Monday 2nd January 2017

PANDEF Expresses Displeasure over N29bn Budgeted to Fight Militancy in 2017 MEND passes vote of no confidence on Buhari

Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa, Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto and Sylvester Idowu in Warri

The Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), an umbrella body of traditional rulers, elders,

leaders and critical stakeholders of the ethnic nationalities that make up the Niger Delta region, has lambasted the federal government for earmarking N29 billion to fight the militancy in the Niger Delta

Wike: Count Niger Deltans out of agitation to divide Nigeria

in the 2017 budget, instead of embracing dialogue.

The group, which met with Buhari last November and made 16 demands of the federal government, said that the budgetary allocation to

fight militancy would further exacerbate the crisis in the region, which it has been working against.

In a statement issued Saturday night and signed by a member of Central Working

Committee of PANDEF, Dr. Alfred Mulade, the group also expressed concern over a statement credited to the presidency that it was yet to identify credible leaders to negotiate with on the problems

in the oil-producing region.

“The attention of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has again been drawn to some uncomplimentary remarks Continued on page 8

Nollywood Movie, The Wedding Party, Breaks Box Office Record, Makes N200m in 16 Days… Page 9 Monday 2 January, 2017 Vol 21. No 7928. Price: N250

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Bank CEOs Hinge 2017 Economic Performance on Fiscal Reforms

Obinna Chima

The performance of the Nigerian

economy in 2017 will largely be driven by the quality of reforms initiated by the fiscal authorities as monetary policies appear to have reached their limit, some bank chief executive officers (CEOs) have said.

The CEOs spoke to THISDAY yesterday in separate phone interviews.

Speaking on his expectations

in 2017, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive, FirstBank of Nigeria Limited & Subsidiaries, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan said invariably the outlook for the banking sector would reflect the fortunes of the Nigerian economy.

According to him, “The main transmission mechanisms are via consumer spending, which shows up in retail deposits, card Continued on page 8

CAN Asks President to Tackle Herdsmen Crisis Like Boko Haram

Wole Ayodele in Jalingo

The Christian Association of Nigeria, Taraba state chapter, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to give attention to the issue of Fulani herdsmen terrorising farmers across the country in the same way he did to the Boko Haram sect.

Addressing newsmen in

Jalingo yesterday on his expectations for the New Year, the Taraba state chairman of CAN, Reverend Ben Uber said tackling the issue would enable farmers to heed the president’s call to go back to the farms.

Decrying the recent killings of farmers in some parts of Taraba and Kaduna States, Continued on page 8

PDP Urges FG to Review Taxation Policy… Page 10

GROOVING INTO THE NEW YEAR

R-L: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, with hip-hop artists, Reekado Banks and Dr. SID of Mavins Records, during the grand finale of the One Lagos Fiesta, held at the Bar Beach, Victoria Island, Lagos… Saturday night

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MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

PAGE EIGHT PANDEF EXPRESSES DISPLEASURE OVER N29BN BUDGETED TO FIGHT MILITANCY IN 2017 credited to the Senior Special Adviser to President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, to the effect that the presidency was yet to have credible leaders from the Niger Delta region to dialogue with.

“This statement, coming from the presidency at a time when it has become very clear that the militancy and destruction of oil and gas facilities have abated, owing to the timely intervention of PANDEF, the umbrella body of monarchs, leaders and credible stakeholders of the ethnic nationalities of the coastal states of the Niger Delta region.

“This intervention which has positively led to the cessation of hostilities by the armed agitators, in deference to the appeal by the leaders, has actually led to improvements in the crude oil production, which hitherto fell to 900,000bpd, relative to the production target of 2.2mbpd,” it added.

PANDEF stated further: “To make matters worse, the government is reported to have earmarked a whooping N29 billion of oil revenue to fight militancy in the Niger Delta region.

“This, of course, will further exacerbate the crisis in the region, where PANDEF has been working assiduously to ensure permanent peace.

“How on earth would government begin to think of this kind of huge expenditure, despite the dwindling economy, just to fight militancy, when the causative factors sufficiently articulated and presented to Mr. President by PANDEF remain ignored?”

PANDEF recalled that the rise in crude oil production could not have been possible without the unification of all credible stakeholders under the aegis of PANDEF, adding that this explained the quality and diversity of the composition of its delegation that met with Buhari on November 1, 2016 in Abuja, where the position paper of the region was presented

to the president, with a firm commitment to dialogue as a way out of resolving the lingering challenges in the Niger Delta region.

In the meeting with the president and at other fora, PANDEF said it has consistently advocated for dialogue and the urgent setting up of a dialogue team by the federal government to demonstrate credible commitment in resolving the crisis in the region.

But two months down the road since the visit to the president, the group lamented that the federal government has not demonstrated any commitment to the dialogue process by the setting up of its team.

“Curiously too is the fact that one of the items among the 16-point dialogue issues was the reopening of the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State, which the government announced had been given positive consideration, but has not seen the light of the day in spite of the fact that hopes had been raised and expectations heightened.

“It is instructive to place on record that the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, is an iconic project that touches the heart of the region. That the functionality of this institution will engender a sense of belonging, participation in speeding up the process of healing old wounds occasioned by age-long deprivations cannot be over-flogged.

“Keeping it closed without any practical sign of activities geared towards its resumption betrays a lack of commitment and goodwill towards the deprived oil-rich region.

“PANDEF urges the government to reopen the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State.

“This will confer credibility and goodwill to the federal government in the resolution of the crisis in the region; more so when the facilities for the successful take off of the university have already

been domiciled and modestly developed in compliance with extant requirements and standards by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan at Kurutie, a neighboring community,” it said.

PANDEF, nonetheless, promised to continue to plead with all agitating groups to continue to sustain the prevailing peace and work towards dialogue, noting that this remained the best option for resolving the crises in the Niger Delta region.

It also called on the federal government to, as a matter of utmost importance and expediency, set up a dialogue team to commence the dialogue process with the region as represented by PANDEF. In the same vein, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), one of the prominent militant groups in the region, yesterday reviewed its support for the negotiations between the federal government and the rebel groups in the oilrich region that have consistently attacked oil and gas facilities in the area.

The group, which passed a “no confidence vote” on President Muhammadu Buhari, accused the president of reneging on all the deals he struck with the militants in the region, stressing that the government’s handling of the issues was unacceptable.

A statement by its spokesman Jomo Gbomo yesterday further stated that as a condition for peace, Buhari should immediately act to preserve the peace process by officially commencing negotiations with the leaders and elders of the region.

It accused the president of “arrogance” in the treatment of the issues raised by the leaders of PANDEF, noting that the government had not shown seriousness in dealing with the crisis.

While stating that its members no longer trusted the current administration to have any meaningful dialogue with the region, the group, however, called

for the immediate setting up of a federal government team to meet with PANDEF headed by Chief Edwin Clark to salvage the situation.

MEND said: “Without prejudice to the pre-2015 presidential election endorsement freely and voluntarily given to President Muhammadu Buhari on January 6, 2015, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) hereby categorically and unequivocally passes a vote of no confidence on the government of President Buhari.”

The group listed the failings of the Buhari-led government in the Niger Delta specifically with regards to the crisis, saying that the government was not ready for talks with the people of the region.

It added: “Prior to and after his reluctant meeting with the traditional rulers, opinion leaders and stakeholders of the Niger Delta region, under the auspices of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) on November 1, 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari has been carrying on arrogantly and making controversial, prejudicial, conflicting and contradictory statements about the politics and economy of the oil-rich region.

“Since after he assumed the reins of power, President Muhammadu Buhari has always, for reasons best known to him, held the Niger Delta region in contempt while accusing and/ or blackmailing the leadership of the region of not being ready for dialogue whereas it is the federal government which is not ready or willing to name a team to dialogue with the people.”

MEND disclosed that the pledge by the federal government to accede to the release of the Okah brothers, once leaders of the group, had been broken several times.

“Prior to the inauguration of PANDEF, the several sessions of dialogue held between representatives of MEND, on the one hand, and those of the federal government, on the

BANK CEOS HINGE 2017 ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ON FISCAL REFORMS usage, and retail loans; business investment, especially through its effects on term deposits, loans, and foreign trade; and government spend, including through borrowing by the issuance of government securities.

“Of these three lines, only the latter has held up well as rising domestic prices drive up yields on government securities.

However, it is unlikely that the

industry’s bottom-line can subsist entirely on fee incomes. So, much will depend on how the economy fares next year.

“The economy’s contraction this year was the worst it has been in the last few decades.

Interestingly, I believe monetary policy may be reaching the limits of its possibilities because of structural rigidities in the economy, including through

the effect of this on inflation and the naira’s exchange rate.

“Both of these indices have fared poorly on the back of dwindling government revenue, which was the result of the precipitous drop in global oil prices.”

The FirstBank boss stressed that the burden of economic adjustment this year would thus fall on the fiscal sector, and to an

increasingly larger degree on the extent to which government can drive reforms in the economy, promote an investor friendly environment, and send a clear harmonised message of the government’s economic intent.

“It is important, therefore, that the budget for this year is both larger than it was last Continued on page 9

CAN ASKS PRESIDENT TO TACKLE HERDSMEN CRISIS LIKE BOKO HARAM Rev. Ubeh, who is the General Overseer of Christ Glorious Army Church, said the problem of herdsmen and farmers across the country deserves urgent and decisive action from the federal government.

“I call on the federal government to tackle the issue of herdsmen and farmers’ clashes across the country.

Just a few days ago, herdsmen attacked a village in Ardo Kola Local Government Area of Taraba State and destroyed the whole village.

“The same way Sabon-gida Takai and Dan-Anacha villages in Gassol Local Government Area of the state also came

under attack by herdsmen some days before Christmas, killing scores of people, while thousands were displaced,” he said.

The clergyman equally lamented the ongoing killings in Kaduna by herdsmen despite the 24-hour curfew imposed on the area, but expressed optimism that the country will come out of it stronger.

The CAN chairman, however, commended Buhari for the successes recorded in the fight against the insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country, saying the president has demonstrated his capacity to address security issues in

the country.

Rev. Ubeh also called on security agents in the country to enhance collaboration among themselves so as to defeat insurgencies in any part of the country.

“We have to thank God for what the federal government has achieved in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in 2016. I call on security agents to collaborate to be able to tackle all forms of terrorism in the country, especially the problem of herdsmen and farmers across the country.”

Speaking on the economic hardship in the country, the

clergyman further expressed hope that the nation would come out stronger.

While wishing residents in Taraba and the entire country a happy New Year, Rev. Ubeh appealed to the state governor, Darius Ishaku, to expedite action in the payment of local government and teachers’ salaries and pensions to make life better for the masses.

“We are proud of the achievements of the governor, especially in the payment of state government workers, but he should do more in the New Year in terms of payment of local government and teachers’ salaries,” he stated.

other hand, where concessions were secured for the release of the Okah brothers and several other political detainees and prisoners of conscience, were a grand deception on the part of the federal government.

“After the MEND/FG dialogue which was publicly confirmed by no less a person than President Buhari in his farewell remarks to Mr. Michael Zinner, the outgoing German Ambassador to Nigeria, President Buhari reneged on the agreements reached at the dialogue.

“And following on the heels of the breach of the agreements, President Buhari personally wrote and signed a damaging and prejudicial letter to the Government of South Africa in an attempt to wilfully truncate the on-going peace process in Nigeria.” “(The President) sabotaged the legal options open to Henry Okah and simultaneously influenced the on-going trial of Charles Okah and others, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, in favour of the Federal Government.

“Based on the foregoing premises, we hereby demand that President Muhammadu Buhari must put a stop to his cunning, crafty and un-statesmanlike rhetoric about the Niger Delta region, as they have only served the purpose of jeopardising the fragile peace in the region.

“We urge him to consequently direct the relevant agency of government to immediately commence dialogue with the Niger Delta region, as duly and ably represented by PANDEF,” the group said.

MEND further demanded that the federal government should immediately grant arrested militants access to their lawyers.

“Notice is hereby given to the federal government that all Niger Delta militant commanders and/ or individuals who were tracked and arrested while observing a ceasefire ahead of talks with the federal government should be treated well.

“They should be allowed access to their lawyers, the International Red Cross and a delegation from PANDEF so as to ascertain their well being and ensure they have not been tortured or killed, extra judicially,” it said.

In a related development, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike yesterday asserted that leaders and people of Niger Delta will always strive to defend the unity of Nigeria, stressing that the country remaining one indivisible entity was “non negotiable” and of paramount importance.

Speaking when he paid a visit to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III at his palace in Sokoto, Wike said the interest of Nigerians and Africans will be better served with Nigeria remaining as one “strong and united nation”.

Wike, who was one of eminent personalities that attended the wedding ceremony of Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal’s daughter said he was in the state to symbolise that Nigeria was one, irrespective of political affiliations.

“Let me first of all sincerely thank you, our father the Sultan, for what you are doing for this country, working tirelessly to bring peace and to bring unity to the people. So for all of us, this is what is meant as one Nigeria.

“We cannot run away from this country. The unity of this country is very paramount. The unity of this country is non-negotiable.

“I am from the Niger Delta, from Rivers State to be specific, so I cannot see us in a divided country, no way. We stand for the unity of this country,” Wike stated.

According to him, his administration had invested a lot of time, resources and energy to protect the national assets of the country, especially in Rivers State.

“In Rivers, you hardly find pipeline vandalisation. We are working at all times to protect the national assets in our state. In my state, I am governor for all the people living in the state. I am not a governor of a particular political party, but a governor for all the people of Rivers State.”

While commending the sultan for his leadership of the Muslim community in Nigeria, Wike said he was in Sokoto to felicitate with his colleague, Tambuwal, who gave out his daughter in marriage.

He equally dispelled the notion that his relationship with Tambuwal had a political connotation, saying he has been his friend for a long time, “long before politics defined who we are now”.

“Tambuwal has been my friend for a long time. If anything affects him, it affects me also. If he gives out his daughter in marriage, I have to be here to support him.

If he has any problem, it affects me as well.

“Your Eminence, I am here to seek your royal blessing. You have blessed me before, that is why I am growing. So let me wish you a prosperous New Year ahead,” he added.

Responding, the Sultan stated that such gatherings and meetings would strengthen the unity and love among Nigerians.

He acknowledged the visitors from diverse backgrounds who had attended the wedding ceremony, adding that such a symbolic gathering would continue to portray Nigeria as one country.

The Sultan commended Wike for his stand on one Nigeria and called on leaders at all levels to always work towards making Nigeria a great nation irrespective of ethnic and religious affiliations.

He maintained that cordial relationships and peaceful co-existence would guarantee the success and development of any nation.

The sultan also implored Nigerians to live in peace with one another and wished them a year full of happiness and blessings.

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

PAGE NINE

Nollywood Movie, The Wedding Party, Breaks Box Office Record, Makes N200m in 16 Days The Wedding Party, Nigeria’s latest blockbuster movie, has broken box office records at every milestone since it was released nationwide to critical acclaim on December 16.

A press release from EbonyLife Films at the weekend said that the Nollywood movie took just two weeks to eclipse the impressive record of N176 million, held by AY’s ‘A Trip to Jamaica’, emerging with a staggering N200 million before the New Year weekend was over.

“This marks an amazing run, as the romantic comedy recorded the biggest opening weekend in Nollywood history with N36 million, the best-ever opening week with N66 million, and a jaw-dropping Christmas box office total of N146 million.

“What followed appears to be unprecedented, with cinemas in many parts of the country reporting sold-out screens throughout the rest of the holiday season, as excited fans who saw earlier screenings returned for a second round, often with friends and family in tow,” said the statement.

The feat recorded by The

Wedding Party, according to the statement, “was an amazing response to a Nigerian film suggesting that the producers, the ELFIKE Film Collective, were right to assemble such a stellar cast and to trust director, Kemi Adetiba, to guide them to superb performances”.

Relative newcomers like Banky W and Adesua Etomi, looked comfortable alongside veteran actors Richard Mofe-Damijo and Ireti Doyle, while the comedic genius of Sola Sobowale, Ali Baba and AY shone through, it added.

ELFIKE relied on the collective experience of the partners, EbonyLife Films, Film One, Koga Studios and Inkblot Productions, to ensure high production values throughout.

Much of the appeal of the film is due to a heart warming storyline, beautiful sets and gorgeous costumes, with most of the audience being able to identify with the lavish Nigerian wedding, contentious relatives and almost-chaotic proceedings that defy even the most careful planning.

The family-friendly theme has attracted larger-than-average

groups of all ages and economic backgrounds.

According to Executive Producer, Mo Abudu, “We really believe that the Nigerian consumer will support any ‘made in Nigeria’ product, if the quality is comparable to international standards.

“We wanted to make a film that would make our people proud and the response of movie-goers suggests that we have succeeded.

“Equally important has been the support of so many sponsors, including Dubai Tourism, Airtel, Diageo and Bank of Industry, who were instrumental in getting us off to an amazing start.”

Moses Babatope, COO of FilmOne Distribution, was delighted by the public response.

“With returns clocking up N200 million, The Wedding Party is on track to deliver numbers we have never seen before for a Nigerian film.

“It’s important to note that it is selling more tickets than Rogue One, part of the Star Wars franchise and the biggest film worldwide this season. And there's more to come – we are

L-R: Manager Campaigns, Dubai Tourism, Salim Ali Mohammed Dahman; CEO, EbonyLife TV and EbonyLife Films, Mo Abudu; Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; and Regional Director, Africa & International Operations, Dubai Tourism, Stella Obinwa, at the movie premiere of The Wedding Party, held in Lagos... recently looking forward to The Wedding Party being available worldwide on Netflix, as well as international airlines, television and DVD,” he said.

The Wedding Party is only the second film produced by EbonyLife Films. Its predecessor,

Fifty, was the most successful film at the Nigerian box office in 2015 and has spawned a television series, due to air on EbonyLife TV in 2017.

Fifty was the only Nigerian film, and one of only five African films from a global

selection of 238 films, to be screened at the 59th BFI London Film Festival.

There are two new films in the works, including a sequel to The Wedding Party that will ensure more outstanding commercial success for EbonyLife in 2017/18.

Peju Alatise: Nigerian Artist Transcending Barriers Peju Alatise is in a bad mood.

It’s a Monday morning and she is charging around her outdoor workspace, essentially the front garden of her home, directing her assistants.

She is currently working on a sculptural piece, which requires suspension on chains. But the person responsible for bringing those chains has failed to show up and has called to give Peju excuses that she finds infuriating.

“He was supposed to buy them on Saturday,” she complains. “My whole Monday is wasted.”

The artist is in the middle of wrapping up a few projects before leaving Nigeria for a prestigious residency in the United States, hence the hurried footsteps around the two-storey home that doubles up as her studio.

In a crescent of identical beige houses within Lekki, a middle class suburb of Lagos, Peju’s house stands out. A giant mask adorns the front of the building - a metal sculpture of a woman with tribal marks.

The house itself could be seen as a metaphor for the Nigerian artist in her homeland. “I can’t do what everyone else is doing,” Peju states matter-of-factly.

Despite her non-conformist stance in a country that is sometimes intolerant of difference, Peju admits that her early life was similar to many middle class children. “My parents were hard disciplinarian type(s). The older ones had it very rough. So for me it was more about blending in with everything (and) trying not to get into trouble.”

Born in 1975 in Lagos, Peju and

Alatise her seven siblings were raised within a fairly traditional Muslim family. Her younger brother Layi recalls how his siblings would often grapple with their father’s religiosity.

He says Peju in particular would clash with him and other adults on topics ranging from

philosophical approaches to life, to politics and religious beliefs.

A young Peju was also shaped by her observations on the role of women in Nigerian society, increasingly questioning the status quo.

The artist originally faced opposition to her chosen career.

Her father saw art as a waste of time, preferring that his daughter pursue what he perceived as a more economically stable profession. “Two years before he died, he had a change of heart,” she recalls. “It’s funny how I could be so independent and think that I am so confident but still need my father’s approval.”

Her mother, on the other hand, provided unwavering support, which Peju attributes to an encounter with a spiritualist who foresaw fame in her daughter’s

future. He claimed that art would take Peju all over the world and it would earn her “different currencies”.

“My mum was like, ‘Ah, she's going to be rich’,” Peju laughs.

She chose to train as an architect at university and she cherishes that time to this day.

“Architecture teaches you how to see,” Peju explains. “It got me really disciplined. With architecture you work with time, you work with very tangible ideas. Architecture actually teaches a method of thinking that I don’t regret. It’s very logical, and I approach life that way.”

But Peju is adamant that she didn’t “become” an artist.

“I never got into art, I was always an artist. I always loved to paint, I always loved to draw and make things. My interest was always

in being creative.”

It was, however, only after seeing an exhibition in Lagos

by Nigerian artist David Dale, that a 15-year-old Peju realised that art was a viable profession.

“I thought people were just born creative and it was just an existence. I thought it’s like being born tall or short until I went to a gallery and then I saw people sell (art). I was really surprised.”

This realisation planted a seed, and soon after that exhibition she began her informal education in the craft. Peju would visit Dale’s studio on mainland Lagos during her school holidays to see pieces in progress and watch his studio assistants at work. “It was such a mess, but it was a glorious mess,” she gushes.

present opportunities for people and systems to develop new markets and improve existing ones.

“For us at Diamond Bank, we are bringing more people into the financial system by taking banking to people via digital and mobile channels.

For our existing customers solutions that make things, easier, cost effective and safer.”

The CEO of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, in a recent presentation at the Lagos Business School’s executive breakfast session, forecast that growth in 2017 would be a function of oil output and market efficiency.

According to the economist, commodity windfall and shortfalls would catalyse or suppress growth. He also predicted that oil sector output would go from -22 per cent to five per cent in 2017, adding

however that corruption, waste and inefficiency would remain a drag on government expenditure.

In terms of policy reforms in the oil sector, he projected that the new JV cash call alternative funding arrangement would unlock $6 billion of cash and reduce production interruptions.

He also predicted an inflow of $73 billion into the economy comprising the proposed $1 billion Eurobond, which he anticipated would take at least three months for the federal government to close; the final tranche of the $400 million AfDB loan; inflow of the World Bank’s concessionary $2 billion loan; $22 billion from remittances; about $40 billion from exports; and others $11 billion.

On FAAC allocations shared by the three tiers of government, Rewane expects that this would average N500 billion, up from about N415 billion in 2016.

Continued on page 40

BANK CEOS HINGE 2017 ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ON FISCAL REFORMS year and that it includes major policy interventions in the area of pro-poor initiatives. I would have loved to see a much more significant drop in the recurrent expenditure share of the budget.

“Essentially, much-needed reforms will include completing the transition of government from provider of goods and services to that of a regulator of a private sector-led economy, and changes to the way the economy is organised, with further strengthening of entrepreneurial initiatives across board.

“Combined, both the structural reforms and increased and better targeted government spend should see a recovery in consumer spending and business investments that should drive a pick-up in domestic economic activity in 2017.

“Helpfully, OPEC’s oil production agreement late last year should see global oil

prices rise higher than last year’s average, supporting higher public revenues. Banks, on the other hand, have far higher levels of capital this time around than they had just before the 2008-09 global financial and economic crises, and thus are far more resilient today than they have been at any other time in the history of the economy,” he added.

To the CEO of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, there is no quick fix to the current economic situation.

Wigwe said what was required to lift the economy out of recession was “very coordinated efforts by government, that is monetary and fiscal authorities, as well as the total cooperation of all other economic agents”.

“While that is being done, the sequences of events that it takes to come out of this situation is also just as important,” he added.

According to Wigwe, “If we

get it right, we should start to see some recoveries in the second half of the year.”

This he however stressed requires coordinated efforts.

“If we don’t do that and allow the situation to degenerate, then it (recession) can last a lot longer,” he added.

On his outlook for the banking industry, Wigwe, who is also the chairman of the Body of Bank CEOs said: “First of all, there is no way that the industry is not going to feel the pain, first of all, coming from the fact that manufacturers are not getting enough foreign exchange to support importation of their raw materials for production.

“So, you are going to see banks struggle as far as their non-performing loan (NPLs) ratios are concerned. Just because these guys do not have enough raw materials to produce and break even, not to add repaying

their loans. That in itself is a really big issue.

“But I think that one of the things you are going to see is that people are going to resort to other mechanisms to look for income. For instance, the pursuit of retail, and other alternative means of income.”

Furthermore, Wigwe pointed out that the effect of the downturn on economic activities, as well as the rise in NPLs would clearly reflect in banks’ 2016 financial statements, adding that in 2017, banks might not record strong performance.

“But 2018 would be a year for full recovery for banks,” he said.

In his contribution, the CEO of Diamond Bank Plc, Mr. Uzoma Dozie acknowledged that 2016 was tough and 2017 will be no different, but added that the Nigerian market was big and the current challenges

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MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017• T H I S D AY

NEWS

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

PDP Urges Buhari to Review Taxation Policy Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to review its economic policies, especially high taxation, which has tended to scare

away potential investors.

In a new year message issued by the PDP National Caretaker Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, on behalf of all organs of the PDP and its family nationwide, the party also encouraged Nigerians to work harder this year in order to overcome the present difficulties.

Girl Suicide Bomber Killed in Maiduguri Blast One person was seriously injured when a suicide bomber aged around 10 blew herself up in a New Year ’s eve attack in Maiduguri, Borno State, witnesses and aid workers told AFP yesterday.

The girl approached a crowd buying noodles from a food vendor in the Customs area of the city around 9:30p.m. lastSaturday and detonated her explosives, they said.

Although no one has claimed responsibility, the attack bore the hallmark of Boko Haram terrorists who are notorious for using suicide bombers, mostly women and young girls, in attacking civilian targets.

“The girl walked towards the crowd but she blew up before she could reach her target,” a witness, Grema Usman, who lives in the area said.

“She died instantly, while one person was seriously hurt after he was hit by shrapnel.” “(Judging) from her corpse, the girl was around 10 years old,” Usman said.

An aid worker involved in the evacuation of the

body gave a similar estimate of the bomber ’s age.

“The girl was clearly not more than 10 and this could have made her too nervous, making her to detonate the explosives prematurely,” the aid worker suggested.

Borno State police spokesman, Victor Isuku, meanwhile, said a second female suicide bomber was caught and lynched by an angry mob.

Her bomb was safely detonated by security forces, he said.

In December, two girls aged between seven and eight, detonated explosives in suicide attacks on market in the city, injuring 19 people.

Authorities blamed the attack on Boko Haram, whose sevenyear insurgency has killed 20,000 people and displaced 2.6 million others.

The conflict has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbours.

Last Saturday’s attack came a week after President Muhammadu Buhari said the terrorist group had been routed from Sambisa forest, its last stronghold in Borno State.

Nigerians are Suffering, Mbaka Tells Buhari Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu The founder of Adoration Ministries and Enugu-based fiery Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to come up with strategies that will help to address myriads of problems facing the country.

Mbaka gave the advice in his new year message at the cross-over-service to 2017 in Enugu.

He advised the president to tackle the challenges facing the country, saying: “Many Nigerians are suffering.

“Though the president is trying on corruption and security, Nigerians are hungry; they want to see more changes.

“There is the need to assist businessmen and women in their businesses.”

He also advised the president to appoint experts who would help him revive the economy.

The cleric asked the president to consult church leaders and eminent men of God to advise him and also tell him the truth about the economy.

“We cannot reach him for advice because of the kind of people around him,” he added.

The message signed by PDP spokesman, Dayo Adueyeye, berated the ruling APC for bringing hardship upon the people and setting back the economic milestones made by the former PDP administration.

“The bad policies of the APC-led government, no doubt, have occasioned this economic recession with its attendant consequences of extreme hardship, starvation, deprivation, insecurity and rise in ethnic, sectional and political agitations for self-

determination,” it said.

According to the statement, the transformation agenda of the last PDP administration brought a lot of hope to Nigerians, the African sub-region and the economy at large.

“Nigeria economy, before handing over to the APC in May 2015, was declared the largest and the fastest growing in Africa (number one) which is now nowhere near number 30. Why is that? Incompetence it is!

“It is no gainsaying that the PDP had better

policies and programmes of reforming Nigeria’s economy to provide better living condition for its citizens well-being, which it did. We hope the government of the day changes its policies of high taxations with almost non-economic activity while providing palliatives in 2017 to reduce the effect of the recession, and the country will be better for it in the coming years.

“Against this backdrop, we again advise the APCled administration in 2017 to urgently employ the

services of economic experts to put in place viable policies that will revamp our ailing economy. We are presently in recession because of significant decline in government business in both internal and external spheres.

“The federal government should increase money supply, cause rise in disposable income (spending) and decrease mindless taxations which have led to high inflation and multiple prices in money market,” the party said.

AUGUST VISITOR L-R: Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari; Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad AbubakarIII; Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike; and his Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, during Wike’s visit to the Sultan ‘s palace in Sokoto ...weekend

TEF Opens Application for 2017 Entreprenuership Programme Obinna Chima Africa’s largest business incubator, the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), yesterday announced that it had started accepting applications from African entrepreneurs, with business ideas that can transform Africa, for its entrepreneurship programme.

The application portal, according a notice from the TEF, is open and accepting submissions until March 1, 2017.

To apply, intended participants were directed to complete the online application on its website.

“Successful applicants will join the third cycle of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, TEF’s 10-year, $100 million commitment

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to train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs in every African country.

Since inception in 2015, the programme has assisted nearly 2,000 entrepreneurs and created hundreds of jobs across the continent,” it added.

The programme provides critical tools for entrepreneurial success, including: training- 12 weeks of intensive training on setting-up and managing businesses; mentoring - a mentor will guide successful applicants in creating a robust business plan; and seed capital - $5,000 in nonreturnable seed capital and access to a $5,000 convertible loan The TEF founder, serial entrepreneur and

philanthropist, Mr. Tony O. Elumelu, said: “Our programme is a deliberate effort to institutionalise luck and provide the essentials for business growth to Africa’s next generation of business leaders. It is a demonstration of my faith in this generation’s ability to transform the African narrative, from the single story of disease and poverty, to one of enterprise and opportunity. Spread the word; we need Africa’s best and brightest entrepreneurs.

Their ideas will transform Africa.”

1,000 entrepreneurs will be selected based on the viability of their idea, including: market opportunity; financial understanding; scalability; and leadership and entrepreneurial skills demonstrated in the

application.

According to the organisers, for one to be eligible, his or her business must be based in Africa; business must be for profit; business must be 0-3 years’ old; and applicants must be at least 18 and a legal resident or citizen of an African country Also, the CEO of the foundation, Parminder Vir, said: “We encourage women, French, Arabic and Portuguese speakers and business ideas from every region across Africa, to apply. Our 2,000 alumni are already growing their businesses and improving lives. If you have a transformational business or an idea, we have an opportunity for you.”

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017• T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Borno Govt Denies Report on Arrest of LG Chairman for Hiding Boko Haram Commander Says chairman reported himself to military The Ministry for Local Government and Emirate Affairs which supervises the chairmen of the 27 local government areas in Borno State yesterday described the arrest of Chairman of Mafa Local Government Area, Shettima Lawan Mafa, over alleged connection with Boko Haram member as a “a very worrisome twist.”

It noted that contrary to media reports, the chairman wasn’t arrested, rather, he reported himself to the military.

The ministry also said the chairman was known for closely working with hunters and military commanders for many years in Mafa leading the community fight against Boko Haram.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Emirate Affairs, Hon. Usman Ali Zanna, however

said his ministry neither questions the judgment and authority of the military nor exonerates the chairman of any wrongdoing in order not to preempt the outcome of ongoing investigation.

“If not because of media reports on this matter, the Ministry for Local Government and Emirate Affairs which oversees the affairs of the 27 local government areas in the state would have preferred not to make public comment over a matter that is still being investigated by our competent and patriotic military establishment involved in the fight against Boko Haram.

“It has become necessary that this statement is issued in order to put some records straight. First of all, contrary to media reports, the caretaker chairman in

Rivers Rerun: Army Recovers Alkali’s Gun, Uniform The Nigerian Army has said it has recovered one AK47 assault rifle and uniforms belonging to DSP Mohammed Alkali and his police orderly allegedly beheaded by cultists.

The policemen were said to have been killed by suspected cultists at Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers during the December 10 re-run legislative elections.

Maj.-Gen. Kasimu Abdulkarim, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division, Port Harcourt, disclosed this to journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday.

Abdulkarim, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said troops from the Division recovered the items during a raid on four militant camps and cultist’s hideouts in Ujju community near Omoku.

According to him, troops also recovered assorted types of arms and ammunitions stashed away by bandits in the area.

“Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area has over time witnessed criminal acts ranging from attacks on critical national infrastructure and brutal murder which affected economic activities of oil companies and citizens.

“The barbaric nature and manner of criminalities led the 6 Division to conduct a raid on December 31 on four suspected criminal camps located across the River, in Ujju community.

“In the raid, 6 Division troops in conjunction with Operation Delta Safe Special Boats Service and air component, engaged the suspected criminals in exchange of gunfire.

“Troops later arrested some suspects and recovered several weapons, ammunitions and

uniforms, including uniforms and rifle belonging Alkali and his orderly, Sgt. Urukwu Nwachukwu.

“Our forces also recovered one AK47 rifle, two G3 rifles, five double barrel guns, two pistols, 31 empty AK47 magazines, 242 rounds of 7.62mm NATO ammunition.

“Others are, 322 rounds of other ammunition calibres, bulletproof jackets, seven other police uniforms, 31 handsets, Automated Teller Machine Cards (ATM) and a First Aid box,” he said.

