Sunday 4th June 2017

Terror Attack in London, At least One Dead, Several Injured Abimbola Akosile with agency report At least one person died in a terrorist incident in central London on Saturday night, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Police and ambulances were alerted to reports that a van hit people on London Bridge

shortly after 22:00 BST. Armed officers went to nearby Borough Market where they were responding to reports of stabbings in the area which is known for its restaurants and bars.

London Ambulance Service said at least 20 people had been taken to hospital. A number of

people were treated at the scene for less serious injuries.

Prime Minister Theresa May described the incidents as "dreadful events" and will chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee later.

The Metropolitan Police tweeted: "At 0025hrs 4/6/17 the

incidents at #LondonBridge & #BoroughMarket were declared as terrorist incidents."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was an "horrific terrorist attack". He added: "The situation is still unfolding and I would ask all Londoners and visitors to our city to remain calm and vigilant.

"We don't yet know the full details, but this was a deliberate and cowardly attack on innocent Londoners and visitors to our city enjoying their Saturday night. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms."

Eyewitnesses told BBC they saw between two and four people getting out of the van

after the attack on the bridge and running towards Borough Market.

Gunshots were later heard in the area while one social media user posted a photograph appearing to show one of the attackers, with what seemed to Continued on page 8

Enang: Presidency Still Studying 2017 Budget Details ...Page 8 Sunday 4 June, 2017 Vol 22. No 8081

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France Offers Discos $100m to Fund Metering Plan FG directs NERC to ensure Discos comply with NSE listing requirements Chineme Okafor in Abuja Plans by 11 electricity distribution companies in Nigeria’s

power market to massively rollout consumer meters across their networks could be boosted by $100 million

commitment by the Agence Francais de Developpement (AFD), THISDAY has learnt.

AFD is the financial agency,

which is at the heart of France’s respective aid schemes to developing countries and economies.

It had from a recent government

memo, which THISDAY obtained in Abuja, offered to lend up to $100 million to the Discos to actualise their metering plans.

The memo was on the government’s Power Sector Continued on page 8

NJC Recalls Justices Okoro, Abba Aji, Ademola, 3 Other Suspended Judges Cites backlog of cases Dismisses petitions against Justice Abang, Uzokwe, others Olanipekun, Ozekhome laud decision, say recalled judges deserve apology Abimbola Akosile in Lagos and Alex Enumah in Abuja The National Judicial Council yesterday announced the recall of Justice John Inyang Okoro of the Supreme Court, Justice Uwani Abba Aji of the Court of Appeal, Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and three other senior judges, who were among eight judicial officers it had suspended with effect from November 2 last year following corruption investigations on them.

A statement at the weekend by NJC’s director of information, Mr. Soji Oye, said Ademola, Okoro, Abba Aji, Justice Hydiazira A Nganjiwa of the Federal High Court, Justice Musa H. Kurya of the Federal High Court, and

Justice Agbadu James Fishim of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria should resume duties from June 7.

NJC hinged its decision to recall the judges on a huge backlog of cases in their courts. It also said only three of the eight suspended judges – Ademola, Sylvester Ngwuta and Ofili-Ajumogobia – had been charged to court, stressing that Ademola has been discharged and acquitted of the charges filed against him, in what appears to imply that there is no reason to continue their suspension.

NJC also dismissed petitions written against Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Continued on page 8

JUSTICES... BEFORE THE LAW John I. Okoro Uwani Abba Aji A. Ademola H. A Nganjiwa Musa H. Kurya Agbadu Fishim

Not Charged for 8 months Not Charged for 8 months Discharged and Acquitted Not Charged for 8 months Not Charged for 8 months Not Charged for 8 months

CELEBRATION OF LIFE !

Former Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, with former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, SUNDAY ADIGUN at the burial of Obanikoro’s mother, Alhaja Wosilat Ejide Obanikoro, at the Ikoyi Cemetery in Lagos ...yesterday

Al-Mustapha: I was Detained for 15 years over Secret Tape on Abiola's Death

– See www.thisdaylive.com

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Enang: Presidency Still Studying 2017 Budget Details Ë×ÓÖÙÖË ãÏÎÏÖÏ in Abuja Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, yesterday said the presidency was studying 2017 budget recently passed by the National Assembly to ensure that figures appropriated to MDAs are consistent with the realities on ground.

Dismissing speculations that the presidency might reject the budget passed by the National

Assembly because the legislature raised the budget figure, Enang said just the same way the National Assembly took its time to subject the budget to rigorous legislative processes it was only fair that the presidency was allowed to scrutinise the document presented to it by the legislature.

In a statement issued yesterday, Enang said: "When the budget was presented to both chambers of the National Assembly for consideration last year by President Muhammadu

Buhari, both chambers subjected the document to legislative processes using internal systems at their disposal.

"This, exactly, is what the presidency is actually doing at the moment, to ensure what would be eventually assented to, sufficiently addresses the nation's present realities as not doing so could expose government to a backlash from Nigerians.

"Right now, the presidency is subjecting every detail of the budget using the avail-

able systems at its disposal to ensure the figures appropriated to MDAs are consistent with the realities on ground, while also engaging in consultations.”

According to the statement, Enang said the presidency was working within the constitutional time-frame required to process details of the budget, adding that the presidency would engage the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives, if there were areas that further needed their input.

The presidential aide, who said this in apparent reaction to insinuations that one of the reasons the presidency was not going to sign the budget was because of the figures added to the budget by lawmakers, however reiterated that there was no truth in such rumour.

The National Assembly had increased the budget by N143 billion as intervention in key areas like the aviation and railways.

But Enang, in yesterday’s

statement, maintained that, "There is no such plan to reject the 2017 budget passed by the National Assembly as alleged in some reports. The Presidency can only assent to the budget or withhold assent as the case maybe.

"However, should there be areas needing input, the Presidency would engage the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives. As such, any report suggesting a rejection of the 2017 budget by the presidency is incorrect.”

president of the Nigerian Bar Association, said, “I align myself with the position of the NJC and I am convinced that the NJC is right in recalling those judges.

Seven months down the line, if the state had gotten any evidence against the judges, they ought to have filed criminal charges against them. It does not take seven months to get evidence to prosecute. The evidence to prosecute should have been assembled before arrest.

“This has been my position all along and I am being vilified and called all sorts of names.

But the Bible says blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake.

“From whichever angle one looks at it, I am prompted to be persuaded that the state has no case against those who have not been charged. The state should have apologised to them.”

He, however, added, “I must be understood to be saying that any judge who has been found to be corrupt or any lawyer, whatever might be the status, who has been found to be corrupting judges, and who is aiding and abetting corruption should be brought to book.

Corrupt judges and corrupt lawyers, if they are found and evidence is found against them, should not be spared.

“We must not put the law under our jackboot; we must not subjugate the rule of law. It might be Mr. A today; tomorrow it might be Mr. B's turn and that Mr. B might be in government today.”

Olanipekun said NJC should be alive to its constitutional responsibility of maintaining discipline among judges on the bench.

Ozekhome said, “Until the appellate court upturns the earlier judgement of the lower court, such judgement subsists and is enforceable. The only exception is if there was a stay of execution, since a mere appeal does not operate as a stay of execution.

“It is, therefore, right for the NJC to recall the judges to work.

It was even long overdue and too late in coming. The state should actually apologise to the judges involved for the public odium, embarrassment, obloquy and shame their arrest, detention and media trial impacted on them.”

NJC RECALLS JUSTICES OKORO, ABBA AJI, ADEMOLA, 3 OTHER SUSPENDED JUDGES Chief Judge of Abia State, Justice Theresa Uzokwe, and 10 other judges. It based its decision on reasons ranging from withdrawal of the petitions by the petitioners to lack of merit in the petitions.

NJC had at its 79th meeting held on November 2 and 3 last year under the chairmanship of the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, decided to suspend the judges who were being investigated by the Department of State Services. A statement then by Oye on behalf of the council said the “judicial officers shall not be standing trial for alleged corruption related offences and be performing judicial functions at the same time.

“Council, however, decided that it will ensure that judicial officers who are being investigated for alleged high profile criminal offences do not perform judicial functions until their cases are concluded.”

Though, NJC neither gave the names nor the number of the suspended judges in its statement last November 3, DSS had in a sting operation in the early hours of October 7 last year raided the official residences of two justices of the Supreme Court, Sylvester Ngwuta and Okoro. It also arrested five other judges, namely, Ademola, Muazu Pindiga, Mahmud Liman, Mohammed Tsamiya, Kabiru Auta, and Innocent Umezulike, between October 7 and 8 last year for alleged corrupt practices.

The arrested judges were later released on bail. But before their arrest, Tsamiya, Auta and Umezulike were no longer in active service, as they had been recommended to the president and the relevant state governors for retirement.

However, backing down on its decision to suspend the judges,

by Oye stated on June 2, “The National Judicial Council, under the chairmanship of Hon Justice Walter S N Onnoghen, GCON, at its 82nd meeting, which was held on 31 May and 1 June, 2017, considered the case of eight judicial officers who were directed to recuse themselves from duties on the request of the Attorney-General of the Federation pending the outcome of investigations against them.

To maintain the integrity and sanctity of the judiciary and sustain public confidence, the judicial officers were directed to recuse themselves from office with effect from 2 November 2016.”

Recalling that only three of the judges had been taken to court, while the case against Ademola had been concluded in his favour, Oye said, “In view of the foregoing, council decided that the various heads of court should direct the following judicial officers to resume their judicial duties with effect from Wednesday 7 June, 2017, as there are already backlog of cases in their various courts for the past eight months: Hon Justice John Inyang Okoro of the Supreme Court; Hon Justice Uwani Abba Aji of the Court of Appeal; Hon Justice Hydiazira A Nganjiwa of the Federal High court; Hon Justice A F A Ademola of the Federal High Court who has been discharged and acquitted; Hon Justice Musa H Kurya of the Federal high Court; and Hon Justice Agbadu James Fishim of National Industrial Court of Nigeria.”

The statement by Oye said NJC issued warnings to three judges, namely Justice Maureen Nkechinyereugo Esowe of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Justice Adolphus Enebeli of the High Court of Justice, Rivers State, and Justice

Bassey Etuk of the Akwa-Ibom State High Court, for various allegations brought against them.

It said two of the three judges had been placed on a watch list by the council.

Oye stated, “Council’s decision to give Hon. Justice Esowe a serious warning and put her on its ‘Watch List’ for one year was sequel to a petition written against her by Mr. Jimmy Dirisu Aliu, alleging injustice for failing to deliver ruling in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/394/2013, until eight months after the final address of counsel on Notice of Preliminary objection to his suit.

“Council also decided to give Hon. Justice Adolphus Enebeli serious warning and place him on its ‘Watch-List’ for three years following its ‘findings’ that Hon. Justice Enebeli violated the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by granting ex-parte order in Suit No. PHC/983/2016, preventing the swearing-in of Victoria Wodo Nyeche as a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, when the claim in the suit did not border on qualification or pre-election matter. The Hon. Judge was said to have granted the ex-parte order on 19th April 2016, three days to the swearingin ceremony and adjourned the case to 21st April 2016 when the ceremony had been concluded.

“Hon. Justice Bassey Frank Etuk was warned following a petition written against him

by Oro Youth Movement for failure to deliver judgement in Suit No. HOR/FHC/97/2014, a fundamental human right case, after hearing it to conclusion and adjourned same for judgement to the 8th June 2015. The Hon. Judge then proceeded on national assignment as an election petition tribunal member and did not deliver the judgement even after his return in November 2015,

when he transferred the case file to the Chief Judge for it to start de-novo.

“The suit was filed by two officers of the movement to prevent the police from arresting them after they were reported for embezzling the sum of N20 million from the account of the movement. The decision of the council is with immediate effect.”

According to the statement, “Council also considered and dismissed petitions written against 12 other judicial officers.

Council dismissed the petitions because three of the petitioners withdrew their petitions against Hon. Justice T. U. Uzokwe, Chief Judge, Abia State, Hon. Justice Okoroafor of the Abia State High Court, and Hon. Justice Judge Okeke of the FCT High Court of Justice. One petition written against Hon. H. A. Nganjiwa of the Federal High Court was also dismissed for subjudice.

“Other petitions written against Hon. Justices Adamu Abdu-Kafarati and O. E. Abang, both of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justices Mobolaji Ojo and E. O. Osinuga, both of the Ogun State High Court, Hon. Justice B. A. Oke-Lawal of Lagos State High Court, Hon. Justice A. A. Aderemi of Oyo State, Ntong F. Ntong of Akwa-Ibom State High Court, and the second petition written against Hon. Justice Bassey Frank Etuk of Akwa-Ibom State High Court of Justice were found unmeritorious.”

Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Wole Olanipekun and Mike Ozekhome, said the recall of the judges from suspension, though a step in the right direction, was long overdue. Olanipekun, however, added that any judge or lawyer found to be engaged in corrupt practices should be brought to justice.

Olanipekun, a former

FRANCE OFFERS DISCOS $100M TO FUND METERING PLAN Recovery Plan, which was reportedly initiated in partnership with the World Bank. The memo, which contains various proposals and measures to revive Nigeria’s ailing power sector, was presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval by the Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, in February. In it also, the government equally plans to get the Discos to list their shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in addition to replacing its representatives on their boards with technically and commercially sound representatives against the potential practice of just anybody that may be politically favoured.

According to the memo, the policy drive included: “Directive to NERC, and Discos to accelerate rollout of meters

across all customer classes of their franchises.

“Policy interventions to facilitate financing for metering and network facilities that reduce losses and improve services and collections. This work is ongoing with a US$100 million funding commitments for lending to Discos by Agence Francais de Developpement (AFD),” it stated.

The Discos have reportedly been unable to comprehensively fund their respective metering plans, thus resulting in obvious revenue collection challenges, which affect the industry’s finances.

But as part of the government’s possible policy drive, the memo stated that it would, “strengthen financial transparency and discipline to ensure that all industry revenues are

fairly distributed to all market participants and their suppliers according to contractual commitments.”

It explained that the policy interventions to be adopted were: “Ministerial policy directive to the commission (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission) and to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to establish a revenue management and collection distribution scheme based on the current NEMSF (Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Fund) escrowed collection account for a transitional period to impose a fairer revenue distribution regime for the industry.” It added that the NERC had started consultations on this.

The memo further stated that interventions would include: “Presidential directive to BPE

(Bureau of Public Enterprises) and MOFI (Ministry of Finance Incorporated) to replace FGN’s two representatives on the boards of the Discos with one technical professional and one commercial/financial professional for stricter corporate governance and more vigorous defence of the public interest at board level.

“Ministerial policy directive to NERC and the boards of the Discos to immediately conduct a thorough forensic audit of their collection accounts, and submit to regular thorough financial audits, especially of all collection accounts.

“Ministerial policy directive to the commission to require Discos to comply with Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) listing requirements for public companies."

TERROR ATTACK IN LONDON, AT LEAST ONE DEAD, SEVERAL INJURED be canisters strapped to his body lying on the ground.

The attack comes almost two weeks after 22 people died in a suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester.

In March, five people died in London when a car was driven at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and a police officer was stabbed outside Parliament.

According to BBC, a security guard who oversees a number of pubs in the London Bridge area said he saw four people stabbed by three attackers.

BBC reporter, Ms. Holly Jones, who was on the bridge at the time of the attack, said a van driven by a man was "probably travelling at about 50 miles an hour" before it hit a number of people.

"He swerved right round me and then hit about five or six people. He hit about two people in front of me and then three behind."

Five or six people were treated for injuries after the vehicle mounted the pavement and hit them, she said. "I'd say there are about four severely injured people. They all have paramedics assisting them at the moment."

She said the van came from the direction of central London and headed towards the south side of the river.

Ms. Jones later reported seeing a man being arrested by police.

She said he was handcuffed and

had his shirt off.

She said a French woman was among the injured. She had said she did not know where two people she had been with were.

Speaking to the Press Association, Will Orton described being in a pub in the area and seeing people coming running inside.

"We didn't really know what was going on," he said. "We thought maybe there was a fight or something outside. And then there were almost hundreds of people coming inside.

"The bouncers did a really good job, they shut the doors and locked everyone in. There was panic - it seemed like it was literally outside the door. People were coming inside and saying they had witnessed people being stabbed."

The prime minister said: "Following updates from police and security officials, I can confirm that the terrible incident in London is being treated as a potential act of terrorism."

Mrs. May added: "This is a fast-moving investigation.

I want to express my huge gratitude to the police and emergency services who are on the scene. "Our thoughts are with those who are caught up in these dreadful events."

Downing Street said Mrs. May, who has been campaigning in the general election, returned to No 10 to receive further briefings from security officials.

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

THE CRUEL PHYSIOTHERAPIST Bisola Ojo should be repatriated from the United States to face the consequences of her actions

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esigned for professionals within the continent by the American State Department, the essence of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, which started in 2014 under the Barack Obama presidency, is to motivate and empower young men and women between the age of 25 and 35. Through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking, the idea is to help them “hone their skills at a U.S. college or university with support for professional development” after they return to their respective African countries.

However, when the recipient of such a prestigious honour turns out to be of doubtful character, then there is a problem. That is the dilemma for both the Nigerian and the American authorities over Ms Bisola Anthonia Ojo, a physiotherapist who was caught on CCTV abusing a toddler with cerebral palsy left in her care before she travelled for the Mandela Fellowship.

All over the world, professionals who work with children, especially those with special needs, are care givers and there are important qualities expected of them. One, they must have compassion for such children.

Two, they must be attentive so they can easily notice when such wards have challenges that require intervention.

Three, they must be trustworthy. Ms Ojo, from available reports that have gone viral, evidently lacks all of these qualities. She is in fact a cruel young woman who, by her conduct, should be put far away from children, including those who may not have any special needs.

The footage, which was obtained by Mrs Bukola Ayinde, mother of the abused child, from the authorities of the school that alerted her to the unfortunate incident, showed the physiotherapist beating the toddler, twisting her arm and hitting her with a phone. Following the incident, the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board

suspended Ms Ojo for three months, with a clause that she must get psychiatric treatment which she agreed to do. However, she later turned up at the board claiming to be going for treatment in the United States and was given permission to travel.

The “treatment” turned out to be the Mandela Fellowship which she is currently undergoing.

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From nurses to doctors to pharmacists and physiotherapists, many of those who administer care on patients in our country are not only unprofessional but callous

Letters to the Editor

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

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

s the campaign for her withdrawal mounts on the social media, the American embassy has thrown the decision back at the Nigerian authorities that have remained quiet on an issue that only adds to our national emblem of shame.

“We are aware of these disturbing allegations,” said an official of the American embassy in Abuja to THISDAY. “The United States believes strongly in the protection of children from abuse and neglect. We would refer you to the Nigerian authorities regarding action taken in response to the reported incident.”

In case the Nigerian authorities can still not get it, Ms Ojo was shortlisted by the American authorities as one of the best young Nigerian professionals and on account of that, she is representing our country in the United States. Whatever may be our failings as a nation, Nigerians are generally compassionate people. To therefore have a professional who would act so cruelly to a little child as representing our people is unacceptable.

Unfortunately, this issue goes to the heart of healthcare delivery in Nigeria. It says so much about the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board that would treat a case that borders on both gross professional misconduct and criminality in such a cavalier manner. From nurses to doctors to pharmacists and physiotherapists, many of those who administer care on patients in our country are not only unprofessional but callous. In fact, considering the current appalling situation in most of our hospitals—whether private or public—the country’s National Health System is overdue for a complete overhaul.

Meanwhile, we call on the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole and his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama to liaise with the United States Mission in Nigeria so as to withdraw Ms Ojo from the Mandela Fellows programme and repatriate her to Nigeria. She must be made to face the consequences of her irresponsible behaviour.

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

ABUJA: THE GREEN CITY INITIATIVE

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here is strong evidence that a clean and green city not only promotes a healthy and beautiful environment but also enhances the potential of the given city as a major tourist destination.

Over the past decade, interest in city greening has revived as government and civic groups around the world have revitalised rundown city parks, community open spaces, built greenways along rivers, and planted gardens in vacant plots. A city like Copenhagen in Denmark, already referred to as the European Green capital due to the environmental actions it has taken, aims to be carbon neutral by 2025.

Stockholm (Sweden) intends to be fossil-fuel free by the year 2050, with the vision being set and pursued since in the 70s. Vancouver in Canada mentioned in 2012

its desire to be the greenest city in the world by 2020.

In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, details of the much talked about “greater green city initiative” is now beginning to unravel with concrete plans being made by the FCT Administration to institutionalise this initiative.

Among the measures being introduced by the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammd Musa Bello to make Abuja very green and echo friendly is to give special consideration to corporate institutions that wish to set up gardens, parks and other green areas in the FCT as part of their corporate social responsibility and have these places named after their organisations. They are to identify any place of their choice in the capital city and the FCT Minister will grant them access. In exchange, they’ll be

responsible for making it very green by planting a few trees, flowers and other plants and nurturing them.

In addition to this, there is plan onboard also to have a complete package that will incorporate tree planting and beautification of road corridors as well as road median into road contracts to be awarded henceforth in the FCT. Already, the pilot phase of this project has commenced along the airport road.

Under this pilot scheme, contractors have been asked to plant and nurture trees on the road median as well as the road corridors as part of their contractual obligation. The contract of the airport road will now no longer be a single contract that after completion of your job, the contractor winds off and there will be no contract anymore.

What is happening now is that trees of different levels are being planted along the corridor of the road with a semblance of a palm city at the road median, which will be barricaded to prevent people from walking across.

As laudable as this initiative is, it is not enough to just ask contractors to plant trees and leave them at the mercy of vandals. The minister is trying to introduce something similar to the City Guard of London to protect the infrastructure from destruction.

Surveillance cabins are being installed along the roads for monitoring purposes. The plan is to have the city guards equipped with bikes to patrol the distance in order to protect what has been planted from being destroyed.

There is no doubt that this strategy that the FCTA has introduced will go a long way to change the

attitude of the people and make them more responsible and respect the dignity of the FCT. Abuja is one of the few cities that have master plan in the whole Africa and it must be made to become a tourist attraction to all African states.

It is good to see that the FCTA has started the pilot phase of this initiative along the airport road which is the entry point to the nation’s capital. Hopefully, it would be spread to other parts of the city like the OSSEX and the ONEX to improve the city’s overall ambience.

The capital of Nigeria, one of few purposely built cities in the world, is remarkable in its way and any effort to make it a truly model city should be pursued.

––Danladi Akilu, Gudu District, Abuja

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SUNDAYNEWS

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

Presidency: Allegations of Nepotism against Osinbajo, a Smear Campaign Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

The presidency has dismissed as smear campaign, allegations of nepotism and favouritism leveled against Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

One Dr. Ismaila Farouk had last Thursday posted on the internet an article accusing Osinbajo of nepotism and favoritism in the appointments he made as acting president.

The article had cited the composition of the Presidential Advisory and Competitiveness Council, and key appointments like the chief executive officers of Bank of Industry and Pension Commission.

The article had also accused Osinbajo of ensuring that all his aides are either Yoruba or members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. It compared him with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who it said appointed his aides from other parts of the country.

Osinbajo was specifically accused of appointing Yoruba men, Mr. Funso Doherty as the Director-General of Pension Commission (PenCom), and Mr. Olukayode Pitan as Managing Director of Bank of Industry. He was accused of appointing his brother in law, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, who is the Executive Director/CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, into the Presidential Advisory and Competitiveness Council.

The Acting President was also accused of appointing his deputy when he was the Pastor of RCCG, Banana Island, Lagos, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, who is Minister of Trade, as the Vice Chairman of the Presidential Advisory and Competitiveness Council which he inaugurated at the Presidential Villa last Monday.

While further accusing him of strategising for 2019 with the hope that Buhari would be unable to contest, the article accused Osinbajo of filling the advisory council with either his kinsmen in the South-west or members of RCCG. A presidential source contacted by THISDAY yesterday however claimed that Ismaila Farouk was a fictitious name that did not exist anywhere.

He alleged that the article was written by some forces who were unhappy that the acting president was in control of government machinery.

He said such forces had wanted to be in control of the government in the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari and because the acting president was fully in charge, they were aggrieved and therefore thought they could pit him against the public by cooking up unfounded allegations against him.

According to him, the intention was to distract the acting president from carrying on with his commitment to

ensure that issues plaguing the nation at the moment were addressed as instructed by his boss, President Buhari. He said the acting president had always worked according to the president’s instructions.

While the appointments made by Osinbajo as acting president had Yoruba and members of his denomination, the RCCG, in some key positions, THISDAY investigations however showed that contrary to the allegation that all his personal aides are Yoruba and Christians, a number of them are actually Muslims and from other parts of the country.

A flip through the list of Osinbajo’s aides showed that Mr. Ade Ipaye, who is the head of his team as Deputy Chief of Staff, is a Muslim from Lagos State.

Other aides in his office are: Director of Protocol, Ambassador Abdullahi Gwari, Muslim from Yobe State; Special Adviser on Social Investments, Maryam Uwais, Muslim from Kano State; Senior Special Assistant on Legal, Research and Compliance, Dr. Balkisu Saidu, Muslim from Sokoto State; Senior Special Assistant on Economic Affairs, Edobor Iyamu, Christian from Edo State; Special Assistant on Power, Dr. Tochukwu Nwachukwu, Christian from Imo State; Special Adviser on National Economic Council (NEC), Donald Wokoma, Christian from Rivers State; Special Assistant on Social Investment, Mohammed Braimah, Muslim from Kwara State; Special Assistant on Inter-governmental Affairs, Abdul Rahman Baffa, Muslim from Kano State; Special Assistant on Economy, Peter Dimike, Christian from Imo State; Special Assistant to Power Team, Anita Otubu, Christian from Delta State; Zainab Edu, Special Assistant on SIP, Kano State; Special Assistant to Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Bege Bala (BPE), Christian from Kaduna State; Assistant on Social Investment, Amina Edu, Muslim from Kaduna State.

Others are: Personal Assistant to the Vice President, Gambo Mansur, Muslim from Gombe State; Personal Assistant to the Vice President, Murtala Aliyu, Muslim from Kogi State; EA-DCOS, Nkoli Anyaoku, Christian from Anambra State; Special Assistant on Rule of Law, Zainab Buba Galadima, Muslim from Yobe State; Special Asssitant, Administration, Koko Iyamu, Christian from Akwa Ibom State; Personal Assistant to the Vice President, Edewede Akhidenor, Christian from Edo State.

Others are Special Advisers or Senior Special Assistants to the President seconded to the office of the vice president.

Those in this category are Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs (Office of Vice

-President), Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Christian from Ekiti State, Special Adviser, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu (Office of Vice -President), Christian from Ogun State and Senior Special Assistant to the President (Office of Vice -President) on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande.

On the appointment of the Director-General of PenCom, the presidential source explained: “There has been much talk about failure of government to replace the former Pencom Director General with someone from the same zone as hers. It is argued that this ran contrary to Section 21(2) of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

However, that section only applies ‘in the event of a vacancy.’

“Indeed, in that case, the President shall appoint a replacement from the same geo-political zone of the im-

mediate past member who vacated the office to complete the remaining tenure. This is to ensure that no geo-political zone loses out in the event of a removal and replacement of one particular member, when others from other zones remain in office.

“However, where as in this case, the entire Board is dissolved and reconstituted, the question is not about replacement of any particular person from any particular geo-political zone. Rather, it is to ensure that in the newly reconstituted Board, every one of the six political zones is represented. The new appointees, covering all zones, are as follows: Ali Usman Ahmed (North East)- Chairman; Funso Doherty (South West) -Director General, Manasseh Terna Denga (North Central) -Commissioner; Abubakar

Zaki Magawata (North West) - Commissioner; Ben Oviosu (South South) -Commissioner and Nyerere Ayim (South East) - Commissioner.

“Unfortunately, another controversy arose, following the slight alteration in the list earlier announced. The nominees have not taken office. So, thankfully, it is not a matter of vacancy this time. But why this alteration anyway?

“Unfortunately, the earlier announced appointment of Abdulrahman Dikko was found to be in error, as it ran contrary to Section 19 (5) of PRA 2014 which says that ‘the chairman and members of the PenCom Board shall not own controlling shares in any of the pension funds administrator or pension funds custodian prior to or during their tenure of office as chairman or members of the board.’

“It is not disputed that Dikko is currently a majority shareholder at Premium Pension Limited, one of the most prominent pension funds administrators in Nigeria today, hence the need to immediately rectify the error by moving him to a position for which he is clearly qualified. Dikko is now the appointed Chairman of the Bank of Industry Board,” he added.

On the allegation that the acting president was strategising for 2019, the presidential source said politicking had never been a matter for contemplation by the vicepresident, pointing out that he reluctantly accepted the offer to be vice-president, a reason which explains why he has never bothered to use his office to build a political structure for himself in his South-west zone.

PROMOTING SUSTAINABILITY L-R: Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Adeola; Sterling Bank Environmental Makeover Ambassador,

Olamide Adedeji, and the bank’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Henry Bassey, during the formal unveiling of Olamide as sustainability ambassador at Sterling Towers in Lagos...recently

Saraki: Report on Likely Fuel Hike False, Wicked Damilola Oyedele in Abuja

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has described as both false and wicked the swirling reports about likely fuel hike, allegedly being orchestrated by the Senate, saying there is no such intention in the first place.

Saraki, who said he was going to order an official statement to that effect, however dismissed as a lazy type of journalism the habit of taking innocuous reports on the surface and misinterpreting them as if such writers have predetermined motives.

Inthesamevein,theSenatehas said the recommended increase in thepumppriceofpetrolanddiesel

by N5 per litre, remains a proposal that is yet to be reviewed by the Senate as a whole. The legislative body however assured Nigerians that it would reject any proposal to increase the price of fuel, just as it abolished fixed electricity charges

and rejected the hike in hike in data price.

Addressing the issue in an exclusive chat with THISDAY yesterday, Saraki said the story was obviously taken from the report of a public hearing on road maintenance, which suggested taxing the already existing templates of internal inflow, such that would not affect the pump price of petroleum or the end users.

According to him, since appropriation for the road maintenance was no longer feasible and it was important they took care of it, the idea was suggested that they looked inward, perhaps, by reviewing the Petroleum Products Pricing regulatory Agency (PPPRA) inflow template and see the areas the suggested N5.00 could be taken from, albeit in bits.

He said, for instance, the public hearing reports identified some of the steady inflow from the ports in terms of charges, from where

some bits could be taken, adding that the overriding instruction was that the N5.00 must not reflect on the pump price or passed down to the consumer in whatever way.

“I am surprised therefore that anybody would take such a report and turned it on its head. Do I call that lazy journalism or what? The report is so false and wicked that you can’t but see the sinister intention in it. The charge to maintain road is in no way a concern to the public because it would not be passed down to them.

“But because anything that is anti-senate sells quickly, nobody bothered to find out the true picture and the negative report sold like wildfire, when indeed, it was the imagination of the writers and possibly their sponsors.

I am going to get Yusuph (his media aide) to issue a statement on this. Whether or not the critics of the Senate like it, we are and will always be pro-masses.

“Whatever this Senate does, even if it appears in the estimation of our critics as anti-people, is done first with the interest of the people factored critically into accounts.

We set out ab initio to protect our people and their interest and that has remained our guiding principle. We will not depart from it. Now ask yourself, on what basis will an increase in the pump price of fuel be justified at this period, when you consider the state of the economy?

“Maybethosewhosoldthestory and their sponsors would have an answer. We are not insensate representatives and if that is the impression that some out there want registered in the subconscious of the people about the senate, then, they will try harder. Check out our records and genuinely analyse them, we have consistently been pro-masses of this great country and that is not going to change,” he maintained.

T H I S D AY SUNDAY JUNE 4, 2017

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T H I S D AY SUNDAY JUNE 4, 2017

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ÍźËœ ͺ͸͚Ϳ

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NEWS Osoba, Smith, Akala, Solomon, Others Honour Obanikoro at Mother’s Burial Olawale Olaleye

Eminent Nigerians yesterday honoured a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who buried his mother, Alhaja Wosilat Ejide Obanikoro, at the Ikoyi Cemetery, Lagos, having passed on earlier in the day at the age of 95. She was buried immediately according to Islamic injunctions.

Alhaja Obanikoro had been sick for a while and his son had envisaged the worst when he refused to attend the graduation of his last daughter, Olamiju, at the Darlington School, Rome, Georgia, in the United States sometime in May, because he would not like to see anything

happen in his absence. But she eventually gave up the battle for life early yesterday.

Those who turned up at the burial included a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba; former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Musiliu Smith; former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala; Senators Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon and Gbenga Ashafa, and a former Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Ademola Seriki.

Others were a former governorship candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje; National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Muiz Banire, and a PDP

stalwart in Lagos State, Senator Tony Adefuye.

Also in attendance were a former and aspiring governorship candidate in Ogun State, Mr. Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka; Commissioner for Housing in Lagos State, Gbolahan Lawal; Mr. Kamal Olorunoje, Mr. Femi Carena,Mr.KayodeBawa-Allah, Mr. Mutiu Aare and the Lagos White Cap Chiefs amongst friends and family members, who graced the burial.

It is not likely yet that the final burial would be fixed for next week as the family has yet to meet and decide, but the 8th day Fidau Prayer would be held in sync with tradition next weekend, a family source told THISDAY.

Ngige to MASOB: I Am Practicing What Ojukwu Taught Ndigbo The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has reacted to the statement credited to the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in reaction to a recent press interview in which he advised Ndigbo against placing all their political eggs in one basket, and concluded that MASSOB’s position was uninformed and a shot in the wrong direction.

According to the minister “I am only practicing what the late leader of Ndigbo, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu taught us.�

A statement by the Special Assistant, Media to the Minister, Nwachukwu Obidiwe described Ngige as a consummate Igbo leader who would never disparage the Igbo or work against their interest.

“With his sterling pedigree as formerPresidentGeneralofAkaIkenga for eight years, member of Ohaneze Strategic Committee and member, Imeobi Ohaneze, Ngige only advised our people to rise above the prevailing selfpity, awaken the resilient spirit for which Igbos are known and quicklyre-strategiseasothergeopolitical zones in the country are currently doing. “I wish to put on record that my position is exactly the same position our late leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu took in 1982 when he left the Igbo dominated NPP to join the NPN. Ikemba reasoned that while Igbos give support to Zik’s NPP, there was also the wisdom in spreading our political net to the waters of the ruling party. Ikemba did so to ensure

that Ndigbo was not all boxed into a regional party or enclave which can disconnect or limit their participation in the nation’s apex political conclave.� “If Ojukwu thought that doing otherwise was myopic in 1982, why is a section of the Igbo crucifying Ngige for preaching and practicing the wise counsel of our eternal leader, Ikemba?� the statement asked.

