Sunday 22nd January 2017

Alison-Madueke: I Did Not Forfeit $153.3m Because I Did Not Own it Accuses EFCC of linking her to strange funds and properties

Chineme Okafor in Abuja A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke, on Saturday said she did not forfeit $153.3 million to the Federal Government as

claimed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Arguing that no such money belonged to her, she said, “I cannot forfeit what was never mine.”

A Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Muslim Hassan had on January 6 ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of $153,310,000 allegedly siphoned by the former minister from the Nigerian National

Says she left behind $5.6bn NLNG dividend

Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and stashed in three banks. The forfeiture order was sequel to an ex parte order sought by the EFCC and accompanied by a nine-paragraph affidavit claiming that Alison-Madueke,

sometime in December 2014, conspired with a bank chief executive on how the sum of $153,310,000 would be moved from the NNPC. Justice Hassan had given the banks and any other interested party 14 days

to appear before him to prove the legitimacy of the monies, failure of which the funds would be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

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Breached Agreement Foils Rescue of Abducted Turkish School Students, Staff … Page 12 Sunday 22 January, 2017 Vol 21. No 7948

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Accidental Airstrike: We Buried 234 Corpses, Says Council Boss Honouring victims most important now, DHQ replies

Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri, Paul Obi in Abuja and Chiemelie Ezeobi in Lagos Contrary to the casualty figures

in the public domain following Tuesday’s mistaken bombing of an internally displaced persons camp in Borno State, the chairman of Kala Balge Local Government Area, where the

accident occurred, Babagana Malarima, has said that his people buried 234 persons killed in the airstrike. Malarima said this on Friday when the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant

General Tukur Buratai, visited to condole with the people of Rann, whose IDPs camp was the target of an accidental aerial bombardment by the Nigerian Air Force.

But the Defence Headquarters said yesterday that the focus now should be how to honour the dead and not the number of those killed in the unintentional military air strike. "The most

important thing is that we are saddened by the incident. It's an operational error and we are sorry about it. It can happen in Continued on page 9

Jammeh Flies out to Uncertain Future President Barrow plans return, to initiate truth and reconciliation commission

Demola Ojo with agency reports Ex-President of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, yesterday left his country’s capital, Banjul, in a plane heading for an unspecified destination to begin a life in exile after ruling the West African country for 22 years.

He was seen off by a delegation of dignitaries and soldiers on a plane reportedly bound for Guinea. Along with his wife, he left in the company of Guinean President Alpha Conde, one of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediators that prevailed on him to relinquish power.

Jammeh arrived at the airport amid a large convoy of vehicles and throngs of cheering supporters. He stood on a small platform to hear ceremonial music performed by a military band and then walked down a long red carpet surrounded by dignitaries. He climbed the steps to the plane, turned and kissed and waved a Koran at those assembled.

Jammeh had refused to vacate office when his 22-year rule expired last week, despite initially conceding defeat in last

December’s election won by Adama Barrow. He however succumbed after international pressure spearheaded by ECOWAS. His decision to quit and leave came after talks with the presidents of Guinea and Mauritania.

There are no details of what deal might have been struck between Jammeh and the mediators. But Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was quoted by his country's state news agency as saying that a deal had been struck for Jammeh to leave for another African country "with guarantees for his family, those close to him and himself".

It is not clear where Jammeh will end up eventually. He has been offered asylum by Morocco, while Nigeria’s House of Representatives also voted in favour of granting the ex-leader a safe haven in the country.

However, it is not known if those offers still stand as Jammeh dug-in his heels and refused to vacate power, even after Nigerian Continued on page 9

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CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE

L-R: Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, at the 7th Abdullahi Fodio Merit Award organised by Gwandu Emirate Council in Birnin Kebbi ...yesterday

As MPC Meets Tomorrow, Analysts Predict Rates Retention to Further Check Inflation… Page 17

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T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

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Why Buhari Has Not Forwarded Onnoghen’s Name to Senate for Confirmation as CJN Olawale Olaleye

President Muhammadu Buhari may not send the name of Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as Chief Justice of Nigeria until he is given a clean bill in the ongoing investigation of judges by security agencies, THISDAY has learnt.

Onnoghen was sworn in as acting Chief Justice of Nigeria November 10, 2016.

The 1999 constitution stipulates a maximum tenure of threemonth in acting capacity.

The delay in sending his name to the Senate for confirmation has continued to raise fears about his fate particularly as he inches closer

to the three-month stipulated tenure.

Section 231 (1) states: The appointment of a person to the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council subject to confirmation of such appointment by the Senate.

Subsection 4 provides that: “If the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria is vacant or if the person holding the office is for any reason unable to perform the functions of the office, then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions of that office, or until the person holding has resumed those functions, the President

shall appoint the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court to perform those functions.

Subsection 5 however provides that: “Except on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, an appointment pursuant to the provisions of subsection (4) of this section shall cease to have effect after the expiration of three months from the date of such appointment, and the President shall not reappointment a person whose appointment has lapsed.”

Though shortly after the raid on residences of some judges last year over by the Department of State Services over allegations of corruption, the agency had claimed that Onnoghen was not on the list

ACCIDENTAL AIRSTRIKE: WE BURIED 234 CORPSES, SAYS COUNCIL BOSS

operations. Even internationally, it has happened in Syria and Afghanistan," Director of Defence Information, Brig Gen Rabe Abubakar, told THISDAY against the backdrop of the new casualty figure released by the Kala Balge local government chairman. “It is an operational error. Whether it was one person or one million persons, it is immaterial. They are all Nigerians, what is important is to honour the victims involved in this circumstance.”

The air force was said to be targeting a gathering of the Boko Haram terrorist group, when it mistakenly hit the IDPs camp, killing and injuring many persons, including people who had fled their homes due to terror attacks and sought refuge at the camp as well as local and foreign humanitarian aid workers. The international aid

agency, MSF, was quoted as saying that at least 50 persons were killed, with more than 100 injured. Some reports put the death toll at 100.

But Malarima told Buratai that 234 bodies were carried away from the scene of the raid in Rann and buried. Borno State Government said two of the injured persons, who were taken to Maiduguri for treatment, also died.

The council chairman called on the federal government to compensate the bereaved families and others affected by the bombing. He said the volume of destruction of lives and property was massive. He also asked the government to build roads that would link the area to other parts of the state.

Buratai commiserated with the people over the accident.

He said he was talking with

the commanding officers to ensure there was no repeat of such mistake.

The army chief said barely two days after the Rann misfire by the air force jets, a group of Boko Haram insurgents launched an attack on the community, targeting both the traumatised civilians and the troops. But he said they were successfully repelled, with 15 terrorists killed and one captured alive with their arms and ammunition.

Buratai, who was shown the corpses and weapons recovered from the insurgents,said, "The intelligence information we got from our partners was that Boko Haram terrorists were moving into this place and, indeed, the information was that they were already in this place. It's not unconnected because you saw them coming

of those being investigated, a State House source told THISDAY that investigation of Supreme Court judges was ongoing but it could not be confirmed which among the security agencies was saddled with the investigation.

“As we speak, there is an ongoing thorough investigation of the justices of the Supreme Court and I am sure Onnoghen is among. The president won’t therefore send his name for confirmation until he is cleared by the security. There is nothing personal in this.

The president is just being careful because that office is central to the successful fight against corruption.”

The source however added: “But in case he failed, which I

pray is not the case, one thing the president has promised to do is to make sure that whoever succeeds him comes from the South-south region of the country. That simply means the president does not have any ethnic agenda as being insinuated now and we should allow the current investigation of the Supreme Court justices berth safely.”

The source, who frowned on the insinuation of ingratitude against the president since Onnoghen was one of the three justices, who dissented in his favour during the 2007 presidential election petition hearing, however said, “That was Onnoghen doing his job and he did it well. Should the president not do his

own job well too? The fact that he voted in favour of the president in 2008 does not mean Buhari should overlook weighty allegations against him if there are any. There is nothing personal here. It is about due process.”

Onnoghen has spent not less than 38 years in the legal profession, although a greater part of his experience has been on the bench, having spent nine years as a judge of the Cross River State Judiciary (1989-1998), seven years as a Justice of the Court of Appeal (1998-2005) and 11 years as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (2005-date).

to attack them here.

"Probably, it must be the information that was gotten and passed to the air component for them to take necessary action and, unfortunately, a mistake happened and it has happened before in other places and we pray it doesn't happen again."

The Nigerian Air Force said it had commenced a review of its operations to unravel the cause of the accidental air raid with a view to preventing a recurrence. Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, disclosed this in Lagos at a ceremony in honour of about 100 NAF officers that died in a military plane crash in 1992 at Ejigbo, Lagos.

Abubakar said, "Although remarkable successes were achieved, the incident of January 17 in the North-east is highly regrettable and unfortunate. The

days between the incident and now have been the most painful for us.

"However, we take solace in the fact that it was in a bid to secure this same victims that this sad incident occurred.

"We are reviewing our processes to unravel how this sad incident could have occurred and to prevent future occurrences.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army on Saturday called for the immediate rehabilitation of roads leading to Rann in order to prevent the area from becoming a new haven of Boko Haram insurgency.

Buratai made the call during the inauguration of the newly renovated Wolf Officers' Mess

in Maiduguri. He said the deplorable condition of the road had made it difficult for the troops to access the area.

He said, "We were at Rann and saw the devastation and impact made by the mistake.

We have seen the people and condoled with them. The roads there are not passable, especially, during the rainy season. Government should open up roads there to enhance military operation.”

In his remarks, the Acting General Officer Commanding 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. Victor Ezugwu, thanked Buratai for the project, saying, “We will not rest on our oars until this war comes to an end.”

ALISON-MADUEKE: I DID NOT FORFEIT $153.3M BECAUSE I DID NOT OWN IT But in her reaction yesterday, Alison-Madueke said EFCC was now taking advantage of her silence and decision to allow ongoing investigations by the British National Crimes Agency into alleged corrupt practices against her to run its full course, to defame her.

The former minister said she would no longer give the anti-corruption agency any more mileages to vilify her.

She said the $153.3 million the EFCC said she forfeited to the Federal Government did not belong to her, and as such she could not have given up what did not belong to her.

In her response to the EFCC corruption claims against her which THISDAY obtained in Abuja, she said there was no evidence to establish she owned the $153.3 million.

She explained that the EFCC capitalised on a legislation on advanced fee fraud and other related offences to link her name and identity to funds it could not establish their real owners.

Noting that this was unethical, she said: “I am deeply disturbed and bewildered by recent media reports claiming that by virtue of an order of the Federal High Court, I have forfeited to the Federal Government, the sum of $153.3 million which I purportedly stole from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

“The principle of fair hearing demands that I should have been notified of formal charges if truly there was a prima facia evidence or indictment against my person linking me with the said issue, so as to ensure I have adequate legal representation. This was never done.”

Continuing, the former minister said: “I cannot forfeit what was never mine. I have never stolen any money from NNPC or any other entity I do not know the basis on which the EFCC have chosen to say that I am the owner of these funds as no evidence was provided to me before the order was obtained.”

“I am also informed by my lawyers that the legislation under which the EFCC obtained this order is for situations where the funds are believed to be proceeds of crime and the owner is not known. I do not therefore understand how the EFCC can in the same breath say the monies were mine when they would/should not have used the procedure which applies only to funds of unknown ownership.

“If indeed they used this particular legal procedure because they did not know who owned the monies, then how can they now falsely be attributing the ownership to me.”

Alison-Madueke also challenged the EFCC to publish incontrovertible evidence of the $153.3 million lodgement,

its beneficiaries, and links to her, as well as the NNPC’s accounts from which the lodgments were made and her authorisation of same.

She said as minister of petroleum resources, she only had statutory influence as approved in the Petroleum Act, over NNPC’s finances.

She note another instance where the EFCC alleged that $700 million was found in her Abuja home, the former minister asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to further clarify and lend credence to EFCC’s claims by showing evidence it has the money in its custody.

“Should the videos of this $700 million cash discovery not have made good viewing? Or should those who recovered this money not tell the public where exactly the money has been kept? Perhaps, the Central Bank should corroborate that it is in custody of these monies found in my house,” she said.

On claims she illicitly benefitted from the $1.3 billion financial settlement of the protracted Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 245 oil block deal between Malabu Oil, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni, Alison-Madueke said as minister she did not participate in any activity relating to financial payments in the agreement, and only played the statutory role mandated to her to see to the end of the dispute.

She also said that she had no

house worth $18 million in Abuja as claimed by the EFCC, and that her family home in Yenagoa Bayelsa which the agency said was worth billions of naira, was uncompleted and worth N394 million as declared in the code of conduct.

“It is saddening that after eight years of serving my country, my experience as a public servant has been fraught with continuous malicious castigation and character assassination, all in the name of personal vendettas or political horse-trading.

“One error that cannot be ascribed to me is stealing from Nigeria and defrauding my country. I cannot sit back and allow the fabricated accusations against my person designed by unscrupulous persons with vengeful agenda go unchallenged,” she said.

On the dividends that accrued to Nigeria from her stake in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Ltd, the former minister said: “It is pertinent to note that at the end of my tenure, I left behind in the LNG dividend fund for the incoming administration, the sum of $5.6 billion.

“I did this to ensure continuity in the crucial gas sector development which underpins the entire power and energy sector and which was and still is absolutely imperative for the country’s current and future economic development.”

read the concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com

JAMMEH FLIES OUT TO UNCERTAIN FUTURE President Muhammadu Buhari led a delegation to make him see reason, until ECOWAS forces closed in on him. Rather than being hailed as a statesman who voluntarily transferred power to an opposition candidate, he will be remembered as a sit-tight leader who had to be forced out.

ECOWAS mediators had spent several hours in talks with Jammeh two days ago (Friday) after ECOWAS soldiers suspended their advance to eject him, to allow last-minute negotiations.

The multinational military force including tanks had rolled into Gambia last Thursday after Jammeh’s tenure elapsed. The force moved in after Barrow's inauguration and a unanimous vote by the UN Security Council supporting the regional efforts.

Reading the writing on the wall, Jammeh announced on state TV that he would step down in the interest of the Gambian people adding that it was his duty to “preserve at every instant” their lives and that it was "not necessary that a single drop of blood be shed.”

He said, "I have decided today in good conscience to relinquish the mantle of leadership of this great nation with infinite gratitude to all Gambians."

Meanwhile, President Barrow yesterday revealed plans to return to his homeland following Jammeh’s departure. Barrow has been in neighbouring Senegal for days and was inaugurated as president in the Gambian embassy in Dakar last Thursday.

On his twitter handle, @

adama_barrow, the new president said, “As Yahya Jammeh officially stepped down from office — I will be returning to my homeland, the Republic of The Gambia. #NewGambia.”

Barrow confirmed to the Associated Press yesterday that he would enter Gambia once a security sweep had been completed. He also urged Gambians who had fled the country to return home. At least 46,000 people have fled Gambia for Senegal since the start of the crisis fearing unrest, the UN's refugee agency UNHCR said, citing Senegalese government figures.

Barrow’s legitimacy as President has been recognised internationally, after he won December’s presidential election. He has pledged to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses under Jammeh.

"In that commission I think there will be recommendations, we will act according to those recommendations but we have got to know the truth first," he said. “I promise before Allah and the entire nation that all the issues we currently face will be resolved peacefully."

Barrow urged caution after an online petition called for Jammeh to be arrested, and not be granted asylum. "We aren't talking about prosecution here, we are talking about getting a truth and reconciliation commission," Barrow told the AP. "Before you can act, you have to get the truth, to get the facts together."

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JANUARY 22, 2017 • T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

SUNDAY COMMENT

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

ECOWAS AND THE FALL OF JAMMEH President Adama Barrow must ensure that everyone is carried along

A

fter an initial resistance, the defeated dictator of 22 years, Mr Yahya Jammeh, finally accepted that the game was up yesterday morning.

He agreed to leave The Gambia on exile, paving way for his successor and winner of the December presidential election, Mr. Adama Barrow to assume power. It is indeed gratifying that the political crisis which had the potential for violence was brought to an end without any bloodshed.

For this feat, we must salute not only the Mauritanian and Guinean Presidents who eventually persuaded Jammeh to accept defeat and leave the country, but also the Nigerian and Senegalese Presidents who gave military teeth to the laudable initiative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) without which yesterday’s outcome might not have been possible. President Muhammadu Buhari especially deserves commendation for upholding Nigeria’s strategic importance in Africa as well as our responsibility for ensuring the entrenchment of democratic culture in the West African sub-region.

Although ECOWAS was established with the sole agenda of creating a common economic market and there are contentions as to whether it could dabble into the internal politics of member countries as it did in The Gambia, it is on record that the subregional body has helped solve the internal political crises in Liberia and Sierra Leone where some political warlords butchered hundreds of thousands of their own people. Incidentally, in those cases, Nigeria also played crucial roles. President Charles Taylor of Liberia was brought to Nigeria and

We are now determined to build a Gambia where merit and what you know counts more than who you know.

We can only wish President Barrow all the best in his assignment as he leads The Gambia into a new era

Letters to the Editor

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before then, Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone had been detained in Abuja. The restoration of law and order in both countries cost Nigeria a fortune - in terms of lives and materials.

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

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

t is also on record that ECOWAS successfully resolved the political crises brought about by coup plotters in Guinea (Conakry), Niger and Burkina Faso while it is currently involved in efforts to end the crisis in Guinea Bissau. And in dealing with the peculiar challenge posed by Jammeh’s intransigence after he was defeated at the polls, West African leaders are sending a strong message that leadership is essentially about service to the people and that those who seek and wield power must do so within acceptable limits.

The road ahead for The Gambia may nonetheless be bumpy. Jammeh leaves an unpleasant legacy of divide and rule that has not helped his country, having come to power as a junior military officer who toppled the civilian government of Sir Dauda Jawara.

When military autocracy fell into global disfavour, he quickly metamorphosed into a civilian politician.

He organised and predictably won a succession of elections. While his reign lasted, he personalised and privatised security and other national institutions to serve his political ends. In the process, he progressively built a typically African ‘big man’ personality cult that hovered menacingly over his tiny country.

Following his acrimonious departure yesterday, rebuilding the critical institutions that will help restore rule of law and good governance in The Gambia has become mandatory. That is the first task Barrow owes the people of his country, regardless of who supported him at the election that brought him to power. The new president has been saying all the right things even as we hope his actions will match his rhetoric. “Throughout our campaign we promised to unify our diverse people so that each would take ownership of the country, irrespective of ethnic origin, religion, gender or any other differences,” said Barrow who promised liberty and prosperity to all citizens at his inauguration last Thursday in Dakar, Senegal. “We are now determined to build a Gambia where merit and what you know counts more than who you know.”

We can only wish President Barrow all the best in his assignment as he leads The Gambia into a new era.

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

COLLAPSING INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE SOUTH-EAST

uring last year’s Yuletide festivities during which millions of people from diverse sectors of life trooped down to their home towns in the South- east of Nigeria from across the globe to celebrate with loved ones, this writer also spent quality period in the South- east.

But unlike several millions of our people whose major point of attraction in going home for Christmas was to be with loved ones, yours faithfully as a journalist and human rights campaigner did also move round the South- East states to catch impressions of the state of infrastructure.

With possible exceptions of Enugu and Anambra states where there is semblance of functional state administration and high quality governance, all other states in the South- east like Imo, Ebonyi and Abia States are cursed with the most disturbing thieving administrations ever witnessed by humanity. Imo

and Abia have in the past two decades always had the misfortune of producing some of the most incompetent politicians as governors and state legislators. The legislators sent to the National Assembly from most South- east states operate like merchants who are in Abuja to enrich their families.

But throughout the places I visited, a common trend emerged depicting the reality that indeed the South -east is in dire need of infrastructural renewal just as it dawned on me that steps and mechanisms must be put in place and meticulously implemented to once more restore the commercial pride that the South -east of Nigeria used to enjoy in times past. The agitation for self- rule is engineered by the total marginalisation of the Igbo states but this systemic marginalisation is primarily self- inflicted because the South- eastern states have in the last two decades failed to use the resources of their states constructively

to lift their people out of poverty.

Aba and Onitsha were two significant centres of commerce and trade but due to longstanding neglect by successive administrations, especially that of Abia State, the critical infrastructure of roads network, proper urban planning and environmental sanitation are in sorry shape.

My trip to Aba confirmed the widely circulated report that the city has become one of the dirtiest commercial centres in Nigeria. The poor state of infrastructure in the commercially city is a clear reminder that urgent steps must be taken by critical stakeholders to fix those broken down facilities which have made life brutish and brutal for the millions of residents who toil day and night to put food on the table of their families.

The criminal gangs that specialise in kidnapping and all sorts of daredevil activities seem to have

staged deadly come back which goes to show that the security architecture has collapsed.

But in all of this bad state of social amenities, the almost complete absence of the effective social services of professional policing of most states of the South- east goes to show another hidden fact - that the South-east is currently witnessing human rights emergency.

The entire federal security institutions that operate in the South-east states, most especially in the capital cities, usually operate with hostile mindset as if to say the South- east is a conquered territory.

This calls for urgent remedy and reminds me of the need for immediate surgical overhaul of the nation’s policing institution through carefully crafted constitutional reforms that would take into account the need to create vibrant state policing institutions to make the police not only professionally effective in crime

detection, prevention and enforcement of relevant anti-criminal laws and strategies, but would also create the enabling environment for the people to own the process of providing security of lives and property of their people.

Right now, the police in most city centres in the South-east operate like automated teller machines for the comprehensive dehumanisation and extortion of the citizenry. Where then is the respect for human rights in the South- east of Nigeria?

The other day, Amnesty International issued a carefully compiled evidence-based report of criminal brutality that sympathisers of the Indigenous People of Biafra faced in the hands of the Nigeria Armed Forces who constitutionally ought to protect the people. .

--Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

SUNDAYNEWS

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

Buhari’s Alive and Well, Says Garba Shehu Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari is alive and well, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu has declared.

Reacting to speculation concerning the health of the president, Shehu, in a message he posted on twitter @ GarShehu said: “The president cannot be holidaying in the United Kingdom and be in Germany, dead or alive at the same time.”

REGIONAL STRATEGIC SESSION L-R: Chairman of Occasion, former Governor Osun State, Chief .Bisi Akande; National Coordinator Yoruba Patriots Movement, Hon. Oladosu Oladipo; Ambassador Yemi Farombi, and Dr. Kunle Olajide at the National Colloquium of Yoruba Patriots Movement held at Jogor Centre, Ibadan, Oyo State...yesterday

2019 Tops PDP Stakeholders’ Parley Thursday Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The leadership of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has scheduled an important meeting of an enlarged national caucus to discuss options to deal with the crisis in the party as well as map out strategies for the 2019 general election.

The meeting, which is scheduled to hold on Thursday this week, will have prominent PDP leaders, including governors, National Assembly members, members of the Board of the Trustees, National Executive Committee members and other key stakeholders of the party in attendance.

It was learnt that the meeting will also consider aspects of the recommendations of a special committee on strategy and inter party affairs set up late last year.

Althoughthereportofcommitteeisyettobeofficiallysubmitted tothepartyleadership,THISDAY gathered from reliable sources that it contains among other recommendationsissuesrelatingto reformsintheparty,proposalsfor constitutional amendment and terms/forms of re-alignment in the event of unfavorable judicial pronouncementonitsleadership crisis.

For instance, one of the syndicate committees headed by Prof.

TundeAdeniranwasmandated to work out election-winning strategiesandmeasurestoadopt in the wake of alleged bias of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

As part of consultations with keyorgansoftheparty,theleadership of the National Caretaker Committee led by its chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi met with the representatives of the PDP Governors’ Forum and National Assembly caucus last Thursday night.

Spokesman of the PDP, Dayo Adeyeye who confirmed the agenda of the meeting in a telephoneinterviewwithTHISDAY yesterday, said the meeting will focusonstrategiestorebuildand reunitethepartyaheadofthe2019 election.

“Thursday’s crucial meeting is meant to strategise and chart a way forward for the party.

Among those being expected at themeetingareeldersoftheparty, governors, National Assembly caucus and NEC members,” he said.

Speakingonthestateofaffairs in the party, especially with the atmosphere of uncertainty brought about by the pending Appeal Court judgment of the PDP crisis, Adeyeye said there is some measure of optimism that the judicial pronouncement will

put an end to the dispute.

“I would say we have started the year with a lot of optimism with the hope that all our issues will be resolved by both Court of Appeal sitting both in Port Harcourt and Abuja; we hope that the decision of the court will lay to rest all the disputes in PDP and from there we can move forward.

“Wedon’tknowwhatthejudgmentwouldbelikebutwhatever the case may be as far as we are concernedwhetherwewinorlose webelievethataclearpronouncementwillremovetheindemnity thatpersistinthemindsofpeople right now as regards that state of affairs in the PDP. “If the judgment is against us, fine,wewillmovetothenextstep andtakeadecisiononwhattodo and if it is also in our favour we will also take the next step and see how we can move forward.

Butwedon’tlikethepresentstate ofambiguitywherepeoplearen’t very sure because of conflicting pronouncements of the High Courtbothatthefederalandstate levelregardingdisputebetween thePDPandtherebelliousgroup that is challenging the authority of the National Caretaker committee.

“Once the court makes a fundamentalpronouncementwe hope that we can then proceed

to working with all our organs and states to organise a hitch free conventionthistimearoundthat will elect the executives that will worktoproducethenextgovernment of the federal republic of Nigeria.”

The PDP Spokesman said majorityofthePDPmemberswho are in solidarity with caretaker committee will not want to be caught napping in the event of any court ruling that tends to put thefutureofthepartyinjeopardy.

“Of course we shouldn’t find ourselvescompletelyhelplessina caseofanunfavourablejudgment which I am hopeful that by the graceofGodthecourtbeingvery reasonableandstraightforwardI believethatwearegoingtowinin the Court of Appeal by the grace ofGodallthingsbeingequaland from there we would proceed.

Our hands of fellowship will still be open to all the people who are rebelling and agitating as you have said and who have cause extremepaintotheparty,”hesaid.

Makarfi had said during an interview shortly after a meeting with PDP governors at the Asokoro residence of the Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose that the meeting of enlarged national caucusoftheoppositionpartywill be summoned on Thursday to furtherdiscusonthewayforward for the party.

S’ West Elders Demand New Order to Re-invent Self Ahead 2019 Ademola Babalola in Ibadan

Yoruba leaders in South-west Nigeria are currently demanding a new order in Nigeria’s body politic to reinvent self for regional integration and overall development agenda of the six States that make up the zone.

This was the fallout of yesterday’s colloquium convened in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital by a pro-Yoruba political organisation,YorubaPatrioticMovement (YPM) entitled: ‘Resetting the Yoruba Nations Agenda for Rapid, Systematic and Sustainable Development’, held at Jogor Event Centre.

Tounderscoretheimportance of the gathering, indications also rife that the zone may opt for a new political party ahead of 2019 general elections with a view to allowing majority of its people to come under one political umbrella “to demand a just,equitable,fullyrestructured and egalitarian society within the existing Nigerian state.”

The colloquium, chaired by former acting National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, a former governor of Osun State, had in attendance Yoruba leaders across various political parties in the country.

The leaders agreed that if a new

party would not be founded, most of them could move enmasse into an existing party.

As it stands, the YPM wanted all political leaders and their followers, which cut across APC, PeoplesDemocraticParty(PDP), Accord,SocialDemocraticParty (SDP), Labour Party (LP) and others, to be in the only political party that would be established.

The meeting agreed that there should be Yoruba summit, Yoruba economic agenda and all Yoruba groups should register under the YPM. In his address, Akande said the focal point of the programme centred on unity in politics among the Yoruba,

irrespective of party affiliation, saying: “After this, whenever andwhereverwewillmeet,even if not in my house, wherever we will meet, I must be there.

However, we must understand our languages.”

Former Chief of Staff to exgovernor Adebayo Alao-Akala in Oyo State, Dr. Saka Balogun, who is the interim chairman of YPM, said: “We want as many as possible Yoruba politicians to be in the same political party. It might not be possible for all of us to be in the same party, but if most of us are in the same party, it would be more convenient for theagendaweplantosettowork out well.

He went on to say that Buhari “was unlike a past president who was at Ota with Chief Obasanjo and attending the Trump inauguration in Washington DC, being in two places at the same time.”

In his own reaction which was also published through twitter, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina said: “Best wishes to all who wish PMB well. As for those who carry evil rumours, may they receive grace to repent.”

Despite N70bn Kerosene Importation, Nigerians Pay Heavily for Scarce Commodity James Emejo in Abuja

Nigerians are increasingly finding it difficult to buy the household kerosene (HHK) despite a whopping N70.7 billion spent in importing the commodity in 2016.

Furthermore, kerosene importation gulped N24.7 billion in the last quarter of last year (Q4 2016), according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). A total of 713.79 million litres of HHK was imported in the whole of last year, 182.9 million litres in Q4 alone.

Although, kerosene is believed to be deregulated, Nigerians are currently finding it difficult to access the product. They are also believed to be paying heavily for the scarce commodity used as cooking fuel in majority of the homes.

THISDAY findings revealed that while the pump price of a litre of kerosene

is N80, it is actually difficult to buy the commodity at the filling stations across the country. The development has more than tripled the retail price of the commodity as most people resort to the black market which sells at between N350 to N400 per litre. Yet, the average monthly landing cost per litre of the commodity was N135.49 in October when 67.73 million litres was imported, according to the NBS. In November 2016, 69.31 million litres was imported at an average landing cost of N126.85 and N144.05 when 45.89 million litres was imported in December.

According to the National Household Kerosene Price Watch for December 2016, which was released by the statistical agency, Nigerians paid N231.85 as average monthly unofficial price of HHK and N1,032.59 for a gallon in the period under review.

In Brief Big Brother Naija Starts Tonight on DStv

Tonight, the much-anticipated reality show, Big Brother Naija reality TV show, will hit the TV screens on DStv. Viewers across the country and beyond are in for a swell time as the doors to the Big Brother Naija house are flung open. The show will be screened live 24/7 on all DStv packages on channel 198 and GOtv Plus on channel 29 from Sunday, January 22 at 7pm (WAT). For 11 weeks, starting tonight, there will be live drama, exciting action, rib-cracking comedy and perhaps a few tears as twelve total strangers get to live together in one house, with only one emerging winner of the grand prize of N25 million and a brand new Kia Sorento. According to a release by the organisers of the show, “There will be live eviction shows as well as the best of the live daily and weekly highlights shown on Africa Magic Urban, Africa Magic Showcase and Africa Magic World. Don’t miss a minute of the action on favourite DStv packages or GOtv Plus is up to date. Big Brother Naija is sponsored by PayPorte, your preferred online retail store.”

UNILAG Honours Omotola

Following the approval of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos(UNILAG)torenametheinstitution’sMultipurposeHallinhonour of the 7th Vice-Chancellor, late Prof. Jelili Adebisi Omotola (SAN), the official unveiling will take place on Monday, January 23 by 10.45am.

According to a letter to the family, the Council took the decision ‘’in recognitionofhisrareleadershipqualitiesandstyleduringhistenureas the former Vice Chancellor of the university”. The ceremony, the statement added, is part of the 2016 Convocation ceremonies. According to a publication to mark the tenth year anniversary on March 29, 2016 titled ‘A Visionary University Administrator - Professor Jelili Omotola’ some of his achievements include but are not limited to Multi-purpose Hall, upgraded Medical Centre, the Surface Water Reservoir, UNILAG Shopping Complex, refurbished Sports Centre, Dual Carriage Way on the campus, Staff Training Centre, Faculty of Education Building, Faculty of Education Administrative Staff Annex, new lecture halls for Faculty of Business Administration, and Biobaku Hall, Kofoworola Hall, newdigitalelectronicSwitch,FacultyofPharmacyBuilding.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

NEWS

Breached Agreement Foils Release of Abducted Turkish School Students, Staff Chiemelie Ezeobi and Wale Ajimotokan

But for the breach of an alleged agreement for the release of the abducted female students and some members of staff of the Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (NTIC) in Ogun State, the abductees would have regained their freedom by the wee hours of yesterday, THISDAY has learnt.

It was gathered that following the payment of the ransom demanded for their release, the kidnappers had agreed to release the staff members and students at three different locations on condition that the police would not be involved in their

pickup.

However, on the agreed day, the police were said to have stationed themselves at the footbridge at the Agboju area of Festac Town, but unknown to them, they were spotted. Upon spotting the policemen, the kidnappers, allegedly, withdrew and took their victims back to the creeks. Owing to this development, the affected parents were said to have begged the police to stay off the case since they had already paid the ransom.

A source, who spoke to THISDAY on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the matter, said, “From all indications, the victims were supposed to have been released in the early

morning of Saturday.

“Already, the parents managed to scrape together the ransom money. For the girl suffering from sickle cell anaemia, the parents had to cough out N3 million because she has been having crisis.

“For the Turkish Mathematics teacher, Miss Deria, whom the kidnappers had demanded N200 million from, they were said to have finally collected N50 million.”

THISDAY could not, however, confirm the payment of ransom from either the parents of the girls or the authorities of the Turkish school.

NTIC said in a statement at the weekend, “The school

resumes academic works on Monday, 23/1/17. Meanwhile, efforts to seek the release of the abducted continue. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.”

It would be recalled that the kidnappers reduced their earlier demand of N1.2 billion ransom for the release of the abducted persons to N750 million. Against their earlier ransom demand of N200 million ransom for the release of the Turkish national and N100 million each for the six other abductees, the ransoms had been reduced to N50 million each for the six abductees and N200 million for the Turkish Mathematics teacher, Miss Deria.

The source further revealed, “After the families paid, they were told to come at midnight and pick up the girls and the NTIC members of staff.

“The families of the different families were told to come to different spots to pick up their loved ones. While some were told to go to a spot near the school premises, others were directed to an area called Agboju Bridge.

At the Agboju area, the kidnappers were said to have directed the families to come under the bridge, which is quite an obscure place with creeks and bushes around.”

“But on sighting the policemen, the kidnappers withdrew and went back with the victims.

FG Mulls Contractor-financing Model for Transmission Grid Expansion • Power generation plunges to 2,662MW as fire guts TCN’s substation Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The Federal Government has said it is considering a contractorfinancing model for the expansion of Nigeria’s electricity transmission network currently operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who dropped this hint at a power dialogue organised by Nextier Advisory, said the government was currently deliberating on the option and decision was yet to be reached on it. “Again, it is not conclusive but we are considering contractor

financing for the transmission network,” Fashola indicated.

“You hear us announcing that we commissioned one transmission project or the other, you see me going round for these commissioning; that is the grid evolving. “Today, at its most frugal, it would support 6,500MW. Pushed to its limit it

would carry 7,200MW. So, it is not true when you hear that the grid capacity is not more than 5,000MW. It is growing every day and more projects are coming up. We have completed some and more are still coming up. So, that is where we are,” he added.

Fashola’s assertions were in line with a March 2016 proposal the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE)

made to the government on how to manage the TCN ahead of the expiration of its management contract with Canadian firm, Manitoba.

The BPE had suggested that the TCN be concessioned to a private operator, who will be responsible for operating and investing in the network, with utmost responsibility for effective operation and recovery of investments.

However, they have fixed another appointment with the parents, which we hope they will honour this time around.

“For the next move, the parents have begged the police to stay off as they have already paid the money for ransom.

According to them, the police should not further jeopardise the lives of their children, as they couldn’t rescue them alive”, the source added.

THISDAY also gathered that to make sure that the police do not infiltrate the exchange process, the kidnappers had gone to Facebook to get the pictures of the parents. It was gathered that the move was to make sure no policeman came to get the victims in disguise.

As at Friday night, the affected families were waiting with bated breath to reconcile with their loved ones. But it was further gathered that barring any unforeseen circumstance, the kidnappers might release the abducted students and staff members on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Command has activated its anti-kidnapping unit to join in the rescue operations if all other avenues fail.

T H I S D AY SUNDAY JANUARY 22, 2017

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JANUARY 22, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

OPINION

Nigeria and the Armed Forces Remembrance Day

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Nigerians could do more for their fallen heroes, writes Kelechi Anyikude

igeria marked the Armed Forces Remembrance Day a few days ago. But it is time to pause, consider and reflect on the true meaning of this day and our roles as Nigerian citizens. The Armed Forces Remembrance Day represents a national day of reverence and awareness, honouring those Nigerians who died while defending our beloved country and her values. While these heroes should be honoured daily by citizens for their immense contribution they made towards defending and securing our country, we should specially honour them on the Armed Forces Remembrance Day. Hundreds of young men and women have perished in war, especially during the Boko Haram insurgency, Biafra war and several peace keeping missions at home and abroad with each soldier hoping for peace to be restored. My heart bleeds when I think about these soldiers that have left their families behind. Taking a day to remember them for paying the ultimate sacrifice is the least we can do for them. If not for their courage, dedication and sacrifice, the freedom we have as Nigerians would have been long gone.

The thought of the soldiers leaving their families, friends and community, knowing that they may never come back home again is heartbreaking. Most of these brave soldiers definitely had this very thought as they kissed their families goodbye. Even those fortunate to make it back home returned with eternal physical and mental scars of war, with many of these soldiers still feeling the agony of losing their colleagues in the battlefield. For this reason, we should take time to remember those who have fallen and those who courageously served our nation well.

I do not think that Nigerians are doing enough in terms of remembering these heroes especially in the days leading up to the armed forces remembrance day. It is quite clear that most Nigerians don’t buy and wear the remembrance emblem. In fact predominantly top government functionaries, civil servants, uniformed men and newscasters wear them. This could either be due to lack of awareness from the Nigerian Legion who is in charge of producing and selling these emblems, or Nigerians not being bothered to buy and wear the emblems. The money generated from the sale of these emblems actually goes towards catering for the families of our lost heroes, our heroes injured/disabled in conflicts and our veterans. In the United Kingdom where I reside, their emblem which is called a poppy is worn by many citizens with so much pride, with money realised

going towards the heroes of the country with more than £40 million raised across the UK. Personally, I buy the emblems from Nigeria and wear them in the UK with so much pride. I wear the emblem to work, church and to the stadium for the Arsenal FC matches and I have been doing it for the last four years. I buy and share to friends as well. In wearing them, I also create awareness and encourage others to buy. When British people ask me questions about what I am wearing, I just tell them it’s our ‘Nigerian Poppy’ and they understand it immediately and offer warm words to the troops and the fallen. This is just my little way of saying thank you to our heroes.

So how can we patriotic citizens effectively and collectively remember these heroes especially in the months leading up to the Armed Forces Remembrance Day? Firstly, the Nigerian Legion should encourage Nigerians to buy these emblems by creating appropriate awareness on the sale of the emblems, the essence of wearing them and how the money will be used (accountability is key here). The Nigerian Legion should report the amount raised per year and how the funds are/were disbursed. These awareness can be done through the media through constant radio and TV jingles, adverts and newspaper publications. Being a charitable cause, I honestly expect the media to create this awareness free of charge. Also it could be made mandatory that corporate offices and banks be made as sales points for the emblems.

Taking a day to remember them for paying the ultimate sacrifice is the least we can do for them. If not for their courage, dedication and sacrifice, the freedom we have as Nigerians would have been long gone

Secondly, Nigerians should buy and wear these emblems with a sense of patriotism and pride. The should see the Nigerian Legion as a charity and emblem sale as a charity event geared towards providing financial, social and emotional support to the families of the fallen soldiers, injured servicemen, retired servicemen, veterans, those currently serving in the Nigerian Armed Forces and their dependants.

Thirdly, the Nigerian Legion through the Nigerian government needs to make these emblems available in the diaspora. Also the Armed Forces Remembrance Day should be marked in all Nigerian embassies around the world and appropriate awareness created for diasporans to attend to pay their respects.

Fourthly, another thing we can do as patriotic citizens of Nigeria to remember our fallen soldiers is to visit a war memorial site at our own convenience. These memorial sites which are known as cenotaphs are erected in memory of the Unknown Soldier and are dedicated to all soldiers that have sacrificed their lives for our dear nation and those who will sacrifice their lives in the future. The memorial sites are scattered all over Nigeria. We should endeavor to visit them.

The public outcry, grief and sadness that greeted the death of Col. Abu Ali and other brave soldiers involved in the war against Boko Haram is a pointer that Nigerians can support these worthy Armed Forces Remembrance Emblem cause. This will go a long way to show that we appreciate the ultimate sacrifices of our fallen heroes and also assure those serving their fatherland that their service will never be forgotten.

Let me appreciate and salute our courageous and brave men and women of the armed forces who are grappling with the Boko Haram insurgency. They have indeed displayed commitment and unalloyed loyalty to Nigeria. I also salute the gallant men and women of the armed forces who have lost their lives during this insurgency. May their souls Rest in Peace.

Finally, I have decided to institute an essay competition amongst primary and secondary school students in Nigeria in order to educate, create awareness and promote not only the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, but also to imbibe the act of honouring heroes of our time. Details of this essay competition will be released later in the year in time for the 2018 Armed Forces Remembrance Day. -Dr. Anyikude is a Research Associate, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

Electoral Violence: A Threat to Democracy

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John-Duke Akowe argues the need to revamp the electoral process

lection has a major role to play in the polity. In a state where there is an unvarying democratic process, the indispensable place of election cannot but be overemphasised. This is hinged on the very fact that elections have a fundamental role to play in the assortment of political officials in government offices. Hence, election is a foremost constituent of psephocracy, a practice that is founded on the principle of elected officials representing or governing a group of people.

Nonetheless, election becomes a prime method of selecting eligible citizens into public offices. This gives the masses the sore dispensation of deciding who to sit on the seat of any political office. The point is that elections belong to the citizenry. The people decide for themselves who to direct the political affairs of the nation, whether their decision would come back to irk them or not. Nevertheless, it would be thoughtless of anyone in our present age and political progression to think of democracy without making allusion to the needed principle of elections.

It is needful, however, to emphatically make out that electoral processes in Nigeria are erected and fused on violence. Nigeria’s political history has become stuffed with violence even before, during and after elections in all frontiers. This contemptible menace in the electoral processes did not just start with the immediate past presidential elections but has been in existence since the pre-independence period.

Nigeria’s political history is replete with instances of electoral violence, right from independence on October 1, 1960. The Human Rights Watch, in 2007, in its follow up of post- independence events, described Nigeria’s post-independence history as being overshadowed by the depredations of a series of corrupt, abusive, and unaccountable governments. There has always been physical attack on political opponents, intimidation of voters, kidnapping of political opponents, violence at party campaigns and conventions, attack on security personnel on election duties, snatching and destruction of electoral materials, and so on. The occurrences are myriad.

We have had a lot of them as long as elections are concerned. The underlining factor is that these observable facts can be traced as far back as the colonial period. In fact electoral violence goes all way back to the political history of Nigeria. And this does not help the growth and strengthening of democracy in the country. With the various electoral violence in the country, the purpose of democracy is being crushed and routed.

