to avert a possible outbreak of communicable diseases like cholera, measles, and diarrhea, etc.

It also resolved that the federal and state governments should intensify efforts towards rebuilding destroyed infrastructure, rehabilitation and empowerment of the lDPs to enable them go back to their respective homes while the newly constituted Presidential Committee on the North-east Initiative (PCNI) should ensure there is synergy and proper coordination among all the humanitarian crisis agencies to enable the IDPs gain maximally from the entire exercise.

The Senate also ordered PINE to forward a detailed report of all the contracts approved by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), in accordance with Section 43(iv) of the Public Procurement Act.

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

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

Malabu Oil Deal: Adoke Denies Authorising Payment of $1.092bn into Escrow Account Says payment was approved by Obasanjo’s government

Damilola Oyedele in Abuja A former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, has denied reports that he authorised the payment of $1.092billion signature bonus in respect of the controversial OPL 245, also known as Malabu oil deal, into an escrow account.

Adoke also noted that the payment into the account

by Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD) was approved by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo due to

pending proceedings over the revocation of OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas Limited (Malabu), the previous concessionaire of OPL 245.

The former minister made these assertions in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Alleged Corruption, Malpractice and Breach of Due Process in the award of OPL 245, Hon. Rasak Atunwa.

The committee, on Tuesday held a public hearing on the matter where the current AGF, Mr. Abubakar Malami, had said there was

Bala-Usman Vows to Recover N192bn Debts from Terminal Operators Eromosele Abiodun The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman, has promised to recover all debts owed it by terminal operators.

She also vowed to recover the N400 million NPA staff money trapped in Aso Savings and Loans Limited.

Usman, who has made fighting corruption and blocking of leakages in the agency her mantra, put the total debt owed the NPA at N191.80 billion.

She disclosed these yesterday in Lagos in a chat with journalists to mark her first 100 day in office.

The NPA boss said most of the debts owed by terminal operators had existed for 10 years, adding that the debts came from the lease agreements that were badly structured.

According to her, “We will do everything possible to recover all our monies including the N400 million trapped in Aso Savings or Aso Homes as the case may be. We are pursuing it aggressively and we will make sure the monies are returned to us.”

She said some of the terminal operators’ debts were classified as bad debt, adding that the NPA could only see them as such if due legal process had been followed.

“We also have debts from lease agreements, tenancy payments that have accrued over the years. The NPA has a process of continued billing the leasing of lands that those it leased them to have no access to the properties. When an agency leases a property to you and you have no access to the property how do you pay them. The NPA continued to bill the entities and considered it as debt.

“We are looking at reverting some of the lease allocations because the fundamental to leasing is that the leasee has to be able to take occupation.

You cannot lease a land that is encumbered. When you lease a land that is encumbered by

encroachment, topographical challenge, and bill for the lease, it is not a responsible thing to do. We have identified the leases that are encumbered by encroachment and other factors, we will remove that aspect of the debt from what is being owed the NPA,” she said.

On the agency’s poor showing in the latest World Bank ranking, she said she was working to ensure that the NPA moves up in the next ranking, adding that it was important to appreciate that some of the components that made up the ranking were not just the NPA. “There were other government agencies that operate within the ports that challenged our efficiency. We have challenged the agencies to seat. We have also discoursed the matter at the Ease of Doing Business committee set up by the president to see how these agencies can improve. We have given them timelines to ensure that they improve on their efficiency. The ranking is a global one and Nigeria cannot be an exception. We must do everything to ensure that we move up in the ranking. We need to work together for national interest and ensure that the success of other agencies becomes the success of Nigeria, “said.

Usman also disclosed that the NPA has notified all operators in the industry that no entity has the right to collect government revenue and keep same in their coffers on behalf of government.

She said: “We have put in place the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which we have communicated to leading players like Interls Limited. We have given them timelines and we expect them to revert to us so that we can commence implementation. We have told them to begin to pay directly to the government, any invoice of payment that is required to be treated should be sent to us and we will pay the company at a stipulated time.”

no conclusive evidence to suggest that Adoke, his Petroleum and Finance Ministry counterparts, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and Mr. Olusegun Aganga, were fraudulently involved in the $1.092 billion controversial Malabu oil deal.

Malami had however said the payment of the money into an escrow account, instead of the Consolidate Revenue Fund, was illegal.

Adoke, in the letter said neither himself, nor the former ministers were responsible for the payment of the $1.092billion into the escrow account.

“Official records show that the escrow account under reference was opened pursuant to an escrow agreement dated December

22, 2003 between the Federal Government of Nigeria and JP Morgan Chase.

Records also indicate that the payment of part of the signature bonus (US$ 209 million) by SNUD into an escrow account was approved by the administration of President Obasanjo, and the justification provided for the use of the escrow agreement mechanism was the pending proceedings over the revocation of OPL 245

by Malabu, the previous concessionaire of OPL 245,” he said.

The former minister wondered how he could be held responsible for a transaction that was completed on December 23, 2003, when he was appointed AGF in April 2010.

“For avoidance of doubt, I wish to reiterate the following facts contained in the memorial filed on behalf of SNUD before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID): “SNUD paid the signature bonus of US$210 million in December 2003, SNUD paid US$ 1 million via bank draft on December 23, 2003, SNUD paid the remaining US$209 million into an escrow pursuant to an escrow agreement with the Federal Government of Nigeria (as represented by the Ministry of Finance) and JP Morgan Chase which was signed on 22 December 2003.

“The escrow agreement – a mechanism suggested by the President of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria, states that this solution was used in contemplation of proceedings over the revocation of OPL245 by the previous concessionaire of OPL 245,” Adoke said.

The former minister expressed hope that the ongoing investigations by the House, which conducted a similar one during the seventh assembly, would put a finality to the matter of OPL 245 which has been a matter of many investigations.

“Some of us have been unduly vilified and our hard earned reputations dragged to the mud by deliberate misinformation carefully orchestrated and choreographed to bring us to public odium and opprobrium,” Adoke added.

FORGING EXECUTIVE-LEGISLATIVE HARMONY President Muhammadu Buhari (left), in a handshake with the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, during his

presentation of the 2017 Appropriation Bill to the joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja...yesterday. With them is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara

ECOWAS Leaders to Meet in Abuja Saturday over Gambia UN, AU, ECOWAS urge Jammeh to step down

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will meet in Abuja on Saturday to continue discussion on how to resolve the impasse in The Gambia.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement, said the coalition of seven political parties that produced Adama Barrow, President-elect of The Gambia, looked earnestly up to President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria to deploy his vast experience, alongside other African leaders, to resolve the political logjam in the tiny West African country.

Speaking with the media during the high-level ECOWAS

/AU/UN Joint Mission to The Gambia on Tuesday, Hamad Bah, one of the coalition members, declared: “We need the experience of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in many ways. Like President Jammeh, he is a former military officer, so he knows how the military thinks, and would be able to talk to him appropriately.

“Again, President Buhari was in the opposition in Nigeria for about 12 years, before he won election in 2015. So, he also knows how the opposition thinks. He can feel what we feel. We are quite glad that President Buhari is here, it gives us a lot of hope.”

Adesina said the high-level team held a series of meetings that lasted the whole of

Tuesday, met with President Yahya Jammeh twice, conferred with Barrow, consulted with security chiefs, members of the diplomatic community, leadership of the electoral commission, and many other interest groups.

According to him, the consensus was that President Jammeh needed to respect the result of the December 1 election, which he had earlier accepted, congratulated the winner, only to recant a week later, calling for fresh polls “to be conducted by a God-fearing electoral commission.”

Adesina said the Joint ECOWAS-AU-UN team, made of President Buhari, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

of Liberia (current Chairperson of ECOWAS), President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, outgoing President John Mahama of Ghana, and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, (UN Special Representative for West Africa), encouraged Jammeh to reconsider his rejection of the election results citing “tallying errors” and his call for new elections.

Jammeh was also urged to hand over power “within constitutional deadlines, and in accordance with electoral laws of The Gambia.”

Adesina quoted JohnsonSirleaf as saying that discussions on The Gambian impasse would continue, as ECOWAS leaders meet in Abuja this Saturday.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Michael Ibru Finally Interred in Delta Sylvester Idowu in Warri Agbara-Otor in Ughelli

North Local Government Area of Delta State was turned into a Mecca of

sorts as the remains of the renowned industrialist, Olorogun Michael

Supreme Court will Decide on PDP Crisis, Says Sheriff

Proposes national convention in 2017

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has said he and members of group have resigned their fate to the pronouncement of the Appeal Court and Supreme Court.

Sheriff, who insisted that he would not quit the struggle unless the party is returned to its rightful owners, told journalists at a press conference yesterday in Abuja that his faction was planning a national convention in the first quarter of 2017.

Speaking on the failed attempt to resolve the PDP crisis, Sheriff said since negotiations with Ahmed Makarfi faction has broken down, he and his group have no alternative than to await the verdict of the court on who the rightful leader of the PDP is.

“We’ll abide by the decision of the judiciary on the PDP leadership crisis,” he said.

Sheriff accused the chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Senator Makarfi of employing blackmailing tactics against him during the botched peace negotiations on the PDP crisis.

An enraged Sheriff said: “I have offered that both the caretaker committee and the NWC be dissolved to give way for a

new Independent Leadership.

But the caretaker committee has refused to agree to anything except recognize then and let the caretaker committee run the party till 2018.

“We have therefore resigned our faith to the decision of their Lordships of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Courts. However, we are ready to return to the negotiation table today if Makarfi sees reason to do so.

“I have been blackmailed to the extent that I am alleged to be sponsored by the APC to build a one party system. Contradictorily I have been accused at the same time of staying on to stage my emergence as the presidential candidate of the PDP. This is the extent to which the illegal caretaker committee can go to hold on to power. Blackmail has been their stock in trade.

Sheriff, who spoke while receiving a delegation of some members of the PDP in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) lamented the hijacking of the party structures by few influential people.

He said as part of the struggle to change the old ways of doing things in the PDP, his group has committee for constitution review chaired by Hon. Bernard Mikko and the Mobilisation Committee Chaired by Dr. Patrick Okomiso submitted their reports

last week Part of the recommendations of the committee, is that presidents and governors produced by the party after their second tenure and eight years in office should be barred from adopting candidates to succeed them.

“Also, the national chairmen and party chairmen and excos from wards, local governments, state and national be barred from adopting candidates. Any candidate so adopted shall be disqualified.

“We want every voice to be heard and every vote to count. hopefully we shall conduct a free and fair convention in the First Quarter of 2017. Our task is to return the party to the grassroots.

To this end we shall continue to review all the states chapters that are affected before the convention.

“In the cause of the last six months we have worked assiduously to reposition our great party the PDP through harnessing the enormous potentials of the party at the grassroots,” he said.

On the election in Rivers State, the former governor of Borno State said that he has asked an 11-man fact-finding committee set up to monitor the election to brief him and that he hopes to speak on the matter after receiving their report.

US Donates Additional $92m to Victims of Insurgency in North-east ECOWAS supports Borno IDPs with $1.4m Alex Enumah in Abuja The United States of America has announced that she will give nearly $92 million in additional humanitarian assistance to people affected by the ongoing conflict and severe food insecurity in Nigeria and throughout the Lake Chad Basin region.

With this announcement, the US is providing more than $291 million in humanitarian assistance since the 2016 fiscal year to people affected by the Boko Haram-related conflict and the related humanitarian crisis.

The announcement, which was contained in a statement from the Public Affairs Section of the US Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria, added that with the figure, the US would continue to be the single largest humanitarian donor to the region.

This new funding to United Nations and non-governmental organisation partners, the US noted, would help tens of thousands of people receive critically needed humanitarian assistance, including food, water, shelter, and services to address acute hygiene, protection, and nutritional needs.

According to the US, the conflict has left more than 6.4million people in need of emergency food assistance and displaced another 2.6million in Nigeria,

Niger, Cameroun and Chad.

Only recently, the UN claimed that an additional $1billion was needed to meet the humanitarian needs of people in 2017.

The US in the statement, however, called on other donors to contribute additional humanitarian assistance for the millions of people in the region whose lives have been affected

by Boko Haram.

Also, the ECOWAS Commission President, Marcel A. de Souza, has presented a cheque of $1million and food worth $400,000 to the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima.

De Souza said the food and financial assistance are part of contributions of his institution to persons displaced as a result of the insurgency by the Islamic group Boko Haram in that region of Nigeria.

In a statement from the Communication Division of ECOWAS, the president stated that the gesture underscores the importance the regional organisation attaches to the tragic events in the northern part of Nigeria.

The statement adds that Souza was impressed by the continuation of development programmes by the governor, despite enormous security challenges facing Borno State.

“This is the first time I am

visiting Maiduguri as ECOWAS head and I realised that despite the current security situation, much constructive progress has been made, which is highly laudable,” Souza said.

“We heard reports on how markets, schools and public infrastructure were burnt and looted and we are here to see how you were able to meet the challenges in stages, which is quite laudable and we commend you for the exemplary measures,” he added.

The ECOWAS Commission President indicated that he had already met with United Nations officials as well as officials from National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) who presented to him some insights and data on humanitarian situation in Borno State.

He said: “Being very much affected by and highly sensitive to the situation, we felt it was necessary to come and extend our solidarity to you and assure you of our full support in all your programmes in the future. We will not be able to reach all the 4 million people in the state but we will support you in a meaningful way so that you can touch people’s lives in a positive way.”

The governor thanked ECOWAS for the financial and humanitarian support given to the state.

Onajirevbe Ibru, were yesterday committed to mother earth in his country home in the community.

Prominent dignitaries that witnessed the burial included former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme, Governors Ifeanyi Okowa and Godwin Obaseki of Delta and Edo States as well as former Federal Information Commissioner and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, among others.

Speaking at the funeral service at the All Saints’ Cathedral Church, Anglican Communion, Okowa charged all the people of the state to unite to allow development spread round the state.

While commiserating the Ibru family, the governor also appealed to them to stay united and live as one family, noting that their living together would bring honour and respect to the late Michael Ibru.

The governor described the late Ibru as a man who touched the lives of so many people in the state, country and the world at large, calling on all well meaning Nigerians to emulate the exemplary life of the

business tycoon.

“I want to plead with each and every one of us, no matter what might have gone wrong that it is time for us to unite and truly forget the past because it is only then that we would be able to say that we have done that which our father, Olorogun Michael Ibru has asked us to do.

“There is no doubt that he has impacted the lives of people in Delta State and the world, and I am glad that a lot of good things have been said about him. He was a great man and still a great man even in death.

“A lot of people are rich but they are arrogant with their riches. That is not the life that we expect people to live, and it is my plea to those who live, especially the extended family of Ibru family that the best we can do is to ensure that we stay humble in all that we do. A very humble heart is a loving heart. Every humble heart is for unity and for peace.”

On his part, the Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh, during

his sermon, appealed to all Christians to reconcile all their problems with God before “the final day of rest.”

In his sermon taken from the book of Matthew 11:28, Okoh described death as a permanent rest that is free from all of life’s worries and calamities.

He reminded all that gathered to pay their last respects that they should do all they can to make their life straight with God, saying that the time is short and they must therefore act now to safe themselves from the clutches of death.

While describing Michael Ibru as a great man who had lived a fulfilled life and had touched a lot of lives, Okoh appealed to the family to keep the legacy of their father alive, adding that the only way they can do that would be for them to live together as one indivisible family.

Also present at the funeral service included the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) leader in the state, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, former Chief of Army Staff, Major General David Ejoor, among others.

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THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2016

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T H I S D AY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

COMMENT

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

RISING TREND OF BUILDING COLLAPSE

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The rising phenomenon of church building collapse raises grave concern about the safety of places of worship, writes Emmanuel Ojeifo

ew years ago, a highly reputed American think- tank carried out a study on accidental death occurrences. The report of the study revealed that 20 per cent of all fatal accidents occur in automobiles, 17 per cent in the home, 14 per cent occur to pedestrians on streets or sidewalks, 16 per cent on air, rail and sea, 32 per cent in hospitals and 0.01 per cent occur in church during worship services. According to the study, the safest place for you to be at any point in time is not in your car, or in the home or in the hospital, but in the church. As places dedicated to divine worship, church buildings are marvellous symbols of God’s special presence and his indwelling among men. Church buildings are sacred spaces set apart for personal and collective spiritual encounter with God. That is the reason a church building dedicated to sacred worship is called “house of God.” In the biblical narrative of the temptation of Jesus Christ by the Devil, the substance of the second temptation speaks to the reality of the house of God as a place where divine protection against all forms of evil assault is assured. The Bible notes that the Devil took Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem, set him on the highest wall of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this height, for scripture says, ‘God has given orders to his angels about you to guard you in all your ways. Their hands will hold you up lest you strike your foot against a stone’” (Matthew 4:5-6). Here, the Devil quotes a passage of Holy Scripture, which speaks about the protection that God grants to anyone who believes in him. These words acquire a special significance by virtue of the fact that they are spoken in the holy city and in the holy place.

Where else should the person who believes in God be safe than in the sacred precincts of the temple?

Sadly, the drama of history and contemporary reality prove again and again that sacred precincts are becoming places to dread on account of the propensity for collateral human danger following accidental occurrences.

Aside all sorts of physical, spiritual and psychological abuses that put people’s lives in danger within church buildings, the rising phenomenon of church building collapse raises grave cause for concern about the safety and security of places of worship in our society. This phenomenon is not just associated with places of worship. It is a general societal problem.

On December 10, 2016 Reigners Bible Church Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, collapsed during an ordination service and killed over 50 people, with scores of others injured. Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel and other state dignitaries were at the event when the tragedy occurred.

Addressing journalists after the tragic incident, Mr Emmanuel noted that looking at the building with the eyes of a layman in engineering, one could notice “a whole lot of defects in the construction.” This sad event is coming two years after a six-storey building belonging to Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), owned by popular Pentecostal pastor T.B.

IT IS A VERY SAD THING WHEN PEOPLE LOSE THEIR LIVES IN SUCH A SENSELESS KIND OF DEATH, MUCH STILL WHEN THIS HAPPENS IN PLACES OF WORSHIP. YET, THE NIGERIAN AUTHORITIES HAVE SHOWN A CONSISTENT LACK OF WILL IN PROSECUTING OFFENDERS

Joshua, collapsed in Lagos and killed 116 people, mostly South Africans.

In July 2015, a Coroner’s Inquest indicted the church authorities for “criminal negligence” in failing to obtain the necessary approval before the building construction commenced.

We recall that on September 24, 2015 a “crush and stampede” tragedy occurred in Mina during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca in which over 2500 pilgrims lost their lives. Iran, the country from which the largest number of victims originated continues to insist that the death toll exceeded 7000. Some 300 Nigerians lost their lives in that tragedy.

The high casualties generated by the disaster make it the deadliest Hajj disaster in history.

It is a very sad thing when people lose their lives in such a senseless kind of death, much still when this happens in places of worship. Yet, the Nigerian authorities have shown a consistent lack of will in prosecuting offenders. Another manifestation of trademark Nigerian impunity!

Today, as a result of the corrupt tendencies of contractors to cut corners, safety precautions are no longer adhered to in building construction.

Substandard materials are used and the regulatory institutions turn a blind eye to their oversight responsibilities, sometimes even colluding with the corrupt contractors to lower standards. Professional bodies that once offered the surest hope of adherence to international best practices in structural engineering have been largely politicised. It is not uncommon today to meet graduates of architecture, structural engineering and their associated disciplines that are bereft of the technical know-how of the profession.

The Nigerian authorities must do something urgent about this situation. Institutions of government and professional bodies responsible for the accreditation and certification of building and construction professionals must activate the relevant regulatory mechanisms to ensure that quacks and other unqualified persons do not have a place on the roll call of the profession. Against this backdrop, when tragedy happens it should force upon us the burden of critical thinking. We must ask ourselves why our collective will allowed so many to die such a senseless kind of death. Our questioning attitude must lead us to demand accountability from those who govern us. It is our collective duty to channel our anger and rage each time something goes wrong into actions that will not only save our lives when the time comes, but that will also be a monument to the lives lost.

With every tragedy comes the opportunity to build a monument of good governance, inspired citizenry and bold actions. Tragedy is an opportunity to do better, to create better systems and conditions that ensure that such tragedy does not happen again. To do this we must find out what happened, punish those who let it happen and reform the system in order to prevent another breakdown.

Ojeifo is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja.

CONSEQUENCES OF MILITARISING THE NIGERIAN POLITY

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t is dangerously threatening to find military presence and activities in the polity in a civilian democratic dispensation when compared to military governance. They are poles apart from one another. While democratic government owns both the government and the military command, a military government owns both the government and everything per se.

When the polity is militarised, situation becomes awesome, anomalous and obnoxious whereby the military is found almost everywhere in the streets carrying out military actions; even during a civilian democratic governance when there is no war or a state of emergency declared by the head of government after due approvals by the National Assembly. That seems to be what is happening in Nigeria today as the military froths and struts upon the stage all over the Nigerian national landscape, engaged in one military duty or the other. While in one of the zones of military operation, the National Assembly approved requisite military actions to eradicate insurgency and stop rebellion, but in other two zones of military actions there are no known approvals by the National Assembly for such large-scale military operations that have been ongoing. The military is now effectively-combating the insurgency of Boko Haram as code-named “Operation Lafia Dole” in the Northeast zone as appropriately approved by the requisite civilian and military authorities; this is alright and acceptable as approved. But the operations of the military against the Shi’ites in Kaduna State; their “Operation Crocodile Smile” in the Niger Delta; and the “Operation Python Dance” all over the Southeast zone did not get the requisite National Assembly approvals before the military actions were taken or are ongoing. In essence, these militarised activities have sent wrong signals to the people of the affected areas.

The Oxford University Press Dictionary explains “militarise” to mean to “equip with military resources; give a military character to”; and “polity” as “a form or process of civil government

Boniface C. Egboka argues that the militarisation of the polity is unhealthy or constitution, an organised society; a state as a political entity”. The Encarta Dictionary explains “militarise” to mean “equip or train a person or group for war; to convert something…for military use; to persuade somebody to support a policy of aiding or promoting the military”.

Unfortunately, the country became militarised from the time when a state of emergency was declared in Western Region which was exacerbated by lawlessness of people. This was worsened by the inglorious January 1966 coup that was quickly followed by the vengeful July 1966 coup. Soldiers and civilians were slaughtered like chickens, goats, rams and cows in many urban and rural communities of Nigeria; then there was the insidious and genocidal pogrom.

The military, then, was highly-disciplined, behaved innocently like virgins in their barracks when they were released into the untainted public domain. They began to behave so widely as if they were earlier held under stress or with a short leash. The inglorious Nigeria-Biafra war made the entire soldier-civilian relationship much worse.

The “idle civilians” were manhandled all over the place; it is akin to suicide for an unarmed man to quarrel or struggle with a man who has live-AK45 rifle. A soldier is trained and has been sworn-in to kill for offence or defence and he/she is prepared always to die fighting or to survive at all costs.

Soldiers are trained and armed to fight for their nation even unto death whenever they are released and ordered to perform any military duty unlike the Police that do not kill fellow humans who they must handle during their operations with minimum force.

Nigerian soldiers got more heinous powers after the Nigeria-Biafra war when they continued with their military governance vis-à-vis more coups and countercoups where soldiers and officers became disvirgined from their soldiery innocence. They unmasked their giant masquerade of non-participation in civilian governance and got unfortunately-mired in partisan politics. The

National Assembly was dissolved; the Judiciary was there but was a lame duck; the military Presidents churned out decrees upon decrees as laws which must be obeyed or you go to prison.

The presidents, governors, ministers, many parastatals and organisations were run by the military under severe militarised conditions of actions/reactions. The highly-disciplined men and women in uniform who used to be well-respected in their military barracks became unduly-exposed and got mixed up with varied public officials in terms of mannerisms and idiosyncrasies.

The military men/women became idle and undisciplined civilians while some cantankerous civilians became militarised per se. As a result confusion in social anomie of higgledy-piggledy dimensions enshrouded the country. In fact, at a time one Air Force Four-Star General, when he was giving an explanation over a fighting quarrel with some civilians in Lagos, described his Air Force ratings as “mad dogs” when they had encounters with idle civilians. Soldiers and officers are always armed whether within or outside the barracks; where they are not armed, trust their espirit d’corps dynamism whereby they can quickly raise a combat force that could quickly rush from a nearby barrack in defence of one of their own. These aspects of unchecked power holdings give them undue influence/advantage/ authority in the public domain. They take laws into their hands such that they could attack or beat up anyone at will and at little or no provocation and even on members of Nigerian Police who suffer similar fate.

One thought that these weird behaviours of the military would stop when we returned to democratic governance in 1999. But no, rather, things/events seem to have gotten worse. Even though the National Assembly (the Senate and House of Representatives) was returned and the judges with the judiciary were allowed to make laws and interpret them accordingly, life has not improved much. The retired generals, brigadiers,

colonels, etc., who had tasted the forbidden fruit of governance refused to quit as many of them jumped into politics as sponsors of politicians or as direct participants. During their military interregnum, they made good money or had well-to-do contacts or both; these could sustain them in their new professions in political gerrymandering; so also are some retired soldiers who joined political parties where they could serve as loyal maiguards or security officials. That is why you have many retired military people still occupying similar offices in civilian democracy as they earlier occupied when they were leaders in military governments.

They may have removed their military fatigues but babanriga or agbada can hardly hide their military body, mind and soul. Someone who had been in the military for over 30 years; and participated in governance for many years; and continuouslytasted the perquisites/goodies of held-offices usually got intoxicated, refuse to give up. The civilians who had been colluding and collaborating with them become militarised with impunity and also try to behave like their friends in the military whether retired or still in service. As a result of their military connections, people act as overloads or Mafioso such that crimes, instability, disunity, hunger, poverty, injustice, etc., are commonplace.

That is why one can see that these negative trends and dangerous consequences have continued over the years till today. That is why some rulings/orders from the courts of the land are obeyed in the breach. That is why corruption and consequent impunity are rampant nationwide.

That is why some insurgents ran riot in the Northeast zone and have caused massive loss of lives and outgrowths of millions of refugees in IDPs. That is why even in these refugee camps, the hapless refugees are maltreated, stolen from, raped, etc. It is militarisation that has given birth to Operation Crocodile Smile as well as Operation Python Dance.

Prof. Egboka wrote from UNIZIK, Awka, Anambra State

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

EDITORIAL SECURITY CHALLENGES IN FCT

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There is urgent need for the authorities to take the issue of security much more seriously within the FCT

he recent abduction of some persons by people suspected to be a gang of hoodlums in Darka Village in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has called to question the security situation in the seat of political power. According to reports, the remote and isolated village in Kuje Area Council was visited by some deadly marauders and by the time they were through with their operation, no fewer than 10 persons, including young girls, were forcefully taken away from their parents. A few people were also killed.

However, we must commend the FCT Police Command for leading the operation that eventually led to the rescue of those taken hostage. The police, in a statement, said the stronghold of the attackers who specialised in raiding remote communities at night and robbing the villagers of cash and other valuables was destroyed during the operation. Regrettably, an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) ASC Anumudu Uche, was killed in the process. While we commiserate with his family, we also APART FROM THE ECONOMIC hope they will not RECESSION-INDUCED be abandoned by the SECURITY CHALLENGE IN authorities.

THE COUNTRY WHICH IS But if there is any VERY PRONOUNCED IN lesson to learn from THE FCT, THE PROBLEM the tragedy, it is in the fact that Abuja is vulHAS BEEN AGGRAVATED nerable.

Even though

BY THE INCURSION OF FCT Minister, the HERDERS WHO ARE Alhaji Mohammed ESCAPING WORSENING Bello and the FCT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN THE NORTH- Commissioner of Police, Muhammadu EAST Mustafa, have reassured the residents of the affected villages of the massive deployment of security personnel to forestall a recurrence, we strongly believe there is urgent need for the authorities to re-examine the security arrangement in the nation’s capital territory.

Given the current socio-political and economic

Letters to the Editor

challenges in the country, we will be compounding the problems if we create the impression, either by omission or commission, that the nation’s capital city is not safe. That is not the kind of signal we should be sending to the world at such a time as this when there is an urgent need to grow the economy.

Apart from the economic recession-induced security challenge in the country which is very pronounced in the FCT, the problem has been aggravated by the incursion of herders who are escaping worsening environmental conditions in the North-east/ North-west zones of the country. Soil erosion from destructive agricultural practices and overgrazing, along with shifting weather patterns attributed to climate change, and the dangerous security situation caused by the terrorist group Boko Haram, have transformed vast tracts of grassland into unfriendly areas, driving many pastoralists to flee. And this has placed additional pressure on land resources already being fought over by competing communities.

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t is suspected that these new arrivals into the North Central zone, including Abuja, generally lack any familiarity with local grazing routes or the surrounding populations, raising the likelihood of violent misunderstandings occurring. This calls for urgent intervention by the necessary authorities in the FCT. In the past, traditional leaders could have played an important role in intervening in some of these disputes that now border on criminality. Regrettably, many of them now command little or no influence over their subjects.

And deprived of opportunities to peacefully resolve disagreements over access to resources, many pastoralists seem to consider force as their only viable option. In the case of Abuja, the cow herders, who have several times been banned from the city, now behave as though above the law, operating freely every day and everywhere.

What the foregoing suggests is that there is an urgent need for the authorities to take the issue of security much more seriously within the FCT. Apart from physical security measures, the FCT and area councils should also devise measures to mitigate the ever-increasing economic hardship enveloping the citizens so as to reduce from the pool where criminals can recruit other members.

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.

WHY BUHARI SHOULD PRIORITISE UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE

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ecember is best known for celebrations around Mawlid and Christmas, but go ahead and mark one more commemoration down on your calendar that could make Nigeria stronger— Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day. UHC Day is marked on December 12 to commemorate the first unanimous United Nations resolution that urged governments to provide universal health coverage— “affordable, quality health care to every person, everywhere.”

Affirming health as a human right, the heart of this resolution can be seen in President Buhari’s public letter released ahead of the presidential poll, in which he pledged to “guarantee financial sustainability to the health sector and minimum basic health care for all.”

In other words, the President-to-be then pledged to guarantee universal health coverage. There’s just one thing—it hasn’t happened yet. Here are three persuasive reasons why President Buhari should prioritise UHC in Nigeria today: One, UHC would help end the health crisis in the country and promote a healthy Nigeria.

Although less visible than things that cause illness, the lack of accessible, affordable care is often the underlying driver for unnecessary illness and death. Take the plight of children in Nigeria as one example: one out of every eight preventable deaths in the entire world among children under five happen in Nigeria which also has the greatest number of new HIV infections among children in the world—an estimated 41,000—roughly equivalent to the next eight

countries combined.

Weak health coverage often most impacts the poor and vulnerable, exacerbating maternal and child deaths, outbreaks like Ebola, and infectious diseases like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. Most of these deaths can be avoided by increasing affordable access to primary health care services—allowing more children to grow up to be future teachers, engineers, and other contributing members of society.

Two, a healthier Nigeria will be a wealthier Nigeria.

For those who do access healthcare, it’s expensive. According to the World Bank, roughly 750 out of every 1,000 naira spent on health in Nigeria comes directly from Nigerian citizens’ pockets. (Compare this to smaller economies and poorer African countries like Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania, where citizens spend roughly 250 out of every 1,000 naira spent on health.) Especially for those without extra naira to spend, these high costs mean oftentimes people either won’t seek treatment or are forced to sell belongings or forego other essentials— like food for their family—feeding into the cycle of poverty and poor health.

But UHC can address these economic difficulties – not only for individual Nigerians, but also for Nigeria as a whole. The money Nigerians spend on health would be directed to other economic activities. Research done by Nigerian Professor Solomon Olakojo and others indicates that a 10% increase in health expenditure per person can lead to over 20% decline in the rates of deaths among babies and young children, which in turn would boost life expectancy. And increasing life expectancy by just one year can reap

huge economic benefits. Last year alone – had this milestone been achieved – it would have generated an additional N3.7 trillion.

Three, if UHC is implemented, President Buhari would leave behind a consequential legacy.

Along with leaders from countries like Ethiopia, Ghana and Rwanda, President Buhari could be on the cutting edge of UHC progress in sub-Saharan Africa. And when Nigerians are healthier and wealthier, he would rightfully gain recognition.

But providing UHC doesn’t just mean promising to do it; it means actually doing it. And the barriers to achieving UHC are not just technical, but political.

Nigeria, unlike some countries, already has a framework to get to UHC: the National Health Act (NHA), enacted in 2014. The law was seen as an important milestone towards Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria and seeks to guarantee access—both physical and financial—to basic healthcare for all Nigerians, particularly the poor who cannot afford to pay out of pocket to get a malaria or HIV test or to pay for delivery of their children.

President Buhari can take a powerful political step to fast-tracking progress toward UHC by budgeting for the implementation of the National Health Act this year.[i] That in itself would be a fantastic social investment that would cushion poor Nigerians especially those in the fragile northeast who have virtually no health services. Starting this medical revolution by facilitating primary health care and universal health coverage for Nigerians, would make the celebration of Universal Health Care day in Nigeria worthwhile.

Nachilala Nkombo, Africa Executive Director, ONE Campaign

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THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2016

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

POLITICS

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

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

Dickson: APC Has Destroyed Nigeria’s Economy The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, in an interview with journalists at the weekend, spoke on various issues affecting the state, its 2017 budget, infrastructure development and security. He also took a swipe at the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government. Emmanuel Addeh was there and presents the excerpts:

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an you shed more light on the N14.5billion just received from the federal government as refund for Paris and London clubs’ debts?

The N14.5 billion is a refund from excess deductions on account of World Bank, Paris club and London clubs and other bodies that the federal government took and repaid using state monies. You know our federation is a very ‘wonderful’ one where the federal government just throws what they like at you.

So, they saw that after what they did, they still owed the states when governors came together with the actual facts. Bayelsa and a majority of other states got the funds, especially when the federal government was confronted with the figures. So, all the states got the money and as a result of our transparency policy, we put out the figures in the public and any figure that we release is the real figure.

The money was sent to all the states, except those that benefitted at that time, but because of our transparency, it’s like it’s only our state that received the money and we are happy about that. We are empowering the people with the right information. The money belongs to the people and that is why the figures are out there.

And you know, the civil service has shown understanding in the last one year, when we had to manage very tough situations concerning our revenue.

In January, we almost didn’t receive anything.

We were getting N1.5 billion or N2 billion in a state that pays wages of almost N5billion monthly, not to talk of the local governments.

It was so bad. But we are one state that has not made any deductions from council funds. We don’t meddle with council funds. In this state, we have set a lot of records quietly. But our

It’s just that the economy has been destroyed by the government at the centre, the party at the centre, such that the naira that was N160 all the while that my party ruled at the centre has skyrocketed.

Because one thing we (PDP) did very well was the management of the economy and maintaining national stability, bringing Nigeria together…We did that successfully for 16 years. Now the economy has gone bananas. We are all suffering

Dickson...we are determined to deliver on our promises

people sometimes don’t find out details, they just like sitting in their homes and circulating rumours and posting whatever they like on the internet.