According to him, “it is therefore clear that the ‘new’ leadership of MASSOB needs a clearer and undistorted interpretation of the truth in my position, which is that it is politically unwise for us to repeat in future elections, the 2015 presidential election voting pattern where all our eggs were dumped in one basket; the basket failed and the eggs all broken.�

Ribadu: To Fight Corruption, Media Must Purge Itself Anayo Okolie Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has called on media practitioners in the country to first purge themselves before becoming adequately prepared to fight corruption.

The call was contained in the Chairman’s opening remarks made yesterday by Ribadu at a Ramadan lecture organised by the Muslim Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria at the National Mosque, Abuja, with the title ‘Anti-Corruption: The Role of Media as a Change Agent’.

According to Ribadu, “I am happy to be in the midst of

a gathering of journalists and media practitioners, today. I am especially glad that you chose to have us reflect on a very important and ever-relevant topic of the fight against the malice of corruption in Nigeria, and the roles a powerful tool like the media can play in combating corruption in our country. “Having this discussion in the month of Ramadan, a time of spiritual odyssey, underscores the fact that we should not only pray but compliment the needed supplications with practical solutions to our challenges of nationhood. “There is a consensus about the position of corruption as our major impediment to greatness. It is a malady that has unfortunately

gone deep into our national fabric.

Corruption is the major reason why we are where we are today as a country. It is also the reason why we are unable to address a lot of our problems and challenges. “Years of mindless stealing and waste of public resources has brought bad name to Nigeria and reversed the hope and aspirations we had as a country at the time of Independence. The haemorrhage of corruption has dragged this country to a brink in spite of efforts at different times, including what we are witnessing presently, to get the country away from the monster.

Fighting corruption, therefore, is key to the survival and progress of our country.�

Firm Faults Publication on Alleged Tax Evasion Pre-shipment Inspection Agent (PIA), Trobell International Nigeria Limited, has faulted a report published in THISDAY Newspapers on Sunday,May21inrespectofaHouse of Representatives public investigation on crude oil pre-shipment contract. In a protest letter to THISDAY, the company, represented by a legal firm,Albert&Co,insistedthatit(Trobell) never evaded tax remittance as statedinthepublication.

The letter, signed by Mr. Charles Donglong, took exception to a paragraph in the publication, which stated that “Documents

from the Office of the AccountantGeneral of the Federation detailing payments to PIAs between January 2011 and April 2017, showed that Trobell International Ltd was paid N2.53 billion while JBIS Integrated Resources Ltd was paid N15.2 billion. Both companies were found to have evaded tax remittance, and did not have PENCOM certificates.�

According to the solicitors, “Our client (Trobell) has its Tax Clearance Certificate genuinely obtained from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and their

figures are duly captured on the FIRS portal. It should be noted as mentioned during the hearing by the Managing Director of Trobell, that all payments due to the company are paid by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) authorised by the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) after deducting all taxes due from the payments. “It is very important to state that no mention of PENCOM Certificate was made concerning our client during the hearing as reported by your publication�, Donglong added.

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Í˛Ëœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ Ëž THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

OPINION Between Selective Justice and No Justice Oserheimen A. Osunbor votes for selective justice

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ight from the inception of his administration, President Muhammadu Buhari made it abundantly clear that he is out to fight corruption, a terrible cankerworm that has deprived Nigeria of true greatness and stunted her development.

In fact, the war against corruption, the President has repeatedly pointed out, is one of three key cardinal policies of his administration, the other two being security and the economy. Earlier on at the restoration of democracy in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo identified corruption as Nigeria’s enemy number one, hence the very first executive bill he presented to the National Assembly was the bill for the establishment of the Independent Corruption Practices and Allied Offences Commission (ICPC). This was followed later by the bill establishing the EFCC. Those who faced investigation and prosecution at that period in order to get off the hook whipped up sentiments by claiming that they were being targeted or singled out for political victimisation. As the state fought corruption, corruption fought back ferociously.

President Buhari very quickly in the life of his own administration established the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption whose Chairman Professor Itse Sagay, SAN and members are persons of integrity. As before, PMB’s efforts at combating corruption are again under attack from various quarters and guises, one of which is the accusation that he is carrying out selective justice. By this the critics imply that it is wrong to go after a few culprits unless all the guilty are equally exposed and punished. In other words and in their thinking, if government cannot arrest and prosecute all the thieves who looted public funds, it has no right to and must not single out any one or some of them to face justice. To do so, they argue, would amount to selective justice. It is obvious that this campaign is being used to undermine the anti-corruption drive by government.

Ideally, no sinner should go unpunished. Every offender ought to be brought to book and punished. Regrettably, however, in life

it is never possible to catch and punish all thieves. For instance, to take the crime of rape, studies have shown that only about 20 per cent of rape cases ever get reported. Of that number only about 12 per cent get to the court and only about five per cent of those result in conviction. Should it then be a defence to an offender that because other rapists are at large he should therefore be set free? Again if five persons carry out robbery and three of them are at large, has this ever been a reason for not prosecuting or jailing the two that were unlucky to be arrested? The same argument goes for other offences. As a matter of fact, I know of no country where the notion of selective justice is a defence under their criminal law and Nigeria is not an exception.

It must not be forgotten that when those who are being investigated or are facing prosecution for corruption were looting public funds with impunity, they carefully selected themselves in the act of stealing. The rest of Nigerians did not matter to them and did not partake in their brazen looting. In fact, they regarded

Since they were selective in the stealing they have no moral or legal right to raise the notion of selective justice as a defence or to try to cast aspersion on and diminish the anti-corruption strides of government

honest Nigerians who are not corrupt as fools. If therefore, they are being selected for prosecution they have themselves to blame and should not curry any sympathy from the public who as a matter of fact are the victims of their criminal actions. Since they were selective in the stealing they have no moral or legal right to raise the notion of selective justice as a defence or to try to cast aspersion on and diminish the anti-corruption strides of government.

Nigeria’s criminal law, law of evidence and criminal procedure law, like the laws of other nations, envisage that not all criminals or parties to an offence including their accomplices will necessarily face prosecution or, if prosecuted, suffer the same penalty upon conviction.

In no country on earth are law enforcement agencies able to arrest every criminal or prosecute all those arrested or secure their conviction. Even in developed countries, the police are known to spare criminals in the underworld known to them who help provide the police with vital clues or information leading to the arrest of dangerous criminals. The law allows the prosecution a discretion as to whom to prosecute and they may choose to turn a co-accused into a prosecution witness if this is in the interest of diligent prosecution. In a well-structured system of plea bargaining, a criminal may be spared prosecution or get away with a light sentence if he agrees to testify as a prosecution witness against the kingpin or mastermind of the crime where, otherwise, it would be difficult to secure a conviction. Regrettably, in Nigeria, some people are quick to erroneously label this selective justice, not knowing or pretending not to know that it is legitimate, permissible and valid under our laws. Our Constitution even gives the Attorney General the power of nolle prosequi to discontinue the trial of any person if this is in the public interest, the interest of justice and due process. –– Prof. Osunbor was former Chairman, Nigerian Law Reform Commission

Biafra: Paradox of Failure of Leadership The potential of the Igbo nation has not been properly harnessed, argues Gozie Irogboli

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he Nigerian Civil War ended 47 years ago but the scar and the injuries it inflicted on us have not only refused to heal but have continued to fester due mainly to the inherent contradictions of deliberate punitive retributive measures adopted by the various Nigerian government ever since. It is regrettable that the Nigerian governments controlled by the cult of generals have not deemed it fit to properly address the fundamental cause of the fratricidal war in spite of the yawning need for that. When the war ended in 1970, the federal government had declared: ‘no victor no vanquished’ and proposed the famous 3Rs (Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Reconstruction) declaration that was never implemented. The 3Rs policy was obviously a parody of the American post-civil war reconstruction initiatives.

Instead of reconstructing the South-east and compensating for the reprehensible act of genocide against the Igbo people as expected, the Nigerian government in the past 47 years has adopted covert and overt measures to suppress, oppress and dehumanise the people of Igbo origin. The condition of the Igbo people has grown worse from marginalisation as was hitherto the case to complete exclusion as is the case in the present government thereby prompting the renewed agitation for the resuscitation of the defunct state of Biafra.

Unfortunately, the mindset of the Nigerian leaders is that they were magnanimous in victory by keeping the Igbos alive and accommodating them after the cessation of hostilities in 1970. In fact to them, the Igbo man should be grateful to them that he was allowed to exist after the war: the war that observers and analysts complained was fought with much bitterness; without adherence to the rules of engagements as civilian targets as well as women and children were decimated by rampaging federal troops.

Thus, the complaint about marginalisation to them is an act of ingratitude. This unpatriotic attitude (lack of political will, careless utterances and body language, etc.) of the leaders has stirred up deep-seated hatred against the Igbos so much so that Ndigbo are like endangered species in Nigeria. This was why Prof. Chinua Achebe declared in his book ‘There Was a Country’ that Nigerians are united in their hatred for the Igbo man.

Over the years, Ndigbo of different hues have exhibited different attitude to their plight in Nigeria. The old and the conservative who saw the war have come to take their pitiable situation as fait accompli. Some Ndigbo especially those who expect their traducers to see them as nationalists, patriots and detribalised Nigerians use every opportunity and every platform to criticise, undermine and even sabotage Igbo interests. Some Ndigbo too, especially those from the cultural peripheries have attempted to deny their Igbo identity and embarked on elusive and ridiculous search for noble ancestry in order to avoid political persecution.

However, the vast majority of Ndigbo especially the youth who never witnessed nor take part in the internecine war have rejected the verdict of ‘war guilt’ clamped on them by the powers that be

in Nigeria. Yes, they did not understand why the misadventure of few people in the army could be used to punish them in perpetuity. They have risen to question the status of second class citizens tacitly imposed on them in their country. They did understand why they must live as hostage inhabitants in a country they claim to be theirs. They are obviously tired of a moribund system that glorifies mediocrity and nepotism. Lo, they want valid explanation for why those who took up arms against the state are being rewarded and the hapless citizens on peaceful protest are mowed down in hundreds in the South-east region.

Behold, they want to know why the South-east ravaged by the Nigerian civil war has not been reconstructed 50 years after whereas the reconstruction of North-east under Boko Haram siege is being pursued aggressively. Yes, they want to know why a budget of over N7 trillion proposed for the 2017 fiscal year has less than 5% of it for projects in the South-east. Indeed, they want an explanation why this administration sent a proposal to National Assembly to borrow the whopping sum $30 billion to finance various projects across the country when the whole South-east is to be excluded from those projects. They are tired of the reign of anarchy, violence and state induced ethnic prejudice against Ndigbo...

Thus, the emergence of Mazi Nnamdi Kalu, the leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) and the renewed agitation for the restoration of the defunct state of Biafra is the direct consequences of the maltreatment of Ndigbo in Nigeria and the vestige of failure of leadership in Nigeria. As it is now, the agitation is beyond the person of Mazi Kalu. Many more Kalus will emerge if what led to the agitation are not handled properly and urgently too. How can a particular people be made to suffer for what was a collective mistake?

Therefore as the country Nigeria marks the golden jubilee of the declaration of the state of Biafra, it is imperative that the issues that gave rise to the schism are addressed squarely. This occasion calls for introspection and sober reflection. The managers of this government would do the country a world of good to wriggle out of the nadir of their primitive arrogance and address properly the challenge of Biafra. They must not wait for nuisance value.

They must adopt civil and constructive engagement. They cannot wish it away; neither can they suppress the matter with intimidation and blackmail. This is the golden truth. The gun cannot stop the epiphany of the truth.

A peep into history reveals that the consequences of injustice and unjust settlement of conflict is always grave. It is like delaying the evil day. When World War 1ended in 1919, the British, the leader of the Allied Powers that emerged victorious hoping to punish Germans and to weaken their power and influence in world affairs fixed the venue for the post-war settlement in Versailles, France aware of the frosty relationship between Germany and France. France had previously lost to the Germans during

the Prussian Wars of the late 19th century. Thus, at the Treaty in Versailles, the American 14- point resolution was thrown out in preference for a harsh and punitive retribution against the Germans. There was forced disarmament against Germany to ensure it could not pose any military threat again. In addition to losing about 10% of its home territories and colonial territories (Cameroon, Togo, Tanganyika, Rwanda-Burundi, Namibia‌) Germany was made to pay heavy reparation from 1920. The burden was so much that by the 1930s, German economy had collapsed. Economic historians have it that the German currency was worth less than toilet paper then. The new generation of Germans emerged and began to question the rationale for the reparation. The result of that was a rebellion against the rest of the world. This was the real cause of the World War 11 that claimed the lives of six million Jews; injustice, punitive retribution.

When World War 11 ended in 1945, the victorious and the liberal Americans never toed the line of the vengeful Britons.

In a genuine bid to reconstruct the war-weary Europe and to forestall the spread of communism championed by the Soviets, the Americans designed the Marshall Plan (named after George C. Marshall) the then secretary of state who supervised the reconstruction effort. The United Nations replaced the League of Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions were established to finance the reconstruction efforts. Again, when the American civil war ended in 1865, the Union that emerged victorious never persecuted the Confederate states of South. They pursued genuine reconciliation and America emerged stronger thereafter.

It is indeed unfortunate that at the end of the war in 1970, the Nigerian government rather follow the part of genuine reconciliation, adopted the British crude superannuated doctrine of punitive retribution and recrimination thereby weakening the unity of the country in the process. Clearly, the effects of trying to marginalise the South-east, the abode of Ndigbo in Nigeria is ineffably unimaginable. There is rancor, insecurity, and corruption, an undesirable culture of impunity and stymied development of the country as a result of this.

The potential of the Igbo nation known for their industry and hard work has not been properly harnessed due to the adverse socio-political climate in Nigeria. Nigeria as it currently constituted is faulty and anybody who wants the status quo to continue is obviously an enemy of the nation. In a very subtle and cruel manner the Igbo man has been attacked, ridiculed and demonised in Nigeria. The masses are hungry and disoriented.

What does the Igbo man want? The Igbo man is naturally democratic and republican. Ndigbo want a level playing ground; equity, justice and fairness. They want a system that will create equal opportunity for all and engender peaceful coexistence.

They want an enabling environment that will allow meaningful economic activity to thrive. ––Irogboli is an economist and a public policy analyst

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

LETTERS

CRISIS AT NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

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he National Open University of Nigeria was established in 2002 with the vision of catering to a section of the populace desirous of tertiary education outside of the confines of the regular university system. Since its establishment, NOUN has served tens of thousands of students in different locations, contributing in no small measure to the human capacity development of the country. That vision and continuity of NOUN’s contribution to national development is now under serious threat because of the man entrusted with the leadership of this prestigious institution.

Mr President, before you appointed Professor Adamu as the Vice Chancellor of NOUN, the institution in furtherance of its mandate as the flagship tertiary institution for Open and Distance Learning in Nigeria utilised a harmonised Learning Management Portal called iLEARN that allows for online instructional delivery through the combination of audio, video and text mediums.

Since its adoption, the iLEARN technology has proved to be a mainframe ICT component in the operations of NOUN, facilitating seamless connections

between the teaching staff and students.

The iLEARN Project for example catered to the prison in-mates particularly the Kirikiri Maximum prison in-mates ensuring that they locally have access to study materials, audio-visual resources, and past questions, and updating same, monthly as updated on the iLEARN portal. This intervention no longer exists as the VC has pulled the plugged on this portal, throwing the institution in a digital darkness.

Graduating students of NOUN had always enjoyed the benefits of carrying out their clearance virtually through a customised platform developed for the school by iLearn to aid the clearance process. As it is, graduants of the just concluded convocation had to travel from their respective destinations to the headquarters of the University in Abuja. This task has not only become tedious and time consuming, some of the graduating students have not been cleared even though they presented themselves for clearance. This is due to their inability to download their receipts from the previous portal and the institution has not made it any easier by providing alternatives. Hence, the students have graduated but cannot

collect their certificates.

In the same vein, the institution now has no access to any accurate data, only rough estimates are available as at today.

The institution is unable to determine the number of enrolment per semester nor determine the accurate number of active students or registered students in the institution. This makes it impossible to determine the institution’s revenue.

Exams and exam registration could not be conducted in most part of the country due to the lack of portal, while the institution has recorded a failed attempt to use the manual registration and paper exam to replace the e-exam.

Amidst these trending issues raising an eyebrow from both staff and students of the institution, it was gathered that the school academic calendar has been disrupted owing to student’s inability to utilise the non-functioning portals that were used to replace the existing optimally functioning ones. Based on this development, students have been deprived from the seamless mode of doing their registration, TMAS and assessing results owing to the changes made by the school administration.

Payment of tuition fees has not gotten better as majority of students expressed

dissatisfaction over the challenges they are encountering in making payment which is still yet to be fixed as at the time of compiling this report. Among issues gathered is the unavailability of internet services at the school study centres prompting staff to incur data expenses from their pockets for official assignments.

While making an inquiry into issues surmounting the institution, facilitators also bemoaned the school administration for relocating them to a work station that is not well equipped even while different construction works were still ongoing at the different offices, thus stalling their official activities for a length of time when relocation was made.

It was also flagged that there is a poor communication flow between students and the school leadership as they are left out of the picture when carrying out certain changes in the institution thereby leaving students in the dark in respect to issues that directly involves them.

Since the VC’s assumption in office, there have also been several controversies with the mode of administration in terms of recruitment. It was gathered that there are different unpublicised recruitment going on in the institution to absorb the “who knows who” set of staff while jeopardising

merit. In a related concern, certain officers were also demoted to satisfy the preference of the VC in the move to empower his allies. The issue of tribalism is also taking a firm stance in the institution as there are more Hausa appointees coming on board in the institution.

Another major issue is the breach of contract with facilitators promised to be paid for instructional video recording and eventual non-payment of such allowances following the transition. The administration of the VC did not only stop the payment of such allowances but also infringed on certain fringe benefits that are meant for facilitators as they no longer receive their annual rent allowance and these do not go well with the school staff as their welfare is affected.

Students of the institution have also taken to different social media channels to vent their anger on the different means by which they have been exploited by the institution. It was revealed that they pay for course materials which they don’t get regularly and which they are yet to get an explanation for.

Mr President, these and more are issues that require your urgent attention and intervention.

--Saka Mahmood, Abuja

RAMADAN AND SPIRITUAL REBIRTH

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asting is annually observed by Muslims across the world for the 29 or 30 days of the Islamic lunar month of Ramadan. It is a religious institution almost as universal as prayer, and in Islam it is one of the five fundamental practical ordinances. Before Islam, fasting meant the suffering of some privation in times of mourning and sorrow; in Islam, it becomes an institution for improvement of the moral and spiritual condition of man.

Fasting in Ramadan develops in a person the real spirit of social belonging, of unity and brotherhood, and of equality before God. Ramadan offers Muslim faithful a unique opportunity to move closer to God and inspire spiritual rebirth and revival. In climes where nationalistic Muslim leaders and scholars exist, the month of Ramadan is a platform to use the guidance of Holy Scripture to rally the people and inspire spirit of identifying with the nation and

proffer answers to some of the national questions as the month emphasises mankind and not Muslims. National questions are solved easily where people, especially scholars understand their social responsibility and live up to standard.

As the fasting of this year Ramadan begins, one hopes it provides faithful the opportunity of experiencing its full benefits. Allah command in the Qurán: ‘O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed to you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain piety’ (Chapter 2 verse 183). As stated in the concluding words of the verse, the purpose of fasting is that man may learn how he can shun evil, develop self-restraint, self-purification, God-consciousness, compassion, the spirit of caring and sharing, love of humanity and God. Indeed, a fasting person is one whose limbs withhold from sins, his tongue from lies, foul speech and falsehood, his stomach from food and drink and his private parts from sexual intercourse. This he does,

seeking nothing but the pleasure of God and God alone. ‘If you do not abstain from evil words and vile deeds,’ says the Holy Prophet, ‘God has no need of your abstinence from food and drink’. This is how Ramadan fast is meant to teach Muslims not only to lead an innocent and spotless life, but also to be peace-loving.

Here, we have been fasting for ages, and yet hardly is the purpose of fasting reflecting in our private and national life.

Now, can we use the opportunity of this fasting month to critically examine our national problems and with the fear of Allah chart a progressive path for this nation? Will our leaders attain piety and sincerely face the task of serving the country and eschew corrupt tendencies?

No doubt, most private and public institutions will sponsor tafsir (commentary on Qur’an) during this month. Will the exegetes fear Allah and tell the truth to the authority about the plight of the masses?

Many of our children are today passing through school

without education due to myriad of dysfunctions in the education sector. Cheating in public examination to discerning minds is one of the main causes of corruption in the country.

It will tremendously achieve a lofty goal, if Islamic scholars focus some of their public lectures on addressing the decay in the education sector and family institution during the month of Ramadan.

Indeed, more than ever before, we need from our clerics during the Ramadan, call for a rebirth (jihad) of virtues, morals and values. Ramadan fasting should not be seen as a duty to be completed in any manner, but as a tremendous opportunity to elevate our ranks in the hereafter by becoming pious with a desire for social change.

It should lead to improved moral and spiritual revival as the month ‘opens the gates of paradise and closes the gates of hellfire while the devils are chained.’ (Bukhari and Muslim).

A great opportunity for personal and national rebirth knocks at the door of Muslims

THE PROBLEM WITH NYSC “Everyone’s happiness counts the same. When an action is utilised and then maximised for the overall good of society, this can be known as utilitarianism” - Jeremy Bentham

F

ounded in May 1973, the NYSC scheme was intended to provide a chauvinistic feeling of national unity towards Nigeria’s youths. It was intended to evoke a nationalistic feeling of camaraderie towards the youths, because the Gowon regime surmised that in order to develop the country, the youths needed to be unshackled from their respected states and set free. But after only just completing the aforementioned service year myself, I continuously find myself

now questioning whether the scheme is only just benefitting the youths alone, albeit at the expense of the national unity.

Therefore, without resulting to prosaic debates on the merits/ demerits of the national youth service, let’s for once look at it from a different angle. An angle, which seeks to address the fact that governmental actions are right for the public, only if they benefit the majority of the public; and from where I’m sitting, NYSC doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, it is absolutely crucial to invest in the future leaders of Nigeria, but these minute leaders don’t currently make up the backbone of the Nigerian populace. Ergo, it goes without saying that the government’s action of persistently continuing with the scheme is surely wrong.

So, with that argument, I

postulate that instead of the federal government investing financially upon an annual programme each year, why don’t we instead invest greatly on the population by creating a welfare state for those who actually need it the most.

Why doesn’t the federal government instead utilise the stipends collected each month by corps members to provide services pertaining to adequate income, quality healthcare, western education, appropriate housing, and ample employment. Because after all, let’s face it, how many developed countries in the world with vastly multicultural youths still require NYSC after graduation to promote national integration? I can’t think of any!

Hence, with that said, it would be quite easy to say now that the key point of NYSC which

is to unite Nigeria’s youth and to promote national unity, is not quite watertight, and thus, not quite justifiable under any kind of reason. In summary, the belief and continuous use of the scheme by various administrations, post-Gowon era, is a testament to the fact that said administrations simply aren’t looking at the bigger picture. It should be an obvious fact that what all the various administrations need to do, post-Gowon era, is to deal with the fact that the national unity in a wider context should represent only the majority of people in Nigeria who need to be assisted by government, and not the minority of educated youths who need a service year from government.

––Bankole Christopher Smart-Cole, smart.co@ hotmail.com

with the arrival of this glorious month. ‘When you are fasting,’ asserted the Apostle of Allah, ‘abuse not anybody, and if a person disputes or fights you, turn away from him by saying, ‘I cannot fight because I am fighting.’ We should have concern for our fellow countrymen at all times, but Ramadan is the time of the year when we can really feel for them and grab the rewards more than ever.

One of the best ways of doing Dawah is to directly engage in presenting programme on the media or be a sponsor. Late Chief MKO Abiola and Late Alhaji Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo would not be forgotten on their efforts at sponsoring programmes both on the electronic media during Ramadan.

––Razak Musbau, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Lagos.

TAMING THE MENACE OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN NIGERIA

I

t’s very appalling the rate of murder of innocent Nigerians all in the name of religion. It baffles why Nigerians of different ethnicity and religion cannot live in harmony irrespective of religious beliefs.

It is still fresh in my mind the gruesome murder of Chief Kuyoro Festus Omosanya, the philanthropist who lived on France Road, Sabo-Gari, Kano and the perpetrators of this heinous crime are still at large. Chief Omosanya ran a charity home in Kano, to help those displaced boys and girls on streets who are homeless. This kind hearted man was brutally killed in his home on the night of September 20, 2015 by suspected Boko Haram religious sect. They did not stop at that, even after over a year later when his daughter Bukola Kuyoro carried on with the family charity organisation, she and her husband were attacked severally and the worst happened when she was kidnaped in March this year. it was a miracle how she and her three-year-old son escaped from their abductors. Till date, the whereabouts of her husband is still unknown, whether dead or alive.

In recent times, there have been multiple cases of attacks by fanatics on various Christian communities, businesses, churches and individuals all over the nation: The case of the dedicated 42-year-

old mother of seven, Mrs Eunice Elisha, who was heartlessly killed while doing evangelism, in Kubwa area of Abuja, readily comes to mind. Also, Mrs Bridget Agbaheme, a 74-year-old, who was murdered at Wambai Market in Kano, due to an argument with a man who came to the front of her store to perform ablution. And also the clergyman of the ECWA Church, Reverend Zakariya, who was killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. All these are still fresh in the minds of concerned Nigerians.

This frequent violence and murder of innocent Nigerians on the basis of religious intolerance demands attention by the international community, more so when the government of the day seems to play lip-service to this serious issue by adopting a tepid response to the evils being perpetrated in Nigeria in the name of religion.

We only hope that the government of Nigeria will rise up to this menace before it worsens, by finding a lasting solution to these crimes committed in the name of religion by Boko Haram and other religious fanatics. Because it will certainly be impossible for us as a nation to develop with this level of hatred and religious bigotry.

–Emmanuel Ulayi, Calabar

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž Í˛Ëœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ

INTERNATIONAL Application of Order of Precedence Outside of OfficioDiplomaticSetting:TheCaseofFemiTaiwoandBolanleAmbode

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emi Taiwo is a Venerable and the Presiding Chaplain of the Chapel of Christ the Light, Alausa, Lagos.

Bolanle Ambode is the First Lady in Lagos State. On Friday, 26th May, 2017, it was reported that earlier, on Sunday, the 14th of May, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode attended the anointing service conducted by Venerable Femi Taiwo. The anointing service was held to put an end to the 7-day fasting, following the loss of two members of the Chapel. The attendance of the First Lady can be seen and understood from two perspectives.

First, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, in her capacity as First Lady of Lagos State, was there in official capacity because the Chapel is under the Lagos State Ministry of Home Affairs and the Office of the First Lady is the Supervisory Authority of the church. Second, the attendance also has a private character. It was simply a special anointing service for all members, one of whom the First Lady is.

Whichever was the case, all attending members filed out to be anointed without due regard to order of precedence or, in this particular case, to Mrs. Ambode. Reports have it that Mrs. Ambode ‘waited endlessly with her entourage. She was said to have later moved to be anointed and moments later, stormed out of the church, as some of the women leaders ran after her.’ As further reported, Mrs. Ambode was ‘visibly angry. She shunned entreaties from the women, which included the wife of the presiding chaplain’ (vide “Anointing Service Drama: Ambode: Sacks Chaplain 24 Hours after Sunday Service,� The Punch, Friday, May 26, 2017, pp. 4 and 5).

On Monday, 15th May, the Presiding Chaplain, Reverend Femi Taiwo, was relieved of his duties in a letter signed by the Chairman of the Governing Council, Mr. Olugbenga Solomon, on the order of the Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. He was also given a manu militari order to quit his official quarters within 24 hours following receipt of the quit notice, implying that, by Wednesday, 17th May, his stay in the official quarters would be illegal. Perhaps more noteworthy was the report that Venerable Taiwo was sacked because the First Lady ‘didn’t get the anointing oil first and she felt disrespected.’ The sacking of the chaplain has not only raised important and serious questions, it has also generated interesting national debate and the issue of order of precedence outside the framework of official and diplomatic settings.

For instance, when should there be application of the order of precedence outside the normal or routine of official and diplomatic events? In every Christian House of God, there is always order of proceedings and precedence. In the Catholic Church, the filing of priests is done on the basis of rank and seniority. Order of Precedence is much underscored in the Celestial Church of Christ, especially during the taking of Holy Communion. Seniority in the church takes precedence regardless of societal status. But this does not prevent the recognition of invited well-placed guests to the church from taking part in the Holy Communion service on non-ranking basis.

In the context of the Chapel of Christ the Light, has the church been operating the rule or Order of Precedence, especially during anointing services in the past? What type of anger would have prompted the decision of the Governing Council of the Chapel to sack the Chaplain less than 24 hours after the expression of anger by the First Lady? After the sacking, what is the place of the anointing received by the First Lady if, after the anointment, her anger was not controlled as the first and mother of all mothers in the State of Excellence? What would have increased the level of her anger to its crescendo to warrant giving only 24 hours to the chaplain to park out of his official quarters without long notice?

Without doubt, the notice is manu militari. It first occurred in 1961 when the Government of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, in protest against the French atomic tests in the Reggane area of the Sahara Desert, declared the French ambassador and his staff in Nigeria personae non grata. The French ambassador, Mr. Raymond Offroy, was given only 24 hours within which to leave Nigeria. He and his 9-member staff had to leave by road for Dahomey after the notice.

The fundamental difference between the 1961 experience and the one in the Chapel of Christ the Light is that Nigeria warned France after its second atomic test in April 1960 that Nigeria would not hesitate to sanction France in the event of a third bomb after Nigeria’s accession to national sovereignty or would have become independent. The first bomb was detonated in February 1960. There was no warning or long notice in the case of the Chaplain of the Chapel of

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

Mrs. Ambode Christ the Light.

Asecond point of difference is that the Government of Nigeria, which ordered the French diplomats to leave Nigeria, was neither the owner of the diplomatic residences occupied by the unwanted people nor is it their employer. For Venerable Femi Taiwo, the Government of Lagos is both his landlord and employer. Thirdly, and most importantly, it was more of a conflict of foreign policy interest in which Nigeria was defending black dignity and Africa and France was trying to sustain its big power status in international relations. The interest being pursued by both the First Lady and the chaplain is ambiguous.

However, the way the 1961 quit order notice generated much controversy, so has that of the chaplain. Few people have argued in favour of the action of the First Lady. For instance, the Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Apostle Alexander Bamgbola, has it that the Lagos State Government not only built the church but also empanelled a standing legal constitution for the church. The Governing Council established for it not only has the right to hire and fire but also the sacking of the chaplain was consistent with the constitution of the church.

The opponents of the sacking underscored the inhuman dimensions of the quit order notice requiring the chaplain to vacate his official quarters within 24 hours folowing the expression of the First Lady’s anger. Does the constitution of the church provide for that?

If it does, to what extent is it consistent with the law of tenancy in Lagos State? How do we also explain the very short time between the anointing service and the time of quit notice the following day, to the extent that the Governing Council had had the ample time to be summoned to an extraordinary meeting during which the quit order decision was taken?

Did the First Lady simply report her experience to the First Citizen and Baba Akinwunmi Ambode, either as husband or Executive

The First Lady, the Presiding Chaplain and the Government of Lagos State should be quickly reconciled by elders of the church as required in Mathew 18: 14-18. Because the Chaplain is a Messenger and Ambassador of God, he should take precedence over the First Lady. Besides, as cultural tradition requires that younger people should always defer to the elders, the First Lady should defer to the chaplain, by first apologising to the chaplain.After, all the leaders of the CAN in Lagos should enter into a special anointing prayers and blessing service for the First Lady and the Executive Governor of Lagos and their entire family.This will be a good way of ending the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Lagos State and creating a new foundation for more brotherly and sisterly rapprochement and unificatiion in the church

Governor? Did the Governor also simply order the sack without weighing the implications socially, religiously, politically and meritoriously? Did the Governing Council have only one option of carrying out the order? Why was it difficult for the Governor, both as His Excellency and Her Excellency, not able to live up to their natural name and political campaign name, Ambode and Amboo o Ambooo (we are coming, we are coming ooo). The name Ambode, as politicised, implies patience, perseverance and clairvoyance.

The proponents of the sanction have argued that the Presiding Chaplain had been queried many times for ‘conduct unbecoming of his office,’ a rationale that might have largely prompted the quick decision to sack him. What, however, is probably not clear is the likely attitudinal disposition of the chaplain not to want to play politics with Godliness. Those priests who do not want to be Christianly and satanic simultaneously are precisely those people who do not bother about order of precedence, as well as protocol and etiquette.

Whatever is the case, the quickness of action of government is what is creating different suspicions and that has the great potential to seriously damage in the long run the impeccable political and activist record of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, if the issue of order of precedence is not taken more seriously in the political governance of Lagos State.

In all, many people sympathised with the chaplain and donated houses/flats to him. They insulted the First Lady to the extent that their arguments undersocred equality of everyone before God, and by so doing, unnecessarily presenting the First Lady as a villain. The First Lady might have overreacted. The 24-hour quit notice might have not been necessary since the whole essence of even going to the church is to seek divine favour. The sanction itself is not and cannot be helpful to the quest for divine favour.

The issue to address therefore is what is both missing at the level of Reverend Femi Taiwo and Mrs. Bolanle Ambode. They both need to set aside the aspects of their chaplaincy and first lady citizenship and then seek the understanding of order of precedence in interpersonal relationships. Then, they must also understand Order of Precedence within the framework of their various offices. There is no place in the Bible where it is written that people to whom honour is due should not be given. The First Lady ought to be officially recognised. God Himself wants to be recognised all the times. In fact, He made it clear that He is a jealous God. Why shouldn’t his children therefore not also seek recognition where necessary?

Understanding Order of Precedence If the First Lady of Lagos State was not promptly attended to, the first question to address is to ask whether the attention of the chaplain was drawn to her presence in the church. The truth of the matter is that political chieftains are required to have either personal assistants or special assistants who are normally required to be well trained in matters of protocol and etiquette. If the personal assistant of the First Lady was there with her in the church, her or his first responsibility was to inform the church authorities of the presence of a special visitor. In the absence of this, the chaplain ought not to have been held responsible.