A historical trail of the kind of politicking that has been in operation since the nation’s independence from the colonial masters proposes

that the nation and her citizens seem to have learned a life style of violence at elections. There has never been an election in this country of ours that is devoid of violence. It is either humans are being slaughtered like cows and rams for festive celebrations or structural property are being burnt and ruined as if they were not gotten through the hard work of men. After almost every election conducted in the country, there must be recourse to the tribunal whether it is in the state level or federal level, even the local governments are not left out. This is because of the colossal rigging, fraud and violence that trail the whole electoral process.

I am very sure that every citizen of this country can remember the do-or-die aphorism that went about in the 2007 elections.

Facts and figures still have it that, that very election was the worst conducted in the history of humanity. It was an election typified by invasive violence prior to the elections, during the elections and after the elections. It was an election that took a lot of lives and property.

Because of the apprehension that enveloped the entire atmosphere at that time, the masses did not turn out to cast their votes. Their rights were infringed; democracy was massacred and dictatorship had its course.

Although the 2015 general elections was said to have been free of violence, be that as it may, it had some bits of violence pre, during and post the elections in certain locations. Some candidates during that election shed human blood just to get into power. Even security men who were deployed to those locations to instil peace and harmony were the progenitors of violence. Eye witnesses have it that while voting was going on peacefully in some areas, these security men disguised themselves and stormed these places in trucks to upset the elections. They shot at sporadic intervals into the skies and listless lives were lost in this mishap. As the guns rumbled, hundreds of voters in those venues scuttled for safety. As the voters and electoral officials are running for their dear lives, these security personnel haul away the electoral materials. I am very sure that this happened in some other places in the country and this was an election that was affirmed to be the best in recent times. Where is our country heading? Where is our right to cast votes?

The recently rerun election in Rivers State is not far away from the normal electoral practice in Nigeria. Violence and butcheries were the order of the day. There was disagreement between party agents and the presiding officers. Security agencies were smoothly used to rig the elections. There was late arrival of voting materials and snatching of ballot boxes even by security agencies. Regardless of these glaring abnormalities, the General Officer Commanding

the Sixth Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Kasimu Abdulkarim still denied that Nigerian Army troops were in no way involved in any form of ballot boxes snatching, neither were they involved in the escort of politicians. Hoodlums, assisted by security agencies came out to attack the masses that were coming out to exercise their franchise. So many lives and property went with that election. It was really a bloody rerun elections in Rivers State.

The widespread electoral violence in the country does not only downplay the purpose of democracy rather it has garnered antagonism and antipathy among political party opponents. It is very true that Frantz Fanon a Martinique born Afro-Caribbean psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer developed the idea that ‘violence begets violence’. In view of the fact that this maxim is held to be true, the victims of violence want to have revenge and they do not consider the act as a means of promoting violence. They just see it as a way of thwarting violence. The vile act of revenge becomes an answer to violence. With this mounting spirit of having retribution over the wrong that has been done by violence, anger and rift become a normal practice. Consequently, the unified Nigeria that everyone craves for would not be achieved.

It is lucidly known that all the people who keep up this act of electoral violence are never brought to book. I think if one person is chastised and reprimanded for election violence it will serve as ‘scapegoat’ to other people that are nursing the intention.

I am still searching out the reason political candidates fight tooth and nail to get into office. I do not think they are combating all forces around just because of service, rather there is a selfish drive sandwiched with voracity that is propelling them. I think there is a great need for a complete revamping of the electoral process in the country. With this face-lifting in the electoral system, the badly informed youths who make themselves agents of violence would be educated enough to know that politicians are only using their heads to gratify their egotistic interest and political will. At moments of failures and defeats, the politicians too must learn how to accept defeats and let sleeping dogs lie.

The government is not left out; there is need for grassroots civic education before any election and voters’ education. The task of governance is a collective responsibility that the entire citizenry and civil societies need to help the government and the populace to advance the cause of electoral processes.

--Akowe is a Catholic Priest of the Diocese of Auchi, Edo State

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

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NYSC And the Demand for Medical Certificates

was surprised when my little cousins ready for the 2016 Batch B Stream II Orientation Course which would run from January 24, to February 13, 2017, came to inform me that medical certificates were compulsory for every prospective corps member. On further enquiry, I learnt that NYSC has made it compulsory that every prospective corps member must come to the NYSC camp with a medical fitness certificate from any government hospital. Although I have no problem with the new demand considering the death of corps members in the last stream, my problem is that NYSC authority has technically avoided the issues that should be addressed first. How have NYSC authorities addressed the poor sanitary conditions in their camps nationwide?

What is the sanitary condition of the NYSC camp toilets now?

How many prospective corps members are expected to make use of one toilet? This is important because if an NYSC camp, for an instance, has 10 toilet units, and there are 3000 corps members expected in the camp, then on the average, 300 corps members are meant to make use of one toilet unit.

That will be very unhygienic for corps members from different social statuses and with different health challenges.

Concerning the camp clinics, what are their levels

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LETTERS

Brigadier General Sule Zakari Kazaure, DG NYSC

of preparedness in tackling health emergencies? Although the NMA national president, Prof. Mike Ogirima, has urged NYSC authority to engage the services of at least one medical consultant in each state NYSC camp, my own further suggestion is that the Director of Medical Services (DMS) of each state ministry of health, the state NMA officials with other relevant bodies in each state should as a matter of urgency visit each state NYSC camp clinics to ascertain their levels of preparedness in managing medical emergencies. This is important because even if NYSC authorities contract the services of 100 medical consultants but fail to

procure emergency medical equipment and drugs, the medical consultants with their junior colleagues will only turn to prayer warriors when any medical emergency crops up in the camp. I am not in any way saying that the professional piece of advice by our very own Prof. Ogirima should not be followed; all I am saying is that the poor states of our camp clinics should also be addressed.

Then as a medical student, I asked a question during our community medicine posting and the answer still puzzles me till date. That day we visited the Environmental Health unit of a local government in Enugu, while

lecturing us on the roles of environmental health officers, I asked the environmental officer why they were not inspecting government institutions and possibly sanction any institution with poor sanitary conditions.

The environmental health officer simply replied me that a kingdom does not rise against itself. That means that these environmental health officers who move around inspecting public places owned by private individuals or organisations are prevented from extending same roles to government owned institutions hence many students live under unhygienic environments in government-owned hostels and government institutions. It follows that while the environmental health officers inspect and sanction owners of hotels, schools, restaurants, bakeries, etc, they are barred from carrying out same functions to government-owned institutions. What a paradox. This is why NYSC camps may also not be along the ‘trajectory’ of environmental health officers.

The environmental health officer went ahead to tell us his own personal experience the day he defied the rule to visit one government institution. He said that he had not reached his own house after the close of work that same day when the local government chairman called to warn

DEATH PENALTY FOR KIDNAPPERS

n these days of economic crises and continued disparity between poverty and wealth, there are many crimes that are putting our nation in a state of perpetual fear. Terrorism, Advance Free Fraud (aka 419), money laundering, cybercrime and kidnapping have become increasing sources of worries in our nation.

Kidnapping, especially, has become something else.

Society has always used punishment to discourage would be criminals. And talking of the spate at which kidnapping is gradually becoming a new normal business, it is understandable why the Lagos State House of Assembly has joined few other states in passing into law, a bill aimed at checking the spate of kidnapping with stiffer penalties, including death sentence for offenders.

Ever since the law was passed, opinions especially from lawyers are sharply divided, and equally strong among both supporters and opponents of the law. But for the perennial problems of human existence like kidnapping that requires logical investigation and deployment of all the cognitive resources of human reason and scientific methodology for solution, it can be very easy for people to assume or conclude that courses like Philosophy and Sociology among other humanities and social sciences can be dispensed with, going by silence of scholars and students of the courses in the ongoing

debate and search for ethically acceptable solution. At present, resorting to mass abduction of students and officials of schools with that of Nigeria-Turkish International School, Ogun State being the latest, kidnapping remains a big sore in our society.

In the past, expatriates and foreign construction workers were the potential targets of kidnappers. It was later extended to parents of high profile personalities, religious leaders, businessmen and politicians. In following the bad example of Boko Haram terrorist group, school children are now increasingly the main target.

It has happened at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, a model private missionary school in Ikorodu and Lagos State Model College, Igbo Nla in Epe. Naturally, it should trouble every one of us that schools are now the target.

In accordance with the laws of physics, every action causes a reaction and, depending on the type of action, the reaction.

Lagos State is on course with the new bill which prescribes death sentence for kidnappers whose victims die in their custody and life sentence for kidnappers whose victims did not die in the hands of their abductors. In the bill, 25 years imprisonment is proposed as penalty for anyone found guilty of threatening to kidnap another person through phone call, e-mail, text message or any other means of communication.

So far, the only aspect of the law that is generating reaction

is that of death penalty, where victims die in custody of kidnappers. Whatever the reasons for the focus on capital punishment, it is germane to look at the logic and otherwise of death penalty. This should bring us to a number of questions which are important to explain as a way of summarising the moral trade-offs of the debate. Is capital punishment intended primarily as a punishment? Is it a just and proportional punishment for certain crimes, like murder?

Do murderers and some other criminals commit crimes so horrific that they forfeit the right to life? Should innocent life be valued over a murderer’s life, and does capital punishment demonstrate this? Or is it important to demonstrate compassion even to murderers who operate with ammunition by sparing their lives?

For some of our compatriots who share the Amnesty International belief that death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights which state must not be involved in, death penalty is seen as not a solution to kidnapping. The argument being that it is wrong to assume that death penalty will act as deterrent to committing of crimes. To them, death penalty has no historical foundation; it has no jurisprudential foundation and has no foundation in real life. Anti-death penalty campaigners are also quick in citing armed robbery experience which attracted death penalty from the 1970s in Nigeria and how it has not put an end to

robbery.

However, one is of the view that all these arguments are flawed and misleading. At best it can be regarded as academic exercise which does not reflect the sentiment of majority of the traumatised kidnapping victims. In Singapore, death sentences are permitted for some offences, so the people know precisely what to expect if they are convicted of such offences. In 2012, a couple of American elected officials and office-seekers suggested that Singapore’s success in combating drug abuse through death penalty should be examined as a model for the United States.

Michael Bloomberg, a former Mayor of New York City, said that the United States could learn a thing or two from nations like Singapore when it comes to drug trafficking, noting that “executing a handful of people saves thousands and thousands of lives”.

So for a crime being orchestrated by professional gangs who make use of ammunitions, speed boat and probably other equipment and logistics worth millions of naira, nothing else could suffice other than death penalty. This is proportional to the gravity of kidnapping crime and presently the only way to adequately express our horror at the taking of an innocent life through kidnapping.

–– Rasak Musbau, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Lagos

him never to go there again and he complied. In view of this, NYSC officials should allow the state environment health officers to independently inspect their camps to ascertain if the available facilities will be enough for the expected number of corps members. Their findings should also be made public and not to be given to the NYSC officials where they may be swept under the carpet. The Director of Public Health (DPH) in each state ministry of health should equally visit the NYSC camp in their states to ascertain the level of preparedness of the camp in preventing or handling public health issues.

This is important because the medical certificate demanded

by NYSC authorities can certify a corps member clinically fit but the poor sanitary conditions of the NYSC camps are enough to break down such corps member. I need not tell the DPH that there are diseases that can be contracted in crowded places or in places best described as slums. Those that prepare their foods and the places the foods are prepared should also be inspected. I need not talk about the quality of their food since there is an alternative of buying from private food vendors.

Dr Paul John, Port Harcourt

ONE PARTY HEGEMONY ON THE CARDS?

N

igerians may have to expect a full blown one party dictatorship unless the opposition parties gear up and put their houses in order. 2019 may just end up as a one horse race. The evidence is simply overwhelming. As I write, the ruling party is using all the political tricks in its bag to lure many members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the National Assembly into its fold. Their soft targets are the serving members who may, in the estimation of the party apparatchik, not likely get a return ticket for another term. They are also targeting those who are not in the good books of their state governors. And that reminds us that the greatest problems in the opposition camp are the governors. Apart from bringing a frankenstein monster called Ali Modu -Sheriff, they seem not intelligent enough to know where their powers stop. Some of them are even antagonising serving members of the National Assembly who should add political value to the party and by extension, their second term ambitions. And apart from Rivers State’s Nyesom Wike, not many of the serving PDP Governors can withstand the heat of a federal might during elections.

Really the opposition PDP is in tatters. That has been the plan of the ruling APC. The plan is working well now. Thanks to overzealous state governors, lack of party cohesion and discipline that characterise Nigerian party politics.

The feeling from within the ruling party is that except a death blow is dealt on PDP given its 16 years dominance, there is a threat that it might bounce back. So the strategy of the ruling party to dismember it was carefully hatched. Let us now look at the following scenarios: First, the Sheriff strategy fitted the bill. Given his case with EFCC and the likelihood of him being roped into the Boko Haram conundrum, he was seen as an easy prey who will play ball. And he has done that so perfectly. The APC strategists did their home work well.

Second, a section of the judiciary perceived to be hostile must be brought to its knees if the sheriff strategy must work.

Those judges perceived to be a stumbling block needed to be singled out and dealt with. True, the state may have a genuine case against some of them, but like the anti-corruption campaign has shown, the campaign is heavily skewed in favour those ready to acquiesce.

Thirdly, the election umpire, INEC and the security might of the state needed to be mobilised to ensure that the ruling party makes an inroad into South-South, capture the Edo and Ondo top prize ahead of 2019. That too seemed to have worked well in Edo and Ondo and partially in Rivers.

One of the greatest weapons being employed successfully by the APC strategists is the fear factor. Some governors and National Assembly members from the opposition PDP are scared stiff given the deployment of state power during elections in Rivers, Edo and Ondo. Some of them may not have the liver of Wike to withstand such brutal engagement.

Then there is the fear of being pursued by the attack dog, the EFCC. Some prominent politicians from the opposition who are facing allegations of corruption are being declared saints for decamping to the ruling party. This too seems a good selling point for the ruling party.

It is this fear factor in particular that has made a state governor from the South-South and some members of the National Assembly to consider jumping ship to survive this political tsunami likely to be unleashed on the opposition strongholds.

Some serving governors from the opposition are also not helping matters as they are alienating some of the members of the National Assembly whose political value back home is immense.

With the wave of defections likely to hit the PDP in months to come, and with the state sponsored national leadership crisis in the party aided by the judiciary coupled with the politics of survival, characteristic of Nigerian politicians, it will be a miracle for the party to survive the heat.

––Victor Effik, Abuja

16

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER • JANUARY 22, 2017

INTERNATIONAL Trump as Russian President Americans Will Never Have: Dynamics of an End to a Beginning

M

r. Donald John Trump, a 70-year old American businessman, officially nominated the flag bearer of the Republican Party in Cleveland, was elected on November 8, 2016 and inaugurated as the 45th President of the currently most powerful country in the world, the United States of America on January 20, 2017. From the perspective of the Wikipedia, at the age of 70, Donald Trump is ‘the oldest and wealthiest person to assume the presidency, the first without prior military or governmental service, and the fifth elected with less than a plurality of the national popularity.’ Other sources have it that Donald Trump is the 324th wealthiest in the world and the 113th wealthiest in the United States with 4.5 billion US dollars. In this regard, how do we understand his election as the fifth person with less than a plurality of the national popularity?

As noted by the Cable Network News (CNN), the approval rating as at the time of inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1992 was 67%, compared with 61% for George Bush in 2001, 84% for Barack Obama in 2009 and 40% for Donald Trump in 2017. Thus, Donald Trump has the least approval rating in recent times. Why is this so? How do we explain the fact that he cannot even have 50% of approval rating? How do we explain the fact that Donald Trump was elected on the basis of majority votes of the electoral college and yet, his approval rating as at the time of inauguration is not reflective of the majority votes?

In this regard, various press speculations have it that the January 20, 2017 inauguration might not go the traditional way: big fanfare, big attendance, etc. Elisabeth Bumiller, the New York Times Washington Bureau Chief has said that ‘certainly the city is a lot quieter than it was in 2009 and 2013, at least at this point...

An inauguration of a president is always historic.’ About 1.8 million people attended the 2009 Obama’s inauguration while only 800,000 or less were expected on January 20, 2017. Why such a sharp decline of more than 50%? Why should there be violent public demonstrations against the inauguration? More than 95 demonstrators had been arrested as at the time of writing this column few blocks to the parade route. Why should this be so?

Many factors are responsible. First, Donald Trump cannot lay any good claim to legitimacy from the true majority of Americans. In other words, who elected Donald trump? Was he elected by majority of Americans or by the minority of Russians?

Should Donald Trump be considered an American president or a Russian president by virtue of Russia’s hacking of the 2016 US presidential election?

Secondly, there is the factor of behavioural diplomacy of Donald Trump which is not consistent with international civilisation.

Donald Trump’s foreign policy is moving in an anti-clockwise direction, in such a way that he is working towards a new global order in a unilateral and manu militari fashion. His attitudinal disposition is belligerent. His foreign policy declarations are revisionist and protectionist, and reportedly, aimed at making America great again. And perhaps more disturbingly, he is fanning the embers of a new Cold War in a catalytic manner.

Thirdly and most importantly, Donald Trump wants to behave as an American president, but with a Russian blood running in, and cerebral thrombosis blocking, his capillaries and veins. Donald Trump has the option to act as a Russian or as an American but not as both at the same time as he appears to have become holier than the Pope by being in the forefront defending Russian policies more than the Russians. He does not even believe in his own intelligence community with ease. He is eccentrically arrogant and anti-immigrants, particularly Black

President Trump...taking oath of office

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com people.

Is it a shame or a pride, for President Vladimir Putin of Russia to have commended the US president, Donald John Trump Snr., for running after the best prostitutes in the world, who happen to be Russians (CNN reports of Wednesday, 18th January, 2017). In other words, have the Americans elected a president who does not have the word ‘moralism’ in his dictionary? If Donald Trump is a client of prostitutes, is he too not a prostitute?

If Russian prostitutes constitute a factor of rapprochement between the United States and Russia, how far can this type of relationship go at the level of official diplomacy?

All these factors are not what the true Americans voted for, and therefore, Donald Trump cannot but be a Russian president that Americans will never have in the immediate and long run.

Russian and American interests are not the same and, of course, they do conflict necessarily. Consequently, it is most unlikely that Americans will accept the promotion of Russian interests to the detriment of those of the United States by Donald Trump. This is why great emphasis should be placed on the administration of Donald Trump, especially in terms of its implications for Africa, in general, and Nigeria, in particular.

Donald Trump and Africa

Generally, US foreign policy under Donald Trump is likely to negate what Barack Obama did, especially in terms of restoration of US engagements in global affairs. As noted by Michael Rhodes, who is generally considered as one of the most trusted aides of Obama, the summary of the legacy of the eight-year tenure of President Obama is ‘engagement: ‘we’ve engaged diplomatically around the world. We’ve engaged former adversaries. We’ve engaged publics. We’ve sought to work through multilateral coalitions and institutions with the purpose of repositioning the United States to lead,’ especially following the erosion of US leadership after the Iraqi war and the financial crisis.

The engagements included the 2011 military air campaign over Libya leading to the removal of Muammar Gaddafi; the aborted plan, as a result of political resistance and Russian intervention, of Barack Obama in late summer of 2013 to carry out airstrikes against President Bashar Assad of Syria allegedly for using or moving chemical weapons; restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba in 2015 after 54 years of political lull; and the Iranian nuclear deal.

These engagements generally have bilateral and multilateral character and do not have much to do with Africa which cannot be said to be a priority for the Obama administration. In other words, Africa is not a major component issue of Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy. However, President Obama is behav-

iourally predictable. His foreign policy direction also is.

On the contrary, Donald Trump’s policy attitude towards Africa cannot but be unpredictable at best for many reasons.

First, Donald Trump himself made it clear that he is not predictable. As he put it: ‘no one is going to touch us, because I’m so unpredictable.’ but why is he not predictable? What are the factors of predictability and non-predictability?

Secondly, Donald Trump admits that he ‘says things that are politically incorrect, because the country (the United States) does not have time to waste with political correctness.’ By implication, Donald Trump is giving the impression that he is consciously saying things that are incorrect politically. If we admit of this interpretation, then, to a great extent, he is quite predictable, 50-50.

Thirdly, Donald Trump has declared that on the very first day of assumption of duty in the White House, he would not only get rid of gun-free zones at military bases and in schools, but also terminate Obama’s executive orders relating to immigration, as well as getting rid of ‘sanctuary cities,’ which from the viewpoint of President Trump, have become a refuge for criminals.

If we take January 20 as a ceremonial day for handover of power, and therefore not the first working day, we can also admit that yesterday, Saturday 21st, was the last day of the weekend, implying that today is therefore the first, but non-working day of the week. An official policy pronouncement on gun-free zones and termination of immigration-related executive orders is expected. This has not been so. Tomorrow, 23rd January, there should be a policy direction on the two issues. But, in the absence of any policy pronouncement on these two issues of gun-free zones and immigration, then Donald Trump’s declaration can only reflect his person as one without integrity and iota of goodness.

Regarding other policies he promised to adopt as President of the US, they may also not be a big deal in terms of fulfilment, and particularly in terms of approach and implications for Nigeria and Africa. Let us take the case of terrorism for example.

Donald Trump wants to allow Russia to deal with the Islamic State in Syria. In the alternative, he wants to work directly with the Russian president ‘to wipe out shared enemies.’ What is the manner of this wiping out? It is by bombing ‘oil fields controlled by the Islamic State’ and then seizing ‘the oil and giving the profits to military veterans who were wounded while fighting.’

More interestingly but unfortunately, the approach is also about targeting and killing the relatives of terrorists. Why should the relatives of terrorists be killed if they are not accomplices or accessories? Does belonging to a family in which there is a terrorist? In Nigeria, there are many reported cases of parents reporting their children to the law enforcement agencies for acts of dismeanor.

Additionally, Donald Trump wants to shut down parts of the internet to prevent the recruitment of American youths for purposes of terrorism. In fact, ‘water-boarding’ is what he has prescribed for the containment of terrorism. The Oxford Dictionary has it that water-boarding is ‘the interrogation technique simulating the experience of drowning, in which a person is strapped head downwards on a slopping board or bench with the mouth and nose covered while large quantities of water are poured over the face.’ On the basis of this, can terrorism be really nipped in the bud effectively?

Again, can terrorism be ever stopped with Donald Trump’s statement on the Chinese? He said: ‘rather than throw the Chinese president a state dinner, buy him “a McDonald’s hamburger and say we’ve got to get down to work.” To what extent can this type of mockery help the development of better entente at the bilateral level? Donald Trump says he wants to bring jobs back from China. He even sees China’s power as aggressive. For Trump, China is a currency manipulator, who adopts a ‘zero tolerance policy on intellectual property theft and forces technology transfer.’ In fact, Donald Trump has a policy of national protectionism and non-globalisation while China is interested in globalisation and free trade. In fact, Donald Trump does not believe that there has been any free and fair trade anywhere and, therefore, he is pushing for no free trade but fair trade. Nigeria’s policy stand is not about choice: she does not only want a free trade but also a fair one.

Another area of likely difficulty in Nigeria-US bilateral relations under Donald Trump is how to interpret the principle of self-determination and Brexit in international relations.

Donald Trump is preaching the gospel of self-determination and he also supports the spirit Brexit. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is much happy about this policy disposition. As a result, the IPOB is expecting that Donald Trump cannot but give support to the goals of the IPOB, hence its support and public celebrations of his election and inauguration.

In this regard, can Donald Trump afford the luxury of promoting disintegration in Nigeria without compromising US strategic interests, particularly in Nigeria and generally in Africa? No matter the nature of Donald Trump’s phobia for Nigeria and Nigerians, he cannot, because, no one can be more correct than President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who said that ‘Africa without Nigeria is hollow.’ In whichever way it is looked at, Nigeria cannot but be the power house of Africa, and therefore, any attempt to ignore Nigeria’s position can only have unintended consequences.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

17

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

BUSINESS QUICK TAKES

Economy

The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has offered insights into the prevailing economic crisis in the country, explaining that it was caused by the nation’s failure to diversify the base of its economy.

The CBN chief, who spoke in Abuja at the Annual MediaTrust Dialogue, with thetheme,“BeyondRecession:Towards a Resilient Economy,” also defended the monetary policies of the apex bank, saying they were made in the best interest of majority of Nigerians.

Panelists at the dialogue had come down heavily on the central bank’s monetary policies, arguing that they weighed heavily in favour of the few rich in the country.

They were particularly critical of its forex policy which allocates 60 per cent of the nation’s forex to the manufacturing sector that they said accounts for only 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

At the parley were other prominent Nigerians, including the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara; Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; a former minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Philip Asiodu; and the Chairman, Standard/ IBTC,Mr.AtedoPeterside,whoallproffered solutions to the nation’s biting economic hardship.

A worker busy in one of the vehicle assembly plants in Nigeria

As MPC Meets Tomorrow, Analysts Predict Rates Retention to Further Check Inflation

Kunle Aderinokun

As the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) converge on Abuja tomorrow for its maiden meeting this year, economic analysts have predicted that its members would vote for retention of the policy rates.

Specifically, the analysts believe the best way the CBN could go with the current challenges in the economy is to hold the monetary policy rate (MPR) so as not exacerbate the rising inflation, currently at 18.55 per cent, especially with widespread speculation of fuel price increase.

It is one of the analysts’ view that, if the MPC decides against policy shift, the apex bank could avoid the wrath of the real sector, which is already groaning under monetary policy-induced challenges.

The MPR, which is the benchmark interest rate was retained at 14 per cent by MPC at its 253rd meeting in November last year. It predicated its decision on the need to mitigate the fragile macroeconomic conditions and the strong headwinds confronting the economy, particularly the implications of the twin deficits of current account and budget deficits. Besides retaining the MPR, the MPC also held the banks’ cash reserve requirement (CRR) and liquidity ratio (LR) at 22.5 per cent and 30 per cent respectively while further

ECONOMY

maintaining the Asymmetric Window at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR. The Chief Economist and Managing Director, Global Research, Africa, Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan, who presented the bank’s position, noted that “The absence of any further policy measures on FX liberalisation suggests that the CBN will be quite comfortable keeping interest rates on hold at next week’s MPC meeting.”

“Although inflation has been pressured higher, further tightening would be more plausible if there was some expectation that it might trigger a positive response from offshore portfolio investors, and bring about greater FX inflows. These plans look to have been put on the backburner for the moment,” Khan added.

Asking, “Could the CBN cut interest rates?”, Khan said, “We think not, despite weak growth.”

According to her, “Inflation in y/y terms is likely to remain elevated for a while still. There is also some disquiet about the recent spike in money supply, and how much of an inflation threat it represents. The CBN may well have to wait for evidence of a pronounced base effect driving y/y inflation down, before it can think about easing policy.”

In his analysis, The Chief Executive Officer, The CFG

Advisory, Adetilewa Adebajo, stated that the main challenge for the MPC this New Year is “taming the inflation monster.”

“At 18.6 per cent inflation is at a 10-year high. It is also likely that 2016 Q4 GDP growth will close around -2 per cent in negative territory. Since there is a strong historical correlation in Nigeria between positive GDP growth and lower rates of inflation, the MPC will have to adapt inflation reduction policies to expect positive GDP growth in

Since there is a strong historical correlation in Nigeria between positive GDP growth and lower rates of inflation, the MPC will have to adapt inflation reduction policies to expect positive GDP growth in 2017

2017.”

Adebajo contended that, “The prospects of increasing interest rates to tame inflation might not go down well with the Real Sector, but the impending increase in fuel pump prices and the related impact on spiking inflation will present a dilemma for the MPC. While a pre-emptive rise in rates might be strongly considered, it is likely that the MPC will hold rates and maintain status quo.”

Besides, the economist noted that, “The markets will also look for comments from the MPC, in

an effort to restore confidence and harmonize the FX markets.”

To the Executive Director, Corporate Finance, BGL Capital Ltd, Femi Ademola, “The outcome of the MPC meeting is the most difficult to predict in recent times.”

According to him, “Judging from the antecedents of this Committee, the exchange rate volatility and high inflation would naturally signify an increase in interest rate and other macro-prudential ratios in the bid to fight inflation and attract supply of foreign exchange into the economy by ensuring a positive real return on portfolio investments.”

Ademola, however, added that, “Since these actions have not been so successful over the year in curbing inflation and exchange rate volatility, it would be very reasonable to consider monetary accommodation. Especially when it appears that the high interest rate with its consequent high cost of funds and high cost of production may be the main cause of inflation.”

“A reduction in benchmark interest and a systematic release of liquidity into the economy would help domestic production capacity and boost economic activities.

Due to this seemingly conflicting situations, I think the MPC will hold rates constant,” he posited.

Power

The federal government has again stated that it would not provide any monetary support to the country’s power sector in the form of subsidy, thus ending hopes of a probable financial bailout from it which some oftheindustry’soperatorshavenursed.

Speaking on Wednesday night at the January 2017 edition of the monthly Nextier power dialogue in Abuja, the MinisterofPower,WorksandHousing, Mr.BabatundeFasholaexplainedthat the government considers the N213 billion Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Fund (NEMSF) provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as enough subsidy for the sector.

He stated that the CBN NEMSF was a low-interestloanwhichoperatorswho are comfortable with its terms have accessed and used to upgrade their assets and services.

He thus said he was unsure about the repeated request by some operators in themarket for government subsidy.

“Subsidy appears in different forms.

When I resumed in this sector, I was madetounderstandthereisanexisting CBNfundforthemarket.TheCBNfund comesatalowinterestrate,ifthatdoes notqualifyassubsidy,thenIdon’tknow what else qualifies,” said Fashola.

Pension

Thefederalgovernmenthasdisclosed thatitwillsooncommencetheverificationofNigerianpensionersinDiaspora.

The Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor, who madethedisclosureduringacourtesy visit to Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in Abujasaidthemovewaspartofefforts at ensuring that pensioners outside the shores of Nigeria are captured in the nation’s pension scheme.

“Mycomingistoseehowwecanpartner withtheofficeofSSAtothePresident on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to enable us capture pensioners in the Diaspora so that we can have their accurate data base. “Verification of our pensioners is to ensure that every pensioneriscaptured.Youknowthatwe havealotofpensionersintheDiaspora.

“I amhoping that wecan partner to get all the information on our Diaspora pensioners.

18

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

BUSINESS/MONEY

Preventing Desperate Investment Drive through Virtual Currency

The recent pronouncement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warning Nigerians against investing in or using virtual currencies, gradually gaining acceptance in some part of the world, may have dealt a massive blow to moves to lure Nigerians into investing in Ponzi Schemes. James Emejo and Adedayo Adejobi write

A

t first, there was a glimmer of hope that Nigerians could finally have an alternative legal tender in digital form anything soon when last December in Kaduna, the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC), Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, hinted that the commission and the CBN had set up a committee to consider the possibility of legalising the use of the digital currency, the Bitcoin, for transactions, a move which could give legal backing for its use in the country.

Umaru’s statement had further given impetus to the promoters of the digital currency as the information that the regulatory authorities may soon approve its use became widespread and raising confidence.

But the committee set up by the NDIC and CBN had hardly concluded its findings on the prospects and consequences of the adoption of the digital currency before its seeming popularity and acceptance began to spread like wild fire.

The increasing acceptance of the virtual currency apparently stemmed from the eagerness of Nigerians to invest in the growing trend of Ponzi schemes, promising mouth-watering profits, and to which many Nigerians have made huge financial commitments.

However, what appeared to be a rollercoaster initially for patrons of the Ponzi schemes, particularly the now infamous Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox popularly known by its over 3 million subscribers as MMM has gradually turned a nightmare as subscribers are unable to get out monies invested in the scheme.

The development reached a point whereby MMM proposed to subscribers, payment in Bitcoin, which had not even been legalised in the country.

Amid the ensuing uncertainty which pervaded the atmosphere as a result, and given that both the NDIC and CBN had repeatedly warned Nigerians to desist from patronising the Ponzi establishments, the apex bank issued a definite circular, stating its objection to the adoption of the digital currency at least for now.

Among other things, the CBN warned that any bank or individual, which transacts in digital currency does that at its or his own risk, stressing that virtual currencies including bitcoin, ripples, monero, litecoin, dogecion, onecoin, among other products are not legal tenders in the country.

Although the use of digital currency has the potential to curb inflation and reduce cost of producing the paper currency, it could however, make it difficult for the apex bank to exert control and influence over its use, a development which could worsen current macroeconomic conditions if allowed unchecked.

MMM had told its subscribers:“Bitcoin does not belong to any government, companies or particular persons, which allows you to be independent from the banks and to manage your money as you want. MMM and Bitcoin strives to beat social inequality and to make the world more fair. With the help of Bitcoin MMM participants can provide financial help to each other worldwide.”

Nevertheless, the CBN’s position has had far-reaching implications for as many who have had their investments trapped in existing Ponzi schemes, now in their tens.

The development has further drawn the interest of analysts who voiced their perspectives over the ensuing controversy.

An Associate Professor of Finance and Head,

or transact in any way in virtual currencies.

Also lending a voice to Central Bank of Nigeria’s Resolution and ardent advice to vulnerable Nigerians, a financial expert and Managing Director DataPro Limited, Abimbola Adeseyoju, said: ‘’The Central Bank has finally issued the guidance on Virtual and Digital Currencies of which the most popular is Bitcoin. ‘Virtual or Digital Currency is the most convenient means of payment for internet transactions but it is prone to a lot of abuse by criminals.

“For users of virtual or digital currencies the meeting point between Fiat Money- that is, Naira, Dollar etc., and Digital Currency is the bank through which the accounts are operated by the digital Exchanges . That is where vigilance is important for all of us serving customers in our banks. The exchanges used by the operators of digital currencies are unfortunately customers of the bank but the industry is largely unregulated so there is no customer or investor protection and governance against abuse.’’

Adeseyoju said: ‘’Most of the exchanges in Nigeria have not disclosed their real line of business to the banks thereby jeopardising the KYC process. Where KYC fails, then we do not know the customer and stand the risk of non-compliance which is heavy penalty for our bank.’’

Emefiele

Banking and Finance Department, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Dr. Uche Uwaleke, told THISDAY that adopting virtual currency will be disruptive to the economy as it is outside the control of regulatory establishments.

According to him,“The regulatory authorities must have thoroughly weighed the possible effects of Bitcoin on the Nigerian economy before taking a position against it. A virtual currency that is outside the control of Central Banks weakens considerably the transmission channels of monetary policy and so the CBN has got reason to worry about it. As the experience in China has shown, the crypto currency could prove a veritable channel for capital flight and movement of illegal funds abroad which explains why the EFCC is equally worried.

“The fact that bitcoin enhances the operation of Ponzi schemes and other unregistered investment platforms is sufficient to give the SEC sleepless nights. What is more, bitcoin has shown to be the most volatile currency in the world and provides no buffer to high-risk investors who turn to it in search of high returns especially when confidence in the domestic currency is low. This can have grave consequences for the economy, which is an issue of concern to the NDIC. Against this backdrop, I am of the opinion that the advice of the money and capital market authorities be taken regarding the use of Bitcoin being a product of informed research on its implications for government’s macroeconomic goals.”

In the same vein, Executive Director, Corporate Finance, BGL Capital Limited, Mr. Femi Ademola, while citing associated risks said the Bitcoin should not be used as

a medium of exchange given that it is not recognised as a legal tender.

He said,“Every currency is being managed by the Reserve Bank of a country. The rate, the risk and the supply are the responsibility of the Central Banks. Any currency that is not regulated therefore is risky and difficult to determine its true value. And since the CBN is responsible for determining what is acceptable as a legal tender in Nigeria, it follows that outlawing the Bitcoin indicates that it is not a recognised legal tender and should not be used as a medium of exchange in Nigeria.

“If you chose to use it, you are not protected and if any conflict arises, it cannot be adjudicated in Nigeria. The risk involved in the use of crypto currencies has not been evaluated, analysed and mitigated; hence no country has approved its use. It is therefore okay for the CBN to outlaw it.”

Bitcoin and Integrity of KYC Bitcoin does not belong to any government, companies or particular persons, which allows you to be independent from the banks and to manage your money as you want.

Superficially weighing in on the current desperation by Nigerians to invest in the growing trend of Ponzi schemes, promising mouth-watering profits, the CBN has warned Nigerians against the use of virtual currencies, including bitcoin, ripples, litecoin.

Considering its anonymity, virtual currencies are largely used in terrorism financing and money laundering, the attention of bank and other financial institutions has been drawn to the risks , thus customers are required to ensure that they do not use, hold, trade and/

Unique Investment Risks in Bitcoin Investment Bitcoin was not designed as a normal equity investment and there is need to understand its unique investment risks: regulatory risk, security risk from hackers, malware and operational glitches, insurance risk, fraud risk, market risk and tax risk.

While Bitcoin uses private key encryption to verify owners and register transactions, fraudsters and scammers may attempt to sell false Bitcoins.

Like with any investment, Bitcoin values can fluctuate. Indeed, the value of Bitcoin has seen wild swings in price over its short existence. If fewer people begin to accept Bitcoin as a currency, these digital units may lose value and could become worthless. More so, Bitcoin is ineligible to be included in any tax-advantaged retirement accounts, there are no good, legal options to shield investments in Bitcoin from taxation.

Still too new. Bitcoin is only a few years old. It’s possible that a competing crypto currency becomes more successful than Bitcoin or that somebody somehow finds a major flaw in the system. We don’t have decades of history yet.

Too volatile. Currently Bitcoin prices are going up astronoically. It’s likely that the price will stabilise at around US$10 from the current US$200. Currently the price is going up so fast a webshop would have to adjust their prices almost daily if they wanted to accept Bitcoins. It’s not very convenient.

Bitcoin has proven to be a volatile investment.

However, what makes it even more volatile to the Nigerian investor than it might have been is the fact that investors from other cultures may have different approaches to investing that make it even more unpredictable.

In particular, the approach to investing in Nigeria is more similar to gambling than it is in the West.

Inevitably, the question arises whether one should get involved in this new phenomenon.

Analysts don’t recommend putting large sums of money into it as the bubble will inevitably burst in a matter of weeks but nobody knows when exactly.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

BUSINESS/INDUSTRY

Revisiting MTN’s Repatriation of Profits

While interested parties await findings of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions investigating the alleged illegal repatriation of profits by MTN Nigeria, Olaseni Durojaiye examines the issues surrounding the implementation of capital importation policy

T

he scarcity of foreign exchange that plagued the nation’s economy for the better part of last year and the consequential challenges attracted all manners of suggestions from economists and policy analysts for the better part of 2016. One germane position was the need to drive foreign investments through capital importation and autonomous forex inflow into the country.

The two arguments hold water, no doubt, but the more valuable of the two arguably, remains the former. Important as the two positions are to driving the initiative to rev up the availability of forex in the economy, many pundits continue to insist that achieving the objective rest majorly on putting in place a robust and realistic monetary policy.

Proponents of this argument contended that pursuing foreign investment without a clear cut policy that will assure prospective investors that they can repatriate their profit as and when they want to without bottlenecks is very important. They argued further that a monetary policy that fail in that regards would render whatever international road shows aimed at attracting foreign investments into the country useless because capital is known to go to markets where the investment climates are favourable and less cumbersome.

Given so, credits must be accorded the present administration, particularly in its efforts to improve ease of doing business in the country.The presidential committee on ease of doing business chaired by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, is a clear commitment of the government to the effect.

However, how existing foreign investments in the country are treated by government at all levels also has a role to play in attracting new ones. The fact was buttressed by the Corporate Relations Director of a leading brewing concern in an interview with THISDAY many months back when he stated that the value that the brewing business brings to the country includes helping to attract new businesses through referrals and positive advice.

Interrogating how existing businesses in the country are treated by attracting new investments into the country brings to the fore the fate of MTN and the case of illegal repatriation of profits.

Analysts are in unison that, any government would guard against illegal repatriation of profits, especially in foreign exchange at a time the local economy is struggling to cope with the challenge of foreign exchange shortage in the system, and as such would not blame the government for beaming its searchlight on the transaction.

Even then, a couple of financial services sector analysts who spoke to THISDAY opined that a holistic interrogation of the transaction and issues surrounding it would requires revisiting the extant laws guarding the capital importation and profit repatriation in the country including the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) laws.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial MTN Nigeria Chairman, Pascal Dozie Institutions, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim

Act), are very clear on what the right of an investor is in Nigeria.”

Continuing the analyst, who works for a Lagos based economic research firm stated that,“Section 24 of the NIPC Act says“… a foreign investor in an enterprise to which this Act applies shall be guaranteed unconditional transferability of funds through any authorised dealer in freely convertible currency of (a) dividends and profits (net of all taxes) attributable to the investment….

“Section 15 of the FEMMPA in addition to spelling out whose responsibility it is to issue the CCI,“Foreign currency imported into Nigeria and invested in any enterprise pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall be guaranteed unconditional transferability of funds, through an Authorised Dealer in freely convertible currency, relating to— (a) dividends or profits (net of taxes) attributable to the investment…”

The analyst further explained that the import of both section of the relevant laws is that if a foreign investor has brought in foreign investment, as long as he has paid all the relevant taxes, he can repatriate all his dividends or profits adding that the needful is to review the laws and not penalise the company.

Intervention of the Senate Disturbed by the avalanche of views that the issue generated in both print and electronic media in the Certificate of Capital Importation The Certificate of Capital Importation (CCI) is a last quarter of 2016, it is not surprising that the Senate document from the bank that processes the receipt elected to wade into the issue as part of its oversight of a foreign investment capital into Nigeria. It says function as contained in the nation’s constitution the day on which the cash arrived, how much it was, through its relevant committee.

While the investigation could not be said to be and how much local currency the bank converted it into. One analyst described it thus “It is akin to outside of the purview of the upper chamber, it is a receipt or any other certificate that authorities in noteworthy that, particularly in the age of globalisation this country are supposed to issue to authenticate a and free trade that all foreign company subsidiaries transaction, but in this case, foreign direct investment.” established in Nigeria have it as a primary aim to Another analyst familiar with the issue explained that send profits and dividends back home. If profits and the investigation by the Senate into the transaction dividends cannot be converted and transferred freely is“a needless dissipation of quality time and scarce as Nigerian laws currently provide, foreign investors resources”arguing that,“I state so because Nigerian have little incentives to come here.

Against this background, some analysts argued Investment Promotion Council Act and the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions that government has no business with the dividends

and profits of a company and insisted that the only legitimate question the Senate can pose here is whether or not a foreign company under investigation paid all the required taxes?

MTN’s Response It will be recalled that at the height of the matter, the company denied that it illegally repatriated US$13.92 billion out of the country through its bankers between 2006 and 2016 while pointing out that it has invested over US$16 billion in the country between a space of 10 years.

In its response, obtained by THISDAY, the firm noted that various MTN entities incorporated in different jurisdictions appear to have been confused, stating that MTN Limited (MTN) is a company incorporated in South Africa and is the parent company of MTNN. MTN is however not a shareholder in MTNN and as such has not repatriated any funds out of Nigeria.