We only receive monies on behalf of the LGS in the joint accounts and channel it to them. I don’t even know how much they get monthly. That is what has been going on for almost five years and for as long as I am here, that is the way it will be. Local governments have autonomy and it is left for the people and the media to hold them responsible.

Part of the agreements we reached with the governors was that because of the issue of salaries, some of the money, about 50 per cent will be spent on salaries and pensions and other challenges.

The outstanding salaries are the first quarter, 50 per cent of salaries in February and march because we borrowed money to pay for January.

Now that we have these funds, even though we have so much to do with the money, I thought the finance team should work with labour leaders to clear the arrears because we don’t know what next year will offer.

They must clear outstanding February, 50 per cent and pay the current 50 to ensure workers receive their salaries for two months. The details will be released by the finance ministry. We hope and pray that next year will be better than this year.

The budget proposal for this year is christened ‘Repositioning and consolidation’, why that tag and how do you intend to implement it?

Firstly, in the last four years, almost five, we have embarked on an ambitious and aggressive programme of infrastructure development and deliberate expansion and that’s why I am not surprised that sometimes our people are surprised whether the state government might actually be able to do all these, especially with the financial challenges facing the state.

But I don’t blame them. We have made

investments in all critical areas, and so next year, so much will be done and so many of the projects will come to fruition and if we faithfully implement this budget, by next year, this state will have a paradigm and irreversible shift.

In the healthcare sector, visit the Bayelsa Diagnostics Centre, anything you want to do abroad, you can do there.

The Government House hospital has a public wing and the executive wing. So much is happening in education, agriculture, massive farms in cassava, aquaculture. I am not talking about the airport that is world class. We didn’t just start. For example, the issue of increased revenue drive is critical. In this coming year, Bayelsa will be modernised in terms of the internally generated revenue drive. You are going to see a lot of residential estates. Even in sports, the golf course, polo field, sports academy etc.

The attitude of not doing business in Bayelsa will be stopped. In that connection, we have provided for a N10 billion entrepreneurship fund. Five billion is the state government’s direct contribution while the Bank of Industry and Bank of Agriculture will contribute. Also our businessmen will be trained on the enterprises they want. We will give them land, farm settlements etc, but they will be monitored. Many young people will even become employers of labour.

Even civil servants, who have the mentality of waiting for 15,000, N20,000, who will say I want a voluntarily exit will be keyed in to business. We will set them up. In two years, we will produce champions, people who will grow up to be businessman and women.

What are your thoughts on the noise generated by government’s funding of the Niger Delta University?

That’s the policy of subvention to tertiary institutions. That’s also key! In this state, because of the way the state came into existence and

because of political upheavals, no governor stayed for eight years to follow through any programme of development. We have had a situation whereby the state-owned university and other institutions behave like they are only centres of cost.

We want them to generate revenue with government supporting in a more strategic sense. The current system is that every month we bring 500 million. In the last five years, we have been left with no resources to dedicate to the actual development of this university which is even more important than payment of salaries. We have said that every tertiary institution will only be entitled to subventions.

Lecturers, university administrators will from 2017 be prepared to put on their thinking caps.

But we have also created situations that will help. In this budget year, we have created a special intervention fund for education support, meaning funds kept aside so that we can build major facilities instead of leaving the institution like slums. All the administrators will come and speak big grammar – that the governor does not want to fund the university – where will the governor find the money when the salary budget itself is almost choking the government?

When you are paying N500 million a month for salaries, in a year, that comes to N6 billion. Even people who call themselves educational experts and elders, who have had the opportunity to chair the university board, did nothing to improve the fortunes of the university. But they will open their mouths and be criticizing, talking and inciting people.

We know their antecedents. One of them, a professor talking rubbish everywhere, doing things that elders should not do.

Meanwhile, he was chairman – Professor Okoko (Kimse) was chairman of the governing council of NDU and his friend, former Governor Sylva was governor for five years.

Even as chairman of the governing council, Kimse Okoko couldn’t build a block in NDU. He couldn’t bring about any change. But he criticises for the fun of it. The good thing is that we know all of them in this state. So, for the NDU, college of education, college of health technology, Otokiti, all of them in this year’s budget – there is good news.

It was my government, not that of Prof Okoko’s friends, from the creation of Bayelsa till now that set up a committee to look into the issue of development and we have received the preliminary report. We are looking at the departments that need development. But the people running it are more interested in their salaries. But we as owners own the greatest stakes and I have the mandate of the people.

Prof Okoko did not run for election. We will move the state to the next level.

We have the mandate to move the state to the next level. In the coming year, tertiary institutions will get strategic subventions to improve their facilities. But they must provide leadership in the school. The staff strength of NDU is almost double what other universities of its type have. They must know what to do with the school. Sitting down and expecting salaries to be paid and incite students and going on strike, make money and then account to nobody, spend the money on themselves and every month government must pay their salaries of almost N500 million. There’s no money for development after paying salaries. This budget will take us away from things that have held us down and free this state and set it on the path of sustained development.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

Electoral Act Requires Deeper Surgery The nation’s Electoral Act, as it is, requires a thorough review and amendment, writes David OnuohaBourdex

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t was with much relief that one observed the recent attempt by the Nigeria Senate to tinker with Electoral Act 2010 as previously amended.

However, desirable as the amendment to the Act is, particularly regarding what happens in the event of the death of a candidate before elections are concluded, the piecemeal approach to the amendment may not produce far-reaching results.

By its action, the Senate has shown that it is not only alive to its responsibilities, but also responsive to the yearnings of Nigerians. Nonetheless, in view of the observed electoral hiccups, I think the 2010 Electoral Act requires a deeper surgical procedure to address the multifarious challenges facing the country’s electoral system.

That being the case, I think what the two chambers of the National Assembly should do is to compile these noticeable flaws in the Act against the background of what transpired in the elections, starting from the 2015 general election through Kogi, Bayelsa and recently, Ondo governorship polls.

In tackling this very crucial assignment, it would be most beneficial for both chambers to liaise with the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Non-governmental organisations and other critical stakeholders in the electoral processes in the country. The federal lawmakers should also take a deep and searching look at various pronouncements

by Election Petition Tribunals and Courts on elections issues with a view to plugging all loopholes that enemies of genuine democracy exploit to undermine the right of the people to choose their representatives.

Those are some of the steps to be taken, but the issues to be tackled are many. One appalling aspect of Nigerian democracy, especially the electoral system, is the delegate system. It is hard to understand why a few individuals in a political party should be the ones choosing the candidates only for the voters to be invited to confirm their choice. This is arbitrary.

The correct interpretation of democracy and a good democratic process is that it should involve the people all the way.

What this means in the context of candidate selection is that the people should lead the way. For instance, selecting the standard bearers of various political parties for State and National Assembly election, the primary

Saraki

election should be at the ward levels involving card carrying members of the parties.

The importance of this approach is that it gives power to the people; the authentic members of the party who know what it means to choose a wrong candidate that would go to the main election and lose out to a better candidate.

Furthermore, this method would enhance the revenue base of the political parties.

How do I mean? Simple, the ward register of members of the party would reveal those that have been up to the minute in paying their membership fees and renewing their membership periodically.

This process would serve as a check on dubious party executives that are wont to trade with the party ticket or even transforming the party to automatic teller machines (ATM) during elections. It would also challenge the political parties to elect well-meaning individuals with credible sources of income and not gamblers, idle hands and touts.

Any political party that derives pleasure in bribery, money politics or corruption can allow aspirants to buy the votes of its members at the ward, but they should also recognise that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), would be happy to hold it accountable on the sources of income of the money bag as well as charge it for political corruption.

By taking the candidate selection process to the wards, the process also ensures that the prospective candidate is known by

the members of the party and that they are responsible for his selection. What this entails is that the beauty of democracy would be seen and appreciated by the people, as they begin to take active part and authority over their representatives.

Spreading out the primary election time-table in this way would also ensure that only those fully committed to serving the people get involved in politics, as opposed to the current system, where a few individuals acting as delegates gather to auction the parties’ tickets to the highest bidder.

This method, which is similar to what obtains in the United States of America (US), enables the people to carry out intensive and extensive background checks on the various candidates that are aspiring to represent them.

One other area the federal lawmakers should help Nigeria’s electoral system is in the area of ensuring that candidates, whose elections are being challenged in the courts do not get into that office until final resolution of the matter. In this regard, the onus of proof of electoral outcome should be on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

If INEC knows that it is going to bear the cost of litigation in disputed elections, it would have no option than to do a thorough job, instead of the present system where it quickly aligns with the beneficiary of a dubious mandate to delay trial or obfuscate justice. I had in an earlier intervention suggested that lawmakers, whose elections are subject to legal contestation should be entitled to half of their monthly stipend and allowances until the cases are dispensed.

But experience has shown that just like lawmakers facing election petitions fall back on the free and unmerited income to make the legal challenge so burdensome on the injured party, state governors use their huge security votes to ensure that they cobble the election petitions through inducement and payment of mouthwatering legal fees to their counsel, who in turn introduce time wasting technicalities to suspend justice.

In view of the foregoing – making INEC bear the onus of proof of electoral outcome, denying holders of disputed mandates from accessing the office in

question – it would also be helpful if politicians that defect from one political party to another for reasons not connected with disagreement with policies or ideologies are not allowed to contest election in alternate platforms until a specific period of time not shorter than two years.

The legislators could also explore the possibility of fixing the amount of money a political party should make available to its candidates in an election. This would help to address the inherent corruption that trails campaign funding and excessive use of money as inducement to voters during elections.

With the above few points, I know that the National Assembly will see with me that the Electoral Act deserves greater attention than the one item amendment the Senate has tried to address. There is a sense of urgency to rejig the electoral system now that the next general election is barely three years away, instead of waiting for the eleventh hour to rush through another legal document full of loopholes.

Finally, this is about the best time to harmonise all views about the card reader, incident forms and permanent voters’ card and voting outside the original domain of voters. It has been argued that if Adamu, Kolawole and Okoroafor could access their bank account through the ATM at any part of the country, the voters card could equally be programmed in such a manner to ensure that voters are not disenfranchised merely be changing their location during an election. The time is ripe for the country to imbibe full electronic voting, just like South Africa and Ghana are perfecting. The era of leaving room for human manipulation should be over and not allowed re-entry through the back-door.

As a telecom expert, I know the power of technology to solve physical challenges, particularly those concerning space and distance. If banks could get it right with verification numbering and biometrics, our PVCs could be programmed in such manner. We can exploit the benefits of technology in reforming our electoral system in full. The wonderful innovations of Professor Attahiru Jega, could not only be sustained, but also improved upon.

-Onuoha-Bourdex, a telecom expert and politician, wrote from Abiriba, Abia State

DICKSON: APC HAS DESTROYED NIGERIA’S ECONOMY Considering the enormity of these projects, do you think the money appropriated for works and infrastructure will cover these projects currently going on?

We have major deficit in infrastructure. We tried in the last couple of years to see what we can do, but because the economy is so harsh right now, as a result of recession, it’s easy to forget how some of these roads were, for example, Isaac Boro, which is eleven kilometres.

We conceived these projects. Sometimes, we create the impression that not only we do not like good things, if good things happen they find it difficult to appreciate. Bad belle.

Even elders who should know and encourage us to do more, instead they say it’s the federal government. Where is the federal government?

There is no one naira of federal government money here, including the airport. Sometimes, we don’t want to talk, but they keep pushing us to say things we don’t want to say. That is Bayelsa for you. We intend to complete these projects though very ambitious.

Most of these people don’t love the state.

They judge the government by how much they and their children get personally. You can build roads, hospitals and they still ask you what have you done? It’s a primitive mindset.

Back to the budget, it is not as robust as what we would have loved, but it’s a product of expected income. Last year, we only got 46 per cent of anticipated revenue. Our budget performance is therefore understandable. The

Igbogene bypass is there. Our roads are unique.

AIT side, elebele etc and that’s why we give them to reputable companies.

Given this economic reality, what accounts for the difference in sum between this year’s budget and next year’s and what has been the level of performance?

As I said, we only received 46 per cent of the budgeted revenue and that will give you an idea. If you look at that, it goes without saying the performance. But the difference in this year’s and last year’s budget is the increased revenue drive. There are states in Nigeria that get over N10biliion, N20 billion and some are pushing N30 billion of IGR. They collect permits, levies, taxes etc, that’s how modern states are run.

We are collaborating on increasing the IGR backed by legislation.

We will block leakages in revenue collection.

Now, we have a single account for all revenues accessible to everybody. We have the capacity to raise more money. This is a blessed state but we are trying to redesign the foundation. We have 43,000 to 45,000 people on our payroll, including the local councils. You know that this is a massive fraud – a massive welfare scheme that we call salaries for civil servants.

The state has rested on a weak foundation for so long. A lot of money that should have been used for infrastructure ends up in the wrong pockets – a wage bill of over N4 billion for state alone. If we can just save N10 billion of this,

the state will witness growth. We have actually received less money than my predecessors.

Today, we are sitting in the new governor’s office, which is a masterpiece. Dedication, commitment and vision have taken us here. Not taking newspaper adverts to wage war against anybody. We are not doing that and we will not do it. We don’t spend any money other than for development. The team we have is so committed. The decisions will initially be tough but it will eventually benefit the whole of Bayelsa.

What are your plans for rural and community development next year?

During my campaigns, I went round the state.

It was critical, yet it also opened my eyes to the reality of rural life and the potential. The ministry of community development will be very active in 2017. Almost all communities will be touched. In some communities, a N10 million walkway will make a difference. Next year, every community will have at least a health centre. Our diagnostics centre is second to none and our government hospital, the public has access to it.

The much awaited 500-bed hospital which my predecessor redesigned will be completed.

There are health workers that don’t go to work.

If you have been getting salaries without working, 2017 is your year of reckoning. Don’t risk dismissal that will mar your records.

Make yourself available and make your

intention to exit known.

Those who will remain in service, we will train; those exiting, we will key them into the entrepreneurial programme. Unfortunately, some of these people ran away with a lot of billions and these are the same people talking. That’s a story for another day.

There have been reported cases of herdsmen and farmers clash. As the Chief Security Officer of the state, what is the best way out?

We have been taking a lot of measures. We condemn the attitude of these herdsmen whoever they are. Some of them attack villagers and farmers. Part of what we are doing is to work with security agencies and the herdsmen themselves. Nobody should take the law into their hands, but we will not allow herdsmen to intimidate our people.

Any herdsman found with dangerous weapons would be promptly dealt with.

We will also open up ranches where our people will learn animal husbandry. It is wrong for cows to roam the streets. I have witnessed it myself. Security has been directed to put an end to that. We are aware of what is happening.

We have given them (the herdsmen) Bayelsa palm to use. We have over a thousand hectares there. Security is watching and implementing.

We never wanted to sensationalise the issue. Let me assure the people that they are protected.

Non-state actors cannot carry weapons around.

If they are found, call security.

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

FEATURES

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

Galaxy of Africa’s Literary Stars The 4th edition of Ake Arts and Book Festival has come and gone, but participants will continue to remember the superlative experience they had during the festival, writes Peter Uzoho

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ike never before, the festival held between 15 and 19 November, 2016, at the Ogun State Arts and Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, and witnessed a galaxy of African literary stars-writers, thinkers, artists, filmmakers, musicians, book lovers and art enthusiasts, who in different sessions, made this year’s edition more intellectually enriching, thrilling and memorable. Issues bordering on Africa were discussed in different perspectives, ranging from politics, religion, culture, language, sex and sensuality, amongst others, with reference from the authors’ works.

Among the artists were renowned Kenyan author, Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Nigeria’s Prof. Okey Ndibe, Kunle Ajibade, Toni Kan, Odafe Atogun, Leye Adenle, Helon Habila, Chinelo Okparanta and Teju Cole.

Others were Zimbabwean Tendai Huchu, Panashe Chigumadzi and Noviolet Bulawayo.

Also present were Jowhor Ile, Clement Aboifouta, Laila Lalami, Jennifer Makumbi, Pemi Aguda, Geoff Ryman, amongst others.

The audience comprising scholars and students, booklovers, and enthusiasts in literary and performing arts, who came from different African countries and beyond to see, listen to their idols, discuss their books and share knowledge and experience with them, also used the golden platform to make direct purchase of preferred books from authors which earned them author’s autograph at the point of purchase.

To both the artists and the audience, the festival offered them an opportunity to have a feel of a new environment, make new friends, gain new contacts and taste new delicacies.

With the theme ‘Beneath the Skin’, the festival hosted nine book chats featuring 18 authors like Alain Mabanckou, Helon Habila, Laila Lalami, Petina Gappah, Teju Cole, Panashe Chigumadzi, Tendai Huchu, Chinelo Okparanta, Noviolet Bulawayo, Jowhor Ile, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Odafe Atogun, Tade Thompson, Toni Kan and many more.

Already established and new artists were engaged in 12 exciting panel discussions where issues on identities, race, gender, mental health in fiction, and the rise and fall of African economies, were in focus.

There was exploration of sensational genres such as erotica, horror fiction, and prison stories. In two art exhibitions, the works of Laolu Senbanjo, whose ‘Sacred Art of the Ori’ featured on Beyonce’s latest album Lemonade; and Fatima Abubakar who captures the lives of the people of Borno State, in a stunning series of photographs, were brought to light. In an acoustic music concert with Brymo, Falana, Adunni and Nefertiti, the audience really had a good time.

On day one, shortly after the opening ceremony, the first book chat entitled ‘The Face of Tyranny’ was introduced, and Jowhor Ile and Odafe Atogun, whose stories were set in the 90s, which was during the Nigeria’s military era, fraught with oppression and tyranny, discussed their novels.

Atogun, reading an excerpt from his book ‘Taduno’s Song’ revealed that Taduno’s character in the story was modeled on late Nigeria’s music legend, Fela Kuti, who vehemently fought brutality and oppression with peace and music. Justifying his decision not to tie the setting of the story to a particular military leader’s regime, he said “the president in Taduno’s Song is representative of tyranny all over the world. Tyranny in the world has the same face.”

On his part, Jowhor Ile, whose book ‘And After Many Days’ shares the same theme of tyranny with Atogun’s Taduno’s Song, noted that the novel is narrated in the voice of Ajie, the youngest of the three Utu children- beginning with the disappearance

A cross section of participants during the 4th edition of Ake Arts and Book Festival held at the Ogun State Arts and Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta…recently

of the first son, Paul. He brought to light the sibling rivalry between Ajie and his older sister, Bibi, who he said, bears no resemblance to his own sister.

In a conversation session on day 2, the moderator, Kolade Arogundade, led the panel, made up of Toni Kan, Chinelo Okparanta, KiruTaye and Nana Darkoa, to discuss the topic ‘Legs Open, Eyes Closed: Sensuality in New African Writing’.

In response to the question on why they (the panelists) started writing romance, sex, and erotic fiction, Darkoa, who owns an award-winning blog, ’Adventures’, said “I started the blog after travelling with a group of women and we were talking openly about sex and our desires, and the horrible statistics- about 70 per cent of women not having orgasms. I wanted to write about sex in Africa.”

For Kiru Taye, author of over 20 romance novels, “I started writing because I wanted

The audience comprising scholars and students, booklovers, and enthusiasts in literary and performing arts, who came from different African countries and beyond to see, listen to their idols, discuss their books and share knowledge and experience with them

people to read about sex like me, since I read a lot of romance. I was trying to debunk the myth about sex. The African population is exploding, people are having sex and I wanted to talk about it.”

Chinelo Okparanta, Nigeria’s US-based author of ‘Happiness Like Water, and Under the Udala Trees’ contributing on the argument on what gives them the power to write about sex when in most African societies, sex is a no-go area during conversation, said, “when we talk about sex, we are talking about power. Shame is the power that we give others to wield over us, so when I write I take back my power.”

In his argument on whether ‘men are guilty of kissing and telling and boasting about their sexual encounters’, Toni Kan said, “Men tend to exaggerate their sexual conquest and prowess. Besides, there’s this thing about shame in sex with women. If a woman has a one night stand with a man, she is considered loose, but for a man, it’s just another sexual conquest,” Kan added.

In another book chat, Zukiswawanner, led Laila Lalami, author of ‘The Moors Account’ and Tendai Huchu, writer of ‘The Maestro Magistrate and The Mathematician,’ to explain the concept of identity as captured in their works.

“I see identity as something that is fluid,” Lalami said, in reference to the identity of Mustapha, the main character in her novel.

According to her, the question of ‘what are you, not who are you’, holds sway among people. “And how that shows people trying to figure out what is your actual national origin,” she added.

Speaking about her sensitivity to names, Lalami noted, “There is a connection between our names and our history.” She revealed that such interruption from the outside was something she had wanted to write about.

Viewing fiction as irrelevant as reflected in ‘the mathematician and the magistrate’- two of the characters in his novel, Huchu argues “I have many doubts as to what it is this art form is for or what it does, especially when people start talking about how it can transform society and all those things. I’m a bit of a skeptic, and I think it was part of my own personal skepticism appearing through the characters. But I also thought it would be cool to have characters themselves that are saying that this thing that we are

in is nonsense.” To him, fiction does not always solve man’s problem like hunger.

Also lending his voice in another panel with his compatriots, Panashe Chigumadzi and Noviolet Bulawayo, while talking about their works and country, and how the past 50 years of Zimbabwe’s history impacted them as writers, Huchu said, “To ask me to exclude the things in the country I was born is asking too much, it is my reality.”

For Chigumadzi, “Zimbabwe for the past 200 years is a particularly interesting place and it was only natural for my imagination to reside in Zimbabwe.” She noted that while her family had left Zimbabwe when she was three to live in South Africa, she never stopped being Zimbabwe partly because her father kept her country alive for her and being Zimbabwean in South Africa, in a way, made her different.

For Bulawayo, writing about Zimbabwe in her first novel was something she had no control over. “I could not write it. But now that I have done this thing, I can go beyond it,” she said. Bulawayo noted that she was not sure of the reception her current project would get as it was going to be different from one of her works ‘We Need New Names’.

In the face of the challenges Zimbabwean writers had in getting their stories published for people to read, there were yet alternatives.

“We see narratives from guys who, with certain resources, might have decided to tell their stories through literature,” Huchu noted.

According to them, other media stories being told were through serialised novels in newspapers and on Facebook, and also in short video clips that often went viral via WhatsApp. For Chigumadzi, it was “a time when people had to find ways to say things in convoluted ways because of censorship.”

Activities for day 2 got to a crescendo at the cinema hall, where the heroic film documentary of Clement Aboifouta, ‘Hissène Habré: a Chadian Tragedy’, was shown. The film chronicled the horrible state of Chadian citizens who went through what is commonly regarded as ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ in the hands of their military dictator, Hissène Habré, and his men, from 1982 to 1990.

Though, their eyes and minds were prepared to watch and withstand imminent shock

21

• T H I S D AY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

FEATURES from the nasty visuals in the film, through a close-up showing a man with cuts on his neck, chin and ribs, the audience could not resist their natural impulses, as most of them would scream, almost shedding tears. Their senses of pity and sobriety were energised, eclipsing the moment of enjoyment.

With Aboifouta as guide, the camera roams through the houses of victims, roving over their faces as they describe the horrors faced in the hands of the dictator’s men. Habré ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, and in that time, over 40,000 people were killed, and many more enslaved, imprisoned, maimed, and made victims of other horrifying acts.

Interestingly, the documentary did not end without seeing justice triumph over Habre and his evil rule, thanks to a female human right lawyer and activist, Jacqueline Moudeina, who was instrumental to bringing justice for the victims. Describing Moudeina, Aboifouta said, “She has a lot of admiration.

She was very young and just starting to be a lawyer. She was attacked by the DSS and injured. Yet, she was with them for 15 years on the journey to justice.” Hissène Habré met his waterloo in May 2016 as he was finally sentenced to life in prison.

Giving insight into the process of selecting the sources of his story, Aboifouta said he was “careful to ensure all their stories were true and non-fiction.” He noted that it was painful for him to listen to the victims because their stories reminded him of his experience- he was imprisoned for four years.

He believes leaving the country is not an important thing for him because that would be seen as abandoning his responsibilities.

On reconciliation, he said: “There’s the need to write all that has to be written on the page of justice before moving to the page of reconciliation.” This thought was shown in the documentary when one of the victims faced his torturer who was reluctant to seek for forgiveness even after admitting his own callousness during the regime. He chose, instead, to ascribe the things he did to simply following orders.

In seeking justice, Aboifouta spoke of the importance of secrecy of their operations, of hiding their documents as they went getting the dictator to pay for the crimes he committed. In the process, they had the support of organisations like the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, European Union, among others. But more still needs to be done in support of the victims, especially in their health, which, until now, they’ve had to deal with on their own.

The final day saw the hall full to the brim as the audience was well-seated to witness the long- anticipated session, where renowned Kenyan literary icon, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Kunle Ajibade, in a panel moderated

by Molara Wood, discussed their prison experiences. Both authors were imprisoned by the government of their countries for their writings. Ngugi wa Thiong’o was sent to prison by Jomo Kenyatta for writing a play in Kenyan language, while Ajibade was incarcerated by Nigeria’s dictator, General Sani Abacha, for allegedly taking part in a coup to topple his government.

Both read particular chapters from their prison memoirs before the audience. Ngugi read from his ‘Writing on Toilet Paper’, while Ajibaje read from his ‘I am digging for Gold’. This led to a question by the moderator, Wood, who asked Ngugi, if his prison writing was a way of starting a struggle writing in literature.

He said while in prison, he pondered why he was put in prison for writing a play in a Kenyan language, Gikuyu, which he said was the same language with Jomo Kenyatta.

“I understood the politics of language in prison. When people conquer another, they impose their language on them. For example, when Japan colonised Korea they imposed their language and names on them,” he said.

Expressing his displeasure over the suppression of African languages, citing scenarios where in schools, children are punished for speaking in their local languages, he urged, “We must all campaign against the criminalisation of African languages in our schools. We should stop it.”

Ajibaje, narrating his own prison experience, said he started writing in prison after General Yar’Adua was found dead in prison.

“I began to think I will not make it out of prison,” he noted.

“Reading and writing in jail was a freedom

R-L: Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Molara Wood and Kunle Ajibade, panel discussants at the 4th edition of Ake Arts and Book Festival

L-R: Tendai Huchu, Panashe Chigumadzi, Noviolet Bulawayo and Zukiska Wanner, in a conversation

Ngugi wa Thiong'o,commending Mrs Lola Shoneyi, for initiating the festival Mr. Clement Aboifouta,(middle),Dr Olaokun Soyinka(Right),and a French translator at the event

we fought for. For my first year in prison, I was treated like a hardened criminal. I was only allowed to read the Bible or Quran.

After the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni nine, human rights organisations clamped down on Nigeria.”

According to him, “I gained the freedom to read after I wrote a letter to the warden who said, why not? Part of the responsibility of our occupation is to speak out for the masses.”

Reacting to the question on finding God and faith while in prison, Ajibade said, “I have always been Godly long before prison but not religious. The Bible and the Quran are wonderful books. I have always

recommended them. If there's any take away from the punishment of prison, it's by reading those books (Bible and Quran) thoroughly.”

Contributing, Ngugi added, “In Prison I always looked forward to the Muslim prayers because of the powerful singing.

Writers are a part of the prophetic tradition of the Bible.”

Apart from having similar prison experience, both share one other thing in common.

Both had children while in jail. Ajibade had a son, while Ngugi had a daughter, and they both agreed that the birth of their children gave them courage to persevere.

Responding to a question from the audience

on whether their prison experience and their struggle for a better society is worth the kind of democracy in present day Nigeria and Kenya, Ajibade said, “There’s nothing in this life you can get without struggling.

You just have to be vigilant and resilient.

So yes, prison was worth it.”

Adding his thoughts, Ngugi chipped in, “Life in itself is a struggle. You only stop struggling when you die.”

Meanwhile, it was all fun and fanfare going into the night, as poets took control of the stage, thrilling and entertaining the audience with their scintillating poetic renditions, a session running concurrently with palm wine sipping and drinking.

22

IMAGES

Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu (left), congratulating his deputy, Ude Okochukwu, after this chieftaincy installation as ëëIKEOHA OHAFIAíí by the Ohafia Local Government Council of Traditional Rulers at the council headquarters...recently

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

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

L-R: Manging Director/Senior Vice-President, Addax Petroleum, Mr. Cornellius Zegalaar; General Manager, External Affairs and Government Relations, Addax, Mrs. Dorothy Atake; Director Technical, Addax Petroleum, Chief Chike Nwosu; and Mrs. Chike Nwosu, at the Addax Petroleum 2016 Christmas Charity concert & party to support the less privileged in Lagos...recently ETOP UKUT

L-R: Chairman, St. Ives Communications (owners of WFM 91.7), Dr. Babatunde Okewale; acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr Waheed Olagunju; Chief Executive Officer, WFM 91.7, Mrs Toun Okewale-Sonaiya; and Mrs Bisi Fayemi during the Voice of Women (VOW) conference & award presentation in Lagos...recently

L-R: Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), Pastor Odun Emasealu of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), The Life Centre Abuja and the Regional Coordinator, RCCG Europe Mainland Region 3, Pastor David Sola Oludoyi, during the 2016 Christmas Carol Service in Abuja...recently STATE HOUSE

L R: Secretary, Archdiocese Organisation, Mrs. Patricia Uwabor; President, Ibadan Archdiocese Laity Council, Mr. Steve Olasupo; and Rector, St. Paul Institute & Chairman, Planning Committee, Rev. Richard Omolade, during a press conference on the celebration of the 50th priestly ordination anniversary of Archbishop Emeritus of Ibadan, Most Rev. Felix Alaba Job, at St. Josephís Catholic Church, Oke Ado, Ibadan...recently FELIX ADEMOLA

L-R: Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuoso; Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adebowale; and Head of Chambers, 1st Counsel Solicitors/Medical Law Consultant, Mr. Laolu Osanyin, during the first Nigeria Medical Law Summit 2016, organised by the Senate committee and 1st Counsel Solicitors in Abuja...recently

L-R: Chairman, JKN Limited, Chief John Odeyemi; President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief Dr. Mrs. Nike Akande; and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, during the presentation of Grand Star Award of Oodua to Akande by the Ooni in Ile-Ife, Osun State...recently

National President, SWAN, Mr. Honour Sirawoo (left) presenting an award to the Chairman, Nigeria Beach Volleyball Commission, Mr. Musa Nimrod, during the 2016 SWAN award and N10 million appeal fund for a bus organised by SWAN, Kaduna State...recently IDRIS EGAJI

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

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BUSINESSWORLD NIBOR OVERNIGHT 1-MONTH

R A T E S 4.150 15.8625

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Group Business Editor ChikaAmanze-Nwachuku Email: chika.amanzenwachukwu@thisdaylive.com 08033294157, 08057161321

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EXCHANGE RATE N305 US DOLLAR AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes OGSADC Targets N200m IGR in 2017

The Ogun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OGSADC) has set a revenue target of N200 million in the next fiscal year.

The General Manager of the Corporation, Mr. Femi Soremekun disclosed this during the year 2017 budget defence before the committee on Appropriation at the Ogun State House of Assembly Complex, Abeokuta.

He said in 2016, the corporation targeted 100 million as revenue and was able to surpass its target to achieve N133 million as October 2016.

Soremekun however, highlighted some of the plans geared towards achieving its goals to include pruning of existing trees and slashing of 350 hectares at Ibara Orile cashew plantation and construction of additional bee hives for honey production.

Other plans by the Corporation included purchase of 15,000 point of lay birds for its Balekan and Oke-Eri poultry projects , as well as continuous maintenance of existing rubber trees at Remo rubber plantation, while raising of 60,000 sprouted seeds and planting of oil palm and arable crops has also commenced.

MTN Sagamu Feeds 300 Prison Inmates

A BOOST FOR JOB SEEKERS

L-R: Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu; Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Founder/Chief Executive Officer, Emplug, Azunna Chukwu, during a demo for the Vice President on how Emplug connects job seekers and service providers to employers in a very social way at the just concluded e-Nigeria held in Abuja...recently

Nigeria Spends N793bn Annually on Importation of ICT Equipment Stories by Emma Okonji Despite her economic situation, Nigeria spends over N793 billion ($2.6 billion) annually on importation of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Isa Ali Pantami has said.

Pantami who made the disclosure at a technology forum in Lagos recently, said the trend in importation of ICT equipment into the country is on the rise and could hit N44.835 trillion ($147 billion) by 2020,

ICT if it remained checked.

Besides, he said, the trend would impact negatively on Nigeria’s local content development, since a lot of local equipment manufacturers would suffer defeat and loss of businesses as their products would not be patronised.

“If you look at the amount of money we spend annually on the importation of goods and services of ICT you will be amazed. It is approximately around $2.6 billion annually and this amount is projected to reach around $147 billion

in 2020. It is almost six times our current budget. And that is why we are putting more pressure on our local currency (the Naira). There is no strategy on developing our local content.

We are focused on sourcing forex and importing something into our nation without crosschecking whether we have it in our nation locally or not,” Pantami said.

He insisted that Nigeria would continue to lose huge amount of money to capital flight, if the trend persists, and called for the right policy implementation to address the ugly trend.

He said ICT regulation and the promotion of local content remained essential to sustaining real growth and the building of indigenous capacity for Nigeria.

“Without regulation, you cannot in any way promote our local content; you cannot in any way encourage and motivate people to patronise locally developed products, and this has to change fast in order to protect our local industries,” Pantami said.

Industry stakeholders who supported the views of Pantami, blamed the situation Continued on page 24

Stakeholders Advocate Unlicensed Spectrum Band Telecommunication stakeholders have called on the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to set aside unlicensed spectrum band that will be used free of charge by smaller operators who have the capacity to provide clusters of telecoms services in remote areas, but could not afford to participate in spectrum auction because of the heavy cost implication.

The operators made the call against the backdrop of the recent sale of 5.4GHz spectrum band in Abuja, by NCC, where it raked in N55 million from the auction of two slots of 25MHz in the 5.4GHz spectrum for the delivery of wireless broadband in Lagos State. At the conclusion of the auction, where six bidders participated, only two eventually won, Cobranet Limited and

TELECOMS Swiftnetworks Limited.

The stakeholders who faulted the NCC for auctioning the 5.4GHz spectrum, spoke at a technology forum in Lagos, organised by the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON). They stated that the NCC was supposed allow certain spectrum as unlicensed, to enable smaller operators use them free of charge to provide services in remote parts of the country.

The former President of ATCON, Mr. Lanre Ajayi said regulators in other jurisdictions have unlicensed spectrum, and wondered why NCC decided to auction all available spectrum, without reserving any as unlicensed.

According to him, NCC

should have cleaned up the spectrum and make it more viable for auction, since it is interested in selling all available spectrum. He said the 5.4GHz spectrum has a lot of interferes that would affect speed of business, and that those that bided and won, did so because they did not get the right spectrum to buy. He wondered why the NCC has refused to license the 2.6GHz spectrum, which he said is a better spectrum for delivering broadband services to the people.

Addressing the issue of spectrum hoarding, the stakeholders called on NCC to introduce spectrum trading, where operators who may have bided and won certain spectrum licences, but could not rollout the services for various reasons, could trade such spectrum to

other operators that are willing to buy and are equally ready financially to rollout the service.