Besides, the notion of a Personal Assistant is often confused with that of a Special Assistant. So is the conception of a Special Assistant often confused with that of a Special Adviser. Generally in the context of Nigeria, a Special Assistant can perform the functions of a Special Adviser. In this regard, when an individual is appointed from within the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs), he is generally referred to as Special Assistant but when he is coming outside of the MDAs, he answers Special Adviser.

More importantly, at the level of the presidency, a Special Adviser is given a higher political status. While an adviser is required to advise, the acceptance of the advice is subject to the whims and caprices of his boss. On the contrary, giving special assistance is necessarily required to be proactive. ASpecial Adviser can be detached, the Special Assistant cannot. His assistance cannot and must not negate the wishes of the boss. In fact, Special Assistants are meant to be technocratic and professionally in service delivery. Special Advisers are necessarily political but, depending on the experiential background of the Special Adviser, he cal also perform technocratic assignments.

From the foregoing, what and where is the place of the special or personal assistant to the First Lady? In balancing the exercise of political power and entrenchment of fairness and justice in a House of God, there is the need for both temporal and spiritual advice.

Most, unfortunately, and perhaps most disturbingly too, protocol and etiquette, and particularly, order of precedence, is often the least understood by public officials. It is an area of study that every new administration ought to train its personnel in, because of the exigencies of global and national political governance.

Every federal government, including the constituent governments, cannot but relate with the international community in one way or the other. Consequently, as ignorance of the law is not an acceptable basis for excuse, so is ignorance of the cultural dos and don’ts of other peoples in international relations not tenable. Any conscious or non-conscious disregard for the application of Order and Precedence can only warrant a reciprocal response. The bitterness often expressed by Nigerians whenever Nigeria is not mentioned in the public acknowledgements of South Africa during African leaders meetings is a useful reference.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

BUSINESS

Editor Vincent Obia Email vincent.obia@thisdaylive.com (08054681757)

LAST WEEK WEEK

Smuggling

Thefederalgovernmentthreatenedto shutsomelandbordersifthesmuggling of rice from neighbouring countries continued.MinisterofAgricultureand RuralDevelopmentAuduOgbehgavethe warningonMonday.Hesaidthedecision hadbecomenecessarytoencouragelocalricefarmersandenablethecountry achieveself-sufficiencyinriceby2018.

“They insist on bringing in rice through thelandborders,avoidingthedutiesand the levies we put on them and they are definitelybentonsabotagingourefforts andwearegettingincreasinglyunhappy with them,” the minister stated.

SMEs

Inside view of Murtala Mohammed International Airport

How 6-Week Abuja Airport Closure Impacted 3DVVHQJHUV 7UDͿF LQ 4 Kunle Aderinokun

Statistics have shown how the six-week closure of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja adversely affected total passengers traffic in the first quarter of 2017.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the total passengers traffic at the Nigerian airports dropped by 28.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year, attributable to closure of the Abuja Airport for repair works from March 8 to April 19 NBS, which disclosed this in its Air Transportation Data, pointed out that, relative to the preceding quarter, there were 983,705 fewer passengers that travelled through the nation’s airports, translating to a decline of 28.2per cent. When compared with the first quarter of 2016, there were 1,165,482 fewer or 29.4 per cent less people, who travelled through the airports in the review period.

The statistical agency, which explained that, the decline was largely due to the closure of Abuja Airport from March 8th, noted there were 311,261 fewer domestic passengers to travel through Abuja Airport relative to the previous quarter. It, however, added that the effect on the total number would not be limited to a reduction in passengers travelling through Abuja as each domestic passenger to leave Abuja would have also counted as an arrival at a different domestic airport, and vice versa.

“Therefore, although all airports saw a reduction in domestic passenger numbers, this is still partly explained by the Abuja Airport closure. It should also be noted that quarterly declines

the remaining 22.7 per cent.

This represents a considerable drop both compared to the previous quarter in the total number of passengers (of 31.3per cent) and compared to were also recorded in the previous the same quarter of the previous year two quarters, and therefore given (of 34.5per cent, based on revised this trend, it is unlikely that all of 2016 Q1 figures).

Part of the reason for this decline, the reduction in passenger numbers was due to the closure, as demand according to NBS, was that, “the for flights was already declining,” Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had data for several additional NBS explained.

This, the agency said, also helped airports, which are not available for to explain the divergent trends the current period.”However, excludbetween domestic and international ing these, and comparing the same airports, the sharp decline remains. passenger numbers.

Analysing the Domestic Passenger Similarly, relative to the previous quarter, there was a fall of 32.2per Traffic, NBS stated that, in the first cent in domestic passenger numbers, quarter of 2017, there was a quarterly compared to a fall of 18.2per cent in international passenger numbers.

When compared with the “Whereas fewer domestic departures first quarter of 2016, there from Abuja mean fewer domestic were 1,165,482 fewer or arrivals at other airports, the same 29.4per cent less people, who travelled through the airports effect is not present for international in the review period… the passengers,” NBS stated. decline was largely due to the In comparison with the first closure of Abuja Airport from quarter of 2016, there were 31.9 March 8th per cent fewer domestic passengers in total, and 23.7per cent fewer fall in the number of domestic pasinternational.

Notwithstanding the clear effect sengers of 32.2 per cent, or 801,013 of the Abuja Airport closure, there passengers, and a year-on-year fall were clearly other factors that led of 31.9 per cent or 789,757, when to the quarterly and year on year considering the same set of airports. declines, as evidenced by fewer “As discussed, this was partly caused passengers travelling through most by the closure of Abuja Airport from international airports, and some 8th March 2017. There were 311,261 domestic airports recording even fewer domestic passengers to travel through Abuja relative to the previous sharper declines than Abuja.

Of the total air passengers of quarter, and 321,952 relative to the 2,505,612 that passed through first quarter of 2016, and this would Nigerian airports, 67.3 per cent have caused an equivalent fall across were domestic passengers, trav- all other airports connected to Abuja. elling within the country while Therefore, over half of the decline international passengers, entering can be attributed to the closure.”

However, NBS stated that Murtala or leaving Nigeria accounted for AVIATION

Muhammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos remained the busiest domestic airport in the first quarter of 2017, accounting for 698,165 domestic passengers, or 41.4 per cent of the total. This, it explained, was a higher share than both the previous quarter, and the first quarter of 2016, in which shares were 36.6 per cent and 35.8 per cent respectively.

Although this airport recorded quarterly and year-on-year falls of 23.3 per cent and 21.3 per cent respectively, these were less steep than the declines recorded in the total number of domestic passengers. Despite the closure, Abuja Airport remained the second largest domestic airport, and accounted for 499,149 passengers, or 29.6 per cent of the total.

As in previous quarters, the third busiest domestic airport in 2016 was Port Harcourt, which accounted for 189,843, or 11.3 per cent of the total. According to NBS, this was an increase from shares recorded in the previous quarter (8.4 per cent) and in the same quarter of the previous year (10.2 per cent).

Besides, NBS noted that the number of international passengers to travel to and from Nigeria declined, but not as steeply as the number of domestic passengers.

“There was a quarterly fall of 18.2 per cent, and a year on year fall of 23.7 per cent. As discussed, the closure of Abuja Airport will have had less of an effect on international passenger numbers than domestic, because in the case of domestic travel, each trip made to or from Abuja has a corresponding effect on another domestic airport,” it explained .

ActingPresidentYemiOsinbajosigned into law two bills that will ultimately increase access to credit by Nigerians.

The bills were earlier passed by the National Assembly and were part of efforts by the Buhari administration to ease the challenges of business in Nigeria.The new laws are the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act, 2017 (otherwise known as Collateral RegistryAct)andtheCreditReporting Act,2017.“ThepassageoftheseActs would facilitate the achievement of the goals of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council set up byPresidentMuhammaduBuhariinJuly 2016andchairedbythevice-president toprogressivelymakeNigeriaaneasier placeforbusinessestostartandthrive,” Osinbajo’s spokesman said.

Banking Nigerian Deposit Money Banks lost N2.19 billion to fraudsters through electronicchannelsin2016fiscalperiod.

Deputy Governor, Operations, Central BankofNigeria,AdebayoAdelabu,said thiswhileunveilingareportonelectronic fraudsbytheCBN.Abreakdownofthe amount lost showed that across the countertransactionswithatotalvalue of N511.07milllion accounted for the highest losses.

OPEC OPEC oil output rose in May, the first monthlyincreasethisyear,ashighersupplyfromtwomemberstatesexempted fromaproduction-cuttingdeal,Nigeria andLibya,offsetimprovedcompliance with the accord by others. Reuters surveysrevealedthatadrop-inoutput in Angola and Iraq and continued high compliancefromGulfproducers,Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, helped lift OPEC’s adherencewiththesupplycutdealto95 percentfrom90percentinApril.OPEC pledgedtoreduceoutputbyabout1.2 million barrels per day for six months from January 1, 2018 as part of a deal with Russia and other non-members.

FXMarket The CBN yet again intervened in the inter-bankmarkettothetuneof$482.6 millioninthefirsttradingdayafterthe Democracy Day holiday. A breakdown of the intervention indicated that the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales got $285.7 million, while $100 million was offered in the wholesale SMIS auction window. The Small and Medium Enterprises window got an allocation of $52 million, while the invisiblessegment,comprisingBasicTravel Allowance, PersonalTravel Allowance, medicalsandtuitionfees,amongothers, was allocated $45 million.

CrudeOil NigerianNationalPetroleumCorporation disclosedthatIndonesiahadindicated interest to buy more crude oil from Nigeria above its current 18 per cent.

ThecorporationstatedthatIndonesian President,JokoWidodo,hadinstructed theIndonesiaNationalOilCompanyto directitsattentiontoNigeriainthequest to meet the country’s surging energy needs.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

20

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Members of the Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council in a group photograph with Acting President Osinbajo after their inauguration... Tuesday

Charting New Course for Industrial Renaissance A new dawn may have beckoned for the industrial and manufacturing sector of the economy with the newly-constituted Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, inaugurated by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo recently.

Kunle Aderinokun writes

N

igeria’s drive towards industrial development appears to have received fillip with the constitution of an advisory council on industrial policy and competitiveness by the federal government.

It has been a long tortuous journey towards industrialisation without success as policy summersaults of various governments only succeeded in rendering the nation’s hitherto vibrant manufacturing sector comatose. The so-called interventions by successive administrations were only accessible to and favoured selected and privileged companies and individuals that contributed little or nothing to the desired industrial development.

However, determined to make headway in its aspirations, meet the set targets and attain industrialisation, the federal government has established an advisory council.

The Advisory Council Realising the importance of industrial development in the life of Nigeria and its people, the federal government in its wisdom, brought together seasoned business executives and industry leaders to chart a new course, expected to return the manufacturing sector to vibrancy, speedily lead the nation to industrial

growth and make it competitive among comity of nations.

Called the Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, the team of experts is expected to implement an industrial agenda that will boost the contribution of manufacturing to the GDP by 250 per cent over a five-year period.

The advisory council, which was inaugurated last Tuesday by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, would drive the federal government’s ambitious agenda to make Nigeria a manufacturing hub for West Africa and diversify the economy from its over-dependence on oil.

It is made up of leaders in the private and public sectors and will be chaired by Osinbajo, while the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, and President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will serve as vice chairmen, representing the public and private sectors, respectively.

The alternate vice-chairmen of the council are the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Ms. Aisha Abubakar, and Chairman of ANAP Business Jets Limited, Mr. Atedo Peterside.

Other members of the council from the private sector include Mr. Kola Jamodu, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, Mr. Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma, Mr. Rahuk Savara, Mr. John Coumantarous, Mrs. Stella Okoli, Mr. Makul Mathur,

Mr. Obi Ezeude, Mr. Fidelis Ayebea, Mr. Lazarus Angbazo and Mrs. Juliet Anamah.

Others are Mrs. Kofo Akinkugbe, Alhaji Ado Mustapha, Alhaji Kamaldeen Yusuf, Alhaji Adamu Atta, Mr. Charles Abudu, Alhaju Ibrahim Salisu Buhari, Mr. Isiaku Tofa, Mr. Ade Ogundeyin and Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs.

Public sector members of the council are the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Agriculture and Rural Development, Power, Works and Housing, Transportation, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ministers of Mines and Steel and Science Technology, as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor.

The council will also have a technical committee whose members are Dr. Yemi Dipeolu, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, Ms. Yewande Sadiku, Dr. Yemi Kale and Dr. Ayo Teriba.

The council’s secretariat shall be headed by a project coordinator from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, with support from a leading firm to drive implementation.

The secretariat will propose and develop the agenda items for the council’s deliberations and identify the necessary resources required to support its deliberations.

The council has been mandated to, amongst others, provide input to the

formulation of sectoral and industrial policy, and government interventions aimed at enhancing the performance of the Nigerian industrial sector.

Manufacturing GDP The contribution from the manufacturing sector to gross domestic product (GDP) in Nigeria decreased to N1.543 trillion in the first quarter of 2017 from N1.645 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2016. The contribution of the sector to GDP averaged N1.363 trillion from 2010 until 2017, reaching an all time high of N1.719 trillion in the third quarter of 2014 and a record low of 875.408 billion in the first quarter of 2010.

As at the first quarter of this year, the real gross domestic product of the manufacturing sector was 1.36 per cent (year-on-year),higher than the same quarter of 2016 by 8.36 per cent points.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which released its numbers recently, “This was the first positive growth rate recorded in the sector for over a year, and was 3.90 per cent points higher than rate recorded in the preceding quarter (Figure 6). Growth rate of the sector on a quarter-on-quarter basis stands at –6.21 per cent.”

The NBS noted that the economy recorded a negative growth of -0.52 per cent (year on year) in the first quarter, reflecting an improvement of 1.21 percentage points over the -1.73

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

21

BUSINESS/ECONOMY Charting New Course for Industrial Renaissance

Cont’d from Pg. 20

per cent contraction in the preceding quarter. The GDP for Q1 represented a contraction for the fifth consecutive quarter since Q1 2016. The aggregate GDP (aggregate economic growth) stood at N26.028trillion in nominal terms, compared to N22.235trillion in the corresponding quarter in 2016, resulting in a nominal GDP growth of 17.06 per cent.

Nominal GDP growth of manufacturing in the first quarter was recorded at 16.63 per cent (year-on-year), 19.61 percentage points higher than figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2016 (-2.98 per cent) and 13.08 percentage points higher than the preceding quarter figure of 3.56 per cent. Quarter on Quarter growth of the sector is recorded at –0.79 per cent.

The contribution of manufacturing to Nominal GDP was 9.31 per cent in the first quarter, slightly lower than figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2016 at 9.34 per cent, but higher than 8.37 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Manufacturers Excited Following the inauguration of the advisory council, manufacturers under the umbrella of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) have expressed satisfaction and are feeling elated about the development, expressing optimism that a turnaround would happen to the sector.

“This is a welcome development. As a matter of fact, manufacturers received the news with enormous joy laden with great expectations. This joy stems from the direct and indirect beneficial nature of the core mandate of the council, which seeks to fast-track the industrialization of Nigeria and significantly increases the contribution of manufacturing to GDP from the current 9 percent within the next five years. Most gratifying is the composition of the council, which is an array of 36 well experienced professionals, industrialists and technocrats that have distinguished themselves in different sphere of human endeavours in the public and private sectors of the economy. Even though the core mandate of the council appears ambitious, it is attainable,” said MAN President, Dr. Frank Jacobs in an interview with THISDAY. “Personally, I was elated with the constitution of the council. I was elated because the development underscores the commitment of the present Government to the industrialization agenda of Nigeria. First was the government’s buy-in to Nigeria Industrial Development Plan (NIDP) followed by the Economic Recovery and growth Plan (ERGP) that is expected to restore the economy back to the path of meaningful growth. Therefore, the constitution of the council to contribute to the actualisation of the objectives of these Plans is quite commendable,” Jacob added.

Acknowledging that the central objective of the council is to assist the government in formulating policies and strategies that will enhance the performance of the industrial sector to further the country’s industrialisation programmes, Jacob noted that, “The development indeed is a new paradigm; a renaissance for industrial efforts in the economy.”

According to him, the constitution of the Council, which brought together government representatives, the private sector experts in different fields together to tinker on a way forward for Nigeria’s industrialisation is the tonic that the economy really needs at the moment.

The MAN president expressed optimism that, “The development no doubt will first, provide a veritable platform for the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria to present burning issues on its advocacy radar and get them resolved faster. Drawing from the core mandate of the council, one could imply that impediments responsible for the lackluster performance of the manufacturing sector

Acting President Osinbajo congratulating members of the council

will be given priority attention and this would automatically further engender friendlier operating environment.”

“When this occurs, the sector would be in a better position to play its conventional role as catalyst for employment and wealth creation. In broad terms, the constitution and inauguration of the council means, improved operating environment, enhanced manufacturing output, higher volume of export of manufactured products, more foreign exchange earnings, and increase in employment generation, improved revenue due to Government through tax to mention a few,” he posited.

Expressing faith in the composition of the advisory council, Jacobs said everybody on the council is very familiar with the challenges, prospects, milestones and suggestions on the way forward for industrialisation in Nigeria.

“Every member of the council knows that diversification of the economy and resource based industrialization are leeway out of the current economic quagmire. In addition, we are fully aware that what is needed in Nigeria now is the spirit of oneness and nation building which I believe we will pursue conscientiously,” he noted.

On the passage of bills to aid small and medium enterprises, Jacobs said: “The signing of the Collateral Registry and Credit Reporting Acts is also a good development for the economy, especially for the SMEs. When the Collateral Registry and Credit Reporting systems are properly implemented, the challenges of funding for small businesses would be resolved. The two Acts will allow small businesses to use their moveable assets which include inventory, machines, etc as collateral for loans. The impact of this development will no doubt lead to growth and development of the SMEs and help ameliorate the challenges of unemployment and poverty in the country.”

Analysts Speak Chief Executive Officer, Global Analytics Consulting Ltd, Tope Fasua, who also welcomed the development, said the inauguration showed that the government was determined to continue exploring the contribution of business and manufacturing to economic growth.

Fasua advised government to remember

that real scalability will come from the small and medium scale sectors and as such should not get carried away by big business “most of which are too smart for a country like ours.”

“I suggest that we develop an ease of doing business index which focuses on how we can grow and stabilise that sector.

It is important to know the drawbacks of the focus on big business and to hedge against the downsides,” he noted.

Similarly, Executive Director, Corporate Finance, BGL Capital Ltd, Femi Ademola, in welcoming the move, stated that, “In addition to ensuring the diversification of the economy from oil to the industry sector, it is also in line with the 10-point fiscal roadmap of the Federal government which include Government

This is a welcome development. As a matter of fact, manufacturers received the news with enormous joy laden with great expectations.

This joy stems from the direct and indirect beneficial nature of the core mandate of the council, which seeks to fast-track the industrialization of Nigeria and significantly increases the contribution of manufacturing to GDP from the current 9 percent within the next five years

interaction with the private sector and the mobilisation of private capital.”

Ademola was of the expectation that, the council would provide very important advice on the ease of doing business which will include streamlining of approval processes, infrastructure development and access to finance.

He, however, pointed out that, “The structure and the terms of reference of the council appear to be similar to those of earlier committees and councils inaugurated by past administrations.

Those that came to mind are the Committee on Job Creation, the Committee on Petroleum Industry Reform and the Committee on the Privatisation of Refineries that was formed by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. How did these committees perform and what happens to their recommendations?”

The executive director advised the Federal Government to “take this council very seriously and consider their recommendations carefully for implementation.“ “It is only when we see the improvement in the country’s competitiveness and in ease of doing business that this action will be considered a success,” he added.

In his reaction, Director, Union Capital Ltd, Egie Akpata, observed that, this new council seems to be populated by high achieving Nigerians from the public and private sectors.

Akpata, however, added that, “The large number of members and overlap with what the government has as its primary functions might impact the council’s effectiveness.”

“It is interesting that a new body with significant private sector participation is being set up at this time. The new government had in the past indicated that it would not go the way of the prior administration’s economic council which had significant private sector participation. The previous view was that views of the private sector would be quietly sought as needed. Let’s give this new council till year end to assess their effectiveness,” he stated.

While the federal government has reposed in the advisory council the confidence to drive its industrial agenda, all eyes are on the team to deliver on its mandates.

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Business Undeterred by Sluggish Q1 Performance Amid a sluggish economic performance in the first quarter of 2017, The Business Confidence Monitor indicated growing confidence among businesses operating in the country, writes Olaseni Durojaiye

W

hile the exit timeline from the current economic recession continues to generate debate among different stakeholders, indications of an increasing confidence level in the economy among businesses operating in different sectors of the nation’s economy have begun to emerge, according to The Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) that was released last week by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

The report obtained by THISDAY revealed that indices for the leading business indicators reviewed such as production, operating profit and employment were at positive readings of 9.8, 8.2 and 4.7 respectively. On the other hand, cost of doing business and access to credit indices stood at negative trajectories of -41.3 and -23.7 respectively, even though senior managers and business executives polled in the survey demonstrated optimism of better performance in the next two quarters.

The report obtains qualitative information on the current state of businesses’ sentiments within the Nigerian economy and gauges expectations about the overall economic activities in the short-term and is anchored on business managers’ optimism on key leading economic indicators such as investment, prices, demand conditions, employment etc.

The report findings are categorised under four themes, namely business conditions and performance in Q1-2017, future business sentiments, factors militating against business performance and overall BCM outlook in Nigeria. Indices of performance, expectation and overall outlook were reported both on aggregate and sectoral bases.

According to the Head of Research NESG, Dr. Olusegun Omisakin, “The BCM provides policy makers, business managers, investors, and analysts, with information about current conditions that are representative of the direction of the Nigerian economy. Additionally, it offers strong guide of the overall direction of the economy, it illustrates what is driving change and highlights the key concerns of businesses for policy makers,” he stated.

Sectors Covered The economic sectors in the report cut across the different sector of the nation’s economy such as Manufacturing, including food, beverage and Tobacco; Textile, Apparel and Footwear; Cement; Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products; Plastic and Rubber products; Wood and Wood Products; Pulp, Paper and Paper Products; Non-Metallic Products; Electrical and Electronics; Basic metal, Iron and Steel; Motor vehicles and assembly and Other Manufacturing.

The sectors also included services such as Telecoms and Information Services; Broadcasting; Financial Institutions; Real Estate; Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.

Others are Non-Manufacturing Industries such as Crude Petroleum; Natural Gas, Oil and Services; Construction, as well as wholesale trade and retail trade.

Business in Q1 2017 Analysis from the report showed that on average, more businesses performed poorly between January and March 2017. The BCM’s Business Condition Index exhibits a slight dip in Q1, standing at a net balance of -5.4.

Beyond the tendency for economic inertia in every first quarter, the result is a case of uneven business mood being carried forward from unpredictable business climate of 2016.

The report also stated that, “The business operating environment remained the major

A textile manufacturing plant

hurdle for businesses in Q1 2017. The largest negative contributions to the business condition came from cost of doing business index at -41.3 and access to credit index at -23.7. The financial environment continued to constrain the business climate. While drastic intervention by CBN in the FX market provided some liquidity and stability in the market, businesses (particularly manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries) continued to grapple with the issues of access to credit.

Consequently, the level of investment declined with an index of -15.3. Similarly, businesses reported that their export order books were below normal levels, resulting in an export index of -4.7. Consequently, the effect was reflected in higher input cost of production.

However, the report posited that “Despite the challenging business environment, some leading indicators such as production, demand conditions and operating profit emerged positive in Q1 2017. Production index stands at +9.8, demand condition and operating profit indices stand at +3.2 and +8.2, respectively. While business activities improved in the services sector, manufacturing, trade, construction, oil and gas sectors reported decline in their activities.”

BCM Q1 2017 Key Findings According to the report, responses from firms surveyed in Q1 2017 revealed that there was a strong indication that economic activities will continue to gather momentum over the next few quarters, with most of the key BCM leading indicators showing positive outlook.

Overall, the BCM index stands at + 14.4.

The report stated that, “Although most business activities declined between January

and March 2017 compared to 4th quarter 2016, this does not deter output expansion plan by managers and business executives in the next few months. Such decline crept in from inevitable consequence of domestic policy uncertainties that ravaged the economy in the preceding year. As reflected in the BCM uncertainty index, about 42 per cent of firms reported that the business activities remained unchanged compared to 4th quarter 2016.

“Despite cautious behaviour observed in the first quarter, optimism of businesses regarding the outlook outweighed their actual experience in the first quarter. The future expectation index stood at a balance of +34, suggesting that business and economic activities will witness some moderate bounce-back. With regard to the economic sectors, services and non-manufacturing are considerably more optimistic with positive indices of +28.4 and +24.1 in Q1-2017, respectively. The Manufacturing and Trade sectors exhibit cautious optimism about the outlook with indices of +14.7 and +12.4, respectively,” the report stated.

Continuing, the report further stated that, “Taken alongside the leading indicators, general business situation (+29), production (+20) and demand conditions (+17) will improve in subsequent quarters. The rising producer prices (+1.5), will likely contract investment in trade sector, but manufacturing, services and non-manufacturing industries will likely move into period of business expansion investment, with investment indices of +8.6, +26.7, and +5.2, respectively.

Future Expectations In terms of future expectations, the BCM

revealed a positive index of 34, which indicates positive sentiments and perception of business activities in the next two quarters: Q2 and Q3 2017.

On the future expectations, the report further averred that, “Indeed, expectations for output expansion, increased domestic sales, increased staffing levels and improved demand conditions appeared to drive this positive business outlook for this period. Sectors such as Manufacturing, Construction and Oil & Gas are expected to experience improved output in subsequent quarters. However, trade sector remains pessimistic about the future business activities with an index of -28.

Conclusion Omisakin explained that, “All leading indicators point to positive sentiment and expectation across the board as managers were generally optimistic about business performance in the next two quarters.”

According to him, “This outlook is intuitively driven by improved efficiency in economic management (monetary, fiscal and trade). For instance, the recent launch of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which aims to deliver a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 2.2 per cent in 2017 coupled with reforms to ease the business environment, obviously influenced the perception of business and economic outlook in Nigeria.”

“Going forward, the NESG expects improvement in local production and increased patronage of Nigerian-made goods and services.

Overall, by our forecast released in January 2017, we project positive GDP growth rate and general economic outlook in the year 2017,” he added.

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BUSINESS/ENERGY

With Eligible Customers Regime, FG Gives Gencos Alternative Survival Kit By declaring the eligible customers regime in Nigeria’s electricity supply industry, the federal government says it is giving the power generation companies a chance to earn extra revenue outside the complete control of the 11 distribution companies, which have been accused of holding back market funds. But how will this arrangement impact power supply? Chineme Okafor tries to find out

Ughelli power plant, Delta State

S

tarting from May 15, power generation companies in Nigeria were given the go-ahead by the industry regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, to procure, generate, and sell electricity directly to end-users across the country with very minimal interference from the 11 electricity distribution companies. Called the eligible customers regime, the declaration, which NERC announced in a statement signed by its head of public affairs, Dr. Usman Arabi, explained that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, had approved the declaration, thus making it legal for the Gencos to expand their business coverage. The Gencos are now to seek and invite large power users, usually found in cluster settings, to competitively procure their power directly from them if it is cost-effective for them to do so.

Categories NERC subsequently clarified that the declaration was legally backed by the provisions of Section 27 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 (EPSRA), adding that it represents a major policy directive which grants electricity consumers under the eligible customers category the right to buy power directly from Gencos almost unhindered.

It stated that under the regime, Fashola had approved four categories of eligible customers in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry. The first category of eligible customers, it noted, comprised a group of end-users registered with NERC whose consumption was not less than two megawatts and who were connected to a metered 11kV or 33kV delivery point on the distribution network. This group would, however, be subjected to a distribution use of system agreement for the delivery of electrical energy.

The second category of eligible customers are those connected to a metered 132kV or 330kV delivery point

on the transmission network under a transmission use of system agreement for connection and delivery of energy. The third category of customers under the declaration consisted of those with consumption in excess of two megawatts on monthly basis and who were connected directly to a metered 33kV delivery point on the transmission network under a transmission use of system agreement. NERC added that eligible customers in this category must have entered into a bilateral agreement with the distribution licensee licensed to operate in the location, for the construction, installation and operation of a distribution system for connection to the 33kV delivery point.

The fourth category, according to the regulatory agency, were eligible customers whose minimum consumption would be more than two megawatts over a period of one month and who were directly connected to the metering facility of a generation company, and had entered into a bilateral agreement for the construction and operation of a distribution line with the distribution licensee licensed to operate in the location.

companies.”

NERC equally explained that the government and the commission looked forward to the new policy quickly bringing into use new and stranded power generation capacities, which might be contracted between generation companies and eligible customers.

This, it added, would in turn introduce some level of healthy competition in the market, in addition to giving the Gencos viable outlets to channel their stranded capacities, which the Discos have been unable to take on account of inadequate distribution infrastructure.

According to NERC,“The declaration further provides that at least 20 per cent of the generation capacity added by the existing or prospective generation licensee to supply eligible customer must be above the requirement of the eligible customer and is supplied under a contract with a distribution or trading licensee at a price not exceeding the average wholesale price being charged electricity distribution companies by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc. “The conditions for the declaration of eligible customer are subject to review by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission from time to time.”

Rationale The commission justified the decision of the government to grant its request for a declaration of an eligible consumers regime in the NESI. It said, “The declaration, which permits electricity customers to buy power directly from the generation companies is in line with the provisions of Section 27 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 whereby eligible customers are permitted to buy power from a licensee other than electricity distribution companies.”

It added,“In exercising the power conferred on him by the said Act, the Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (the Commission) to permit four categories of customers to buy power directly from a licensee other than electricity distribution

Gencos’ Appreciation In reaction to the new policy, the Gencos, who are among the direct beneficiaries of the regime, did not hide their appreciation of the move. Through their trade association – the Association of Power Generation Companies – the Gencos said it was a welcome development, one they had consistently pushed for. They said the government’s action would eventually become a lifesaver to them and the industry, which is currently distressed.

The Gencos stated that an effective implementation of the regime would put an end to reported unhealthy market practices by the 11 Discos who have been frequently accused of dishonesty in the management of monthly revenues collected by them. These acts are said to have contributed significantly to the market’s

financial troubles wherein the Gencos are unable to pay their gas debts to gas suppliers as well as meet other operational obligations.

The Gencos said the declaration would boost business competition and financial fortunes of the sector, which is troubled by heavy revenue shortfalls.

APGC said Fashola’s declaration of the regime was done in good faith, adding that it was made after the government consulted with operators in the sector, and it is clear the Discos would not be able to take as much power as the Gencos would generate in a very long time.

APGC’s executive secretary, Dr. Joy Ogaji, told reporters that with the declaration, bulk electricity consumers who were willing and had the capacity to procure power directly from the Gencos would now deal with them without the Discos. Ogaji stated that the trading agreements to be adopted in the new provision would be without the usual loopholes, which operators in the sector often capitalised on to shirk their responsibilities.

According to her, this would include,“water-tight contractual agreements because this is not going to be about any national cake.”

Ogaji equally disclosed that the Discos would be allowed to register as eligible customers and take extra power above their daily MultiYear Tariff Order (MYTO) allocations, to satisfy their customers without being fined but under the strict provisions of the regime.

She stated:“Discos are actually able to get power through this arrangement on the grid. Those Discos who are willing to get additional power qualify as eligible customers as well.

“If they have more customers and are not getting enough due to the strict national grid allocation, they can ask for extra power. In that case, a Disco will need a bilateral contract not with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) but with a Genco, and the Transmission Company of Nigeria being the third party.”

While the eligible customer directive has not commenced because, according to Ogaji, the NERC has yet to complete work on its implementation framework, its eventual implementation framework would include the deposit of a credible bank guarantee by a customer to secure the contract, as well as initiation and initialling of enforceable service level agreements between parties involved.

Ogaji stated,“Declaring the eligible customers does not mean it is only the Gencos and Discos that must become competitive, even the TCN has to become competitive and deliver on contract. When TCN defaults by not wheeling my available capacities, it will be held liable.

“It is going to be a contractual framework because NERC is not part of the activity. NERC will only register the participants after they meet the requirements, which it is working on now.”

Experts’ Views Speaking on the new development, Mr. Rumundaka Wonodi, who was pioneer managing director of the NBET, and now chief executive officer of ZKJ Energy Partners, an energy advisory and investment firm, stated that the declaration by the government was healthy for the electricity market. Wonodi said it was easy to see that the Gencos frequently shut-in generation capacities on account of Discos’inability to take them on board while large power consumers relied on expensive self-generated diesel power.

According to him:“This (eligible customers) criteria allows large consumers of power, especially industrial and large commercial users, to buy power directly from Gencos. Put in another way, it allows Gencos to sell directly to end users without going through the Discos.

“The declaration of eligible customers makes it imperative for Discos to provide better services to their customers if not the ones who qualify as eligible customers may opt for a different service provider.

Eligible customers deepen the market and should lead to a competitive tension that will benefit the consumers.”

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

INTERVIEW Berry: We’re Transforming Agriculture, Food Security with Smart Technologies From a subtle thought of how simple technologies could be deployed to solve complex problems, the chairman of technology-based solution service provider, Contec Global Group, Dr. Benoy Berry, has birthed series of innovations that have solved challenges bordering on security, food, energy, and information technology across Africa, Asia and Europe. In this interview with Olaseni Durojaiye, Berry says Nigeria can enhance food production and revolutionise agricultural through effective adoption and deployment of smart technologies. Excerpts:

Y

ou were recently honoured by the Nigerian Union of Journalists for Outstanding Achievement In Food Security. What does this award mean to you?

that the solutions are not far-fetched, especially in the developing countries. So we decided to diversify into the energy, financial technology, agro, telecommunication and hospitality fields. We are convinced that through the development and deployment of state-of-the-art, technology-driven solutions that are run on an accountable system solutions across various sectors, we can bridge the infrastructure deficit in Nigeria and other countries in Africa through our numerous partnerships.

We have received several commendations for venturing into innovations. These include the Nation Builder Award and the African Order of Merit Award on e-Governance and Biometrics Technology, as bestowed on to us by the Institute for Governance Research and Leadership Technology, among others.