Abdulkarim said the clean-up operation was in continuation of efforts by the Division to recover weapons from cultists and militants who refused to embrace Amnesty offered by Rivers’ government.

He said in spite of the just concluded amnesty programme offered by government, armed groups had continued to terrorise residents in Omoku town.

The GOC said 15 persons including a soldier, four Civil Defence Corps personnel; two policemen and eight civilians were brutally murdered while several others kidnapped in the area in December alone.

“This trend of violence cannot be left unchecked as the Division will sustain “operation cleanup” to enable oil companies and the people to go about their businesses in peaceful environment,” he said.

Abdulkarim urged the public to provide security agencies with vital information that would lead to the arrest of cultists and militants and assured that their identities would be kept in confidence.

question was not arrested.

He actually reported himself to the military command in Maiduguri after he got information that he was needed by the military.

“Secondly, contrary to reports by the media that he was arrested at the 1,000 housing estate along Maiduguri-Damaturu road, there was never any issue at all at 1,000 estate.

The chairman lives at 505 housing estate which is located on an entirely different route along Dikwa and Mafa which is the way to the chairman’s office in Mafa. The Chairman actually reported himself to the military last week and was detained pending the outcome of ongoing investigations being conducted by the military.

“While we do not intend to question the intelligence gathering, judgment and authority of the military, to us at the Ministry for Local Government and Emirate Affairs, the whole development is a worrisome

Describes detention as worrisome twist twist. It is a twist because, for years, the caretaker chairman has been known for his courage in joining hunters at the front line to battle Boko Haram fighters.

His commitment in the fight against insurgents is known to different army commanders who served in Mafa Local Government Area in the last two years.

The likes of Major Manga can bear testimony to this.

It is mainly due to his passion for the fight against insurgency that he has been successively reappointed as caretaker chairman of Mafa for renewable term of six months as provided by laws of the state,” the ministry stated.

Zanna further noted that “the chairman is also known to champion the course of citizens fleeing from communities after attacks by insurgents. From information available to the military, the chairman recently got involved in assisting some citizens trapped in a village within his local government

area, and he is believed to have Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in his residence at 505 estate like most adults in Maiduguri, Jere and parts of Konduga who have fleeing relatives and friends living with them.

“There is an information that a certain suspected member of the Boko Haram might have joined some of the citizens he helped last week but whether he knew the identity of the suspect and deliberately hid him, and for whatever purpose is what we look forward to being determined by the military. This investigation is particularly important to us because it affects the safety and integrity of the ministry.

As we acknowledge, it would amount to siting on a keg of gun powder if anyone dealing with the ministry harbours any criminal, especially insurgents who have killed our parents, wives, sons and daughters in addition to sending our families out of their

communities to now live with us in pains.

“We assure citizens of the 27 local government areas, other concerned Nigerians and the International community that we are usually very thorough in identifying those appointed either as local government chairmen, ward councillors, traditional rulers, vigilantes and members of the Civilian JTF deployed to all the local government areas of the state. As can be confirmed by security agencies, we do not engage any youth as vigilante or in the Civilian JTF unless he or she is verified by the Department of State Services (DSS) in addition to fingerprints and photographs of everyone captured into a database. We anxiously look forward to the outcome of the investigation while we shall abide by the publicly known position of the state Governor, Kashim Shettima, that anyone found having any connection with insurgents is an enemy of the state and its people.”

REACHING OUT TO CONSTITUENTS

L-R: Mother of the Baby of the Year, Mrs. Ifeoma Chukwuka; Mrs. Salamatu Gbajabiamila; Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Medical Director of Randle General Hospital, Dr. Olakunle Oni, during the House Leader’s visit to the first Baby of the Year in his constituency in Lagos ....yesterday

Hembe: 2017 will Be a Defining Year for APC George Okoh In Makurdi The lawmaker representing Konshisha/Vandeikya federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Herman Hembe, has said 2017 would be a decisive year for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to deliver on its promises or face the people’s judgments.

He cautioned that 2018 may

witness heightened political activities which may not avail the party the opportunity to embark on development activities.

Hembe who spoke yesterday in Makurdi, Benue State, said: “We agree that the economy is bad, which is tied to the mistakes of the past.

“But we have said enough of blame game and looking to the past. 2017 is the year we as a party have to deliver or the

people will pass judgment on us.

“It is time for us to make a difference for the people who voted this government into power. We need to urgently move to bring prosperity to our people for the efforts they made to change the government through the ballot.

“This year, Nigerians may not be prepared to hear excuses so it’s going to be

a defining year for us and we are prepared for the task ahead.”

The federal lawmaker who acknowledged that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government had ensured sanity and accountability in the running of government, said: “The government is making steady progress in all spheres, and that is what we need at this time as a people.”

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MONDAY JANUARY 2, 2017 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY MONDAY JANUARY 2, 2017

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

COMMENT

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

ECONOMIC RECESSION AND EUPHORIA OF NEWYEAR Tayo Ogunbiyi argues the need to do things differently

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he year 2016 will go down in history as one of the most difficult years for Nigerians. It was a year when the nation’s economy passed through turbulent waters. In 2016, inflation rate was above 18%, the GDP contracted by 2.06% and the economy by 0.36%. Oil price crashed to less than $40 per barrel while production output tumbled due to militancy in the Niger Delta region. Oil production plummeted to 1.69 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2016, down from 2.11 million barrel per day in the first quarter, with oil – based GDP contracting by 17.5% in quarter two compared to 1.9% in the first quarter. N495 exchanged for a dollar on the black market, just as a dollar exchanged for as much as N365.25 in the interbank market.

The nation’s groaning unemployment situation also grew worse.

Unofficial data put the unemployment figure at about 20% (about 30 million), but this number still did not include about 40 million other Nigerian youths captured in a recent World Bank statistics.

By implication, it means that if Nigeria’s population is 170 million, then 50% of Nigerians are unemployed, or worse still, at least 71% of Nigerian youths are unemployed. This is particularly disturbing and counterproductive because at least 70% of the population of this country is made up of youths. According to reports, in 2016, the unemployed in the labour force increased by 1,158,700 persons, resulting in an increase in the national unemployment rate to 13.3% in Q2, 2016 from 12.1 in 2016, 10.4% in 2015 from 9.9% in Q3 2015 and from 8.2% in Q2 2015.

Workers in both the public and private sectors were hit by the troubling economic situation. In order to make ends meet, some firms opted to downsize, thus complicating the already bad unemployment situation. For those who work in the public sector, the situation is a bit different. Though, they have the sheer luxury of keeping their jobs, it is only a few of them that can boast of receiving their wages as at when due. Except for Lagos State and a few others, most states in the country owe their workers outstanding salaries that run into months. The whole distressing episode is reinforced by the counsel of a particular state governor in the South Eastern region of the country that public workers in his state could actually skip work twice or thrice a week to embrace subsistence farming in order to escape the excruciating claws of hunger.

One obvious consequence of the ranging economic recession in the country is depression. Medically, depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in things that the victim is ordinarily usually passionate about. It is also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression and it affects how the victim feels, thinks and behaves. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems which include finding it difficult to embark on daily activities. It can also lead to marital troubles as depression victims find it very hard adjusting to family values and

THE NATION’S TOUGH ECONOMIC SITUATION HAS INCREASED THE NUMBER OF CITIZENS WHO RUN THE RISK OF EXPERIENCING THE AGONISING INCIDENT OF CLINICAL DEPRESSION

ethics. Indeed, coping with the stress of family life cause more difficulties to victims of depression who often want to be left alone.

Perhaps, the worst of the fallouts of depression is the feeling that life isn’t worth living which eventually makes depression victim contemplates suicide.

From all indications, the nation’s tough economic situation has increased the number of citizens who run the risk of experiencing the agonising incident of clinical depression. According to reports, the rate of marital break ups has increased while matrimonial violence occasioned by economic woes has equally multiplied significantly. Indeed, there has been incidence of husband killing wife and vice-versa. There have been reports of men absconding from home for weeks in order to escape growing economic responsibilities at home. Therefore, we now have more women who are over-burdened with excruciating domestic pressures.

Cases of pronounced mental health condition have also unsurprisingly increased. Along major cities in the country, you are likely to come across clean and beautifully dressed compatriots who talk and walk alone, actually without any destination in mind. This, to medical workers, is a vital sign of depression induced insanity, which if not quickly attended to could lead to serious psychiatric condition.

Ironically, in the midst of all these uncertainties and stress comes the exciting hope of a better New Year. Not that there is any concrete rationale for the euphoria about the New Year. It is a natural feeling that does not need to be subjected to any empirical analysis. Here, the belief is that New Year would naturally bring with it good tidings. That is the nature of hope.

However, one is of the view that for hope not to be mere hallucination, it must be anchored on more solid platforms. For instance, it is generally believed that the world is subjected to the authority of the Almighty God whom many anchor their hope, faith and trust in. This is good enough, especially if the one anchoring his hope on the Almighty has sufficient capacity to understand the nature and ways of God. Nevertheless, as good as placing one’s hope in God is, for hope to transcend the stage of expectation and move into the realm of reality, necessity places it on man to play key roles in speeding up the process of divine intervention.

The truth is that we would continue to live in the realm of delusion until we make bold to collectively change our ways as a people. For our hope not to be dashed this New Year, we need to embrace new ways of doing things. We need to stop cutting corners. We need to stop living in lies, deception and hypocrisy.

It is only when we collectively embrace sacrificial change that we could boldly hope that the New Year would usher in our desired change.

Ogunbiyi is of the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Lagos

MUCH ADO ABOUT MMM

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Regulatory agencies could do more in their oversight functions, argues Adewale Kupoluyi

have read with deep concern, the various accounts shared by many Nigerians on their sad experiences on the Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox (MMM) Ponzi scheme that has created a lot of apprehension, tension, anxiety and uncertainty in the country.

Because of this unfortunate development, millions of patrons of MMM have been thrown into confusion having placed a one-month ban on all withdrawals starting from December 13. MMM has claimed that it had frozen the accounts to avoid preventable challenges during the Yuletide in the purported negative media reports given to the scheme.

MMM is not new in the business world. It is on record that the organisation began as an office equipment company in Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) in the 1980s, before moving into the financial sector when the scheme collapsed and many investors lost their money.

The MMM was able to win the hearts of many Nigerians with its ‘30 per cent per month’ return-oninvestment in addition to other acquirable bonuses.

But the hard truth is that despite the mouthwatering offer, the risks associated with the scheme seem to be more. No wonder, the company was ‘wise’ enough to have advised customers to: “use your #SpareMoney only (and) don’t be unnecessarily greedy.” What this expression tells me is that the operators of schemes have cleverly and tactically insulated themselves from any undue liability and legal encumbrances. The scheme has since been declared illegal by the federal government.

Before coming to Nigeria, MMM has similarly operated in South Africa and Zimbabwe with the same business model, which claimed a 30 per cent per monthly return-on-investment through a ‘social financial network’ until the accounts of its

clients were frozen. Similarly, in 2016, the Chinese government banned the scheme on the grounds that it was a Ponzi scheme, unregistered and hence, was tagged as a fraudulent scheme. What the organisation does is to manage payments in such a way that quick returns to the first investors from money invested are given to later investors in a manner described as robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Despite the controversies surrounding the modus operandi of MMM, Nigerians seem to have forgotten so fast the lessons learnt from the failed operations of wonder banks in which billions of naira went down the drain under similar circumstances, despite warnings by the National Assembly, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), suggesting that the scheme is fraudulent, but then, many Nigerians still patronised it. Three major reasons could be attributed to this doggedness.

Firstly, is the current economic situation in the country that has brought about untold and high incidences of unemployment, inflation and poverty.

Hence, people would want to do anything humanly possible to survive at a great risk.

Secondly, is the secretive and greedy nature of many of the participants, who kept the offer to themselves, perhaps, to prevent others from benefiting, thus making them highly vulnerable in the process of secretly dealing with MMM. Thirdly, is the weak regulatory framework that allows such a system to exist without having to pass through the necessary due diligence, checks and screening.

No wonder, MMM had the audacity to tell the Nigerian government to look at the benefits of the scheme to the over three million Nigerians within its one year of operation in the country, claiming that the scheme was the ‘only source of livelihood

for many people’.

The ripple effects of the MMM invasion have begun telling on the people. Not a few investors were reported to have either committed suicide or attempted such. For instance is the story of a man from Benue State, who was found to have ingested insecticide, having invested N300,000 meant for his wedding in the dicey scheme! From the survey that I recently conducted, many people seem to be affected by the loss but would rather prefer to remain silent rather than lamenting their ordeals while many would rather prefer to keep mute for the fear of being stigmatised. After all, they never told anyone before going into the scheme! That is usually the problem with those who fall victims to fraudsters. They hardly inform others they are deeply engrossed in such a deal until everything crumbles and danger becomes the inevitable.

Despite the ordeal happening now, it must be appreciated that people should be free to invest in whatever business interest they so desire. That is why I won’t be surprised that MMM may not be the only active Ponzi scheme around. There is the likelihood that many of such programmes exist under various names and brands. Whenever people are committing their resources into such deals, others hardly know of it until things begin to unfold and they cry out of the untold hardship and negative consequences that may arise. It is the secret nature of the patronage of the Ponzi schemes that makes many innocent people to lose their hardearned resources and savings, thereby increasing the level of poverty in the land.

As a way forward, regulatory agencies should do more by helping the citizens in beaming their searchlights on other schemes to verify what is happening to them before they become another source of national problem, source of worry and

tragedy. The whole scenario bordering on how MMM has been managed has shown that the economic problems that encourage people to look for money at all costs, is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. Governments should come together to see how common problems could be discussed with a view to finding sustainable alternative to Ponzi schemes that would add value to the real sectors of the economy through spending.

It is only hoped that by this January, the scheme would come alive again as it has planned to do by offering another opportunity for investors to access their funds. If this becomes a reality, they should pull out. I won’t be surprised that in order to sustain their interest in the scheme, an additional accrual of over 30 per cent could be dangled to lure participants into keeping their funds in the scheme and even put in more resources after January. I really think they should not be lured again, in case the opportunity represents itself. They should look for other means of making money despite the economic recession currently facing the country.

And a big lesson for all is that people should learn to be open, as much as possible, to those they could trust. I kept wondering why a very close friend of mine of many years should now be crying wolf now after the bitter experience when I was never consulted before deciding to join and invest in the scheme ab initio. Government should do more sensitisation of the citizens on the dangers that could befall them whenever they are confronted with issues that concern financial intelligence and breach of public trust. It is only hoped that MMM would afford its depositors another opportunity to have a rethink. It’s just a matter of days for that to be or not to be!

Kupoluyi wrote from Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

EDITORIAL THE PROPOSED ABUJA AIRPORT LOCKDOWN

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The six weeks closure will be costly. Nigeria should learn from the Heathrow Airport’s experience

igerians may not be able to quantify the huge losses to be incurred when the nation’s major gateway, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja is locked up for six weeks. The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, said the airport would be closed within some unspecified dates between February and March this year to allow Julius Berger carry out major rehabilitation on the runway. Sirika added that those flying into and out of Abuja would be ferried by bus to and from Kaduna airport.

There are good reasons for the repair works. The existing runway was built in 1981 with a lifespan of 20 years. So it is no surprise that it is a sorry state. In 2013, a Saudi Arabian cargo aircraft was damaged when it taxied through a section of the runway under construction and it led to the closure of the airport for almost 24 hours, impacting on passengers and airlines.

However, the consequences of shutting the Abuja airport for six weeks are enormous. It will disrupt economic activities THE ALTERNATE AIRPORT of government and DOES NOT HAVE THE its agencies and also FACILITIES FOR EASY businesses in the PASSENGER FACILITATION capital city. Besides, AND IT IS ABOUT ONE AND the alternate airport, HALF HOURS DRIVE TO which is in Kaduna, does not have the ABUJA ON A DILAPIDATED ROAD THAT IS CONSIDERED facilities for easy passenger facilitation INSECURE and it is about one and half hours drive to Abuja on a dilapidated road that is considered insecure, where many kidnapping incidents have taken place.

Several questions have been raised since the report became public. Shutting down the airport means closing the air corridor to the capital city, just to fix a runway.

What of security? What of emergency health evacuations by air? What of the sheer logistics of ferrying hundreds

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LET THE LAW TAKE ITS COURSE

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he Chairman of Nigerian Military School Old Boys’ Association, Zaria, Mr. Ahmed Tijanni’s, said last week that the law be allowed to take its due course over the purported indictment of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. David Babachir Lawal, by the Senate. That is a welcome development that showed that there are still people of good conscience out there. The Senate ad-hoc committee, on the worsening condition of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the North-east, had in its interim report alleged that the SGF awarded N273 million contract to Rholavision, a company in which Babachir had interest, for clearing of invasive plant species in Yobe State. The Senate further alleged that the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE), an ad-hoc agency saddled with the responsibility of alleviating the plight of IDPs, kept under the watch of the SGF, could not account for a whopping sum of N2.5 billion allocated to it by the federal government. It therefore, called for his resignation or sack by President Muhammadu Buhari.

I agree with Tijanni that the Senate’s call for Babachir’s resignation or sack is not only hasty but motivated by an ulterior motive aimed

of thousands and the security on Abuja-Kaduna road?

What of the loss to the aviation, car hire industries and others businesses?

About two months ago when the international carrier, Emirates Airways decided to stop operating to Abuja airport because of the damaged runway and South Africa Airways flight damaged its undercarriage when it landed, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) set up a committee to decide on the modalities for the repair work, whether the airport should be closed for the duration of rehabilitation or whether it would close for some hours. At the end of their assignment, the committee recommended, after examining various options, that there should be partial closure of the airport.

One of the factors the committee considered was that the Kaduna airport does not have enough counters while the terminal is under construction. The airport also does not have functional control tower, it has porous fence and access to the airport from Kano and from Abuja is poor.

Unfortunately, it is the same airport that Sirika announced should serve as the alternate airport for international airlines while closing the Abuja airport for six weeks, just to undergo the repairs of a runway!

There are lessons to learn from other shores. The British Airports Authority (BAA) Limited, which is managing Heathrow Airport, London, one of the busiest in the world, recently contacted airlines that operate at the airport and notified them that the company wished to carry out repairs. BAA Limited and the airlines reviewed the landing slot allocations to find the most appropriate time the rehabilitation work could be carried out. Initially, BAA suggested that for five hours every day, starting from 10 pm, repair work would be done at the airport. But when Arik Air notified that 10 pm would not be appropriate for it, the airport management changed the time to 10:45 pm.

Closing Abuja airport for six weeks will be too costly not only for airline operators but other users who generate sustaining income from such airport. We therefore urge the federal government to review its decision and adopt the BAA Limited approach.

at sabotaging the good work of the Buhari’s administration. This is why the Senate blinded its eyes to the enormous work the PINE had done under the leadership of Babachir. In any case, the contract complained of was for more than clearing of invasive grass. Rholavision sank 115 boreholes, procured 42 canoes and provided 42 motorised boats, 42 water pump generators and pipes for irrigation. It also bought one Toyota Hilux pickup and reclaimed of 115 hectares of land for irrigation.

Meanwhile the Senate refused to allow Babachir to defend himself even when he indicated that he had abundant evidence to clear all the allegations levelled against him.

Obviously the Senate was out to unjustly nail him. For Babachir has a record of integrity in public service and politics. Since the Senate committee report was an interim one, I call on the Upper Chamber and all other political gladiators too eager to see the fall of Babachir Lawal, and by extension, this government, to allow the law to take its course. He should be allowed to clear his name.

Until that is done, no one would have the moral authority to insist on the resignation or sack of Babachir.

Muhammed Ahmed, Maiduguri

LAKE RICE: GOOD FOR NIGERIA’S ECONOMY

T

hey call it LAKE Rice. A truly Nigeria’s output from an overdue initiative – cooperation between states, for good reasons.

Lagos State working with Kebbi State, together, pooled and merged their comparative advantages for the productive and primary interests of Nigeria and for the benefits of Nigerians.

We should be very proud of the initiatives of these governors. We hope other governors will start to look at what they can do individually and collectively to support the productive base of their individual states and by extension, the productive base of Nigeria.

The deliberate policy of Akinwunmi Ambode’s government in Lagos State, offering the money and market for the LAKE Rice and Bagudu’s government in Kebbi State, offering land and some knowhow, have resulted in many jobs being created. These jobs are likely to stay for generations with positive impacts on both sides of the aisle.

Nigerians are growing, selling and buying LAKE rice with fun and pageantry.

Imagine the Niger Delta States using part of their revenues to partner with Northeastern states on productive initiatives, there may not have been Chibok girls and the blowing up of pipelines and other related vices that are negatively impacting on the nation’s economy and national cohesion as we are experiencing today.

Now, if Nigeria does not have to deal with Niger Delta and Northeast crises with pockets of issues in the Southwest and Southeast states, the resources being deployed to acquire military campaign assets and the human resource costs may have been put to better uses such as expanding and enriching the nation’s energy, roads and other infrastructure challenges. By now, we would have seen more Nigerians putting their God given talents to productive activities individually and collectively across the nation. These types of cooperative initiatives will further enhance the nation’s agricultural GDP, which is at its best in a decade. Good thinking. Good leadership, good governors.

Tunde Erinjogunola, policyandstrategy@ amcserve.com

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MONDAY JANUARY 2, 2017 T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

POLITICS

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

NEW YEAR PREVIEW

Looking Up to 2017 Certain events are sure to define the New Year and its expectations, writes Shola Oyeyipo

Buhari...no more excuses in 2017

P

erhaps, not a few were ushered into the New Year with great expectations. The year that just ended, 2016, was no less a huge disappointment for many. And since the elemental control factors are practically one and same, the expectations of a defining change appear forlorn even before the year was ushered in. Although optimism is still very much operative as it is with an average Nigerian, it however comes with a cost – cost of perseverance, long suffering, endurance and darkened hope.

Without much ado, 2017 came on this trip with its peculiar baggage – those issues that will inevitably tell of its prospects and failings, regardless. Typically, it came with its positive linings as well as its negative hemming too.

But, whichever outweighs each other between the good and the bad will be determined by their handling, ultimately. These issues are a legion but a few are identified below.

Cabinet Reshuffle One thing that will certainly define the way forward for the President Muhammadu Buhari government is an imminent and inevitable cabinet reshuffle. Although there is no clear date as to when it is likely to happen, it is long overdue. Clearly, not all the ministers are going to run 2017 with the rest of the team and this is expected to happen soon if government must show that it was ready to make up for its mistakes.

Already, there have been complains about the abilities of some of the ministers to properly man their duty posts, like the Minister of Sports, Solomon dalung. In fact, the changes were expected to have come in 2016, but for

reasons best known to government, it was postponed. There are also vacant seats to be filled like that of James Ocholi, a former Minister of State for Labour, who died in an accident last year and his substantive counterpart in the environment ministry, Aminat Mohammed, who is going to the United Nations.

Lingering Violence Nigeria made several negative headlines globally due to the spate of violent crimes

Without much ado, 2017 came on this trip with its peculiar baggage – those issues that will inevitably tell of its prospects and failings, regardless.

Typically, it came with its positive linings as well as its negative hemming too. But, whichever outweighs each other between the good and the bad will be determined by their handling, ultimately

perpetrated by different interests in 2016 and these are likely to continue in the New Year.

It is however expected that government will rise to the challenge more determined.

No doubt, Boko Haram has been decimated significantly and thanks to the Nigerian military; particularly with the final onslaught in the Sambisa forest . But not even the government can boast that the last has been heard of the outlawed anti-social group. Even till the tail end of 2016, there were still reports of suicide bombings and foiled bombing attempts in some parts of the North-east.

Also, serious steps are expected to be taken by appropriate security agencies to prevent the acrimonious relationship between herdsmen and farmers in many parts of the country.

Where efforts are not made in this direction, Nigerian can surely brace up for another round of farmer-herdsmen bloodletting in 2017 and those ruthless killings that won the herdsmen the reputation of fourth most dangerous terrorist group in the world by the Global Terrorism Index, which put them at the same level with the Boko Haram sect will continue.

The Biafra agitation is on and it will continue, even beyond 2017. The continued detention of the current symbol of the agitation, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu will further stoke agitation by people of the South-east. Overall, the Biafra agitation will remain an albatross that the Buhari administration continues to carry.

There has been a lot of religious violence over land disputes in the southern axis of Kaduna State resulting in killings, allegedly committed by nomadic herdsmen from neighbouring African countries. Aside the loss of lives, villages, churches, houses and schools have

been severally cleaned up.

The leadership of the Catholic Church has put the death toll at over 800. Something urgent must therefore be done to address the carnage, or else it persists in 2017. Combined efforts by the federal and state governments to addressing the problem is expected to make the headlines.

The worrisome activities of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) currently bombing petroleum facilities in the oil producing region is another negative tendency likely to project beyond 2016. This is more so because none of the FG-militant negotiations has worked.

The destructive activities of the militants will continue and the brutal force of the operation ‘Crocodile Tear’ will continue to hit newspaper covers.

Endless Chibok Girls Debate The issue of the over 200 school girls abducted from their school in terrorists-afflicted North-east about three years ago has refused to subside since it happened. Parents, human rights groups and concerned Nigerians mounted pressure on former President Goodluck Jonathan and subsequently on President Buhari to bring back the girls.

The success of the current president in reportedly freeing about 21 of the girls has been commended and is spurring Nigerians to demand for the release of the remaining girls.

Since there are indications that government is in talks with their abductors, expectations are high that some more girls will return this year. Whatever may be the case, the last is yet to be heard of the Chibok girls.

CONT’D ON NEXT PAGE

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

POLITICS

NEW YEAR PREVIEW LOOKING UP TO 2017

Buhari surrounded by Vice-President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and other members of staff of the president during the signing of the controversial 2016 budget

are not over yet. The federal government is yet to secure the approval required for the loan from the National Assembly.

Interestingly, a lot depends on the loan, if government must pull through a lot of its challenges in the New Year. It is also believed in some quarters that if government fails to secure the loan, then, it would be unable to achieve anything and subsequently, the nation may slip into depression from this ugly recession.

This is why the issue pertaining to the loan is of interest to the people and the operators of the system.

Economic Recession The word that dominated the Nigerian economy in 2016 was recession – a period of temporary economic decline that brought about sharp decline in trade and industry – a general state of low income earning.

Though President Buhari promised that the current economic recession will ebb in 2017, a number of Nigerians, including former Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi, an economist, Odilim Enwegbara and others have contrary views.

To them, the 2017 budget is not indicating that the trend would abate. Hence, the word recession is not about end in the nation’s national economic vocabulary anytime soon as government would continue to work round the clock to fathom a lasting solution.

Politics of 2019 Believe it or not, the skeletal work for the 2019 elections has already been drawn in 2016. It will however be perfected in 2017 by way of laying the foundation. Ultimately, 2018 will usher-in the final sketch. There will continue to be alignment and re-alignment of interests and forces, while the power tussle within the political parties will form parts of the political events of the year.

It is not clear yet who and who would eventually be part of it but talks on the proposed mega party is expected to take a central place in political discourse at a later date in the year.

The internal wrangling within the All Progressives Congress (APC) was not addressed in 2016 and so, it will continue in 2017. The subtle war on the national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu will also persist as well. How this would eventually pan out in whose interest is still in the realm of guess because those who know Tinubu, know that he knows his onions in politics and therefore, the way he would fight back would be intriguing.

Since 2015, Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has remained a shadow of its old self. Worse still, the party has been unable to play its role as an opposition party due to incessant leadership crisis. As at today, the former ruling party is factionalised in two camps of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Makarfi factions. Since all previous peace moves have not succeeded, certainly, Nigerians will still savour more intriguing stories from the PDP stable.

Anambra Governorship Election This year will witness yet another governorship election and that will be in Anambra State.

The election will be of interest to many for

Magu, embattled EFCC boss

the following reasons. One, how easy would it be for Governor Willy Obiano to retain his seat? Two, the election will be another battle field for the ruling APC, PDP and the

The year that just ended, 2016, was no less a huge disappointment for many. And since the elemental control factors are practically one and same, the expectations of a defining change appear forlorn even before the year was ushered in.

Although optimism is still very much operative as it is with an average Nigerian, it however comes with a cost – cost of perseverance, long suffering, endurance and darkened hope

All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and thirdly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will once again come under huge national scrutiny either as an independent institution or an appendage of the APC. The Anti-graft War one of the main hooks for the APC as at the time it was campaigning for the presidency was the promise to fight corruption to a standstill and no doubt, the government has taken some bold steps in trying to reverse the ugly trend.

But how the anti-graft war continues and its success are of keen interest to many Nigerians and as such, quite a number of people will follow the anti-corruption crusade throughout the New Year as they did last year.

Of particular interest is how the federal government handles the issue of the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal. Nigerians are anxiously waiting to see the report of the investigation ordered by the federal government to be carried out by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami. Moving forward in this area, these two developments are a major test.

FG’s $30bn Loan Issues relating to the proposed $30bn loan

The Atiku Tendency For those who may think that a former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is no longer interested in the presidency, 2017 will prove them wrong or right. Already, a former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was Atiku’s principal from 1999 to 2007 had dropped the hint when he gave his condition to support the proposed mega party, saying except Atiku did not get the party’s presidential ticket, an indication of what is in the offing.

Not only that, going through the former VP’s Twitter handle, it is easy to identify a shrewd politician waiting to capitalise on the restructuring debate to launch his presidential bid. Though he may not come out fully to announce his interest yet, the truth is, Atiku will play notable national politics in 2017.

All Eyes on the Judiciary The year that just ended was a terrible year for the judiciary, the custodian of the nation’s laws and constitution. The darts of corruption that was thrown at some of the justices and judges was a critical and low point in the history of that all-important arm of government.

For a long time, the judiciary is going to live with this stigma but the New Year provides an opportunity for a rebound.

The judiciary will have a rare chance to cultivate its independence and refuse to be a pawn in the hands of politicians and at the detriment of its image and name.

Perhaps, some of the judges and justices have learnt their lessons with their ugly experience of 2016.

Still Waiting on CHANGE Generally, Nigerians reposed a lot of confidence on the President Buhari government and are eagerly waiting to see a better Nigeria in terms of their per capital earning. While the government is said to be working round the clock to make things better, the people too have continued to wait on the government for the promised change.

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

POLITICS

PERSPECTIVE

The Anomie in Southern Kaduna The resort to self-help appears imminent and inevitable in Southern Kaduna, writes Femi Fani-Kayode

J

ust before he murdered one dozen Germans in cold blood as they were making merry and doing their last minute Christmas shopping in a Berlin market square, Anis Amri, the infamous and thankfully deceased ISIS foot soldier, expressed the following sentiments in a prerecorded video message. “By God’s will, we will slaughter you like pigs. I swear we will slaughter you”.

These words reflect and convey nothing but unadulterated hate and pure venom.

Such deep-seated hatred coupled with an unrelenting and hideous murderous intent is beyond human comprehension and it is bereft of any decency or humanity. When the Holy Bible speaks about our enemies hating us “with a perfect hatred” this is surely it.

Simply put, the creature that was known as Anis Amri, before he was summarily dispatched to meet his father, the devil in hell, courtesy of an Italian policeman’s bullet, was nothing but a psychopathic and sociopathic beast. He was a cold-blooded murderer: an animal in human skin. And I daresay that so are all those that share his homicidal disposition and barbaric sentiments.

He is a good example of what the civilised world is up against today and sadly, Nigeria is not exempted. As a matter of fact, we are even more afflicted by this monumental global challenge than most.

Amir’s words are an excellent example of the way that those that President-elect Donald J. Trump has described as the “attackers of humanity” feel about those of us, who do not share their warped and primitive world view and who do not believe in the shameful misinterpretation of their religious faith.

The words of the beast betray the mindset of every radical Islamist jihadist in the world today. It also reflects the mindset of every Fulani militant and herdsman.

If this were not the case how can one explain away the mindless genocide and carnage that the people of the south and the Middle Belt generally and the people of southern Kaduna particularly have been subjected to over the last one year?

In Southern Kaduna alone literally thousands of Christians, ethnic minorities and Shiite Muslims have been murdered in cold blood and have had their homes, farms, churches, properties, burial sites and holy places torched and burnt to the ground by the bloodthirsty aliens and Fulani hordes over that period of time.

Trump’s words also reveal the mindset of their loyal friend and self-acclaimed Fulani brother, Nasir El Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State. I am surprised by some of the things that he has been saying lately. Someone should please tell him to stop talking rubbish. He will soon set this nation on fire with his tongue and if that ever happens, he and his Fulani brothers will be the worst for it.

Permit me to share one or two examples of what can only be described as a graphic manifestation of the inner most recesses of his utterly devious and twisted mind. After claiming that those that killed thousands of Christians in Southern Kaduna were not Nigerian Fulanis a few weeks ago and after publicly admitting that he funded them, he has now claimed that Niger Delta militants from the southern part of the country are planning to disguise as Fulani herdsmen and attack the people of Southern Kaduna?

This is false. And not only is it false, it is also a premeditated, calculated, irresponsible, incendiary, pernicious and dangerous mendacity. Worse still, he has said it with malicious intent and thereby endangered the lives of even more people.

Am I the only one that sees where all this

Governor El-Rufai

is heading and what El Rufai is trying to achieve? Is it not obvious that he is trying to widen the conflict and spark off a sectarian and ethnic war in our country?

