Friday 10 February 2017

FG Takes over Troubled Arik, AMCON Says Airline Too Important to Fail Carrier vows to challenge court-ordered take over

Chinedu Eze After months of uncertainty over the fate of Nigeria’s largest carrier, the federal government yesterday finally

took over the management of Arik Air, stating that the decision had become necessary to save the distressed airline, which it said was “too important to fail”.

A statement by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), which obtained a court order to take over the airline, said Arik will now be managed by Captain

Roy Ukpebo Ilegbodu, a veteran aviation expert, under the receivership of Mr. Oluseye Opasanya (SAN).

In justifying the take over of the airline’s management,

AMCON said the action was taken to save the airline, which accounts for about 55 per cent of domestic passenger traffic.

It said its grounding would have caused a major

catastrophe in the aviation sector and the Nigerian economy at large.

“The development will Continued on page 10

Establishment of Beneficial Ownership Register in the Offing to Unmask Real Owners of Companies ...

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Friday 10 February, 2017 Vol 22. No 7967. Price: N250

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After Phone Calls, Saraki, Dogara Assure Nigerians Buhari is in Top Form IBB also speaks to the president, photos of Tinubu, Akande’s London visit released Fayose wishes him quick recovery, CAN demands full updates

Tobi Soniyi, Omololu Ogunmade, Senator Iroegbu, Damilola Oyedele in Abuja and Victor Ogunje in Ekiti The efforts to douse concerns over the health of President

Muhammadu Buhari was taken up a notch yesterday by the leadership of the National Assembly, as they all fell over themselves to relay their phone conversations with the president.

The presidency also

remained unrelenting in its efforts to convince Nigerians that all was well with Buhari, when it posted two photographs on the president’s official twitter handle of the National Leader of the APC, Chief Bola Tinubu, and the

former National Chairman of the ruling party, Chief Bisi Akande, visiting the president in London.

The president, according to a presidency source, was also believed to have spoken on the phone to former military

president, General Ibrahim Babangida.

Buhari, on the advise of his doctors, has been on an extended vacation in the United Kingdom, fuelling speculations about the status of his health.

Joining the bandwagon yesterday, Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara eagerly sent out tweets Continued on page 11

Nigeria’s $1bn Eurobond Records Eight Times Oversubscription, Signposting Investor Confidence

Shames analysts talking down the economy Obinna Chima The federal government yesterday announced that its US$1 billion Eurobond was 780 per cent oversubscribed, demonstrating a strong market appetite for Nigeria.

The government also revealed that the newly established US$1 billion Global Medium Term Note programme will bear interest at a rate of 7.875 per cent and will mature on 16th February 2032, with a bullet repayment of the principal.

The success of the Eurobond is bound to put a lot of analysts, who had expressed concerns that Nigeria’s recent

downgrade by ratings agencies and uncertainty over oil output and currency controls might dampen investor appetite, to shame.

Nonetheless, the yield of 7.875 per cent on the $1 billion Eurobond showed that investors priced in the risk of the credit downgrade by Fitch recently.

Nigeria intends to use the proceeds of the notes to fund capital expenditure in the 2016 budget.

A statement signed by the Director Information in the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Salisu Na’inna Dambatta said: “The Continued on page 11

Buhari Replaces Soldiers with DSS Operatives as Body Guards in Aso Rock... Page 12

ANOTHER PROOF OF LIFE PHOTO...

L-R: Former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande; President Muhammadu Buhari; and the National Leader of APC, Chief Bola Tinubu, standing at the entrance of Abuja House, London, when the APC chieftains visited the president in London

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Establishment of Beneficial Ownership Register in the Offing to Unmask Real Owners of Companies Tobi Soniyi in Abuja The federal government yesterday in Abuja said it would establish a Beneficial Ownership Register to stop individuals from using illegal business entities to circumvent due process and for money laundering purposes.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) said this in Abuja at a National Consultation Workshop on Beneficial Ownership.

The minister said setting up the registry would ensure that owners of companies bidding for government contracts are known.

Beneficial ownership refers to the real owner of

a company as against the legal owner who is the face of the company.

Malami said that this was part of the national anti-corruption strategy set up to combat corruption in the country.

He said: “Often, companies are registered for the purpose of circumventing due process and for money laundering.

“For instance, research conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on ‘corporate vehicles’ has shown that some business entities exist solely on paper without the requisite obligation to list the real people who actually own or control them.

“In the extractive industry, for example, these business

entities are used to hold extractive rights and provide a channel for transferring extracted resources out of the host countries without paying specified royalties and taxes.”

The minister said that these sharp practices allowed the beneficial owners to avoid responsibility for violation of laws and regulations on labour and taxes.

He stated that a central register of beneficial ownership would make information available to financial institutions in conducting due diligence procedures on their customers and to law enforcement authorities that may require it for investigation purposes.

He also explained that in many jurisdictions, nominee directors or shareholders were used as a conduit to obscure the true identity of the ultimate beneficiaries.

“Obscurity over who is the ultimate beneficial owner of a company can militate against the ability of banks and other financial institutions to conduct effective checks with the attendant consequence that these institutions become unwitting conduits for the perpetuation of financial crimes and corruption.

“For example, investigations into the alleged bribery among leaders of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) revealed how complex networks of

companies were deliberately created to obscure the details of ultimate beneficiaries.”

He observed that the World Bank has estimated that corrupt politicians use secret companies to obscure their identities in 70 per cent of more than 200 cases of grand corruption.

He said the current administration has prioritised the fight against corruption to foster economic development in country, hence the need to ensure transparency and accountability in the business environment.

In his goodwill message, a representative of the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) Mr. Blaire King said it was important to know

those who are benefitting from government contracts directly.

King congratulated Nigeria on becoming the 70th member of the Open Government Partnership and expressed the hope that both the U.S. and Nigeria would share experiences and learn from each other.

Mr. Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) also highlighted the importance of the Beneficial Ownership Register, saying that it was a “game changer”.

According to him, knowing who owns what was critical to transparency in the business environment, particularly as it relates to attracting investors.

the take over so that the airline’s operations would not be paralysed.

“We were served with the court order this morning.

Arik Air will comply with the order. The airline has the right to challenge the order and will challenge the court order.

“We might disagree on certain issues, but we have agreed that Air Air operations should continue and not be paralysed.

“We will make our position known to our various stakeholders and partners, we will challenge this order to the highest level,” he said.

Speaking earlier, the AMCON appointed receiver manager stated that the management of AMCON, having consulted widely with the government, decided to appoint him the receiver manager to superintendent over the affairs of Arik to sustain and improve its services.

He said AMCON would ensure that it supports the airline with people of great knowledge and experience to improve the fortunes of the airline.

Opasanya said he addressed the workers earlier yesterday on the development and the need to keep the airline flying and relevant to the industry, “as there are many Nigerians under the employ of Arik Air”.

He said Arik Air plays a pivotal role in the airline industry in the country.

The receiver manager said AMCON was willing to support the operations of Arik Air, together with the support of the government to meet the essential needs of the company.

He said AMCON would reach out to other creditors of the airline, both foreign and local, in order to secure their co-operation and commitments.

Opasanya added that the mission now was not to talk about the airline’s huge indebtedness, but how to rescue the airline from total collapse.

“The mission is to stabilise

Arik’s operations. Customers of the airline have been suffering. We just want to sustain the operations. Arik is a national pride. This is a rescue mission,” he said.

Also, Captain Ilegbodu said that their mission in Arik was to bring efficiency to the airline.

He said there was a lot of work to be done to stabilise Arik Air, to ensure safety and bring the flight operations of the airline to normal.

Arik Air is the foremost airline not just in Nigeria, but in West and Central Africa.

After the demise of Nigeria Airway, it was the first local airline to acquire brand new aircraft, making it the popular choice for air-weary Nigerian travellers.

Its fleet comprises 28 aircraft made up of two Airbus A330-200s, two Airbus A340-500s, nine Boeing 737-700s, four Boeing 737-800s, one Bombardier CRJ1000, four Bombardier CRJ900s, one Bombardier Q400s, and two Hawker 800XPs. Of the 28 aircraft, the airline operates 26 while two are on charter to third parties.

FG TAKES OVER TROUBLED ARIK, AMCON SAYS AIRLINE TOO IMPORTANT TO FAIL afford Arik Airlines, which is the largest local carrier, to go back to regular and undisrupted operations, avoid job losses, protect investors and stakeholders’ funds, as well as ensure safety and stability in the already challenged aviation sector,” AMCON said.

The AMCON statement also quoted the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika as saying: “We believe that this appointment is timely and will stabilise the operations of the airline.

“This will enhance the long term economic value of Arik Air and revitalise the airline’s ailing operations as well as sustain safety standards, in view of Arik Air’s pivotal role in the Nigerian aviation sector.”

The minister pledged that his ministry would support the new management of the strategic carrier, adding that all the necessary steps had been taken to ensure that there is no undue disruption in Arik’s regular business operations or activities of other stakeholders on account of the recent changes in the leadership and management of Arik Air. “In the same vein, Capt. Ilegbodu, under the receivership of Opasanya, has also assured both staff of the troubled airline and all other stakeholders that his appointment at Arik would among other objectives enhance the value of Arik, improve customer experience, and sustain the safety, reliable and secure operational history of the airline before all those are eroded,” the statement said.

AMCON also stated that Arik Air has been in a precarious situation, largely attributable to its heavy financial debt burden, bad corporate governance, erratic operational challenges and other issues that required immediate intervention in order to guarantee the continued survival of the airline.

It said all these led to the call for the authorities in the country to intervene before Arik goes under like many

airlines before it.

Providing further insight into the state of affairs at the airline, AMCOM said: “Yesterday (Wednesday, February 8, 2017), Arik temporarily suspended its flight operations to the John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, United States, claiming that the two Airbus A330-200 aircraft dedicated to the route had been taken to France for C check at the same time.

“Equally more than eight aircraft are currently grounded at the tarmac, making it difficult to meet their routine commercial flights.

“The myriad of issues confronting Arik Air of late range from confiscation of aircraft due to non-payment of leases, frequent flight delays, and constant fracas between Arik staff and irate passengers at both local and international airports, etc.

“During the last yuletide season, passengers were stranded in airports all over the country due to Arik’s incessant flight delays and cancellations, which negatively affected the preference they enjoy from passengers. You are all living examples of this.

“The airline is so overwhelmed to the extent that the workers’ wages are not paid for several months, leading to occasional confrontation between the management of Arik and different aviation unions in the country.

“It was Arik’s inability to pay its workers for seven months that forced the United Labour Congress (ULC) and Engineers’ Union to recently shut the offices of the airline across the country causing untold hardship to thousands of travellers and embarrassment to the aviation sector in the country.

“Besides owing workers’ salaries, the airline has also not been remitting the taxes of workers to the relevant bodies, thus defrauding the country.

“The airline is also in perpetual default in its lease payments and insurance

premiums, leading to regular and embarrassing repossession of its aircraft by lessors.

“Various class actions are pending against the airline all over the world.”

AMCON assured all stakeholders that the intervention was in the best interest of the general public, workers, creditors, and other aviation interest groups.

Also speaking on the issue, a senior official, who preferred not to be named, informed THISDAY that the intervention was necessitated by the fact that Arik is “too important to fail”.

He said, in addition to the revelations made in the AMCON statement, Arik’s inability to honour its payment obligations to creditors and other suppliers had forced Lufthansa Technik AG, which provides maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to the Nigerian airline, to withdraw its services over unpaid bills of about $20 million.

The official revealed that the airline is currently indebted to AMCON to the tune of N135 billion.

“The AMCON debt does not include another N100 billion owed other creditors,” he said.

He said AMCON and the aviation ministry will be coming up with a holistic plan to turn around the airline.

Some of the measures being considered, he revealed, include the injection of capital into the airline and instituting proper corporate governance on how it is run and managed.

THISDAY learnt that the federal government started making moves to take over Arik last week when Sirika invited Ethiopian Airlines for a meeting on how it would provide technical support to the Nigerian carrier.

It was gathered that the federal government was in negotiations with Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s most successful carrier, to enter

a management contract and take over the day to day running of Arik.

The agreement was to allow the chairman of Arik, Mr. Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide and his family to retain their interest in the airline, but Arumemi-Ikhide will be asked to step down from his executive position.

Ethiopian Airlines, revealed an informed source, has given its nod to the contract, if certain conditions are met.

“What they want to do is akin to the arrangement between the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) and KLM. But it was a mistake to choose European airline then.

“Now government wants to work with a successful African airline and I am very sure it would be a good arrangement,” said source.

THISDAY also learnt that most of the debts Arik Air owes government are guarantees from local banks given to international financiers for the acquisition of aircraft.

It was the guarantees that facilitated the acquisition of the Airbus A340-500 aircraft.

Arik was also said to have used four other aircraft as collateral for loans taken from local banks which all went bad.

All the non-performing loans were taken over

by AMCON and could be converted to equity, effectively making the federal government part owner of the airline.

However, reacting to the take over yesterday, the management of Arik vowed to challenge its removal by AMCON. Making this known, the Deputy Managing Director of Arik, Captain Ado Sanusi said at the airline’s head office in Lagos that Arik has agreed to comply with the court order directing AMCON to take over the management of the airline, but the airline would challenge the decision to the highest court in the land.

He said the airline might disagree with the court order, but has agreed to

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NEWS

Nigeria’s President is Missing in Action For two weeks, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s septuagenarian president, has been out of action, receiving medical treatment in London for an undisclosed illness.

His absence has sent the rumour mill of Africa’s most populous nation spinning, with frequent erroneous reports that the president is dead. The tragedy for Nigeria is that policymaking has been so ponderous during the 20 months since Mr Buhari took office that, dead or alive, it is not always easy to tell the difference.

Under Mr Buhari’s slowblinking leadership, Africa’s largest economy has drifted into crisis. Brought low by the weak oil price, on which government revenues are woefully dependent, the system has been starved of dollars. That has driven businesses into the ground, people on to the margins and the economy into its worst recession in 25 years. What had been a growing middle class is being daily eviscerated.

High inflation, especially for food, is damaging the poor in whose name Mr Buhari ran for office.

There are signs that Nigerians — among the most resilient and adaptive people on the continent — are losing patience. This week, there were small, but rowdy, protests in Lagos and Abuja, at which demonstrators complained about their “missing president”.

There is an irony that Mr Buhari, a retired major general, is missing in action. He ran the country as a military ruler in the mid-1980s after seizing power in a coup. In civilian guise, his leadership style has verged on the invisible. After winning power in 2015 on the fourth attempt at the ballot box, he set out at a pace that has marked his presidency: it took him six months to name a cabinet. Hopes that he had surrounded himself with a lean team of capable technocrats empowered to get policy cranking have come to naught. Policymaking — such that it is — has been crafted instead by a tiny cabal of loyal, less qualified, stalwarts. Mr Buhari has failed to articulate anything approaching a vision.

During his campaign, Nigeria’s soldier-turnedpolitician promised to train his sight on three main objectives: to improve security, crack down on corruption and diversify the oil-dependent economy. Progress on the first two has been patchy, and on the third dismal.

On security, Mr Buhari has managed to galvanise a demoralised army and make gains against Boko Haram, a terrorist organisation that had been metastasising beyond its northern base. Boko Haram has been pushed back into a north-eastern redoubt and across the border into Cameroon and Chad. But that displacement has been offset by security flare-ups elsewhere,

Buhari

VIEW FROM ABROAD most seriously in the Niger Delta where militants have been sabotaging oil production.

Mr Buhari’s anti-corruption drive can be boiled down to a few symbolic gestures and a few high-profile cases against members of the previous administration. Yet, systemically, little has changed.

The confused exchange rate

policy — in which the central bank doles out scarce dollars at an advantageous rate — is a recipe for opacity. The dollar shortage is killing off industry rather than nurturing it.

Seventy per cent of Nigeria’s 170m people were not born when Mr Buhari was last running the show, so they might not notice that his

policies are stuck in the same 1980s groove. Statist and redistributionist by inclination, he finds himself in charge of a dysfunctional state and an economy with few revenues to recirculate.

To be fair, Mr Buhari inherited a dire situation courtesy of his hapless predecessor, Goodluck

Jonathan. He did the country a service simply by beating Mr Jonathan in an election and sparing the country further wilful misrule. Yet Dele Olojede, a Pulitzer prizewinning journalist, says Mr. Buhari’s government has been “spinning around in circles”.

As well as the president’s flawed policies, he blames a bloated political system in which most of the 36 states (far too many) spend their time grovelling for federal funds.

The mosaic of Nigerian politics is complicated by the need to balance power between north and south and between the plethora of regions and linguistic groups represented in the cabinet. That makes for a parasitic state, not one that can solve problems. “This is a system designed to fail even if you have capable people in charge,” says Mr Olojede, who does not put Mr Buhari in that category.

Nigeria has drifted before, though rarely at a time of such pressing crisis. In 2010, President Umaru Yar’Adua died in office after months in which his illness had been covered up. The man supposedly in charge of the country had been literally sleeping on the job. Mr Buhari may not be as ill as the rumours suggest. Politically, though, rigor mortis set in quite some time ago.

•Culled from Financial Times

AFTER PHONE CALLS, SARAKI, DOGARA ASSURE NIGERIANS BUHARI IS IN TOP FORM to inform the public of their phone conversations with Buhari.

Saraki, in a tweet at 11.35 p.m. Wednesday night, said he spoke with the president on the phone and he was not only in good spirits, but also cracked a joke about his (Saraki’s) penchant for working very late into the night.

Saraki added that he was happy to have communicated with the president.

The tweet said: “Happy to have spoken with @ NGRPresident @MBuhari tonight. He was in good spirits and joked about my working late into the night, as usual. - @Bukolasaraki on twitter Wednesday 8th of February 2017, 11.35 p.m.”

Dogara also said he held a phone conversation with the president on Wednesday night.

In a series of tweets he said: “@MBuhari called me yesterday evening. He talked about what the executive, legislature must do to ensure food security for all Nigerians.

“He said he was pained by the suffering endured by most Nigerians last year and he is resolved not to let the events of 2016 repeat themselves.

“He also asked me to extend his best wishes to all Hon. Members.”

Dogara’s spokesman, Mr. Turaki Hassan, in a statement, said the president called the speaker at about 9.20 p.m.

Wednesday night and “they spoke for about five minutes”.

But just as Nigerians were trying to take in the tweets from Saraki and Dogara, two proof of life photos of the president hosting Tinubu and Akande in London were released by the presidency on Buhari’s official Twitter handle @NGRPresident.

In one of the pictures, Buhari sat beside Tinubu on a sofa while Akande sat on a separate sofa to the president’s left.

The picture was captioned, “President @MBuhari receiving party leaders, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande, in Abuja House

London.”

The second picture illustrated with the sentence, “Visit over, President @ MBuhari sees off his guests, Abuja House London, this afternoon,” showed Buhari seeing off his two guests.

The president and his guests were smiling as if one of them had just shared a joke.

The photographs were meant to lay to rest speculations over the president’s health.

Yet, the cynicism over his health continued to rear its head, when the Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose wished Buhari well and a “quick recovery”.

Fayose, one of the most virulent critics of the administration, asked Nigerians to pray for the president to get well soon, so that he can return on time and resume work.

Speaking with reporters at the Government House, Ado-Ekiti yesterday while hosting the General Overseer of Champions Glory Assembly

Church, Pastor Joshua Lasisi, Fayose said: “I want to equally join Nigerians to pray for the president and ask God to give him good health.”

He also advised the presidency to ensure it gives accurate information on the health of the president so as to stop the spread of nasty rumours.

“The best thing we should all realise is that the presidency owes Nigerians accurate information about the situation of things.

“Otherwise people would continue to spread one rumour or the other.

Nigerians demanding for truthful and accurate information about the president’s health from the presidency are right because the moment you assume such a position, your life has become public.

“So, we should let Nigerians have the accurate information about the whereabouts of Mr. President. At the same time, Nigerians too should be praying for the president.

Nobody has control over health challenges.

“The only thing they are doing wrongly is hiding the facts from Nigerians,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on the presidency to update Nigerians on how Buhari is fairing and the full progress of his recovery.

In a statement issued yesterday by the association’s Director of Legal and Public Affairs, Mr. Kwamkur Samuel, CAN also expressed deep concern over the “ongoing national conversation on the absence of the president due to ill health”.

“We wish to call on all Nigerians to join hands in prayers for the quick and full recovery of Mr. President and his safe return to Nigeria instead of dwelling on the needless rumour mongering on the president’s health.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is human, hence subject to health challenges sometimes.

“CAN appreciates the

anxiety of Nigerians to hear Mr. President speak, but sues for understanding as we await that. It is very clear that our leader is passing through health challenges.

“We advise the presidency to update Nigerians on how he is fairing and the full progress of his recovery,” CAN said.

It called on all Christians and God-fearing Nigerians to dedicate time to pray for the president and the nation.

“We owe our leaders prayers and support at all times while shunning divisive opinions that only generate strife.”

It also asked Nigerians to give the vice-president who is also the acting president, full support and prayers to lead well.

“We acknowledge that government is a continuum, hence, we call on acting president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to be bold in handling critical state matters and not to be distracted by those who do not wish Nigeria well,” it said.

NIGERIA’S $1BN EUROBOND RECORDS EIGHT TIMES OVERSUBSCRIPTION, SIGNPOSTING INVESTOR CONFIDENCE development was clearly a sign of renewed confidence in the economy which has been hurt by the slump in crude oil prices.”

The notes, according to a statement last night, represented the country's third Eurobond issuance, following issuances in 2011 and 2013.

“The notes were approximately eight times oversubscribed with orders in excess of US$7.8 billion compared to a pre-issuance target of US$1 billion,

demonstrating strong market appetite for Nigeria.

“This is despite continued volatility in emerging and frontier markets and it shows confidence by the international investment community in Nigeria’s economic reform agenda.

“The offering attracted significant interest from leading global institutional investors.

“The notes will be admitted to the official list of the UK Listing Authority and available to trade on the London Stock

Exchange’s regulated market,” the statement said.

In addition, the federal government will apply for the notes to be eligible for trading and listed on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The pricing was determined following a roadshow led by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin

Emefiele; Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr. Abraham Nwankwo; and Director General of the Budget Office, Mr. Ben Akabueze.

Commenting on the successful pricing, Adeosun said: “Nigeria is implementing an ambitious economic reform agenda designed to deliver long-term sustainable growth and reduce reliance on oil and gas revenues while reducing waste and improving the efficiency of government

expenditure.

“At the heart of the agenda is a commitment to invest in developing Nigeria’s infrastructure through a target 30 per cent annual budget commitment to capital expenditure.

“We are establishing the building blocks for long-term growth and making the hard decisions that must be made to reset our economy appropriately.”

Nwankwo said: “Nigeria is delighted to have successfully

priced its third Eurobond issue.

We have successfully extended the tenor of our borrowing programme in the international capital markets to 15 years, at a price that reflects belief in the quality of Nigeria’s cash flows and government.

“The Eurobond is the latest step in a broader debt strategy designed to significantly re-balance our debt profile towards longer term financing and reduce the burden of interest on our annual budgets,” he stated.

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

PDP Agrees to Work with Other Opposition Parties to Tackle APC Parties plan shadow government

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Ahead of the 2019 general election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reached a working agreement with some opposition political parties to jointly challenge poor governance and dictatorship by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The aligning parties also re-

opened the debate over the validity of the 2014 National Conference as an instrument for genuine national peace and stability by resolving to pursue and ensure its implementation.

At a meeting held last Wednesday night in Abuja under the platform of the United Forum Democrats, the political parties among which are the PDP, Peoples

Buhari Replaces Soldiers with DSS Operatives as Body Guards in Aso Rock Tobi Soniyi in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate removal of officers and men of the Nigerian Army and replaced them with officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) as his body guards.

Investigations revealed that the approval for the removal of the soldiers was given by the president shortly before he embarked on an annual vacation to the United Kingdom where he is undergoing medical check-up.

A source at the DSS headquarters who confirmed the development, told THISDAY that the battle between the two security agencies over whose responsibility to provide protection for the president started soon after Buhari moved into his official residence in Aso Rock in 2015.

The source said there had been a running battle between the former Chief Security Officer (CSO), Abdulraman Mani, and the Aide de Camp (ADC) to the President, Colonel Lawal Abubakar, on which of the agencies should provide close protection to the president.

At first, the president, because of his distrust for the DSS inherited from the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, preferred the company of the army.

While Mani insisted on allowing men and officers of the DSS to protect the president in the inner circle, the ADC was rooting for soldiers to serve as body guards.

The battle between the two aides led to the removal of the former CSO by the president.

Mani, in a memo dated June 26, 2016, countered the ADC insisting that the DSS officials should disregard the ADC’s directive as it was a misrepresentation of the president’s order.

While quoting relevant sections of the constitution which empowers the DSS to carry out such security functions, Mani who copied the National Security Adviser (NSA), the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of the DSS, said the various security agencies at the villa would be educated on their responsibilities.

The memo read in part: “In fact, the issues raised in the aforementioned (ADC’s) circular tend to suggest that the author may have ventured into a not-too-familiar terrain.

“The extant practice, the world over, is that VIP protection, which is a specialised field, is usually

handled by the Secret Service, under whatever nomenclature.

“They usually constitute the inner core security ring around every principal. The police and the military by training and mandate are often required to provide secondary and tertiary security cordons around venues and routes.

“However, all other security agencies, including the army, the police and others, also have their roles to play. It is on this note that heads of all security agencies currently in the Presidential Villa and their subordinates are enjoined to key into the existing command and control structure. They are to work in harmony with each other in full and strict compliance with the demands of their statutorily prescribed responsibilities.

“Meanwhile, joint training programmes and other incentives will be worked out in the days ahead to ensure that all security personnel at the Presidential Villa are properly educated to understand their statutory roles and responsibilities.

“This is with a view to avoiding obvious grandstanding, overzealousness, limited knowledge or outright display of ignorance in future.”

Buhari himself, it was learnt, was more inclined to working with the soldiers than officials of the DSS because of the manner in which the agency treated him during the 2015 presidential election.

The sack of the soldiers this time, our correspondent gathered followed series of complaints from the current CSO, Bashir Abubakar who has not been comfortable with the arrangement of having soldiers as first security aides of the Commander-in-Chief.

Buhari on assumption of duty on 29 May, 2015, dislodged the DSS as first ring security around him and replaced them with soldiers.

According to the source, “protection of the president by body guards is actually the work of the DSS but Mr. President did not have confidence in the service because of the way they treated him during the campaigns.

“The soldiers were moved into the inner circle of the security network while DSS operated at the periphery. This has not gone down well with both services. Mr. President was convinced to reverse this order,” he said.

As at the time of filing in this report, officials of the DSS had taken positions previously manned by the soldiers.

Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the Accord Party, resolved to jointly develop a blueprint for good governance that would lift the suffering and traumatised Nigerians out of the present situation in the shortest possible time.

In a communique issued at the end of the alliance talks and signed by Prof. Jerry Gana, the parties resolved to broaden the base of the opposition so as to constitute an alternative reliable political option for the people.

The parties also resolved to jointly fight to checkmate any bias action by the electoral and security

umpires and to ensure that they act strictly within the dictates and ethics of their profession.

The communiqué read: “That we shall stand united and steadfastly work together in the interest of the vast majority of our people who are now suffering and traumatised by the visionless and dictatorial antics of the government of the day.

“That we shall constitute ourselves into an effective, responsible and fearless watchdog, by mutual agreement broaden the base of the opposition so as to constitute an alternative reliable political option for our people and will therefore ensure that henceforth,

the electoral and security umpires act strictly within the dictates and ethics of their profession.

“That as a positive reaction to the above listed failures of the present regime, and to give hope to all our people, this forum shall work out in detail, in a joint memoranda, a list of basic fundamental requirements necessary for a descent and healthy society that our people eminently deserve and we will jointly endorse those requirements and commit to working assiduously to achieving them in the shortest possible time “We the United Forum of Democrats uphold the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference and are

resolved to work earnestly for its full implementation.

“That we shall work together henceforth in all upcoming elections as we approach 2019 to ensure we enthrone genuine democracy, good governance, respect for the rule of law and put an end to the reign of civilian dictatorship.

“That we are committed going forward to work for the establishment at the centre and in many states as possible people-oriented participatory governments that will entrench the values, ideals and cherished principles of the United Forum of Democrats.”

NO GAIN WITHOUT PAIN

L-R: Minister of Labor and Employment, Dr. Christ Ngige; Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, President, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba; President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Bobboi Kaigama, and others during the protest meeting to the Presidential Villa in Abuja ....yesterday Godwin Omoigui.

Osinbajo in Crucial Meeting with Heads of Anti-graft, Security Agencies Tobi Soniyi inAbuja The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday held closeddoors meeting with heads of security and anti-corruption agencies in the country.

The meeting, it was gathered, was not unconnected with the resolve of the federal government to strengthen the fight against corruption.

Among those who attended the meeting which lasted for about two hours in the office of the Acting President were the

Inspector General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Ekpo Nta and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami.

What was discussed at the meeting was however, not made public.

The anti-graft agencies had earlier met with the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari before moving to the office of the acting president for another session.

Kyari also met separately with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emiefele and the Minister of Industry Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enalamah.

Speaking to State House Correspondents after the meeting, the acting EFCC chairman said Nigerians irrespective of their ages must team up with government

to fight corruption which he said was killing the nation’s economy.

He said the current economic recession in the country was due to the high level of corruption.

He said: “I’m asking all Nigerians to join in the fight against corruption. Adults, children, men and women including you journalists.

“Corruption is the greatest menace we are facing in the country. Corruption is responsible for the recession we are witnessing today. So, all Nigerians must join in the fight against it,” he stressed.

Qatar Flight Experiences Burst Tyre on Take off Chinedu Eze Qatar flight from Lagos to Doha was stalled yesterday when one of its tyres burst at the point of take off.

The Boeing 767 aircraft terminated the take off and taxied out of the international runway of the Murtala Muhammed

International Airport, Lagos for the replacement of the tyre.

The incident happened after the Captain of the aircraft had received clearance for takeoff. The aircraft was already about to gather speed for takeoff when suddenly one of the tyre burst with a loud sound.

The pilots later stopped briefly before deciding to taxi the aircraft

back to the terminal where it has earlier departed.

A passenger who was in the aircraft said when the loud noise of the burst tyre was heard, they went into prayers.

“We are held in fear for some time. We thank God that the plane has not gathered the full speed for takeoff, we would

have been saying something else,” the passenger said.

As at the time of filling this report, the plane was still parked at the apron of the international wing of the Lagos airport for repair and certification.

There was no indication the flight would still depart to Doha yesterday.

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COMMENT

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

WHY BUHARI SHOULD NOT DIE NOW (2)

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We should all pray that the president lives long to clear up the mess he has created, writes Emmanuel Ojeifo

rom Enugu to Benue and from Nasarawa to Kaduna, we have watched with utter helplessness the systematic liquidation of human lives with nothing happening to the criminals.

Criminals perpetrate acts of mayhem and mass murder and, instead of dealing with these acts of impunity our leaders find ways of abdicating themselves of responsibility. Where they should act toughly, they vacillate. In the end, we can ask: Why should poor, hapless, hungry, agonising, and grieving citizens – victims of the tragedy of bad leadership – care if their leaders live or die when those leaders themselves care less if their people live or die?

All of these have turned us into a society of numbed feelings, without compassion and empathy, a society that has lost the sense of human sensitivity. What the death wishes for President Buhari by a cross section of the Nigerian public brings to light is the fact that it is difficult to empathise with a leader who had made life a living hell for his people.

It is difficult to empathise with a leader who dips his hands in the public treasury to go for medical check-up in top rate, expensive hospitals abroad, when millions of his people back at home do not have access to basic medical healthcare.

It is difficult to demand empathy from impoverished citizens who cannot afford three basic meals a day, and so have become susceptible to the ravages of hunger, starvation, malnutrition, and disease, when billions of naira are budgeted every year for lavish banquets at the presidential mansion. It is in this country that a former state governor intent on curbing waste in government told the nation at a public broadcast that before he came to Government House, a cow was killed every day for “gubernatorial meals.” Whether this is true or not, we all know what bureaucratic waste, executive recklessness and financial prodigality has cost our nation. Yet, there are hundreds of citizens in that state who cannot remember the last time they had crayfish in their meals.

It is difficult to ask for empathy for a leader who uses public funds to acquire state-of-the-art, bullet proof SUVs in order to circumvent the death traps that our roads have become, when those same roads have cannibalised hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in avoidable deaths. Today, it has become fashionable for many Nigerians to pray that they never travel on our highways on the day the roads are hungry for human flesh and thirsty for human blood. It is merely restating the obvious to say that millions of our citizens are living in dehumanising and subhuman conditions. They feel enraged, sad, sick, tired, frustrated and utterly helpless about the poor state of their lives. Living life to the fullest has been rendered virtually impossible by the hawks and vultures in power. Everything around them smells like decomposing corpse. It is difficult to ask those same dehumanised citizens to feel pain and to

IT IS DIFFICULT TO DEMAND EMPATHY FROM IMPOVERISHED CITIZENS WHO CANNOT AFFORD THREE BASIC MEALS A DAY, AND SO HAVE BECOME SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE RAVAGES OF HUNGER, STARVATION, MALNUTRITION, AND DISEASE

show sensitivity towards their leaders who have presided over the daily funerals of hopeless lives that have been decimated by their poor leadership and bad policies.

Nigeria – to use precise biblical words – is a “vale of tears” and a “valley of the shadow of death.” According to Abimbola Adelakun, “In Nigeria, we eat death for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Life is cheap here and there is little evidence that our leaders think that our lives matter.”

While I do not justify the sadism, inner rage and frustrated helplessness which have led some Nigerians to wish President Buhari dead, I am inclined to think that people wish their leaders dead because they want to do what psychology calls “transference.” They want their leaders to feel the pains that the citizens themselves feel on account of the way they have been treated by those leaders.

In other words, if the leader does not care whether his people live or die, if their lives and their deaths mean nothing to the leader, why should the people want the leader alive? Here, there seems to be a resurgence of a strand of Old Testament theology, which portrays God as the father of the poor and the defender of the oppressed and vulnerable. When kings oppressed their people, the oppressed people only have God to cry to as their last hope for liberation. And the Bible shows us, in more than one place, how God effortlessly eased out kings who trampled upon the lives and rights of their people, instead of serving them.

Even human history is replete with countless stories of nations and their peoples who poured into the streets to celebrate the death of oppressive, sit-tight leaders. As often, death by natural causes is the inevitable coup for leaders who have carried themselves with an air of invincibility and immortality. As human beings, we generally tend to love those who love us and show empathy towards those who have shown empathy towards us. To choose to love those who seem not to love us is a tough decision to make. That is why the command of Jesus to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44) remains one of the highest and most difficult ideals of Christian discipleship. It paradoxically goes against the grain of human reasoning, but that is what makes Christianity what it is.

Instead of wishing President Buhari dead, let us pray that he lives long to clear up the mess he has plunged us into. If he had not won the 2015 presidential election, there are many people who would have said, “Here was the best president Nigeria never had.” Now no one will have any excuse why he could not perform. Hopefully, he gets a second term so that nobody will say he would have changed things had he gotten eight years.

Ojeifo is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE OVER-AGED RUNWAY Chunwike Onike argues that Nigerian engineers and professionals should be empowered by using them more

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uch has been said for and against the closure or non-closure of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja for the reconstruction of the over-aged runway. The closure would start from March 8, 2017 stretching the prescribed six weeks duration to allow for a comprehensive runway reconstruction.

Opinions differ in several instances; some suggesting that the airport should not be closed but that installment over-nightly reconstruction programme be adopted to enable the airport resume operations each following day, and daily until the aged runway is totally reconstructed. This would enable air passengers go in and out of Abuja Airport unaware of the reconstruction efforts going on the runway.

On the other hand however, the Minister of State for Avaition Hadi Sirika assured that before the closure of the Nnamd Azikiwe International Airport, Kaduna Airport would be renovated sufficiently to receive all aircraft and passengers that would have landed at NAIA at closure. And that, in addition to Kaduna Airport renovation, the roads and highway to transport the air passengers from Kaduna Airport to Abuja would be repaired. Also to be improved upon, will be the Kaduna-Abuja rail transportation.

The minister further announced that security along Kaduna-Abuja routes would, in addition, be beefed up. All these pre-closure arrangements are to provide the aircraft passengers with travelling convenience, as they journey by road or rail from Kaduna to Abuja.

Either way: closed or not, the aged airport runway can in either condition be successfully reconstructed.

The advantage of closing the Abuja Airport, over any other option to allow for reconstruction is laudable, though, it is only one. That one advantage, the minister would set to achieve, in my own estimation, is the craft of using one stone to kill many birds. The thought of a closure, would have thrown up challenges deserving to be confronted; especially under the pressure of time constraint to reconstruct the runway, and nearly equal short time to prepare the alternative to NAIA before its closure.

A smart alternative must come readily without delay.