The recognition of the Most Outstanding Achievement in Food Security (2016) by the Nigerian Union of Journalists remains one that I will continue to cherish. NUJ, as you are aware, remains one of the most important professional bodies in Nigeria. A recognition from them is an apparent endorsement of the kind of services that we have been providing to Nigerians. Beyond the good feeling of being so recognised, it has also become an additional measuring mark for us at Contec to do more, as it is often said, when you are rewarded for hard work, it means you should be prepared to do more. We are spurred to do more.

We are even more committed through this award to be the largest agriculture group globally to provide earth friendly, commercially viable solutions to agriculture using latest technologies, non-toxic and biodegradable and eco-friendly ingredients.

Many people have described the investment climate in Nigeria as extremely hostile. What has been your experience?

We have been able to navigating the challenges of potential public and private sector bureaucracy, and other challenges with the right management and a personally diverse academic background.

I must say that Contec has the right mix of staff that has upheld a tradition that promotes excellence in all that we do. We are undeterred because we know the best comes out of a people and systems during challenging times. Nigeria is only passing through an interesting phase that will turn out very well in the long run. All that is needed is smart thinking backed by smart technology.

How would you assess Nigeria’s preparedness for food security?

I believe with proper deployment of smart technologies, hunger could become extinct in Nigeria. That said, from various sources, Nigeria’s population is expected to increase to about 450 million by the year 2030. This and similar statistics are not to be taken for granted. On one hand, this is an advantage especially that the young people make up the greater proportion of the population.

It presents a huge opportunity for growth, creativity and adaptability to trends that could turn things around for good in Nigeria.

However, the rapid population growth could put serious pressure on the food supply nationwide.

With this in mind, all stakeholders must realise the urgent need to institute aggressive strategies for increased and sustainable food production and supply across to the people within a relatively short period of time to meet the demand for the growing population. Nigeria is not alone in this, as food crisis may occur if adequate preparation is not made to feed the over 9.5 billion people globally being the projected population of humans by 2050. Nigeria is also witnessing a technology revolution that could help in this regard.

What impact would you say Nigeria has made on you?

Nigeria has made a huge impact on me. For your information, I am Nigerian. I have spent most of my best times here. My family cherishes the ambiance the country gives to them.

I am proud to say that Contec Global Agro Limited (CGAL) is Nigeria’s first ever agro company that has been set up with strict adherence to eco-friendly approach. We are currently using innovative organically beneficial micro-organisms and bio-resources plant based molecules devoid of chemicals for seed, plant health and reclamation of the soil that has been degraded over the years with the application of chemicals. Like I have said severally, if hunger is to be banished from the country, we must go into organic farming. That is where to start from and that is why we are investing billions into the sector to address hunger, malnutrition and found security.

backed by the deployment of smart-bio-solutions, like bio-herbicides and bio-pesticides that are wholly organic in nature, we have been able to solve some of the challenges of agriculture in Nigeria. It is on record that our researchers and experts played a lead role, for example, in checking the tuta absoluta outbreak (tomato ebola) which threatened to deplete the tomato crop across the country. We hear the disease is back in Nigeria. We are glad to announce that there is no need to worry, as we have proven antidote to the disease.

Also, it is known that most soils across the country are depleted due to continuous use of chemicals.

We have produced sustainable solutions to Nigeria’s soil problems.

We are embarking on series of technology-driven initiatives that will help in eradicating hunger in the times ahead. To achieve our goal we have designed a sustainable template to increase crop productivity through production of only organic inputs by farmers. From our world class agric research laboratories in Maitama District, Abuja, we have started producing bio fertilisers, bio stimulants, soil conditioners, bio pesticides and plant hydrogel that have become the farmers’ first choice. We are glad with the results we are getting from the fields. The farmers are getting as much as thrice or even more harvest values from using these products as against what they had been using.

What is your level of investment in the country and what has been the result of such investment?

Nigeria spends billions of foreign exchange on food importation. How is Contec Group planning to change the narrative?

Through series of diligent research and development of initiatives, techniques and products

As a stakeholder in the sector, we are never happy each time the figures are reeled out. In our own

There are several agro companies in the country, many of them claiming to be working to ensure food security for the nation’s populace and boost foreign exchange generation through export. What is Contec Global Agro doing differently?

How would you describe the journey of your life so far?

Berry

little way, we are set on delivering unique, natural products that improves crop yield and quality while protecting the soil from harmful effects of chemical based agriculture. This way, we may have solved some major problems that are contributing to the country’s high food import bill.

Gladly, the narrative is changing already. From our fields across every state of the federation where we are working, we have lots of evidence to show that farmers’ yields have increased by over 200 per cent using the various organic inputs developed by our company. I want to state clearly again that a country without food security is defenceless. Other stakeholders should join CONTEC Agro to make Nigeria food secure.

It is believed that Contec Agro is keeping Nigeria’s best agricultural secret somewhere in Abuja. How true is this?

That is what a lot of people have said. But that secret could only be kept for a little time because the results are soon to manifest. By August this year, we are set to deliver a set of over 1.2 million cuttings of tissue-cultured banana, which will be planted on a 2,000 hectares land between Ibadan and Abeokuta in south-western part of the country.

This will make the area a potential banana hub and a comfortable beneficiary of the massive international banana market.

What motivated you to embark on large scale multi-sectoral investments in Nigeria?

Over time, we have seen the glaring challenges that have created gaps in major operations in Nigeria and other parts of the world. Conversely, we saw

I was born to one of the most wonderful parents I could ever think of. You may say no one says otherwise of their parents. While some people would say their father gave them the best life could bring in terms of education, good life training and others, I make bold to say that my own parents taught me how to maintain my cool in humility. This is what I have and will continue to imbibe. I studied at the University of Delhi in India, where I earned a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in Economics.

After this, I thought I needed to know more, so I enrolled for and obtained a Masters of Arts in Finance from the University of Delhi’s School of Economics. One of the high-points of my study period there was to be accorded a place on their Roll of Honours merit list.

I wanted more, so I went for a Doctorate, which I obtained from World Open University, where I studied Communications and Arts.

After acquiring formal education, I worked in the investment banking and marketing industries before venturing out on my own to establish Continental Transfert Technique Limited and became its Chairman (Contec Global Group) in 1984, with offices in four different continents around the world.

What would you say prepared you to navigate through the challenges of life and circumstances that have taken you to this level?

One thing I understood during my formative years was the power of effective articulation. I was able to ascertain early in life that this could guide me appropriately in many of the things I had proposed to do, including brokerage of agreements and nurturing of innovations, especially in challenging climates.

This is the reason I still went ahead to invest in acquisition of knowledge through education.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

25

BUSINESS/CONSUMER

Regional Markets Devt as Strategy for Growth Raheem Akingbolu writes on how regional penetration can help brand building, citing how GAC Motor is employing the strategy to expand its global footprints

M

any brands make the mistake of limiting their imagined universe of users to a narrow subset, often contained in the strict boundaries of their product sub-category. They typically overestimate their competitive positions and think they can’t possibly grow further—but they could, if they looked at penetration of the overall population instead. For many brands, this means there’s still a lot of untapped potential and headroom for growth.

However, since it is difficult for local brands to capture the whole world within a short period, one major strategy that has worked for most global brands is regional penetration. Like in war, development of regional marketing landscape helps brands to capture the world in piecemeal. Experts have consistently advised companies to always invest to re-earn penetration over and over again. Experience over the years has shown that solid brands maintain penetration in the 25%–30% range, while perennial brands like Coca- Cola can achieve 50% or more.

GAC Motor Example GAC motor is one of the latest auto brands in the Nigerian market. In the last two years, promoters of the brand have followed its overseas strategy of “Build Brand First, Increase Sales Next” to gain more patrons in Nigeria. In order to accomplish the vision of making GAC Motor into a world-leading brand, and GAC Motor a global auto enterprise, the brand recently formulated the strategy.

Guided by this strategy, it has successfully built its presence in 14 countries, spreading over the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and North and South Americas and initially put in place a global sales network and service system. Through premium quality and profound strength, GAC Motor has made major breakthroughs in the overseas market. In the Middle East markets such as Kuwait, Dubai and Bahrain, GAC Motor has successfully established foothold in the local markets through its middle and high-end products and topped the chart of sales among competing Chinese brands.

It was crowned by consumers as “the best Chinese brand”.

For instance, in Kuwait, GAC Motor is said to be the best-performing Chinese brand, securing a share of 40% of all Chinese vehicles sold locally. In Bahrain, the brand has also become the best-selling Chinese brand, its sales volumes increasing three times as compared to 2015, and was warmly received by media and consumers alike.

In the future, while developing and consolidating the traditional “emerging markets”, GAC Motor will endeavor to develop the “markets of developed nations including those in Europe, the USA, Japan and Korea”.

Nigeria’s Importance to African Penetration As the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria boasts of an expanding middle-class and bright market prospects, with a free and open business and trade environment.

Nigeria is the first destination when GAC Motor ventured into the African market.

At the beginning, it opened up two dealer shops. In December 2014, the company opened the first GAC Motor 4S dealer shop in Lagos Island, the commercial center of Nigeria. By successively bringing in different models such as GA3, GA3S, GS5, GS5 Super and GS4, the brand has won the hearts of local consumers. In 2016, the

2015 Auto Industry Trend in Emerging Markets

brand was the No.1 among all Chinese passenger vehicles exported to Nigeria.

Last year, through the joint efforts with local dealer CIG, GAC Motor successfully built the first SKD Factory in Nigeria, making it the first Chinese auto brand capable of local spare parts assembly. Recently, the SKD project passed the review of National Automotive Design and Development Council of Nigeria (NADDC), marking GAC Motor as a preferred brand in the future auto purchase by NADDC. With guarantee of prominent quality and security, GAC Motor has been purchased in large quantities by Lagos police bureau, state government and banks, successfully establishing itself as a middle-to-high end brand.

During the recent Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) Film Festival, which is known as the “the Oscar of Africa”, GAC Motor not only projected its enterprising spirit to the celebrities and local communities, but also demonstrated the brand influence and the company’s determination to enter the global stage.

At the end of last year, GAC Motor GS4 was premiered in the Nigerian market, elites from cultural, art, fashion and financial circles all spoke highly of GS4.

In the meantime, GAC Motor rolled out a series of brand outreaching events, such as participating the largest auto shows in Nigeria-Abuja Auto Show and Lagos Auto Show. These efforts have fully showcased the global image of GAC Motor.

Strategic Layout With the world pattern more and more featuring regional globalisation, the brand is actively planning for a global strategic layout. Current, preparation for the GAC North America R&D Center is progressing.

After its establishment, the R&D Center is designed to have the functions of talent concentration and frontier technology

research, among others. This will be the first step of the company’s North American market development, as well as a new milestone of the internationalization of the GAC Motor brand. At the same time, it has initially developed a comprehensive overseas team, and plan to enter into the North American market no later than 2019.

Meanwhile, the company has indicated that it will continue to focus on building its brand, and forge a trustworthy GAC Motor brand with superb quality and services beyond expectation.

According its General Manager, Mr. Yu Jun, next month, GS8, which is the flagship luxury 7-seat SUV of GAC Motor, will join the brand’s lineup in Nigeria. GS8 is an important and strategic product of GAC Motor. It boasts a tough exterior and cozy interior, with super roomy space, powerful driving force, advanced technologies and smart inter-connections. Since its launch, GS8 has been warmly received by the market and was constantly in short supply.

In the future, GAC Motor, while firmly grounding itself in Nigeria, will strive to expand into West Africa and then the whole African continent, so as to provide more options and better driving experience for African consumers.

Partnership with Nigeria Governors Forum In a bid to foster transnational investments between Nigeria and China, the first edition of the Nigeria Governors’ Investment Forum was held in Guangzhou, China, recently with the brand on hand to lend support.

GAC Motor GA8 and GS8 were designated as official vehicles of the forum, and impressed participants with the brand’s luxurious and comfortable ride experience as well as original design.

At the forum, the Chinese officials and governors from Nigeria studied carefully

GA8 and GS8 showcased at the venue.

GS8, with its original design of a tough exterior and soft interior, luxurious and cozy inner facilities and rich high-tech equipment, was a particular eye-catcher.

Nigerian delegates all expressed their hope to see the introduction of GS8 and more new-energy vehicles to Nigeria. Besides, they also advocated the possibilities of seeing more of the company’s investment in Nigeria to drive current cooperation further.

At the forum, participants from the two countries conducted in-depth discussions and case sharing on the theme of the forum “sustainable cities and livelihood”.

Speaking at the forum, the Vice Mayor of Guangzhou, Mr. CaiChaolin, stated that Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa and Guangdong are highly complementary to each other in areas such as manufacturing, agriculture, cultural exchanges and infrastructure development being situated along the “Belt and Road” and there is vast potential for cooperation between the two countries.

“The Guangzhou Municipal Government has always attached great importance to all-round cooperation with Nigeria. We believe this forum will be a great opportunity for China and Nigeria to further their long-standing friendship, and construct a new bridge for investment activities between the two nations”.

Also Speaking during the forum, President of GAC Group, Mr. Zeng Qinghong, delivered a speech titled “GAC’s global planning with sustainable development as the basis and the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative as the driver”. Through the platform, he introduced to the participants the achievements and main business sectors of GAC Group, while emphasising the company’s sincere willingness to offer high-quality products and services to Nigerian consumers.

26

T H I S D AY SUNDAY JUNE 4, 2017

27

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

MARKET NEWS

Silver Jubilee: CWG Links Company’s Success to Customers, Staff Goddy Egene The Chief Executive Officer of CWG Plc, Mr. James Agada, has linked the success story of the Pan-African information and communications technology company (ICT) company in the past 25 years to God, clients, staff and partners.

Agada said CWG is known for deploying cutting edge technology solutions that enable the growth of its clients’ businesses, saying it

was a major milestone to be celebrated with all those who have consistently believed in the company’s products and services.

He said: “This year, CWG, we will be 25 years as a company. We could not have made it this far if it were not for our loyal customers who believed in the quality of technology solutions we could proffer. It has been a long and often hard road, one which has taught us strongly how to weather the storms. We

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

have grown both internally and externally, had our shares of highs and lows and then some more highs. All these were because our clients and partners kept taking a chance on us. Hence, CWG has deliberately singled them out for a huge ‘Thank You’ as we mark our Silver Jubilee.”

According to him, CWG is aware of the popular maxim that says ‘to whom much is given is also expected,’ and so will continue to offer the best of technology that our

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 01-June-2017, unless otherwise stated.

clients can effectively and efficiently use to run their businesses.

The CEO noted that CWG’s operational landscape has undergone quite a bit of changes in the last few years, necessitated by the need to ensure relevance with the changing tide in the economy.

“Firstly, with the turn of the year, it is adopting a new name CWG Plc rather than Computer Warehouse Group, this is more apt as CWG’s business portfolio bears more

than just computer sales as its previous name depicted.

The operational model has evolved from being a reseller to a provider of operational and maintenance support services and presently to serving as the leading provider of platforms and services that enable growth for varying sectors of the economy,” he said.

Agada, who assumed the position of CWG’s CEO last year, narrated his experience, saying it is a big challenge

becoming a CEO at a time when the Nigeria economy was doing its own transition.

“This challenges, however, ensured that the company was forced to look inwards and make more strategic decisions to survive, pointing out that the significant thing people forget is that rarely do you have successful founders to new executive transition, but it has happened in CWG; with him becoming the CEO,” he said.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 1 270 1680 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 153.86 154.85 21.30% Nigeria International Debt Fund 219.50 220.85 3.55% 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 0.74 0.75 5.88% 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 18.23% 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 14.17 14.60 14.79% ARM Discovery Fund 320.09 329.75 11.46% ARM Ethical Fund 23.20 23.90 3.86% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 16.04% 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 120.63 121.48 14.69% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.91% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.00% Paramount Equity Fund 10.82 10.89 14.50% Women's Investment Fund 90.76 93.09 7.29% 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 18.70% 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 1,076.18 1,077.31 6.47% FBN Heritage Fund 125.34 126.26 12.36% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.16% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $108.66 $109.41 5.57% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $108.28 $109.03 5.93% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 131.34 133.14 16.60% 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 1.13 1.16 21.81% Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund 2.74 2.74 6.57% 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 2,440.98 2,473.30 10.58% Coral Income Fund 2,261.13 2,261.13 7.45% 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 16.78% 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 17.58% Vantage Balanced Fund 1.89 1.91 12.32% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 17.69%

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 1.05 1.07 6.23% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,031.83 1,031.83 4.86% 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 11.33 11.43 17.28% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 17.13% 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 1.11 1.14 12.57% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.57 10.64 1.75% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 12.84% 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 118.00 118.69 15.76% 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 1.30 1.30 4.71% 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 1,979.63 1,990.40 8.10% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 158.84 158.84 3.17% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.85 0.86 11.04% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 198.98 198.98 6.47% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 141.76 143.73 9.24% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.40% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 8,273.18 8,367.15 9.08% 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 1.26 1.28 11.71% United Capital Bond Fund 1.36 1.36 18.51% United Capital Equity Fund 0.76 0.77 4.12% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.17 1.17 11.14% 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 11.36 11.56 17.42% Zenith Ethical Fund 12.01 12.13 9.83% Zenith Income Fund 17.91 17.91 8.38%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.41 126.92

1.01% 2.38%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

9.17 88.78

9.27 90.42

4.42% 17.14%

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

3.57 7.30 14.07 17.31 129.88

3.61 7.38 14.17 17.51 131.88

29.29% 3.82% 16.97% 8.47% 0.76%

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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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾JUNE 4, 2017

36

SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2017 ˾ T H I S D AY TR

UT H

& RE A S O

N

LIFE LESSONS ayo.arowolo@thisdaylive.com m

WITH AYO AROWOLO

09067059433 (SMS only) on

Engineering must have prepared me for challenges of the subsequent ten years.

I was out of a Job at 40 but that experience also made me a better adviser with the companies I am currently consulting for.

Some people will be millionaires at 20, some at 30. Leave everybody and do not be envious.

You will all get there. Move at your own pace.

LESSON

SETBACK SHOULDN’T BE THE END OF LIFE

–Abimbola Olashore Prince Abimbola Olashore was among the over 90 bank Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) that got removed from the financial services industry landscape, by the guided tsunami championed by Prof. Charles Soludo, a former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Only a handful of those displaced banks’ chief executives have been able to re-navigate their way back into the system. Olashore is among the lucky few. He has creatively leveraged the ashes of the misfortunes that have terminated the otherwise thriving careers and ambitions of many, to create another thriving financial institution (Lead Capital). He has also transformed himself into an educational reformer, stretching the legacy of his late father to unimaginable heights.

I spent a night with Olashore in Iloko-Ijesa, in Osun State, which has been turned into a tourist centre that houses a first-class secondary school, Olashore International School, a five-star guest house, a classy golf course under construction, and many other world-class facilities.

Olashore is in high demand in the speaking circles. When I asked him during this interview in his Victoria Island Lagos office what he was up to next, here is what he said: “From now on, I want to be doing what I consider very close to my heart: helping organisations to solve one of the major challenges bedeviling corporations, especially in Nigeria, which is how to implement their strategic plans.” He is offering that service which he considers giving back to society through Lead Advisory Partners Limited, his latest firm. Enjoy his insights.

LESSON

1

Go with your instincts There is so much noise around that you sometimes question if your instincts are telling you the right thing. Therefore, as a person you have to follow your instincts. You must be very clear as to what you want to do. I will tell you why I chose that as number one. When I was in St. Gregory’s College for my secondary school, I was very good at Mathematics and Sciences, and the assumption then was I would either become a doctor or an engineer.

Once you are good at Literature and Arts, it is assumed that you are going to become a lawyer.

I didn’t like Biology so being a doctor was out of it for me. And everybody will naturally guide you, if you are good at Chemistry, Physics, go and become an engineer. I filled in a JAMB

(Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board) admission form; I was barely 15 when I first applied through JAMB for a place in University.

My first choice was engineering and second choice was Accountancy. My parents looked at me and said you must be a confused man, how do you combine the two as Accountancy was not seen as science based course to study. I was admitted into the University of Ilorin to study Engineering. My parents said, you are still too young and not sure what you want to study.

Go and do A-Levels. The following year, I came back and applied through JAMB again, I then turned it around, first choice: Accountancy; second choice: Engineering. My father said, I can see you are still confused, go and continue your A-Levels. Eventually, I was admitted to study Electronics Engineering in United

Kingdom (UK). But immediately I started my course at the university, I knew I had made a mistake.

The day I graduated, I sold all my books and made up my mind to pursue a different career. I did not follow my instincts.

After graduation I returned to Nigeria, joined an accountancy firm, Deloitte, and trained to be an accountant. I excelled in the ICAN (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria) exams winning a number of prizes, and have had a successful calling as an accountant. My advice: follow your guts feelings regardless of who believes you or don’t believe you.

LESSON

2

Go at your own pace It is one thing to follow your instincts but you should go at your own pace. Taking Seven years to become an accountant that I could have done in four years made me realize that delay does not make you less successful. You do not need to work at somebody else’s pace.

I was on the board of a bank in my Twenties.

At 28, I was the acting CEO, at 32; I was a substantive chief executive of the bank, one of the youngest. I guess the four years studying

WORST MISTAKE Investing without due diligence with somebody I do not know, based on the recommendation of a trusted older friend. This is most embarrassing as I did not follow the investment advice I have been giving out to others that formed the bedrock of my investment banking career. Most embarrassing moment

Favourite Books

BEST PIECES OF ADVICE

1 From Third World

1 Learn to be truthful. What I have discovered is that people like telling others what they want to hear which can be different from the truth. Don’t be afraid of telling the truth. This is one of the things I picked up from my father.

MOST EMBARRASSING

2 Do not be boastful. Your achievements will speak for

That was losing my bank. It is embarrassing because I was adviser to so many other banks; I was doing the documentation for the merger of three other banks, and not knowing that there was fire on the mountain. It is like a priest having a failed marriage. Interestingly that experience also brought out the best in me. I was able to reinvent myself through it.

to First World by – Lee Kuan Yew

2 21 Laws of

Leadership – John C. Maxwell

3 In an uncertain

world: Tough choices from Wall Street to Washington – Robert E. Rubin

themselves

3 Try not to be a debtor. Pay off all your debts, financially or otherwise at the earliest possible time. Do not borrow to fund a lifestyle.

4 Don’t abuse relationships or take people for granted.

5 Maintain value-added relationships.

MOMENT FOR ME

3

You must believe in something: Have a purpose in Life.

You don’t just go through life without believing in something. There must be something that is propelling you.

Whatever you believe in guides your decisions in life and gives you a moral compass. Some people are driven by their love for money and power so they do anything to get power and wealth.

It is important to believe in a higher cause and that is where faith comes in. Faith plays an important part of my life and guides my decision making process. It is that belief that helps you go through life’s ups and downs without complaining. Therefore, you have to believe in something; it is extremely important.

LESSON

4

Family is very important You will never appreciate the importance of a good family structure until you are down. When you are down, you would realise the only people around you are your family members. Never lose your family because they are the ones that will be around in your darkest moment.

In life when you are successful, you don’t know who your friends are because everyone flocks around you. Trying moments exposes fair weather friends. So in your journey through life, make your family your number 1 priority and build relationships with friends that stick with you through thick and thin. My setback would have been devastating without a solid family base. Don’t focus on building a career alone, build a solid family along; it would save you from disaster.

LESSON

5

Expand your horizon What shapes your outlook of life are those around you. To have a balanced view in life, mix with people from different religions, cultures and tribes, so that you can appreciate and understand the diversity of views that exist in the environment. This is important in our multiethnic/ multicultural society.

If you mix, you acquire different experiences, and these will affect your decision-making process because whatever step you are taking, you will consider how it is going to affect other people. I have friends from all the critical areas and ethnic groupings.

LESSON

6

Live a balanced life Ultimately, health is wealth and you must balance it. In a 24hr period balance all your activities through exercise, good eating habits, relaxation and sleep. I try to do the recommended 10,000 steps a day through an early morning walk, eat a light breakfast, good lunch and avoid late diner. I drink loads of water and try to be in bed by 9pm.

Managing your ambition is also a very important part of managing stress. Make sure you take a holiday with your family to charge your batteries intermittently.

LESSON

7

Pursue happiness At the end of the day, make sure in all your undertakings you are happy with yourself and the consequences of your actions. A lot of people pursue power and wealth, achieve it and at the end of the day lose all that will give them joy. Some lose valuable relationships; some lose their health all in a quest to gain wealth and recognition.

It is better to die happy than to die full of regrets. Nobody has ever died and said: ‘I wish I worked harder.’ There is nothing like that.

You will be wishing that you had spent time building relationships.

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

OBUKOME IBRU REMEMBERING THE HALCYON DAYS

04.06.2017

30

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R ˞ Ͳ, Ͱ͎ͯ;

COVER

R-L: Obukome Ibru Mukoro with elder sister Gloria Ibru and eldest brother Olorogun Oskar C.J Ibru

OBUKOME IBRU

REMEMBERING THE HALCYON DAYS Of the popular three Ibru sisters, Obukome avoids attention, but she is 50 years, this year. So; she relaxed her guard and admitted Nseobong Okon-Ekong into her world for a rare glimpse

Y

Obukome is 50 years this year. Her golden anniversary is one of the reasons she agreed to come to the front of life’s stage by ďŹ elding questions from this reporter, at least, for once

our first fascination may be Gloria. She is the one who sings.

She and her G-Notes Band have held audiences captive for years. Or you may be enthralled

by Elvina who mesmerizes listeners on radio and delivers a perfect charm as a Thespian. But this reporter sought the one who is rarely seen in public; the one who likes to remain in the background. Of the three Michael Ibru daughters, Obukome deliberately avoids the limelight.

She is just happy to live true to meaning of her name, which is ‘backbone’ in Urhobo. Not quite. She struggled, even stuttering with the explanation (laughing all the while) because she neither speaks Urhobo nor any Nigerian language. “It means support system in Urhobo; it means my back‌ coming from the back. My grandfather named me as a support to my older sister, Gloria. My mother had four boys before she came along and her name is Omotelibe, which means ‘a girl at last’. After that I came. However, I think my name has followed me and I have become a support, not just for Gloria, but for my other sister as well; the one that is after me, Elvina.â€?

Not being able to speak her mother tongue is something she is not particularly proud of.

She has stopped trying and comforts herself with the fact that she can grapple with the meaning of a few words in Urhobo since she started visiting her homestead frequently and began to immerse herself in other aspects of Urhobo culture. Sometimes, she is envious of friends who speak fluent Urhobo and wished she could flow with them. “Unfortunately, I can’t and I really can’t blame myself for it. It’s one of those things. I understand the culture very well. I’ve been privileged to meet people back home.�

Obukome is 50 years this year. Her golden anniversary is one of the reasons she agreed to come to the front of life’s stage by fielding questions from this reporter, at least, for once. Born in Apapa-Lagos, she has lived in the same vicinity for as many years. Her current residence is just four blocks from her birthplace. She was the first Michael Ibru child born in Apapa. The environment has changed a lot from what it used to be, she said. “The Apapa that I grew up in as a teenager was serene, quiet and very reserved. I could ride my bicycle. I can name every street here. My cousins used to live close; so it was a ritual to visit them. There was no ‘danfo’ in Apapa.

What we call Waterside now is what we used to call Marine Beach and it was all white sand. I remember as a child being pushed in a perambulator by my nanny, taking a stroll there. But now, that is impossible. Elvina has a son that is eight years-old, we don’t even allow him outside the gate. We just don’t know what may happen to him. If it’s not ‘okada’, it’s ‘danfo’-accidents happen in front of this house everyday. The environment has changed in terms of cleanliness. It wasn’t a problem for Gloria and I, at age eight or nine, to take a walk on our own, so long as we let someone know that we are going to see our cousins. We don’t have an environment in which our children feel safe anymore. Most people in my age group left Apapa. Even if you see their family houses, it’s probably their old parents that live there, if they have not passed like mine.� “I don’t think I can live anywhere else in Lagos. I’ve considered moving out of Apapa.

But where am I going to? VI? It’s just as congested as Apapa. Lekki? I don’t particularly feel safe,� she responded to the question on her continued stay in Apapa. Talking from her experience of working with a dredging

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JUNE 4, 2017 ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

COVER

… I don’t think I can live anywhere else in Lagos. I’ve considered moving out of Apapa. But where am I going to?

company, she expressed concerns about Lekki.

“I can speak authoritatively on that because it’s my field. I did dredging for about 15 years.”

Not even the renaming of some streets in Apapa in honour of certain members of her family could bring back that connect with Apapa that is on the wane. However, she thinks it is honour earned. “There are not so many families that still have their roots in Apapa; whereas all of us are still here. We haven’t left Apapa because the environment is not clean or tankers have taken over everywhere. We have to come and go by boat most times because we can’t go to work by road and come back like normal people.

We thank God for the resources and also for Michael Ibru who built a house by the water so that we can have a boat pick us to Ibafon or VI and come back the same way. So, if you are stuck in VI, you remain there until the next day, unless you are willing to break the law by driving against traffic. Yes, we now have ‘Michael Ibru Boulevard’. I think it is well deserved. There is ‘Oscar Ibru Way’, as well.

Oscar has been here for over 60 years. Why shouldn’t it be called Oscar Ibru Way? A lot of roads in Ikoyi and VI are being changed from their original names.”

From going in search of friends or work, Obukome claims familiarity with about 90 per cent of Lagos. But whether she goes to the north or south; east or west, her home, where she lays her head is her most precious belonging. “This is where I find peace. No matter where I go in the world. It is not exactly a mansion, but it is my mansion.”

A look around the living room gave a few hints about her character. The décor pointed to her love for African art. But she gave the credit to her sister, Elvina. “Most of these are Elvina’s, just one or two things are mine. I leave most of my house decor to Elvina, it’s her love. She loves interior. She decorates my house. I try to change my house around every two or three years because it makes me happy. I love bright colours. I love antiques.”

Her sister may influence her home furnishing, but the choice to wear her natural hair was strictly hers. “I have been wearing my natural hair for five years but this particular hair style is two years. I had it as dreadlock when I first started.”

Further indicator towards her affection for the arts was apparent in a string of beads on her ankle, but she flatly denied it had anything to do with innate artistic trait, although a piano occupied a prominent position in the room.

“I love music. I don’t write music or play any musical instrument. I was encouraged as a child to play the piano and guitar. I joined the choir when I was six and was there till I left for university in America to study Economics

I THINK THE GENERATION OF MICHAEL DID ALL THE WORK. THEIR CHILDREN CAN SIT DOWN AND CROSS THEIR LEGS. IF WE DON’T WANT TO WORK, ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS ENJOY OURSELVES AND PARTY. BUT IT IS NOT IN OUR NATURE. WE WERE ACTUALLY NOT BROUGHT UP LIKE THAT. I DON’T THINK THERE IS ANY IBRU THAT NEEDS TO WORK, BUT I THINK THAT EVERY IBRU HAS TO WORK BECAUSE THAT’S THE LESSON WE WERE TAUGHT WHILE GROWING UP.YOU HAVE TO BE RESPONSIBLE TO YOURSELF, FAMILY AND SOCIETY. MY MOTHER WILL SAY, ONE MILLION TIMES ‘MICHAEL MONEY NO BE YOUR OWN O. I HEARD IT EVERY SINGLE DAY and International Relations. My mother encouraged me but somewhere along the line, I stopped. Now, I encourage my children to play.”

Of his two sons, one plays the drums very well. He started taking it seriously at age three.

He still plays, but not as much as he used to because he is an adult and has other things to

do. The older one, however, has lost interest completely. Like many daughters, Obukome had a special relationship with her father; who she fondly called ‘Broda’ like everyone else in the family. While she described him in very meek terms, she had a healthy reverence for her mother, Elsie. ”My father was a very humble fisherman. I never saw my father talk down on anyone. My father had the ultimate respect for everyone. I grew up learning that.

But with my mother…, the fear of Elsie was the beginning of wisdom. My mother would not have any of it. You were not to disrespect anybody, not even your age mate or people younger than you. It was hammered into my brain. You are not better than anyone.

Everyone’s situation is different. You are to respect every single person because we all deserve respect. I grew up calling my nannies ‘aunty’, my house-help ‘uncle’. Till today, I have the utmost respect for two persons: Uncle Udoh and Uncle Okon. They both still work in the Ibru Group. Uncle Udoh still does my laundry and Uncle Okon still cooks ‘Ekpannkwukwo for me when I want it. Uncle Udoh started working here when Elvina was one.

She is going to be 45 years this month and Uncle Okon came a year or two years later; which means I was seven or eight years old.

These persons have been with us for over 40 years and I grew up calling them ‘uncle’ and till tomorrow I still call them ‘uncle’. Both of them have come to recognise me as a boss and call me ‘aunty Obuks’.

Even with the influences of people around her while growing up, she could still not speak Nigerian languages. “My mother was born in Calabar. If I had an ear for languages, I would speak Efik in totality. But I’m language deaf.

My mother spoke Yoruba, Igbo, Efik and Hausa fluently and she tried to speak Efik to us. Most of my nannies and house-helps were ‘Calabar’. There was actually no reason why I shouldn’t speak Efik. I only know ‘sosongo’, meaning, ‘thank you’ in Efik.”

To Obukome, her father was a handsome man. She grew up listening to comments on his striking resemblance to the famous American boxer, Mohammed Ali. This made her very proud as she also looks like her father, with whom she shared a very special bond, so much that if he didn’t see her in three months, he will not speak with her for two days when she went visiting. He wouldn’t want her to leave him. “It was sweet to have a father to relate with. My mother who has passed for 27 years and I’m still not used to it. I still think of her particularly when some things happen. It’s not nice to be an orphan, no matter the age.”

Perhaps, it was this sense of nostalgia towards her parents that has discouraged

her from moving to her husband’s house.

She explained her continued stay in her family house. “My husband, Eme Mukoro, is a politician. He’s always in Delta. He feels that I’m more secure here than anywhere else. Wherever he goes, at least, he’s sure that when he returns, his family is intact. My mum approved of our marriage before she died. She blessed our marriage. She was like don’t take her away, you come and be with us. Thank God, my brothers have accepted him as a brother, not as an in-law. My mother, I don’t call her my mother-in-law, Mrs Eunice Mukoro, is in Benin. She is a most precious mother. If I ever have to go to another family, I will go to hers.” Coming from one of Nigeria’s wealthiest families, with everything at her beck and call, does an Ibru have to work?