The statement also explained that MTN International (Mauritius) Limited (“MTNI”) is a company incorporated in Mauritius and is a shareholder in MTNN. According to the statement,“US$284,906,275.96, which was imported by investors in MTNN, was ultimately paid to NCC. Although a further US$117,683,987 was imported by MTNN shareholders as investment in MTNN, the funds were imported in several tranches between 2001 and 2006. A total of US$402,590,262.96 was imported into the country for investment in MTNN by the MTNN shareholders. These monies were imported at several instances and not in three tranches. The capital was imported over a period of over 10 years via three banks - Standard Chartered Bank, Diamond Bank Plc and Nigeria International Bank (Citibank)”, the statement read in part.

The statement further stated that“MTN complied with extant laws and regulations adding that requests for CCIs are continuing events – made as-and-when brought-in.

Continuing, the statement added that,“That Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, as an entity regulated and supervised by the CBN, made the prescribed returns

to the CBN within the prescribed time of receipt and conversion of the funds. We are not aware that the CBN has at any time queried the bank for any default in this regard. ”MTNN categorically denies all suggestions or allegations that its bankers in violation of the FEMM Act and Foreign Exchange Manual, repatriated US$13.92 billion illegally out of Nigeria. All monies repatriated

by MTNN were in respect of dividend payments and capital divestments originating from legitimate foreign direct investment into MTNN; and were done in compliance with extant laws and regulations.

Way Forward As the Senate prepares its findings, observers argued that it would be inappropriate to penalise the telecommunications firm and argued that going by the dictates of the extant laws guiding the repatriation of capital, the firm didn’t contravene any section of the laws.

Some of the analysts that spoke to THISDAY, argued that rather than penalise the firm, the situation calls for a revisit of the laws guiding capital importation and repatriation of profits with particular emphasis on what percentage of the profits to be returned to home countries of foreign firms doing business in the country.

Analysts also maintained that, “Besides the facts surrounding the case, the reality is that Nigeria cannot afford to wield the big stick on MTNN on this matter; doing so may have negative effect on the ability to attract more foreign investments and the economy. Again, doing so after the unprecedented fine imposed on it in the recent past, may send the wrong signal out to prospective foreign investors into the country; some of them could even perceive it as targeting the firm,”he stated.

Another analyst based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Ezeh Wordu, argued that “If the Senate decides to sanction MTNN that may affect the economy and I say so bearing in mind the following: MTNN has contributed immensely to the growth of the nation’s Economy.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

INTERVIEW

Salawudeen

Salawudeen: Regulators, Operators Must Work Together to Save Insurance Industry from Collapse

In this interview with select journalists, President/Chief Executive Officer, Standard Insurance Consultants Ltd, Dr. Ahmed Salawudeen, highlights a number of issues affecting operations and eroding confidence in the insurance and suggests that the regulators and operators must work closely together to move the industry forward. Kunle Aderinokun was there

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onfidence is dropping on a daily basis in the insurance industry and the market is not expanding.

How can this be addressed?

Anywhere in the world if you are a professional broker it is an important part of insurance. Business is conducted through the brokers. What we have in Nigeria is that the underwriters takes over the job of the brokers and they do that because of corruption; they go direct to the client, which is wrong. If you have a broker, the underwriters don’t have any business to go to my clients. But this was not so in the 60s, 70s even up to the 80s; it wasn’t like that, they practiced professionally, it was after 1980s that the industry derailed. It’s not about casting blame, the underwriters have their responsibilities, regulators

have their responsibilities and the reason they are casting blames is because things are not being done in the right way. Let us follow the foot print of those who started the insurance as far back has the 11th Century, but the way we practice it here in Nigeria is different.

Insurance should be on display, there should be competition but the competition must be fair; the competition in Nigeria is not fair because the small companies want to enter the market at all cost.

Recently, the National Assembly accused insurance brokers of corruption and unethical practices. What do you have to say to this?

The National Assembly spoke out of ignorance on the operations of insurance. What the lawmakers should have done, was first to investigate. I was in

London when I heard them accusing the insurance companies of involving themselves in multibillion naira fraud, till now we don’t have such billions in the Insurance industry. They also said some companies were unlicensed, does that make sense if you’re doing government business? The multibillion naira fraud they talked about I don’t know where it is coming from. They said somebody was paid certain amount, how much? The commission that was claimed to have been paid will take about 30 years before the companies will get that. Not only that the business involves a consortium of brokers, the brokers involved have about 10 per cent of the entire business. How much is 10 per cent?

For example, If NPA purchases 100 vehicles, in the first place they will charge them premium of 100 vehicles. If by tomorrow they purchase 25 vehicles

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

INTERVIEW

Salawudeen: Regulators, Operators Must Work Together to Save Insurance Industry from Collapse

Standard Insurance and looking into the future, what are the prospects ?

and they have already paid for 100 vehicles, automatically they will get refund premium on 75 vehicles. But if by tomorrow the company buys additional 100 vehicles they will be charged additional premium for them.

This is where we expected the regulator to have come in and clarified issues of so as to retain confidence in the industry; this is what the CBN – Central Bank of Nigeria does in the banking industry.

Recently, a press conference was organised to clear the issue, but this should have been done immediately the accusations were made. The moment anybody mentions anything about banks, in two to three hours, you will see the CBN come out to clarify the situation because public confidence is very important in any business you are doing. I travel around the globe and as soon as I tell anybody that I am an insurance person, they recognise me, but in Nigeria that is not the case because of lack of confidence.

The journey so far, has been excellent.

We have to give that glory to God. The journey started far back since 1980, as a small organisation with about seven staff. But over the years, particularly as at the time the economy of Nigeria was very buoyant and when we started then professionalism was very good because whoever wanted an insurance broker will visit your office, they want to see how qualified you are because they don’t want to employ non-professionals.

You must be a professional and be a member of all necessary organisations.

Unlike today, the profession is not like what we used to know. Corruption has played a part in everything. We started as a small organisation but we have developed over the years.

The most important thing is that we are in insurance broking, an intermediary – we have the insurance intermediary in the middle, the insured on one hand and the underwriter on the other. The issue of an intermediary is to interface with the insured and this is very important.

For instance, in Britain, you cannot do your insurance unless you go through a broker. The broker is the operational person who understands the language of insurance ‘terminology’. So, since that time, we have been providing provisional services to our clients and because of that I think a lot of people appreciate the services my company is giving to them and that is why we are in the forefront today; we are one of the five top insurance brokers in Nigeria.

Our journey so far has been very nice, we provide our clients with excellent services in many areas of insurance discipline. When I say discipline we have what is called insurance special risks like oil and gas, marine services, health, aviation and agriculture insurance. Not only that we provide real insurance programmes for insurance companies, which accept risks, but they need to spread the risks because nobody can carry the risks alone.

We also are financial institution because we are a financial institution, we are licensed and authorised to do general insurance, life insurance, special risk, real insurance and all other things by the regulatory body, NAICOM – National Insurance Commission.

Would you say the issue of confidence is what is affecting federal government’s insurance of their assets and public servants?

It is still corruption. Pension scheme is best managed by insurance companies.

But for them to have taken that huge business from the insurance sector to another sector, does not make any sense. Government is promising that they will manage it well, are they better managers? It would have been much better if pension was managed by insurance companies. I have been in the industry for years, and I can tell you that although there are some bad eggs there are lots of good insurance companies in Nigeria that pay their claims as and when due. We don’t give insurance business to companies that are not trusted.

Nicon Insurance is the best for Nigerians because they have offices all over Nigeria. They have office in London. They train people all over Nigeria. But they gave the company to people, who know nothing about insurance. Where is that done? Go and check, Nicon Insurance and Nigerian Re… are they not dead?

NAICOM is saying it will review industry capital base on risk-based insurance, if you are to suggest how much will you prescribe?

Professionalism is very important; those people talking about capital base that wouldn’t solve the problem because risks are spread. For instance, oil and gas business is an international business, you cannot localise it, and localising international business could lead to disaster. We are lucky that the local insurance company have not been tested, if they are, there will be problem.

I’m talking of oil and gas and you will agree we also haven’t got that capacity.

Individually, we need to change our mind-set, Insurance companies have to work together as a team. We have to spread the risks.

Capitalisation is fine, but insurance companies have to work together as a team. That is why you have the rat race. When they work together they get experience from each other. These days, they are on their own because of what they want. In the early stage the insurance companies worked together.

But now everything has scattered.

Does it mean the operators were not carried along?

The operator is the one that will carry people along with them, the insurance industry and the regulator are far apart and how do you regulate successfully?

Talking about supervision, the industry is thinking about risk-based supervision, will that bring about the desired result?

What I am advocating is that Insurance industry is a good industry, but people need to come together change their mind-set and do it well because I am ashamed when people are crying that they don’t settle their claims. If you don’t settle your claims, you don’t have

Cont’d from Pg. 20

Salawudeen

any reason to do insurance business.

The image problem of the insurance industry is still a problem. How can this be solved?

Like I told you now, if you are to be my insured, let’s say THISDAY, I am a broker handling THISDAY, an Insurance company is not entitled to go and visit THISDAY because there is a broker handling them. But what you see the insurance companies do is that they would go to THISDAY. It is very unethical everywhere in the world. That is the reason why the public say they want the broker and the underwriter. The only person you need is the broker not the underwriter because the practice is that the insured wants to be in a position that you can get your claim. If you go directly to an insurance company, you need little incentive, if you have a claim, who will fight for you?

The problem the Nigeria insurance industry is having today is this image.

Why do they have bad image? They have bad image because they are not settling claims, so the public don’t have confidence in them, and if they don’t have confidence how would they grow? Everywhere in the world claims are settled as and when due, if you

don’t settle claims, there will be no confidence.

How is the issue with Nigeria aviation insurance and the forex challenge. What do you think is the way forward?

It appears the Central Bank perhaps has inconsistent policy on foreign exchange, which makes things very hard. Nigeria has economic problems, but I think we should solve our problems gradually. If insurance premium is not paid because of forex, who will grant you insurance cover? We have to understand that aviation is not in a domesticated industry, it is international, there are rules that bind everybody globally, so Nigeria cannot be an exception.

Whether you like it or not, insurance premium must be paid, if premium it is not paid how do we grant cover.? What I am trying to say is that government has to look into to the issue of forex.

It is not possible to say everything has to be done in naira. In the old days when our currency was very strong you could go to Britain and change naira, you can go to Saudi Arabia to change naira, if anybody has to do anything it has to be in that currency but right now the naira is very weak.

How has the journey been for

Nigeria has economic problems, but I think we should solve our problems gradually. If insurance premium is not paid because of forex, who will grant you insurance cover

You’ve narrated how the profession was in the past and how corruption is now affecting professionalism.

How much has this impacted the profession?

When you look at insurance very well, it’s a shame in Nigeria, insurance is one of the most important economic base of any country all over the world. It is the insurance companies that finance banks; at the early stage that is what we were doing, but unfortunately in Nigeria this is not so.

Companies accept life insurance cover from the general public and use it for investment purposes to develop the economy of the country. That is where insurance invest their money through the bank to make sure the economy is developed, but unfortunately, in Nigeria, it is not the same. You go and check, Nigeria’s insurance industry needs to be contributing more to the GDP – gross domestic product of Nigeria but what do we have? Nigerian insurance industry contributed only 0.02 per cent in 2014.

In 2015, we are about 0.06 per cent.

It’s a shame! Insurance industry needed to have contributed much more to the GDP. But the industry is not doing so well and I think with the present government maybe things will change.

It needs to change if we are to move forward, because of corruption, things have not been working very well.

The regulatory authorities too need to do more. The insurance companies need to be given the leeway to do their professional business. The underwriters also need to be assisted to become developed. The regulator needs to assist the insurance industry to develop.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

INTERVIEW Onuoha: With 50% of CBN Power Intervention Funds, Renewable Energy Can Generate 10,000MW

In an interview on the recent launch of his book on green economy - Green Growth, Pathway for Nigeria - the President of Sustainable Energy Practitioners of Nigeria (SEPAN), Dr. Magnus Onuoha, told Chineme Okafor that if Nigeria’s renewable energy sector gets 50 per cent of the power intervention fund shared to other power operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with minimal results so far, it will generate up to 10,000MW of electricity for the country within two years, in addition to creating millions of sustainable jobs. Excerpts.

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revolution?

our book – Green Growth, talks about opportunities available to Nigeria in green energy, is the country really ready for such green growth

amount of our resources into renewable energy and energy efficiency sources, in line with the present development thinking - green growth pathway.

There is a renewable energy policy of the government with targets, are they feasible?

The book is on green growth development pathway for Nigeria. Green growth pathway does three things - build livelihood, improve quality of life and alleviates poverty. The three critical sectors that drive this process are sustainable agriculture, energy (renewable and energy efficient sources) and infrastructure. They were appropriately addressed in the book.

The value chain is huge if Nigeria follows green growth pattern to the letter.

For instance, for every one megawatts of solar power deployed, apart from the revenue yielding components there are over 3000 jobs up for grab in terms of artisans, inverters technicians, and constructions.

From SEPAN’s recent renewable energy expo, far-reaching resolutions were agreed, could you share some of these with us?

The sixth edition of the NAEE was a huge success in terms of attendance of critical stakeholders. As you are aware, NAEE is one of the flagships of SEPAN. Far reaching resolutions were indeed agreed upon, chief among which is ensuring that renewable energy and energy efficient sources are mainstream investment in Nigeria, effectively partnering with the government to see to the development of Nigeria’s Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) frameworks for the smooth implementation of our Intended Nationally Determined Contribution(INDCs) as committed and signed by President Muhammadu Buhari under the Paris Agreement.

Effective implementation of Nigeria’s INDC will open up alternative sources of revenue to finance our budget, more so now that our revenues receipts are dwindling due to recession.

How do you view Nigeria’s plan to build 14 new solar farms that will generate 1125MW of electricity?

It is a welcome development. However, it is worthy of note here that the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between government and renewable energy developers is merely an instrument to source for funds. It is a necessary but certainly not a sufficient condition for effective growth of the sector.

They might encounter further hiccups in the process of sourcing for these funds.

That is why we are imploring the Federal Government to fast track policy road map for the elimination of challenges inherent in the cost of funding clean energy infrastructure in Nigeria.

Now is the time to bridge the deficiency

Onuoha

in energy infrastructure in Nigeria. It is unthinkable that as the largest economy in Africa with over $510 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and this growth over the years is not commensurate with the growth in energy infrastructure. We are still generating less than 4000MW, transmission hiccups and vandalism have even made it to an all-time low of 3000MW. If CBN alone as part of it policy intervention fund could channel 50 per cent of the N300 billion intervention fund to renewable energy sources, RE will be generating over 10000MW in the next two years. Compare that to billions of dollars spent in the power sector over the years and we have less than 4000MW to show for it.

Do you agree with the government’s

recent claim that renewable energy is too expensive to use?

It is not true. Renewable energy is not expensive in comparative terms. This is where the world is going - clean energy and Nigeria is in the equator.

We have not exploited the abundance of solar energy and indeed other sources of renewable energies. Germany and most of these developed climes that are in the temperate region, three-quarter of their energy system comes from solar.

Like I will always air my view, let’s be economical in the exploration and exploitation of non- renewable sources of energy such as oil and coal. This is because they are not easily regenerated and replaceable. Let’s develop strategic reserves at least for our future generation to see them. Most countries have started in that direction. Let’s channel reasonable

It is not a question of feasibility or not but the political will on the side of government to effectively see to its implementation. There are several challenges and one is very glaring - fighting the entrenched system.

There are people even within the government that may want the statusquo to remain. They want the supply of diesel to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to continue in place of solar panels.

Working with a group of consultants, we have had cause to suggest the conduct of an energy audit to some institutions in Nigeria and consequently retrofitting of their building to solar or hybrid of wind and solar. Our report was turned down as some people even in management felt that we will deny them additional income they get from supply of diesel to their plants.

The renewable energy policy is also in line with Nigeria’s INDC and with President Buhari’s commitment at Paris of using renewable and energy efficiency to reduce Nigeria’s emission by 20 per cent in the short run on or before 2020 and 45 per cent in the long run on or 2030.

It is achievable because of the character of leadership in place in Nigeria today that epitomises transparency, accountability and probity. I see Nigeria’s effective take off of our INDC/NAMAs implementation plans in 2017. The minister of environment is passionate and very committed and I am happy about it. So, the appeal I have to doubters and pessimists is to go home and have their two eyes closed in this regard. Certainly Nigeria will ratify and will not be left behind in the carbon business and climate finance opportunities thereto.

As a signatory to the Conference of Parties (COP) Agreement on climate change, is Nigeria in a very comfortable position to implement its requests?

Nigeria has gone beyond signing.

What we are waiting for is ratification.

Like I said earlier Nigeria will certainly ratify and will not be left out. You know the implementation of the Agreement commences by 2020. But we can commence the development of framework and mainstreaming some of these commitment in our INDC into our national budget.

We have 13 sectors of the Nigerian economy as identified in our INDC impacted by climate change. They should be captured in our national budget, exploring their revenue components as well.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

BUSINESS/ENERGY

The Perennial Power System Collapse

The repeated collapse of Nigeria’s electricity transmission infrastructure has worsened supply to homes and offices, bringing back long-standing doubts on the durability of the transmission network, writes Chineme Okafor system was indeed going through a very difficult time again, as always, all due to the volatile transmission system.

While data from the NCC also showed that a partial system collapse occurred on January 12 at about 8.41am and resulted to loss of supply to Lagos, Osogbo, Jebba, Kainji and Shiroro, another system collapse was reported to have occurred on January 15, as the Ugwuaji/Makurdi 330kV line 1 tripped at the Ugwuaji transmission station on a distance protection 3-phases.’

As at the end of 2016, data from the sector’s statistics website,nesistats.org, indicated that 11 total and two partial system collapses were recorded within that year.

The report also noted that some generation plants - Transcorp, Sapele I and II, Afam VI, Omotosho I and II, Olorunsogo I, Geregu I, and Okpai, which were affected by the collapse, were subsequently restarted, but the situation has yet to improve as the System Operator reported on Thursday that just about 3019.20MW was generated for the entire country.

It was further learnt that Kainji 1G11 and 1G12, Alaoji GT2, and Sapele ST1 were yet to come back on stream from the collapse.

A power station

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ast week, Nigeria’s overall power generation averaged about 1,681.36 megawatts (MW), down from a peak of 3,131.1MW that was generated before a reported system collapse, which left the country with that low level of supply Sunday night.

As reported by THISDAY, before the transmission system collapsed, power generation had on Saturday peaked at 3,410MW, lasting just for only two hours and then dipped to 2,295.93MW. According to the daily hourly demand report obtained by the paper from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo, the 2,295.93MW was generated for the seven hours that extended till Sunday, before it dropped to 1,745.51 megawatts, which lasted for 10 hours and then 1,681.36MW on Monday.

It was further learnt that the low generation from the grid meant that the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos) got less power from the grid, thus resulting in most parts of the country staying without grid electricity for long hours.

The newspaper pointed out that, for instance, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), which was allocated over

400 megawatts when generation improved during the Christmas celebration, received just about 192.01MW for four hours before it dropped further to 162.01MW which lasted for six hours.

Also, before the system collapsed on Sunday, EKEDC received allocations of 375.10MW for two hours, 252.55MW for three hours, and 232.55MW for three hours, as well as 212.55MW for one hour.

Quoting the spokesman of EKEDC, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, in a statement which contained the Disco’s apology to its customers over the prolonged power outage, THISDAY reported Idemudia’s confirmation that the outage was due to a system collapse from the national grid.

Idemudia explained that repairs were being carried out to bring the system back on line and restore power, adding that the Ikeja West line, which comprises of Agbara and Akoka, had gradually been restored, and other areas of Lagos were due to come on line soon.

“We are therefore appealing to customers to bear with us as supply will be restored as soon as these repairs are concluded.

EKEDC highly regrets any inconveniences caused by this outage,” Idemudia stated.

The experience of Eko Disco was however not different from what existed in other

parts of the country where supplies have dipped on the back of the frequent collapse of Nigeria’s transmission system.

Reports from consumers in Enugu and Abuja confirmed that the country’s electricity

Though the Federal Government had overtime insisted that the transmission system was being upgraded and could not be classified as the weakest link in the entire value chain, the frequency of system collapses recorded on the grid does not provide evidence to back up its claims

Perennial Issue Although, system collapses could originate from several causes, the obvious causes in the case of Nigeria have been the frequent loss of generation capacity and instability in the transmission network.

The frequent trip of a power plant from gas supply shortages causes a mismatch between production and load transmission.

This puts a strain on other generators, resulting in under-frequency in the system.

Another example is also an overload of the transmission system caused by congestion, forcing an overloaded power line to trip, and causing increased loading of other lines thus resulting in additional trips, and in the end, a total collapse due to the high impedance in the weakened grid.

Though the Federal Government had overtime insisted that the transmission system was being upgraded and could not be classified as the weakest link in the entire value chain, the frequency of system collapses recorded on the grid does not provide evidence to back up its claims.

As recently claimed by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, that the transmission network has been upgraded to now take up to 7200MW of electricity from the generators to the distributors, the collapse last week further confirmed claims by the Discos and others that the transmission network was still weak and unable to support generation capacity growth in the sector.

The minister said during a recent meeting in Lagos that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has increased its electricity wheeling capacity to 7200MW, then alleging that the transmission network was no longer the weakest link in the sector as often stated by stakeholders.

“The generalisation about the grid not been able to carry what we generate is really an inaccurate reflection of realities.

We have expanded the grid, additional projects are going on, and the Kudenda substation in Kaduna is part of the grid expansion,” he claimed.

24

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

BUSINESS/MONEY

Charting the Path to Economic Recovery, Growth

Buoyed by the need to get the economy back on the path of recovery and growth, analysts have been exploring strategies that could achieve the recovery and growth objectives. Olaseni Durojaiye writes

One of the local markets in Lagos...traders are patiently waiting for the buyers

G

iven the dismal performance of the nation’s economy last year, signposted by various economic indices, including declining productivity in the real sector, sharp drop in oil receipts and production level, rise in inflation, unemployment rate, setting the economy back on the path of recovery and growth has expectedly generated discourse among attention among observers.

Though the economic challenges of the last year was largely blamed on shortage of foreign exchange in the system, many analysts argued that the Central Bank of Nigeria ((CBN) did little to instill investor confidence even with the adoption of a flexible FX regime, and the many other policy directives that were adopted to make FX available to critical sector including the real sector.

During the year it became apparent that the external sector needed sufficient and consistent supply of the greenback whereas the CBN could not meet the FX demand leading to the position that so other sources must be harnessed, encouraged and maximised. The argument being that with independent sources of FX inflow, including remittances, with more FX coming into the system, the exchange rate will find its equilibrium price.

Hence manufacturers and traders will have access to FX and would be able to conduct their economic activities that will engender employment, value creation and induce productivity.

Besides, misalignment between both fiscal and monetary policies was also fingered as another drawback in the management of the economy last year hence the applause that trailed government’s plan, as contained in the 2017 budget proposal, to harmonise both policies so that macro objectives that could lead to economic recovery and growth could be realised.

There is also the argument that prompt payment of workers’ salaries and pension allowance has

the potential to enhance household consumption which is the largest expenditure component of the nation’s real GDP. It will be recalled that falling real household consumption fell by 1.06% and 6% in the first and second quarter of the 2016 respectively fuelled the current recessionary pressure.

Even then, another school of thought held that the true catalyst for economic recovery and growth is enhanced labour and factor productivity, some observers insisted that a 2.5 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2017 could be achieved if daily oil production ramp up to about 90 per cent (2 mbpd) of the 2.2 mbpd projection considering that the oil sector has the potential for quick wins even as data from the National Bureau of Statistics appear to favour this position considering the recent bounce in price of crude to the neighbourhood of $60 per barrel.

Moody’s Prediction Nigeria’s GDP will grow by 2.5 per cent in the current year, according to the Vice President and Lead Analyst for Nigeria Lucie Villa, adding that the on-going recovery in the oil production will trigger a bounce back in the nation’s economy.

“The government’s balance sheet is strong, with debt at around 16.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in 2016,” Villa said.

“Also, despite its interest burden rising to 19.8 per cent of revenue, Nigeria’s capital markets remain a reliable and captive source of liquidity and funding for the government.”

Moody, however, said Nigeria’s weak institutional framework, especially in terms of “the rule of law, government effectiveness and control of corruption,” would have a significant impact on its economic growth and fiscal strength, and thereby constrains the country’s B1 rating.

Inspiring Investor Confidence According to a cross-section of analysts and economists, the monetary policy of the apex bank

is critical to economic recovery and growth in 2017.They maintained that the CBN failed to inspire confidence in the minds of both foreign and local investor in 2016 and reiterated the importance of investor confidence, adding that the apex bank must inspire investor confidence if the economy must record recovery and growth in the new year.

Acknowledging the negative investor confidence, Economic Policy Analyst and Chief Executive of CFG Advisory, Adetilewa Adebajo, in an interview with a Lagos-based news agency noted the negative investor confidence, adding that there was need for “restructuring” and “shake-up” at the apex bank. He also insisted that more responsibility for economic growth lay with the federal government.

“I think there is a major need for restructuring and shake-up at the CBN. The apex bank has not inspired confidence in the financial markets in 2016. Both local and foreign investors were on the side lines watching what the government will do,” he told Channels Television.

In an interview with THISDAY, an economist and research analyst, Rotimi Oyelere, stated that, “Monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is critical to economic recovery and growth. The apex bank must fully implement the FX policy introduced in June 2016. What is presently obtainable is exchange ‘rates’ but not foreign exchange regime. CBN must desist from FX ‘rationing and auctioning’. The Futures market is indolent because of rationing and auctioning

by CBN that is not based on critical needs but rather enmeshed in value judgment and arbitrage.

Speaking further, Oyelere argued that, “monetary policies may need to reduce Cash Reserve Ratio and Liquidity Ratio. This will empower Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to create credits. This is because commercial banks are not creating sufficient credits at the moment. The Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) may also need to be adjusted downwards as the inflationary pressure is less

potent for now,” he argued.

Fiscal, Monetary Policies Alignment Even though some economists contended that the true catalyst for economic recovery and growth is enhanced labour and factor productivity, some analysts argued that the current economic state in the country requires harmonisation of policies.

In this regard, Oyelere argued that “Monetary and fiscal policies are demand management tools and would need to be reinforced to address the supply side of the economy, structural issues and infrastructural inadequacies. Both must be seen to be working together and geared toward achieving same macroeconomic objectives particularly the BOP objective. Government should quickly come out with its new import tariff templates as quickly as possible as this will enable investors take position. More importantly, there is a need for a well- articulated trade policy; this will deal with international trade issues holistically rather than the piecemeal interventions currently adopted”, he stressed.

“On the fiscal side I think the government has to come up with positive measures, talking about the economic road map. So government need to ramp up on the revenue side, they need to ramp up on capital spending, last year they didn’t do that very well, may be because they started late, the government need to get the budget out early.

The Lagos State government has passed its 2017 budget, the FG should follow that example, if the budget is passed by late January, it will send a very strong signal and then let them implement it; it’s not about plan, it’s about what you do.

“So the growth of the economy rests squarely in the hands of the government, if the government implements the right policies, we should see growth this year, if not it will be like last year.

We might even see more than the 2.5 per cent predicted by Moody’s Investor’s Services, if they didn’t we may see less,” he stated.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

25

BUSINESS/ENCOUNTER

Making Nigeria an Interesting Destination for FDI

As the Federal Government seeks both local and foreign private sector investment to help revive the economy, two experts and founders of Helios Investment Partners, Temitope Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye, have proffered useful tips on existing opportunities to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). Abimbola Akosile writes

N

igeria, which was rebased as Africa’s largest economy in 2014, is in need of more investments, after taking huge hits from global crashes in prices of crude oil – its main source of revenue – with resultant impacts on the economy, local currency, employment, infrastructure and

poverty.

Many analysts and experts have suggested various ways to help get the Nigerian economy back to its feet, with options like intensive mechanised agriculture and agro-processing, economic diversification, and greater foreign direct investment among the tips to help rescue the economy from the current recession.

Two financial experts and investment consultants, Temitope Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye, who are founding partners of Helios Investment Partners, a global investment firm with Nigerian roots, speak extensively on what could be done to turn the situation around for the better.

Continental Impact Highlighting Helios’ impact on Africa and Nigeria’s growth, Lawani and Soyoye explained that, “Today, Helios is one of the few independent pan-African private investment firms founded and led by Africans. We believe that the firm effectively serves as a “bridge” between Africa, on the one hand, and Europe, North America and Asia, on the other, and that our investment approach yields opportunities to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors while at the same time contributing to the socioeconomic development of the continent.

“The Helios private equity platform invests across a full range of investment types, including business formations, growth equity investments, structured investments in listed entities and large scale leveraged acquisitions. To date, Helios has successfully raised three private equity funds and manages approximately $3 billion. Last year the firm established Helios Credit Partners, a dedicated credit platform to address what we believe is an unmet need in Nigeria and, more broadly, Africa for appropriately structured, flexible, commercially viable and tailored credit to support the growth of African companies.”

Retaining FDI With regards to retaining and increasing foreign direct investment in Nigeria, they noted, “In our view the current administration is making headway on the priorities outlined by the President, and we are encouraged by this. As business builders and investors, we believe the key issues to tackle within government are transparency, accountability, empowerment and legal protection for investor rights. At the same time real, sustainable momentum needs to be injected into the economy if we are to stave off present and future social instability.

Nigeria has such a massive youth population and, if we are to improve the productive capacity of the economy, we need to improve labour productivity. Put simply, the quality of the labour force has to get better.

“Aside from the scale of its economy, Nigeria has immense comparative advantages including rising incomes, growing urbanisation and increasing diversification into service sectors such as financial services and telecommunications. However, without structural reform, it will continue to lurch from one crisis to another letting these opportunities pass it by.”

Notable Investments Speaking on their organisation’s investments move to showcase their faith in Nigeria, Lawani and Soyoye noted that, “Over the past ten years, Helios has made private equity investments in 23 businesses, 10 of which operate in Nigeria, including starting one business, HTN Towers, from scratch.

In each case, the capital we invest is to drive growth within a business, which has a positive effect, not only on the company itself but more broadly on consumers. For example, by enhancing lives through access to information and technology as in the case of HTN Towers, Interswitch and Mall for Africa; creating financial security and financial inclusion at ARM Pensions, Crown Agents Bank and Investment Management, FCMB and Interswitch; improving environmental care and quality for example with Eland Oil

Lawani

Soyoye

& Gas and Petrobras Africa, and providing clean energy access through Oando Gas and Power.”

“We have also made one credit investment in Nigeria. Last year, Helios Credit completed a secured asset financing of Starzs Investments, a leading indigenous Nigerian offshore oil and gas company”, they added.

they added.

Positive Commitment According to them, “Our commitment to Nigeria is commensurate with the country’s position as the largest economy on the continent, and consistent with our investment strategy, which is to buy and build market-leading, diversified platform companies operating in the core economic sectors of key African markets like Nigeria.

For Helios, making financial investments entails a focus on driving value creation throughout the course of our ownership.

“While the Nigerian economy has indeed entered a recession, with a slowing of domestic demand, investment and private sector activity, we continue to find interesting opportunities to invest in companies we believe are core to the functioning of the economy; and we are confident that the current environment is a good one in which to continue to make long-term investments in the country. We believe that the next few years provide a real opportunity for businesses with strong fundamentals to differentiate themselves, and really contribute to the recovery and growth of the economy in the medium term; and we remain excited about the opportunities to partner with such businesses”, they added.

Clarion Call Considering the federal government’s call for vital foreign direct investment (FDI) and how this can be achieved, the investment experts said,“There are indeed many investment opportunities in Nigeria, which make it an interesting destination for FDI, evidenced by the fact that in the last 10 years, Nigeria has received nearly a fifth of FDI flows into sub-Saharan Africa.

As with all our investments, we ensure that the integrity of the Helios investment process is maintained as we rigorously follow our investment strategy, and the way in which we conduct our business and our disciplined investment approach is therefore designed accordingly”,

Fresh Plans Responding to inquiries on whether the firm is planning other investments in Africa and Nigeria after investing billions of dollars already, Lawani and Soyoye noted that, “While we have indeed invested over $2 billion across the continent, our total investment into Nigerian businesses is more than 30 per cent of the total invested, which is consistent with our guidelines on prudent diversification by country. “We are now halfway through the investment period of our third private equity fund, and have to date committed over half the available capital. We have built a strong pipeline of opportunities across the continent, and look forward to making additional investments into businesses that operate in Nigeria. We continually evaluate a wide variety of opportunities, and remain active in many areas” they added.

Future Outlook Situating Helios in the development process of Nigeria and Africa in the next five years, they said, “By investing across the capital structure, in both our private equity and direct lending businesses, we help businesses in Nigeria and across Africa to grow. Over the next five years, we foresee the impact of our existing investments increasing, and we expect that Helios will continue to commit significant amounts of capital.

“As Nigerians who have had the good fortune to be exposed to various cultures, and to have built successful careers outside of the continent, we decided to turn our attention and energies to Africa in the desire to contribute to the economic and social development of the continent. We believe that, as individuals, we have an obligation to use our capabilities and resources to make a positive and sustained impact on the region.

“As a firm, we believe that the greatest contribution to regional development will come from the building of profitable, value-creating, and socially responsible private enterprises. In so doing, we hope to demonstrate that the duty of firms such as Helios to earn acceptable risk-adjusted returns for their investors is not in fact at odds with the goal of social and economic development in Africa”, they added.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

NIGERIA’S TOP 50 STOCKS BASED ON MARKET FUNDAMENTALS

National Salt Company of Nigeria Plc: Increased activity in West and North of Nigeria boost revenue

N

ationalSalt Companyof NigeriaPlc (NASCON)engages inthe refining,processing and marketing of varied salt products used for industrial and domestic purposes.The companyenjoys the household brand name of Dangote for its saltproducts,tagged Dangote Salts.It recorded yearsofmisfortune due to poor choice of locations andotheroperationalbottlenecks.

DangoteIndustries Limited (DIL)consummated areverseacquisitionoftheailing salt company in2007, whichultimatelyledtothe voluntary liquidationofDangote Salts Limited following thetransfer ofits assets,liabilities and other business undertakings toNASCON.In return,2.12 billionordinaryshares were issued as purchase considerationtoDIL,the largest shareholder with about62% controlling interest.Consequently, NASCONbecame asubsidiaryof the Dangote conglomerate.

Expectedly,installed capacityinitiallyramped up to 400,000 tonnes perannum for 25-50kg bags ofsaltand 100,000 tonnesper annum for smaller sachetsbutlater increased to600,000metric tonnescumulatively.The turnaround alsoled toa substantialgaininmarketshare,now estimated at over60%,and surpassing the company’s aged long rival, UnionDiconSaltPlc that boasts of 700,000 metrictonnes capacity.

GROWTH IN REVENUE ONTHE BACK OF CORE BUSINESSES NASCON’s revenue shows a remarkable increase of25.53%atthe end ofthird quarter,September 30th2016toN12.79billionfrom N10.19 billion recordedinSeptember2015,after a half-year growthof30.03% overthe corresponding figure of2015.

Theresultantwas due toincrease in the sale of edible, refined,bulkand industrialsalt;as wellas seasoning,tomatopaste and vegetable oilover theperiod toits wide range of distributors and customers,especiallyinthe western and northern Nigeriawhere sales rose by 66.39%and 17.87% respectively.Sales ofits core products rose by asubstantial28.56% inthe period ended,third quarter2016toN11.21billion from N8.72 billion reported inthe corresponding period 2015.Income fromfreightservices increased by7.64%toN1.59 billionand covers 15.56%oftotalrevenue.The Companyprovides freight services tocustomers by transporting refined salt purchased totheir destination.

Costofsales grewnotablytoN8.56 billion from N6.95billionover the period;representing a growth of23.04%.The incrementrose from the combined effectofrisesinvariouscomponentsofoperational expenditures especially:direct materialcost,direct labourcost,manufacturing expenses,external haulage,depreciationand loading which increased by 23.46%,6.39%,25.16%,33.52%,13.09%and 14.26% respectively,whichwe believe shows partly theinflationchanges caused byprevailing macroeconomic headwind inthe economy.

Expectedly,due tothe higher growth in generated revenueovercostofoperation,gross profit grew considerablyby30.90%toN4.24 billion at the end ofthirdquarter2016from N3.24 billion reported a yearearlier.

IN LINE WITH OUR REVIEW OF NASCON’S CURRENT OPERATIONS, WE BELIEVE THAT THE COMPANY HAS THE CAPACITY CONTINUE TO BOOST CURRENT PERFORMANCE WITH INCREASED AND WELL PLANNED ACTIVITY WITHIN ITS CORE BUSINESS AREAS IN AN INDUSTRY WITH HIGH GROWTH POTENTIAL

GROWTH IN OPERATIONAL COSTIMPACTS ON PROFITABILITY The Company’smanagement increasedactivities towardsincomegeneration by investingitslarge liquid fundsin money market instrument – fixed deposit; henceleadingto an unexpectedconstant growth in investment incomewhich grew by 4272%in thehalf year andat currently at a growth of 5,115% to N21.8mfromN0.42min September 2015.Nevertheless, other incomeasanticipated reducedby 94.64% to N6.11mfromN114.17min September 2015.Thisresultedfromreduction in profit generatedfromasset disposal aswell asthe absenceof insuranceclaimandprofit exchange differencesrecordeda year ago.

Management of expenditureswasadversely affected by theCompany’sextensiverebranding programmeandcommunication expensesas distribution expensesconsumedN537.35min the nine-month ended, September 2016 from N76.63min thecorrespondingperiodof 2015; hence indicatingan massiveincreaseof 601.2%.

Increasein administrativeexpenseswasrecorded at 6.09% to N950.35min September 2016 comparedto September 2015 figureof N895.81m.

Similarly, net financial cost increasedto N185.68m which represents100% increment when comparedwith September 2015 figureanda rise of 825.37% when comparedto December 2015 of N20.07m.

NASCONrecordeda growth in profit beforetax of 8.94% to N2.59 billion in thirdquarter ended, September 2016 over N2.38 billion reportedin the correspondingperiodof 2015. Nevertheless, despite thesameper cent changein incometax which grew to N829.69mfromSeptember 2015 figure of N761.61m, profit after tax recorded similar feat asit grew by 8.94% to N1.76 billion in September 2016 fromN1.62 billion reportedin September 2015.

KEYFINANCIAL RATIOS REFLECTS IMPROVED PERFORMANCE The Company’sbalancesheet showspositive changes in total assets, net assetsandtotal

liabilitieswhich grew by 50.98%, 12.02% and 76.57% respectively asat thirdquarterended, September2016,whencomparedtothirdquarter ended, September 2015.Total assetcurrently positionsat N25.14 billion fromaN19.24billion reportedasat half-year 2016; whiletotal liabilities stoodat N17.74 billion; andN7.39billionmarks shareholders’ value.

Furthermore, with respect to returns, the company’sreturn on averageequity (ROAE) improvedto 24.35% in thethirdquarterfroma recordof 18.21% in thesecondquarter2016; while return on averageassets(ROAA) stoodat8.51% asat September 2016.TheCompany’sliquidity ratio -current ratio – maintainsits1.13x marksince secondquarter comparedto 1.03x attheend of September 2015. NASCON’smanagement showseffectivenessin the handlingofoperation cyclewith an averagecollectionperiodwell below payment daysto about 199.04days.

Valuation Metrics 20-Jan-17 Recommendation

HOLD

Target Price (N)

8.46

Current Price (N)

7.48

Market Cap (N'm)

19,049

Outstanding Shares (m)

2,649

EPS (N)

0.85

PE Ratio

8.47x

Forward EPS (N)

0.88

Forward PE

8.22x Source: NSE Data, BGL Research

Unaudited Third Quarter 2016 Financial Turnover (N’m)

12,795

Profit Before Tax (N'm)

2,593

DESPITETHE OPPORTUNITIES,THEVALUE CHAIN ISYETTO BE FULLYOPTIMISED Findingsreveal that thecountry spendsmore than US$2.3 billion on salt importationannually despitethecountry’sabundantendowment of thenatural resourcesrequiredforsalt production. Raw saltscan bederivedmainly fromtwo sources; thebrinelakesandrocksalt, which arereadily availableinthecountry. Brine lakesarewater containing highconcentration of salt flowsheavily in Imo,Plateau, andEbonyi stateswhileRock saltsalso knownascrystalized saltsisavailablein Benuestate. Infact, Nigeriais estimatedto havereservesofatleast1.5billion tonnesof rock salt deposits. However, giventhat theplayersin thesalt industry actaspackaging companiesasopposedto producers, thecountry remainsan importer of rawsalts.Theindustry isyet to adopt backwardintegrationdespite thepresenceof a hugemarketforitsoutputs.

Nigeria isa high consumer ofsaltswithestimated annual consumption of 600,000metrictonnes (fromhousehold, animal, andindustry) whilethe per capita consumption (PCC) isbetween2.2g and6.3gdaily.Thereasons forthefailureofthe industry to takeadvantageoftheopportunities that theabundanceof rawsaltinthecountry presentsareunclear. Howeverthey may include inadequatesupportfromthegovernmentandthe low capacity of theoperators. Also, weobserve that regulatory oversight intheindustry isweak despitetheexistenceof a mineral andmining ministry andrelatedagencies.

needsto interveneto giveactivesupportto the local operatorsto promoteplatformsforreal production.Thebackwardintegrationprocess comeswithmultiplebenefitsamongstwhich arejobopportunities, foreignexchangeearnings, FDI, developmentoflocal communitiesandmost importantly, GDP growth.

AVOIDING ANOTHER ROUND OF SALT SHORTAGE REQUIRES DOMESTIC ACTIONS With thesuccessof electricvehiclesthatwill run on batteriesinsteadof fuel inJapanandtheUS, a global shortageof raw saltappearsimminentas salt isusedfor lithium, a primary rawcomponent for producingbatteries. Furthermore, rapid population growth andindustrialisationinthe Asian countriesaswell asBrazil andAustralia isalso a threat to sustainablesaltsupply.The sophistication of thenuclearpowerplantswhich arepersistently beingintroducedinAsiaalso appearsto contaminateseasaltproduction.

It thereforebecomesevenmorevital forthelocal industry to open upsinceevenourpackaging activitiesareimport-driven. Government

We recommend a HOLD InlinewithourreviewofNASCON’scurrent operations, webelievethattheCompany hasthe capacity continueto boostcurrentperformance withincreasedandwell plannedactivity withinits corebusinessareasinanindustry withhighgrowth potential.Wethereforemaintainourearnings projectionofN19.34billionforthefull year2016 andarevisednetincomeofN2.12billion, leadingto aforwardEPSofN0.85.

Usingacombinationoftheadjustedpriceto earningsmultiple(P/E) valuationmodel, we forecastaweighted3-monthtargetpriceofN8.46, whichrepresentsa13.10% upsideonthecurrent stockprice.WeplaceaHOLD recommendationon thesharesofNational SaltCompany ofNigeriaPlc.