I am convinced that my old friend has finally lost his mind! He should stop trying to cover up his heinous crimes in Southern Kaduna and desist from blaming the carnage on others. And given the number of innocent blood that has been spilt in Southern Kaduna by his Fulani brothers I have to say that Nasir is a disgrace to Islam; a disgrace to the Fulani; a disgrace to Nigeria; a disgrace to the black man and a disgrace to humanity.

He can never wash away all the blood that is on his hands either by omission or commission because his primary duty as the Chief Security Officer of Kaduna State is to protect the life and property of its citizens. In this respect and in virtually every other he has failed woefully.

Shakespear’s Julius Caesar said “cowards die many times before their death but the valiant die but once”. We must not be cowards, we must speak the truth boldly and we must say things as they are no matter whose ox is gored. And the truth is as follows.

On Christmas eve, despite a three day government curfew, Goska and numerous other towns, communities and villages in Southern Kaduna were attacked by the Fulani militants and herdsmen yet again.

In Goska, they raped most of the girls before slaughtering them. Scores of innocent men, women and children, including the fourteen year old daughter of the former LGA Chairman of Jema, Barrister Gideon Morik, were butchered.

I saw the picture of her battered head and body all over the social media and it sickened and enraged me. I kept asking myself what type of animals would do this to a child? What evil forest did these monstrous beasts crawl out from? Which of Dante’s nine circles of hell did they come from?

We have been praying for Southern Kaduna all along but with this last attack, I am constrained to ask the following questions: when will we stop the praying and start the fighting? When will we begin to defend ourselves and those that are being subjected to these attacks? How many people have to be killed before we appreciate the fact that self-defence is a lawful and necessary recourse when it

comes to preserving your life and that of your loved ones?

There is no place for a violent and unprovoked attack on others and I have not advocated that here but there is every place for a violent defence of your homes, wives, children and loved ones. That is a duty and a solemn obligation before God and before the law.

Since both the state and the federal governments have refused to protect or defend them, when will the people of Southern Kaduna start defending themselves and when will we start helping them to do so? How many more little babies have to have their heads dashed against a wall and how many more infants and women have to be raped, have their throats slit open and blood drained?

These questions are made all the more relevant given the fact that our President, who is himself a Fulani, has refused to condemn or even say anything about the latest series of attacks and killings.

Why? Because in Nigeria, under President Buhari, only Fulani lives matter.

Much of the mainstream media has been completely intimidated and cowered into a pitiful and nauseating silence. When they are not intimidated they are induced into suppressing reports, write-ups and essays (like this one) that expose the sheer carnage, the ugly realities and the bitter truth. They have forgotten what they were taught at journalism school – that facts are sacred and opinion is free. They have also forgotten the words of Rev. Martin Luther King jnr. when he said “the moment we are silent about the things that matter we begin to die”.

He also said “if you are not ready to die for something then you are not fit to live for anything”. Yet despite the desperate attempt to suppress the facts and keep these tragic events out of public glare, the anger of the people continues to boil and their rage is mounting.

Chief Kataps Ngwii of the Christian Information Network wrote the following: “Goska, Southern Kaduna, 25th December, 2016: another Fulani herdsmen raid, destruction and killings. This must be seen as a terror attack and not some herdsmen and farmer crisis. And to say government has not been able to do anything about it means that the people of Southern Kaduna should simply arm themselves.

“When a government cannot protect you, you must arm yourself and protect yourself. It is quite obvious that the Nigerian government is protecting the Fulani herdsmen. And for Governor Nasir El-Rufai, I have already given my verdict.

He is not only an overrated person but also the worst governor of 2016. Do you still doubt me?”

Ngwii has spoken the mind of millions.

The truth is that the people of Southern Kaduna must defend themselves no matter what the odds are against them.

They must be ready to die in defence of their own people.

That is, after all, how history is made.

That is how glory comes. That is the path of honour. That is what makes the difference between righteous and noble men and mediocres. That is the difference between men of courage and understanding and those that are nothing but cowardly quislings. That is how great men live forever in the hearts and minds of their people.

You must muster the courage, shed the fear and stand up for the weak and the oppressed. You must strengthen your resolve, steel your hearts, remember that the hosts of heaven are standing behind you and speak truth to power. You must never forget that there can be no peace without justice. And finally, you must never forget that you serve a Living God who is faithful to His own and who is

mighty in battle.

I send this message to the Christian faithful in Southern Kaduna. I urge you all to stand firm and to stand strong.

Never give up. Never let those that kill you intimidate you. Fear them not. They are nothing but barbarians that come from the pit of hell. They are not worthy of being called human beings let alone being called Africans or Nigerians. They come from a distant land and they were never part of us.

They love violence: when they come with it give it back to them in full measure.

It is the only language that they respect and understand. Remember your wives, your children, your loved ones, your faith, your heritage, your history and your nation and fight to protect and preserve them.

Avenge those that have fallen at the hands of the enemy. Remember those that they slaughtered like Salah rams and cut to pieces like Christmas turkeys.

Remember those whose throats they cut and whose blood they drained into the gutter. Remember those whose children and wives they violated and butchered and whose homes and churches they desecrated and burnt to the ground.

Defend yourselves and your families because your government has refused to defend you. Instead of protecting you and bringing your tormentors to justice, your governor has said he pays your enemies your money. Stand firm, resist them and be men even unto death. Always remember that Christians don’t die, they only change address. When a Christian is absent from the body, he is present with the Lord.

Millions of your brothers and sisters from all over the world are watching you, cheering you on, wishing you well and praying for you: you are not alone.

As you grieve and mourn your loved ones, we grieve and mourn with you. We mourn them together. As you shed your tears, we shed tears with and for you.

Finally, never forget the following: mutually assured destruction, or what many refer to as the balance of terror, is the only true deterrence to naked aggression and to the tyranny of tyrants. It is the only thing that makes genocidal maniacs, ethnic cleansers, psychotic butchers and barack-room bullies think twice.

It kept the peace between the Western allies and the Soviet block for many years after the conclusion of the Second World War and throughout the period of the cold war. It led to the era of “d’etant”, prevented a nuclear war and paved the way for peace between the superpowers of the world which remains till today.

The point is this: the display of weakness and fear attracts nothing but aggression whilst the display of strength and courage deters and repels it. If you keep turning the other cheek even after you have been slapped ten times they will kill you all. It is time to rise up and take your destiny into your own hands. It is indeed time to defend yourselves from these cold-blooded murderers and it is time to stand up for your rights. You are freeborn men and women and not slaves.

You are full-fledged Nigerian patriots and not spineless quislings and second class citizens. You are the head and not the tail. You are on the top and not on the bottom. You are believers and not unbelievers. You bow to no man and you tremble before no barbarian, no government, no tyrant and no King.

For the Lord is your light and your salvation, whom shall you fear? The Lord is the stronghold of your lives, of whom shall you be afraid? On Christ the solid rock you stand, all other ground is sinking sand: all other ground is sinking sand!

-Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation

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MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

FEATURES In the Spirit of the Season

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

Adibe Emenyonu writes on the visit of Kenneth Imansuangbon to internally displaced persons in Edo and the payment of the hospital bill of an indigent patient at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital

I

n the past, his annual distribution of rice to the poor in Edo State, was tagged politically motivated because of his political ambition.

Imansuangbon, the Proprietor Pace Setters Group of School, Abuja is a politician. First, he was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he contested for the governorship primaries of the party in 2012 but lost to General Charles Airhiavbere.

Not satisfied, he potted to the All Progressives Congress (APC) where he contested for the gubernatorial primaries. Then it was an annual ritual for him to distribute rice especially during the Christmas period which earned him the nickname “Rice Man”.

Therefore, with his inability to fulfill his political ambition of governing the state, it was not expected that Imansuangbon would engage in his annual rituals of distribution of rice to Edo people this year, a philanthropist gesture he has been doing for the past 10 years..

He however proved all his critics wrong when he decided to continue with the distribution of rice to the less-privileged members of the society that would have never know any Christmas celebration last year.

When asked why he continued with the gift of the items in spite of what happened to him in the political arena he said, “my love for Edo people is natural, it is not defined by political consideration, religion or tribe or economic status of the people. I have been to the Mosques, Churches and the open streets to give rice to the people. So, my love for Edo people is from God and deep from my heart. Politics will come and go, my love for my people remains.”

He said that if he had won the party’s governorship primary and the election, he would ensure the establishment of communal rice farms across the state to provide food security but lamented that the cabals in the party and government stopped him.

This year distribution of rice took Imansuangbon and his team to the 18 local government areas of Edo State. The first round of tour took off from Igarra in Akoko- Edo Local Government through Owan West and Owan East to the three local governments in Etsako Federal constituency. The following day, he was at Ekpoma, Irrua, Uromi, Igueben, Ubiaja and his home town, Ewohimi all in Edo Central Senatorial zone.

The climax of the distribution was at the Edo South Senatorial district when he visited the seven local government areas in the zone.

Incidentally, his visit to the Internally Displaced Persons camp at Ohogua in Ovia North East Local Government was remarkable and would remain indelible in his mind. Tears flow freely from his eyes when he saw the children and inmates of the camp who ought to be with their parents and loved ones celebrate the Christmas. He mingled and danced to their music freely.

At the camp, he advised the inmates not to be dispelled as God Almighty would always be there for their needs just as he challenged Governor Godwin Obaseki and all well to do in the society to come to the aide of the inmates by providing succour to them now that they needed them most.

Receiving the food items and other consumables, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, the coordinator of the IDP camp expressed gratitude to Mr. Imansuangbon for the gift of items. He said his visit to the camp was a morale booster to the inmates as they would once remember “Christmas”.

Imansuangbon playing with children in Edo IDP camp

My love for Edo people is natural, it is not defined by political consideration, religion or tribe or economic status of the people. I have been to the Mosques, Churches and the open streets to give rice to the people. So, my love for Edo people is from God and deep from my heart. Politics will come and go, my love for my people remains

Imansuangbon (r) presenting food items to Pastor Solomon Folorunso, IDP camp in Edo State And at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin, management of the hospital named Ward B4 of the Male Surgical Ward of the hospital after Mr. Kenneth Imansuangbon for his outstanding contributions to the hospital.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Mike Ibadin, who disclosed this when Imansuangbon visited the hospital to donate bags of rice and the sum of N1 million, said the gesture became necessary in view of the fact that since he was hospitalised and discharged from the hospital which almost claimed his life, he has continuously fulfilled his annual vow of assisting the UBTH.

According to Ibadin, “Imansuangbon is not the only patient that has benefited from the services of the hospital, but he is the only one that has kept his promise after the accident he had and was discharged from the hospital.”

He used the opportunity to appeal to others who have benefited from the services of the hospital to emulate Imansuangbon by contributing to the development of UBTH. Earlier, Imansuangbon while presenting the cheque and food items, said he remained grateful to the medical personnel of the hospital that took care of him when he was brought to the hospital after the life threatening accident which had occurred

along the Agbor-Uromi road in 2013, just as he praised them for their competence in saving his life.

Imansuangbon who was full of emotion when he visited the ward named after him, offset the N200,000 medical bill of Stephen Imoholemen, a patient who had occupied the very bed he laid on three years ago as an accident victim to the hospital.

On the ward named after him, he said “I am very excited because this is coming from an unusual quarter. I am now fired up and forever, I will live my life in the service of society.”

Responding, Imholeme, a native of Auchi, and a National Diploma holder in Computer Science who had a perforated stomach ulcer, said he was grateful and confused because he has been calling for help all this while without response before Imansuangbon came to his rescue

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

FEATURES

Rotary Club Steps up Humanitarian Projects As part of efforts to consolidate on its mandate, Rotary Club International has made a cash donation to All Saints Orphanage, and also disbursed cheques worth a million naira to beneficiaries of the club’s micro credit scheme for residents of Ogudu in Ojota, Lagos and its environs, reports Ugo Aliogo

H

e didn’t speak with much energy and passion, but every word he uttered was parceled with meaning and deeper understanding in the hearts of his listeners. One could hardly decipher if he was sermonising his listeners as he sounded too apostolic in the presentation. There was something comforting about his demeanor; his spirit of generosity and love for brotherhood.

Since assuming office as the President of Ogudu Government Reserve Area Resident Association (OGRA) Dr. Olusola Atilola, has been supporting the Rotary International Association (RIA) Ogudu GRA District, Lagos State. The assistance was a concerted effort aimed at ensuring that RIA continues its society centric initiative in the society.

The event was the inauguration of a 4-Way Test Billboard by the District Governor at the main gate of the Ogudu GRA, and a cash donation to the All Saints Orphanage organised by the Lagos Rotary Club International.

Also during the visit, the District Governor, on behalf of the Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA disbursed cheques worth N1million to beneficiaries of the club’s Micro Credit Scheme for residents of Ogudu, Ojota and its environs.

Atilola said that the main focus of Rotary is to give back to society where they came from and contribute to the wellbeing of the poor, adding that in order to complement their efforts they support them whenever they want to use their centre in OGRA, “we provide them facilities to ensure that they operate as optimally as they can.”

He commended the District Governor (DG) District 110 for visiting the Ogudu GRA Resident Rotary Club and inaugurating the four wheel signpost which was placed at the one of the entrance gates of the Ogudu Estate.

Speaking at the event, the Lagos District Governor, Mr. Patrick Ikheloa, said the visit which was part of the DG’s statutory annual duties in the 2016/2017 Rotary year, was aimed at ensuring that the governor familiarises himself with the operations of the club, while trying to provide necessary support and mentoring.

“Every year the district governor pays a visit to the various districts in Lagos, in order to help them set the goals of the year and fine tune the ones already set up and suggests strategies of achieving those goals. The activities of the president of Ogudu GRA residents in the past have demonstrated a gesture of concern towards the needy,” he added.

Ikheloa explained that the core duty of the club is concerned with affecting the lives of the needy in the community, adding that the club also recognises the good works and support of well-meaning Nigerians, while commending the President of OGRA for his immense contributions to the club. “Today, I decided to invite him to be a member and continue the good work. In the past, we had 70 to 60 clubs, but we have 96 clubs that covers Lagos and Ogun States.”

The DG expressed hope that the main focus of the club is to ensure that goals are set by each club and they are achieved in the end, stressing that they are also motivating these clubs in order to ensure the attainment of set goals; and we are very confident that this Rotary year will not be different from what has been done, “but we are sure of surpassing what has been done in the past such as increasing membership, donations to Rotary foundation, and increasing projects in the communities.”

He added: “We are very hopeful that

Every year the district governor pays a visit to the various districts in Lagos, in order to help them set the goals of the year and fine tune the ones already set up and suggests strategies of achieving those goals. The activities of the president of Ogudu GRA residents in the past have demonstrated a gesture of concern towards the needy

L-R: Jide Akeredolu, member, Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA, District Governor, Patrick Ikheloa and President, Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA, Aliyu Umaru, after the District Governor inaugurated the 4-Way Test billboard at the gate of Ogudu GRA during the DG’s visit to Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA

R-L: District Governor, Mr. Patrick Ikheloa, inducting the President of the Ogudu GRA Residents Association, Dr. Olusola Atilola, as a member of Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA, during his courtesy visit on the OGRA President as part of his visit to Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA they will be achieved. For 2016/2017, all major Rotary districts have programmes lined, but our major focus and concern is to eradicate polio in our society. Two years ago, we were declared as one of the

non-endemic countries, but just recently we had three cases from the North. This was due to the Sambisa Forest that has not been accessed in the past. Our goal through the various enlightenment programmes is to

ensure that Nigeria is declared polio-free country by the end of this year.”

On his part, the President of the Rotary Club Ogudu GRA, Alhaji Aliyu Umaru, said the inauguration was part of efforts to recognise people who were Rotary minded, stressing that the recognition could be the induction of a member either by giving the individual honorary membership which helps to acknowledge the contributions of the individual.

Umaru who lauded the OGRA president for his contributions to the club, noting that he has been supportive in many ways especially with the free provision of a centre for board meetings, and a hall for organisation of various events, “the location where the newly billboard inaugurated was built was approved by him and other areas.”

Speaking on the efforts of Rotary Lagos, he stated that they have organised road walk and sensitisation programmes in the states, in order to create awareness about the activities of the club and urge people to key into their philosophies and become Rotarians,.“The inauguration of the billboard is to create awareness for the people to be part of rotary in this community.

“We had the literacy month and we invited schools to debate and in the end we gave them trophies, novels, school bags and they were very happy. We have other programmes such as community development. We gave micro-credit funds to members of our community. This year (2016) we intend to give about N1million. Yearly, we adopt two children from orphanages to give them money for their sustenance and humanitarian projects,” he added.

For the year 2016/2017, the Lagos Rotary has lined up about 17 projects with special focus on the Agboyi Project. Agboyi is a riverine community near Alapere area lacking a good sewage system and clean water.

At present, the community lacks basic social amenities, but some of their needs have been addressed through the intervention of the club, who wrote a letter to their foreign partners to seek for counter-part funding and aid.

Aliyu said: “Within the next one or two months we are going to move in there to provide them these facilities. We are renovating their secondary schools and providing maternity for them. We are tapping water from the Island to the community. We are also looking at Aboige Market in terms of sanitation. We will also have cervical cancer programme that is coming up. These areas, they are quite appreciative. For instance, we are looking at other initiatives that will be impactful to the community.

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IMAGES

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2 , 2016

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

Managing Director Candel Company,Mr Emmanuel Kattie(right)and a winner of Candel Be A Millionaire Promo, Mr Awolowo Olalekan. during the presentation of gift to winners, in Lagos....recently

R-L; Ojora of Ijoraland, Oba Abdul fatai Aremu Oyeyinka Aromire Ojora; Sole Administrator, Apapa Local Government, Honourable Luqman Babatunde Alao and Physical Challenge, Toyin Tijani, during the presentation of wheelchair to Tijani at the Oba’s Palace, in Ijora, Lagos...recently

Executive Producer/Presenter, Ronke Apampa(right) and an Actress Mrs. Juliet Ibrahim at the yearly family entertainment show in Lagos...recently.

L-R: MD/CEO, Lotgrand, operators of Grandlotto, Niyi Adekunle; winner of a N10,800 million cash in the Yellow Terminal Machine Number lotto game, Razaq Adewale Abdulmali; and COO of Lotgrand, Wale Adekunle, at the cheque presentation ceremony to the winner in Lagos... recently

L-R: Managing Director, Nigerite Limited, Mr. Frank Le Bris; Long Service Award recipient,Mr. Emmanuel Olushola Egbedi and Chief Financial Officer, Nigerite Limited, Mr. Tijani Tajudeen Adio, during the end of the year party and long service award of Nigerite Limited in Lagos....recently

L-R: Deputy Governor, Sokoto State Ahmed Aliyu, DG of Ja’iz Foundation, Ambassador Adamu Babangida Ibrahim and Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal at the official launch of the Sokoto Community Contributory Health Scheme in Sokoto...recently

L-R: General Manager, Public and Government Affairs, ExxonMobil Nigeria, Mr. Paul Arinze; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah; and Manager, Media and Communications, ExxonMobil Nigeria, M r.

Ogechukwu Udeagha, at the Lagos Business School (LBS) annual ‘breakfast in Lagos... recently.

The President Women Society for Children /Wife of Vice Chancellor University of Ibadan Dr. Mrs Eyiwumi Bolutito Olayinka (left)and others dancing with children at the end of the year party oorganised by the University of Ibadan Women Society for Children in lbadan...recently FELIX ADEMOLA

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Quick Takes NBC Donates Items to IDP Camp

SOYINKA CLOSES TRADING AT NSE

L-R: Makin Soyinka; Executive Director, Capital Markets Division, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Haruna Jalo-Waziri; Professor Wole Soyinka; General Counsel/ Head of Regulation, Ms. Tinuade Awe, and Head, Corporate Services Division, Bola Adeeko, at the NSE’s year end closing gong ceremony in Lagos….recently.

Weak Capital Base: 17 Insurance Firms May Lose Licences Ebere Nwoji with Agency report About 17 out of the existing 59 insurance firms in the country now risk losing their operating licences due to weak capital base. Seven of these firms already have their capital base eroded below the statutory minimum requirement while 10 have their capital slightly above the minimum required margin.

There are signals from the industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) that if the affected companies fail to act fast, they would be hammered accordingly.

The seven insurance firms, whose capital presently fall below statutory requirement, according to Insurance Industry

INSURANCE Digest, a publication of the Nigeria Insurers Association( NIA) are : Standard Alliance Life Company Limited, with shareholders’ funds of N720.92 million as against the statutory N2 billion; International Energy Insurance Plc, negative N1.5 billion as against N3 billion; Goldlink Insurance Plc, negative N3.90 billion; Investment & Allied Insurance Plc, negative N955.26 million capital; Unic Insurance Plc, negative N2.70 billion and SpringLife Assurance Plc negative N351.12 million.

During the last recapitalisation exercise in the industry, non- Life insurance firms were mandated to raise their shareholders’ fund to N3 billion; life insurance operators, N2 billion; composite N5 billion

and reinsurance N10 billion.

Meanwhile, the firms with funds slightly above minimum required capital include: Sterling Assurance Nigeria Limited( N3.1 billion); Staco Insurance Plc( N3.17 billion); Equity Assurance Plc ( N3.43 billion) and Capital Express Assurance Limited (N2.06 billion).

Early in 2016, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari,had during a courtesy visit to the corporate head office of THISDAY Newspapers said his administration in NAICOM as the industry regulator, would focus on awareness creation and strengthening of the operating firms and even the intermediaries to ensure that they play according to rule, live up to their expectation in claims payment and safeguard the image of the industry.

He said that was why the

commission was making effort to enthrone the regime of the Risk Base Supervision (RBS) so that each operating firm would handle only the class of business it has sufficient capital to handle.

He noted that in the proposed RBS, the capital requirements of firms would be reviewed, stressing that firms which funds fall below requirement, would require additional capital to meet minimum requirement.

“For this reason, we have also taken up another project to enforce the RBS approach. This really looks at the individual liability of companies via- a-vis their capital and asset provision.

We do not want to line them up and say because you have paid N 3 billion minimum capital, you can do all businesses. No, Continued on page 24

Value of Trading Declines 41% on Nigerian Bourse in 2016 Goddy Egene Investors staked N557.75 billion on 78.90 billion shares in 2016, showing a decline of 41.33 per cent compared with N950.66 billion invested in 92.83 billion shares in 2015.

The market closed the year with a decline of 6.17 per cent, the third straight negative performance as a result of weakened investors’ appetite given several headwinds that pervaded the different sectors of economy in the year.

Assessing the performance of the market in 2016, analysts at Meristem Securities Limited said

STOCK MARKET participation in the market was weak, as the volume traded and market turnover for the year pared by 15 per cent (78.90 billion units in 2016 versus 92.83 billion units in 2015) and 41.33 per cent (N557.75 billion in 2016 versus N950.66 billion in 2015) respectively.

According to MSL, 30 counters featured on the gainers’ chart, while, 77 stocks declined in the year. Dangote Flour (276.11 per cent), United Capital Plc( (108.40 per cent), Total (103.39 per cent), Seplat (87.19 per cent) and Mobil Oil

(74.38 per cent) recorded the highest returns in the year.

Conversely, Forte Oil (-74.42 per cent), Skye Bank (-68.35 per cent), Caverton (-63.56 per cent), Diamond Bank (-61.74 per cent) and Sterling Bank (-58.47 per cent) were the top underperformers for the year.

The analysts explained that activities in the market were tempered during the year, as evidenced by the decline in volume traded and market turnover.

“We attribute this dull mood to weakened investors’ appetite given several headwinds that pervaded the different sectors of

economy in the year. The weak investor sentiment was also compounded by the attractive interest rate environment in the year amid the rising inflationary pressure, which made fixed income investments a safe haven for investors,” they said.

Looking ahead, MSL said they expect a spillover of these sentiments into the first half of 2017.

“We expect a spillover of these sentiments into the first half of 2017, on the back of sustained gloomy state of the economy, as FX pressure Continued on page 24

In furtherance of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment to promote better and sustainable living, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) has donated relief items to residents of theTeachers’ Village of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Maiduguri, Borno State. The handover of the relief materials took place within the IDP camp premises recently and witnessed a large turnout of the camp residents, community leaders and traditional rulers.

Speaking at ceremony, Legal, Public Affairs & Communication Director for NBC, Mrs. Sade Morgan, said: “The gesture is a combined initiative of NBC management, NBC branch of the Food, Beverage & Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB) and National Union of Food, Beverage, & Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), together with personal contributions from individual employees of NBC.” “At NBC, one of our major aims is to continuously champion and drive investment in the well-being of our host communities through intervention programs in the areas of skill acquisition for the youth, women empowerment initiatives, provision of sustainable water solutions to households and other environmental sustainability initiatives,” Morgan stated further.

In response to the kind gesture from NBC and its unions, the Borno State Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Tijjani Abba, commended efforts of the NBC in assisting the government in providing welfare services to the IDP camp and also encouraged other well-meaning Nigerians to tow the same line.

Architect Wins Essay Competition

A young architect, Sarafadeen Mayowa Bello has emerged best overall winner of the 2016 Ships & Ports Annual National Essay Competition.

Bello emerged ahead of six other winners who got the ACG Charles Edike Prize for Outstanding Essays and Vicky Haastrup Prize for Research in the 10th edition of annual essay competition, with the topic, “Non-oil exports as panacea for economic recession.”

Ata presentationceremonyheldattheShips&Portsheadquarters in Lagos,Mayowa said he picked interest in the competition in 2013.

“I am overwhelmed. I picked interest in the competition in 2013 when I discovered that the competition was held annually and so I started listening to Ships and Ports radio daily and also found the website very interesting, as it bears a lot of information on diverse topics. I get a lot of information from the website that helps me in my writing,” he said.

Other winners in the 2016 competition include: Bakare Moshood Oladejo, Daniel Philip Ayo, Nwoke Ifeoma Joy, Ogbagba Sunday, a student of Public Administration at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Abel Anna Ogechi, a corps member in Akwa Ibom State, who all won the ACG Charles Edike Prize for Outstanding Essays, while Babatunde Omoju, a lecturer at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, Akwa Ibom State, won the Princess Vicky Haastrup Prize for Research.

RenCap Buys into Avtovaz

Russia’s Renaissance Capital has acquired a 24.1 per cent stake in Russian carmaker Avtovaz in a capital increase that also sees Renault tighten its control over the loss-making manufacturer, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

The investment firm purchased the stake in a 26.1 billion rouble ($426 million) share issue, part of a larger recapitalisation plan for the loss-making Lada maker, hit by the collapse of Russia’s once-booming auto market.

Under the new issue, Renault has also raised its controlling stake in Avtovaz to more than 47 per cent from about 37 per cent, through the holding company it owns jointly with alliance partner Nissan and Russian state conglomerate Rostec.

According to Reuters, Renaissance’s 11.25 billion rouble investment in the open subscription meant Renault was required to inject less cash than the 25 billion roubles it had pledged as a maximum contribution to keep Avtovaz afloat, a company spokesman said.

“The objective of the open subscription has been achieved,” the spokesman said.

“We need to work with the National Assembly to review certain clauses of the law, be more creative in order to get out of the problem we have with revenue generating agencies” Minister of Budget and National Planning,

Udoma Udo Udoma

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD WEAK CAPITAL BASE: 17 INSURANCE FIRMS MAY LOSE LICENCES

N3 billion capital will not give you the ability to insure a refinery or an aircraft. So if you want to do that class , you have to push up your capital and asset base.If you have small capital and small asset base, may be you convert to micro insurance. If you don’t have big capital to insure an aircraft, may be you specialise in keke Napep”, said the commissioner.

At the last insurance summit in Abuja, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had noted the declining level of the nation’s insurance sector when compared to the expansion in the banking sector and the growth of the recently reformed pension saying the situation is worrisome.

Expressing concern over the issue, Adeosun said there is need for a fresh round of recaitalisation and consolidation in the industry to strengthen the industry operators’ financially.

The finance minister said: “There is a need to immediately address the decline in the Nigerian insurance industry as it is lagging behind global and African peers.”

VALUE OF TRADING DECLINES 41% ON NIGERIAN BOURSE IN 2016

continues to plague companies.

We, however, do not rule out the possibility of a positive return in 2017, as we expect the higher crude production and price stability, coupled with effective execution of 2017 budget, to bode well for the Nigerian economy in the coming year,” they said.

In their sectoral review, MSL said the agriculture sector led the outperformers. According to the firm, the Meri-Agri Index returned 26.45 per cent to outperform other sectors in the market for the second year consecutively.

“The sector’s positive performance was steered by the usual suspects- Okomu Oil Palm Plc (+32.57 per cent) and Presco Plc (+21.52 per cent), while Livestock Feeds Plc (36.84 per cent) depreciated in value for the year. Other counters (Ellah Lakes Plc and FTN Cocoa) traded flat throughout the year,” they said.

Group Business Editor

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Crusoe Osagie

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

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

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (AgriBusiness)

NEWS

Digital Switch Over: Stakeholders Raise Fresh Concerns Emma Okonji As the June 20, 2017 deadline for the digital switch over (DSO) from analogue to digital broadcasting draws nearer, information and communications technology (ICT) stakeholders have raised fresh concerns that could derail the process again, if adequate measures are not put in place.

Some of the stakeholders, who spoke in anonymity, are accusing the federal government of giving priority attention to a particular signal distributor, at the detriment of others, a situation, they said, could slow the pace of development, especially now that Nigeria is getting close to the June 2017 deadline for the digital switchover.

According to them, government had licensed two key national signal distributors, ITS and Pinnacle, to drive digital signal distribution process across the country and to provide easy access of the digital signals to Nigerians. While ITS is government created through NTA, and operates as an arm of NTA, Pinnacle is a private business. But the stakeholders are worried that some unseen but powerful hands in government are trying to favour Pinnacle more than ITS, for personal reasons.

The stakeholders are worried about the recent development, where ITS is denied the right to roll out digital signals in Abuja, after it has successfully

launched in Jos, Plateau State, where the pilot scheme for the rollout of DSO was carried out.

They were of the view that both ITS and Pinnacle could have been given equal opportunity to roll out in Abuja together, just like GOtv and StarTimes are currently doing with DSO rollout, in order to allow broadcasters and the marketers to decide which of the signal distributors to pitch tent with.

“Should both have been allowed to run simultaneously, most broadcasters would have gone out for ITS over Pinnacle

because of the strength of ITS through its presence in about 80 key cities,” the stakeholders said.

They also alleged some discrepancies in the signal licensing on the part of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

“While some operators are given lower frequencies with capacity to penetrate more and translate to better digital TV quality, others are given upper frequency with low penetration capacity which translates to poorer TV signal and viewing on its platform,”

the stakeholders alleged.

The stakeholders want equity allocation of broadcast licensing and called on government to allow market forces to determine the successful migration from analogue to digital migration.

They explained that several organisations have invested so much in ITS, and that it would be a wrong business sense for some people in government to limit ITS’ digital signal rollout in an attempt to favour Pinnacle.

This, they said amounts to policy somersault and could largely erode investors’

confidence.

The federal government had successfully launched the pilot scheme of the DSO rollout in Jos, Plateau state, to be followed by other cites in preparation for the migration from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting by June 2017.

The journey towards the digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting, actually started in Nigeria in June 17, 2006, after Nigeria had signed international and regional agreements to conclude digital migration by June 17, 2012.

SURVEY REPORT PRESENTATION

L-R: Head, Sales and Markets, KPMG Professional Services Nigeria, Nike Oyewolu; Partner/Head, Audit Services, Tola Adeyemi; Partner, Board Advisory Services, Tomi Adepoju and Director, Audit Services, Robert Araeb, at a press conference/presentation of the Global Pulse Survey Report in Lagos...recently PHOTO: ETOP UKUT

‘Govt Should Curb Wastages STOAN: Reduction of Import Duty on Vehicles Will Stop Smuggling in Agric Produce and Preserve Food’ The STOAN Spokesman port,” he said.

Eromosele Abiodun Ugo Aliogo As the efforts to position Nigeria’s agricultural sector to become one of the leading players in food production in world continue, experts have called on the federal government to tackle the level of wastage of agricultural produce usually experienced from distribution to the marketplace and develop innovative ways to preserve them.

Speaking during the inauguration of Fruits2go café, the Chief Executive Officer of the café, Tosan Kukoyi, said government should focus on the end product value chain, as a lot of wastages are being experienced from the farm to the market.

According to her, the wastage is huge and government has not provided facilities to preserve these agriculture produce.

She also stated that if government encourages more people and provide the necessary support, most of the agricultural produce will be better preserved thereby reduce the reliance on imported foods which she noted is most preferred by Nigerians despite the preservatives it contains, “most of these imported products contain products that are not healthy for the body.”

Kukoyi, who stated that there is need for more people to go into farming, commended government’s efforts in positioning sector, adding that Nigerians should create innovations regarding ways of preserving and packaging agriculture products.

Speaking on the café, she said the cafe was a healthy alternative to eateries in Lagos and they are focused on wholeness, noting that the products used are locally sourced in order to provide space in the healthy food options segment where every member of the family can have a good meal, snack or drink.

Kukoyi said the brand is targeted at children because there are no smoothies’ stores or café targeted children, while stressing that they have taken their services a step further to schools to package healthy lunch for school pupils.

She added: “The school authorities have also given us the opportunity to talk with the parents of these kids on the importance of eating right and not compromising with the cheaper alternatives that are in the market. Parents are excited to bring their children here because of what we are offering such as the popsicles which looks like ice-cream, but it is made from pineapple fruits and other fruit addition. The parents of these pupils reach an agreement with us and they pay for the lunch we serve their pupils, on a term basis. We have covered two major schools.