Obukome was generous with her answer: “Off the top of my head, ‘no!’. I think the generation of Michael did all the work. Their children can sit down and cross their legs. If we don’t want to work, all we have to do is enjoy ourselves and party. But it is not in our nature. We were actually not brought up like that. I don’t think there is any Ibru that needs to work, but I think that every Ibru has to work because that’s the lesson we were taught while growing up. You have to be responsible to yourself, family and society. My mother will say, one million times ‘Michael money no be your own o’. I heard it every single day. My mother provided what her children needed, not what they wanted. She said, when you grow up and start making your money, go and buy what you want. For now, you will get what you need. She will tell you at the age of 14, you will wear what 14 year-olds are supposed to wear. If you wear those designer things now, you will be a thief at 40. That’s what my mum used to tell me.

“If I wanted an expensive wear, it was my mum’s dress I would wear. I was about the same size with my mum; so I was lucky.

I could wear her clothes, steal it from the wardrobe, wear it and return it before she noticed. She used to dress us very well. My mum was a dresser. Everybody knew that.

She was a fashionista. She dressed us her daughters in the same vein. But she was simple, her favourite quote was ‘expensive simplicity’. The older you get, the more your appreciation for valuable things become.

When you are young, you don’t understand the value of things, because you get them easy.

Of course, we got the best education. We got the best of life.”

Denying the rumoured fight among her siblings over her father’s estate, she said, “It’s just a misunderstanding on the part of some of Michael’s children. I will leave it at that. We no dey fight for our house.”

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˞ Ͳ, 2017

Healthcare

WITH DR. YEMISI AJIBADE-SOYOMBO

Dry Eye Syndrome

D

ry eye syndrome is caused by a chronic lack of sufficient lubrication and moisture on the surface of the eye. Consequences of dry eyes range from subtle but constant eye irritation to significant inflammation and even scarring of the front surface of the eye.

Symptoms of dry eyes and dry eye syndrome include: r #VSOJOH TFOTBUJPO r *UDIZ FZFT r "DIJOH TFOTBUJPOT r )FBWZ FZFT r 'BUJHVFE FZFT r 4PSF FZFT r %SZOFTT TFOTBUJPO r 3FE FZFT r 1IPUPQIPCJB MJHIU TFOTJUJWJUZ

r #MVSSFE WJTJPO Another common symptom is something called a foreign body sensation — the feeling that grit or some other object or material is “in� your eye.

And as odd as it may sound, watery eyes also can be a symptom of dry eye syndrome. This is because dryness on the eye’s surface sometimes will over-stimulate production of the watery component of your tears as a protective mechanism. But this “reflex tearing� does not stay on the eye long enough to correct the underlying dry eye condition.

The following is a list of dry eye treatments that are commonly used by eye doctors to reduce the signs and symptoms of dry eyes.

ArtiďŹ cial Tears For mild cases of dry eyes caused by computer use, reading, schoolwork and other situational causes, the best dry eye treatment may simply be frequent use of artificial tears or other lubricating eye drops. Artificial tears

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lubricating eye drops are available in a wide variety of ingredients and WJTDPTJUZ iUIJDLOFTTu

Steroid Eye Drops Inflammation frequently causes the redness and burning associated with dry eye disease; but in many cases, it may be present without any visible signs or symptoms. Artificial tears usually do not adequately address these inflammatory changes, steroid eye drops are recommended to better manage the underlying inflammation associated with dry eyes.

Lacrisert Lacrisert is a solid insert composed of a preservative-free lubricating agent IZESPYZQSPQZM DFMMVMPTF UIBU TMPXMZ liquefies over time, providing an all-day moistening effect. The device has been proven to relieve dry eye symptoms Punctal Plugs Punctal plugs are sometimes used in dry eye treatment to help tears remain on the surface of the eye longer.

Warm Compresses "O BMUFSOBUJWF BOE QPUFOUJBMMZ NPSF DPNGPSUBCMF XBZ UP IFMQ PQFO DMPHHFE meibomian glands to treat dry eyes is to simply apply warm compresses to the closed eyelids to soften the hardened NFJCVN 5FNQFSBUVSF PG EFHSFFT 'BISFOIFJU GPS NPSF UIBO NJOVUFT BU MFBTU UXJDF B EBZ

LipiFlow The LipiFlow Thermal Pulsation 4ZTUFN 5FBS4DJFODF JT BO BVUPNBUFE dry eye treatment that combines the best features of warm compress therapy

and meibomian gland expression The patented device fits onto the eye and also over the eyelids and applies precisely controlled heat to the lids to soften hardened meibum. At the same time, the LipiFlow system applies pulsed pressure to the eyelids to open and express clogged meibomian glands, thereby restoring the correct balance of oils in the tear film to relieve dry eye syndrome. Typically, the beneficial effects of the LipiFlow procedure last one to three years or longer.

Intense Pulsed Light In IPL treatment, a hand-held device flashes bright light onto the skin. The light is filtered to allow only wavelengths that can be absorbed by the dilated blood vessels. The effect of this treatment may be the resolution of the dilated vessels and associated inflammation.

Nutritional Supplements Studies have found that supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids can decrease dry eye symptoms.

Good sources of omega-3s include cold-water fish such as salmon, sardines, herring cod, flaxseed oil to relieve dry eye.

There are several things you can try to get relief before going to the eye doctor:

#MJOL NPSF PGUFO XIFO VTJOH screen devices.

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8IFO PVUEPPST EVSJOH UIF EBZ BMXBZT XFBS TVOHMBTTFT UIBU CMPDL percent of the sun’s UV rays to protect your eyes from wind, dust and other irritants that can cause or worsen dry eye symptoms.

Often there’s no “quick fix� for dry eyes. Follow your eye doctor’s instructions and be patient for results from dry eye treatment.

-Dr Yemisi is a Health enthusiast who has a passion for writing and educating the public on health and wellness. She can be reached by email (yemisi.ajibade@gmail.com)

Thumbs-up for FGGC Sagamu Alumni from US Congresswoman

U

nited States Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, representing the 18th District of Texas, has lauded the activities of Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu Alumni, USA chapter, for their contributions to their alma mater.

In a Certificate of Congressional Recognition presented to the association, Congresswoman Lee said, “You are deserving of our utmost esteem for your gracious contributions and are indeed worthy of the respect, admiration and commendation of the United States Congress.

Endorsing the activities of the Alumni, she noted the objectives of the association which include striving to maintain a fine balance between high academic standards, and encouraging the personal development of the individual, through interaction with others and through their participation in a wide range of extracurricular activities including the Annual House Festival of Arts and InterHouse Sports Games.

She also sent her good wishes to the association’s 7th annual reunion and fundraising event held in Houston recently. “On behalf of the constituents of the Eighteenth Congressional District of Texas, I am delighted to express my greetings to everyone attending and participating in the FGGC Sagamu Alumni USA Chapter ’s 7th Annual Fundraising and Outreach Reunion in Houston, Texas. This

year ’s theme is “Empowering our Sisters Through Education�. “My sincere congratulations to the President Abimbola ArtAlade, and the Ladies of FGGC Sagamu Alumni USA Chapter for their leadership in helping provide funds for projects that give back to the school,�

Congresswoman Lee stated in attached statement.

Highlights of this year ’s reunion included a beautiful performance by the King of R&B music in Nigeria, Darey.

The annual reunion presents the alumni opportunity to socialise and also brainstorm on how to support their alma mater.

President of the association, Abimbola Art-Alade, said a number of activities had been lined up to support their alma mater this year, beginning from this quarter.

A cross section of alumni at the event

Darey performing

JUNE 4, 2017 ˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

ENTERTAINMENT

57 WITH NSEOBONG OKON-EKONG 08114495324, nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com

Taking Comedy as Serious Business Nseobong Okon-Ekong

A

s the entertainment industry continues to position itself as a major contributor to the Nigerian economy, comedians are also showcasing their worth in an industry that is primarily dominated by music and movies.

The business of laughter may come off to many as easy peas, going by the avalanche of comedy skits circulating in the digital space. Every day, hundreds of comedy videos are uploaded on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube by individuals whose names do not ring a bell in the mainstream media. Yet, in their own creative way, these individuals are earning fame more than the prominent ones. Someone like comedienne Princess whose social media account was hacked had to pay to acquire social media skills in order to avoid redundancy in an industry that brought her fame.

Yet, the struggle to catch up with social media is just one of the few problems plaguing the industry. At least, other related issues were discussed at the recently held Eko Comedy Festival.

A first of its kind, the two-day event aimed at rebranding comedy as a serious business for future generation. To achieve this goal, the convener, Tunde Adewale, Tee A pooled a host of professionals from comedy, corporate and the media sector to discuss the theme ‘Maximising Nigerian Comedy for Economic Development’. The festival kicked off with a workshop where aspiring comedians were privileged to learn at the feet of professionals like Basorge Tariah Jnr, Ayeni Adekunle, Bisi Olatilo and Teju Babyface.

The second day saw the likes of the CEO of X3M Group, Steve Babaeko; and Yinka Adebayo of Media Reach OMD analysing the business side of comedy to a captive audience at the Muson Centre, OnikanLagos.

In his presentation, Babaeko gave insight to the value chain available to comedians as well as advising them on how to tap into the vast potentials available on the digital platform. Adebayo however focused on creating marketable content. His analytics revolved on how comedians can sell their content to advertisers and how to maximise their reach. During the question and answer

IT’S A WRAP UP WITH TOOLZ Accelerate TV continues in its bid to be one of the leading youth-focused online platforms for entertainment and lifestyle content with its latest effort: ‘Wrap Up’.

The new series which kicked off recently is a potpourri of suaveness and entertainment.

Award-winning radio girl, Toolz OniruDemuren brings her charm to the screen with her celebrity friends in this talk-show.

While having fun or playing drinking games, Toolz and her friends discuss interesting, topical and controversial issues in society, pop culture, relationships, sex, fashion, and more with no holds barred.

Each episode dissects the issues and delivers suggestions and opinions on different talking points while conveying messages targeted at young, hip and upwardly mobile Nigerians.

Beyond the crazy, fun and interesting conversations, Wrap Up also serves as a good place to watch your favorite celebrities let their hair down. Guests speak freely just as they would when no cameras are rolling, sharing never-before-heard gists about their own lives and that of others, especially during naughty drinking games such as “The Sentence Game” and “Never Have I Ever”.

The first season of Wrap Up features a wide range of interesting personalities to watch out for including Damilola AdegbiteAttoh, Do2tun, Idia Aisien, Juliet Ibrahim, Stephanie Coker, Ajebutter 22, Emma Nyra, VJ Adams, DJ Obi, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Lami Philips, Marcy Dolapo Oni and more.

HOW 2BABA DELIGHTED FOOTBALL FANS Football fans at viewing centres in Lagos will not forget the FA Cup Final in hurry. The

L-R: Alariwo, Badejo-Okusanya, Tee-A and Ayeni Adekunle

segment of this panel moderated by film director Chris Ihidero, other ethical and legal issues were analysed.

But it didn’t end there, the second session moderated by Lepacious Bose which had Bunmi Davies, Koffi Idowu and Owen Gee tackled the issues and prospects of stand-up comedy while the last session moderated

by Alariwo dealt more on comedy films. The panelists included Kene Mkparu, Bovi, Hafiz ‘Saka’ Oyetoro, Mena Ajakpovi and Yomi Badejo-Okusanya. The conference ended in a concert where aspiring comedians had the opportunity to showcase their skills.

The convener Tee-A was highly applauded by his colleagues for organising the conference. Having been in the business for a long while, Tee-A said he deemed it fit to have an event where comedians can converge and have a healthy discussion on moving their industry forward.

reason is not far-fetched as Nigeria’s foremost Premium spirit brand, Campari treated guests to a great delight with a surprise appearance and performance by its ambassador 2Baba. The artiste visited two viewing centers in Lagos where he joined consumers to watch the FA cup final.

While watching the FA final with fans, 2baba, performed his hit song ‘Implication’, to the delight of football lovers and rewarded fans with free cartons of Campari and football jerseys, courtesy of the on-going Campari Dare To Mix activation.

Campari’s dare to mix activation is aimed at putting consumers at the heart of its activities.

Speaking about the Campari Dare to mix activation, Campari Brand manager, Rilwan Shofunde said: “We are using this activation to take our signature mix, Campari Senator to football lovers. We want them to enjoy Campari while watching their favourite game at their favourite spot, Tonight’s meet and greet with 2Baba is an example of How far Campari will go to celebrate our consumers.”

Nigeria is one of over 190 countries across the globe where Campari is distributed, with the distinctive, vibrant red alcoholic liqueur renowned for being the base of some of the world’s most famous cocktails. Football fans at the Campari Dare to Mix activation were no different, as the Campari Senator cocktail—a mix of Beer and Campari—proved a constant favourite.

NIGERIA’S BIGGEST ROCK PARTY HOLDS IN JULY The biggest and most anticipated rock party, Metal & Romance: Silent Rock is back

L-R: Chris Ihidero, Yinka Adebayo and Steve Babaeko

and happening this July.

The event is a production collaboration between Rocknation NG in partnership with Silent Disco NG. Adopting a format that will showcase three cool, different and unique deejays, three channels and 200 headphones, Silent Rock is advertised as a unique way of experiencing live rock music – whether it be a DJ or a live band.

Guests will be expected to wear wireless headphones to access the venue at which a silent atmosphere is expected to instantly transform in to a high energy musical performance.

The party on Saturday, July 1 at Davinci Lounge, Chase Mall 19 Ademola Tokunbo Street, Victoria Island is open to people who want to party like rock stars; listening and jamming to rock music of all sub genres while meeting awesome people.

OPERA SINGER, ABIDOUN KOYA RELEASES LIFTS UP NIGERIA Opera music diva, Abiodun Koya is sounding a clarion call of renewed hope and patriotism with the release of an inspirational song entitled Lift Up Nigeria.

The release of the captivating song by the talented US returnee comes as Nigeria is set to mark another May 29 which is set aside as Democracy Day. Lift Up Nigeria is a chorus that is very easy to learn. It was composed and arranged by the talented singer while it was produced by award-winning music producer, Wole Oni. Abiodun has had a successful career as an Opera Singer in the United states for about 20 years. The Soprano Vocalist studied Business Management at the University of

Columbia, Washington and has a Masters Degree in Music from Catholic University.

With infectious eagerness, Abiodun Koya describes the new song as an inspired song different from what she has worked on.

“Lift Up Nigeria is a song that everybody can sing along to easily. My dream is to start a fire of love and patriotism about Nigeria amongst fellow citizens of our beloved country. Speaking negatively about Nigeria will be an ungrateful thing. We shouldn’t join others to put our country down. We should love our country dearly irrespective.

The song has earned rave reviews from world leaders after it was performed first at the grand opening of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo Library in March and, later at Aso Rock during a special thanksgiving service for Vice President, Yemi Osinbanjo.

TUNDE AND WUNMI OBE CELEBRATE REGGAE LEGENDS Tunde and Wunmi Obe professionally known as T.W.O who have made a name in the Nigerian entertainment industry have chosen to celebrate musical legends from Africa and the world with their new music video titled ‘Rise Up’. The reggae feel song was done in honour of legends such as Orits Wiliki, Lucky Dube, Bob Marley.

The track ‘Rise-Up’ is a unique and different style of music from the couple which they claim is for the enjoyment of all reggae fans in the world. According to the showbiz couple, T.W.O, “Rise Up is an up-tempo roots-reggae beat that is meant to take roots reggae lovers on a nostalgic journey back to the 80s, when it all really held sway. With this song, we are celebrating and honouring music legends like Orits Wiliki, Lucky Dube and Bob Marley; many of whom have

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

ENTERTAINMENT

Tunde and Wunmi Obe inspired us in one way or the other� The reggae flavored song was directed by the highly renowned Nigerian music video director, Clarence Peters.

The non-relenting couple, Tunde and Wunmi Obe aka T.W.O have been releasing videos from their last album and this feel-good jam, ‘Rise Up’ is one of the songs on their most recent album ‘T.W.O Plus.

ESOHE MOVIE PREMIERES IN HOUSTON, TEXAS It was a night of glitz and glamour in Houston Texas, USA as Bini Epic movie, Esohe, premiered.

Nollywood celebrities who graced the event include Uche Jombo, Moses Efret, Bode Ojo, Alex Mouth, Charles Billion, Tila Ben, Bless Brown Vera, Christabel Momodu, President of Nollywood in Houston, Papa Gee. Others include Nollywood actors based in Houston, Benin Club America, Houston and the eldest son of Iyase of Benin Kingdom and the current president of the bini club of Houston.

The movie drew a capacity hall and had to be screened twice to accommodate the mammoth crowd who came out to have a feel of African culture. Some of the cast were dressed in Bini regalia for the meet and greet session, arousing nostalgia among the audience of African descent.

Set in ancient Benin Kingdom, the movie stars Jimmy Jean Louis, Misty Lockheart, Desmond Elliot, Chris Attoh, Bimbo Manuel, Ufuoma McDermott, Toyin Aimakhuo, Jemaima Osunde and Monica Omorodion Swaida.

The movie also features fast rising Nollywood actors like Eunice Omorogie, Omoye Uzamere, Oghenekaro Itene and Osagie Elegbe.

In “Esohe,� the reincarnation and reunion of Ifagbai, the son of Eghosa the Oba’s warrior, his long-lost lover, Esohe, presents a puzzle to Gary Barbar (Jimmy Jean Louis).

He suffers repeated nightmare and sees apparitions of events he knows nothing about.

The story is scripted by Charles Uwagbai and Efetobore Ayeteni and written by Bimbo Manuel; while Charles Uwagbai, Monica Omorodion Swaida and Robert Peters produced. “Esohe� is directed by Charles Uwagbai and is expected to continue its tour in Dallas June, It will be screened in Austin on June 16 and 18, while a release party will hold on June 17 in Boston.

Other cities expected to host the Esohe tour include Atlanta on July 8.

OKUNOREN DESIGNS LAGOS @ 50 FABRIC Foremost indigenous clothing label, Okunoren was selected to design the official print fabrics for the Lagos at 50 celebrations.

Known for its classic cutting-edge craftsmanship and creativity, the menswear label who only recently added the sovereign king of Morocco, Mohammed IV to its clientele list have been around for 15 years catering to the crème de la crème of the Nigerian high society. The print titled “through the agesâ€? is as a testament to the resilience, creativity and can-do spirit synonymous with Lagosians over the past five decades.

Okunoren was chosen out of a number of creatives resident in Lagos to interpret the spirit of Lagos through the last 50 years.

Creative Director, Taiwo Okunoren said, “we are delighted to have the opportunity to work on the design and production of these iconic fabric because this is a landmark celebration and Lagos being the commercial nerve of Africa, I would say, it’s an overwhelming honor. In addition to being functional, these designs will no doubt prove attractive to collectors in and out of Lagos.�

The state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has continued to show his support for the arts, crafts and all other forms of enterprise within the state. The Lagos at 50 prints will be distributed to over 60,000 people who include indigenes at home and abroad, Lagos state residents and well-wishers.

Okunoren is a brand which has consistently shown its affinity for its indigenous heritage and traditional origins. It is no surprise that the brand was favoured to draw on such rich cultural inspirations

2Baba and 9ice

Yaw Makes Another Momentous Mark with ‘Apere’ It was an evening of uncontrollable excitement and boisterousness as seasoned on-air personality-actor, Steve Onu, better known as, Yaw delivered the 9th edition of his annual stageplay series titled ‘Apere’ at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. ‘Apere’ which starred Yaw and legendary singer Sound Sultan as main characters saw the duo enwrapped in several situations which practically mirrored most of the problems we encounter in today’s society, including social media, corruption, reprehensible economic state, polygamy and more.

Directed by Ife Salako, the play depicted every scene in a manner which held deep and thought-provoking meanings to them, making it an entirely intriguing experience. ‘Apere’ was a direct follow-up to Yaw’s previous edition of his stageplay series ‘Shalanga’ and has further asserted the importance of enlightening the society through entertainment.

Yaw’s stageplay series have become one of today’s most pivotal annual events as each edition not only entertains attendees but also serve as an eye-opener to myriad of issues.

A large number of eminent guests which included A-list actors, comedians, artists and dignitaries bore witness to the remarkable night, including Saheed Balogun, Major Al Mustafa, Alibaba, Mary Akpobome, Tiwa Savage, Tuface, 9ice, Illbliss, Humble Smith, Duncan Mighty, Wale Turner, Kenny Blaq, Funny Bone, Ambassador Wahala and several more.

The mammoth audience in attendance also witnessed Yaw and Sound Sultan address matters of national concern in a satirical manner, including Buhari’s infamous disapproval of late president Yar’Adua back

in 2010, Chibok girls, EFCC’s recent cases, the Nigerian military, and several more; leaving the audience gasping for breath as they laughed hysterically.

Although delivered through satire, the theme of ‘Apere’ was entirely introspective, leaving the average Nigerian to question their very own morals and societal contribution as citizens in today’s contemporary world. ‘Apere’ also had several top notch musical and comedy acts in attendance who all delivered memorable performances, escalating the euphoria of the evening, including Woli Arole, Asiri, Funny Bone, Kenny Blaq, Ambassador Wahala, Emma Oh My God, Skales, Tiwa Savage, Humble Smith, Sugarboy, 9ice, Tuface, Duncan Mighty, Koker, Sixfootplus, Marvelous Benji and many more.

Yaw recorded a rare feat at the show by starring two adorable dogs in his wellreceived stage play ‘Apere’. During one of the play’s hilarious scenes, a parody of Oge Okoye’s social media shenanigan was re-enacted by an actress who portrayed the Nollywood star, strutting on stage with two adorable dogs that presumably appear to be the exotic and expensive Kugsha breeds.

The actress perceptibly showed o the dogs to the audience, claiming the dogs were just own into the country spectacularly for her. However, during the character’s antics, the actual owner of the dogs ascends the stage to confront her, exclaiming the dogs do not belong to her. The statement appeared to be true as the dogs seemingly wagged their tails excitedly at the sight of their owner, who led them o the stage, leaving the perpetrator feeling incredibly embarrassed.

Yaw and Sound Sultan’s characters went ahead to mock the “dog thief�, instantly causing the audience to let out a long wild roar of laughter.

as the hilarious comedy recorded sold out shows at a number of key cinema sites across the country. The film grossed an unprecedented N25million in its first three days at the cinema.

Alakada Reloaded’s astonishing opening weekend, which began in cinemas nationwide last Friday, May 26, has placed it firmly in the current top five releases of 2017. Other movies in this list include ‘Okafor’s Law’, which made N90million, ‘Omugwo’, with N48million, ‘Hire a Man’ with N45million and ‘American Driver’ with N41million none of which beat Alakada’s opening weekend.

Reacting to the turnout of people at the cinemas to see the movie, actress and producer of the Alakada Reloaded, Toyin Abraham said, “I was at different cinemas throughout this weekend, and I was surprised at the reception from fans all over. People, in large numbers were trooping in to see Alakada Reloaded; it was honestly mind-blowing. We recorded sold out shows everywhere we went. I feel so loved and blessed. I am grateful to God for His blessings and my fans for their love and support. I have got the best fans. It’s so exciting and I want this to continue for as long as possible�. The movie is currently showing at cinemas in Lagos, Kano, Ilorin, Warri, Owerri, Port-Harcourt, Abuja, Asaba, Calabar, Ibadan, and Akure.

FilmOne Distribution Limited, West Africa’s largest film distribution company and the exclusive theatrical distributor of the movie was most pleased with its success said. Executive Director, Mr. Moses Babatope.

Alakada Reloaded, which is the third production in the popular Alakada series follows the story of Yetunde Animashaun, a young girl from a poor family background who as a result of her inferiority complex, engages in the act of making up stories and lying about her financial and social status in order to fit in with the crowd. The movie was co-produced by Filmservice media owned by Bolakale Oba Sa’ad.

This comedy movie parades a starstudded cast both from the English and Yoruba film sector, was well as a host of Nigerian comedians and musical artistes.

They include Ali Baba, Odunlade Adekola, Kehinde Bankole, Woli Arole, Nedu OAP, Helen Paul, Lilian Esoro, Annie Idibia, Bidemi Kosoko, Liz Da Silva, Lala Akindoju, Mr Latin, Iyabo Ojo, Gabriel Afolayan and Toyin Abraham herself.

MARS AND BARZINI BEGIN THE ‘ EXPERIENCE TOUR’ One year after the release of their debut single ‘Oluwa Nagode’, Mars and Barzini, the sensational 90’s baby duo have commenced their first promotional Tour.

The first stop of the tour, tagged “The Mars and Barzini Experience� was held at Bheerhugz Cafe in Ikeja City Mall and was an intimate gathering of friends and supporters.

There will be more stops at various spots across the country with provisions for all age groups. The finale of the tour will double as the second edition of the Mars and Barzini Concert. ‘We just want people to understand our journey while being exposed to our sounds’ says Barzini. ‘The Mars and Barzini experience is for everybody. It is our avenue to show the world what we are made of,’ adds Mars.

The duo, whose real names are Amarachi Ezechukwu and David Nwobodo, are undergraduates at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. They are also serial entrepreneurs.

Their artistic expressions so far have been channeled through their music and soonto-be launched clothing line tagged ‘Ship Clothing’.

Mars and Barzini have also just concluded the video shoot of their sophomore single titled ‘Colours’. It will be released this month.

Cast members of Esohe

to develop a design which resonates with Nigerians across the globe. The brand is currently gearing towards mega celebrations for its 15th anniversary in October, which promises to be the ‘mother of all shows’.

ALAKADA RELOADED MAKES N25M IN THREE DAYS Toyin Abraham’s Alakada Reloaded had a ground-breaking cinema debut last weekend

Mars and Barzini

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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Moore … Putting a smile on the face of an african child

Roger Moore: The Spy with a Kind Heart Vanessa Obioha Call him the suavest of all Ian Fleming’s James Bond character and you won’t be wrong. Since his unfortunate passing on May 23, the word ‘suave’ has repeatedly been used to describe Roger Moore.

Fans, critics, friends will remember him for the panache he interpreted the role during his 12-year contract. Featuring in seven movies of the franchise, Moore was a darling on screen.

He may not have all the energetic and muscular traits of Sean Connery or Daniel Craig, being the oldest Bond character to play the role. He was 45 years old when he took the reins from Sean Connery who joined the franchise at age 37. But what Moore had, he delivered with precision.

He gave his character a romantic persona that suddenly made Bond the most adorable man to fall in love with. Buttering it with his tongue-in-cheek lines and accents, Moore became an idolised character.

His first Bond film ‘Live and Let Die’ (1973) occupies the fifth position in a list of the Highest Grossing Bond Films, according to an 007 James Bond site. The site also listed Moore as one of the highest grossing actors of the franchise.

His average gross per Bond film was $550, 833, 151, right behind Sean Connery whose gross is $724, 882, 426.

Early Life and Career Born to Lily Pope and George Alfred Moore, Moore’s first taste of the reel world was in the 1945 film ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’ where he was hired as an extra. He would move on to Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to study and at 18.

He was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps as a second lieutenant. He would later become a captain in West Germany after

Ambassador on August 9,1991. Moore was a steadfast advocate for children, visiting UNICEF-supported programmes around the world, bringing attention to child crisis issues enlisting support and donations. His early missions to Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala, showed him the desperate conditions faced by many of the world’s children and the breadth of UNICEF’s work in the field.

He was a compelling voice on issues such as HIV/AIDS, landmine injuries and iodine deficiency. As the honorary chair of Kiwanis International’s Worldwide Service Project – a key UNICEF partner – he helped raise US$91 million for the elimination of iodine deficiency.

An eloquent speaker and fund-raiser, Moore helped introduce a number of major UNICEF initiatives. In 1995, for example, he launched the “Check out for Children” programme, a partnership with Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, which has raised more than US$16 million to support life-saving immunization programmes for children throughout the world.

Moore with his wife, Kristina

serving as an officer in the Combined Services Entertainment Section.

After three years in the army, he returned to the screen, working as a model for a variety of products advertisements. However, his first appearance on TV was in Patrick Hamilton’s ‘The Governess’. He went on to sign a sevenyear contract with MGM in 1954 which did little to boost his fame. He featured in other films and TV series but the movie that brought him international acclaim was the film adaptation of ‘The Saint’ where he played Simon Templar. It was here that Moore’s suave and quipping style was first brought to limelight.

He grew tired of the role and quickly jumped to make two films: ‘Crossplot’ and ‘The Man who Haunted Himself’ after the series ended in its sixth season. The latter was said to be the best role he had played in any film. ‘The Persuaders’ also fetched him more fame until in 1975 when he joined the Bond family.

Humanitarian Activities After he left the Bond franchise in 1985, he stayed away from the big screen until his friend, actress Audrey Hepburn steered him into a pivotal role.

He was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill

He extended his humanitarian work to Africa.

With his wife Kristina, he visited Alexandria, Egypt in 1999, to celebrate the children’s camp for the Convention of the Rights of Children (CRC). He also undertook a five-day mission to Ghana in 2000. He was accompanied by some UNICEF corporate partners and representatives of the United Kingdom National Committee for UNICEF. Moore, his wife Kristina and his team visited a number of UNICEF-supported projects both in Accra and on the outskirts of the city. He also attended a national immunization campaign (“Kick Polio out of Africa”). Moore died in his home in Switzerland after a brave battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife and children.

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An Evening with Smile Designer Funke Olaode

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he soul music emanating from speakers provided an ambience of comfort for guests as they mingled freely flashing broad smiles that Friday evening. Although, it was a dentalmedical event, the number of dignitaries that graced the occasion spoke volumes about the popularity.

Entering this five-star practice you could think you had just walked into a boutique hotel with inviting atmosphere, friendly staff and glamorous lounge instantly creating a feeling relaxation. Each room was equipped with the latest high tech equipment and technologies. No wonder it has won for two consecutive years, the Best Dental Service Provider Winner for 2015 and 2016 at the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards.

Smile360 Dental Specialists led by its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Dr. Amy Traore-Shumbusho recently hosted the crème de crème to a re-launch of the dental clinic’s world class facility in a bigger and more comfortable environment at Cameron Ikoyi, Lagos.

The dental specialist clinic claims to be the first purpose built Orthodontic Centre in Lagos providing first class treatments and services in a fully equipped, state-ofthe-art, ultra-modern environment. Some of the facilities include 12 dental chairs, a children section, a reception and a lounge area. Equipped with the latest technology including a 3D X-Ray; and an Ultra Oral Scanner, which happens to be the only one in Nigeria.

Smile360 is setting high dental standards in Nigeria to match that of UK and US. The dental center also provides comprehensive services such as teeth whitening, Hollywood Smile, Invisalign, Digital Smile Design and Implants. Other services include Family

L-R: Dr. Awele Elumelu, Dr. Amy Traore-Shumbusho and Mr. Corneille Karekezi

Dentistry, Endodontics, Prosthodontics, Cosmetic dentistry, Orthodontic and invisible braces, Dental implants, Maxillofacial surgery, Periodontology, Laser dentistry. This is aimed at design a beautiful smile.

A well rounded individual whose family cross-cultural heritage is always a reporters’ delight, her mother hails from Calabar in Cross River State while her father is from Mauritania and she is also married to a Rwandan. She speaks French, Arabic and English fluently.

She graduated from the University of Toulouse, France in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedic. After secondary education on Mauritania in 1985, she proceeded to University of Rabat in Morocco where she graduated with a bachelors’ degree in dental science in 1992 and later

capped it with post graduate studies in France earning a doctoral degree (PhD) and continued her education in United States.

She is a well-known and respected figure in the practice of dentistry in Nigeria. She is one of the first specialists in Invisible Orthodontics (through lingual braces and the Invisalign technique in West Africa.

Her thirst for success was clearly seen during her time in University of France; as an athletic young woman she played basketball at a competitive level, was a keen swimmer and golfer winning various sporting and academic laurels.

Much of her achievement at Smile 360 have been possible with a wonderful support team, her patients who believe in her competence, solid family support system (her husband and children) and above all, her mother who has been her backbone over

the years.

In the past four years, Dr. TraoreShumbusho through her Corporate Social Responsibility initiated a programme tagged ‘Project Smile 360’ aimed at helping those who can’t afford the treatment. She said it is targeted at those who have suffered imaginative trauma, stigma.

Through the initiative, the beneficiaries from Season one to three have cause to smile now after embarking on treatment that last 24 months. She believes it is a great venture to invest in as she unveils the season four in June In her testimony, special guest of honour and Chief Executive Officer, Avon Medical Services Limited, Dr. Awele Tony- Elumelu extolled the virtues of Dr. Traore-Shumbusho who she described as a compassionate being.

Day Lagos NAWOJ Delegates Shutdown Benin Yinka Olatunbosun

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he Lagos delegates at the Triennial conference and elections of the National Association of Women journalists (NAWOJ) must have left some impression on the hearts of other delegates and residents of the ancient city of Benin in Edo State when the 42-seater luxurious bus arrived that afternoon in preparation for the “mother of all campaigns’’ at the venue which is a few blocks from the House of Igbinedion.

Three years ago, Lagos State was the host to NAWOJ in Badagry where the delegates were lodged for three days to fulfill the constitutional provision of the association which makes it mandatory for the women journalists to elect a new set of executives who will lead the association for three years.

In 2014, Ifeyinwa Omowole was elected as President of NAWOJ. She enjoyed an overwhelming support from the Lagos delegates who are usually the largest of the collective.

Inspite of the paucity of funds and some challenge with logistics, the Lagos delegates arrived in Benin to campaign for Omowole, the incumbent President using popular songs and chants. From Gospel to Waka music, the Lagos delegates bore such excitement that was unmatched at the venue. Some members of the campaign team for Omowole even volunteered to interprete some of the songs rendered in Yoruba language to some delegates who were curious to know the meaning of their humourous songs.

The Lagos delegates took advantage of the drummers who were at the venue to sing praise songs for Omowole whose campaign promises include training, housing and off-shore training for NAWOJ members.

As expected, the Lagos NAWOJ delegates

Lagos NAWOJ delegates in Benin

constituted the highest at the centre but still demonstrated the true spirit of Lagos, with patriotic chants and good demeanor.

In the end, Ifeyinwa Omowole secured 410 votes to earn a second term as President while her opponent Biliqees Oladimeji lost to her with her 270 votes. For the post of the Vice-President, Mariam Mohammed secured victory over Aisha Alli with 375 votes ahead of the 292 votes from the supporters of Alli.