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

1,763 20.26%

Source: Company’s Data 2016, BGL Research

Audited Year End 2015 Financial Results Turnover (N'm)

16,178

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

3,018 2,106 18.65%

Source: Company’s Annual Report 2015, BGL Research

Shareholding Information Shareholders

% Holding

Dangote Industries Limited

62.19%

Public Float

37.81%

Outstanding Shares (m)

2,649

Source: Company’s Data 2016, BGL Research

27

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

NIGERIA’S TOP 50 STOCKS BASED ON MARKET FUNDAMENTALS

Sterling Bank Plc: Reduced interest expenses leads to significant rise in net interest income

S

terling Bank Plc (Sterling Bank) is a full service national commercial bank in Nigeria with focus on consumer banking, trade finance, investment banking and capital market activities. It also provides wholesale banking services and offers banking products through its over 160 branches nationwide, 5,000 POS and 3,800 alternative delivery channels, 300 automated teller machines, telephone banking and other e-banking offerings.

In over 50 years of operations, Sterling Bank (formerly NAL Bank) has evolved from the nation’s pre-eminent investment banking institution to a fully-fledged commercial bank; and completed a merger with 4 other banks – IndoNigeria Merchant Bank, Magnum Trust Bank, NBM Bank and Trust Bank of Africa – as part of the 2006 consolidation of the Nigerian banking industry.

Popularly known for its “One Customer Bank” slogan, it evolved to a bigger bank upon its merger with the defunct Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB).

Sterling Bank Plc’s (Sterling) released their results for the Period ended September 30th, 2016 showing a modest decline of 2.64% in gross earnings to N79.65 billion from N81.81 billion in the corresponding period.

Consequently, the Bank has kept up with its regular dividend payment, and has recommended a total dividend payment of N2.59 billion (on the basis of N0.09 per share) for every 50 kobo share.

Gross Earnings was driven by Interest income which grew by only 12.40% to N68.89 billion in September 2016 from N61.29 billion in September 2015, due to increase in the Bank’s loans and advances to customers.

Conversely, interest expense decreased by 12.05% to N27.37 billion in September 2016 from N31.12 billion in the corresponding period of 2015.

Expectedly, net interest income for the period rose considerably by 37.62% to N41.52 billion from N30.17 billion in the prior year of 2015, due to the earlier mentioned significant decrease in interest expenses and an increase of 12.4% in interest income. Furthermore, non-interest income reduced by 47.6% to N10.8 billion in September 2016 from N20.5 billion in September 2015 largely due to a 34.2% decline in fees and commission income.

Increased operating expenses greatly impacts net income

ALSO THE STRONG LIQUIDITY POSITION OF THE BANK AND POTENTIAL PROFITABILITY FROM INCREASED FOCUS ON LENDING WOULD CUSHION THE EFFECT OF THE LIQUIDITY WITHDRAWALS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF STERLING BANK.

Total expenses during the financial period of 2015 increased by a modest 5.01% to N39.01 billion compared to N37.15 billion in the corresponding period of 2015. The main reason for the modest increase in total expenses was due to inflationary pressures but moderated by the bank’s strategic cost control measures during the financial year.

Further breakdown of the total operating expenses showed that operating expenses increased by 16.81% to N10.44 billion from N8.94 billion which was largely driven by inflationary pressures during the period, Personal expenses for the period declined by 0.33% to N8.69 billion from N8.72 billion which was due to the deployment of outsourced services while depreciation and amortization increased by 8.21% to N3.10 billion from N2.86 billion due to the on-going investments in a number of technology-led services improvement initiatives across core and subsidiary systems and channels optimization.

The aforementioned rise in total expenses greatly affected the company’s profitability, as profit

before tax dropped massively by 26.89% to N6.07 billion in September 2016 from N8.30 billion in the corresponding period of 2015. Net income also followed suit with a massive decline of 26.64% to N5.54 billion in September 2016, from N7.55 billion recorded in September 2015.

GOOD ASSET QUALITY Sterling Bank’s total assets rose by 11.36% to N890.30 billion in September 2016 compared to N799.45 billion achieved in December 2015. The significant increase was caused by a massive rise in Pledged financial assets to N125.77 billion in September 2016 from N69.34 billion in December 2015; reflecting a change of 81.39% and rise in intangible assets to N1.88 billion from N1.00 billion, reflecting a 88.14% change.

On the other hand, total liabilities increased by 14.80% to N808.04 billion from N703.89 billion in 2014.

This was caused by a massive increment of 103.94% in debt securities issue to N9.31 billion in September 2016 from N4.56 billion in December 2015 and a rise of 20.28% in other borrowed funds to N72.51 billion from N60.29 billion in December 2015.

Furthermore, the banks total equity (shareholders fund) decreased by 13.93% to N82.25 billion in September 2016 from N95.57 billion in December 2015.

MODEST DECLINE IN PERFORMANCE RATIOS The Bank’s Return on Equity (ROE) decreased slightly to 6.73% in September 2016 from 7.90% in the corresponding period of 2015.

Conversely, Return on Assets (ROA) decreased slightly to 0.62% in September 2016 from 0.94% in the corresponding period of 2015. Furthermore, at a capital adequacy ratio of 10.7%, the bank’s CAR remains above the minimum regulatory requirements of 10%.

HOLD RECOMMENDATION MAINTAINED Despite the regulatory policies in the banking sector which threaten the Bank’s income generating capacity, we believe the management of the Bank will continue to focus its efforts towards strengthening income generation from financial intermediation. Also the strong liquidity position of the Bank and potential profitability from increased focus on lending would cushion the effect of the liquidity withdrawals on the performance of Sterling Bank.

The Banks top and bottom line

Valuation Metrics 20-Jan-17 Recommendation

HOLD

Target Price (N)

0.92

Current Price (N)

0.80

Market Cap (N'm)

21,017

Outstanding Shares (m)

28,791

Rolling EPS (N)

0.29

Rolling PE Ratio

2.40

Forward EPS

0.30

Forward PE

2.33 Source: Company Data, BGL Research

Q3 September 2016 unaudited Results Gross Earnings (N'bn)

79.35

Pre-tax Profit (N'bn)

6.07

Profit After Tax (N'bn)

5.53

Pre-tax Margin (%)

7.65 Source: Company Data, BGL Research

Full Year 2015 Audited Results Gross Earnings (N'bn)

110.19

Pre-tax Profit (N'bn)

11.02

Profit After Tax (N'bn)

10.29

Pre-tax Margin (%)

10.00 Source: Company Data, BGL Research

Shareholding Information Shareholders

% Holding

Silverlake Inv. Ltd

25.00

State Bank of India

8.86

SNNL/AMCON

5.85

Dr Mike Adenuga

5.63

Public Float

54.66 Source: Company Data, BGL Research

performance narrowly missed our projection for the year modestly in FY 2015. Considering the above, we revise our revenue and net income projection to N107.73 billion and N8.28 billion respectively the full year 2016, leading to an EPS of N0.30 for the year. Therefore, using the price to earnings multiples valuation method with industry PE of 0.59 consisting of peers companies in the same Tier II category (Fidelity Bank, FCMB, Diamond Bank and Skye Bank) in comparison to Sterling Bank’s PE ratio, we arrived at a 3-month average target price of N0.92 per share, which translate to a 15.00% upside potential on the current stock price of Sterling Bank Plc shares.

We therefore maintain our HOLD recommendation on Sterling Bank Plc shares.

28

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • january 22, 2017

MARKET NEWS

SEC, EFCC Sign Pact for Effective Capital Market Policing Goddy Egene The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to ensure an effective policing of the capital market.

The pact, which was signed at the EFCC’s office in Abuja last week, serves to, among others, promote the efficient investigation and conclusion of all cases reported by either Institution to

each other, to promote the integrity, efficiency and soundness of the Nigerian capital market and the economy in general.

According to a statement from SEC, the MoU also seeks to promote collaboration in the areas of training and secondment of middle cadre officers of the SEC to the EFCC and those of the EFCC to the SEC; or in the alternative, the establishment of a liaison desk in both Institutions as well as promote collaboration in other areas beneficial to both Institutions.

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

“Going by the provisions of the document, the Institutions shall provide each other with the utmost mutual assistance in any matter falling within the competence of the Institutions, including in particular the following areas: Secondment of middle cadre officers, training to enhance the investigative skills and capacity of personnel of the Institutions and consequently increase the general output and performance of the Institutions and facilitate better understanding of each others’ functions through capacity

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 19-Jan-2017, unless otherwise stated.

building programs and human capital development in the areas of investigation of fraud in the capital market,” the statement added.

It added that both institutions will also collaborate in the areas of exchange of information to assist the performance of the Institutions’ respective functions, reporting, investigation and prosecution of fraudulent/manipulative practices in the Nigerian capital market and any other activity as agreed between the Institutions from time to time.

“The MoU serves as a basis of

cooperation between the institutions and does not create any binding legal obligation, nor does it modify or supersede any laws, regulations or regulatory requirements in force or applying to the institutions.

Furthermore, the MoU does not create any rights enforceable by third institutions nor does it affect any arrangement under other MoUs,” it added.

When the SEC paid a visit to the EFCC recently, its Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo commended the close relationship between both organisations, noting

that SEC cannot discharge its responsibility effectively without collaborating with the anti graft agency.

“We are by provision of our law mandated to protect investors on developing the market but the way our law is structured we have limitations over criminal cases and that is why in the last 10 years there has been a very great collaboration between both agencies. We hope that when this MoU becomes fully operational, it will assist in reducing market infractions to the barest minimum,” Gwarzo said.

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 131.60 Nigeria International Debt Fund 217.80 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 0.69 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

100.00

aaml@afrinvest.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 131.61 3.42% 217.86 1.04% info@acapng.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.70 -0.69% ammf@aiicocapital.com Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

100.00

17.55%

enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Bid Price 12.51 289.89 22.31

Offer Price 12.89 298.63 22.98

Yield / T-Rtn 1.33% 0.94% -0.14%

1.00

1.00

17.22%

investmentcare@axamansard.com Bid Price 106.12

Offer Price 106.86

Yield / T-Rtn 0.98%

1.00 1.00 15.98% investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Bid Price 2.15 9.42 84.66

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 2.20 -1.14% 9.66 0.63% 86.83 0.08% invest@fbnquest.com

Bid Price 1,089.85 110.87 100.00 $104.27 $103.47

Offer Price 1,091.07 111.63 100.00 $104.47 $103.67

Yield / T-Rtn -0.04% -0.63% 15.18% -0.02% -0.11%

114.69

116.25

1.82%

FIRST CITY ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fcamltd.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Legacy Equity Fund 0.94 Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund 2.59 FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Coral Growth Fund 2,186.99 Coral Income Fund 2,124.73 INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Abacus Money Market Fund 1.00 Vantage Balanced Fund 1.69 Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00

fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 0.96 1.06% 2.59 0.74% coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 2,212.47 -1.01% 2,124.73 0.97% enquiries@investment-one.com Offer Price 1.00 1.71 1.00

Yield / T-Rtn 16.65% 0.45% 15.63%

LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.00 1.02 0.71% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,014.60 1,014.60 0.30% 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 9.86 9.94 2.01% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 14.58% 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 1.06 1.07 0.36% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.38 10.55 0.42% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 11.04% 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 109.36 110.27 1.06% 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 1.25 1.25 0.55% 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 1.12 1.14 9.86% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 1.22 1.22 16.53% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.67 0.68 1.12% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 1.00 1.00 13.00% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 130.24 131.97 0.33% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.38% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,526.12 7,625.28 -0.68% 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 1.12 1.14 9.86% United Capital Bond Fund 1.22 1.22 16.53% United Capital Equity Fund 0.67 0.68 1.12% 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 9.83 10.00 2.05% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.14 11.24 2.06% Zenith Income Fund 16.83 16.83 1.90%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.41 124.10

1.01% 0.10%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

8.27 74.34

8.37 75.73

-5.78% -1.90%

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

2.46 5.65 11.76 13.83 127.03

2.50 5.73 11.86 14.03 129.03

-10.36% -19.52% -1.97% -13.21% -2.18%

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.

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

GBEMISOLA OLATERU-OLAGBEGI

SIMPLY GBEMI

22.01.2017

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T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • January 22, 2017

COVER

GBEMISOLA OLATERU-OLAGBEGI

SIMPLY GBEMI! Her family name has been celebrated for ages, long before she was born. Therefore carving her niche was going to demand some ingenuity because there are successful doctors, lawyers, engineers and all kinds of professionals among the Olateru-Olagbegis, but once Providence cut a path for her in the media, she became Gbemi, raking in a fist full of achievements on her own steam. Vanessa Obioha reports

T

me.

Th

Watching Gbemisola Olateru-Olagbegi confidently climb the half-turn stairs at the Ikeja City Mall, Lagos, one could not but be intrigued by her perfect disguise: a long, blue gown and a white pair of block heels sandals. Dark glasses covered her eyes. Earlier, this reporter had wondered if her choice of venue was not ill advised considering she may be fazed by fans. But she had laughed on the phone: “Which fans?”

To be sure, Gbemi is popular. Given the opportunity, not a few would resist the itch to walk her down memory lane when she was a staff of Cool FM. Back then, it was apparent that audience members loved calling in on her Radio-Graffiti show where they were allowed to make only one sentence. Her straightforward sense of humour on that programme won her many fans.

While Gbemi moved on to another urban radio station, her popularity did not wane. So it was very interesting to watch her manoeuvre her way through the motley shoppers and sightseers at the mall. It was the second Sunday of the year, people were still in the celebratory mood, so the mall was relatively busy.

In that outfit of hers, she looked like any other shopper in the mall. Would someone scream her name? Or give her a tap on the shoulder? Or probably bug her with a selfie stick? I wished secretly that a fan would recognise her, just to witness her reaction. I was disappointed. She had sounded so confident on the phone that she would be incognito. The anonymous status was a condition many radio personalities are comfortable with.

It wasn’t really a disguise, she explained, when we were finally seated at the Bheerhugz Cafe. “It’s not as if I’m not popular, I am but find a way not to announce your presence. I don’t move around with a large crowd of people.

There are some people who do that, they move around with their bodyguard, assistant, so people will start looking. I know how to quietly get into places, and get out without getting people’s attention.”

Perhaps, her being behind the microphone over the years has helped to shape her covert character.

“I think it was back in the day when people will not know what you look like because you are on the radio. Now because of social media, and a lot of us are branching out to TV, there’s a camera at your face constantly. Either they are taking your pictures at an event or interviewing you on red carpet, there’s always something. On social media, hundreds and thousands of people are following you. Trust me they know who you are. I can’t hide. I still do the regular things like go to the grocery store.”

She expressed mixed feelings about the new media.

On the good side, it opened doors for many people to make money on the internet, created jobs, and expanded the reach of radio.

“Radio has become universal in such a way that someone who is getting dressed for school in Manchester is listening to me on the radio either on her phone or on an app. It is now a global village. It is beyond that little community radio around you with a local radio OAP. I remember walking into a grocery store and this girl tapped me. She screamed that she listens to me in Ireland, that she doesn’t live here and I’m just looking at her like what? Her boyfriend was looking at her, laughing, and she was shaking, she was so excited.

I thanked her and gave her a hug, and she screamed. She went on talking about the topics I discussed on radio. So it’s not necessarily limited to people who are from your city or country, it’s now global.”

Her encounter with the Irish lady was just one of the exhilarating moments she has had as an OAP. Another remarkable one was when she reconciled a couple on radio who later named their child after her.

On the down side of social media, it has become very ubiquitous with many thriving and existing under the constant threat of going under from a throng of ebullient newly developed ones.

“It really kicked off in 2009. It started with Facebook, then there was Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and a whole lot more.

The blogs too were growing. It’s not only people of your age group that are there, everybody is there. Everybody uses social media. People are observant. If there is a gist, your picture will fly around, whether it’s good or bad.”

In her own case, she’s been able to tame her fame. Of course, she still gets a run-in with a fan at the grocery store, but it doesn’t stop her from being Gbemi.

She seemed to have developed a good antidote for social media trolls.

“On social media, even in life, no matter how great or nice you are, you will still find people who do not love you. They dislike you or want to rile you up, perhaps in a bid to get attention. It was a learning experience at first. I didn’t understand why they were so upset with me when I post a picture. But now I just ignore, there’s the block button to block unwanted users. Once in a while, someone might step out of the line, so I’m like, you know what, I have your time today. I remember posting a picture sometime last year and someone commented ‘You wowo (ugly) oh’, so I replied ‘Na your mama wowo’.

It was nasty but I had to give it back to her. And everybody went crazy. The blogs carried it and I was like why is everyone making noise about this. I already handled it. It’s like someone saying that to you in person, so you ‘yab’ the person back.

I won’t go on someone’s social media page to poke fun at her. That’s ridiculous.

You don’t have to cross the line. I also remember not everyone was brought up like me, not everyone on social media has a good dose of morals or is sane. Let’s be

IN RECENT TIMES, GBEMI HAS BEEN REVEALING HER ENTREPRENEURIAL SIDE. SHE RECENTLY STARRED IN A TV SERIES, ‘OUR BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING’ AND ALSO RUNS A MEDIA CONSULTING COMPANY. HOWEVER, SHE VENTURED INTO THE FASHION WORLD IN 2015 WITH THE LAUNCH OF HER SHOE BRAND ‘GBEMISOKE’.

LIKE MOST BUSINESSES BORN OUT OF SCARCITY. GBEMI-SOKE SHOES WAS A CHILD OF NECESSITY AS ITS FOUNDER’S COULDN’T FIND HER SHOE SIZE IN THE MARKET

JANUARY 22, 2017 ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

31

COVER honest. Just block them.”

Another trip down the memory lane revealed that Gbemi didn’t set out to be a radio presenter. As a child, she wanted to be many things including an air hostess. However, she found herself as a junior reporter at the Nigerian Television Authority during her service year as a National Youth Service Corps member. Back then, she fancied herself as a newscaster: Preened up daily with make-up and beautiful attires. But reality is not always as beautiful as imagination.

She would later discover that news-casting was more than looking all glam in front of the camera, reading news.

Somehow, she had ample time on her hands, so she decided to try the radio.

She applied at Cool FM and was hired in the News department to edit the news.

The schedule at Cool FM allowed her to still discharge her duties at NTA. Her take home pay was N5,000. This was in 2005. She was content. It turned out that Providence had something bigger in store for her. Her curiosity and intelligent mind led her to a chance meeting with Cool FM’s rave OAP then, Dan Foster. The latter was impressed by her witty remarks and ability to carry on a conversation. At that instant, he pushed the microphone to her and they went live on air. The next day, she returned to her news desk only to be carted away by Foster, who insisted she does the breakfast show with him. Shortly after, Gbemi took over the afternoon show: ‘The Midday Oasis’ from Ebele, winning thousands with her no-nonsense but charming charisma. She would later move to Beat FM where she is a presenter and also Programmes Director at Naija FM, the pidgin language sister radio station to Beat FM. Fate recently reunited her with the man who pushed her to the radio, Foster, for he is now at Classic FM, another sister radio to Beat FM. They hardly see each other she told me, because of their different schedule but whenever they meet, they gist for hours.

Being on radio has taught Gbemi one or two things which she shared. For instance, an OAP’s service to her listeners depends on the kind of personality and the type of radio the OAP works for. It is important they know their audience.

“For us at the Beat, we are youth oriented. We focus on youth programmes.

With social media, we can measure their interests. We know we can’t discuss serious topics like the terrorists, Boko Haram or political happenings because they are not interested. But post something about celebrity gossip or relationship issues, they will quickly respond. It is very annoying sometimes because they ought to know these things but you won’t blame them, their biggest focus is books and boys and girls; and music.

“A big eye opener was when we did our first Beat FM Christmas Concert in 2015. I was shocked. I knew we had young people but I thought they were young like me. But actually, a lot of them were teenagers. I was shocked. And they knew these songs, came out in droves and the tickets sold out. So you have to know what a teenager is enthusiastic about, Rihanna

and Chris Brown are fighting, ghting, yes they love it. They are not really interested in political affairs. Not that we don’t discuss such but we have to please our listeners.”

The most important thing radio has taught her is that music - an important element of the radio - can change your mood. “It can make you cry, laugh, bring back memories. Radio is magic. That’s why I love it.”

In recent times, Gbemi has been revealing her entrepreneurial side. She recently starred in a TV series, ‘Our Best Friend’s Wedding’ and also runs a media consulting company. However, she ventured into the fashion world in 2015 with the launch of her shoe brand ‘Gbemisoke’. Like most businesses born out of scarcity. Gbemisoke Shoes was a child of necessity as its founder’s couldn’t find nd her shoe size in the market.

“I just noticed that it was difficult to find my shoe size, 11 (Nigeria size 43), even when I was schooling abroad. It was so bad that I could spend the whole day in the mall looking for my shoe size and won’t find nd anything. It was same story when I returned to Nigeria, the biggest size you’ll probably find nd is 42, and the guys are pushing your leg inside, saying you should ‘manage it’. So I thought, why don’t I create my own shoe line. I spent about a year doing research and deciding on what exactly I wanted to do. That’s what I did in 2013 and 2014. And in 2015, we kicked off. We will be marking our second anniversary in May.” Her fascination with the foot apparel, she disclosed, has always been there. She described shoes as important accessories of a woman’s fashion.

“Everything about the woman’s fashion is important, even down to the underwear. Women are so unique and so different. The same issue I’m having with shoes, some women have with bags or underwear. However, the shoe can make or break your outfit. t. I think you can transform any outfitt based on the shoes you wear. You can wear a dress and put on a pair of heels and look like you are going on a date, to a wedding or party, and you can change to another pair of shoes and look like you are going to a friend’s house to chill. It even affects the way you walk. There’s something about shoes.”

Gbemisoke shoes come in different designs: mules, flats, ats, pumps and heels. Due to high demand, she has also expanded her shoe size options to accommodate women with shoe size 37 to 45.

Combining her business with her career has not been an easy task. The yuletide season was very hectic. She paid the price of pushing her body too hard by taking an unwanted trip to the hospital for the first rst time in ages. A compulsory bed rest did the trick, nursing her back to good health. Having learnt her lesson the hard way, this year, she is determined to go on a vacation.

GBEMI DIDN’T SET OUT TO BE A RADIO PRESENTER. AS S A CHILD, SHE WANTED TO BE MANY THINGS INCLUDING AN AIR HOSTESS. HOWEVER, OWEVER, SHE FOUND HERSELF AS A JUNIOR REPORTER AT THE NIGERIAN TELEVISION AUTHORITY DURING HER SERVICEYEAR AS A NATIONALYOUTH SERVICE CORPS ORPS MEMBER….

OMEHOW, SHE HAD AMPLE TIME ON HER HANDS, SOMEHOW, HE APPLIED SO SHE DECIDED TO TRY THE RADIO. SHE AT COOL FM… HER ER CURIOSITY AND INTELLI INTELLIG INTELLIGENT ENT MIND LED HER TO A CHANCE MEETING WITH COOL FM’S RAVE OAP THEN, DAN FOSTER.THE T LATTER WAS IMPRESSED BY HER WITTY REMARKS AND ABILITY TO CARRY ON A CONVERSATION

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž Í°Í°Ëœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ

ON THE COUCH

MR. LATEEF FAGBEMI, SAN (LAWYER)

I Never Wanted to be Anything Else Than a Lawyer Interviewed by Funke Olaode What attracted you to the law profession?

I have never dreamt of studying any discipline outside law. From my childhood even before I got into secondary school my dream was to be a lawyer. The propelling force was my passion for argument. The urge was further strengthened because of availability of a magistrate court within the vicinity. As a student at Offa Grammar School in Offa, Kwara State, we used to sneak out to watch proceedings at the Magistrate Court.

At the time of your birth, what kind of work were your parents doing?

They didn’t have western education but their native intelligence was equal to none. They appreciated the value of education. It was their aim that all the children should be educated.

Recently you delivered a paper at the 15th memorial of the late Chief Bola Ige’s. How did your path cross with the late Cicero?

We used to exchange words in court and he once jokingly that I escaped being born a year before he was called to the bar. We had a great rapport that started a long time ago but became deeply rooted when both of us became Senior Advocates of Nigeria the same day in 1996.

What fond memories of Ige can you recall?

The late Chief Ige was a person who would not ignore advice. He was always willing to encourage the junior ones no matter the point you raised. Even if he had a contrary view, he would call you over discussion. He may agree and may not agree sometimes but he would allow you to air your views.

He was accessible, down to earth, hardworking, and would not take anything for granted. Above all, he was a lover of humanity.

What factor shaped your life while growing up?

My parents, particularly my mother shaped my life to become the man I am today. We feared her more than we feared my father though both were working to achieve the same goals using different approach. My mother was like a military man while my father believed in persuasion.

And because of my mother’s high handedness we thought she was not our biological mother. It was later in life that we appreciated her.

How did you feel the day you become a lawyer?

It was a wonderful accomplishment that began at the University of Jos where I acquired my first degree in law and later did my masters at the then University of Ife. I did my tutelage under the renowned lawyer and legal titan, Chief Afe Babalola SAN. He so much trusted me and left me to handle responsibilities. I thank God that he groomed me and I also responded to training. As I always say that if you want to make success in any training you must be prepared to study under law icons, big chambers and big offices where you get opportunity to be exposed

You have been consistent over the years what has been your strength?

I have no other job outside my law profession. I think more than anything it is the grace of God and my commitment to duty.

If you had to rate your satisfaction with your life so far, what would you score yourself?

One must always look up for something to attain. To me, I will score myself nine over ten because I am satisfied with life and the level which God has helped me to attain. I don’t have money but I am satisfied with my job.

to what you are not likely to get under a smaller lawyer. I became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1996.

I left Chief Babalola’s chamber in 1999 to become my own boss. I feel

happy taking the silk because it is a bigger responsibility and at the same time challenging because you need to mentor people both within and outside the court.

What lessons has life taught you?

You must have a dream and pursue it with determination. You have to be very patient without being complacent. You just always ensure that you have mentors to learn from and share ideas with.

EVENT

T

A Phenomenal ‘Girls Christmas’

he Girls Apostolic Ministry of All Nations, a non-denominational and non-governmental organization for girls: mentoring and tutoring recently held its year end get-together tagged, ‘Holy Ghost Ball’ at the Jesus Evangelical Assembly Church in the Allen Avenue vicinity of Ikeja.

Its Founder, Temilolu Okeowo, a lawyer and multiple newspaper columnist, who would rather be referred to as the HeadGirl has prosecuted an enduring campaign that encourages girls to live chaste in order to enjoy life.

The event was phenomenal by virtue of the various ministrations in music ranging from classical to contemporary. Temilolu was conducted W.F.Mozart’s, ‘Glorious is Thy Name’ The ambience of the venue, the auditorium of the Jesus Evangelical Assembly was transformed to what looked

like a Midsummer’s night dream theme.

The precise and concise exhortation by the founder of the ministry and organizer of the event was soul-touching and life transforming. Her exhortation on how and why girls should live a life of purity was backed up with biblical references that highlighted the benefits of a pure life coupled with spiritual intelligence and vigilance.

The Senior Pastor of the Jesus Evangelical Assembly, Reverend David Esosa IzeIyamu exhuded uncommon graces and maturity in allowing the phenomenal event to be hosted in his church. The editor of Saturday Punch, Mrs. Bisi Deji-Folutile also applauded Temilolu whose column she described as one of the most interactive.

Former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Princess Sarah Sosan commended Temilolu for going out of her way to serve humanity by offering her time, energy and counsel

L≠R: Rev.Esosa Ize≠Iyamu, Archbishop George Amu, Convener of Ï A Girls ChristmasÎ and Founder, The Girls Apos≠tolic Ministry of All Nations, Evangelist Temilolu Oluwakemi Okeowo, Her Excellency, Princess Sarah Sosan and Chief Mrs.Opral Benson at the Holy Ghost Ball on Boxing day in Lagos

to hundreds of girls over the years even in market places and riverine areas.

Other dignitaries at the well-attended

event were Archbishop George Amu, the Iya-Oge of Lagos and Chief (Mrs) Opral Benson.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

IMAGES

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ecently Dr. Oyeniyi Omotope Diya, the son of former Chief of General Staff, Lt.- Gen. Oladipupo Diya (rtd), wedded his heartthrob, former Miss Olufunke Badru, with an engagement ceremony at the Vantage Point Events Centre, Acme Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos. The Solemnization of their matrimony took place at The United African Methodist Evangelical Church, Abule Ijesa Yaba, Lagos and was followed by a reception at the 10 Degrees Events Centre, Billings Way, Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos. Here are some of the personalities at the event

Dr. and Mrs. Oyeniyi Omotope and Oluwafunke Diya cutting their engagement cake

Groom’s and Bride’s Parents, the Diyas and the Badrus

General Diya with family members

L-R: Chief Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu, and Senator Anthony Adefuye

L-R: Mr. Aramide Tola Noibi with former Head of Interim Government, Chief Earnest Sonekan

L-R: Alhaja Yetunde Ajiboye with Alhaji and Alhaja Tajudeen Adewale Badru

L-R: Eminent Cleric, Bishop Ola Kumolu; Bishop David Adedeji Sogbanmu, the couple; Bishop, United African Methodist Evangelical Church, Abule Ijesha Yaba, Lagos, Rt.-Revd Zacheus Sanyaolu; the Dean, Very Revd Ola Timothy; and other officiating ministers

The couple flanked by members of the Bridal and Groom’s train

L-R: Groom’s brother, Dr. Oyefolarin Diya; the couple and Captain Sunny Adebuyi (rtd)

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • January 22, 2017

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entertainment

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

Seun Olota with his horns section

Edaato (with guitar) and Olorioko

Shekere African Festival Unites the Arts

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xecuted on the theme: ‘Unity in Diversity’, the recent Shekere African Festival at the Freedom Park in Lagos featured keynote addresses, music, drama, poetry/proverbs, folk songs and palmwine. The primemover of the event, Mr. Frank Halim encouraged participants at the talk sessions to opine alternative thoughts, particularly those with those steeped in Afrocentric vision.

The discourse were led by Dubi Imevbore and Brian Ebden with Mr. Theo Lawson as chairman. African creativity vibrated the stage with Apata Ganga, Toyin Oshinaike, Zara Udofia-Ejoh, Toritseju Oxzygen Ejoh, Ijodee Dance, Uche Obidrums and the Starlight crew, Edaoto Agbeniyi, Seun Olota and the Extasi Band, Aj Dagga Tolar, Aye-Ola Mabiaku, Captain Blazee Akintunde Jimi, Taiwo Olusola Johnson, Pelumibaba, better known as that Yoruba Rapper, Akin Akinola, and Poski International rounding up the Festival in gyrating style.

The show was anchored by popular radio personality, Raymond Bola Browne, owner of the online radio station, Brownehill Radio.

An ensemble of performers on stage at the Shekere Africa Festival_1

UYO FASHION FORWARD WITH ADIE MESHACH, CATHERINE UBOH Adie Meshach, the Obudu, Cross River State-born fashion model, studying Agriculture Economics at the University of Uyo has been named as one of the frontline models by the organizers of the increasingly popular fashion and modeling event, Uyo Fashion Forward.

Standing at an impressive height of 6.2”,, the ebony complexioned model of RV Model Management popularly known as Mishy is a delight on the ramp.

He will be in the good company of Catherine Uboh, the female editorial sensation for the fashion project who is also a fashion design intern and a natural hair stylist and enthusiast. She is represented

by K-Mode Management in Nigeria.

In its third edition, Uyo Fashion Forward (UFF) is a fashion exhibition platform that aims to drive the Akwa Ibom and ultimately, the Nigerian fashion industry; by bringing together buyers, consumers and the media to view the current collection of global designers in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

The project has featured over 60 homegrown talents, from fashion designers, models, makeup artists, hair stylist and photographers since inception.

Adie and Uboh

MY LAGOS DIARIES BRINGS TALES OF REDEMPTION Recently, Dr. Tony Rapu’s Freedom Foundation premiered a 13-part series documentary at the Filmhouse IMAX Cinema, Lekki, Lagos.

The documentary is a 10-year body of

work that chronicles the harrowing tales of drug addicts, prostitutes and criminals.

In collaboration with God Bless Nigeria and House of Refuge, Rapu and his team scoured the streets of Lagos for hideouts and dens of these addicts, prostitutes, beggars, neglected persons and criminals with one mission in mind: rehabilitation.

The docu-series is a detailed expose into their dangerous lifestyle and the harmful effects of living on the streets. For instance, the various ways drugs are taken, its effects, detoxification and the effects of relapse are succinctly captured in this documentary.

Rapu while speaking on his inspiration to embark on this project at the media screening urged everyone to make positive impact in their community.

“It is a responsibility to those who are privileged to create lasting opportunities for the less privileged.”

He also said that the ultimate goal is to sensitize the general public about the struggles of these underprivileged persons while providing an opportunity for interested individuals and organisations to support Freedom Foundation’s vision via donations and funding.

L-R Pastor Dele Balogun (This Present House)_ Executive Director, Mrs Adeola Bali_ Coordinating Manager, Freedom Foundation, Sola Bello and the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Freedom Foundation, Dr. Tony Rapu

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ENTERTAINMENT The documentary series will begin airing online on Freedom Foundation’s YouTube channel as well as on television from the end of February.

CAFE NEO OPENS NEW OUTLET The Emperor Chopsticks Plaza in Lekki has a new resident: Cafe Neo. The contemporary coffee shop opened its doors to the environs recently. The launch was well attended by friends and loved ones.

Owned by the two dynamic brothers Ngozi and Chijoke Dozie, Cafe Neo is steadily expanding its chains to all nooks and crannies in Lagos. The new outlet is the 13th outlet since its inception five years ago. It has been the brothers mission to grow their brand nationally, and starting in Lagos makes its easier for the them.

It still retained its signature decor and setting for work and relaxation. An office space is provided for business meetings while others can enjoy their latte or frappacino in a very relaxed environment or simply watch the barista display his skills in making their favourite coffee.

DSTV BRINGS NEW TELENOVELA THE SON I NEVER KNEW The new year brings more love, more mystery and more betrayal with the launch of a brand new telenovela The Son I Never Knew. The telenovela follows a mother’s quest for the truth as a successful news anchor, Clara Zavaleta, played by Gabriela de la Garza, learns during a live broadcast that her son Ignacio (Daniel Barona) has been killed in a car accident.

The gripping telenovela will premiere on January 23, exclusively on Telemundo.

After a night out with friends, Ignacio, a spirited law student, is found dead at the bottom of a cliff. After learning that her son’s death was no accident, Clara becomes obsessed with finding his killer.

What follows is a mother’s desperate attempt to find out more about the child she has lost. What Clara never imagined was that her search would lead her to learn the true identities of those who surround her.

The rest of the cast is made up of Clara’s husband Santiago (Rubén Zamora) and their two daughters, Isabel and Florencia.

Santiago is a renowned criminal attorney who leads a seemingly perfect life, until he becomes the lawyer in the criminal case of his son’s murder. He is assisted by Officer Antonio Avelica (Mario Cimarro) who is considered a hero within the police force, but whose close relationship with the victim’s family takes its toll, as they venture deeper into the case.

LIGHT WILL COME TO FILMBABA Award-winning filmmaker, Tchidi Chikere has announced big plans for 2017 with the release of his new movie, ‘Light Will Come’. It is set to hit the cinemas across the country on February 17 on Chikere’s Filmbaba Entertainment Limited.

An ace filmmaker with a stunning pedigree spanning 17 years, Tchikere has displayed his experience and artistic prowess as a writer, producer and director in Light Will Come, a romantic comedy that will certainly make viewing a memorable one.

Using highly rated Red Epic camera alongside a dexterous cast and crew, Light Will Come is indeed an entertaining movie guaranteed to be a box office hit.

According to Chikere, shooting of the film commenced in August 2015 and ended in January 2016, while post production began in February 2016 and was completed in December of the same year.

Distributed by Silverbird Film Distribution Ltd, Light Will Come parades stars like Mercy Johnson-Okojie, Majid Michel, Hafiz Oyetoro (Saka), Eniola Badmus, Shaffy Bello, Ada Ameh, Rahama Sadau, and Nuella Njubigbo among others.

The movie tells the story of Lukas (Hafiz Oyetoro), a bumbling and comical Personal Assistant to his chronic bachelor boss, Raymond (Majid Michel). Raymond’s parents mandated him to get married and the desperate search together with Lukas to find the ideal woman his elite parents would approve of goes wrong repeatedly.

Time is running out on Raymond and he secretly engages the services of an escort agency that presents Jessica (Nuella Njubigbo) to pose as his fiancée, but the plan ends in disaster. There comes Viola (Mercy Johnson) who agrees to the plan but there’s a snag, as they are both

Stellar Jury Decides Miss Nigeria With the individual and combined competence of persons who constituted the jury at the recent 40th edition of the Miss Nigeria Beauty Pageant, the winner should be very proud that she was found worthy by a panel of very distinguished persons. This must be the song on the lips of Chioma Stephanie Obiadi who beat 35 other contestants to wear the crown as the 40th Miss Nigeria.

The adjudication panel had the likes of Mai Atafo, Rita Dominic, Ibinabo Fibersima, Kunle Afolayan, Chioma Ude, Yemi Keri, Ezinne Akudo Anyooha, Binta Sukai, Lanre’daSilva- Ajayi, Mukta Daniyan, Biola Alabi, Debola Williams, Adejumobi Adenowo, Funke Egbemode, Adaobi Nwakuche, and Dupe Olusola.

A stellar show hosted by Ayo Makun, better known as AY and Lala Akindoju at the Eko Convention Center, Victoria Island, Lagos. Obiadi who represented Anambra

State carted away top prizes including a brand new Hyundai Grand Accent from Studio 24, an all-expense paid trip courtesy Air France, one year free accommodation, complete style and beauty make over and three million naira.

Guests at the event had a good time enjoying a fashion show courtesy Studio 24 official photographers of Miss Nigeria 2016, memorable performances by Tekno, Ebisan, the valedictory speech of the outgoing queen Leesi Pamela PeterVigboro and a host of other entertaining acts.

Obiadi will represent Nigeria at the Miss Intercontinental pageant. Much of her time as beauty queen will be taken up by engagement with her pet project, the Green-Girl project. The Green- Girl project is a community development initiative aimed at empowering young women towards ensuring a clean and peaceful environment.

Miss Nigeria

from different worlds. The web of deceit is continuously spun before Raymond’s parents until something finally goes wrong… And add to all these, is Lukas, who has to contend with his domineering and abusive wife, Aisha (Eniola Badmus), who takes delight in physically assaulting him at home.

‘Three Wise Men’ Rocks Producer of the rave flick, ‘Three Wise Men’ Opa Williams recently highlighted some factors that made it an outstanding production. These include high production value, star power, strong entertainment and thematic thrust.

Directed by Pat Oghre-Imobhio and produced by Opa Williams, ‘Three Wise Men’ is one of the beneficiaries of the Bank of Industry (BoI)’s loan scheme tagged Nollyfund. Apart from being a BOI sponsored

movie, the film is the project of one of the pioneers of Nollywood producers, Opa Williams, with Okey Ogunjiofor’s yet-tobe-released flick ‘Queen Amina’.

‘Three Wise Men’ tells the story of three retirees acted by Richard Mofe-Damijo, Zack Orji and Victor Olaotan, who settle in a suburb to enjoy their retirement benefits after many years of service in different government parastatals. Leader of the gang, Irikefe (RMD), a divorcee with three failed marriages after five children, refurbishes his flat, buys a laptop, a nice sports car and goes shopping for jeans, T-shirts, sneakers and everything a young man could dream of. The three men become an item as Irikefe introduces them to his world of fun; from tracking girls on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, joy riding to clubbing. RMD’s portrayal of this ‘sagging’

and tattoo-wearing characters makes as much thrilling effect as his act of taking selfies and posting them on his social media platforms.

Other cast of the movie include Ebere Okaro, Thelma Nwosu, Uche Nwaefuna, Akunna Nworgu and Stanley Edirin Isokoh.

NOLLYWOOD TRAVEL FESTIVAL MAKES DEBUT WITH TORONTO SHOWCASE The recent good reception given eight Nigerian films at the last Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Canada has fired the imagination of a few promoters and producers who are set to birth a Nollywood Travel Festivalwith a broader aim of promoting Nigerian films, music and tourism as a pack.

The idea is the brainchild of President of the African Film Consortium (AFC), Mykel Parish and CEO of Native Media, Rogers Ofime.

Shedding more light on the initiative at a press conference which held at the Ojez Restaurant, National Theatre co-founder of the festival, Parish, noted that the time is now to make more fans and money by taking the country’s film and tourism around the world.

According to him, “Nollywood Travel Festivals is an initiative that seeks to promote films by Nigerians living all over the world to new and existing global audiences with the aim of creating new market places for Nigerian cinema.

We will Showcase the best films ever made in Nigeria and create an adventure for filmmakers, while opening platforms and markets for filmmakers, Nigerian music, comedy and tourism.”

He disclosed that the maiden edition of the Nollywood Travel Festival will hold in Toronto, Canada, from May 5-7, 2017.

In the words of Parish’s partner, Ofime, the Festival’s vision is to become a platform for the advancement of Nollywood and the realization of commercially viable entertainment industry for Nigeria. “The Nollywood Travel Festival celebrates the best of Nigerian cinema and will be hosted in major cities around the world. It will be a weekend of special indoor and outdoor screenings, inspiring discussions, meeting, parties and awards,” he said.

The unveiling ceremony of the festival was attended by notable industry stakeholders like filmmaker Andy Boyo, PMAN’s Pretty Okafor, Association of Movie Producer’s Chinasa Onychere and culture journalist and film critic, Shaibu Husseini.

MAXTIVITY THRILLS VISITORS WITH WINTER WONDERLAND Families and loved ones had a swell Christmas in Jabi Mall, Abuja, as a new family entertainment centre recently opened its first attraction: the Winter Wonderland Xtravaganza.

In commemoration of the yuletide season, the new centre launched its presence with a platter of fun-filled experiences in a safe and thrilling environment for kids, teenagers and adults.

The Winter Wonderland Xtravaganza is the first of its kind in Nigeria. Visitors enjoyed a snow experience with breathtaking winter scenery, ‘Santa Time’, ‘Build a Snowman’, as well as many more exciting, fun-filled attractions and games.

Owned by MandK Activity Centre, a brainchild of Kemi Osinibi and Mopelola Abudu, the family themed entertainment centre is geared to revolutionise the leisure and tourism sector in Nigeria.

“When we launched MAXTIVITY, we wanted to create the most amazing family entertainment center where family members regardless of their age can have fun experiences at all times. In addition, we also created the Xtravaganza which is a unique, enchanting, jaw dropping seasonal fiesta for special occasions and events,” said Kemi Osinibi.

More Xtravaganza packages will be available during all seasonal festive holidays and special occasions, providing fun experiences filled with music, lights, and fixtures that bring about beauty, elegance and the wonder of the season.

Visitors will also be treated to a variety of shows and activities that give groups and families an illusionary experience of being transported to new places.

JANUARY 22, 2017 • T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

The Rockettes

For Trump, They Came Vanessa Obioha It is no news that the new president of United States, Donald Trump is no darling of Hollywood or the entertainment industry in general. And they are not hiding their dislike for obvious reasons for alleged racism, misogyny, etc. Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin are some of the entertainers who have publicly expressed disgust and ridicule at the country’s best choice of leader.