That smart alternative presented itself in the form of getting the Kaduna Airport immediately renovated; ready for use by Abuja bound or departing aircraft and passengers when Abuja Airport runway closes.

But for 24/7 reconstruction programme of the Abuja Airport runway, six weeks reconstruction period could be short. The minister, however, can achieve the objectives if bureaucratic bottlenecks are removed. Who knows whether the speed at which the works will be performed will introduce a new pace in government businesses! Important work addendums to the renovation of Kaduna Airport as alternative runway are the simultaneous incorporation of the repairs of roads and highway leading from Kaduna Airport to Abuja; the augmentation to Kaduna-Abuja rail transportation; and the beefing up of security on the Kaduna-Abuja travelling corridors; all taken by the minister of state in one fell swoop. It can be envisaged that these pre-closure arrangements are to ameliorate the inevitable inconveniences the air passengers using the alternative airport will undergo.

The outstanding effect on completion of these infrastructural works will happily be felt by the general public who will be the ultimate beneficiaries to use the improved facilities. While the air passengers bear the additional travelling burden of cost in cash, time, and discomfiture as the closure lasts.

In the discussion that continued in the Senate, the Minister of Power, Works & Housing, said he preferred “safety” of the passengers over share “convenience” they might enjoy landing in Abuja Airport.

On the face value, the rationale of the Minister would seem to fly. He might have supposed that if the airport was not closed, air passengers’ “safety” might be at risk, because overnight runway reconstruction might leave unattended hazards in process. (This is most unlikely in an engineering procedure.)

The reason, as posited by the minister may not be altogether correct. This is because in any serious engineering construction such as the reconstruction of this runway, whether the airport is closed or not,

“safety” as a matter of serious engineering practice is an irreducible quantity that must be implemented to details. In engineering works environments, safety engineers assess risks associated with the work, and initiate system operational measures to eliminate hazards to or from workforce, machines, materials, and stray objects in the skillful manoeuvring of these work elements. In the calculated work plan, hazards likely to compromise “safety” in the work environment are identified and reduced. For the reconstruction of the runway such as this, therefore, “safety” measures are paramount, and breach is reduced to zero.

What should be of great concern are the steps being taken to ameliorate extreme inconveniences the air passengers would put up with landing at Kaduna Airport instead of Abuja Airport for which the Minister of State has mapped out strategies to tackle.

In conclusion, and in all of these works, where is the Nigerian engineering (not Nigerian engineers per se) competences utilized? Let’s look around the country. Are there no competent Nigerian engineering companies as well as other Nigerian professional companies to be engaged in doing these major works? In a country where heavy engineering jobs in public infrastructure are offered mainly, and perhaps exclusively to foreign companies and paid for by Nigerian governments; reduces the opportunity for Nigerian professional companies to practice and acquire requisite experiences and competences. I have heard some comments saying, ‘these Nigerian companies do not have heavy equipment to handle these super/infrastructure in the country, and therefore Nigerian governments usually prefer foreign companies’. Let’s remind ourselves of certain facts. These foreign companies build, or rather develop themselves in their home countries where they have bona fide citizenship rights and privileges protected under their countries’ laws in the practice of their engineering and other professional trades, to the exclusion of companies of other nationals. Advanced countries are said to be developed because these countries

are strictly developed by their own citizens. They put their engineers and other professionals to task.

Nigeria must of necessity use indigenous engineering companies and Nigerian professional companies to do the jobs for which Nigerian Governments must pay for, promptly, from government coffers. It should also be noted that these foreign companies that are admired in Nigeria, became competent in their countries, before exporting their know-how to Nigeria to seek and compete for jobs among themselves, and paid erroneously, directly from government coffers. Without controversy though, most of these foreign companies stock their work yards with efficient work machines largely procured (bought or hired) from their home countries, the costs of which are invariably, and usually and appropriately put in contract sums.

We are also to remind ourselves that these foreign companies are not the manufacturers of the equipment they use in construction. Nigerian engineering companies if exclusively and strictly patronised by Nigerian governments, could similarly buy or hire these machinery for jobs of any description; and this practice will consequently develop organised, and flourishing machinery/plant hire Markets and businesses in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, it is a high time our governments put their money where their mouths are. This can be done by Nigerian governments using only Nigerian professional companies in doing all the Nigerian public super/infrastructure and pay for same from governments’ treasuries. Such legislated practice will offer Nigerian professional companies necessary protection to practice and gain experiences and competences. The offer of heavy engineering jobs to Nigerian companies however, must be under strict conditions, and supervision that will extract uncompromised work quality standards. Technical courts and tribunals must be set up to try defective works expeditiously; directors and incompetent professionals and accomplices found prosecuting poor jobs must be tried and sent to long jail terms.

Onike, an Engineer, wrote from Gwarinpa, Abuja

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EDITORIAL THE KILLING OF A HIPPOPOTAMUS

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Government could do more to protect the country’s wildlife

he photograph on the front page of The PUNCH newspaper last Sunday of two people sitting atop a hippopotamus killed in Abaji Area Council of Abuja is a very familiar scene which also tells a compelling story of how little we care for the environment. “A hippopotamus has been terrorising Abaji and Kwali communities in Abuja before it was finally killed on Saturday, February 4, close to the River Gurara, by local hunters” written on an online portal which also published the photograph was the only news report about the incident.

Yet considering that this has happened many times before, questions must be asked about the enforcement of our conservation laws.

While we still do not know the circumstances under which the Abuja hippopotamus was killed by the mob which immediately carved out its meat, it is unfortunate that Nigerians are ignoring the threat to the natural ecosystem from acute depletion of some plants and animals while the authorities look the other way. Despite the establishment of protected areas, poachers with sophisticated weapons WE BELIEVE THAT have managed to GOVERNMENT enter many of our NEEDS TO STEM THE Game Reserves, killing OVERHARVESTING AND even endangered POACHING OF WILDLIFE animals, including AND TO PROVIDE Hippopotamus which RELEVANT INFORMATION are protected by Decree No. 11 of 1985.

ABOUT THE PRESENT Essentially because STATUS OF MOST Nigerians have still not HABITATS AND SPECIES understood the importance of environment, there is a lot of ignorance about how losing some species of plants and animals can have disastrous impact on the rest of the ecosystem, since the effects will be felt throughout the food chain. “From providing cures to deadly diseases to maintaining natural ecosystems and improving overall quality of life, the benefits of preserving threatened and endangered species are invaluable”, said the American National Wildlife Federation.

Letters to the Editor

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Instructively, while Nigeria is a signatory to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), poachers have almost striped the nation’s protected game reserves in Yankari, Bauchi State; Okomu, Edo State; Gashaka-Gumti National Park in Adamawa and Taraba States; Cross River National Park and Omo Forest Reserve, Ogun State. Animals that are lucky to survive poachers are trapped and dragged through the streets of cities by herbalists or snake charmers in defiance or in ignorance of laws protecting them. For instance, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has had to warn that the Yankari Game Reserve would soon be empty of animals as it is possible to find meat of Elephants, Roan, Waterbuck and Buffalo in the surrounding markets, all from Yankari.

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THE IMPERATIVES OF THE PROTEST

ast week, lots of dramatic scenarios played out regarding what then was the proposal by the iconic musician Mr. Innocent Tuface Idibia to lead disaffected Nigerians in a nationwide protest against the exorbitant and excruciating costs of living.

Before intellectual buffoons confuse economic adversities with the absurdities of their ability to mortgage their consciences for a pot of porridge advance their arguments that the current government is hamstrung to do much given the widespread corruption that was in place before they assumed office, I will like to say that generally Nigeria has entered economic recession and the costs of living for an average citizen has quadrupled. The cost of the basic necessities of life has skyrocketed even as such social services as public healthcare, public education and public infrastructure have all collapsed. Even so, President Muhammadu Buhari goes to London to see his doctors over simple ailments like ear related hearing complications.

As I punch my keyboard President Buhari is somewhere in the Western World attending to his failing health even when in his first national budget allocated huge amounts of public fund for the Presidential Villa medical centre.

The Presidential clinic got much more money than what was appropriated as capital budget of the health sector of the federation put together. Unemployment and insecurity have become major crises under the watch of the current administration. The administration has so far gone after

egrettably, it was because these unwholesome activities went unchecked that Nigeria was suspended from CITES in March 2008. In 2003, after two gorillas illegally trafficked were intercepted in Kano, international and local conservationists labelled Nigeria a hub in the illegal trade in endangered wildlife.

The two captured female western lowland nine-year-old gorillas were subsequently sent back to their homeland in Cameroon that year to the shame of our country.

It is indeed instructive that Nigeria was once said to have the most diverse population of monkeys and apes in the world, but as its forests have dwindled many animals have been hunted to extinction. Nigeria’s remaining gorillas are from a particularly endangered sub-species of the lowland gorilla: the Cross River gorilla that lives in the rugged mountainous jungle on the Nigeria-Cameroon border. At the start of the 1980s, there were thought to be 1,500 gorillas in the area, but in 2003 the United Nations’ Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP) feared there may be less than 250.

We call on the federal government to do all within its powers to protect the nation’s wildlife by taking its conservation responsibilities more seriously. We also believe that government needs to stem the overharvesting and poaching of wildlife and to provide relevant information about the present status of most habitats and species and other key data that could ease management of these natural resources.

only members of the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party government alleged to have stolen Nigeria blind but has given blind eyes to massive corruption going on even within the Presidency. Senator Shehu Sani captured it aptly when he accused President Buhari of using ‘disinfectant to treat corruption in the National Assembly and amongst PDP members but uses deodorants to treat the corruption going on within the Presidency “. These were the issues that gave rise to the February 6 public demonstrations.

But soon after Tuface Idibia went to the press with his initiative which was a collective decision of some group of very concerned Nigerians, the Nigeria Police Force immediately went into overdrive attempting to muzzle the organisers. The Lagos State outgoing Police Commissioner Mr.Fatai Owoseni fired the first salvo when he arrogated to himself the power to regulate the conduct of public rallies by vowing to stop Mr. Tuface from staging the protest in Lagos State. The police boss claimed that the police must issue a permit before peaceful rallies could go on. The commissioner decided to play out the ‘parable of individual amnesia’ by forgetting the extant Court of Appeal decision which nullified the Public Order Act, a colonial relic of a decree that took away the fundamental freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and movement of the citizenry which are not only recognised by the Nigerian Constitution but by a plethora of international humanitarian laws including but not limited to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Emmanuel Onwubiko, www.huriwa@blogspot.com

HARVEST FM MAKURDI AND ORTOM

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t is a pity that Harvest FM, Makurdi, is serving the interest of the state governor Samuel Ortom instead of being the watchdog of the Benue people.

Recently, Governor Ortom was featured on the radio programme and a line was given to the public to call in and make their views known. Questions were to be asked on issues affecting the people in the state, most especially his policies that seemed to be causing more harm than good.

However, unlike before when politicians would call to unnecessary praise the governor, this time the youths in the state took charge.

Nevertheless, the programme was conducted unprofessionally. I was angry at the unjust and excessive attitude of the presenter who was busying disconnecting peoples’ calls instead of allowing them to express their feelings. The majority of those who called on the programme questioning the governor’s policies were not allowed to continue. Others who called and wanted to know why the governor was still owing the salaries and allowances of workers despite the bailout funds were quickly disconnected and accused of being rude.

As far as I know, the callers on the programme were very careful with their choice of words and were not rude to the governor, not to talk of using abusive words. Besides, Harvest FM broadcast news more on Governor Samuel Ortom as if issues concerning the governor are more relevant than other issues happening in the state and the nation at large. The station gives little attention to the major issues affecting the people in the state. Harvest FM that is owned by the federal government is now a tool in the hand of the governor to propagate his political activism. I am surprised that even when the governor smiles, the station carries it as news. What kind of journalism is that?

I must call on the management and staff of Harvest FM to quickly begin to practice journalism with the pillars of fairness, accuracy, balance and objectivity.

I must commend the people of Benue for beginning to realise that criticism is one of the best ways of controlling those in the position of authority and power. Let’s speak and continue to ask questions till we get satisfied answers.

Awunah Pius Terwased, Mpape, Abuja

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POLITICS

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

PERSONALITY FOCUS

By Their Lies You Shall Know Them The controversy over the health of President Muhammadu Buhari may have further exposed the dishonesty of the government and the ruling All Progressives Congress, writes Shola Oyeyipo

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or the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), it is their best bet that President Muhammadu Buhari returns to the country hale and hearty to continue with the administration of change as anything to the contrary would mean more problems than they can ever imagine. The party, as it has come to be known, may have deceived Nigerians to vote for the party and the president.

The reason is because in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, some Nigerians reckoned that the president was too old for the job he was about to take up at a time like this but his party insisted that he was “as fit as a fiddle”.

Even in face of the prevailing public opinion about the unconfirmed rumour making the around about the president’s health condition, it is obvious that many Nigerians are of the views that it is best he makes good his campaign promises before the expiration of his tenure in about two years and three months from now.

Despite the uncertainty about what is really going on, Nigerians do not wish President Muhammadu Buhari dead. This is simply because Nigerians, irrespective of tribe or faith, want him back to accomplish what he started.

The reason for the above submission is that in the numerous scenarios that have characterised the national leadership of Nigeria, President Buhari is like a man on almost an impossible mission to put Nigeria back on the path to true development.

Aside the promise to fight corruption to a standstill, there were other firsts about the 2015 presidential election that threw Buhari up as the president. It was the first time an opposition party took over power in the nation’s democratic history; it was the first time a president conceded defeat, it was the first time a Niger Deltan president handed over power to a Northerner, it was the first time Nigerians are optimistic that the scourge of corruption would meet its match in the person of President Buhari and many more forward-looking views about the new government.

True to his words, President Buhari is fighting corruption. Though yet to earn any meaningful conviction, the current Nigerian leadership has shown an observable abhorrence for corruption and readiness to stop it.

The problem now is while a larger percentage of the citizenry is groaning under the heavy burden of poverty occasioned by the current recession and some government policies, the president is no longer on hand to steer the ship of state and ensure that Nigerians do not regret giving him maximum support at the poll.

Nigerians are now in the dark. Alas, the people are back on a familiar terrain! Just as the issue gradually built up during the tenure of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua till it was eventually discovered that he had died, the truth about President Buhari’s health condition is becoming more and more a national concern each passing day.

As many would agree, in the absence of concrete fact in any matter generating huge national interest as the president’s state of health, rumour becomes the order of the day and that is exactly the current situation in Buhari’s case. The concerned agencies are not supplying information as they should given the circumstance, so, people have resorted to manufacturing theirs.

The fact that Nigerians are not being carried along on the president’s health status runs

Buhari...only the truth can make a difference

contrary to the position taken by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) when a similar situation played up during Yar’ Adua’s era.

Back then, the spokesperson of the defunct CAN, who is now the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed was quoted to have said: “The ACN has renewed its call on the federal

As the people wish the septuagenarian president quick recovery, it is ideal to underscore the fact that it is only by remaining alive that he can finish what he started and be evaluated on the basis of his accomplishments. It is time to stop the culture of propaganda and lies and continue to drive the information machinery of state on the basis of truth and integrity. That is when change can start to exude some meaning with the people

government to give Nigerians a daily update on the health of President Umaru Yar’Adua to stem the growing rumours surrounding his state of health.”

In the statement, the ACN further said: “The current situation whereby ministers and aides of the president give out uncoordinated information on his health is doing more harm than good.

“Therefore, a daily briefing by the Minister of Information, based on authentic details provided by the president’s doctors, should start forthwith. As we have said many times, the health of the president, as a public figure can no longer be of interest only to his family and friends. Nigerians have a right to know”.

At that time, the party also tasked the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which is the only body with such powers, to commence the process of determining whether or not the late president was still capable of overseeing the affairs of the country.

In actual sense, no one is in doubt that as human, the president can fall sick. In fact, Nigerians are not unaware that their president is an old man willing to make his marks in the annals of the nation’s history, but it is better that President Buhari, his handlers and the APC come to terms with the reality that Nigerians will not quit probing until they know the basic details of his condition.

Was it not same inquisitiveness that prompted Nigerians in London to storm the Nigerian High Commission in UK to demand to see the president while other concerned Nigerians are commenting on the development?

For instance, the president’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina only told Nigerians on January 19 that President Buhari was “on

a short leave which was part of his annual vacation” and that “during the vacation, the president would undergo medical check-ups”.

While the first leave had already brought out his rumoured death on the social media, in another letter to the National Assembly last Sunday, Buhari asked to extend his medical leave thereby increasing the suspicion that all is not well with the Nigerian leader.

Now, anxiety is mounting and rumours are swirling about his true state of health because Adesina, who told Nigerians about the extension of the leave, did not say precisely when the president is likely to return . Except volunteering that he had been advised to run some tests and wait for the result, even as the contention by Mr. Garba Shehu to the effect that the president “is not in any serious medical condition”, no one knows exactly what is wrong with president.

The latest unofficial and unconfirmed but widely circulated rumour about the president’s condition is that he may be suffering from acute prostate cancer that has purportedly reached metastasis stage and that he may be required to stay away for much longer for chemotherapy – in fact, as long as six months.

Efforts to douse the tension, particularly pictures showing that he is alive, including the recent visit by the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun to him in London, may have helped to correct the impression that he is dead. But they have not helped to address insinuations from rumour mills. Some had even said the president is currently suffering a partial stroke and may not be fit to continue as Nigeria’s president.

Truth is that Nigerians don’t wish Buhari dead. The only problem is that as usual with his administration, government is deliberately keeping the nation in suspense on the matter and the convergence of public opinion is that Nigerians deserve to know more. It is only by so doing that the president would garner public sympathy and support from Nigerians.

While nothing is likely to suppress the speculations about Buhari’s ability to continue as president, before his medical vacation, many issues were on his table and Nigerians were looking up to him to address them.

Not only were the issues of corruption allegation against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) acting Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. David Lawal Babachir already a national debate, all eyes were the president to resolve these issues one way or the other.

The 2017 budget, the appointment of a substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Niger Delta militancy and genuinely addressing the problems of the region, ending the Boko Haram insurgency, violent Fulani herdsmen, sustained calls for independent state of Biafra, dwindling national economy, falling value of the naira against the dollar, rescuing and reuniting more Chibok girls with their parents and a lot of other burning issues are still on the front burner.

Fact is, irrespective of the rumours, Nigerians are hopefully waiting to see the change promised by the APC reified. Therefore, as the people wish the septuagenarian president quick recovery, it is ideal to underscore the fact that it is only by remaining alive that he can finish what he started and be evaluated on the basis of his accomplishments. It is time to stop the culture of propaganda and lies and continue to drive the information machinery of state on the basis of truth and integrity. That is when change can start to exude some meaning with the people.

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POLITICS

PERSPECTIVE

Aketi: A New Dawn Beckons With the coming on stream of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu as the Ondo State Governor on Friday, February 24, the state is set to witness yet a new beginning, reckons Amos Oladele

“H

istory has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats”. These immortal words of Bertie Charles Forbes, (1880-1954) publisher and founder of the popular Forbes magazine poignantly captured the myth behind the new dawn about to be heralded February 24, 2017 as Mr. Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu (SAN), is inaugurated executive governor of Ondo State.

For Mr. Akeredolu, aka Aketi, the beckoning hours and moments of great historical reckoning are not just creations of mere happenstances. Rather, they are captivating climax of a chequered political sojourn that has been fraught with unfathomable fortitudes in the course of human history. Today, the dramatis personae behind the political drama unfolding before our very eyes stands tall as he beholds the threshold of history in less than a fortnight to come.

Born 21st July, 1956 in Owo to Reverend J. Ola Akeredolu of the Akeredolu family and Lady Evangelist Grace B. Akeredolu of Aderoyiju family of Igbotu, Ese in Ondo State, Akeredolu started his primary education at Government School, Owo. Thereafter, he proceeded to Aquinas College, Akure, Loyola College, Ibadan and Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro for his Secondary School education and Higher School Certificate respectively.

He attended the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) to study Law, graduating in 1977. He was called to the Bar in 1978. Poised to make a living out of the legal profession, the governorelect co-founded a law firm, Olujinmi & Akeredolu where he is a Managing Partner with Chief Akin Olujinmi, a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice in Nigeria.

Before venturing into active politics, he has been involved in human rights movements which enabled him alongside other like-mind comrades to resist oppression and repression of anarchist governments.

He is amongst the few credible human rights crusaders, who used the instrumentality of law to promote the fundamental human rights of the citizens by holding those in power positions accountable for their actions.

With his track record as a humanist and a progressive lawyer from the radical school of thought, Akeredolu attracted attention to himself globally and nationally.

He was appointed Attorney General of Ondo State between 1997 and 1999. In 1998, he joined the prestigious coterie Club of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He was Chairman of the Legal Aid Council (2005-2006). He has served in several capacities as an eminent legal luminary and an unapologetic human rights crusader of no mean repute.

Indeed, his first attempt at contesting the governorship election in Ondo State in 2011 did not work out as planned due to a multiplicity of factors. Top most on this was the fact that he was throwing his cap into the ring as a first timer, a neophyte kind of who was challenging an already established opposition in the person of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

Not only that, Mimiko who had hitherto been a strong political player in the state was at the time a political force majueure in the politics and politriks of the state having singlehandedly established Labour Party and forced it into political reckoning by winning Ondo State for the young party. Popularly referred to in those days

Akeredolu...governor in 15 days

as Iroko, Governor Mimiko’s political structure and machinery became almost behemoth as they were used to cripple if not suppress opposition.

In 2011, Aketi who rode on the crest of his popularity and high rating as a former President of NBA with outstanding records of achievements in his time had little or no internal resistance in securing his party’s nomination as the flag-bearer of the then Action Congress of Nigeria was passionate about serving his people.

The contest was keen and fierce such that the entire ACN political machinery relocated to Akure, the State Capital to

Not the one to be caught unawares about his mission, vision and conviction, Mr. Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu responded: “I am a man and I am ready to face anything. That has been my approach if you recollect my message when I was running for the presidency of the NBA. My campaign mantra was ‘prosecuting our conviction with courage’.

So for me, whatever the problem maybe, it is one that a courageous person can tackle: ‘A man who has a vision will see beyond today

fight the battle, but all to no avail as opposition elements as symbolized by Dr. Olusegun Mimiko played on the sentiment of the people by denigrating the ACN political national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a fortune seeker, who would install Aketi as a stooge to annexe the oil and other resources of the state for himself.

The Labour Party’s campaign of calumny insinuating that Aketi will be a pawn in the political chess board of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu resonated with the Ondo State electorate who were not disposed to such tendency in any way. Rather than assess and rank Akeredolu from his own stand point as a political juggernaut of immense value and professional pedigree, they saw in him the image of an appendage that would be tied to the apron strings of his political godfathers even after winning the election.

Consequently, he was denied the mandate as they voted Mimiko for a second term in office making it possible for Mimiko to get a second term of office thereby breaking an old-age jinx. However, as events had later unfolded, the loss of 2011 governorship election by Aketi was a blessing in disguise as it led Mimiko to undo himself by alienating the people. He alienated and snubbed the gatherings of those that matter to his continued stranglehold in Ondo State politics. Upon gaining a second term, Mimiko jettisoned most of his loyal faithful and become more practically egocentric and despotic.

However, the second attempt by Aketi at becoming the executive governor of the state in 2016 election was a clear departure from the past. This time around, the silk had so many forces to contend with. Some of these forces emerged from the least expected quarters, as ACN one of the legacy parties that formed APC had so many aspirants.

Matters were made worse as national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who had in 2011 aggressively promoted Rotimi Akeredolu for the state’s governorship slot had shifted loyalty by backing and

throwing support for a younger and newer political entrant, Mr. Segun Abraham for the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidacy. The choice of Segun Abraham by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu pitched the two allies against each another, thereby making them to tactically follow their own different beliefs.

Consequently, Aketi was left on his own to battle with a plethora of gubernatorial candidates within the APC fold. Indeed, it was a trojan battle as the contest was not only fierce but somehow acrimonious between the candidates. Involved in that fierce governorship battle was about 24 APC stalwarts, who wanted same ticket Aketi coveted. It was an exercise that bruised the political ego of some party leaders as well as brought out the courage and perseverance in Aketi.

In one of his several chats with newsmen, a national newspaper reporter once asked him to disclose what motivated him to contest for the governorship of the state despite knowing the parlous financial status of Ondo State and the myriad of challenges on his way.

Not the one to be caught unawares about his mission, vision and conviction, Mr. Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu responded: “I am a man and I am ready to face anything. That has been my approach if you recollect my message when I was running for the presidency of the NBA. My campaign mantra was ‘prosecuting our conviction with courage’. So for me, whatever the problem maybe, it is one that a courageous person can tackle: ‘A man who has a vision will see beyond today”, Aketi revealed.

Asked why he chose to re-contest having failed in his first attempt, Akeredolu the emerging political gadfly had this to say: “It is necessary to have a change in the leadership of Ondo State. Governance in the state has in the last seven years, which will culminate into eight years before the election, been a waste of resources and one is convinced that the time has come for us to make meaningful impacts in the lives of our people and for them to at least have the impact of meaningful governance. To give the people the benefit of good governance so that they can derive the most which you can get from any government”.

With this on his mind, Aketi vigorously campaigned to the electorate going from one nook and cranny to the other. With his humble, humane and self-effacing nature, the renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights crusader-turned politician and statesman appears to have already had his focus and vision well identified and envisioned. This was perhaps the reason Ondo State’s electorate massively voted for him as their governor during the last governorship election.

He proved all bookmakers wrong having hitherto been classified as a political underdog and an orphan. Rather than lose hope when few gave him the benefit of doubts in winning, Aketi courageously trudged on with sure-footedness, routed in an unexpressed but unhidden philosophical conviction of a goal-getter. As stated by Walter Elias “Walt” Disney, an American entrepreneur, Akeredolu was able to prove that “the difference between winning and losing is most often, not quitting”. This precisely was the myth behind the raw courage of the lawyer from the ancient city of Owo. Today, history beckons as plans are in top gear to inaugurate Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu as the next executive governor of Ondo State. More than ever before, Aketi has his eyes set on the horizon and he has over the years prepared and fully equipped himself for this new leadership role.

-Amos Oladele, a media practitioner and brand consultant, is based in Lagos

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T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S NIBOR OVERNIGHT 1-MONTH

A S

A T

NIBOR 18.5083% 16.6507%

3-MONTH 6-MONTH

17.7268% 20.3556%

Group Business Editor Chika Amanze-Nwachuku

Email chika.amanzenwachukwu@thisdaylive.com 08033294157

D E C E M B E R ,

NITTY 1-MONTH 2-MONTH 3-MONTH

15.4261% 15.7513% 16.1576%

6-MONTH 9-MONTH 12-MONTH

1 6 , 19.2703% 20.6120% 22.3006%

2 0 1 6 EXCHANGE RATE N314.77//1US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes Trump’s Trade War Sparks Concern

UNVEILING OUR NEW BRAND IDENTITY

L-R: Chief Operating Officer, Coronation Merchant Bank, Onome Komolafe; Managing Directo/CEO, Abubakar Jimoh; Head, Coronation Capital Markets, Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede; and Head, Enterprise Management, Coronation Merchant Bank, Onayimi Aiwerioghene, during the brand identity unveiling of Coronation Merchant Bank, held at Coronation House in Lagos …recently

AMCON Appoints Ex-Arik Air Deputy MD Aero CEO Chinedu Eze The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has appointed the former Deputy Managing Director of Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi the new Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors.

Sanusi replaces the former Aero boss, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, who is now the Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

Sanusi joins Aero with invaluable wealth of experience and like a twist of fate, Akinkuotu is now heading NAMA where Sanusi left as the Managing Director in 2009, while he replaces Akinkuotu, who left Aero last month.

The spokesman of AMCON, Jude Nwauzor confirmed the appointment and said that

AVIATION since Akinkuotu was given appointment by the federal government the Corporation has to find a replacement for him.

THISDAY learnt that Sanusi’s appointment would last for two years and could be renewed. He will resume work on Monday.

Part of his responsibility is to reposition the airline, which is Nigeria’s oldest carrier, to its prime position as more of its aircraft return to service.

Sanusi, who was also the Head of Flight Operations at Arik Air is said to be best suited for the job of rebuilding Aero and bringing his experience to bear on rejuvenating the airline, which was once the most popular operator in Nigeria’s domestic market.

Sanusi started his flying carrier in Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria where he obtained Commercial Pilot License and a National Diploma in Aeronautical Sciences.

He then proceeded to the United States where he advanced his education and obtained Air Transport Pilot Licence, Certified Flight and Ground Instructor’s license in the following institution in United States: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Flight Safety Savannah GA, University of Southern California, Simuflite Dallas TX North America Training and Development TX, USAir Training center Pittsburg PA Flight Safety International Wichita KS. Sanusi worked for Kabo Air, a local airline as a Senior First Officer and then proceeded

to ExxonMobil as Captain and flight Safety Officer. He then joined Virgin Nigeria as a Captain on the B737 Classic.

He later became the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

He was responsible for managing the entire Nigerian Airspace and succeeded in laying the foundation for a performance base airspace. He worked in collaboration with other parastatals in the aviation industry (NCAT, Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to implement the total radar coverage on the Nigeria Airspace (TRACON).

He designed the blue print of capacity building by organizing training for the Air Traffic Continued on page 20

Illegal Taxes: Customs Agents Accuse Shipping Firms of Violating WTO Convention Eromosele Abiodun The National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) has called on the federal government to take urgent steps to stop the recent additional charges by shipping companies called government & port taxes.

According to the NCMDLCA, the shipping firms are violating the provision of the Convention of World Trade Organisation (WTO) Articles VIII 3(b).

In a petition addressed to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and signed by its national president, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, NCMDLCA said the

MARITIME additional shipping charges was introduced through a circular issued by shipping companies to their customers dated the 28th of October 2016, which they have started to implement.

The customs agents added that the increase captioned ‘Government & Port Taxes’ is charged at N38,000 per container without any government intervention in line with the provision of the legislative instruments and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by all stakeholders.

The provision of the law au-

thorise the carrier to hand over the goods to the consignee at the port of discharge without any cost, as all cost are embodied in the freight paid by importer based on the law.

According to him, “Any other charges introduced by the shipping companies, contravenes the provision of the Convention of WTO Articles VIII 3(b), the domestic laws and regulation, the practice constitutes very high percentage of charges that is not tied to service, which is a contributory factor to the high clearing cost that necessitate the diversion of Nigerian bound vessels to neighbouring West African Ports.”

He added: “The shipping line is an agent to the carrier who are double agent in Nigeria collecting from their principal-(Carrier) and from the Nigeria importers shipping line charges, without any operational cost like the provision of the following: non provision of terminal space, non provision of equipment, non provision of security and non provision of staff etc.

“There is the need to stop the present increase and any other charge that is not tied to services in line the United Nations Convention on Carriage of Goods by sea (Ratification and Continued on page 20

The owner of the world’s biggest container shipping line, A.P. MollerMaersk A/S, has stated that it was concerned about the noises coming from the U.S. that suggest the new administration is moving closer to a trade war with China.U.S. President Donald Trump’s rejection of trade agreements with the rest of North America and Europe has done little to unsettle Maersk’s management.

“But when the talks come to a potential trade war with China, we sit up and listen,” Soren Skou, the chief executive officer of the Copenhagen-based company, said in an interview on Wednesday.

“That would have a very negative effect on our business.”

Maersk, which is trying to split off its energy operations in order to focus entirely on a transport division led by its container shipping line, sawitssharessinkonWednesdayafterreportingafull-yearlosswhen analysts had predicted a profit. Though much of the result was due to one-time impairments, the projection for 2017 also disappointed some investors.The company expects the global shipping market to grow about 2-4 percent this year, helping it increase its profit from freighting goods by at least $1 billion. But a full-fledged trade war between the U.S. and China could ultimately make a mockery of such forecasts. Trump’s rhetoric so far suggests he’s ready for battle, with accusations of currency manipulation being hurled at China. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that if Trump were to impose tariffs against China of up to 10 percent, the country’s exports to the U.S. would fall by as much as 25 percent. That could erode China’s economic growth by as much as 1 percentage point.

BA Offers Passengers Other Options

British Airways in response to the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from March 8, 2017, has provided options to its passengers as it has cancelled all Abuja flights during the period. “We have been informed that the runway at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja will be closed for extensive repairs between March 7, 2017 and April 19, 2017. Unfortunately this means that we have to cancel all flights to/from the airport for that period of time. Customers who are affected are being contacted and offered a choice of three options.The passengers could go for full refund , rebook their flight to/from Abuja to an alternative date when the airport is open (before or after the runway repairs have been undertaken) or rebook their flight to/from Abuja to/ from an alternative city of Lagos or Accra.“We are awaiting more information from the authorities in Nigeria and at this stage we hope that we can restart our normal flight schedules from Heathrow to Abuja on the evening of April 19 and from Abuja to Heathrow the following morning on April 20, 2017. We will update this story as we receive more information about the runway repairs in the coming weeks,” the airline said.

Ethiopian Receives Third Airbus

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest and fastest growing African airline, has announced that it received its third Airbus A350 XWB on February 1st, 2017. The aircraft is named after Erta Ale, a large basaltic shield volcano located in the Afar Region of north-eastern Ethiopia.

GroupCEOMr.TewoldeGebreMariamsaid:“As part ofourcontinuous fleet modernisation program, we have now phased in a third Airbus A350 XWB 900. Both the B-787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A-350 are the most technologically advanced airplanes in the world today and we are highly delighted that we are one of the very few airlines in the world to own and operate both airplanes at their early stage in service. “Ethiopian Airlines customers will have the special privilege of experiencing the superior features and services of both airplanes.

These environmentally green airplanes are enabling us to expand our vast network to new and exciting destinations like Oslo in Norway, Singapore, Chengdu in China, Jakarta in Indonesia, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Antananarivo in Madagascar.”

He said on board this game changing aircraft, passengers would experience the latest high-definition touchscreen personal monitors with even more movies, television series, and audio channels. Passengers will also enjoy the wider seats and larger windows, the lowest twin engine noise level in the skies, advanced air conditioning technology, and full LED mood lighting.

“All I am addressing is that there are other ways of generating foreign exchange without necessarily having to kill ourselves because there is oil,” Economist and lawyer

Eustace Odunze

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T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD AMCON APPOINTS EXARIK AIR DEPUTY MD AERO CEO Controllers and Engineers in the United States. This position in charge of safety of The Nigerian Airspace allowed him to have an insight into safety critical areas of the aeronautical industry including airports management and meteorological services.

Captain Sanusi has a blend of best American training and vast experience in African operation.

He later joined Arik as a Captain on the Boeing 737-NG and became a Trainer, Chief Pilot and now Vice President Flight Operations of the biggest airline in West and Central Africa.

Sanusi’s appointment may lead to the profitability of the airline as reports indicate that AMCON may have lost about N25 billion for taking over the debts of Aero Contractors The airline stopped operations on September 1, 2016 due to lack of operational funds and the inability to pay for maintenance costs of its aircraft taken out for checks.

ILLEGAL TAXES: CUSTOMS AGENTS ACCUSE SHIPPING FIRMS OF VIOLATING WTO CONVENTION Enforcement) Act 2005, WTO Articles VIII and the Various Domestic laws and regulation in Nigeria.”

The Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) had recently accused shipping companies and terminal operators of sabotaging the Nigerian economy by charging fees that are unfounded and increase the cost of doing business at the nation’s ports in favour of other countries.

National President of ANLCA, Olayiwola Shittu made the allegation when the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala Usman paid a courtesy visit to ANLCA in Lagos.

Shittu said shipping companies and terminal operators have increased charges claiming that the NPA has increased its dues.

Some of the charges, he stated, include: shipping due departing charges, facility charge and others.

Group Business Editor

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Crusoe Osagie

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

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

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (Capital Market)

NEWS

Young Entrepreneurs Laud Saraki’s Buy Made- in- Nigeria Campaign The umbrella body of entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Young Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (YEN) has hailed the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki for consistently championing the campaign for patronising made in Nigeria goods.

In a statement, the group also commended Saraki for consistently leading, articulating and promoting practical initiatives that will ignite growth of youth entrepreneurship, create jobs and reduce unemployment in the country.

National President of YEN, Mr. Chris Kohol said the commendation is against the backdrop of a series of positive actions taken by the Senate under the leadership of Saraki, which have the potential to make youth involvement in entrepreneurship more attractive and profitable.

Some of these actions, YEN stated, include the historic amendment of the procurement bill, which makes it mandatory for government agencies to patronise locally made goods.

“The Made in Nigeria Campaign which the Senate President is leading encourages Nigerians to patronise and take pride in locally manufactured goods; and his recent call for youths to take advantage of the Agriculture Financing Bill which the Senate passed not long ago.

YEN added that, “Saraki has

at several public functions and engagement lent his voice as a consistent advocate for youth empowerment. While delivering a keynote address at the 2016 Kings College Founder’s Day Lecture in November 2016, he was equivocal in saying that fruitful engagement of the teeming youths in the country will increase the nation’s productive

capacity and help negotiate an end to the present economic recession.”