Ladi Bala beat three other candidates to secure a spot as the National Secretary with 253 votes against Daharatu’s 206, Joy Idam’s 74 and Tani Samuel’s 146. Helen Udofa’s 450 votes against Dorothy Abelegah’s 219 votes sealed her victory as the National Assistant Secretary while the National Auditor, Sola Jacobs retains her position with 368 votes which is a far cry from Amina Eboh’s 301 votes.

One of the most anticipated of the results was that of the post of National Treasurer

which saw Tosin Odusola being kicked out of office with Ify Obi’s 368 votes against her 310 votes. Perhaps, it is also the most sensitive position because the association, lately, had grappled with allegations of misappropriation of housing funds. But the records had been set straight with the documents presented by the President to back her claim of integrity, thus rebuilding confidence in the association.

It must be mentioned that the ballot papers for the NAWOJ elections had a better look than before. Also, the elections commenced very early in the evening and most delegates cast their votes before midnight. The counting of votes ran late into the early hours of the next day, May 19, when most delegates had returned to the hotels to unwind. Only accredited observers were permitted to wait through the night to ensure best electoral practices.

Following the announcement of the results,

the National Campaign Co-ordinator for Ify Omowole Campaign Team, Bimbo Oyetunde expressed her appreciation for the unflinching support from the Lagos delegates using the social media platform.

The conference, which preceded the elections, was declared open by Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki who was represented by the Head of Service, Gladys Idahor. She commended the women journalists for their contribution to national development.

Her words were echoed by the National President, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abdulwaheed Odusile who enjoined the women to work as family during the elections.

Omowole expressed gratitude to the state government for their gracious support towards the hosting of the triennial conference. Omowole has set the record as the first NAWOJ President to secure victory at second term in office.

assistant editor Ă˜Ă?Ă?Ă™ĂŒĂ™Ă˜Ă‘ Ă™Ă•Ă™Ă˜Ě‹Ă?Ă•Ă™Ă˜Ă‘ senior correspondent Ă?Ă&#x;Ă˜Ă•Ă? ÙÖËÙÎĂ? correspondent Ă Ă‹Ă˜Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă‹ Ă™ĂŒĂ“Ă™Ă’Ă‹ designer Ă“ĂŒĂ“ĂœĂ™Ă‘ĂŒĂ‹ Ă“ĂŒĂ“ĂŽĂ‹ĂšĂ™ CONTRIBUTORS Ă™Ă˜Ă™Ă?Ă’Ă? Ă˜ĂĄĂ‹ĂŒĂ&#x;Ă“Ă•ĂĄĂ&#x;Ëœ ĂžĂ?×ÓÖÙÖĂ&#x; ÙÕĂ?Ă™ĂĄĂ™Ëœ Ă•Ă?Ă–Ă?Ă?Ă’Ă“ Ă˜ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă•Ă‹ THISDAY ON SUNDAY editor Ă‹ĂŽĂ?ÞÙÕĂ&#x;Ă˜ĂŒĂ™ Ă‹ĂŽĂ?ÎÙÔË deputy editor Ă Ă“Ă˜Ă?Ă?Ă˜Ăž Ă™ĂŒĂ“Ă‹ STUDIO art director Ă™Ă?Ă’Ă“ Ă™Ă‘ĂŒĂ&#x;Ă‹Ă•Ă&#x; Ă”Ă˜Ăœ THISDAY NEWSPAPERS editor-in-chief & chairman Ă˜ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă•Ă‹ Ă™ĂŒĂ‹Ă“Ă‘ĂŒĂ?Ă˜Ă‹ managing director Ă?Ă˜Ă“Ă™Ă–Ă‹ ĂŒĂ?Ă–Ă–Ă™ deputy managing director ÕËãÙÎĂ? ÕÙ×ÙÖËĂ?Ă?

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wo weeks ago in Abuja, Idara, sonofforemostNigerianlibrarian, journalistandformerPresidential SpecialAssistantonResearchand documentations,PastorNyaknnoOsso, wedded his heartthrob, Oluwaseun, at a colourful ceremony. Below are a few of theimportantpersonalitiesinattendance.

L-R: The couple, Mr. Idara Nyaknno Osso and wife, Oluwaseun

Groom’s Parents, Pastor Nyaknno Osso and wife, Angela

Bride’s Parents, Mr. Toyin Oshinaike and his wife, Tope

Pastor (Dr) Effiong Esu and his wife, Joyce

Pastor Eva Azodoh and his wife, Ngozi

Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi and his wife, Oluwatosin

Mr. Sonny Offiong and his wife, Aniema

Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN and Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili

Mr. Mike Leramo and his wife, Mercy

Pastor Emmanuel Ibitayo and former Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke

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04.06.2017

LAGOSTHROUGHTHE EYES OF THE CHILD EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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LAGOS THROUGH EYES OF THE CHIL

A night before the World Children’s Day celebrations, Lagos State government, in partnership with Diamond B parading the best of the artworks from the Vision Of The Child competition with the theme, ‘Past Winners’ Cho witnessed the grand finale, reports

D

ubbed the “Past Winners’ Choice”, the sixth season of the VISION OF THE CHILD (VoTC) was deliberately situated at the peak of the Lagos at 50 celebrations to showcase the rich intellectual resources of the children of the state on the eve of World Children’s Day. The shimmering chandelier and the soothing music from the surround system seemed to be all that the second floor of the Civic Centre had to offer before the arrival of guests including parents, guardians and teachers. Clad in same white t-shirts as well as ankara skirts and shorts respectively, the girls and boys occupied the front seat just close enough to where the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka sat.

The year-long event had been flagged off by the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode during the Gala Award night of the 2016 edition of VoTC. The edition had a rather comical theme, “Sisi-Eko at 50: Ageing Gracefully or na so so pancake?” The contest has produced 50 student finalists who had emerged from over 250 contestants from over 50 participating schools in both literary and painting competitions.

This annual event was inaugurated in April 2012 with themes that addressed socio-political and cultural realities of the country. Over 2000 children from primary and secondary schools, ages between 8 and 12 years have benefitted from VoTC since inception. The project has produced over 173 paintings and drawings by the student finalists and these works are expected to be mounted in a permanent exhibition hall.

Asides the visual art, which was the staple for this annual contest, creative writers have been involved in this competition. Each participant in the literary category is expected to write an essay, story or poem to match the theme.

To bring the audience at the Grand Finale up-to-speed on the contest and how the finalists had emerged, a short video that was screened which showed how 50 past winners made their creative presentations in April. Having gone through a series of training, networking and group painting in form of a reality show, the contestants made their final presentation before a live audience on May 6 at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, through the medium of Painting, Literary Arts, Music, Dance and Photography.

The Project Director, VoTC, Foluke Michael who worked assiduously on the event said it was great to see all the past winners who had enjoyed mentorship between 2012 and 2016 at the same time.

“The motto of VoTC is being redefined by these winners,” she said. “The motto of Lagos at 50 is ‘Enhance the Heritage: Advance the future’. As you can see, they are no longer children.

One of the exhibits at the grand finale of VOTC They are set of adults who have different creative ability and ideas on how they can enhance the heritage and look straight into the future of Lagos State.

“The first phase was for them to meet.

The second phase was for them to be trained. We took them to the world of projects. We invited facilitators including architects, photographers and all sorts of professionals in the creative industry to talk to them in a-four day intensive training. They were later expected to showcase what they had learnt for two months into different medium such as dance, photography, painting and literary arts.”

The participants in the visual arts expressed their creativity in Information Technology, Architectural (Building or Landscaping), Street Decor, Transportation, Motor Park, Leisure Park, Public or Private Institutions, Public Facilities, government policies, Performances, Innovations, Educational models, Films, Campaigns, Market, Factory, amongst others. Participants also wrote individual essays or poems on the theme.

The participants in the visual arts expressed their creativity in Information

Technology, Architectural (Building or Landscaping), Street Decor, Transportation, Motor Park, Leisure Park, Public or Private Institutions, Public Facilities, government policies, Performances, Innovations, Educational models, Films, Campaigns, Market, Factory, amongst others. Participants also wrote individual essays or poems on the theme.

The contestants presented their individual creative ideas before live audience on Saturday, May 6, as seen in the short video.

“Some of them have combined dexterity,’’ observed Michael. “Some can paint and dance. Now, they have defined the different sectors of Lagos in their own creativity and they have a word for the governor that- ‘listen to us. This is our idea of Lagos’. Lagos can actually be a mega city.

“Today is crazy. I am nervous and I don’t know what to expect. I don’t even have the results. I am excited.”

In the keynote address, Prof. Wole Soyinka congratulated the finalists in the competition and commended them for their creative efforts. VoTC began an as essential part of the Lagos Black Heri-

tage Festival which was the brainchild of the literary giant who has inspired generations of artists all over the world.

While the audience was awaiting the results of the competition, the Head, Corporate Communications, Diamond Bank Plc, Chioma Afe revealed the reason for the bank’s unwavering support for VoTC. “The core objective of VoTC is to activate the imagination of the child and channel their creative energies to develop art, prose and poetry that is socially impactful and also lifestyle relevant,” she said. “As such, we key into the vision of VOTC as one that also goes beyond the typical education and development of the child to enabling them channel their creativity towards a positive outcome.”

In the spirit of past winner, one of the past winners at the music reality show, Nigerian Idol, Evelle took the stage in her afro-centric attire to prove that she is still the voice to reckon with.

Her retinue of songs included her own self-compositions which are rendered mostly in Yoruba language. One of her best shots that night was her cover of

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ank, had its own special feast, oice’. Yinka Olatunbosun, who

Diamond Bank CEO, Uzoma Dozie Lagbaja’s “Never Far Away� which features Ego on the vocals.

Under the literary category, Rebecca Sylvester won the third position while the second position was a tie between Ifunanya Obinwa and Nwaoke Ifeoma. The winner in this category is Princess Marinay who got the first position.

As expected, the painting category was very competitive as each contestant put the best foot forward. Three contestants emerged as winners of the second position in painting namely, Joseph Okey- Ogunmijiofor and Sophie Okwonkwo. In the special skill category, Titiloye Tobi came second in her Environment and Innovation painting while Nwaokorie Oluchukwu won the first position in Architecture and Design. Alli Bakare and Anjola Olanrewaju secured their first positions in painting amidst the cheers from the audience.

No fewer than 4,000 applications were received for this edition of VoTC which is a clear indication of the rekindled interest in art and cultural preservation.

The Inverted Pyramid; Adapted from a novel by Emeka Dike

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Old Carter bridge, Lagos

A DELICIOUS DINNER WITHOUT THE MAIN COURSE (II) Daniel Uwaezuoke, 92, continues the narratives of his experiences during the 20 years he worked in the then CID headquarters in Lagos, which was a turning-point period before he became the Central Criminal Registrar…

Creation of special branch

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atan struck sometime in early 1949. That was when a section of the C. I. D. was carved out of the original C. I. D. Headquarters and made autonomous. This section was what came to be known as the Special Branch and was charged with the duty of reporting the increasing activities of the Nigerian nationalists.

Prominent among these “irksome” nationalists to be monitored were Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and members of the Zikist Movement.

Accelerated promotions – offered every six months – were dangled enticingly like juicy carrots before the Special Branch team. The obvious reason was to make them mortgage their love-of-own-country conscience. And this was way up the Tempter’s alley. He deftly thrummed at the strings of my ambition and urged me to apply to be transferred to Special Branch. This was by assuring me that my transfer was a done deal since I was now everybody’s favourite.

I promptly heeded his advice and applied.

And the consequences were appropriately speedy and unsavoury. First, the confidence and trust Mr S. P. George had in me came crumbling like a pack of cards. This was a man, who already had great plans for me! Then, all the great expectations trailing the Police Adviser’s visit went up in smoke. I needed no one to inform me that my inordinate ambition had smothered my hopes of accelerated promotions.

Consequently, I remained a searcher – poring over several hundreds of thousands of fingerprints filed in a large wooden cabinet, partitioned into several pigeonholes for that purpose. Thus, I found myself in the company of senior searchers as they worked to prove

previous convictions in courts by police prosecutors.

I was also co-opted into the Scenes of Crime teams to search for finger marks. This time, it was to ascertain whether the finger marks found at a scene of crime could be identified in a single fingerprint collection. This, of course, excluded the finger marks of those persons who had legitimate access to objects found at the scene.

I soon found my comfort zone in this absorbing, albeit humdrum of a job. Proving previous convictions in courts seemed to have become my exclusive preserve. Thus, I earned myself a reputation even when I simply followed the template left behind by my predecessors or superiors.

Yet, the news of my presence in courts would send shivers down many a spine. Felons, who denied ever being convicted, indeed had every reason to be worried. In all the years of my court evidence or proof of previous conviction, two very outstanding cases remain very fresh in my blurring memory.

The first of these cases involved the then mayor of Enugu, the Fulani-born Malam Umoru Altine. Before he joined the preindependence politics of that period, he was convicted by a court in the old Northern Nigeria for stealing a sheep (not a ship) and was sentenced to six months I. H. L. (in hard labour). When he became involved in the politics of Eastern Nigeria and was considered the right person to be the mayor – at least, to prove the true national outlook of his party, the N. C. N. C. (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons) – those who knew his antecedents began to protest. The police, which had no locus standi – albeit while maintaining a watching interest – stepped in to prove whether the allegations were true or not.

Of course, Malam Altine denied ever being a convict even as his adversaries led by C. O. C. Chiedozie (who decades later became the principal of Nike Grammar School, Enugu)

insisted he was.

Invited from the C. I. D. Headquarters to wade into the matter, I had arrived at the court premises that morning of the court sitting. But whose path would fate cross my path with that morning but that of Barrister Alfred Obi Okoye, who I found sniffing around?

Barrister Okoye was a former schoolmate at Ogidi Central School in the 1930s, who had graduated from one of the Inns of Court in England. We knew ourselves as friends even during our school days. Seeing me at such a time and place at the court premises must have activated an alarm system in him. Something was definitely going on here, he rightly sensed.

So, he asked me sotto voce: “Detective, what brought you here this early morning from Lagos?”

As soon as I disclosed my mission, he quietly retreated into the courtroom to await the commencement of the hearing. But this was not before informing me that he was Malam Altine’s lawyer and as a result of our meeting was going to pre-empt my evidence, at least to save his client the most pathetic disgrace of his political life and his party, N. C. N. C., the ugliest reputation it ever had.

The sagacity of Malam Umaru Altine’s lawyer, Alfred Obi Okoye – who later became simply known as Obi Okoye, in which name he was appointed a High Court judge years later – sent me back to Lagos, as I was on a subpoena by court permission.

The second case of similar nature, but of different detail, happened in Warri and Sapele in the mid-50s. This was one of the worst display of pitiable ignorance I would ever encounter in my life. For how indeed can one qualify the ignorance of this police constable? Even after about 15 years of service, he still did not know that, in matters bordering on identity or identification, fingerprint was second to none.

Hence, this ignoramus used his right and left thumb impressions to sign off and claim many exhibits assigned to him for safe-keeping. This

was until the cases involving these exhibits had been discharged by the courts. The constable kept doing this with impunity until a certain discerning man refused to budge. When the man reported the matter to a superior police officer in Warri, the latter took it up for investigation.

A set of the complainant’s fingerprints and another from the exhibit keeper were afterwards taken and sent to the C. I. D. Headquarters alongside the Exhibits Record Register. It was my duty to examine them to establish the true facts.

On closer examination of the fingerprints, I discovered without difficulty that it was the exhibit constable, who used both his right and left thumb impressions to sign off and claim 17 exhibits, which the courts had ordered to be returned to their owners. My findings were sent to Warri Police, who charged the exhibit constable with stealing.

Once more, duty called. I had to go to Warri to give evidence. But the court to which this constable was charged was at Sapele.

Meanwhile, the constable, still wallowing in his pitiable ignorance, had briefed the then most brilliant lawyer in the region... Barrister Ayo Irikefe. Barrister Irikefe, whose successful appearances in court was almost legendary, was an English Inns of Court product who later became the Chief Justice of Nigeria. While this brilliant lawyer was settling down to the true facts of the case, he simultaneously awaited my arrival from Lagos.

It was at the pre-court sitting at the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Sapele that I obliged Barrister Irikefe’s polite request to be given the true facts of the case. He thanked me as soon as he discovered that my mission was to prove the police case with fingerprints. Adding that he would advise his client accordingly, he said he would make a plea to the court.

I had to return to Lagos once more without giving my evidence.

-Sir Daniel lives in Enugu.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ NE 4, 2017

67

ARTS & REVIEW\\EXHIBITION

ARTISTIC GREATS SET TO LIGHT UP ADAM & EVE Yinka Olatunbosun

F

or the past 20 years, Adam&Eve, a luxury store in G.R.A. Ikeja, Lagos had been the home of eclectic household items such cooking wares, utensils, furniture, electronics and more. The story is about to change for a bigger narrative.

From June 18 till 25, art collectors, artists and other members of the art community will converge on the brightly-painted building as the first art exhibition, which features the finest of Nigerian artists will run for seven days.

The exhibiting artists are Bruce Onobrakpeya, Kolade Oshinowo, Lekan Onabanjo, Raqib Bashorun, Duke Asidere, Alex Nwokolo, Tola Wewe, Zinno Orara and Fidelis Odogwu.

The managing director of Adam & Eve, Mrs. Modupe Ogunlesi played host to this reporter recently as she uncovered the plans for this mega-mainland art show that is indeed long overdue. As she rightly observed, most of the art exhibitions take place on the Lagos Island, leaving the impression that art is only appreciated and bought by Lagos Island residents.

“Maybe people assume that they cannot afford art but I don’t think so,” she said.

Lagos Mainland also boasts of many well-heeled areas like Surulere, Magodo, Maryland, Ikeja, Opebi and Omole, where those with disposable income often reside. Some of these patronise galleries on the Island in the absence of popular art destinations in Lagos Mainland. For this show, emphasis is on aesthetics and functionality of the art works.

“I like functional art and I am particular about how your table is presented and how your meal is presented to you,” she explained. “I look at the cutlery, the plates and the glasses.

These are the things I find soothing when they are well presented.

“Whichever way you look at Lagos, it is stressful- whether you are being driven or not. Therefore, I think people should surround themselves with the things that they consider beautiful so that you can feel that the stress is worth the living.

For some, it is man’s creation of beauty, inspired by nature.

I think you cannot seperate one from the other. Everything you see in Adam&Eve is picked first on the basis of beauty and its function. If it is functional and it is not beautiful, I will take a second look. And when it is beautiful, I will ask about its functions and when it matches the functions I expect of it, then I will buy it.’’

Art, for Ogunlesi who has a nice painting directly in front of her table, is like a therapy strategically to provide some sort of escapism for her in the heat of deep business thoughts.

‘Black Roses’2010, Wood “I have heard from people who walk through the store that they felt some calm after sightseeing. I always say if that is how you feel, then you don’t have to buy because you will come back here when you get that feeling. That is why we have been here for 20 years.

“We are showcasing well-known artists because it is our first show and we want the Island to come to Mainland. We will present art in a different way, away from the gallery setting that they are used to. I think it is going to be much more interesting than what they’ve got so far. It’s one thing to go to a gallery, it’s another thing to get a special feeling from the art.

We will make the art exhibition more regular, perhaps twice a

year. The next one can include the budding artists.”

The opening of the week-long show will include cocktails and canapés, most especially art auctions that are capable of leaving the mouth agape.

“On the evenings of most of the days, there’ll be something special. We are going to auction a 100-year old pot. That is the highlight. We also have 40, 30, 10 year-old pots to auction,’’ she disclosed.

Lekan Onabanjo is the curator for this show that is not necessarily driven by financial gratification. The artists are established names in the art and their desire is to talk one-onone with the visitors during the show.

MOVIES

Waiting for Banana Island Ghost Movie…

Yinka Olatunbosun For all it is worth, the trailer for the action-comedy movie, Banana Island Ghost is what got everyone at the IMAX Cinema gawking last week for its state-of-the-art stunts and amazing cast. That much can be discerned from the snippet which the Biola Alabi production team released to the public for good proportion of anticipation.

A scene from the movie

Feel free to salivate when you read the list of cast- Bimbo Manuel, Chioma Omeruah, Patrick Diabuah, Uche Jombo, Saidi Balogun and more.

It’s a simple plot. A single lady prays to find a marriage partner before the bank takes over her family house and gets served- a ghost- she finds a ghost in her bed who has negotiated with God to give him three days to find his soul mate.

The twist to the simple storyline is that juxtaposition of the real and fantasy lives of two persons, leading to the conflict of the movie.

If that synopsis is not sufficient, then you will have to wait till August 4 when this movie will hit the cinemas. The producers are confident that this movie will be another box office success due to the technical details and quality of post-production work that it involves. Though the sound for the movie is undergoing fine-tuning, the audience was given the assurance that by the time the movie is screened for the public, audibility will be great.

For the lead actress, Omeruah, the movie production is by far her best experience so far.

She was honoured with the presentation of cakes to make her birthday at the preview.

“I got on set and learnt how to fall and take punches. It brought out the best of myself and I had the best time on set,” she remarked.

Diabuah, who played the ghost had been a regular face on stage productions such as Saro and Wakaa the musical. His rich baritone voice reverberated through the surround sound system inside the cinema; bringing back the memory of his performances at the successful Nigerian musicals. His comic character in Banana Island Ghost makes his acting career well-rounded.

The veteran Yoruba actor, Saidi Balogun was commended for accepting to play a supporting role, which most of his contemporaries would have rejected. In his response, he

expressed his satisfaction for being part of the cast of an industry defining movie as he clocks 50 years. “I read the script and I loved it,” he said. “I was preparing for the pilgrimage to Mecca but I had to skip the journey to be at the location.’’

The producer, Biola Alabi believes that if Nigerian film makers don’t tell our story as a people, no one will tell it accurately. Hence, the production team relied on technical support for the stunts and special effects from talents from South Africa who also acted as trainers for their Nigerian counterparts.

“What we did was to bring in the trainers because it is an action film and we just had to make sure we had the right tool,’’ she revealed. “The biggest challenge for any movie producer here is on how to get the right investor and the talents but I think we can overcome those hurdles. There are film makers who are also investors in the movie.

But we are very lucky to have very good private investors in our movie project. These are people who believe in the Nigerian creative industry and I want to make sure we celebrate such ones who invest in the work of young film makers.

“The movie was shot in various places in Lagos including Banana Island and Magodo.

The story is what we are selling. You are an artist; you know we have the creative license to use the name.’’

Directed by Bibi Fasoye, the premiere for the movie Banana Island Ghost is set for July.

68

JUNE 4, 2017 ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

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69

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

CICERO

Editor Olawale Olaleye Email wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08116759819

IN THE ARENA

PIB: Moving to Break a 13-Year Jinx The passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, penultimate Thursday by the Senate, after nearly 13 years in the works is arguably a great feat by the current administration. Olawale Olaleye writes

T

he Petroleum Industry Governance Bill aimed at addressing some of the ills in the petroleum industry if enforced to the letter was long in coming. And after nearly 13 years of politics and orchestrated frustration of the bill, the Senate, penultimate Thursday, breathed life into it by passing the bill into law.

“This is a bill that has been here for many years. We made a commitment and it’s being fulfilled…This bill is not only for Nigerians but for our investors. We are proud of what has been done,” said an elated Senate President Bukola Saraki, while commenting on the bill.

Read the third time at plenary, the bill was passed after the Senate, in the committee of the Whole considered the report of the committee on Petroleum Upstream, Petroleum Downstream and Gas presented by Senator Donald Alasoadura.

Generally identified as a comprehensive instrument for the oil sector development and diversification, the PIB, amongst others, pushes for a more inclusive development from crude oil to other product lines and by-products as well as robust engagement between international oil companies (IOCs) and the government in the area of investment and modifications in the joint Venture Partnerships/cash call obligations.

In addition, the bill, as a whole, also advocates the activation and extension of indigenous participation and local content development, just and fair engagement of the oil producing communities and transparency/accountability in the industry.

Interestingly, for the period the bill was in the works, concerns had always been that it should not end up another elite project as against an idea devoted to the expansion of the common wealth.

Curiously, whilst the bill was being perfected time and time again, there appeared to be some sort of consensus between the executive and the legislature on some potentially crucial areas that are germane to the very essence of the bill. Some of the issues include oil spills, gas flaring, agitation in the host communities, funding of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), contract cycles, status and structure of the refineries and the management of the upstream sector vis-à-vis liberalisation.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, corroborated this position when he said in the course of his presentation at the National Assembly last November that, “All studies conducted on the petroleum sector since 1999 are settled on the issue that the role of government in the sector needs to be better clarified whilst the policy, regulatory and commercial institutions need to be given a refocused mandate to ensure better sector governance, transparency of regulations.”

To address some of these challenges, therefore, Kachikwu hinted that the federal government had come up with a draft national oil policy, a draft national gas policy and a draft fiscal policy. Although the role to be played by the minister in the sector post-reform was not identified as the minister is currently limited to the policy function and does not sit on the board of the regulator, Kachikwu, like many before him, would rather he was in charge of petroleum and to chair the board of the regulator. But that, many reckoned, negated the idea of shielding the industry from undue control and abuse, especially political.

The fact that the IOCs operating in Nigeria once expressed concern over the federal government’s intention to change the laws governing the oil and gas industry, including the fiscal terms, explains one of the reasons the bill had faced stringent challenges in the period it was in the works. They claimed that the proposed fiscal terms would affect them and unsettle their investments in the upstream sector.

A research, some time ago, by the duo of Sani Saidu and Abdel Rasheed Mohammed from Aberdeen Business Schoool, Robert Gordon University, United Kingdom and titled: “The Nigerian Petroleum Industry Bill: An Evaluation of the Effect of the Proposed Fiscal Terms on Investment in the Upstream Sector, did profound justice to some of

the uncertainties that seem to dog the initiative despite its huge potential.

“The results show that even though petroleum projects remain profitable under the proposed fiscal terms, the lack of fiscal stability will negatively affect investment at least in the short term,” they stated.

Borrowing from their conclusion, therefore, the PIB clearly represents the single most transparent legislation that comprehensively addresses all issues in the Nigerian petroleum industry, while the economic indicators of upstream investment under the PIB terms reveal profound results. Besides, the non-neutrality of the PIB fiscal terms, the duo of Saidu and Mohammed reckoned might not be a major concern as it is often a general practice in the industry that majority of petroleum fiscal systems are non-neutral.

But since profitability without stability cannot sufficiently attract investment, fiscal stability might be required to create and sustain investor confidence. It is therefore hoped that the fiscal stability of the PIB, geared towards encouraging investment in the upstream sector, would be consciously factored into cause by the time the other part of the bill, which is at its second reading is being considered, because now that the law is gradually berthing safely at the shores of the nation’s body of laws, result is no longer negotiable.

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

Osinbajo’s Thawing Populist Politics

W

Osinbajo

hether it was preconceived or a spur of the moment, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s recent visit to the popular Garki market, Abuja, turned out a soothing balm for an exasperating majority penultimate weekend. This came a few days to the second year anniversary of the administration in office and the market literally shut down as people struggled to catch a glimpse

of this cosmopolitan and fine gentleman.

Although it was not his first time, Osinbajo did something similar during the campaigns and that singular move exposed the kind of person he really is, especially one who is most likely to be dismissed as belonging to the academia and completely apolitical. But he pulled that through the first time and repeated yet another success of it two weeks ago. He has proved that politics, just like governance, is not esoteric.

The Garki market visit, without doubts, came at a most auspicious time as it thawed

the anger of the teeming majority, albeit momentarily, many of whom found solace in merely seeing him physically. That, interestingly, is the upside of retail politics – this particular brand being highly civilised, sincere and not concocted to deceive the people. And do you know what the icing on the cake was? Spare a thought and ponder his visit to Calabar days ago, where there was a frenzy as school children, in a frenetic pace, tried to touch him as he walked along a route. It was surreal. Thumbs up to the acting president!

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JUNE 4, 2017

70

BRIEFINGNOTES

Venue of the primaries after it was disrupted

Foreboding Signs from Lagos APC The violent outcome of the recent local government primaries in the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress is a warning to the party leadership about what to come if candidates are imposed in future primaries, writes Olawale Olaleye

P

enultimate weekend, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State held its primary elections for the coming local government poll and for the first time in a very long while, the exercise turned out violent, with the chairman of the exercise, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, nearly mobbed by an angry mob, even though the mob was believed to have been sponsored.

The lead up to the exercise had shown that certain persons and groups in the party were not comfortable with the way the process of the primaries was being handled and in the period that many allegations were flying around, a lot had equally been levied against Afikuyomi, including but not limited to bribery and exploitation of candidates.

But whilst no one had come out to prove the allegations against Afikuyomi, the only senator in the nation’s political history to have served two different senatorial districts in Lagos State (Central and West), the development had built up anger amongst a majority of the people, who alleged imposition and brazen swapping of names of candidates. It was against this backdrop that the people insisted on election as against mere approval that was said to be the agenda of the election committee.

It didn’t take long before the entire process went south. Trouble, reports had it, started after 18 candidates were allegedly returned unopposed and a voice vote was called to choose the remaining candidates for the council poll, slated for July 22, 2017.

Delegates opposed to the idea of voice vote however protested the process, which they claimed would lead to the imposition of candidates. And when the leadership was not going to shift grounds, they allegedly threw caution to the wind, upturned tables and threw away ballot boxes and other materials meant for the election at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, venue of the election. This soon blew out of control as aggrieved party supporters engaged in a free-for-all midway into the election. Scores of delegates and others were forced to flee the venue

in different directions as a result, scampering to safety.

Although what happened penultimate Saturday was not alien to the “democratic tradition” of the progressives in the South-west, Lagos being a torchbearer, the oppression had also peaked. Lagos had never been quite democratic in its choice of leadership during primaries. Even though a semblance of it was forced on the party during the governorship primaries of 2015, it was clear to those who knew the undercurrents that it was a settled matter long before the exercise.

In fact, the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who had been rumoured all along as the anointed, once boasted during a meeting of aspirants of the party at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, that no matter how hard the others tried, they already knew the outcome of the election and truly, he won the election, as other aspirants of the party were “technically” edged out of the race with a delegates’ list that no other person knew of.

It is pertinent to note, therefore, that the first time the leadership of Bola Tinubu, which delights in imposing candidates on the people, regardless of their preference and yet fronts the façade of a democrat, was confronted about his Darwinian politics was in 2003, when he re-districted Senator Afikuyomi from Lagos Central to Lagos West, because he wanted to accommodate Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who had been anointed by the former Oba of Lagos, Adeyinka Oyekan, as Senator for Central.

But Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, otherwise called GOS, found the decision preposterous and challenged it. Efforts to cow or convince Solomon, who was at the time the outgoing chairman of Mushin Local Government on the need to toe the path of the leader was rebuffed by the man, who reckoned the decision was more than just switching senatorial districts for Afikuyomi, but was significant in terms of dearth of “representative material” from the West, which he would gladly represent.

Like the outcome of the exercise penultimate Saturday, the primary for Lagos West, which was done separately from other districts in 2003 and at the

Women Development Centre, Agege, also turned out violent, with supporters of Solomon, who outnumbered those of his opponents, taking over the venue and environment. It would later require Solomon to address his people to douse tension.

Although Solomon went on from there to the House of Representatives and later Senate, representing the same district twice, there is the belief that his non-consideration for the governorship year in, year out is not unconnected to the fact that he confronted the leader, who detests being challenged in matters he solely considers his prerogative.

Perhaps, also, the Solomon experience had stifled a lot of people from looking the leader in the face, even when they would have opted otherwise, because of the repercussion. This disposition further emboldened the leader, who overtime mastered his customised “democratic ideals” different from what anyone else knows in saner climes.

As it is, however, it appears the people have found their collective voice back and are ready to take what is theirs and dare the odds, whatever it takes. This development of two Saturdays ago is very instructive for the politics of Lagos especially its leadership, moving forward. The import is that nothing can be taken for granted again. The people are wiser now and would go all out, not only to exercise their franchise but also ensure that no one steals their right and vote from them anymore.

Indeed, the revolution of that Saturday might have signaled the beginning of the final interment rites of the “Baba so pe” (The leader said) regime, which had deceived, raped, abused, and plundered the collective constitutional rights of the people for nearly two decades. Certainly, it cannot always continue that way.

A time will come when the people will rise against their palpable oppression and demand what is rightfully theirs. Perhaps, that time is nigh and except the leadership turns up a new leaf with these evident foreboding signs, it might be consumed by its own power complex. More importantly, the message from that experience is not for one; it is clearly for all without an exception.

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CICERO/ONTHEWATCH

Amaechi, Wike’s Unending Battles It does appear that the needless rivalry between Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and his predecessor and Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi is never going to end. Anayo Okolie writes

T

he finest of relationship between a former governor of Rivers State and Minister of Transportation, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the incumbent governor of the state, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike was at best cursory before the 2007 general election and even after. In the era before now, Amaechi was the Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, while Wike was the Chairman of ObioAkpor Local Government Council. The long struggle for Amaechi to actualize his governorship ambition however brought them closer.

Amaechi was at the time in exile, as Wike held forth to supervise Amaechi’s structure, albeit on the instructions of the former governor. The effort of their tact team soon yielded good fruits as the Supreme Court, on October 25, 2007, ruled in favour of Amaechi as the governor of the state, having genuinely won the primaries upon which the deposed governor, Celestine Omehia was elected governor.

To compensate Wike for his efforts especially in holding the team together, Amaechi made him his Chief of Staff, which naturally was meant to deepen their friendship. But when reports of alleged malfeasance kept mounting against Wike from all known and unknown quarters, Amaechi devised a means of easing him out and thus nominated him for a ministerial position.

This rationale, he was said to have shared with the former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was also said to have agreed to accommodate him only for a period of six months. But all that changed as Wike became an even stronger ally of Jonathan while Amaechi fell out with the both of them.

For political watchers, the origin of the Wike/ Amaechi face-off was as a result of the fight between the former first lady, Patience Jonathan and Amaechi over what the former governor should do or not in Rivers State especially in Okrika, the part of the state the former first lady hails from. Just like her husband, it didn’t take long before Patience saw Wike as a strong force to be deployed in the fight against Amaechi. Wike was thus empowered and the state executive committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Felix Obuah became loyal to him and soon, the crack in their relationship began to manifest.

When the crisis became palpably irreconcilable, Amaechi left the PDP for the All Progressives Congress (APC) alongside his followers. Wike, who enjoyed the Jonathan support, saw their defection as an opportunity to benefit from the development and oushed ferociously for the governorship of the state, albeit against all odds.