President of ATCON, Mr. Olusola Teniola, was however worried about the situation where smaller operators who participate in spectrum trading would be able to meet the rollout obligation.

Responding, the Director, Spectrum Administration at NCC, Austin Nwaulune, defended the sale of the 5.4GHz spectrum, insisting that the spectrum was sold on purpose and in a very transparent manner.

“The 5.4GHz spectrum was not sold because NCC needed to make money for government. It was sold because NCC wanted to encourage smaller operators who needed the spectrum to Continued on page 24

As part of their annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities geared towards reaching out to its host communities, Cura Communications Limited, partners to MTN Nigera in Sagamu recently held a programme where they visited Sagamu Prisons and the ever busy Sabo bridge area of Sagamu town to bring succor to the needy and less-privileged people of the community.

At the prisons the team, which comprises of staff and management of MTN Sagamu office met and interacted with the inmates and shared messages of hope and encouragement with them.

The team, which was led by MTN Shop Supervisor, Mrs. Cynthia Jonnie Eze, Cura Communications’ Business Manager, Mr. Stephen Osadiaye, and Regional Service Manager Akano Olaitan, stated that the annual event is organised yearly as a way of giving back to the people of Sagamu for their loyalty to the MTN brand.

About 300 inmates were later fed and presented with a symbolic cake with the inscription “We Luv U”.

Other items distributed to the prisons inmates, included sleeping mats, tooth brushes, and tooth pastes, buckets, MTN branded hand fans, water bottles, books and pens for the warders and other officials of the prisons.

Also at the popular Sabo Bridge, the team was met with an unprecedented crowd where food and other items like detergents, food stuff were distributed to the women, clothes and shoes were equally given to the men present.

Dana Selects Spectranet for Free Wi-Fi

In what appears to be a subtle endorsement of Spectranet as the fastest and most innovative broadband service provider in the country, Dana Air has joined the growing list of reputable brands associating with Spectranet to enjoy its unique broadband service offering. Disclosing the partnership with Dana Air recently, Chief Executive Officer of Spectranet, David Venn, said: “Its gladdening to note that the Spectranet brand is now a wonderful bride of great and aspiring brands within and outside Nigeria. Just right after we got selected to warehouse the only Netflix server in West Africa, here we are again with an indigenous world class airline company, with a great spirit of service, joining with us to provide excellent service to passengers of Dana Airline as they journey to Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt from the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 terminal.”

The significance of this partnership, according to Mr Venn, is that it shows and confirmed the Spectranet brand as an innovative brand and a leader in its sector based on its relentless effort to provide the best Internet experience to consumers.

Speaking on the relationship with Spectranet 4G LTE, the Chief Executive Officer of Dana Air, Mr. Jacky Hathiramani said “as an airline of repute and strong pedigree in the aviation sector, we took our time observing the broadband service providers and came to the conclusion that Spectranet is the brand we should associate with.

“Nigeria has several key indices that are attractive to foreign investments, and one of them is our large population size that is over 190 million people” Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Etisalat , Ibrahim Dikko

24

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD NIGERIA SPENDS N793BN ANNUALLY ON IMPORTATION OF ICT EQUIPMENT on weak enforcement of government policies, which they said could be good and practicable, but lack the willpower to implement and control.

One of the stakeholders, who is the President of the Institute of Software Partitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Mr. Olorogun James Emadoye blamed the federal government for policy inconsistencies and poor implementation. He recalled that the federal government, through the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette, wrote a letter with Ref No SGF/ OP/1/S.3/VII/795, to head of civil service commission, ministries department and agencies (MDAs) of government, on the need to patronise made -in -Nigeria products, including procurement of locally assembled computers and locally developed software. He said the letter directed all federal MDAs to comply with the directive, but expressed deep dissatisfaction that such directive was never implemented. The situation, he said, has grounded several local manufacturers of ICT products and equipment in the country, whereas importation of ICT equipment still thrives in the country.

STAKEHOLDERS ADVOCATE UNLICENSED SPECTRUM BAND rollout services, hence it was sold at N55 million, which is far lower that previous licences auctioned by NCC,” Nwaulune said.

He further explained that the same spectrum was put out for auction some ten years ago, but operators were not interested in it because there were no telecoms infrastructure and devices that could drive its rollout. He said such infrastructure and devices are now readily available, hence NCC decided to auction it.

He insisted that devices are key factors to spectrum rollout and that where there are no devices to boost rollout, the spectrum becomes unattractive for auction.

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 (Cap Mkt) Ejiofor Alike (Energy) James Emejo (Nation’s Capital) Obinna Chima (Money Mkt) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (Maritme)

NEWS

NICON Pays Claims to 40 Unity Schools Students Ebere Nwoji NICON Insurance Ltd, said it has paid claims on its Students Welfare Insurance Scheme to about 40 students from Unity Colleges across Nigeria who lost their parents.

According to NICON, the claims arose from the death of the named sponsors of students of various Federal Government Colleges in different parts of Nigeria.

The cheques were presented to the beneficiaries’ principals at the annual general meeting of Principals of Unity Colleges in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Speaking during the presentation of the cheques, the chairman of the conference and principal of Queen’s College, Yaba, Dr. (Mrs.) Lamin Amodu, praised NICON Insurance for the prompt payment of the claims, which she said, has ensured that the bereaved students can complete their secondary education.

According to her, the payment of the claims has renewed the confidence of the association in the company and urged all principals to cooperate with NICON in the implementation of the Student Welfare Insurance Scheme (SWIS).

SWIS, which is an innovation from the stable of NICON Insurance Limited, ensures that students of Unity Colleges can complete their education in case their named sponsors die sud-

denly or is unable to work due to permanent disability arising from accident.

According to the policy contract, NICON will pay the fees and upkeep of such students if the unexpected

happens during the school session.

The company also pays medical benefits of the student involved in an accident during the session.

The Chief Marketing

Officer of NICON Insurance Ltd, Samson Davies, said the company is concerned about the future of students especially when their sponsors are no longer able to pay their fees.

He added that the company

is updating its database in order to enrol the students involved in all the 140 Unity Schools, so as to be able to meet its obligations to policy holders within the shortest possible time.

COURTESY VISIT

L-R: Executive Director, Commercial, Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) Mr. Abu Ejoor, Chairman, Board of Directors, Mr. Gbolade Victor Osibodu, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and Managing Director/CEO, Mrs. Funke Osibodu during the courtesy visit by the Board and Management of BEDC to the Governor in Benin …recently

Experts Identify Engagement, Funding, as Galaxy Backbone, Elements of PPP NIGCOMSAT Sign MoU on all stakeholders. That is why ensure that policy makers, Connectivity Services Raheem Akingbolu effective communication must project designers and other For Public–Private Partnership (PPP), to work for infrastructure delivery in Nigeria, there is urgent need for stakeholders to prioritise the review of existing legal framework, address adaptive and social challenges, effective communication and stakeholder management as well as gender and social inclusion, experts have stated.

These experts spoke at a two-day colloquium organised by the Center for Ethics and Sustainable Development (CESD), held at the University of Lagos. The theme of the forum was; ‘Reshaping the Infrastructure Delivery Landscape for Sustainable Development in Nigeria.

Some local and international bodies, include; Australia Awards Africa, Access Bank Plc, Globacom Nigeria Limited and Keystone Bank Plc, supported the colloquium.

A PPIP expert and Professor at the University of Queensland Business School, Brisbane, Australia, Neil Paulsen, said communication among all parties must be effectively carried out in order to foster easier and faster infrastructure delivery. He also emphasised the need to identify potential stakeholders and involve developmental institutions to facilitate proper delivery.

“One of the key success points of ensuring effective communication is Consensusbuilding and Stakeholder Engagement. Again, in all PPP initiatives, there must be clear and visible benefits for

be a two-way street in which the stakeholders must be kept abreast of information. Above all, infrastructure projects must make good sense to stakeholders,” Prof. Paulsen said.

While emphasising the importance of feedback mechanisms, the university don singled out tools which provide effective communication to include; information, consultation involvement, collaboration and empowerment. He also pointed out that communication for diverse audiences must be taken into account.

Earlier, the convener of the initiative, Dr. Olajumoke Akiode, who spoke on Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) in Infrastructure Delivery, emphasised that gender and social inclusion was a collaborative and inclusive means of infrastructure delivery that caters to the concerns and needs of all stakeholders- men, women, the disabled, and other vulnerable groups. A 360 degree way of thinking that leads to better practice and outcomes should foster inclusion and empowerment of women and other vulnerable groups.

Infrastructure delivery is essentially about the people, their concerns, issues and needs should be incorporated into the project design. It is essential that Policy makers, financiers and project designers become GESI aware” Akiode said.

She added that GESI mainstreaming begins with the government and its inclusion in Infrastructure delivery would

stakeholders wear the “others” shoes A Lagos based legal practitioner, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, urged the government to review laws relating to infrastructural development in the country, arguing that most of the existing laws are outdated.

Ogala said legislative decisions that prevent development and implementations should be amended in order to achieve sustainable legal framework for infrastructure delivery in Nigeria.

Ogala said security, law and order are key items which ensure good delivery of infrastructural projects and a holistic approach to reshaping infrastructure delivery is essential.

On his part, Mr. Vince Onyejeli, Associate Director, KPMG Nigeria & West Africa, who spoke on “Traditional and PPIP Procurement Models: Adaptive and Social Challenges”, stated that PPP encompasses the participation and collaboration of all key players in the society. He said funding is a critical issue which needs to be addressed in its entirety. He also emphasized that social challenges responsible for infrastructure deficit include varied interests that defeat the purpose of PPP projects by making them more expensive than traditional procurement, political interference, improper management of stakeholders both those who will be impacted negatively or positively and those who will benefit from the projects

Dele Ogbodo in Abuja Galaxy Backbone, a leading ICT infrastructure and services provider and NIGCOMSAT, a Communications Satellite Operator company have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) designed to improve efficiency, reduce cost and avoid duplication in the provision of connectivity services to government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

At the signing ceremony, which was recently concluded in Abuja, the CEOs of both agencies, Yusuf Kazaure and Abimbola Alale, stated that the partnership was in keeping with government’s commitment to leverage ICT for job creation, improved security and economic diversification.

Kazaure, added that the synergy will accelerate social inclusion as well as supports the National e-Government master plan as a tool to improve governance and efficiency in the delivery of quality public services.

The MD of Galaxy Backbone said: “With the increasing impact of disruptive technologies, the provision of modern, efficient and adequate ICT infrastructure, facilities and services to public institutions in the country will accelerate the Ministry of Communications’ pole vaulting strategy of turning Nigeria into a 21st century economy and society.

“The transformative role of ICT for improved delivery of

public services provides the basis for the continuing investments in infrastructural assets that Galaxy has been making over the years in order to empower MDAs towards meeting their mandates and making life easier for the citizens whom they serve.”

Under the terms of the partnership, Galaxy will be responsible for all terrestrial and last mile connectivity services to the MDAs, while still responsible for its hub operations, Galaxy will also purchase all its required satellite space segment bandwidth from NigComSat on agreed payment terms.

In her remark, the MD/CEO NIGCOMSAT, Abimbola Alale, said that the company will provide excellent and secure connectivity solutions to all its customers while conserving capital flight and improve local content development in the ICT sector in the country.

NIGCOMSAT, according to her, is a leading communications solution provider in Africa, through its satellite NigComSat1R which provides a regional beam over Africa Continent with strong footprints across West, Central and Southern Africa.

The MOU, which spans five years in the first instance, is a cost cutting tool for government and an example of collaboration between agencies to create value, localisation and optimisation of resources, amongst other benefits.

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Broadband as Catalyst for ICT Growth in 2016 Emma Okonji examines the impact of increased broadband penetration and other key indices that drove development in the information and communications technology sector in 2016

Danbatta

When the federal government approved the five year national broadband plan in 2013 with a projection to attain 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018, up from eight per cent penetration level in 2013, little did Nigerians know that the country will achieve such broadband target, given the infrastructural level of the country as at then.

Although government itself was convinced that the broadband target was achievable if the right policies and infrastructure were put in place, it, however, did not know how it will achieve the targeted penetration level.

Between 2013 and 2015, broadband penetration struggled to reach 10 per cent, a situation that created some atmosphere of uncertainty as to whether Nigeria could attain 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018. But in 2016 the ICT sector witnessed tremendous growth in mobile broadband penetration, which the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the industry regulator, put at 20 per cent penetration. The rapid penetration in mobile broadband, no doubt, triggered development in the ICT sector, leading to the massive rollout of 4G LTE network among telecoms operators and Internet Service Providers ((ISPs).

Attributing the rapid growth of ICT in 2016 to increased broadband penetration and other indices such as big data, telecoms infrastructure and proper regulatory framework, stakeholders have said Nigeria would surely meet and surpass its broadband target of 30 per cent penetration by 2018.

About broadband In technical parlance, broadband is a type of high-speed internet connection that has surpassed dial-up as the standard way to connect to the internet. Broadband packages come in all shapes and sizes, from cable broadband to 3G and 4G mobile broadband.

Alternatively, it is referred to as high-speed internet or wideband transmission. Broadband provides a variety of channels of data over a single communication medium. Today, there are wide varieties of broadband technologies available in most areas and several organisations like Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies offer broadband service.

Broadband penetration Statistics obtained from NCC’s website showed that broadband penetration from 2011 to 2013, was at paltry eight per cent. But the figure rose slightly to 10 per cent between 2014 and 2015.

Mobile broadband, however, climbed to 20 per cent in June 2016, occasioned by the global shift from voice telephony to data communications, as well as the increased number of smartphone devices that are currently in the market, which

Ajayi

are the preferred devices to access the internet.

Commenting on the growth of mobile broad and in the ICT sector, former President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) Mr. Lanre Ajayi, told THISDAY that the ICT sector witnessed tremendous growth in 2016, saying one major factor that triggered such growth was mobile broadband, which suddenly reached 20 per cent penetration within few months.

“The ICT sector witnessed tremendous growth in 2016, occasioned by increased broadband penetration, which gave room for the rapid launch of the fourth generation long term evolution (4G LTE) technology. With increased broadband penetration, most industry players had to launch their 4GLTE, and with this development, many Nigerians now have faster access to broadband and the internet,” Ajayi said.

Contribution to GDP Citing the current statistics on telecoms contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), as released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in June this year, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta said telecoms’ contribution to GDP, moved from $18 billion in private sector investments, including foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2009 to $30 billion in 2014 to $32 billion in July 2015 and to N1.58 trillion as at June 2016, which represents an increase of 1.0 per cent, relative to the first quarter in 2016.

Danbatta quoted the NBS as saying “This is the largest contribution to GDP made from the telecoms sector in the rebased period, which emphasises that growth in telecommunications has remained robust when compared to total GDP.” Advocacy The ICT industry, especially the telecoms sector, witnessed increased advocacy in 2016, from the telecoms consumer right group, like the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), as well as from Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), the umbrella body of all Nigerians practicing computer and computational related programmes.

The advocacy from NATCOMS, was in the area of the proposed communication tax bill that has passed the second reading at the National Assembly, which seeks to increase communication tax by another nine per cent. The President of NATCOMS, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo and the President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Olusola Teniola, where among the several Nigerians who protested the planned communication tax bill, and called on the National Assembly members to drop the idea, which they said

Ogunbanjo

would be inimical to telecoms growth in the country, as subscribers would be made to pay more for telecoms services rendered by telecoms operators. While NATCOMS threatened to drag the National Assembly members to court to seek redress should the proposed communication tax bill be introduced, it also assured Nigerians that it would mobilise civil society organisations, Nigerian students, and coalition of Nigeria Consumer Association, for a five million man-match to the National Assembly in Abuja, to protest the proposed communication tax bill.

For ATCON, its president, engaged the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and members of the Senate over the proposed communication tax bill, where Teniola made a presentation, highlighting the dangers inherent in the planned bill.

Teniola told Saraki and the Senate that the bill, if eventually passed into law, would exclude 10 per cent of the population of telecoms subscribers, which is over 20 million, from getting access to telecommunication services.

Teniola explained that whereas the survival of the Nigerian economy is about attracting more citizens to gain access to internet and telecommunications services, the bill would cut down on access to ICT services.

Another area of advocacy in 2016, was in the area of price floor for data services introduced

by NCC. Sensing that the introduced price floor, which is a template that sets price regulation for data service offering, will hike data tariff across networks, Nigerians, championed by NATCOMS, vehemently objected to it and made strong protest to NCC and the National Assembly, which compelled the NCC to suspend the idea and asked all operators to revert to the old price floor, and to maintain the status quo until the conclusion of study to determine retail prices for broadband and data services in Nigeria.

The Director, Public Affairs for NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, who announced the suspension, said it became necessary, following the general complaints by consumers across the country, who perceived that the interim price floor would lead to hike in the cost of data services across networks. He said the decision to suspend the directive was taken after due consultation with industry stakeholders.

Still in the area of advocacy, NCS also engaged the federal government in the area of policy formulation and implementation that would accelerate growth in the ICT industry.

Service quality The issue of service quality did not raise so much dust in 2016 unlike previous years. Some stakeholders, who spoke on the issue of service quality, said there was no noticeable drop in

service quality this year. They explained that the industry rather experienced slight improvement in the area of service quality in 2016.

They, however, called on telecoms operators to ensure good service quality across networks this Yuletide season, as subscribers would be making lot of calls and sending text messages to their families and loved ones during the season. Ogunbanjo, who said there was slight improvement on service quality this year, also commended telecoms operators for maintaining cheap prices for voice and data services in 2016.

According to him, aside fair pricing in telecoms services, the operators were able to introduce value added services and promotional activities that further dropped the prices of data services across networks in 2016.

“Data services got cheaper in 2016. We were buying 1.5GB of data per month for just N1,000, as against the cost of data bundle which sold for N1,000 for 500MB data in previous years,”Ogunbanjo said.

Regulation Subscribers and industry stakeholders have commended NCC for its regulatory framework in 2016. Ajayi commended NCC for maintaining its policies on technology neutrality, which he said was well demonstrated by NCC in 2016.

He explained that NCC regulated the activities of telecoms operators without delving into regulating the technology that drives growth in the sector. He also commended NCC on the manner at which it handled the introduction of price floor for data service, but expressed his worries that over-reduction in data prices might not be too good for operators whom he said, needed to make marginal profits to remain in business.

The challenges Speaking on the challenges that bedeviled the ICT sector in 2016 most industry stakeholders pointed at forex as a major challenge for industry operators. According to ICT operators, the devaluation of naira coupled with the scarcity of dollar, created a lot of challenges for the operators, especially those operators that depended largely on importation of telecoms equipment for their businesses. Since they carry out purchases in dollars, it became difficult for them to raise the naira equivalence just to make purchase in dollar. They called on the federal government to take urgent steps in addressing the issue of forex in the coming year, in order to ease ICT business in the country.

Although there were pockets of challenges as witnessed in the ICT industry in 2016, its gains however surpassed such challenges, a situation that has brought a lot of commendations to NCC and the industry stakeholders.

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Nwosu: Nigeria Must Leverage on Digital Records Storage Technology The CEO, Secured Records Management Solutions, Dr. Sam Nwosu, spoke with Emma Okonji on the need for organisations and government agencies to take advantage of records management solutions in the digital age. Excerpts: We are in a digital age where a lot of information is stored digitally. How will Secured Records Management Solutions help organisations with digital storage?

One of the cardinal basis for the existence of Secured Records Management Solutions Limited (SRMS) is to add value to organisations’ document management methods. Most organisations, especially outside the shores of Nigeria, have been keying into digital storage as an effective means of document or record storage hence the popularisation of the cloud storage system in most western countries. To this end, we have forged partnerships with some foreign companies, acquired requisite skills and expertise, and necessary tools and solutions to ensure that organisations are able to key into digital storage seamlessly. Our goal is to be the partner of choice to our customers by implementing process management and integration that would achieve near paper-less environment, and bring greater productivity, digital transformation and operational excellence to our customers’ routine workflow as well as industry-specific processes. Our solution can improve organisations’ workflow process, increase information re-use, eliminate redundancy, securely control content, and avoid conflicts and data losses. With our digital insurance concept, we have assisted many organisations in different industries (banks, pension managers, insurance, telecom, hospitals, law firms, accountants, among others to develop organisation-wide strategies for managing and protecting vital records.

In spite of technology evolution, most companies and organisations, including government agencies, are still involved with paper documentation. What are the likely risks associated with paper and physical/ manual documentation?

There are a number of serious risks associated with manual or physical documentation. Some of them include risk of information loss arising from fire outbreak, flood disaster, wear and tear of documents and information theft by even your employees. These risks can lead to another risk called ‘litigation risk’, owing to the inability of the organisation to produce vital information pertaining to clients. There was a report on one of the major banks, which was forced to settle out of court because the bank could not locate supporting documents, which would have been used to defend its case against a lawsuit. Other risks include customer loss, employee turnover arising from job dissatisfaction, profit depletion and a host of others. Some businesses remain reluctant to see digital document management as a necessity. The ones that formulate a digital business strategy around a document management system usually find themselves in a better position than those that do not.

For example, most of the vital documents that can never be recovered from the recent fire outbreak at the University of Jos library building, would have been recreated digitally.

Every forward-looking organisation should focus on controlling, managing, and protecting company data, often in the form of documents; it is an initiative that touches every facet of a business.

How will digital documentation add value to economic growth of a nation?

From an understanding of the drivers of economic growth, one would realise that digital documentation adds value in many ways but I will attempt to throw some light on it. First, it ensures the productivity of employees in such a way that employees are productively allocated to job functions across the organisation, results are achieved more speedily and then they derive job satisfaction from performing their tasks; and mind you

and equipment, and allows organisations to utilise staff more productively.

How can your solution be localised to meet the federal government’s drive for local content development?

The drive for local content development especially in the information technology (IT) industry is not something that can be achieve overnight; it takes a process. One way we are going about this is to create valuable partnerships with some of these foreign companies and in the process knowledge is transferred locally to Nigerians and from there other activities can spring up. One amazing thing about our company is that these solutions are deployed and implemented in its entirety by Nigerians as we have got some really smart Nigerians working with us and I can say it is a good step towards achieving the goal of the federal government in terms of local content development. As a foremost provider of solution for document management and data protection, and to achieve a one-stop shop solution, we design portals and software application and customize them to suit customer needs…and I am proud to say that all these are done by Nigerians, though some of them were trained abroad.

Nwosu

this has a direct influence on human capital development. Another is that it increases the response time to clients’ needs as information regarding clients, are available at the click of a button, hence, giving rise to increase in activity turnover and generating more revenue for the company to carry out its activities and engage in corporate social responsibilities.

Document management improves a business’s ability to provide great service, to do more with less and to use their business assets – both data and people in an entirely modern way. One method of valuing the economic growth of a nation is by measuring the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), which is the aggregation of all goods and services produced by private and public entities. This implies that the adoption of any program or process that enhances productivity of workers and speeds up decision making at all levels of management is a value-adder. Also, it reduces organisations operational costs and maximises profit for the company hence more taxes for the government to carry out its activities. I could go on and on, but the point is that digital documentation is of economic importance for companies and the government alike.

In addition, any business that aligns its digital strategy with a document management strategy is in a better position to centralize information, dissolve silos, and build interdepartmental and external workflows that are much easier to scale as the business grows.

Tell us more about your document management solution Document Management Solutions SRMS’ digital insurance (document management) programme, achieves systematic storage and tracking of documents, facilitates faster decision-making, enhances collaboration across departments, minimises human errors, and consolidates seemingly different technologies.

Our solution increases ease of retrieval and speeds up the pace of work while eliminating errors that arise when a document moves from one department into another. It’s a three-pronged and holistic approach.

According to industry experts, on average, an employee spends 18 minutes searching for a document, but with our fully integrated document management system, this process takes 10 seconds. To save 17 minutes on

finding any file for any department within any workflow is like adding a full headcount to the organisation.

SRMS is advantageously positioned in the business of converting paper documents / records into digital imagery; index and customise according to customer metadata preference; storage; and electronic retrieval from anywhere and anytime. To provide best practices for document security, access, and compliance, we have entered into partnership with several Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) solution providers, including M-files and Microsoft SharePoint. Our EDMS solution solves the challenges of managing, finding, and tracking documents in today’s information-intensive organisations.

What is physical record warehousing all about?

Walking into so many establishments today, you would realise that documents and records are piled up in the office in such a way that they compete for work space with the employees, be it government establishments and privately owned companies.

So, what physical records warehousing or physical archiving entails is that organisations can now contract the safe keeping of these records and documents to us at an efficient cost level and free up their work area and space for more productive activities. Ideally, the warehouse facility has a look and feel of a library, except that instead of books on the shelves, you have standard boxes. This is promulgated by the regulatory requirement of a retention period within which all vital records must be preserved. To drill down on the description of physical records warehousing, I use the concept of ‘Space Economics’…

Record keeping requires administrative cost for filing equipment, office space, and staffs to maintain an organised filing system or to search for lost records when there is no organized system. For example, in Lagos Island, especially Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Banana Island, it costs over N80, 000 per square meter of office space, versus a small fraction (less than 30 per cent) to store the files off-site with professional records management company like us. A proper records management program creates an opportunity to achieve significant cost savings in space

When you disengaged from the service of Nokia Nigeria, a telecoms company, as Country Director, many thought you were going to set up your own telecoms company, but you deviated completely into record management and documentation. What may have informed the shift in career?

You are right. After over 25 years in telecom, I was seeking to offer a solution that could be ‘industry agnostic’ - meaning, a solution that can be embraced by any industry. At Nokia, we never subscribed for cheque books because there was no need for it as most processes, including payments, are fully automated. I was intrigued by such discipline and I wanted to integrate workflow automation into the traditional document management system to achieve a one-stop shop solution. The demand for our solution spans across all industries, including financial institutions, telecommunications, hospitality, and government agencies.

Besides, I get fascinated and pleasantly ticked by the trail-blazing opportunity to venture into something that can positively disrupt the traditional ways of thinking and doing things.

Telecommunication is growing exponentially in Nigeria since the inception of GSM in 2001. Can that be said of record management solution in the near future?

Absolutely. The truth is that companies are already realizing the outstanding benefits of digitization and proper records management and are beginning to key into it. In the near future, any company that refuses to adopt it will be faced with the dilemma of “adopt it or face the ugly consequence.” History has shown that companies that failed to embrace popular ‘killer’ Apps have disappeared. Does anyone remember Wang & Olivetti typewriters? The reason is because it will be a major criteria for which companies’ ability to meet up with customers demand and needs will be measured and any company not meeting that is as good as dead.

I believe that the passage of the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) into law in Nigeria and the proliferating agents of digital revolution (such as Big Data analytics, Internet of Things, Cloud technology, Software-based digital therapies and Machine learning, etc.) have created an inflection point, which guarantees a hockey-stick growth in the space.

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Web4Africa Launches Services at Rack Centre Stories by Emma Okonji To serve its Nigerian and West African customers better, Web4Africa, the Pan African web hosting company, has launched its web hosting services in Rack Centre, the Nigerian Carrier neutral premium data centre colocation company.

Accredited by the Internet Corporation for assigned names and numbers (ICANN), and the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NIRA), and

founded in 2002, Web4Africa offers Web Hosting, Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting, Domain Names and related services to clients worldwide.

With presence in Rack Centre, Web4Africa became the first hosting company to offer web services physically from Nigeria from a Tier III data centre with comprehensive global connectivity.

The Managing Director of Web4Africa, Mr. Oluniyi Ajao said: “Rack Centre has

provided a cost-effective carrier-neutral environment with 100 per cent uptime since launch and the hosting of the Internet Point

of Nigeria at Rack Centre, which allows several internet service providers and network operators to exchange traffic making it a perfect location

for our West African network point-of-presence.”

Managing Director of Rack Centre, Mr. Ayotunde Coker, while lauding the move by

Web4Africa to Rack Centre, said: “Web4Africa is a key player in delivering local Cloud services hosted here in Nigeria, delivered in Nigeria.

Microsoft, Code.org Begin Free Coding Tutorial Microsoft Corp. and Code.org have unveiled the Minecraft Hour of Code Designer, a coding tutorial for students and educators created for Hour of Code.

It was announced at the annual global campaign held during Computer Science Education Week in Lagos recently. The new web-based tutorial that is available for free enables beginner coders to create and share their own simple “Minecraft” game, and is designed to empower anyone to begin learning the problem-solving and critical thinking skills required in today’s tech-fueled world.

Created by “Minecraft” game designers at Mojang and Microsoft, in partnership with Code.org, the fun and easyto-learn one-hour experience builds on the success of last year’s record-breaking “Minecraft” tutorial, which reached more than 30 million students worldwide. With the goal of inspiring millions more to try coding for the first.

With the immense popularity of “Minecraft” around the world, Microsoft and Code.org

believe the tutorial has the potential to reach people of all ages and likeness. Women and girls already compose nearly half of the game’s global fan base. The tutorial also underscores Microsoft’s commitment to ensuring all young people have the opportunity to learn computer science, an economic and social imperative in this era of digital transformation which Microsoft aims to reach students most likely to be among those without access, particularly girls and minorities.

CEO, Microsoft, Satya Nadella, said: “We are partnering Code.org again this year to make computer science more accessible to millions of youth around the world with ‘Minecraft’ and Hour of Code.

I am inspired by the ‘Minecraft’ generation who view themselves not as players of a game, but as creators of the new worlds they dream up.”

According to him, this is the generation that will imagine, build and create our future, and together we can equip them with the computational thinking and problem-solving skills to seize the opportunities ahead.

ENHANCING SCHOOL LEARNING

L-R: Brand Marketing Manager, OLX, Fife Aiyesimoju; Secretary of the Women Voluntary Organisation, and Founder, Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care School, Rev. Adebayo Adeyemi- Cole; Country Manager, OLX , Lola Masha, and PR & Communications Lead, OLX, Uche Nwagboso; during a courtesy visit of OLX management and staff to the school where OLX painted the vocational section of the school, located in Akoka, Yaba, Lagos...recently

Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies Demonstrate LTE in Africa Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, have announced a successful demonstration of over-the-air Gigabit Class LTE in Africa with the use of licensed spectrum.

Peak data speeds over 900Mbps were recorded using Ericsson Radio Access Network equipment and a Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE modem mobile test device.

Gigabit Class LTE means up to one billion bits of information delivered to a mobile device

in a mere second. In technical terms, that’s LTE Category 16.

The demonstration continues the long-term cooperation between Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies to support African operators in bringing advanced communication technologies and enhanced user experience to their subscribers.

Vice President Business Development, Qualcomm International, South African Branch Office, James Munn, said: “This achievement of Gigabit Class LTE download

speeds with Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson is an important milestone on the road to Africa’s first 5G networks. This continent’s first announced demonstration of this technology using licensed spectrum makes use of the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem, which is expected in multiple devices during the course of next year, and underlines Qualcomm Technologies commitment to African ICT development.”

While smartphone owner-

ship continues to increase exponentially with consumers still restricted by a lack of fixed broadband availability, mobile broadband is the most common way to connect to the internet in Africa.

For example, 83 per cent of Nigerian mobile phone subscribers rely solely on this channel. Research indicates that LTE networks will serve 50 per cent of the population in 2021, according to Ericsson Mobility Report Sub-Saharan Africa of 2015.

NWOSU: NIGERIA MUST LEVERAGE ON DIGITAL RECORDS STORAGE TECHNOLOGY What are the likely indices that will propel the adoption of record management solution in Nigeria?The risks as already talked about is a major propellant for the adoption of record management solutions or digitisation.

As companies increasingly face the need for innovation to stay ahead of competitors, cut cost, improve employees’ productivity, and hit target profits, they will soon realize that document management solution is the right step in the right direction.

Some businesses remain reluctant to see digital document management as a necessity.

The ones that formulate a digital business strategy around a document management system usually find themselves in a better position than those that do not.

We have heard of cases of fire disaster where organisations lost valuables to fire outbreak. Can that happen when documents are digitally stored?

We have been pioneering the term “digital insurance” and what this tells us is that we may not be able to stop fire incidents from occurring, but we can surely cushion the effect of fire outbreak on our company’s activities and ensure eventual continuation of operation as though nothing had happened. The fire may destroy the offices and the documents stored in them but it cannot burn down the cloud or the disaster recovery plan put in place alongside.

For example, once documents are converted into digital imagery and electronically stored, they can be easily retrieved when disaster occurs. Therefore, document management solution is the best bet.

Do you see cost as an impediment to the adoption of digital documentation in Nigeria?

I do not see cost as an impediment to the adoption of digital archiving in Nigeria because at the end of the day it is built to save cost rather than increase cost. What I think is the major impediment is the lack of knowledge of the benefits of digitization which we at Secured Records Management Solutions are striving to bring to an end by informing and enlightening the populace through publications, seminars, and direct engagement with potential customers. I would caution potential customers to be careful in selecting providers because there are ‘fly by night’ companies that may claim to be experts, but with minimal or no technical prowess to execute and achieve delivery excellence.

What are the processes of digital documentation and how easy or difficult is it for organisations to adopt?

Our document management programme is robust. It spans from conversion of physical documents into digital format to workflow integration and automation What we do is to first understand or assess companies’ operational processes and then draw up an action plan that meets the business needs. An integral part of our value proposition is to help our clients in saving cost, generally operation expenses, and as such, we would leverage on existing software applications and simply overlay our solutions on top.

Depending on customer needs and the complexity of existing software infrastructure, we may integrate our document management solutions with existing business processes for optimal business performance.

So there are no one best fit for all organizations’ adoption. As for the ease or difficulty to adopt, we offer training at the end of each

engagement to walk our clients through the process of retrieval of electronic documents and teach them how to maintain best practices in end-to-end document management.

What is the response level of Nigerians to digital documentation?

I can state unequivocally that for every person or company we have come across since we commenced business, we have usually left them impressed. It is a relatively new concept and as such, I expect the adoption to be gradual as companies become more familiar with the benefits and the opportunity cost of taking no action.

While we are the only company to the best of my knowledge that is involved in providing end-to-end document management solutions, including data protection, we have discovered that there is no blanket demand for all elements of the value chain. This suggests that the adoption rate may vary by services, which is driven by individual organization’s unique situation.

What efforts are you making to get government’s buy-in into your record management solution?

We have been working closely with various government arms on this and striving to implement very innovative solutions across many government parastatals and agencies.

While the efforts continue, I must say that the government have taken very impressive steps in its adoption of digitisation as so many processes in many government agencies are being digitised as such we are enjoying the government support for our Value Proposition, but there is still great scope for the application of unique solutions to modernize government’s

organisation and process.

What do you intend to achieve with the introduction of record management solution in Nigeria?

One of our goals for the introduction of records management solution in Nigeria is to bridge the gap between what is obtainable outside the country and what is obtainable in Nigeria.

By so doing, we hope to help companies achieve a higher level of collaboration in the workplace; increase their employees’ productivity; reduce cost and maximize profit; guard against the effect of organizational hazard; and generally improve the level of efficiency and effectiveness in the workplace.

When this is done, Nigeria will be better positioned to take its rightful place among the developed countries in the world and will surely not miss out on the fourth digital revolution.