Kohol noted that the advocacy and actions which he is driving, using the power of his office will help to create a ready market backed by a strong demand that strengthens existing small scale businesses and, “opportunities for the mil-

lions of unemployed youths to get involved and take charge of their lives.”

His words: “The actions of the Senate President show that he cares about youth development.

This demonstrates that he is a true friend of youths in Nigeria.

We have noted that he never misses a chance to speak about the importance of youths to

national economic development and the need for government to closely engage and carry out programs that will help youths take charge of their lives instead of waiting for white collar jobs that are non-existent. We the young entrepreneurs are happy to see Saraki has made himself a leading National Advocate for Youth Development in Nigeria”.

FOR YOUR PERUSAL

L-R: Managing Director Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman with the Deputy President, Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), Prof. Olukunle Iyanda, FNIM, presenting NIM documents to Bala Usman at the NPA Headquarters in Marina, Lagos...recently

17,000 Farmers Empowered through Intervention Loans in Osun Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo No fewer than 17,000 farmers have benefited from the loan scheme of the Osun Quick Impact Intervention Programme (QUIIP) as part of the comprehensive programme of the Rauf Aregbesola administration to boost agriculture.

A set of 77 farmers’ cooperative groups benefited under the QUIIP I while another set of 419 farmers’ cooperative groups benefited from both QUIIP II programmes. Some of the cooperative groups have as much as over 200 farmers as members.

While the sum of N164, 882.

920 million was disbursed to farmers under QUIIP I programme, N686, 786, 612 million was distributed under the QUIIP II, coming to a total of N851, 669, 532 million.

A statement by the Bureau of

Communication and Strategy signed by its Director, Semiu Okanlawon, quoted the Coordinator of QUIIP, Mr. Dele Ogundipe to have given the breakdown on Tuesday when farmers under the QUIIP programme gathered at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park Osogbo to express appreciation to the government for its massive support for food production and general agric business in the state.

This was just as other heads of agencies told the huge gathering the extensive support programme of the Aregbesola administration since inception.

The Osun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OSSADEC) gave out N250million loan to farmers in 2010 and N500million in 2012.

Also, as part of the massive provision of infrastructure to aid farming, the Rural Accessibility

Mobility Programme (RAMP), constructed for the state 662km rural roads for easy access to farm settlements.

In addition, out of 300km World Bank-assisted programmes, 225km roads had been completed through N12bn World Bank assisted loan where Osun paid a counterpart fund of N2bn. The breakdown was made by the Project Manager of the RAMP, Lere Oriolowo.

However, Aregbesola called on all farmers who had benefitted from the agriculture loans to repay the initial capital so that the money could circulate among other farmers in the state.

The governor expressed concern that only a paltry sum of N364, 693. 21 had been repaid out of N1. 421bn government lent the farmers.

On micro-credit scheme, the governor stated that the government also made soft loan

available for the development of small and medium scale businesses in the state.

He said that the loan was targeted at micro-enterprises such as traders, artisans, market men and women and entrepreneurs.

The General Manager of the Osun Micro-Credit Loans Agency, Dayo Babaranti, had earlier announced that almost 25,000 beneficiaries had benefited from the facilities from the agency.

According to the Governor, the state borrowed N2bn from the CBN and deposited it with the Osun State micro finance Bank for the people to assess at free interest.

Aregbesola said that the government undertook to pay the interest rate pegged at 9 percent by the CBN, which totalled N186 million.

He averred that the interest

people were supposed to pay on the principal borrowing was thus taken up by the government so as to make it easy for the borrowers.

Aregbesola said that against the backdrop of the current economic crisis, the whole country is neck-deep in crisis which only massive agriculture can remedy.The governor therefore made passionate appeal to farmers across the state to stand up and redouble their efforts towards massive engagements in different forms of agricultural practices from poultry to cash and food crops.

Governor Aregbesola noted that the only panacea to the current economic imbroglio is for every serious minded government to rise to the occasion and look for alternative means by exploring the abundant potential in agriculture.

leadership roles in the institute.

He also commended the long standing corporate membership of the NPA in the NIM which he said, dates back to three years after independence.

Iyanda said he was happy that the NPA competed and won the 2016 Mobolaji Bank Anthony awards of the institute.

He commended the awardees and advised the staff of the agency to increase their effective participation. He also appealed to the management of

NPA to take advantage of the various training programmes of the institute to boost the human capacity development of the agency in tandem with international best practices.

Other top management of NPA at the meeting were the Executive Director Finance and Administration Mr Bello Koko, his counterpart in the Engineering and Technical Services Prof. Idris Abubakar and the General Manager, Human Resources Yaya G. Buka.

NPA Partners NIM on Capacity Building Eromosele Abiodun The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has expressed its readiness to partner the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) for effective training and capacity building of its workforce.

The Managing Director of NPA, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman stated this when she received the officials of the institute in her Lagos office. The NIM delegation was led by its Vice President, Professor Olakunle

Iyanda. Bala Usman pledged that the management of NPA would increase its patronage of the institute to train its staff and boost efficiency at ports.

The NPA boss also stressed the need for the NPA and NIM to collaborate on special staff training that would promote mutual benefits in terms of information sharing. The quality of the training the NPA is seeking, Bala Usman said, must also be in line with international best practices. In his speech, Iyanda

said, the institute, founded in 1961, trains Nigerians in various disciplines of human endeavors in states across the country.

The focus, he said, was to assist government agencies like NPA and others to instill prudent and efficient administrative management system.

He gave kudos to NPA for effective participation of its personnel in its training programmes and urged its management to encourage its personnel to take up top

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DFID Urges Businesses to Take Advantage of Opportunities Provided by LADOL Stories by Eromosele Abiodun The Chief economist at the Department for International Development (DfID), Prof.

Stefan Dercon, has called on businesses in the United Kingdom to take advantage of the huge opportunities in the Nigerian economy and the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL).

He stated this yesterday when he led a delegation of DfID officials on a courtesy visit to LADOL LADOL is currently playing host to the fabrication of a $3.8 billion oil and gas logistics service facility commonly known as the Floating Production Storage

and Offloading –FPSO rig, otherwise called the Egina project.

Speaking to journalists on the purpose of the visit, he said, “I am here to get a sense of the opportunity that is available here in terms of industrial development, manufacturing. What we have seen shows the potential that Nigeria has, that the country can overcome all the problems that it has in terms of infrastructure and the way such infrastructure functions. What is happening in LADOL is quite impressive and clearly shows that if people work together at various levels a lot of values can be achieved.

“It is not just here there are

a lot of business opportunities all over Nigeria for British business to come and take opportunity. Entities such as LADOL will give confidence to businesses and investors to take advantage of the opportunities that are in the country. There are plenty of opportunities and I hope more investors will come here to invest. The message I am taking home is that Nigeria is a great opportunity; there are still a lot of things to be done in the economy in micro economic terms to put the country on a good footing.

Once that is done, which I hope it can be achieved in the next few months, investors will have confidence and come here.”

SIFAX Group Boss Canvasses Teaching of Maritime in Secondary Schools Group Executive Vice Chairman, SIFAX Group, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi has implored the federal government to review the country’s educational curriculum to incorporate the teaching of maritime-related subjects at the secondary school level.

Afolabi, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the annual Shipping Career Summit held at the Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos said this is necessary in order to cultivate the interest of the students about the industry at an early stage.

He was represented at the occasion by Mr. Oliver Omajuwa, General Manager, SIFAX Off Dock Limited.

He said: “There are immense economic opportunities in the maritime sector. In view of the dwindling revenue from the oil sector, government needs to take the maritime sector

more seriously. We need to start generating interest about the industry among the next generation by introducing subjects around the industry in secondary schools. Government needs to update secondary school curriculum to take care of this. We should initiate a catch-them-young programme in which students will study maritime in their schools and have the opportunity of visiting various ports for internship and mentoring.”

He further admonished the students to set their priorities right by focusing on their studies in order to achieve academic excellence. He warned that giving room for distractions would compromise their academic excellence.

Earlier in his welcome address, Mr. Bolaji Akinola, CEO, Ships & Ports Communication

Company, said the programme, which is in its 9th year, has succeeded in bridging the knowledge gap between the students and the industry, adding that more secondary school students are now showing greater degree of interest in the industry.

The summit, an initiative of the Ships & Ports Communication Company, is a career guidance session aimed at aiding the understanding of students of the maritime sector as well as exposing them to career opportunities in the industry.

Over 100 students attended the event where they engaged in debate, quiz and other interactive activities relevant to the maritime industry. Various industry experts were also on hand to counsel and encourage the students.

NCS Seme Command Generated N594.19m in January 2017 The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced that it generatedN594.19 million in the month of January 2017.

The Command also said it made 43 seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N92.38 million.

In a statement, the command said the source of the revenue it generated was dominated by imported general goods and baggage assessment using the Passengers Baggage Entry System (PBES) platform.

Commenting on the revenue figure, the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Dimka, V.D said the amount realised is commendable.

He said the ban on the importation of vehicles via land borders has no negative implication to the NCS since no revenue is lost to the federal government coffers.

This, he stated, is because the revenue that supposed to

be collected through the land border is still collected at the sea port without leakages.

He further re-iterated that every officer must ensure total compliance of the policy to succeed.

He said all hands must be on deck to ensure that the success of the policy is intelligence driven with a robust relationship between the border Command and the host Communities.

The Command helmsman enjoined his officers and men to work assiduously as never before to give their best to the service in a challenging time like now.

He re-stated that as the busiest land border command that is strategically located along the corridor that link other West African Countries, the Command cannot afford to fail because much is expected from the border Command.

He assured that the command will continue to perform her

statutory functions of revenue generation, facilitation of legitimate trade, combating of smuggling activities across the frontier and securing the Nation’s territorial integrity among others.

He said the anti-smuggling Unit of the command is already frustrating the attempt of smugglers who dare to try the might of the Government in smuggling fairly used vehicles through the land border.

The Customs Area Controller had during the visit of the Assistant Comptroller General of Customs Zone ‘A’ ACG Abueh, M.N to Seme Area Command, lamented the absence of facilities (Baggage hall, Parking space, Examination bay, Functional Scanner etc) that led to operational setback hence making the border command un-equipped to operate in line with the global best practices as obtainable in other developed Countries.

RISK MANAGEMENT WATCH Robert Mbonu

Risk Identification – How Far?

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head of you is a deep fast flowing river. It is a sheer drop to the water.

Do you jump? All you can think about right now are the risks, but what are they? Being human, some of us are rational thinkers, or just crazy! People throw themselves into extreme risk situations for all sorts of reasons. Some survive and some don’t!

But you were asked whether YOU would jump.

Did you answer ‘no’? If you did, then that’s the wrong answer. Did you answer ‘why’? If that was your response, it was the correct response.

You should be asking the question ‘why should you be thinking of jumping?’ Now, imagine that behind you were fierce gun totting and knife wielding Fulani herdsmen. You know they are out to kill you. The wind is at your back and you can hear their footsteps and cattle hooves getting louder behind you as you gaze into the river. There is a 100% chance of death if you remain where you are, but you might just survive if you jump into the water below. Would you jump now? You will agree that the decision to jump or not now becomes easier with a clearer context, and more information.

This scenario leads us into an understanding of Risk Identification, the first step of the Risk Management process.

Risk identification depends on firstly defining the context. You might think about the objective or goal to be achieved, or you might think about what might happen if the risk is not taken.

The context could be as simple as the goal or target ahead, but there are other internal and external forces to be taken into account; external influencers, such as the Political situation, economy, demographics, climate can all have a bearing as can internal influencers such as the gearing of the organisation, current cash flow and liquidity, availability of raw materials and suppliers; it all depends on the risk area to be focussed on.

If we were to be conducting a strategic risk identification exercise for a hotel chain who wants a three year forecast of risks, we might ask ourselves a range of contextual questions before thinking about what the risks are such as; INTERNAL CONTEXT EXAMPLES • What is the current capacity?

• What is the average occupancy?

• What are the statistics for occupancy versus capacity for the time of year?

• What is the financial situation?

• What is the reputation like?

• Are the contract conditions for events robust?

• Are we up to scratch on staffing levels and skills?

• What is the current standard of maintenance of the hotel and key equipment?

• What are the goals of the internal stakeholders with respect to performance over the next three years?

• What are the goals, plans, vision, culture and value drivers of the business?

EXTERNAL CONTEXT EXAMPLES • Are the key suppliers performing and is there a good contractual arrangement with them?

• What is the current Political situation? Is there a period of consolidation or change?

• What are the macro-economic issues that affect the business?

• What is the supply market for people like?

• What are the competitors planning / doing?

• Are there any climatic events forecast in the period under review?

• What are the goals of the external stakeholders over the next three years?

Once there is a realistic evaluation of the contextual issues, then the risk identification can begin.

There are many methods for risk identification having explicitly explained the context for the business and the exercise; here are some examples; • Surveys • Interviews • Workshops • Questionnaires • Analysing Depending on the criticality of the exercise, one would use one or more of these methods, even resorting to all of them if necessary to get a full picture of the risks, or uncertainties.

Most organisations get to the stage of having a long list of risks. You might have a huge list of risks that vary from the bizarre to the ridiculous and there seems to be a real mismatch between size and importance of the risks.

Do not despair!! Before even thinking about the process of weighing up the size of the risk, there needs to be some work to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

There is a case of a public listed company that was struggling with its list of 456 risks which were presented to the board on a monthly basis.

The board could not determine which of the risks they needed to concentrate on, nor could they work out what they were supposed to do.

The consultant agreed a programme of interviews for board and senior management members, some analysis and then a workshop to present the findings and refine the list.

Having analysed the contextual issues and the list of 456 risks, the consultant had a pretty good idea of the questions that were going to be asked in the interviews, and set about conducting those interviews over the course of two weeks.

After further analysis of the output, the consultant grouped the risks into six key risks that corresponded with the six main objectives and goals for the organisation. All of the 456 previous risks and the further risks that had been articulated in the interviews were appended as causes and or consequences of these six key risks or as operational risks. Some operational risks were about control failures, others about key dependencies such as premises, people, knowledge and suppliers.

The largest and brightest key risk by far, was one that was new to the board and senior management team. Whilst each individual had referred to it in the interviews, nothing had been written down nor was it on the original list of 456 risks.

This risk was about a schism on the management team between the ‘old guard’ who wanted to carry on as before and the ‘new order’ who recognised the opportunities and threats brought about by the internet and social media.

This organisation was standing at the edge of a river. There were those that recognised that the rampaging Fulani herdsmen at their back were about to hurt and maim them, and the others that felt the threat of death was not significant. As a result of that risk identification exercise, the organisation did plunge into the water below and grabbed the opportunities presented by the new technologies after recognising the wider contextual issues.

•Mbonu, FERP, CIRM(UK), HCIB, MsRM (Stern), studied Engineering, is an experienced Banker and Enterprise Risk Management professional. Earned a post graduate degree in Risk Management from New York University Stern School of Business, and is a member of the Institute of Risk Management -UK. Can be reached on 09092092046 (SMS Only); email: rm4riskmgt@gmail.com

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Italy’s Meridiana Begins Flight to Nigeria, Ghana Meridiana Fly, Italy’s fastest growing airline has confirmed operations to Nigeria and Ghana in its summer schedule for 2017.

Supported by Ghana’s first affiliated global aviation advisory firm -Dre Aviation and one of Nigeria’s leading airlines Dana Air, Meridiana Fly entered into the West African market with an iconic Boeing 767-300 series aircraft, and a superior on-time performance rate of 99.5 percent.

The airline said it is pleased with the success-rate it has recorded within its short entry.

Speaking to journalists in Lagos, Dre Aviation’s, Mr. Paul Bassam Saade said: “A prudent approach was taken by Meridiana when entering these highly competitive markets but we have demonstrated stable

operations and a growing commercial presence for them in West Africa and they are pleased with the results.”

Commenting further, Paul mentioned that ‘‘based on the feedback from our guests, we have also rescheduled the flight times which now means a late evening departure from Lagos which arrives in Italy’s Milan Malpensa Airport early the next day, allowing our Nigerian passengers to onward connect onto Meridiana services into Europe and beyond. This is a compelling proposition as the fares are much cheaper than other carriers into Europe and offers a real alternative for the travelling public. Our fares start at $350 all in for a one way ticket into Europe.”

He noted that more frequencies will be added in due course

and the aviation is ramping up the market initiative for the carrier in Both Ghana and Nigeria.

The global aviation advisory firm, which is also Meridiana Fly’s office GSA partner for Sierra Leone and Liberia, are seeing demand for connecting passengers from these markets into Italy grow via the Lagos service.

With record 4.5 million passengers flown in the last eight years of its operation, Dana Air who provides key operational staff to the Nigeria operations currently operates over 27 daily flights from Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo and Owerri.

The airline is reputed for its superior on–time performance, world-class in-flight service and customer service.

IATA Sets Agenda for Sustainable European Aviation Industry The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set out an agenda for a stronger, safer, more secure and sustainable European aviation industry.

IATA’s Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, in an address to the European Aviation Club entitled Charting the Right Course for Aviation in Europe, called on European policy-makers to prioritize four areas, which include regulating smartly, reducing costs, reinforcing security and removing infrastructure bottlenecks.

“Air transport plays a vital role linking Europe together with the rest of the world. In the EU, 8.8 million jobs are linked to aviation, as is EUR 620 billion in GDP. Some 650 million passengers a year rely on aviation to get them where they need to be. So it is vital that we work together to chart the right course for its future.

“For airlines, Europe is not an easy or cost-efficient place

to do business. As global competition further intensifies it is only going to get more challenging—potentially costing European jobs, hindering European growth and reducing the European quality of life,” said de Juniac.

De Juniac also had a message for global policy makers on the role of aviation as a catalyst for economic and social development.

“Aviation is the business of freedom. Air travel liberates people to live better lives and makes our world a better place.

The current political rhetoric is deeply concerning. It points to a future of restricted borders and protectionism. We see it in travel bans, border walls and trade agreements that are being called into question.

Durable peace, prosperity or security have never been achieved through provocation, exclusion and division. The world has grown wealthier with

people traveling and trading.

That has helped to lift over a billion people from poverty.

Aviation is proud of the role it plays in making this happen.

Ensuring aviation’s power to connect people has never been more important,” said de Juniac.

The IATA Director General said the association would like to see reform and empowerment of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

“Safety is the top priority for aviation. EASA should have a clear focus on implementing standardized safety regulation across the EU. We know that safety improves with global standards. And everybody will be a winner with an efficiently functioning EASA. “We’d also like to see European regulations make the most of technology. The way people travel has changed radically. We use e-tickets, check-in online and board using our cell-phones.

Emirates Moves to Reduce Cost of Medical Emergencies, Sets Standard Major Middle East carrier, Emirates is setting a new standard in medical emergencies aimed at cost reduction and effective management. The airline said flight diversions due to inflight medical emergencies make up a tiny portion of the millions of flights operated annually, but it is costly for airlines.

With more people traveling by air, the actual number of inflight medical events has been gradually increasing over the years.

Emirates, the largest airline by international traffic, operate over 3,500 departures a week, or more than 194,000 flights in 2016. In those 12 months, the airline handled more than 60 flight diversions due to medical emergencies.

A single flight diversion can cost Emirates anything from $50,000 to over $600,000, depending on the nature of the diversion, which include

fuel, flight catering, landing and ground handling fees, air navigation cost, passenger rebooking costs and onward connection, as well as other associated costs to care for crew and passengers.

Emirates’ Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Adel Al Redha said, “We can never hope to recover the costs of a flight diversion, but the wellbeing of our customers is always our number one priority. Airlines handle medical emergencies differently, as there are no international regulations on this front. At Emirates, like everything else we do, the safety of our passengers comes first.

If there is a medical emergency on board, our crew have the training and equipment to help them assess the situation, and deliver the best possible outcome for the affected passengers.”

The airline said in 2016, it delivered nearly 23,000 hours

of medical training for cabin crew and pilots, ensuring they are ready to assist passengers on board.

All Emirates cabin crew go through a comprehensive initial training programme which is required by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, recurrent training to keep their skills up to date, as well as additional specific training for the use of on board medical equipment.

The medical training that Emirates cabin crew undertake includes both theory and practical aspects. It prepares them to recognise and deal with common situations, but more importantly handle rare but life-threatening events when time is of essence.

Topics covered include basic life support (CPR); medical conditions including asthma, heart disorders, seizures and allergic reactions; trauma related topics and even emergency childbirth amongst others.

AIR WATCH Making Nigerian Airlines Profitable

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carcity of dollars and low value of the naira have prompted Nigerian airlines to see the need to operate regional and international routes.

These routes open the door for them to earn foreign currency as many of these countries in West and Central Africa are not hard hit in terms of dollar scarcity like Nigeria and Angola that depend on oil for foreign revenues.

In December last year, Medview Airline started operations to Sierra Leone, Liberia in addition to Accra, Ghana and even plans to also fly to destinations in Central Africa and other international destinations in the Middle East. The airline is already flying to London and Jeddah.

Air Peace, which has successfully operated domestic services, has just announced that it would start operations to Accra, Ghana next week, which would usher it to other international destinations in the West Coast, Central Africa, Europe, Middle East and South Africa.

THISDAY spoke to the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Muhtar Usman, who said the regulatory authority is giving Nigerian airlines every opportunity and support to operate international routes and reciprocate Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA), which Nigeria reached with other countries.

But one of the operators had complained that while Nigeria has BASA with many countries and easily give their airlines clearance to operate into Nigeria, these countries are usually reluctant to certify Nigeria airlines to operate into their own countries because they want to protect their own airlines. This has made it difficult for some of these countries to reciprocate requests by Nigerians airlines to come to operate into their cities despite the fact that their airlines operate many frequencies into Nigeria.

For example, a Nigerian airline had written to Cote D’Ivoire authorities and others in the West Coast requesting to operate to their countries but after several weeks and months there was no reply. He explained: “It was not until we wrote to them again and again and one of the countries replied that they were processing the letter. We should not just give them entry points easily like that; we should protect our own too.”

But the Director General of NCAA said that no airline has reported such case to the authority and assured that NCAA would take drastic action against such country if it were true.

“BASA, Multilateral Air Service Agreement (MASA) and Yamoussoukro Declaration (YD) are aimed at creating African single sky. While you have BASA between two countries, airlines are designated and given entry points and frequencies. But it is still the responsibility of the airline so designated to ensure compliance, meet the safety conditions. Whenever such airline is having undue difficulty such airline should go to NCAA and report. This issue has not been communicated to us officially. NCAA is here to protect Nigerian airlines. Any airline that is having difficulty should contact us and we will ensure that such difficulties are removed,” Captain Usman assured.

It has been projected that over 60 percent of people who travel in the West Coast and Central Africa are Nigerians but Nigerian airlines have not seized the opportunity to play dominantly in this market. When the economic recession hit the airlines last year they almost lost the Accra-Lagos route to small airline, African World Airlines (AWA), which increased its frequency to Lagos and cut down its domestic operations to meet demands of the Lagos route, operating Embraer ERJ 145, where over 80 percent of the passengers are Nigerians doing business in Ghana and

Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika

other West African countries. But with Arik Air and Medview have kept the Nigerian presence in that route.

Industry experts argue that if Nigerian airlines are well organised they could be generating their foreign currency from the West Coast and Central Africa; “but they must do their homework well; because if AWA has bigger aircraft they could have taken over the Lagos-Ghana route”, an expert enthused.

The Director General of NCAA pointed out issues obstructing smooth operation of airlines in the country and how the agency is resolving the problem. He also noted that the airlines must abide by regulation and should penalise the airlines whenever they infringe on these regulations and must never compromise on the rules.

“We want to ensure that safety, security and facilitation are enhanced and all hands are on deck to ensure there is minimum inconvenience to the passengers at our airports.

On the closure of airports, which limits hours of operation by Nigerian airlines, the Director General said there is no airport in the world that do not have operational time, even if it operates for 24 hours. He urged airlines to schedule their flight time to dovetail with the operation time of each airport, noting that as power supply improves more airports would extend their operation time.

“There is no airport in the world that do not have hours of operations; even if it operates 24 hours a day, it still specifies hours of operations.

But operating in the nights offers more challenges.

You must have the right personnel to work and ensure safety and security; you must have the right equipment to facilitate the operation. So when all these are not available then airlines must schedule their operation to ensure that adequate provisions are made for their landing and take- off,” Usman said.

He said that it is expected that Nigerian airlines will have a new lease, as plans are being made to ensure adequate supply of aviation fuel, adding that the government is helping the airlines to also operate international routes and earn the highly sought after foreign exchange.

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NIMASA’s ISPS Code Implementation Crusade

Eromosele Abiodun posits that the pledge by the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside to fully implement the ISPS code will guaranty safe and secure maritime transport, which is critical to trade and fundamental to the sustainable development of African states

With over 90 per cent of African states’ imports and exports conducted by sea, international trade is critical to many African economies.

This is because the population of sub- Saharan Africa is forecast to double by 2050.

Safe and secure maritime transport is therefore, key to successful trade and growth in Africa and fundamental to the sustainable development of African states’ economies.

It therefore becomes necessary to address the long-time challenge of piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea. At the same time, the coastal states of West and Central Africa are facing a range of equally pressing concerns in their maritime domains, all of which-like the challenge of piracy-will benefit from increased capacity to monitor territorial and international waters and to enforce relevant laws both ashore and at sea.

African countries’ share in world trade stands at about three per cent on average, while intra-African trade averages around 10 per cent of Africa’s total trade.

The continent’s share of exports to the world has declined over the years -standing at an average of 2.5 per cent, a net decline from 10 per cent in the 1950s. In addition, African countries attract only 2-3 per cent of global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and contribute another one per cent to world gross domestic products (GDP).

International shipping in itself also presents a substantial employment opportunity. Today, there are approximately 1.5 million seafarers worldwide and this number is expected to rise in the future. Given that seafarers from African countries are currently under-represented, there is considerable room for growth in this area.

Moreover, ancillary services in ports as well as operational and managerial tasks based on land also provide employment opportunities.

Opportunities also exist in the related industries that supply goods and services to the maritime companies, which together, comprise the entire maritime cluster. However, most of these opportunities have eluded Nigeria over the years as a result of maritime insecurity.

If there is a country where the fear of ports and maritime security is very high, that country is Nigeria. This is because of the volatile nature of the Niger Delta as a result of youth restiveness that resulted in kidnappings and wanton killings. However, Nigeria is not alone. Acts of insecurity, lack of safety consciousness and threats of terrorism have dominated the global maritime landscape in recent years.

But dishonesty and fraud-like tendencies, which have bedevilled activities in the maritime industry in Nigeria, have complicated perceived threats of insecurity in our ports. The cases of Somali pirates have also dominated the global maritime industry in the last few years with European and America shipping companies at the receiving end of terrorists kidnapping ship captains and crew members for ransom.

The need to ensure maritime security did not become topical until September 11, 2001 when the world witnessed the bombing of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York by terrorists, resulting in the death of over 3,000 persons.

Consequently, fear were expressed that if the air can be so vulnerable to terrorist attack, engaging the ports and other maritime facilities on land would be a simple job. It was at this juncture that world leaders decided to tinker with the 1974-1988 convention on Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to create awareness to maritime nations on the need to put in place certain measures that would shield maritime facilities such as ports from terrorist attacks.

This was what gave birth to the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) Code to which every port is to comply with in order to ensure safety of international trade, persons transiting the ports and other critical facilities.

The ISPS Code outlined preventive measures

against the likelihood of terrorist attacks on ships and ports facilities worldwide. The ISPS Code came into force in 2004.

ISPS Code Objectives Some of the objectives of the ISPS Code are to: establish an international framework involving co-operation between contracting governments, government agencies, local administrations and the shipping and port industries to detect/assess security threats and take preventive measures against security incidents affecting ships or port facilities used in international trade.

Others are: to establish the respective roles and responsibilities of all these parties concerned, at the national and international level, for ensuring maritime security, ensure the early and efficient collation and exchange of securityrelated information, provide a methodology for security assessments so as to have in place plans and procedures to react to changing security levels and ensure confidence that adequate and proportionate maritime security measures are in place.

According to the terms put in place by the framers of the ISPA code, the objectives are to be achieved by the designation of appropriate security officers/personnel on each ship, in each port facility and in each shipping company to prepare and to put into effect the security plans that will be approved for each ship and port facility.

However, the Code does not indicate specific measures that each port and ship must take to ensure the safety of her facilities against terrorism because of the many different types and sizes of these facilities. Instead it outlined, “a standardised consistent framework for evaluating risk, enabling governments to offset changes in threat with changes in vulnerability for ships and port facilities.”

For ships, the framework includes requirements for ship security plans, security officers, company security officers and certain onboard equipment.

For port facilities, the requirements include port facility security plans, port facility security officers and security equipment.

In addition, the requirements for ships and for port facilities include monitoring and controlling access, monitoring the activities of people and cargo and ensuring that security communications are readily available. Since 2004 when the ISPS Code came into operation, Nigeria has made unsatisfactory efforts to comply with the security code.

Designated Authority Meanwhile, upon being appointed the Designated Authority (DA) for the implementation of the ISPS Code in Nigeria, the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) stated that the effective implementation of the code in Nigerian ports would involve a continuous year- to- year exercise with committees mandated to periodically inspect port facilities (PF), in order to ensure that required standards are achieved and maintained. NIMASA has focused not only on PF listed in the United States Coast Guard (USCG) report but on the generality of PFs in the nation’s maritime domain which were placed on the watch over a period of time.

Implementation and Enforcement The appointment of Dr. Dakuku Peterside as the Director General of NIMASA has in no small measure reinforced the action to ensure that the ISPS code is fully implemented.

A fortnight ago, the NIMASA boss restated his promise to ensure the full implementation and enforcement of the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) code in the nation’s ports.

He stated this at the opening ceremony of a five-day training programme facilitated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in conjunction with NIMASA on ISPS code compliance in Lagos.

Peterside observed that skilled, efficient and talented workers are critical to the growth of the maritime sectorr assuring NIMASA will continually equip its staff with new knowledge, skills and technologies necessary to ensure compliance with the ISPS Code.

According to him, “Our people and values are hallmarks of a good and strong organisa-

tion. Recognising that our greatest asset is our people, the leadership of the maritime industry in Nigeria, is committed to building a skilled, talented and effective workforce. That is why we take advantage of every training programme to equip our people and prepare them for new challenges that come up daily in the course of carrying out their assignments.”

He also disclosed that in pursuit of its vision to reposition the maritime industry, NIMASA has developed an in-house training initiative to continuously update the skills of its staff and keep them in tune with various developments in the industry.

While assuring the participants that the training will be continuous, Peterside said that the agency as a DA for the implementation of ISPS Code, will work with local and International stakeholders to develop quality industry specific training for its staff, to enhance their performance and productivity in the line of duty.

He thanked the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi for showing rare leadership in the maritime industry.

“Things are turning around in the maritime industry because we have a Minister who understands that the industry offers Nigeria a great opportunity to leapfrog our economy”, he stated.

Peterside highlighted his management’s determination to make the agency a world class, high performance organisation.

He said this during the Management Performance Review (MPR) of the agency in Lagos.

He said the agency’s repositioning initiative is all encompassing and when concluded would be beneficial to the entire maritime sector.

The NIMASA boss also said that the MPR was an avenue to assess the progress being made by the Agency viz-a-viz its reform, restructuring and repositioning drive to ensure that the Agency’s mandate is achieved.

According to the DG, “There is no organisation that can grow without innovation and the MPR affords us a rare opportunity to assess our journey thus far. It is a rare privilege to match Continued on page 25

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MARITIME

NIMASA’S ISPS CODE IMPLEMENTATION CRUSADE set goals with results, to assess ourselves on how far we have gone in this journey.

“When I joined you in NIMASA we sat down and agreed to build a world class high performance organisation. In subscribing to that, we set out to craft a Medium Term Strategic plan which would be our roadmap. We have already started the critical elements of the things we agreed that are necessary to build a world class maritime organisation. One is the automation of our processes and to fast track this, we set up a special taskforce. It is our vision that by October, NIMASA would be fully automated.”

He noted that the dream of the Agency is to be recognised as the foremost maritime regulatory Agency in Africa that is the pride of the continent.

Peterside, who said that the agency has the duty to facilitate maritime business not to stifle it also assured stakeholders that NIMASA will create an enabling environment that would satisfy the yearnings of all.

“The bigger picture is to build a world class, high performance organisation that would satisfy the interest and yearnings of our clients as well as serve the interest of the country that set us up.

We are indeed facilitators of maritime business, therefore we will not stifle it” he stated.

NIMASA Shuts Jetties, Port Facilities In a bid to let stakeholders know that it was serious about its resolve to fully implement the ISPS code, NIMASA recently shut three jetties and port facilities for non-compliance with the provisions of the ISPS. NIMASA in a statement said the decision was pursuant to its mandate as the DA for the implementation Code in Nigeria. The facilities are Heyden Petroleum Jetty Ijora Lagos; Waziri Jetty, Dockyard Road ApapaLagos and Starz Marine Shipyard Limited Onne in Rivers State. These facilities, the agency stated, have persistently failed to comply with the ISPS code necessitating their closure in order to forestall a situation where security breaches in such facilities will negatively impact the compliant ones.

These closures, it added, are in exercise of the agency’s powers in line with provisions of Part VIII of the ISPS Code Implementation Regulations 2014 under which the facilities were adjudged to be non-compliant despite repeated warnings to remedy the deficiencies.

NIMASA has consistently stated its commitment to the enforcement of full compliance with the ISPS Code especially in the face of growing terrorists’ activities globally.

While hosting a pre-assessment team from the United States Coast Guard (USCG) recently, Peterside expressed the determination of the agency to enforce the code saying that, “ultimately all of us are working for a common purpose, a safer world through safety and security of the maritime sub sector. If we fix our different corners of the earth, the whole world will be safer for everybody. And so no effort should be spared in trying to guarantee safety and security.”

“All shut facilities are to remain closed until the managers of such facilities correct the identified deficiencies in line with the dictates of the Code as the Agency aims to achieve 100 per cent compliance with the cooperation of all stakeholders. This exercise is a continuous one,” it stated.

IMO rates Nigeria high on compliance Meanwhile, NIMASA’s resolve has started yielding result with stakeholders now making effort to ensure they fully comply. In recognition of this, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has applauded the country for its efforts at ensuring full compliance.

The Imo commendation is coming two years after the United States government gave Nigeria an ultimatum to put its port security in order, or face sanction.

The IMO had late last year rated Nigeria high on compliance with ISPS code.

IMO’s Lead Consultant, Mr. Brian Cranmer, speaking in Lagos at the opening of a five-day ‘train-the-trainer’s programme said the efforts of the NIMASA in ensuring compliance with the code is quite commendable.

He said his conclusion is based on his evaluation of the programmes the management of the agency has so far put in place for the implementation of ISPS code in Nigeria.

Reinforcing the need for a high level of security consciousness at the ports, Cranmer said that the restriction of movement in and out of the

Amaechi

ports is a step in the right direction.

“From what I have seen and what I am hearing, NIMASA has a very good programme in place; they are all trying hard, carrying out inspections. I have been with them when they carry out these inspections and they are as good as any other country that is implementing the ISPS Code. The port security is okay, because now, they have systems in place; you cannot just get into the ports unless you have an identification card.

“The ports that I have seen, meets the requirements fully, and Nigeria is coming on in leaps and bounds and I think with NIMASA and the compliance department, the inspections are in the right direction,” he stated.

The IMO lead consultant said the effort of the agency is quite commendable as many countries in Africa and Europe still find it difficult to meet the demands of the code.

He, however, warned against the incessant movement of staff which could hamper steady progress especially after some people have been trained in some technical areas.

“There is usually a lot of movement of staff, but you need to keep the staff you have got. The staff you have employed and trained should be technically employed and technically trained and you keep them, because they are your assets.

Once you have trained staff, they understand how to carry out audits, inspections, how to do the enforcement programme, then you will find the rest of the programme becomes easy,” Cranmer said.

On his part, Peterside said the training programme was , “a demonstration of IMO’s commitment to building competence among member States in the implementation of key maritime conventions.”

Peterside said the training is a direct outcome of the IMO Need Assessment conducted between January 25 and 29, 2016, during which a high standard of implementation of the ISPS Code was observed and commended.

He said that to sustain the positive trajectory of the process, the IMO recommended additional training for key NIMASA personnel and stakeholders in the implementation of the provisions of the code.\ According to the NIMASA boss, the training would avail participants of a good insight of the DA’s implementation process and a forum for deliberation on contemporary issues related to ensuring compliance by port facilities.

He said it will also provide an invaluable networking opportunity for government stakeholders, the importance of which aligns with the effort to build a critical mass of support for the process.

Head of the ISPS Unit in NIMASA, Mr. Green Egbodi, an Assistant Director in the agency, said no fewer than 30 participants were undergoing the training.