After Wike won his party primary, the frenzy of their enmity escalated as both men were literally at each other’s throats, accusing each other of sundry allegations. Amaechi, who accused Wike of being a willing tool in the plot by Jonathan to humiliate him and whittle down his influence, did everything humanly possible to stop Wike’s governorship ambition but to no avail. Wike was declared winner of the election as against Amaechi’s anointed candidate, Hon Dakuku Peterside, a member of the House of Representatives and loyalist of Amaechi.

Few months after Wike emerged winner of the election, he inaugurated a five-man judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the administration Amaechi, of which he was a critical part as Chief of Staff. Amaechi did not to honour the panel and described it as ill-conceived and ill-motivated, designed to alter selected legitimate government transactions in order to ensure his political downfall and their fight continued.

On Good Friday, April 14, 2017, while Amaechi was planning for the Easter celebration, Wike, addressed journalists at the Government House in Port Harcourt, declaring that the $43 million dollars found in a luxury apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos belonged to the Rivers State government. He said investigations by the state government revealed that the money was proceeds from the sale of gas turbines by Amaechi.

“The money in question belongs to the former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

We want to confirm that the houses in Ikoyi also belong to Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. If you recollect in 2015, we said that gas turbines built by former Governor Peter Odili were sold to Sahara Energy, business partners of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi at $319 million. That money was used to sponsor the All Progressives Congress for the 2015 general

Amaechi and Wike...the good old days

election. From the date of sale of the gas turbines to May 29, 2015, the money depleted from $319million to $204,000.”

But Amaechi’s Media Office, while reacting, said since Wike became governor, he sleeps and wakes up every day, with a sole, one-point agenda – to attack and denigrate Amaechi.

“Every day in Rivers State, there is one frivolous, false story of what Amaechi did or didn’t do. This latest outburst by Wike is typical of him. We are aware that Wike first tried to float the fake news of Amaechi’s ownership of the recovered $43million and the Ikoyi house in the social media using his minions and lackeys, spending huge sums of Rivers money on the failed project. His minions and lackeys were calling journalists, bloggers and media organisations to run the fake story with promises of almost irresistible mouth-watering compensation for using the fake story.

“When that failed and the story didn’t gain traction, that was when Wike decided to hurriedly hold the press conference Friday night, to rant and spew his outright lies, yet again without providing any proof of Amaechi’s ownership of both the property and the money. For clarity and emphasis, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is not the owner of the $43 million and the Ikoyi apartment in which the money was recovered from. Amaechi has no business, link or connection to the money or property. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi does not know who owns the money or Ikoyi apartment.”

Only recently, Wike accused Amaechi of floating a cult group by the name Rivers Cult Group to destabilise security in the state, saying “Let me alert Nigerians. I am only informing Nigerians and security agencies of the crime against Rivers State by the past governor. We have successfully concluded the state amnesty programme for cultists in the state, but the former governor has set up another cult group.

“Let nobody allow his son to be used. No amount of cult recruitment can intimidate us. I am calling on the security agencies to call the former governor to order.”

In his immediate response, Amaechi denied the allegation and described it as a ploy by Wike to divert attention from his earlier allegations against him that he owned the 43 million dollars recovered from an Ikoyi apartment, Lagos.

The former governor said it was unfortunate that Wike had not been able to establish that he was

the owner of the apartment, where the money was found and the money, yet, he had come up with another allegation. “Yesterday, the governor of Rivers State, Wike continued to display unabated, his exclusive and uncommon strand of gubernatorial madness when he attempted to link his mentor, benefactor and predecessor Amaechi, as a sponsor of cultists in Rivers State.

“We know that Wike craves attention and always wants to be seen in the media to be ‘exposing and fighting’ Amaechi. However, we will burst his bubble this time and will not indulge him or dignify his crass stupidity. If he has any sense, Wike ought to know by now that no one takes him seriously anymore, especially whenever he makes those cooked-up vile, malicious allegations against the Minister of Transportation.”

Curiously, an opportunity for the duo to reconcile availed itself when the state government reportedly offered to give Amaechi an award but which Amaechi rejected, saying the award is coming from a man, who has made it clear from the onset of his administration that he is an arch enemy.

He told Wike to publicly apologise to him for accusing him of being the owner of the recently discovered $43 million or face the wrath of the law.

But Wike, while reacting to the award rejection, said Amaechi did not deserve to be honoured by the state having been indicted for corruption by the commission of inquiry set up to investigate the sale of valued assets of the state in the twilight of the Amaechi administration.

“Permit me to also address the purported rejection of the award by former Governor and current Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. We are not unaware that there is a subsisting indictment from a Judicial Commission of Inquiry and attendant White Paper in relation to corrupt practices that trailed the hurried sale and management of proceeds of state valued assets in the dying days of his administration,” he said.

As the face-off between these two gladiators continues, it is evident that the state is at the receiving end. In fact, their needless rivalry has reached a resentful extent and had become more of an affair of two kids. As it is, Amaechi and Wike must start to ponder the implications of their diatribe on the collective development of their people and the state, otherwise, their needless constant public engagement is fast becoming monotonous and somewhat disingenuous.

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CICERO/FACEOFF In this interviews with the spokesmen of the ruling All Progressive Congress, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, and that of the main of opposition party, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye (of the Ahmed Markarfi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party), Onyebuchi Ezeigbo sought their views on the two years of APC government. Excerpts:

‘APC Has Kept Its Promises to Nigerians’

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ppraisal of two years of APC government I think that if we look more closely, paying more attention to where we are coming from and where we were two years ago, you will see that we have more than sufficient good reasons to celebrate. There was a reason that Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for APC a little over two years ago. There was a reason that for the first time in our history, Nigerians rejected a sitting government and those reasons were quite compelling and those were the reasons that justified APC’s existence in government today at the federal level and in the various states. I like to say that there were three things that President Buhari promised as we went round the country campaigning. One was that he promised to fight corruption. Secondly, he said he would fight insecurity especially as it relates to Boko Haram and thirdly, he said he would create employment opportunity for the young people. Let us take the issue of Boko Haram. I have said it repeatedly that we tend to forget one fundamental fact which was that at the time we were preparing for election in 2015, more than 50,000 square kilometers of Nigeria territory were physically occupied by Boko Haram, where they declared a caliphate and planted their flag. I remember that in trying to make sense of it, he said the area occupied by Boko Haram was the size of Belgium. Two years down the line, what is the size of Nigeria territory occupied by Boko Haram? Zero, including the dreaded Sambisa forest. For us, this is a remarkable achievement and we believe that in that respect, President Buhari and the government of APC have justified the purpose of coming to power.

Yes, many of the Chibok girls are still in captivity, but some of them have been recovered and more are still being recovered. For the parent of those recovered, you cannot tell them there is no reason to celebrate.

For those who had to abandon their families and homes two years ago because of the menace of Boko Haram and has returned home today, you cannot tell them that there is nothing to celebrate.

Let us take the issue of corruption. We must not forget that before APC came into power two years ago, we knew what was going on. We knew that people were stealing this country dry, but it was almost like it had been accepted as if it was normal.

People were stealing as if it was an entitlement. But what do you find happening today? You listen to the radio, watch the television, read the newspapers, Nigerians are talking about corruption everyday. It means that as a nation, there is nothing in our DNA that accept corruption. It means that we are telling the world that as a country, we don’t want corruption and that is why we are having that conversation. You hear people talking about whistleblowers, people talk about huge amount of money being recovered, people being dragged before the court, former governors being remanded in prison custody for corrupt practices, you hear about former ministers being held in detention and prison for corruption.

These are things that were almost impossible two years ago. The challenges are still there, but this is the progress we have made in two years.

For us, we would also like to argue that there is the tendency to look at the APC from the perspective of the federal government. But the performance of the APC as a party is the aggregate of the performance of our 24 state governments. You go to each of our 24 states and you will find out from the people the progress that has been made in two years in those respective states. So, when you want to assess whether APC has delivered or has justified our being in existence, then you have to look at the totality of the federal, government and the 24 states that is being governed by the APC. So, we believe that we have a lot of reasons to celebrate. The reality which we have acknowledged is that the economic recession has created difficulty and those hardship still exist and nobody has ever denied that reality. We believe that in spite of this reality as a result of the hardship, we have enough reasons to celebrate two years as a government.

On hunger and hardship I don’t think that what the government promise was that at the end of two years, it would have

Abdullahi wiped out hunger from Nigeria. What the government promised is what I have told you. Since when have we been hearing the report that 70 percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line. It is a United Nations report and that statistics is not coming up today. The issue of poverty is associated with the issue of hunger and other kinds of challenges. So, to now begin to blame a government that has been in government for two years for a problem that has existed for decades is slightly unfair. I think that we should focus on what the government has promised to do and whether they are doing those things or not.

Anti-graft war and low number of convictions What do you want the APC government to do? A few days ago, the DSS said Ifeanyi Uba did something with petrol and that he ought to be punished with death sentence. Have you seen the reaction that followed that? People are asking whether DSS wants to be arresting people and passing death sentence on them? So, it is the same thing. No matter how keen we are, we have to ask ourselves as a country, do we want to be a country of law or a society of chaos. If we say let us arrest people as they are accused of corruption and lock them up, how do you know when you arrest someone that is innocent? The principle of justice says that it is better for nine guilty people to go unpunished than one innocent person to be punished. There are provisions under our laws that say an individual is innocent until he has been proven guilty. That process has to be exhausted. No matter how eager we are to punish people, they must go through that process as long as that is the provisions of the law. If APC government start catching people like it happened in 1984, the same Nigerians will ask, is this democracy? Like I told you, there is no alternative to the rule of law. No matter how much we are pressured to catch thieves, if you use an unlawful means to fight unlawful act, then you have not solved any problem. Yes it is slow and we want to see more convictions, we also need to ensure that our institutions develop more capacity to prosecute and investigate. But ultimately, we have to ensure that justice is done to everyone that is accused of one thing or the other.

Fulfillment of promises Let us understand one thing. A party manifesto represent the philosophy of the party. In other words, you cannot have a document called the manifesto of the party and after four years, you say they have implemented this document. The manifesto is an articulation of what the party believe that it wants to do with power if it gets to power. Now, when you form a government, when you have a candidate on the platform of that party, that government derives its programme from that manifesto. When he finishes his first years and wants to contest another election, he would say, I am satisfied with what I have been able to do in the area of security and corruption. The next four years, if you vote for me again, these will be my new sets of priorities which will also be derived from the manifesto. So when he finishes his tenure,

‘No, It’s Been 2yrs of Broken Promises’

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n the economy Let’s look at the issue of the economy, first it took the APC administration a very long time to come up with its economic policy. If it took you two years to come up with an economic policy, how could you claim that you have achieved anything within that period? As far as the economy is concerned, it has been a disaster. Look at the indices: inflation quadrupled, the exchange rate sky-rocketed and industrial production declined completely. Agriculture also declined considerably and every major sector of the economy suffered in the last two years, so much so that the standard of living of Nigerians dropped drastically that many of them are now committing suicide because of the economic hopelessness that we now found ourselves in this country. So as far as the economy is concerned, we have never had it so bad since independence. Even during the civil war, it was not as bad as this one, we were able to manage any problem that came up, the exchange rate was stable. But what has happened in the last two years, whereas we handed over to them the biggest economy in Africa, single digit inflation rate, five to six percent GDP growth rate every year. On the contrary, we now have double digit inflation rate, the economic growth has declined or is non existent, economy has been declining every quarter. So it has been a dismal performance as far as the economy is concerned. Look at the measures being adopted to solve the problem, they have resorted to borrowing thereby mortgaging the future of Nigerians and generations yet unborn. Whereas the PDP government led by General Olusegun Obasanjo was able to bring Nigeria out the debt burden some years ago, today, within this short period, Nigeria has been borrowing like mad as if that will solve the economic problem.

Now the power sector has declined and so is every other sector of the economy. For instance, in the transport sector, the only project that was commissioned by this government is the railway line from Kaduna to Abuja and that one was a project already completed by the former PDP administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. This APC government has not added one single meter of railway track. The same thing goes for the road transport sector, it has been a complete disaster, whereas, the administration of former President Jonathan expanded the road network from 5,000km to 35,000km, the government has done nothing. Even to repair the existing ones has been a disaster for them.

What is more pathetic is the issue of surging unemployment rate in the country. It has quadrupled.

What you get as a result is massive crime, kidnapping and armed robbery in the country.

On Security That takes us to the issue of security that they have been hammering on. The truth of the matter is that Boko Haram insurgency was virtually wiped out

by Jonathan. Nigerians will recall six weeks to the election, the NSA Sambo Dasuki asked for six weeks postponement of the election and within this period, Boko Haram was virtually annihilated so much so that election held in virtually all local government areas in the northeast. If they had taken over the whole place as the APC will make us believe, how come that we were able to hold the elections in all the local governments? They think all us are suffering from collective amnesia. It was because when they came, they had no tact, there was lethargy, the president did not appoint any minister at all and there was no action at all; that was why Boko Haram regained territory. If the PDP had remained in government and continued with the massive attacks another government will come and look at that same manifesto and derive its own agenda. President Jonathan had his own transformation agenda, Yar’Adua had his seven point agenda. The manifesto of a party is not the same thing with the programme of government, but the programme of government is a derivation from the manifesto of the party. But be that as it may, what we should hold President Buhari’s government accountable for are those things that are derived from the manifesto which he

Adeyeye against Boko Haram, before December 2015, Boko Haram would have become history.

In the area of security, to make matters even worse, is the herdsmen attack which we never saw before, which began to raise its ugly heads since the APC came into power. If you talk about Boko Haram, it is confined to three states, but herdsmen are now in virtually all the states of the federation. It is also arguable whether more people have not been killed by the herdsmen than even Boko Haram. And to compound the problem of herdsmen attack is that not only did they kill the village people, they also pillage farms so much so that people could not embark on agriculture, which is the means of their livelihood.

So as far as security is concerned, I will score them negative. It has also been a disaster in this area.

Anti corruption crusade Now we go to the issue of anti corruption fight.

The anti corruption fight to say the least has been a one-sided fight which has been aimed basically to harass PDP members and to subdue the opposition, there is nothing more than that. It has not been fought with sincerity, it has not been with genuineness and we have also seen that it has not been fought with openness and sincerity. With all the so-called whistleblowers, they are yet to come up with any report and they have not treated Nigerians equally before the law. It is as if some people are above the law. Some people are being investigated by the Vice President while others, people who belong to other parties, are easily arrested and handed over to the EFCC or the police to harass them and punish them. So whereas some people are being tested with kid gloves others are either being hammered with ammunition. So it has not been a fight with fairness attached to it. That is why they are not making so much head-way.

Electoral process We (PDP) conducted an election that put an opposition into power at the centre, is that not so?

We were able to conduct free and fair elections throughout our tenure, particularly in the last years of the PDP administration. But all these gains made with regards to the conduct of free and fair elections have been lost, we have inconclusive elections or one marked by terrible violence. It is now a do or die affair to try to take over our states at all costs. So it has been a complete disaster. Don’t forget that PDP introduced electronic voting into Nigeria in order to ensure that there are free and fair elections but what have we seen in the recent elections? It is either the card machines are not working or they postpone elections and manipulate it like the elections in Edo and Ondo states. promised that he was going to do and that is where we started this conversation from. So, as far as we are concerned, he has done very well in respect of those things he promised to do. So, you have to go round Nigeria and ask yourself, is there any government in this country that is doing something contrary to what the manifesto of the APC promised the people? You can measure this, to say this has done very well. But whether they have done well in consonance with the manifesto of the APC, I will say yes.

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SUNDAY INTERVIEW

Adams...I have paid my dues

Photos: SundayAdigun

Gani Adams

National Conference Recommendations Very Critical to the Future of Nigeria Leader of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress and founder of the Oodua Progressive Union, Chief Gani Adams, is one individual, who has brought himself to an enviable level of reckoning in both regional and national politics. From practically nowhere to a vantage position today, he has shown that self-development is the most potent of human development options, having gone back to school to bag a degree and other diploma in leadership, which is fast enabling him to rub shoulders with the high and mighty in the society, including serving as a representative in 2014/2015 national conference. For someone often dismissed as a “nobody”, who took over the OPC from an educated medical doctor, Adams has provided the kind of leadership that was lacking in the group today and has changed the image of the OPC from what it used to be (the rejects of the society) to a gathering of refined fellows. Today, the OPU is in over 76 countries with enlightened and educated membership from all walks of life, a majority of them professionals. To cap this, he is now being considered the next Are Ona Kankafo, the topmost war general of the Yoruba race. In this interview with Olawale Olaleye and Shola Oyeyipo, Adams tells the story of his journey so far, his vision for his many groups apart from OPC, his positions on the state of the nation and the way forward for Nigeria. Excerpts: Continued on Pg.74

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here has been a bit of lull in the activities of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress.

Things are more or less quiet now.

Is anything the matter?

Well, because we have given OPC a new face, a new direction and moderate way of operation. You cannot expect an organisation that was formed in 1994 to operate the way it started. At least, for one decade of the existence of any organisation, there will be a way of changing strategy let alone an organisation that has been in existence for two decades and three years. So, we tried to sample the mindset of the people we are fighting for and we realised that when you are too harsh in your approach, you can’t achieve what you want.

So, we had to diversify the organisation by forming another group called Olokun Festival Foundation (OFF). It is saddled with the responsibility of promoting Yoruba culture and tradition, while OPC still remains as a self-determination organisation and a watchdog to fight for the interest of the Yoruba race. In a situation, where there is anything that could affect the interest of the Yoruba race, OPC will be ready to protect the interest of the people.

In our about 23 programmes in a year, OPC has just three: June 12, Heroes Day Celebration, and leadership training seminars for our leaders in different states. The Olokun Festival Foundation, a purely sociocultural group handles not less than 18 programmes. My foundation, Gani Adams Foundation handles two. So, the remaining are social programmes within the calendar. With this calendar, you will realise that the activities of the OPC is minimal.

When you don’t have an issue you don’t jump into the newspapers and start shouting. They will turn you into a political nuisance and people will think you are looking for cheap publicity.

Don’t forget we have another group in the diaspora, a purely sociocultural group, which is different from the OPC and this is the group we decided to form to bring unity among Yoruba people in the diaspora. Before now, different countries have their own Yoruba associations that Adams were not linked to any other countries. Yoruba is about 250 million people in the whole world and we have the next population here – about 30 per cent, which is just 55 million. A bunch of the population is in the diaspora. We have minimum population in the homeland. So, we decided in 2011, through my initiative, to form a group called Oodua Progressive Union (OPU).

One, we have an opportunity to discover our potential, to annex them for the development of Nigeria and onward development of the Yoruba race. We have many medical doctors scattered all over the world. I am just back from the lesser hajj and about 15 per cent of the resourceful medical doctors in Saudi Arabia are from Yorubaland and we have them all over the world. Even there was an article I read that said the level of education of Nigerians, not just the Yoruba, is becoming higher in comparison with American citizens. So, you can see a number of Yoruba persons that can be resourceful to the homeland, but no group to annex and coordinate them.

Do you know that most of our people abroad do not really understand the context of true federalism? I remember vividly, whenever we send any message about true federalism and restructuring to our group chat in OPU worldwide, they will not respond to it, but for the period of about five or six years of the existence of OPU, they started understanding the concept of true federalism and Yoruba was founded as a race with ideologues before all the ‘amala’ and bribery politics.

In the 90s, every living Yoruba will tell you they were Awoist. They believed in true federalism. They believed in restructuring but now because the bourgeois have taken over our political system. We have been infiltrated to the extent that even when some educated persons are talking, irrespective of how educated he or she is, they are not ideologues at all. So, we need a group to reshape that. We have been doing our own part in Yorubaland but we need a group abroad. We can’t be doing something at home and leave our people abroad to go astray.

The Israelites coordinate their people in the diaspora. They are the greatest tribe in the whole world. Even the Arab community, they coordinate their people in the diaspora, likewise, the Indians, likewise, the Portuguese, French and the Spanish people. But a race like Yoruba, which falls among one of the twenty greatest races – not in the area of financial or technological capacities but in terms of intelligence – Yoruba is among the twenty. So, I pray that God should give me the responsibility to work on that. I have been trying my best within my little capacity and resources. And I thank our people in the diaspora. They don’t say, ‘who is Gani Adams that comes from nowhere and founded OPU’? They are doing very well.

We were in Oyo for the world congress. We were with Kabiyesi Alaafin.

We spent about three days in Oyo in January. Last year, we were at Ile-Ife. We spent two days with Ooni of Ife. The first world congress was held at the Airport Hotel, Lagos. In the future, we are thinking of projects that each country will come and do in Yorubaland. Definitely, we have a lot of things on our table beyond OPC as an organisation. Most journalists believe that everything about Gani Adams is only OPC. If I don’t break it down now, you will not know that we have different organisations saddled with different responsibilities.

You have talked about four of such organisations now under your leadership. What about the coordination without one interfering with the other?

Every group that I am involved in has their own executive. Talking about OPC, it has five finger structures. We have the National Executive Council in which we are 13. We have the National Coordinating Council.

That is the second layer. We are 156. We have all the 57 local councils in Lagos State. We have all the senatorial districts in Yorunaland. We have all the state coordinators in the 28 states that we have structures in Nigeria and we made some people – about 70 of them as ex-officio. We

Talking of Olokun Festival Foundation which is the group that we use to promote culture and tradition, we have Olokun Festival Foundation Committee. We are about 27 of which I am the chief promoter. We normally hold meetings once in a month to brainstorm. We evaluate the programmes we have done and plan for other programmes.

So, Gani Adams Foundation, there is coordinator for that.

We have four people that run that for me. I normally meet them every Thursday in the morning at least twice in a month to see what we can do in a year. My vote for Gani Adams Foundation in a year is between six to seven million every year. It is used to assist the less privileged and upgrade the youths in the area of sports.

We normally organise football tournaments and at the same time we do charity.

are training them. We can transfer them to any state to be supervisory coordinator. Even some are sent to some local government to supervise the local government based on your capacity, intelligence and how you can cope with us in the National Coordinating Council.

The third level is the state coordinating council, which is not my own beat. It is for the state coordinators and their executive. The fourth is the local government executive. The last layer and the most grassroots-based is the zone. Three or four streets can form a zone. People have expressed surprises over how I have been able to coordinate a group with about 6 million members conveniently. I have a limited responsibility unless an issue that comes to the national level that I would come in and we normally meet every Tuesday. We normally hold National Coordinating Council executive meetings but sometimes the local government that hosts us will have a general meeting for which we would have nothing less than 20,000 members in attendance. About five people will address them and give them information on what is trending. After we conclude the meeting, we would hold an inner meeting of the National Coordinating Council. That is for the OPC. The OPU has chapters. They have about three structures now – 78 countries for now. Second is continental structures, we had two before. We now have a new North American coordinator that coordinates Canada, Mexico and America. We have African Union with about 56 countries under him. We have European Union with 28 countries. We have the Asia. I don’t know how many countries are in Asia presently, but about three months ago, we had a new continent and we are planning to fix somebody to coordinate North America.

So, we have the third structure which is the worldwide executive council.

It comprises seven people before but now we have increased it to 13, because we gave slot to each continent to bring a representative. By the grace of God, before the middle of next month they will join us in the world executive council. The three structures will still be broken to four, because the chapters must have layers under them depending on the level of mobilisation. They should have province or state within them. So, with the three structures, it has been so easy for us to run.

So, the national conference recommendation will solve the Nigerian problem. It will save Nigeria from disintegration. It will save Nigeria from issues of insecurity. It will save Nigeria from the issue of not having basic policy as a country. It will give Nigeria stability. It will change the kind of mindsets people have about Nigeria

You were one of the representatives to the national conference organised by former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan about three years ago.To start with, what was your experience at the conference like?

The conference, for me, was a learning process. We can call it a quasi-parliament. I have never been in any parliamentary structure in my life. I haven’t earned any political post. I haven’t visited any state House of Assembly, House of Representatives or Senate but that conference gave me an opportunity to see how they run a parliament. You move a motion, you plan towards it, you can prepare a bill and we learned about it within a month. It is unfortunate that most of our politicians in Nigeria don’t have the right focus of where they are going. Some of them are wheeler-dealers – anything goes.

If they see something that tallies with their ideology coming from their opponent, they will criticise it. Unlike what is happening in civilised climes. In the US, you saw same Republicans vote for Obama healthcare. How you will know is that the Democrats have just about 182 members but by the time they voted, you will realise that 12 Republicans joined the Democrats to show you the level of maturity of their democracy and institution.

Even in Britain, if the Labour sees that the Conservative is doing a good thing, they will support it irrespective of their party differences.

But Nigeria is the country I see decamping day and night. Somebody who used the platform of a party to get to the National Assembly will just wake up one morning without even talking to your constituency – you just wake up in Abuja, collect money and say “I have decamped” to another party. You will see a party that has not been in existence for 10 years, they will say they want to change the name of the party.

From 1999 till date, the main political parties have changed name. It is only the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has not changed name and that is about to happen, because we are already seeing something like APDA. In the PDP, with just a little trouble, some of them have been decamping to APC. Some of them want to go to APDA. So that will show you the kinds of politicians we have in this country.

But the Jonathan conference experience was a very good experience.

For me, I am a student of history. I may be born in 1970 but I have done research a lot about our race and Nigeria from the Portuguese explorers in 14 century. So, I know what I can say within every decade. So, from my history, the MacPherson constitution, the republican constitution of 1963 and even the constitution given to use by the colonial masters in 1960, the only constitution that is nearer to what we did by our recommendations in 2014 was the 1963 constitution. As a matter of fact, we don’t even need to waste time. If Nigerians lift the 1963 constitution and adopt it, the country will change within two years. Not even going back to our 2014 constitution.

We recommended 633 modest demands that can solve the Nigerian problems. Some of the best brains in Nigeria were in that conference. We had more than 11 Senior Advocates, who are the best in their fields. We had three retired Appeal Court judges; two or more Supreme Court judges; about 52 professors from different fields. No fewer than seven permanent secretaries from different ministries and all the service chiefs. The generals we had in that conference were between 18 and 20. And we had the good products of the civil societies. All of them were well represented.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) sent their representatives. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) sent their representatives. The Nigerian Union of Journalists sent their representatives (NUJ). The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) sent their representatives – it cut across. I can easily say the recommendation of that conference led by Senator Okunroumu is excellent. By the time we met we didn’t even know the product that was coming. I was seeing people that I had been seeing on the television for over 25 years, who have triumphed in this country and when you know see the kinds of contributions they made, you learn everything: you will learn grammar. You will learn how to be articulate. You will learn how to be submissive and you will learn how to accommodate win-win situations on issues.

When we started the conference, we first agreed on two-third majority voting pattern. It took us about three weeks to agree on the percentage of voting. The recommendation of the committee was that three-quarter should be the majority on decision but we fought that. All over the world, you cannot be expecting three-quarter to agree. We wouldn’t move forward until we agreed on two-third majority. It nearly truncated the conference.

Fortunately, 99 per cent of our decisions were based on consensus. No voting. The only thing was the derivation principle about oil, not solid minerals. It took us about three weeks.

You know anything about oil, Nigerians will raise eyebrow to it. People like us said they should give Niger Deltans, who own the oil. My state is also an oil producing state – Ondo State. But we agreed that we should give them 25 per cent but funny enough, some of our lazy politicians in the South-west said no. We will not be able to pay salaries again if we pay them 25 per cent. We told them that we had agreed that the states should control solid minerals and there is no state in Nigeria that does not have solid minerals. Even the northern states have more solid minerals

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than the South.

I was with a former governor of Kano State for two days. He showed me a brochure. Kano State has 44 solid minerals and most states in the South-west have at least 30 solid minerals. So, I kept asking myself that why are some northern states fighting because of oil? South Africa does not have oil. South Africa depends on tourism and solid minerals and they are the richest country in Africa. I was in South Africa watching a news report and they gave an insight into how much they make from tax alone. When I converted that money to our own naira, it was almost ten times more than our annual budget – on tax alone. That’s a country with a population of less than 60 million people. Now the population of Nigeria is getting to 190 million.

In Nigeria, we only channel our focus on oil. It is just recently that we started talking of making money from tax. People from foreign countries are making money here without paying taxes. Most of our governors don’t know the context of restructuring. The context of restructuring will give them the opportunity to take advantage of inflow of ideas to develop their states beyond becoming ‘fine bara’ (beggar) – going to Abuja to collect money, beyond being a servant of another Commander-in-Chief every week. Things like that do not happen in America. Every governor is even more powerful than a vice president. They are just like a mini-president in America. We adopted federalism from America but immediately it got here, Nigerians reshaped it and repackaged it to our own unitary system of government and that has been the bane of our problem.

Thus, talking of the conference, it was a beautiful experience. If Nigeria loses the recommendations of the conference, forget Nigeria. If Nigeria does not implement the recommendations of the conference, forget about Nigeria. Every region has its own interest now. Even if you want to kill 30 per cent of Igbos, they will not drop the Biafran cause, and when you are talking of the Niger Delta, they have their own plan. Even though they are not eyeing secession, they are not interested in unitary system of government anymore.

And if not because some Yoruba are being cowed or because of political selfish interest, an average Yoruba man will wake up and say they want to develop at their own pace because we benefitted from it from 1954 to 1959 during Chief Obafemi Awolowo. We know what we achieved within five years. It is what most of these South-west governors inherited and are collecting tax on today. The Ikeja industrial estate was built by Western region government; Ilupeju industrial estate was built by the western region government; Apapa industrial estate was built by western region government.

I now ask the Lagos State Government that is making about N33 – 34bn from tax now; you are making almost 60 to 70 per cent from these industrial estates, how many industrial estates have they built? And that was what Baba Awolowo did between 1954 and 1959. Oodua Investment with about 22 companies is still there. The Cocoa House is the tallest house in Oyo State, after it was built in 1957 or 1958 – a 25-storey buildings. The Oyo State Government has never built 10 stories building. There is no state government as a state project that has built 20-storey buildings in the 36 states of the federation.

We talk of the University of Ibadan built Baba Awolowo. Apart from the University of Ife that has very good structure, tell me any good university that has a very good structure like University of Ibadan and when we are talking of the best political scientists today, you will take nothing less than 70 per cent from the University of Ibadan. So, you can see the idea and vision of the late sage and our fathers by then but unfortunately, instead of our politicians to emulate that, they are deviating because the unitary system that we are running now benefits them selfishly – to milk, to steal money on the basis of impunity. They are running from pillar to post.

Please, tell me, after the death of Awolowo in 1987, how many heroes, politically have we produced? There are no political heroes after the demise of Awolowo. All of them are bourgeois embezzling our money. They buy estates, enrich themselves, turn themselves to godfathers, install governors, install governments and expand their wealth with money taken from government. Tell me, how many estates did Awolowo have? Maybe

the Park Lane in Apapa, his house in Ikenne and a house in Ibadan; Awolowo did not have a house in Ibadan. He was one of the people that agreed that the capital of Nigeria should be taken to the centre of Nigeria. He was the one that nominated Justice Akinola Aguda to head the panel but Awolowo did not have a house in Abuja. He didn’t have four houses in Lagos but today, Awolowo’s name still stands beautifully as if he was still alive.

So, the national conference recommendation will solve the Nigerian problem. It will save Nigeria from disintegration. It will save Nigeria from issues of insecurity. It will save Nigeria from the issue of not having basic policy as a country. It will give Nigeria stability. It will change the kind of mindsets people have about Nigeria. If you get to some ports of entry and you show your passport, some immigration will put you aside to recheck your history, because you are a Nigerian.

I was in Malaysia last November and I was almost deported by the Malaysian authority. I had my visa, I had everything; just because I am a Nigerian and they saw me with about seven people, they were not comfortable with me because of the experiences they have had with Nigerian citizens in their country. It took the intervention of the Nigerian embassy before they allowed me entry. The Nigerian embassy had to call them that the person leading the delegation is an important person; that he is not a security threat before they allowed us into their country. So, you can imagine how dented the name Nigeria is, even the passport green and white. But by restructuring, we can sanitize this country – every region will monitor their leaders. I am not saying you can eradicate corruption but it would be reduced to the barest minimum.

You’ve always been an advocate of regionalism and this you also pushed for at the conference. Now, looking back, would you say that the agitation is still as relevant?

A good agitation doesn’t normally die in a society. The truth is very constant. It is very hard to bend the truth. The spirit of the truth can never be driven away from any society. Any society that drives away truth will never witness peace and tranquility. So, when you are talking of the issue of regionalism, let us ask ourselves: how did we get independence from the colonial masters? The agreement to have independence on October 1, 1960 was to have three regions; we will remain as three regions. That was how the colonial masters gave power to Tafawa Balewa as the Prime Minister and Nnamdi Azikiwe as the ceremonial president and there were regional heads in the three regions.

By then we haven’t had the mid-west. So, that was how we got the independence. What brought sudden change was the military incursion into our polity – Aguyi Ironsi on January 15, 1966. It was because of his selfishness that if we control the entire country with his centralist-minded structure, we will be able to dictate everything that happens in the country.

He changed regionalism to unitary system.

Sometimes, there is a limit one can blame the north. They saw the opportunity that will benefit their own interest and they grabbed it. We, the southerners started it through Ironsi. And by the time Gowon got the power back on July 15, 1966, he hammered on it. He brokered regionalism, first to 12 states; from 12 to 19; from 19 to 30 states and from 30 states to 36 by the military.

Those who broke our regions are not the civilian politicians; they were the politicians in army uniform that used decree. There was no conference.

Even the 1979 conference, constitutional conference of 1996, did not agree that we should be running this country out of federal system of government to unitary system of government. So, anybody who believed that regionalism is not popular is not a student of history and is a person chasing shadow to sustain the country. Such person does not believe in the real solution to the problem confronting the country. We have some people who will come to this world without making an impact. Yoruba calls it a snake that passes through the rock without leaving a mark. They are many in Nigeria but somebody who wants to make a mark and who wants to be a hero – even if you are a minority you can do it.

There is no reason you should follow a majority on a wrong cause. And

those who change society are as low as one per cent in some cases. A good example, we were the ones that fought against the military between 1993 and 1999 before democracy. You cannot write the history without putting Gani Adams. I led most of the major protests in Lagos. When the police in Lagos cowed people in the mother-of-all rallies organised by the Olisa Agbakoba-led UAD in 1995; we were in Yaba; people saw police and entertained fear. I just got there as a young man; I wasn’t a student union leader; I said what are you waiting for? We are almost 100 here, what are you waiting for? Greatest Nigerian students! By the time I stretched my hands the pick pockets there stole my wrist watch. I didn’t even know that they had taken it.