What are the key challenges for your company right now?

Like every business entity operating in Nigeria today, SRMS is also grappling with the challenges associated with a contracting economy.

However, we view the current challenges not in terms of threat, but rather as an opportunity to help our numerous customers to cut costs of operation.

Of course, the problem of fluctuating foreign exchange affects us in relation to critical inputs that require sourcing foreign exchange, for example equipment and software. Above all, in the current operating environment, it is an arduous task to access optimal financing for our planned warehouse infrastructure expansion project. Nevertheless, we are optimistic that the tide will turn in no distant future.

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Uber to Cause More Technology Disruptions in Transportation Emma Okonji Having grown from 250 cities in 2014 to over 450 cities and 70 countries in 2016, Nigeria inclusive and with over one million drivers in its employment, Uber has promised to trigger more technology disruption in the transport space, especially in Nigeria, given the many business opportunities.

General Manager for West Africa, Uber, Ebi Atawodi, who made the disclosure at a media briefing in Lagos recently, listed the next technology disruption to include initiative to introduce

Uber Pool and Uber Eat to its transport business that has totally changed the face of intra-state transportation in cities where it has presence.

Giving details of the disruptive technology, Atawodi said the Uber Pool initiative would allow more than one passenger who travel the same route at the same time to ride together in one Uber Taxi, and share cost. This, she said, would eventually reduce the cost that a single passenger would have paid when riding alone in Uber Taxi.

The other initiative, which is Uber Eat, will allow passengers make orders for food

of their choice while riding Uber Taxi and the food will be delivered in minutes, fresh and hot for the comfort of Uber riders.

“Technology disruption will never end and we will continue to seek news ways that will make life very comfortable for all our riders, since change and disruption are the keys to unlock potentials in the digital age,” Atawodi said.

According to her, the initiatives have been implemented in some parts of the world, but Uber is still studying the Nigerian environment in terms of infrastructure and the market readiness to introduce

the initiatives in Nigeria. She, however, promised that the initiatives would be launched in Nigeria soon.

Speaking on the advantages of technology disruption in the transportation space, the Operations Coordinator, Uber West Africa, Atta Arome, said it would help to reduce congestion on the roads, as more people use Uber Taxis; reduce tear and wear on personal cars; extend the lifespan of roads; and crate lots of employment opportunities for drives.

Addressing the issue of training and re-training of drivers, Atawodi said Uber had been organising constant

training for its old and new drivers, to enable them make better use of the google map in navigating their environment.

“Uber carries out online training for its drivers and they are also trained on how to use video and read the google map,” Atawodi said.

She called on all riders of Uber Taxis to report unruly behaviour of any driver for prompt disciplinary action.

She equally asked riders to show some respects to drivers during communication for the purpose of mutual respect and understanding.

She encouraged more Nigerians to download the Uber app

and engage the services of Uber for all their intra-city transportation, in order to enjoy the comfort that Uber brings to all its riders.

“Gone at the days when people walk distances to wait for a roaming taxi and pay more because the driver has to factor in the quality of fuel burnt whole roaming for passengers. From the the comfort of the home and office, people could actually engage the nearest Uber Taxi that will come straight to the persons home or office for pickup and the convenience is always guaranteed,” Atawodi said.

Experts Urge Nigerians toTake Advantage of FinTech Products Experts in the technology space have urged Nigerians to take full advantage of the products and services emanating from Financial Technology (Fin Tech) companies. According to them, the call became necessary following recent reports on the how economies are built on digital finance.

The experts were of the view that tomorrow’s economy would be built on digital finance as the world looks for alternative and faster ways to achieve inclusive growth, empowering individuals, businesses and governments to carry out cheaper and more effective transactions.

One of such experts, SystemSpecs Executive Director, Deremi Atanda, while citing the McKinsey report for September 2016, which reinforces the projection, giving insight that “widespread adoption and use of digital finance could increase the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of all emerging economies by six percent, or a total of $3.7 trillion, by 2025,” said it goes on to explain that additional GDP will generate 95 million new jobs across all sectors of the economy, provide access to 1.6 billion unbanked people, while governments could gain $110 billion yearly by reducing leakages in public spending and tax collection.

“As one of the emerging economies, Nigeria is poised to leverage the opportunities associated with this projection.

This year’s KPMG FinTech Report says Nigeria is fast becoming a dynamic ecosystem bursting at the seams with opportunities for FinTech start-ups,” Atanda said.

According to current statistics, less than 50 million people have bank accounts in Nigeria’s population of over 170 million people, 115 million of whom are youthful and use mobile phones for financial transactions. Not surprisingly, FinTech companies are cashing in to launch products cutting across lending, payment, transfer, purchasing, investing/ borrowing and switching.

Paga, PayPal, PaywithCapture, QuickTeller, GTMobile, eTranzact and Remita are only a handful of the dominant players in Nigeria’s burgeoning FinTech industry. Collectively, they have made financial transactions much easier, eliminating the need for consumers to join

long queues in banking halls or restrict their financial transactions to official work hours Mondays through Fridays.

Some FinTech products such as Remita have gone beyond basic financial services to impact government finance and national bottom lines massively. Launched in 2006, Remita is an electronic platform that helps the government, corporate organisations, SMEs and individuals make and receive payments easily.

It aggregates multiple bank accounts, giving customers the ability to perform the complete suite of eTransactions.

On September 15, 2015, Nigeria adopted the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, praised at home and abroad for returning over N4.3 trillion cash assets to the country’s treasury.

The policy, initiated by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration but implemented by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, stipulates that government funds generated from taxes, levies and tariffs should be deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and disbursed subject to stringent procedures to ensure accountability in the management of government cash resources.

For years, the government’s attempts to adopt TSA were unsuccessful, as the CBN lacked the technological capacity to manage the retail aspect of the policy. A foreign e-technology platform, RTGS, initially expected to drive the payment leg of Nigeria’s TSA project, was subsequently found to be unsuitable for retail payments.

SystemSpecs came into the picture and wasted no time overcoming this challenge with Remita.

According to Atanda, one year on, the government has identified and closed over 17,000 ministries, departments and agencies (MDA) accounts and transferred the recovered funds to the TSA. Deposit money banks have also been constrained to diversify their sources of deposit mobilisation rather than rely on these idle funds which yielded interest for faceless individuals and groups while the government was starved of funds.

Remita, according to Atanda, processes over $30 billion worth of transactions every year, and that is just within Nigeria.

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE

L-R: Comrade Segun Oni of Federal Polytechnic, Ede; Comrade Mohammed Eneji of Federal Polytechnic, Bida; President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola; Comrade Olusegun Taiwo of Federal Polytechnic, Kaura-Namoda; Comrade Benjamin Rosemary of Federal Polytechnic, Auchi and Comrade Abdullahi Ilyas of Kogi State Polytechnic, when the students conferred an award of “National Outstanding Performance” on Teniola in Lagos...recently

Emplug Set to ReduceYouths Unemployment Emplug, a business social network platform, with target on youth employment and empowerment, has restated its commitment to engage millions of job seekers, through its technology platform.

Unveiling the platform at a media briefing in Lagos on Tuesday, its Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Azunna Chukwu, said the platform would eliminate middlemen who extort money from job seekers, without giving them the jobs. The platform is designed in such a way that it would link job seekers directly to employers who actually need their services.

To benefit from the platform, candidates are expected to register to become members of the platform and have access to every information shared on the platform.

Apart from linking job seekers directly to their employer, Emplug also organises technology training and mentorship for members on the platform, and at the end, provide seed capital to fund business ideas from among members of the platform, to make them competitive in business.

According to Chukwu, Emplug would set aside 30 per cent of its revenue to fund technology start-ups

that have received training and mentorship from Emplug.

According to him, Emplug would develop a strong and reliable data bank from where information could be sourced by members.

Giving details of the benefit of the platform, Chukwu said members of the platform could access the data to provide information for people who need them. For instance a member of the platform who needed to fix his laptop or to fix some plumbing facilities in his or her home, could send a text message across the platform asking for help and how he or she could get an artisan to handle the job, and any one from among the platform who can offer the service or who has idea of someone that could offer the service will reply within the platform, providing solution.

The platform, he said, was designed to also create eCommerce space among members, where people are connected and share information regularly.

Although the platform serves as a one-stop-shop for funding of technology start-ups within the group, Chukwu said Emplugis open to investors who are ready to invest in the business of developing and empowering the Nigerian youths.

Uwaje to Represent Nigeria at IoT Summit in Geneva The Director General, Delta State Innovation Hub (DSIHUB), Mr. Chris Uwaje will be representing Nigeria at this year’s first global Internet of Things (IoT) Summit holding in Geneva, Switzerland from June 6-9, 2017.

Uwaje, who has been selected into the steering committee of the Global IoT Summit, will be speaking on Nigeria’s interest when discussions are held on country’s participation in IoT, which is the next big technology that is tipped to connect the rest of the world, including devices that will be communicating to humans on a daily basis.

Designed to explore IoT innovation, global convergence and international cooperation, IoT Week 2017 expects to bring together, the research and industry IoT community, with the international organisations to address emerging IoT technologies and applications in various application domains. General Chair and President of the IoT, Sebastien Ziegler, said: “IoT is rapidly evolving with the substantial risk of not paying attention to safety, reliability, privacy, security, and interoperability.

Research has a fundamental role to enable a globally interoperable IoT and to

make it right.”

He further explained that the summit would attract experts from industry and research in current and emerging technologies such as 5G-based IoT, softwaredefined IoT, IoT-centric Cloud Computing, including the Social IoT. TPC Chair Dr. Antonio Skarmeta, said: “The selected technical topics seek some maturity in IoT across the board. There are many facets that need research and experimental pilots to put the pieces together and give IoT innovation a roadmap.”

Global IoT Summit 2017 is supported by the IoT Week of the IoT Forum, The IPv6 Forum, the IEEE 5G subcommittee, the IEEE SDN-NFV subcommittee as well as the IEEE BiG Data TC. It will be collocated in Geneva with the IoT Week 2017, bringing together cutting edge research results, the IoT innovation community and the UN system with a unique worldwide outreach.

The Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of the IoT technical subcommittee supported by IEEE ComSoC, has announced the launch of the 1st Global IoT Summit (GIoTS) and the call for papers is open for submission.

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Ladipo: Change Campaign Requires Good Processes to Deliver on its Promise A former president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria Mr. Rufai Ladipo, in this interview with Raheem Akingbolu, revealed how practitioners can creatively turn the recession to opportunities. He also evaluated the various positioning measures being undertaken by the current administration to launder the image of the country. Excerpts: How would you assess the state of the Nigerian advertising vis avis what we have now and in the past?

I must admit there has been marginal improvement, but as I have always said, we still have many milestones to cover if we are to rub shoulders with global creative giants. For starters, aside from a handful of some stunning work coming out of two or three creative agencies here, ‘am not convinced we are there yet. But the question we ask ourselves is why has lacked of creativity persisted. In my view, it could be attributed to lack of relevant exposure. See, the creative mind is not conventional. It cannot be.

Creative types are known to be wild. They do the unexpected and break all barriers. Let’s travel down the memory lane of one of the earliest MTN and Guinness television ads: “Mama Na Boy,” and “My Friend Udeme.” These were classic ads that have stood the test of time. They are memorable, funny, educative, entertaining and above all, informative. These ads were beyond your regular cause and effect proposition that is predictable and expected. Creativity has moved beyond where we are today and if our industry is placed on the Global Creative Competitive Index, I doubt if we can score above average.

So, what’s the way out? Exposure. That is, exposure to great works, extensive reading, letting the mind go and creating something out of nothing. I have seen a recycling of ideas.

Originality is lacking in some instances and to be creative you must free your minds and allow your imagination run wild. Yes, training is also key, but you just have creativity in you.

Yes, you can have the rudiments, but it cannot take anyone far.

The economy is currently going through a difficult patch called recession, with the fear that marketing budget will be the first victim, how best do you think practitioners can make themselves attractive to brand owners at this period?

I have a different view. In fact, this is the best time for practitioners to make some good bucks. This is the time brand owners want to spend less for more; so any ad agency can take advantage of this window of opportunity that the economic slowdown has presented to us.

But the Nigerian psyche is somehow different.

We want it the old ways of “brand manager arrangement,” where merit takes the back seat; where anything goes as long as the Piper from his or her “exalted” seat continues to dictate the tune for personal enrichment and aggrandisement.

For me, it’s not about big budget that some of us crave, it’s about quality work that can stand the fullness of time. Prove yourself to the client. Your budget will be on the increase and the cash register won’t stop ringing. It’s the natural law of business. Our clients want value delivered timely with handsome returns on their investment, at least for those of them in tune with the cycle of business operation and profitability.

The current administration is making frantic effort to reposition the Nigeria project, what role do you think Marketing Communications can play in the process?

Our industry can play a big role if professionals are given the chance to do what they know best. But ‘am afraid it may not happen. Let’s go back into history a little bit. Remember former Hon. Minister Chikelu and the former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s sound bite on TV? That campaign died naturally. Then came Professor Dora Akunyili of the Professor of blessed memory.

Her “Great People, Great Nation,” hurriedly put together by two or three agencies also

profession. For example, with the dissolution of the APCON Governing Council over a year or so, the federal government is yet to reconstitute the Council. As a regulatory body for the advertising industry, APCON equally trains students across all cadres and professional levels. And by the Act of Parliament setting it up, not much can be done without a standing Council. But we heard the Minister in charge of recommending the appointment of an APCON Chairman to the president has put it in the back burner without considering the implications of his actions on the professional well being of ad men and women, especially students.

What are the memorable moments and campaigns undertaken under your watch that shook the marketing landscape?

There has been quite a few during my days at STB McCann. They are all in the archives for you or anyone to see. While at the agency we won several LAIF awards up to Grand Prix.

Now at Agile, and in less than three years of operation, we have shot over five television commercials and a music video shot in India featuring Patoranking as brand ambassador for Dabur Green Gel and another for Dabur Herbal Toothpaste. Work is in progress on others coming out soon.

Ladipo died for lack of real content that can evoke any emotions, both internally and externally.

In fact it was dead on arrival. Maybe a few other ones saw the light of day in between; but former President Jonathan didn’t even bother, despite all efforts by the industry to assist him. I think he had other “interesting,” mantra now haunting him and his cohorts in the last dispensation.

As if we’ve not had enough, our dear friend, the current Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who is closer to our industry, must have convinced the President to approve another image campaign as a call to duty for all Nigerians. Something in the mould of “War Against Indiscipline” when the current president was the maximum ruler in uniform. This time, they named it, “Change Begins With Me,” in alignment with the selfserving change mantra of the ruling party. Good conceptual thinking one might add, but bad and awful process that led to the evolution of the campaign, which cannot deliver on its promise of instilling a new way of thinking among Nigerians. You cannot preach change.

It evolves as a culture and a set of values that must come naturally and not forced.

But the last we heard was that over a billion naira was spent on an image campaign that lacks any emotional connection with the intended target audience -- just like the previous ones.

The question then is; don’t we ever learn? The industry can only come to the rescue if allowed to do so. For now, it’s the usual “man know man,” which has not paid off, and which will never pay off as long as the sun rises from the East and sets in the West.

What would you say is Nigeria’s greatest brand building challenge?

I believe this has been covered. But to recap, we can overcome any brand building challenge this nation is facing if we allow those who know the nuts and bolts of the business handle it in a fair and equitable manner. My brother, this is not rocket science. Today, we have 36 states plus Abuja in the federation. Not a single state has developed an image campaign of worth.

Oyo State and a handful of others toyed with

it, but never saw the light of day. Our leaders are not ready to turn Nigeria into an institution -- a nation with quality brand essence, but never taken seriously. Instead we concentrate on building personalities that cannot move us forward in terms of brand equity and global competitiveness. The professionals must be put to work and change the negative perception the world holds about our great nation. Nigeria is not about corruption, we have several positives ready to be harnessed and campaigned for the world to see.

There are schools of thought that believe that government is not keen about engaging the services of marketing communication professionals to drive public communications but some also hold the view that the practitioners themselves are not doing well enough to engage the public sector. What is your take?

I totally disagree. If you recall, our industry has always championed the cause of building a great Nigerian nation through tested and proven methods induced by insight. If you recall, the AAAN President, Mr. Kayode Oluwasona led a delegation to the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, sometime this year, even though the impact of this visit is yet to manifest in concrete terms, but that doesn’t mean it won’t.

We just have to keep trying and drumming it in the ears of our leaders that they cannot do the same thing repeatedly and expect different results. It won’t happen. Cast your mind back into the current corruption allegations facing some first class judges. The Nigerian Bar Association has stepped in as experts in matters concerning law. Within any reasonable expectations ad practitioners must be given a collective responsibility of creating image campaigns that can work. Every step taken by the industry always hit the brick wall because of special interest.

Do you think government is doing enough to create enabling environment for marketing communication industry to grow?

I do not think so. Aside from not giving ad practitioners any audience in the way information is managed, the government of the day doesn’t seem to care about our

Looking back, how can you describe your professional sojourn and how did you eventually settle for advertising?

I trained as a journalist. I worked as a senior reporter and producer at Concord and Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) respectively before travelling to the United States of America in 1980 for further studies. While there, I practiced my trade at Chicago Defender, then the only surviving black newspaper that evolved from the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s, even the newspaper pre dated that period reporting on issues that mainstream publications like the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times wont dare cover. But race relations today have gone beyond segregation at least to the naked eyes. An African American president and several giant steps being taken by black folks.

I worked at Allstate Insurance Corporation in the State of Illinois handling marketing support communications for our agents. That was where I got exposed to advertising through Leo Burnett, then the agency of record for Allstate. I got so fascinated with the way they carried themselves, and the stint I had at the agency from my company got me thinking.

A career change was in the offing and when the opportunity presented itself to come and work in Nigeria, I didn’t hesitate. Today, I have made my mark in the profession and still agile to do more for the industry that has made me.

Finally, what is your view about pitch fee, foreign incursion into the market and affiliation?

Pitch fee is a must, but the AAAN is yet to get it right. We’ve preached it over the years, even when I was AAAN president, but maybe the message will sink someday as the industry grows and the economy opens up more so that fifteen or twenty agencies are not chasing a single business.

On foreign collaboration, which I think is the right description, I still believe it is needed for our growth and capacity development.

But it must be done right and ensure foreign partners follow the rules and understand the administrative protocol. We need each other to build capacity and our business.

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Osunsoko:OurAmbitionistoToptheIndustry’sCreative Space Chief Executive Officer of Leo Burnett Lagos, Mr. Sam Osunsoko, in this interview with Raheem Akingbolu, highlighted the factors that have helped the agency’s growth and how it clinched 13 medals at the 2016 edition of the Lagos Advertising & Ideas Festival, held in Lagos recently. Excerpts: Despite the global economic recession, is it possible for a business or brand to do without adverting and what can it do for an economy like Nigeria if well explored?

I will answer the question in two ways; what you referred to advertising has actually changed its form today. What advertising was 10 – 15 years ago is not what it is today. If we are talking Marketing Communications today, I doubt if any business or brand can survive sustainably without leveraging marketing communication solutions. A brand might thrive in the short run but it will not flourish in the long run. We have seen many brands that were not keen about marketing communications before but today they are out there using the platform to woo their target markets. One major thing that will not make it possible for any business to survive on the long run without marketing communications is the basic principle of competition and competitive dynamics. There are a lot of brands out there calling the attention of the consumers. If you are there not applying necessary marketing tools, consumers would see your competitions and not see you.

Now to the second leg of the question, what can a country like Nigeria gain if marketing communication is appreciated and better explored?

Let’s look at say, the State of Florida in US, where well orchestrated marketing activities have been successfully explored to market its tourism potentials. Today, Walt Disney attracts huge traffic because of its perceived value.

Now back to Nigeria, you will agree with me that we have a lot of potentials as a country that have not been fully explored or marketed.

Therefore, whether there is recession or there is boom, I don’t think there can be an excuse for any country not to properly market itself as well as its brands.

Leo Burnett Lagos is approaching its second year anniversary, how has the experience been?

Our 22 months of operations have been eventful and highly rewarding on account of the key millstones we’ve crossed within the short period of time, a lot was parked in.

We’ve been able to put together a crack team of very brilliant and highly creative minds with very strong knack for transforming brands and businesses. It’s for this reason that our objectives of business and creative leadership in this country seems to be taking shorter time for us to achieve than we initially projected. We hit the ground running from 5th January 2015 when we officially opened shop but strategically decided to lie low and build formidable business and creative fundamentals.

Following a highly competitive 5-agency pitch during our transition period, we managed to challenge the status quo by defeating 4 other well-established, bigger and older agencies to clinch the Konga.com account and we formally started work the same day we opened shop.

Konga gave us our first shot at fame, and then follows a number of other businesses.

Within few months of operation, our work got a mention at the African Cristal Awards in Morocco; we equally won the Campaign of the Year Award in 2015 for Konga.

What are those things you can point out as the factors that have helped the agency in the area of creating innovative solutions for clients and brands?

Let me start this way by relating it to the parable of the gazelle and the lion. Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up, it knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t therefore matter whether you‘re the lion or the gazelle –when the sun comes up, you’d better be running. So, when we started operation in 2015, we knew we

Osunsoko

must not just have a challenger mentality but we must sustain it, otherwise we would find it tough achieving our long-term objectives in the market. We opened shop at a time when large, strong and highly creative agencies were prowling the landscape and the recession was also on the horizon, so we had to go the extra mile not to be consumed by the circumstances of our birth.

Now to answer your question, a few setout goals made it possible for us to make the some of the impacts that you’re seeing today. One; our creative philosophy – we believe that because creativity is the most potent force in life and therefore has the power to transform human behaviour, then we must the best at what we do to consistently be relevant to the brands we work for. Number two, which I think is perhaps the most important, is our Humankind approach to eliciting the deepest of humaninsights, which ensures more spot-on creative solutions. At Leo Burnett, we pride ourselves in being Eternal Students of Human Behavior. We seek to understand human beings – who you know as consumers, better than our peers. In understanding people, we understand their fears and motivations, we understand what their wants are and because we understand them better, we are able to elicit deep rooted insights which help us come up with competitively better creative solutions. We ask ourselves, what do people really want? What do consumers want? We then seek to match that with what the brand can competitively do and we develop our brand promise around that. By doing this, Leo Burnett Lagos has been consistently rewarded by the consumers, who buy the brands and we have also been rewarded by the industry that recognises our work and the solutions we provide.

Could all these be those things that give you the confidence to take a risk of competing with older agency at the just concluded LAIF Awards? As a follow up, what are the ingredients needed by a new agency like yours to survive the current recession and what are those things you think would give you an edge?

Very interesting question I must say. It’s a flat world out there. With due respect, you will agree with me that excellence is no respecter of colour, race, age, personality or anything of such. What gives us confidence is the robustness of our fundamentals and our approach to creative problem solving. One thing that keeps an average marketing director or brand manager of most organisations awake in the

night is the questions of how consumers react to their brand and its proposition or promise.

How can they consistently reinforce the equity of their brands and drive volume through the roof? To the consumers out there, they keep trying to figure out how to maximize value of their brand consumption experience. For any new Agency therefore, you must keep your eyes on the ball of what really matters to your primary targets – the consumers and the brand owners to ensure that their objectives are met at all times. To the second part of your question, verifiable impact of our creative solutions on the brands we work for has seen us thus far – irrespective or recession or boom. What really matters to clients isn’t exactly how big or small the marketing budget spent is but how much value comes back to the brand relative to budget spent. This is what will continue to make the difference between frontline creative agencies and – if you like, the laggards.

What are the measures being put in place to make sure you sustain the tempo at which the agency is growing now?

I must say that Leo Burnett Lagos is part of a global network agency but we have the mentality of an independent agency. We know that nothing worthwhile comes easy; we must strive for any success that would come our way.

With a start-up mentality, we operate primarily with a determination to make an impact in the market through the sheer brilliance of our work and its effect on our clients’ brands. We then complement this with the established norms of the network, its global best practice and tools etc. Like I earlier pointed out, the Leo Burnett network has one of the highest creative rankings in the world today, thanks to the brilliance of the work from the different offices in different cities around the world. Now, if you combine this with our independent agency mindset in a market like Nigeria, you can be sure of generating an explosion of creative solutions despite the odds and the challenges of running an agency here.

Is being rumoured in some quarters that Leo Burnett is a fighter brand that is being positioned to tackle some young agencies, how can you react to that?

By “younger agencies” if you meant only those that are newly formed or those that started operations over the last few years then the answer is a resounding no. Please see a copy of Creative awards ranking released by AAAN; the organizers of LAIF, most of the Agencies that we beat are way older than us – they are not

necessarily the young ones. Leo Burnett Lagos started business with a mandate to redefine the discipline of marketing communications in Nigeria, across age groups and competencies.

From a creative standpoint the next few months would witness why Leo Burnett Lagos is the Agency to beat in this environment.

When we set out in 2015, we were out to achieve two things; we would be known for creative leadership and we would be known for business leadership. We set out to get to the top in the creative ranking of the industry. To achieve this feat, we knew that within two to three years, we must get into the consideration set of the industry and feature among top three on creative awards ranking. And within five years, seek to lead from both the creative leadership standpoint and business leadership standpoint. If you ask me, we are less than two years today and we are close to achieving the first objective. Using the LAIF award you referred to as a yardstick, we came fourth on the table of the awardees and I think that is quite commendable. Therefore, there is no doubt in my mind that with the pace we are running we will not have problem in achieving our five years goals and objectives.

Your agency was said to have won in a category described as miscellaneous. How does this category put you on a rating ahead of other competition?

To be honest with you, sayings like this should be expected when underdogs win the race or come close to winning the race. Someone wins presidential elections in the U.S. and some other guys are suggesting recounts……. (Laughs).

Leo Burnett Lagos does not organise LAIF Awards. The criteria for winning and the different categories were set by LAIF long before we submitted our first entry. We have never participated in LAIF before, this was our first time of putting in entries and we couldn’t have had more experience as to what categories to enter for than older, well established agencies.

Honestly I will say that we won what we won fair and square.

How did you arrive at the categories you entered for at LAIF Award?

We looked at the different categories put up

by LAIF organisers versus the work that we have on ground. The truth is that we don’t just design our work for awards, we actually works to ensure that the quality of our creative solutions meets both the short and long term business goals of our clients. Because we have said to ourselves that we must be the best at what we do, that then put us in a good competitive position anywhere we find ourselves and I think that was what worked for us at LAIF. We don’t just work for awards but we try to ensure that the quality of our work is able to deliver on the objective of the brands we work for. Our approach is to always apply the principle of constructive dissatisfaction, which is a philosophy that makes us know that nothing that we do is good enough to the extent that it cannot be improved upon. We have worked for a number of clients and brands and we apply this principle. Beyond Konga, we’ve done some amazing work for Nestle across brands, Crusader Sterling Pensions, Beloxxi biscuits and Heritage Bank just to mention a few.

How many categories did you apply for and how many did you won?

We entered for quite number of categories. In all we won 13 medals; we have 3 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze medals.

What should we expect from the agency in the next five years?

More brilliant work that consistently delivers superior ROI for our brands

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Economic Mismanagement and a Bag of Rice In this article, Undung Pam provided insight into some contentious issues about the management of Nigeria’s economy by the Muhammadu Buhari-led government Much as I appreciate what the media has done by publicising the speech delivered by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili at the Inaugural Business Lecture of the Lagos Country Club, I am still not quite certain about what that speech hoped to achieve. You see, Dr. Ezekwesili did a fine job of detailing the current issues in the country, she even took it a step further by saying the problem did not begin with President Buhari’s government, but had been brewing when Goodluck Jonathan was in office. The former minister explained how bad policies had led to this downward spiral we now call ‘recession’.

Donning her advocacy cap, she called on the citizenry to ‘convict’ the government to retrace its steps and to sit up. At that point, I knew that this speech was a dud. I must hand it to her though that she is a great communicator. Anyone who is able to analyse their audience and feed them what they want to hear is great, really. I mean, delivered in Lagos Country Club, I’m sure she would have received a rousing ovation. But, take that same speech to the market place, to the homes of those who have lost their jobs, to the pockets of those who have yet to receive their salaries and they would ask, “how does this speech affect the cost of a bag of rice?”

When Jonathan was president, how much was a bag of rice?

Not too long ago, there was an odd sort of ‘campaign’ that took social media by storm in Nigeria. It was a #BringBackOurCorruption campaign. As painful as it was and still is to read those words, they were emblematic of the mindset of most people at the time. So, you say the problems started with Jonathan?

The average individual would tell you that at least they were able to feed, take care of their families and maintain a reasonable lifestyle. This wasn’t so much an advocacy for corruption, it was more of a pun. If you say Jonathan was bad and corrupt but things were reasonably better for the average individual, then bring back the so-called corruption. It was that simple. When you think of it, nothing makes much sense to a hungry man. But when he is fed, when he has something to go home to at the end of the day, and a reason to rise early and the start of the next day, then you can have some support for your crusade.

On the matter of her allegations that the economy was mismanaged or defunct, need we be reminded that when Jonathan was president people got paid, they could eat, the economy grew at 4 percent, and inflation

was at 9 percent? Beyond that, the Nigerian youth graduated with high hopes for jobs as a result of the GIS Scheme and the support of private companies that were springing up everywhere. Those who had decided to be entrepreneurs also got the support of the same government through the YouWIN Initiative. Even as oil prices fell and then finance minister, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, recommended belt-tightening measures, it was clear that the government was not prepared to have the poor suffer more at the expense of the rich. If that indeed was mismanagement, then we may very well declare that this present government has sent our economy on a suicide mission from which there is very little hope of return.

Looking at the figures Dr Ezekwesili presented at her speech, it is certainly true that the growth percentage dropped, but with active management the economic team managed to keep the economy on positive growth path. What do we have now? An abdication of economic management. The government clearly has decided to ‘wing it’. Even former president Obasanjo, under whom Ezekwesili herself served, advised them to focus their energies on more productive concerns and stop the blame game. Nigerians

are not deceived. The actions of the current Administration clearly show their ineptitude and absolute lack of intellectual content.

The former Minister of Education also noted that both governments; the present and immediate past, failed to adopt the right policies to deal with the crash in crude oil prices, which began in mid-2014. How is she any different from the current government she is so eager to accuse? When you relish pin-pointing problems without proffering any cogent or actionable solution, you are ineffectually saying that you don’t know the answers. And if you don’t know the answers, could you try and give us a breather? We have been on this ‘whodunnit’ merry-go-round for far too long. When are we going to stop saying who did what, or who should have done what and actually get something done?

If Mrs Ezekwesili has answers, she may as well start spitting them out. And by answers, I mean something more than a clamour to begin another advocacy group.

The way I see it, we will need more than a #BringBackOurEconomy hashtag to get back what we have lost.

Undung Pam is a social commentator contributing from Jos, Plateau State.

Expert Harps on Digital Insurance for Nigeria Stories by Emma Okonji Following the recent fire that engulfed the University of Jos library and other fire disasters that have occurred in the country, causing complete loss of vital data, the Chief Executive Officer, Secured Records Management Solution Dr. Sam Nwosu is advocating the adoption of digital insurance for Nigeria.

He said Nigerians should begin to think of how to secure their data digitally in

order to avoid loss of data in an incidence of fire disaster.

According to Nwosu, “Under digital insurance, the future is well secured. There is no amount of disaster that will endanger any documents insured under digital insurance.” “In Nigeria, we do not take digital insurance very seriously. How do you protect your product. If you think of digital insurance, you think of enduring security. You must protect your data,” said.

He added, “It is either we

embrace digital economy or we die. We don’t have any choice than to embrace digital economy. It is here, and is here to stay. Whether we like it or not, it has come to stay. We are moving, we have to embrace

this.” Nwosu, who also made a case for e-government, said Nigeria has the fastest growing information and communication technology market in Africa, noting that in spite of this, the country is still ranked low in

the provision of e-government services to its citizens, especially in the day to day activities of governance.

He is of the view that the growth of ICT in Nigeria has not effectively influenced the

development of its e-governance status due to numerous challenges such as the unwillingness on the part of the government to ensure a two way communication pattern in the governing process.

National Security, Crime Reporting Mobile App Launched In a bid to curb the disturbing nuisances that stem from criminality in the society, Web Asset Limited, a Lagos-based technology company, has launched an interactive crime reporting system, tagged Hawk Eye. The system is a mobile app that uses an innovative technology to checkmate crime in Nigeria. The launch which took place in Abuja recently, was done by Mr. Kayode Aladesuyi, Chairman Web Asset Limited, and developer of the Hawk Eye app. The pilot launch was aimed at demonstrating how the app could be useful in finding a solution to the menace of utility and energy theft plaguing the electricity sector.

Present at the launch were key stakeholders in the electricity sector from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), a representative of Huawei, technical partners of the Hawk Eye app, Mr. Harry Cui, as well as some members of the public.

The demonstration highlighted the distinctive features of the app like the ability to select

crime types, capture and send videos, images or text messages of the crime and direct these to appropriate security authorities for immediate action. He added that the system offers a crime management platform with a robust command and control centre dashboard to display location of crime scenes and the nearest officers to respond to the reported crime.

The Hawk Eye system is the first national crime reporting system in the country and is one of the ways in which the public can lend its support to reinforce the governments’ unrelenting efforts in safeguarding lives and properties across the country.

According to Aladesuyi, beyond reporting utility theft for the energy sector, the app was developed with the potential to work with different security agencies and institutions in the country and deal with crime at all levels from kidnapping, vandalism, civil unrest, terrorism, extortion, among others.

He said: “We are always looking for better and more contemporary ways of safeguarding lives and private properties, including public utilities.

EFFECTIVE PPP ON THEIR MINDS

L-R: PPIP Expert, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, Prof Neil Paulsen; Executive Director, Center for Ethics and Sustainable Development (CESD), Dr Olajumoke Akiode; Associate Director, KPMG Nigeria, Mr Vince Onyejeli; Director, First bank Sustainability Centre at the Lagos Business School, Dr Ijeoma Nwagwu; Co-founder, Sustainability School, Lagos, Dr Olufemi Olarewaju; Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Lagos, Dr Taibat Lawanson and a lecturer of Socio-political philosophy, UNILAG, Mr Dan Ekere during the two-day colloquium organised by CESD, to galvanise discussions around Public–Private Partnership (PPP) initiative in Lagos...recently

Lagos Reels Out Signage Guidelines for Vehicle Operation Gboyega Akinsanmi The Lagos State Government at the weekend reeled out signage guidelines, which required at least 14,000 motorists to obtain and paste mobile stickers on their vehicles or face sanctions if failed to comply.

The state government explained its decision to introduce the guidelines, noting that it was due to the need “to avoid activities that may cause gridlock on our roads or waste residents’ precious time.”

The Managing Director

of Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA), Mr. Mobolaji Sanusi said this while unveiling the 2017 vehicle clearance stickers for mobile outdoor advertising.

Sanusi unveiled the 2017 clearance stickers alongside by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Mr. Abidemi Adeyemi among others. It was designed to bring order and sanity to law enforcement in the stateAt the unveiling of the clearance sticker, the managing director explained that the new stickers became imperative “to

ensure a simpler process in its interaction with about 14,000 vehicles in the state.”