He disclosed that the participants were ISPS officers from NIMASA, the Nigerian Ports Authority, the National Inland Waterways Authority, and staff of the Ministry of Transportation.

Egbodi said that the training was necessitated

Peterside

by findings from a Needs Assessment done earlier in January by the IMO, after it had attested to the country’s compliance with the Code.

In his words: “When they carried out the Need Assessment this year, they saw some gaps that should be filled, and the whole essence is to make us close the gaps and make improvements. This ‘train-the-trainer’ training is to train some of us and we can now escalate the training further to other agencies and other port facility users in the shipping industry, to make the ports safe.”

US Coast Guard Too Aside the IMO, the United States Coast Guard has also commended NIMASA stressing that the agency is on the right path to the successful implementation of the ISPS code in Nigeria.

At a meeting with members of the ISPS Code Implementation Committee in Nigeria in Lagos during a visit to NIMASA, the leader of the US Coast Guard team to Nigeria, Mr. Tivo Romero praised the agency for its efforts at ensuring the implementation of the ISPS code.

Romero disclosed that his team visited six port facilities in the country during their two-week visit to Nigeria adding that they have noticed tremendous improvement since the last visit to the country.

Romero, who commended NIMASA for the outreach to facility operators, added that, “I must commend the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency for its efforts so far. However, the United States Coast Guard will provide required technical assistance to ensure that infrastructural and legal instruments needed for effective implementation of the ISPS Code in Nigeria are put in place. I urge you all to see this project as a voyage which we have all embarked on, that must be concluded.”

Romero dismissed media reports that claimed that the United States Government would embargo vessels from visiting Nigerian ports noting that the US government is fully behind Nigeria as a strong business partner that requires desired partnership, a reason for which both countries would always continue to work together and to ensure adequate security in the maritime sector.

“The ISPS Code involved a continuous year to year inspection of Port Facilities in order to meet up with the required standard, as against an ad-hoc fire brigade exercise,” he said.

Engaging the Navy To further enhance the security of Nigerian water ways and the optimum exploration of the nation’s marine resources, Peterside also promised to continue to partner with the Nigerian Navy.

Peterside stated this when Naval Cadets of the 66 Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) visited the agency on a study visit.

He assured the cadets that the symbiotic relationship that exists between NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy is inseparable because of the functions of both agencies saying their visit to NIMASA is auspicious as they will always have reason to interact with the Maritime Administra-

tion upon commissioning.

Peterside praised the gallantry and bravery of Officers and Ratings of the Nigerian Navy noting that the country’s naval force is one of the best in the world for which he has eternal pride.

While appreciating the young Cadets for choosing to serve and protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria, Peterside said, “you have chosen a very noble course as brave men and women, only the brave will chose to enlist in our military. As courageous men and women, you have offered to make all forms of sacrifices first for the good of our country and for all of us your country men and women so that we can move about freely; most importantly so that the territorial integrity of our nation will be protected.”

Also, while receiving the members of the National Association of Stevedoring Companies led by the President, Mr. Bolaji Sunmola , Peterside said the NIMASA is capable of carrying out its regulatory functions and will not abdicate its mandate to anybody.

He warned that NIMASA will not abdicate its regulatory responsibility as they concern the operations of stevedoring companies and how they relate with terminal and jetty operators saying that they do not have the powers to eject stevedoring companies approved by the government to operate in their facilities.

He emphasised that, “it is NIMASA’s responsibility to oversight Stevedoring functions in our ports, terminals and jetties and we will not abdicate that function to anybody. In the exercise of this function, we will interface with terminal operators and the National Association of Stevedoring Companies to make sure maritime operations are not hampered.”

Peterside also noted that the Agency understands the challenges faced by Stevedoring Companies and the terminal operators noting that NIMASA will consult further with all parties to ensure that there is an amicable resolution of the issues.

The NIMASA boss highlighted the importance of Stevedoring companies to include facilitating economic growth, ensuring industrial harmony and also serving as a security shield in the ports.

He assured the delegation of the agency’s commitment to develop human capacity saying that “the management of NIMASA has approved a comprehensive stevedoring guideline sensitization which would soon commence”.

The President of the National Association of Stevedoring Companies, Sunmola called on NIMASA to come to their rescue in respect of their negotiations with terminal operators as it has become a norm for Jetties and offshore/ onshore operators to refuse the federal government appointed stevedoring contractors to operate in their premises.

Sunmola, who pointed out that the appointment of stevedoring companies to these facilities was a deliberate attempt by the federal government to avoid security breaches, also appealed to the agency to activate the 2014 NIMASA Stevedoring Regulations which he thinks will go a long way in resolving the issues with the terminal operators.

26

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Odunze : Nigerian Banks Can Do More Having worked in the banking industry for 25 years, economist and lawyer, Eustace Odunze, now offers pro bono services for human rights violations through his family law firm, Odunze and Odunze. He spoke to Omolola Itayemi on how Nigerian banks can do more to grow the economy, the need for government to concession more infrastructure to the private sector but with the sanctity of contract, among other issues.

Excerpts: I led a team that financed Lekki toll road, here in Lagos and it’s a success. If we set politics aside and do things the way they are supposed to be done all over the world, we can grow our infrastructure and that’s very key. Trust me without power, there is not much industrialisation that can go on, and without this, who will create the jobs.

And once people don’t have jobs, the economy suffers

Having been in the banking industry for over 25 years, now that you have veered into the legal profession, how has it been?

Interestingly, every day in my banking life, I see legal issues come up and what that does is that you cannot divorce yourself from yourself. So even in my normal banking job, the lawyer in me is still coming out. Most times I review agreements but because I’m not employed as a lawyer, I am compelled to pass it to the legal department. There is really not much difference because law covers every aspect of life including banking.

Both complement each other. For me, I have ended one career that lasted for twenty five years and I have just started another one.

I am now doing it full time and purely from a charity point of view. But for me, it’s also a way of giving back to the society.

After twenty five years of banking, I don’t think collecting money from these types of clients will do anything for me financially.

I joined the family law firm to be able to actualise this.

power concessions. The concession process looks to me like the most ideal for Nigeria but there are key things that must be put in place such as sanctity of contract. If the government has concessioned a project or an asset to a private developer, government must not under any circumstance turn back on those contracts. This is the key so people can develop confidence in the whole essence of government contracting. Once a state or federal government reneges on the stipulations of the contract signed, it discourages private sector and nobody will want to do that again.

Then government will by this way saddle itself with all kinds of infrastructural development projects that they ordinarily should not get involved. Government should just purely get involved in making laws that facilitate investment and then deal with social issues and problems and leave the private sector to come invest in key infrastructure, then both sides work together. You’ll be amazed at the result of such partnerships, we will get so much private sector money both local and international into the economy and our infrastructure base would have increased.

More people will have businesses and will be employed. Believe, you me, that N100 they have to pay at the toll gate will not be a problem. We need to get it right.

You offer free legal services for people seeking redress for one violation or the other bothering on human rights. Why do you think your services will be an advantage to these set of people?

It’s no secret that Lagos legal services are expensive and a lot of people are dissuaded from pursuing redress just because they are unable to afford the lawyers service and most times these cases are sustained in court for a long time. They are unable to afford it both from a financial and duration point of view. Most go home and suffer in silence and are very disappointed. We see that there is some need that people have and cannot pursue because of the reasons I mentioned.

How has it been so far?

The response has been huge; as a matter of fact we are controlling it. The need for this kind of service is huge. We also have issues with the judicial process, most of these cases are not expediting because some of these cases have been on for several years and people lose interest along the line and give up these claims. So it is very huge but we are approaching it gradually, dealing with most important issues bordering mainly on human rights. It is service we think we can give and continue to give to the extent of our abilities and resources.

As an economist and a lawyer who has cognitive experience in power,

It’s no secret that Lagos legal services are expensive and a lot of people are dissuaded from pursuing redress just because they are unable to afford the lawyers service and most times these cases are sustained in court for a long time. They are unable to afford it both from a financial and duration point of view. Most go home and suffer in silence and are very disappointed

Odunze

infrastructure and oil and gas banking, what do you think of the situation we are in with these three major industries and is there any hope soon of getting out of the unsavoury situations related to these industries?

Yes, it’s so unfortunate that a country like Nigeria will be grappling with things like this; we are endowed as they say. But, I think we have issues with organising ourselves as a country to deal with these issues, take for instance, power. I was in South Africa recently and I took a tour of the key power generating companies and found out most of them rely on coal, they don’t have as much gas as we do. Gas is cheap, clean and environmentally friendly and we have so much of it, yet we cannot produce electricity. It is worrisome.

But I don’t think the problem cannot be solved, all we need to do is decide that we have to solve the power problem, the same thing with infrastructure. I will say one of the

projects I have done whilst I was in banking is financing airport concession, road projects and power projects. The thing is we need to sit down and properly organise ourselves.

I led a team that financed Lekki toll road, here in Lagos and it’s a success. If we set politics aside and do things the way they are supposed to be done all over the world, we can grow our infrastructure and that’s very key. Trust me without power, there is not much industrialization that can go on, and without this, who will create the jobs. And once people don’t have jobs, the economy suffers. You see it’s a continuous chain and when you trigger development it runs on its own. We need to break those chains that are stopping us from triggering the process of development. So, with good organisation and right policies the private sector will come in and deliver on basic infrastructure.

The concession idea is very good, I can vouch for that; airport, road, railway and

We are a dollar-reliant economy that is also an import nation, the US dollar and other foreign currencies are at an all-time high with prices of goods skyrocketing?

It is true Nigeria is a dollar-reliant economy and that should not be the case. In every scenario where there is price the key things that drive it are supply and demand, this is elementary economics. Once demand goes up for any product, the tendency is price will follow as long as supply remains.

Now, therefore to change price to what you expect, you must simultaneously deal with both demand and supply. So, because we are an import economy, the demand for dollars which is what you use to import will continue to go up. What the Central Bank is doing unfortunately is trying to manage demand but because if the type of economy we have, demand continues to soar. It’s a problem because they have to work on the supply.

The question is how you work on supply of foreign exchange. How do you increase foreign exchange availability into the country? The government is talking about diversification, I agree. You need to diversify away from import Continued on page 39

WEEKEND WEEKLY PULLOUT

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

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THISLIFE | P37

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‘I'M A LOVER OF MUSIC’ ACTING EDITOR CHARLES AJUNWA / charles.ajunwa@thisdaylive.com

28/COVER

10.02.2017

‘I'm a Lover of Music’ Fast-rising and wave-making gospel music act Bidemi Olaoba, in this interview with Adedayo Adejobi, speaks on his latest song ‘Bonjour’, his collaborations with notable mainstream artistes like Mike Abdul of the Midnight Crew, fusing non-traditional musical elements to create high energy praise and worship, and reflected on life, God and his music ministry Don Moen! Great carrier of God’s anointing!

Give us a peep into your growing up and career?

Well, my name is Abidemi Ayodeji Ogunmolu born into a family of six. I grew up being in the choir from my early years in Christ Apostolic Ketu. From time to time, individuals would walk up to me and tell me I have a nice voice and that I could sing and that’s how it all started. I led songs a few times and from there I developed my interest in singing. I have since then been ministering from Church services to concerts to weddings and service of songs.

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

Still doing music, married and settled with my twins.

Which artistes would you most like to meet – dead or alive?

Don Moen.

In your opinion, what’s the best song ever recorded?

An inspirational song titled ‘You raise me up’, written by Brendan Graham, and originally composed by Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden.

Have you always wanted to do music?

Yes. I’ve always been a lover of music.

Although I went to the Institute of Technology, Yaba, and studied Civil Engineering, I don’t see myself using that degree. Since I have realised and developed my interest in music, my motto has always been ‘Praising God is my lifetime commitment’. I don’t intend to break that motto for anything as long as God gives me the grace in Jesus name.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Quiet, quick thinker and humorous.

What would you not travel without?

My Bible.

If you had the power to ban one thing in the world, what would that be?

Hard drugs.

How did your interest in music begin?

Well, I never knew I could sing really. I remember when I was much younger and pushed to the children’s choir. I would just open my mouth and sing the choruses we were taught then. But when I was opportune to take lead, many people would applaud me, telling me of how well I did and how they experienced the move of God. From there, I realised that I’ve developed an interest in singing and much more. It’s a calling, a ministry that God has gifted me with.

Who is the most famous person you have met?

Pastor E. A. Adeboye. I performed for him in Dubai.

What does the future hold for Bidemi?

A lot.

Any plans for marriage?

Yes, by God’s grace.

How do you deal with female fans?

Try to be as friendly as possibly as I can.

How would you describe your kind of music?

Gospel high life! All the way.

What are some of your biggest musical influences?

I find myself putting a limit on what I listen to as it pertains to other genres. I have to make sure I'm guarding my ears because my ears lead to my mind, which leads to my heart.

Every new generation of contemporary Gospel music inevitably suffers some form of backlash from traditional listening audiences. What do you say to those conventional criticisms?

I understand that we go from glory to glory and faith to faith. I really don't see their criticism as, "Oh, they're against us."

Olaoba

Having worked in the music industry, what's the biggest lesson you've learned?

The biggest lesson that I learned is that I have to control or manage my life because the career can consume me. I don't want the career to consume my life. My ministry has to understand that I will have a family, and I want my family to understand that I have a ministry. So, trying to manage that will be the biggest challenge I see.

Are you signed to any record label?

No, I’m not.

Why gospel and not R’N’B or soul music?

God caught me at an early age and day by day I realise I’m a product of grace. There are two principal forces in the world; God and Satan. Scriptures say heaven and earth will pass away but only God’s word will remain and I cannot withhold that from the world to know. And as such I choose daily to pass this on the best way I can through music!

The gospel music scene is a bit overcrowded.

As a Gospel artiste and a road musician, what are some of the challenges that you face day-to-day from being in various church settings? Do you find it difficult to get fed spiritually?

On the road, you have to make the time or you will get strained. Every week – every Monday – we have rehearsal. Before rehearsal, we get our time to refresh, to get more back into ourselves. I keep in touch with my home church, Siloam fellowship and I have a good line with my pastor. We have our time of refreshing at least once a while.

How do you intend to set yourself apart?

God is the one who sets people apart. My own is just to yield to Him and that’s all I plan to do for as long as He helps me.

What’s the biggest crowd you have performed in front of and where?

Off hand, I’d say 2,000 and that’s at the Messiah Marathon Praise yearly held at RCCG Lagos Ibadan Express Way. What inspires your songs?

It’s not what, it’s who. The Holy Spirit gives me inspiration. This could come when in my quiet place or sometimes when I’m worshipping.

Take us through your new album/single.

My most recent single, soon to be released is ‘Bonjour’. It is a French word which translates “good morning”. It’s basically about realising that the gift of life comes from God and when I wake up I must acknowledge God as my source and in so doing I say ‘good morning’ .

Any collaboration?

Yes, I have a song #FinalSay with Mike Abdul .

What inspired the songs?

I was just studying one day and the words ‘Final say’ dropped in my spirit. And before I knew it, meat was added to what seemed like dry bones and God be praised.

If you were to be 18 again, what would you do differently?

Honestly, nothing. I have no regrets whatsoever!

If not music, what else?

Hmmm… that’s a tough one. Maybe a pilot

How would you describe the Nigerian music industry?

Progressive. Over the years it has made a name in the market both national and international.

What are you most afraid of?

Failing God. I don’t ever want to make that error.

Which artistes have you played with?

Yinka Ayefele. I was part of his band.

If one artiste were to perform at your party, who would get the call?

You have developed a reputation for having an Energiser Bunny kind of energy during your live performances. How do you sustain such high levels of energy?

I keep a healthy diet. I don't really worry about the exercise part because we get that when we're on the stage.

Do you ever wonder why God chose you to do what you do?

Yes, everyday. I'm a musician. I don't know why he chose me to be in the forefront. I can see now, maybe, because I'm a little crazy.

I'll say anything He wants me to say. That's probably one reason why He chose me.

29/XTRA

10.02.2017

Orji Kicks Off Constituency Projects Peter Uzoho In fulfillment of his electoral promises to develop his constituency (Abia Central) if elected, Senator Theodore Orji has commenced work on several of his constituency projects designed to address various infrastructural challenges affecting his constituents.

A statement by his Media Adviser, Don Norman Obinna, said the constituency projects are spread evenly within the six local governments that make-up Abia Central Senatorial District – Isiala Ngwa North, Isiala Ngwa South, Umuahia North, Umuahia South, Osisioma and Ikwuano.

They are listed as, construction of 33KV line and installation of 300KVA, 33/0.415KV distribution substation at Nvosi 1 (Amaku community in Isiala Ngwa South LGA via Border Community Development Agency. Construction of three 300KVA, 11/0.415 substations at Umuhute

Azueke community in Umuahia North LGA via Border Community Development Agency.

Installation of three 300KVA, 11/0.415 substations at Amapu Ntigha in Isiala ngwa North LGA, via Border Community Development Agency.

On the list of projects also include, supply of four 500KVA transformers to two LGAs of Isiala Ngwa North and Osisioma (two each to the two LGAs). Supply of eight 500KVA Transformers in four LGAs of Umuahia North, Umuahia South, Ikwuano and Isiala Ngwa South. Construction of two Solar powered boreholes in Umuahia North and Osisioma LGAs. Others include erosion control in Umueze road, Emede Ibeku in Umuahia North LGA, erosion control in Umuakanu road, Emede Ibeku in Umuahia North, erosion control in Umuagu road with bridge, Emede Ibeku and rehabilitation/ reconstruction of Umuire-Udide-Umuodudu-Agbor road in Emede Ibeku.

“Of the 10 constituency projects listed, works

are on-going on the construction of 33KV line and installation of 300KVA, 33/0.415KV distribution substation at Nvosi 1 (Amaku community in Isiala Ngwa South LGA, Construction of three 300KVA, 11/0.415 substations at Umuhute Azueke community in Umuahia North LGA, as well as erosion control in Umueze road, Emede Ibeku in Umuahia North LGA, erosion control in Umuakanu road, Emede Ibeku in Umuahia North,” the statement said.

The statement further said that work is about to start on the construction of two solar powered boreholes in Umuahia North and Osisioma LGAs, while the rest will kick-off soon.

“These projects have shown that the era of dilatoriness is gone. At the completion of these projects the infrastructural challenges of the rural communities of the Abia Central would have been solved to a large extent,” the statement added.

Armed Forces Remembrance Day: Foundation Awards Scholarship to Fallen Heroes Children Peace Obi In commemoration of this year's Armed Forces Remembrance Day, Charles Bebeye Foundation has awarded scholarships to 20 children of some of the deceased rank and file of the Nigerian Armed Forces. This is a 15 per cent increment from the foundation's 2016 scholarship awards.

The foundation's Trustee Manager, Vetiva Trustees Limited had in a statement announced the foundation's decision to increase the number of its scholarship beneficiaries from 17 to 20 for the 2017 edition. The scholarship scheme

which is aimed at ensuring that the education of the intelligent but indigent children of the nation's fallen fallen heroes does not suffer, was announced recently in Lagos.

According to the representative of Vetiva Trustees Limited, Mrs. Theresa Orji, the foundation has since its establishment in 2014 steadily grown in number and coverage. And that apart from the fact that the awardees hail from different states of the federation, 12 out of the 20 scholarships were awarded to new scholars, while the remaining are returning scholars who have excelled significantly in

their studies over the years.

Appreciative of the cooperation of the Nigerian Armed Forces, the Trustee Manager said, "the foundation and all the recipients of the awards are profoundly grateful to the various Divisions of the Armed Forces for their cooperation in the collation and verification of the recipients, particularly the Nigerian Army Education Corp, the Command Schools, the Defence Headquarters, to name a few.” Adding that without their cooperation, the scheme’s aim of giving back to these families of deceased Armed Forces personnel would not be achieved from year to year.

The Charles Bebeye Ndiomu Foundation was launched in 2013 to immortalise late military top brass, Major-General Charles Bebeye Ndiomu (CFR, FSS, MNI), who was a silent philanthropist who contributed in various forms to education and religious causes and to advance the ideals he stood for. The foundation’s mission amongst others, is to see to the actualisation of the educational ideals for which Major-General Ndiomu stood for during his lifetime – ensuring access to quality education by all in an environment where international best practice is standard.

U.S. Commercial Service Launches New Simulation Technology for Nigerian Petrochemical Industry Peter Uzoho The Foreign Commercial Service of the U.S. government which works to promote the expansion of U.S. trade and investment to Nigeria through support of business partnerships between American and Nigerian companies recently launched a new training, Simulation Solutions by a USA-based Simulation Solutions, Inc. According to a statement by the U.S. Commercial Service, the training was aimed at strengthening the skills of process operators working in Nigeria’s refinery and chemical industry.

"Simulation Solutions is a leading provider of PC-based dynamic simulation training programmes for process operators in the refinery and chemical industries, as well as for government and academia. The company’s INSTO™ 5-Step Process Technology Operator Training for professionals has been used by downstream oil firms all over the world to improve significantly plant efficiencies."

In his opening remarks, the U.S. Consul General, F. John Bray hinted that for Nigeria to overcome its current economic challenges, it must find ways to diversify its economy while improving firm-level productivity. He encouraged participants to actively engage with Simulation Solutions to improve their organisations’ bottom-line profitability.

Simulation Solution’s Nigerian partners,

L-R: United States Consul General F. John Bray; Project Engineer Matthew Garvey and President Don Glaser of Simulation Solutions Inc., New Jersey, United States; with Commercial Counselor of the U.S. Mission to Nigeria Mr. Brent Omdahl, during the launch of a new simulation technology available to Nigerian petrochemical industry process operators, other businesses, government, and academia in Lagos recently PHOTO CREDIT: U.S. CONSULATE GENERAL LAGOS

Benel Energy and Hommaston Limited made

the case why this training is critical for the

economic well-being of Nigeria’s refinery and chemical sector. The President of Simulation Solutions, Inc., Don Glaser along with the Project Engineer, Matthew Garvey, showcased the Simulation Solution’s patented training programmes, which combine collaborative classroom techniques with innovative simulator exercises to achieve a “Hands-On/Minds-On” work ethic among students.

Over 60 representatives from across Nigeria’s petrochemical sector, including officers from Nigeria’s national oil company, regulatory agencies and parastatals, as well professionals drawn from private refineries, training institutes and academia, learned how companies can effectively operate their plants without accidents and downtimes, saving costs and improving profitability. U.S. Commercial Service Counsellor Brent Omdahl anchored the event.

Audience participants expressed keen interest in establishing a partnership with Simulation Solutions, so as to find ways to adapt the simulator training programme for their individual operations. Academic speakers encouraged a gradual introduction of the training programme into technical and executive skills curricula. In the coming months, the U.S. Commercial Service in Nigeria will continue its support for Simulation Solutions and its Nigeria partners as they roll out training programs at interested organisations across the country.

Take a Stand on Crucial Issues of Life Launched for Girls and Ladies Rebecca Ejifoma The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ruth Olatunji of Girls and Ladies Mentoring Organisation (GLMO) has launched Take a Stand on Crucial Issues of Life for the enhancement of girls' mental and academic performances across the country.

Launched in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the book targets to develop girls and ladies mentally, academically, skillfully in order to make them relevant in the society and how to fulfill their purpose in life.

According to Olatunji, the book explains the need for courage to take a stand despite emotional traps like pressure, sight, interests and desires. "Girls and young ladies are advised in the book to avoid sounding syndromes such as use and dump syndrome, the help me out syndrome which will disuade them from taking their stand.”

She enthused that the challenge of leadership is the perception of weakness among female folk. "That is by no means true. The feminine race is so strong and capable of delivering which is the reason they should not limit

their achievements for gender reasons."

The Publisher spoke further that females are built strong yet they think themselves weak. "We have to find that inbuilt energy.

Let's stop pushing women backward. We can do more."

Meanwhile, the guest speaker, Dr. Akanni Rotimi, told the girls the kind of lifestyle they must adopt in becoming ladies of value and integrity. "Good leadership skills can be learnt and do not necessarily have to be innate."

He added that one of the myths surrounding leadership is that it is determined by distinctive

dispositional characteristics. However, it is important to note that leadership also develops through hard work and careful observation.

Meanwhile, another speaker, Mr. Mark Omege, a Pastor, urged the girls to start developing themselves from their present stage.

"You cannot learn everything in school. For the fact that you are the architect of your life and fortune, you must try to develop yourself.

Enhance yourself with things around you.

The essence of this book is to prepare you for leadership position in future and enable you plan ahead of your ambition," he said.

30/ NEWS

10.02.2017

World Cancer Day: Ondo First Lady Recounts How She Survived Mary Ekah Last Saturday, February 4 was another World Cancer Day, when organisations and individuals around the world unite to raise awareness on cancer. It has been established that every year, over 8 million people die from cancer worldwide, out of which 4 million people die prematurely.

World Cancer Day, therefore, is the ideal opportunity to spread the word and raise awareness on cancer in people’s minds.

One of such organisation that marked the occasion in Nigeria was the Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN), founded by the wife of Ondo State governor-elect, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu.

Revealing how she survived the dreaded disease, cancer, years ago and how she came to establish her foundation, BRECAN, the first lady, whose husband, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN, was recently elected governor of Ondo State, recalled that the family support she received gave her the strength to pull through.

Speaking during an event to mark the 2017 World Cancer Day on the theme ‘Cancer: Prevention, Control and Community Participation’, Anyanwu -Akeredolu, said, “I had the family support. My husband stood by me all the way. That kind of support will see you through.” At the event attended by hundreds of participants, Mrs. Akeredolu emphasised that, community participation is very important to win the

L-r: Dr. Olumide Aladesuru, Dr. Aba Katung, Engr. Tunji Ariyomo, Mrs. Betty Anyawu-Akeredolu, HRM Oba Aladetoyinbo, Eyesorun of Akure with other guests at the event

fight against cancer. “We must take all that we’ve heard in this programme to the next level. More often than not, we don’t act on information. This must change.

I’m challenging you all to put into use all you learned here. I am expecting a healthy rivalry among communities. We must together find solution to this problem.

Stop waiting for government officials to tell us we have a problem. We are the one to pressure them to act. We must collectively pressure government to come up with strategies to end the challenge of cancer,” she noted. She urged traditional leaders, community leaders, youths, traders, students and other stakeholders to come together to get the job done. “Let me add that when we collaborate, we will achieve

more. For instance, unity will help secure grants. Each community must engage in regular sensitisation, get data, share ideas, and hold rallies and other forms of enlightenment.”

She was corroborated by the Eyesorun of Akure, wife of the Deji of Akure Kingdom, Olori Abimbola Aladetoyinbo who read the goodwill message of Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi while Dr. Olumide Aladesuru who spoke in both Yoruba and English outlined while understanding how to deal with cancer is a major step in defeating the disease. In his remark, the Deputy Governor-elect, Mr. Agboola Ajayi, who represented the Governor-elect, stated that the programme has saved lives over the years.

OzzyBee to Fete Orphans with Valentine Concert Mary Ekah In line with his mission of uplifting the well-being of fellow African children, music prodigy, OzzyBee is set to honour orphans as the world celebrates love on Valentine’s Day. The event which is tagged ‘OzzyBee in Valentine Concert with Orphans’ will take place at St. Leo Hall, Toyin Street, Ikeja-Lagos. The concert will feature children from orphanage homes and various schools in Lagos on Tuesday February 14, 2017.

The child prodigy, OzzyBee plans to use this platform to honour his charity, Saint Monica’s Orphanage Home with an award for their humanitarian services towards the underprivileged children. His latest hot video, ‘Charlie Dance’, which featured two rap icons, Vector and Ruggedman will on that day be unveiled to his eagerly awaiting fans worldwide. Cutting of his belated 10th birthday cake with the children would also be a special side attraction at the event.

The OzzyBosco Smile Foundation (OSF) is powering the charity show. According to the foundation President, Chief Adah

Ozzybee

Mojekwu, preparations are in top gear to make it a memorable day for children. In keeping with his tradition of spreading love and putting smiles on faces, the show is OzzyBee's way of appreciating one of the often-ignored members of our society, the orphans. OzzyBee has never hidden his love for the underprivileged children and will do everything possible to alleviate their sufferings.

In 2013, he took 14 children (including

orphans) on a one-week all-expense paid holiday trip to Tinapa, Cross River State.

The unprecedented trip did not miss the attention of the state government, as they were accorded a rousing reception at the office of the former Deputy Governor, Barrister Efiok Cobham. In 2016, he touched the lives of the physically and mentally challenged children of Atunda Olu School in a special way when accompanied by his brands; LAWMA and Tigo Milk celebrated his 8th birthday with them. The children’s excitement knew no bound. The “Stop Child Cruelty” Advocate in August 2016 took a long trip to Zaria, Kaduna State with his team to visit and comfort four-year-old Usman Sadiq, whose eyes were brutally plucked by evil people.

This unusual gesture so moved the Emir of Zazzau, HRH Alhaji (Dr.) Shehu Idris to host them in his palace. OzzyBee recently bagged a prestigious award of ‘Child Advocate’ from UNESCO, which was witnessed by His Excellency the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano. He has not only remained relevant in the music industry but has featured in his songs A-list artistes.

WakaFlicks Hosts Movie Picnic in Lagos WakaFlicks entertainment limited, a film distribution and promotion company that screens well-produced movies around Nigeria, over the weekend entertained cinema lovers to a relaxing movie picnic at the Jakael House Mini Museum. Located within the historic Railway Compound in Ebute-Metta Lagos, the three-day event held from February 2 to 4, showcased three Nigerian movies complemented with music, food and drinks in a convivial setting. The three movies screened during the evenings include: Ojuju, The Happyness Limited and Green White Green.

Ojuju is a Nigerian zombie thriller written and directed by C.J. Obasi, which has won an award for the ‘Best Nigeria Movie’ at the Africa International Film Festival.

The Happyness Limited, directed by Imoh Umoren, tells a tale about a badly deformed man on a quest to raise funds for a child in need of a surgery. Green White Green illustrates Lagos’ new generation and their journey in search for direction for their lives. Directed by Abba Makama, this movie was screened at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Following this picnic themed event, guests were allowed to bring their

Qtaby Cruise & Chillz Launches New Mobile App, Ntertane

WakaFlicks movie picnic - Gbenga Adeyinka (in blue denim) with some other guests during the event

own blanket, food and drinks. The compound provided a truly relaxing ambience as guests were amazed by the Nigeria history that surrounds the edifice. Thanks to Legacy 1995, an NGO that has restored and maintained the condition of the Railway Compound.

They were delighted to talk to guests, among whom were celebrities, about the history of the Nigerian Railway.

With an app on Google and Apple store that contains movies, music, and event

information, WakaFlicks is providing alternative to socialise and make an evening of the cinema going culture.

The aim, according to WakaFlicks, “is to unite filmmakers and the larger audience by bringing high quality movies to densely populated areas. “It is an entertainment experience that combines quality movies, music and food. It is not just about going to see a movie; but about the surprises and the feel of the local culture around the events.”

Qtaby's Cruise & Chillz - DJ Nana entertaining guests at the event

The third edition of Qtaby Event’s Cruise & Chillz took place last weekend and it was also used as an opportunity to launch a new mobile application called, Ntertane. As usual the event was filled with media personalities, celebrities and business moguls.

It was a mixture of excitement and surprises as people turned out in large numbers and everyone had fun trying out the new mobile app, Ntertane.

Personalities in attendance included Mr. Tosin Onanuga: C.E.O of MobileXcetera, Mr. Deji Ashiru: C.E.O of Bolivia Gas Energy, MD of Dunlop Nigeria, Mr. Aanu Talabi: C.E.O Biotech. Celebrities include: Denrele Edun and Sarah Ofili, Najite Dede, Yaw, DJ Nana, Bunmi Mojekwu, Lolo1, Terry tha Rapman, Tolu of Project Fame, Sheila of Big Brother, Kelly Handsome, Klint Da Drunk, and Lambourghini amongst others.

The Chief Executive Officer of MobileXcetera and Atmosphere; the brains behind Ntertane app, explained the reason why the app is the future for content owners and encouraged artistes to get enlisted to enable them earn a living from their content digitally, while explaining the other features of the app to guests.

The event ended in a party as DJ Nana served the guests with good music, while guest had a lot to eat and drink.

Building Dream Homes for Nigerians in Diaspora Godbless Eduviere As part of its mission to provide shelter to average citizens, contribute to nation building and economic values, a 360° property development, construction and acquisition company in Nigeria, Shadop International Properties, is uniquely providing total solution to all real estate needs of various clients both home and abroad at affordable cost. The company is a subsidiary of Eliel Group of Companies, which operates in Nigeria, Ghana, Dubai and U.S., amongst others, providing services and consultation. Its years of integrity and trust in building services has attracted Nigerians in diaspora to invest in the country and many Nigerians abroad are now owning properties at home while in other countries through Shadop International Properties Limited.

The Group Managing Director/CEO, Eliel Group of Companies, Mrs. Damilola Adefemi, revealed that it's part of the company's duty to help clients determine fair values for properties to be sold or purchased to ensure proper values for money spent. She said, “since we realised the importance of investing at home from any part of the world especially acquisition of landed properties and development, Shadop International Properties, a specialist in building houses for Nigerians in Diaspora has helped many of them to think home and their families with the country benefiting from such investment. We take up the full responsibility from land acquisition in viable areas or specific locations required by our clients and we provide the necessary designs and government building approvals and subsequently develop the properties according to cash flow pattern and financial ability of the clients, ensuring that our services are absolutely affordable and cheaper than other options. We are adding substantial economic value to Nigeria in terms of shelter by successfully building houses in various parts of Nigeria for all Nigerians in diaspora who at one point or the other had been frustrated and defrauded by friends and relatives in the course of trying to build houses on their behalf. These funds are coming from overseas into the Nigerian real estate sector of the economy and providing employment for Nigerians and generating sales to improve the country's GDP.”

31/LIVING

10.02.2017

NBC Promotes Creativity among Nigerian Youth Mary Ekah There is no doubt about the fact that art represents an important aspect of the culture, history as well as the socio-economic and political state of any society. The roles that art can play to a society are almost innumerable. From promoting a society’s cultural heritage to creating an identity for that society and interpreting the way we see our immediate environment to the outside world, art also fosters a profound sense of belonging and originality.

As a nation, Nigeria is known for her vibrant lane of traditional art and culture and the symbolic creations of her indigenes. Through art works, the history of Nigeria has been documented through the years. The Nigerian approach to arts has survived the test of time with hundreds of recorded artefacts, art activities including festivals, exhibitions and auctions. Numerous art organisations all over the world have always attested to this but the survival of art has not been easy in the country due to a number of reasons.

First, although Nigerians appreciate arts, it took a while before the acceptance of art as a noble profession and encouragement of practitioners became commonplace in Nigeria. And although it later became a subject taught in secondary schools across the country, it was not until recently that works of art started providing much value in terms of commercialisation. These two factors, coupled with many other hindrances faced by the general working populace, especially the lack of basic necessities of livelihood, have ensured the growth of the art industry in Nigeria remains slow.

In view of these challenges, the Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC), Nigeria’s beverage giant and bottlers of the global brand, Coca-Cola, recently displayed its unflinching support for works of arts and those tending towards youth development in the country by engaging in several activities to further promote the arts and creativity in the country. One of these activities was carried out through the company’s 2016 Coca-Cola Bottle Competition, which was organised with the overarching objective of driving creativity and engagement among Nigerian youth. The

(Kaffo Abdulwarith, Dadde Daniels, Phillip Obafemi and Festus Ajimo) for their art genius in putting together the winning art work: ‘A guitar boy made from empty Coca-Cola bottles’. Two other creative works, the first being a standing mirror designed with empty bottles and the second, a giant Coca-Cola bottle, emerged the second and third place winners respectively.

Speaking at the grand finale, the Legal, Public Affairs and Communications Director of the beverage company, Mrs. Sade Morgan, described NBC’s Coca-Cola Glass Bottle Competition as one of the many ways NBC is driving youth engagement within the academic environment and also creating an opportunity for them to discover and demonstrate their hidden creative abilities to produce master pieces in art.

Also, in commemoration of its 65th anniversary, Nigerian Bottling Company inaugurated six renowned Nigerian artists to produce a Limited A creative artwork made from empty Coca-Cola plastic bottles displayed Edition of ‘6+5’ Coca-Cola during the competition bottle signature artworks. The competition, which was held in conjunction with signature bottles were auctioned at NBC’s 65th the School of Arts, Design and Printing of the anniversary cocktail reception held recently and prestigious Yaba College of Technology, was the the funds donated to support some selected charity homes. second edition by the company.

The artists inaugurated include Sam Ovraiti, The contest simply required individuals or groups to develop 3-dimensional artworks out famously known as Nigeria’s most expressive of empty Coca-Cola 35cl or 50cl glass bottles. water colourist. Sam, as he is fondly called, And at the recent exhibition and grand finale became a full time professional artist after his of the competition held at Yaba College of Tech- eight-year stint as a lecturer in painting, drawing nology, regarded as the centre of visual arts in and illustration at the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi.