“Children love our smoothies and juices. We are creating excitement for our customers and still focused on the core of the business.

We have juices, and healthy Yogurts made without preservatives. We only persevere these Yogurts with refrigeration. This is the first branch, but we are looking at opening four other locations in 2017.

The Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STAON) has said that government’s move to stop smuggling of vehicles into the country by banning importation through land borders will not yield desired result if not complemented with a corresponding reduction in customs duty.

STOAN Spokesman, Mr. Bolaji Akinola disclosed this in a statement in Lagos.

Speaking against the backdrop of the new Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) scheme announced this week by the federal government, Akinola said: “The rate of smuggling in Nigeria especially of vehicles is alarmingly high. This is essentially due to the high and prohibitive import duty on vehicle which is more than twice what obtains in other countries in the sub-region.

“While the VIN scheme sounds like a good idea, it may not do much to check smuggling. The main antidote to smuggling is the reduction on Customs duty on vehicles to bring it to the level obtainable in other West African countries. The duty should not be more than 10 per cent. Why exactly are people landing their vehicles in the ports of neighbouring countries and smuggle into Nigeria? It is to avoid the high Customs duties at the

Akinola said it is difficult to check smuggling through the land borders because of the preponderance of illegal entry roués into the country.

He said: “There are more than 1,600 illegal entry routes into Nigeria. The borders are porous. It will be difficult for any agency of government to effectively patrol and check the influx of goods and persons through those porous entry points. There is a need to mount barriers and build strong high walls or electric fences at most of those entry points. Most importantly, government must deploy technology to secure our borders.”

He argued that the high rate of import duty on vehicle has shot up the prices of vehicles beyond the reach of many Nigerians as “the prices of vehicles have doubled over the past 18 months”.

“This is due to the high Customs duty, which is 35 per cent plus an additional surcharge of 35 per cent bringing the total government tariff to 70 per cent. This is way too high and when you place it side by side the high rate of foreign exchange, you see why Nigerians are paying more to acquire cars. The ban on importation through land borders is not enough to check smuggling and bring down the prices. Only a reduction on Customs duty will achieve that,” he added.

also said that there are too many government agencies operating at the port. This, he said, is contributing to the high cost of doing business at the port.

“The high cost of doing business at the port, which many allude to, is not because of high charges by operators but due to high Customs tariff and multiple chaecks by government agencies.

“Reduce Customs duty, reduce the huge crowd of government agencies operating at the port and automate the Customs clearing process, which is way too manual and regressive. Someone described the Customs clearing process as archaic and way too expensive. There are multiple checks within and outside the port, which must be tackled by government.

Former Finance Minister Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala ejected the agencies a few years ago but they are all back in their multitude,” he said.

Akinola added that Nigerian ports have ample capacity to handle both import and export and to support the federal government’s revenue diversification drive.

“There is ample capacity at the port. Most terminals are operating at less than half their capacities. Our ports were boisterous until the Jonathan administration enacted some policies that chased shippers away,” he added.

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BUSINESSWORLD

MARKET REPORT

Equities Market Rallies on Portfolio Rebalancing Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie The stock market closed the last week of 2016 on a positive note, rising by 1.47 per cent. Although the market opened for only three days, the bullish trend that has started in December was sustained last week as fund managers rebalanced their portfolios while oil and gas stocks also rallied. Consequently, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (NSE) ASI closed 1.47 per cent higher at 26,874.62, while market capitalisation rose by the same margin to be at N9.247 trillion.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher during the week with the exception of the NSE ASeM, NSE Oil/Gas and NSE Industrial Goods Indices that went down by 2.35 per cent, 1.47 per cent and 0.15 per cent respectively.

Daily Market Performance Trading at the stock market had resumed on a positive on Wednesday after the two days holiday declared by the federal government to market the celebtration of Christmas. The NSE ASI rose by 0.76 per cent to close higher at 26, 688.25 , just as the market capitalization of equities appreciated by same margin to be at N9.11 trillion.

The market had remained bearish for most part of the year and was heading for a third consecutive yearly decline. However, the 0.76 per cent recorded on Wednesday reduced the year-to-date decline to 6.82 per cent.

The appreciation recorded in the share prices of Union Bank, Transcorp, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC and Nigerian Breweries were mainly responsible for the gain recorded in the NSE ASI yesterday.

Investors staked N1.25 billion on 131.74 million shares, down by 12.92 per cent from N1.43 billion invested the previous trading day.

The three most actively traded stocks were: International Breweries (16.2 million shares), Transcorp (12.42 million shares) and FCMB Group (11.65 million shares), while the most traded sectors were: Financial Services (78.42 million shares), Consumer Goods (19.29 million shares) and Conglomerates (12.92 million shares).

In terms of sectoral performance, as all sector indices closed in the green except the NSE Industrial Goods Index which declined by 0.02 per cent owing to price drop

by Lafarge Africa Plc. However, the NSE Consumer Goods Index (+1.5 per cent) led sector gainers, driven by the significant appreciation in Nigerian Breweries Plc (+3.3 per cent), Cadbury Nigeria (+8.0 per cent) and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc (+4.9 per cent).

Nigerian Breweries Plc recently got commendation from the Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema its commitment to corporate governance standards. The NSE boss also congratulated the company on its 70th anniversary and for winning the Most Compliant Listed Company award for the year.

He disclosed that Nigerian Breweries was qualified to join the exchange’s Premium Board, the listing segment for the elite group of issuers that meet the exchange’s most stringent corporate governance and listing standards.

The equity market maintained its upward trend on Thursday with the NSE ASI rising by 0.35 per cent to

close at 26,782.93 points. GTBank, Total Nigeria, Union Bank, Seplat and Zenith Bank recorded gains that contributed to the positve performance of the market.

The total value of stocks traded on fell to N878 million, down by 29.66 per cent from N1.25 billion recorded the previous day while the total volume of stocks traded was 117.4 million in 2,392 deals.

Similar to the performance of the broader index, sector performance was largely bullish with the NSE Oil & Gas Index (-0.5 per cent) recording the only decline as sell pressure in Forte Oil (-9.5 per cent) and Oando (-0.9 per cent) weighed on the index performance to offset gains in Seplat (+2.6 pe cent). However, the NSE Banking rose by 2.2 per cent on gains

by GTBank(+5.8 per cent), Zenith (+1.4 per cent) and Union Bank (+3.7 per cent). Similarly, the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 1.8 per cent following gains booked by AIICO Insurance, NEM Insurance and Law Union and Rock Insurance.

Also the NSE Consumer Goods Index rose 0.34 per cent on the back of positive sentiment towards Dangote Flour (+4.6 per cent) and PZ (+1.8 per cent).

The market recorded a positive performance on the last trading day of the year as gains in Consumer Goods and Banking large caps – Nigerian Breweries (+4.2 per cent), Guinness (+3.8 per cent) and Access Bank (+1.6 per cent) – boosted the market performance.

Specifically, the NSE ASI closed the year at 26,874.62, while the market Capitalisation ended at N9.25trillion.

Market turnover Meanwhile, a total turnover of 405.939 million shares worth N3.724 billion in 6,363 deals were traded last week by investors, down from 1.261 billion shares valued at N17.520

TOP TEN BROKERS(BY VALUE)

billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 14,861 deals.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 305.885 million shares valued at N2.066 billion traded in 3,445 deals; thus contributing 75.35 per cent and 55.46

AS AT LAST FRIDAY

BROKER

VALUE % VALUE

STANBIC IBTC STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

7,546,245,797.68

29.76

5,819,127,913.63

22.95

2,030,126,969.74 1,625,084,068.41

8.01 6.41

CHAPELHILLDENHAMSECURITIESLTD-BRD

670,164,631.56

2.64

VETIVA CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LTD

591,298,478.30

2.33

CARDINALSTONE SECURITIES LIMITED

582,158,690.73

2.30

CORDROS CAPITAL LIMITED - BRD

540,387,682.18

2.13

SMADACSECURITIESLIMITED

404,567,397.06

1.60

297,264,864.32 20,106,426,493.61

2.00 79.29

RENCAP SECURITIES (NIG) LIMITED FBNSECURITIESLIMITED EFCP LIMITED

CORONATION SECURITIES LIMITED

TOP TEN BROKERS

(BY VOLUME)

BROKER STANBIC IBTC STOCKBROKERS LIMITED GREENWICH TRUST LIMITED -BRD RENCAP SECURITIES (NIG) LIMITED

AS LAST FRIDAY VOLUME

%VOLUME

1,461,874,172

44.06

205,471,300

6.19

181,195,160

5.46

135,027,497 107,711,535

4.07 3.25

CORONATIONSECURITIESLIMITED

72,776,753

2.19

READINGS INVESTMENTS LIMITED - BDR

69,863,595

2.11

EFCP LIMITED

65,414,597

1.97

CSL STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

64,372,952

1.94

TRUSTBANC CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED

61,960,820

1.87

2,425,668,381

73.11

CHAPEL HILL DENHAM SECURITIES LTD - BRD CARDINALSTONE SECURITIES LIMITED

per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 30.974 million shares worth N793.114 million in 1,096 deals. The third place was occupied by Conglomerates Industry with a turnover of 19.701 million shares worth N24.689 million in 261 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely – Omoluabi Savings and Loans Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and FCMB Group Plc accounted for 128.546 million shares worth N1.222 billion in 715 deals, contributing 31.66 per cent and 32.82 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Also traded during the week were a total of 9,965 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N56,446.35 executed in 16 deals, compared with a total of 10,170 units valued at N123.641.70 transacted the previous week in 22 deals.

There was no bond transaction last week, compared with a total of 25,219 units of Federal Government and Corporate Bonds valued at N24.458 million were transacted the preceding week in three deals.

Price gainers and losers On the price movement chart, 37 equities appreciated last week, higher than 26 equities the previous week.

Twenty-one equities depreciated in price, lower than the 36 equities of the previous week, while 117 equities remained unchanged higher than 113 equities recorded in the preceding week.

NAHCO led the price gainers with 23.4 per cent, trailed by Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc with 19.4 per cent. NEM Insurance Plc rose by 19.3 per cent, just as Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, UACN Property Development Company Plc and University Press Plc chalked up 17 per cent, 14.9 per cent and 14.9 per cent.

Other top price gainers include: A.G Leventis (Nigeria) Plc(14.3 per cent); NASCON Allied Industries Plc(12.5 per cent); Ashaka Cement Plc(9.2 per cent).

Conversely, Forte Oil Plc led the price losers, shedding 18.7 per cent, trailed by Sterling Bank Plc with a decline of 19.4 per cent. Portland Paints and Products Plc shed 9.0 per cent. ETI went down by 5.5 per cent, just as Unity Bank Plc and Ekocorp Plc lost 5.1 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively. Beta Glass Plc, Juli Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc shed 4.7 per cent, 4.5 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.

26

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

INSIDE BROAD STREET

A view of Lagos financial district

AKINWUNMI IBRAHIM

Infrastructure Devt Crucial to Economic Turnaround in 2017 Obinna Chima As part of its strategy to get the economy out of recession, the federal government has been advised to focus on rapid infrastructure development this year.

Analysts at the Renaissance Capital Limited (RenCap), which stated this in a report on Nigeria’s 2017 budget proposal, pointed out that Nigeria’s strategy to get the economy out of recession was captured by the following phrase: ‘grow what we eat, and consume what we make,’ adding that the budget proposal was premised on an ambitious 28 per cent increase in revenue to N4.9 trillion.

President Muhammadu Buhari recently presented a 2017 budget proposal to the National Assembly, budget outlining expenditure of N7.3trillion, a 20 per cent increase versus the 2016 projection.

However, as revenue in September was 25 per cent below the pro-rata full-year projections, RenCap stated that they struggle to see how the federal government of Nigeria will achieve the said 2017 projection.

“With the 2017 budget, the FGN plans to pull the economy out of recession and wean it off crude oil, via agriculture (by ultimately making Nigeria self-sufficient in food) and manufacturing (by producing what Nigerians consume, including petrochemicals, cement and light manufacturing products).

“We like the plans to focus on “rapid” infrastructure development, particularly rail and power. Buhari promised “tangible benefits” from 2017. We take this to mean we should see the stimulatory effects of the capital expenditure spend in the short term, which we find encouraging. We think the Presidential Enabling Business Council mandate of making it easier to do business – which Buhari mentioned – is critical, because the economy needs substantial private sector investment to help restore sustainable growth.

“Budget provisions to clear outstanding electricity bills and debt of N2.2 trillion owed to contractors and other third parties should improve liquidity, which is positive for growth,” the report added.

MARKET INDICATOR However, the report pointed out that the flaws in the proposed 2017 budget emerged when “we look at the revenue projections – an ambitious 28 per cent increase to N4.9 trillion in 2017 – particularly when the federal government has failed to meet its 2016 target, due to low prices in first quarter 2016 and disruptions to crude oil production.”

At September, revenue was 25 per cent below the pro-rata 2016 target. To the federal government’s credit, it revised down its independent revenue projection for 2017, which at N807 billion is almost half that projected for 2016. Even the non-oil revenue projection is five per cent lower.

“However, this pragmatism was countered by a 140 per cent increase in the federal government’s oil revenue projections, to N2 trillion. This, may, in part, be due to an optimistic assumption of oil production of 2.2mn b/d, which the country has failed to achieve since 2014.This assumption is partly mitigated by a modest oil price assumption of $42.5/bl,” it added.

The report reiterated the federal government’s plan to raise spending in 2017 by 20 per cent to N7.3 trillion ($23.2 billion at official FX rate). The biggest allocations will go towards capital expenditure (N2.2 trillion, or 31 per cent of the budget), personnel costs (N1.8trillion; 25 per cent) and debt servicing (N1.7trillion; 23 per cent). Education, defence and health services will get seven per cent, five per cent and four per cent of the budget, respectively.

The main capex recipients will be power (24 pe cent), transportation (12 per cent) and housing (4.5 per cent). The president had pointed out that despite capex suffering from project formulation delays and revenue shortfall, in May-October 2016 the FGN released a record-high amount of capex.

Because of this, work resumed on some stalled projects, including the construction of new airport terminals, several road projects, key power transmission projects and completion of the Kaduna-Abuja railway.

As at June 2016, the budget deficit for the

immediate past fiscal year came in wider than projected at 3.2 per cent of GDP, by RenCap’s estimate.

“This was largely due to a shortfall in revenue. As we expect revenue to come in below the federal government’s 2017 projection, we forecast a wider deficit of about three per cent of GDP in 2017.

This implies that borrowing will be higher than the federal government is currently projecting – suggesting further upside risk to debt servicing costs, which were already at two-thirds of revenue in June, a proportion we find concerning.

“Notably, the federal government did not reveal how it planned to finance the 2017 budget. Given the federal government’s resource constraints, we expect a marked increase in foreign borrowing compared with the days when former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was averse to raising foreign debt (which she could afford to be, because revenue was high), was in office,” it stated.

Commenting on the ability of states to be self sufficient, it stressed that Lagos – has internal revenue collections that allow it to be self-sustaining.

Furthermore, it pointed out that the other states depend on allocations from the federation account for their administrations to function.

“The collapse in oil revenue and the recession have significantly hurt their finances.

Buhari said that stabilising the states is a key objective. In June, a conditional budget support programme was introduced, which offered state governments N566 billion to address their funding shortfalls.

“To participate, state governments were required to subscribe to certain fiscal reforms centred on transparency, accountability and efficiency, including publishing audited accounts and introducing biometric payrolls that will help them to eliminate ‘ghost’ workers.

“We think the conditions the federal government to put in place for states to receive funding will play a positive role in helping to root out corruption at state level, and create more efficient and productive sub-national governments,” it stated.

STATUS REPORT

Sterling Bank Commits N500m to Environmental Sustainability Concerned with the current poor state of the environment and its impact on the health of Nigerians, Sterling Bank Plc said it had committed over N500 million to various activities under its Sterling Environmental Make-Over (STEM) social responsibility initiative in the last five years.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive of the bank, Mr. Yemi Adeola, who disclosed this, noted that these activities included partnership with agencies responsible for waste management in 14 states of the country, tree planting and the national cleaning exercise.

The Sterling Bank boss, who disclosed this in a statement at the weekend, also explained that the financial institution decided to collaborate with celebrities to connect with their audiences.

“Many of them have become inspirational figures to a lot of people,” the bank boss said.

“STEM is an initiative which started eight years ago, and essentially covers all the programmes which Sterling Bank runs geared towards caring for our environment. So far, about half a billion naira has been invested in this initiative. When STEM started, the primary focus was the kitting of highway managers and sweepers in the employment of the Lagos State Waste Management Agency(LAWMA).

“Asides Lagos, we have extended this partnership to 14 other states in the country.

We give 25,000 units of the uniforms to LAWMA on a yearly basis. This has been beneficial to sweepers, as the reflective uniforms are seen from a distance by motorists and gives a sense of identity to the sweepers and highway managers.

“Beyond provision of uniforms, staff of the Bank, as part of our employee volunteer programme, regularly participate in nationwide street cleaning efforts. Also, Sterling Bank has invested in tree planting to address the challenge of desertification in the country. We started our tree planting efforts in 2016 with Bauchi, Gombe and Plateau States. We intend to extend this to at least seven more states in 2017, with our goal being to lead the movement to promote environmental sustainability in the country,” the bank added.

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

APPOINTMENT / AWARDS

Intels Receives Nigerian Shippers Council’s Commendation Award The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has commended Intels Nigeria Limited for its huge investment and commitment to the development of port operations in the country.

The commendation was made in Lagos during the Stakeholders Appreciation Night hosted by the NSC. The Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello, said Intels deserved the recognition because of its defining role in the provision of integrated logistics services in the Nigerian maritime, oil and gas industry.

The commendation award was received on behalf of Intels by its Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Patrick Bird.

While thanking the NSC for recognising the efforts and investment of the company, Bird said: “Our mission is to continuously promote the development of the Nigerian economy through the oil and gas industry by offering tailormade logistics solutions to our clients, so it’s really fantastic to be acknowledged in such a way.”

Bird said Intels Nigeria Limited is an experienced logistics services provider whose commitment to the

country is for the long-term.

“Our customers demand best in class, services to support their oil and gas operations. Intels is continuously investing in people and equipment to guarantee its customers’ efficiency, reliability and safety,” he added.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, assured investors at the port that government will create conducive environment to enable their businesses thrive.

“The federal government will support and encourage the private sector to lead the transport sector and continue

to provide conducive atmosphere for its operation.

“The private sector on their part should engage government through its agencies to bring to the notice of the government their complaints if any and new ideas towards developing the sector along international best practices.

I urged the private sector to work closely with the NSC in moving the sector forward,” he said.

The Director of Maritime Services of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Mallam Sanni Umar Galadanshi, and several top government officials witnessed the event.

Capital Express Assurance Appoints Isa Sali as New Chairman The board of Capital Express Assurance Ltd, has appointed Alhaji Isa Bello Sali as its Chairman.

Bello, took over the Chairmanship baton of the company from Otunba Ademola Adenuga, who held the position for several years.

Sali promised to add value to the company pledging to deploy his God given talents, knowledge, experience and clout to see that he leaves Capital Express better than he met it.

At a reception organised in his honour by the company, Sali, said in accepting to serve on the board of Capital Express Assurance, he was aware of the expectations of the company owners and stakeholders.

He also said he was not oblivious of the current economic realities of the country and the need to employ the best tools in comparing in the volatile market in which the Nigerian business community found itself “Herein lies the significance of bringing on board new competences to augment existing one to drive the organisation.

Indeed, “I would not have accepted to come on board if for in a moment, I have felt that I would not add value to the company. I want to thank you for this honour and pray to God to bless the company,its owners ,board, management and the entire staff”, he stated.

Sali, an astitute administra-

tor and successful manager of human resources was born in Mubi, in Adamawa State.

He attended Mubi 11 Junior Primary school, Mubi and Government Secondary School Ganye in pursuit of his basic education.

He proceeded to the School of Basic Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained a Bachelors Degree in Political Science.

He is also a proud graduate of the Havard Kenedy School Cambridge.

His work career started with the then Gongola State Civil Service where he served as principal Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development Yola between 1984 and 1987.

In1988, he became the Under Secretary in the ministry of works and Transport Yola.

In 1990, he transferred his services to the Federal Civil Service in the capacity of an Assistant Director, Personnel in the Federal Environmental Protection agency, Lagos.

He was also a director Special Duties in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,permanent Secretary, political affairs and Director of Operations,Servicom.

Having served in several leadership and administrative capacities nationwide, Alhaji Isa, retired from the federal civil service as Head of service in 2003.

MTN Group Announces Senior Management Appointments

CONGRATULATIONS

L-R: Chief Commercial Officer of Intels Nigeria Limited, Mr. Patrick Bird, receiving the Nigerian Shippers Council Commendation award from Chairman, Nigerian Shipowners Forum, Mrs. Margaret Orakwusi and the National Vice President, National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Alhaji Ahmad Rabiu at the Nigerian Shippers’ Council Stakeholders’ Appreciation Night in Lagos … recently

JAIZ Wins Three Awards at Global Islamic Microfinance Forum The foremost non-interest financial institution in Nigeria, Jaiz International has won three awards at the 6th Global Islamic Microfinance Forum (GIMF) organised by Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics in Nairobi, Kenya recently.

The organisation and its associated institutions – Jaiz Charity and Development Foundation, Jaiz Takaful Insurance Plc, Jaiz Zakat and Waqf Trust Fund won the awards.

The awards are Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed on the Chairman of Jaiz Foundation, Alhaji (Dr.) Umar Abdul-Mutallab,

CON; Best Corporate Social Responsibility Award to Ambassador Adamu Babangida Ibrahim, Director General/CEO, Jaiz Charity and Development Foundation and The Best Rising Islamic Microfinance Personality Award was awarded to the Managing Director of Jaiz Takaful Insurance Plc -Mr. Momodou Musa Joof.

Global Islamic Microfinance Forum is an annual apex gathering of Islamic Microfinance, Takaful, Islamic Banking, Rural Finance, Funder/ Donor agencies, Multilateral organizations and other allied sectors of

Microfinance to address the poverty problems and their solutions through Islamic Microfinance. The awards which were granted after a rigorous evaluation of a record number of nominations by an internal research team and an award committee, recognise the industry leaders and promote the concept of poverty alleviation from over 35 participating countries.

Jaiz Foundation was a product of the first non-interest Bank in Nigeria; Jaiz Bank Plc. It was established as nonprofit, non-governmental charitable organization on the 2nd of April, 2012, to

among other core areas of Charitable and other Sectoral interventions also act as a Corporate Social Responsibility implementing agency of Jaiz Bank Plc. Jaiz Foundation for reasons including sustainability of its core functions, deemed it fit to invest in Shariah compliant ventures such as the established Jaiz Takaful Insurance Plc, and El-Jaiz Investments and Services Ltd. It has also established an independent institution; Jaiz Zakat and Waqf Trust fund, to handle the collection and distribution of Zakat as well as management of endowments (Waqf).

MTN Group has announced the appointment of senior management staff as part of process reviewing and finalising its permanent senior management team, aimed at repositioning the telecoms company for better performance.

Jens Schulte-Bockum will assume the position of Group Chief Operating Officer, effective 16 January 2017. Jens will succeed Jyoti Desai, who is retiring. Jens has extensive operational experience in the mobile telecoms sector, with his last senior role being as CEO of Vodafone Germany between 2012 and 2015. We expect Jens to bring extensive experience in the consumer business, as well as the area of large scale transformation in a convergent operation.

Oliver Fortuin will assume the position of Executive Head of Business Enterprise, effective 1 March 2017. Oliver is currently the CEO of BT Global Services Sub Saharan Africa, having previously held many senior roles at IBM, HP and Lenovo. As Head of BT Global Services, Oliver was engaged in the development and sale of enterprise solutions to many multinationals across the African continent. Oliver will greatly enhance MTN’s strategy in this area.

Bernice Samuels has re-joined MTN as Group Executive of Marketing, effective 1 January 2017. Bernice was previously Chief Marketing Officer in MTN SA, prior to assuming a similar role at FNB. She subsequently assumed the position of Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development at SABMiller in South Africa. Bernice will greatly assist in lifting and repositioning product development and uplifting the MTN brand to maintain its pre-eminent position in Africa and the Middle East, whilst adapting to a rapidly evolving sector.

Announcing the appointments, the Executive Chairman of MTN Group, Phuthuma Nhleko, said: “These senior management appointments bring to finality the management aspect of a large scale transformation and operational review process which I am confident will place the Group in good stead to capitalise on its many prospects and reach its full potential in a rapidly transforming and exciting sector. We have attracted individuals of high calibre and wide, relevant experience, to further enhance the existing management team, consistent with the anticipated trajectory of the Group.”

28

BUSINESSWORLD

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

INTERVIEW

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

29

ANALYSIS

30

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Lotgrand Breaks New Ground in Lotto, Pays over N100m Bonus Emma Okonji Lotgrand, one of the operators of national lottery, has introduced its Grandlotto Yellow Terminal, a machine number game series.

Announcing the groundbreaking winning formula at the unveiling of a player, who won over N10 million as a result of playing the machine number game recently, the Managing Director and Chief Executive, Lotgrand, Niyi Adekunle, said the machine number became a differentiating factor for the brand.

“Lotgrand has redefined the lotto business with the machine number. If a player stakes any machine number series, he will win. Machine number is now a winning number,” he said.

At the presentation of cheque to the winner in the machine number lotto, the Lotgrand Chairman, Razaq Adewale Abdulmalik said the objective of presenting the winner to the public was to show that “winning is true in lotto and that other people with reservations may need to change their thinking.”

According to him, the

company was out to create awareness for lotto business and quell the doubt of nonstaking public.

“It is important that lotto players win. A Nigerian would not return to a place where he was cheated. At Yellow Terminal lotto, we get patronage every day, three times a day and we play 21 times in a week.

Therefore, Nigerians are winning, and the bonuses are paid immediately,” he said.

According to him, this would be the first time the

winner of a stake in a game of lotto would be publicised via the media.

“This winner could not have staked more than N20,000.

Therefore, if you doubt the realness of the lotto business, change your mind. You need to get involve. It will only get bigger and bigger. You can stake as low as N20 and you would win,” Abdulmalik added.

He said, the company, in 2011 paid over N20 million to a player, while another N75 million was shared among other players. The bonuses

New Manufacturing Firm, Tramontina Enters Aba Raheem Akingbolu Brazil’s largest manufacturing company, Tramontina has entered Aba, Abia State during the Yuletide. Marketing Manager at Tramontina Nigeria, Funbi Sowande said: “At Tramontina, we are passionate about having one on one interactions with our customers. What we did in Lagos and Aba is one of the many ways we hope to introduce and cement our presence in the Nigerian market.”

Tramontina, believed to be the powerhouse of Brazil manufacturing, produces 18,000 products in Kitchen wares and appliances, electrical materials, wooden and plastic furniture, agricultural and construction tools since 1911. They operate all over the world, whichincludes more than 120 countries with 41 countries in Africa but officially announced their presence last week.

“We are creating our presence in every axis of the country and we are presently working with a number of distributors and agents in all major markets in Nigeria, and our launch here continues to build on our goal to improve people’s lives,” the company said.

The communities in which the company operates help con-

tribute toward this goal. From its manufacturing processes to its operational strategies, every action Tramontina takes is in accordance with the strictest standards of environmental management and social responsibility. This special care is evident in how it preserves matters of cultural heritage and provides for the common good.

Tramontina representatives in attendance include Trader for Africa at Tramontina Multi- Henry Cattani, another Trader for Africa at Tramontina Cutelaria Marcelo Mersoni and Sowande, “Our products are built to withstand the effect of farming for a long time and are made of high quality carbon steel making it a choice for farmers around the world. We believe that as a country that invests in agriculture, Nigerian farmers can boast of high production by using our products because it is long lasting and affordable,” Sowande noted.

According to the company, its machetes are safe, ergonomically comfortable to handle and have strong wooden handles that can stand the test of time. It is also made of carbon steel blade that has more durability and it is affordable.

The customers in Aba

PTML Applauds Ban on Importation of Vehicles through Land Border Eromosele Abiodun

WELL DESERVED AWARD

L-R: Head of Sales, Carrier, Peacock Travel and Tours United Kingdom Limited, Mr. Rick Milne, presenting 2016 Outstanding Achievement award to the Senior Travel Consultant, of the company Mr. Leon Shaier in London...recently.

Canon Partners Print World on e-commerce Solutions Raheem Akingbolu Canon, the global leader in photographic and digital imaging solutions and Turnkey Print World Limited, a Nigerian 100 per cent indigenous company, have jointly unveiled an ecommerce one-stop shop for all print solutions.

The facility, located in the heart of Lekki Phase 1 Lagos, Nigeria, will offer first class Canon’s print solutions to enhance work productivity and optimize cost savings for Nigerian consumers. The e-commerce platform will enable Nigerians opportunity to access several millions of design templates that customers can choose from, personalise or design what they want and from the comfort of their offices or homes send the designs and get them printed and ready for

delivery free anywhere within Lagos State.

Speaking at opening of the service hub, Managing Director/CEO, Turnkey Print World Limited, Mr. Adedoyin Awomosu said: “We are most excited to be the first to bring this partnership into reality.

We are not unaware of the situation in the country and that is why we are opening this business to offer world class print solutions that is not only affordable but smart, business friendly, eco-friendly, personalized solutions and a digitally switched on processes that will safe Nigerians hours spend in the traditional offset hot shops.”

“Our deep understanding of Nigerian business environment informed the effort behind Print World. We understand Nigerians love to personalise items no

matter how small or large and that is why we are offering solutions that meet those needs. Our current machines are the latest in the world of digital print machines and we handle jobs across wide range of print services , copy, publishing , photolab, branding, marketing, advertising, graphic design and event print consulting,” he added Commenting on the strategic partnership, Business Controller, Tenaui Africa Limited (a Canon’s strategic partner in Nigeria and Africa), Mr. Talal Akar said: “We are throwing our weight behind Print World in terms of supporting their technical, business and administrative needs to see this business grow tremendously in less than one year of operation.

Currently, Print World has the latest technology in the world

of print media so everything a customer needs is consummated and produced here within a twinkle of an eye. The speed that comes with all our equipments is a world standard and couple with swift and smart delivery; you cannot get it wrong with doing business with us.”

Also speaking, the Executive Director, Print World Limited, Dr. (Mrs) Ufuoma OkoteteAwomosu said: “We are working round the clock to remain competitive and differentiate the services we are offering Nigerian market. Ours is a platform that provides easy and instant access to business solutions to ensure convenience for our customers who have extremely busy schedules and complement the current business development tools offered by our partner, Canon.”

The Managing Director of PTML Terminal, Mr. Ascanio Russo has thrown his weight behind the ban on importation of vehicles through the land borders by the federal government.

PTML is the leading dedicated Roll-On-Roll-Off (RORO) terminal in Nigeria, handling the largest volume of vehicles imported into the country.

The company was established in 2003 by Grimaldi Lines to respond to the invitation of the federal government to participate in the development of port facilities in Nigeria.

The company’s operations were, however, negatively affected by the astronomical hike in the import duties of vehicles, leading to a loss of more than 80 per cent of its cargo volume.

The hike in vehicles import duty from 10 per cent to 35 per cent and the imposition of an additional 35 per cent surcharge under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan led to the diversion of Nigeria-bound vehicles to the ports of neighbouring countries and increased smuggling activities.

In a statement released by the company in Lagos, Russo said: “We fully support this ban, which we believe is going to halt the huge import of vehicles for the Nigerian market through the ports of neighbouring countries and the loss of revenues by the Federal Government, the Nigeria Customs Service and private operators.

“We are confident and hopeful

that the government may want to go a step further and review downward the level of duties applied on used vehicles to make them affordable for the Nigerian people.”

He said the federal government loses about N200 billion annually to diversion of automobile imports to the port of Cotonou in Republic of Benin.

The amount represents the value of tariff that should have accrued government coffers through the Nigerian Customs Service if the vehicles were imported through Nigerian ports.

He said Nigerian importers are attracted to the Port of Cotonou because of lower Customs duty on vehicles and other imports.

Several other maritime industry stakeholders had, at various times, called on the federal government to reduce the import duty on vehicles to stem the tide of smuggling and revive operations at Nigeria’s RORO ports, which have suffered most from the hike in vehicles import duty.

The Chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STAON), Princess Vicky Haastrup, in a statement last week said, “Since the high tariff was introduced, importers have resorted to landing their vehicles at the ports of neighbouring countries and smuggling them into Nigeria without paying appropriate duties to government. This amounted to huge revenue loss to Customs.

“The policy also led to loss of more 5,000 direct and indirect jobs at the affected port.”

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

31

NEWS

32

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

A Case for the Devolution of Economic Power to States In this article, Ugochukwu Amasike advocates a review of the 1999 Constitution, with a view to devolving economic power to Nigeria’s Federating Unit

Buhari Recently a bill seeking to grant states control over mineral resources within their domain passed the second reading in the House of Representatives.