Therefore, at a president’s inauguration party that is often serenaded by Hollywood A-list stars, Trump finds himself having to make do with a mismatch mix of entertainers.

But even these ones were still dithering at the last minute. This is not unexpected. There have been growing concerns on their afterinaugural party reputation. Will their fanbase increase or decrease? Split among members of music bands was the order of the day.

Trump, a showbiz man himself could care less of the industry as he matched their dislike with his nonchalance and disdain. Having fetched fame with his popular TV reality show, The Apprentice, a huge part of his life revolves round the entertainment industry.

His wife Melania, is an entertainer and his daughter Ivanka is well known in the fashion industry. Before his political appointment, he had no trouble hobnobbing with famous celebrities. Nowadays, they deemed it trouble to be associated with him.

Nevertheless, Trump held his ground with the few entertainers who were not swept away by the Hollywood anti-Trump tornado.

For these entertainers, performing at Trump’s inauguration party was beyond the political tension. They came for patriotism as well for fame, even with all the controversies surrounding the inauguration of the 45th president of United States. Below is a list of entertainers who performed at the iconic event.

Talladega Marching Tornadoes The historical black college band at first showed cold feet but later agreed to perform at the historic event.

The Rockettes Dance Troupe Several members of the group opted out of the performance due to their perceived dislike for the new president. However, the dance troupe came with their stunts to the inauguration ceremony.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir It is not their first performance at inauguration events but the first time the awardwinning choir will perform without all its members. Jan Chamberlin dropped out of the group after it was announced that they would perform at Trump’s inauguration party. She posted on Facebook that she will never throw roses to Hitler, let alone sing for him.

Jackie Evancho The 16 year-old former reality TV star

performed the national anthem at the inauguration ceremony. She was the biggest solo artist to perform at the event having performed twice for Barack Obama during his administration. Trump tweeted on Twitter prior to the event that her decision to perform at his inauguration led to a surprising increase of her album sales.

Piano Guys With a leap of faith that their fans will understand their decision to perform for the president, the group famous for covering popular songs using classical instruments thrilled the crowd gathered on the eve of the inauguration party.

3 Doors Down Performing at Trump’s inauguration eve was a good way for the country group to dust their rustic side. They thrilled the thousands of Trump supporters at the Lincoln Memorial ground.

Donald Trump and Wife Melania

Lee Greenwood The ‘God Bless the USA’ crooner marked his 4th inauguration performance with Trump’s inauguration.

Toby Keith The award-winning country singer had openly declared that he is unapologetic for performing for Trump earlier. So it was with high spirit that he performed at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial place on the eve of the inauguration. He was introduced as one of the most popular artists in history.

The Frontmen of Country A group of various country singers joined the band that performed at the iconic event.

The Star Spangled Singers: The patriotic group brought their A-game to the event.

The Reagan Years The eighties cover band who specialise in replicating hits were among the list of performers at the event.

3 Doors Down

The Mixx It was all party for the party band who specialise in performing covers of acts like Bruno Mars.

Beau Davidson Flying his colours of patriotism, the Emmy nominated country singer who is famous for his single ‘Blessed’ didn’t fail to wow his audience at the event.

DJ Romin The self-described ‘Master DJ’ cheered the crowd to celebrate the man of the moment.

DJ Freedom It’s a celebration and he knew how to make the people celebrate.

Sam Moore: The 81 year-old member of the Sam and Dave duo came to support the new president.

Toby Keith

ARTS & REVIEW A

SO LONG BEN OSAGHAE PAGE 64

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22.01.2017

VENICE BIENNALE

LOOMS…

Macel

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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ARTS & REVIEW\\VISUAL ARTS

VENICE BIENNALE LOOM As the art scenes warm up with activities, aficionados drool for the Venice Art Biennale’s 57th edition, which opens in May. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke reports

One of the works at the previous edition of the Venice Biennale

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arly-bird art shows preface the Arthouse Contemporary Limited’s affordable auction on February 11 in Lagos.

Thus, the year gradually stirs to life. Actually, the activities in the local art scene revolve around its enchanting predictability. And curiously, the calendar seems to have been tweaked in favour of holding the choicer events from sometime in May. That is when aficionados drool for the much sighed-over Venice Biennale.

Close up on the international art event, which the stomps into its 57th edition this year. With the rallying cry “Viva Arte Viva!” – a title chosen by this year’s curator, the French-born Christine Macel – it seeks to engage a conflict-ridden world from May 13 to November 26. This is because Macel, who is also the chief curator at the Paris-based Centre Pompidou, sees a serious threat looming over humanism in the gloominess of the present time. Therefore, art – which she calls “the most precious part of the human being” – is by extension threatened.

“It is the ideal place for reflection, individual expression, freedom and fundamental questions,” she explains. “It is a ‘yes’ to life, although sometimes a ‘but’ lies behind. More than ever, the role, the voice and the responsibility of the artist are crucial in the framework of contemporary debates.”

The exhibition’s theme, she further

explained, “also an exclamation, an expression of the passion for art and for the state of the artist. Viva Arte Viva is a Biennale designed with the artists, by the artists and for the artists.

It deals with the forms they propose, the questions they pose, the practices they develop and the forms of life they choose.”

Apparently, one golden thread weaves itself through the exhibition’s pavilions. The curator, who curated the Venice Biennale’s French pavilion in 2013 and the Belgian pavilion in 2007, sees it as an organic evolution, which follows a sequence of pavilions and rooms.

Thus, the viewers are offered an integral experience, which she also calls “a journey, from the interiority to the infinity.”

It is the biennale’s long-entrenched tradition that the different participating nationalities, ensconced in their own pavilions, offer their own exhibitions. These pavilions, or transpavilions, where artists of all generations and origins converge, would dovetail into each other like the chapters of a book.

“From the ‘Pavilion of artists and books’ to the ‘Pavilion of time and infinity’, a dozen universes tell a conversational and sometimes paradoxical story, concerning the complexity of the world and the variety of positions and practices,” the curator adds.

Seeking pathways out of the muddle of the present world, the exhibition ultimately points towards neo-humanism, a holistic philosophical theory expounded by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar in his 1982 book, The Liberation

of the Intellect.

The curator’s vision gets the thumb-up from Biennale’s president, Paolo Baratta. “By finding inspiration in a “humanist” vision and keeping the focus on the artist’s creative act the Exhibition will also promote a new and more intense conversation between visitors and many of the artists on display, through a programme of meetings specifically designed for the occasion.”

Baratta had earlier endorsed Macel on the day of her appointment, hailing her as “a curator committed to emphasising the important role artists play in inventing their own universes and kindly injecting vitality into the world we live in.”

Throughout the six months of the exhibition, the artists and the public are offered weekly opportunities to interact during lunchtime in what is called an Open Table (Tavola Aperta).

Thus, the public gets to know more about the artist’s practice.

During the build-up weeks preceding the exhibition’s opening, “a video will be posted on the Biennale official website, giving the opportunity to uncover the artists even before the Exhibition”.

This 57th edition will also embrace Collateral Events – presentations by international entities and institutions – which will run concurrently with the art event.

Originally, the Venice Biennale (a.k.a. La Biennale di Venezia) used to be the name of the Venice-based organisers of the art meet and

its flagship event, the international exhibition.

This changed as recently as in 2009 when the organisation changed its name to the Biennale Foundation, while the exhibition assumed the designation Art Biennale to distinguish it from the organisation and its other exhibitions.

The Art Biennale was set up on April 19, 1893 by the Venetian City Council as a biennial exhibition of Italian art (Esposizione Biennale Artistica Nazionale) to celebrate the silver anniversary of King Umberto I and Margherita of Savoy.

It was only in the following year that the council decreed its intention “to adopt a ‘by invitation’ system; to reserve a section of the Exhibition for foreign artists too; to admit works by uninvited Italian artists, as selected by a jury.”

Thus, the biennale’s first ever edition – “I Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte della Città di Venezia (1st International Art Exhibition of the City of Venice)” – held on April 30, 1895 and was declared open by the Italian monarchs, Umberto I and his spouse Margherita di Savoia. This event, seen by 224, 000 visitors, was originally planned to hold on April 22, 1894.

With its increasing international status, the art event evolved to include several national pavilions with more and more countries joining the party. Tossed about in the turbulence of political upheavals, the biennale cringed its way towards uncertainty. In its early stages, it had to endure the cancellation of its 1916 and

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1918 editions because of the World War I. Then, by 1920 the post of mayor of Venice and president of the Biennale was split.

Impressionist and post-impressionist art forms first asserted their presence thanks to the biennale’s new secretary general, Vittorio Pica. The art biennale would for the first time be curated by two women, Maria de Corral and Rosa Martinez, during its 51st edition, opened in June 2005. The Nigerian-born curator Okwui Enwezor became its first African-born curator. Enwezor was similarly also the first black artistic director of Documenta 11 held in the German town of Kassel in 2002.

Back to the 57th edition, the curator assures the cognoscenti that: “Art and artists are themselves at the core of the Exhibition that debuts with a question about their practices, the way they create art, between idleness and action, between otium and negotium.”

The six-month-long exhibition, she promises, would include a project, titled Unpacking My Library. According to her, it is “inspired by Walter Benjamin’s essay published in 1931, where the artists of Viva Arte Viva can make a list of their favourite books.

It is an occasion to get acquainted with them and a source of inspiration for the public (Walter Benjamin, Unpacking My Library: a Talk about Book Collecting, followed by the list of texts read and collected by the author).

It will be visible both in the Exhibition and in the catalogue.”

ARTS & REVIEW\\VISUAL ARTS The Inverted Pyramid; Adapted from a novel by Emeka Dike

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ARTS & REVIEW\\TRIBUTE

SO LONG BEN OSAGHAE Castellote with Osaghae

Jess Castellote

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t is less than four months since we mourned the death of Sammy Olagbaju, less than two since Rasheed Gbadamosi passed away and now, we are confronted with the death of Ben Osaghae. Rasheed, I knew him well, but Sammy and Ben were personal friends. In 2012, with the help of Sammy, I published a book: “Nigerian Contemporary Art in Lagos Private Collections”. Just a couple of years ago, Akinyemi Adetunji and I wrote “Ben Osaghae. Visual Chronicles of a Society in Flux”, a book monograph on Ben. Working on these books, I spent countless hours with both of them. I enjoyed their company, I learnt from them and they offered me access to their artworks. It was a privilege to have Sammy telling me stories about when, how and where he acquired some artworks. It was also a great fortune to let Ben talk at length, as he usually did when he was at ease, about the why and how on his works. He was a witty person and his conversations were always sprinkled with proverbs, words in pidgin and ordinary expressions. Though, frequently, he tended to be ponderous and philosophical, he could also be poetic and light. Chatting with him was never dull.

Osaghae was probably the most gifted draughtsman Nigeria has had in recent times, but, above all, he was a storyteller. He was the artist-seer and the artist-prophet of his society. Usually, there was a “narrative” in his works, but one that is not at all linear, unequivocal or direct. In his works, there is always an ambiguity of meaning that challenges the viewer to interpret metaphors and discover subtle references. He was not one to belabour his paintings with precise or accurate details in an attempt to get his message across; he merely suggested.

Some could read his works as lazy, or even incomplete, but it is this quality that lends itself to multiple interpretations.

Ben Osaghae was, without doubt, one of the most prominent figures of a generation of Nigerian artists born in the years around the country’s independence in 1960. For

three intense decades, Osaghae chronicled the adventures and misadventures of his land and people; he, like few of his colleagues and contemporaries, remained attentive to social and cultural developments in his environment. For the abstract expressionists of the middle part of last century, there was the art work and the viewer.

Mark Rothko refers to “the consummated experience between picture and onlooker.

Nothing should stand between my painting and the viewer.” For Osaghae there was another element: social reality; and the painting was a medium between the onlooker and that reality. Through his works, he communicated; he commented on what was happening around him. He straddled the thin divide between the artist as a creator of self-referential objects and the artist as a communicator.

He was always on the lookout for societal or personal miseries and joys, with a full awareness of the limitations and weakness of human nature. Osaghae captured them sometimes with the cool detachment of a historian and other times with the fire of a social reformer. I remember well how, when showing me in his studio a painting on NEPA, he exclaimed in his usual forceful manner: “how can somebody continue painting landscapes when we do not have electricity for days?” Osaghae’s works are inextricably linked to the society in which they were produced. They are “political”, not because they propose specific, partisan, solutions to the organisation and government of society but because they always refer to the “polis”.

Sammy and Ben were a special collector and a special artist. Sammy, genuinely, cared about art and artists. He did not put together a wonderful collection as an investment or as vehicle to proclaim his status and feed his ego. Ben cared about art and he cared about his fellow citizens. Few Nigerian contemporary artists have been as independent from the dictates of the art market as he was.

Trying to please the market was not a motivation for him. At times, he was a chronicler, telling us a story; at other times, he was a voyeur. His paintings were, most frequently, an instrument of social critique. He painted

with a “photographic perspective.” He did not describe in detail; he merely suggested.

There is great empathy in the way he looked at the people represented in his works. He documented their struggles, and offered a social commentary. In his animal series, for example, he satirises corrupt politicians that use their positions for personal enrichment.

His figures are always close to the viewer, like snapshots at close range. He gives great attention to expressions, feelings and dramatic gestures, drawing inspiration from the events of daily life. Frequently, his figures are in movement, and he repeatedly looks at children at play.

As he matured artistically -especially in his best period, 2000-2010-, his human figures became more and more emotionally charged. In trying to make meaning of the cluster of forms, lines and splashes of colours on the canvas, I was tempted to tilt the painting, flip it on its sides, rotate it or, at the least, cock the head and angle of vision.

A recurrent preoccupation with the human condition pervades his works. For years, there were always groups in his paintings.

Only later, does the solitary human figure appear.

In Ben Osaghae’s works, the “psychological distance” between the viewer and the scene is collapsed. The viewer finds himself immersed inside the scene. Osaghae told me many times how he painted from memory.

He was able to do this because he was an excellent draughtsman with an uncanny gift for portraying the human figure even in the most contorted positions or from the most unusual angles. After his first, formative years, Ben never painted a landscape, a self-portrait. He did not paint out-doors.

He preferred to work in his studio, to sketch some ideas from memory and develop them on the canvas. His works sometimes are humorous, playful and light-hearted, but they are never trivial. Osaghae’s passionate and intense personality does not leave much room for shallow artworks reduced to mere decoration. With every painting he wanted to say something. He wanted to compel the viewer to confront a situation and take a position. There was no room for neutrality.

That is why a formal analysis of his paint-

ings is never enough to understand and fully appreciate them.

In his works there is no horror vacui the fear of emptiness that seems to grip many contemporary Nigerian artists of more “decorative” inclinations. He is not afraid to leave large areas of the canvas covered with a single background colour. For this reason his human figures frequently seem to be “floating” in an indeterminate context, detached from their surroundings. Colour plays a central part in all his works, but drawing is the anchor that keeps them in place. His lines become outline, sign, sketch, contour, text, graffiti or boundary. In his best works, the line remains clear underneath the ragged edges of the colour masses. Because of the flat backgrounds the characters of his paintings are brought to the foreground. He painted with sweeping brushstrokes and great gestural intensity. Undoubtedly, this way of painting helped him transmit the emotional intensity of the subjects.

Art historians will need some time to write about Osaghae’s legacy, his place in contemporary Nigerian art, his influence on other artists and his contribution to the Nigeria art discourse. But, undoubtedly, in his three decades of artistic production, he left a mark. No other Nigerian artist was able to portray so vividly the liveliness, complexity and vibrancy of Lagos life. Sometimes this was done just through a small “vignette” with one of two characters; other times it is a whole tableau of the city’s inhabitants. But it was always done with the confidence and self-assurance of a visual chronicler that happened to be an extraordinary draughtsman.

I visited him with a couple of friends just a few days before Christmas. Though, clearly, he was not perfectly well, he remained the cantankerous and argumentative person I have known since 2004, when I organized in LBS an exhibition titled “Without Borders” with four artists not so well-known as they are today: Ben Osaghae, Kainebi Osahenye, Rom Isichei and Wole Lagunju.

Nigeria has lost a good man and an excellent artist. We will miss him. I have lost a friend. I will miss him.

-Castellote, a Spanish-born architect, writes from Lagos.

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• JANUARY 22, 2017

CICERO

Editor Vincent Obia Email vincent.obia@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08054681757

IN THE ARENA

The New Niger Delta Peace Initiative The federal government’s renewed effort to amicably settle issues that have caused violent agitation and hostility towards the oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta should focus on resetting old peace strategies towards all-inclusiveness, writes Vincent Obia

V

ice President Yemi Osinbajo used his visit to Delta State last week to emphasise to the Niger Delta people that the federal government acknowledged the paltry developmental benefits that had accrued to the region from its oil resources. Osinbajo said the government was out to redress the situation, but it needed a stable environment to work. However, not many people appeared to take that reassurance seriously. The federal government has on countless occasions missed out on the chance of a permanent resolution of the Niger Delta question.

So when Osinbajo told stakeholders in Effurun on Monday, “No Nigerian can be proud, with the state of development in the Niger Delta; we are all beneficiaries of resources from the region. However, we cannot have instability and be able to carry out speedy development of the region,” many felt the federal government was up to its old tricks with glib talk, just to facilitate the smooth flow of the oil wealth.

It is difficult to escape from such scepticism.

If the federal government wants to be trusted again in the Niger Delta, it should learn to adopt an all-inclusive peace strategy that caters to all interests – armed agitators, peaceful agitators, and even the laidback. This should be the focus of the renewed effort to address the grievances in the oil-rich region.

The new peace move began last week with Osinbajo’s official visit to the Niger Delta. Delta State was his first port of call. Osinbajo’s Niger Delta mission comes against the backdrop of renewed restiveness in the region. The vice president’s office said the visit was, “In further demonstration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s readiness and determination to comprehensively address the Niger Delta situation.”

Such comprehensive strategy was extensively captured in the amnesty programme that was proclaimed by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on June 25, 2009. The programme contained broad “Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration” components meant to create a disincentive for armed struggle. The DDR strategy, tailored largely to the needs of persons who had borne arms and were ready to drop their arms and accept pardon, was initiated to stabilise the security situation in the region. This was to enable the federal government and support agencies address the issues at the core of the Niger Delta agitation. They include demands for infrastructure, employment creation, soil remediation, and deliberate efforts to halt environmental degradation in the region. There is also the issue of guaranteeing the people a fair ownership and control of the oil resources that Mother Nature has blessed their land with.

The DDR strategy succeeded in bringing a good deal of stability to the Niger Delta. Having achieved that soupcon of success in handling one of the major effects of underdevelopment in the region, the federal and state governments became complacent. They failed to seize the moment to tackle the issues of underdevelopment and justice, which are behind all the restiveness and instability in the Niger Delta.

ezeibe.aguwa@thisdaylive.com 08093842953

The amnesty programme was scheduled to end in 2015, but Buhari on assumption of office announced its continuation.

While the federal government has achieved remarkable success with the “Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration” component of the amnesty programme, it has failed to address the core issues of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta. Both formed the comprehensive amnesty programme that was packaged to achieve lasting peace in the oil-rich region.

The skewed attention to those who had carried arms has proved to be a ghastly error that would never allow a congenial environment for profitable oil production.

It has tended to incentivise – rather than disincentivise – arms as a tool of struggle. And it has created room for perpetual overindulgence instead of an environment that enables people to use their hard-work and creativity to their full potential. So rather than building the badly needed lasting peace and stability in the Niger Delta, the lopsided implementation of the amnesty programme actually turned peace on its head. The result is a Niger Delta that is always teetering on the verge of restiveness.

The vice president’s current mission to the region should aim at taking concrete steps to reassure the

people that the federal government is determined to address the development needs of the region. The delegation must do away with the anachronistic ambition of a Nigerian state made capable of effectively exploiting and taking oil on its own terms from the delta.

The recent efforts of the Buhari government to tackle the problems of the Niger Delta, such as execution of the Lagos-Calabar railway project and implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme report on the clean-up of Ogoniland, are commendable. But the government needs to do a lot more.

Besides, the Buhari government should ensure that there is a fair deal for the people, especially, the oil producing communities, in the Petroleum Industry Bill. Legislators in the two chambers of the National Assembly have been dragging their feet on passage of this bill. But all stakeholders must appreciate the critical place of the PIB in the effort to achieve permanent peace in the Niger Delta.

The onus is on Osinbajo and his team to show a sincere determination on the part of the federal government to tackle the long-existing problems in the Niger Delta. As the vice president rightly put it, “The issues at stake are very clear, this is not time for negotiation, it is time to act.”

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

The Fatal Mistake in NAF’s Bombing Raid

T Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar

he mistaken air strike on an internally displaced persons camp in Borno State on Tuesday, which killed over 100 people, raises critical questions for the military and the government.

The raid had been ordered as part of the military operation against Boko Haram terrorists in the North-east.

And the original target was said to be a suspected gathering of Boko Haram terrorists. But the bomb hit the IDPs camps in Rann, headquarters of Kala Balge Local Government Area, killing and wounding civilians, soldiers, staff of the International

Committee of Red Cross and Medicine San Frontiers (Doctors without Borders), and other humanitarian organisations.

The question is, did the authorities not know about the existence and location of the Rann IDPs camp? Did the pilot receive proper coordinates for his target? Did those who provided the coordinates satisfactorily check and crosscheck them to try to prevent error, considering the existence of a IDPs camp with thousands of people?

And do the authorities have a record of all the IDPs camps in the North-east?

These are questions begging for answers.

– Vincent Obia

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• JANUARY 22, 2017

CICERO/REPORT

L-R: APC National Vice Chairman (South-West), Chief Pius Akinyelure; former governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba; former governor of Ekiti State, Chief Niyi Adebayo; Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi; and APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, during the peace meeting in Ibadan

South-west APC,Tinubu and the Road to 2019

Ademola Babalola, in Ibadan, looks at the recent peace effort brokered by Bisi Akande and Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi to try to reunite the Bola Tinubu’s camp ahead of 2019

T

he realities of the 2019 general election are becoming clearer and difficult to ignore.

And that all is not well with the ruling All Progressives Congress, which took over power from the Peoples Democratic Party less than two years ago, is also obvious.

Hardly had President Muhammadu Buhari settled down to work than the gladiators began to fall apart. As a matter of fact, what today became the nemesis of the party leaders and elders in the South-west has its root in the inaugural speech of Mr. President on May 29, 2015, aptly captured thus: “I belong to nobody, I belong to everybody.”

Tinubu

Expectedly, former Lagos state Governor, Bola Tinubu, considered the arrowhead of the formation of the merger party, APC, which brought Buhari to office as the sixth elected President of the most populous black nation, soon became the greatest loser in the aftermath of the party’s victory.

Not only was he done with in terms of gaining full control of the party apparatus after the 2015 election, he was also dealt a bigger blow in the nomination of members into the Buhari’s administration.

From Lagos State where, he wields enormous power, to Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states, his favourites for ministerial positions were not counted worthy as aides of Mr. President. Those picked in their stead emerged as key national officers in the Buhari administration and soon became “their own men” and ultimately whittled the powers hitherto wielded by Tinubu. Curiously, virtually all of them are people who gained political prominence and rode to power as former state sovernors or serving helmsmen through the political structure of Tinubu. How time flies?

With the appointment of Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, Kayode Fayemi and a few others, who rode to the Abuja seat of power against the wish of Tinubu, the stage was set for the epic battle, mistrust, and lack of understanding being witnessed today in the South-west chapter of APC. Tinubu’s hitherto godsons seemed to have found a new platform to resist their leader as many of accused him of being highhanded and bossy.

Peace Meeting

Sensing the danger that the prolonged mistrust may cause the Yoruba race and individual aspirations of the gladiators now and in 2019 general elections, former governor of Osun State and first interim national chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, initiated the peace meeting of Thursday, January 12, in Ibadan. The meeting was well attended by governors and leaders of the ruling

party in the zone to strategize on ways to strengthen the unity and cohesion of the leaders and party members.

The closed-door meeting, which lasted about five hours at the Governor’s Office, attracted virtually all elected and appointed leaders of the party from the zone, except the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yusuf Lasun, who was said to have travelled out of the country.

THISDAY findings revealed that the meeting was nearly called off at the last minute because of the anti-Tinubu forces who felt their leader had overstepped his bounds and, therefore, deserved no attention or any parley. To many of them, it was better for everybody to remain on their own, and they vowed that 2019 provided an opportunity to test Tinubu’s influence in the politics of Yorubaland and his national pre-eminence, which they argued were exaggerated.

Sources said this standpoint made the host governor, Abiola Ajimobi, to engage in subtle appeal to the aggrieved persons and succeeded in persuading them to honour the meeting so as to put Yoruba house in order and, by extension, ensure the success of President Buhari’s administration.

Ajimobi commands enormous goodwill and respect of his brother governors (past and present) in the zone because of his style of politics and broad mindedness on issues bordering on unity among the Yoruba. He is also passionate about the unity of APC, not only in the South-west, but also in the whole country. Ajimobi wants to prevent that could cause the party to disintegrate as 2019 election gets closer. More importantly, he believes unity is vital for Buhari to continue to enjoy the support of leaders, elders and people of the zone who voted massively for him to emerge president in the 2015 election.

Briefing

Former governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba, who briefed the press after the meeting, said the leaders met to chart a new path for the party’s growth and continued control of power in the South-west and at the national level. He told journalists that the leaders had closed ranks and had taken positions on burning national issues and governance, details of which he did not disclose.

Osoba said, “We met principally to discuss issues affecting South-west in all ramifications and we have come out with a resolution to say that there is unity of purpose in the South-west APC. The leadership is one; we are all together on all issues.

“We examined all the issues concerning the governance of this country and what should be the role and influence that we should exercise as a group, in the interest and the progress of our country. We have examined the activities and achievements of the central government

that we were all involved in putting in place and we have resolved on all the issues.

“Some of the issues deliberated upon would be taken to Abuja for urgent action of Mr. President (Muhammadu Buhari), while we have related with our members in the national and state assemblies, as well as at the state and local levels of our party hierarchy.

“All these issues were discussed exhaustively and we have related with all our governors with the resolution, which is that from now onward there will be total harmony and consultation among our governors for the development of South-west of Nigeria.”

Osoba restated what he called the leadership position of the APC South-west in the country, adding that the party’s leaders were determined to reassert their interest in the progressive politics of the country.

Attendance

At the meeting were governors elected on the platform of the party in the South-west. They included the host, Senator Abiola Ajimobi; Governor Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun State); Governor Akinwumi Ambode (Lagos State); and Governor Rauf Aregbesola (Osun State).

Others were the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Deputy National Chairman (South), Chief Segun Oni; National Vice Chairman (South-west), Chief Pius Akinyelure; and former interim national chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande.

The list included the Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; Senator Olusola Adeyeye; Minister of Communication, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu; Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; Health Minister, Professor Isaac Adewole; and Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Apart from Osoba, a former governor of Ekiti State, Chief Niyi Adebayo; and a former governor of Osun State, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, were also present at the gathering; while two resource academics, Professors Ropo Sekoni and John Ayoade, contributed to the discussions.

Intrigue

However, behind the façade of pleasant speech and notion that all is now well with the gladiators in the way that they professed “no more war in the house of Oduduwa”, sources say there is another plot by the opponents of Tinubu not to allow any agreements, as they ask, “in whose interest is the truce being championed by the concerned elders?”

Unless and until both sides are ready to make sacrifices in the overall interest of the South-west, it would be difficult to achieve the badly needed peace and unity ahead of the 2019 election.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

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• JANUARY 22, 2017

CICERO/ONTHEWATCH

Ohanaeze Election: Nwodo and Igbo Unity

Ndigbo from across the globe converged on Enugu penultimate Tuesday to elect a 17-member leadership for the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, with former minister John Nnia Nwodo and Uche Okwukwu emerging president-general and secretary-general, respectively. Christopher Isiguzo, in Enugu, writes on what the new leadership means for the Igbo

O

n January 8, Ndigbo from across the globe inched closer to attaining the much desired unity and oneness as they converged on Enugu to choose those to pilot the affairs of their apex socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, for the next four years. The assembly elected Second Republic Minister of Civil Aviation, who later became Minister of Information in 1998, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, as president-general.

Leadership Crisis

Prior to the all-important election, the organisation had been enmeshed in leadership squabbles over the years, culminating in the inability of the people of the South-east to effectively join forces to achieve set goals. In clear terms, while the then Chief Gary Igariwey’s led executive battled to retain its legitimacy, another group of Igbo personalities led by Chief Ralph Obioha insisted that executive had outlived its usefulness and should be changed.

The development lingered until the intervention of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State late last year, which made the two groups to sheathe their swords, albeit momentarily. The inability of the people of the South-east to operate as a collective has been evident.

Apart from Ohanaeze Ndigbo whose leaders were entangled in a crisis, the South-east Governors’ Forum which was once formidable especially during the chairmanships of Mr. Peter Obi, then governor of Anambra State and later Senator Theodore Orji of Abia State, has equally become moribund since the last two years.

The development may not be unconnected with the fact that the states’ helmsmen have allowed their party differences to becloud their sense of devotion to the region’s political and economic unity. At the moment, there is no common forum through which the governors in the zone could be reached, making the zone the only one out of the six zones in the country where their governors are unable to present a common front. While three out of the five governors – Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Dave Umahi (Ebonyi - belong to the Peoples Democratic Party, their counterparts from Anambra, (Willie Obiano) and Imo (Rochas Okorocha) belong to the All Progressives Grand Alliance and the All Progressives Congress, respectively.

states, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo and Kelechi Igwe, respectively, were at the national secretariat of Ohaneze, venue of the election, at about 5:30pm when the results were being collated.

Return of Unity

Comments

The above made the election of last Tuesday very unique, as it signposted the beginning of unity in the zone. The major power blocs in the zone came together. They included the governors, members of the national and state assemblies, the Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT) led by renowned constitutional lawyer, Prof Ben Nwabueze, whose deputy leader, Prof Chiweyite Ejike, took part in the election, pro-Biafra groups, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), affiliate bodies, including Aka-Ikenga, Izu Umunna, Igbos in Diaspora, Ndigbo Lagos, Ndigbo South West, Ndigbo Abuja, Igbo Delegates Assembly, traditional rulers, World Igbo Congress, among others. They endorsed for the Enugu election, making it the first time such a huge number of Igbo groups would be supporting an Ohanaeze general election.

Election

The 64-year old Nwodo from Ukehe in Igboetiti Local Government Area of Enugu State defeated former Vice chancellor of Anambra State University of Science and Technology, Prof Chinweyite Ejike, to emerge the new president-general. Nwodo polled 242 votes as against Ejike’s 13 votes.

While two others contestants for the position, Prof Simon Ortuanya and Chief Joel Ezeugwu, had earlier stepped down from the race and endorsed Nwodo in their stead, Admiral Allison Madueke, who initially bought the form for the exercise, neither appeared for screening nor showed up at the election, fuelling insinuations that he might have withdrawn from the race.

A former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Hillary Opara, and Uche Okwukwu emerged deputy president-general and secretarygeneral, respectively, while a former deputy governor of Ebonyi State, Prof Chigozie Ogbu, was elected vice president-general.

Other officials were also elected at the gathering, which attracted the presence of top Igbo leaders, including a former Senate President Ken Nnamani, former governor of old Enugu State, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, and Senator Chuka Utazi.

They were Mr. Emeka Ogwu who was elected national treasurer, Dr Solomon Ogunji, who emerged deputy secretary-general, and Charles Odunukwe, who was elected vice president, Anambra.

Others were Dr Sylvester Ebigwei, vice president, Delta; Elder Onuoha Udeka, vice president, Abia; Prince Igo Okpalanma, vice president, Rivers; Chief Eric Ebeh, assistant national treasurer; Mr Alphonsus Duru, financial secretary; and Elder Chris Eluomunoh, assistant financial secretary.

Mr Uche Ani was elected publicity secretary; Chuks Ibegbu, assistant publicity secretary; Chief Chuks Momah (SAN), national legal adviser, and a former PDP chairman in Ebonyi State, Chief Okeagu Ogada, national assistant legal adviser.

Though none of the governors or ministers from the South-east was present at the event, the deputy governors of Enugu and Ebonyi

Nwodo

Igariwey told the gathering that his executive recorded some modest achievements, especially the on-going construction of an ultra-modern secretariat for the organization by Okorocha. He used the opportunity to call for political and economic restructuring of the country to facilitate economic recovery and development, noting that in the early days of the country, all the regions as well as the country had rapid development due to the national political and economic structure.

The former Ohanaeze leader stated, “Then, there was a great patriotism which moved production and development from the region to the centre, ensuring that each region specialised in what it can produce on comparative advantage. Most of the development in the North and that regions establishment was made possible through massive cultivation and export of groundnut. The South-west profited greatly from cocoa sales leading to economic and educational expansion of that zone. In the South-east and South-south, palm produce provided the tonic to keep Ndigbo’s economy and entrepreneurial-drive striving.”

He said the organisation under him and through various representatives, even took the need for restructuring to the 2014 National Conference in Abuja. “The President-General, Secretary-General and some members of Ohaneze played prominent roles in the 2014 National Conference in Abuja, where we demanded for restructuring of Nigeria to reflect true federalism. “We also demanded for fiscal federalism; devolution of powers, responsibilities and resources from the Federal Government to the federating unit and citizenship rights, among others.”

On his part, the chairman of the election committee, Prof Anya O. Anya, said the election coming exactly 50 years after the Nigeria/ Biafra war in 1967 showed that the Igbo were in the threshold of a new era and called for sober reflection. Anya recalled that the defunct Eastern Region built the fastest growing economy in 1964, expressing dismay that the zone has continued to totter afterwards. He urged the new leadership to restore the lost glory of the Igbo.

The new president-general pledged his readiness to serve Ndigbo with commitment and dedication. Nwodo pledged to dialogue with IPOB to make the self-determination group speak in one voice with Ohanaeze Ndigbo. He promised to enthrone integrity and make efforts to repatriate Igbo business capital scattered in diaspora back to Igbo land.

Denial

Speaking after the election, former Minister of Health and secretary of the election committee, Prof A.B.C. Nwosu, dismiss insinuations that the five governors of the South-east states as well as governors of Rivers and Delta states had effectively hijacked the organisation by imposing their cronies as new leaders of the Igbo group.

Nwosu said rather than accuse the governors of hijacking the organisations, Ndigbo across the globe should be excited that after several years, the governors finally accepted to show healthy interest in the affairs of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

Nwosu, who also served as the returning officer at the election,

said the calibre of people elected into the organisation’s executive council was a clear indication that the future of the Igbo in the Nigerian project had become much brighter, adding that the new leaders would also midwife the much needed unity among Igbos in the country.

According to Nwosu, “Ohaneze Ndi Igbo has not been hijacked by the governors. What happened yesterday during the election was what we have been looking for and have not had for a long time that the governors only showed healthy interest in Ohaneze so that it will not be in conflict with the people without compromising the independence of Ohaneze.

“The way the president-general has emerged, no rationale being will say that Nwodo was the candidate of the governor. The same process of zoning and consensus of Enugu people that produced the governor, with the best of my knowledge, also produced the president-general of Ohaneze. The National Election Committee applied Ohaneze’s constitution and five people bought the form at half a million naira. One of them dropped because he did not show up for the screening and elections even though he bought the form.

“It would be wrong for people who lost in the election to claim that it was hijacked and I will challenge them anywhere. What does it portend for the Igbo nation? Ohaneze should be seen as the Board of Trustees in the conscience of the of the Igbo nation while the governors are the implementers of the wishes and directions that the Igbo nation wishes to go. Ohaneze cannot implement anything.

So they lose nothing by having a buy-in with the governors. What is expected now is for Ohaneze to have a clear vision. The governors of the Igbo nation, irrespective of their political affiliations, know where politics ends and the interest of Ndi Igbo begins. I am alarmed that the 17 elected members sworn in yesterday comprised of governor’s candidates. The certificate of return for example included DIG Hilary Opara, and if anybody wanted him not to emerge, he would not have emerged. And if he finally emerged no matter what, it shows that he had a free hand during the process.”

The former minister expressed optimism that for the first time in a long while, Ndigbo had got it right by organising a rancour-free election for Ohanaeze, adding, “Our new leader is eminently qualified in character and in learning as well as in pedigree to lead Ndigbo.

He has promised to run a consultative administration and we wish him well and hope that all those he will consult from time to time will give him the best of advice.”

He also dismissed as false some impressions that some people were “technically excluded” from taking part in the election, explaining that all those who complied with the provisions of Ohanaeze constitution enjoyed freedom to contest for positions.

Legal Action

However, while congratulatory messages have continued to pour in for the new leaders of Ohanaeze, a group, Ohanaeze Caretaker Committee, has reportedly headed for the court to seek the nullification of the Ohanaeze election on the allegation that the Igariwey-led executive lacked the legitimacy to conduct the election. In a suit they filed at the Enugu High Court on December 21 against the Igariwey executive, the group led by Chief Ralph Obioha had asked the court to stop them from conducting any election into the body.

The court on December 22 granted the applicants leave of service by substituted means.

They had further contended that members of the Igariwey executive were card carrying members of political parties, contrary to the constitution of Ohanaeze, stressing that they should not be allowed to conduct the election.

Congratulations

Several leaders and groups have congratulated Nwodo on his election. President Muhammadu Buhari, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, and Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Okorocha, Umahi and Obiano as well as MASSOB, IPOB and the South East Democratic Coalition (SEDC) have declared their readiness to work with the new leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

In a statement by the presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, Buhari urged Ndigbo to support Nwodo to fulfil the mandate of the organisation “in these challenging times”.

The statement read: “President Buhari believes that Chief Nwodo is eminently qualified for the job given his long years of distinguished service to the nation, which includes, Minister of Civil Aviation in the Second Republic under President Shehu Shagari and Minister of Information and Culture during the administration of General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

“As Chief Nwodo prepares to settle down with his team to implement his vision for Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the President appeals to Ndi Igbo as well as the wider community of Nigerians to support the new leadership to fulfill their mandate in these challenging times.

“President Buhari looks forward to working with the new leadership, and assures Ohanaeze Ndigbo that his administration will continue to be a partner-in-progress in implementing suggestions, measures and programmes to advance the unity, development and prosperity of Nigeria. The President wishes the Chief Nwodo-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo, a peaceful and prosperous tenure.”

It is hoped that the new leadership would provide the much needed unity and direction for Ndigbo in the country’s politics.

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• JANUARY 22, 2017

CICERO/REPORT

Adamawa: Bindow Moves to Improve Food Security in North-east As part of the rebuilding effort following the uprooting of the Boko Haram terrorist foothold in the North-east, the Adamawa State governor is embarking on measures to improve agricultural productivity in his state. Daji Sani, in Yola, reports

N

ational and international humanitarian organisations have been releasing scary reports about poverty and starvation in the North-east in the aftermath of the devastations occasioned by Boko Haram insurgency.

But following the clearance of the terrorists’ strongholds in the zone, where Boko Haram has used as base since 2009, the governor of Adamawa State, one of the three worst affected states, Senator Mohammed Bindow, has embarked on measures to restore and improve agriculture. Bindow is unhappy that Boko Haram attacks and insecurity has caused farmers in Adamawa State to miss three planting seasons. He says this is the major reason for the increasing incidence of starvation in the state and the North east, generally.

Solution

The governor has decided to key into the federal government’s agricultural transformation programme to boost agriculture, as a solution to the hunger ravaging the area. He says the programme involves short and long term measures aimed at ensuring that food is surplus in the state this year and the coming years.

Speaking recently in Yola, the state capital, during the distribution of 105 new tractors to the 21 local government areas of the state, Bindow said the tractors were purchased through Joint Account to boost mechanised agriculture in the state. He said the warning by the United Nations and other international and local organisations was alarming and drastic measures needed to put in place to stem hunger in the North-east.

Besides tractors, Bindow said his government has procured fertilisers, modernised seedlings, and pumping machines for dry season farming.

“I want to assure you that my administration is still making some arrangement to provide more farming inputs and dry season fertiliser to farmers, Bindow told farmers in the state.

Also speaking during the distribution of the tractors, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Ahmadu Waziri, said the state government would help the local government in ensuring proper utilisation of the tractors for maximum benefit.

Responding on behalf of the local governments, the chairman of Fufore Local Government Area, Alhaji Aliyu Boya, said the development would not only help to boost agriculture at the grassroots but would help to enhance revenue generation and e employment in the councils.

Although the military has degraded the insurgency in the region, stakeholders are still alarmed at the level of humanitarian challenges faced by people in the North-east. They have suggested a holistic approach in tackling the issues of food supply, shelter, access to education, employment and the rebuilding of roads and institutions destroyed by the insurgency in the area.

Peculiar Challenges

Apart from the challenge of Boko Haram insurgency, which has largely affected the northern senatorial zone of the state, the lingering crisis between Fulani Herdsmen and farmers in the central and southern senatorial zones have also affected farming activities. These issues pose a great challenge to the state government.

Of recent, the issues of security, how to improve food security, creation of jobs ,rebuilding of schools and provision of qualitative education have dominated the executive meetings of the Adamawa State government .The state government after a series of meetings has decided to shift the executive meetings to the three senatorial zones because of the peculiar challenges of each zone.

Following the meetings held in Numan, Mubi and Fofure in the three senatorial zones, Bindow said one of the approaches in dealing with the peculiar challenges of the state was to shift the executive council meetings to the three senatorial zones to enable the officials appreciate the issues faced by the people.

He said another reason was to facilitate adequate planning and bring government presence closer to people at the grassroots and also create employment for the youth. “If government activities are going on everywhere in the state, hunger and unemployment will be a thing of the pass,” the governor stated.

Menace of Killer Herdsmen

In an effort to build peace between herdsmen and farmers, the state government last year set up an Administrative Penal of Enquiry headed by Mr Joshua Atiku to investigate the matter and come up with recommendations on how to put the lingering crisis to rest in the state. After the panel submitted its report, the state government on January 7 this year started the implementations of the panel’s recommendation by compensating herdsmen and farmers in Kodomun village, in Demsa Local Government Area of the state. The state government gave them cash donations

Bindow

totalling N10 million as well as 775 bags of rice to cushion the effects of the attacks on the people of the area.

Presenting the relief materials to the people of Kodomun penultimate Saturday, Bindow, who was represented by the deputy governor, Mr. Martin Babale, said the assistance was part of the peace Initiative Building Mechanism put in place by the government to try to find a lasting solution to the lingering crisis. He reiterated government effort to implement the Joshua Atiku Administrative Panel of Enquiry report, saying the donation is part of the recommendations of the report.

Babale stated, “Government is going to implement the recommendations of the white paper on the enquiry and punish accordingly those involved in perpetrating the crisis. I urge you to be your brothers’ keepers by imbibing the spirit of forgiveness and forge ahead for the progress of the area and the state at large.”

He said government would soon constitute a peace reconciliation committee to be saddled with responsibility of reconciling aggrieved people in the area.