Nigeria, NBC celebrated the First Prize winners He adapted the title of his work for NBC’s 65th

anniversary ‘Lightened Celebration’.

The second artist is Ada Godspower, a practicing artist and painter who hails from Benin City, Edo State. He titled his works ‘Omoge’ & ‘Rhythm of Dance’. The third is Femi Williams who, like Ovraiti, is a Federal Polytechnic, Auchi-trained artist. According to him, the arts speak a universal language boasting a rhythm of peace, love and harmony before adding that every artwork is a paradox of maze and every chance to understand its riddles exhilarates freedom. The theme of Williams’ work is: ‘In the Spirit of Celebration.’

Soji Yoloye, a prolific and accomplished multitalented Nigerian artist and painter, is another of inaugurated artists. He themed his works: ‘Wazobia’ and ‘Celebratory Festival’. Drawing his imagery from the Yoruba two-dimensional decorative patterns, Osun State-born Babalola Lawson, also impresses with his works titled ‘Hurray!!!’ and ‘Kids Play’. Apart from being a professional artist, Lawson also works as a dancer and props manager with the Abudi Cultural Group like other artists of the Osogbo School.

The sixth of the artists is Kesa Babatunde, another Federal Polytechnic, Auchi-trained artist whose works are themed ‘Generation to Generation’ and ‘The way we are’.

Morgan noted that NBC’s focus on the support and development of art in Nigeria is predicated on the understanding that the country’s rapidly evolving economy demands a dynamic and creative workforce. “Arts and its related businesses of cultural exports for this country have long been a strong source of revenue and thus it is imperative that we and not just NBC as a company, but other corporate entities continue to support the arts and arts education in our nation,” she said.

With the engagement of art as a vital tool by a corporate organisation of this size and stature, it is hoped that government at all levels and other corporate institutions as well as individuals will recognise the role art plays in our society. This is essentially because the value of art and culture cannot be overlooked going by its overreaching impact on the economy, health, wellbeing, society and education/history of any given country if well harnessed.

KICC Empowers Over 10,000 Widows Mary Ekah and Godbless Eduviere Over 10,000 Widows were recently empowered with cash and material gifts during the annual Widows empowerment programme of the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) held in Ode-Omu, Osun State.

The women which were made up of widows from Ode-Omu, Modakeke, Oshogbo and Ikire towns were given cash at the spot and also clothing materials at an event which marked the eleventh edition of widows empowerment programme.

An initiative of Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo, Founder KICC, the event is held annually at the premises of Kings University, Ode-Omu, Osun State. This year’s edition saw dignitaries and royal fathers from various Yoruba towns such as Kabiyesi Olasule of Lasule land; Owa Ajero of Ijero Kingdom, HRM, Oba Joseph Adebayo; the Alara of Ara, Oba Adedara Emmanuel JP; Onikan of Temidire, Oba M.O Fabusoye; Oluroye of Iroko Ekiti, Oba Sunday Ekundayo JP amongst others who graced the occasion.

Ashimolowo recognized the presence of the royal fathers and other dignitaries and appreciated them for honoring the occasion. “This widow’s event started with a vision God gave me for the widows of my father’s hometown, Ode Omu, and this is the eleventh edition. When we started it was microcosm of 300 widows.

Next, we advanced to 860 widows, and then to 1000, and 1500 widows in the fourth year and it kept going on and on. Five years ago, another town called Modakeke joined the programme. I think they must have gone out to the adjoining towns so that last year; we had some widows from Ikire, Ibadan. However, there are over 10, 000 widows who will be benefiting from this empowerment this year. We have 3, 000 from Modakeke, and 2,500 from the host town, OdeOmu, 1000 from Ikire, 1500 from Ife, and 2000 from Oshogbo. We tried as much as possible to put a system in the gate and verified that the women are not just taking advantage of the widow’s name, but truly widows.”

Speaking further, Ashimolowo said, “The Nigerian system doesn’t have a social security

Ashimolowo handing over a clothing material to one of the widows

system for anybody and in the scale of suffering the widows are probably more bastardized and the Bible says that ‘a true religion is to bless the orphans and the widows.“ The clergyman explained further that the widows’ empowerment programme is entirely his vision and no Government is part of it, adding, “The funds are not entirely from KICC as a church but we have supports from friends and families who have contributed immensely towards its success. We appreciated them so much for the great support and may God bless them.”

He said that in the past, he had introduced something where he also gave more than 40 University scholarships to students who came from the town, adding “When we started ours, we directed it into Kings University, so in the

first year of Kings University, the 86 students were all on scholarships. Sixty per cent was paid for by KICC, and my wife and I paid for forty per cent. “ 78-year old widow from Ode-Omu, Chief Mrs. Abigail Modupeola Olayanami expressed her appreciation, saying, “Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo is doing a lot for the people of Ode-Omu, and even Osun State as a whole. I was here last year and I was given Ankara cloth, food and drinks as well, but I must say this year is great.

He was with us last night and he gave us a cow, especially for widows who are too old to come out. We all ate. He has tried because he has helped those people that cannot eat and God will continue to bless him and his family.”

The resident pastor, Saint David’s Anglican

Church, Ode-Omu, Osun State, Ven. Isaac Idowu, explained how the empowerment of widows has reduced the suffering of the people and also made them move nearer to God as they appreciate God when they are given such gifts. “I was a here last year and as I can see, today’s graph is higher than that of last year. I commend KICC and I appreciate our brother for initiating this, and I pray God bless him and his families. “ The Founder, Dig Time Foundation, Mr. Diran Olajoyegbe stressed that the event is bigger than his imagination, adding, “It’s my first time here but I see a very bright future that I can’t describe for this event. The idea of giving people hope in such a remote part of the country means that we can actually look forward to something bigger”.

He advised that others should take a clue from Ashimolowo’s generosity.

32 / ERAVE

10.02.2017

eraveonline@gmail.com

ILLbliss Reflects on His over a Decade Musical Career Nigerian rapper, Illbliss is definitely one of the most popular and talented Nigerian rappers alive. Having been around in the industry for over a decade now, he has four studio albums to his credit and has also won several awards.

Speaking in a recent interview with BN Music, he addressed the reactions that greeted his announcement of quitting music last year. “Well, I didn’t quit as you can see. I just openly shut down one phase to move on to the next. Oga Boss said goodbye, took flight, Illygaty landed and said hello. We expected to get the reaction we got which was good as I had a new album coming and this at a period and in a space where there was so much going on. We got a lot of attention and traction, so I can say it worked pretty well.”

On changing his nickname from Oga Boss to Illygaty, he said “it’s more a progression than a change. I went by the moniker Dat Ibo Boy when I re-entered the industry as a solo artiste, some people still call me that by the way. Oga Boss was more a representation of what I’m about in the sense that I had come a long way independently. To reference something I’d said before, the Oga Boss nickname wasn’t me bragging about being a made-man, the concept was played up

iLLBliss

for a fan or listener to mirror himself through my music and brand and see greatness and a success story in him or herself. But that nickname was associated more with me being a label boss and mentor to some well-known artistes and so we reached a point where that side of me had to take the backseat for Illygaty, a more energised and artistic side of me to come forward.”

On his accomplishments in 2016, he said “I felt a great sense of accomplishment and relevance in the past year. I closed the year on a very

high note. Releasing my fourth studio album ‘Illygaty:7057’ and bagging two Headies awards for best Rap album and Lyricist on the roll for my previous album, #Powerful kept me very visible.

I truly thank God.” He also reflected on his achievements and times in the music industry which is over a decade now. “I’ve always believed in the power of consistency and reputation. Being appreciated and so respected after these years brings a great deal of joy and motivation, most especially in a very competitive industry.

I am truly blessed to be very active and relevant in the Nigerian music scene.

I must also add that I have the most supportive fans ever. Even at certain times when I wasn’t very active as a recording/performing artiste, the fans kept spurring me on to drop new music.

I call them my OBA! (Oga Boss Army) and they keep growing organically on daily basis.”

Illbliss added that collaboration is a strong tool in the music business, most especially when it’s between artistes with the right chemistry. “I have to be a true fan of an artiste first and foremost before I can collaborate. Also, it helps leverage and tap into follower ships outside the artiste’s genre.”

@eraveng

www.eraveng.com

HUMBLESMITH

Fast rising artiste, Humblesmith has dropped the video for his latest single, ‘Attracta’. Nothing is stopping the Golden Prince of Africa this year. He has released three songs and now a video to one of the songs.

Humblesmith seem to be serving it hot lately but it is not unconnected to his forthcoming European tour this February. The new video was shot and directed by first-rate cinematographer, Clarence Peters.

AFRICAN CHINA

Olamide Signs New Endorsement Deal Nigerian hiphop artiste, Olamide Adedeji popularly known as Olamide has joined other notable brand ambassadors of telecommunication giant, Globacom barely two months after ending his brand endorsement deal with Etisalat.

According to a press release by Globacom, Olamide will join Timaya in the “exclusive club of Globacom brand ambassadors.” Ghanaian actresses, Juliet Ibrahim and Joselyn Dumas, have also been named as new Globacom ambassadors.

Globacom disclosed in the statement that Olamide was made a Glo ambassador because of his success in the music

industry and for being an inspiration to millions of Nigerian youths, just like Timaya who is equally a model to youths, especially in the South-south part of Nigeria.

The three ambassadors have been inducted into the exclusive Hall of Fame for Globacom’s brand icons. Prominent among those in the elite group are stand-up comedians Basketmouth and Bovi Ugboma; Reekado Banks, Korede Bello, Hadizah Blell (Di’ja), Patience Ozokwor popularly called Mama G, Omawumi, Ego, Yvonne Nelson, MI. among other mega stars.

olamide .

Singer African China shared a video of a police officer that threatened to shoot him after leaving the set of Sound Sultan's music video in Ajegunle in Lagos. The policeman was seen in the video pointing his AK47 rifle at him and threatening to shoot. He wrote; "Nigeria see the kind of police men this Government put on our police station's to serve dis nation.... After shooting @soundsultanmusic video in Aj I was about leaving after giving money to Area boy's. Dis stupid police man jump in front of my car and threatened to shoot me. Naija make una see oh. Him beg me to Deleted video but I told him I will post it."

AFRIMA Seeks Support for Culture as AUC Elects New Chairperson The International Committee of All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has called on the new leadership of the African Union Commission, (AUC) to forge a deeper integration of Africa through cultural exchange thereby creating a brighter future for her teeming youth and future generations.

This was contained in part of the congratulatory message from AFRIMA on the successful election of President Alpha Conde of the Republic of Guinea as the new Chairman of the African Union and Foreign Affairs Minister of Chad Republic, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat as the Chairperson, African Union Commission. Other officials were also elected during the final round of elections held on Monday, January 30, 2017, at the 28th Ordinary Session of Heads of State Summit at the AUC Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Reacting to the outcome of the election, the President and Executive Producer of AFRIMA, Mike Dada, stated, “We are pleased to receive the news of the newly-elected AUC Chairperson, His Excellency, Moussa Faki Mahamat and pledge our support as we foster peace and unity on the continent. AFRIMA remains committed to her partnership with the leadership of the AUC to promote the pan-African agenda of integration

AFRIMA .

for Africa through the instrumentality of music, culture and entertainment for prosperity for its entire people. It is worthy of note that African artistes and personalities are breaking stereotypical and geographical boundaries to make their mark on the music, culture and entertainment scene around the world,” he stated.

In partnership with the African Union Commission, the All Africa Music Awards

is a music, cultural property developed to celebrate, reward and showcase the rich musical culture of Africa, stimulate conversations among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the globe about the great potentials and values of the African musical and artistic heritage for the purpose of creating jobs, reducing poverty, in Africa and promoting the positive image of Africa to the world for global competitiveness.

Fast rising act, Japheth Pam better known amongst his growing fan base as Jaffy has dropped his first official joint entitled ‘I Ain’t Playing with You’. The music act who is signed under Agama Entertainment record label is poised to storm the highly dominated Nigerian Music scene with his witty lyrics and prolific wordplay. The sensational song, ‘I Ain’t Playing with You’ shows Jaffy’s creative ingenuity and is a tip of what is in stock from the talented music act.

Speaking on his song, Jaffy said “I am here to prove my mettle and to show my loving fans that I have what it takes to meet industry standards. The plan is to put my name on the world map and ensure that my music is well appreciated by my Nigerian listeners.”

With the official music video already in the works, one can only expect greater exploits from this new sensation Jaffy and his label, Agama Entertainment.

33/ TRAVEL, LEISURE & TOURISM

10.02.2017

La Palm Beach Hotel Accra Valentine Promo Offers Rooms at $170

Southern Sun to Treat Guests with Special Valentine’s Promo

Southern Sun Ikoyi La Palm Royal Beach Hotel

La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, one of Ghana’s leading Four Star hotels is set to celebrate the Valentine season with amazing offers for guests looking to share the joy of the period with loved ones.

The hotel which has top notch facilities with skilled staff and a tranquil environment is offering a Romantic Ocean View Buffet Dinner at its Ghanaian Village Restaurant on the 14th

of February, from 18h30 to 22h30 at GHC 180.00 per couple.

It said “a live band will keep you entertained while our sumptuous food entices your taste buds.”

The hotel which said it was prepared to give guests a memorable Valentine added that accommodation per night goes for $170 including a complimentary breakfast, and a romantic room turn-down.

As the Valentine fever gradually gains momentum, Southern Sun Ikoyi is promising its regular guests and visitors bumper packages for the seasons as the hotel has designed enthralling and memorable packages for couples and their loved ones.

Speaking about the special offer for this year’s romantic celebrations, the hotel’s Sales and PR Manager, Ubong Nseobot, stated that “this year’s offer is designed to encourage individuals to spend valuable and quality time with their partner,” adding that “in today’s

busy world, this is one of the best gifts one can give and receive.”

She said the hotel will be offering a special Valentine buffet dinner at N16,000 per individual adding that a set menu is also available. The image maker of the hotel stated that the promotion also include special accommodation for couples at N40,000 per night with a breakfast for two and upgrade to an executive room on availability.

She noted that the promo is valid from the 12th to 15th of February 2017.

Experience Splendid Valentine at Benin Valentine: S&S Hotel Creates Atmosphere for Couples to Express Love Royal Hotel

Benin Royal Hotel

Benin Royal Hotel is offering guests and visitors the opportunity to experience this year’s Valentine season like no other in a royal atmosphere which the hotel is known for.

The four star hotel in the heart of the city of Cotonou and 10 minutes drive from the international airport, said guests at the hotel during this season will be treated like royals adding that the hotel has put the necessary machinery in place to make the love season a memorable one for guests and visitors.

The hotel with experienced and skilled staff offers guests a relaxing time in a friendly

atmosphere around the pool with delectable and inimitable cocktails. With spacious, ultracomfortable and smart design, rooms at the Benin Royal Hotel is truly a place for living, and adapt to all requirements that befits the season.

They are designed for the well-being and comfort of the guests. The bedding, central air conditioning, telephone, TV LED screen, mini bar, safe, bathroom with shower, bath or jacuzzi, high speed wireless internet and breakfast buffet included. Ideal solo, couple or family, you will enjoy the royal comfort!

S&S Hotel

As the countdown to the Valentine date draws near, which is usually February the 14th of every year, S&S Hotel and Suites is creating an atmosphere for couples to really share their love and express how deeply they feel about each other.

The hotel which has state-of-the-art facilities to make the season a memorable one for guests and visitors said clients who visit the hotel during this love season will be treated to mouth watering and irresistible offerings

from the hotel.

It said it would be offering guests who visit the hotel an all inclusive package at N8,000 per room for a night while couples at the hotel get to pay N15, 000, which also include a 3 course meal, live band music, lovers dance time and gifts.

It added that petals on the tables, scented candles on the table and a bottle of wine also come with the package. The hotel stated that it is also offering one room night with breakfast for two for couples.

Ethiopian Receives Third Airbus A350XWB Aircraft Ethiopian Airlines, the largest and fastest growing African airline, has received its third Airbus A350 XWB on February 1st, 2017. The aircraft is named after Erta Ale, a large basaltic shield volcano located in the Afar Region of north-eastern Ethiopia.

Group CEO Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam said, “As part of our continuous fleet modernisation programme, we have now phased in a third Airbus A350 XWB 900. Both the B-787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A-350 are the most technologically advanced airplanes in the world today and we are highly delighted that we are one of the very few airlines in the world to own and operate both airplanes at their early stage in service. Ethiopian Airlines customers will have the special privilege of experiencing the superior features and services

Airbus-A350-XWB

of both airplanes. These environmentally green

airplanes are enabling us to expand our vast

network to new and exciting destinations like Oslo in Norway, Singapore, Chengdu in China, Jakarta in Indonesia, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Antananarivo in Madagascar.

On board this game changing aircraft, passengers will experience the latest high-definition touchscreen personal monitors with even more movies, television series, and audio channels.

Passengers will also enjoy the wider seats and larger windows, the lowest twin engine noise level in the skies, advanced air conditioning technology, and full LED mood lighting. All of these amenities will enhance comfort and reduce jet-lag after a long flight.” The new aircraft has a configuration of 30 Cloud Nine business, 313 economy class seats. Ethiopian was the first African Airline to take delivery of Airbus A350 XWB in 2016.

34/PERSPECTIVE

10.02.2017

Ikpeazu...an education-friendly governor

Abia Poly: Unraveling the Monsters Behind the Conundrum Chidi Nwakodo Things will certainly not be the same again at Abia State Polytechnic (Abia Poly) Aba. The unraveling of the conundrum there has started in earnest.

For those who have been using Abia Poly as cheap political launch pad under the guise of unionism, sorry, your time is up, and your game is up in smoke.

It is poignant to note that we have those who know the in and out of tertiary education in charge now in Abia State.

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is a professional teacher who left the academia as Head of Department of Biochemistry of Enugu State University. He has taught at various tertiary institutions in Nigeria, including the Ebonyi State University College of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, and Calabar Polytechnic where he taught from 1990 to 1992 during his Ph.D programme at the University of Calabar.

The Commissioner for Education, Professor Ikechi Mgboji is not just a professor of Law, but also taught in Canada for many years.

What are the issues in Abia Poly? Or better still, what constitutes the conundrum that has defied solution before now at Abia Poly?

The management, teachers and workers of the school are apparently conniving to punish the students, rip off the Government, and each time questions are asked they resort to politics of unionism, going from one strike to another to demand for payment they've already collected.

It is an undeniable fact, though unknown to most members of the public, that Abia State Government does not pay teachers and workers of the school, but the state gives monthly subventions to the institution to augment its revenues which are not remitted to the state.

Abia Poly is allowed to collect revenue, including school fees, and use same to pay salaries of workers and maintain the school. The subventions from the Government, which currently stands at N90m monthly, are meant to bridge the calculated shortfall between what the institution reports as monthly earnings and the money required to pay workers salaries.

Before the inauguration of the Ikpeazu administration, Abia Poly had a debt profile of N2b, owed principally to First Bank. As soon as Governor Ikpeazu resumed, the state wrote off the N2b First Bank debt. Available records indicated that the N2b debt was an aggregation of overdrafts taken by the institution for which they were paying high commercial interest rates to the bank.

It should be noted that at the time the representatives of the institution told the Governor that if the loan is settled

they will be able to cut costs and run their operations even without requiring monthly subventions. If the Government had opted to use N2b to pay the monthly subventions it would have amounted to at least 22 months subventions. Note carefully that the Ikpeazu administration is just about 19 months old in office.

In addition to the N2b, Abia Poly has in the past 19 months received additional N825m from the administration of Governor Ikpeazu, as bailout and subventions from the state. All aimed at making sure that workers salaries are paid.

In November 2015, the school got N240m bailout. Subvention received from December 2015 to December 2016 amounted to N405m. Last week the school received another N180m subvention from the Paris Club refund inflow. Making a total of N825m in 19 months.

At the same time the school is receiving school fees from students. According to the school's website, Abia Poly has a student population of about 15, 210.

In the 2015/2016 academic year, Abia Poly collected about N1b as schools fees from 14,718 students that used the newly implemented online school portal for school fees payment.

In the current academic year, they've collected N140m before the school went on Christmas break, from 922 students.

This confirms that the school has collected about N1.8b from students since 2015.

None of that money was remitted to the government as they were not required to do so.

So, the management of Abia Poly, in 19 months, have received about N4b from bailout, subventions from government and fees collected from students.

The big question remains: why is Abia Poly still owing workers salaries?

The State's Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Obinna Oriaku, raised some pertinent posers when he was recently confronted by a concerned Abian during a live phone in radio program on why the school is still on strike.

His words: "You have asked about Abia Poly resumption and I feel we owe you an answer. Last week Abia Poly got two months from the Paris refund allocation committee which I am heading. This two months subvention amounted to N180m since our subvention is N90m per month.

We expect they should call off the strike next week but Abia Poly problem goes beyond the two months paid.

"The school's monthly wage bill is about N180m, which is very high and unacceptable by any standard. Beyond that is the fact that on assumption of office of this government we bought off a loan of N2b from this institution to free them from the debt and ensure they run freely and be able to pay the workers since what we give them as subvention is not necessarily

paying their monthly salary just unlike other higher institutions in the state.

"Abia Poly have 50 workers in their library unit that has what can't pass as a private law library. They have 40 workers in their medical unit. Among these 40, you have four doctors and 6 matrons earning fantastic salaries. Is Abia Poly now a hospital?

"Canteen workers are among those being paid. I am sure we all went to high institutions. During your days were those in the canteen not outsiders serving the students? In Abia Poly we have people washing plates in a canteen who will end up being paid pensions. Obviously the same Abia Poly workers are the problem with the school.

"The management of Abia Poly operates 40 accounts in multiple banks. This we have changed but they are resisting the change. They were collecting cash as school fees until recently when we engaged a consultant to enable online payments of fees. We still have about eight revenue accounts yet to be hooked on. Clearly we have politicians instead of lecturers at that institution and it is not acceptable. We are working on major changes in that school that will bring permanent solution to their problems," Oriaku said.

It would also be recalled that recently, at a recent meeting with the Governor, the leadership of the organised Labour in Abia, called for sack of the management council of the institution.

Speaking on behalf of the labour unions, the Chairman of Abia State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Uchenna Obigwe, said that the union can't understand why an agency that is generating money can't pay salaries as at when due.

"Students of Abia Poly are paying school fees and other fees which the management of the school demanded; we can't also understand why the management can't pay workers. So we think you should sack the management." Obigwe said.

Meanwhile, the Rector Prof. Martin Ikechukwu Iheanacho, and Registrar, Mrs. Constance Evuline have since been asked to proceed on a six-month compulsory leave, while Prof. Ezionye Ebo and Chief C A Nwabughogu have been asked to take over as Acting Rector and Registrar of the institution respectively. This directive was contained in a statement signed by Dr. Eme Okoro, the Secretary to the State Government.

The Government also directed the immediate redeployment of all medical staff, including all the medical doctors working at the Polytechnic to the Abia State University University Teaching Hospital, Aba. This development, according to Dr.

Eme Okoro, "are parts of the drastic steps aimed at repositioning the Polytechnic for better service delivery."

It would be recalled that the Governor had earlier approved the dissolution of the Governing Board of the Polytechnic.

Buttressing the situation at Abia Poly, the State's Commissioner for Education, Professor Ikechi Mgboji has this to say: "Clearly, the problem with Abia Poly is mismanagement. Why would a school, fenced round with walls higher than seven feet employ 95 security officers?

Why would Abia Poly employ more than 40 staff to sell books in a near-empty bookstore? How did Abia Poly spend more than 24 million naira to renovate a room, barely two years after spending Two million naira on that same room?

Why would Abia Poly spend more than 150 million naira to clear bush? Does Abia Poly really need to have heavily staffed canteen with pensionable workers when food services can be profitably provided by competent food sellers in Aba? Should Abia Poly have more than 1000 non-tutorial staff? When was the last time due process was followed in hiring of staff at Abia Poly? What happened to the billions of naira Abia Poly collected in 2016 from its students? Is the N30m Abia Poly spends every month on “overheads” defensible? These questions point to the inescapable fact that Abia Poly is the poster child for impunity, financial recklessness, and extortion of students. The real victims of the Abia Poly conundrums are the long-suffering students. They have suffered enough abuse, extortion, and cheating.

"Reports of extortion of students by lecturers are also being reviewed alongside the streamlining of jobs. It is unacceptable to have about 1000 non academic staff at that school which has far less number of academic staff.

Even the qualification of the academic staff will be streamlined to ensure that the highest academic standards are maintained."

Clearly the body language from Government House in Umuahia shows that the Ikpeazu administration is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that sanity is restored at Abia Poly. No amount of blackmail by politically instigated union gang-up will stop the wheel of change at Abia Poly as the government is determined to deliver an institution that can run smartly, pay workers promptly and focus on supporting the drive of the government towards enhanced local production of goods and services.

However, a recipe to their inflated pains and frustration is here, as the unraveling of the monsters behind the conundrum has just started in earnest.

• Nwakodo writes from Aba

35/ENTREPRENEUR

10.02.2017

‘My Journey into Luxury Fashion Brands’ Yeside Laguda, daughter of Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, is a young but seriously business-minded fellow, whose journey into the luxury fashion business world started as a child’s play. Today, in her mid 30s, she has not only acquired licenses to market virtually all the trending brands in the world fashion market but has also carved a niche for herself in indigenous Africa fashion. The young entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer of MyQ and Blush by MyQ who recently added a feather to her growing business with the launch of her GRA Ikeja, store early this year, told Mary Ekah in this interview how it all started Tell us about your business?

My business is called MyQ Lifestyle Concept.

MyQ Lifestyle Concept is made up of two arms: One arm is called Blush By MyQ. Blush

By MyQ represents most of the European and Middle Eastern luxury designers for bridal and occasional dresses. So we have full licenses to bring their products into Nigeria and also represent them. And then there is MyQ. MyQ is an indigenous Nigerian company where we produce Nigerian products like dresses with Ankara, Batik, Linen, Laces and so on and then we have another arm that produces garment steamers and so on.

Do you design?

Yes, I design all of MyQ but Blush By MyQ is just a representative of foreign designers.

What inspires your designs?

Once you have a passion for something, you live and breathe it and then it comes naturally to you and everything around you inspires you. And I think that’s the only thing I know how to do - design. That is my bread and butter.

When did you discover your creative flair?

I have always loved to draw. I started sketching as a child and later I became a buyer even when I was in university in England.

What I used to do then was that I would go to different towns and trade fairs and then to every company that has a factory store.

I had to register to be in the trade so that I could buy things for cheap prices. And so I would buy products from foreign companies at cheap prices and send them to Nigeria for people who own boutiques and other times, I will come home and then take my goods to University of Lagos and other places like that for buyers.

Laguda

Island. That is over 10 years now. And it has been a journey because I have left some things along the line, like I used to sew for people but I don’t do that anymore. I only design now. It has been a learning process and I have tried to work a life balance between my job and my family.

So how did that business sense come in?

Business is a second nature for me, because even as a child, I will buy lollypops and would go and sell them in the class at higher prices than I bought them. It has always been my nature, right from childhood, to seize every opportunity that came my way. Even though I would sell my lollypops and spend the whole money that same day except for a token I will leave to buy another pack for sale the next day, there was always this satisfaction in me of being able to so doing something, being able to multiply my money and also knowing that I could stand on my own. So being always able to multiply my money has always been a passion for me.

At what point did you decide to go fully into business?

I did it as a hobby for as long as I was a student abroad till when I graduated. And when I graduated, I actually wanted to go into the workforce but when I did my NYSC I still was buying shirts to sell at the camp, but the buyers will always ask if they didn’t come with skirts and then I had one tailor at Iponri and another at Akerele and having lived in Nigeria for over 10 years then I used to jump gutters to Akerele to go and look for these tailors so they can sew for me after which I will pay them #2,000 from the #5,000 I had charged my clients and then would take them to those who ordered for them and that was how my journey into full time business started. But then I started in the kitchen because I realised that one person will not finish everything at the time they were needed and so I got one tailor who

You are a daughter of a successful businessman and politician, so will it be right if your success today is ascribed to your father, Alhaji Lai Mohammed?

People will always attribute your success to your parents because they are probably influential in the society but mine is not so.

It is possible though for a rich and well-to-do parent to influence the success of his/her child but everything in life is grace, I totally understand that. But I have made sacrifices.

I have worked hard to be where I am today.

Laguda

worked with me in my mother’s kitchen and so I started in my mother’s kitchen and then moved into a canopy and gradually it grew.

How do you source for materials for the indigenous ready to wear cloths you do?

A lot of materials are imported but for my Adire, Batik and Ankara, I buy some raw materials in Nigeria and I also have somebody buy them for me. Sometimes I go to Oshogbo and other places, where I could get the indigenous Nigerian materials.

And as regards the foreign collections and designs, I can go to anywhere in the world to get the designs and collections that suit my clients.

What did you study at school?

I read Environmental Chemistry for my

BSc at the University of Reading, England and then got an MBA in Advanced Strategic Management from the University of Wales, also in the United Kingdom.

Your field of study does no tally with what you are doing now, so how do you marry both?

There are no connections at all but like I said, designing comes naturally to me.

So how did your parents take this sudden diversion in your interest?

My daddy was cool with it but my mummy was troubled. But after a while, everybody got used to it.

When did you start your first shop?

I stated my first shop in 2007 at Victoria

What is it like to do business in Nigeria?

We need God! Because some days things would be rosier but on other days thing would be totally down for you and if you don’t have God, your business may not survive and you may even die. So we really need God. You have been marketing products from foreign companies for over a decade now; do you also have intention of promoting indigenous companies?

Definitely! We have a huge population, so even if we do not go outside Nigeria, we can do sustainable production and then, there would be no need for importation or second hand cloths. I mean if we can do this and then employ global best standard in production, then we can take our products abroad for people to buy.

36/COLLAGE

L-R: Media Relations Manager, Indomie, Aramide Folorunsho; Big Brother Naija 2017 Constentants, Miyonse Amosu; Somadina Anyama; Group Public Relations and Events Manger, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Tope Ashiwaju; and Digital Marketing Executive, Indomie, Edien Omolola, during a courtesy visit by Big Brother Naija 2017 contestant to Indomie office in Lagos... recently PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT

10.02.2017

L-R: Mother of the bride, Mrs. Regina Arhere; the couple, Valentine Obih his wife, Carol, ring bearer, Edward Obih and the groom Parents, Mr and Mrs. E. Obih, during the wedding solemnisation between Valentine and Carol at Decent of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Agbarho, Delta State...recently

L-R; Pastor Debo Daniel, his wife Abimbola Olatunji-Daniel, (Dr.) Pastor Bode Kalejaiye his wife Dr. (Mrs) Bisi Kalejaye, Ms Tokunboh Omolayo, Pastor Adeleke Aruwajaye and Mrs Wuraola Aruwajaye, all children at the burial of Mrs Deborah Aduke Omolayo (Nee Bodunde) at the All Souls Rest Park Ologuneru Eruwa road Ibadan...recently

L-R: Daughter, Miss Tolulope Dawodu; Mr. Olusegun Dawodu and his wife Mrs. Taiwo with Son, Mr. Deji Dawodu during the Inerment of their late mother, Mrs. Arinola Olorunnisomo Dawodu at Ota, Ogun State...recently

Edward Chukwuemeka and wife, former Miss Ije Ikoku during their traditional marriage at Alvan Ville, Amanagwu Arochukwu, Abia State... recently

L - R: Mr. Vesiri Ibru, Mrs. Sade Owolabi, Mr. Aduvie Obere and Mr. Henry Muogho, all of Ibru Organisation when Owolabi and Obere celebrated their birthday in Lagos... recently.

L-R: Chairman, University Alumni Association, Lagos State Branch, Dr. Lukumon Adeoti; Chairman of the Occasion/Group Managing Director, CFL Group Holding Company, Mr. lAI Omotola and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Research, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, during the 2017 Alumni get-together/Launching of Academic Empowerment fund raising night, by the Lagos State branch of thei Association, in Lagos..recently

37/THISLIFE

10.02.2017

Adebola Adejobi: Good Night My Fighter, My Fixer!

Afolake Adejobi Today is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

It has taken me five days to think of what to say and I'm still blank, I feel like I'm just floating on thin air, like the movies.

Just like that, you left me. Just like that. It made me realise the difference between life and death is less than a second. You were here and before I could say Dad… you took your last breath and just like that you were gone!

This is what you call a glorious exit, so many desire to pass on the way you did.

I remember how uneasy you were the whole day, asking me to do many random things until the final hour, when you said you did not want to be alone.

I watched it with my two eyes as you asked your maker for forgiveness of sins while listening to Christian music in the background. You then said thank you Jesus, Blood of Jesus. The repetition is so vivid I can still hear it, tears running down your cheek as you said “death is only a stop gap, now I’m YOURS, I’m all YOURS”. Yes, you are His, His son forever.

Thank you for the privilege of being part of such an occasion, thank you. Now I see God has always loved you before the foundation of the earth and He had predestined your life to an awesome exit.

As my fighter, you fought so many battles for me, even when I failed IGCSE and had to re-sit my papers. You never treated me like a dullard or a child who had disappointed his father. You knew I wasn’t an A-student, yet you supported me all the way and said I could do whatever I wanted; so far I put my mind to it. You were fearless, strong and the giant of the Adejobi family. My father feared no one or anything.

Late Adejobi

As my fixer, you always had the answer to all my problems. I knew that once I call daddy, all will be well and no matter how bad the situation was; daddy will always fix it.

You loved your children so passionately, that you could steal or kill for us, and all we needed to do was ask. Thank God it never came to that.

As my fine boy daddy, you were the bobo fine boy. Always had the right outfit and of course the famous sunglasses to match. You always commanded a presence wherever you went.

Each time we had to meet at an event, I was never ashamed; in fact, I was excited because I knew my fine boy daddy will be the talk of the town, no matter what you wore. You were a show off- my fly guy; your dressing was always

on flick. You never had much hair, but always had a comb in your car to make sure nothing messed with your fine boy look.

As my friend, hmm…..

So many people only knew the official Adebola Adejobi, but I knew the very emotional, soft daddy. I remember the morning of my wedding, how we both stayed in your room for about 15 minutes before the day started and cried and cried like babies. It was beautiful, beautiful to see you had a soft side. I still watched my wedding video last December with a friend and my sister (Yinka), they both laughed at us and said, why were you and your dad crying so many times at the wedding?

The truth is, we had a special bond, and

unbreakable bond. I could tell you anything and was never afraid you will betray me. There was no single day I would not call you, whether you picked your phone or not. It was just my routine.

As my father, you were my everything. Yes, we had our ups and downs like every other family and even in your passing; I still find things and have so many unanswered questions. But in all, you loved your children so much, even when we thought you didn’t, you still loved us.

Growing up as a child was a nightmare, because you were so hard on us, in fact too hard on us especially Olumide and I; but as we got older you became a softy.

I thank God for the matriarch of our family Bolajoko Adejobi, whom God had prepared for such a day, and I’m confident that with God on our side, we are more than conquerors.

In my final words, I know you had to go for something greater to happen. We both knew you had to leave, but I thought I would have been better prepared. I had rehearsed it over and over again in my head, but the truth is, I am weak. You were the one to always wiped my tears and say “Keke its okay”. Thank God for the son you found in Wale, and I know he will always be here for me.

I miss you dearly from my skin to my bones, my blood and heart; every part of me misses you. I still hear your voice every day especially before bedtime. But I know God needs you more than I do, so I say Good night fine boy daddy, Good night Popo Opebi as Darasimi would call you. Good night my fixer, friend and father, keep playing the drums and singing in the best choir any human being could ever dream of.

Till we meet again in Our Father’s paradise, I will always, always love you. Thank you for saving the best for last (Our song).

General Africa: The Stabilising Force in the Creeks Segun James His works stood him out. No wonder that Bayelsa State governor never regretted making him the head of the state’s security agency that has been battling resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta led by Niger Delta Avengers, a secretive militant group that has been a torn on the economy of the nation with the bombings of oil installations and facilities.

Meet ex-militant leader and Chairman, Bayelsa State Waterways Security Task Force, Africanus Ukparasia, popularly called General Africa, the man who has been able to put in check the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers in the last few months.

Following a resurgence in the activities of militants along the creeks and waterways of the Niger Delta, and alarmed at the devastation being wrought on the nation’s economy and the environment, Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Henry Seriake Dickson, took the step to appoint Gen. Africa, a seasoned ex-militant leader to curtail the activities of the recalcitrant boys who have returned to the creeks after the amnesty programme of the federal government which saw most of them dropping their arms to embrace peace.

Before moving into the creeks following his appointment as Chairman of the Bayelsa State Waterways Security Task Force, Gen. Africa called on the Niger Delta Avengers to steer clear of Bayelsa State and its waterways.

He made the call after a routine patrol of the creeks of Bayelsa State as part of the mandate to secure the waterways in the state.

According to the ex-MEND General, the gods of Bayelsa State would not allow Avengers to cause chaos, and further environmental degradation in his state.