He said the enforcement of the guideline would take off January 2017, though claimed that it would soon commence enlightenment and sensitisation to create more awareness across the state.

After enlightenment and sensitisation, the managing director disclosed that its operatives would commence enforcement and penalties would be imposed in line with the provisions of LASAA Law.

Sanusi added that the LASAA wanted an easy process of enforcement that would not be cumbersome as well as eliminate unnecessary waste of time on the field by its enforcement team.

With the sticker pasted on the screen of a vehicle, he said enforcement team “will not need to flag down or stop a vehicle unnecessarily. So, it helps our officers to easily know those who had complied. After several warning notices, defaulters will henceforth, be fined according to stipulated law of the state.

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DEVELOPMENT

Agenda for Sustainable Devt: Lessons from China As Nigeria grapples with the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more than a year after their global adoption in September 2015, Abimbola Akosile outlines strides made by China in its 2030 agenda for sustainable development, which contain useful lessons for local actors The United Nations Sustainable Development Summit held in September 2015 adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which points out the direction and provides the blueprint for national development of all countries and international development cooperation in the next 15 years.

Vital Agenda As the largest developing country in the world, China attaches great importance to the 2030 Agenda. The 13th Five-Year Plan was reviewed and approved by the Fourth Session of the 12th National People’s Congress in March 2016, linking the 2030 Agenda with domestic mid-and-long term development strategies. Right now, implementation of the 2030 Agenda is in full swing in China. To guide and advance the implementation efforts, China formulates this National Plan on Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (hereinafter referred to as National Plan).

Drawing on the achievements and experience of China’s development, the National Plan analyses challenges and opportunities in implementing the 2030 agenda, lays out guiding thoughts, general principles and approaches for the implementation, as well as specific plans for the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets.

In the coming years, China intends to fulfill the tasks in the National Plan under the guidance of the people-centred development concept featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development. It will work with other countries in seeking mutual benefit, win-win cooperation and common development and make unremitting efforts for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and realisation of the dreams of people across the world.

MDGs Experience The Third Plenary Session of the 11th the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in December 1978 opened a new historic period of reform and opening-up, which was a monumental strategic choice that has shaped contemporary China, an inexhaustible source of vitality for national development and progress, and the only path toward socialism with Chinese characteristics and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Reform and opening-up has transformed China from a highly centrally-planned economy to a dynamic socialist market economy and from a closed or semi-closed society to an all-round open society.

In this period, China made huge progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in the first 15 years of the new century.

With its fast growing economy and outstanding achievements in agriculture and poverty reduction, China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had increased from RMR 10 trillion in 2000 to 68.55 trillion in 2015, making it the second largest economy in the world since 2010.

Production of major agricultural products such as grains, vegetables and meat grew steadily with enhanced comprehensive agricultural productivity. China’s population living in poverty dropped from 689 million in 1990 to 57 million in 2015, making a great contribution to the global cause of poverty reduction.

The nine-year free compulsory education has been universalised and illiteracy rate had dropped from 6.7 per cent in 2000 to 4.1 per cent in 2014. Steady job growth had been achieved with altogether 137 million new jobs created in urban areas from 2003 to 2014.

China has gradually developed a comprehensive social security and assistance system. By 2015, more than 500 million urban and rural residents had been covered by basic pension insurance.

The under-five child mortality rate went down from 61.0 per thousand in 1991 to 10.7 per thousand in 2015, and the maternal mortality rate had reduced from 88.8 per 100,000 in 1990 to 20.1 per 100,000 in 2015.

Nigeria must not be left behind!

Equally, notable progress has been made in curbing epidemic diseases such as m HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Equally, positive results were recorded in terms of environmental protection and addressing the climate change.

Compared with that of 2005, China’s carbon dioxide emission per GDP unit decreased by 33.8 per cent in 2014; the proportion of non-fossil fuels in overall primary energy use had reached 11.2 per cent: per GDP unit consumption of major resource products like oil, coal and water had also been cut dramatically; forest coverage had expanded by 32.78 million hectares, and forest reserves had increased by 2.681 billion cubic metres from that of 2005; achieving “zero growth” in land desertification ahead of schedule.

South-South cooperation has been promoted.

China offers assistance within its capacity to over 120 developing countries to help them achieve the MDGs. Since January 1, 2015, China has officially granted zero-tariff treatment to 97 per cent of the taxable items from least developed

MURRAY GLOBAL countries with diplomatic relations with China.

China has, for six times, cancelled unconditionally the due government zero-interest loans totaling RMB 30 billion for heavily indebted poor countries and least developed countries.

China’s experience in achieving the MDGs can be summed up as follows: Taking development as the top priority and consistently introducing new development thoughts and concepts. The Chinese government considers development as the key to address all major issues of the country. In light of the domestic and international conditions, the Chinese government and people have deepened their understanding of the nature of development, developed the Scientific Outlook on Development, set the ambitious goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and firmly established the development concept featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.

The country is also formulating and implement-

ing mid- and long-term national development strategies and integrating the MDGs into national planning. Indeed, the Chinese government formulates five-year national plans according to the needs of economic and social development in different periods and mobilises all kinds of resources for the implementation of these plans.

In addition, China has also made a range of specific plans to effectively promote the development of relevant sectors, including the Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011 - 2020), Outline on Mid-and-Long-Term Food Security in China (2008-2020’), Outline on Mid-and-Long-Term Educational Reform and Development Plan in China (2010-2020), and Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Health Sector Development.

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

RANDOM THOTS

Assets Declaration Asking the average Nigerian elite to declare his/her assets for public knowledge is like asking a rural Yoruba farmer to reveal the number of children he has who help him on the farm.

While the latter believes his revelation will lead to imposition of higher taxes, the former is equally unwilling to disclose his source of wealth, clean or shady.

But the President and his Vice bucked this trend on assets last year when the duo, in an unprecedented move, publicly declared their assets for common knowledge.

However, this executive move is not shared by some top members of the

current administration. The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has threatened to arrest and possibly prosecute at least 19 ministers and heads of agencies in President Buhari’s government for non-compliance with procedures of declaring their assets.

The 19 appointees, according to a statement issued by the CCB Chairman, Sam Saba, have so far not honoured invitations to appear before the Bureau to clear their asset declaration claims. Saba said most of those invited by the bureau have failed to respond.

The issue of declaration of assets has always been contentious in a materialistic society like Nigeria, and many top

public officials would rather die first than expose the volume of their acquisitions to ‘ignorant’ citizens. However, for the sake of transparency and an accountable governance process, assets declaration is crucial.

This helps to show that those who go into government service do not have the singular mindset of looting the national till. As the CCB has raised the alarm, it is hoped that those invited officials would comply promptly and disperse any cloud of public suspicion. That is what true leadership and service is all about. Isn’t it?....

-Abimbola Akosile

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DEvELOpMENT/ISSUESINBOx

Grains stored for export and local consumption

Should Agric Exports be Discouraged in Nigeria?

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture raised the alarm that Nigeria may experience famine as early as January 2017, if the Federal Government does not move urgently to stop the alarming outflow and export of agricultural products (especially grain crops) from the major markets in the Northern parts of the country to countries as far away as Libya, Algeria and Brazil. The hike in export was caused by increased demand by other nations for Nigerian food products (both processed and raw) and the lure of foreign revenue from export proceeds. However, since the country is yet to attain self-sufficiency in food production and successfully tackle hunger, some analysts want an official restriction on export of agricultural (food) products. To you, should agricultural exports be checked or discouraged in Nigeria?

Abimbola Akosile * We should celebrate this feat that Nigeria’s export drive is marching forward. Genuine exporters who are legitimately displaying their entrepreneurship acumen in a recessed economy should be supported and encouraged. The federal, state and local government should eliminate all forms of discrimination against the rural farmers who account for 70 per cent of local food production. A constructive engagement with the smallholders at their respective communities to produce more food for local consumption and for export will create more jobs for our youths and women.

- Mr. Ikpa Matthew, Asokoro, Abuja FCT * Sure, it must be discouraged for now till we are self-sufficient.

- Mrs. Mary Adeola Ayeni Tehinse, Lagos State * When agriculture was the major source of our county’s revenue, things were a lot easier. But diversion into the liquid gold as our major revenue source not only destabilised our agricultural system but created serious urge to steal proceeds from the sale of oil with reckless abandon. Agriculture should be encouraged, as it will help in fixing our economy. If our teeming unemployed are empowered to go into agriculture, it will create employment and food for our nation and enough foreign exchange when exported etc.

- Mrs. Rosemary Nwaebuni, Asaba, Delta State * No, it shouldn’t be discouraged; instead, government at all levels and banks should aggressively finance agricultural products/ produce export to boost our economy. We can still feed ourselves at the same time.

- Mr. Sunny Okobi, Lagos State * Agricultural exports should be controlled, in my opinion. There is no sense in allowing unbridled exportation that would leave a bitter taste in the mouth. We have a rough idea of how much of each produce we consume in Nigeria. We should harp on self-sufficiency first.

- Mr. E. Iheanyi Chukwudi, B.A.R. Associates, Apo, Abuja * No, let it not be discouraged. If we are to starve, let it be so. Maybe it will spur us to demand the right things from those

THE FEEDBACK Yes, it should:

6

No, it shouldn’t:

2

Others:

7

Radical tip:

Stock up food!

Total no of respondents:

15

Male:

10

Female:

5

Highest location:

Lagos (7)

in authority. Hasn’t the government been mouthing diversification of the economy and advocating a shift from dependence on oil?

Recall that some tomato farmers suffered terribly earlier in the year when they had bountiful harvests with no market to take their proceeds to. If I were a farmer, I would not heed the government’s call. Let Nigerians starve.

- Mr. John Ogunsemore, Lagos State * It is a dicey situation.

- Mrs. Bridgetta Affiah, Warri, Delta State * Yes, exporting our agricultural products must be stopped urgently as we are undergoing traumatic economic recession now. Avoidable starvation is staring us in the face; we must not give in to it. We must process and store our foods for at least five years upfront before thinking of selling any excess to other nations. We must prioritise our welfare first.

We have no moral, social, economic, legal e.t.c. justification to allow self-inflicted starvation amidst abundant harvest.

- Mr. Apeji Onesi, Lagos State * It’s quite unfortunate that such calls for banning of export of agricultural products is coming at this critical period when Nigeria is facing serious economic recession. Rather than stop exportation to other countries, government should take advantage of it to increase productivity through mechanisation and all-year-round production. Government should wake up from its slumber and do the needful and seize the opportunity.

- Mr. Wole Ayodele, Jalingo, Taraba State

* Yes, agricultural exports under whatever guise must be banned outrightly and nationally.

We are in a biting recession, prices of food, services e.t.c. have gone haywire, therefore I see no genuine wisdom (not even capitalism) in exporting what we need urgently especially these yuletide times. Nigeria must be very self-sufficient before embarking on exportation.

Without enough food, security can never be guaranteed with the current inflation and pathetic state of nationwide unemployment.

Government must only encourage and protect local production now. God bless Nigeria.

- Miss Apeji Patience Eneyeme, Badagry, Lagos * We should feed ourselves first.

- Mr. Feyisetan Akeeb Kareem, Coordinator, CDHR & BFON, Aniocha South LGA, Delta State * It is necessary. We know that during harvest period in Nigeria, all agricultural products are so cheap, especially here in the North. Right now a poor man cannot dream of buying a bag of maize, and can only afford to eat rice when he attends parties. Charity begins at home; it is a shame that government is encouraging the export of agricultural products to deceive the world that all is well with us when many are dying. The answer is capital NO! - Hon. Babale Maiungwa, U/Romi, Kaduna * Yes, harmful export of our agricultural products must be discouraged before we get into serious trouble in terms of local food supply. There is nothing wrong with generating new foreign revenue or expanding our market horizons, but this should not be at the expense of our own food security. With the way things are going in the agricultural sector, Nigeria will soon achieve self-sufficiency in local production of vital food items; then and only then should we consider mass export as a second option for any excess.

- Mr. Olumuyiwa Olorunsomo, Lagos State * The root cause of the ongoing massive food exports is actually due to the fall of the Naira. While the currencies of countries buying these grains have remained stable, the naira has lost so much value that foreign currencies are the attraction for exporters.

For example, when grains are taken to Niger Republic, the businessmen are paid in CFA

and when they return to Nigeria and change to naira, the profits are huge. The Federal Government should shore up the Naira fast.

Our external reserves can be used to strengthen our currency and keep all the food from going out. In the time being, stocking up on some food is wise.

- Mr. Buga Dunj, Jos, Plateau State * It is not time for Nigeria to export food products outside because our population is huge to cater for, from the little we are producing. All the three tiers of government should make the 2017 agriculture budget allocation larger to boost food security.

- Mrs. Ijeoma Nnorom, Lagos State

Next Week: Can Assets Declaration Help Curb Corruption?

Although president Muhammadu Buhari and his vice publicly declared their assets when they assumed power in 2015, some cabinet members and senior government officials in the three arms of government did not.

Analysts believe the public declaration of assets by these government officials – both when taking and leaving public office – will help curb official corruption in Nigeria and prevent siphoning of commonwealth resources to foreign accounts. However, others believe potential looters will only become more creative concerning assets declaration. To you, can public declaration of assets help curb corruption in Nigeria? please make your response direct, short and simple, and state your full name, title, organisation, and location. Responses should be sent between today (December 15 & Monday, December 19) to abimbolayi@ yahoo.com, greatbimbo@gmail.com, AND abimbola.akosile@thisdaylive. com. Respondents can also send a short text message to 08023117639 and/or 08188361766 and/or 08114495306.

Collated responses will be published on Thursday, December 22

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BUSINESSWORLD

DEVELOPMENT

Return of the cocoa boom in Ekiti State

ABIMBOLA AKOSILE

House Raises the Alarm over Nigeria’s 3.5% Annual Deforestation Rate Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The House of Representatives has expressed its worry at the annual deforestation rate in Nigeria, put at 3.5 per cent by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)’s 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment, amounting to approximately 350,000 to 400,000 trees.

The once enviable forests around the country are in real danger of being wiped out, the House said. Experts also believe the various ongoing efforts by the government and private sector operators to adopt tree planting and re-afforestation initiatives have not adequately compensated

for the rapid loss of forest cover. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara speaking in Abuja Tuesday, recalled that Nigeria was once covered by extensive forests.

Dogara, who was represented by the Minority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, spoke at the hearing of the ad hoc committee investigating massive deforestation and corruption that has crippled the environment and its effect on climate change, where he added that deforestation has long been taken for granted, but now faces the threat of wiping out forest reserves.

“I dare say the figure is on the increase, especially

with the coming of foreign merchants in search of ornate species of wood called Rosewood, which Nigeria is fortunate to be blessed with but is fast becoming a nightmare for the nation,” Dogara said.

“We were alarmed when the FAO reported that Nigeria’s present forest status is less than 5 per cent, well below the international recommended 25 per cent forest standard (afforestation). With this statistics, as a parliament of the people, we cannot continue to fold our hands and watch our nation being destroyed; we must all join hands to preserve our environment.

It is our collective heritage

and responsibility,” he added.

Dogara said the legislature is concerned with the manner of implementation of various Deforestation, Desertification, Afforestation and Reforestation projects by government at all levels without clear cut success. These he listed to include projects such as the Sahara Great Green Wall Projects, the Clean Gas Cook and the Wonder bag Initiative, the Presidential Initiative on Afforestation, the UN-REDD+, the FCPF projects and several other local and international projects, which were intended to return Nigeria back to its status of a country with rich forests.

The Chairman of the Com-

mittee, Hon. Bede Eke in his address, said the nation’s rich forests and its forest reserves hold the key to take the nation out of the current economic recession and even its state of insecurity.

He lamented that the deforestation with its attendant adverse effects have caused challenges in the eco system, agriculture, health, environmental degradation, climate change, economy and security.

Proactive measures must therefore be taken to avert total destruction of Nigeria’s once enviable forest cover, Bede said.

“It is important to mention that the change agenda of the present administration

anchored on transparency in public service and zero tolerance for corruption would amount to nothing if institutions and individuals continue to engage in business with impunity,” he said.

Bede added that strict adherence to the rules and regulations for doing business in Nigeria, whether for domestic use or export purposes, must be complied with by all.

“The rampant ransack and exploitation of our rich forests calls for serious examination of the desirability or otherwise of certain agencies, which from our view have failed the nation in its enforcement mandate,” he added.

endeavours in the nearest future. He listed the various benefits from the federal presence attracted to the area by the lawmaker to include road construction, provision of both hand and motorised boreholes, and federal appointments to unemployed youths.

He therefore called on the people of the senatorial district to continue to support the Senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki; the state governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, and leadership of the All Progressives

Congress (APC) in the state so as to assist them to bring more dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of the rural populace.

The empowerment move is in line with the efforts of the state government to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of Kwara state, through rural empowerment, provision of basic infrastructure, upliftment of farmers and various skills acquisition programmes which have sign-posted the Ahmed administration.

Kwara Lawmaker Empowers, Trains 3,000 Persons Hammed Shittu in Ilorin About 3,000 persons have benefited from an empowerment programme organised by Senator representing Kwara South senatorial district of Kwara state, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, through his foundation, Rafiu Ibrahim Bilal (RIB) foundation.

Speaking with journalists at the presentation ceremony in Offa recently, the chairman of the empowerment programme committee, Senator Bisi Oyewo,

said unemployed youths in the senatorial district were selected and trained in capacity building and other various skills acquisitions processes.

Senator Oyewo, who said the gesture would go a long way in adding values to the socio-economic development of the people, added that Senator Ibrahim has been a true representative of the people of his senatorial district since he was elected into the House of Representatives.

Oyewo, who was flanked by

other members of the committee including Alhaji Abdulrauf Akogun, Hon. Tunde Asaolu, and Hon. Biodun Adegoolu, added that the selection of the beneficiaries of the empowerment process was done in a transparent manner.

Among the various empowerment materials distributed to the grateful beneficiaries were deep freezers, grinding machines, hair-dressing machines, cars, power generators, motorbikes and tricycles.

He noted that the programme

would also bring new lease of life to the people of the senatorial district in view of the current economic recession in the country.

On the foundation, Senator Oyewo said there was no doubt that, it would provide an avenue for the unemployed youths in the senatorial district to be trained in different forms of skills acquisition, adding that the gesture would assist them to acquire the capacity building that would be transformed into fruitful use in their various

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BUSINESSWORLD

DEVELOPMENT QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We all share a vision of a better Nigeria, and we will all share in the responsibility of building the country of our dreams. As we look forward to 2017 with hope and huge expectations, let me assure you that with collective dedication and hard work, we will overcome the mountain of economic difficulties, and return our country to the path of prosperity” - PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI SPEAKING IN ABUJA

Alimosho Community Seeks Infrastructure, Water to Enhance Business Moriam Yusuf

Kayanja: SDGs Achievement Depends on Fight against Corruption Abimbola Akosile The Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Nigeria, Mr. Ronald Kayanja, has asserted that the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is dependent on the fight against corruption around the world. The SDGs, he explained, would not be achieved if leaders of nations do not diligently fight corruption within their systems.

“Any setback to the attainment of the SDGs by 2030,” Kayanja continued, “portends a great danger to the planet earth and the people of the world.” He said this at a recent anti-corruption dialogue jointly organised by UNIC Lagos, African Youths Initiative on Crime Prevention (AYICRIP) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to commemorate the International Anti-Corruption Day. Reading from the message of the outgoing UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon on the International Anti-Corruption Day, Kayanja said, “No country is immune, and every country bears a responsibility to end it.

“Corruption strangles people, communities and nations. It weakens education and health, undermines electoral processes and reinforces injustices by perverting criminal justice systems and the rule of law. By diverting domestic and foreign funds, corruption wrecks economic and social development and increases poverty. It harms everyone, but the poor and vulnerable suffer most,” the UNIC boss added.

He called for commitment to ending the deceit and dishonesty that threaten the 2030 Agenda and the efforts to achieve peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet.

In his welcome address, the Executive Director of AYICRIP, Mr. Chris Ibe, noted that the country Nigeria would not have a future if corruption is not totally wiped out of the system and the nation’s value

L-R: Director, UNIC Lagos, Mr. Ronald Kayanja; Representative of ICPC, Mrs. Odega Dubem; Executive Director of AYICRIP, Mr. Chris Ibe, and a Project Officer of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Mr. William Wu Shiyin, at the dialogue on anti-corruption held in Lagos...recently system redefined.

The Project Officer of UNODC Lagos office, Mr. William Wu Shiyin, disclosed that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Country Office is supporting the Nigerian Government to fight corruption and all crimes. He added that it was important to take preventive measures in the fight against corruption as “this is better than treatment.”

In a communiqué issued at the end of the dialogue, the participants resolved that anti-corruption campaign of the government should focus on the youth; government should anti-corruption agencies in the country; government should consider regular publication of corruption convicts register; and that government should establish a separate court to try corruption cases; among others.

The theme of this year’s observance of the

International Anti-Corruption Day is ‘Corruption: An impediment to the Sustainable Development Goals’. Goal 16 urges substantial reductions in corruption and bribery and the development of effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

The fight against corruption is one of the main goals of the current administration headed

by President Muhammadu Buhari, and the country was stunned recently when some top judicial officers were arrested on allegations of corrupt enrichment and arraigned in court.

Also, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), one of the anti-corruption agencies in the country, recently disclosed that the agency was poised to arrest and arraign some bank Managing Directors and CEOs for alleged money laundering, in a bid to step up the anti-corruption war in Nigeria.

Members of the Community Business Assembly (CBA) in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State have called on the relevant authorities to build more infrastructures, provide potable water and establish industrial parks that will accelerate the process of improving and reducing the overall risks faced by businesses in the council.

The call was made by participants and contained in a communiqué issued after the inaugural Community Business Assembly held at Alimosho LG Secretariat for Alimosho Cluster of LGs recently. The CBA in Lagos state held for business owners in Alimosho Cluster (i.e. Alimosho LG and its 5 LCDAs – Egbe Idimu, Ayobo Ipaja, Agbada Oke Odo, Mosan Okunola and Ikotun), discussed matters germane to improving the ease of doing business in the cluster.

Participants observed that the forum, an initiative of the Lagos State government backed

by UK AID-GEMS3, enabled the private sector business operators to discuss with government officials challenges faced by businesses and explored possible policy initiatives that can enhance the business environment, leading to business growth, improved employment rate and increased prosperity of the community.

They commended the Office of the Special Adviser on Communities and Communications in implementing the initiative in collaboration with the Ministries of Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives, Wealth Creation & Employment and of Finance.

Similarly, they praised UK-AID GEMS3 efforts in strongly supporting various initiatives aimed at making the environment conducive to business through its tax harmonisation and public-private engagement initiatives. The event was attended by top level government officials including the SA to the Governor on Community and Communications, Hon. Kehinde Bamigbetan; the SA to the Governor on Civic Engagement, Hon Kehinde Joseph; the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Cooperatives, Mr. Akodu; Mr. Thompson-John, the representative of the Commissioner for Wealth Creation & Employment, Mrs. Anne Momodu of the Ministry of Finance, Hon. Tajudeen Adigun who represented the Chairman of Sole Administrators and the sole administrators of six LCDAs. There were also contributions from private sector organisations including National Association of Small Scale Industries (NASSI), National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (NASME), Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), First Bank of Nigeria PLC, National Association of Hairdressers and Cosmetologists (NASHCO), Lagos Barbers, Hairdressers and Cosmetologists Association (LABHCA), Lagos State Tailors and Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (LASFADAN), Lagos State Barbers Association (LASBA), Progressive Association of Hairdressers and Beautician Barbers (PROHAB), Hoteliers Association, Lagos Cooked Food Association, Lagos State Aluminum Fabricators Association (LASAFA), and Lagos State Fruit Sellers Association The participants urged the local governments to individually and collectively adopt the following measures and implement the following policies towards adding value to the business community: and to develop, organise and employ means to sustain the Community Business Assembly as a public-private engagement platform for reducing tension between the private sector and local governments.

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HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

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

Saving Nigerian Children from Pneumonia As recent studies have shown, pneumonia has replaced malaria as the highest killer of children in Nigeria. Martins Ifijeh writes on the need for government, stakeholders and health bodies to step up preventive measures and management of the killer disease

W

hile child death is increasing in most regions of the world, even in some developing countries, the same cannot be said of Nigeria, which prides itself as the giant of Africa and the economic hub of the continent. Rather, the prevalence rates of child deaths due to various diseases has continued to soar, with malaria known to top the chart for several years as the highest killer of children in the country.

Just as the country is still battling with reducing malaria scourge, especially among women and children, who are the most hit, pneumonia, one of Nigeria’s most misunderstood diseases is now killing children more than malaria in the country if the recent report by the International Vaccines Access Centre (IVAC) is anything to go by.

The report shows that in 2015, about 17 per cent of deaths and 10 per cent of deaths of all under-five deaths were caused by pneumonia and diarrhoea, respectively, suggesting that malaria is now second placed among child killer diseases in the country.

With most Nigerians believing that pneumonia is caused by exposure to cold weather, food and water, thereby ignorantly warning their children not to take cold drinks or water to avoid contracting the disease, experts say this may be a major part of a larger picture fueling the increased prevalence of the disease in the country.

Available statistics show that pneumonia kills a staggering 1.6 million people globally every year with children under age five bearing the brunt of the crisis, especially in underdeveloped and developing countries.

According to the World HealthOrganisation, pneumonia is preventable and treatable. But WHO said that every 20 seconds, a child somewhere in the world dies of pneumonia, making it the number one infectious killer of children across the globe, especially in Africa where even malaria is known to be the commonest of diseases.

Africa has been known to be badly hit by the pneumonia scourge compared to other continents. Again, according to reports, Nigeria is taking the lead in incidence rate on the continent.

Available statistics also show that an estimated 6.7 million cases of childhood pneumonia is recorded in Nigeria every year with about 200, 000 children under the age of five dying from the preventable disease annually. In essence, every one hour, 20 children die from pneumonia in Nigeria.

According to reports, among five children in Nigeria that die of childhood killer diseases,two are killed by pneumonia.

Now, experts are calling on stakeholders and the governments at local, state and national levels to scale up awareness of the disease, just as it is currently doing for malaria, polio andHIV/AIDS. They are also calling on Nigerians to put measures in place to prevent the disease from taking away their loved ones.

The Project Head, Perfect Health Initiative, Dr. Omons Okumale said most people do not know about pneumonia and how it can be prevented. Adding that the lack of awareness was responsible for its prevalence, especially in children whose immunity is not as strong as that of adults.

“Pneumonia is a severe disease, because the body gets oxygen through the lungs and once the brain does not get oxygen in three minutes, death occurs.That is why it is a very fatal disease,” Okumale explained.

He said though pneumonia was more prevalent in the western world, “it is not the most common cause of death for them, because they know how to deal with their issues, they have preventive measures in place to tackle it unlike us here where it is

Vaccines are available to prevent pneumonia

a growing concern.”

On why children are more prone to the disease, Okumale said they were more prone to it because their immune system was very low. “Apart from children, other people also at high risk of the disease are the immune compromised people. I mean persons with Human Immuno Virus (HIV) and those on drugs like corticosteroids. Also prone to it is the elderly because at their age their immunity is low,” he said.

According to him, pneumonia happens because of infections caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other types of germs. He added: “Chemical causes should not be left out also. Assuming one mistakenly drinks kerosine, a quantity of it could go into the lungs causing chemical pneumonia.

“The cause of pneumonia determines the treatment. Before treatment, one must first do a diagnosis to know which of the germs is the remote cause, so that the physician can know exactly which medication to use.”

What are the symptoms of pneumonia and how do they manifest? He said the most common symptom includes cough, fever and shortness of breath.

“God gave everyone cough as a defense mechanism to push out foreign bodies from the respiratory tract. Also, shortness of breathe is understandable because since there is infection in the alveoli, there definitely will be difficulty in exchanging gases with the blood, vice versa,” he said.

To compensate for the inadequate oxygen to the blood, he said the lung breathes faster and shorter so as to make up for the fact that each breathing during pneumonia does not deliver enough oxygen to the blood. “There could be loss of appetite as well as weakness.

Even when the person eats, there is not enough oxygen to metabolise the food, hence the body becomes weak. There could sometime be chest pain,” he explained further.

Can cold weather cause pneumonia? Okumale said pneumonia was caused by germs against the misconception about cold weather which

most people make reference to. “If it was due to cold, all the children in cold regions abroad would have contracted it by now. When this bacteria or virus gets into the body either through the mouth or other openings in the body, it goes to the gut and contaminates the blood and goes into the respiratory apparatus to cause problem there. That is pneumonia.

“People must understand that the most viable way pneumonia is transmitted is through germs contracted under poor sanitation and hygiene.It is not prevented or treated by wearing clothes that cover every part of the body or being in a warm environment,” he said. He said children exposed to cigarette smoke, those who do not participate in routine pneumonia programmes and those exposed to smoke from charcoal or firewood are more at risk of the disease.

He, however said the myth about cold being a causal effect may not be totally discarded, as the assumption could have an element of fact, adding that the germs causing the disease thrives more in cold weather, but noted that because the disease thrives more in cold environment does not mean cold is the source of the disease.

“That is why it is a very common disease abroad. Even at that, it is not the most common cause of death over there because they sure know how to take care of themselves. They have vaccines against it. The reason people are still dying of malaria today is because it is an African problem. If it was the advanced countries’ problem, they would have developed vaccines against it.Warm environment is a little bit not conducive for pneumonia virus to thrive,” he added.

Harping on the causal agents, he noted that there were different bacteria or viruses responsible for pneumonia, hence the need to identify which kind of germ causes a particular pneumonia before treatment can be initiated for the patient.

“There are anti-bacterial drugs for the pneumonia caused by bacteria, which usually is administered over a long period of

time. But with the new drugs developed, the medication might last just few days. If the pneumonia is severe and the person is having fast and short breathe, it is necessary to put the person on oxygen as a temporary measure before treating for pneumonia itself.

For a Consultant Paediatrician, Dr. Odom Ebizimo, most Nigerians do not know that there are vaccines available to immunise them against pneumonia, stressing that it is necessary they take advantage of it and prevent undue illnesses and death in the country.

According to him, awareness is the major factor that can reduce the high number of deaths due to childhood pneumonia. “In advance countries, there are a lot of vaccines for various respiratory infections and their citizens know about them. So it’s easy to access such facilities unlike here in Nigeria where most people may not be aware. The prevalence of pneumonia is not as high in western countries compared to ours.

“Recently, Nigerian government added two new respiratory vaccines to the one they give to children at six weeks or 10 weeks. Even on individual basis, these vaccines can be sourced from private hospitals, but they will be of course more expensive. Pneumonia is preventable in Nigeria if vaccines are taken,” he noted.

Ebizimo who said clean environment has a major role to play in the prevention of pneumonia painted a scenario where over 10 people sleep in one room,especially in cities like Lagos, and then questioned why pneumonia would not thrive in such an environment.

“Government has been doing a lot in creating awareness for Nigerians to immunise themselves against diseases like polio, measles, tuberculosis and a host of others. But more awareness should be created especially forpneumonia.

“Nigerians should be encouraged to immunise themselves against pneumonia. People should also live in a well ventilated place. Offices and other closed rooms should be well ventilated as well,” he added.

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T H I S D AY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

NEWS

UNESCO: 30% of Nigerians To Live Long, Avoid Smoked Fish, Roasted Corn, Lack Access to Quality Water Plantain, Expert Says

Launches capacity development exercise next year on quality water Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has said that 30 per cent of Nigerians still lack access to quality water. It said though this was not peculiar to Nigeria alone but all countries in the sub-Saharan Africa.

UNESCO Regional Advisor, Mr. Simone Grego disclosed this in Abuja at the regional expert meeting on water quality in agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in West Africa. Based on this, he said UNESCO would be launching a capacity development exercise next year to address the issue of lack of quality water facing sub-Saharan Africa.

According to him, “the target for the drinking water plan on MDGs, Nigeria scored well, I mean the target was met, on the contrary on the sanitation aspect, the target wasn’t met. This is common with all the countries in subSaharan Africa, it’s not only an issue for Nigeria. Maybe the target was too ambitious, maybe their resources were not enough or maybe there wasn’t enough capacity to meet the target.”

He noted that, “this is why we are working to strengthen the capacities of the countries in West Africa which are in our domain, because we believe as UNESCO that capacity is the main issue.”

Grego added that over the years Nigeria fared well in terms of drinking water but it didn’t go down well with respect to sanitation .

“What we are doing here is a sort of scooping exercise , it’s a fact finding workshop, we are trying to understand from the eight countries in the region that we covered; what are their main issues in terms of water quality; what are the solutions that they are proposing to adopt; and how they are going to manage the monitoring of the SDGs with respect to water quality.

“Once we gathered this information, next year we will launch capacity development exercise to ensure that the issues that have been highlighted in this workshop will be addressed with capacity development.

“In1990, 40 per cent of Nigerians have access to improved water resources; in 2015, 69 per cent have access to improved water resources, 30 per cent of Nigerians still lack access to quality water,” he said.

…As Avon HMO launches online service

Martins Ifijeh For Nigerians to defeat non communicable diseases and live long, they must avoid excessive or continuous intake of smoked fish, roasted corn, roasted plantain and other enticing, but unhealthy foods, the Managing Director, Integrated Medical Centre, Dr. Damilola Familoni has said.

She notes that though these were hard to resist delicacies for Nigerians, they were ladened with cancer causing effects and other disease risk factors which manifests much later in life, stressing that one of the surest prevention methods against cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity was adopting a healthy lifestyle which includes healthy living.

Speaking at the celebration of AVON Health Management Organisation at Three, and the launch of its online service in Lagos, she said Nigerians must be educated on what types of foods to be avoided or eaten, as education was key to tackling the rising health indices in the country. “For instance, anyone with Blood type O has no reason eating plantain at all,” she adds.

According to her, “disease burden was becoming prominent in Nigeria, hence it was best to adopt healthcare provision that would make them spend less while getting adequate and appropriate diagnosis, treatment and management of their various health issues.

“All these can’t be addressed

by out-of-pocket health provision as majority of Nigerians are living below the poverty line and are unable to afford healthcare. But with health insurance, it is easier to maximally take advantage of healthcare provision.

Organisations, governments and individuals should adopt this model if we must reduce incidence of health issues in the country,” Familoni added.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer, AVON HMO, Mrs. Adesimbo Ukiri said with the launch of the online service, Nigerians can now buy and enroll to health plans from the organisation’s website via their mobile phones, laptops and tablets. She said: “When we started three years ago, our belief was that Nigerians

from all walks of life should be able to access good quality healthcare services when they need it, without financial constraint leading to unnecessary complications and fatalities .

“With our health plans starting as low as N15,000 per year, we have indeed brought quality healthcare services to the average Nigerian. Subscription to an Avon HMO plan means that whenever a covered ill health or accident occurs, the state of one’s finances won’t matter as Avon HMO oversees the healthcare service delivery and foots the bill. By giving people the ability to buy and subscribe online via mobile phones and other devices, we are bringing convenient and affordable healthcare services to everyone.”