The bill titled “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to vest the control of the revenues derived from minerals, mineral oils, natural gas in, under or upon any land In the States of the Federation and for Other Related Matters”seeks to give much needed realism and impetus to Nigeria’s quest for economic and revenue diversification. The truth is that if Nigeria is to make progress economically and achieve its goal of a sustainably diversified economy and revenue base, then it must reform its politicaleconomic institutions in order to reflect its socio-economic realities and the legitimate aspirations of the different ethnic nationalities that have voluntarily congregated to constitute the Federation known as Nigeria.

The current quasi-unitary system we currently practice isessentially asystem of bondage that has shackled Nigeria’s economic potentials, via the subjugation of its federating units nay states, which other-

wise should be the engines and propellers of Nigeria’s march to economic development.

Nigeria is currently enmeshed in a recession for which many reasons have been adduced to explain the cause. Of all reasons so far adduced, the most factual and resonatinghas been that aside the mismanagement and corruption of pastthieving administrations, Nigeria remains unhealthily saddled with a deleterious mono-product economy, which is a result of the stifling political and economic system we currently practice. A system that places premium not on productivity and innovation, but on doctored population figures and other Machiavellian schemes designed for the purpose of securing alarger chunk of revenue from the corruptly-termed and dwindling “national cake”.

It is this aberration and legacy of despotic military rule that the proposed bill currently before the National Assembly seeks to remedy, by seeking the devolution of economic powers to Nigeria’s federating units to enable them to harness their varied comparative advantages for the overall benefit of the Nigerian economy, as was obtainable under the Republican Constitution

of 1963. The 1963 Constitution being a true people’s constitution provided for the healthy and broad distribution of economic power to then regional governments and provided incentives that encouraged the active participation of the then regions in the task of bolstering and sustainably expanding the Nigerian economy.

It is interesting to also note that in spite of the glaring flaws of our current politicaleconomic system, there are those who opine that Nigeria’s under-development has little to do with the unjust and tragically flawed nature of Nigeria’s political-economic system. They insist that our problems are essentially a function of “poor leadership”. They further assert that all Nigeria needs to reach the Promised Land is “repentance and a change of heart” on the part of our political elite, and the people. The proponents of this school of thought have however failed to ask themselves WHY Nigeria has continually beenafflicted with “poor leadership” over the years. Is Nigeria and are Nigerians accursed of God? Are all Nigerians avowed corruption-lovers? The answer to this question is rather obvious, Nigeria’s corrupt political-

economic system, as a matter of course, births “poorleadership”, in the same manner as a goat cannot give birth to a lion, neither can an unjust and flawed political-economic system give birth to responsible and accountable leadership.

The few instances of good governance Nigeria has recorded since the coming into force of this present political-economic system have been nothing but anomalies, this is because the Nigerian state does not have the required mechanisms needed to incentivize or replicate such isolated and rare instances of good governance. There is nothing that incentivizes responsible and accountable leadership in Nigeria. For an average Nigerian elected or appointed public official to muster the will to do the right things he or she must be somewhat of a zealot, with significant political leverage and a singular determination to do what is right and legal, in spite of systemic limitations.

Whilst appreciative of the critical need for good and purposeful leadership, it is humbly submitted that the long-suffering people of Nigeria can not continue to depend ad infinitum on the emergence of anomalies.

We must as a peoplecreate the

requisite political-economic institutions and systems that incentivize good governance, engender social cohesion and advance the economic well-being of all our people, irrespective of the political party or person in power. We must designa system that makes it impossible or at least extremely difficult for the lowest denominators in our polity to emerge as our leaders; and only the reformation of our current political and economic systems will enable that.

It is the humble submission of this concerned Nigerian that a further and better amendment of the 1999 Constitution, as typified by the current Bill before the National Assembly which seeks the just and equitable devolution of power to Nigeria’s federating units is a very necessary course of action, if we are to make real and sustainable progress. It is submitted that the devolution of power to the federating units will signal the rebirth of Nigeria, resolve most of the social stresses we are experiencing and unleash Nigeria’s much touted potentials, whilst ensuring the sustainable diversification of Nigeria’s revenue base.

May God Almighty bless and keep the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

33

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Nigeria in 2017: Dissecting the Expectations from Realities In this article, Chamberlain Peterside prepares the minds of Nigerians on what to expect in 2017 The year 2016 will go down as one of the toughest and most challenging year for most Nigerians. Coming out from the heated general elections and political transition of 2015, one might have heaved a sigh of relief and hoped that the worse was over. However, the reverse was the case. The experiences of most citizens and business operators in2016 will be etched in our minds and hearts for a long time for very many reasons – ranging from marked devaluation of naira against other major currencies to inflationary pressure and harsh business environment.

By the end of December 2016, it is possible that the negative fourth quarter growth figures will mean that the year saw one of the worse GDP slumps in 12 years.Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown a consistent decline in the country’s aggregate output in the first three quarters(Q1 = -0.36 per cent; Q2 = -2.06per cent; Q3 = -2.24) of the year with the country officially entering recession in the second quarter of the year. The persistent declined recorded in the 2016 was in stark contrast with a prolonged 5per cent – 7 per cent GDP growth rate recorded between 2005 and 2014.

To many observers, it was a matter of time before the country hits this economic iceberg.

Having successfully averted cataclysmic political predictions of 2015, the next major hurdle on the horizon of this era was navigating an impending recession. During the presentation of the 2017 budget tothe national assembly, President Buhari himself characterized this experience as the worst economic crisis in the history of Nigeria, who will argue with that?

If 2016 was dismal in terms of economic performance, what can we expect in 2017? How realistic is our expectations that 2017 will be better? Let’s look at some pointers and try to decipher that question.

Outlook for 2017 True, the shockwaves of the crude oil price drop and deep slide in domestic output were the major culprits for the recession but the timeliness of policy response stoked the fire. Nevertheless there seem to be some silver linings. Based on IMF projection, the current negative trend is expected to reverse in 2017 as Nigeria is expected to grow at 0.6 per cent from annual estimate of -1.7 per cent in 2016. Also, International Energy Agency(IEA) revealed that the perceived glut in the market driven by high crude oil reserves in the major importer/ consumer countries will gradually begin to recede. This will lead to price recovery that is projected to reachat least $60 per barrel. As we speak, prices have edged up to $56-$57 per barrel.

But that is just one side of the

deep from years of neglect in the education, healthcare, and power sectors. The situation has worsened by the precipitous devaluation of the naira, erosion of purchasing power and degrading asset value. Not even with Nigeria becoming the largest economy in Africa or recording consistent 5-7 per cent growth rate for almost a decade; have we seen a steep decline in poverty and unemployment.

Although, allocation of more resources to Education sector (N448 billion – recurrent and capital) and Healthcare sector (N303.9 billion - recurrent and capital) in the 2017 budget could signal some effort to address poverty and inequality, it will take much more than one year budget. Internal crises in the North-East and the Niger Delta region are all outcomes of prolonged policy of neglect and misplaced priorities. That might not remain the status quo for too long without severe consequences on the very existence of the country.It is worth acknowledging that the singular greatest investment with the most multiplier effect on social progress in the long run is education.

Adeosun equation. The supply side will witness some positive trends too, thanks to OPEC production cuts –an agreement that has been long overdue.

In the home front, what factors can we expect to influence economic growth and impact lives in 2017?

1) Tamper your expectationsIt is quite normal that coming out of a bitter 2016, with such excruciating pains, most people will hope for a healthy rebound as fast as possible- well think again.Whereas Nigeria is poised to grow in 2017, the pace will only make up for the part of the decline in 2016.Only in 2018/2019 can we realistically attain positive economic shift that would compensate for where the country was in 2014/2015.

This is more so, taking into account lost productivity and foregone investment opportunities. Sectors like Agriculture, Mining, IT/Telecommunication, FinancialServices, News Media and Music/Movie industries would experience accelerated recovery than say Construction, Housing, Manufacturing, Transportation/Logistics, Oil and Gas, Power etc. Persistent high interest rate regime coupled with high exchange rate plus forex scarcity could conspire to throw a monkey wrench into any rapid rebound. So bettermellow with our expectations in other not to be too disappointed.

Entering into the second quarter and beyond it is possible that

conditions will normalize, if CBN lowers benchmark Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)from the current high of 14 per cent and inflation reverses course from the sustained uptrend.

2) Spending Nigeria out of Recession- The caption 2017 budget submitted to the national assembly last month “Budget of Recovery and Growth”. A good sign of recovery is that the budget was even submitted on time unlike 2016 when unnecessary acrimony and bickering on the budget “padding” delayed the enactment till April/May. The size and structure of the budget at N7.2 trillion is also quite encouraging. Over 30 per cent is earmarked for capital expenditures, which is a shift from the norm. With the key ministries like Housing,Power and Works getting N527 billion and Transportation- N262 billion.

The impetus does exist for massive infrastructure spending that could catalyzegrowth and job creation. The proposed bench mark oil price of $42.5 per barrel and target output level of 2.2 million barrels per day is very critical to achieving the desired results. The key question ishow worse can it get than what we witnessed in 2016 in that regard?Radical reforms like repeal of Land Use Decree, enactment of National Free Compulsory Basic Education Law, plus passage of the long pending Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will be key to lasting lega-

cies of the Buhari administration if he can pull that off - 2017 should be a year of reckoning in that regard.

3) Ease Pressure on NairaMore forex inflow from crude oil exports means a much desired breather for the local currency in the short run.Added to that will be some measure of progress with agricultural output and diversification of the economy especially with rice production. It should be noted that rice importation is amongst the top 5 forex expenditures of the country, so with many states beginning to invest in rice growing and milling, it is a matter of time before Nigeria becomes self-sufficient and even export rice.The same can be said about processed agro products and other intermediary raw materials and solid minerals that are increasinglysourced locally. That will truly loosen the demand for forex. But that naira rate can recover to pre-2016 level will be a pipe-dream.Exchange rate stability, predictability and forex availability will be major investment decision drivers moving into 2017.

4) Social Service and Quality of Life not Looking Good Yet-I can boldly saythis because it will take many years of sustained investments in social and economic infrastructure to make a dent on poverty, joblessness and overall well-being in Nigeria. The gap remains quite

5) Political Stability and Regulatory Environment Translates to Greater Economic Prosperity – This is a simple logic and prism that have been proven in several countries including in Africa. The outcome of elections and peaceful transfer of power, coupled with clear and predictable policy/regulation pretty much can determine how well a country performs.

Nigeria scaled that barrier in 2011 and again in 2015. If policy attitude in 2016 leaves much to be desired, 2017 should and must be different. Both from the body language and flurry of critics, it is hoped that the economic team has learned some vital lessons. The investment community won’t for much too long condone the policy summersaults and misdirected efforts of 2016 without voting with its wallet. In such a circumstance, no amount of high oil price will save Nigeria from a repeat of the recent debacle.

Thankfully some progress has been made, but the road is still long to travel.

To sum up, 2017 will be anotherbanner year in the annals of Nigeria but far better that 2016, hopefully. Lessons learnt in 2015/2016 should be worth remembering moving forward.

It will be naïve to project that 2017 will be rosy or that the malaise of previous years are gone forever. Economic trend is cyclical and Nigeria has been here before. If we fail to plan and save for the rainy day, re-occurrence of current recession is possible. Though there is no saying when next recession would hit and how deep it could get. Wishing everyone the best of 2017 and beyond.

34

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Chinese Steel Manufacturer Restates Commitment to Nigeria Obinna Chima The management of HongXing Steel Company, a Chinese steel manufacturing company based in Lagos, has expressed confidence in the ability of the Nigerian economy to overcome its present challenges.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the company’s 2016 end of year get-together, the Managing Director of HongXing Steel Company, Mr. Fengzheng Ke, also assured that his firm would continue to priorities issues of staff welfare.

He called for more support for the federal government in the bid to diversify the economy.

“Nigeria is facing some economic challenges and we are confident that the economy would overcome these challenges, that is why we are standing with Nigeria. We have been here for long and so we

are attached to this country.

We believe this country has enormous potential and we believe that it would overcome its challenges.

“We believe that the Nigerian government is encouraging local manufacturers to grow. Yes, manufacturing sector will play a major role in transforming Nigeria.

We want to appreciate the government and every other agencies that have supported us over the years. But we are looking towards government for incentives and improved infrastructure, especially in the area of power,” he said.

Ke, stressed that the aim of HongXing Steel Company is to be one of the biggest steel manufacturing companies in Africa.

Commenting on the end of year party, he said: “Since the establishment of the company,

we always endeavour to carry members of our staff along.

Every year, we make effort to improve the welfare of our workers.

“So, holding this end of year get-together, is to showcase the unity in the organisation. We work hard throughout the year and at the end of every year, we take out some days to unwind. We have made sure that we improve the working environment to make our staff more comfortable.”

Earlier, the General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Shabi Adebola, who was at the event, said HongXing Steel has improved in the level of emission from the company in the past six years. He said his agency would continue to support HongXing Steel in the use of new technology, to further reduce emission.

Diamond Bank Pledges to Reward More Customers in 2017 Diamond Bank Plc has earmarked N584 million to reward 1,005 of its customers in season nine of its loyalty scheme -DiamondXtra- which is set to kick-off in January, 2017.

Speaking at the launch of the season nine and November month end draw to conclude the season eight promo, held in Lagos recently, the Head, Mass Market Segment, Diamond Bank, Osita Ede, said over 5,000 customers of the bank had been rewarded with N4 billion since the promo started.

He explained that part of the focus of the promo was to instill savings culture among Nigerians.

“We have noticed that more people are saving. We noticed people open accounts for their kids, which was not the tradition before. Over the years, we have seen a whole lot of things in the right direction,” Ede said.

He pointed out that for the 12 months the bank ran the season eight promo, it opened over 450,000 accounts.

“These were fresh customers, who would have probably save the money under their pillows, but they deposited the money with the bank and some of them have been steady in their savings.

So it is a positive development,” he added.

Explaining the modality for season nine, he said that every month-end, 13 customers will win N1 million each; one customer will win N2 million, while the luckiest customer will win Salary4Life (One hundred thousand naira every month for the next 20 years).

“There will be five regional draws to ensure that winners emerge from every region in Nigeria and in each of the regional draws, 41 customers will be rewarded. While 30 of them are expected to win N500,000 each, 10 customers will win N1 million while, the luckiest will smile home with a brand new car.

Skye Bank Wins Award for Fight against Electronic Fraud Skye Bank Plc said it emerged “The Most Committed Watch Listing Bank in Nigeria” out of four corporate awards that were up for grabs at the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) Annual Dinner and Awards which took place in Lagos recently.

This was confirmed in a survey administered by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in conjunction with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBBS).

The award, which is in recognition of efforts of the banking industry in the fight against electronic fraud, according to a statement, was presented to

the institution “with the most efficient and robust system for tracking all forms of electronic fraud and arresting perpetrators for prosecution.”

The challenge of securing the Nigerian Payments System will always be a daunting task as with the ease of payment, comes greater adoption, and with increased adoption, the lure of cybercriminals who seek to convert either digital asset or resources or both to their own, becomes even greater.

Speaking at the event, NeFF Chairman, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, who is also the Director, Banking and Payment System in CBN, explained that, “an effective fight

against fraud is not without robust awareness program; not only for members of the public, but also for staff of organisations that operate within the payment space.”

He further stressed the importance of starting the awareness program in 2017, “as this would help the industry reduce cost of fraud through increased vigilance and detection abilities”, he said.

On the credibility of the process that led to the emergence of Skye Bank as the winner of the award, “the CBN in collaboration with NIBBS carried out a survey to rate the performance of all Banks in the fight against electronic fraud.

Phillips Consulting Unveils Web-jurist Award Winners Phillips Consulting has announced winners of its annual Web-Jurist Awards.

According to a statement from the organisers, in the banking sector, Ecobank’s website emerged overall winner, followed respectively by Wema Bank and Zenith Bank.

Glo was the overall winner in the telecommunications sector, with MTN and Etisalat coming second and third. The website of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was adjudged to be the overall best

federal government parastatal website, with the National Communications Commission and the Nigerian Customs Service making up the top three.

Also, AIICO Insurance, WAPIC Insurance and Axa Mansard came first, second and third respectively in the Insurance sector. Oyo State won in the state government category, defeating Osun and Bauchi States.

“The winners emerged following a detailed evaluation of the websites of 80 federal

government parastatals, 18 commercial banks, 47 insurance companies, 36 state governments and 4 telecommunications outfits. These websites were assessed on the bases of aesthetics, technical features, website content, customer experience, website performance, website accessibility and use of social media, a newly introduced criterion.

Banks were assessed on an additional criterion: the range of financial services available to their customers online.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JUNE 2016 Broad Money (M2)

21,684,965.22

-- Narrow Money (M1)

9,125,933.16

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,379,187.93

---- Demand Deposits

7,746,745.22

-- Quasi Money

12,559,032.07

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,105,663.47

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

14,579,301.76

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

24,318,143.03

---- Credit to Government (Net)

2,893,190.01

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

5,004,677.26

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

-2,111,487.25

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

21,424,953.01

--Other Assets Net

-9,738,841.27

Reserve Money (Base Money)

5,370,199.87

--Currency in Circulation

1,684,725.89

--Banks Reserves

3,685,473.98 • Source - CBN

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Price (N)

Buying Price(N) 1,660.29

1,685.29

1,000.00

11,002.32

11,326.67.11

Stanbic Balanced Fund Stanbic IBTC NEF

Selling Price

Stanbic SIBond

20

120.47

120.47

Stanbic IBTC Ethical

1

1.10

1.13

Stanbic IBTC GIF

142.90

143.38

UBA Balanced Fund

1.2563

1.2493

UBA Bond Fund

1.3443

1.3443

UBA Equity Fund

0.8205

0.8074

UBA Money Market Fund

1.1510

1.1510

ARM Aggressive Growth Fund

N13.0544

N13.4480

ARM Discovery Fund

N288.2515

N296.9425

ARM Ethical Fund

N22.5268

N23.2060

ARM Money Market Fund

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

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT 21 DECEMBER 2016 The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $52.25 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $51.99 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

35

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Another Negative Year as Stock Market Sheds 6.2% in 2016 Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie The Nigerian stock market went down by 6.17 per cent in 2016, making it the third consecutive decline as economic headwinds affected investors’ participation in the market.

However, the decline in 2016 is lower that what was recorded in 2014 and 2015

when the market dipped by 16.1 per cent and 17.4 per cent respectively.

Specifically, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index fell from 28,624.25 at the beginning of the year to 26,874.62 translating to a decline of 6.17 per cent.

The market has suffered from low patronage due to many factors including

T H E

unfavourable policies, devaluation of naira among others. Although the market rebounded in the last two months of the year, that positive performance was not enough reverse the losses recorded in the earlier months.

Some stakeholders had last week explained the poor performance of the market in 2016. For instance, the Manag-

N I G E R I A N

ing Director of APT Securities and Funds Plc, Garba Kurfi, said the market has never in the past 25 years experienced three consecutive years of decline.

“Most of the stocks are in their lowest prices of over 15 years or even more. The foreign investors that used to patronise the market with over 50 years turnover have moved

STO C K

elsewhere. However, once the recession is over, hopefully, by next year, the market will also improve,” Kurfi said.

Founding member of Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, said the market is always the reflectors of every nation’s economic indicators and since we are in recession, we couldn’t have performed

E XC H A N G E

better. He noted, however, that we may be on the way out of the woods.

To Mr. Adeniyi Adebisi of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), the stock market has lived up to its major characteristic of price fluctuation, noting that in 2016 the market experienced more of ‘downs’ than ‘ups.’

36

mondAY, jAnuArY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

FMDQ OTC Admits Vetiva S&P Exchange Traded Fund Goddy Egene The FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange last week listing an Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigerian Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fundon its platform. A total of 10 million units of the fund were admitted.

With the due approval of the FMDQ Board Listings, Markets and Technology Committee, the VS&P ETF, becomes the second fund to be listed on the OTC Exchange, following the Greenwich

PlusMoney Market Fund.

The OTC platform said it remained unyielding in its mandate to revolutionise and promote the development of the Nigerian financial markets.

The OTC Exchange is strategically positioned to boost the development and competitiveness of the markets under its purview. In the fixed income market, specifically, FMDQ provides a most reliable platform for the registration, listing, trading and valuation of debt securities.

“The VS&P ETF, will,

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

as part of the benefits for securities listed on FMDQ’s platform, be availed global visibility through the OTC Exchange’s corporate website and the FMDQ-Bloomberg E-Bond Trading System.

The listing of the VS&P ETF will serve to drive increased confidence in the possibility of the nation’s investment climate, and the Fund will undoubtedly enjoy the prestige provided by FMDQ’s listings and quotations service,” the exchange said.

According to FMDQ, looking ahead into 2017,

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 29-Dec-2016, unless otherwise stated.

it will remain committed to impeccable delivery of its mandate, leveraging on, as it must to ensure success, the concerted and collaborative efforts of its stakeholders, to support economic development pertinent to the resuscitation, where applicable, and growth of the Nigerian financial markets.

FMDQ recently quoted Access Bank Plc N8.45 billion Series 1, N4.22 billion Series 2 and N22.33 billion Series 3 Commercial Paper Notes under its

N100 billion Commercial Paper Programme and the UACN Property Development Company Plc N2.27bn Series 2 and N4 billion Series 3 Commercial Paper Notes under its N24 billion Commercial Paper Programme. These quotations came on the heels of the recent listing of Wema Funding SPV Bond and the Sterling Bank Commercial Paper Programme These quotations bring the count of securities admitted onto the FMDQ platform this

year to a total of 15.

Some market analysts said the time to market of these securities lays credence to the efficiency of the FMDQ processes vis-à-vis the approving authority of the platform.

According to FMDQ, Access Bank Plc and UPDC Plc have undoubtedly joined the host of other corporates and commercial entities to benefit from the uniqueness and value-add provided by the platform’s listings and quotations service.

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 126.84 Nigeria International Debt Fund 222.33 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 127.89 16.45% 223.76 11.09% info@acapng.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.70 13.16% ammf@aiicocapital.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

100.00

18.62%

enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Bid Price 12.38 288.91 22.45

Offer Price 12.75 297.62 23.12

Yield / T-Rtn 1.57% 3.37% 1.81%

1.00

1.00

17.06%

investmentcare@axamansard.com Bid Price 105.46

Offer Price 106.20

Yield / T-Rtn 5.83%

1.00 1.00 15.22% investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Bid Price 2.14 9.20 83.49

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 2.20 5.34% 9.43 -6.66% 85.63 2.93% invest@fbnquest.com

Bid Price 1,081.49 111.34 100.00 $104.39 $103.65

Offer Price 1,082.70 112.12 100.00 $104.63 $103.89

Yield / T-Rtn 5.49% 5.64% 15.26% 7.95% 7.21%

114.64

13.88%

113.11

fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Bid Price 0.92 2.57

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.93 1.65% 2.57 10.42% coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com

Bid Price 2,182.13

Offer Price 2,206.76

Coral Income Fund 2,098.04 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 0.30%

2,098.04 10.89% enquiries@investment-one.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund

1.00

1.00

15.86%

Vantage Balanced Fund

1.68

1.69

2.84%

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 12.89% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,009.52 1,009.52 0.95% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: www.meristemwealth.com ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 9.65 9.73 -1.40% 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 1.05 1.07 6.71% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.36 10.47 4.14% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 15.09% 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 109.19 109.57 6.99% 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 10.22% 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 1,830.79 1,841.04 9.01% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 153.74 153.74 4.53% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.77 0.78 3.33% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 186.72 186.72 10.04% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 130.54 132.26 -3.50% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.38% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,602.07 7,701.15 5.76% 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 8.76% United Capital Bond Fund 1.22 1.22 16.32% United Capital Equity Fund 0.66 0.67 0.11% 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 9.80 9.97 2.65% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.11 11.22 -2.98% Zenith Income Fund 17.15 17.15 6.90%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.58 123.39

3.99% 6.51%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

8.84 76.15

8.94 77.58

-7.68% -8.50%

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

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS

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

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

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

2.70 6.96 12.07 15.61 127.80

2.74 7.04 12.17 15.81 129.80

18.03% 8.86% -2.62% -18.64% -

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

T H I S D AY MONDAY JANUARY 2, 2017

37

38

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

CITYSTRINGS

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

Enugu Cleric Spreads the Christmas Cheer Despite the biting economic hardship, thousands of residents in the Southeast smiled home recently with all kinds of gifts ranging from cars, household items to foodstuff donated by an Enugu-based cleric, Bishop Ginika Obi, writes Christopher Isiguzo

Some of the bags of rice and tubers of yam distributed to people

"T

here is no better way to celebrate this Christmas.

For me and my family, this is the best yuletide ever. I merely came here to try my luck when I heard that Bishop would be giving out gifts to people. When it all started, I saw people going home with cows, goats, chickens, and even household items but I prayed fervently to my God and told him clearly that I want to go home with a car as that will go a long way in removing what has become a reproach in my family. We have seen poverty, experienced poverty to the extent that even the poor call us poor people in Isiala Ngwa where I come from."

The above words best captured the expressions of 68-year-old Mrs. Uche Nwosu, one of the beneficiaries of a car during the end-of-year programme/covenant day of the City of Liberation and Comfort International Ministries, a Pentecostal Church with Bishop Ginika Obi as its founder and general overseer.

Obi is also the initiator of the BGO Foundation, a non-governmental organisation with the sole aim of empowering people from different walks of live.

It was indeed one event that would remain indelible in the minds of the residents of not just Enugu but the entire five states of the South-east as the Pentecostal cleric splashed gifts worth over N100 million to thousands of people, the first of its kind in this part of the country.

The gifts which included about 20 cars of different types including jeeps, Honda Odyssey, Sienna etc, cows, household items like refrigerators, flat-screen televisions, washing machines, pressing boards, bags of rice, tubers of yam and chickens among others were handed over to the people who gathered from different states within the zone. There were two lorry loads of yams and bags of rice each.

The scene at the headquarters of the church located along the Ugwuaji end of Enugu/ Port Harcourt expressway on Sunday when the event took place, was indescribable as it was more like a pilgrimage of some sorts, with the young and the aged falling on themselves to be part of the all important religious event. Coaster buses conveyed people from Umuahia, Aba, Nsukka, Owerrri, Orlu, Okigwe, Abakaliki, Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi, Ohafia and other adjourning cities and vil-

God gives us anything we are returning to Him. He has so much blessed me and my family, and the best way to appreciate God is to bless people's lives

lages as tens of thousands of people not just members of the church thronged the place in search of 'special blessings'.

Though, majority of beneficiaries got the gifts through the process of raffle draws, those within the ages of 50 - 80, both men and women, as well as pregnant women got most of the items without going through the draw process.

THISDAY checks revealed that it cost only a thousand naira for anybody to buy the lottery ticket and qualify to try his luck if he or she can become an owner of any of the luxury cars.

It was observed that the crave to win any of the cars was the major reason why the worship service at the Church's headquarters was filled with both members and non members of the church.

It was also observed that the selling of the tickets even continued while the Bishop was conducting Sunday prayers preceding the lottery session, which was held after service.

A lot of people scrambled for the lottery ticket at the cost of one thousand naira per ticket barely few minutes to the raffle draw.

Speaking before the commencement of the two-day event, Bishop Obi said God called him in 1998 to liberate mankind and in his resolve to key into the demands of his assignment, he decided to work for the emancipation of the people through the foundation.

"God gives us anything we are returning to Him. He has so much blessed me and my family, and the best way to appreciate God

is to bless people's lives," he said.

He urged religious leaders to imbibe the spirit of giving as they are called to cater for both spiritual and physical needs of the people.

He dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the country was headed for a disaster, insisting that despite the present economic situation, the future of Nigeria remains bright.

He therefore urged Nigerians to join hands and pray for their leaders. He also appealed to the leaders at all levels to ensure that the general welfare and well-being of the people remained uppermost in their hearts.

"Thank God for everything, the crowd am seeing here today indeed marveled me, I know God has been doing it, He will do even more. What we are doing, He's the person that laid this foundation, he has been providing for his people and he will provide more. It's not mainly a church, it’s an inspiration from God, God inspired me and said I should help men, comfort them, lift them from poverty to prosperity, that's what am doing," he said.

He also took time to challenge other ministers of the gospel to devise ways of investing in people and not just taking their tithes and offerings, noting that most of the people who come to church do not just do that for spiritual reasons but equally need other positive impacts on their lives.

"You think all these people who come to church just do that for spiritual reasons, most of these people come for other reasons. The

39

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

CITYSTRINGS

One of the car winners, Mrs. Nwosu (middle) dancing around with friends

Bishop Obi...a cheerful giver

Some of the cars Bishop Obi gave out to people

church ought to have answers to virtually every question, the church should have solutions to problems of mankind. Collection of tithes and offerings is very much in order but we also need to see through their physical, spiritual and psychological needs. This is exactly what we are doing today," he said.

The Ihiala-Anambra-born preacher further disclosed that between July 2016 till date, his foundation had given a total of 280 cars, built 38 houses for different people apart from offsetting the rents of hundreds of people from across the five states of the South-east.

"What they contribute has nothing to do with what I’m giving them. God did this in the bible, when He said get me five loaves of bread and two fishes, and he prayed and fed the people. The ministry God has given to me has indeed changed lives, this one is one of the ministries of Christ. My goodwill can never be quantified. People give me money in millions and I give back to the society.

Nobody has ever done what I’m doing on earth, I've built over 38 houses for different people, 280 cars have been given out from July till now, so, it’s God at work. We mobilise people, pay for their shops, equip their shops, change people's lives, tell me who has done it. In every service, we spend millions to change lives.

"I'm a giver and I tell God, as am giving provide more so that more people can benefit, God first gave to us, we are only giving a

little back," he said.

Some of the car beneficiaries who spoke with journalists including, Ozoemena Chukwuka, Onyeka Igwesi and Ruth Obi expressed delight for the gesture, praising the Bishop for his broad mindedness.

Onyeka Igwesi who specifically got a Siena Toyota car noted "I simply came to be part of the covenant service and was encouraged to obtain a raffle draw here for only one thousand naira and now I've become a proud owner of a car. This is God at work and I’m so grateful to Him and equally appreciative of the man of God. You can see how excited we are here, to God indeed be the Glory."

On his part, another lucky winner of a

I've become a proud owner of a car. This is God at work and I’m so grateful to Him and equally appreciative of the man of God. You can see how excited we are here, to God indeed be the Glory

Cows and goats donated to people freeely

Bishop Obi presenting car documents to Mrs. Uche Nwosu

cow, Ude Mmadu said he would sell the cow and use the money to pay for a shop in his village by January, noting that he had

been saving for the shop before attending the service.

"People may be seeing a cow, I am seeing money here because I needed about one hundred thousand naira to complete the payment of a shop in my village in Okigwe.

I'm super happy to have been selected as a lucky beneficiary of the goodwill of the bishop, my prayer is that the good Lord will replenish his pocket," he noted.

Another lucky winner of a plasma television, Ugochi Nzekwe could not hide her joy as she praised God for raising a man in this period of recession to wipe the tears of many.

"See how people are going home with bags of rice, tubers of yam, live chicken, frozen chicken, live goats, cars, pressing boards, tissues, all manner of gifts in this period of dryness. Yes, as Christians, we are made to know that when others are crying, we shall be rejoicing, when there is a casting down, for us, it’s a lifting up, we never knew it would come in this manner, may God be praised. This is unprecedented. With this, the celebration can now begin, we will fly into 2017 with joy and little regards to the recession in the country," Nzekwe noted.

The Bishop while bidding the people farewell at the end of the event in the second day assured that his foundation would hold another covenant service before the end of first quarter of 2017 so as to effectively launch the people to greater harvest of God's blessings.

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MONDAY JANUARY 2, 2017 T H I S D AY

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MONDAY JANUARY 2, 2017 T H I S D AY

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MONDAY JANUARY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Night Club Attack: Manhunt after Dozens Killed in Istanbul

Police in Istanbul are hunting for a gunman who opened fire at a well-known nightclub, killing at least 39 people.

The attack happened at Reina nightclub early on Sunday, as hundreds of revellers marked the new year.

Officials say some 15

foreigners were killed, including citizens from Israel, France, Tunisia, Lebanon, India, Belgium, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The attacker left his gun before “taking advantage of the chaos” and fleeing the scene, Turkey’s PM said.

Binali Yildirim also confirmed the gunman

DR Congo: Kabila is Yet to Sign Deal to End His Rule A deal has been signed to end Joseph Kabila’s 15-year rule in the Democratic Republic of Congo - but the president himself has yet to add his signature.

Senior ministers backed the deal, which would see Mr Kabila stay on until elections are held by the end of 2017.

The country has faced a crisis since Mr Kabila failed to step down earlier in December, when his mandate expired.

Elections should have been held in November, and dozens of people have died in protests since then.

After the electoral commission cancelled the scheduled vote, citing logistical and financial difficulties in organising them, Mr Kabila formed a 74-member transitional government and said elections would be held in 2018.

Representatives of Mr Kabila and his long standing rival Etienne Tshisekedi have been locked in negotiations brokered

by Catholic Church leaders since 8 December.

Neither man has yet signed the final deal, but representatives of both sides said the two men would put their names to the transition agreement later.

In the meantime, members

of the government and the opposition signed it in the final minutes of 2016.

“Today, we are happy to head up a political compromise,” said Archbishop Marcel Utembi, who heads the church body which mediated the talks.

Under the deal, Mr Kabila is to lead a transitional government until elections which must be held by the end of 2017.

During that period, an opposition politician will serve as prime minister.

The document states that Mr Kabila will not seek a third term.

The constitution bars him from doing this, but the opposition had feared he might try to amend it to enable him to do.