He stated in clear terms that he and his Task Force would not allow anybody to make Bayelsa State a theatre of a needless war and destruction of lives and property.

He advised Bayelsans to report any suspicious movement in their communities as it is the duty of all to be vigilant against the nefarious activities of criminals who cause problems to give the military reason to invade our communities for innocent people to suffer.

He stated that his Task Force would not allow the destruction of oil facilities in Bayelsa State, which ultimately forces down the allocations to the state and the consequence of non-payment of salaries to our brothers and sisters.

Ukparasia (a.k.a General Africa)

The Ex-militant leader who was a member of the Upper House of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the former militant group that held the nation by the jugular for many years also advised youths not to fall for the antics of some persons who are going about deceiving youths to buy firearms in the name of a phantom and non-existent arms buy-back programme by the Federal Government.

He stated that the Waterways Security Task Force headed by him was legally established by the Federal Government in collaboration with the Bayelsa State Government to stop crime and criminal activities along the waterways of Bayelsa State, and pledged to work with the security agencies to maintain peace and order in the state.

Gen. Africa therefore warned that anyone trying to sabotage the peace in the state would be decisively dealt with as no stone would be left unturned to maintain the peace currently being enjoyed in the state, while also calling on security agencies to watch the activities of some undesirable elements in the society to avert any possible breakdown of law and order.

The man who has ensured that the waterways have in recent time been safe not only for oil production, but for movement by the natives and local business people who move along the

waters to ply their trade, until he moved out of the creeks along with his boys was a leader of the Nigeria Delta struggle.

As a young man, he saw poverty written in the face of his people in Olugbobiri, a community in Olodiama clan in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa, even though he sees that so much wealth is being dug from the bowel of his native land. Incensed, he decided to take to arms against the system Olugbobiri is a sleepy community situated deep in the mangrove rainforest of the Niger Delta. It is over an hour of boat ride from Yenagoa, the capital city of Bayelsa State. Like most communities in the creek, it has no pipe borne water, no electricity and no road.

However and more importantly it is an oil producing community. It is on this score that Olugbobiri is on the map. Yes, the map of oil producing communities in the country.

Dotting every angle of this community and its neighbours are serpentine oil pipelines belonging to multinational oil companies operating along the creeks and rivers of the delta.

Following the amnesty by the federal government to militant agitators, Gen. Africa along with others decided to embrace the federal government gesture by dropping his arms and moving out of the forest. He encouraged most of his boys to

take the opportunity offered by the programme to educate themselves.

Almost all his boys took the opportunity, and today Olugbobiri through the effort of Gen. Africa now has a concrete walkway, water treatment plant and pipe borne water. Gen. Africa also bought a 1000 Kva electricity generating plant for the community.

Today the community now has a semblance of modernity and the abject neglect which necessitated the boys to take up arms against the federal government is no longer there But like most impressionable venerable young men, most of the youths belonging to other militant groups who refused to take up the opportunity offered by the amnesty, following the loss by President Goodluck Jonathan in the last general election, and feeling that the loss was a gang up against the Ijaw man, they were lured by some persons to return to creeks to take up arms again against the government under the aegis of the Niger Delta Avenger.

This was the moment when they parted ways with their former leaders including Gen. Africa.

Red is the colour of danger and black is the colour of anger and protest. So it is fitting that agitators in the Niger Delta region have chosen them as their identifying hue. Pictures upon pictures of the militant agitators bedecked in scarlet and black can be seen all over the region claiming to be liberators protesting perceived wrongs wrought on the people and their homestead.

The activities of the young men have not only wreaked havoc on the oil facilities and installations; they have greatly devastated the environment.

Also, their activities have crippled the nation’s economy as its oil production figure tumbles from all time high of almost 2.4 million barrels per day to a little more than 500,000 barrels per day.

Unlike in the past when killings were never part of the agitations in the region, the Niger Delta Avengers have resorted to unbridled killing and sabotage. Also, unlike in the past, the new leaders of the NDA are faceless and averse to negotiation and reason.

It was at this point that Gen. Africa was brought in to sanitise the situation and bring the perpetrators to order.

That he is doing a good job can be seen from the drop in the cases of piracy, kidnappings and vandalism of oil equipment and facilities. This has however proved that some reasonable and patriotic ex-militant could be useful at a critical period as these when the nation is in dire strait.

38/ANALYSIS

10.02.2017

Igbo Political Dilemma and Future of Nigeria Chinedu Eze x-rays Professor Jude Udenta’s views on how the Igbo race can contribute to the unity of Nigeria if given the right political role, while expounding equity and justice So much has been written about the fate and role of the Igbo race in Nigeria. Since the Nigeria-Biafra war the rest of Nigeria seem to have doubt about the people who occupy the heartbeat of the South-east region, while the later still struggle with acceptability and feeling of oneness with the rest of the country.

This problem has become poignant because of the differing forces, which seem to be threatening the unity of Nigeria beyond the Igbo conundrum. But the reality is that Igbos may be the race that desire to have Nigeria as one indivisible entity, considering their ubiquitous foray and integration in the nooks and crannies of the country.

Udenta who is a Professor of Government and Public Administration at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology in his recent inaugural lecture titled ‘Ndigbo and Current Political Equation in Nigeria: A Parametric Outlook’, argued that if given the opportunity to realise their full potential in Nigeria, the Igbo would be the bedrock of unity of the most populous black nation in the world.

Udenta called for end of lamentation of Ndigbo; rather, they should go into political negotiation with the rest of Nigeria in order to bring themselves back to political reckoning, noting that Igbos have the wherewithal, material and mental resources to reposition themselves in Nigeria. He however, lamented the gullibility of the masses who are used by the political elite to satisfy parochial interests at the expense of the collective interest of the people.

Shrinking Political Influence Udenta acknowledged that Igbos are feather weight in the Nigerian politics and observed that the Igbo political elite tend to manipulate the masses for self aggrandisement by vested interests, an attitude that has comfortably taken Ndigbo away from the political firmament in the country.

“The stigmatisation, demonisation and resentment against Ndigbo have generated the dynamics of political marginalisation of Ndigbo. These invariably have resulted in the critical decline of Ndigbo in the political equation of Nigeria. The return of Ndigbo to meaningful political relevance would require the exposure of the games of the vested interests. This is no small matter. There is no gainsaying the anticipated nimble, but calculated resistance by vested interests. Be that as it may, from the foregoing we generate the following hypotheses for the endeavour: One, the contorted view of Ndigbo results from the manipulation of perception of the masses by certain vested interests and is largely responsible for the decline of Ndigbo in the political equation in Nigeria; two, Ndigbo have shown considerable love for Nigeria in many ways and deserve a better deal from their compatriots and three, Ndigbo yearn for a nation of equal protection under the law for all,” Udenta said.

The current political colouration seem to have exacerbated the political rift among Nigerian ethnic divide, but the butt may lie in the South-east, as Professor Udenta noted that the animosities like the remnants after a repast has become the offshoot of the civil war and attendant to this bitter experience are Igbophobia and the allied demonisation of the people from the South-east region.

“Here, the attributes of elite theory concerning elite conspiracy and hegemonic propensities will come into play. The elite theory will place in a better relief, the constant threat to vested interests represented in oligarchy, aristocracy and feudalism posed by democratic/ republican tendencies and credentials of Ndigbo and the attendant reprisals. In this matrix equally, the class interests of the oligarchic and hegemonic social forces will also come into play. This will help us appreciate certain aspects of our historico-social milieu. At this juncture, the manipulation of group consciousness - real or false/imaginary will come into play. This brings the group perspective as regards the exploitations by the oligarchy. Issues here include group’s strengths and vulnerabilities.

Udenta

Again, the strength of the elite lies in their ability to control perceptions of the masses.

It is like a social magic,” Udenta observed.

He noted, however, that the concept that defines most of the observed social realities, for good or ill is power, which holds together “this combinatorial/mosaic/sandwich perspective for this endeavour.”

“Power is defined by the capacity to set and realise goals. Such capacity depends on the context(s). Hence, power is not just dynamic, fragile and volatile, but also tractable and tractionable. Hence, we speak and act in regard to the power matrix and allied calculations, viz., use, misuse and abuse of power; balance of power, poor judgment of power, balance of terror, mutual respect, mutual cooperation/benefit, Mutually-Assured-Destruction (MAD) and other excesses that flow from the analysis of the power scenes and acts and the reverberations upon social relations,” Udenta said.

He remarked that politics encapsulates among other things the social power resources and the attendant structure(s) concerning the utilisation of these resources for the improvement of the conditions of individuals, as well as more importantly, “the collective.

Benthamite utilitarianism underscores it as defined by ‘the greatest good of the greatest number’.” Put differently, politics encapsulates the processes and procedures associated with the acquisition and utilisation of the power of a community or organisation as defined by the social force(s) at play within the social formation or milieu - be they individuals or groups.”

Declining Political Influence Udenta observed that there is increasing realisation among Ndigbo that all is not well with the people, noting that some of the factors responsible for this include self destructive politics and the tendency to heap the blame on others for critical political actions taken to suit the whims of individual on behalf of the people, which most often are inimical to the collective interest. But he acknowledged that Igbo have suffered grievously from underhand treatment by the successive political leadership of the country.

“Apart from the Promethean categories of MASSOB (Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra) and IPOB (Independent People of Biafra), there is a whole gamut of fora and platforms within the last few years where Igbo situations have been the focus. The indices of the situation of decline, marginalisation and neglect are many and dire. These include states creation, communities/farmers-pastoralists’ conflicts, low/inconsiderable federal presence in Igbo

land. This is low presence is very unfortunate in many areas, which include bad roads and other indices of weak transportation infrastructure: poor railways, airports and waterways as well as incompetent power/ energy infrastructure; national political appointments and representations. Others include the manner of applications of political power within the states in Igbo land as well as the issues and preparations concerning restructuring as well as the 2019 and 2023 elections in Nigeria,” Udenta said.

Booty Mentality Udenta also noted that there is the tendency

by Nigerian government security operatives to see the South-east region as area of exploitation and booty collection and this explains why police officials and other paramilitary personnel push to be posted to the area, where they arbitrarily “make their own laws” to rip off the people.

Udenta cited example with the number of roadblocks and the presence of police and customs officials on busy roads in the region when compared to other parts of the country.

These, he noted are “issues of the manner of perceptions/treatments of any ethnic rising/ militia of Igbo origin vis-à-vis those of our neighbours; the obvious ease/ignominy with which politicians of Igbo origin could be dealt with vis-a-vis those of our neighbours and so forth; the ease with which our legitimate commercial and economic concerns are torpedoed by unfriendly policy somersaults that seem to have been deliberately targeted at the jugular of the economic concerns of the Igbo, vis-à-vis those of our neighbours and so forth.”

Indices of Denial Udenta said that there are unarguably discernible demonstrations, policies and actions of the federal government that clearly showed that despite the three Rs of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, the rest of Nigeria still feel that punitive measures must be taken against Ndigbo for the war.

This, he said, perhaps explained while other regions were given at least six states, the South-east has only five.

“For the sake of justice, since states provide access to national resources, there is need for justice. Or, what logic permits our minority neighbours to have six states and be entitled to more values than Ndigbo - an unquestionable majority ethnic group in Nigeria?

All in all, states creation was a political strategy clearly targeted against the Igbos as a result of the political crisis of the mid-1960s sequel to the Coup that ended Nigeria’s First Republic. It seems it has remained directed

against the Igbo even now. It would enhance balance, fairness and reintegration if Igboland gets an additional state. The way things are, states creation seems to be part of the encirclement, blockade, squeeze, isolate, marginalise manoeuvres directed against Ndigbo. For the sake of amity, equity, good conscience, and sustainable development, it is important that this relative deprivation and attendant frustration quagmire be appropriately attended to.

Ordinarily, when one looks at the Igboland ensemble and the state structure in Nigeria, what appears upon informed outlook is a deliberate strategy of Igbo marginalisation.

It is time to make things better,” he said.

Udenta also pointed out that Ndigbo are allegedly shortchanged in political appointments, describing the situation as the, “critical index and source of the noxious condition of the Igbos in the power structure of Nigeria.”

“Time was when political fortune smiled on the Igbo: from the Nationalist Leader, to the First Governor-General, First President of the Federation, though ceremonial; First Senate Presidents, First Indigenous Vice Chancellors and Permanent Secretaries, First GOC of the Nigerian Army and so forth. It is important to add at this juncture that none of these was rigged. Each came out of merit, borne out of the best international standards of the time. Incidentally, the highest political office achieved by Ndigbo in Nigeria since 2007 has been the Deputy Senate President.

Contributions of Ndigbo Udenta (arguably) said Igbos have contributed more than her neighbours to the Nigeria Project.

“However, the greatest contribution of Ndigbo to Nigeria is Biafra. In this connection, there would be no discussion of Nigeria without the Igbo. There would be no discussion of Igbo without the Biafra story.

So, what have we learnt from that? According to Odumegwu-Ojukwu (1989, p.169-170): The Biafra aim was not to secede per se.

It was the exercise of the inalienable right of a people to self-determination. When it appeared to the then Eastern Region that the basis of the Nigerian understanding was no longer valid, the stigmatised people sought safety from within their own ability…

Biafra was not a separatist movement as propaganda made it appear, it was rather a reflex for self-preservation. It is today an attitude of mind rather than a territorial entity and within that attitude of mind exist seeds that will save this country for posterity. All over Nigeria, there is Biafra but that Biafra today is the Biafra of Nigerians and not the Biafra of the Igbos; the Biafra of the mind, not of Biafra of the fields”.

Udenta said Biafra demonstrates Igbos’a innate abilities to surmount difficulties and be technologically self-reliant and notwithstanding the harshness of the situation, Igbos instead of turning to anarchism or being reduced to street urchins and beggars and suicide bombers turned to their innate abilities.

Equality Udenta said it was the breach of equity, law and justice, which are universal doctrine of every democracy/decent society that led to the failure of the social contract to protect the Igbo.

“This led to Biafra. It is this equal protection under the Law doctrine that raises issues as regards Lagos (the nation’s capital at the time).

It is equally what is behind the discomfiture of the Igbo as regards the official responses to the pastoralists’ onslaught as well as other peculiar phenomena of insecurity directed against the Igbo of Nigeria.

Udenta also observed that if Nigeria’s leadership epitomise equity and justice it will build patriotic spirit among Nigerians and Ndigbo would make invaluable contribution to the development of the country much more than they are doing now under air of uncertainty and marginalization.

He also remarked that Igbo political elite should always carry the people along in the spirit of onye aghana nwanneya (do not leave your brother behind).

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BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

ODUNZE : NIGERIAN BANKS CAN DO MORE dependent. But you see that is long term, in the immediate and short term, central bank can increase supply of foreign exchange in the economy by raising long term debts in foreign currency, however you must invest it in productive projects that can bring back cash flow to enable you pay back in the short or long run depending on the tenure, that availability of that provides additional supply of foreign currency. Secondly, government can increase or support diaspora remittance. Before we had over $20 to $25 billion of diaspora remittances into Nigeria, now I understand that is reducing largely because some of the Nigerians that used to remit money no longer have jobs. But over and above, the problem with remittances is political and economic instability at home. Nobody wants to bring in money where there is so much instability.

These are all sources of supply of foreign exchange. When things were a bit stable, Nigerians in diaspora were all over the place looking for business opportunities to invest in; buying stock, properties and investing in the economy and so monies were coming in through MoneyGram, Western Union and others but now all they send is money for family upkeep. They have no confidence in the economy again. All of that has been cut short therefore the supply of foreign exchange is dwindling.

Now our major supply is oil. We sell oil as a commodity and we take the dollar and we sell at the market rate. The government needs to intensify efforts that there is peace and calm in the Niger Delta where oil is comes from, that is very, very important because I know that before we were exporting 2million barrels a day but now it’s just about 1.2million barrels, if not less. And then, the price has come down, that is partly why the dollar is selling at N500 and it’s never been like this before.

In the short term, while diversifying and growing the economy in a way that over time, we will reduce if not completely remove our dependence on imported items. We must encourage manufacturers locally to manufacture, we have no business importing some of the things we import once we provide incentives as a matter of deliberate policy. We can do it through fiscal means like taxes or direct support to people that are involved. I think that there are some initiatives on the part of government to deal with some of these things but then in the immediate we need to increase supply.

I have been saying for instance, who said we cannot refine here, all of the 2million barrels we produce. I have asked that rhetorical question and nobody seems to have an answer for me. I don’t mean, just taking one product and throwing the others away.

The process of refining is value addition, do you know the number of jobs that can be created doing this. We will earn a lot more foreign exchange because we have added value. But other and above that, we will cut off completely, the dollar allocated to the importation of refined products. It is over 60 per cent of the so called demand of foreign exchange and its pushing the rate up. Again, it goes to the heart of the matter, there are too many issues surrounding anything that government is involved. What to be done is provide an enabling environment and allow the private sector invest in refineries. Recently, I heard the minister of petroleum discussing with Total Oil in building refineries and you begin to ask isn’t this a little too late. We have three or four refineries in Nigeria; it’s because of issues of government interference their not working. Now Alhaji Aliko Dangote is building a refinery and if he manages to finish by 2019, the major part of our petroleum importation will probably buy from him. If he sells to us in naira, we will cut off nearly 50 to 60% of the demand for foreign exchange and we can use that to either increase the supply and bring down the rate, so that only those things necessary will be imported, so that dollar can come back to N100.

If we build five refineries in Nigeria doing a hundred thousand barrels a day, there will no Nigerian engineer that will be jobless. All we are doing is treating oil like commodity, yes it is one but we need to treat it like it’s more than that. We can add value to the oil, create more jobs and get us out of recession.

We must encourage manufacturers locally to manufacture, we have no business importing some of the things we import once we provide incentives as a matter of deliberate policy.

We can do it through fiscal means like taxes or direct support to people that are involved. I think that there are some initiatives on the part of government to deal with some of these things but then in the immediate we need to increase supply that Nigerian banks can contribute too can leverage on these monies Nigerian banks have put together to give these pool of ideas opportunity. Nigerian youth are bubbling with ideas but they don’t have support, nobody to help them. You don’t have money and if you borrow interest will kill you, interest is high because of a lot of factors that I don’t intend to discuss here. You invest in some of these ideas and they become a success and help develop the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, it shouldn’t be Tony Elumelu Foundation alone helping SME’s grow. I look forward to something like this. And ultimately the banks will benefit, after all banks thrive on businesses.

I think they need persuasion, they need to be sure. If I own or manage a Nigerian bank, I will drive this process. We need to continuously sustain this economy. I dare say 20 per cent success of this will go a long way.

Odunze

What of tourism. I say if we multiply one million barrels by fifty dollars, that is how we sell. In Dubai, if one million passengers arrive and spend $100 dollars, this is the quantum that comes into their economy every day and they don’t have to bother with money from oil even when they have oil. So tourism alone generates in terms of availability of foreign exchange coming into the country even more than oil. So there are several models, which is why I cannot understand why we choose to stick with one.

We should put on our thinking caps and do

The concession idea is very good, I can vouch for that; airport, road, railway and power concessions. The concession process looks to me like the most ideal for Nigeria but there are key things that must be put in place such as sanctity of contract. If the government has concessioned a project or an asset to a private developer, government must not under any circumstance turn back on those contracts

something else. All I am addressing is that there are other ways of generating foreign exchange without necessarily having to kill ourselves because there is oil.

I get so frustrated because it seems there are no people thinking in the right direction as to how we can deal with these issues in the Nigerian economy and become a great nation all of us aspire to be. Turning around Nigeria’s economy is not rocket science?

Are Nigerian banks doing enough to help small and medium scale businesses grow because they have been accused of supporting only big businesses with huge turnovers like oil and gas?

Yes, I agree Nigerian banks can do more.

Now currently, the Nigerian economy is in recession. But come March 30, the accounts of banks that will be published i.e. profit before tax will almost be one trillion naira and this is supposed to be a depressed economy in recession but banks are reaping hugely. I don’t begrudge banks; these are private investors tapping into opportunities that exist in this milieu called Nigerian economy. I believe the banks can do a lot more by giving back to the system their making money from. Yes, funding SME’s is one way but they can even do more in terms of human capacity building because banking is a service organisation basically. Banks can put money in foundations and in charities. Bank foundations that you see only plant flowers and other sundry activities. They can use those foundations to do more. At the end of every financial year, banks can put money in a foundation collectively to take up business ideas and opportunities from young people that don’t have money and collateral security to borrow money but are generating ideas. That pool

Let me take you down memory lane, what was 25 years of banking like?

It was very exciting, trust me, it was and I enjoyed every bit of it. You know, banking gives you high profile in the society, just largely because they pay you compared to other sectors of the economy something that is reasonable. As a young person with a good degree, first upper, in economics, I was bubbling with ideas, so banking was the only industry that could have trapped me. I read Economics in the university of Port Harcourt and Law in University of Lagos. I saw it as exciting because in Treasury department where I started from I was dealing with everyday economic issues. It caught my attention and held me down for twenty five years. But when I was going in, I never thought I was going to stay for that long. It was a combination of being excited about the job and worth my while.

It was also stimulating mentally.

After twenty five years of banking, I was still waking up at 5am to get ready for the day before I realized it’s not necessary again.

So I go back to sleep and wake up like 6am or later and I am fine.

Banking is very challenging and I have seen virtually everything, there is no part of the economy I have not related with.

Over the years that I worked, I developed competence in my career. There is a great level of satisfaction that comes with seeing a project you worked on flourish. MM2 airport concession, Lekki Toll road and Tinapa Tax Free zone are some of them.

Really, Tinapa? Isn’t that a failed project now?

I can talk about the Tinapa project for a whole day, very sad, because a lot of things that should have happened did not happen.

Opening up of Calabar port so people can bring in goods, the access road that connects to Aba, the airport to international standard, these were some of the conditions that were going to drive the project but have not happened. So you have all those warehouses and shops, where are they going to bring their goods from. The port is small vessels cannot come, the airport is small, big planes cannot land. I can talk about why Tinapa failed but as an idea it is brilliant.

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T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017

CITYSTRINGS The Tussle over 25A Glover Road

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

Six federal civil servants who claim they were allocated a property in highbrow Ikoyi, Lagos, are determined to fight the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation which they say is trying to oppress them, Davidson Iriekpen writes

Plot 25A Glover Road, Ikoyi

W

ho are the real owners of 25A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos? This is the question six federal civil servants who were allocated the premises by the federal government in 2005 want a Lagos High Court to determine. A suit to that effect, which is currently before the court, described the effort by the Managing Director of Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Umaru Ibrahim, to take over the property as “gross injustice and oppression, which should not be allowed in a democratic country like Nigeria.”

The petitioners, through their lawyer, Mr. Chinedu Oranuba, also want the federal authorities such as the anti-corruption agencies, Director General of the Public Procurement Bureau and the National Assembly to investigate the alleged massive corruption that has trailed the efforts by the Managing Director of the NDIC to take over the property.

They are specifically demanding a thorough investigation of the following: (i) Procurement by means of fraudulent and corrupt acts. (ii) Unlawful influence, undue interest, favour, bribery and corruption contrary to Section 58, of the Public Procurement Act 2007. (iii) Incurring expenditure of public funds to the

tune of about N7 billion without authorisation or appropriation by the National Assembly. (iv) Carrying out acts of procurement contrary to the decisions of the court, directive of the presidency and the Senate resolution. (v) Duplication and multiplicity of payment and contract splitting, against the Managing Director of NDIC, Ibrahim. One of such projects, they stated, was the acquisition of land belonging to the federal government at No. 25A Glover Road, Ikoyi contrary to

The directors of the NDIC, in order to usurp the rights of the tenants of 25A Glover Road, Ikoyi allegedly connived with the officials of the Presidential Implementation Committee to supplant the legal sitting tenants’ interest and right in acquiring the property

the guidelines for such acquisition as issued by the federal government.

Trouble was said to have started in 2005 when the federal government decided to implement the white paper on the alienation of its properties upon acceptance and implementation of the monetisation policy by which it varied the terms and conditions of employment of the civil servants who would thence be paid cash in lieu of accommodation.

By the guideline issued further to the policy, the government and all its agencies, parastatals and ministries were to sell all the affected properties classified as non-essential properties on the following conditions: (i) That the properties should be sold via a competitive bidding process to the civil servants and the public at a reserved price. (ii) That interested members of the public would be allowed to participate in the bidding process for the sale of the houses. (iii) That interested persons would submit their bids together with a bid bond and deposit of 10 per cent of their bid sum with the Presidential Implementation Committee. (iv)That the civil servants would have the right to buy the property on right of first refusal and upon their refusal of the offer or non-acceptance of same the property would be offered to the respective highest bidders referred to

as preferred bidder whose bid must not be below the reserve price.

To implement the policy, the government inaugurated a Presidential Committee to alienate the properties. It was part of the guidelines that the properties were to be offered to occupants first and where they failed to meet up with the reserved price, the properties would be sold to the highest bidder whose bid must not be below the reserved price.

By the guidelines, NDIC was ineligible to participate in the bidding process being a parastatal of the federal government and one of the agencies whose properties were also on offer for sale. This fact is further made manifest in the provisions of the guideline that expressly stated that the property is being sold to the legal sitting tenants and members of the public that must submit their bid together with the requisite documents that include their certificate of incorporation and three years tax clearance.

The property at No.25A Glover Road Ikoyi had six flats and was owned by the federal government and occupied by the federal civil servants allotted same as official residents.

It was offered to the civil servants jointly at the price of N208 million in line with the guidelines and the tenants complied with the provisions of the guidelines by completing

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T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017

CITYSTRINGS

Long traffic on Glover Road, Ikoyi

the acceptance form and submitting same and tendering of the their initial deposits.

The directors of the NDIC, in order to usurp the rights of the tenants of 25A Glover Road, Ikoyi allegedly connived with the officials of the Presidential Implementation Committee to supplant the legal sitting tenants’ interest and right in acquiring the property. To effect this, the NDIC expended such monies in excess of N2 billion, which expenditure was incurred without compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007. The expenditure itself was neither in its budget nor did the National Assembly make appropriation for it.

The consultants, solicitors and contractors employed to render the services were not so employed via due process but were done by agreement by the parties.

When the sitting tenants discovered the plans, they instituted an action before the Federal High Court in suit No FHC/ CS/L/753/2007 seeking redress per their writ of summons. The court at various stages of the proceedings, granted interim preservation orders and injunctions restraining NDIC from interfering with the sitting tenants rights over the property.

During the pendency of the suit, NDIC was surreptitiously believed to have obtained a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) over the said property in disregard of the subsisting order of court and without compliance with the due processes and stipulated guidelines. They thereafter sent bulldozers that forcefully pulled down the property while the sitting tenants were still in occupation - without allowing any of them to remove their belongings and valuables including certificates, plaques of honour and family photographs and clothing among others.

The said C of O was voided by the presidency after considering the findings and recommendation of the Senate; they consequently notified NDIC of the cancellation and voiding of the C of O issued to it vide a letter dated December 19, 2011.

The presidency reinstated the civil servants dispossessed by NDIC to the property vide letters to the tenants and NDIC, dated May 27, 2015. By a letter of same date, the presidency further notified NDIC of the revocation of the C of O issued to it which notice was published in the Daily Trust of June 9, 2015.

The presidency also accepted full payment of the property from the tenants and issued them with receipt of payment.

Shortly after the revocation and the publication, the Managing Director of NDIC,

Umaru Ibrahim, wrote a protest letter to the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development dated June 18, 2015 to protest the revocation of the certificate issued it which he copied the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance.

THISDAY investigation revealed that a similar protest was made to the former minister and SGF and the protest was dismissed with a directive that the guidelines apply to the property.

While the matter over the property was in court, it was expected by law that the parties should maintain the status quo till the court decides their rights but the Managing Director of NDIC, Ibrahim, went on to initiate a second and unnecessary process for the issuance of a document by the Lagos State Government called C of O thereby incurring such expenditure of public funds in excess of over N500 million which expenditure was not captured in its budget. The Lagos High Court has since pronounced that NDIC has no interest in the subject matter but despite the pronouncement which it had not appealed, the NDIC resorted to the use of force to enter the property and procured a contractor, architects, quantity surveyors and expended such sums in excess of N5 billion which were paid without compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act

When the sitting tenants discovered the plans, they instituted an action before the Federal High Court in suit No FHC/ CS/L/753/2007 seeking redress per their writ of summons. The court at various stages of the proceedings, granted interim preservation orders and injunctions restraining NDIC from interfering with the sitting tenants rights over the property

and the financial regulation of the federal government.

It also discovered that NDIC started making payments for acquisition and development of the land even when neither approvals nor authority were given to incur such expenses; some of the expenses were also made despite the withdrawal of offer of the property to them by the federal government in 2011.

Investigations revealed that payments made for the property were over N225 million.

Incidental expenses and fees associated to same were made to John Akhamie & Co. and Anu Eso & Co; payment to Lagos State Government was approximately N80 million and additional solicitors fees were also issued without authorisation.

It was also discovered that the following actions were taken after the withdrawal of the lease and the C of O: (i) NDIC hastily obtained a letter of approval for award of contract for the construction of NDIC Headquarters on 25A Glover Road, Ikoyi without disclosing that the land at No. 25A Glover Road was not theirs. See letter dated April 28, 2015 from Ministry of Finance; (ii) they issued a letter of award of contract dated May 15, 2015 to Sageto Limited.

On November 16, 2016, huge payments of about N3.32 billion were also made after the revocation of the C of O issued to NDIC and the ruling of the Lagos High Court pronouncing that NDIC’s C of O had been revoked and that they had no interest in the property at 25A, Glover Road Ikoyi in a manner that is inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Public Procurement Act 2007 and federal government finance regulation 2009.

Many observers believe that the payments were made against public interest and for the benefit of the suspects and their cohorts.

They argued that the cost of erecting the building far exceeds the cost of building similar structure in Nigeria and elsewhere and suspected that it was inflated for the benefit of the suspects.

Property experts have contended that the manner in which the payments were made raises strong evidence that this was not for the interest of the public. They believe that there are properties in Lagos similar to the one proposed that could be bought outrightly for about N10 billion and there are others forfeited to the federal government that could have been allotted to NDIC as office without depleting the public scarce funds.

The petitioners are urging the court and anti-corruption agencies to support the

present administration in managing the economy out of recession and the public outcry against the incidences of corruption by investigating the circumstances and the propriety of the expenditure by NDIC on a project that is not beneficial to the public and whose cost is believed to be inflated, which procurement is inconsistent with the overriding public interest.

When contacted, the Head of Corporate Affairs of the NDIC, Mr. Hadi Birchi, said the land belongs to the corporation, having won the bid process through a consultant named John Akhimie & Co. He claimed that the occupants of the land were given right of first refusal which they could not meet up with and subsequently declined.

Birchi said the occupants wrote the Presidential Committee on Privatisation that they had willingly delivered the possession on July 5, 2007 and requested that they be given three months to vacate the property. He noted that they wrote the NDIC requesting for another six months to move out which was also granted, saying coming back to lay claims to the property was wrong.

He said: “The land was valued at N280 million with administrative charges of N10.4 million. The land was offered to NDIC on November 4, 2005, the corporation paid for the property and the federal government issued a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) on April 3, 2007. The NDIC made payments in several installments. First, we paid 10 per cent of the value of the land via a BVN cheque No. 26743 on January 12, 2007, amounting to N20.8 million. The corporation paid another five per cent administrative fee which was N10.4 million via a BVN number 38334 on January 2, 2007. Another payment was made on the same date which was 15 per cent of the value, this amounted to N31.2 million with a BVN cheque number 38333. “On November 2, 2006, the corporation made 75 per cent down payment via a BVN cheque number 39073 valued at N156 million. The land was duly paid for. Our opponents claimed to have made payment on the 2nd of September 2015 with a reference number IK/G/0233. I will also like you to know that after we paid the federal government, the Lagos State Government got a judgment at the Supreme Court which domiciled the property in the state.

Consequently, they demanded that the NDIC pay the Lagos State Government N80 million for C of O. The corporation paid the N80 million on June 17, 2010. On payment of the said amount, the LASG gave the corporation a C of O on June 2. 2013.”

42

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Banks to Pool N25bn Annually to Support Export, Import Substitution CBN may not have foreclosed on use of bitcoin, others Implementation of cashless policy to resume countrywide James Emejo in Abuja The banking industry has committed to contribute five percent of its profit-after-tax (PAT) towards the support of eligible and bankable export and import substitution projects.

Based on the industry profit and loss account in the past three years, and given average five percent VAT charge for the period, it is estimated that about N25 billion will be realised from their annual contributions. While the scheme will commence in 2017, it will be bankrolled from banks’ 2016 financials initially.

Addressing journalists in Abuja shortly after the regular meetings of the Bankers’ Committee, Director, Banking Support Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Alhaji Ahmed Abdullahi said the new initiative for funding agriculture and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will boost federal government’s diversification efforts.

He said the fund will be made available to any firm or entrepreneur who aims to boost export drive or promote import substitution like processing of raw materials locally to reduce importation of finished items.

The funding pattern will be based on equity partnership arrangement and not loan and with no interest charge- and will run for a 10-year maximum duration. Indications also emerged yesterday that the apex bank may not have foreclosed the use of virtual currencies in the run as it is still weighing the benefits and consequences which could result from the eventual adoption.

Speaking on the issue which also formed part of deliberations during the meeting, Managing Director, Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), Mr. Segun Agbaje said the CBN, like other central banks around the world, is currently considering the potentials of virtual currencies

before coming up with a definite resolution.

He said the banking industry was also concerned over the growing menace of ponzi schemes to ensure that people do not continue to fall prey while others get rich quickly.

He said: “We are beginning to look at the impact of bitcoin, digital currencies and trying to understand it better before coming up with regulation either to support it or prevent it.

“So I think we are at the very early stages in Nigeria and the CBN which is the regulator has to study it properly to come out with policy statement and directions.”

CBN acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr..

Isaac Okoroafor said it was regrettable that some people didn’t heed to warnings from regulatory authorities not to patronise wonder banks given that many persons still got their fingers burnt.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

OCTOBER 2016

FMDQ Adopts S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Index

Broad Money (M2)

22,275,512.54

-- Narrow Money (M1)

10,023,616.69

Obinna Chima

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,521,797.77

---- Demand Deposits

8,501,818.92

-- Quasi Money

12,251,895.85

As part of effort to improve price discovery and transparency in the Nigerian financial markets, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange has formalised its partnership with S&P Dow Jones Indices (SPDJI) through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development and publication of co-branded fixed income indices in the Nigerian financial market.

FMDQ embarked on the journey towards providing reliable and credible benchmarks in 2014 with the launch of the FMDQ FGN Bond Index. Following the launch, the OTC Securities Exchange continued to identify ways to improve the existing index and align it with international best standards as set out in the International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO) Principles for Financial Benchmarks.

This, it said necessitated numerous engagements with stakeholders including but not limited to fund/asset managers and financial services regulators, who all identified the governance of the index as a very critical value-add for the successful delivery of the aforementioned mandate.

SPDJI is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Managing Director/CEO, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, , Mr. Bola Onadele.

Koko, while speaking on the partnership, was quoted in a statement to have said: “This is indeed a landmark achievement as the development of these co-branded fixed income indices aims to revolutionise the face of the Nigerian financial markets

by providing investors with a consistent, credible and objective measure for the performance of their investments in the Nigerian financial markets.

“This will likewise serve as an acceptable benchmark for the fixed income market and provide transparent and credible information to the investing public and other persons with interest in the Nigerian financial market.”

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer, S&P Dow Jones Indices, Mr. Alex Matturri said: “S&P Dow Jones Indices has been calculating Nigerian indices for a number of years and we have more recently expanded our offering to include dividend and fixed income indices. We’re delighted to officially sign the memorandum of understanding between S&P Dow Jones Indices and FMDQ and the adoption of the S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Index.

Linkage Assurance Grows Profit by 58% Ebere Nwoji With 58 per cent growth in its net profit, underwriting firm, Linkage Assurance Plc has promised its shareholders better returns on investment under the new management team led by the Managing Director, Dr. Pius Apere.

Apere, recently took over the leadership baton of Linkage Assurance from its erstwhile Managing Director, Godwin Wiggle. Apere, who informed the shareholders at the company’s 22nd Annual General Meeting held in Lagos, that the era of non-payment of dividend was over, also assured that the future looked bright for the company.

He said the result of the company’s restructuring was beginning to impact on her overall performance, adding that bad days are over for the

company. He also assured that shareholders will soon start to earn dividends.

“We have got to the end of the tunnel where dividend will start coming,” Apere assured.

He disclosed that the figures from 2016 unaudited accounts of the company as well as expected dividend from its investment would put smiles on the faces of shareholders.

According to him, for optimum performance, Linkage Assurance had strengthened its human capital with new heads of department, while its marketing team had also been beefed up with top flight insurance marketers and the results coming are fantastic.

“We have gone past the time when we measure our performance based on gross premium, we are now measuring based on bottom line.