Family Planning Acceptability Rises in Abia as USAID Ends SHOPS Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia Family planning has continued to win more converts in Abia State following an intervention programme, Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which targeted the private sector health providers for capacity building.

A report card of the five-year project, which ended recently showed that 6,988 persons were newly convinced into accepting family planning, 3, 409 family planning revisits recorded through increased communications and attitudinal change.

Within the cycle the skills of 58 private providers were enhanced and 45 others are now capable of providing method mix thereby enabling people to make informed choices in family planning methods to adopt. The project implementation carried out in 10 out of the 17 local governments of Abia included maternal and child health service trainings for providers in order to reverse the nation’s poor MCH statistics that stand at 545 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and a high under-five mortality rate of 157 per 1,000 live births.

Speaking at a press conference where she announced the end of SHOPS programme in Abia, chief of party, Ayodele Iroko said that it was a success story given the increased family planning awareness

and acceptability it created as well as capacity building of the providers.

“Today we’re proud to say that in Abia State when any client want family services they can access it either public or private health facilities,” she said, adding that the full knowledge about FP is now domiciled in Abia through the Health Ministry and the private health practitioners.

USAID focused its SHOPS programme on private health providers based on the fact that the private sector provides 60 per cent of family planning services in Nigeria thereby positioning it as a key entry point for addressing health needs. Not only that, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in its report said that over 50 per cent of rural Nigerians routinely turn to private-for -profit health facilities to meet their basic health needs.

Iroko assured that with the skills they have now acquired through SHOPS the private providers were now in good stead to deliver quality FP services to people that need them, noting that generations unborn in Abia would hold them responsible for whatever happened to them in future.

She said that in implementing SHOPS the cultural and religious sentiments over the issue of family planning was taken into consideration as people were made to actually understand that FP was meant for them to improve the quality of their lives.

FOR BETTER HEALTHCARE

L-R: Programme Director, Engineering World Health, Professor Carmen Walker; Deputy Chairman, Advisory Committee (CMAC), Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Professor Wasiu Adeyemo; Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Professor Christopher Bode; and Education Leader, GE, Lillian Okoye at the Graduation Ceremony of the School of Biomedical Engineering, held in Lagos ...recently

MamaYe Advocates Kangaroo Mother Care to Save Preterm babies Martins Ifijeh While Nigeria ranks highest in Africa for neonatal deaths and delivery of almost a million preterm/ low birth weight babies, MamaYe, an evidence-based accountability organisation, has advocated for the adoption of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) method to save the lives of preterm babies and other newborns.

A Professor of Neonatology, Department of Paediatrics, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof. Chinyere Ezeaka, who gave the advise during MamaYe’s training for Health Journalists on KMC in Lagos, described the life saving method as an affordable alternative to incubator care which is expensive, stressing that the dearth of incubators in most Nigerian hospitals have caused the death of millions of preterm babies.

According to her, KMC follows the pattern of a newborn kangaroo called a “joey”, which is delivered always at preterm, and immediately

crawls into the mother’s pouch for warmth. “In the pouch, it attaches itself to the breasts for four to five weeks till it matures. This provides warmth and the right temperature to the joey till it is able to live on its own. This is a good alternative to incubators for humans, especially in a country like Nigeria where they are lacking,” she said.

Ezeaka, who is also the President, Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine said each year, 11 per cent of the world’s babies were born too soon, resulting in about 15 million preterm babies. “Nigeria ranks third among countries with the highest number of preterm births globally with an annual rate of about 773,600.

“Preterm is a cause of death and risk factor to neonatal mortality; 31 per cent of newborn deaths in Nigeria are directly due to complications of preterm birth that when combined with effects of low birth weight is an indirect cause in up to 80 per cent of newborn deaths in the country.”

HIV/AIDS: Ambode Cautions against Stigmatisation The wife of Lagos State governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, has called on Lagosians to desist from stigmatising persons living with HIV/AIDS, adding that there were laws in the state criminalising the act.

Stating this at the 2016 World AIDS Day commemoration with adolescents living with HIV in Lagos, organised by the Positive Action forTreatment Access (PATA) and the Lagos State Aids Control Agency (LSACA), she said since HIV was not contracted through physical contacts like hand-shaking or hugging, it was unnecessary to deliberately avoid people with the challenge.

She urged all relevant agencies in the state to work in synergy to address issues relating to stigma and discrimination against PLWHA those persons The governor’s wife who commended LSACA and PATA for a two-week camping recently organised for young adolescents living

with HIV,advised the beneficiaries to follow expert advice, medical instructions,and to apply good discretion in their social interactions.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer, LSACA, Dr. Oluseyi Temowo, called on Lagosians to go for testing in order to ascertain their HIV status, adding that the infection was not a death sentence, but that the earlier status was known, the better at managing it.

On his part, the Programme Manage, PATA, Mr. Francis Umoh lamented that much of the social and psychological needs of the young adolescents living with the virus were not met, stressing that they should be embraced and not isolated, and medication made available to them.

Special Adviser to the governor on Health, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga, assured the adolescents living with the challenge, that they would not be abandoned by the state governmen

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HEALTH

Government’s Role in Cancer Multiplication Odimegwu Onwumere writes that the inability of the government to refurbish medical centres with modern radiotherapy machines has led to many cancer patients squirm their teeth in anguish while others have died Derisory attendance of government in the equipment of laboratories in the country has been fingered as part of the major causes of the rise in cancer cases in the recent times.

“Thousands of cancer patients are currently facing death nationwide, following a breakdown of all the radiotherapy machines at treatment centres in the country,” reported by the media in September.

“They whispered that contemporary cancer machines use a single amount of extremely watchful radiation, intended to obliterate only the tumour and not other areas of the body not affected by the disease.

“The expected lifespan of a linear accelerator is 10 years, and older machines are considered outdated and incapable of delivering modern radiotherapy techniques linked to better patient outcomes,” they said.

A Consultant Paediatric Haematologist and Oncologist, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Prof. Edamisan Temiye in an interview with a national broadsheet accused the government of its incapacitation to give the country constant electricity light as the major reason the ‘superseded’ machines continue to breakdown.

“The second thing we need to do is to tackle electricity problems. Like the ones we have in LUTH and other centres, you are not supposed to shut them down.

They are supposed to work for 24 hours. Once you shut them down and restart you are causing problems for them. So electricity supply

is a big issue. If we can get good electricity supply and then good maintenance, it will reduce failure of treatments and improve outcomes as well as increase survival rates in the country,” Temiye said.

Temiye was angry that the government had no justifiable reason to give one radiotherapy machine to one government hospital in the first place.

“A serious hospital should at least have two or three machines so that when you relieve one and you maintain it, the other one would be in operation.

When it is only one machine that continues to work for a long time, it will break down and the cost of repair is high,” Temiye said.

The expression of shock by the media was that hardly is there any new cancer machines at the centres “such as The Gamma Knife machines fit for the 21st Century so that Nigerians can have access to the latest advanced radiotherapy techniques that target the cancer and cause less damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

“The development, which has persisted for years, has become unmanageable in the last few weeks as a result of alarm raised by patients and their relatives who throng the centres daily,” the source said.

At the Federal University of Technology of Minna, (FUT), Niger State, in October, the once unruffled hall turned agitated on hearing that cancer has exterminated some lecturers of the institute in a lecture with theme – early detection and timely management of cancer: solution to graceful

Prof. Adewole

ageing – delivered by the wife of Niger State Governor and founder of Raise Foundation, Dr. Amina Abubakar Sani Bello at the institute. In the highlight of that, there’s the apprehension that cancer deaths among women will rise by 2030 to 60 per cent especially breast cancer, even as there has been a warning that women with numerous sex partners are elevated threat of cervical cancer The American Cancer Society and Lancet Studies made this known on November 1, 2016, at the World Cancer Congress in Paris, saying that the cancer upsurge will be widespread among women in poor and middle-income countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea having the uppermost death rates.

Other countries in Africa like

Nigeria were not excluded.

Globally, an estimated number of 5.5 million women are going to have cancer by 2030. A number, authorities have said, is greater than the population of Denmark.

Records show that some 80 percent of cancer patients do not make it out of the percentage that is victim. The reason has not been unconnected to breakdown of order in the management of cancer related cases in Nigeria.

According to a source, “Experts gathered that the cancer machines at the National Hospital Abuja, NHA, Lagos University Teaching Hospitals, LUTH, University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, including others in health institutions in Gombe, Enugu, Benin, Sokoto among others, have been breaking down frequently due to wear and

tear and lack of maintenance.”

Why Nigeria has not buckled up to arrest cancer still baffles opinion leaders given that millions of naira have been pumped into the fight against cancer. In many hospitals, patients have complained about poor attitudes of medical practitioners towards them in the course of medical checks, apart from the deafening shallow state of hospitals in the country.

There had been upgraded hospitals, like the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo did in 2003, by making 14 Federal Teaching hospitals across the country to attain the state-ofthe-art medical paraphernalia, which he buzzed out with N29 billion VAMED project, but they went back to the sullied background they were once raised up from.

According to the source, “Eight Teaching Hospitals considered for the 1st phase included the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria; University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan; University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port Harcourt; and University of Maiduguri (UMTH), Maiduguri.

“Others were University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu; Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos; University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilori, Kwara State and the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Jos, Plateau State.

“The six Teaching Hospitals in the 2nd phase were at the universities of Ife, Benin, Sokoto, Kano, Calabar and Nnewi. Of the 14 Teaching

Hospitals shortlisted, seven were equipped with the new cancer treatment machines but over decade later, none of the machines is in good working condition.”

At the end of its 52nd Annual Scientific Conference and workshop in Jalingo, the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) frowned that the disease, on its menu, has gulped over 2 million victims with some hundreds of thousands of new cases reported annually, whereas modern Radiotherapy ought to have helped.

Alhaji Toyosi Raheem, the President of the group did not show smiling teeth, when he said, “We call on the federal government to fully equip the cancer centre and programme it has established with adequate human and infrastructural resources.

The government has to integrate Nigerian Medical Laboratory Scientists into the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) and Save One Million lives Initiative of the Federal Government.”

The connoisseurs’ judgments however suggested that early dictation is panacea to sustenance and that people should avoid sedentary lifestyle and processed foods to assuage the occurrence of cancer; they also accused the federal government of paying disinterest approach to integrate Nigerian Medical Laboratory Scientists into the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI). Hence, Raheem called on the government seriously, to do the needful, because one million lives have to be saved in Nigeria from cancer.

Governors, Health Minister Task Nigerians on Cardiovascular Health Martins Ifijeh In what appears to be a united font to tackle the increasing prevalence of heart diseases in Nigeria, four South-west governors, politicians, players in the healthcare industry, and the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, have called on Nigerians to avoid lifestyles that predisposes to cardiovascular disease, which is becoming a prominent health burden for the country.

They believed with one in every five Nigerians said to be suffering from one of the various forms of cardiovascular diseases and at risk of premature death, every stakeholder in the country needs to stress about preventive care, while putting in place world class health facilities to tackle heart problems.

Speaking at the First Annual Black Tie Gala to raise funds in support of cardiovascular care in Nigeria, Adewole said unhealthy diets contribute significantly to the development of non communicable

disease in Nigeria, hence the need for the citizens to watch what they eat.

“Sadly, there is widespread low consumption of proteins, fruits and vegetables and increasing patronage of fast food outlets by the population.

There is also large promotion of sweetened products such as carbonated drinks,pastries, candies and other refined sugars, while excessive intake of salt is promoted by food additives such as monosodium glutamate common indelicacies such as suya, kilisi, isi-ewu, ngwo-ngwo, among others.”

On his part, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Tristate Heart Foundation, Chief Bisi Akande, while cautioning Nigerians on the need to take care of their health, urged the federal government to remove high import duty on medical equipment and consumables by granting tax holidays to medical devices’ manufacturers and encouraging local production.

“Above all, we must ensure health insurance scheme for

our people because if health insurance is made compulsory, then organisations like ours will have fewer objectives to contend with.

We must stop paying lip service to the health sector because a healthy nation is a productive nation.

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who chaired the event, said the state would do all its best to support the initiative of the Foundation, adding that he was sure Lagosians will benefit immensely from the cardiovascular care centre. He donated N100 million to the cause.

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who said he once thought he had immunity from illness, until his daughter, who is a medical doctor checked his blood pressure and told him, “Daddy, you are going,” adding that from that day he realised he had hypertension, which does not show signs. He therefore called on Nigerians to constantly check their health status.

Adding his voice, Ogun State

Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, who donated N10 million on behalf of the state and N5 million on behalf of his family, said he was elated that the centre was situated in his state.

Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, said the importance of heart health cannot be over emphasised, hence the need for

everyone to take it seriously.

He donated N10 million on behalf of the state and his family.

President/Chief Executive Officer of TCA, Prof Kamar Adeleke, said the funds would be spent on Nigerians with heart related issues without funds for treatment or manage-

ment.

Members of the foundation’s board include Mr. John Momoh (Vice-Chairman), former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Joseph Sanusi, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Abubakar Mahmoud(SAN), Mrs. Claire Omatseye, among others.

Health Sector: David Mark Criticises FG Over Negligence Kuni Tyessi, in Abuja Former senate President David Mark has criticized the federal government for it’s negligence towards the health sector and for not paying attention to the industry as it does other sectors”, especially the economy.

Speaking at an investiture of patrons of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, Sen. Mark said though concern and investment in economic growth were important, economy essentially was all about health and being healthy.

“If from a lot of the emphasis devoted to the economy alone, just a little is devoted to health, you will find the economy will do better,” said Mark.

The investiture doubled as an award of “fellowship” to doctors who have been in private practice for 10 years and “distinguished” to others who have surpassed 25 years in private practice.

Mark said private practice was needed in remote rural areas where established public sector health was beyond reach, noting doctors must put the health of the public first.

“It is one industry where there should never be politics. You must never play politics in the health sector,” said Mark.

AGMPN president Dr Frank Odafen said private medical practice, though handling much of the health burden among Nigerians, faced serious challenges that stifle its growth.

“What we have is not lack of capacity or skills. We have people trained all over the world, and they are specialist.

We are heavyweight champions but our hands are tied because of lack of facilities to practise,” said Odafen.

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T H I S D AY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

HEALTH

Why We Change to APIN Public Health Initiatives After 16 Years, Says Okonkwo Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja After 16 years of deliver ing a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and care, AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) has rebranded and changed name to APIN Public Health Initiatives in order to meet more public health related needs.

The CEO of APIN, Dr. Prosper Okonkwo, while addressing journalists in Abuja revealed that the health institute decided to change its name to eliminate any perceived disadvantage that the former name placed on its ongoing diversification efforts.

According to him, “APIN is one of the foremost organisations in the provision of comprehensive HIV services in Nigeria. Since 2004, APIN has provided HIV/TB services to close to 200,000 people living with HIV in 10 states, namely Enugu, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Kaduna, Benue, Borno, Yobe, and Ebonyi.”

He added that, “as a result of strategic shift by our major funders, the United States President’s Emergency Plans for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we currently support the federal government to provide HIV services across all levels of healthcare in three statesLagos, Oyo and Plateau.”

Okonkwo also revealed that since becoming an indigenous PEPFAR partner in 2008, APIN has provided anti-retro viral

treatment for over 179,503 persons living with HIV. He stated that APIN public health initiatives would now provide cutting edge, innovative and sustainable approaches to address other major areas of public health importance such as tuberculosis, malaria, reproductive health, family planning, maternal, and child health through effective programme management, service delivery and capacity building.

“As a first step, we will be building on our widespread network of service providers, communities, researchers and persons living with HIV across the country and up the United States to contribute our quota to what the stakeholders are doing in TB control, “ Okonkwo noted.

He however stated categorically that currently they are well funded for the above mentioned activities APIN engages in, but stressed that meaningful sustainable planning however dictates they embark on more diversification, so that any potential risks are well spread out through diverse port folios.

Okonkwo said that, “we aspire to do more in the areas where obvious programming gas exist, and we hope to continue to strengthen our systems or meet the anticipated increased implementation going forward. “

UUTH to Provide Free Surgical Services for 1,000 persons in 100 Days Okon Bassey in Uyo The University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), through the Federal Government Rapid Result Initiative is targeting about 1000 less-privilege people for free surgical programme within 100 days of commencement of the scheme in the state.

Already, at the beginning of the exercise recently the hospital offered a specialised free surgical service to no fewer than 100 indigenes of Ikot Akpamba community in Nsit Ibium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State and its environs. The medical outreach held at the UUTH Comprehensive Health Centre at Ikot Akpamba, Nsit Ibium LGA, attracted a large turnout of elderly men, women, youths and children. Explaining the significance of the scheme, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the UUTH, Professor Etete Peter said the initiative was borne out of the need to respond to the critical needs of the people and to deliver on the mandate of promoting health with focus on access, affordability and demand.

The CMD who was represented, by the Chief Medical Advisory Council (CMAC) of the hospital, Dr. Issac Udo said the federal government Rapid Result Initiative (RRI) vision is to produce quick and visible impacts in the health sector.

He stressed that the initiative will altogether affect the lives of every Nigerian especially the most vulnerable and the poor in the society targeting about 1000 beneficiaries in the next 100 days.

According to him, quality health service delivery was one of the federal government priority noting that when the health of a good percentage of the citizens was sound they can contribute their quota to the social, political and economic growth off the society.

“The free surgical treatment was part of the federal government community service with a vision of making healthcare accessible to the people irrespective of their background,” he stated The CMD however, called on good spirited individuals, corporate organisations and stakeholders to contribute their quota towards the well-being of the society, promising to partner with relevant bodies not only to cater for the health needs but also ameliorate the suffering of people. Remarking, the Chief Medical Superintendent of the Ikot Akpamba, UUTH Comprehensive Health Centre, Dr. Thomas Edo narrated the imperative of the free surgical outreach saying it was designed under the Rapid Result Initiatives of the federal government to assist the poor and under privileged in rural communities

Economic Situation Shrinking Pharmaceutical Business, Causing Drug Scarcity, ACPN Says Martins Ifijeh The Chairman, Lagos State chapter, Association of Community Pharmacist of Nigeria, ACPN, Pharm. Abiola PaulOzieh, has raised the alarm that economic situation in Nigeria is shrinking pharmaceutical business across the country, while non-availability and non-affordability of drugs is affecting the health of Nigerians.

She said due to the high rates of duties on importation of pharmaceutical products, the inability of manufacturers to access foreign exchange and the increased rate of naira to

dollar was further stiffening pharmaceutical business, as the sector has greatly been affected by the recession.

Stating this at the 2016 Community Pharmacists Education Conference in Lagos recently, she said over 100 importers have folded up or left the country, while not so many are bringing in pharmaceutical products required by Nigerians.

“Even though the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole denies that pharmaceutical businesses are not shrinking in the country, I believe he is a government official. The real people to ask are the

manufacturers, pharmaceutical entrepreneurs and pharmacists who are on ground.”

According to her, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria body has met with the President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the challenges and how best to encourage indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturers for the benefit of Nigerians.

On his part, the National President, ACPN, Pharm. Albert Akali, said the continuous educational programme for the pharmacists was timely, as the knowledge gained will help them float atop their business during the economic recession.

He called on government to reduce take off cut on raw materials, appoint substantive Director General for the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and then give priority to the sector, as its importance to the health of Nigerians cannot be over emphasised.

The Medical Director, Reals Pharmaceuticals, Pharm. Ade Popoola, said all pharmacists must know how to do their businesses through emerging tools like the internet and computers. “Every pharmacist should improve his or her self,” he added.

L-R: Superintendent Pharmacist, Publix Pharmaceuticals, Davies Akindele; Supervisor, Nigeria Operations, Publix Healthcare UK, Angela Rutaguza; Country Director, Astamed Healthcare, Bhavik Shethia; Medical Rep, Publix Pharmaceuticals, Angela Madusha; and Medical Rep, Publix Pharmaceuticals, Kolect Enoma, during the launch of Publix Pharmaceuticals in Lagos ...recently

NAFDAC Warns against Drug Abuse

FG, Unilever Partner to Promote Oral Hygiene in Nigeria

Martins Ifijeh

Rebecca Ejifoma

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has launched a crusade in Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State, taking its anti-drug abuse campaign to youths, market women and drivers with the aim to sensitise and enlighten the people on the dangers of inappropriate drug use.

Speaking at the event, the NAFDAC representative, Mrs. Christiana Obiazikwor asked them to shun drug abuse, noting that drug abuse was life threatening habit and a social menace.

According to her, the abuse of codeine containing cough syrup has become more worrisome because statistics have shown it is rampant among the youths advising them to desist from the act to avoid the negative effect.

While further describing its effects, she stated that an individual involved in drug abuse suffers a syndrome that predisposed victims to prefer drug use over food or other basic necessities of life, adding that victims of such abuse were deprived of nourishment and essential nutrients that should boost their immune systems,

causing loss of immunity and retarded growth. ‘’They exhibit increased and uninhibited sexual behaviour, runs the risk of contacting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) Including HIV infection and subsequent spread of AIDS. Uninhibited sexual behaviour may also result to unplanned parenthood with its attendant problems,” Obiazikwor said.

She expressed more worries that young people who abuse drugs record high level of absenteeism and often drop out of school in frustration.

Adding that, ‘’they often end up as miscreants, societal burdens and bring utter disgrace to their families. Most of these youths are involved in avoidable accidents, which could lead to deformity or death.”

Obiazikwor advised drivers and other road users to desist from abusing drugs, noting that drug abuse can lead to over speeding, drowsiness, tendency to fidget, and accidents that may lead to loss of valuable life.

She noted that NAFDAC was established to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale, and use of foods, drugs, cosmetics, medical devises, chemical and water (including all drinks).

Determined to ensure good dental care for all Nigerians, the federal government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Health and Unilever Nigeria Plc. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote oral hygiene and education in10 million Nigerian pupils.

The MoU was signed at the 6th edition of the National Oral Health Week in Abuja over the week where the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said that oral health is an important tool for achieving good general health.

“Fewer than 20 per cent of Nigerians have access to oral care services and most of these services focus on curative rather than preventive care which might represent more effective tool for meeting the oral care needs of the population,” he added.

The Minister further commended Unilever Nigeria Plc for accepting to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Health to promote the oral hygiene of 10 million Nigerian school children by providing educational materials and product facilities through the Pepsodent oral health schools’ programme.

Accordingly, the Brand Manager Pepsodent, Unilever Nigeria Plc, George Umoh, said Unilever was committed to doing business in a sustainable way and as part of its sustainability agenda “we have committed to improving the lives of 10 million Nigerian children by the year 2020.

To this regard, we have signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigerian Dental Association and other stakeholders to promote oral hygiene and education and the habit of brushing twice daily (Morning and Night) a global best practice to prevent the prevalence of dental caries and other oral health diseases in Nigeria.”

Notwithstanding, since the launch of the Pepsodent Oral Health Schools programme in 2014, Unilever Nigeria has so far reached 2.5 million Nigerian children directly in over 3,500 public primary schools with products (toothpaste and toothbrushes) educational materials and a 21-day oral hygiene programme, teaching them to imbibe the culture of brushing twice-daily using a fluoride containing toothpaste such as Pepsodent.

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Trade sistant

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T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Buhari Urged to Restore Confidence in the Economy Obinna Chima

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has stressed that the current economic recession facing the country as well as the profound structural challenges posed by the dependence of the economy on oil, calls for a serious political response.

To this end, Moghalu urged President Muhammadu Buhari to respond with decisive action and a clear vision that will restore confidence in the economy.

This, according to him would require a re-appraisal of the role of the state, adding that government should be an enabler of growth and development, not an impediment.

“As the experience of other emerging markets shows, economic success does not happen without independent institutions.

Few things have been as damaging as a series of questionable foreign exchange policies adopted by the central bank.

In response to sharply declining dollar revenues from oil that have depleted the country’s external reserves, the bank

first maintained an artificial exchange rate and refused to further devalue the naira for 16 months. This was in addition to the bank’s ban on access to the foreign exchange market for importers of a range of items, from cement to toothpicks.

“A growing black market for hard currency and sharply reduced output by manufacturers unable to import raw materials quickly followed. After much criticism, the central bank announced in June that it would explore a flotation of the naira.

It has turned out to be anything but. The secret police have entered the foreign exchange market, arresting currency dealers who sell at rates above profit benchmarks set by the central bank.

These policies appear to have been motivated by a perceived imperative to maintain an “affordable” exchange rate because devaluation would hurt the poor.

By contrast, the central banks of South Africa and Egypt, the largest African economies after Nigeria, have responded better to economic stress. The former has allowed the rand to find its market value. Egypt

followed with a devaluation of the Egyptian pound in November, a $12bn bailout from the International Monetary Fund and a commitment to macroeconomic reforms,” Moghalu, who is now a professor at the Fletcher School, Tufts University, said in an article made available to THISDAY. He stressed that Nigeria’s policies have had effects that should bother the president, saying that a short-term, populist approach to economic thinking is exacerbating poverty, which the president vowed to tackle.

He alleged that political expediency in foreign exchange management has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem.

“Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers. The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform,” he added.

Moghalu

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

Firm Partners CBN on e-CCI Peter Uzoho In a bid to mitigate the inefficiencies in issuing and managing Certificate of Capital Importation (CCI) in the country, Telnet Nigeria Limited is partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and financial institutions to develop and implement the Electronic Certificate of Capital Importation (e-CCI) platform.

This was sequel to the approval given to the industry by the CBN via the Financial Market Dealers Association of Nigeria (FMDA) and the Association of Asset Custodian of Nigeria (AACN) to develop an e-CCI system,

standardise and automate the various activities involved in CCI issuance, operations and management.

Speaking in Lagos, at the e-CCI Technical Committee Workshop, the Chief Executive Officer, Telnet Nigeria Limited, Mr. Gbenga Odujinrin, said the e-CCI system would significantly boost Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the country, adding that it would increase investor’s confidence by enabling them to remotely access and monitor their investments in Nigeria.

He said the implementation of the ECCI system would, in addition, promote transpar-

ency within the industry and enhance the capacity of the central bank to monitor in real-time, the performance of foreign investments in different sectors of the economy, He added that the project is at its advanced stage of completion and the formal launch would be announced by the CBN to relevant stakeholders in due course.

“At the end of the project, Nigeria would be able to say boastfully, that the country is open for business. Our platform is probably one of the leading platforms in developing areas especially in our region.

Stanbic IBTC Introduces Digital Branch Nume Ekeghe Stanbic IBTC Bank has commissioned its first self-service digital branch.

The digital branch inauguration took place in Lagos yesterday with technology business pioneer and founder of Zinox Technologies Limited, Leo Stan-Eke, declaring the facility ready for business.

Located at Maryland Mall, the branch’s processes and systems are completely digitalised and

equipped with tablets, touch screens, electronic banking devices and new digital technologies set up in designated self-service and private areas to enable customers conduct financial transactions seamlessly while enjoying a delightful banking experience. The Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Yinka Sanni, said the digitisation of banking services was the path to the future as consumers increasingly embrace the online world to meet their needs.

The benefits of digitalisation and innovation are huge for the individual, business or economy, Sanni stated, adding that as technology evolves, Stanbic IBTC Bank will keep pace with it to deliver impeccable value to its customers.

He said Stanbic IBTC Bank expects to report further growth in digital branch numbers and innovations as fresh investments are made to deliver on the bank’s long-term goal to build a “bank for everyone.”

CCA Appoints Florizelle Liser President/CEO The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) has announced that Florizelle (Florie) Liser, its Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa would be its next President and CEO. Liser was appointed unanimously by the CCA Board of Directors following an international search. Her appointment is effective January 23, 2017.

“We are thrilled that Florie Liser is the next President and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa,” the Board Chair of CCA, Dr. Jeffrey L. Sturchio and President & CEO, Rabin Martin said.

A statement from the CCA further said: “She has

unmatched experience in U.S.-Africa trade and investment policy, deep knowledge of Africa and an unparalleled network of relationships with leaders across sub- Saharan Africa including heads of state, ministers and other key stakeholders, in the U.S. Government, multilateral organisations, the business community, and civil society. These strengths and her vision make Florie the perfect person to lead CCA into the future, building on the strong foundations laid by Stephen Hayes and the team.”

Liser succeeds Stephen Hayes as the third President and CEO of CCA. Florie brings her expertise and extensive network on trade

and Africa to her new role, along with a strong track record of working with the private sector to translate policy into action. She will also be the first woman to lead the Council since its founding in 1993. “21st century Africa presents enormous opportunities for businesses looking to take advantage of growing markets across the continent,” said Ms. Liser. “In my new leadership role at CCA, I look forward to building on CCA’s great work to date, and I’m committed to working with U.S. and African businesses and other stakeholders to grow opportunities and strengthen commercial relationships across Africa.”

(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 TUESDAY 13, DECEMBER 2016 The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $52.39 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with $53.24 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Rabi Light (Gabon), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2016

Nigeria’s top 50 stocks based on market fundamentals

14-Dec-16

13-Dec-16

% Change

Capitalisation

EPS

P/E

P/S

Div. Yld

Price/ Book Value

Table 1 Market Statistics Mkt Indicators

01 Dangote Cement Plc

165.02

162.00

1.86%

2,812,024,531,973.10

9.20

17.93

4.95

4.85%

3.76

02 Nigerian Breweries Plc

143.05

145.01

-1.35%

1,134,257,882,028.40

4.03

35.45

3.76

2.52%

6.92

03 Guaranty Trust Bank Plc

24.51

23.80

2.98%

721,358,202,780.24

4.90

5.00

1.80

7.22%

1.47

810.00

810.00

0.00%

642,051,564,120.00

8.81

91.92

3.72

3.58%

20.34

14.50

14.34

1.12%

455,249,159,897.00

3.91

3.71

0.96

12.41%

0.65

400.00

374.85

6.71%

221,324,125,200.00 -44.58

-8.97

2.85

3.98%

0.56

07 Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

10.62

10.12

4.94%

194,872,233,903.30

0.68

15.70

0.33

5.84%

0.31

08 Lafarge Africa Plc

39.00

39.00

0.00%

177,641,170,590.00

-9.39

-4.15

0.83

7.69%

0.88

129.10

117.11

10.24%

168,150,310,397.30

3.31

39.05

1.09

2.67%

3.89

10 Presco Plc

41.87

41.87

0.00%

166,243,873,874.15

0.03

1,431.95

2.33

3.10%

3.98

11 Unilever Nigeria Plc

43.84

44.98

-2.53%

165,859,707,600.00

0.69

63.34

2.50

0.11%

17.68

12 Access Bank Plc

5.59

5.50

1.64%

161,707,361,417.29

2.59

2.16

0.46

9.84%

0.37

Forte Oil Plc. Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig. Plc Seplat Petroleum Dev. Co. Ltd International Breweries Plc Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

13 United Bank for Africa Plc

4.33

4.39

-1.37%

157,090,348,974.26

1.75

2.48

0.47

13.86%

0.36

Table 4 Top 5 Losers

14 Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc

14.50

14.00

3.57%

145,000,000,000.00

2.04

7.12

1.03

0.69%

1.23

Stock

15 FBN Holdings Plc

3.50

3.50

0.00%

125,633,524,772.00

0.21

16.87

0.24

4.29%

0.20

16 Guinness Nig Plc

75.60

75.60

0.00%

113,845,147,012.80

-3.06

-24.72

1.10

4.23%

2.89

17 Mobil Oil Nig Plc

299.00

300.00

-0.33%

107,817,983,338.00

19.32

15.47

1.19

2.41%

5.82

18 Total Nigeria Plc

289.90

289.85

0.02%

98,427,380,546.30

38.02

7.62

0.37

4.83%

4.32

19 7-Up Bottling Comp. Plc

129.00

129.00

0.00%

82,636,156,827.00

-0.05 -2,824.30

0.89

1.71%

3.72

20 Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc

6.08

6.08

0.00%

72,960,000,000.00

1.03

5.92

0.51

8.22%

1.17

21 International Breweries Plc

18.95

18.05

4.99%

62,426,023,856.00

0.02

841.03

2.34

1.32%

5.69

4.50

4.44

1.35%

54,155,785,023.00

-3.15

-1.43

0.21

16.67%

0.34

23 Flour Mills Nig. Plc

18.50

18.49

0.05%

48,548,387,959.50

-1.19

-15.51

0.12

10.81%

0.49

24 Julius Berger Nig. Plc

35.00

35.00

0.00%

46,200,000,000.00

-2.95

-11.88

0.40

4.29%

2.43

25 Okomu Oil Palm Plc

40.52

40.00

1.30%

38,652,433,200.00

4.82

8.40

5.88

0.25%

2.39

0.93

0.89

4.49%

36,010,527,605.25

-0.47

-1.99

0.69

0.00%

0.49

16.50

16.50

0.00%

31,694,262,385.50

3.37

4.89

0.42

6.06%

0.42

0.87

0.83

4.82%

25,197,449,552.04

0.39

2.25

0.17

18.39%

0.14

33.26

33.26

0.00%

23,282,000,000.00

2.28

14.56

3.49

3.46%

13.60

30 Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc

3.78

3.78

0.00%

22,233,446,657.10

0.76

4.95

0.61

3.70%

0.78

31 FCMB Group Plc

1.08

1.06

1.89%

21,386,927,643.48

0.61

1.76

0.13

9.26%

0.12

11.15

11.15

0.00%

20,941,952,746.00

0.50

22.33

0.75

11.66%

2.05

33 Wema Bank Plc

0.54

0.52

3.85%

20,830,211,683.74

0.06

9.06

0.41

0.00%

0.44

34 Diamond Bank Plc

0.88

0.85

3.53%

20,381,142,291.84

-0.29

-3.00

0.10

0.00%

0.09

35 Sterling Bank Plc

0.70

0.70

0.00%

20,153,292,688.20

0.29

2.43

0.19

12.86%

0.25

36 National Salt Co. Nig. Plc

7.00

6.80

2.94%

18,546,068,646.00

0.85

8.24

0.99

7.86%

2.51

15.00

14.00

7.14%

17,938,147,320.00

-2.98

-5.03

0.64

2.00%

2.04

38 Mansard Insurance Plc

1.66

1.63

1.84%

17,430,000,000.00

0.28

5.96

0.87

3.01%

0.83

39 PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc

15.20

15.20

0.00%

15,200,000,000.00

5.69

2.67

1.06

0.66%

0.41

40 Continental Reinsurance Plc

0.98

1.00

-2.00%

10,165,289,425.76

0.42

2.33

0.46

12.24%

0.54

41 Honeywell Flour Mill Plc

1.16

1.11

4.50%

9,199,029,283.28

-0.40

-2.87

0.19

13.79%

0.28

42 Wapic Insurance Plc

0.52

0.50

4.00%

6,959,023,891.04

0.18

2.89

0.89

5.77%

0.42

43 Skye Bank Plc

0.50

0.50

0.00%

6,940,150,705.00

-2.93

-0.17

0.04

60.00%

0.07

44 Unity Bank Plc

0.56

0.54

3.70%

6,546,029,247.52

-0.10

-5.46

0.10

0.00%

0.08

45 Resort Savings & Loans Plc

0.50

0.50

0.00%

5,664,866,202.00

0.03

17.71

3.72

0.00%

1.94

46 Cement Co. Of North.Nig. Plc

4.04

4.04

0.00%

5,076,978,174.64

0.22

18.45

0.46

2.48%

0.47

47 AIICO Insurance Plc

0.60

0.59

1.69%

4,158,122,688.00

0.22

2.69

0.14

8.33%

0.41

48 Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc

2.28

2.18

4.59%

3,703,218,750.00

0.15

15.09

0.46

8.77%

0.62

49 UACN Property Development Co. Limited

2.03

2.03

0.00%

3,489,062,489.85

0.30

6.78

0.83

34.48%

0.10

50 Fidson Healthcare Plc

1.27

1.33

-4.51%

1,905,000,000.00

0.24

5.40

0.29

3.94%

0.30

04 Nestle Nigeria Plc 05 Zenith Bank Plc 06 Seplat Petroleum Dev. Co. Ltd

09 Forte Oil Plc.

22 Oando Plc

26 Transnational Corporation Of Nigeria Plc 27 U A C N Plc 28 Fidelity Bank Plc 29 Cap Plc

32 Cadbury Nigeria Plc

37 Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig. Plc

TOTAL

8,549,165,495,365.88

TOTAL MARKET CAP

9,086,245,759,672.53

% OF MARKET CAP Annotation - MA* = Simple Moving Average

94.09%

NSE All Share Index NSE Market Cap (N'Trillion) Thisday BGL 50 Index Thisday BGL 50 Market Cap (N'Trillion)

Open 13-Dec-16

Close 14-Dec-16

Change %

26,071.16 8.97

26,407.64 9.09

1.29 1.29

108.35 8.44

109.80 8.55

1.34 1.34

Table 3 Top 5 Gainers Stock

Open Close Change 13-Dec-16 14-Dec-16 % 117.11 14.00

129.10 15.00

10.24 7.14

374.85 18.05 10.12

400.00 18.95 10.62

6.71 4.99 4.94

Open Close Change 13-Dec-16 14-Dec-16 %

Fidson Healthcare Plc Unilever Nigeria Plc Continental Reinsurance Plc United Bank for Africa Plc Nigerian Breweries Plc

1.33 44.98 1.00 4.39 145.01

1.27 43.84 0.98 4.33 143.05

-4.51 -2.53 -2.00 -1.37 -1.35

Market moves northward with 1.29% gain Market pulse on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today – Wednesday, December 14th, 2016 ends on a bullish note as stock market closed green. This was further highlighted by positive performance from the NSE subsectors: Banking and Oil & Gas (Save Insurance and Consumer Goods). Trading activities increased in volume as 205.40 million shares worth of N4.28 billion in 3,275 deals exchanged hands today. This is an increase from the 376.70 million shares worth of N2.41 billion in 2,885 deals which exchanged hands on Tuesday. Topping in volume terms were United Bank for Africa Plc, Diamond Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc, while Nestle Nigeria Plc and Zenith Bank Plc ended trading as the most active stocks in value terms.