Archbishop Marcel Utembi sees further challenges ahead.

“It’s one thing to have a political compromise but putting it into place is another,” he said, after the signing ceremony on Saturday.

DR Congo has not had a smooth transfer of power between any leaders since independence from Belgium in 1 9 6 0 .

Mr Kabila took over in 2001 following the assassination of his father Laurent Kabila.

was not dressed as Santa Claus, contradicting earlier reports.

The attack unfolded some 75 minutes into the new year as around 700 people gathered in the waterside Reina club, one of Istanbul’s most upmarket venues.

The attacker shot dead a policeman and a security guard at the entrance before heading into the club, which is popular with celebrities and foreigners.

Eyewitnesses described seeing dozens of bodies lying on the floor. Some revellers reportedly threw themselves into the Bosphorus to escape the carnage.

“Gunshots rang out.

When those sounds were heard, many girls fainted,” professional footballer Sefa Boydas told AFP news agency.

He said people appeared to be crushed as they ran away. “They say 35 to 40 died but it’s probably more because when I was walking, people were walking on top of people.”

At least 69 people are being treated in hospital, officials said, with three in a serious condition.

The motive for the attack is not clear, but suspicion

has fallen on the Islamic State group.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed terror groups “trying to create chaos”. “They are trying to... demoralise our people and destabilise our country,” he said.

The banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said it was not the work of Kurdish groups. They would “never target innocent civilians”, the PKK’s Murat Karayilan was quoted as saying.

Despite there being no official statement about who might be behind this brutal attack, the finger of blame is being pointed at the so-called Islamic State.

In the last two years of attacks in Turkey, Kurdish militants have mostly targeted military forces and police, while IS is known to target civilians.

IS leaders have threatened Turkey and called on their followers to carry out attacks inside the country.

Turkey began a ground operation against IS as well as Kurdish groups inside Syria four months ago.

Earlier, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu confirmed a “manhunt for the terrorist is under way. Police have

launched operations. We hope the attacker will be captured soon.”

Police believed there was only one gunman, he said, although some eyewitness reports mentioned multiple attackers.

Details of those who died are starting to emerge.

The security guard at the entrance to the club has been identified as Fatih Cakmak.

His brother said he narrowly escaped a double bombing three weeks ago, having been on duty when Kurdish militants launched an attack near a football stadium, killing at least 44 people, mostly police.

Here is what we know of the other deaths: •Israel has confirmed Leanne Nasser, 19, was killed while out celebrating with three friends •Three Jordanians are among the dead, Jordan’s foreign ministry says •The family of Lebanese national Elias Wardini say they have been informed of his death. At least one more Lebanese citizen has reportedly died •A French-Tunisian dual national has died, the French foreign ministry

confirms •Tunisia’s foreign ministry said on Facebook that two Tunisians died. It is not clear if one of those includes the French-Tunisian dual national •Belgium’s foreign ministry confirms a BelgianTurkish dual national has died •India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj tweets confirmation of the death of two nationals US President Barack Obama, who is on holiday in Hawaii, offered condolences “for the innocent lives lost” and offered “appropriate assistance”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the “cynical” murder of civilians.

“Our shared duty is to decisively rebuff terrorist aggression,” he said.

Turkey and Russia are working together on efforts to end the fighting in Syria, though they support different sides in the conflict.

Istanbul was already on high alert with some 17,000 police officers on duty in the city, following a string of terror attacks in recent months.

Queen is Feeling ‘Better’ Says Princess Anne The Queen is feeling “better” despite missing a New Year’s Day church service at Sandringham, her daughter Princess Anne has said.

Princess Anne spoke to well-wishers outside the church after attending the service with her father Prince Philip, brother Prince Edward and other royals.

Buckingham Palace said the Queen is “still recuperating” from a heavy cold.

Missing church was a “precautionary measure” in cold and wet weather and there was “no sense of undue concern”.

Twelve days ago the palace said both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had heavy colds and had cancelled their plans to travel to Sandringham on 21 December.

They left for their Christmas

break a day late, travelling by helicopter instead of train.

Prince Philip has since made a full recovery.

The Queen did not attend the Christmas Day service at her Norfolk estate, the first time she has missed the service in many years.

The New Year’s Day service at Sandringham was led by the Bishop of Norwich.

Princess Anne’s husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, who accompanied her to the service, added that the Queen was feeling “not too bad”.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were also absent from the service, after they, Prince George and Princess Ch a r l o t t e s p e n t C h r i s t m a s w i t h K a t e ’s family at Bucklebury in Berkshire.

The remains of the Indonesian ferry were towed back to port in Jakarta

Reuters

Indonesia: Ferry Blaze off Jakarta Kills 23 At least 23 people have been killed and 17 more are missing after a ferry caught fire off the coast of Indonesia.

The Zahro Express ferry was carrying more than 230 people to Tidung island, a resort some 50km (30 miles) from the capital, Jakarta.

Officials said it burst into flames about 1.5km from Muara Angke port in Jakarta, shortly after setting sail.

Reports said many jumped

into the sea. An official told BBC Indonesia that 194 people were rescued.

Nine remain in hospital.

“Fifteen minutes after the boat set sail, people at the back of the boat started making noise,” one passenger told local media.

“Then I saw smoke, there was more and more, the boat was crowded and people were fighting for life jackets.”

Another passenger said thick smoke suddenly filled the cabin.

“All passengers panicked and ran up to the deck to throw floats into the water. In a split second, the fire becomes bigger coming from where fuel is stored,” Reuters news agency quoted the passenger as saying.

The remains of the boat were towed back to Jakarta, where images showed the devastation caused by the blaze.

Reports suggested those on board were Indonesians heading to Tidung, which is part of the

Thousand Islands chain, to celebrate the new year holiday.

A disaster agency spokesman told AFP news agency the ship was carrying more than double the number of people listed on its manifest.

Ferries are a key form of transport in Indonesia, which is made up of thousands of islands.

But safety records are poor, with ferries often overcrowded and poorly maintained

46

monDAY, jAnuArY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

Nigeria’s top 50 stocks based on market fundamentals

29-Dec-16

30-Dec-16

% Change

Capitalisation

EPS

P/E

P/S

Div. Yld

Price/ Book Value

Table 1 Market Statistics Mkt Indicators

01 Dangote Cement Plc

173.99

173.99

0.00%

2,964,877,883,395.95

9.20

18.90

5.22

4.60%

3.96

02 Nigerian Breweries Plc

147.99

142.00

4.22%

1,173,427,640,415.12

4.03

36.68

3.89

2.43%

7.16

03 Guaranty Trust Bank Plc

24.70

24.74

-0.16%

726,950,126,832.80

4.90

5.04

1.81

7.17%

1.48

810.00

810.00

0.00%

642,051,564,120.00

8.81

91.92

3.72

3.58%

20.34

Thisday BGL 50 Index Thisday BGL 50 Market Cap (N'Trillion)

14.75

14.89

-0.94%

463,098,283,343.50

3.91

3.78

0.97

12.20%

0.67

Table 3 Top 5 Gainers

379.99

379.99

0.00%

210,252,385,836.87

-44.58

-8.52

2.71

4.19%

0.53

Stock

07 Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

10.28

10.30

-0.19%

188,633,386,490.20

0.68

15.20

0.32

6.03%

0.30

08 Lafarge Africa Plc

40.95

40.95

0.00%

186,523,229,119.50

-9.39

-4.36

0.87

7.33%

0.92

09 Access Bank Plc

5.87

5.78

1.56%

169,807,193,473.97

2.59

2.27

0.48

9.37%

0.38

10 United Bank for Africa Plc

4.50

4.57

-1.53%

163,257,868,449.00

1.75

2.58

0.49

13.33%

0.38

11 Presco Plc

40.10

40.00

0.25%

159,216,129,504.50

0.03

1,371.42

2.23

3.24%

3.81

12 Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc

15.00

15.00

0.00%

150,000,000,000.00

2.04

7.37

1.07

0.67%

1.27

13 Unilever Nigeria Plc

35.00

35.00

0.00%

132,415,368,750.00

0.69

50.57

1.99

0.14%

14.11

14 Guinness Nig Plc

83.05

80.00

3.81%

125,064,014,013.40

-3.06

-27.16

1.21

3.85%

3.17

15 FBN Holdings Plc

3.35

3.46

-3.18%

120,249,230,853.20

0.21

16.15

0.23

4.48%

0.19

84.43

93.54

-9.74%

109,968,479,526.29

3.31

25.54

0.71

4.09%

2.55

17 Total Nigeria Plc

299.00

299.00

0.00%

101,517,029,263.00

38.02

7.86

0.38

4.68%

4.46

18 Mobil Oil Nig Plc

279.00

290.00

-3.79%

100,606,078,098.00

19.32

14.44

1.11

2.58%

5.43

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

6.11

6.11

0.00%

73,320,000,000.00

1.03

5.95

0.51

8.18%

1.18

21 International Breweries Plc

18.50

18.50

0.00%

60,943,611,680.00

0.02

821.05

2.29

1.35%

5.56

4.70

4.55

3.30%

56,562,708,801.80

-3.15

-1.49

0.22

15.96%

0.36

23 Julius Berger Nig. Plc

38.58

38.58

0.00%

50,925,600,000.00

-2.95

-13.09

0.44

3.89%

2.68

24 Flour Mills Nig. Plc

18.49

18.49

0.00%

48,522,145,587.63

-1.19

-15.50

0.12

10.82%

0.49

25 Okomu Oil Palm Plc

40.17

40.17

0.00%

38,318,564,700.00

4.82

8.33

5.83

0.25%

2.37

0.87

0.86

1.16%

33,687,267,759.75

-0.47

-1.87

0.64

0.00%

0.46

16.41

16.41

0.00%

31,521,384,590.67

3.37

4.87

0.42

6.09%

0.42

28 Fidelity Bank Plc

0.84

0.84

0.00%

24,328,571,981.28

0.39

2.17

0.16

19.05%

0.13

29 Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc

3.89

3.74

4.01%

22,880,451,718.55

0.76

5.10

0.63

3.60%

0.80

30 National Salt Co. Nig. Plc

8.50

8.50

0.00%

22,520,226,213.00

0.85

10.01

1.20

6.47%

3.05

32.00

32.00

0.00%

22,400,000,000.00

2.28

14.01

3.36

3.59%

13.09

32 Sterling Bank Plc

0.76

0.81

-6.17%

21,880,717,775.76

0.29

2.64

0.20

11.84%

0.27

33 FCMB Group Plc

1.10

1.07

2.80%

21,782,981,859.10

0.61

1.80

0.13

9.09%

0.12

34 Wema Bank Plc

0.54

0.50

8.00%

20,830,211,683.74

0.06

9.06

0.41

0.00%

0.44

35 Diamond Bank Plc

0.88

0.88

0.00%

20,381,142,291.84

-0.29

-3.00

0.10

0.00%

0.09

36 Cadbury Nigeria Plc

10.29

10.83

-4.99%

19,326,698,991.60

0.50

20.61

0.69

12.63%

1.89

37 Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig. Plc

15.75

15.75

0.00%

18,835,054,686.00

-2.98

-5.28

0.67

1.90%

2.14

38 Mansard Insurance Plc

1.67

1.71

-2.34%

17,535,000,000.00

0.28

6.00

0.88

2.99%

0.83

39 PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc

14.50

14.50

0.00%

14,500,000,000.00

5.69

2.55

1.01

0.69%

0.39

40 Honeywell Flour Mill Plc

1.30

1.29

0.78%

10,309,256,955.40

-0.40

-3.22

0.21

12.31%

0.31

41 Continental Reinsurance Plc

0.99

0.99

0.00%

10,269,016,868.88

0.42

2.36

0.46

12.12%

0.55

42 Skye Bank Plc

0.50

0.50

0.00%

6,940,150,705.00

-2.93

-0.17

0.04

60.00%

0.07

43 Wapic Insurance Plc

0.50

0.52

-3.85%

6,691,369,126.00

0.18

2.78

0.85

6.00%

0.41

44 Unity Bank Plc

0.55

0.57

-3.51%

6,429,135,868.10

-0.10

-5.37

0.10

0.00%

0.08

45 Cement Co. Of North.Nig. Plc

5.00

5.00

0.00%

6,283,388,830.00

0.22

22.84

0.56

2.00%

0.59

46 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

47 Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc

3.16

3.04

3.95%

5,132,531,250.00

0.15

20.91

0.64

6.33%

0.86

48 UACN Property Development Co. Limited

2.62

2.50

4.80%

4,503,124,986.90

0.30

8.76

1.07

26.72%

0.13

49 AIICO Insurance Plc

0.63

0.63

0.00%

4,366,028,822.40

0.22

2.83

0.15

7.94%

0.43

50 Fidson Healthcare Plc

1.28

1.28

0.00%

1,920,000,000.00

0.24

5.44

0.29

3.91%

0.30

04 Nestle Nigeria Plc 05 Zenith Bank Plc 06 Seplat Petroleum Dev. Co. Ltd

16 Forte Oil Plc.

22 Oando Plc

26 Transnational Corporation Of Nigeria Plc 27 U A C N Plc

31 Cap Plc

TOTAL

8,680,063,258,247.70

TOTAL MARKET CAP

9,246,922,819,355.66

% OF MARKET CAP Annotation - MA* = Simple Moving Average

93.87%

NSE All Share Index NSE Market Cap (N'Trillion)

Open 29-Dec-16

Close 30-Dec-16

Change %

26,782.93 9.22

26,874.62 9.25

0.34% 0.34%

111.11 8.65

111.48 8.68

0.34% 0.34%

Open Close Change 29-Dec-16 30-Dec-16 %

Wema Bank Plc UACN Property Development Co. Limited Nigerian Breweries Plc Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc

0.50 2.50

0.54 2.62

8.00% 4.80%

142.00 3.74 3.04

147.99 3.89 3.16

4.22% 4.01% 3.95%

Table 4 Top 5 Losers Stock

Open Close Change 29-Dec-16 30-Dec-16 %

Forte Oil Plc. Sterling Bank Plc Cadbury Nigeria Plc Wapic Insurance Plc Mobil Oil Nig Plc

93.54 0.81 10.83 0.52 290.00

84.43 0.76 10.29 0.50 279.00

-9.74% -6.17% -4.99% -3.85% -3.79%

Market closes week positive as Index gains 0.34% Market pulse on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today – Friday, December 30th, 2016, last trading day in 2106 ends the stock market on a positive note compared to the previous day as market closed green due to bargain hunting by investors.

This was further highlighted by positive performance from the NSE Subsectors: Consumer Goods (Save Banking, Insurance and Oil & Gas). Trading activities increased in volume as 156.80 million shares worth of N1.60 in 1,714 deals exchanged hands today. This is an increase from the 117.40 million shares worth of N877m in 2,392 deals which exchanged hands on Thursday. Topping in volume terms are: Omoluabi Savings And Loans Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc, while Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc ended trading as the most active stocks in value terms.

The All Share Index (NSEASI) closed positive with 0.34% (+91.69) increase to close at 26,874.62 from 26,782.93 the previous trading day. Market Capitalization appreciated in tandem to N9.25trillion from N9.22 trillion of prior trading day. Similarly, the Thisday BGL 50 Index followed suit with an increase of 0.34% to close at 111.48 from 111.11 recorded at the end of the previous trading day, while its market capitalization stood at N8.68 trillion from N8.65 trillion of the previous trading day.

A total number of 23 stocks gained on the bourse today while 16 stocks declined, leaving 60 stocks unchanged. Wema Bank Plc merged as the day’s toast of investors as it topped the Thisday BGL 50 Index gainers’ list with a gain of 8.00% to close at N0.54 per share. It was followed by UACN Property Development Co. Limited with a gain of 4.80% to close at N2.62 per share. Others on the gainers list include: Nigerian Breweries Plc, Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc and Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc; while on the decliners’ list, Forte Oil Plc re-emerge with a loss of 9.74% to close at N84.43 per share. It was followed

by Sterling Bank Plc with a loss of 6.17% to close at N0.76 per share. Others on the decliners list include: Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Wapic Insurance Plc and Mobil Oil Nig. 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

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017• T H I S D AY

47

NEWSXTRA

Unilorin Dismisses Fraud Allegation against VC, JAMB Registrar Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The University of Ilorin has rejected the fraud allegation made against its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali and his predecessor, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, who is now the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), describing it as “largely empty and merely rehashed to make it look real.”

Some officers of the Southwest zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had last Wednesday submitted a petition at the Ibadan office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in which they accused the two dons of pension fund fraud running into N2.5 billion, and called on the anti-graft agency to institute a probe into the matter.

But reacting to the allegation at the weekend, the management of the university dismissed the petition, saying those behind it “are enemies of progress who are aghast at the pace of progress and continual giant strides being recorded by the university, where transparency, honesty, accountability and due process are the key elements of administration.”

In a statement issued on behalf of the management, the institution Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun, said there was nothing new in the allegations contained in the petition, adding that

“the same fellows made the same allegations in August this year while shamefacedly kicking against the nationally acknowledged well-merited appointment of Prof. Oloyede as the Registrar of JAMB. And of course, no one took them seriously, as even President Muhammadu Buhari, who is well-known for his zero tolerance for corruption, is not unaware of the due diligence credentials of the successive administrations of the University of Ilorin.”

Debunking the allegation of fraud in pension fund deductions, Akogun said: “What the administration of Oloyede did was what the law and ICPC directed all universities to do-that instead of the 7.5 being hitherto deducted from the basic salary of workers, the deduction ought to have been from the gross emolument.”

He pointed out that it was that clarification that has since guided the university management’s action,” adding that the deductions were being credited to the Pension Fund Administrators’ (PFA) accounts as and when due till the government started long ago the deduction from source.

“It is also fallacious to allege that the university management did not carry the unions along in all these. The truth is that management met with the unions on the new development and all parties agreed that the

PFAs should be credited the full 7.5 per cent. It was the initial under-deduction that was spread for payment over a 24-month period. This had since been concluded a couple of years ago.”

On the charges for the students’ PC tablets and other miscellaneous items, the university spokesman said: “These are statutory charges for extra facilities provided for the academic comfort of our students to make teaching and learning very conducive for them.

“It is on record that the University of Ilorin pioneered the one-student-one-iPad initiative in the country during the 2013/2014 academic session, and this policy has been steadily executed seamlessly since then.”

He however explained that the vagaries of the national economy, which led to the fluctuation of the national currency against the dollar led to the marginal increase in the cost price in the current 2016/2017 academic session, as the tablets are not produced in the country.

He pointed out that “this is also responsible for the slight delay in distributing the equipment to the students,” disclosing that “the university management already has a firm commitment from the supplier to deliver the remaining tranche of the tablets early in the new year, for onward distribution to the students concerned.”

Describing the petitioners as “disgruntled elements and remnants of the notorious 49,” Akogun pointed out that their activities within the last one year had been targeted at

disrupting the well-known uninterrupted academic calendar of the university.

He said they had tried all the tricks in the book to infiltrate the students’ body and brainwash them to take unconstitutional action against the management, pointing out that the plots have so far failed, “and this probably accounts for the resort to the longknife tactics of crying wolf, where there is none, just to blackmail the progressive administration of the better by far university.”

Melaye: Nobody Can THANKSGIVING MASS WITH THE PEOPLE State Governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (second left); some Reverend Fathers; newly sworn in Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Undermine My Leadership Enugu Mr. James Ikeyi (third right); and his wife, Adachukwu, at a thanksgiving mass at Our Lady of Mount Calvary Monastery, Awhum, Udi Local Government Area of the state....yesterday. in Kogi APC Don’t Leave APC, Use Internal Mechanism to Solve Your Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja I got into office, I have not Problems, Dep Speaker Advises Politicians done anything and that I do Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West senatorial district in the National Assembly has said nobody can undermine his leadership in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State as he debunked all negative insinuations against his person and his position in the APC. He made this known in his country home at Ayetoro-Gbede at the weekend during the distribution of empowerment materials worth over N200 million where many of the constituents benefited.

“There are so many unnecessary comments and rhetoric; some elements have been making noise around. As far as APC is concerned in the state, we are in charge, and I am not boasting.

“The governor of Kogi State cannot undermine me in the state neither can anybody undermine me in APC in the state, and I say this with every sense of responsibility and humility.

“I am the only member of the Board of Trustees of APC in the state, even the state governor is not a member, and I am also a member of the executive council of the APC.” He added: “They said since

not even have a secretariat; that is fallacious as I am the only Senator in the Federal Republic of Nigeria who is actually building a permanent structure as an office complex that will be inaugurated in few days from now.”

He added that people were merely wasting their time talking about factions, support or no support, saying when they get to that bridge, they shall cross it.

He said before now, he was a colonel, stating that now, he is a general, and no small politician can fight him, as he admonished his followers not to be perturbed by what they hear because he does not blab or talk for nothing.

The senator opined that his motion for the conversion of Kabba College of Agriculture to a Federal University of Agriculture has passed through the first reading, adding that very soon, the school would be sited in Kabba.

He said since he was elected senator, he had attracted constituency projects of two blocks of classroom each in the seven local government area as well as two town halls in Kogi and Ijumu Local Government Areas.

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Sulaimon Lasun, has advised politicians in the All Progressives Congress (APC) allegedly planning to form a mega party with members of other political parties in the country to have a re-think and used the internal mechanism within the party to address their ill-feelings.

He said the alleged threat of such politicians would not take them anywhere in the political system of the country.

Lasun who spoke with journalists in Ilorin at the weekend on the state of the nation, however, said: “The ruling APC government has opened up government functions for Nigerians than in the past and the populace should take advantage of this gesture to continue to support the government in the task of building a virile nation rather than threatening to go to another party.”

According to him, “Mega party, minor party or major party, the best thing in democracy is a virile opposition.

“When you don’t have virile opposition, then it is very difficult to know whether you are doing the correct thing or not.

“And APC as a government is doing its best now, and all Nigerians can now see that the APC meant well for them.

“Nigerians now know what is going on in the NNPC, FRSC, EFCC, among other agencies as there is no secrecy in the art of governance unlike the past administrations.

“Also, the National assembly has opened its legislative functions to the people of the country especially in the area of budget, representations of bills and making of laws for Nigerians.”

He added that “so whether some politicians in the APC are allegedly planning to form a mega party or minor party, we are not threatened at all.

“And don’t forget that in politics, it will take time to take root and if anybody feels aggrieved that he had been maltreated in the party, then they should follow what they used to preach to us-internal peaceful resolutions within the party.

“If anybody is trying to leave the party, they should not forget what they used to be telling us that if there is a problem in the party, we should stay within the party and sort it out amicably if at all they are planning to leave and form another party.

“And I want to add that if such politicians fail to do this, and they wanted to leave APC to form another party with other politicians, then we are waiting to face one another when the time comes.

“APC had recorded a sound electoral victory in Edo State, we also did well in Ondo State.

Ekiti and Osun States elections are coming up

come 2018 and all of us have come of age and there is nobody that can threaten any politicians again in the country.

“Whether mega party or minor party, nobody is interested in such move again. Democracy is about everybody and political party is an open market where there is free entry and free exit so if you are dissatisfied with your party, you can go and form your own party with another people because APC had done well and the party would continue to be stronger in the political life of the country.”

The deputy speaker however lauded the gallant success of the Nigerian military for taking over o Sambisa forest formerly occupied by the Boko Haram terrorists.

He said the activities of terrorists had affected the socio-economic development of the country and with this defeat, there is no doubt that socio economic development of North-east would be improved.

48

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017• T H I S D AY

NEWSXTRA

Defection Hits Akwa Ibom PDP, Founding Member, Others Decamp to APC Okon Bassey in Uyo The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have further been depleted as the founding member of PDP in the area, Chief Samingo Etukakpan, has decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with his followers and loyalists.

The event which took place at the APC Secretariat along Oron Road in Eket was like a jamboree causing gridlock as hundreds of vehicles lined both sides of the road from Uqua junction to Mobil Airstrip, making vehicular movement nearly impossible.

In his declaration, Etukakpan from Ward 4 Urban Eket, said he was sick of battling to save the PDP he co-founded when

it was obvious that the former ruling party was sinking.

According to him, as an elder of the PDP since the year 1998, and Secretary of Eket chapter of Elders’ Forum of the party, he had done everything humanly possible to re-direct the party to its original ideology of internal democracy but to no avail.

“I have worked for the party for the past 18 years without

any dividend of democracy for myself and my followers, of over 500 of them who you can now see here.

“They are decamping to the APC with my support because they too have realised that PDP has failed them and as expected, they cannot remain in such a failed party where impunity and selfishness reign supreme.”

Etukakpan said he has contributed in no small measure to the growth of PDP in the state, revealing that the party was hijacked some years back by “hawks” who knew nothing about democracy but impunity.

He insisted that the party would not have failed if the “hawks” had allowed the people and founding fathers

to manage it democratically.

Etukakpan pledged to work for the growth of APC in the state to keep its ideology and ensure all his supporters of over 5,000 decamped to APC in order to assist the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari revamp an economy that was bastardised and ruined by the “hawks.”

Ashimolowo Did Not Lose $5m to Ponzi Scheme The Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) has reacted to a recent report in which its Senior Pastor, Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo, was alleged to have lost $5 million in a ‘Ponzi scheme’.

In a statement by two top ranking officers of the church, Messrs Dipo Oluyomi, Chief Executive Officer and James McGlashan, Chief Operating Officer, the church stated categorically that Ashimolowo did not lose N5 million to Ponzi.

It described the article as sensational and deliberately fallacious, totally misleading, libelous and one that has caused damage to Ashimolowo’s reputation as a consequence.

According to them, the sensational headline implies that the pastor lost $5million when in fact he did not and did not make the decision to invest.

Ashimolowo is the Senior Pastor, KiCC and not a trustee and has never been a trustee of KICC. Oluyomi and McGlashan set the records straight thus: “As you are aware from the Charities commission’s report that the decision to invest was solely that of the UK trustees without any

involvement of Ashimolowo.

“Importantly as the report states, it is the trustees who have the responsibility for investing charity funds and not Ashimolowo.

“The investment referred to were made by former trustees on behalf of the charity over seven and a half years ago.

They believed they were acting in the best interest of the charity and they did not and have not benefited personally. Their actions were totally independent and were not influenced in any way

by Ashimolowo.”

The KICC officials strongly urged that appropriate corrections be made to set the record straight and remove the misleading headline.

KICC is a charity whose main aim is to advance the Christian religion in the UK and around the world, as well as provide local communities with a great deal of counselling and support including educational, bereavement and prayer support.

Ashimolowo preaches around the world on behalf of KICC, spreading the word, touching lives, raising champions and the profile of KICC.

Former Defence Chief Wins Good Governance/Leadership Man of the Year Award

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The immediate past Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), Air Vice Marshall Riku Morgan (rtd), has bagged the 2016 Good Governance and Leadership Man of the Year Award.

In a statement released yesterday in Abuja by the Secretary General, Coalition for Good Governance and Leadership in Africa, Mr. Olajide Morolayo, said the ex-intelligence chief clinched the prestigious award for his contributions towards national security in Nigeria and Africa in general.

Morgan was among the team of Nigerian Air Force pilots that ferried fighter air planes from Germany to Nigeria in 1990 in preparation for the ECOMOG air operations.

The ex-intelligence chief has also participated in several operations in Nigeria and outside the shores of this country. He was one of the fighter pilots that fought in Liberia to bring peace to

the country. He also actively participated in the air operations in Sierra-leone to extricate the Sierra Leonians from the grip of Foday Sankoh.

Morgan’s growth in the military was as a result of hard work, deligence, discipline and humility, and he has been tasked at various command levels in the military.

These include: Operations officer as flight lieutenant in the Aggressor squadron (ALPH JET SQUADRON), Yola; Acting Commander Nigerian Air force base, Yola as a Squadron leader, Airport Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos as a Wing Commander.

Morgan who was born 56 years ago, started his primary school education in Wesley Central School, Otukpo in 1967.

After the successful completion of his primary education in June 1973. He admitted into Wesley High School, Otukpo in September 1973 to start his secondary education, which he completed in 1978 as a division one student.

SHOWING AFFECTION

R-L: Wife of the Rivers State Governor, Justice Eberechi Suzzette Wike; Baby of the Year, Egba Jeremiah; and Chief Medical Director of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Prof. Aaron Ojule, during the governor’s wife’s visit to the baby of the year at the hospital in Port Harcourt...yesterday

Immunise Your Children against Killer Diseases, Ambode’s Wife Counsels Mothers Presents gifts to first babies of the year Wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, yesterday urged mothers to always immunise their children against killer diseases, just as she encouraged pregnant women to cultivate the habit of washing their hands to avoid infection.

Mrs Ambode, who spoke during the presentation of gifts to first babies of the year at three different health centres in the State, said it was important for mothers to always ensure that children have the full complement of routine immunisation, while expectant mothers should always attend ante and post natal clinics.

The wife of the governor, during the celebration, presented gifts to first babies of the year at Badagry General Hospital, Amuwo Odofin Maternal and Child Centre and Lagos Island Maternity Hospital.

The annual First- Baby- of-theYear celebration started in 2000

and the Office of the First Lady, through the initiative, celebrates the first baby born from 12 midnight on new year’s eve.

Speaking at the occasion, Ambode said nursing mothers should take advantage of routine immunisation provided by the state government through the primary healthcare centres to protect their children.

She said: “I would like to encourage mothers to always ensure that children have the full complement of routine immunisation available in all the primary healthcare centres across the state, and to also make good use of family planning services.

“Expectant mothers should cultivate the habit of washing their hands to avoid infection and should attend ante natal and post natal clinics regularly,” she noted.

Besides, Ambode commended the state government for

transforming the health sector through massive infrastructure upgrade, personnel training and provision of modern equipment, adding that the new health insurance scheme planned for commencement soon, would significantly boost the state’s health credentials.

She also thanked the corporate organisations that had partnered all the hospitals chosen for the first baby of the year programme and the state government in the pursuit of excellent healthcare delivery, while urging other organisations to step up their corporate social responsibility efforts on worthy causes.

Ambode, however, counseled parents on the importance of birth registration upon delivery.

Earlier in his remarks, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, noted that the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was committed to meeting the

health needs of the residents of Lagos State.

Speaking further, Idris disclosed that the state had recruited 381 officers of various cadres during the year, to improve the health work force, stressing that the state would continue to stimulate quality health service poised to address existing health gaps.

Mum’s packs, baby essentials and other baby gifts were presented to the babies and their parents by the wife of the governor.

Thanking governor’s wife on behalf of other parents, Mrs. Grace Ezekiel, expressed joy and prayed for the first family and the state.

The first baby was delivered in Badagry and Island Maternity at 12:01a.m.simultaneously, both male, weighing 2.8kg and 3.1kg respectively.

Tinubu Greets Nigerians on New Year The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has congratulated Nigerians for witnessing the beginning of a new year.

According to him the past year was of great challenges that will culminate into a better year.

According to a statement by his media office, Tinubu said: “The last

year witnessed a lot of sacrifices on the path of Nigerians. The government of APC is mindful.

It is the necessary pain before the gain. As we move into a new year the pains will ease off in certain areas as the policies and initiatives of the Muhammadu Buhari-led government begin to yield needed relief and dividends.

Tinubu said the country has “begun on a journey and a path of sacrifice not of our choosing but brought upon us all because a few chosen to lead have led without vision, compunction or compassion. “Now that we have a leadership that is committed, focused and people oriented we must align to make Nigeria work.

“We are a people blessed by God and destined to be great.

The path to greatness is often not smooth. But I am confident that Nigeria will arrive and fulfill her manifest destiny. Let us all in 2017 pray and hope for a new county’ where feeding and shelter will not be a challenge and more of our people will find work to do.”

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017• T H I S D AY

49

NEWSXTRA

SON Drives Standardisation to Boost Investment in LPG Cylinder Manufacturing Crusoe Osagie There is a huge potential for stimulating multi-million dollar investments into Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder manufacturing in Nigeria using the instruments of standardisation and quality assurance, the Director General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Osita Aboloma, has said.

Aboloma, who made the

disclosure in Lagos, stated that standardisation is one of the best ways of attracting foreign direct investment into the country and sustaining them by providing confidence and competitive edge to products, quality assurances to consumers and meeting regulatory requirements seamlessly.

He said the pursuit of this objective informed his recent visits to some firms and organisations to preach

Traditional Ruler Abducted, Lady Killed in Kogi Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja The paramount ruler of Ajaokuta (Ohi of Ajaokuta) in Ajaokuta local government council of Kogi State, Alhaji Musa Isah Achuja, has been kidnapped just as a 20-year-old lady was kidnapped and killed by her abductors.

THISDAY yesterday gathered that the traditional ruler was on his way home from Lokoja at the weekend when he was abducted along the Lokoja-Ajaokuta road by gunmen.

Sources close to the traditional ruler said that the abductors have contacted the family and are demanding a ransom of N20 million.

The sources further told THISDAY that the Ohi’s driver and one of his aides who were traveling alongside with him escaped by the whiskers

during the incident.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the Kogi Police Command, Mr. Williams Aya, said the incident was yet to be reported to the command.

He assured that the police will spring into action to ensure rescue of the abducted traditional ruler once the command is abreast with the details of the incident.

In another development, a 20 years old girl name withheld was kidnapped and later killed by some unknown killer.

THISDAY gathered yesterday from a source at A division Police office that the lady was kidnapped in Okene some weeks ago but later found dead last Saturday.

The source further confirmed to THISDAY that some people have been arrested in connection with the killing.