Going forward, there will be

an improved communication between our company and the shareholders so that all of us will keep pace with developments in the company,” Apere stated. Earlier, the chairman of the company, John Eseimohkumoh disclosed the performance of the company in 2015, saying its gross premium grew by 24 per cent from N3.05 billion in 2014 to N3.79 billion, while net premium rose by 25 per cent to close N2.44 billion at the end of 2015.

Eseimohkumoh, further disclosed that investment and other incomes rose by 26 per cent from N1.19 billion in 2014, to N1.50 billion in the year under review.

Profit before tax also grew by 60 per cent from N580.85 million in 2014, to N929 million, while profit after tax closed at N512.24 million, a growth of 58 per cent.

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,612,243.68

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

14,654,268.86

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

26,774,684.47

---- Credit to Government (Net)

3,705,049.41

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

6,242,932.95

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

-2,537,883.55

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

23,069,635.07

--Other Assets Net

-12,120,415.62

Reserve Money (Base Money)

6,580,594.55

--Currency in Circulation

1,825,664.51

--Banks Reserves

4,415,126.62 • Source - CBN

MANAGED FUNDS Month Inter-Bank Call Rate

December 2016 10.39

Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

13.96

Savings Deposit Rate

4.18

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.53

3 Months Deposit Rate

8.80

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.23

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.76

Prime Lending rate

17.09

Maximum Lending Rate

28.55 • Monetary Policy Rate - 13%

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT, WEDNESDAY, 8 FEB 2017 The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $52.13 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $52.78 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

T H I S D AY FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2017

43

44

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBURARY 10, 2017

MARKET NEWS

Jaiz Bank’s Listing Adds N37bn to NSE Market Capitalisation Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday recorded the second listing for the year as it admitted 29.464 billion ordinary shares of Jaiz Bank Plc on its daily official list at N1.25 per share by introduction.

The listing added about N37 billion to the market capitalisation of the NSE.

Shareholders of the bank had unanimously endorsed the listing of the shares at an extra-ordinary general meeting in November, 2016.

Speaking at the listing ceremony, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Jaiz Bank, Hassan Usman said it would promote liquidity for the bank’s shares, enhance value of the company and increased transparency.

T H E MAIN BOARD

DEALS

MARKET PRICE

“It is also in fulfillment of an earlier promise made at inception of the bank to the shareholders and the public..

Our listing today, I am sure will elicit public confidence that non-interest banking provides alternative model that will contribute to the socio-economic development of our country,” he said.

On the future outlook of the bank, the CEO said going by

N I G E R I A N QUANTITY TRADED

STO C K

VALUE TRADED ( N )

Daily Summary as of 22/02/2016 Printed 22/02/2016 14:36:10.010

Daily Summary (Bonds) No Debt Trading Activity Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board EQTY AGRICULTURE Crop Production OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals AGRICULTURE Totals CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. Diversified Industries Totals CONGLOMERATES Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Infrastructure/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Totals Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals CONSUMER GOODS Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Totals Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. Beverages--Non-Alcoholic Totals Food Products DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. TIGER BRANDED CONSUMER GOODS PLC Food Products Totals Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Food Products--Diversified Totals Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. Household Durables Totals Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. Personal/Household Products Totals CONSUMER GOODS Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. SKYE BANK PLC STERLING BANK PLC. UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC UNION BANK NIG.PLC. UNITY BANK PLC WEMA BANK PLC. Banking Totals Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC WAPIC INSURANCE PLC Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals Micro-Finance Banks NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC Micro-Finance Banks Totals Other Financial Institutions AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS PLC CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC UNITED CAPITAL PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals HEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC

the growth trajectory which averaged 30 per cent per annum, Jaiz Bank’s prospects are bright. The projection for the next five years indicates a gross revenue of N16 billion by 2021 and profit before tax of N7.9 billion. According to him, the bank’s corporate plan outlines its way forward with the strategies, priorities and activities it will focus on the achive its financial goals.

6 6 12

30.00 34.00

12,629 11,640 24,269

374,530.15 421,345.20 795,875.35

19 19 31

1.25

1,078,511 1,078,511 1,102,780

1,358,964.30 1,358,964.30 2,154,839.65

5 68 13 86 86

0.77 1.13 20.47

33,500 6,740,423 65,995 6,839,918 6,839,918

25,070.00 7,635,453.96 1,344,425.15 9,004,949.11 9,004,949.11

13 13

41.50

31,970 31,970

1,409,214.78 1,409,214.78

5 5 18

5.20

28,901 28,901 60,871

154,716.48 154,716.48 1,563,931.26

6 24 7 98 135

2.85 118.85 20.00 99.00

190,900 53,000 15,200 429,541 688,641

528,079.00 6,201,924.95 293,757.00 42,728,789.84 49,752,550.79

9 9

168.50

166,476 166,476

28,285,937.95 28,285,937.95

54 38 6 12 1 29 140

5.61 19.00 1.37 6.86 6.65 1.27

2,120,306 314,421 40,000 119,863 433 3,285,739,119 3,288,334,142

11,610,520.13 5,953,792.96 55,716.00 842,442.48 2,736.56 4,074,348,894.07 4,092,814,102.20

11 54 65

17.86 700.00

18,825 98,360 117,185

329,518.50 68,567,962.00 68,897,480.50

11 11

4.46

99,050 99,050

420,455.00 420,455.00

13 21 34 394

21.90 28.00

36,887 133,117 170,004 3,289,575,498

820,034.75 3,737,067.92 4,557,102.67 4,244,727,629.11

82 51 21 25 200 41 16 147 11 15 67 676

4.10 1.49 15.60 1.21 16.70 1.07 1.76 2.95 5.30 0.63 0.98

3,962,506 2,163,396 278,470 790,900 4,847,312 1,969,858 1,204,932 8,586,418 39,752 501,617 5,920,564 30,265,725

16,210,255.82 3,314,106.88 4,136,459.40 958,864.34 80,963,793.44 2,115,552.11 2,087,767.85 25,302,954.71 205,645.40 316,018.71 5,813,502.17 141,424,920.83

14 8 2 3 7 10 1 1 46

0.80 0.90 0.50 0.50 2.06 0.76 0.50 0.50

200,107 276,500 5,004,000 1,000,000 351,540 327,285 37,708,135 10 44,867,577

160,838.67 251,350.00 2,502,000.00 500,000.00 720,728.80 245,325.31 18,854,067.50 5.00 23,234,315.28

1 1

1.08

4,760 4,760

4,950.40 4,950.40

31 7 105 7 20 170 893

2.46 4.00 0.85 14.15 1.31

1,149,464 27,041 31,257,120 38,035 708,255 33,179,915 108,317,977

2,830,722.84 104,002.06 26,613,309.20 537,985.34 931,556.31 31,017,575.75 195,681,762.26

27

2.69

614,065

1,572,223.05

“We have set out on a path of reinvention of the banking landscape in the country. This journey over the next few years will focus on the changing how banks should operate to better improve the lots of the community, while delivering on their commitments to the investors/shareholders. We are focused on building on our culture of ethics and taking the necessary decisions to align

our perspective with client expectations,” he said.

Speaking on dividend policy of the bank, Usman said it has a policy that tries to strike a balance between retaining sufficient cash in the business to finance its organic growth strategy and rewarding its shareholders which have come a long was supporting the banks’s vision since its initial public offering of 2003.

E XC H A N G E

MAIN BOARD GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC Pharmaceuticals Totals HEALTHCARE Totals ICT IT Services TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. IT Services Totals ICT Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials ASHAKA CEM PLC BERGER PAINTS PLC CAP PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. Building Materials Totals Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC. Electronic and Electrical Products Totals Packaging/Containers BETA GLASS CO PLC. Packaging/Containers Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC Energy Equipment and Services Totals Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors CONOIL PLC ETERNA PLC. FORTE OIL PLC. MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD Exploration and Production Totals OIL AND GAS Totals SERVICES Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Totals Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC Courier/Freight/Delivery Totals Printing/Publishing LEARN AFRICA PLC Printing/Publishing Totals Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC Transport-Related Services Totals Support and Logistics CAVERTON OFFSHORE SUPPORT GRP PLC Support and Logistics Totals SERVICES Totals EQTY Board Totals Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board ASeM CONSUMER GOODS Food Products MCNICHOLS PLC Food Products Totals CONSUMER GOODS Totals ASeM Board Totals Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board PREMIUM FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC Banking Totals Other Financial Institutions FBN HOLDINGS PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials DANGOTE CEMENT PLC Building Materials Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals PREMIUM Board Totals Equity Activity Totals

DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

32 4 6 69 69

25.33 0.94 0.69

551,998 16,020 597,000 1,779,083 1,779,083

13,903,164.18 15,299.40 412,110.00 15,902,796.63 15,902,796.63

1 1 1

1.69

500 500 500

805.00 805.00 805.00

16 9 4 6 10 31 76

24.00 9.30 35.78 8.62 3.36 80.50

110,727 40,229 26,700 142,300 299,900 14,373,223 14,993,079

2,707,053.97 362,501.29 992,680.00 1,227,076.00 966,480.00 1,157,057,077.16 1,163,312,868.42

6 6

1.51

134,500 134,500

204,240.00 204,240.00

5 5 87

50.00

24,529 24,529 15,152,108

1,165,135.50 1,165,135.50 1,164,682,243.92

2 2

0.50

24,262 24,262

12,131.00 12,131.00

90 90

3.47

3,827,573 3,827,573

13,288,632.05 13,288,632.05

21 7 8 21 7 64

18.34 1.84 342.00 150.00 145.00

81,125 100,300 20,300 16,295 13,699 231,719

1,505,034.50 182,832.00 6,595,470.00 2,396,080.60 1,959,692.96 12,639,110.06

33 33 189

318.00

389,934 389,934 4,473,488

124,037,602.56 124,037,602.56 149,977,475.67

1 1

0.50

941 941

470.50 470.50

5 5

3.80

32,870 32,870

127,756.40 127,756.40

13 13

0.89

624,500 624,500

538,430.00 538,430.00

1 22 23

2.29 4.00

4,588 251,094 255,682

10,001.84 1,001,583.80 1,011,585.64

1 1 43 1,811

1.68

10,000 10,000 923,993 3,428,226,216

16,000.00 16,000.00 1,694,242.54 5,785,390,675.15

2 2 2 2

1.21

270,464 270,464 270,464 270,464

327,261.44 327,261.44 327,261.44 327,261.44

306 306

11.45

13,929,679 13,929,679

159,605,439.23 159,605,439.23

278 278 584

3.74

10,438,552 10,438,552 24,368,231

39,515,087.18 39,515,087.18 199,120,526.41

35 35 35 619 2,432

139.83

38,770 38,770 38,770 24,407,001 3,452,903,681

5,304,666.00 5,304,666.00 5,304,666.00 204,425,192.41 5,990,143,129.00

2 2 2 2 2 10 10 10

2,330.00 2.33 6.02 11.09 18.07

3,000 20 20 20 15 3,075 3,075 3,075

6,986,000.00 46.70 120.20 221.80 270.65 6,986,659.35 6,986,659.35 6,986,659.35

Daily Summary (ETP) Exchange Traded Fund Name NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND (ETF) VETIVA BANKING ETF VETIVA CONSUMER GOODS ETF VETIVA GRIFFIN 30 ETF VETIVA INDUSTRIAL ETF Exchange Traded Fund Totals ETF Board Totals ETP Activity Totals

45

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017

MARKET NEWS

Be Committed to Funding of Infrastructure, Market Stakeholders Tell FG The federal government has been urged to remain committed to the financing of infrastructure so as to reduce the cost of doing business for companies and move economy out of its current recession. The call was made yesterday by speakers at the 2017 Budget Seminar organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Lagos.

According to them, one of the major challenges businesses are facing is poor infrastructure which consume

a large chunk of their revenues.

They therefore, said capital expenditure of the 2017 budget should be dedicated to improvement of infrastructure in order to enhance the ease of doing business in the country for businesses to become productive and the economy to recover.

The panelists at the seminar included: Managing Director of Investment One Vencap, Dr. Ore Sofekun; Founder of Cowry Asset Management Limited, , Mr. John Chukwu;

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

Chief Consultant, B. Adedipe, Associates Limited, Dr. Biodun Adedipe; and , CEO, Quest Advisory Services Limited, Mr. Bayo Rotimi.

The guest speaker and Head, Economic Research and Policy Management Division, SEC, Dr Afolabi Olowookere, who spoke on the theme: “The 2017 budget of growth and recovery: Relevance, implications and perspectives of the Nigerian capital market,” said the budget would affect the market significantly.

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 8-Feb-2017, unless otherwise stated.

According to him, the market could provide platform for sale of government shares during privatisation, noting that proceeds realised from privatisation exercise could be used for budget financing.

Olowookere added that the capital market engenders transparency among listed firms thereby easing source of tax collection.

In his remarks, the Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo said as the apex regulator of the capital market, it is essential that

they consider the impact of the 2017 budget on the Nigerian capital market.

“Even more important is the question, “How can the capital market contribute more meaningfully to the growth and recovery process which the 2017 budget seeks to promote?” I’m sure you will agree that the relationship between the 2017 budget and its impact on the capital market deserves to be analyzed at a dedicated forum such as this,” he said.

The DG observed that

the 2017 budget maintained substantially higher allocations for infrastructural projects and hopes the seminar would facilitate discussions by stakeholders on the role of the capital market in addressing Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit financing.

He equally he noted agriculture also remains at the heart of the 2017 budget as a key head for diversifying the economy, saying the proposed allocation to the sector is at a historic high of N92 billion.

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 aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 1 270 1680 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 126.85 126.95 -0.28% Nigeria International Debt Fund 218.43 218.60 1.36% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.69 0.70 -1.16% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.71% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 12.10 12.46 -2.03% ARM Discovery Fund 284.45 293.03 -0.95% ARM Ethical Fund 21.90 22.56 -1.99% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.31% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 105.39 106.13 0.29% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.04% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Nigeria Global Investment Fund 2.16 2.21 -0.68% Paramount Equity Fund 9.33 9.57 -0.32% Women's Investment Fund 84.62 86.79 0.03% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.99% FBN CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,102.71 1,103.94 1.13% FBN Heritage Fund 109.49 110.22 -1.88% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 16.06% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $105.37 $105.61 1.05% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $104.55 $104.79 0.95% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 111.71 113.15 -0.86% FIRST CITY ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcamltd.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Equity Fund 0.93 0.95 0.00% Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund 2.61 2.61 1.53% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 2,170.91 2,195.58 -1.75% Coral Income Fund 2,145.57 2,145.57 1.96% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 16.59% INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 16.53% Vantage Balanced Fund 1.68 1.70 -0.14% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 15.48%

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 0.36% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,013.85 1,013.85 1.10% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 9.63 9.71 -0.36% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 14.70% 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 1.08 0.67% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.40 10.43 -0.05% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 16.19% 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 111.00 111.95 2.59% 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 1.26 1.26 1.05% 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 1,810.05 1,819.79 -1.17% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 151.46 151.46 -1.62% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.75 0.76 -1.95% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 188.61 188.61 0.92% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 127.52 129.19 -1.77% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.53% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,249.83 7,337.03 -4.38% 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 1.13 1.15 8.00% United Capital Bond Fund 1.25 1.25 16.46% United Capital Equity Fund 0.65 0.66 -0.98% 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 9.66 9.93 0.89% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.10 11.20 1.73% Zenith Income Fund 16.99 16.99 2.87%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.41 124.56

1.01% 0.48%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

7.91 71.31

8.01 72.65

-9.85% -5.90%

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

2.40 5.36 11.57 14.44 135.04

2.44 5.44 11.67 14.64 137.04

-12.50% -23.62% -3.52% -9.41% 3.94%

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.

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WORLD OF ISLAM INTERNATIONAL Edited by: MJO Mustapha Email deji.mustapha@thisdaylive.com

The Amazing Quran – 6 Gary Miller/IslamiCity (continued from last week) Origin of the Universe and Life

A

n interesting characteristic of the Quran is how it deals with surprising phenomena which relate not only to the past but to modern times as well. In essence, the Quran is not an old problem. It is still a problem even today – a problem to the non-Muslims that is. For every day, every week, every year brings more and more evidence that the Quran is a force to be contended with – that its authenticity is no longer to be challenged! For example, one verse in the Quran (Surah al-Anbiya 21:30) reads: Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder?

We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?

Ironically, this very information is exactly what they awarded the 1973 Noble Prize for – to a couple of unbelievers.

The Quran reveals the origin of the universe – how it began from one piece – and mankind continues to verify this revelation, even up to now. Additionally, the fact that all life originated from water would not have been an easy thing to convince people of fourteen centuries ago.

Indeed, if 1400 years ago you had stood in the desert and told someone, “All of this, you see (pointing to yourself), is made up of mostly water,” no one would have believed you. Proof of that was not available until the invention of the microscope. They had to wait to find out that cytoplasm, the basic substance of the cell, is made-up of 80% water. Nonetheless, the evidence did come, and once again the Quran stood the test of time.

More on Falsification Test In reference to the falsification tests mentioned earlier, it is interesting to note that they, too, relate to both the past and the present. Some of them were used as illustrations of Allah’s omnipotence and knowledge, while others continue to stand as challenges to the present day. An example of the former is the statement made in the Quran about Abu Lahab. It clearly illustrates that Allah, the Knower of the Unseen, knew that Abu Lahab would never change his ways and accept Islam. Thus Allah dictated that he would be condemned to the Hellfire forever. Such a chapter was both an illustration of Allah’s divine wisdom and a warning to those who were like Abu Lahab.

People of the Book An interesting example of the latter type of falsification tests contained in the Quran is the verse which mentions the relationship between the Muslims and the Jews. The verse is careful not to narrow its scope to the relationship between individual members of each religion, but rather, it summarizes the relationship between the two groups of people as a whole. In essence, the Quran states that the Christians will always treat the Muslims better than the Jews will treat the Muslims. Indeed, the full impact of such a statement can only be felt after careful consideration of the real meaning of such a verse. It is true that many Christians and many Jews have become Muslims, but as a whole, the Jewish community is to be viewed as an avid enemy of Islam. Additionally, very few people realize what such an open declaration in the Quran invites. In essence, it is an easy chance for the Jews to prove that the Quran is false – that it is not a divine revelation. All they have to do is organize themselves, treat the Muslims nicely for a few years and then say, “Now what does your holy book say about who are your best friends in the world – the Jews or the Christians? Look what we Jews have done for you!”

That is all they have to do to disprove the Quran’s authenticity, yet they have not done it in 1400 years. But, as always, the offer still stands open!

A Mathematical Approach All of the examples so far given concerning the various angles from which one can approach the Quran have undoubtedly been subjective in nature; however, there does exist another angle, among others, which is objective and whose basis is mathematical.

The following three examples of subjects about which the Quran has made correct statements collectively illustrate how the Quran continues to beat the odds.

The Female Bee In the 16th chapter (Surah an-Nahl 16:68-69) the Quran mentions that the female bee leaves its home to gather food.

Now, a person might guess on that, saying: “The bee that you see flying around – it could be male,or it could be female. I think I will guess female.”

Certainly, he has a one in two chance of being right. So it happens that the Quran is right. But it also happens that that was not what most people believed at the time when the Quran was revealed. Can you tell the difference between a male and a female bee? Well, it takes a specialist to do that, but it has been discovered that the male bee never leaves his home to gather food. However, in Shakespeare’s play, Henry the Fourth, some of the characters discuss bees and mention that the bees are soldiers and have a king.

That is what people thought in Shakespeare’s time – that the bees that one sees flying around are male bees and that they go home and answer to a king. However, that is not true at all. The fact is that they are females, and they answer to a queen. Yet it took modern scientific investigations in the last 300 years to discover that this is the case.

So, back to the list of good guesses, concerning the topic of bees, the Quran had a 50/50 chance of being right, and the odds were one in two.

The Sun In addition to the subject of bees, the Quran also discusses the sun and the manner in which it travels through space. Again, a person can guess on that subject.

When the sun moves through space, there are two options: it can travel just as a stone would travel if one threw it, or it can move of its own accord. The Quran states the latter – that it moves as a result of its own motion (Surah al-Anbiya 21:33). To do such, the Quran uses a form of the word sabaha to describe the sun’s movement through space. In order to properly provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the implications of this Arabic verb, the following example is given.

If a man is in water and the verb sabaha is applied in reference to his movement, it can be understood that he is swimming, moving of his own accord and not as a result of a direct force applied to him. Thus when this verb is used in reference to the sun’s movement through space, it in no way implies that the sun is flying uncontrollably through space as a result of being hurled or the like. It simply means that the sun is turning and rotating as it travels. Now, this is what the Quran affirms, but was it an easy thing to discover? Can any common man tell that the sun is turning? Only in modern times was the equipment made available to project the image of the sun onto a tabletop so that one could look at it without being blinded. And through this process it was discovered that not only are there spots on the sun but that these spots move once every 25 days. This movement is referred to as the rotation of the sun around its axis and conclusively proves that, as the Quran stated 1400 years ago, the sun does, indeed, turn as it travels through space.

And returning once again to the subject of good guesses, the odds of guessing correctly about both subjects – the sex of bees and the movement of the sun – are one in four!

Time Zones Seeing as back fourteen centuries ago people probably did not understand much about time zones, the Quran’s statements about this subject are considerably surprising.

The concept that one family is having breakfast as the sun comes up while another family is enjoying the brisk night air is truly something to be marveled at, even in modern time. Indeed, fourteen centuries ago, a man could not travel more than thirty miles in one day, and thus it took him literally months to travel from India to Morocco, for example. And probably, when he was having supper in Morocco, he thought to himself, “Back home in India they are having supper right now.” This is because he did not realize that, in the process of traveling, he moved across a time zone. Yet, because it is the words of Allah, the All-Knowing, the Quran recognizes and acknowledges such a phenomenon.

In an interesting verse it states that when history comes to an end and the Day of Judgment arrives, it will all occur in an instant; and this very instant will catch some people in the daytime and some people at night. This clearly illustrates Allah’s divine wisdom and His previous knowledge of the existence of time zones, even though such a discovery was non-existent back fourteen centuries ago. Certainly, this phenomenon is not something which is obvious to one’s eyes or a result of one’s experience, and this fact, in itself, suffices as proof of the Quran’s authenticity.

Conclusion Returning one final time to the subject of good guesses for the purpose of the present example, the odds that someone guessed correctly about all three of the aforementioned subjects – the sex of bees, the movement of the sun and the existence of time zones – are one in eight!

Certainly, one could continue on and on with this example, drawing up longer and longer list of good guesses; and of course, the odds would become higher and higher with each increase of subjects about which one could guess.

But what no one can deny is the following: the odds that Muhammad , an illiterate, guessed correctly about thousands and thousands of subjects, never once making a mistake, are so high that any theory of his authorship of the Quran must be completely dismissed – even by the most hostile enemies of Islam!

Indeed, the Quran expects this kind of challenge.

Undoubtedly, if one said to someone upon entering a foreign land, “I know your father. I have met him,” probably the man from that land would doubt the newcomer’s word, saying, “You have just come here. How could you know my father?” As a result, he would question him, “Tell me, is my father tall, short, dark, fair? What is he like?” Of course, if the visitor continued answering all of the questions correctly, the skeptic would have no choice but to say, “I guess you do know my father. I don’t know how you know him, but I guess you do!”

The situation is the same with the Quran. It states that it originates from the One who created everything. So everyone has the right to say, “Convince me! If the author of this book really originated life and everything in the heavens and on the earth, then He should know about this, about that, and so on.” And inevitably, after researching the Quran, everyone will discover the same truths. Additionally, we all know something for sure: we do not all have to be experts to verify what the Quran affirms. One’s Iman (faith) grows as one continues to check and confirm the truths contained in the Quran. And one is supposed to do so all of his life.

May God (Allah) guide everyone close to the truth.

Concluded

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

New Dead Sea Scrolls Cave Discovered Archaeologists have found a cave that once housed Dead Sea scrolls in a cliff in the Judean desert - the first such discovery in over 60 years.

Israel’s Hebrew University said the ancient parchments were missing from the cave, and were probably looted by Bedouin people in the 1950s.

Storage jars, fragments of a scroll wrapping, and a leather tying string were found at the site.

The Dead Sea scrolls date from as early as the 4th Century BC. The priceless records include more than 800 documents written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, mostly on animal skin and papyrus.

As well as containing the oldest copies of many biblical texts, they also include many secular writings about life in the 1st and 2nd Centuries AD. The first Dead Sea scrolls were discovered in 1947, reportedly by a young Bedouin shepherd hunting for a lost sheep in Qumran, on the modern-day West Bank.

It is not known who wrote the scrolls, although some scholars have

I formerly known and addressed as MRS. ARUKU REBECCA OLUFUNMILAYO, now wish to be known and addressed as MISS. OLUKOYA REBECCA OLUFUNMILAYO. All former documents remain valid.

Lagos State Ministry of Education, Diamond Bank and the general

public should please take note.

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credited a Jewish sect called the Essenes.

The team excavating the latest cave was led by Dr Oren Gutfeld and Ahiad Ovadia from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with Dr Randall Price and students from Liberty University in Virginia.

The pottery jars and wrappings were found concealed in niches along the cave’s walls, and inside a 4-6m (16-20ft) tunnel at its rear.

“Until now, it was accepted that Dead Sea Scrolls were found only in 11 caves at Qumran, but now there is no doubt that this is the 12th cave,” said Dr Gutfeld.

“Although at the end of the day

no scroll was found, and instead we “only” found a piece of parchment rolled up in a jug that was being processed for writing, the findings indicate beyond any doubt that the cave contained scrolls that were stolen,” he said.

“The findings include the jars in which the scrolls and their covering were hidden, a leather strap for binding the scroll, a cloth that wrapped the scrolls, tendons and pieces of skin connecting fragments, and more.”

The team also found a seal made from carnelian, a semi-precious stone - evidence that prehistoric men once lived in the desert cave.

CHANGE OF NAME

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T H I S D AY FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2017

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FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2017 • T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Osinbajo Asks Nigerians to Bear Today’s Pains for a Greater Tomorrow Says no gain without pain Saraki calls for action, inflation intolerable

Tobi Soniyi and Senator Iroegbu in Abuja Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has said the pains Nigerians are currently passing through are necessary to get the country out of recession and place it on the pedestal of sustainable development.

Osinbajo, who met the leadership of the protesting organised labour in the Presidential Villa, Abuja yesterday, said there would be no gains without pains and that there ‘won’t be omelette without breaking of eggs.’

He told the protesters that President Muhammadu Buhari is a honest man and that the country needed Buhari’s honesty to wrestle the country from those who were determined to cripple it.

The protesting labour movement was led by Ayuba Wabba and Bobboi Kaigama of President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) respectively.

Wabba, who spoke on behalf of the 18 union leaders, said labour was concerned about issue of good governance and corruption.

He urged the government to address the issue accountability and adherence to the rule of law pointing out that the challenge in Nigeria was not about resources but about prudent management of available resources.

He pointed out that corruption was systemic in the country.

The TUC president said every Nigerian should join hands with the government in fighting corruption even as he pointed out that corruption must not be viewed only in terms of Naira and Kobo but also in ensuring equity among the populace.

Responding, Osinbajo said: “We commend you for taking this

laudable campaign to the Villa on behalf of the Nigerian people. For a democratically elected government, we must constantly report to the people and we must show that we are accountable to the people.

That is why positions like yours have to be received properly and we must find ways to take positive action on the many demands that were raised.

“When we came on board, there were 22 states that were not paying salaries, some running into six or eight months, that was despite that oil prices were still high. President Buhari decided that salaries of workers across the states must be paid and that was what informed the first bailout. We were bailing out at a time we were losing 60 per cent of our revenue on account of what was going on in the Niger Delta. We later did the second bailout, the third was the Paris Club refunds. These are sums of monnies owed to states and nobody has ever paid that sum of money.”

Osinbajo agreed with the labour movement that the management of resources was very critical in sustaining development in the country.

He assured the labour that government would ensure accountability.

He said: “Management of resources is critical especially when those resources are as small as what we are witnessing today.

We want to ensure that everyone is held to account. If resources were not efficiently managed we will not be able to do even the things we are doing now because we are operating at less than 60 per cent of revenues as at 2015, today.

“Every time you fight corruption the way we are trying to fight corruption, there is a major fight back, because corruption in this

Communications Minister Calls for Calm, Prayer for Buhari Emma Okonji The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has called on Nigerians to be calm over the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari and to be resolute in prayer for his quick recovery and return to the country.

In a statement by his media aide, Victor Oluwadamilare, the minister said the president like any other person, was entitled to a medical check up after strenuous official engagements, hence there should be no reason for anybody to make issues out the president’s health.

Shittu who asserted that there was no vacuum in administration as a result of the president’s absence in the country, appealed to Nigerians to go about their daily activities without fear as the nation is calm and everything is going on well.

“At this critical stage when the government is trying to pull the nation out of economic woods, the least that is expected from Nigerians is distraction,” he said, adding that all hands must be on deck while necessary support should be given to the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo while he hold forth for President Buhari.

“Every patriotic Nigerian should be concerned with the smooth

running of government so that the present administration could bring about the change promised the nation.

“The prayer of everyone is needed for the government to successfully execute various agenda put in place to make life meaningful for the citizenry and all of us in our respective assignments must ensure that this government succeeds,” Shittu said.

The minister urged Nigerians to have firm believe in statements issued by the presidency on the status of the president’s health rather than believing in rumours always posted on the social media.

He said such rumour could be dangerous to the peaceful co-existence of the country.

The minister added that it was morally wrong even for anybody to wish a fellow human dead.

“Morally, it is wrong for people to be wishing the president dead in as much as all of us are mortals who could fall sick at any time,” he said.

Shittu was optimistic that President Buhari would soon return to the country after having a full round of medical check and attention as stipulated by his doctors

country is wealthy, powerful, influential and it is in every aspect of our lives. It is in practically all institutions including religious institutions. The social media campaign of bring back corruption is an orchestrated one. Nobody that is suffering can say bring back corruption.

“Attempts by those who are being tried for corruption to delay trials is also part of the orchestrated campaign. If we don’t speak up against corrupt officials who make it look as if there is a witch hunt, then we will not succeed in the fight. Government needs everybody to speak up. We have a serious battle in our hands and if we don’t win that battle this country will never get to the path of sustainable development.”

He noted that the country had suffered from the looting of its resources, adding that the government had no option but to fight corruption.

“It is a tough one but we must fight it,” he added.

Osinbajo said government remained committed to ensuring due process and rule of law.

Earlier, the NLC President had told Osinbajo that the labour unions and their allies decided that on the second day of their national action for good governance and protest against corruption, they should visit the Presidential Villa to present their demands.

While expressing delight that the acting president personally received them, he said the workers were concerned about

good governance and systemic corruption.

He expressed regret that the Nigerian masses have been at the receiving end of bad governance and corruption in the country.

As part of their 18-point demands, Wabba said workers would like to see a nation where public office holders forfeit assets that they refused to declare.

Also, the TUC President said the organised labour and civil society allies were prepared to support the fight against corruption.

“It is a fight every Nigerian must be part of. Government at all levels and arms should abide with rule of law, corruption should not be tolerated. We are here to identify with government in his resolve to fight corruption,”

he said.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, while addressing the union workers and civil society groups who staged a protest at the National Assembly complex, said it was time to go into action towards addressing the numerous challenges confronting Nigerians. He said: “We need to sit down and work out how to make necessary adjustments.

“It can’t continue this way, the exchange rate is high, cost of things in the market have gone high but only the workers’ salaries remain the same.

“By the next time we will meet, I will tell you what the National Assembly has done to improve the living condition of Nigerians,’’ he assured.

BANKERS’ COMMITTEE MEETING

L-R: Head, Shared Services, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Chidi Umeano; Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Mr. Segun Agbaje; Director, Bank Supervision, CBN, Alhaji Ahmed Abdullahi; and Chief Executive Officer, FSDH Merchant Bank, Mrs. Haimda Amban, during the Bankers Committee meeting at the CBN headquarters Abuja ....yesterday Enock Reuben

FG May Reverse Forex Restriction on 41 Items, Says Customs CBN insists ban has achieved desired result Obinna Chima with agency report The Zonal Coordinator, Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Assistant Comptroller-General, Monday Abueh, has said the federal government may reverse the foreign exchange restriction placed on 41 items imported into the country.

Abueh disclosed this in Ibadan during his familiarisation tour of the Oyo-Osun Commands as part of his visits to Customs formations under his jurisdiction.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in July 2015, restricted 41 items, including vegetable oil, poultry products, toothpicks, cosmetics, plastic and rubber products, among others, from accessing foreign exchange from the interbank foreign exchange market.

Importers of the restricted items are expected to source their forex requirements from autonomous sources. The policy has been partially blamed for the increased pressure in the parallel market for more than 20 months.

Rationalising the ban, the central bank had said the country had the capacity to produce those items locally.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Abueh said that when government’s policies are rolled out, they are in the interest of the people, adding that Nigeria cannot be enriching other countries by allowing some banned items into the country.

He advised officers to be fully sensitised about implementing government policies anywhere they were posted to serve.

Abueh urged officers to also enforce the land ban on

imported rice and vehicles.

He said smugglers might try to make Oyo and other land borders their alternative routes since security at Idiroko and Seme had been beefed up.

The zonal coordinator said that the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) and its management had redeployed officers at land border commands to ensure that nothing escaped through the routes in the areas.

He also urged the officers to be abreast of excise operations in order to assist with cargo clearance.

Abueh said his visit was meant to continue reminding officers about the federal government’s polices as well as the directive given by the comptroller-general on security and protection of lives in the country.

When contacted on Abueh’s

statement on the restricted 41 items, CBN spokesman Isaac Okoroafor expressed ignorance of the remarks made by the Customs zonal coordinator.

“I don’t know what he is talking about or where he got his information on the possibility of the forex ban being lifted on the 41 items.

“What we know is that the restriction imposed on the 41 items was in the best interest of the economy.

“The signs are already visible, as farmers and manufacturers have invested so much to produce those items that can be produced locally and that has translated in considerable forex savings.

“So I do not know where the Customs official got his information, but we know that the forex restriction imposed on the items is achieving the desired results,” Okoroafor said.

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El-Rufai: There’s a 37-year History behind Kaduna Crisis Explains why attacks aren’t abating Says every government has a cabal Davids on Iriekpen and Olawale Olaleye Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday said the Southern Kaduna crisis is more serious than what many see because there is a 37-year-old history behind it with 11 incidences so far since the first crisis broke out in 1980.

The governor, who spoke at a session with select journalists in Lagos, identified as the reason the crisis has not abated for 37 years the fact that governments at different times did not make a scapegoat of their various inquiries, save for an effort by the General Ibrahim Babangida-led federal government in 1987.

El-Rufai, who also spoke briefly on the issue of cabal in the President Muhammadu Buhari government, declared that there is no government or institution without a cabal of two to three trusted people with whom decisions are made.

He, however, denied being part of the cabal as being insinuated in certain quarters.

Classifying the challenge of the state into three headers: Infrastructure development, security and youth unemployment and out-of-school children, the governor further broke down the security into three areas namely cattle rustling

and rural banditry; growing urban gangs by frustrated young and unemployed people and the third being incessant attacks on communities in Southern Kaduna.

According to him, while government has contained the first two of the security challenge considerably because it could understand their bases, the crisis in Southern Kaduna; has proved recalcitrant because it is not only 37 years old, but also because there are constantly religious, ethnic and political slants to it. The elements of religion, ethnicity and politics, he further said, have made it very difficult to tackle for obvious mischief of those stoking the crisis.

But in taming the Southern Kaduna crisis, the governor said his government had come up with a three-pronged approach of first stabilising the place, enforcing an enduring prosecution process and building a lasting peace.

While there is a subsisting 24-hour curfew imposed on the town with steady helicopter surveillance system to stabilise the place, government is gradually taking many of the identified culprits to court, where they are meant to face stiff prosecution and a conscious effort to reunite the people through constructive engagement for lasting peace.

Already, he said the federal government, as part of the peace initiative, had approved two military garrisons – one in Southern Kaduna and the other in Kachia – adding that a foundation of one had already been laid recently, in addition to heavy combined security deployment.

He said the current crisis started post-2011 general election, won by former President Goodluck Jonathan, and that a former governor of the state, the late Patrick Yakowa had figured this and addressed it through negotiation and compensation but his untimely passing resuscitated the internal strife.

“It usually starts with a dispute between two people with different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

They don’t get resolved. It is mostly

ethnic and not religious…We are ready for this. We will prosecute at least once in our four years. We did a lot to contain this.

“There is no peace without justice and no justice without a foundation of law and order. Our problem is that we appease criminals and negotiate with them. But that has to stop. There must be sanctions and rewards; stick and carrot. But we use the carrot the most,” adding that the crisis is also neck deep in a lot of politics ahead of the 2019 elections.