Chairman of the affected community, Pius Raymond, appealed to government to beef up security in the area, saying pockets of attacks are still recorded in the area. He urged government to rebuild the houses destroyed as a result of the attacks.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mallam Ahmad Sajoh, said government had compensated the owners of 47 cows belonging to Fulanis, which were allegedly killed by the communities in the area. Sajoh said N4.7 million was expended by government as compensation for the cows.

However, barely 24 hours after the compensation, Fulani herdsmen invaded three communities, namely, Kwayine, Gidan Dadi and Karlahi near Kodomun, all in Demsa local government, killing three mobile police while two were declared missing.

The Adamawa State police command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Othman Abubakar, who confirmed the development to journalists in Yola said the policemen were among those drafted to secure Kwayine, Gidan Dadi and Karlahi communities after clashes that followed the alleged killing of 47 cattle in the area. He added that four rifles belonging to the policemen were also missing.

Othman said, “Fulani militia attacked the three villages and we lost three of our gallant MOPOL while two are missing. We have constituted a high powered search team and by the special grace of God we are going to recover our men. On the side of the civilians, two bodies have so far been recovered.”

Bindow condemned the attack, which occurred less than 24 hours after a government delegation on peace building mission visited the area. The governor in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mallam Ahmad Sajoh, directed security agencies to deploy more personnel to the area.

He described the attack as unfortunate and sad especially coming after recent peace and confidence building efforts.

“The governor feels highly disturbed that after he had sent

delegations on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday to interface with the different communities in the area, a clash could occur so soon thereafter,” the commissioner stated.

He assured residents of government’s resolve to restore peace to the affected areas and protect the lives of every citizen.

Bindow saluted the gallantry of the police in confronting the attackers and urged them not to relent until normalcy was fully restored.

Broader Interface

Stakeholders say experience has shown that the idea of bringing together only the representatives of the farmers and herdsmen to try to find a solution to the clashes between the two groups has proved inadequate. They believe the government should organise town hall meetings involving everybody in the groups and do more to sensitise the people on the need for peaceful coexistence through radio campaigns using local languages.

Gloom

However, the UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, Toby Lanzer, painted a gloomy picture of the humanitarian situation in the North-east in a report last year. Lanzer stated, “Here is something we know. We know that in the next 12 months 75, 000 or maybe as many as 80,000 children will die in the North-east of Nigeria unless we can reach them with very specific food.”

Many observers have also warned that with millions of people lacking food in northern Nigeria and neighbouring countries, the situation could get worse and, perhaps, become one of the biggest food crises in the world.

The scary statistics had in September last year spurred the United Nations Children Emergency Fund, in partnership with the Adamawa State government, to kick off the expansion of its community-based management of acute malnutrition, and young child feeding in the 21 local government areas of the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Fatima Atiku Abubakar, who opened the programme, said more than 800,000 children in the state were malnourished, noting that 38 per cent of children are less than five years of age.

UNICEF field officer, Dr Abudullahi Kaikai, said UNICEF had supported the treatment of 31,415 children from June 2011 till date in the state. He said UNICEF was able to do this through the provision of Ready-to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), training, supportive supervision and monitoring. Kaikai said an additional 682,823 children also received Vitamin A supplements.

UNICEF nutrition specialist, Philomena Irene, disclosed that UNICEF had provided clinics across the state to treat children who lost their mothers during child birth and victims of insurgency.

The Bindow administration is trying hard to mitigate the effect of insecurity on the people, but it still faces enormous challenges.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

69

• JANUARY 22, 2017

CICERO/REPORT

El-Rufai (middle) and Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Agyole Abeh

Southern Kaduna Killings: Massive Scepticism, Despite Huge Security Deployment John Shiklam, in Kaduna, writes that the heavy security deployment in southern Kaduna has done little to reassure the natives that they are safe from the incessant attacks by Fulani herdsmen, which has killed over 200 people in the last few weeks

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t last, the federal government has deployed massive security personnel to southern Kaduna to try to bring an end to the mindless killings and destructions that have rocked the area for over five years. It took a protest in Kafanchan and subsequent declaration of a 24-hour curfew in the area by the Kaduna State government to attract the attention of the federal government to the massacre that went on unabated in the area.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai had visited Kafanchan last December 20 on a peace mission. That was when his convoy was attacked by angry youths. The youths, who had earlier staged a protest the previous day in Kafanchan, were demonstrating against the persistent killings in southern Kaduna. El-Rufai went on the visit with the deputy governor, Mr. Barnabas Bala Bantext, top government officials, and heads of security agencies in the state to commiserate with victims of the attack. But irate youths attacked his convoy with stones as he was leaving Kafanchan.

Killer Herdsmen

Southern Kaduna and, indeed, the entire Middle Belt states of Plateau, Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa, including Zamfara State and some parts of southern Nigeria have of late been at the receiving end of brutal killings by herdsmen.

Some of the killers are alleged to be foreigners.

In the latest incidents in southern Kaduna, most of those killed were women, children and the aged who could not run each time the killers surrounded their homes, opening fire on defenceless natives and burning their houses. Farms were either destroyed by the herders’ cows or set ablaze by the herdsmen.

The level of barbarism was said to be such that pregnant women were slaughtered, with their wombs ripped open and their unborn babies removed and cut to pieces.

Casualty

The leadership of the Catholic Arch Diocese of Kafanchan, in a recent statement, put the number of deaths at 808 people, killed in 53 villages in the five local government areas affected by the attacks, namely Kaura, Zangon Kataf,

Jama’a, Sanga and Kauru. The statement was jointly signed by the Vicar General of the Diocese, Rev. Fr. Ibrahim Yakubu; the Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okolo; Rev. Fr. Aaron Tanko; Rev. Fr. Williams Abba; and President, Laity Council, Mr. Joseph Bayei (KSJ).

But Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, disputed the figure released by the church, saying the killings would be investigated. Idris told journalists during a visit to Kafanchan that a panel would be set up from Abuja to investigate the crisis, “including allegations made by some groups claiming that 800 people died.”

Security Build-up

The IGP announced plans to establish a police squadron in Kafanchan to facilitate quick response to the attacks.

Troops have also been deployed to the area, with a promised by the Nigerian army to establish a permanent military formation in Kafanchan for quick response to any security issue. El-Rufai said two military formations would be located in southern Kaduna and two others in Birnin Gwari area in the northern part of the state.

“We are talking with the president, the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Army Staff to locate two military formations in southern Kaduna; one in Fadan Karshi in Sanga and the second one in Kauru Local Government Area,” the governor said.

Doubts

But the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union has expressed reservations about the sincerity of the proposed security establishments in the area. President of SOKAPU, Solomon Musa, a lawyer, told THISDAY that the southern Kaduna people had been agitating for the establishment of military formations in the area for a very long time, but the authorities never paid attention to their demand. Musa expressed scepticism about the security measures taken by government regarding the attacks, saying it is not done in good faith.

“If it is true that the security has been deployed in good faith, how come a 24-hour curfew was imposed and Goskwa community, which is just about five kilometres away from Kafanchan, was attacked on Christmas day?” he

queried. “We are suspicious of the real purpose of deploying these security personnel. Have they been deployed to stop our people from defending themselves from those attacking them and committing genocide? There are a lot of questions that we have.”

Musa advocated the involvement of the communities in the security strategies, by establishing a Civilian Joint Task Force, like the one assisting the security agencies in the fight against Boko Haram in the North-east. This, he said, is to avoid cases of fake agents going about killing people and prevent some elements within the security services from compromising and causing further havoc.

A former Commissioner of Justice in the state, Mr. Mark Nzama, said a military base was long overdue in southern Kaduna.

“The military base is a long term solution. That is what we have been advocating all along. But to address the emergency situation on the ground, a strike force that is similar to what was done in the case of Birnin Gwari should have been immediately commissioned to take charge of the bushes,” he said.

He also expressed serious reservations about the manner security agents were operating in the area.

“Can you imagine that just two days ago, the attackers came out from their hideout and were shooting sporadically in one of the villages and there was no response?” Nzama wondered. He also called for the setting up of a civilian JTF in southern Kaduna.

“I have some level of confidence in the fact that there is a deployment of men and resources to southern Kaduna, but I have a quarrel; the soldiers and the police are only within the main roads or Kafanchan town.

“The attackers are not inside the town, they are in the bushes and these bushes are well known. The attackers ought to be confronted where they are,” Nzama said. “Those who attacked Gwoska on Christmas Day were wearing military uniforms. That was why when the villagers saw them they didn’t take over because they thought they were normal security personnel.”

In the same vein, the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Kafanchan, Rt. Rev. Markus M. Dogo, lamented that the security agencies seemed to have a wrong perception of the problem and expressed doubts about their ability to stop the killings.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

• JANUARY 22, 2017

CICERO/INTERVIEW/REPORT

Getting More Youths into Leadership Positions My Main Motivation for Entering Politics Chief Chima Anyaso is chairman of Ceecon Energy Oil and Gas. In this interview with journalists in Lagos, Anyaso talks about his political ambition ahead of 2019. Anayo Okolie brings the excerpts:

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know how to use and operate these things. It is going to be a movement/campaign and we are strategically going to get all the youths involved. We don’t need money; all we need is our strength which is in our numbers, so we are going to educate ourselves so that we become more involved.

We would allay their fears, engage them and we will be constantly involved with them because they know us and we know them.

We would get down to the grassroots, eat with them, drink with them, dance with them and get them to understand the realities on ground. We will get them to understand that it is their votes that count and not their money, and if they have the ability to vote then they have all the money they need. The youths make up about 70 per cent of Nigerian population, so what else are we talking about? It is the population that is important not the money and this is what they need to know, it is ignorance that is the problem. If we agree and stand together, how then is it possible for us not to achieve our dreams? If it is by rigging, how will the old people rig us out? Are they the ones who do the rigging? They use this same youths for the rigging.

We are no longer going to be available for their rigging purposes; so if we say we no longer available for rigging and political thuggery, we want to make up our mind and say now we want to be responsible, we want to take back our country, we want to vote for ourselves, we want to vote for the right candidate and we are going to protect the votes.

hat is the motivation behind your humanitarian and poverty alleviation activities?

There is no way you can curb insecurity, fight crime, stop kidnapping or stop armed robbery without youth empowerment. Who are the people that are kidnapping and stealing? It is the young people; the old people cannot carry arms, because they cannot run. If in the course of trying to rob or kidnap somebody, they are faced with a counter response they cannot run; so it is the youth that have the energy. Why we are interested in alleviating poverty among the youth is so that that energy is channelled to a better and more productive use. If the youths are empowered, they will not have time for any unnecessary criminal activity.

You have been under pressure from your people to go into politics. How are you responding to that? Have you decided to go into president?

Finally, yes. Politics is one thing that every youth, as a matter of must, should venture into directly or indirectly, because we are the ones that are complaining and it is about time that we got involved so that we take our destinies in our own hands and fix our future. When I say directly or indirectly, does not mean that you have to run for any elective position, rather it means that you must belong to a political party, must have your voter’s card which gives you the right to vote for your preferred candidate and be voted for, because you cannot sit down there and be complaining about the strength, capability, legitimacy and looks of the older folks; what about you, what is wrong with you, you that is so healthy, strong and intelligent.

As an individual, I am strongly moving a campaign to get the youth involved in politics. We have started with #NN19 (New Nigeria 2019). Before the end of this year we will launch it so that all the youth will know what we are talking about; because by the grace of God, come 2019, we will have a new Nigeria that everybody will be happy with and, by the grace of God, we will have more percentage of youths in positions of authority than we have ever had before in this country.

If you are elected into a political office in 2019, what would be your focus?

My focus will still be on the same direction, which is the youth. Like I said earlier, I am a firm believer in education and that it should start from the cradle (primary education).

I am going to make sure that the younger ones are educated;

Anyaso from there we will move to the youth and see how we can channel their focus and their mind-set to the right things, which is positive productivity. That is what I believe will save this nation going forward, because when the youths are educated and empowered, then we would have a truly bright future.

How do you intend to motivate the youth for your 2019 agenda?

You see that fear is our problem, but we are going to solve it using the social media because that is where we have our strength. Ninety per cent of the old folks do not know how to use the laptops, ipads and ipods; some of them don’t know how to use the internet. We, as youths,

What is your advice to the youth, particularly, ahead of 2019?

My advice is that the youth should brace up, be focused, be organised, come together and make our voice to be heard. The opportunity is there, 2019 is very clear for the youth. We must be responsible, and when the old folks see our level of togetherness and responsibility, they will give us the opportunity. What we are asking for is an opportunity to serve, to give back to our country; we are not going to disrespect our elders, we are not in any competition with our older political leaders. They are our political fathers, and we would respect them as much as they would respect us and give us the opportunity to participate in determining our future, which is what we are asking for. We are going to do this respectfully and decently. One thing I can assure our political fathers is, if you are not qualified, don’t just think of participating because if you are depending on Nigerian youths to rig election in 2019, it is not going to be possible.

We have started the campaign and we are going to sustain the campaign until we become responsible and say no to thuggery and rigging.

• ‘SOUTHERN KADUNA KILLINGS: MASSIVE SCEPTICISM, DESPITE HUGE SECURITY DEPLOYMENT’• Continued from Pg. 69 “I think they have a wrong conception of the whole problem,” he said. “This fire brigade approach was because Dangoma village, a Fulani community, was attacked.

As I am talking to you, there are killings going on in the bushes.”

Dogo added, “There are a lot of military and the police deployed to for security, but they are stationed in Kafanchan. We don’t have problem in Kafanchan town. All that happened in the town was that the youths staged a protest over the killings, they were stoned by some people during the protest.

“The governor came the next day, he was insulted and stoned, that was why they brought the police in Kafanchan. I don’t think the security personnel would be able to stop the killings by staying in Kafanchan town.

“When the IGP came to Kafanchan, he was limiting the attacks to Dangoma and Gwoska, which were attacked just recently.

“I told him that the issue is not about what happened on December 19. I told him that the problem started in April 2016.

Honestly speaking, I don’t think they are near the problem at all.”

Denial

However, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, the umbrella union of the herdsmen, claimed its members were being unjustly accused of perpetrating the crisis in southern Kaduna and maligned.

At a recent news conference in Kaduna, the assistant secretary general of MACBAN, Dr. Ibrhahim Abdullahi, said some of the

claims against the herdsmen were fictitious.

Abdullahi alleged that the southern Kaduna people had also killed herdsmen. “As an association whose members have been unjustifiably accused and maligned, we think that it is time for us to make our stand and set the record straight for posterity,” he stated.

Abdullahi said the 2011 post-election violence affected not only the indigenous Fulani in southern part of Kaduna State but also herdsmen coming from other areas. He called on the people of southern Kaduna to forgive what had happened, noting that the crisis will never end unless both parties learn to forgive.

Abdullahi said the current crisis started in April 2016 following an argument between two herdsmen, on one side, and a farmer, on the other, in Ninte village, Godogodo District, in Sanga Local Government Area, over cattle route, which led to a fight. He argued that both parties were wounded and were taken to the hospital for treatment, adding that one of the Ardos (Fulani chiefs) from the area volunteered to pay for the treatment of the wounded Fulani men, “but some youths organised themselves, killed the Ardo, set him ablaze and burnt about 67 of Fulani settlements.”

Abridged Settlement

The late governor of the state, Mr. Patrick Yakowa, had tried to stop the killings. He, too, was held hostage and his convoy stoned by angry youths in Zonkwa when he went to visit victims of an attack in the hospital.

Yakowa was said to have constituted a team that was going round the Fulani communities to preach peace and reconciliation.

However, following Yakowa’s death in a helicopter crash in December 2012, his successor, Alhaji Ramalan Yero, did not sustain the peace efforts. Yero’s lacklustre administration witnessed massive killings in Kaura, Zangon Kataf and Sanga local government areas, especially in Bondong, Attakad and several villages in Sanga.

Yero never had any strategy for stopping the killings and rarely visited any of the communities that were attacked until the 2015 elections approached. Then he visited Sanga, where protesting women came out nude to express their disappointment over his nonchalant attitude to the killings. The killings subsided following the emergence of El-Rufai as governor, until May 2016, when an incident in Ninte village, Godogodo district of Sanga, escalated to yet another round of killings, which went on unabated, despite several efforts by the governor to bring about peace.

El-Rufai Era

The governor had earlier set up a committee headed by a former Chief of Defence Staff and an indigene of the area, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd), to identify the causes of the attacks and make recommendations.

El-Rufai said his administration had done everything, including locating the herdsmen in Niger Republic, Cameroon,

Chad, Mali and Senegal to persuade them to stop the killings. He said “a lot of what was happening in southern Kaduna was actually from outside Nigeria. We got a hint that the late Governor Patrick Yakowa got this information and he sent someone to go round some of these Fulani communities, but, of course after he died, the whole thing stopped. That is what we inherited. But the Agwai committee established that.”

The governor’s recent disclosure that some of the herdsmen were compensated over the alleged killing of their cattle, as part of efforts to end the attacks, was greeted with scathing criticisms and condemnation, especially in southern Kaduna, where no compensation was paid to any of the victims of the attacks.

El-Rufai said the current problem started in Ninte village, Godogodo, following the failure of community leaders from both sides to address the matter amicably, stressing, “As a government, we regret the loss of lives. We regret the destruction of property.”

The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, which helped in bringing peace to Plateau State, which was also plagued by herdsmen attacks, has been involved in the efforts to find lasting peace in the area. But the governor alleged that some people were bent on frustrating the peace efforts.

Many believe that unless decisive steps are taken against the deadly activities of the herdsmen causing havoc in southern Kaduna and other parts of the country, Nigeria could be plunged into a crisis that may threaten its very existence.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

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• JANUARY 22, 2017

CICERO/TRIBUTE

Cyprian Imobhio, an Ambassador of Peace Anayo Okolie

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neficiaries of the ‘Ambassadors for Peace’ and ‘Justices of Peace’ awards have been on the increase in recent times becoming the largest and most diverse networks of peace leaders in the world today.

They come from all walks of life representing many races, religions, nationalities and cultures. These network of leaders stand on the common ground of universal moral principles in promoting reconciliation, overcoming barriers and building peace in different settings and communities.

The network of ‘Ambassadors of Peace’ across the world is an initiative for achieving world peace. Violence, hunger, diseases, climate change and terrorism intermittently threaten global peace thereby putting the need to counter them, at the forefront of most international discussions.

The West African Regional Director of the International Organization of Advocates for Global Peace and Development, Bishop Prosperity Udoji reeling in this partnership with the United Nations says, “Everybody must work from everywhere. The need for world peace is now because the world is already a global village and the challenges are numerous.”

The Global Peace index released in 2014 by the United Nations revealed that the world has become less peaceful every year since 2008. It further stressed the “need to focus on strengthening social covenants for peace, because this is the glue that holds groups or communities together.”

Perhaps that was the reason Prince Cyprian Imobhio was bestowed with the prestigious ‘Ambassador for Peace’ award in Abuja during the 2016 Christmas holiday where he upheld that “peace does not have alternative as every hands must be on deck.”

Prince Imobhio’s talks about peace

West Africa Director of the International Organization of Advocates for Global Peace and Development; Bishop Prosperity Udoji (left), presenting the Ambassador of Peace award to CEO of Uniglobe Group; Prince Cyprian Imobhio (right).

are legendary. He is the Chairman of Uniglobe Group with business interests in maritime, construction, hospitality, ICT and agriculture. Having functioned in the Niger Delta waters may have exposed him to the prize of peace in Nigeria. Bishop Udoji while presenting the plaque of recognition on him commended his skills in furthering the course of peace among many communities where he had worked in Nigeria,

stating that such feats cannot go unnoticed.

Udoji flew into Abuja to confer the honour on Imobhio and urged Nigerians to see the world as a ‘garden’ of inheritance from God, which must be sustained for humanity to thrive.

The Uniglobe boss has also built a police station for his community in Ebhoiyi, Uromi in Edo State ostensibly to curtail the incessant banditry along the new Agbor

express road and other communities on that axis. That also, is a stride towards attaining peace. Many youths are currently enjoying his scholarships programmes in higher institutions in Nigeria and overseas schools. According to him, the girl child education is dearest to his heart because of the traditional roles women play in keeping the society together in peace.

Interestingly, Imobhio has also instituted a musical fiesta in Edo state, providing chances for the upcoming artistes to branch into newfound opportunities from their rural obscurity. His farmlands in Rivers and Edo states are providing platform of employment opportunities for the teeming youths irrespective of tribe or religion.

A graduate of the famous Greenwich College, University of Hull and the University of Surrey Business School all in the United Kingdom, Prince Imobhio popularly called CY by friends and associates is a product of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s clarion call for Nigerians in Diaspora to return home and rebuild the country.

That decision made in 2000 following Obasanjo’s call has developed into a conglomerate called Uniglobe Group of companies where he is the Chief Executive Officer. His financial trainings including the MBA have helped him muster a rare managerial skill to put his companies on the international scale.

US based Julius Okojie during the honour in Abuja, noted that the nomination of Prince Imobhio as Ambassador of Peace will motivate him and many other Nigerians to do more for the society and for humanity. Udoji said Imobhio in his new status as an Ambassador of Peace will enjoy some special privileges including customized vehicle license plates in Nigeria, unhindered access to airport VIPs lounges across the world, invitations to global events and many others. “Infact you will henceforth be treated like an ambassador,” he quipped.

Ikpehare Aig-Imoukhuede: 10 Years After Banji Ojewale

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en years after we lost Ikpehare Izedomi Aig-Imoukhuede, the prismatic columnist of Vanguard newspaper, we are still grieving and regretting we’ve not gotten an heir, a successor, nay a pupil to step into the great shoes of the master. It is the sign of a sinking age. A hero departs and seems to take with him the stuff of greatness that built him.

Although Aig-Imoukhuede borrowed heavily from the biting style of two other legends, Sad Sam (Sam Amuka) and Peter Pan (Peter Enahoro), he added his own: the caustic episodic approach. Every Wednesday in his Sketches column, he stood on a tripod – Sad Sam, Peter Pan, and Aig-Imoukhuede – to feast his readers. The outcome was a unique brand. For, whereas Sad Sam and Peter Pan’s columns were not always a story telling affair, Imoukhuede’s would every time broach trendy events to pillory society. His writing was airy, reminding you of the ambience that envelopes you when you read the short stories of Guy de Maupassant and Ernest Hemingway.

That was my submission when I paid a tribute to this remarkable columnist on his death a decade ago.

I wrote then that before he died in Lagos on January 23, 2007, Aig-Imoukhuede had this memorable encounter with the living. Writing in his long running Sketches column in Vanguard of January 24, 2007 he gave no hint of a terminal ailment or of stalking death right on his doorstep.

Under the title “Money in the bank”, Aig-Imoukhuede identified two counter cultures that he observed were emerging as a result of the Central Bank’s report on alleged injury to the naira. CBN, he claimed, was frowning at those abusing the national currency. It advised them to take to keeping the money in the banks rather than under their pillows. In other words, they should imbibe the banking culture of transacting business with plastic money.

Now the columnist wrote: “I knew exactly who the CBN had in mind. It could only have been an old friend who lived somewhere in the city of Ajegunle.” Whereupon he went on to fetch this old school pal for a dialogue.

What followed was a superlative literary and journalistic tapestry: a measured riposte between the writer and his friend; snide rebuke of the CBN policy; ribald remarks to challenge our banking system; sharp words for a society of payday crowds who can’t go to the bank until their salaries are paid;

and finally the columnist’s half-speak humour that made you wonder where he belonged: on the side of the new culture or the old?

But Aig-Imoukhuede never left his reader in doubt that all he intended to do in his Wednesday Vanguard outings was to deliver gentle recreation even if he had to take you on a journey into his own peccadilloes of a different generation.

His approach was to take on an issue, not necessarily one hugging the news headlines. Indeed, most times what the reader was conscious of in Aig-Imoukhuede was the seeming triviality. But mark you, because of his prose and the mastery of language in narrating his experiences or delivering a dialogue, Aig-Imoukhuede could sustain your interest till he was through.

Here I have before me the Sketches of Wednesday March 27, 2002 entitled “Neighbour’s goat, and others.” He reached out for several anecdotes to drive home the point that the goat was a stubborn beast, whose “beard somehow appears to make a bolder statement than that of this columnist”.

He dated the tale of a goat to a quarter of a century back in Okene, Kogi State. He said a man was arrested and charged with stealing his neighbour’s goat and converting it into goat meat. The exhibit on which the Police relied to get a conviction was a pot containing the stew made from the goat said to have been stolen.

The Magistrate took the plea (“not guilty”) and adjourned the case for two weeks. And so the Police took the accused and the soup back into custody. Two weeks after, the case resumed. But the pot and its contents were missing. The Magistrate asked the prosecuting Police Sergeant what happened to the exhibit.

Now read how sardonically Aig-Imoukhuede ended the report: “The Prosecuting Police Sergeant launched into an explanation about how, faced with difficult problem of keeping the soup from turning sour during the two weeks that the case was adjourned, the constable at the Police Station had been warming it twice a day, as culinary practice demanded.

‘As a result of all that heat’, the Sergeant concluded, ‘the stew dried up’. The long and short of it was that the Magistrate, as reported by the newspapers, dismissed the case against the accused for want of evidence”!

Aig-Imoukhuede’s writing wasn’t about polemical journalism. His chief goal was to hammer moral and social foibles, armed with a bagful of risible darts and decent humour.

His satirical armoury was quite rich, no matter the

negligent public service he was railing against. Taking up defunct NEPA’S irregular power supply once, Aig-Imoukhuede wrote on November 24, 2004 about an encounter with a friend who came to visit. He entitled it “A taste for warm beer.” With NEPA “seizing” light for two weeks, he said, he had to give his guest a warm welcome and a bottle of warm beer. He rounded off thus: “My friend put down his tumbler. He had somehow managed to finish his beer so I said: ‘Have another beer’. He shook his head ‘No thanks. The good thing about warm beer is that you drink it in moderation.’”

He was also known to be a keen observer of the amusing shenanigans of the man in the street. Here is one piece in the Sketches dated January 10, 2007. The scene was the arrival hall of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. “…Two …car-hire operators were earnestly trying to win the patronage of a newly-arrived passenger who appeared to be a Japanese. ‘I have a very good car,’ the first… said, ‘with air condition’. ‘Don’t listen to him,’ the second man said, ‘my car is a Mercedes. His own is Pijiot,’ the first man flared. ‘Who are you calling idiot? He shouted, ‘you, yourself are a bloody fool.’

That led to a shouting match, with the other drivers taking sides.

There was scuffle, followed by a fist fight that spread all the way to the car park. If the airport had been closer to the city centre, the incident would, with some fuelling, have escalated to a full scale civil disturbance. Idiots.” Ikpehare Izedomi Aig-Imoukhuede wrote with wit, clarity and virtue as no other newspaper columnist has done for a long time. His uncluttered prose led on to the precincts of the great inventors of the periodical essay, Richard Steele and Joseph Addison.

Although I knew he was engaged in some highly successful body of drama work (Alao Shakey Shakey) and (Safe Journey) on radio as well as with Wole Soyinka’s Players of the Dawn, I often asked why Aig-Imoukhuede didn’t write conventional fiction like the short story and the novel. He was vastly suited for the genres, given his prodigious power of imagination and a creative talent for precision writing.

We miss Sketches and the caricatured face of AigImoukhuede. You were unencumbered by kilometre-long sentences; nor was the reader retarded by ponderous polysyllabic formations. All you had were brilliant sparks of quintessential writing dropping from the hairy face topping the page.

––Ojewale is a writer and journalist in Ota, Ogun State.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

PERSPECTIVE

From Obama to Trump: Questions over a Helluva of Transition!

Femi Mimiko

E

ight years ago, as Barack Obama glided into the White House with some incredible 83% approval rating at home, and much excitement abroad, I made some projections in a piece titled ‘What Africa Expects From Obama.’ In the fullness of time, I intend to return to this same theme and attempt the semblance of a balance sheet on the Obama presidency from the point of view of Africa’s expectations and take-home. Suffice it to examine for now the nature of the unusual transition that the United States, a country that has remained at the head of the pack for close to a century, is witnessing this weekend.

Against all odds, Barack Obama kept faith with his commitment not to commit the United States into a new war. If you discount the terrorism-inspired violent conflicts and wars across the global landscape, you could manage a sigh of relief that major conflagrations directly involving the US were avoided in the past eight years of this highly distinguished presidency. The sad news is, not any more. No, not with the upcoming coronation of Donald J. Trump.

It is so certain that an unusual combination of ego, arrant lack of critical experience, a particularly inappropriate temperament, and embarrassing ignorance of the nuances of global diplomacy on the part of the man who would be president would certainly sooner than later see Americans getting back into the trenches of war. This, with North Korea and Iran, probably immediately, and several other new flashpoints around the world later.

With Trump’s determination to walk America back away from the world, is the world not now confronted with the emergence of, and consolidation of the place of new global powers, especially the turbo-charging Germany and very deliberate China? Sometime in the late 1950s, US Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, gave indication that it was unimaginable that the US would use its nuclear arsenal in a war unless the United States was directly threatened or attacked.

This provided the immediate impetus for General Charles de Gaulle to launch France’s independent nuclear program, such that by 1962, Paris already had its own bomb. The General also pulled his country out of the military structure of NATO, in a classical lets-putour-security-in-our-own-hands logic. Isn’t it obvious that Trump’s NATO-is-obsolete mindset a sure bet for proliferation of the nuclear bomb? Is it wholly rational for Germany and Japan to remain fidelity to the commitment not to rearm in the face of a Trump presidency that is driven by a transactional mentality to US foreign policy?

Trump wishes to see NATO members paying their fair share of the alliance’s budget. If they don’t, he insists, it would be foolhardy to take US support and protection for granted going forward! Isn’t it so serious that Mr. Trump does not seem to appreciate that NATO is but a key element in American global influence, nay control over Europe!! He wants to do away with the body if the other members are unwilling to make do their funding commitment. Nobody seems able to have nudged the crusading president-elect to take a look at the counterfactual of a weak and weakened NATO. Why is it difficult for the Trump team to see this as an open sesame to a Vladimir Putin with thinly-disguised irredentist proclivities over the old Soviet Union, and much of eastern Europe? Or is this a debt that the new occupant of the White House must pay to Putin?

Trump rails at free trade, including the structures of its delivery like the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). What manner of an American president is coming into office that does not understand that these are mere agencies of American soft power for global dominance? Given the deep leverage of Russia’s Vladimir Putin over an inexperienced and not-too-eager-to-learn Donald Trump, isn’t the United States for once emerging as a pitiable pawn in a chessboard over which the Russian president is surely going to loom large?

Ivanka’s father thinks little of the European Union (EU). Indeed, he has given enough indications already that he could not be bothered if the single most successful evidence of integration in human history comes crashing down. Pray, isn’t there somebody among the band sweeping into office in Washington DC later this week to let the president-elect know that a key element in EU’s compelling story is a

Trump fundamental strategic imperative. This was something made evident by the reality of World War I and II – to integrate the Germans and their economy so intricately into Europe that they would not again be able to disrupt the post-WW II social order on the continent, and by extension the world?

With very scant regard, indeed thinly disguised contempt for the people of colour everywhere, isn’t the marginalization of Africa set to be complete under a President Trump? Come to think of it, how could Mr. Trump imagine that the American homeland is going to be better secured in the face of his deeply divisive outlook? Isn’t he aware that with his strong antipathy towards Muslims in particular and other minorities in general, he is unwittingly nurturing a colony of angry, despondent, and desperate Americans, yes Americans, that could seek to make a point by tripping over vis a vis threats to the homeland? With the sentiment for independence being increasingly stoked in places like California and Texas, doesn’t it occur to Trump that by his total lack of sensibility for those that do not look or reason like him, considerable damage could be done to the American system? This is a quintessential federal system that is a model to many nations still struggling with the strategies of building a nation-state, as the Americans would seem to have successfully done, from their bouquet of nationalities.

Mr. Donald J. Trump waxes strong on his commitment to repeal, well, and replace Obamacare. Why does it seem too difficult for him and his handlers to appreciate that a program that helped to lift some 22 million people out of a critical dimension of exclusion should not be so cavalierly treated? Shouldn’t he know that repealing Mr. Obama’s signature legacy is an instant invitation to opposition from

Against all odds, Barack Obama kept faith with his commitment not to commit the United States into a new war. If you discount the terrorism-inspired violent conflicts and wars across the global landscape, you could manage a sigh of relief that major conflagrations directly involving the US were avoided in the past eight years of this highly distinguished presidency.The sad news is, not any more. No, not with the upcoming coronation of Donald J.Trump. It is so certain that an unusual combination of ego, arrant lack of critical experience, a particularly inappropriate temperament, and embarrassing ignorance of the nuances of global diplomacy on the part of the man who would be president would certainly sooner than later see Americans getting back into the trenches of war.This, with North Korea and Iran, probably immediately, and several other new flashpoints around the world later

those who had access to health insurance for the first time in their lives? Aren’t these ones also Americans whose well-being a president should also be committed to?

Politics, no doubt, is contestation for, and usage of power within formal and informal structures, and all pertaining thereto, in a human community; or between groups of such communities.

Critical as electoral contest is to politics in the modern democratic polity, shouldn’t the incoming US President be counseled that a lid has to be put on this at some point? That he has emerged from such a rancorous electoral exercise that his country just witnessed should have called the attention of Mr. Trump to the fact that he has a historical duty to bring everybody, and all political tendencies together? Why then is it appropriate in his own reckoning to keep taking down whoever he thinks has crossed his way, the cult-like following of some of such people, like Senator John McCain and Congressman John Lewis, notwithstanding?

These certainly are interesting, albeit scary times as the world prepares to enter what promises to be one of its most unstable periods since the debut of modern diplomacy. This is no thanks to what choice the American electorate decided to make on November 8, 2016. Now, doesn’t it seem urgent that a system that could throw up a Trump and put down a Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) should re-examine its own suitability and sustainability? Whereas HRC entered the race with deep commitment to uplift of women and children, and other minorities; a most distinguished career in public service; an unprecedented level of preparation for the job; steady hands; and compelling experience, Trump’s penchant for self-love remains legendary. It arguably hovers on the borders of narcissism.

Doesn’t the entire Trump phenomenon constitute, as some centers of power with unmistakable adversarial attitude to the US are already gloating, a critique of democracy, and especially the US electoral college system? The latter had ensured that a candidate that came out on top in popular votes by close to three million votes would lose to her opponent. With the reversal liberal democracy is facing in the US now, and the impetus that a Trump victory has added to the once fringe and thinly-veiled racist platforms across much of Europe and around the world, what future awaits liberal democracy? This is a system most aptly described by a pundit as not necessarily a perfect system of government, but by far the most appropriate ever proffered by man. Isn’t the time right, and the duty urgent for democracy to begin to reinvent if it must continue to occupy that high pedestal, or indeed survive?

- Mimiko, mni, most recently at Harvard University, is a Professor of Political Science at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. (femi.mimiko@gmail.com)

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JANUARY 22, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

PERSPECTIVE

Okowa Beats the Odds, Despite Recession

Victor Efeizomor

S

ince it is only fit and proper to assess the administration of any democratically elected government based on its campaign promises and manifestos, the attempt to x-ray the performance of Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State since the past one-and a half years, to determine to what extent the socio –economic development activities of the state government conforms to its policy goals, would amount to a glance into the successes of the SMART agenda of the administration.

The sectorial successes recorded so far are evidence of the Governor Okowa’s determination to provide prosperity to all Deltans as contained in the SMART agenda, which is all about wealth creation through growing micro and small enterprises, upgrading infrastructure , modernizing and deepening agricultural sector and establishing agro-based industries.

These feats came against the backdrop of the economic recession that engulfed the nation’s political economy in the second quarter of 2016.

The negative consequences of the recession facing the nations sustainable economic growth are, a fall in per capital income, high level of unemployment, hunger, increase in crime wave and absence of democratic values.

In spite of all these, Delta State government led by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has remained resolute and demonstrated incredible proficiencies in steering the affairs of the state in the right direction by recording remarkable successes at different levels of governance in the state.

Okowa has shown not only transnational initiatives, but also international knack to set Delta state on a high map to battle recession.

Applying some logic in his administration, Governor Okowa has scaled- dawn on administrative cost and a scale -up in prudency and accountability in government.

Okowa’s administration represents a departure from the old ways of extravagance, the administration is run on a different governance paradigm that emphasizes accountability, prudence, and a masses- centric focus, an inclusive and participatory spirit which activates the productive capacities of the people and their sense of belonging.

This understanding informed the developmental approach to governance

by Okowa who placed a premium on improving human capital development and strengthening of the infrastructural base to ensure enabling environment to drive socio-political and economic development in the state.

Amid these national economic tales, comes enchanting report that the state internally generated revenue (IGR) realized between June 2015 and September, 2016 was N56, 646,821,063.75 representing a 68.53% performance. This is coming against the background that several large tax paying corporations in the state have either scaled down their operation or in certain cases relocated from the state.

It is interesting to note that the decline in international oil price affected the statutory allocation accruing to the state from the federation account, dropping to N3 billion, with a staff strength of about 50,000 while the wage bill averages N5.5 billion monthly even when it’s battling to check the menace of ghost workers with biometric scheme.

Interestedly, Governor Okowa has remained committed to the payment of staff salaries as and when due in the midst of recession.

Since assuming office, Okowa has defied all the challenges of a recession to post a monthly IGR collection from N3.2 billion to N3.4 billion and he is deploying new strategies and initiatives towards realizing a monthly revenue target of

Okowa about N7 billion.

Commissioner for Finance , Mr. David Edevbie, while briefing the press recently remarked that “the state during the period under review received a total of N135, 837,642,528.40 as gross statutory allocation, value added tax (VAT), derivation revenue and other capital receipts from the federation account compared with the proportionate budget estimate of N198, 054,151,136.67, which indicates a performance of 68.59% .

“The state government is committed to paying the monthly salaries of civil servants and other workers as well as pensioners as regularly as possible in line with the policy of timely and effective services delivery to the people” , adding that “on investment, the state has always invested in a number of quoted and unquoted companies, which currently have a market value of N9,675,990,140 comprising of N1,387,349,340.25, and N8,288,640,800 for quoted and unquoted companies respectively . This yielded dividends of N295, 701,047 within the period under review”.

A statement from the commissioner for economic planning, Dr. Kingsley Emu, corroborated his finance counterpart when he said, “we shall continue to ensure that funds are allocated to programmes and projects that impact on good governance.

We shall continue to observe basic principles of prudent management of public funds and strict adherence to due process and be consistent with our vision of maintaining strict fiscal discipline”, adding that over 17,173 private sector jobs have been created under the job creation scheme.

In line with the realization that road development and construction is the backbone for the achievement of the SMART agenda , Governor Okowa, through the ministry of works embarked on the construction of not less than seventy-one road projects between May 2015 and November 2016 covering a distance of over 282 kilometers of reads and 138 thousand kilometers of concrete –lined drains. The value of projects currently being handled by the state government, including those inherited

from the previous administration, is put at about N110 billion. This covers about 381 kilometers of roads.

The state government has equally embarked on urban renewal by working on several roads in key towns and cities across the state. In this regards, a number of roads have been maintained, rehabilitated, reconstructed, or newly constructed.

These includes the 7.1 kilometer dualization of Nnebisis road ( from traffic light junction to cable point) Asaba, dualization of Sapele road from Amukpe to AT & P and the reconstruction of old Oleh / Emede/ Olomoro road, Oleh among others. The government has also embarked on the rehabilitation of the Asaba Airport runway and taxiway.

Okowa’s administration has put in place adequate plans to ensure food security through the empowerment of the existing farmers and encouraging new entrants into agriculture through the oil palm development programme. Through this programme, 220,000 improved oil palm seedlings are being raised for distribution to farmers. This scheme is expected to empower 250 oil palm farmers, create 100 regular jobs and 300 seasonal jobs. Equally, the state government has expended the sum of N115 million for the establishment of oil palm nursery site, located at Ejeme Unor and construction of 5 mini oil mills to be distributed to farmers.

The state government has also approved the sum of N51 million to promote all season rice farming in the state, while 45.3 million has been set aside for the fisheries subsector as 5,000 youths have engaged themselves in aquaculture, cluster fish farms.

Also, the state government has keyed into the CBN Anchor Borrowers Scheme just as 4,000 farmers have been accredited and approved by CBN to participate in the first phase of the scheme while 30,000 farmers have been registered across the selected enterprise of cassava, oil palm, rice and fisheries. The state government has also expended the sum of N5 million for grass cutter and goat production as viable, profitable and sustainable sources of income and to meet the protein needs of the state.

Prior to the inception of the Okowa administration, agricultural extension service was at its lowest ebb in the state.

So far, the sum of N35.9 million has been set aside by the state government for re-invigorate the state agricultural development programme (ADP).

Governor Okowa understands that strategic and purposeful good healthcare system is at the heart of any development agenda, hence the wisdom in giving the health sector a priority attention in the scheme of things. Little wonder the state government swung into action on assumption of office with the total renovation, equipping, furnishing, purchase of brand new ambulance, and upgrading of cottage hospital, Abavo to the full status of an ultra modern standard general hospital.

Governor Okowa also embarked on the remodeling /rehabilitation of the renal dialysis building at the central hospital Warri, renovation and reequipping of children’s ward at the general hospital, Patani, procurement of 9 oxygen concentrators spread across the three senatorial districts of the state, restructuring of Delta state emergency services and payment of all outstanding commitments, purchase of medical/laboratory equipment and infrastructural repair to meet accreditation requirement at college of health technology, Ofuoma, Ughelli.

The state government also embarked on the construction of ultra- modern 400m/daymbr sewage treatment plant at DELSUTH Oghara, renovation and re-modification of central hospital in Agbor, just to mention but a few in Delta State, maternal mortality ratio has declined, a reflection of the success of the free maternal and free under-five healthcare programmes which Okowa’s administration has continued to implement in spite of the limited resources at this time.

The challenge of ensuring quality education is one of the preoccupation of Governor Okowa since assumption of office. It’s for this reason that the governor has developed a plan to give adequate attention to basic, secondary and tertiary education in the state with emphasis on technical and vocational education.

To this end, Okowa has excuted the flowing project; the completion of the faculty of law at DELSU , Oleh campus, completion of health clinic in DELSU. On going projects at DELSU are; the construction of lecture theater at the faculty of engineering, senate/administration building, construction of standard library complex, construction of workshop\ laboratory at the faculty of engineering among other projects.

Governor Okowa has also strengthened the state bursary and scholarship board charged with the responsibility of offering opportunities to students to access the state government financial support services which include, student’s special assistance scheme , scholarship to local , overseas/ external students, first class scholarship, physically challenged students and children of deceased civil servants.

Governor Okowa has also taken steps to reposition technical and vocational education in the state with the transmission of an executive bill to DTHA for the law establishing the technical and vocational education board just as the upgrade of the Agbor, Ofagbe, Sapele Issele – uku , Ogor and Utagba-Ogbe technical colleges are still ongoing.