The All Share Index (NSEASI) closed positive with 1.29% (+336.48) increase to close at 26,407.64 from 26,071.16 the previous trading day. Market Capitalization appreciated in tandem to N9.09 trillion from N8.97 trillion of prior trading day. Similarly, the Thisday BGL 50 Index followed suit with a higher increase of 1.34% to close at 109.80 from 108.35 recorded at the end of the previous trading day, while its market capitalization stood at 8.55 trillion from 8.44 trillion of the previous trading day.

A total number of 32 stocks gained on the bourse today while 11 stocks declined, 56 leaving stocks unchanged. Forte Oil Plc emerged as the day’s toast of investors as it topped the Thisday BGL 50 Index gainers’ list with a gain of 10.24% to close at N129.10 per share. It was followed by Glaxo SmithKline Consumer Nig. Plc with a gain of 7.14% to close at N15.00 per share. Others on the gainers list include: Seplat Petroleum Dev. Co. Ltd, International Breweries Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated; while on the decliners’ list, Fidson Healthcare Plc emerge with a loss of 4.51% to close at N1.27 per share. It was followed by Unilever Nigeria Plc with a loss of 2.53% to close at N43.85 per share. Others on the decliners list include: Continental Reinsurance Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc. REQUIRED DISCLOSURE This report has been prepared by BGL Plc. BGL Plc does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report. Investors should use this report as one of many other factors in making their investment decisions.

For more details go to www.thisdaylive.com

48

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

MARKET NEWS

Nigerian Stock Exchange Lists N6.3bn Wema Funding SPV Bond Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie The Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday listed the N6.295billion Series 1:7-Year 18.50 per cent Fixed Rate Bond Due (2023) under the N50 billion Wema Funding SPV Plc Debt Issuance Programme.

Speaking on the listing, Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Oscar Onyema, said: “We are

pleased to be listing the Wema Fund SPV Plc bond, a further affirmation of our unique platform to help businesses access capital. Despite the challenging macro environment, this bold step by Wema Bank is indeed commendable as only businesses that continue to execute on their strategy will be at a vantage position to benefit when the economy rebounds” Speaking in the same vein, Managing

Director of Wema Bank, Segun Oloketuyi said the bank’s turnaround plan which began in 2009 is now in its growth phase, hence the raising of tier II capital to ensure availability of long-term capital to support growth.

“We remain committed to our growth plans and to constantly upgrading our services to give our customers a delightful banking experience,” he said.

Oloketuyi highlighted the importance of listing Wema SPV bond on the NSE platform, saying “The NSE provides a unique platform which enhances the liquidity of bonds traded on it. Thus, bondholders can easily monitor the value of their investments.”

Meanwhile, the bullish sentiment at the stock market was sustained yesterday as the NSE All-Share Index appreci-

ated by 1.29 per cent to close at 26,407.64, while market capitalisation ended higher at N9.09 trillion.

The appreciation recorded in the share prices of Forte Oil, Seplat, Access Bank, Dangote Cement and GTBank were responsible for the gain recorded in the NSE ASI. The total value of stocks traded was N4.28 billion, up by 77.4 per cent from N2.41

billion recorded the previous day, while total volume of stocks traded was 205.40 million in 3,275 deals. The most actively traded sectors were: Financial Services (159.87 million), Consumer Goods (25.34 million) and Conglomerates (8.10 million).The three most actively traded stocks were: UBA (54.69 million shares), Diamond Bank (22 million shares) and Zenith Bank (21.18 million shares).

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

49

thursdAY, december 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Capital Assets Boss Urges Operators to Embrace Global Best Practice Goddy Egene The Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Capital Assets Limited, a Lagos-based indigenous investment banking firm, Mr. Ariyo Olushekun has advised capital market operators to conduct their operations in line with global best practices.

Olushekun, who is a former President of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), said implementing the Capital Assets’ enterprise risk management framework has ensured that

its operations are conducted in line with global best practices, which contributed immensely to winning the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) award.

“Over the years, we have always placed emphasis on professionalism, transparency and accountability in our dealings with our customers, the regulators and all other stakeholders. Our customers know all these and they trust us, because we have repeatedly demonstrated that we operate with the highest ethical

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

standards,” he said.

According to him, over the course of nearly three decades, none of the staff of the company has ever been found wanting by the relevant regulatory agencies, a culture, he said has helped to sustained all at Capital Assets.

The NSE recently adjudged Capital Assets Limited as the best managed stockbroking firm in Nigeria, awarding its highlyprized “Most Compliant Dealing Member Firm” in the stock market to firm.

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 13-Dec-2016, unless otherwise stated.

Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, explained that Capital Assets emerged atop the list of all capital market operators, including indigenous and foreign firms, in all the four criteria used to select the “Most Compliant Dealing Member Firm.”

He explained that the criteria include: compliance with the minimum operating standards (MOS) of the exchange, adequate and timely rendition of statutory

and regulatory returns, zero complaint by investors and all other stakeholders and high ethical standards and impressive customer service that leave no room for any penalty.

Onyema commended Capital Assets for operating with global best practices urging the company to continue to show leadership and raise the flag of Nigeria high in the international markets.

In an industry-wide review, Capital Assets scored 100 per

cent in all the areas of the MOS. The NSE had introduced the MOS in April 2014 as part of efforts to develop a stronger, stable and sustainable capital market. The MOS are a set of standards prescribed by the Exchange for dealing members to develop robust controls; strong governance framework and effective human capital that will enable them achieve best-in-class operations in order to compete on a global level for the benefit of investors and the Nigerian capital market.

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 123.77 Nigeria International Debt Fund 221.15 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 0.70 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 124.76 13.62% 222.51 10.51% info@acapng.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.71 13.58% ammf@aiicocapital.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

100.00

17.41%

enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Bid Price 12.13 284.58 22.03

Offer Price 12.49 293.16 22.69

Yield / T-Rtn -0.47% 1.82% -0.08%

1.00

1.00

16.44%

investmentcare@axamansard.com Bid Price 106.51

Offer Price 107.18

Yield / T-Rtn 6.85%

1.00 1.00 15.26% investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Bid Price 2.14 9.07 83.34

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 2.19 5.10% 9.30 -7.97% 85.48 2.75% invest@fbnquest.com

Bid Price 1,081.95 109.88 100.00 $103.91 $103.07

Offer Price 1,083.14 110.54 100.00 $104.14 $103.29

Yield / T-Rtn 5.53% 4.25% 15.01% 7.47% 6.62%

114.00

13.21%

112.42

fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Bid Price 0.91 2.55

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.92 0.55% 2.55 9.74% coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com

Bid Price 2,162.84

Offer Price 2,187.01

Coral Income Fund 2,091.49 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 -0.59%

2,091.49 10.54% enquiries@investment-one.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund

1.00

1.00

15.18%

Vantage Balanced Fund

1.66

1.68

1.91%

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 1.00 1.02 12.36% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,002.87 1,002.87 0.29% 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 9.41 9.49 -3.83% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 14.98% 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 1.04 1.06 5.79% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.41 10.48 4.42% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 14.89% 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 108.26 108.95 6.24% 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 1.24 1.24 9.64% 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 1,814.35 1,824.43 8.03% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 152.79 152.79 3.88% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.76 0.77 2.00% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 185.34 185.34 9.22% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 129.87 131.49 -4.02% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.07% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,438.08 7,536.62 3.49% 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 9.11% United Capital Bond Fund 1.21 1.21 13.91% United Capital Equity Fund 0.67 0.68 -1.58% 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 9.70 9.86 1.58% Zenith Ethical Fund 10.99 11.08 -4.07% Zenith Income Fund 17.03 17.03 6.12%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.58 123.25

3.99% 6.38%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

8.83 75.03

8.93 76.45

-7.79% -9.84%

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

2.57 7.09 11.83 15.05 127.31

2.61 7.17 11.93 15.25 129.31

12.45% 10.89% -4.52% -21.54% -

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.

50

THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY THURSDAY DECEMBER 15, 2016

51

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

52

NEWSXTRA

Baru: NPDC Lost N1.5tn to Vandalism in 2016 Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian

National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has said N1.5 trillion was

Lagos Set to Prosecute Contractors, Others Involved in Lekki Gardens Building Tragedy The Lagos State Government yesterday said it has concluded arrangements to commence the prosecution of suspects linked to the collapse of a five-story building on March 8, 2016 in Lekki, Lagos, which led to the death of 30 persons.

The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, in a statement, said government had concluded its legal advice on the incident and was ready to prosecute nine suspects deemed culpable in the collapse of the building.

He said: “Following the conclusion of investigations by the Nigerian Police Force and technical reports of relevant experts, my office has concluded its legal advice and decided to prosecute the suspects for failure to obtain a planning permit contrary to the provisions of the Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law, Ch. CU2 and involuntary manslaughter contrary to the provisions of the

Criminal Law of Lagos State, Ch. C17, Laws of Lagos State, 2015, respectively.”

The attorney general said a criminal charge has already been filed before the High Court of Lagos State against the suspects, while they would be arraigned on the alleged offence any moment from now.

Last March at about 05:00 hours, a property under construction by Messrs. Lekki Gardens Estate Limited and Get Too Rich Investment Limited known as Horizon 1 Extension, House H15, Lekki, Lagos State, collapsed claiming the lives of 30 persons.

While reiterating the commitment of the Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration to protecting the lives and property of citizens, Kazeem assured the general public that government would leave no stone unturned to ensure that criminal negligence and any form of crime is duly brought to book.

lost by the corporation’s exploration and production (E&P) arm, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), to repeated attacks on its oil and gas facilities in 2016.

Baru, in a statement from NNPC’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndu Ughamadu, yesterday in Abuja stated that the losses were incurred between January till date.

He said this while declaring open the corporation’s 2016 security awareness week with the theme, ‘NNPC Security: A Task for All Stakeholders’.

According to the statement, Baru lamented

the rising spate of criminality in the society at large and in the oil and gas industry in particular, adding that this has led to the loss of this much of revenue to the country.

He said: “At industry level, we are all conversant with the seriousness and frequency with which national assets in form of pipelines, flow stations are vandalised and crude oil and white products stolen with impunity.

“In 2016 (January to date), for example, NPDC alone recorded 59 security incidents resulting in crude production shut down/deferment and revenue loss of over N1.5 trillion.”

He equally urged Nigerians to help protect the country’s national assets, and that governments at various levels are fighting criminality but that the success of such can only be achieved when all stakeholders imbibe the consciousness that security was a task for everyone.

“At corporate level, you are all aware that the first item on my 12 focus areas is security. This is in recognition of the imperative that without assurances of safety, NNPC, the oil and gas industry, and indeed the country cannot achieve appreciable growth to

assure citizens of decent and productive lives,” he explained.

The statement further noted that Baru launched the corporation’s ‘Kidnap for Ransom Policy’ to raise staff awareness on the need to avoid actions that give them away easily to kidnaps, especially at a time like this when kidnapping for ransom has become very rampant.

He thus charged staff to participate actively in the activities of the security awareness week to imbibe ideas that could help them not only in personal security, but also in the protection of national assets.

Udoma: Why the MTEF was Updated

IyobosaUwugiareninAbuja

The Minister for Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, has said that federal government did not submit a revised Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) as reported by some newspapers Tuesday, saying it only updated the document that was earlier submitted based on the current National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report.

It also said the minister also never said that the federal government was looking to raise N10 trillion in 2017 from oil and non-oil sources.

“The MTEF/FSP were actually prepared about July this year and approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in August. The document was produced early and it fully complied with the requirements of the Fiscal ResponsibilityAct (FRA),’’ the special adviser (media) to the minister, James Akpande, stated.

He said the reason the ministry did it at that time was to comply with the provisions of the FRA, saying that even at that time, the ministry knew there would be some updates.

He added: “We recall that page 33 of that document said government is currently working on an Economic Recovery and Growth Plan which may necessitate certain adjustments in some strategic sectors of the economy.

“At the time we completed the MTEF, it had not yet been confirmed that we were in recession; recession was confirmed thereafter. That, among other things, means that some of the information and data had to be updated, and that is what we have been doing. We have been working hard updating the data to

make sure that it is consistent with the latest information.’’

He said one of the areas that the government had updated is the revenue expectations saying ‘’if you are in a recession, you can’t expect to have the same level of revenue as before.’’

“So, we adjusted it downwards.

Independent revenues were adjusted downwards; Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) projections were adjusted downwards’’, he added.

“Having adjusted revenue projections downwards, we were faced with the issue: how do we get out of recession without spending?

If we adjusted everything down, we will end up with a small budget, with small capital; and that conceivably cannot get us out of recession.

“So, we had to be innovative. We spent a long time trying to establish how do we get alternative revenue sources for the ones which we are not likely going to realize, of which we have actually down-graded.

“And it was clear to us that we have to look again at the oil sector because in order to diversify out of oil, the lowest hanging fruit is actually the oil sector.’’

He further added that one of the things government is doing is to engage much more on Niger Delta to bring up oil production.

He quoted Udoma as saying: “We also looked at restructuring the oil industry to generate more revenue. We have already announced that we are exiting cash calls. We are restructuring our arrangements with joint ventures so that we can actually get more revenue.’’

SIGNED AND SEALED

L-R: Team Leader, Propcom, Mr. Collins Apuoyo; Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Waheed Olagunju; and Country Coordinator, Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI), Deutsche Gesellschaft Fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Dr. Andrew Efisue, at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of Agro mechanisation fund in Abuja....yesterday

CPC Ordered Redress of N2.5bn to Consumers in 2016 Raheem Akingbolu in Lagos and James Emejo in Abuja The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) yesterday said it had ordered redresses totalling about N2.5 billion for consumers as refunds and compensation in the resolution of their complaints on unsatisfactory services and products in 2016.

The council’s Director General, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, disclosed this in Lagos during the agency’s public presentation of its maiden annual report on the sidelines of a seminar on consumer protection for journalists.

She said the recovery included foreign currencies of $31,948.87 and €1,406 recovered for aggrieved consumers who complained to the Council.

She stated that the financial services sector recorded the highest value of total amount

refunded while insurance and pensions had the least value.

The CPC DG further explained that out of the 5,000 total number of complaints received in various sectors, 4,000 were resolved, while electricity/power and chemical and allied products sectors had the highest and least number of complaints respectively.

Atoki disclosed that under enforcement, the total value of substandard products removed from Nigerian markets was over N242.3 million with food and beverages taking the lion share of over N200 million and tobacco with the least value of about N300,000.

A further breakdown showed substandard products worth over N202 million were seized from malls, super and open markets, shops and warehouses, while the value of electrical and electronic products seized during the period is N40 million.

She attributed the positive strides made by the Council during her administration, particularly in the year 2016, to the adoption of sectoral intervention and other initiatives.

She emphasised that “the sectoral intervention adopted in the strategic plan enabled such result and provided speed and spread to consumer redress.”

She attributed the achievements highlighted in the annual report to “a reflection of the work we have done to promote and protect the interest of Nigerian consumers”, pointing out that when she assumed office in May 2013, “consumer abuse in virtually all sectors was pervasive.”

She explained that the intervention of the Council in satellite television service, focused on Multichoice Nigeria Limited, out of which consumers have been enjoying improved services, while its

action in the hospitality sector focused on the VIP Express Tourism Limited with its order for the refund of over N25 million to over 60 of the company’s subscribers because of exploitative service.

Among other things, Atoki also pointed out that the council’s intervention in “telecommunication and food and beverage is to safeguard advert/ promo/information that are deceptive or misleading,” stating that “in this wise, the foremost provider of telecommunication service in Nigeria, MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd came under investigation for deceptive promo” that led to the council’s Order for balance payment of N1.85 million to a consumer who was earlier paid N150,000 as against the N2 million winning prize.

She further promised of better days for ahead for Nigerians consumers who had suffered rights abuses over the years.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

53

NEWSXTRA

Human Rights Watch Urges FG to End Repression of Shiites Group Insists on payment of $170m damages awarded by court US ambassador visits El-Rufai, silent on IMN leader

PaulObiinAbujaandJohn ShiklaminKaduna Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday joined the chain of stakeholders calling on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to stop the persecution of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) as known as Shiites.

The group also frowned at government’s blatant disregard for the rule of law, specifically turning a blind to several court judgments against abuse of power.

Senior Researcher at Human Rights Watch, Nigeria, Mausi Segun, in the report, argued that the Nigerian authorities should end their violent repression of the IMN, a minority Shia group, that began with a three-day lethal crackdown on December 12-14, 2015, and free its leader, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

“Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, leader of the IMN, and his wife, Zeenatudeen, have been detained without trial for a year.

On December 12, 2015, the Nigeria army used disproportionate force against the group’s street procession in Zaria, Kaduna State in Northwestern Nigeria to clear a route for the army chief’s convoy.

“In an ensuing three-day violent crackdown, the army killed 347 members of the group and injured and arrested scores more.

The violence against the group continued in a series of episodes in October and November 2016.

“The involvement of soldiers in the Zaria incidents, and subsequent police actions against

the Shiites raises major questions about Nigeria’s commitment to military reform. The Kaduna state government’s continued repression of the group without holding the attackers responsible turns justice on its head,” Segun stressed.

According to HRW, “Nigerian authorities should hold accountable anyone who has committed crimes against Shiite members, and take immediate steps to comply with a federal court order mandating the release of El-Zakzaky and his wife.”

“HRW reported in December 2015 that the killings were unjustified and called for an independent and impartial investigation into the carnage.

“In a White Paper responding to the report released on December 5, 2016, the Kaduna State Government unilaterally declared the Shiite group to be an insurgent group against which the army was justified in using lethal force.

The group maintained that “contrary to the commission’s findings, the state government stated that soldiers who shot at protesters, laid siege to religious sites belonging to the group, killed 347 members and buried them in unmarked mass graves, acted according to the army’s rules of operation.

“The Kaduna State government is seeking the death penalty against 50 members of the group who are facing trial for the death of the only military casualty in the episode, Corporal Dan Kaduna Yakubu.

“But it has essentially exempted the army from any responsibility for the killings of the IMN members, and no-one has been held responsible for the deaths.”

Court to Resume Fani-Kayode’s Trial Jan 16 A Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed January 16, 17 and 18, 2017 for continuation of trial of a former Minister for Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, for money laundering.

Fani-Kayode, who was also a former Director of Media and Publicity, Campaign Committee of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, is charged alongside a former Minister of Finance, Nenandi Usman, and Danjuma Yusuf.

Also charged is a company, Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited.

They were arraigned on a 17-count charge bordering on unlawful retention, unlawful use and unlawful payment of money in the tune of about N4.9 billion.

They had each pleaded not guilty to the charge and were granted bail.

The trial of the accused, which was earlier billed for December 12, was disrupted because of the public holidays.

The court has now fixed three days January 16, 17, and 18, 2017 for continuation of trial.

In the charge, the accused were alleged to have committed the offences between January and March

2015.

In counts one to seven, they were alleged to have unlawfully retained over N3.8 billion which they reasonably ought to have known formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act of stealing and corruption.

In counts eight to 14, the accused were alleged to have unlawfully used over N970 million which they reasonably ought to have known formed part of an unlawful act of corruption.

Meanwhile, in counts 15 to17 Fani-Kayode and one Olubode Oke who is said to be at large, were alleged to have made cash payments of about N30 million, in excess of the amount allowed by law, without going through a financial institution.

Besides, Fani-Kayode was alleged to have made payments to one Paste Poster Co. (PPC) of No 125 Lewis Street, Lagos, in excess of amounts allowed by law.juui All offences were said to have contravened the provisions of sections 15 (3) (4), 16 (2) (b), and 16 (5) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012.

HRW added that “on October 7, the state government banned the IMN, citing the commission of inquiry’s finding that the group was unregistered.

Meanwhile, the new United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington, was silent about recent calls by his country for the release of the IMN leader, El-Zakzaky, when he paid a courtesy visit to the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, at the Government House, Kaduna yesterday.

Symington, who was accompanied by some embassy officials and officials of the NigeriaAmerica Chamber of Commerce during the visit, said he came to listen and to learn.

“I don’t mean to disappoint the press, but I have no message to deliver today except this; I have

come to listen and to learn, inform by wise women and wise men.

The ambassador who met briefly with el-Rufai under closed door before the courtesy call said: “It is always a good idea to start out by learning before you attempted to teach. But I come with one message and that is the importance of this place (seat of power), not just me, but to every person in this world.

As I look at you, (the governor), I think how important this place will always be to you, to every one in the world.”

About two weeks ago, the US Assistant Secretary and Department spokesperson of the Bureau of Public Affairs, John Kirby, called on the federal government to release El- Zakzaky following the judgment of an Abuja High Court ordering his release from

detention.

In his remarks, el-Rufai commended the US for its assistance to the state in its development efforts.

He said the partnership with bilateral organisations, particularly the US, UK, EU were key to the development of the state.

He said with a population of about 10 million people of which about 89 per cent are below the age of 35, the state needs more jobs.

“We are the third largest state in Nigeria, we are the centre of northern Nigeria. This is where any investment will have the greatest impact because every northern governor comes to Kaduna, they all have liaison offices here and this is the headquarters of the northern states governors forum.

“Looking as the development

indicators in Nigeria, you will see that we have two countries - the South has better human development indicators and the north has human development indicators that compare worst in the world” he said.

According to him, “there is a need for significant interventions in the area of health, education, agriculture, trade and infrastructure in this part of the country, not only for it to catch up, but also for our young people to have opportunities as well as hope because it is lack of opportunities and lack of hope, compounded by ignorance that has created the kind of problems we have seen in the northeast. God forbid, we don’t want a repetition of that.”

SANWISHED BY LADIES IN RED

L-R: Chairperson, Board of Trustees, QRC Alumnae Association, Mrs. Carol Ufere; President of the association, Mrs. Chizor Malize; former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi; and Treasurer and member of the Board of Trustees, Mrs. Idu Okwuosa at the Queen of the Rosary College (QRC), Onitsha Alumnae Association Red Ball/Award event in Lagos.... recently

Fayose Blasts Buhari, EFCC over Frozen Accounts Says president not fit to intervene in Gambian political logjam Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has described the Tuesday judgment of the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti declaring as illegal the freezing of his bank accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a defeat of fascism being experienced under President Muhammadu Buhari.

The governor who stated this in Ado Ekiti yesterday through his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, said: “The trial judge ordered the EFCC to immediately defreeze the said accounts. This, again, is a welcome development.”

In his ruling, Justice Taiwo Taiwo said the EFCC viciously violated the laws of the land by deliberately neglecting to follow due process and laid down regulations in freezing my bank accounts.

The judge also found that

the EFCC and its lawyers deliberately misled the court in securing its purported interim order to freeze my accounts by not declaring the identity of the owner of the account.

He commended Justice Taiwo for stating that as a sitting governor who enjoys “total constitutional immunity” under Section 308 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, no legal proceedings could be instituted against.

“To circumvent this, thereby perverting the course and cause of justice, the EFCC deliberately refused to declare my identity while moving against my accounts.

“The trial judge also found that I was deliberately kept in the dark about the EFCC’s sinister motives and devious plots in that I was not made a party to the case; yet, my accounts were the target of the EFCC’s actions.

“Justice Taiwo thus

described this as a breach of my fundamental rights to fair hearing, adding: “The plaintiff is entitled to be heard before his property or money can be seized; doing otherwise will amount to denying him fair hearing and constitutional rights.”

Meanwhile, Fayose has described President Buhari’s involvement in the meeting with President Yahya Jammeh to persuade him to concede defeat as an aberration, saying: “A man like Buhari under whose free, fair and credible elections no longer exist lacks moral rights to preach obedience to democratic principles to anyone.”

The governor said great Africans like former President Goodluck Jonathan, President John Mahama of Ghana and others who have lost elections and conceded defeat were in the best position to intervene in the Gambia and not someone like Buhari, who lost election three times and never conceded

defeat.

He said: “With what happened in Rivers State last weekend, it is certain that votes of Nigerians will no longer be allowed to count as the APC cabal in the Presidential Villa has now assumed the roles of INEC, allocating votes to their party and using security agents to force their will on the people.”

Fayose asked: “Did President Buhari face Jammeh and advised him to accept defeat the way he (Buhari) conceded defeat in 2003, 2007 and 2011 when violence was instigated and several people, including youth corps members were killed? Or did Buhari lecture Jammeh to take to democracy at gunpoint, which is now the norm in Nigeria?

“How can Buhari, who has destroyed the legacy of free, fair and credible elections that was handed over to him, be the one to prevail on someone else to adhere to democratic principles?

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWSXTRA

State Govt: No Mass Burial for Victims of Uyo’s Church Building Collapse Official casualty figure now 26

Okon Bassey in Uyo Akwa Ibom State Government yesterday dismissed any plan for the state to organise a mass burial for victims in the collapsed church building of Reigners Bible Church International Inc. in Uyo,

Akwa Ibom State capital.

The clarification on the issue of mass burial of the victims was given at a press briefing held by the state government in Uyo, just as official and authentic figure of death recorded in the incident was put by the state government at 26.

Buhari’s ADC, Commander of Presidential Air Fleet Promoted

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the leadership of the Nigerian military for the intellectual transformation of the officer corps.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, said the president spoke yesterday at a ceremony for the decoration of two senior officers working closely with him at the State House.

The president said modern armies required superiority of intellect and imagination to achieve victory in warfare.

Addressing the newlypromoted officers, Air-Vice Marshal Sadiq Ismaila Kaita, the Commander of the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) and Colonel Mohammed Lawal Abubakar, his Aide-De-Camp (ADC), Buhari expressed happiness with the dazzling array of university degrees they had acquired.

He, however, urged all officers to ensure the translation of academic achievements to performance in the field and other places of assignment.

“I am happy with the intellectual approach of the military. In our time, there was no time for academic pursuit. It was all about war, coups and countercoups,” he noted.

Buhari said in times of peace and stability, military officers should use such opportunity to pursue their intellectual transformation which should go sideby-side with hardware transformation of modern armies.

The president urged officers to read History, irrespective of their academic backgrounds, describing it as an important pre-requisite for strategic learning and success in the military.

He said the good quality of the officer corps of the Nigerian military called for good performance.

Buhari congratulated both officers on their various achievements in their services and urged them to always be mindful of the welfare of those placed under their command.

Both Air Vice-Marshal Kaita and Colonel Abubakar have, prior to their current assignments, served the country in peace-keeping missions abroad and are married with families.

The Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Affairs, Mr. Raphel Edem, was the spokesperson; with the state Commissioner for Health, Dominic Ukpong, Commissioner for Works, Ephraim Inyang, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state, Uwenedimo Nwoko, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Cordelia Nwaiwe and SA to the Governor on Medical in the panel.

“People are afraid that there will be mass burial, so they have been invading the hospitals, some of them actually attack some of our staff demanding the discharge of their dead.

“I want to assure you that government has no intention to do mass burial for the victims. What we are doing is to ensure that we preserve the bodies properly until the police give us the authority to release them.

“And when people come to claim them they have to be properly identified because at a time like this some people come to claim corpses that are not theirs. It is our responsibility to see that we release each body to the proper persons.

“There are four of these bodies not identified at all. I have brought experts to test for proper data so that people will not claim what is not their own. Let me announce to the state that government is responsible for all hospital charges of all those involved,” the Health Commissioner stated.

He explained that 168 cases were on admission in various hospitals, 30 of them have been discharged, while some are still in the hospitals; with 150 in the outpatient department who had been treated and released.

“We have conducted eight major surgeries. Most of these are people thought to have been

killed. As at today, the death toll is 26. This report cannot be refuted.

“When you have such a tragedy with mass casualties there is bound to be confusion in figures. The most authentic figure is from the health department.

At a time like this, there is a lot of anxiety and confusion.”

The SA on Public Information had in his briefing said: “After making the rounds of all the hospitals concerned, and in consultation with officials of the health and security services who were directly involved in the rescue operations, the figures we have been able to reconcile indicate that 26 people passed on as a result of the incident.”

“The government is at a loss as to how members of the public came by the alarming and bogus figures being bandied around by rumour mongers and some sections of the media.

“The government believes that it is morally wrong to seek to make profit form this tragedy by publishing sensational figures in order to boost newspaper sales, listenership or viewership.

“As much as we understand the desire to claim the remains of their loved ones, government also wishes to appeal to the family members of those who passed on to exercise patience as their demands would be met as soon as the security agencies conclude their investigations.

The state government announced the restriction of members of the public from the site of the incident saying only investigators are allowed access to the environment.

He said the panel of investigation set up by the state government made up of seasoned professionals will commence work immediately on the tragedy.

Rahul Colaco Moves to Frieslandcampina China

MERITORIOUS AWARD

The Managing Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC, Mr. Rahul Colaco, has been appointed Executive Director of the Business Group Consumer Products China with effect from 1 January 2017.

He will report to Roelof Joosten, Global CEO, Royal FrieslandCampina, The Netherlands, and he will be located in Shanghai, China.

Colaco will take over the responsibility for the Business Group Consumer Products China from Hein Schumacher, Chief Financial Officer, who is currently fulfilling the role on an interim basis.

Colaco has 19 years experience in the FMCG industry covering General Management, Marketing, Supply Chain and Finance, across developed and emerging markets.

He started his career with KPMG as an Auditor, after

Amnesty Budget: No Cause for Celebration, Say Ijaw Youths

which he joined Hindustan Unilever, India in 1997 where he worked for six years, following which he had international experience with Unilever in various capacities in Italy and The Netherlands.

He later joined FrieslandCampina, one of the world’s leading dairy cooperatives, and was appointed Marketing Director in Malaysia (Dutch Lady Milk Industries) in 2010. He became the Managing Director in 2012, heading Malaysia’s leading dairy company, before his appointment in January 2015 as the Managing Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC, the leading dairy manufacturer in Nigeria.

Colaco holds a degree in Commerce from Mumbai University, India and he possesses an MBA from IMD Lausanne, Switzerland. He is a chartered accountant by profession.

L-R: Division Manager, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Mr. Marco Brann; an awardee, Mr. Adamu Kwajaffa; and Executive Director, Administration, Julius Berger Nigeria, Mr. Zubairu Baye, during the company’s annual long service award ceremony in Abuja...yesterday

Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa The umbrella body of youths of Ijaw descent, the Ijaw Youth Council, worldwide, IYC, yesterday reacted to the increase in the proposed budget for the Niger Delta’s amnesty programme from N20 billion to N65 billion, saying that it shouldn’t call for any celebration from the people of the region.

The influential group argued that the increase would only enable the federal government meet its targeted daily output of oil from the region, describing the strategy as exploitative.

Instead, the IYC argued that attention should rather be shifted to how much is budgeted and released to

the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, the Niger Delta Ministry and the federal Ministry of works to carry out developmental projects in the oil-rich coastal areas.

Spokesman of the IYC, Mr Eric Omare, told THISDAY yesterday, that it would be erroneous for the federal government to think that by increasing the amnesty budget, which he described as ‘security money’, it was doing the Niger Delta a favour.

President Muhammadu Buhari had during the presentation of the proposed 2017 budget noted that the government would focus on a projected oil output of 2.2 million barrels per day at an assumed price of $42.5 dollars per barrel.

This year alone, there have been a series of attacks on oil and gas infrastructure by aggrieved militants in the Niger Delta, drastically reducing output and plunging the country into recession.

But the IYC noted that unless the development of the region is taken seriously, rather than the current ‘window dressing’ adopted by the government at the centre, the crisis in the region may never abate.

It said:” To put it in proper perspective, it should be noted that this increase is not for development of the Niger Delta, but for security and probably a bit of human capacity development. “ The attention should be on how much is budgeted and released to the NDDC, the Niger Delta Ministry, the

Ministry of works concerning the Niger Delta. Those are the areas we are interested in,” he said.

Omare maintained that even billions of naira that were budgeted in the past for the development of the region were never released, insisting that the increase in the amnesty budget should be viewed with cautious optimism.

However, the IYC commended the President for the increment in the amnesty budget, stressing that it was ‘ a right step in the right direction’. “ We need to commend him, however. But this move has to be genuine. It is one thing to propose a budget, another for it to be passed and yet another thing for it to be released”, the group said.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

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NEWSXTRA

Niger Governor Reports Abuja Disco to Buhari

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Following his inability to convince the Abuja Electricity Development Company (AEDC) to improve its services, the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has taken the case before President Muhammad Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the National Assembly.