The complication of the Southern Kaduna crisis, he argued, is further defined by the fact that the Fulanis exist in about 14 African countries and have the unrestricted rights of cross-border migration as sanctioned by the ECOWAS. On the issue of cabal, he didn’t

pretend about it because he thought it is a norm in governments and corporations, saying it is a natural instinct that people in the position of authorities share their thought process with a few they could trust and that it is such idea mischief makers tag as the cabal system.

“There’s always a cabal. In every government or institution, there are always two or three people you can trust with whom you take decisions. So, there’s always a cabal. But the issue is whether the cabal is a positive or negative one. However, whether I am a member of the cabal, the answer is no. My primary assignment is Kaduna,” he said.

He alluded to other efforts of the government in the area of infrastructure development.

For instance, el-Rufai said his

administration is striving hard to catch up with other Northern states that have left it behind many years ago, even though Kaduna gave birth to them and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

With a major focus on education, which accounts for about 35 per cent of the 2016 and 2017 budgets and which has seen to a significant boost in school enrolments, the governor said he has been laying solid foundation for governance in the state.

Apart from the situation in Southern Kaduna, which ElRufai claimed is being contained considerably from all angles, other forms of insecurity like kidnapping, robbery and gang wars have equally been decimated with a determined and effective security team he instituted.

Magu: Corruption is Fighting Back Says EFCC recently recovered $9.2m and £750,000 from unnamed individuals Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, has linked his recent travails to his stepping on powerful toes, following efforts to ensure that corrupt persons are brought to justice.

Magu’s nomination as substantive head of the EFCC was rejected by the Senate last December citing a report of the Department of State Services (DSS) which raised questions about his integrity. President Muhammadu Buhari has since re-submitted Magu’s name for confirmation.

Magu, at the budget defence session for his agency before the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes yesterday, said corruption was fighting back.

“One of our greatest challenges, of course, is that corruption is fighting back,” Magu told the committee.

This is as he disclosed that the agency, in the last two weeks, raided the homes of two individuals and recovered separate cash sums of $9.72 million, £750,000 and N1.5 billion.

Magu however, did not reveal the identities of the affected individuals.

“Just last week, we raided the house of an individual and recovered $9.72 million and another

£750,000. In fact, about two weeks ago, we recovered N1.5bn from one individual in Kaduna. The person is a public servant,” he said.

The total 2017 budget proposal for the anti-graft agency is the sum of N17.2 billion with N7 billion for capital expenditure, N7.1 as personnel cost and N3 billion for overhead.

N17.2 billion is an 8.5 decrease from the agency’s 2016 budget of N18.8 billion with N7.65 billion as personnel cost, N2.75 billion as overhead cost, and N8.4 billion as capital appropriation.

Magu however, sought an increase of the personnel cost to N9.6 billion to accommodate the 1500 newly recruited cadet, whose total estimated emoluments is N2.56 billion.

He also sought an increase of the capital budget by N1.79 billion to accommodate the cost of additional work in the construction of the commission’s new head office complex.

Magu highlighted some of the achievements of the commission in 2016, particularly the recovery of monies in various currencies which are $8.29 million, N102.9 billion, £29,155, €12,475, CAD 117,004, AED 806.50, F5000, and INR 2000.

The agency also secured 135 convictions, 25 interim forfeiture order and five final forfeiture orders, in the same year, Magu added.

BUSINESS SUMMIT

R-L: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; Special Adviser, Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment (Lagos Global), Prof.

Ademola Abass; Nigerian-German Business Associate, Mr. Justin Chuma Anosike; and Non-Eexecutive Director, Centum Investment Company Limited, Dr. Christopher Kirubi, during the second edition of the German-African Business Summit in Nairobi, Kenya....yesterday

Osinbajo Resumes Peace Talks in N’Delta, to Meet Bayelsa Leaders Today Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, will today continue the second leg of his tour of some Niger Delta states in search of peace, following the crisis that has recently plagued the oil-rich region.

During the visit, Osinbajo is expected to meet with political leaders and elders in Bayelsa State as well as traditional rulers and residents of coastal communities in the area.

THISDAY learnt that the acting president is also billed to hold an open interactive stakeholders’ session at the Diepreye Alamieyeseigha Memorial Banquet on his return from Odi community in Kolokuma/Opokuma local council and Ekeremor local government.

In preparation for the event, the Bayelsa State Government

said yesterday that it had fully mobilised its people to give the Nigerian leader a rousing welcome.

While advising that the professor of law should be wary of politicians who might want to hijack the visit to make ‘cheap’ political points, the government in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, urged the acting president to use the opportunity to assess where federal government interventions are needed in the state.

“The Bayelsa State Government is looking forward to receiving Vice President Yemi Osinbajo when he visits the Glory of All Lands as part of his tour to some states in the Niger Delta region,” the statement noted.

It urged residents in the state to “come out en masse to welcome the nation’s number two citizen,” assuring the guest of the hospitality of people of the state.

“We urge him to use the occasion

of his visit to experience same for himself,” the government said.

The Bayelsa government called on him to “access critical areas” of the state that need prompt intervention by the federal government, stating that Bayelsa is the epicentre of all the issues, as the home land of the Ijaw ethnic nationality.

“Also, the government wants the visiting VP to resist every attempt by some persons to use his visit to score cheap political points by advancing their selfish interest which is capable of truncating the commencement of a sustained peace process in the Niger Delta,” it noted.

Meanwhile, the Bayelsa State Police Command has urged “well meaning” people of the state to maintain the peace during and after the Acting President’s visit.

“His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,

will be visiting Bayelsa State on February 10, 2017.

“The Acting President will lead a high-level delegation of the federal government and will interact with traditional rulers, eminent Bayelsans and members of conflict resolution committees. The consultation and interactive session is scheduled to hold at the DSP Alamieyeseigha Memorial Banquet Hall, Government House, Yenagoa,” the police said.

A statement signed by the Police Commissioner in the state, Asuquo Amba, asked those who are not specially invited for the occasion to stay away.

“Attendance is strictly by invitation.

The command therefore advises all law abiding citizens to go about their lawful and legitimate businesses, while gathering of persons not invited to the programme, at any point within the state will not be tolerated,” Amba warned.

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FG Seeks Re-categorisation of Some Federal Roads to State Roads Procurement process affecting infrastructure development

Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The federal government yesterday gave indications that it would soon approach the National Assembly for the re-categorisation of some federal roads which had been taken over by municipal development.

Some of the roads include the Western Bye Pass in Kaduna, and the Umuahia- Aba road in Abia State.

Re-categorisation would mean that the host states would take over the maintenance of the roads, as they would no longer be funded by the federal government.

The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, speaking at the budget defence session for his ministry’s N529 billion proposal before the

House Committee on Works, said such roads are in the middle of towns.

“The Western bye-pass, which the governor has already taken over,...the Umuahia - Aba road which is surrounded by shopping malls on both sides,” he said.

Speaking further, the minister called for the speedy amendment of the country’s procurement processes to accelerate infrastructure development.

Fashola said Nigeria, with its backlog of infrastructure requirements, cannot afford to take its time, with the procurement processes.

He added that due to the economic recession and the need to reflate the economy, the rate of mobilisation for awarded contracts

should be more than the current 15 per cent, while the six weeks required for advertisement should be reduced.

“If we mobilise more, the contractor would buy more sand, more gravel and put more people to work, the local people are benefiting...these would help us out of recession,” Fashola added.

With the N301.8 billion allocation to works in 2016 and capital release of N139 billion, out of N264.1 billion, Fashola said a 53 per cent budgetary performance has been achieved.

He expressed optimism that more releases would be made before the end of the first quarter of 2017 and noted that some certificates are already due for payment, but are not included in the budget performance percentage.

When the payments are made,

the percentage would be raised to about 60, he said.

The Chairman of the Works committee, Hon. Toby Okechukwu (Enugu PDP) however said an anticipated 60 per cent performance would be unsatisfactory, considering the importance of the sector, and its ripple effects on the economy.

“We must sustain pressure on the Finance Ministry, because works is a sector where we should have 100 percent release. People are returning to work as contractors are being mobilised, so there is a consequential effect on the economy,” he said.

Okechukwu added that progress is being made on the proposed Road Fund Bill, as the technical committee has submitted its report.

“If we can get other funding other annual appropriation, it

would be good for our economy,” he added.

The Chairman of the Committee on Public Procurement, Hon. Wole Oke (Osun PDP), agreed that the rate of mobilisation fees for contractors should be increased, while the six weeks timeline for advertisement should be reduced.

He, however, noted that the bane of infrastructure development is lack of planning, monitoring and supervision by the executive.

“These roads are not new, so we must do more planning, monitoring and supervision, so that we can get value for money, but we should not employ fire brigade approach,” Oke cautioned.

In another development, the Deputy Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Pally

Iriase (Edo APC) has called for more budgetary allocation to the Benin-Owena River Basin Development Authority in the 2017 Appropriation Bill.

Iriase, while briefing journalists yesterday, lamented that only N755 million is proposed for the authority with N30.6 million as recurrent expenditure.

These, he said, is in spite of the fact that agency serves four states: Delta, Edo, Ekiti and Ondo, which are crucial to the success of the agricultural and diversification policy of the federal government.

“BORBDA’s catchment area is noted for such cash crops like rubber, palm trees, cocoa, cola nuts, cashew and several root crops like yams, cassava, fish farming remains an undeveloped gold mine,” the lawmaker said.

LCCI: Nigeria’s Security Problems Damaging to Investor Confidence, FDI Crusoe Osagie The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) yesterday resounded the alarm over the damage to investor confidence and Foreign Direct Investment flow being done by the security problems in the country.

Troubled by the elevated rate of violent crimes and inseurity, LCCI stressed the need for Nigeria to address the challenge speedily to make the business environment more secure in order to attract FDIs while also increasing investors’ confidence in the economy.

The President, LCCI, Dr. Nike Akande, who made the comment in Lagos, said security of life and property is a very critical factor in the investment environment, urging managers of the Nigerian economy to as a matter of urgency prioritise developmental efforts in addressing the security situation in the country. Akande during a dialogue session organised by the chamber tagged: ‘The security meets business,’ said in recent years, the country has been grappling with security issues bordering on terrorism, religious and ethnic crisis, attacks on oil installations, kidnapping, armed robbery, attacks by herdsmen and the likes, warning that the impact of these security challenges on business is phenomenal.

She said not much investment activities are taking place in the north-eastern part of the country and also in some other parts of the country.

She pointed out that the oil and gas sector is facing serious challenges of attacks on oil installations and the effects have been very profound on the economy, saying that the attacks by herdsmen on

farming communities across the country has a significant effect o agricultural activities.

“There is also a serious perception problem that the security phenomenon has created for Nigerian in the global community. There is no better time to look at the business dimension of the security problems than now,” she said.

She said the government has done a lot to curb the menace of insecurity in the country, adding that progress that has been made in restoring peace and normalcy to the North-east is particularly noteworthy and commendable.

Also speaking at the event, the Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Bukola Saraki, represented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Industry, Dr. Sam Egwu, expressed concerns about Nigeria’s low ranking in the world on the ease of doing business, saying that as a result of this, the federal government has set up a technical committee to comprehensively review the institutional, regulatory and associated instruments affecting businesses in Nigeria.

He added that there are numbers of reform bills currently going on to jumpstart the Nigerian economy and strengthening Nigerian institutions, maintaining that this bill has the potentials to cut poverty and reducing unemployment by creating a friendly environment for investors and small and medium enterprises ( SMEs).

“The bill includes the public procurement Act ammendment bill which has already been passed by the senate. Other bills aimed at improving our transport networks and maintenance culture includes the private sector infrastructure replacement and protection bill.

Ezeagabu Passes on Mr. Echezona Olisaeloka Ezeagabu of Nibo town in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State has passed on at the age of 52.

According to burial arrangements by the family, Ezeagabu will be

interred on February 17, 2017 after a funeral service at Mathew’s Anglican Church, Nibo town.

He is survived by wife, children, brothers, sisters and relations among whom is Mr. Chike Ezeagabu.

RISK MANAGERS ON TOUR

L-R: An official of Risk Managers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), Toyin Ogundipe; members, House of Representatives, Sadiq Ibrahim; Sodaguwa A. Festus-Omoni; Olufemi J. Fakeye; Sir Jones Onyereri; Executive Secretary, RIMAN, Victor Olannye; and other officials of RIMAN, Mrs. Atuma Adedeji; Magnus Nnoka; Abdullahi Jamaa; and Mrs. Grace Abioye, during a courtesy visit to the National Assembly by RIMAN team in Abuja...yesterday.

FG’s Lawyer Withdraws from Justice Ngwuta’s Trial Alex Enumah in Abuja The trial of a Supreme Court judge, Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta, for corruption-related offences suffered a setback yesterday when Charles Adeogun-Philips, the counsel engaged from International Criminal Court (ICC) by the federal government to conduct the prosecution withdrew unceremoniously.

Ngwuta is being prosecuted by the federal government on a 16-count charge of alleged corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes.

Adeogun-Philips was engaged for the high profile corruption case due to his wide experience in criminal matters at the ICC. He, however, gave no reason for his withdrawal.

But a source however, said the anger of the lawyer might have been provoked by an alleged uncooperative attitude of the federal government which brought the complain of corruption against the apex

court judge.

At the resumed trial yesterday, the lawyer informed the trial judge, Justice John Tsoho, that he was withdrawing his appearance in the matter for his client.

Subsequently, Hajara Yusuf, informed the court that she would be appearing for the government pending the constitution of a new prosecution team.

She told the court that the prosecution was prepared for the day’s business which is the cross-examination of the first prosecution witness and which the court obliged.

Although Justice Tsoho did not inquire into what informed the action of the counsel, he however showered encomiums on him for having the courtesy to physically come before the court to announce his withdrawal.

Similarly, defence counsel commended Adeogun-Philips on how he had conducted himself so far in the matter, describing

him as a gentleman and wish him well in his future endeavours.

However, under crossexamination by Kanu Agabi (SAN), counsel to the defendant, the prosecution witness, Chukwuebuka Linus, informed the court that he believed the job he was contracted to do by the defendant was legitimate.

He also said he would not have accepted payment for his services if he had suspected the money were proceeds of crime, adding that he went ahead with the job after the defendant explained the sources of his money.

When asked if he reported Ngwuta to the police or any security agency he said no.

Also, when asked if anyone had complained about the vehicles and monies he claimed to have moved out of Ngwuta’s residence, he answered in the negative.

While he told the court that he was arrested and detained for seven days, he however, stated that he has not been charged with any offence, adding that he did not

considered his detention justified.

When asked if he made statement during his detention and how many, he said he only remembered making statements in the first and second day of his detention.

When put before him that the job he undertook for Justice Ngwuta was done in the open and that Ngwuta did not attempt to hide his wealth, he said yes, adding that even his own document on the transaction were in the open and there was nothing illegal in them. He also admitted to having trust and respect for the defendant, particularly throughout the period of his engagement.

At this stage, Agabi told the court he had no further questions for the witness.

However, when the prosecution was called upon to re-examine the witness, she however requested for a short adjournment to enable the prosecution constitute a new team.

The matter has been adjourned to February 13.

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Three Killed, Two Injured as Gunmen Abduct Isheri Estate Secretary IG deploys special intelligence response team Kidnappers make contact, demand ransom Ambode orders prompt arrest of culprits Chiemelie Ezeobi Barely five months after four landlords and a gym instructor were kidnapped at Isheri Estate at OPIC area of Lagos State, a repeat incident occurred in the wee hours of yesterday.

A 20-man heavily armed gang had stormed Road 18, off Olusegun Tawoju Avenue, at Isheri North Estate, GRA, Lagos and abducted the secretary of the estate, one Dr. Dayo Adekoya.

The incident, which happened at about 1a.m., saw the family and neighbours not just traumatised, but also left three persons dead and two others injured.

While the two injured persons have since been taken to the hospital, THISDAY gathered that the kidnappers have established contact and are demanding for an undisclosed sum as ransom.

When THISDAY visited the residence, it was gathered that the gang had scaled the perimeter fence with a ladder and when they gained access into the compound, first destabilised the security guard.

However, attempts to gain access into the house initially proved abortive as the man had installed bulletproof doors.

When attempts to shoot the door down failed, the kidnappers went round the house and broke the windows to gain access.

The kidnappers then went upstairs to the bedroom and kidnapped Adekoya.

It was after kidnapping him that they attempted to abduct some other landlords in the area but were rebuffed by the police and local vigilante from the O’dua People’s Congress (OPC).

According to reports, they had taken Adekoya to knock on the doors of other landlords, in an attempt to use him as a decoy to lure them out, but the landlords who had heard the shots refused to open.

It was at that point that the police operatives stormed the estate and engaged the kidnappers, who had accessed the community through the swampy canal behind the street, in a gun duel that lasted for about four hours.

However, despite police presence, the kidnappers succeeded in dragging Adekoya towards the creeks and made away with him in their dug out boats.

But the police who had no swamp buggies but patrol vehicles, watched helplessly as the kidnappers fled with their victim.

Meanwhile, during the gunfire, two of the local security vigilante were gunned down and also a carpenter, popularly addressed as Ibadan.

At the scene of the incident, expended pellets were scattered around, just as the windows of the house was shattered by the bullets.

On ground were the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, Fatai Owoseni; the Commander 9 Brigade Brigadier General Elias Attu and the Commander, Rapid Response Squad, ACP Olatunji Disu, as well as the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team.

Some of the residents of the estate who spoke with THISDAYon account of anonymity, called on the Nigerian Navy and Marine Police, to partner the state Inland Water Authority to establish an operation solely on inland water security.

Also, Owoseni who had earlier confirmed the story for THISDAY early in the morning, said it was the combative efforts of the police that repelled the gang and prevented them from kidnapping more persons.

He said: “The militants came

in through the swampy canal.

The timely arrival of the police prevented them from getting more victims because they were using Adekoya to go to people’s houses.

“But that was the time we came in and we prevented them. They ran towards the swamp and as they were running, they were firing and the bullets hit some of the local guards.”.

Already, the operatives of the 9 Brigade have deployed drones to the creeks to comb the area in search of possible clues.

The Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, has deployed his

Special Intelligence Team (IRT), led by ACP Abba Kyari to Lagos to assist in investigation.

However, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode directed the state police command to ensure prompt arrest of kidnappers.

A statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, said Ambode has already directed the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, to move decisively and promptly to arrest the kidnappers.

Ambode, according to the statement, specifically commiserated

with the families of the security guards that lost their lives to the unfortunate incident, and assured that government is on top of the situation and working with security agencies to ensure early release of the victim.

Ayorinde said: “A while ago, the CP of Lagos Command of the Nigerian Police, confirmed that police has commenced investigation as well as put in place necessary rescue operation to ensure the release of the victim.

“While the state government commiserates with the families of

the three dead estate security guards, it will leave no stone unturned to ensure that lives and property of residents in the state are protected.”

Last week, Ambode had demonstrated his seriousness and determination to eradicate the menace of kidnapping when he signed into law the anti-kidnapping bill recently passed by the state House of Assembly.

The law imposes a penalty of life imprisonment on kidnapping for ransom and death penalty in the event of death of a kidnapped victim.

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FRIDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

Rohr: Nigeria Will Beat Bafana Bafana, Eliminate Cameroon Nigeria’s Franco-German coach, Gernot Rohr, has said he expects his team to go past South Africa at home in June on their way to qualifying for AFCON 2019 and also edge past Cameroon in World Cup qualifiers beginning in August.

Rohr’s Eagles are drawn against South Africa, Libya and Seychelles for a place at the 2019 AFCON in Cameroon.

Nigeria welcome Bafana Bafana in June to get the AFCON qualifiers going.

“Nigeria cannot miss the AFCON again because it’s a big tournament to celebrate African football. I hope we will be there at the next tournament,” he said.

“But to do that we have to eliminate South Africa, who are a good team.

“We need a good

preparation and organisation.

We will have two friendly games next month and we have the possibility to test some new players and be together.”

He also spoke on the World Cup double header against Cameroon billed for August 28 in Uyo and September 2 in Limbe.

“The AFCON was a good tournament in Gabon and there were some good teams. The best team won the competition. We are interested in this team because we play them in the World Cup qualifiers,” he said.

“We’re happy for Cameroon, but we have to beat the African champions.

“But our game will only be in six months and a lot of things could happen during that time.”

Rivers United players at the departure hall of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos en route Bamako, Mali...yesterday

FIFA Ranking: Eagles C A F C H A M P I O N S L E A G U E Move Up 10 Spots Rangers Begin Hunt for Continental Honours in Algeria Femi Solaja

Despite Super Eagles absence from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, Nigeria still made an appreciable upward movement to the 41st position in the February FIFA global rankings released yesterday.

The latest ranking is the best by Nigeria in recent time.

The Super Eagles were ranked 51st in January rankings but this month, they moved a staggering ten places up despite their absence at the African soccer show piece.

However, current African champions, Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, whom Nigeria will meet next in the ongoing FIFA World Cup qualifying round of matches later in the year are ahead of Super Eagles.

Nigeria occupies seventh in Africa behind Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon, Tunisia, Congo DR and Burkina Faso.

The Indomitable Lions, who

silenced the Pharaohs to win their fifth African title climbed up 29 place to occupy number 33 in the world, though third in Africa.

Meanwhile, embattled Argentina in the ongoing South America World Cup qualifying round of matches lead the world ranking with 1635 points, followed closely by rivals Brazil in second and reigning world champions Germany in third place.

The next FIFA ranking update will be announced on March 9.

Africa’s Top Ten 1 (3) Egypt 2 (1) Senegal 3 (12) Cameroon 4 (4) Tunisia 5 (6) DR Congo 6 (8) Burkina Faso 7 (7) Nigeria 8 (9) Ghana 9 (2) Cote d’ Ivoire 10 (10) Morocco •January rankings in bracket

NPFL: Enyimba, ABS Fire Late Winners at Home Both Enyimba and ABS waited late before they will see off visiting Akwa United and MFM FC, respectively yesterday in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) clashes.

Skipper Mfon Udoh’s volley from 20 yards on 82 minutes stopped Akwa United in Calabar, while a 74th minute penalty tucked away by Samuel Oyedeji handed ABS a crucial home win over MFM FC. ABS has now moved to the third spot on the NPFL table with 13 points from seven matches, while Enyimba moved to fourth also on 13 points.

Despite the loss in Ilorin, MFM remain second in the standings on 13 points and a superior goals difference.

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Football Club suffered their first

defeat in four Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) games on Thursday evening in Ilorin against Abubakar Bukola Saraki Football Club courtesy of Samuel Oyedeji’s 75th minute well converted spot kick.

At the game in Ilorin, MFM FC right-back Stanley Okorom began the clash, forcing ABS FC goalkeeper Boje Abdullahi to a great save when he tried a shot in the eight minute of the exchange.

Mohammed Mohammed of ABS FC tested MFM FC goalkeeper Ospino Egbe in the 15th minute of the game with an audacious shot but he pulled off a fine save to deny the hosts their goal opportunity.

MFM FC teenage striker Adebayo Waheed tried a shot from outside the box in the 34th minute of the lively match but the hosts defended it so well.

Duro Ikhazuagbe Four years after Rangers International were disqualified at the quarter final playoff round of the CAF Confederation Cup for fielding an ineligible player in the first leg against eventual winners, CS Sfaxien of Tunisia, the Nigerian league champions are back in the hunt for a continental diadem.

Today in Bechar, Algeria, the Flying Antelopes will be looking to gain advantage against hosts JS Saoura in the first leg of the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League. The match will kick off from 5pm Nigerian time.

The only time Rangers won a continental trophy was in the defunct CAF Winners’ Cup in 1977 after a 5-2 aggregate win over Cameroonian side, Canon.

And the man who led the Pride of the Old Eastern Region to lift the trophy as captain, Christian Chukwu, is the one that led the Enugu team on the trip to Algeria.

Imama Amapakabo who led Rangers to end their 32-year wait for a Nigerian trophy is surely banking on the sharp reflexes of Ghanaian shot stopper, Nana Bonsu with the defensive experiences

of Senegalese import, Pape Ousmane Sane, Orji Kalu, Ugwu Uwadiegwu, Mathew Etim, Chidiebere Okolie and Chizoba Amaefule to curtail the host.

Of course, Christian Madu, Godwin Aguda, Obinna Nwobodo, Charles Henlong and Chiamaka Madu will be saddled with the task of screening the middle of the pack as Bobby Clement, Osas Okoro and Ocheme Edoh probes the rear guard of the Algerians for the needed goals to stay safe in the competition.

Although tiff over the paltry allowance of $190 (about N95,000) handed out to each of the players before leaving Lagos has been resolved, the Flying Antelopes appear determined to make bold statement of returning to the summit of the game in the continent.

Team Captain, Matthew Etim, revealed before leaving Lagos for Algeria that the entire squad is upbeat and ready for the task against JS Saoura, who are not regular campaigners in the continental club championship.

“We are indeed very glad to be selected to defend the colours of Rangers on the continent and hopefully we shall not disappoint. Victory is what we are targeting and

I believe that we have all it takes to achieve our target in Algeria.

“We know that they are a good side but we are better”, stated the defender who only had his first game in the 1-0 loss to neighbours, F.C Ifeanyiubah in a Match-day six encounter of the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL).

Team Manager, Amobi Ezeaku, said, “Rangers is physically, mentally and psychologically prepared for this encounter and victory is our target in Algeria. We are fully motivated for this battle.

“We are in Algeria with the bulk of players that helped us broke a 32-year trophy jinx last season and that will work in our favour. Also the quartet of Uwadiegwu Ugwu, Daniel Etor, Chizoba Amaefule and Charles Henlong, all seasoned continental campaigners will bring their experience to the table,” stressed the team manager.

Saoura, runner-up to USM Alger in last season’ campaign are not also in the best of shapes. They are placed seventh on the standings after managing seven wins, six draws and six losses from 19 games.

The second leg will take

place on 19 February 2017 with winner facing Egyptian giants, Zamalek at the 1/16th round.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s other representatives in the CAF Champions League, Rivers United arrived Mali yesterday ahead of their first leg preliminary round CAF Champions League clash with Real Bamako on Saturday.

Media Officer of the team, Sammy Wejinya, confirmed that the contingent which comprised of 20 players and 13 officials left the country via the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos at exactly 9.40am and arrived at Houphouet Boigny International Airport, Abidjan at 10.20am Nigerian time.

FIXTURES

•CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Today JS Saoura (Algeria) vs Enugu Rangers (Nigeria) SATURDAY AS Real (Mali) vs Rivers United (Nigeria) • CONFEDERATION CUP (Sunday) FC IfeanyiUbah (Nigeria) Vs Al Masry (Egypt) Royal Armed Forces (S’Leone) Vs Wikki Tourists (Nigeria)

Osimhen, others Spice up Bundesliga Treat on StarTimes Abundant goals, great physical football and fierce competition at the games have all contributed to raising the Bundesliga’s profile, while also recording the highest average attendance of any football league in the world.

The clubs have really been recruiting some of world’s most talented footballers and the 2017 season is not an exception. With the winter transfer window now firmly shut, the Bundesliga is now loaded with fantastic talents and players who will further spice up the games and give

fans exciting football action and experience as the biggest clubs and names battle for the ultimate title.

Alexander Isak, Bojan KrKic, Neven Subotic and Nigerian Victor Osimhen are among the most promising and biggest transfers of the winter transfer period who will rock the 2016/17 Rückrunde.

Already adding punch to an increasingly enthralling Bundesliga campaign, many of the division’s biggest winter transfer movers are proving shrewd acquisitions to their respective sides.

Across the division, the fresh new faces of players teeming with talent have been tasked with igniting the hopes or reviving the fortunes of Bundesliga teams brimming with ambition.

17-year old Swedish striker Isak is sure a great buy for eight-time German champions, Borussia Dortmund and would be a fans delight any day.

Regarded as the long-term successor to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Isak recently became Sweden’s youngest-ever goal scorer and has scored 10 goals and picked up one assist in 24 league games

for Solna so far this season.

Nigerian teenage striker Victor James Osimhen and the returning Ashkan Dejagah will also add colour. The 18 year old Lagos born striker has been tipped to add great spice to VfL Wolfsburg squad.

Nigerian fans can enjoy all the football action and entertainment live and exclusively on StarTimes football channels, including ST World Football (channel 245 or 254), ST Sports Premium (channel 246 or 252) and ST Sports Focus, said StarTimes Head of Public Relations, Israel Bolaji.

T H I S D AY FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2017

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MISSILE Mohammed to Rumour Mongers

“And of course less than six hours after he got there, he was pronounced dead by some people. Even those who saw him climb the aircraft in Abuja said he was flown by air ambulance. “But I can assure you that Mr. President is well, he is hale and hearty, and there is no cause for concern. The acting president speaks to him everyday and he told you so” – Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed dismissing yet again President Muhammadu’s rumoured death in a London hospital and assuring that the president is hale and hearty.

AKINOSUNTOKUN DIALOGUE WITH NIGERIA

akin.osuntokun@thisdaylive.com

Defiant Welcome of Ibori P

icking a subject matter for a column isn’t always an easy choice. This week, two compelling choices arrested public attention. Readers would readily second guess these two as-the arrival in Nigeria of the convicted former governor of Delta state, James Ibori from a British prison; and the escalation of the self-inflicted reportage crisis of President Mohammadu Buhari’s ailing health condition.

Comrade Kayode Komolafe then inserted himself into my vacillation and tilted the balance.

He had not communicated with me before on Whatsapp and I was more than mildly curious on sighting his posted video clip. I normally do not react with enthusiasm to the barrage of unsolicited video messages I receive daily. Beyond the tendency to be repetitive and somewhat vacuous, how do I cope with a plethora of ten or more instances of six minutes (and counting) video clip duration every day? It becomes a different ballgame where the sender is Komolafe.

And I know he wouldn’t take recourse to this much abused communication channel if he doesn’t deem it significant enough.

And significant enough it turned out to be. It revealed the scene of an audio visual documentary featuring a wildly jubilant reception lavished on Ibori by an overly excited crowd of fans and hero worshippers. All this was not surprising to me and the reason it is not is our subject matter today. What I find surprising and appalling was the (one off) beyond belief drunken blasphemous comparison to the rapturous adoration received by Jesus Christ on his arrival at Jerusalem!

James Ibori was elected governor of Delta state in 1999 and served in that capacity for eight years. His incumbency was marked by the uniqueness, (along with the other oil rich Niger Delta states), of having access to a huge and relatively unaccountable public funds belonging to Delta state. Evidence abound that he generously availed himself of the overflowing state treasury and enriched himself to his heart’s desire. In the process, he emerged one of the most formidable financial powerhouses around and a rough and ready source of hotly desired sleaze funds. He did more, he was consummate in the art of spreading and dispensing largesse to as many famished and greedy supplicants as came near him.

He was a prominent victim of the power struggle that accompanied the premature termination of the Umaru Yaradua’s Presidency; his faction lost out and with the loss began his ordeal. From his exiled base in United Arab Emirates, UAE, he was extradited to the United Kingdom, UK, to face charges of money laundering upon which he was ultimately convicted.

His incarceration and absence from Nigeria fostered the affliction of withdrawal syndrome on his vast array of economic and political dependents more so the economic-who would no doubt constitute the bulk of the reception partiers-expressing gratitude at the return

Ibori of a lifesaver.

To a sizable proportion of the Nigerian intelligentsia and Western oriented cosmopolitan citizenry, Ibori got his just dessert and should be deemed an anathema.

This attitude is supported by facts, including the ones provided by Ibori-that he committed the criminal act of embezzling the public fund of Delta state. Under the Nigerian constitution and the provenance of the entire civilised world, this is a crime for which there is a public obligation to ensure that the perpetrator is penalised and punished.

Beyond the legal sanction, the public equally owes the social obligation of moral censure-to the effect that under no circumstance should the convict be perceived and upheld as a celebrity. It is this universally applicable and acceptable social and moral standards that the behaviour of the Ibori crowd has defied and controverted. It is appropriate to condemn the abnegating morally lapse behaviour but it is, in the final analysis, only a symptom of a fundamental and general disease. To adequately grapple with the disease requires that we get to the root of the pathology.

Within the combined illumination provided by the resource curse syndrome; degradation of federalism; and ‘the colonialism and the two publics’ thesis of Professor Peter Ekeh, adequate explanation would be found for this seeming aberrant behaviour. Inherent in the postulations of these three captive banners is the logic that contrary to several protestations, the behaviour of the Ibori supporters is the rule rather than the exception in Nigeria; that it is generalizable across the length and breadth of Nigeria; and that the objectionable behaviour is more typical than atypical of the rest of us.

The predisposing factors are the three captive banners indicated above. They are the political dysfunction at the root of corruption and nearly all other self-abnegating

instances of citizen alienation-from Nigeria.

You don’t harm or damage what you love with a defiant behaviour-deliberate or subconscious. In other words, corruption in Nigeria is largely a derivative of a problematic political acculturation. And it is the reason why a law and order punitive deterrence will not go far in allaying the problem. The tendency to accept, condone and even defend the Ibori type transgression is pervasive but comes in different manifestations. In contemporary Nigeria, the most instructive manifestation of this behaviour type was the blind exoneration of the late Sani Abacha by no less an authority figure than our fabled anti-corruption President, Muhammadu Buhari. Following Buhari, what the Delta state celebrants are equally saying is that Ibori did not steal any money! I had argued in an earlier commentary: ‘……Of all those who have had the privilege of governing Nigeria, Buhari rates high in personal integrity and seriousness in fighting corruption but he has also contributed his damaging quota to the erection of a national ideology of corruption. He did this when he brought the weight of his public respect to make the call-against the preponderance of evidence including admission of culpability by the late dictator’s family that ‘Abacha did not steal any money’. I stand to be corrected but my interpretation of the embarrassingly defiant and blind exoneration was borne out of political identification with Abacha, warts and all. I will go further to qualify the statement as the exhibition of ethno regional parochialism (my brother, right or wrong) whose reinforcement by the over centralised federal government is at the root of public corruption in Nigeria. The twin brother of corruption namely abuse of office is manifested in the political nepotism inherent, for instance, in the declaration by Buhari that he would discriminate against those who did not vote for him…… ..’Between the Ibori supporters alleluia chorus and the pronouncement of exculpation of Abacha by Buhari there is really no ideological gap and difference.

Both are governed by the same ideology of corruption sanctified by a predisposing context of ethno national parochialism. The question then arises-can corruption in Nigeria be meaningfully addressed without regard to the prior and predisposing context of ethno regional parochialism and the constitutional structure that sustains it?’

Next is the perspective of the resource curse syndrome. The premise of the resource curse syndrome is captured in the following contention ‘In many economies that are not resource-dependent, governments tax citizens, who demand efficient and responsive government in return. This bargain establishes a political relationship between rulers and subjects. In countries whose economies are dominated by natural resources, however, rulers don’t need to tax their citizens because they have a guaranteed source of income from natural resources.[46][47] Because the

country’s citizens aren’t being taxed, they have less incentive to be watchful with how government spends its money’. Ingrained in this culture is the regime of lack of positive correspondence between productivity and reward.

Further illumination is provided by the theory of the two publics propounded by Ekeh which I have severally cited before: ‘Acts of corruption in public office carry little moral sanction and may well receive great moral approbation from members of one’s primordial public (read ethnic affiliation). But contrariwise, these forms of corruption are completely absent in the primordial public. Strange is the Nigerian who engages in embezzlement in the performance of his duties to his primordial public-town union. To put your fingers in the till of the government will not unduly burden your conscience and people may well think you are a smart fellow and envy you your opportunities. To steal the funds of the (ethnic) union would offend the public conscience and ostracise you from society.’

And then there is the contribution of the degradation of federalism in Nigeria encapsulated in this parochial rebuke by Itse Sagay “This is a wake-up call on the people of the oil-bearing region. For instance this is the time to come together and fight intellectually for the anomaly in the uneven allocation of oil blocs in the country. You will observe that because of the long stay of the North in power at the centre, they manipulated the process and cornered these blocs to the disadvantage of the south; today, you have all juicy oil blocs in the hands of the north. Now that Jonathan is there, I would not want to sound being immodest by calling for a revocation of the blocs allocated to the northern businessmen, but from the look of things, they have decided to take the entire South for a ride, so Jonathan should ensure that he corrects this imbalance by allocating more oil-blocs to people in the South to make up for the inequity in the sector.”

The rebuke invited this interpretation from me ‘It is most certainly not his intention but Sagay here appears to have inadvertently formulated a template for the perpetration of corruption in Nigeria. The formulation he offers (and on which he was completely spot on) is that the power to abuse office, to dispense corrupt patronage, is weighted heavily in favour of whoever wields power at the centre and that the Nigerian culture expects the incumbent power holder to employ this power as such and to discriminately favour his people. It is this formulation of the balance of nepotism, to corner national resources, that is at the heart of the ‘do or die’ battle to capture power at Abuja. To the extent that the profile of the Niger Delta kith and kin of Jonathan soared beyond others amidst the emergency billionaires created in the past six years-is the extent to which corruption will find adequate explanation and mitigation in the postulation of Professor Sagay’.

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