Akeredolu: Ondo will Rise Again James Sowole in Akure The Ondo State Governorelect, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), yesterday said 2017 would mark the beginning of new thinking and new actions in the state and assured the people of a new year of all encompassing positive changes.

Akeredolu expressed this optimism in his new year message signed by his media adviser, Yemi Olowolabi and entitled: ‘Ondo State Shall Rise Again.”

The governor-elect, who said: “We cannot be doing something the same way and expect a different result,” charged the people to support the incoming administration to emplace a culture of integrity in public service.

He also called on politicians and public servants to be prepared to make sacrifices with a view to making the state great again.

Akeredolu said the state has stupendous natural endowments and abundant human resources waiting to be harnessed for the good of the state by selfless leadership.

The governor-elect restated his determination to run a transparent government that is irrevocably committed to developing the state, taking it to enviable heights; notwithstanding the present economic challenges in the country.

He noted that recovery can only be achieved when those in positions of authority make transparency and integrity their watchwords.

Akeredolu lauded the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari, noting that with such wide spread clampdown on corruption in Nigeria, there is no more hiding place for corrupt practices in the country and particularly in the state.

the gospel of standardisation and how it could help to improve their operations for greater competitiveness through strict adherence to standards requirements.

According to him, SON’s stringent procedure for the importation of LPG cylinders has encouraged increase in local production.

The certification of the locally produced cylinders through the mandatory conformity assessment (MANCAP) scheme would provide the necessary assurances to consumers, thus encouraging greater patronage.

“There is stiff monitoring and regulation of cylinders to ensure safety and that consumers have value for their money.”

The SON Director

General stated that the increased patronage would lead to improved capacity utilisation and create more job opportunities for our teeming youths in line with the diversification agenda of the federal government.’’

The LPG cylinder sector has huge potentials for job creation because of the production and ancillary chains. It will also create easy access to cylinders, which would add greater value to the economy and promote a cleaner environment,’’ he said He disclosed that SON was going to call a stakeholders’ meeting with existing manufacturers, importers and prospective ones soon to ensure that the structure and production processes are

put on the path of continual improvement through the diligent application of standards.

Aboloma reiterated the plans of his organisation to replicate the initiative in so many other sectors to encourage more foreign direct investment as according to him, domestic production would help the current administration’s change mantra, especially in achieving economic diversification from oil into agriculture and manufacturing, thus adding greater value to the lives of Nigerians.

According to the SON boss, the government was happy with companies having thousands of Nigerians under their employ, and would

support such companies to do their legitimate businesses without stress.

He was categorical that part of his agenda is to ensure proper monitoring and mentoring of the various sectors through regular inspection visits and suggestion of more effective and efficient ways of contributing to the economic development of the country through proper application of standards.

The SON boss reiterated his Management’s resolve to strengthen the operations of small and medium enterprises, saying with the application of the right standards, products of Nigerian SMEs would become more competitive locally and across borders.

COMPACT FAMILY

R-L: Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; his wife, Olukemi; and their children at the first Sunday of the year thanksgiving service, at the Chapel of Grace, Government House, in Akure...yesterday

Obaseki Promises Speedy Economic Recovery, Prohibits Activities of Private Tax Collectors Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has assured the people of the state of a quick economic recovery in 2017, even as he announced the prohibition of activities of private tax collectors in the state.

Obaseki, who gave the assurance in his new year broadcast, said he would never betray the confidence reposed in him by the people who elected him on September 28, 2016.

He used the occasion of the broadcast to declare: “I would like to use the occasion to express my profound gratitude and appreciation to you for overwhelmingly entrusting me with the responsibility to take charge and to steer the socio-economic and political destiny of our beloved state in the next four years.

“I am aware of the enormity of the trust and confidence you

have reposed in me and by the grace of God Almighty, I will meet your expectations,’’ he said.

Obaseki, who reviewed the socio-economic activities of year 2016 and concluded that although harsh, however, exuded confidence that 2017 would be better for the people of the state.

“As we reflect on 2016, we have every reason to be thankful to God Almighty for preserving us and our country.

2016 was a year of challenges, difficulties, excitements and opportunities.

“Undoubtedly, the economic recession unleashed unprecedented difficulties on individuals, families and communities as no aspect of our economic and social life was spared the severe economic hardship.

“Because of the drop in the price of crude oil and

the vandalism of pipelines; we saw the value of our currency decline significantly.

“We also saw industries and businesses shut down, while people lost their jobs, the level of unemployment has continued to rise; all these have thus led to increase in crime and poverty in the land.

“In spite of the difficulties and gloom, 2016 nonetheless, experienced some bright moments for us in Edo state for which we are grateful to the Almighty.’’

He said Edo people remained the most fortunate, describing the coronation of Oba Ewaure 11 and his election as governor as two memorable events in the annals of the state in particular and the nation in general in 2016.. “ By providence, we had the opportunity to show the world the rich tradition and culture of the Edo civilization during

the coronation of our most revered Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Eware II, the 40th Oba of the Benin Kingdom.

“This generational display of splendor and culture fortuitously coincided with my victory and inauguration as the fifth civilian governor of Edo State,’’ he said.

According to him, “these challenges and changes in the outgoing year, therefore offer us an opportunity to create a society where we can utilise our historic, cultural and logistic advantages for economic prosperity and social stability.

He therefore disclosed that his government would speedily put in place mechanisms, policies and programs that would galvanize the economy of the state and make it haven for investments.

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017• T H I S D AY

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NEWSXTRA

Adamu Seeks Private Sector Investment in Education as Group Donates Science Lab Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, at the weekend in Enugu canvassed for more private sector investments in education insisting that government alone could not effectively address the numerous challenges facing the sector.

Adamu spoke as the Ozara Union USA (OUUSA), a group of indigenes of Ozara community in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, residing in

United States of America, constructed and handed over a science laboratory worth over N25m for Ozara High School.

The newly constructed laboratory is a total remodel of a dilapidated laboratory block that left the secondary school without a functional laboratory.

The minister who was represented by a Director in the Ministry, Chimezie Aguiyi, commended OUUSA for the gesture and asked other groups to borrow a leaf by coming home to equally make their own contributions.

2017 will Be a Defining Year for Nigeria’s Transformation, Says Glo Fully integrated telecommunications operator, Globacom, has expressed optimism that 2017 will be a defining moment in Nigeria’s quest for transformation.

In its new year message to its subscribers and the generality of Nigerians, Globacom enjoined all to leverage the “can do” Nigerian attitude, faith and resourcefulness to overcome the effects of the current recession and make 2017 a more prosperous year.

The company urged Nigerians to also explore all potential opportunities for their personal growth and the overall development of the country.

The new year, Globacom said, offers a fresh opportunity for the country to begin its journey to economic recovery.

The company urged Nigerians to continue to persevere and support government’s efforts to

revamp the country’s economy.

“Being alive to witness the birth of a new year is a germane reason for gratitude. It imbues humanity with a resurgence to grapple with existentialist challenges as well as igniting new streams of energies to face what the new year offers.

A vast majority of Nigerians are optimistic that government would take the country to greater heights this new year,” Globacom observed.

The telecom company said it is committed to promoting the growth and development of the country in the new year through the introduction of cuttingedge telecommunications services, assuring that it would continue to provide high quality voice, data and Short Messaging Service (SMS) during and after the new year h o l i d a y.

19 Akwa Ibom Inmates Regain Freedom

Okon Bassey in Uyo

At least 19 inmates awaiting trial for various civil offences in Uyo prison, Akwa Ibom State, have regained their freedom following a special intervention by the Deputy Chief Whip of the state House of Assembly, Otuekong Nse Essien.

The freed inmates were to pay various fines as punishment for their crimes, but had to be confined to the prison walls as there was nobody to assist them in the payment.

Essien, representing Onna State Constituency, said the decision to intervene was in line with the spirit of the yuletide, asking the prisoners to “go and sin no more.”

According to the lawmaker, the gesture became necessary in order to “help the 19 youths to make meaning out of their lives.”

Essien, who had demonstrated similar gesture to five inmates last year, called on those still in prison to turn a new leaf and pray for God’s benevolence for their freedom to also come some day.

The lawmaker recently conferred with the traditional title of Obong Unwana (the shining light) of his Ikot Akpan Nko community, for his philanthropic gestures, said he would continue to show love to the less privileged in the society.

He stressed the need for reforms that would make prisons to be centres for character molding, instead of “a place where people go with the mindset of punishment.”

He added: “Prisons should be seen as reform centres instead of a place where culprits go to become hardened criminals and cultists.”

Commissioning the science laboratory inside the school premises, the President of OUUSA, Chief Larry Okoh, said the project was in line with the group’s dedication to assist educational growth in the community.

Okoh said: “Primarily, since 2005, we embarked on educational projects.

Initially it was primary schools, we offered scholarships to pupils going over to secondary schools, donated text and exercise books every year.

We built a full primary school block and now we’ve moved to secondary school level. They didn’t have a laboratory but we came

and built this one being commissioned today which cost us over N25 million.

“The next step is to equip the laboratory. We sponsor our projects by donations and we have immediately started to donate for it because the money for the equipments is little compare to what we spent building the laboratory.

“Our motivation is simple. We are Ozalla people living in USA, some of us had our secondary education here, when I visited here as my alma Mata, I discovered that the science laboratory is no more and we had to execute the project.

“This is the job of

government but you cannot wait for government all the time but we hope that the government will come and assist us. About N7m is required to furnish the lab and so we call on the government to step in so that it will be a complete laboratory.”

Principal of the school, Mr. Cammy Onyia, expressed appreciation to the group, noting that it was a prayer answered through OUUSA. He called for further assistance from government, individuals and other groups to fully equip the laboratory with reagents and described the diaspora group as “marvelous OUUSA.”

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state who was represented by his Special Adviser on Diaspora and Special Projects, Mrs. Olangwa Ezekwe said the state government will continue to support the effort of the group and praised the group for their good work of giving back to their community.

Among those who made donations for the equipment of the laboratory include the former minister for information, Mr. Frank Nweke jr, former Governor of Enugu state Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, among others.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON

Wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode (middle), carrying the Baby of the Year, mother of the baby, Mrs. Aderonke Akande (right); Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Healthcare, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga (second right); Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris (second left); COWLSO member, Prof. Ibiyemi Bello, during the presentation of gifts to Baby of the Year, at the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Lagos....yesterday

Wike’s Wife Challenges Men to Contribute More to the Progress of Rivers The wife of the Rivers State Governor, Justice Eberechi Suzzette NyesomWike, has stated that God has positioned men to contribute more to the progress of the state.

Speaking after she visited the Rivers First Baby of 2017, Baby Egba Jeremiah, at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital yesterday, Justice Wike noted that the fact that the Christmas baby of 2016 and the first baby of 2017 are males indicate that men should work more with the state government to transform the state.

She noted that men play pivotal roles in the discipline of children.

According to her, most terrorists and bandits are from broken

families without male figures to guide them.

Justice Wike said: “Last year, it was a boy , this year again it is a boy and God is telling us that the men have to do more as far as the progress of Rivers State is concerned.

“Our men have to work hard especially in the area of achieving the sustainable development goals.”

She noted that men as spiritual heads of their families must take the responsibility of putting things right seriously.

Speaking further, Justice Wike added that 2017 is a special year for Rivers State, when it will celebrate its golden jubilee under the leadership of a jubilee governor.

She said: “This is a great

year. A year when God will show Himself mightily on behalf of Rivers State. Rivers State will be the pride of the nation.

“God will make Rivers State shine. Here in this state, we are flourishing and we shall continue to flourish. We need to keep ourselves ready for the great things that God will do for our state.”

She assured the management and staff of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital that Governor Wike will continue to support the hospital to deliver healthcare to the Rivers people.

Earlier, the Chief Medical Director of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Prof Aaron Ojule, thanked the Wife of the Rivers State Governor for always

investing in the welfare of the less privileged.

Baby Egba Jeremiah was born at 00.50hours on January 1, 2017. He weighed 2.2kilogrammes at birth.

Mother of the 2017 Baby of the Year, Mrs. Rebecca Jeremiah, thanked the wife of the governor for her kindness and support.

The highpoint of the visit was the distribution of gifts and cash to all mothers in the maternity ward.

She was accompanied on the visit by the wife of the Chief of Staff, Mrs. Grace Woke, Commissioner of Women Affairs, Mrs. Ukel Oyagiri, Commissioner of Agriculture, Mrs. Onimim Jacks, Country President of International Federation of Female Lawyers, Mrs. Inime Aguma and wives of commissioners.

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T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017

NEWSXTRA

Construction of Abandoned Second River Niger Bridge will Begin Soon, Says Buhari Group Rallies support for president

Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu

Enugu State chapter of the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) yesterday appealed to Ndigbo to give maximum support to the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in its quest to better their lot.

The organisation specifically observed that the construction of the dilapidated federal roads in the South-east had effectively taken off, adding that very soon, the construction of the abandoned second Niger bridge will take of in earnest.

The appeal was contained in a statement by the group’s Publicity Secretary, Chibueze Eze. In the statement titled: 'Enugu BSO’s 2017 Goodwill Message to Ndigbo,' Eze said: “President Buhari has so far lived up to his campaign promises to the people of South-east zone and is ready to do more if given support.

“We are witnesses to the truism that he neither hates Ndigbo nor is he

going to Islamise Nigeria as advocated by some ethnic merchants.”

Eze applauded the Buhari administration for the progress made on the construction of South-east federal roads and the approval of additional N16billion by the Federal Executive Council to put the construction of the Second Niger Bridge on top gear.

“We had wished that ex-president, His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan had placed the 2nd Niger Bridge on direct federal contract like the Owete Bridge in Benue, instead of PPP model, this could have made the project cheaper and faster.” Eze quipped.

He explained that in just 24 months, the current Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration will achieve what its predecessors in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government failed to do on the roads in the South-east region including Aba-Calabar, Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene, Owerri-Port Harcourt Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt expressways

Buhari in 16 years.

The statement read further: “For the first time in over 16 years, our people in the South-east are happy with the intensification of work along

We will Not Dissapoint Lagosians, Says Ambode Says year’ll present limitless opportunities, true happiness for residents Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, yesterday expressed optimism that the new near would present limitless opportunities and true happiness for all residents.

Ambode, who addressed a mammoth crowd at the grand finale of the 2016 One Lagos Fiesta held at the Bar Beach front in Victoria Island to usher in the New Year, restated his commitment to roll out programmes and policies that will further showcase the progress the state has made so far.

“Our vision remains the same: to create a smart mega city where business and creative opportunity abound; where physical and social amenities are world class; and where lives and property are safe and secured.”

The governor while alluding to the fact that 2017 is significant as Lagos

would mark its 50th Anniversary since its creation, said the State is exceptionally blessed with human and capital resources, which he said his administration will continue to explore to make life more comfortable for the people.

“Welcome to 2017, our anniversary year where Lagos is 50. Lagos, the smallest, the oldest, the richest, most populous and most prosperous state in Nigeria.

“We are undoubtedly the world’s largest and most celebrated black city state. But we also recognize the need to reflect and be strategic and this is why our approach to governance has been low in hype and flop but high in performance by keeping our promises to you at all times. We promise not to dissapoint you in this new year,” he said.

He said the One Lagos Fiesta

which ran from December 24, 2016 to January 1, 2017 was expanded to celebrate the inclusiveness and diversity of the state across the five locations including Ikorodu, Badagry, Agege, Lagos Island and Epe. Ambode also said in recognition of the fact that the youths represent the symbol of the state’s verve and vitality, his administration would provide more platforms of opportunities in 2017.

“Let me personally urge you to take advantage of the various events in this year’s tourism calendar to showcase your skills and talent,” he said.

This year’s One Lagos Fiesta featured a talent hunt show christened ‘Lagos Got Talent’, with youths across the five locations showcasing their talents and skills in the areas of dance, rap, comedy and drama.

Enugu-Onitsha and other federal roads, which were dilapidated and in a state of disrepair for almost two decades.

“The rehabilitation work for instance on the Enugu-Onitsha road is being

handled by RCC Limited, a reputable construction company in the country.

One lane is now fully functional while work has seriously progressed on the other lane.

“Quite unlike in the past when scores of lives were lost in road accidents on that road every Christmas, there was not even one report of accident or carnage along EnuguOnitsha expressway this Christmas. It was the same story along Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway. Our people had a smoother ride home for Christmas this year, instead of the bumpy ride they had in the past,” he said.

Eze described the progress made on the roads so far as “part of the fulfillment of electoral promises made to the South-east by President Buhari.

“President Buhari is now putting it in practical terms. It is no longer promises alone. “Therefore, we urge Ndigbo to use the New Year for stocktaking. They should compare and contrast between what they

experienced in the 16 years of PDP, a party they gave 100 percent support and the 20 months of the Buhari administration” Eze noted: “It is high time Ndigbo count our teeth with our tongues and abandon those ethnic merchants and religious bigots who preach hate only for their selfish interest. These were the few who became millionaires when millions were impoverished.

They never remembered the federal roads in the South-east when our dear brother Senator Anyim Pius Anyim was Secretary to Government of the Federation, when our dear sister Dr Ngozi Ökonjo-Iweala was Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, when we had Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker etc.”

He urged the people of South-east to have hope in the government as it will in the fullness of time definitely fulfill all promises made to the people of the zone.

New Year: We’ll Continue to Pray for Your Success, Monks Tell Ugwuanyi The Monks of Our Lady of Mount Calvary Monastery in Awhum, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State have promised Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of their continued prayers for the success of his administration, the progress of the state and the county in general.

In a remark during a thanksgiving mass at the Monastery in honour of the newly sworn in Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. James Ikeyi, Rev. Fr. Paul, on behalf of the Monks, expressed delight at the leadership style of Ugwuanyi, which he said centres on good governance and fear of God. They applauded the governor for his commitment and interest in the progress of the monastery and equally used the occasion

to congratulate him for his election in 2015, describing him as “the man of the people.”

The monks noted that Ugwuanyi’s visit to celebrate the first mass of the Year was symbolic and a clear indication of his closeness to God and the interest he has in the monastery.

They pledged to continue to offer special prayers for God’s protection in office as well as give him the wisdom, grace, vision and all that are needed to discharge his responsibilities creditably, despite the daunting economic challenges in the country.

“Your Excellency, your coming to Awhum Monastery before and after election has indicated that you have everything in common with the monastery. May the good Lord continue to give you

the strength and ability to discharge your responsibilities.

We would continue to pray for your administration at Awhum Monastery,” the monks said In his remark, Governor Ugwuanyi thanked the monks for their continued prayers and kind words of encouragement.

He also congratulated Ikeyi and his entire family for God’s favour and love on them.

While wishing the people of Enugu State a happy and prosperous new year, the governor pleaded with the monks to remain steadfast in their prayers for him and the entire state “that God will continue to order our steps to take the state to greater heights.”

Ugwuanyi also visited the motherless babies home at Enugu in the spirit of the new year celebration.

a gold chain and gold earrings with a big car.”

Like any true storyteller, her language is filled with evocative descriptions of characters and places, both real and imaginary.

As a published author with two works of fiction under her belt, Peju plays with written and spoken language as much as visual. Wrapture, her 2013 exhibition, combined short stories with vivid sculptural installations.

Each piece incorporated fabrics ranging from Ankara, bold colourful prints commonly associated with West Africa, to stark white cloth - all used to relate compelling visual narratives.

Peju says she is reluctant to be pigeon holed. But there are recurrent themes in her work.

That gender has played such a prominent role in her work is unsurprising to her brother Layi. “She’s always been acutely aware that she was growing up in a country that did not respect women as much as they should,” he explains.

Peju shares anecdotes about what she describes as “gender strife”. “There are some things that make me outraged. The job of an artist is to reflect their times,” she says. “That’s my job. I take that very seriously.”

These days Peju is focused on creating a platform for up-and-coming artists. She laments the lack of grants and support in a country where she says artists’ work is generally undervalued. So she decided to “put her money where her mouth is”, she says, and build an artists’ residency with the capacity to house three artists in an open planned studio, with living quarters and a library.

The energy-efficient structure, which she designed, is located 15 minutes from her home and studio, in the Lekki peninsular.

Next year the first artist arrives and will stay anywhere from two weeks to three months. Peju’s excitement is palpable as she describes the project.

Beyond a desire to simply create, Peju is eager to engage with her time and inspire change.

She describes a fictional character she has created, a child called Sing, who lives in two realities. In one dimension she’s a housemaid who has been taken from her village to work for a family in a city. In the other, she has the ability to fly, travelling to the moon and making friends with shadows. Making a housemaid the protagonist of the story, in a country where domestic helps are among the most disenfranchised people in society, highlights the issue of child labour in Nigeria.

Furthermore, there are parallels between Sing’s ability to span two worlds and the way Peju uses her work to transcend the barriers she encounters, from social and economic to geographic. “When I look at the standard in which I want my work to be, I look at what is happening on a global scale.

The artists who inspire me are those whose works engage in a way that either inform or inspire you, that talk to the true essence of the human in you and I want my work to do the same.”

• Culled from Al Jazeera News

PEJU ALATISE: NIGERIAN ARTIST TRANSCENDING BARRIERS Peju would also regularly visit Jakande, a crafts market in Lagos, where she would spend time with the artisans sculpting objects, painting and piecing together jewellery. This community of creatives provided her training, she says.

The installations she creates today using materials such as cloth, beads, wood, cement and resin are a departure from her early technically skilled paintings. Peju remembers how this transition was originally rejected by what she describes as a self-appointed pseudointellectual art elite in Nigeria.

She was advised by well-known Nigerian art curators to “stick to painting”, she says.

But, today, her interdisciplinary work has garnered attention on a global stage. Bomi Odufunade, director of global art advisory Dash & Rallo, describes her conceptual practice, drawing on symbolism and literature, as “very unique”.

She is part of a growing number of African artists

who are “finding much more interesting and diverse ways of talking about something,” Bomi says.

This growing recognition within the global art world has translated into increasing demand for her work internationally.

According to Giles Peppiatt, the director of Contemporary African Art at British auction house Bonhams, her pieces are well received at their sales. He refers to her triptych High Horses, which explores the societal notion that women are predestined to be mothers and wives. Comprising three sculptures of women sitting on pedestals, faces obscured by vibrantly patterned cloths draped over their heads, it fetched more than £30,000 ($37,954) at auction.

Peju was selected to become the 2016 fellow at the Smithsonian Institute of African Art, which allowed her to explore the history and performance of an ancestral Yoruba masquerade - a festival

originating from southwest Nigeria.

She has been heavily influenced by her ethnicity with references to Yoruba mythology commonly found in her work.

Dressed in paint splattered ripped jeans and a white T-shirt, she shifts positions, sometimes tucking her feet under her as she dips into stories about Yoruba deities and ancient beliefs.

Despite the initial grumpiness when we arrived, she gradually relaxes.

Peju is aware of her tough exterior and intensity, and attributes it to her environment.

“Nigeria brings out the beast in me,” she says. “It’s not easy to get things done, especially in the creative industry.

“You cannot be laid back especially if you’re female. You have to be really aggressive. If a man is giving orders they just do what he says, but for a woman you have to raise your voice a little bit higher for them to take you seriously. Especially if you look small and you’re not a big fat madam who’s wearing

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MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

MAGNUS ONYIBE

GUEST COLUMNIST IBORI AND THE BRITISH LEGAL SYSTEM So as the saying goes, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Another apt African proverb that is relevant here is that people should be careful not to throw stones into the market place as they may be inadvertently is pelting their mother with the stones.

It may be recalled that at a point in Nigerian history, some innocent leaders have been known to be accused of stealing public funds in without evidential proof of the allegation.

Take the case of president Muhammadu Buhari.

When he was petroleum minister, under the regime of the General Olusegun Obasanjo as military head of state in the 1970s, he was accused of stealing N2.8b of Nigerian oil money, but the allegation was unsubstantiated and subsequently Obasanjo who was Buhari’s boss at that time, absolved him of any wrong doing in writing and verbally.

Undoubtedly, in my reckoning, Ibori was just a scape goat who had to be sacrificed by the EFCC to justify all the funding it was receiving from foreign aid agencies like DFID which also had to justify to British people the efficacy of the initiative which had been gulping public funds.

This is why the crown prosecution service, CPS of UK suppressed information about Ibori’s genuinely earned wealth prior to becoming governor and kept claiming that lbori’s wealth is stolen from Delta state Government, yet metropolitan police had combed all records in Delta state and they have been unable to find any missing funds, how much less link same to James lbori’s assets in the UK. So what is being revealed now is that all along, lbori was jailed based merely on conspiracy theory and not hinged on any hard facts.

Meanwhile, contrary to the truth, the DFID has been using the Nigerian media to gorge the unwary Nigerian public with falsehood about lbori.

Although, it’s difficult to believe, but it is the simple truth and very soon it will be proven in UK court as Ibori will seek to redeem his damaged image by proving that prior to becoming governor in 1999, he had bank accounts in the UK linked to oil service firms that rendered services to multinational oil firms like Chevron, SHELL, Mobil in Nigeria, where his firm MER Engineering supplied house boats used in offshore oil locations and rendered other oil/gas related services.

Financial considerations from such legitimate ventures as a businessman enabled him purchase the houses, apartments and cars that he is being accused of acquiring via proceeds from corruption in the UK. That’s in addition to his legitimate income in terms of salaries and allowances as Delta state governor for eight, 8 years.

In fact, what some Nigerians with open mind might discover is that some of the assets being alleged to have been purchased with proceeds of corruption predate his ascension to power as governor in 1999.

And the truth is that Ibori’s net worth including the $4m deposited for the jet (which was part of a business venture of private jet rental) and now in the custody of UK authorities as well as all the real estate assets in the UK marked down for confiscation, is not up to £10m. That’s a far cry from the initial £200m then £50m and the latest £18m figure thrown into the public arena by the DFID and its partners in crime to instigate the masses against lbori.

If the very critical information about lbori’s other sources of income which are very material to the case of money laundering was disclosed, the crown prosecution service, CPS might not have been able to sustain the claim that Ibori had no other source of income than proceeds from delta

state Government purse which they built their case on.

Lawyers would appreciate what l’m taking about and little wonder the prosecutor Sasha Wass from CPS and detective John McDonald from Met Police have been suspended and reassigned from the lbori case following the in-house inquiry forced

by Ibori’s lawyer, Bhadresh Ghohil when he alleged and proved police complicity in the Ibori case through a petition he sent to the British parliament after he was initially rebuffed by the metropolitan police.

In any case, given what has been unraveled, lbori is poised to challenge his unjust sentence via an appeal that would reveal all the inconsistencies inherent in the obnoxious British legal system, which by all intents and purposes, seems hell bent on keeping the so called ‘stolen loot’ of £18 million pounds as the home office secretary Amber Rudd alleged in court during the trial on 21/12/2016, in her failed attempt to further deny lbori, his fundamental right to freedom.

Curiously, Amber Rudd’s desperation to strip Ibori of the purported £18m wealth in the UK exposes the nefarious intent of the nebulous British law on money laundering and here is why?

If indeed the money that was stolen from Nigeria was kept in Britain, what gives British Home office or DFID the right to its ownership? Is it not an evidence of institutionalized corruption?

Does such plot not suggest that people from developing economies are lured to deposit so called ‘dirty’ money in British banks only for the British DFID to blow the whistle on the depositors and trigger legal actions and commence confiscation procedures to strip the victims of their funds and thus enable the British government reap where it did not sow?

It’s a pity that time and time again, politicians from developing world keep falling into the trap by dipping their filthy fingers into public treasury, sending the funds to foreign lands and eventually being disposed of the alleged loot.

The fact is that, l’m as riled and appalled by acts of corruption as president Buhari, ex pm David Cameroon and other men and women of goodwill, but my conscience would not allow me align with the malleable British judicial system that undermines equity and justice to achieve a selfish end.

When Ibori was jailed in 2012, l wrote an article titled “ Ibori: ls There Any Justice In This World?” published on the back page of THISDAY newspaper and other social media platforms.

In it, l argued that the West, especially Britain appear to be applying double standard in its justice system instead of leading by example.

My thesis was that the UK is only paying lip service to corruption by applying double standards rankled the British authorities so badly that it generated a lot of discussions online.

To put in contest how complicit the British judicial and law enforcement system is in global corruption malaise, especially with respect to the city of London, which puts the UK in no moral position to pontificate, one only needs to lift the veil on the ownership of choice real states in London to see the conundrum between global criminality and real estate business, which is the back bone of London and by extension the UK economy.

It’s not by chance that most of the properties in high brow London neighborhoods- Knightsbridge, Saint John’s Wood, Kensington, Chelsea, Hampstead etc. are owned by foreigners from India, Pakistan and Nigeria essential owing to historical ties through colonialism to those countries now known as commonwealth countries.

The transfer of wealth into the British economy through the purchase

and ownership of such assets by foreigners actually help boost the economy and GDP of London, that’s why foreigners are encouraged to acquire the high value properties even if the authorities sometimes have to circumvent the conduct of due diligence process of Know Your Customer, KYC which is mandatory.

If you think such perfidy is impossible, and that l’m probably making up the issues that l have raised, consider how British authorities looked the way while the banks manipulated LIBOR rates over the years and the subsequent punitive measures taken against the London financial system

by United States banking authorities.

Furthermore, efforts can be made by those who care to find out the truth by checking out London’s new mayor, Sadiq khan’s recent efforts to fight corruption by unveiling the layers of legal disguises in the form of Trusts etc. that provide the secrecy over the real owners of choice London properties.

The move ruffled the features of property owners in London and real estate firms to the extent that London Mayor, Sadiq Khan had to put on hold, the scheme which was part of the resolutions from the Anti Corruption Summit organized by then Prime Minister, PM David Cameroon in London. That was the event attended by president Muhammadu Buhari and where then PM, Cameron told Queen Elizabeth that leaders of the two most fantastically corrupt countries in the world were in attendance.

Unfortunately, the reformist Cameron fell on his sword after losing in the BREXIT polls-a referendum conducted to determine whether Britain should remain or exit the European Union, EU. British hypocrisy on corruption was the subject of my article titled “The Anti Corruption Blow Back In London” which was my assessment of the outcome of the anti corruption summit hosted by then PM Cameron and published widely on both mainstream and social media platforms.

My submission in the article is that after some wily developing world kleptomaniacs bring in the stolen funds in the UK financial system, the British Government then bilks the unwary investors from developing countries by supporting their persecutors from their home countries when, not if they are accused of corruption, because from the get go, the British authorities know via Know Your Customer, KYC processes that the funds being brought into their financial system were ill gotten.

In the case of lbori, the British authorities which was on a vendetta mission since he had lived in London previously, was so hell bent on nabbing him, that they had to engage in all manners of cover ups tantamount to working from the answer to the question instead of the other way round to accomplish the objective.

I’m not saying that the entire British legal system is perverted, but l’m peeved that the judicial system with regards to Money laundering laws driven by DFID is so disingenuous that there is a caveat that enables the Government keep a huge chunk of the accused’s funds in the UK after confiscation trial, hence the British home office secretary, madam Rudd was so desperate to keep lbori in prison until he is stripped of his assets, even though he had finished serving his term on 20th December, 2016.

Fortunately, as they say ‘ A Daniel has come to judgment’ hence the presiding high court judge in London, Mrs. Justice Juliet May refused to yield to the pressure mounted on her to accede to the request that lbori be kept in prison beyond his due date for release.

The learned judge put it best when she said, “You don’t hold someone just because it is convenient to do so and without plans to deport him or her”.

One thing l expected Nigerians to be asking the British authorities is

how much of the so called ‘ loot’ from Nigeria is being returned to Nigeria and how much is being retained in British vaults and what’s the justification?

But alas, nobody seem to have asked the British authorities why they looked the other way when the so called looted funds were being transferred to the UK banks when the popular banking rule KYC is supposed to prevent illicit funds from Politically Exposed Persons, PEPs, being stashing away in British banks.

It is simply because it was convenient for them to enjoy the ‘float’ from the funds while the going was good and suddenly get sanctimonious when the heat gets turned on the owners of the funds back home.

Is it not such a shame that the British system gains both ways?

While the money is active in their financial system they gain, when the fund is confiscated, the British authorities keep as much as 50% of the proceeds.

Has anyone asked the British authorities what happened to the huge funds allegedly fund in the London apartment of the late Diepreye Alamiesegha, former governor of Bayelsa state and where is the funds also allegedly recovered from Joshua Dariye, former governor of Plateau state?

Perhaps, the EFCC may be able to give account of the funds, if they were indeed returned by the British authorities to Nigeria and contradict or correct me if l’m wrong on how much was returned and the sum or percentage that was retained in the UK. This is probably part of what prompted president Buhari to, in response to the allegation that Nigerians are frantically corrupt by then PM Cameron, demand that the UK should return Nigeria’s funds still being retained in the UK. President Buhari has similarly expressed frustration about the difficulties that he is experiencing trying to recover hundreds of millions of dollars of the so called Sanni Abacha, former military head of state’s loot particularly from Switzerland the USA etc.

How long will Nigerians and indeed the black man remain in servitude to Britain and the white man in general? From being slave traders that stripped the continent of millions of its youths who were either lost in the tribal wars instigated by Western slave traders or carted away and sold off as slaves to serves as ‘beasts of burden’ in the plantations in the New Found land-now USA; to being colonialists when slave trade was abolished; to the present practice of neo colonialism reflected in their unfair trade agreements/pacts and the use of aid money to circumvent the sovereignty of financially weak countries, Africa has remained a victim.