Delta State economic outlook remains positive because it has adequate room to maneuver in both the external and fiscal sector, plus abundance of material and human resources. The sufficient condition for it to convert the challenges of recession to a base for turnaround and phenomenal prosperity is for all stakeholders to be committed to productive work, driven by an attitude of optimism and confidence as envision in the leadership of Governor Okowa.

––Prince Victor Efeizomor is Print Media Assistant to Gov. Okowa.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

PERSPECTIVE

From Carnival to Carol: A Revival ofValues in Rivers State Obong Akpaekong

T

he second edition of Rivers State Carol Night, tagged “Hosanna 2016”, like the maiden outing of the previous year, was impressive in many ways. The event signalled a great effort at the rebirth of moral values among the people, particularly the young ones. It is safe to say that the carol night has replaced the state’s carnival show, which started in 2008 and went into limbo until its revival in 2011. Revival of culture – whether that of Rivers State people, Nigerian or African – is a good idea, but revival of moral and religious values, which the carol night seeks to achieve, many believe, can be more enduring.

The carnival years of 2011 to 2014, were doubtless, no wasted effort. They brought notable artistes and entertainers like Mama Gee, Psquare, Davido, Terry G, Morgan Heritage, Buster Rhymes, Wande Coal and M. I. Abaga to perform in the state.

Six bands regularly participated in the carnival procession, with five of them, namely: Jubilee, Liberation, Dynamic, Fusion and Treasure, taking part in the competition proper. There were varieties like beauty pageant – which produced Miss CARNIRIV and a children carnival, designed as a mini-procession and commencing from the Elekahia play-ground to the stadium, where the children would be given refreshment and as one commentator put it, “unrestrained entertainment.”

In his speech at ceremonies marking the commencement of the revived festival, CARNIRIV, December 20, 2011, Nabbs Imegwu, then Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, described the event as “a top line composite culture and entertainment festival that connects with the public through a variety of culture and freestyle components.” He assured that the event would soon assume its pride of place as a global cultural and tourism brand. The assurance was given more teeth when Tele Ikuru, then deputy governor, who represented then Governor Chibuike Amaechi at the event, said despite the security challenges that were being faced by their administration, government had done much to ensure the safety of life and property and that the people should go all out and enjoy themselves at the show.

Rivers State is not alone in the carnival business. Calabar, the Cross River State capital, has been hosting a similar carnival since 2004, when the then governor, Donald Duke, had a vision to make the state the hub of tourism and hospitality in Nigeria and Africa. Lagos and Imo states are also known to have been holding such carnivals. Activities of the carnivals include musical performance, boat regatta, fashion show, Christmas village, traditional dance, masquerade show like Ekpe of the Efik and all manner of parades by groups.

CARNIRIV, which was sponsored by Rivers State Tourism Development Agency, was said to have had up to a million participants. Each edition of the carnival lasted seven days - with two events daily – one held during the daytime and the other at night. So much was also spent by the state to host the event.

Wike Many Rivers State people and Nigerians, generally, are happy with the change of face in the Yuletide celebration. The carol night has been significant to the state and nation in many ways.

It has brought Christians of various backgrounds – Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal and all – to one spot, the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, for fellowship and united prayers for peace and unity of the state and for God’s direction for the nation’s leadership. It was a thing of great joy to see men, women, youth, government officials and others, neatly dressed, tucking the Bible in their arms and turning into the stadium on the evening of Friday, December 16, 2016. It was also good sense seeing politicians and Christian leaders and others unite in prayer for this beloved state.

Was it not gladdening seeing Governor Nyesom Wike taking the microphone and turning over the pages of the Holy Bible to read aloud God’s word in beautiful prose? Hear him:”The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them had the light shined. Thou has multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy of harvest and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil……”, Isaiah 9: 2-7, (KJV). As the governor was reading those lines, you felt the glory of God sweep through the crowd. For this writer, no truth about

Rivers State could be stronger.

It was easy to see angels bringing warmth and succour to lives, families and relationships. The message of peace for the soul, which the Christmas season echoes, was wrapped in the first two verses of the eight-verse scripture Deputy Governor Ipalibo Harry-Banigo later read from Matthew 1:18-25: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

“Then Joseph her husband being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived of her is of the Holy Ghost.” It was the second Bible reading. The Christmas message is one bringing hope for despondent minds and families. The passage addressed an untrue case of infidelity that was about to rock the holy family and make a mockery of the birth of the saviour of the world.

But God promptly spoke to Joseph and peace navigated the hearts of husband and wife. It was the same measure of peace, which guarantees an atmosphere for development that Wike sought for the Rivers State family when he replaced CARNIRIV with carol in 2015.

The selection of the singing groups was good job: Cay Wood Brown Foundation Mass Choir, The Port Harcourt Male Ensemble, Niger Delta North Diocese Choir, Christian Unity Mass Choir, 1000-man Choir and 1500-man RCCG Mass Choir.

Interestingly, Wike selected one of the world’s most revered preachers and a man noted for his great sense of humility and passion for godliness, Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, to teach God’s word for the night.

Adeboye urged the Rivers State people to always look up to God for their blessings. He prayed God to grant them the needed peace to continue to make progress on all fronts.

Wike was brief and very emphatic in his address that night.

“This state has been handed over to God. We cannot do anything without reference to God because with God on our side, we will continue to emerge victorious. I believe that Rivers State will continue to see peace and to pray for it”, he said.

He harped on the need for peace in the state and urged men of God in the state to continue to pray for the state. He said Adeboye had prophesied during a Holy Ghost Prayer about his election victory and he emerged victorious at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also decided his Obio/Akpor local government council chairmanship in 1999.

At the first carol festival of the state held on December 20, 2016 where the first 1,000-man mass choir sang, Wike said the event was organised to thank God for the successful take off of his administration.

--Akpaekong is a public affairs analyst and publisher of Sippar magazine

Senate and its Compassionate Motions Chuks Okocha

M

otions and bills are the lubricants of democracy and democratic governance. They are the ingredients which the legislature uses to weave and sustain democracy. Aparliament is usually assessed by the number of motions, bills and other interventions from it that impact positively on the lives of citizens.

Though motions are not laws, they are persuasive and tend to put pressure on the executive to do the bidding of the electorate.

The eighth Senate led by Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki has been consistent with issues that affect the members of the senatorial districts.

One motion in recent times that has raised a lot of concern is the one on the federal government’s directive banning the importation of vehicles through the land borders. The Senate reacted through a motion because of the dire consequences of the bill on Nigerians, especially, the immediate loss of over 500,000 jobs. It was in view of this that the Senate moved to halt the implementation of this directive.

In the motion, the Senate, mindful of the negative effect of the directive, called on the federal government to suspend action on enforcement of the ban on the importation of vehicles through land the borders. The motion sponsored by Barau Jibrin (APC-Kano) was co-sponsored by four other senators at plenary last week. It sought to mandate the Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff to investigate the circumstances that led to the ban by the federal government.

In the lead debate on the motion, Jibrin said people engaged in the business of vehicle importation and handling services in the border areas were already losing their jobs. He maintained that it was not economically expedient to ban the importation of vehicles through the land borders based “on the allegation that the importation of vehicles through land borders no longer holds good prospect for the revenue generation because of large scale evasion of import duties.”

Jibrin said, “Rather than stop or suspend the importation of vehicles, it would make better economic sense to allow the importation of vehicles through one border post in each geopolitical zone.”

The chairman, Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation, Senator

Ali Wakili, while supporting the motion, said from his experience as a one-time controller of customs, “It will be very difficult for us to impose this ban. The Custom Service will be overstretched; there will be hostilities from the border communities and there will be rise in transnational crimes.”

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, in his remarks, said it was necessary for the federal government to revisit the policy, which many Nigerians were not comfortable with. He stated that because the government was accountable to the people, “the executive should yield to the concerns of the people by suspending the ban because we are in office at their instance.”

As a listening and compassionate legislature, the Senate under Saraki also raised an ad hoc committee last week to investigate the violence that took place in the southern part of Kaduna State and other places where violence has taken place recently. The resolution followed a motion by Senator Danjuma La’ah titled, “The recent killings in Southern Kaduna”.

The Senate said the investigation would cover other parts of the country with similar experiences.

The lead sponsor of the motion, La’ah, observed that since 2011, various communities in southern Kaduna had been consistently attacked by herdsmen, resulting in deaths, injuries, loss of property and displacement of communities. According to the lawmaker, on December 23, and “even as we speak, communities of Ambam, Gaska, Dangoma, Tsonje, Pasankori, Gidan Waya and Farin Gada of Jama’a and Kaura local government areas have been under serious attack by the herdsmen, resulting in deaths, injuries, and wanton destruction of property worth billions of naira.”

He noted that the killings amounted to violation of the right to life, security of human persons, the respect of dignity inherent in human beings and right to property, not only guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, as amended, but also the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Convention on Civil and Political Right, of which Nigeria is a party.

According to the senator, “This deliberate systematic killing demands the awakening of Nigerians to avoid a repeat of what happened in Darfur, Sudan.”

La’ah urged the federal government to investigate the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice. He also prayed the Senate to urge

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

the federal government to rebuild the ravaged cities of southern Kaduna; and establish a joint security patrol of military, police, civil defence and civilian JTF for constant patrols and surveillance of affected areas.

Saraki thanked La’ah for the motion, saying, it is noteworthy that the federal government, in obedience to the motion, has since deployed the military to maintain peace in the area.

Furthermore, in response to the humanitarian crisis in the Internally Displaced Persons camps in the north eastern part of the country, the Senate has constituted an eight-man ad-hoc committee to ascertain the funds that had been released to the Presidential Initiative on the North East and how the funds were disbursed.

In the motion preceding the setting up of the committee, titled “Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East”, Senator Baba Kaka Bashir Garbai (APC:Borno) observed the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the North-east. He drew the attention of the Senate to a recent report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), which stated that about 4.5 million people were in dire need of assistance with about a million people at the verge of extreme malnutrition.

In his contribution to debate, Senator Garbai recalled some of the concerted efforts the National Assembly had made to try to end the crisis. He highlighted that the Senate increased the amount allocated for IDPs in the 2016 budget from N 6 billion to N10 billion. He regretted that the Presidential Initiative on the North East inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 is yet to show any tangible result in ameliorating the humanitarian crisis in the Northeast, despite the release of over half of the said sum appropriated and several donations by agencies and philanthropists.

Contributing to the motion, Sen. Joshua Lidani (PDP Gombe) also quoted a UNICEF report that stated that between seven and eight children would die of malnutrition daily if the matter was not addressed urgently. In addition to the Senate resolution, the lawmakers agreed to contribute N300, 000 each for the maintenance of IDPs in the North-east and investigate the alleged diversion of grains and other food items from the strategic grains reserves, NEMA and other sources for the IDPs. -- Okocha is Special Assistant to the President of Senate on Print Media.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER • JANUARY 22, 2017

PERSPECTIVE

Celebrating the Exploits of Nigeria’s Elite Police Unit Ojuri Adepuji

T

wo years ago, the Nassau County Police Department was struggling to stop a burglary ring that had been on a three-month spree of robbing homes in North New Hyde Park when it was joined by a special four-person police Intelligence unit stationed in Massapequa Park.

The intelligence unit, under the command of Nassau County Police Detective Sergeant Patrick Ryder, gathered snapshots of 20,000 plates and vehicles taken by license-plate readers in police cars, and sorted them by colour, type and plate number. The time of day the plate numbers were recorded and cross-checked with the time of day the burglaries occurred. The 20,000 plate were then narrowed down to 200 plates.

Cross-checking those 200 numbers with cars of residents in the area yielded four plates. It led to the apprehension of the suspects who were using livery taxis to travel to their targets.

“A crime pattern that we couldn’t lock down for three months, we locked down in 30 days,” Ryder said.

The crime analysts unit, which was first organised in 2006, is currently comprised of one person, formerly from the National Security Agency specialising in anti-terrorism, and three analysts – one from the Central Intelligence Agency, who specialised in assessing trends in other crimes, according to Ryder, commanding officer of Asset Forfeiture and Intelligence.

The Intelligence unit develops maps that pinpoint high-crime hot spots in particular communities and direct the allocation of police forces accordingly.

“We map crime data and we map bad guys on parole in those areas,” Ryder said. “We map the dots and we put a cop on the dot.”

The cops put on the dots are members of a Crime Intelligence Rapid Response Team (CIRRT), a mobile team including five detectives, two narcotics detectives, six police officers from different precincts throughout the county, and one detective supervisor. The police officers in the unit are drawn from different precincts for their knowledge of disparate areas.

“CIRRT will bounce around the county directed by intelligence,” Ryder said.

Based on the data accumulated, Ryder said the analysts could predict trends in specific areas like meteorologists predict the weather.

“The state department and the U.N. bring visitors in to see what we do,” Ryder said, noting that representatives of Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Italy had come to visit in the past 18 months.

It appears the hierarchy of the Nigeria Police had something close to the Nassau example in mind, when it decided to set up the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) as a highly mobile, elitist, technology-driven, fully equipped and well-motivated unit, comprising tested and dedicated officers and men drawn from different police units across the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari and former IGP, Solomon Arase, have received commendations for the formation of IRT, and the incumbent IGP, Ibrahim Idris for ensuring its continued operational effectiveness.

Rather than dismantling the key structures set up by his predecessor or replace key actors, IGP Idris sustained Arase’s legacies. He encouraged the IRT by strengthening its operational capabilities.

As for Arase, his singular act of conceiving the idea of the IRT and putting together the human and material resources required to set it up has cemented his place in the annals of the police and the nation at large.

He has, without any doubt, distinguished himself as a forward-thinking and intelligent officer.

Idris In the agenda paper that Arase presented upon assumption of office as IGP, he stated: “Similarly, due to non-engagement of intelligence led policing values, NPF lacks informed operational planning ability. This has resulted in the usual re-active policing practices associated with the Force, the perception by the citizens of police’s operational inefficiency and above all, the usually very huge but avoidable fatalities to police officers on operations. To address this, and in line with best international policing practices, the concepts of intelligence-led policing and community partnership will be adopted as the core policing principle and strategy of this administration.”

The IRT was designed to consume and utilise quality intelligence deployed for special operational intervention in support of State Commands in the management of high-profile and complex cases like kidnapping and armed robbery.

And in a move that clearly established the fact that the decision was not just another public relations stunt by a new police helmsman, who was desperate to justify his appointment, the police hierarchy was very deliberate in the choice of the person to lead the team.

The eventual appointment of Abba Kyari (a Chief Superintendent of Police at the time) as the commander of the IRT, by Arase, will go down as one of the most celebrated appointments not just in the police but the entire country.

Before his appointment as the head of the IRT, Kyari had already established himself as an outstanding and dedicated officer, with a record of cracking many high profile and difficult crimes, during his stint as the Officer-in-Charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) at the Lagos State Police Command.

One of his most celebrated exploits and, perhaps, one that shot him to national prominence, was the arrest, in August 2013, of dare-devil armed robbery kingpin, Abiodun Ogunjobi (popularly called Abbey Godogodo), who was notorious for the ruthlessness of his gang. He is reputed to have killed no fewer than 300 people, including scores of policemen, before his reign of terror was terminated through Kyari’s ingenuity.

And to say that the IRT, like its American counterpart, CIRRT, has justified its establishment would be a clear understatement.

One unique attribute the IRT shares with CIRRT is the capacity it has developed to foil most crimes before they are committed, through the application of superior intelligence.

Cases of successes recorded by the IRT abound.

The most recent exploits, and perhaps of profound significance, is the foiling of a grand design by suspected terrorists to bomb the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, last Boxing Day. The suspect, 43-year-old Abiodun Amos, also known as Senti, was caught with two cartons of explosive devices, 125 detonators and two AK 47 rifles.

Amos, who is a member of a Niger Delta militant group, operating in the creeks of Ikorodu and Arepo areas of Lagos and Ogun States, was also described as an explosives expert, who could assemble and modify large scale Improvised Explosives Devices (IED) for terrorist act.

Judging by the quantity of dynamite recovered from the suspect, there is no doubt about the extent of the carnage, as well as human and economic loss that the attack would have caused. It would have bigger than anything the nation had ever witnessed and would have taken decades for the nation to recover fully from its devastating impact.

But the nation was spared the horror of an unimaginable proportion, all thanks to the novelty and ingenuity the IRT has brought into policing in Nigeria.

It was no surprise then that as soon as this feat was achieved, the Police Service Commission (PSC) hurriedly announced the approval of the pending recommendation by the IGP, Ibrahim Idris, for the accelerated promotion of Kyari to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).

Another equally significant feat achieved by the IRT within a very short period included, the arrest of Zakari Isyaka (aka Zakari Yau), a former associate of Niger Delta militant leader, Ateke Tom, who led a crime syndicate that terrorised the entire north-central region for many years. Until his arrest, he was regarded as the most wanted outlaw in that region of the country.

His gang engaged in armed robbery, assassination and kidnapping, while he also hired out his gang members as political thugs in the region.

A special operation by the IRT led to the eventual arrest of Isyaka, who had already built several mansions in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, where he lives with his nine wives and 15 children and had opened an automobile shop, which he used as a cover for his criminal activities.

Items recovered from him included 15 automatic rifles, one AK47, several AK47 magazines and different calibres of ammunition.

Other successes of the IRT included, the foiled attempt to kidnap Nigerian oil billionaire, Femi Otedola, and the arrest of three members of the kidnap gang, including a serving officer of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps who was personal assistant to Corps Commandant in Oyo State and a dismissed army private, in June, last year; the foiled attempt to rob the Rumuolumeni, Rivers State branch of Access Bank and arrest of two suspects, including a serving police Sergeant and an employee of the bank in connection with the crime, in December, last year.

There was also the arrest of 10 members of the gang that kidnapped the Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele’s wife, Margret, on September 29, as well as the arrest of the three members of the gang that killed the Chief Security Officer of Dangote Group, Mr. Bello Gurama, after taking the N5.6 million ransom he brought for them to secure the release of five kidnapped expatriates working for billionaire Industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

Adepuji writes from Lagos (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

‘Analysis Paralysis Syndrome’ - A Call for Action Bashorun Abiola

I

t is a common knowledge that organizations do not do enough when it comes to implementing plans, decisionmaking and achieving results. Quite often, they spend more time on meetings, analysis, and deliberations – activities that are deemed counter-productive to good governance. As we often say in this part of the world, “common knowledge is not common anymore”. As such, the need to re-reverberate the call for action to “Analysis Paralysis Syndrome”.

The people increasingly look to the government and their leaders to envision, inspire and lead the change, of which they have every right to. So when you ask them about their expectations from their leaders, you will hear each describe the need for a leader who is passionate, inspiring, a creative problem solver, an innovator, someone with the courage to lead, the list is endless - since we know that meaningful change will not occur without leaders who possess the vision, courage and skills to lead the process.

Rather than proffering timely solutions, people in leadership positions - the powerhouse who are saddled with the responsibility of delivering the change keep going back and forth to the drawing board, all the while getting nowhere on important projects and decisions. Delaying action while over-analyzing information clearly does not help when it comes to getting things done. In fact, research has shown that, on average, people spend more than half their work hours receiving and managing information rather than using it to do what is needed to be done.

Consistent with the above is the time spent deliberating in meetings. Past authors have argued that most senior and executive management meetings are mediocre and not necessary, “not about coordination but about a bureaucratic excuse-making and playing politics. Decision makers are now addicted to meetings that insulate them from the work they ought to be doing.”

traditional meetings (formality) create an unnecessary culture of compromise that kill the sense of urgency, in which a false sense of urgency is created – a perfect cover up for inefficiency and laziness. Often times we have heard about meetings / deliberations or proceedings that were canceled or suspended indefinitely and such were never revisited. The question that comes to mind is: what becomes of the time and resources invested in such deliberations?

It gets even worse when government through its bodies: institutions, parastatals, committees, etc. overanalyze a situation than it is usually necessary, the repetitive deliberations, postponements, fact finding missions and many more legitimate ways of doing nothing and getting paid handsomely causes productivity to drop drastically, while the confidence in the system plummet even further. All of these are convenient for the bureaucrats, after all, they know they will get paid, but what happens to the investor who has funds borrowed and tied down. What becomes of his faith? For how long should he continue to service a loan that is yet to be put to effective use? These are some of the questions that beg for answers.

While I appreciate the fact that virtually all meaningful decisions, action plans, strategy etc. must be deliberated on, and important policies and regulations must go through due process, all of this is terrific that one should ordinarily not raise an eyebrow. However, it has become necessary to call our attention to the point of saturation – a state of “analysis paralysis”. It is one thing to learn, explore and absorb all the “experts’” ideas, plans, inspiration and motivation. It’s another thing to take timely actions in the lifespan of what is being acted upon, as whatever decision reached after the lifespan does not count towards anything really! It’s not enough to just call for meetings – closed door or open door, we have to at some point do what is necessary – Action over plans. There comes a time when any more thinking, deliberation and analyzing becomes counter-productive.

As a nation, we just must start to move forward. We can

analyze so much that no decision is made. There are evidences of government’s poor implementation drive all around for example and a lot of pending projects substantiate these. For instance, the reason why a great innovation at birth is yet to materialise is because a bill is yet to be passed into law after six good months of deliberations (half of the financial year). While in some cases, the appointment of committees and sub-committees to oversee a project alone can take the best part of one year. The decision makers in this part of the world do not seem to be in a hurry about anything, particularly when it comes to their primary assignments – decision making. Since the more hours spent on the job attracts more pay all at the detriment of the people counting on the outcomes of the decisions reached.

While I appreciate articles that critique and challenge, I believe that they must include recommendations and suggestions that add to the discussion about solutions. This article raises very important points which merit serious discussion. It is not my intention to mock our society about the lack of professional leadership skills. In order to raise the importance of action over plans and the need for our lawmakers to be more adept, innovative or perhaps be more accountable for their actions / in-actions, we all must play an active role in sounding the alarm that delayed proceedings have led to delayed national growth.

To influence our leaders and decision makers to step up their game, realign, reinvent and change to meet the evolving needs of our nation, we need to raise our voices and call the society’s attention to the possibilities for the future.

In conclusion therefore, it is paramount that the system be completely overhauled and payment of services should be based on work done and corruption that has eaten into the existence of all members of the society must be expunged so as to save a sinking society.

– Abiola is MD/CEO of ZL Global Alliance, Kaduna State

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER • JANUARY 22, 2017

PERSPECTIVE

The Distraction Ambode Does Not Need Hakeem Tenibegiloju

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f there is one thing Governor Akinwunmi Ambode does not need now: it is distraction. Go round Lagos and you will understand that what Lagosians want is for their governor to consolidate on his blooming achievements.

But for some people, they feel the governor can do with some distraction. My take is: he does not need anything of such.

The distraction, this time around, centres around what the governor did on October 19, last year. That day, Ambode dropped three commissioners from his executive council. Those affected are: Mr. Folorunsho Folarin-Coker, who was Commissioner for Tourism; Dr. Mustapha Akinkunmi, who was Commissioner for Finance and Dr. Ekundayo Mobereola, who was Commissioner for Transportation. This development came exactly one year after the governor constituted his Executive Council, precisely on October 19, 2016. Some few weeks ago, Engr. Ganiyu Johnson threw in the towel as Commissioner for Works. After a sustained sixteen years of being in power as permanent secretary, Special Adviser and Commissioner and at about close to seventy years, it is not impossible that the man may not be able to cope with the high developmental pace of Mr. Ambode.

Last year’s October, it was a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello, that expressed the high riding governor’s appreciation to the former commissioners for their service to the state and wished them well in their future endeavours.

Since the incident, there have been murmurings here and there. Now, it has grown louder. Motives have been read into the governor’s action. Mischief makers are accusing the governor of doing away with a particular commissioner because he could not stand his rising profile, among other funny reasons.

But as someone who is no stranger to government circle in the state of acquatic splendor, I can say without fear or favour that the man in question is an embodiment of insubordination, highhandedness and disloyalty. His outright disloyalty to the governor was an open secret. He carried on as if he owned tomorrow and no one could question him. Attempts to make him toe the line were rebuffed with arrogance.

At a point he boasted openly that he was at par with the governor and clearly undermined his authority. Yet this is a man who was almost last year consumed by a major global scandal.

Another of those sacked lost his job to incompetence in the performance of his duty. I heard the governor a number of times had to put him through his tasks. He did many things outside due process, such as approving a contract worth millions of naira without the governor’s approval. The governor had to cancel the contract and tongue-lashed him. Another of the erstwhile commissioners actually collected gratification and was caught and he has gone to the ridiculous level of lying that he was told to come and swear to a secret oath by God knows who. He is just lying just to hide his sordid action that led to his being booted out of office.

Attempts by these former commissioners at trying to paint the governor in a borrowed garb is sure in bad taste. The Ambode I

Ambode know is a decent man who abhors cutting corners and that has shown in where he has led Lagos in less than two years in power.

I had a chance meeting with the governor in Badagry when he led officials of the state government to some form of retreat in the historical term. I had gone there to see an official for a personal matter. It was a delight listening to this man, who Lagosians are getting to know meant his campaign slogan “ Itesiwaju Eko lo je wa logun” - meaning “Lagos’ progress is our key priority”.

One thing that has endeared this man to me is the fact that he is humble amongst people who can help him achieve the Lagos of his dream. He is too busy developing Lagos to have time for stupid murmurings over his actions.

The other day I passed through Abule-Egba and I could not stop saying ‘waoh’ at the massive urban regeneration taking place there. The massive bridge being constructed there is bound to change the landscape of the area and ease traffic. Though I felt sad at the number of homes, businesses and shopping centres that went down as a result of the project, the end, I believe, will be for the good of all. A similar project is also going on at the Ajah corridor, just like the popular Pen Cinema in Agege is also warming up.

To ease the traffic gridlock on the Lekki-Epe Expressway, three roundabouts— the 4th Roundabout (Elegushi); 5th Roundabout (Jakande) and the 8th Roundabout (VGC)—are to be removed.

They will be replaced by traffic lights, expansion of the roads,

provision of dedicated turning lanes and additional lay-bys. The road was constructed to accommodate about 30,000 vehicles per day, but the vehicular movement has now increased to over 50,000 daily The Pen Cinema fly-over bridge that he promised to commence soon will lead to the expansion of the Oba Ogunji Road and create barriers. The project will also accommodate a generous walkway similar to the Ikorodu Expressway and the bridge will have a free flow all the way to Agunbiade.

The pedestrian bridge at the ever-busy Berger Bus Stop on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is already facilitating easy human and vehicular movement.

Since emerging as the governor of Lagos State, Ambode has really turned the state to a huge construction site. From Osodi to Agege to Abule Egba, Okota, Lekki and many others, one major project or the other is going on.

The governor showed the state’s pace-setting status when he inaugurated the first state-owned helipad for medical emergencies.

It is a lifesaving asset critical to the efficient functioning of LASUTH and other emergency services being rendered by the state.

The people on Alhaji Idowu Street, Akowonjo, a Lagos suburb have not stopped praising the governor for helping us break a 35-year-old jinx. Before the governor helped fixed the road, when it rained, things were terrible. Buildings were submerged. Properties got damaged. There were instances where school children got swept away.

Ambode has ended all the woes. We now have a road complete with street lights and well-dredged drainages.

Alhaji Moshood Idowu, who the street is named after, said: “We want to thank the Lagos State Governor Ambode for giving us a lifetime gift. Some businesses have suffered here because of the bad road. The road was so terrible that we could not cross from some point to the other. We have called on all our community leaders to cooperate with the government so that Lagos state will continue to excel than other states. What they have done here is a mega road in a mega city for a mega community. Luckily, we also have a Nigerian who has the interest of the people at heart as the contractor, Bashaul Construction Company. What he has done here is a world class engineering work. In fact, he has given us additional construction which is not part of his contract.

“We are calling on government to also choose capable indigenous contractors who have the interest of the people and will do what is good for us because he is a Nigerian and he is capable. If they give Bashaul Fourth Mainland Bridge, he will perform.

“The contractors are working with so much sincerity; they should be praised. They have done a first class job. The government has also done well. The fixing of our community roads was a dream come true. These engineers are committed to the project.”

Certainly, Ambode seems to be activating his major slogan — Itesiwaju Ipinle Eko Loje Wa Logun— which prioritise the progress of Lagos State.

Biko, let the governor focus and give us the mega city we will all be proud of. Lagos is bigger than a few people’s ambitions.

-Tenibegiloju, a Political Historian lives in Sangotedo, Lagos.

Are Igbos their Own Worst Enemies?

Nicholas Ozor

I

n October 2016, the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzo Kalu, was widely published in the media as stating that Igbos are their own worst enemies. I cannot agree more.

Although the NADECO chieftain and Yoruba leader, Ayo Adebanjo, as well as the fiery Femi Fani Kayode and Femi Aribisala may not align politically with Senator Ahmed Tinubu, they nevertheless rallied around the Jagaban, once the All Progressives Congress (APC) began rendering him an alien in the house he laboured so much to co-build. To them, the Yoruba political survival overrides their personal issues.

My respect for Adebanjo soared when he said “People are expecting me to mock Tinubu and say God has dealt with him over the manner he treated me and other Yoruba leaders, but I won’t do that because what is after six is more than seven”. This is political sagacity.

In the aftermath of the 2011 post-presidential election carnages, I cannot recall any notable northern leader, even of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that reprimanded Muhammadu Buhari, the worrisome public comments credited to him ahead of the election or his failure to timeously speak out against the violence notwithstanding.

On the contrary, the reaction of some Igbo politicians in APC to the providential reemergence of Ekweremadu can best be described as tactless, timid, jittery, and self-centered.

Senator Chris Ngige accused him of stealing an APC position.

But his claim is at variance with provisions of Section 50 of the 1999 Constitution, which the APC benefitted from and hailed when Hon. Aminu Tambuwal defected to its fold and retained the speakership of the House of Representatives. APC still benefits from the emergence of its party men as Speakers of Benue and Plateau States Assemblies in June 2015, despite being in the minority both.

Ngige went a step further by boasting that “There are (however) many ways to kill a rat”. Thus, Ekweremadu’s travails, including the spurious forgery allegation and docking, were all political vendetta possibly with the blessings of his APC kinsmen.

Interestingly, it was not even as if Ndigbo was ever in the APC cabal’s power sharing equation. None of the two APC House of

Representatives members from Imo State was considered for Deputy Speaker or even Deputy Whip. The arrangement was actually as follows: Senate President (Ahmad Lawan, North East), Deputy Senate President (George Akume, North Central), Speaker (Femi Gbajabiamila, South West), and Deputy Speaker (Hon. Mohammed Monguno, North East). North West and South West already had President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Unfortunately, Ngige’s tirades could not fetch him a first grade ministry or the position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). The former Governor, Senator, and experienced surgeon was dumped at the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, aka Aluta Continua.

As for Osita Okechukwu, for all the insolence hurled at Ekweremadu, he ended up as Director-General of the moribund Voice of Nigeria. The Nigeria Television Authority, National Broadcasting Commission, and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria went to 97 percent. Of recent, APC Senators have been canvassing Ekweremadu’s defection to its fold to retain his seat. The spokesperson of the Enugu State chapter of the APC, Mrs. Kate Offor, issued a statement. If she stopped at saying that Ekweremadu was unwelcome, no one would have had problem with that. But it was polluted by name-calling and fallacious allegations. The State Chairman of the APC, Dr. Ben Nwoye, immediately addressed a press conference where he disowned the spokeswoman and warned that no one should use the party’s name to settle personal scores.

However, Osita Okechukwu confirmed the open secret as to the unseen hands behind the serial diatribes when he granted a counter-interview to further insult Ekweremadu and lend support to Kate Offor’s statement. He forgot he was a very close friend of the FCT Administration, Abuja, under PDP. Meanwhile, Osita’s antagonism of Ekweremadu is obviously one driven by jealousy, inferiority complex, anxiety, and ambition. Himself and his likes in the South East APC feel Ekweremadu would practically become the leader of the party in the State and zone if he crosses over. But, good enough, Ekweremadu depicted class and principle when he said he stays put in PDP. Why should he abandon a party he is a landlord for the one he would be a tenant surrounded by petty and insecure co-tenants at home?

Osita has a legitimate ambition to succeed Ekweremadu as

Senator Enugu West Senatorial District, but everyone, except Osita, sees it as a mission impossible against Ekweremadu or whomever he throws his weight behind. Comparing Ekweremadu and Osita will be unfair and an insult to Ikeoha Ndigbo. One enjoys a cult-like followership in the state and beyond; the other is like a masquerade without masqueraders or an aircraft without an airstrip.

Come to think of it, what will attract a discerning Igbo man to the APC, a party that represents extreme hardship and by all means anti-Igbo. Even Ken Nnamani and Jim Nwobodo whose defection or imminent formalization of defection are being celebrated by the Enugu APC still have their wives as members of Enugu State University Governing Council, which they got under the PDP. Indeed, in times like this, the likes of Osita should be contrite for selling to Nigerians a party that has practically collapsed the economy and quadrupled hardship; a party that has no respect for court orders and despises rule of law; and a party under which watch the sanctity of the ballot box has nosedived?

Ndigbo, such as Osita, already caught in APC’s web, should feel sorry for being part of a party that confessed before the world in Washington DC, USA, that it would not treat the South East and South-South fairly for voting against it, and has lived up to that promise. It should bother Osita that those standing trial over the murder of hapless Bridget Agbahime in Kano were let off the hook by the Attorney-General of the APC government in Kano; that the Amnesty International’s allegation that federal forces extra-judicially killed at least 150 unarmed pro-Biafra peaceful activists has not been investigated by the FG; and that while cattle rustlers/stealers in parts of the north are bombed and routed by our fighter jets and military troops, suspected herdsmen plunder, rape, and kill across Igbo Land with impunity without any challenge from the security agencies. Osita was quick to say that Biafra was long dead, but dares not condemn the herdsmen menace or mistreatment and total sidelining of Ndigbo, which fuels pro-Biafra sentiments. Not even a single Igbo soul is good enough to head the Army, Air Force, Navy or Police or Civil Defence Corps.

Osita can continue to play to his masters’ gallery all he wants, but he should bear in mind that the butterfly will never grow into a bird.

-Ozor writes from Enugu

President Trump taking the Oath of Office administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr at the Capital. First Lady Melania holds the bible

THE TRUMP ERA BEGINS A

SPECIAL REPORT

– The Inauguration of Donald J. Trump as 45th President of the United States

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T H I S D AY, T H e S U N D AY N e w S pA p e r • JANUARY 22, 2017

THE INAUGURATION OF DONALD TRUMP

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President Trump taking the oath of office. With him are Vice President Pence and members of the First Family

The Trump Era Begins Donald John Trump is not new to fame. He rides around in his own limousine, has a personal airplane emblazoned with his family name and enjoys holding court in Trump Tower, but all that is different from being inaugurated as the 45th President of the world’s most powerful country, the United States of America, writes Adeola Akinremi in Washington DC

W

ith 35-word presidential oath, and his hands firmly on a childhood bible from his mother to complement the traditional Lincoln Bible, Donald Trump, clad in black suit capped with a red tie adorned a huge smile on his face as the Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr administered the oath on him with words of congratulations.

One of the wealthiest presidents ever to enter the White House, Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States.

A momentous occasion where the shout of the slogan, “make America great again,” erupted from the crowd to serve the billionaire president a reminder of his pact with the people who voted him to office, the inauguration was a spectacle to behold.

It was indeed a moment of celebration for the first family as cheers from a mammoth crowd brought smiles on the

faces of the president’s children.

With a beautiful sky-blue suit dress, Melania, the wife of President Trump, showed elegance and grace. She glowed in a slim-fit custom-designed Ralph Lauren outfit that had bracelet-length sleeves worn with long gloves. Her dress for the occasion evoked the memory of Jackie Kennedy, her own idol.

For the president’s daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany, the choice of white color for their dresses made their appearance distinct on a day their father became the most important person in the United States.

Donning a long, fitted Oscar de la Renta jacket matched with asymetrical hemline and pale pants, Ivanka showed off her fabulous fashion sense. For Tiffany a double-breasted white coat and matching gloves that elevated her posture and carriage did the magic.

It was an unusual day in Washington, the seat of United States Government as security men took over the city to protect it against

intruders on America’s big day.

The crowd that lined up both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue truly made for an electrifying day in Washington. DC last Friday as they watched Trump rode “The Beast” and at some point came out of the limousine to walk through the street for the people to see him closely.

With a fleet of suburban armoured vehicles Trump started his day at St. John’s Episcopal Church across Lafayette Square from the White House.

The private service around followed the ritual of tradition where a soon to be sworn-in president received spiritual strength for his journey.

At the open space in front of the church a small crowd shouted “Trump, Trump, Trump,” as soon as he was sighted by them.

Inside the church, Trump heard the sermon he had long for from the Southern Baptist Church Pastor, Robert Jeffress, known for

A momentous occasion where the shout of the slogan,“make America great again,”erupted from the crowd to serve the billionaire president a reminder of his pact with the people who voted him to office, the inauguration was a spectacle to behold

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President Trump, First Lady Melania and their son, Barron, acknowledging cheers on their way to the White House

The crowd that lined up both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue truly made for an electrifying day in Washington. DC last Friday as they watched Trump rode “The Beast” and at some point came out of the limousine to walk through the street for the people to see him closely his penchant to court controversy.

Jeffress casts Trump Presidency in the same mold as biblical Nehemiah declaring, “God is not against building walls.”

“When I think of you, President-elect Trump, I am reminded of another great leader God chose thousands of years ago in Israel,” Jeffress said. “The nation had been in bondage for decades, the infrastructure of the country was in shambles, and God raised up a powerful leader to restore the nation. And the man God chose was neither a politician nor a priest. Instead, God chose a builder whose name was Nehemiah.

“And the first step of rebuilding the nation was the building of a great wall. God instructed Nehemiah to build a wall around Jerusalem to protect its citizens from enemy attack. You see, God is not against building walls!”

Straight from the church, Trump went to the White House to meet with the Obamas, from where the former president Obama and Trump were locked in a limousine alone on a ride together for the inauguration.

The colorful peaceful transition of power in America with a long day of pomp and pageantry that lasted into the night with three inaugural balls that followed a day of parade truly made President Trump to see himself beyond his real estate business, for which he was famous.

Done with speech-making in which he sent a strong message of “America First” to those who gathered to see him crowned in Washington D.C, and every American resident and citizens in their homes, Trump took charge as the Obamas flew out of Washington, DC, aboard a military helicopter that signaled the end of their residency in White House.

With several Americans in uniform marched past him, he looked exceptionally happy as he savoured the moment with his 10-year-old son, Barron.

Two of the official presidential inaugural balls that Trump and his family attended, Liberty and Freedom, were held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The two

Trump’s children, Ivanka (left), Tiffany, Donald Trump Jr. (right), Eric (right back row) and Barron balls made open to the public costs $50 per person. Sam Moore, The Rockettes, The Jim Gray Orchestra, US Navy, Tim Rushlow and his Big Band, Silhouettes, Pelican212, The Piano Guys, Circus 1903, Cache Olson, Lexi Walker and Erin Boheme, all American singers performed at the balls.

The third ball, a Salute To Our Armed Services Ball, took place at the National Building Museum, where Trump and his wife, Melania danced to Frank Sinatra’s signature song, “My way.”

Historically, Inaugural balls are permanent fixtures of White House social calendar after presidential inaugurations. It has happened since

1809 when James Madison was inaugurated as United States president.

Those who have followed inaugurations and have documented its historical value since 1809 said the inaugural balls serve the first ladies more than the president.

“Their sartorial choices reflect their personal values and have in the past set a precedent for what their husbands’ administrations will come to represent,” reported Time Magazine.

“For both of former President Barack Obama’s inaugurations, First Lady Michelle Obama chose Jason Wu, an openly gay designer who was born in Taiwan, for the gown she wore.”

Timothy Naftali, former Director, Nixon Presidential Library, said “the President and the first Lady represents America,” so what they wear during inauguration matters.”

True, Melania’s appearance at the balls was captivating, elegant, and glamorous with perfect finish as she took her first steps of the dance to “I did my way,” by Frank Sinatra holding her husband. As the night turned into day, Trump resumed to office in White House as he received news about some of his nominees being confirmed by the Senate.

It is definitely Trump’s time, a new era in American politics.

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President Donald Trump signs first executive order to begin Obamacare repeal

Issues That Will Define the Trump Presidency Demola Ojo writes on the likely issues America’s new maverick president will be judged on…

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he newly-inaugurated American President Donald Trump rode to power using unconventional methods, especially making promises that seemed outlandish at the time, with many expecting him to backtrack on several pronouncements made on the campaign trail because of their perceived unworkability. Considering his unpredictability, it has been difficult to project into the future and know for sure what policies he would pursue as president, as he turns long-held political traditions on their head.

One thing is for sure though. More than any other leader in recent history, his campaign promises would be held to the utmost scrutiny, because of their polarizing nature, and also because of the bombast that accompanied them.

From all indications, President Trump is determined to govern as he campaigned - with a combative disregard for long established standards of presidential behaviour and with no clearcut ideology. His presidency will therefore be defined and judged on the issues that he made important and which surprisingly resonated with enough Americans to help him become president.

Knowing that the eyes of the world would be on him from the very start, the performer turned politician has vowed to get to work from “Day One”. According to him, Day One would be Monday (tomorrow) because “…I don’t want to be signing (yesterday and today) and get it mixed up with lots of celebration.”

Economy: Making America Great Again President Trump promised that as president, he will honour the pledge stitched into his white and red baseball caps: Make America Great Again.

One of the ways he intends to do this is to implement the biggest tax cuts since the Ronald Reagan era. The reductions will be across board, promising working and middle-income Americans “massive” cuts.

Trump says he will create 25 million jobs over 10 years, saying too many jobs, especially in manufacturing, are being lost to other countries.

He plans to reduce the US corporate tax rate to 15% from the current rate of 35%, and suggests that investing in infrastructure, cutting the trade deficit, lowering taxes and removing regulations will boost job creation.

To improve the American economy, Trump has zeroed-in on international trade deals he believes are skewed against the US. He relishes the idea of high-profile trade policy fights and might find himself responding to retaliations with counter-retaliations, thus triggering an escalating trade battle with international partners.

His strategy is based on the premise that foreign states would back down before his will, allowing the US to dictate the terms of trade with a stronger hand. If that doesn’t work, however, economists at the Peterson Institution for International Economics estimate that fullscale trade war would send the US economy

into recession and cost millions of Americans their jobs, with the impact especially severe on companies that manufacture machinery used to create capital goods in the information technology, aerospace, and engineering sectors.

Another strategy to boost the economy is Included in Trump’s blueprint for his 100-day plan. It is the passage of the “American Energy and Infrastructure Act.” The legislation is described as a $1 trillion infrastructure investment over the next decade through public-private partnerships and private investments through tax incentives.

His tenure would certainly be judged on the efficacy of his strategy on trade deals and boosting the economy by modernizing infrastructure like he promised.

Replacing Obamacare

President Trump has often stated his desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. He has proposed fully repealing the law and replacing it with health savings accounts.