The governor’s petition was the last resort after the state had been thrown into blackout for more than three weeks leading to a near total collapse of commercial and social activities.

Bello personally disclosed that he had taken the step when he received the Korean Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr Non Kyu-Duk, in office after the inauguration of a rice processing plant in Bida town.

The governor condemned the over one week power blackout

being experienced in the state and said the development was no longer acceptable.

The governor demanded immediate power restoration by Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) to the cities and towns in the state.

He expressed this concern at the weekend while inaugurating a multi-million dollar integrated rice milling plant in Bida, in Bida Local Government Area of the state.

The governor who said the state could no longer tolerate the poor service of the AEDC, declared that “Niger State alone contributes about 1,500 megawatts of power to the national grid, but we are the worst hit state in terms of power supply.

“During raining season, we suffer a lot of flooding.

Our people living in the riverine areas suffer every year. This year alone, over 100 communities were submerged

and yet we don’t have light.

“Minna, the state capital and many towns in the state have been without light for over three weeks. This is not acceptable. I have discussed with the president and the vice president. I have complained to Minister of Power and people who care to listen and I don’t want to continue to complain.”

He said the state knows its rights and was tired of

complaining before asking the president and others to intervene before it would be too late.

“We know our rights.

Whoever is in charge, whoever is responsible, I have one message, reverse the situation. We have been patient enough to be this day. We have complained and we have written series of letters.

Let the distribution company reverse the situation now.

“We are a patient people, we are law abiding citizens.

Our patience, tolerance and obedience should and must not be interpreted as weakness,” the governor warned.

However, in a statement which the management of the AEDC circulated in the state last weekend, the company claimed the load shedding taking place in Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory

was as a result poor supply from the national grid.

It blamed the situation on the drop of water in the three hydro electric dams at Jebba, Kainji and Shiroro that contribute 20 per cent of electricity to the grid.

The management claimed that the rationing of electricity was not as a result of debt owed by customers in the franchise area as was being claimed in some circle.

Shettima Seeks Immediate Prosecution of IDP Rice Thieves Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has asked for the immediate prosecution of those arrested for diversion of bags of rice meant for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the state.

The directive was contained in a statement issued by the spokesman of the governor, Mallam Isa Gusau.

In the statement, the governor said the commissioner of police in the state should expedite action on the prosecution of some officials allegedly involved in the diversion of 50 bags of rice meant for IDPs He said anyone found guilty should be sentenced to jail by the law court.

The governor’s directive followed report that hundreds of IDPs on Tuesday morning arrested an official of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) over alleged theft of food items meant for displaced persons at the Bakassi IDP camp.

Four officials were said to have been subsequently arrested by the police after IDPs held them.

The governor was said to be very bitter about the development and vowed to ensure anyone found wanting amongst those arrested is sentenced to years in prison.

The alleged stolen food items, the statement, noted were bought by the sate government for the feeding of IDPs in the month of December.

The statement claimed that the state government and the World Food Programme are responsible for the feeding IDPs since the beginning of December, 2016, pending supplies from NEMA. The statement further read: “Governor Shettima approved funds for the food stuff at the IDPs camp and he is deeply

pained by this development. The Governor regards any attempt to divert food meant for IDPs as a crime against humanity which must not go unpunished. The governor has promptly asked the Commissioner of Police in Borno State to expedite action that should ensure the prosecution of anyone arrested whether officials or anybody at all, in order to secure conviction by the court.

“The governor has told the Commissioner of Police not to entertain any plea from any quarter at all. The governor would like the court sentence, if secured at the court, to serve as warning to whoever might be engaged in shortchanging citizens who live in trauma having lost their loved ones, means of livelihood and their homes as a result of violent attacks by insurgents.

“The governor assures internally displaced persons that his administration will continue to take measures that would enhance their welfare.

As part of these measures, the Bakassi IDP camp where the incident was said to have occurred, has between three to four Divisional Police Officers of the respective local government areas living at the camp. The idea of having D.P.Os and policemen living at IDP camps was part of measures introduced by Governor Shettima since 2014 in order to maximize security of lives and property as well as the protection of human rights across all IDPs camps and other parts of Borno State” the statement said.

The media had reported that one official in collaboration with three Internally Displaced Persons were intercepted while allegedly loading fifty bags of 50 kilogrammes sacks of rice into a waiting truck.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON

L-R: Chairman/Convener, Musical Youth Fiesta Initiative, Senator Oluremi Tinubu; wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode; her Osun State counterparts, Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola; and the Chairman, Organising Committee, 2016 Musical Youth Fiesta Initiative, Mr. Jide Sanwoolu, during the 2016 musical youth fiesta, organised by Tinubu, in Lagos...yesterday KOLA OLASUPO

Plateau Sacks 579 Civil Servants, Mandates 101 to Refund Govt Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The Plateau State Government has said it has sacked 579 of its civil servants from January to December 2016 for various offences ranging from “over-age, absence in MDA’s staff list, no or incorrect details details/ records, and have reached terminal point,” adding that among these sacked workers, 101 have been mandated to refund the state a sum amounting to N76,967,568.96.

The state also revealed that it has commenced the payment of backlog of about four months outstanding salaries to its workers at the state and

local governments, and eight months pension arrears to its pensioners, adding that “all things being equal, the era of arrears is over.”

Revealing this in her office on Tuesday evening, the state Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Tamwakat Weli, who noted that the decision followed the receipt of part of the foreign loan (Paris and London Club) over deduction refunded to the affected states, adding that “the expected refunds that were due to Plateau and its 17 local government areas were $89.7 million and $59.7 million respectively.

She said, “Of the expected

total refunds, only 25 per cent of the amount has so far been release to the state in the sum of $37.3 million which translates to N10,497,000,000.00 for both the state and 17 LGAs.” Weli noted that by December 30, government would save the sum of N68,554,694.27 monthly, which translates to N822,656,331.24 per annum.

Imploring all stakeholders to support the government of Governor Simon Lalong, Weli said the administration was committed to enhancing the quality of life of all citizens of the state. She added that the government was doing everything to tackle the

global economic recession through investment in enabling infrastructure and reforms in the ease of doing business which will spur growth and development, focusing on Agriculture, solid minerals, and tourism as avenues to boost the economy of the state and create jobs to the state’s teaming youths.

She however failed to adequately explain why the state engages consultants to do the same jobs that the state’s civil servants could do, simply saying “the consultants will not stay for too long; very soon they will go.”

Condolences.ng: Family Members Open Online Memorial Page for Gilbert Ononuju As a mark of last respect to a highly revered monarch, philanthropist and industrialist, the family of Ononuju, of Umunankwo Village, Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, has opened an online condolence register and memorial page on www. condolences.ng/igweononuju for the late Eze Onyesom 1 of Umunankwo, Igwe Gilbert ObianefoOnonuju.

The opening of the register is in line with the final funeral rites of the traditional ruler whose death

occurred at the age of 69, with a view to giving opportunity to friends, community members, relations and the public to condole with families of the paramount ruler (Igwe).

The late Igwe Gilbert Obianefo Ononuju who was born into the great family of Chief David Omodi Okoli Ononuju and Mrs Omenwa Mgbafor Ononuju on July 19, 1944 in Umunankwo, community, was a paramount ruler of distinction whose life and times impacted immensely

and positively on humanity.

As founder of a number of successful companies located within the industrial space of Anambra, Lagos, and Oyo States, Igwe Gilbert besides providing untainted leadership to his community and beyond also put smiles on the faces of many, creating employment opportunities and other development initiatives for his people.

Nigerians in their numbers are already besieging the online condolence register, condolences.

ng.com/igweononuju to pour out their kind wishes and register heartfelt sympathy for the fallen hero, whose reign from 1996 to December 2016 was remarkable and regarded as the most peaceful in Umunankwo kingdom. On the innovative service, friends and family are able to obtain updates on events of the final rites, learn more about the late Igwe besides being able to submit submit tributes in honour of the departed traditional ruler.

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

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NEWSXTRA

Rivers Rerun: APC Govs Donated N1bn Each to Rig Elections, Wike Alleges

Police parade suspects in possession of election materials, arms Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt and Dele Ogbodo in Abuja Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has alleged that some governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) donated N1 billion each to rig last Saturday’s rerun legislative elections in the state in favour of the APC. He insisted that what he described as the brazen subversion of the democratic rights of Rivers people and the state-sponsored violence unleashed across the state during the December 10 rerun elections were carefully planned by some highly placed politicians and selected APC governors.

The governor said the violence unleashed and theft of the mandate of some constituencies by security agencies were bankrolled by the governors of Plateau, Benue, Kano and Bauchi States through the donation of N1 billion each by the said governors.

Addressing his people in a state broadcast yesterday, Wike said: “The brazen subversion of our democratic rights that took place on December 2016, was carefully planned and orchestrated by some highly-placed and desperate politicians from the state in concert with the governors of Bauchi, Benue, Kano and Plateau States, who reportedly bankrolled the plan with the sum of one billion naira each, at a time they cannot pay the salaries of civil servants, let alone embark on development projects in their states.

“If Rivers people could be visited with such a despicably high degree of violence, mayhem and killings by some renegade military and SARS operatives with impunity just to rescue the dying political fortunes of the APC in a mere legislative re-run elections, then we can now begin to imagine what is likely to happen in the state when the political stakes would be very much higher in 2019.”

He regretted the brazen manner that federal might was negatively used to ensure the return of APC candidates at all cost. He noted that the people of the state still needed to thank God because the negative outcome could have been worse.

The governor said the state government received credible information on the planned electoral theft and mass violence through the use of security agents, but

all efforts to alert the nation were disregarded.

He pointed out that he hadbeen vindicated by the ugly incidents of December 10 where two senior policemen, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Steven Hasso and the Commander of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Chief Superintendent of Police, Akin Fakorede and other security operatives allegedly tormented Rivers people, killing many in the process.

He said: “They accused us of raising unnecessary alarms when we cried aloud over their devilish plans to use the federally-controlled SARS to disenfranchise our people and manipulate the re-run election process towards achieving some prearranged outcomes against the will of the people.

The governor added: “If Rivers people could be visited with such a despicably high degree of violence, mayhem and killings by some renegade military and SARS operatives with impunity just to rescue the dying political fortunes of the APC in a mere legislative re-run elections, then we can now begin to imagine what is likely to happen in the state when the political stakes would be very much higher in 2019.

“Nigeria often prides itself as a beacon of democracy and quickly congratulates other African countries for successful democratic elections and political transitions. Yet, the painful irony is that we are still unable to guarantee the minimum rights of our citizens to free, fair and credible electoral processes at home. What a shame!”

He thanked the people of the state for the courage they displayed in the face of state terror.

He sympathised with the families of those who lost their lives in the course of the rerun elections , praying God to grant them the strength to bear their loss.

Meanwhile, in the latest results released by the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC), the PDP won two additional House of Representatives seats while the APC won one additional state House of Assembly seat.

The PDP won the Degema/ Bonny Federal Constituency where Randolph Brown polled 16,815 votes to beat Ayeatamah Pepple of the APC who got 4,073 votes.

Hon. Gogo Bright Tamuno of the PDP also got 11,668 votes to beat Hon. Maureen Tamuno of the APC who polled 5,995 votes in the

Okrika/Ogu-Bolo Federal Constituency.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) yesterday paraded five suspects found with sensitive INEC materials, arms and ammunition with the intention of rigging and causing violence in the cause of the election.

Briefing the media at the Force Headquarters, in Abuja, the Force Public Relations Officer, Don Awunah, said the five suspects caught with the materials and arms were arrested from different parts of the state in their attempted to scuttle the election.

The suspects paraded included, Noble Nwaerema, Dike Deinpiribo, Valentine Alalibo. Onwunari J. Warmate and Iloke Stephen, Awunah said the attempt by some major political gladiators in the state to foist violence and trigger an atmosphere of insecurity failed woefully.

According to him, the conduct of the election in terms of police performance was acknowledged by major stakeholders as distinctively professional and a wellorganised election when compared with previous elections in the state which major hallmarks were violence, disruption of electoral process, wanton destruction of lives and property.

In the course of the rerun election, some suspects who attempted to scuttle the electoral process were arrested and sensitive INEC materials were recovered from them, arms and ammunition inclusive.

The exhibits recovered from the suspects include: “A green INEC branded bag, eight booklets of ballot papers meant for Emohua Local Government Area, one booklet of INEC accreditation incident report forms, one booklet of statement of results, one blood stained APC agent ID card.”

While the arms and ammunition recovered from the suspects include: one AK47 rifle, one assault rifle, six magazines, 112 rounds of live ammunition However, he said some security personnel were arrested for professional misconduct, actions, inactions, omission and commission that were detrimental to the electoral process.

He said: “Some of them directly or indirectly connived with some politicians to scuttle the process.

A high powered investigative panel is currently looking into this unacceptable professional misconduct.”

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CRIME&PUNISHMENT

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016 • T H I S D AY

EFCC Re-arraigns Ex-Oyo Gov, Ladoja, Aide for N4.7bn Fraud

Davidson Iriekpen The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday re-arraigned a former Governor of Oyo State, Chief Rashidi Ladoja, alongside Waheed Akanbi, for an alleged fraud of N4.7billion.

The EFCC claimed that Ladoja and Akanbi committed the offence sometime in 2007.

The charge marked FHC/ L/336c/08 was filed against them in 2008 and they were first arraigned before Justice A.R. Mohammed eight years ago.

Their re-arraignment before Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday followed the dismissal of their appeal against the charges which went all the way

to the Supreme Court over a period of seven years.

The 72-year-old Ladoja appeared in court in a green Agbada of Ankara fabric, a brown cap and black shoes while Akanbi was dressed in a black suit.

The eight-count charge preferred against them by the EFCC bordered on money laundering and unlawful conversion and of funds belonging to Oyo State to their own.

In one of the counts, Ladoja and Akanbi were accused of converting a sum of N1,932,940,032.48 belonging to Oyo State to their personal own, using a Guaranty Trust Bank account of a company, Heritage Apartments Limited.

The EFCC claimed that they retained the money sometime in 2007 despite their knowledge that it was proceeds of a criminal conduct.

In another instance, Ladoja was accused of removing a sum of £600,000 from the state coffers in 2007 and sent it to Bimpe Ladoja, who was at the time in London.

The ex-governor was also accused of converting a sum of N42million belonging to the state to his own and subsequently used it to purchase an armoured Land Cruiser jeep.

He was also accused of converting a sum of

N728,600,000 and another N77,850,000 at separate times in 2007 to his own.

The EFCC claimed that Ladoja transferred the N77,850,000 to one Bistrum Investments, which he nominated to help him purchase a property named Quarter 361, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The EFCC told the court that Ladoja and Akanbi acted contrary to sections 17(a) and18 (1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004 and were liable to be punished under sections 14(1), 16(a) (b) and 18(2) of the same Act. The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty upon the

charges being read to them.

The EFCC, lawyer, Mr. Oluwafemi Olabisi, consequently asked the court to fix a date for commencement of trial.

But the defence counsel, Mr. Bolaji Onilenla and Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, informed the court of their clients’ bail applications.

Onilenla, representing Ladoja, urged the court to allow his client to continue on the bail conditions granted him in 2008

by Justice Mohammed.

But the EFCC, in separate counter-affidavits to the defendants’ bail applications, urged Justice Idris not to admit

them to bail, arguing that they had, by their conducts, frustrated the trial for almost a decade by challenging the competence of the charges all the way to the Supreme Court.

In his bench ruling, however, Justice Idris held that the court could not deny the defendants bail on account of their exercising their constitutional rights of appeal, which resulted in the delay of the case.

He added that there was no evidence that Ladoja and Akanbi breached the terms of the bail conditions given them by Justice Mohammed eight years ago.

Navy Intensifies War against Crude Oil Theft, Bunkering Paul Obi in Abuja In a strategic move to curb the activities of criminals in the oil and maritime sectors, the Nigerian Navy has intensified effort in her fight against crude oil theft and illegal bunkering once again.

The Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Commodore Christian Ezekobe, stated this yesterday, saying that “the navy is winning the war gradually on daily basis, Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bonny anti-crude oil theft patrol team acting on information discovered two Cotonou boats laden with product suspected to be crude oil along Peter Side Creek, the boats were destroyed along with the products.

“In a similar operation, another Navy Base, FOB

FORMOSO’s patrol team, has arrested three suspected vandals/looters onboard a vessel MT FRANKENSEN, other item recovered were, one speed boat with 1 x 75 HP engine, one pumping machine, one Hacksaw and spanners.”

Ezekobe added that “Another two speedboat mounted with 75HP engine each were also recovered from MT ASHKAY, as the suspected vandals jumped into water and swam to a nearby creek on sighting the naval patrol team three suspect were arrested and are presently in custody for further investigation.

“In view of the importance of this operation in the economic prosperity of the nation, you are please requested to disseminate this information for the awareness of the public.”

REWARD FOR GOOD WORK

Controller General of the Nigeria Prisons Service, Jaafaru Ahmed (left), presenting an award to Aliyu Umar Haidar of Yobe Prison Service for his outstanding performance in Abuja....yesterday

Two-year-old, One Other Killed in Auto Crash in Ekiti Police arrest 85 at criminal hideouts Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

Tragedy struck Ikere Ekiti in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State yesterday as a baby girl of about two and a yet-to-be identified adult perished in an auto crash allegedly caused by a Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano in a manner that contravened yet-to-be identified driver.

The driver, who immediately the provision of section 16 of A Federal High Court in Kano NAPTIP Enforcement and escaped the scene, drove a yesterday sentenced a 46-year- Administration Act. Toyota Four-Runner, with old man, Salisu Abdullahi, to The convict appealed to registration no: KSF 939 FF, who 14 years in jail with an option the court for leniency, while lost control and ran through N2 million as fine. the counsel to the pedophile, six-lock up shops and crashed The convict had appeared Jamilu Ahmed, urged the court into a stationary Izuzu Jeep before the court for an allegation to tamper justice with mercy. belonging to one Oluwayemi that he sexually assaulted Further in the pleading for Ojo, a resident of the Araromi an eight-year-old girl (name leniency, Ahmed informed the community in Ikere. withheld).

Speaking with journalists at court that the convict is married The court, presided over by with children, adding that he the scene of the accident, Ojo Justice J K. Omotosho, said the has an aged mother, whom all revealed that the vehicle had court was convinced that the depend on him for livelihood, knocked down four persons convict carried out the ungodly noting that Salisu is remorseful before crashing into his vehicle, act. and “he is a first time offender, which eventually stopped it.

The judge however, dismissed and has been custody for close He said: “The driver of the the evidence given by the convict to one year,” he pleaded. vehicle must simply be insane. who made frantic efforts to Delivering his judgment, He was actually on a very high squash the allegation levelled Justice Omotsho recalled speed and probably lost control against him before the court. the unrepentant attitude of and veered off the road into the The National Agency For the the convict while the trial building. It knocked down four Prohibition in persons including a woman and lasted.

Trafficking in Persons He therefore ordered him her less than two-year old girl (NAPTIP) had arraigned the to proceed to serve 14 years who was coming from the school. convict on a one-count charge, in jail with an option N2 “It was my vehicle, parked stating that the convict acted million as fine. here that stopped it from going

Man Gets 14 Years Jail Term for Raping Minor

further to knock down other people. We just learnt that two out of the four people that we made effort to rescue and rush to the hospital are dead. One of them is a little girl of less than two.

“People said the driver of the offending vehicle is an official of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) attached to the Ekiti State office. He was conveying some corps members who quickly removed their belongings from the vehicle and left the scene. Our people did not attack any of them because they were corps members, “ he said.

Meanwhile, the building which the vehicle first crashed into was in ruins just as the ruins of the wares inside the shop in front of the building littered the environment.

However, as part of the promise made by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Wilson Inalegwu, to rout criminals in the state on assumption of duty, combined teams of Police and NDLEA operatives carried out raid operations in blackspots/criminal hideouts at Atikankan, Mathew roundabout, Ijan motor park at Imayo Street and Odo Ado

tipper Garage, all in Ado Ekiti.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti Command, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, said in the process 85 suspects were arrested comprising 83 males two females 65 wraps of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp and charms was recovered.

Adeyemi said his men also arrested a black Golf car with registration number: Lagos:

APP 448 DS conveying 14 goats suspected to be stolen were recovered.

He added that one Basiru Adebayo was also arrested with bullet wounds and was taken to hospital for medical treatment.

The PPRO added that efforts are on to arrest the other members of the gang who escaped.

Court Sentences Couple to Death by Hanging Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

under section 1 (1) 2 (a) of the robbery and fire arms An Osun State High Court at (special provision) Act, Cap Ile-Ife presided over by Justice R11 Law of federation of Adedotun, Onibokun yesterday Nigeria 2000. sentenced a couple, Mr. Fatai On August 12, 2009, the Jimoh and Lateefat Jimoh to convicts conspired to murder death by hanging. and rob Mrs. Bukola Taiwo The convicts were arraigned (deceased) at Ikeketu Village on June 2, 2014, on a three via Garage Olode in Ife South a count-charge of murder, Local Government Area. conspiracy to murder and Fatai Jimoh, who went into armed robbery respectively, the room of deceased let out to contrary to section (1) 316 her, where she normally slept and punishment under 319 whenever she came from Ibadan Cap 34 Laws of Osun State to buy red palm oil, strangulated and (6b) and punishment the victim.

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THURSDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

Bonus Crisis: Presidency Promises to Indemnify Falcons in 48 Hours Summons NFF to explain role in disputes

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The Federal Government has palliated the Super Falcons by assuring that their unpaid bonuses and allowances would be paid by Friday.

The Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari gave the assurance to the players, who resorted to self help by protesting at the Three Arm Zone in Abuja yesterday morning.

The protest that was led by journalist-cum female activist, Aderonke Ogunleye-Bello was to press their displeasure with the authority for non-paying their entitlements for winning the Africa Women Cup of Nations in Cameroon about a week ago.

THISDAY learnt that the players on hearing that the president was scheduled to visit the National Assembly to present the estimates of the 2017 budget to the lawmakers, took their protest there with placards reading, “We are your children, pity us”; “Let us respect women”; “Female football deserves respect,” in a bid to get his attention and possibly put an end to their plight.

The defiant players have refused to vacate the Agura Hotel and declined to hand over the continental trophy in their possession.

Kyari, who met the players about 10 am at the Presidential

Super Falcons players protesting the non-payment of their allowances in Abuja… yesterday Villa Gate, after security men turned them back at the National Assembly, promised that government would pay all their entitlements in 48 hours (Friday) after the players handed him a list detailing all their demands.

It is understood that the players wanted to be

Beach Soccer Nations Cup: Senegal First to Qualify for S’final Senegal became the first team to qualify for the semifinal of the ongoing Beach Soccer African Cup of Nations at the Eko Atlantic in Lagos.

The team defeated defending champions, Madagascar 3-1 to make it back-to-back win at the competition after defeating Morocco 2-1 on the opening day.

Morocco national team also secured their maiden points of the competition with dominant win against Libya. The match ended 9-3 in favour of the Moroccan.

The Black Sharks of Ghana’s nightmare continue as they lost their second match 5-4 against Egypt, a respectable result compared to their opening match against Cote d’Ivoire.

A double from the impressive Mohamed Fawzy helped Egypt to win a thriller against Ghana.

Speaking on the competition, Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Steve Ayorinde, said he was impressed with the level of play from the participating countries.

“The teams really showed they meant business at the competition,” he said.

“I am impressed with the performance and the turnout of the fans at the competition.

Despite the time the matches were scheduled, they are still around to cheer the teams.

“The competition has exposed some people to the beauty of Beach Soccer and I will urge the fans to continue to come around and support the teams.”

The group stage ends today with Egypt and Nigeria taking on Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana respectively in Group A. Qualified Senegal will take on Libya while Madagascar and Morocco slug it out for a place in the semifinal in Group B. Meanwhile, Co-chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2016 CAF Beach Nations Cup, Dr. Kweku Tandoh, has disclosed that the goal behind Lagos State Government’s hosting of the tournament is to help the Nigerian Super Sand Eagles qualify for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the Bahamas. “We are not just hosting Africa, but will be out to help motivate and encourage the Nigerian team to pick the ticket to play in the Beach Soccer Mundial in the Bahamas in 2017.”

indemnified to the tune of $24,000 each as accumulated bonuses from the qualifying stage and for beating the host, Cameroon in the final match.

The players were also irked by the failure of government to host them for winning the trophy.

They considered government

posturing as insensitive given that Cameroon which they beat held an elaborate state reception at the instance of President Paul Biya and his wife for the, Lionesses despite the fact that they lost 1-0 to Nigeria in the final.

THISDAY learnt yesterday that government was irked by

action of the players which amounted to washing the nation’s dirty linen in public glare and has summoned the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to an emergency meeting to explain the circumstances responsible for the non- payment of the players’ dues.

NFF and the Sports Ministry had refused to pay the players on the excuse that money was not available and that players would be rewarded at a later date/ But their appeal met a stiff objection from the players who refused to vacate their hotel and insisted on the payment of their allowances.

Osinbajo to Grace NCC Tennis League Cup Finals All is now set for the very promising final of the NCC Tennis League Cup between Kaduna- based surprise finalists, Team Offikwu, and defending champions Team Tombim of Abuja.

The match is scheduled to take place on Saturday Dec. 17 and Sunday Dec. 18 at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club Race Course.

The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is expected to be at the grand finale starting 12 noon on Sunday as special guest of honour.

Also expected at the grand finale are, former Vice President of Nigeria, Alex Ekwueme, Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, as well as the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu. The Chief Executive of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta is attending as the chief host.

Team Offikwu qualified for the finals following a hard fought battle against Team Civil Defence - last year’s runners-up.

Sylvester Emmanuel, the highest ranked Nigerian on the ATP Circuit who was the star player in the semifinal

would have to reproduce the same form against national champion Moses Michael and Christian Paul of Team Tombim.

In the ladies singles scheduled for Saturday, Aanu Aiyegbusi who upsetS national champion Christie Agugbom in straight sets in the semifinals will have another formidable opponent, Sarah Adegoke, a former national champion to deal with.

Meanwhile the third place

match between Team FCT and Team Civil Defence will serve off at 10 am this morning at the same venue with two men’s singles, a ladies singles and the men’s doubles.

The third place tie will have two former champions - Shehu Lawal and Abdulmumuni Babalola, playing for the Civil Defence team against Thomas Otu and Emmanuel Sunday of Team FCT - both semifinalists at the Dala Hard Court.

The third place match,

an appetizer for the grand finale, ends on Friday with the reverse singles and the mixed doubles.

“It is a chance for us to redeem ourselves,” said Civil Defence team captain, Sunday Jonah. “We now know that in sports anything can happen and we would approach this match more professionally.”

The winning team is expected to get N7million, the runner-up team N5million, third place N3 million and the fourth place team N2million.

Chairman, Board of Directors, Special Olympics Nigeria (fourth seated from Left) with partners and members of the Board of Special Olympics Nigeria during the launch of Special Olympics Nigeria Youth Empowerment Initiative at the Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel, Lagos…yesterday

Thursday, December 15, 2016

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Price: N250

MISSILE Atiku to Federal Government “No section of this country can claim correctly that its people are better served by the current structure of our federation. What I find odd is the argument that we cannot renegotiate our union and every demand for restructuring is an attempt to break up Nigeria” – Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, restating his call for the restructuring of the country for peace and development.

OLUSEGUNADENIYI THE VERDICT

olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

Tales of the Unexpected S

CENE ONE: In the course of a break-in at a local branch of the Central Bank (not in Nigeria), one of the robbers, holding a pump action gun in his hands, shouted to everyone: “Don’t move, if you don’t want to die. The money in this bank belongs to the government while your life belongs to you.”

With that message, everyone in the banking hall laid down quietly. That is called “Mind Changing Concept”.

That is a lesson that will serve the people of Rivers State where the rerun legislative elections were conducted last weekend amid reports of beheading of security personnel, maiming and torture of innocent citizens, ballot snatching etc. The people must begin to ask themselves whether the violent men who preside over their affairs and the desperate invaders from Abuja really care about their welfare. Perhaps they may need to go and take lessons from their compatriots in Ondo State.

I understand that when the “Change agents” (and readers can take that both literally and figuratively) arrived polling stations in the Ondo State capital during the gubernatorial election last month, selling their “Dibo ko se ‘be” (vote and cook soup) philosophy, many of the voters also responded in deep Akure dialect: “Mi kin bami meo un ki mi sibe, omoluka ni Jegede, a se gomina lijomiran” (may I have the money now to enjoy the pot of soup; Jegede is a good man, he can still be governor another day).

At the end, without any blood-shedding, the vote-by-barter deal in Ondo State was closed!

SCENE TWO: When a lady in the banking hall lay on the floor in a suggestively provocative manner that exposed too much flesh, one of the robbers shouted at her: “Please cover up!

This is a robbery, not a rape operation!”

That is called “being professional”.

On Monday, a gang of armed bandits who now operate freely in Zamfara abducted about 35 women working on a farm at Matankari village in Dansadau district of Maru local government area of the state. A few hours after whisking the women away, they sent back the aged ones among them while retaining the younger ones that they believed would command value for their nefarious activities. The bandits obviously have some “code of ethics” but the question remains: how can we encourage agriculture and ensure food security in a situation where farms are no longer safe with several rural communities now at the mercy of sundry marauders?

SCENE THREE: When the bank robbers returned home with the loot, the youngest of them (graduate of a local university) asked the leader of the gang, who did not complete primary education, “Big brother, can we begin to count the money so as to ascertain how much we got from the operation?” He got an instant response: “You no sabi anything!

There is so much money in the bags that it will take us several hours to count. Just put on the television. It will not be long before

Owoseni we know from the news how much we took from the bank!”

That is called “experience” which, as they say, is the best teacher.

I am sure that is the message President Muhammadu Buhari took with him to The Gambia where he led the ECOWAS delegation to plead with the eccentric dictator, Yahya Jammeh not to take down his country with him. In the bid for an amicable settlement, the delegation must also have had some quiet words with the victorious opposition leaders that it is foolish of them to begin to count chickens that were not yet hatched. In Africa, you don’t tell a defeated incumbent who still holds the lever of power that you are going to jail him.

In his intervention on BBC website on Tuesday, veteran Gambian journalist, Ebrima Sillah blamed the “opposition coalition’s political naivety” for the logjam despite admitting that there are many unanswered questions regarding secret killings and unexplained disappearances perpetrated under Jammeh. “The Gambia will heal faster if we muster the courage to forgive each other, even if we do not forget. Living in a country where people nurture hatred for each other is a dangerous recipe for further conflict. We cannot afford to focus on the past,” wrote Sillah who himself was nearly killed by Jammeh before fleeing into exile with his family more than a decade ago.

There is a lesson in there for so many people, including in our country!

SCENE FOUR: After the robbers had left the bank, the manager directed the supervisor to call the police quickly. But the supervisor said to him: “Not yet time for that! Let us take $1 million from the vault for ourselves and add it to the $7 million that we previously embezzled”.

That is called “thinking outside the box” or to put it in the proper Nigerian lexicon,

“applying wisdom”!

I am sure those who have read the report of what transpired before the Senate ad-hoc committee on the north-east humanitarian crisis last week must have been aghast at how some fat cats in the Presidential Initiative for the North East, (PINE) spent N625.5 million to clear non-existent grass in Yobe State and another N422.5 million to provide temporary shelter (tents) to displaced families. At least that is what is in their statement of accounts that also documents a donation of N50 million to an unnamed NGO. Some people in high positions in this government have been “applying wisdom” to corner to themselves and cronies money that was meant to take care of the most vulnerable of our society.

If we dig deep, and we are already hearing stories, it is this same disposition that must have led to the tragedy last weekend at a church in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State where no fewer than 29 persons met their untimely death with scores of other worshippers injured. Without rainfall or breeze, that a building would collapse the way the church did points to some criminal negligence and it is a familiar story. On 12 September 2014, a guesthouse being constructed inside the Synagogue Church of Pastor TB Joshua collapsed in Lagos, killing no fewer than 115 people, 84 of them South Africans.

No consequences!

SCENE FIVE: That night, there were media reports that $10 million was taken from the bank. Meanwhile, the robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only find $2 million. Immediately sensing what must have happened, the near-illiterate leader of the robbery gang told his boys: “We risked our lives and only took $2 million. The bank manager took $8 million with a snap of his fingers. It seems it is more lucrative to be educated than to be a thief!”

This is called “knowledge is worth as much as gold!”

If you doubt that, you have evidently not been paying attention to the activities of the new “sogun dogoji” (money doublers) that Nigerians now troop to as they look for solution to their economic challenge.

Even while the promoters claim to “produce nothing” and their customers know “that there are no investments at all”, they are still in business of “taking from those who are richer to poorer ones, in this way restoring social justice.”

That is the explanation put out by the MMM promoters in newspaper adverts at the weekend. The problem now is that neither the rich nor the poor customers of the wonder banks can get any justice. On Tuesday, participants of the MMM Ponzi scheme were informed of a one month “Freezing’’ on all accounts, the implication being that it is going to be a bleak Christmas for those who are due to withdraw both their capital and the promised 30 percent interest.

According to a letter displayed on their website page by its founder, Sergey

Marvodi, the reason for the measure was to ensure the sustainability of the scheme in the New Year and make it even better.

If you believe that, to borrow from James Hadley Chase, you can believe anything!

The Yoruba people have a way of putting this: “Eni nwa ifa; onwa ofo”. I don’t even know how to translate that but take this: be careful of financial promises that are too good to be true!

Meanwhile, I may have “improved” on that online bank robbery joke broken down into the foregoing “five scenes” but the copyright does not belong to me. What I have done, for want of what to write this week, was to use it to draw some embedded lessons, even if in a perverse sense, about contemporary events in our country.

Wherever you turn in Nigeria today, what you find is a flight of common sense. That is what pushes some voters in Rivers State into allowing themselves to be used as cannon fodders for politicians who don’t care about their interests and that is why their counterparts in Ondo would sell their votes for a pot of soup that would last them at best only for a few days. It is the same lack of common sense that is responsible for the situation in Zamfara State where government is practically on holiday. The less said about the naivety of the opposition in The Gambia the better just as I will leave the Senate to conclude their investigations into how some people are feeding fat on the tragedy of our traumatized citizens in the North-east. As for the subscribers of the Ponzi scheme, I will join them in prayers over their trapped money.

However, even in this season when sanity seems to have left our shores, there are still some edifying stories. On Monday, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, ordered the immediate release of a mother and child, who had been detained for three days at a police station for allegedly stealing plantain. In discharging and acquitting the lady of the crime to which she confessed, citing hunger, Owoseni gave her a sum of N10,000 after warning her not to commit such crime again.

That is leadership. The kind of application of common sense we need very badly if this society is to advance but which we hardly see today. That then explains why when we send our young girls to a sporting competition within the continent; we make no allowances for their upkeep and welfare because we don’t expect them to win. Despite all the noise we make about agriculture and the investment of the last five years in the sector, we also do not expect to have bumper harvest. And for that reason, Nigerians are told to expect famine in January because the “unexpected” harvest has engendered “grain drain” to neighbouring countries.

Therefore, and most unfortunately, progress is measured in Nigeria today by the things we do not expect!

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