Honestly, Nigerians who seem to be looking only at the surface of the issue of corruption especially amongst politicians and their opponents, have to search beyond the rich also cry syndrome of gloating over the misfortune of fellow citizens and ask hard questions about how the alleged stolen funds got to overseas banks; what the foreign countries did or did not do to prevent the so called looters like Sani Abacha from making their countries safe havens for the spoils of office and how much was repatriated home after the funds were discovered as well as how it’s being managed subsequently.

In the course of organizing confirmation hearing for Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the EFCC, by the senate of the federal republic of Nigeria, citizens have been regaled of how funds recovered have been unaccounted for by the EFCC leadership.

The first salvos were fired between pioneer EFCC chairman and his successor in office, Farida Waziri who traded accusations on mismanagement

of recovered and donated funds from international organizations supporting the agency. Does that not indicate that even the recovered looted funds are being re-looted?

Instead of pressuring authorities to account for proceeds from corruption that has been recovered, energy is being dissipated on the debate on whether lbori, who was used by his political foes as ‘scape goat’, while using anti Corruption as the cannon fodder, deserves to be given a hero’s welcome by his kith and kin.

So all along, it’s conspiracy theory not hard facts that the EFCC, Metropolitan police and CPS have been holding unto.

Meanwhile there are links of Ibori’s bank accounts in the UK to providers of services to multinational oil firms like chevron, SHELL, Mobil etc. where he supplied house boats and rendered other services as a businessman for which he received payments enabling him to purchase apartments and cars that he is being accused of owning.

In fact some of the assets predate his ascension to power as governor in 1999.

If such information was disclosed, the crown prosecution service, CPS might not have been able to claim that Ibori had no other source of income than proceeds from Delta state Government purse.

Any way lbori is challenging the sentence via an appeal that would reveal all the injustices of the British legal system which by all intents and purposes seems hell bent on keeping the so called stolen loot in the U.K. Most of the properties in Knightsbridge, Saint John’s Wood, Chelsea etc. are owned by foreigners from India, Pakistan and Nigeria essential owing to historical ties through colonialism to such countries.

The transfer of wealth into the British economy through ownership of such assets by foreigners boosts the GDP of London economy that’s why foreigners are encouraged to acquire the high value properties even if they have to circumvent the proper due diligence process of Know Your Customer, KYC which is mandatory.

Having brought in the investments, the Government bilks the unwary investors by supporting their persecutors from their home countries, as is the case with lbori and that enables the state keep a huge chunk of the proceeds after confiscation trial hence the British home office was desperate to keep lbori in prison until he is stripped of his assets, even though he had finished serving his term on 20th December, 2016.

Nigerians are not bold enough to ask how much of the so called ‘lbori loot’ is being returned to Nigeria and how much is being retained in British vaults.

Nobody has asked British authorities why they looked the other way when the funds were being transferred to the UK banks.

Why is that it was convenient for them to enjoy the float while the going was good and suddenly get sanctimonious when the heat gets turned on?

Best of all for them, they get to keep about 40% of the proceeds. Is any one still wondering why the home office was struggling to keep lbori in jail beyond the date that he finished serving his jail term just to ensure that he is striped of his assets most of which he had acquired through legitimate business practice before he became governor?

Obviously, the British legal system is rotten and that’s contrary to the notion that only the Nigerian judicial system is tainted by corruption, a falsehood nursed by some angry Nigerians youths, who have the penchant for not seeing anything good in Nigeria.

And to a large extent the warped views of some of our misguided youths are owed to the fact that the financial muscle of the EFCC and international

aid agencies like DFID in the media arena is so formidable that the notion of lbori being guilty as charged has become very entrenched to the extent that the truth does not matter anymore.

No longer is objectivity being brought to bear otherwise, it could have been known that Ibori’s lawyer Ivan Krolic had put the police detective that investigated lbori in the witness box after carrying out forensic examination of the documents that was used to nail Ibori, and the police detective admitted that the so called evidence are tainted.

Although the embattled and battle weary lbori pleaded guilty to the charges money laundry charges, without going through trial, he did so because he was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

His only sister, Christine, his wife Nkoyo and his mistress, Udoamaka as well as his lawyer Bhadresh had been jailed in the UK arising from the crime allegedly committed by lbori.

Under such circumstances of encirclement, entrapment, and psychological warfare, especially when his liberties had been removed via long incarceration in Dubai, as a human being, lbori capitulated.

If for nothing else, because he could not go on fighting to escape being jailed after four people very close to him had been jailed on account of his alleged crime.

Picture the EFCC in Nigerian seizing the mother, wife and infant child of a financial crime suspect as ransom and you will have a good sense of the type of psychological torture that lbori was subjected to in order for him to capitulate to the cruelty of the British judicial system that wanted him in jail by hook or crook.

As a BBC article titled New Evidence Supporting Cover-Up Claims in Ibori Published on 16 September 2016 by Mark Easton noted “The principal question before the court is whether the convictions are safe by virtue of the CPS prosecuting counsel having deliberately misled the courts on a number of occasions in respect of a number of defendants over a period of five years”.

Relying on the weight of the monumental discoveries of British judiciary and police cover-up and complicity in the political conspiracy to jail lbori referred to in the BBC article above, which was cooked up locally in Nigeria and consummated internationally in the UK, with DFID hand in gloves with the EFCC, Metropolitan Police and CPS as executioners, the chances that all the five victims of the perverted British Justice system will seek redress and get judgment in their favor in court, is very high.

My optimism is hinged on the fact that her majesty, the queen’s crown court, that is revered all over the world, and particularly in all the commonwealth countries, would like to redeem its blighted image by the lbori saga by seeking to hold out itself as the bastion of Justice and so it would most likely do the right thing at the right time.

Already, Bhadresh Ghohil, an Indian born British citizen is in the court of appeal seeking to quash his conviction.

The likelihood of lbori and his three family members following suit is very high and hopefully the cruel behind the scene atrocities would be laid bare and justice dispensed equitably.

As the old legal wisecrack goes, Justice delayed is justice denied.

The lbori odyssey may be an exception, because it can never be too late to seek and get Justice.

If lbori comes out triumphant with the conviction reversed, it would prove that even if it takes eternity, it is wise to pursue justice until one gets it.

Welcome home, Odidigborigbo!

• Magnus Onyibe, a development strategist and futurologist, is a former member of Delta State Cabinet

T H I S D AY MONDAY JANUARY 2, 2017

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monDAY, jAnuArY 2, 2017 • T H I S D AY

MONDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

NFF Appeals to Nigeria Police to Fish out Killers of Gombe Utd Player Femi Solaja Saddened by the recent waves of wanton killings of players from the domestic league, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has called on the Nigeria Police to intensify efforts to fish out those responsible for the death of former Nigeria youth international Douglas Uzama, who was killed in Benin City on Thursday, 29th December 2016.

The killing of the Gombe player is coming barely two months after another Shooting Stars of Ibadan defender, Izu Joseph was shot dead in Rivers State in circumstances that still remained a mystery to his family and friends.

The Gombe United FC player was said to have been murdered in the capital of Edo State where he had gone to celebrate the yuletide with his family.

But while reacting to the killing of the footballer yesterday, NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed

Sanusi, said that the federation was in deep grief over the manner of death of the former Golden Eaglet and Flying Eagle.

“Only two months ago, we had a similar case of a player of Shooting Stars FC of Ibadan (Izu Joseph) who was murdered in cold blood in Rivers State.

“We are really worried about this trend and we use this opportunity to call on the Police to hunt down and arrest the killers of Uzama, as well as intensify efforts in their search for the killers of Izu Joseph,” stressed the NFF scribe.

According to reports from Benin City, the former Flying Eagles invitee was hit by a bullet while in company with close friends.

The player who was on holidays in the ancient city, was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

Nobody has been arrested in connection with the death of the Gombe player.

L-R: Group Head, Propositions and Products, Sterling Bank Plc, Wale Akinrinde; Super Falcons and Arsenal Ladies striker, Asisat Oshoala; and Chief Marketing Officer, Sterling Bank Plc, Henry Bassey, during a courtesy visit by Oshoala to the bank… recently

Winter Transfer: Arsenal, Diamond Platinumz, Femi Kuti, Flavour, Leicester Tracking Etebo Others to Headline Glo-CAF Awards English Premier League clubs, Arsenal and Leicester could go head-to-head for talented Super Eagles star, Oghenekaro Etebo during the January transfer window.

The two Premier League clubs dispatched scouts to watch the 21-year-old Nigerian international in action for Portuguese side Feirense in their 1-1 draw with Porto in the Taça da Liga last Thursday, December 29, 2016.

Etebo made global headlines at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) during the summer when he became the first player in 44 years to score four goals in an Olympic fixture in Nigeria’s thrilling 5-4 win over Japan.

His rising stock also saw him claim African football’s Most Promising Talent award in 2015 in which he has the chance to defend this year.

However his talent is not going unnoticed across Europe with British tabloid, The Sun reporting that AS Monaco and Serie A side Atalanta are also tracking his progress.

Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger has dropped little hints over his plans during the transfer window but could be looking to build towards the future with an eye on Red Bull Salzburg wonderkid Dayotchanculle Upamecano.

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri is wasting no time in a bid to bolster his squad to avoid an unexpected relegation dogfight. The Foxes are set to splash the cash on midfielder Wilfred Ndidi from Genk having had an £18 million deal accepted.

Etebo has scored once in 10 appearances across all competitions for Feirense this season.

Top music acts from different parts of African continent have been lined up to entertain guests, VIPs and members of the football community at the 2016 Glo-CAF Awards gala holding in Abuja, Nigeria, on January 5, 2017.

Prominent on the list is afro beat musician and son of late Fela-Anikulapo Kuti, Femi Kuti.

Others are Nigerian recording artist, dancer, songwriter, and performer, Chinedu Okoli, popularly called Flavour N’abania, Diamond Platinumz, a Bongo Flava recording artist and singer from Tanzania and one of Nigeria’s most prominent female singers, Omawumi.

Also listed are South African chart busting electric soul singers, Muffinz, Sessime, a songwriter, performer and singer, generally regarded as the new star of afropoprock in Benin Republic, and Nigeria’s Afro-pop singer, Yemi Alade.

Femi Kuti who started his own Positive Force band in 1986 is renowned for a percussive blend of jazz and funk to his music. He has established himself as a true afrobeat legend with his own unique

style. One of his most explosive track is bang, bang, bang.

Diamond is best known for his hit song “Number One” which kept him on top of the chart for a long period. He is very influential among his fans, and is said to be the most loved and decorated Tanzanian artist at the moment.

Apart from being the highest selling Tanzanian artist of ringtones by mobile phone companies from 2013 to date, he is also one of the artists earning the highest income in the African Great Lakes region’s music industry.

Flavour, the prolific Nigerian recording artist, dancer, songwriter, and performer will also add colour to the night. He is known across Africa and the rest of the world for his massive club banger, “Nwa Baby”. He is expected to enliven the hall with his scintillating dance steps and flawless delivery.

Sessime (Bidossesi Christelle Guedou) is a leading musician from Benin Republic and has to her credit many albums including “Wazakoua ” meaning save the children. The album received biggest musical awards

including Benin Golden Awards, SICA, Benin Top 10 Trophies, Hokan and others. She will, no doubt, delight the crowd with her free flowing songs and the electrifying dance steps of her dancers.

Also billed to perform at the event is Nigerian singing sensation and Glo Ambassador Omawumi. The crooner has released many hit tracks including “Megbele “and “If you ask me” . Omawumi who is loved by many because of her vocal prowess and captivating personality will no doubt wow the guests with the combination of electrifying drums, well organized lyrics, and amazing delivery.

Other acts billed to perform at the show include the South African group, Muffinz who have unleashed atheir beautiful world of eclectic soul music on the South African public.

The music of Muffinz is so new, yet so soulful and so accessible, that it appeals to all age groups, races, classes and sexes. The five musicians are great singers in their different genres of expertise.

Yemi Alade is a Nigerian Afro-pop singer who made

her musical debut in an allgirl group called Noty Spices in 2005, but her music became widely popular after she won the Peak Talent Show in 2009.

She later released her first single “Fimisile” under the Jus’ Kiddin’ label. Alade has been featured on the covers of several magazines and performed around the world, sharing the stage and songs with Mary J. Blige, Shina Peters, M.I, Wizkid, Becca, May D, Waje and Yemi Sax. She released her debut album, King of Queens, on 2 October 2014, while the second titled “Mama Africa” was released in March 2016.

All these artistes will be joined by the duo of Nigeria’s top Disc Jockey, DJ Jimmy Jatt, who will delight the guests with good music and ace comedian Gordons who will treat guests to good comedy at the “Meet and Greet session” and also during the awards gala.

Globacom said an exciting and interesting night awaits guests at the 2016 Glo CAF Awards. The 2016 Glo –CAF Awards will be transmitted live between 8.15 pm and 12. am onSupersport Channel 4 (204), SS 9 (209) and on GOTV.

NBBF President Calls on State Govts to Support Sport Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja

Etebo

The President of Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Mallam Tijani Umar, has called on state governments to support individuals and corporate organisations that devote their time and money into sport development.

Umar made the call in Okene, Kogi State during the Annual Ajanah Basketball Competition among all the 21 local government councils in the state.

According to him, sport is the

easiest and best way to mobilised and discourage youths from social vices that are inimical to their lives and the society at large.

He therefore called on the Kogi State Government to give a helping hand to those who promote sport in the state, stressing that the Ajanah Annual Basketball Competition deserves the support of the government.

The competition in the last nine years has become a veritable ground for fishing fresh basketball talents.

While advising the players

to consider the competition as a step to make it in life, the President of NBBF commended the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Nasiru Ajanah, for sustaining the competition even in the face of the current economic recession.

In his remark, Justice Ajanah noted that his desire to sustain the competition was borne out of zeal to foster unity of purpose in the development of basketball in the state as well as help to remove idle youths from the street so that they can have brighter future.

“We have started achieving result as youths in the state have committed themselves to the game,” he said.

While commending the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, for supporting the competition with N1million, he assured stakeholders that he will not relent in his effort to further develop the game of basketball in the state.

At the end of the competition, Team Kogi defeated Team Okene to win the 9th edition while Team Okehi defeated Team Ofu in the third place game.

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After the Abysmal Low of 2016, Expectations High in the New Year On a general note, 2016 will be remembered as the year when sporting expectations were not matched by Nigeria, reports OLAWALE AJIMOTOKAN in Abuja The dawn of the year 2017 unfurled with Nigerians highly yearning for positive outbreaks in sports seen as opium the country has a huge knack for.

The aspirations in the New Year can be clearly understood in the context that in the year 2016, Nigerian sports reclined into the reverse gear because of the dysfunctional policy direction of those saddled with the administration of sports in Nigeria.

Though, there were flickers of standout performers, including Aruna Quadri, who reached the quarter final in table tennis at the Olympics, and Kelechi Iheanacho, the young Manchester City forward, who is full of vibes and wiles, generally Nigeria did not sparkle on the horizon dominated by half-baked and self-serving administrators.

It is now so bad that Nigeria will be absent when the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off in the middle of this January in Gabon, with the contenders bidding for the coveted trophy of unity plus the precious FIFA ranking points.

In the past, the Africa Cup of Nations used to be seen as Nigeria’s birthright and a seal to rubber stamp Nigeria’s pride as the giant of Africa given the Super Eagles impressive record at the summit. But that is no longer the case as the national team failed to qualify for three of the last four editions in 2012, 2015 and 2017.

So pervasive was the acrimony in Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that Chris Giwa led a parallel board to the FIFArecognised leadership of the federation board headed by Amaju Pinnick As the crisis reached the boiling point there was no need to look into the crystal ball to know that Nigerian football was heading in the wrong direction.

So intense was the feud between Pinnick and Giwa that they spent more days in the court rooms in bid to secure the soul of Nigerian football with the national team paying the ultimate price.

The manifest lack of cohesion in administration infested the national team, when the Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, fell out with the establishment over sundry matters, making him to jump ship, few days to a crucial Africa Cup of Nations tie against Egypt in Kaduna on March 25, 2016.

Though Nigerian football experienced some outstanding moments in 2016, notably at the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil where it won a bronze medal, the Super Falcons’ Africa Women Cup of Nations record extending exploit in Cameroon, where they won their eighth continental titles in 10 appearances, in addition to the Eagles impressive march to Russia 2018, football still failed to match public expectations.

For instance, the poor financial state of the game assumed an embarrassing dimension that

placed posers on the capacity of NFF to muster the required funds without relying on government’s generosity.

NFF struggled to pay the allowances and bonuses of coaches and was queried by FIFA for improper auditing of over $800,000 development fee granted it by the world body.

The Nigerian federation only relied on government bail- out from global outrage when the national team was stranded in Atlanta and only arrived in Brazil on eve of their first match at the Olympic Games in September.

But its dirty linen was washed in the public space, when the Falcons embarked on a street protest over the non-payment of their match bonuses at the African women tournament in Cameroon.

In the heat of the crisis, the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, stoked the fire when he made a rather harsh and insensitive comment that the money was not paid because government did not project that the team would win the championship.

The unyielding resolve of the players in addition to the global attention the protest was attracting, prompted government to clear the pile-up by ordering the Central Bank to indemnify the team when the players matched on the Presidential Palace.

The woes that characterised the outing at the Summer Olympic Games in Brazil where Nigeria only won a bronze medal, underlined the perilous state of sports in the country. The result reflected the lack of planning, underfunding, lack of preparation and the absence of well designed programme as the woes of sports in the country.

And most importantly the setback is a reflection of the leadership deficiency at the very top of the Ministry of Sports. So ill prepared was the Nigerian team in the days before Brazil due to poor funding that federations could not embark on local and international training tours, while athletes were tasked to pay for their flight tickets to Rio because government shirked in its obligation to the contingent.

And the Sports Minister Solomon Dalung lowered the morale of the team, when he justified the shoddy preparation, saying that a foreign training tour was not compulsory for the team to excel in Brazil.

But the outstanding performance of Team Nigeria at the Paralympic Games also in Rio, Brazil in September made up for the glitches at the Olympics and reinforced the old mantra that there is ability in disability.

The contingent won 8 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals to place 17th on the medal table.

There heroics lifted Nigeria as the best African team at the multi-sport event for athletes with disability.

Their performance was

recognized by the House of Representatives which donated N18million as reward to the team.

Two of the athletes-Paul Kehinde and Josephine Orjishone out of the pack. Kehinde won two gold medals and twice

broke the men’s 65 kg world record in the powerlifting event, while Orji, in the +86kg powerlifting event, grabbed Nigeria’s eighth gold medal when she shattered the world record with a lift of 154kg.

Instructively, the display of gut, determination and patriotism by the paralympians was in stark contradiction to the pedestrian and dismal show by Nigeria at the Olympic Games, also in Rio in August, where national

expectations were not sufficiently matched with podium presence.

Indeed it was a triumph against adversity and a thing of pride to see the athlete, in spite of limited funding and lack of access to modern training facilities.

Team Nigeria Paralympians celebrating at Rio games last year

Giroud, Iwobi Boost Gunners Push to the Top Olivier Giroud’s incredible scorpion kick set Arsenal on the way to a victory over Crystal Palace which moved them up to third in the Premier League.

With a cross from Alexis Sanchez delivered behind him, Frenchman Giroud elastically reached the ball with his left foot, looping it over his head and in off the underside of the bar.

An Alex Iwobi header gave Arsenal a scrappy second before Palace briefly rallied to force saves from home goalkeeper Petr Cech.

The win moves the Gunners back to within nine points of leaders Chelsea, while Palace stay 17th, two points above the relegation zone.

The visitors have won only once in 13 league games, with manager Sam Allardyce awaiting his first victory since taking over from Alan Pardew.

Giroud marked his return to the Arsenal starting line-up on Boxing Day by scoring the only goal in the win over West

Bromwich Albion, and followed up here by pulling off one of the most memorable moments of this or any other season.

Indeed, it was made all the more remarkable for its echoes of a similarly breathtaking goal scored by Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the defeat of Sunderland on Monday.

If anything, Giroud’s was even more impressive, an acrobatic finish to a head-high cross delivered from the left by Sanchez at the end of a pacy Arsenal counter-attack.

As the ball arrived, a sprinting Giroud turned to stick out his left foot, flicked the ball over his head and saw it arc over the leap of Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, off the woodwork and into the net.

“It was an unbelievable finish,” said former Arsenal defender Martin Keown on BBC Radio 5 live. “It has to be up there with the goal of the season already.

“He’s hooked that with a

gadget foot - the ball is behind him and he has no right to get his foot Olivier Giroud told BBC Sport: “It is not difficult to say it is the best one. I was a bit lucky but it was the only thing I could do, the ball was behind me and I tried to hit it with a backheel.

“Maybe Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s goal inspired me, it’s the only thing you can do in that position.

It is nice for me and the team because we start the year with a win.”

Even Crystal Palace goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey, told Sky Sports it was a wonder goal: “It was a wonder goal - there seems to be a lot going in recently. It’s a fantastic strike.”

Arsenal Manager, Arsene Wenger, said: “It was a great counter-attack at great speed, his reflex surprised everybody who knows football and that’s what makes the goal great.

“I have been a bit spoiled over the years by the exceptional

quality of the players I’ve had, but it will be remembered as an exceptional goal.

“Olly is very good in front of goal, but I’ve never seen this kind of goal from him.”

Arsenal lost ground in the title race with defeats by Everton and Manchester City, and began this game in fifth place following Tottenham’s win at Watford.

Giroud’s goal was the highlight of an otherwise lacklustre first half in which the only other moment of note was the Frenchman missing his kick attempting to meet a cross inside the six-yard box.

Still, the Gunners’ threat was always apparent, particularly in the shape of the forward running of full-backs Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal, who tormented the Palace defence throughout.

Monreal was involved in the second goal, providing a cross that was not dealt with, Iwobi heading in despite the efforts of Palace defender Joel Ward on the line.

Conte: Title is Chelsea Focus, Not Records Chelsea’s record-equalling winning streak is not significant unless they go on to claim the Premier League title, says manager Antonio Conte.

Saturday’s 4-2 defeat of Stoke was the Blues’ 13th Premier League win in a row - equalling the record of successive victories in a single season set by Arsenal during the 2001-02 campaign.

“They are fantastic and we are

proud,” said Conte of his side’s achievement.

“But we must concentrate on the second part of the season.”

He added: “Numbers are not important if you do not win the title.”

Chelsea has a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League, with Liverpool, in second, beating Manchester City 1-0 in Saturday’s

late game.

Conte, who became Chelsea boss in the summer, acknowledged it would be “difficult” for his side to repeat their run, which began on October 1.

“The first part of the season was incredible for us but the next half will be very hard for us,” he said.

“We started the season as

underdogs and now we have the light on us, we must know this and work more to find the right solution to try to win in every game.”

Chelsea twice lost the lead to a gutsy Stoke side - after goals from Gary Cahill and Willian - before Willian’s second and Diego Costa’s late fourth ensured another three points for the Blues.

Monday January 2, 2017

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MISSILE Buhari to Nigerians

“Following the successful capture of Sambisa Forest, spearheaded by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole, we have entered a new phase in our battle against our common enemy, Boko Haram. When we see our beloved 21 Chibok girls reuniting with their families and community for Christmas, it gives us the hope that those who are still in captivity will one day return to the loving arms of their families, friends and well-wishers.” – President Muhammadu Buhari speaking on the recent capture of Sambisa forest from terrorist group Boko Haram and seizure of their flag as proof of victory of the Nigerian troops.

MAGNUSONYIBE GUEST COLUMNIST

Ibori and the British Legal System

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lot has been written and broadcast about what can be termed the James Ibori Odyssey but most of what is in the public domain are more of fiction than facts simply because, often times with all due respect, most Nigerian journalists rely too much on ready made information and news handouts instead of digging deep to unearth the truth.

What happened to hard nose investigative journalism of the genre practiced by the likes of veteran journalists like late Dele Giwa, elder statesmen and ex-governors and thoroughbred journalists such as Lateef Jakande and Segun Osoba? Admittedly, the abysmal position which investigative journalism has now sunk can be attributed in part to lack of financial resources which is constraining most media houses from devoting enough resources, if at all, to investigation of stories in the manner that manufacturing firms would set aside funds for Research and Development, R&D or Quality Control.

With such handicap, unwary media houses are being preyed upon by the likes of DFlD-British department of international aid which has been feeding media houses in Nigeria with jaundiced information about the lbori saga in London and in addition has even been allegedly providing return tickets and upkeep money for journalists that have been covering the alleged lbori money laundering trial and incarceration in London.

The broadcast and print media journalists that benefited from the DFID largess know what l’m talking about and they never cared to find out whether DFID had more than passing interest in the lbori debacle.

That is part of the negative fallouts of foreign aid, which scholars agree can be used by rich donor countries to subvert and undermine poor recipient governments.

That would be subject for a panel discussion another time.

The Belgian Attorney, Kimlish representing Bhadresh Ghohil, lbori’s lawyer who was equally jailed by the British authorities for not cooperating with them, has alleged that DFID had a deal with the British authorities to retain 50% of the proceeds to be recovered from lbori assets in the UK. That’s what fortune hunters in colloquial terms refer to in the Niger delta as ‘kill and divide’.

The allegation has not been denied or disproved by DFID because it is true that the anti money laundering campaign in the U.K.is the brain child of DFID which has been pushing it in the past decade and it therefore has beneficial interest.

Drawing from the conventional wisdom, give a dog a bad name so that you can hang it, the British authorities have been alleging emphatically that Ibori was found in possession of unauthorized credit card with $1000 value in it and that he also through his wife, sneaked out stuff from the DIY shop, Wickes where he had worked while living in England.

If indeed the allegations are correct, they were misdemeanors associated with youthful exuberance for which he might have received warnings and probably also repented, but the U.K. authorities have been deliberately casting the alleged infractions in dark sordid light to fit the narrative that lbori is a crook who transited from small crimes in the UK into governance in Nigeria.

For instance, while sentencing lbori in 2012, judge Anthony Pitts of Southwark Crown Court, London said “ During those terms as governor, you turned your self in very short order indeed into a multimillionaire through corruption” He continued by saying “The figure may be in excess of £200 million pounds, it is difficult to tell.

The confiscation proceedings may shed some further

Ibori light on the enormity of the sums involved,” he concluded.

Judge Pitts postulation fits into the script already written by DFID working in cohort with Metropolitan Police and CPS who at first alleged that lbori stole millions of pounds ranging from £200m, then £50m and later £18m as the Home Office secretary, Amber Rudd finally alleged in court on the 21/12/2016 during his last effort to keep Ibori perpetually incarcerated.

That narrative of grass to grace is incorrect because before becoming the governor of delta state, Ibori was a businessman with considerable stake in oil/gas sector, an industry he had worked in after graduating with an economics degree from the university of Benin, in Edo state.

But the crown prosecution service, CPS would not like to have such in the media as it would contradict their efforts to portray the Ibori ascendancy to power, as if it is a rag-to-riches story, in pursuit of their nefarious objective of poisoning the minds of members of the public against lbori with their fairy tale.

And guess what?

They have so far succeeded very well, hence the average Nigerian indeed believes that lbori stole huge sums of Delta state money, but if you ask them to confirm if Delta state has complained of losing such amount to fraud and even after several visits by the UK metropolitan police, if any money was traced from lbori to the UK accounts, they go blank.

When asked if truly such colossal amounts of money has been fund in any bank account in Ibori’s name in the UK, they start scratching their heads.

Below is an excerpt of a BBC article crafted to consolidate the negative perception of lbori as created

by DFID. It was written by Andrew Walker and published on February 28, 2012 and it goes thus: “ It is the story of a willy political operator, backing the right political horses and shifting allegiances when expedient.

“Given slightly different circumstances according to one observer, it could have seen lbori in the presidential villa rather than a British cell”.

From the tone of the BBC article, it is obvious that the British press like the Nigerian press was glove in hands with DFID, which is a clear case of media; capture which is easy because the British international aid agency has enormous resources at its disposal.

After serving as Governor in 2007, Ibori, never ran for presidency and he had no such intentions, so where did they get the impression that he could have become a president?

As a politician, and at the behest of then president Olusegun Obasanjo, lbori, being an astute politician, lbori only helped facilitate the emergence of late Umaru Yar’Adua as president in 2007.

It is perhaps all the rumors that lbori wanted to unseat Goodluck Jonathan, the then Vice President, that probably drove Jonathan into drawing a battle line between him and lbori.

Unsurprisingly, when he became acting president, Jonathan reopened the lbori case even though he had been acquitted by the appeal court, like some of the other ex governors charged to court by the EFCC. That clearly indicated that dirty politics, as opposed to justice was the driving force for the renewed lbori political inquisition.

In the light of the above, it was unsurprising that, Ibori left the country so that he would not constitute a threat to those who thought he wanted their job and the rest as they say is history.

Earlier, l mentioned how the alleged possession of unauthorized credit card and illegally removing shopping items in the place where he worked that lbori was accused of as misdemeanor, because he was actually not indicted nor did he do time in jail for the said offenses, if indeed he committed them.

This is because such minor infractions are not uncommon in the UK and worse crimes are even committed in the top echelon of Govt.

Take the case of some British members of parliament, MPs indicted for gaming the system when they were claiming mortgage allowances for non existent homes in the so called ‘ second homes’ allowances scandal which led to the setting up of a panel of enquiry that investigated the allowances paid to parliamentarians between 2004-8.

After administrative enquires, some of the MPs found to be culpable were charged to court for appropriate sanctions. Some of the indicted parliamentarians retained their seats.

Now, any of the MPs could have become the prime minister of Britain, like Theresa May who just succeeded David Cameron after the referendum because any member of parliament is in line of succession to the top position of prime minister, as a PM is actually only the first amongst equals.

So my point is that even British MPs are not saints and which is why l wonders what all the hullabaloo about lbori’s alleged misdemeanor in the UK, which is not uncommon, is about.

Why would the BBC reporter be ‘thumping his nose’ and suggesting that lbori could have become president in Nigeria and be the guest of the Queen instead of being in her majesty’s cell, when the probability of the fraudulent MPs caught with their fingers in the ‘cookie jar’ in the UK so called ‘second home’ scandal becoming prime minister of Great Britain, was more likely?

Even David Cameron, the immediate past PM of the U.K’s is equally not a saint as his family was involved in the famous Mossack & Florence law firm scandal which exposed a list of wealthy individuals holding money in shell companies in offshore tax heaven to dodge tax which is an act of corruption and indicates that nobody is infallible.

Can you imagine the poor hard working Britons paying their taxes and their leaders dodging taxes by hiding their wealth in offshore tax heavens? If someone like the UKIP leader, Nigel Farrago should instigate the masses against their leaders involved in the Panama papers scandal, would it not result in a revolt?

What’s more, the concept of tax havens like Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Panama etc. which was developed by

the West, particularly the UK to dodge tax and hide funds facilitates the acts of corruption in the form of kleptocracy which the UK and the developed world have institutionalized, yet they sneer at developing world fraudulent leaders.

Is that not a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

In my view, the difference between Western world sophisticated corruption and the corruption perpetrated by leaders from developing world is that while the former engages in the act of crudely siphoning funds from public treasuries into private bank accounts in Europe, USA and Asia, which is unfortunate, corruption in the latter, which is the developed world, is encrypted in the unwholesome practices of unfair trade such as badly skewed trade pacts; the use of supranational organizations like the United Nations, UN bodies like the world trade organization, WTO, World bank, IMF etc. to keep developing world in perpetual servitude; as well as the setting up of tax havens and blind trusts which are used as conduits for proceeds of corruption.

In any case, it is a big shame to developing world leaders that stealing public funds has remained ingrained in their DNA even after being short changed over the years by their Western partners who lure them into transferring huge amounts of money to the Western financial system, only to be ditched when trouble brews back home and they loose most of the money through confiscation to the host countries.

Another act of corruption by Britain is evidenced by the systematic stealing of artifacts from Nigeria by the British explorers who hundreds of years ago leveraged on their seafaring skills to embark on expeditions to Africa on the pretext of spreading religion, then extending their relationship to slave trade, before eventually invading flourishing African kingdoms in order to steal their rich artifacts which were priceless in those days.

Till date the queen Idia bronze head, stolen from Benin kingdom amongst many other artifacts are still in British museums and homes.

It was Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe who best described the rip off by putting it this way:” The white man came with the bible to Africa, and told the black man to close his eyes for prayers.

When the black man opened his eyes, he had the bible, while the white man had the land”.

That in my view is the height of British bare knuckle heist, being sugar coated as Justice today.

Given the scenarios above, in my considered opinion, as it was written in the Holy Bible, let he that is guiltless cast the first stone.

I urge Nigerians to take a critical look at the lbori odyssey without prejudice because the truth is that lbori and Orji Uzor kalu are the only Governors of the class of 1999 that had at least £5m in their accounts in the UK before 1999.

In fact, then General Olusegun Obasanjo, OBJ who had just been released from prison and was being nudged to run for the presidency following the sudden death of Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of June 12, 1996 election befriended lbori to garner financial support for his presidential campaign in 1999.

It may be recalled that when OBJ recently labeled National Assembly, NASS member as corrupt, they retorted by tagging him the grandmaster of corruption and corroborated their claim by insisting that it was the former president that introduced the concept of passing ‘Ghana Must Go’ sacks of money to NASS members to influence them to pass legislation in favor of his alleged third term bid.

Continued on page 52

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