The Republican Congress is with him on this issue. Early last year, the Senate passed a measure allowing laws to go through with a 51-vote majority, rather than the 60-vote majority usually required. Since the Republicans do not have a 60-vote majority, this measure makes it easier legislatively to repeal Obamacare.

While the law as a whole might be repealed within the first 100 days, it remains less clear how long parts of the law will remain intact,

and what the replacement will be. Trump recently told the Washington Post he wanted the replacement law to include universal coverage but did not reveal any specifics of the plan.

However, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 18 million people could lose insurance if Obamacare is repealed. According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, 47 percent of Americans oppose a repeal of the law, while 46 percent support it.

Immigration: Building The Wall

Immigration was Trump’s signature issue during the campaign. The new President has stood by his call to build an impenetrable wall along the 2,000-plus-mile US-Mexico border, despite criticism that it is unaffordable and unrealistic. He has also called for reductions in legal immigration, ending President Barack Obama’s executive actions deferring deportation proceedings for undocumented migrants.

However, Trump has backed away from earlier calls for the forced deportation of the more than 11 million undocumented migrants living on US soil and temporarily closing the US border to all Muslims.

The President has said border security is one of his first orders of business and that he will sign an executive order on the matter on Day One. Plans are already on to start the project but before any wall can go up, it will have to go through Congress for approval and appropriations, which will slow the process.

President Trump and Republicans in congress

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Considering his predilection to take to Twitter at a whim, more countries will be monitoring his Twitter feed for indications of any shift in policies.

South Korea has already created a new position in its foreign ministry solely to monitor the new president’s tweets are planning to tie funding for the wall to a broader government-funding measure in April, which could make it difficult for Democrats to oppose appropriating money for the wall.

According to CNN, he would not have to seek authorisation for the wall, but rather take advantage of a 2006 law signed by former President George W. Bush that authorised the construction of 700 miles-plus of “physical barrier” on the southern border.

He has repeatedly stated that Mexico would pay for the wall, even though in recent times he has soft-pedalled, saying he would make Mexico pay for it somehow in the future. He has also hinted that he is prepared to water down his plans to build the wall, admitting that it may in fact be part wall and part fence.

In his first televised interview after winning the election in November, Trump vowed to immediately deport up to three million illegal immigrants with criminal records in one of his first acts as president. Immigration could actually be the most defining issue of a Trump presidency.

A crowd of people cheering President Trump while delivering his inaugural address at the Capitol, Washington DC

Foreign Policy: Relations with Russia, China, NATO and the Middle-east

Police battle prostesters on the street of Washington DC during Trump inauguration

Trump has erratically turned US policy on its head with a series of jaw-dropping statements about Mexico, China, Russia and Putin, ISIS, Muslims, NATO, Israel and more.

His degree of affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin is so extreme that it has prompted speculation (taken seriously by Western intelligence agencies) that he may be compromised by blackmail material in the hands of the Russian government.

But it is not unusual for a new US president to take office believing he can forge a better relationship with Putin and turn Russia into a partner for American strategic objectives in the Middle East. Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama started out with such hopes, only to find them dashed because Russia doesn’t want to be junior partner to the United States. Putin seems likely to get a better deal from Trump in the form of sanctions relief and a freer hand in both Ukraine and Syria.

During Senate confirmation hearings, his secretary of state-designate, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson, appeared to confirm Trump’s signals that he would draw closer to Russia while taking a tougher stance against China. This despite the fact that Trump’s choice as defence secretary is the retired General James Mattis, a man known to view Russia with far more skepticism.

Most notably Tillerson, who has his own close network of business contacts in Russia, said that the US would block access by China to islands in the South China Sea, a stance that will undoubtedly raise tensions in a region already considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous.

Still on China, Trump has said in the past he would label the Asian giant a currency manipulator after he takes office. In a recent interview, he said he wouldn’t take that step on his first day in the White House. “I would talk to them first,” he said. “Certainly they are manipulators,” he added. “But I’m not looking to do that.” He also said “everything is under negotiation, including (the) One China” policy.

Analysts believe China will Be Trump’s first foreign policy test as they step up aggressive naval maneuvers around the Senkaku Islands.

Japan controls the inhabited archipelago near Taiwan, but China has been escalating a challenge to the claim, and the dispute has the potential to get ugly. Trump has made clear he wants to scale back American guarantees to defend Japan and others in the region. The Chinese will be eager to flex their muscles in a bid for new elbow room.

Trump’s statements suggesting NATO is obsolete could signal the dissolution of the postwar global order. As president, he may not guarantee protection to fellow NATO countries who come under attack, he has said. In an interview just before the Republican convention last year Trump said America would help only if that country had fulfilled its “obligations” within the alliance.

It marked the first time in post-World War Two era that a candidate for president suggested putting conditions on America’s defence of its key allies. Trump has also threatened to withdraw troops from Europe and Asia if those allies fail to pay more for American protection.

Considering his predilection to take to Twitter at a whim, more countries will be monitoring his Twitter feed for indications of any shift in policies. South Korea has already created a new position in its foreign ministry solely to monitor the new president’s tweets.

Trump has also announced his intention to renegotiate the North American Free Trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. He would cancel participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a controversial trade arrangement with 12 countries, he said.

“Instead, we will negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores,” Trump said in a YouTube video announcing his early priorities.

The TPP, a proposed trade agreement championed by President Obama and aimed at promoting investment and trade links between the 12 countries on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, was a rare instance of agreement on the campaign trail, with both Trump and Clinton rejecting the deal as candidates.

As for President Obama warning to the United Kingdom ahead of the Brexit vote that they would go “back of the queue” in any trade

deal with the United States if they voted to split from the European Union, that is now null and void as well.

Trump has called Brexit a “great thing” and has said he’ll make a bilateral agreement with Britain a priority, saying such an agreement will be reached “very fast” once he gets in the Oval Office.

Trump and Africa: Trade and Aid

The US is the world’s biggest bilateral aid donor. Last year Washington spent $31bn on overseas development assistance, with much of those funds going to Africa. In an interview with the Washington Post, Trump said his presidency will focus on internal programmes rather than overseas aid.

“We have no money for education because we can’t build in our own country,” he said.

“And at what point do you say hey, we have to take care of ourselves. So, you know, I know the outer world exists and I’ll be very cognizant of that but at the same time, our country is disintegrating, large sections of it, especially in the inner cities.”

In all his pronouncements so far, Trump has been relatively silent on Africa. But a four-page list of questions on US policy in Africa, submitted by his transition team to the State Department, raises questions about the continuation of aid programs. Overall, the questions indicate that a Trump administration will not view Africa as a foreign policy priority.

Trump’s team appears to be keen to review and, if necessary, scrap aid agreements and trade pacts with sub-Saharan African countries.

On the plan introduced by George W. Bush to tackle HIV/AIDS on the continent, known as PEPFAR, the Trump team queried: “Is PEPFAR worth the massive investment when there are so many security concerns in Africa? Is PEPFAR becoming a massive, international entitlement program?”

PEPFAR has committed more than $70 billion in funding to fighting HIV/AIDS—as well as tuberculosis and malaria—since 2003. The program has provided life-saving antiretroviral drugs for 11.5 million people.

The president-elect’s team also questioned whether US aid to Africa could be going to the wrong places. “With so much corruption in Africa, how much of our funding is stolen?” the team asked the State Department.

Insiders say Trump views most African states as inherently corrupt and squanderers of foreign aid which will probably mean some reduction in US development programs and a scaling back of pro-Africa trade agreements. The latter could include the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which gives African countries tariff-free access to US markets; AGOA was renewed until 2025 under President Obama.

On a positive note for Africa though, the Trump team is concerned about falling behind in Africa in relation to Chinese investment on the continent. The figures show that Washington has fallen behind Beijing as Africa’s preferred business partner: China overtook the United States as Africa’s top trade partner in 2009, and in 2015, Chinese exports to Africa reached $103 billion, compared to $27 billion in US exports, the Washington Post reported.

If Trump is determined to flex his muscles against China, he would also need to challenge the Xi Jinping-led nation in Africa.

With the US economic presence in Africa receding, China has occupied the void and driven competition out, including many European companies and investors. The Chinese are building infrastructure at a dizzying pace, in exchange for Africa’s mineral resources.

Thousands of Chinese companies are doing business in 50 African countries and Chinese state-owned companies are buying vast swathes of Africa’s arable land to set up large-scale agricultural projects.

In addition to trade, China relies on loans to buttress its presence in Africa. In 2015, during the sixth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in Johannesburg, Chinese president Xi Jinping pledged a whopping $60 billion loan, aid, and export credit package to Africa. Recently, $40 billion was pledged to Nigeria.

To reduce China’s influence in Africa, a Trump-led America would need to step up its contribution to the continents growth. This bodes well for Africa.

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THE INAUGURATION OF DONALD TRUMP

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Trump stands with his family during the Make America Great Again welcome concert at the Lincoln Memorial as part of the pre-inaugural activities

Former President Bill Clinton, his wife, Hillary; former President George Bush Jr, his wife Laura

Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery with Mike Pence to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as part of the pre-inaugural activities

Former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynna

President Trump and First Lady Melania with former President Barack Obama and his wife Mitchelle, just before the Obamas boarded a helicopter to Andrews Airforce Base enroute California

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NEWSXTRA N323bn Road Contract: House C’tee Queries N’DeltaMinistryforWithholdingDocumentation Damilola Oyedele in Abuja

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives has expressed displeasure at the refusal of the Ministry of Niger Delta to submit all contractual agreements, procurement documents and financial details regarding the N323 billion contract for the dualisation of the

East-West Road, Rivers State.

The committee, at an investigative hearing with the officials of the Ministry, berated the officials for deliberately withholding the documents of the contract, particularly those related to fund releases, and outstanding payments, after claiming at an earlier meeting that the documents were ‘available’.

The officials were issued a 48 hour ultimatum to submit all the requested documents, with 40 copies for each member of the committee, chaired by Hon. Kingsley Chinda (Rivers PDP).

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. William Nwankwo Alo, however told the committee members that the documents cannot be re-produced, in

the time limit as the ministry does not have power supply.

“As I speak with you, there is no light in the ministry with which to reproduce the documents for you in 48 hours. We will therefore plead for two weeks, considering the volume of the documents you are asking for and their quality. It is not something we do in a hurry. “

Trump Rally Killing: This Callousness against Igbos Cannot Continue, Says Okorie Vincent Obia

The national chairman of United Progressive Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, has condemned Friday’s shooting by soldiers of a group of unarmed Igbos in Port Harcourt rallying in support of the new United States President

Donald Trump. In a statement yesterday, Okorie said the incident was “yet another cold-blooded massacre of unarmed and defenceless Igbo young men and women.”

A peaceful rally organised by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the

Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) on Friday in the Rivers State capital to celebrate the inauguration of Trump had turned violent when soldiers, reportedly, fired shots at the crowd to try to stop the march.

IPOB, in a statement on Friday, said 11 of the marchers were shot

Lekki Green Zone: Otitoju Wins Locus Standi Case Ugo Aliogo

Justice Jumoke Pedro of a Lagos High Court sitting in Lagos has dismissed the preliminary objection raised by Murhi International Limited against the locus standi of Jukot Ventures, owned

by businessman and former commissioner for information in Ekiti State, Kayode Otitoju, to sue over the demolition of his events centre on the land by the Green Zone in Lekki Phase One in Lagos.

In suit number

LD/2625LM/16 dated May 31, 2016, counsel to Murhi International had sought the court to dismiss the suit brought before the court by Otitoju’s Jukot Ventures claiming that it had no locus standi to institute such suit in the first place.

dead, while 27 others had bullet wounds and 57 people were arrested. But the Nigeria Police claimed there were no fatalities, while unconfirmed sources quoted various casualty figures.

Premium Times Expresses Gratitude for Support, Solidarity Chiamaka Ozulumba

The publishers of popular online publication Premium Times has expressed appreciation to all those who stood by the publication during its recent travails.

In a release signed by the Managing Editor, Mr. Idris Akinbajo, the organisation said, “We at Premium Times hereby express our profound gratitude to all who showed support and solidarity with us when our journalists, Dapo Olorunyomi and Evelyn Okakwu, were arrested by the Nigerian Police Force on Thursday, January 19, 2017. “During those hours when our offices were raided and

colleagues detained, the world rose in solidarity and stood firmly with us, with everyone not only condemning the attack but also calling for the immediate release of our staff members.

“We thank the Nigerian Union of Journalists, civil and human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, clergymen, legal practitioners, political leaders and officials of government at different levels who played roles, openly or discreetly, in ensuring that our colleagues were freed. We thank local and foreign media organisations who reported the event as it unfolded and pressured authorities to do the right thing.”

Dino Melaye New Book for Launching Anayo Okolie

Member of the 8th National Assembly, Senator Dino Melaye, will in a few weeks time, launch his new book ‘Antidotes for Corruption: The Nigeria Story. The book titled: Antidotes For Corruption: The Nigeria Story, starts as an autobiography of Dino Melaye.

Where he talks about his humble beginnings, right to the present position

he occupies as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 8th Assembly, vis a vis the country’s most challenging problemcalledCorruption.

A touchy emotional story that gives detailed interesting accounts of how Dino was born as a miraculous child with ease and success, as told initially by his beloved mother. Then other members of his immediate fam-

ily, as well as old teachers and friends, go on to narrate the circumstances that surrounded his desire to fight corruption after being inspired by two Nigerian late musicians of blessed memory - Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Sunny Okosun: And how their revolutionary and enlightenment songs about the causes, types, effects and remedies of corruptioninfluencedhim.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

SUNDAYSPORTS AFCON: Gabon Set for Showdown with Cameroon

Edited by Demola Ojo Email demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

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ameroon and Gabon will be out to book their places in the knockout stages of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations when they do battle at the Stade de l’Amitié in Libreville this evening. Hosts Gabon have yet to win a game at this year’s showpiece with the Panthers held to successive 1-1 draws.

Following a shock stalemate against AFCON newbies Guinea-Bissau in the opening game of the tournament, Gabon failed to take their chances as they were held to the same scoreline by 2013 finalists Burkina Faso.

Now with arguably their biggest test still to come, head coach José Antonio Camacho will be hoping that his team can finally find their rhythm with pressure mounting on the Spaniard.

Gabon have been dealt a further blow with news that Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina has been ruled out of action for the rest of the tournament, subsequently placing further pressure on the likes of captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Sunderland midfielder Didier N’Dong.

“Failing to beat Burkina Faso was frustrating because we now have to wait for outcome of the Cameroon game. We had several chances but we did not convert them though the players gave their best and attacked piling pressure on Burkina Faso,” Camacho told supersport.com.

“We had hoped for a win but it did not come. I know the frustrations from our fans but we hope to atone despite having a tough fixture against Cameroon.”

He continued: “I am optimistic we will qualify for the quarterfinals even though a lot of pundits have written us off after the draw.

As a coach I have to keep on encouraging and motivating my players to keep the focus

Aubameyang celebrating the tournament’s opening goal against Guinea-Bissau

and work hard on the pitch.”

Cameroon head into the fixture top of Group A with four points - all four teams can still book their place in the knockout stages with Guinea-Bissau sitting on a single point.

The Indomitable Lions were held to a 1-1

draw by Burkina Faso in their opening game before the four-time champions bounced back from an early setback to beat Guinea Bissau 2-1 with goals from Sébastien Siani and Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui securing all three points for the Hugo Broos’ coached

team.

“Being Cameroon, you’re forced to fight until the end and despite the fact we went a goal down, the team reacted well and earned an important win that was simply an amazing comeback,” Broos told supersport.com.

Gyan Sends Ghana Chelsea’s Costa Set for Return against Hull into Quarters

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samoah Gyan headed Ghana into the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations yesterday while Uganda were condemned to an early exit after an agonising defeat to Egypt in Port-Gentil.

Gyan scored the only goal of the first match of the day in a Group D double-header in the Gabonese portcity,securinga1-0winfortheBlackStarsagainst Mali. Four-time winners Ghana, the runners-up in 2015, are one of only two teams to have clinched qualification for the quarter-finals with a match to spare, the others being Senegal.

“In tournaments you need to be winning games and that is what we did today,” said Gyan, who has now scored at six consecutive Cup of Nations tournaments. “We are satisfied about our performance. Whether we play an excellent game or not, at the end of the day we just want to win and move forward.”

After back-to-back 1-0 wins, Avram Grant’s side will secure top spot by avoiding defeat when they play Egypt in theirlast group matchonWednesday.

The teams had been prevented from warmingup on the pitch in order to prevent the damaged surface from further deteriorating, and when the game began it was Ghana who adapted quickest to the conditions. Andre Ayew should have put the ball in the net rather than poke wide from a ChristianAtsu assist, before the goal arrived in the 21st minute. Gyan headed in a JordanAyew cross for his eighth goal at the Cup of Nations -- his first cameonhomesoilin2008--andGhanathensoaked up Malian pressure after the break.

Mali, who were eliminated from the group stage afteradrawingoflotsin2015,mustnowbeatUganda in their last match and hope Egypt lose if they are to stay in the competition.

“The players are disappointed but not completely knocked down. They will be ready to lift their heads forthelastmatch,”saidtheMalicoachAlainGiresse.

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helsea will have Diego Costa available when they host Hull as they aim to stretch their lead at the top of the table today. The striker’s future at the club appeared to be in doubt following a reported row with head coachAntonio Conte amid the backdrop of a £30m-a-year offer from Chinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjian. But after missing last weekend’s 3-0 win at Leicester, Costa now looks set to stay at Stamford Bridge.

“I think the player wants to stay. He is very happy to play with us,” said Conte. “This idea (the move to China) is far in his mind. He’s happy to stay here and this is the most important thing for us.”

Chelsea had little trouble beating Leicester without Costa as two goals from MarcosAlonso helped them returntowinningwaysaftertheirdefeattoTottenham.

The Blues started the weekend seven points ahead of second-placed Spurs, who drew 2-2 with Manchester City yesterday evening, and third-placed Liverpool who lost 2-3 at home against Swansea.

Hull remain in the bottom three despite beating Bournemouth last weekend in Marco Silva’s first Premier League match in charge. Silva, who has overseen two wins and a defeat since replacing Mike Phelan, said: “It will be difficult, but we will go there and look to compete.

“Wewillneedtoproduceagoodteamperformance.

We will have to show our organisation and compete for the full 90 minutes.”

CostaisavailableforChelseaafterabackinjurybutit isunclearwhetherhewillreturntothestartingline-up.

Captain John Terry is also in contention following suspension, but is likely to be a substitute at best.

RobertSnodgrassisaninjurydoubtforHull,having missing training this week due to a muscle strain.

He will be monitored by Silva, while recent signings Oumar Niasse and Evandro could make their full debuts. Midfielder David Meyler is hoping to be in contention after returning to training.

Chelsea are unbeaten in their nine Premier League meetings with Hull (W7 D2), keeping six clean sheets

Rooney Salvages Point for United with Record Strike

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ayne Rooney fired home a spectacular injury-time equaliser to break Bobby Charlton’s Manchester United goalscoring record and force a 1-1 draw with Stoke City in yesterday’s Premier League clash.

Rooney couldn’t have chosen a better way to grab his 250th goal for the club from a free-kick with time running out after United had trailed since the early stages to an unfortunate own goal by Juan Mata.

While Rooney was delighted with his personal record, the point did little to advance United’s title claims as they trail Chelsea by 11 points with the leaders due to play struggling Hull today.

Rooney’s strike was appropriately enough witnessed by 1966 World Cup-winning star Charlton

sitting in the director’s box. “It means a hell of a lot,” said Rooney. “It is a great honour and I am very proud.

“It is difficult at the minute to be over-pleased because of the result but in the grand scheme it is huge honour. It is not something I expected when I joined. As I said before, I am proud and I hope there is more to come.”

United manager Jose Mourinho said the record allowed Rooney to be termed a legend. “The record is the record. It is the record of the biggest club in England and one of the biggest in the world,” said the Portuguese coach.

“Before him the record belonged to a legend of English football. Now Wayne becomes a legend of Manchester United.”

Costa in the process. Hull’s only previous Premier League goal at Stamford Bridge was inAugust 2009, Stephen Hunt giving the Tigers the lead before eventually losing 1-2 Diego Costa has scored in all three of his previous Premier League appearances against Hull, assisting twice.

RESULTS & FIXTURES Liverpool Bournemouth Crystal Palace Middlesbrough Stoke City West Brom Man City Ghana Egypt Southampton Arsenal Chelsea Burkina Faso Gabon

2–3 2–2 0–1 1–3 1–1 2–0 2-2 1-0 1-0 v v v v v

Swansea Watford Everton West Ham Man United Sunderland Tottenham Mali Uganda Leicester 1pm Burnley 3:15pm Hull 5:30pm Guinea-Bissau 5pm Cameroon 8pm

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

High Life

85 with LANRE ALFRED 08076885752

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

Eleganza Boss, Rasaq Okoya, Clocks 77 in Grand Style

•Lagos high society converges to celebrate foremost industrialist

O

n Thursday, January 12, Lagos was charged with the grandeur of the gods, men like gods to be precise, as the coastal city’s high society pulsated to the pomp and charm of Chief Rasaq Akanni Okoya. On that day, the Chairman of Eleganza Group of Company celebrated his 77th birthday at his expansive Oluwa Ni Sola Estate. Peer whose exploits, like Okoya’s, resonate like the extraordinary acts of the gods, thronged his mansion in attired themes of gold and white, to celebrate the life and attainments of one of their own.

Looking dapper in his white danshiki and gold damask, Okoya glowed with contentment and joy as he was surrounded by loved ones, friends and business associates in an intimate festival of appreciation and love.

Okoya, a foremost

industrialist who is also the Aare of Lagos, characteristically, treated his guests to the best of mouthwatering delicacies, wines and deserts.

Prominent dignitaries at the event included the first lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, Princess Abba Folawiyo, Otunba Subomi Balogun and his lovely wife, Oba Tejuoso and his three queens, Prince Adedoyin and his wife, Otunba Adekunle Ojora and his wife, Erelu Ojuolape, Princess Orile Ere, Mrs Asemota, Mrs Maiden Ibru, Nike Makinde, Jumoke Akinjide, Chief Mike Inegbese and his wife, Mary, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, Mrs Bola Shagaya, Ms Nike Osinowo, and a host of others. Music legend, Demola Olota and De Clique Vocals band entertained guests throughout the duration of the party.

Saratu Atta

FEMI FANI-KAYODE’S ESTRANGED WIFE, SARATU ATTA, CLINCHES GHANA’S TOP POST Top Nigerian-Ghanaian socialite, Saratu Atta, has traversed a thousand desolate acres. No thanks to heartbreak

inflicted on her by ex-husband and Nigeria’s former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode. But as you read, Saratu has risen from the depths of her misery to live life in full blast. As gay Chrysanthemum leaves sway merrily to the music of the wind, she is living life with supreme confidence borne of a selfassurance that fate has finally accorded her a comforting glance and good things have come her way. Some days ago, the exwife of Femi Fani-Kayode was appointed the personal assistant to Ghana’s new president, Nana Akufo-Addo. The surprise announcement has since generated excited conversations across the two countries. The 53-year- old Saratu Atta is the daughter of a former governor of old Kwara State, Alhaji Adamu Atta, and a Ghanaian mother. She was briefly married to Femi Fani-Kayode. The two got married in 1987 and had a daughter the same year before their divorce in 1993.

Rasaq Okoya

cry in the wild sky, not anymore.

Where she lies in sweet repose, Iyabo Margaret Durand will never hear the voices of the sweeter birds nor can she hear the pattering of the rain. The prominent society matriarch and foremost educationist is dead. She died days ago, at a private hospital in Lagos,

AND DEATH CLAIMS GREENWOOD SCHOOL BOSS, IYABO DURAND •ACE EDUCATIONIST SLIPS TO THE LAND OF THE SAINTS

She will not hear the bittern

Iyabo Durand

after a protracted battle with a yet-to-be-disclosed illness.

She was aged 72. Durand was the co-founder of highbrow, Greenwood House School, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, which is regarded as one of the most elitist schools in Nigeria.

She was an accomplished educationist and the proprietress of Greenwood House School Lagos. A native of Lagos, she was from the prominent Thomas family of Lagos Island. She was the only full sibling of Sisi Modupe Sagoe, the doyenne of textile business in Nigeria and one of the most formidable society grand matriarchs of the Nigerian society. It is pertinent to note that Durand’s stepmother was the grand-daughter of the late Candido Da Rocha, one of the business moguls who dominated Nigeria’s business sector during the earliest part of last century.

Durand taught at Corona School Ikoyi for 25years after which she left to set up the Green Wood House School in 1995, with her niece, Ekua Titilayo Abudu (nee Sagoe), a successful lawyer and chartered administrator.

Durand is survived by two children, Omolara Onalaja

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JANUARY 22, 2017

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Breast Lump, Failed Marriage, Manslaughter and One Actress …On the trail of Ibinabo Fiberesima

binabo Fiberesima has risen above the abusive hopelessness of everything. She has attained relief perhaps. All her life she never imagined something happening, like an extrinsic event that would alter her life. But something happened, Ibinabo got entangled in a manslaughter charge. Now, after a short spell in prison and serious introspection perhaps, the former silverscreen goddess has attained new enlightenment, like a daffodil bathed in the blaze of the morning sun.

While many celebs would give a limb to be a fodder for the media, Ibinabo has had her fill. And now, she has decided to give her media friends something else to talk about.

Sources close to the fair-skinned beauty

revealed that her short spell in prison has turned her into a pious woman.

And that these days, she comes across as born again judging from the way she chants the name of God at every opportunity.

No more is she the mindless club hopper and social butterfly. In a lengthy Facebook post, the mother of three revealed that her two-yearold marriage to Uche Egbuka has crashed. The pair tied the knot at an elaborate ceremony in December 2014.

In the post, she also opened up for the first time about undergoing surgeries to remove lumps from her breast, her pending court case over the death of Suraj Giwa.

The latter died after Fiberesima’s car collided with his car along the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos in February 2006.

and Dayo Durand, and many grandchildren.

FROM OPULENCE TO CHALLENGES! THE VANITY AND SADNESS OF WALTER WAGBATSOMA

•HOW BILLIONAIRE OIL MAGNATE FELL FROM GRACE TO GRASS

He never knew that so large a fortune could have so short a lease. When he did, he had been mowed to rubble by the wheels of vanity. As you read, the truth dawns on Walter Wagbatsoma making him understand that fortune and status are nothing but mirage.

That is why too many people engage in desperate pursuit

Walter Wagbatsoma

of it and end up in a shameful form. This tragic transformation applies to Walter. Just some few years ago, Walter was a very big boy, commanding big and very lucrative businesses deals from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Back then, he enjoyed an illustrious and highly rewarding business relationship with Diezani AlisonMadueke. Then Walter got on the wrong side of Diezani and his fortunes dipped sooner than anyone could imagine.

His travails started shortly after his friendship with former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah. Walter, who had erstwhile enjoyed a cordial and very favourable relationship Alison-Madueke, probably thought his luck had improved when he began to enjoy similar favours and a rewarding relationship with Stella Oduah.

His relationship with the former Minister of Aviation got equally cordial and even more rewarding that the Aviation Minister reportedly awarded him very lucrative contracts to renovate the country’s airports. And that was how his troubles started.

Today, he lost out big time and all his friends and beneficiaries have dumped him like a bad habit. Penultimate Friday, the court convicted Walter Wagbasoma, Ugo-Ndagi, and their company for N754 million subsidy fraud preferred against them by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Ugo-Ndagi slumped

Ibinabo Fiberesima

and fainted when Justice Okunnu was about to sentence her. Wagbatsoma, who is the first defendant, was not in court.

He was arrested in Germany for alleged involvement in a multi-million pounds sterling transaction, and he is currently under house arrest in the United Kingdom (UK). So long.

MOHAMMED BABANGIDA COMES OF AGE

•HIS INSPIRING JOURNEY OF FAILED MARRIAGES AND STEADY GROWTH

Progress and emotional stability are results of the tensile strength of every fair mortal’s disposition. No one

Mohammed Babangida

can increase it by a single ounce except by dint of positive determination and a relentless spirit. Consider the case of Mohammed Babangida, heir to the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) dynasty. Despite the vile drama he has to contend with courtesy his crashed marriage, Mohammed has refused to be cowed and destroyed by emotional trauma. He has certainly come of age. As he clocks 45 in a few days, friends and family are eager to join him in a grand celebration. You couldn’t have forgotten so soon his marital squabbles with his first wife and mother of his four kids. It’s well documented in the media. Mohammed, the Polo loving dude, who apart from owning is own Polo team, the El-Amin Polo Club, that keeps some of the best horses around, he is also a former Director of Unity Bank Plc. He is the Executive Director of El-Amin International Schools, a school that was founded by his late mother, Maryam Babangida; he is also the Executive Chairman of Profile Group of Companies, which comprises of companies in the oil and gas industry, security services, Estate Development & Management. On that day, family members and friends will throw for him a private party that will have selected guests in attendance at his father ’s Hilltop Mansion in Niger state.

REVEALED! THE MAN BEHIND GAIL FAJEMBOLA’S SMILE AND

T H I S D AY, T H e S u n D AY n e w S pA p e r • JANUARY 22, 2017

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HIGHLIFE

Erastus Akingbola Hosts Daughter’s Wedding in Ghana

•Defunct Intercontinental Bank director to treat family and friends to a great time

E

rastus Akingbola is back in the news and this time around, he courts neither scorn or malice. Like the reformed man who finally finds his essence in a life of humility and quietude, Akingbola has decided to toe the often loathed by-pass to the fast lane. This is why he will not be hosting his daughter’s wedding in Nigeria. The former bank chief who was ordered by a court in Nigeria to refund a whopping N165billion, allegedly embezzled by him will be hosting his daughter’s wedding in Accra, Ghana, this weekend. He will be flying many family and friends to the event.

It is not known why the wedding is holding outside Nigeria, but sources disclosed that Akingbola and his wife, Tolulope, had specifically requested a destination wedding and their wish was granted. He’s been through a lot in his career as a banker.

When Erastus was a bank MD, friends worshiped him. But when he was booted out, they left him.

The embattled banker and one-time owner of Intercontinental Bank, is however, unperturbed by his numerous court cases as he rolls out the drums this weekend, in faraway Ghana, to treat his daughter to a grand wedding.

CHARMED LIFE

•ON THE TRAIL OF THE LAGOS BIG GIRL’S HEARTTHROB

You could be forgiven for mistaking Gail Fajembola for a goddess. When she speaks, her words leap from her lips to meld with the rosy glow of her face; then there is the ambrosial scent from her hair which enticingly complements her clinical dress sense and sophistication. She is in truth a goddess.

The half-caste beauty runs an interior design company in Lagos. And she has been around for quite some time. There is no gainsaying Gail Fajembo is ravishingly beautiful. She is lovable too. Little wonder she caught the attention and the love of a Lagos based big boy. The latter pursued her relentlessly, sparing no expense and no gesture until he won her heart

and earned her trust.

With his support, Gail’s business has been flourishing and he has been pampering her with the best luxury that life has to offer. When she celebrated her 50th birthday last year, the undisclosed man spared no expenses in treating her to a grand celebration. The Ondo native is certainly enjoying the best of the good life. She lives in a well-furnished mansion in Banana Island, Victoria Island, Lagos. She is loved and fussed over by a man who is ready to walk on hot coals to prove his love for her. HighLife will publish the name of the business magnate responsible for Gail’s charmed life in due course.

Stay glued to your number one celebrity journal for the disclosure.

MINISTERIAL SACK...

MINISTERS LOSE SLEEP AS PRESIDENCY COMPILES LIST OF WHOM TO SACK •INTRIGUES AS PRESIDENT BUHARI PREPARES TO RID CABINET OF DEAD WEIGHT

Gail Fejembola

Like the proverbial empty vessels, they made the loudest noise as members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.

They promised to be diligent and exceptional. Some of them vowed to build bridges even where there were no rivers. But promises are like pie crust, made to be broken. As you read, some of President Buhari’s ministers have been found wanting and too incompetent for the portfolios entrusted to them at their appointment. Consequently, the president is not too happy with them. Findings revealed that as a result of their inability to deliver and meet specified targets in their respective roles, some of

Erastus Akingbola

Buhari’s ministers would be sacked in 2017. Rather than fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to them, the affected ministers have been busy playing dirty politics and sticking their noses where their attention isn’t needed. And in desperate bid to keep their jobs, they act like stooges and ordinary parlour dogs to the president. Sadly, the electorate are yet to feel their impact in their respective ministries.

This was why President Buhari hinted the Senate of an imminent cabinet reshuffle.

ALL HAIL THE NEW MONEY MAN! WALTER AKPANI ENVIABLE TRYSTS WITH FORTUNE

It is often said that too much money destroys character, corrupts virtue, dishevels morals and feeds the vanities of its random possessors. Thus too many possessors of the legal tender have been found to lose their humanity and souls to its enthralling caprices and vile.

But Walter Akpani is remarkably different. The Managing Director of newly established Providus Bank is immune to the wiles and ravages of money. Unlike too many of his peer that have fallen to money’s devious charms, Walter, who also owns North West Petroleum is invulnerable to the terrifying charms of the legal tender. Despite his intimidating wealth and stature, Walter is hardly goaded to believe himself capable of feats otherwise unachievable if he were of modest means.

The billionaire magnate who lives a life of modesty does not subscribe to the usual vanities that eventually consumes his fellow deep pockets in the circuits of the filthy rich. Even

though his company recently won crude oil contracts from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Walter shies from living out loud.

Notwithstanding, everybody is talking about him. Close friends, family, business associates and even casual acquaintances believe Walter has arrived. They believe that it is only a matter of time before he yields to the charm and grandeur of money. When he does, he will join his peer in the mad dash for private jets, luxury yacht and apartments in posh locations across the world. They believe that the new generation bank boss and oil mogul will discard his garment of modesty very soon but sources close to him argue that no amount of money could make him lose his towering modesty and grace.

Walter Akpani

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MISSILE Sen. Okonkwo to Ndigbo F

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“I urge all Igbo men and women to engage the gear of action now, so that we can detoxify our social space and halt our values slide, for a radical rebirth in integrity and character, a flourish we once loved to share and export.”

– Senator Annie Okonkwo, the President of C21, an Igbo group established to unite the Ndigbo, urging the people of South-east to support the new President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo to ensure the return of Igbos past glory in Nigeria.

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SIMONKOLAWOLE SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

Before the Power Sector Collapses...

T

here is a prank I usually play on my security guy. Anytime I am out of town, I call him regularly to ask about the power situation. He would regale me with tales of how we are burning diesel everyday because power supply is either completely nil or limited to a few hours per day. I will tell him not to worry, that things will change when I return. And truly, power supply always improves whenever I return.

He will marvel at the co-incidence, and I will joke: the minister of power is my friend; I tell him when I am not around and also tell him when I return; so that is why you always see a difference. He will laugh in a way that shows he doesn’t believe me.

Something has changed. I was out of town from December 16 to January 9. Throughout the three weeks, I did not ask him about the power situation. I blanked out completely.

My enthusiasm about Nigeria has reduced dramatically in recent times. I only exchanged “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year” chats with him. But as soon as I arrived, I asked him about the power situation again. He said “it is totally bad”, that they usually “bring it” at 10pm and “take it” around 2am. In 24 hours, he said, we were having only four hours of electricity. He then wickedly asked to me call up the minister. It has since gone from four hours to just two hours. The joke is now on me.

Why is Nigeria descending into total darkness?

The answer you get depends on who you are asking. Government officials say it is because the Niger Delta boys are back in town, hitting pipelines and cutting gas supply to the power generation plants. The investors in the power sector, especially the distribution entities, will tell you that they are bleeding to death because of the prevailing economic realities and that they will soon be buried if nothing is done to make them economically viable. Of course, both sides are correct. However, even if we solve the Niger Delta problem today, we are still nowhere near solving the power crisis.

Before I go too far, I want to draw our attention to certain issues. It is not as if we don’t know already, but maybe if we keep repeating them the message will get to the appropriate quarters and the power sector will truly begin to get the attention it deserves. One, no country has ever developed without power. In fact, electricity is not just a driver of development, it is an indicator of it. Two, no country can develop with generators. The cost is too high (and I say nothing about the pollution). Three, contrary to whatever impression, generating and distributing electricity is not as complex as performing brain surgery. It is about strategy and commitment.

First, I will discuss the political aspect of the electricity problem. I was surprised, maybe pleasantly, when I saw a federal government delegation, led by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, in Gbaramatu, Delta state. I saw it live on TV. I guess they went to “dialogue” with the chiefs on the issue of militancy in the Niger Delta.

Gbaramatu is where Government Tompolo, the militant leader, comes from. Since his controversial “pipeline surveillance” contract was revoked and EFCC declared him wanted, the pipelines have not stopped exploding. Gas supply is cut off each time the bomb goes off, and oil export is reduced. Our economy is on its knees. We can all feel the pains.

I remember entering into a long argument with a member of the Buhari administration on the need to treat the Niger Delta with caution.

You cannot wean Nigeria off oil in four years. It will mean developing an alternative export that will give you billions of dollars in monthly forex

Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power inflow. It won’t happen overnight. I advised that rather than hurt the political feelings of the Niger Delta people, we should have a strategy of engagement; military might should be the last resort. I was called a “pacifist” and asked to shut up, that a section of the country cannot hold Buhari to ransom. The hawks had the upper hand. But I’m glad the doves are now getting heard. Praise the Lord.

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was not an idiot when he decided to engage positively with the militants. Although President Goodluck Jonathan took it to a ridiculous level, you can’t solve the problem with presidential might. The Yoruba will say until a child knows how to handle the gun very well, he should not investigate the death of his father. A proverb says “call a lunatic ‘Your Excellency’ so that he can allow you to go your way”. There is also this one about chasing the fox away before rebuking the hen. All the proverbs I know — African, Chinese, English, name it — point to the fact that you must use tact to deal with a delicate situation.

But then, even if we resolve the Niger Delta crisis today, there are several issues that will still bedevil the power sector. These are economic.

If they are not resolved, we will remain in darkness. Power supply is closer to ground zero and the feelers are that a total collapse is imminent. The cost of doing business for

Contrary to whatever impression, generating and distributing electricity is not as complex as performing brain surgery.

It is about strategy and commitment

distribution companies, known as DisCos, has clearly doubled in the last two years, so they are unable to recover their expenses, much less make profits. The naira has drastically lost weight, the price of gas is firing up the unit cost of power generation and the tariffs cannot be increased at a time Nigerians are groaning under economic stagnation and inflation.

The power sector reform law allows investors to recover their cost and make reasonable return, stating specifically that tariffs should provide “incentives for the continuous improvement of the technical and economic efficiency with which the services are provided”. That goes without saying, in any case: investors don’t put their capital into business for God’s sake. The reality, however, is that because of the tariff structure, it is difficult to improve the power situation. The telecoms sector expanded exponentially after privatisation because the operators made money and re-invested. The power sector version is producing opposite results.

According to industry figures, GenCos invoice DisCos based on market rates — about N68 per kwh of electricity — while DisCos sell to consumers at averagely N25. That is a loss of N38 per kwh. No business can survive that burden.

The current tariffs were fixed when naira was 197/$1. Today, the exchange rate is anywhere between N305 and N500. Costs have more than doubled. Gas, the major component of power generation, is priced in dollars and is relentlessly pushing skywards. It is practically impossible for Nigeria’s energy supply industry to recoup the basic costs of generation and distribution.

Stagnation, or regression, is inevitable.

The multi-year tariff order (MYTO) was developed as part of the power sector reform to address the issue of pricing in a scientific manner. The model projected inflation rate, exchange rate, power generation, estimated energy allocation, and cost of generation and transmission to arrive at tariffs that would enable investors recoup their investment over a 10-year period. The basic idea behind MYTO was economic viability. MYTO is long due for a comprehensive review in line with current realities, but who will bell the cat? With the economic situation in the country, it is clear that MYTO cannot be reviewed now — for political reasons.

What is the way out? This is a multiple choice question. The options are (a) Allow the energy chain to charge economic tariffs so that they can invest properly and improve the power situation — although this has a huge political cost (b) Reacquire the privatised entities and pump government funds into them — and return to the inefficiencies that led to privatisation in the first place (c) Develop a financing solution so that the IFC or World Bank can give long-term funding to the power companies — but the government will have to show more seriousness which is asking too much as things stand (d) Do nothing — and watch the power sector collapse completely.

There is actually a fifth option which is being canvassed: subsidise the sector so that they can breathe easy under increasing costs, while the investors work out how to raise the needed funds for capital investment. The consumers will be protected from tariff hike — after all, fuel subsidy is apparently back with crude oil selling at $58 — but you really have to wonder where the government will get the money from.

Even with subsidy, the DisCos have to improve their network and metering. NERC, as sector regulator, will also have to crack down on energy theft and non-payment of bills. Something has to be done urgently. Tomorrow may be too late.

And Four Other Things...

FAKE NEWS Did you hear the news? US President Donald Trump invited former president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to his inauguration but, in anger, refused to invite President Muhammadu Buhari. The internet caught fire with the “news” and you cannot but be amused by the clicks and the responses. People always easily fall for stuffs like this, even when they could have simply inquired from “babalawo” Google about US presidential inaugurations.

Jonathan was not invited. No foreign head of state attended the inauguration. It would have been most unusual for Trump to invite Buhari.

But who cares about facts these days? This is the age of fake news. Alas!

WORRYING TIMES Let nobody be deceived — press freedom is seriously under threat in Nigeria. The arrest of Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, the publisher of online news giant Premium Times, and Ms Evelyn Okakwu, the judiciary correspondent, cannot but remind us of the dark days of military rule. The army chief, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, is complaining that he was defamed

by Premium Times. In civilised societies, libel cases take place in courtrooms, not police cells. Meanwhile, a supposed case of “two fighting” on Lagos streets landed Mr. Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of another activist news site, Sahara Reporters, in front of the Lagos police commissioner. We need to be worried. Ominous.

YAHYA JAMMED The defeated president of Gambia, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. (etc, etc) Yahya Jammeh, attracted global attention with his refusal to vacate office after losing an election to Mr. Adama Barrow.

West African leaders, in trying to persuade him to accept defeat, should have enlisted the services of Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan and Ghana’s John Mahama, incumbents who lost and gracefully conceded. Instead, the mission was led by President Buhari who, as a threetime presidential candidate, never accepted defeat — not even once. Who was Jammeh more likely to listen to? Hopefully, the likes of Jammeh will never rise again. Regression.

THE GIRL CHILD The emir of Kano, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II, has asked wealthy Muslims to stop building mosques and divert the resources to educating girls. He said: “I’m just tired of people coming to me to say I want to build a new mosque. You know, we keep building mosques and our daughters are illiterates.

So, my appeal is that if you really want to help Kano, don’t come to me with a request to build a N300m mosque because I have enough mosques everywhere. And if I don’t have a mosque, I’ll build it myself. If you really want to help, go and educate a girl child in the village.” This should be headline news, but coming from Sanusi, it is not sexy enough for the media. Instructive.

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