But by the time we got to Alagomeji, I didn’t know that some people had hung around; they couldn’t lead the protest for fear of the police – before getting to Alagomeji, we were more than 1000; before getting to the middle of Oyingbo, we had reached about 4000. People kept joining us. By the time we turned back at Herbert Macaulay we were more than 10000. No police could curtail that protest again before most of the leaders, who had run away, came to corner us with vehicles and started granting interviews.

In 1998, I was one of the living forces. I was 28 years old, I led OPC. When Tunji Abayomi was in Joint Action Committee led by the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, he brought an idea that we should carry a coffin to show a symbol that Abacha killed our daughter, Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1998.

We said we should carry the coffin to Alausa (the seat of power in Lagos State). We were 106 organisations. It was only the OPC that succeeded in carrying the coffin to Ikeja before the police came to disperse us. I led the protest.

Eight days after, on June 12, in Yaba, it was only the OPC and some civil society groups that succeeded in breaking the barricade before they used armoured cars and everything to dispatch us and we reconvened again at Ojuelegba. When some people see Gani Adams they think they are seeing a rabble rouser. I just laugh it off because they don’t know my history. I was the one that distributed all leaflets that we used against Abacha in 1996 and 1997. I have never said this to any reporter. I remember one day at Oshodi, when I was going with the leaflets, SSS just surrounded me up. I was with one of my friends, Taiye Abass.

They shouted: “What is in your bag?” I said it was church leaflets. They said “open it!” As I made to open it, one of them just said, leave it. You can go. If I had opened it that day and they saw what I was carrying, I would have been taken to Abuja on that day. Maybe that would have been the end of Gani Adams. We took a lot of risks. Writing things on the major streets of Lagos in the nights but we haven’t benefitted anything from the democracy. I haven’t held any political position and some of the people, who did not even know about how we fought for democracy, are abusing us that are the freedom fighters and that is why some of them are dropping everyday and I am moving forward. I am not in haste to be in power.

Your advocacy for culture and the value system have been quite profound over the years. In what ways have they helped to shape your ideology?

I think in my ideology for liberation, culture is another potent tool. If you want to liberate your people, if they don’t sustain their cultural identity, particularly their language and their tradition, there is no way you can do that. So, talking of having liberation ideology, culture is another veritable tool to liberate oneself. If you lose touch with your language, you wear suits, you don’t wear Yoruba clothes and you don’t believe in the Yoruba tradition, the spirit of Yoruba will not support you. And the war you don’t win in the spiritual realm, you can’t win in the physical.

Go and read the Bible and the Quran very well. Most of the wars won

by Prophet Mohammed were supported spiritually. The war won by David against Goliath was not just about the stone that was thrown on Goliath that killed him. There had been spiritual undertone. That is why you don’t see me just issuing statements anyhow.

(See the concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

76

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NE 4, 2017

PERSPECTIVE

A Customised Democracy for Nigeria Olukunle Iyanda

Nigeria Today

P

erhaps the most indicative summary statistics of the development and well-being of a nation is the Human Development Index published annually by the UNDP. In the latest published index for 2015, Nigeria ranks 152 out of 188 countries, one rank below that of 2014. In comparison, Nigeria ranks below Tunisia, Libya, Botswana, Gabon, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco which are all in the High Human Development Index category of countries while Nigeria is categorised as a “low human development index”.

While many countries have risen in rank, Nigeria had remained around the same rank of 150s since 2010. It actually declined by one rank in 2015. It is statistically easier to make a higher rate of improvement from a low base than from a high base. But this has not been the case with Nigeria.

Although the index is increasing, it is not increasing at a rate sufficiently high as to improve its comparative ranking. When adjusted for inequality, Nigeria’s human development index declines from 0.527 to 0.328 while life expectancy decreases from 53.1 years to 40.8years. This is an indication of a wide disparity in human development among various classes of citizens.

Table 1: Human Development Index (2015) of Selected Countries

Country

Rank 1990

Nigeria

152

Norway

1

---

2000 --

2010

2011

Development Index 2012 2013 2014

2015

0.500 0.507 0.514 0.521 0.525 0.527

0.849 0.917 0.939 0.941 0.942 0.945 0.948 0.949

Botswana 108

0.585 0.560 0.678 0.687 0.693 0.697 0.698 0.698

Ghana

0.455 0.485 0.554 0.563 0.570 0.576 0.575 0.579

139

Other indices that reflect the low level of development and, consequently, the well-being in Nigeria are life expectancy (53.1 years), Unemployment (13.9%), youth unemployment (45.7%), poverty index (279) with about 54% of the population living on less than $1.9 a day. Another statistics that should be of interest to watch is the rate of suicide. In 2015, the rate for female was 2.9 persons per 100,000 and 10.3 for men. With recent occurrences, this statistic may get worse.

Another index that may be regarded as a major contributor to the grim picture of the condition in Nigeria that is painted above is the Corruption Perception Index which measures the extent to which respondents perceive a country free of corruption in the public sector. In 2016, Nigeria had a score of 28 and ranked 136 out of 176 countries, the same rank in 2015, with a score of 26. The perception index of 28 for Nigeria in 2016 is two points higher than the 2015 index and the highest ever since 2012. Indicators for the rule of law and justice scored badly because corruption has found its way to these sacred chambers. Many countries, such as Benin, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which are much less-endowed than Nigeria had much higher scores and ranks than Nigeria. The public sector, consisting of political office holders, civil servants, and top managers of other government agencies manage the enormous resources of the country. Widespread and endemic corruption in this sector leads to gross misallocation of resources, massive diversion of the public wealth to private pockets and outright stealing. This poor management of resources result in degradation of economic and social infrastructure and widespread poverty and diseases among the populace Table 2: 2016 Corruption Perception Index of Selected Countries

Country Nigeria Norway Ghana Namibia Botswana USA Mauritius

Rank (2016) 136 1 70 53 35 18 45

2016 28 90 43 52 60 74 54

2015 26 91 47 53 63 76 53

Corruption Index 2014 2013 27 25 92 91 48 46 49 48 63 64 74 73 54 52

2012 27 90 45 48 65 73 51

Nigeria is not an isolated case. Two-thirds of the countries covered scored below 50 while 40 out of the 46 Sub-Sahara countries have “serious corruption problems”. The sordid records of practically all African political leaders pervade all media, electronic or print. It is not a surprise therefore that the Mo Ibrahim Prize for any elected African country President judged to have provided excellent leadership to his country has not been awarded for the fourth time in its seven-year history, in spite of its very high prize value of $5 million and $200,000 annually thereafter for life. In another story of corruption, Strive Masiyiwa, who brought his mobile telephone service provider company, ECONET, to Nigeria had his management contract of the company terminated because he refused to pay a bribe of $4.5 1. Masiyiwa, Strive (2015), It’s time to play by a different (ethical) set of rules million to the then governor of Delta State James Ibori. Strive also refused to buy the V-Mobile (Econet) shares of Akwa Ibom State offered by the State Governor Victor Attah, through a seedy “Special Purpose Vehicle” designed by their now jailed lawyer, Mr Gohil.

Buhari Similar cases of fraudulent transactions of public property abound in the media. Those involved are state governors, top federal government functionaries, top bankers and businessmen and a few ubiquitous Nigerian men of God. The public is so exasperated with Nigerian political leaders that one young man in a post on social media pronounced them as the only problem of Nigeria and wished for “mass burial” for all of them so the youths can have a fresh start.

One could just indulge one’s imagination on what a country Nigeria would have been if all those entrusted with the management of its enormous resources had done so responsibly and honestly, adhering to the excellent and noble Code of Conduct of the NIM. Would we have been so import-dependent for our food and other basic needs? Would our roads have been so bad as to be suckers of the blood of our youths and some of our best bright hopes? Would our sick have lost hope and confidence in our hospitals as to seek their care and healing from foreign hospitals?

Would we, ordinary citizens, have had to spend a third or more of our paltry income on providing illumination for our homes by having to invest in costly inverters, personal electricity generators and solar energy systems, with all their attendant risks? Would our educational institutions have become so degenerate that anyone who could barely afford it would rather send their children or wards to any foreign educational institution? Would our national currency, the Naira, once the most preferred currency in West Africa, become such an object of derision such that a student considered it more economical to print her birthday invitation on the N50 naira currency denomination? Would our youths have become so desperate to travel to just any other country in order to seek relief from unemployment, deprivation and misery? Would they have, in such high numbers, openly embraced violence, kidnapping, terrorism, or cyber-crimes? Many questions: Many more may be asked. But it seems more useful and more productive to try to address ourselves to identifying the cause of these gross abuses of office, fraudulent and criminal diversion of public resources and the consequent impoverishment of the populace.

It was such a challenge that engaged my mind when Alhaji Azeez Bello conveyed your invitation to me to attend this Reunion and to address you on a topic of my choice. There is so much happening in our country that can form the topic of an address to an elite group like yours. Does one talk about the circus that the national assembly has become? Do we talk of the degradation of university education under the guise of its liberalisation? Does one talk of the billions of dollars and naira being discovered in odd locations or recovered from depraved politicians and public office holders? Or of the ubiquity of corruption that has found its way to the topmost ranks of revered professions such as law, academics or civil service? There is hardly any shock these days from hearing of corruption allegations levelled against justices of the highest courts, the most senior members of the bar and even professors and vice chancellors of our universities, once the models of asceticism, honesty, and integrity. Or do we talk about the religious charlatans masquerading as men of God, or the commercialization of churches? All these are largely the results of mismanagement of resources mainly caused by corruption. They represent the real life qualitative dimensions of the dismal statistics discussed earlier.

So the question I wish to address in this discussion is how to deal with the issue of corruption which is at the root of most, if not all, of Nigeria’s problems.

Assumptions of Democracy Management theory teaches us that an incongruity between structure and strategy is most likely to result in discordant practices and failure to achieve set objectives. We also learn from ecology that, for its survival, it is imperative for any living organism to adapt to and be in harmony with its environment.

It is my considered view that our adoption of a political or

governance system that is too sophisticated and far in advance of our individual or collective level of development is the root cause of most of the ills of our nation. By this I am referring to our adoption of a democratic system of governance without due regard to whether its implicit assumptions are extant in our society.

In a series of writings in the The South African Observer in the 1950s, Anthony M Ludovici2 decried the abuse, prostitution, and counterfeiting of the word “democracy”. He claimed that the word is used in a “hundred different contexts, none of which necessarily bears any relation to a clearly conceived political system”. Ludovici argued that Athenian democracy of direct self-government was feasible because the total free population of the Athenian State of the 5th century “could hardly have been more than 140,000 and the number of males entitled to conduct the government of the State was only about 30,000.”

He therefore argued that there was no excuse to use the same word to describe the current system in modern nations “where the mass of the population have no direct self-government, would be quite incapable of carrying it on if they had, and possess only the right of voting very occasionally … in favour of representatives who stand for policies the mass of the population do not understand, information about which is never either wholly available or resolutely sought, and the sponsors of which… they do not necessarily know, are quite incapable of judging accurately … and have no reason to trust out of their sight” Implicit in the above assertions is the fact that there are certain assumptions under which democracy functions effectively and the absence of which makes it fraudulent to lay claim to its existence or practice. I will discuss only one or two of such assumptions.

First is the assumption that all members of the voting population are capable of making the right choice of candidates and take the right decision of issues represented by candidates. Sir David Lindsay Keir in his book on The Constitutional History of Modern Britain (1950) asserted “that only a small portion of the electorate is sufficiently well-informed to judge politics on grounds of pure reason” and that voting is nothing more than an invitation and encouragement “to perform an important piece of work, a nationally momentous job, unconscientiously and badly”. If this could be said of Britain of 1950s, where literacy and enlightenment level then was much higher than exists in Nigeria today, we can only be engaged in self-deceit by claiming we are practising democracy in Nigeria.

Secondly, there is an assumption that adequate information on issues as well as on candidates 2. Ludovici, Anthony M. (1956 – 1958) “The false assumptions of democracy”, The South African Observer. (character, competence, etc) seeking election is available to the electorate. In hiring workers of lesser status, one is likely to ask for as much information (personality, character, integrity of the candidates, testimonials from former employers and track record of previous positions held) before taking a decision. Yet the choice of a political representative, “who is expected to perform far more complicated and responsible and intellectual duties … and to help in determining the fate not only of his contemporaries but also of generations to come, should be left to every Tom, Dick and Harry, and every Judy, Janet and Jane who would regard it as a personal insult if you questioned their ability to form a sound judgement without some sort of testimonial or evidence of character” A third and last assumption discussed here is that for a true democracy to exist, no individual serving as an elected representative of the people should pursue any individual ends or interests, whether such interests are consistent or inconsistent with the common weal. In other words, an elected representative in a democracy is expected to be self-effacing and altruistic. He would therefore be ready to subject his personal or class interests to those of the nation. If these assumption are extant, we would not have legislators fixing their own salaries, making politics so lucrative and earning incomes in one month that are a hundred thousand times higher than the life-time earnings of really hard-working, better qualified, and more accomplished professionals.

It could be concluded that the claim of democracy in Nigeria is a farce, and a self-deceit. The assumptions on which truly democratic governance is based are not true of Nigeria. A country of low literacy and little knowledge of local and international issues, a country where change can only come from the very beneficiaries of the status quo, where two out of three citizens live below the global poverty line of $1.9 a day and where many citizens would readily sell their birth right for just a few thousand of Naira hardly provides a conducive terrain for the practice and growth of democracy.

Customising Democracy There is so much emotion attached to democracy such that today, it takes quite considerable courage to advocate any other form of political governance courage. Yet Dr Salazar of Portugal had described as a great fallacy the thinking that English parliamentarianism and English Democracy were adaptable to every European country. How much less adaptable would they then be to other countries with less cultural affinity with Britain.

But as has been pointed out above, the word “democracy” is capable of usage in 100 contexts. Each country can then create its own contextual democracy designed to reflect its culture, size, complexity, and level of political sophistication.

--Being the text of an address presented by Prof Olukunle Iyanda at the 40th graduation anniversary of the UNILAG MBA Class of 1977 (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

77

JUNE 4, 2017 ˾THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

PERSPECTIVE

2018: Fayose in Storms of Conspiracy Michael West

S

ince he returned to power in 2014, Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose has been swimming from one controversy to the other. The image of being an “attention seeker” was deliberately weaved around him in order to rubbish genuine advocacy and agitations championed by him. Those who detest his guts are not interested in knowing the merits or demerits of his utterances and actions before dismissing Fayose as a “noisemaker.” They are not willing to allow reasoning or sense of fairness in judging him. In the media, any opinion that supports Fayose’s line of thoughts or actions is derided as coming from his “paid writers” or “agents.”

For daring to be the strident voice of opposition in the country, Fayose has been a victim of incessant executive harassments despite his immunity as a sitting governor; yet, his former peers in the federal cabinet who have tons of corruption allegations hanging on their necks are left untouched. Not even investigations have been instituted on the allegations. Beyond that, more than thrice he had raised alarm about deft moves by the ‘big boys’ in the federal executive to orchestrate his removal through the backdoor.

Regardless of political colouration of whatever happens in Ekiti State, especially as it concerns Governor Fayose, it is simply reasonable to be factual sometimes; and one of such situations is now. I like to start with the fact that the dust raised by the so-called reelection of Governor Fayose is a ruse. I remember Fayose announced publicly shortly after his election in 2014 that both himself and his deputy are quitting the stage at the expiration of their tenure in 2018. That reality remains sacrosanct. The issue came up when Fayose was responding to reports on the state broadcasting stations that some governorship aspirants were already on campaign train to the extent of picking running mates and pledging political appointments to some of their supporters. Fayose mocked the reports, doubting the possibility of any serious aspirant in his camp to have gone that far.

“As we speak, I don’t know which political party platform we are going to run until the coast is clear. Let those running ahead of time relax and wait for the right time. Meanwhile, do they know that they have to allow me finish my tenure before another person can take over? Lest I forget, the Supreme Court had nullified my impeachment as illegal, so, maybe they should please add the remaining seven months of my previous tenure to this one. Then, we are good to go,” he sarcastically said. Even an ignoramus knows that Fayose can’t run again. It’s a joke taken too far.

Another issue is that of the resolved face-off with a section of petroleum products dealers in Ekiti State over stoppage of work on their site and demolition of structures in four petrol stations in Ado Ekiti. The manner in which the petrol dealers went about their protest was seriously suggestive of external interest with political undertone.

Facts available to the media indicate that Fayose government was acting rightly. It’s nearly impossible to embark on restructuring of a city or sanitizing crooked town planning without some structures giving way. When former President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to implement Abuja master plan as executed by the then Federal Capital Territory, FCT, minister, Nasir el-Rufai, several houses including those

Fayose of the high and the mighty were demolished.

According to the report, all the four affected filling stations have issues which render the building of the gas stations illegal. It was alleged, if not politically calculated, that their strike action was to embarrass and intimidate the state government especially in the week of the state burial of Late General Adeyinka Adebayo, knowing full well that the state will host dignitaries from across the country.

Government ordered stoppage of work on four filling stations located at Iworoko Road, Adebayo, and Irona areas of Ado-Ekiti. Only the two in Irona area have gone beyond foundation stage. One was located on water pathway, while the other was almost encroaching into a public primary school. The statement further reads: “The one in Adebayo area, close to the building housing The Punch and The Guardian offices, is sited in residential area and the tank buried close to the fence of the next building. The landlady of the building housing the newspaper offices, told Governor Ayodele Fayose during a visit to the site that she went to court and obtained injunctions stopping the construction of a filling station in such a place.

Findings revealed that the owner, who bought and demolished two residential buildings did not disclose that he was setting up a filling station in the area. ”The fourth filling station was near the Ureje Stream along Iworoko Road, where the government of Kayode Fayemi demolished some structures following persistent flooding in the area. Also, government stopped work on it while the owner was still sand-filling.

“The fences of three filling stations were pulled down. One of the

affected stations is on the slope in Dallimore Street, Ado-Ekiti. The fence was obstructing free flow of water when it rains. Recall that a primary school pupil got drowned in the area in 2013 as a result of flooding. The fence of the station where there was a calamitous fire outbreak early in the year and the fence of a station under construction in Ajilosun area of Ado-Ekiti were also pulled down.

“Since 2012, the Ekiti State Government had disallowed a dealer from operating a newly-built filling station at Nova Junction, Adebayo area of Ado-Ekiti. When the owner started work, the management of a primary school nearby wrote a series of petitions to the previous administration which agreed that fuel should not be sold in such a place. The Fayose administration came on board and also saw no reason why the station should operate in such an environment.

“During the last strike by the oil dealers, officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and leadership of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) visited the state and went round the affected stations. Many were found to be operating without approval; many faulted on being located in inappropriate places; most of them were not insured and they don’t have fire-fighting equipment.

“The fire outbreak at the filling station in Mugbagba area of Ado-Ekiti early in the year, exposed the sorry state of the facilities where some people make millions of naira daily. The owner only insured his products from the depot to the station. No insurance of his premises or possible victims in case of any ugly incident. Over 20 buildings and 35 shops were razed and the dealer was offering victims between N2,500 and N10,000 as compensation. He didn’t have fire-fighting equipment and none of his staff is trained in the handling of fire extinguisher.

“Following their first industrial action, the government set up a committee to work with the leadership of petrol marketers and assess the situation, but rather than cooperating, the marketers shunned the panel and wrote through their lawyers that they would not appear before the panel.”

On his part, Chairman of the South-West Zone of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Debo Ahmed, has accused the Ekiti State Government of demolishing filling stations owned by politicians who are not members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the state. He added that the affected filling stations had valid documents and approval to operate.

However, the government insisted the owners of the demolished stations contravened town planning laws of the state.

According to a statement by Fayose’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, “He (Debo Ahmed) should tell Nigerians the owners of petrol stations demolished and the parties they belong to. It is such a puerile argument coming from people who believe they should be worshipped like gods even when they are flagrantly contravening the laws of the state and endangering the lives of the people.”

Now that the petrol dealers’ issue had been tentatively resolved, let’s wait and see how far this vicious circle of conspiracy and political shenanigans will go before the governorship election next year. It’s an open secret that every move to discredit Fayose is a ploy to wrestle power from his camp and political party in Ekiti State.

--Michael West, a Media Consultant wrote via mikeawe@ yahoo.co.uk

Echoes of Ugwuanyi’s Midterm Anniversary Louis Amoke

T

he lyrics of thanksgiving and praises to God were waxing higher and the mammoth crowd in a jubilant mood when Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State arrived the popular Michael Okpara Square, Enugu, venue of the 2017 Democracy Day celebration.

The occasion marked the second year anniversary of his administration.

The elated crowd was full of excitement, adoring God for His goodness and special blessings in Enugu State, made manifest through the governor’s vision and commitment to the wellbeing of the people, especially, the most neglected residents in the rural areas. It was, indeed, a celebration of peace and good governance. The visibly happy people of the state, including well-wishers and supporters who trooped out in their numbers to grace the epoch-making ceremony, were overwhelmed by the governor’s uncommon leadership style anchored on vision, peace, good governance, humility, inclusiveness, accessibility and respect for all.

They were also pleased with him for committing Enugu State into the hands of God. Arriving the colourful venue of the event with his wife, Mrs. Monica, Ugwuanyi clearly could not miss the high level of enthusiasm in the faces of the people who had assembled to welcome him. He did not stop at the conventional red carpet, where some dignitaries, such as the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo, the Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi, the Chief Judge of the state, Hon. Justice Ngozi Emehelu, the Service Chiefs, former Governor and Deputy Governors, among others, had lined up to receive him. But the governor stopped at the entrance view of the pavilion from where he acknowledged cheers from the crowd, bcefore he approached the point where he was officially received by the dignitaries.

About 12:45pm, after the parade and other activities had taken place, Ugwuanyi mounted the podium to address the people of Enugu State. It was a cheering experience for the audience, especially those who were present at the governor’s inauguration in 2015 and his one year anniversary in 2016, to hear the echo of his commanding voice, once again,

Ugwuanyi as he first mentioned “Ndi Enugu”.

His electrifying voice stirred wide excitement, signposting his level of popularity among the people of the state. The spontaneous reaction from the crowd equally indicated clearly that the governor has not taken the people of the state for granted and that the people in return appreciate his unprecedented achievements in the state, in spite of the daunting economic challenges in the country. In his address, Ugwuanyi first, appreciated God for His mercies and kindness. He promised to continue with his vision to provide good governance and the basic needs of the masses in order to “build the Enugu State of our dreams”.

He thanked the people of Enugu State for their support, solidarity

and prayers and also promised that his administration will continue to run an open and accountable government and work assiduously towards the realisation of the dreams of the state’s founding fathers.

“Recall that on the first anniversary of this administration in 2016, we committed Enugu State in the hands of God. To the glory of God, Enugu has remained secure in the hands of God ever since. So, today is above all, a day of thanksgiving to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and indeed the awesome God of David,”, Ugwuanyi stated.

Ugwuanyi had during the thanksgiving mass held the previous day to commemorate the 2017 Democracy Day called on Nigerians to offer special prayers for the healing power of God to visit President Muhammadu Buhari and restore his health to enable him continue to work for the unity and good governance of the country. In the address, he congratulated Buhari and the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and members of the Federal Executive Council for not only ensuring that “the flame of democracy handed to them is sustained, but have also been very supportive of our state in many ways”.

The governor equally thanked other arms of government, including his fellow governors, for their efforts towards the sustenance of the country’s democracy, good governance, and development.

On the prevailing peace in the state, Ugwuanyi said he was happy to acknowledge that two years into this administration, Enugu State had emerged as one big, united family and widely described as “the citadel of peace and harmony”.

The governor appreciated all the past and present leaders and political office holders in the state for their support and cooperation, adding that his administration has also benefited immensely from the foundations laid by the founding fathers, such as late Chief C.C Onoh, among others.

To the generality of Enugu people, the governor said he was “thrilled by the prayers, unparalleled support and unflinching commitment given to us by every Wawa man and woman, including our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, in our drive to build the Enugu State of our dreams.”

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BeyondPropaganda:PromisesMade,PromisesKept Chuks Okocha

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ne popular maxim in journalism and indeed a true life axiom is that facts are sacred but opinions are free. It is based on this paradigm that the two year anniversary of the 8th Senate under the able leadership of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki would be reviewed.

Despite the various distractions and negative propaganda that are being churned out, the real facts on ground show that the 8th Senate has indeed taken its legislative duties and interventions to higher levels in terms of keeping promises earlier made through its legislative agenda and in moving the country forward. At all times, the Senate has been able to demonstrate that when facts are separated from mere tissues of propaganda, it will be clear that the legislative institution is delivering on its mandate.

Available statistics show that the Eighth Senate has done better than its predecessors since 1999 in terms of works done.

For instance,, the senate just last week broke the jinx over the 17 years Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB). It is note worthy that the passage of this bill is in line with the agenda the senate set for itself after its inauguration in June 2015. By this singular action of the 8th Senate, this bill when concurred by the House of Representatives snd assented to by the President is expected to create a conducive business environment for petroleum operations Apart from this, it will equally enhance exploitation and exploration of petroleum resources in Nigeria for the benefit of Nigerians as well as help optimize domestic gas supplies, especially for power generation and industrial development and encourage investment in Nigerian petroleum industry The passage of the PIGB by the senate will optimize government revenue, establish profit-driven oil entities, deregulate and liberalize the downstream petroleum sector. The proposed law would create efficient and effective regulatory agencies, promote the development of Nigerian content in the oil industry as well as protect health, safety and the environment in petroleum operations. No doubt, the PIGB will lead to the establishment of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Investment Pact Scheme and this will ensure that components of industry equipment can be manufactured locally.

Also, for the first time in the last one decade of budget processing, the 8th Senate kept to its promise to open the budget of the National Assembly for public scrutiny. It changed the narratives of the secrecy of the National Assembly budget by moving from a one line budget item, to a 33 page budget details. Sponsored Civil Society Groups who believed the promise to open up the budget will never be done were caught pants down when the National Assembly budget was made open against their expectation. What else is transparency, if not this promise made and indeed kept.

Mischief makers have always fed some gullible members of the public that the funds in the budget of the National Assembly is shared literally between members of the two chambers by dividing the budget figure by 469- that is the number of members of the National Assembly. Simply put, bring out your calculator and share the budget with either 109 senators or with 360 House of Representatives members and they go to town with exaggerated figures what they believe is the earnings of the legislature.

With this attitude, they choose to ignore allocations to other departments, institutions and purpose within the National Assembly like the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS), National Assembly Civil Service Commission (NASC), the National Assembly Management and the over 5000 legislative aides, among others. Now the bottom of that campaign of calumny had been removed.

While there have been inadequate appreciation of the role of the legislature in our democracy, one can argue that the situation is understandable. But a retrospective mind would recall that in any military rule, whether in Nigeria or any other country that has had the misfortune of military involvement in politics, the legislature is usually the missing arm. Indeed, both the executive and the judiciary arms are what comprised the government in a military setting. However. It is obvious that none of these

Saraki two arms is as representative of the peoples’ interest as the legislature.

So, within the prism of the role of the legislature, the 8th Senate under Saraki has proved and lived up to expectations despite all odds. On a comparative note, in the 5th Senate, a total of 370 bills were considered, 360 of the bills passed first reading and 196 passed the second reading. Whereas in the 6th Senate, 225 bills were processed and in the 7th Senate 526 bills were considered in four years. But in just two years, the 8th has received 394 bills, which almost doubled what other sessions has done in four years.

Still on the legislative interventions of the 8th Senate, when it assumed legislative duties and to its chagrin, discovered the ripe off on the economy through the fragrant abuse of the waivers import duties on rice importation. The Senate took the initiative by setting up committee that came out with the revelation of how much the nation bled under the import duty regime. The ripe off from the import duties stood at over N447 billion. The abuse of the import duties on rice dates back to 2013 From the available records, the Senate as at press time has received request from the presidency to screen 196 presidential nominees, out of which 185 were successfully screened. In fact, it is on record that the 8th Senate gave a hundred percent clearance to the ministerial list. None of the ministerial nominees despite protests from some quarters were dropped.

The facts of the matter is that only nine out of the presidential nomineees did not scale through the Senate screening for appointments into their substantive offices. These included nominee for office of chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu and two ambassadorial nominees. One was a retired judge from Imo state who is 82 years old and refused to answer questions from the screening committee. The other nominee from Ondo State was disqualified due to report of the Department of State Security (DSS) indicting him. Whereas, the nominee for the office of the Chairman of the National Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) did not even show up for screening and the three

other nominees from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were disqualified for one reason or the other.

Yet propagandists went to town accusing the Senate of not co-operating with President Buhari led administration. This is spurious claim not supported by facts.

Still on interventions and promises kept, within the period under review, it was through the legislative efforts of the senate that the fraudulent activities in the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) was discovered and over N20 billion was saved from the implementation of the policy. The same is the position with the fraud in the NNPC to which some top oil magnates are undergoing interrogation for their role in this economic sabotage ranging into billions of Naira.

The Senate in the cause of its duties mandated the National Electricity Regularity Commission (NERC) to abolish the fixed charges on electricity consumption as well as the bulk metering of villages and communities to be stopped. The same is the role played by the Senate when the National Communication Commission (NCC) increased arbitrarily the data price. The senate intervention made the NCC to reverse the policy.

Just two months ago, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMGMAN) commended the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki for his intervention which led the Federal Government to introduce an Import Adjustment Tax policy in 2016 that has encouraged pharmaceutical industries in the country to thrive.

The National President of PMG-MAN, Mr. Okey Akpa, gave the commendation when he led other national executive members of the association on a thank you to the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

It could be recalled that last year, when PMG-MAN came to the Senate, Saraki assured them that the Senate would advocate for reduction in the prevailing Common External Tariff (CET) on the importation of pharmaceutical raw materials, to boost local production of drugs that would enable Nigerians all over the country have access to cheaper medications. What else do you call this, if not evidence of promise made, promise kept.

t ECHOES OF UGWUANYI’S MIDTERM ANNIVERSARY t Continued from Page 77 He stated, “I am here today to reaffirm my promises to you and reassure you that this administration will continue to work for the common good of our people. Recall that on this day in 2015, I sincerely acknowledged the fast depleting revenue profile of the state owing to the slump in oil price and low internally generated revenue. Back then, I had assured you that I believed in the miracle of five loaves and two fish; and that I and my team would harness and apply every available resource with utmost transparency, honesty, prudence, and equity to the benefit of the ordinary man.”

Highlighting some of his administration’s achievements, Ugwuanyi said Enugu State had remained among the top-ranked states in the payment of workers’ salaries. He promised that the government will continue to pay workers’

salaries and pensions on the 25th of every month in recognition of the fact that the civil service is the fulcrum and engine room of governance.

On security, Ugwuanyi said Enugu State was peaceful and secure and was still adjudged one of the safest states in the country. He said the government had revitalised the Neighbourhood Association and recently launched the Enugu State Security Trust Fund, “to galvanise resources and provide the enablers that will ensure that our Neighbourhood Watch are equipped to effectively complement the efforts of the Nigerian security agencies.”

On infrastructure, rural development and local government reform,. Ugwuanyi said that his administration had only a few days before simultaneously commissioned 26 development projects it executed across the 17 local government

areas. He said they were among the 35 grassroots projects commenced in October 2016 to open up the rural areas and catalyse socio-economic growth.

He said that the government had initiated a N10 million per community programme, tagged “one autonomous community one project”, to further take development to the rural areas, promising that the forthcoming local government elections in the state would be the most transparent in recent history. Ugwuanyi added, “Our drive for investments has been yielding desired dividends with the influx of both foreign and local businesses.

Among the latest is Air Peace, which recently decided to build an aircraft hangar in Enugu while also making the state its regional hub for local and international flight operations. It was also within this period that a historic international cargo flight

touched down at the Enugu airport, significantly pointing to the readiness of the state and its people for big business. We also performed the ground breaking ceremony for the ENPOWER Free Trade Zone, which was licensed by the Federal Government in December 2015. These are great indicators that Enugu State is the hub of business activities in the South East region.”

Ugwuanyi also highlighted major feats recorded in other spheres of development, such as agriculture, health, education, and economic empowerment.

He ended his address by reassuring the people that his administration will continue its effort “to build a peaceful and prosperous state driven by the true spirit of brotherhood,” which is noble dream of the state’s forefathers.

––Amoke writes from Enugu .

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GAVEL TO GAVEL

Edited by Olawale Olaleye Email: wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08116759819

A Bill for the S’East or a Law for all Zones

The rejection last week of a bill that seeks to address the development of the South-east region by the House of Representatives brings to the fore the rising quest by zones for bills tailored to meet specific needs in their zones. James Emejo reports

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new phase of legislative antagonism may be brewing in the House of Representatives, following the decision by some members, particularly the northern caucus to frustrate the South East Development Commission Bill, which was presented by 43 Igbo lawmakers for second reading.

The bill, which sought an Act to establish the commission, was defeated after what seemingly appeared an exhaustive debate.

The proposed commission was to be saddled with the responsibility, among other things, to receive and manage funds from allocation of the federation account for the development, reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructure in the South-east zone.

It further sought to address the menace of poverty, ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the zone.

Leading the debate, the mover of the bill, Hon. Chukwuma Onyema, who is the Deputy Minority Leader, stated that the South-east states, comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo were under the eastern region which fought the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970; a development which according to him, had led to massive destruction of critical infrastructure in the region including roads, houses, and environmental degradation.

He said the deplorable situation partly explained why the zone is currently ravaged by gully and coastal erosion, bad roads, nonfunctional railways, abandoned seaport and second Niger Bridge. He further expressed the worry of the zone that the three “Rs” representing reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the zone as proclaimed

by Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd) was yet to be honoured.

Among other things, he clarified that the proposed bill does not intend to usurp the authority of any existing arm of government or agency but rather drafted to help articulate specific interventions aimed at reintegrating the zone into the national discourse on development and growth in line with the constitution. He contended that people from the South-east had been largely affected by the insurgency in the North East including their investments but nobody bothered about their welfare.

Therefore, he said the proposed commission shall formulate policies and guidelines for the development of states in the zone, conceive and implement economic development plans in accordance with the set rules and regulations among other things.

The funding of the commission was expected to come from 15 per cent of total monthly statutory allocations due to member States of the commission from the federation account as well as three per cent of total budget of any oil producing company operating onshore and offshore in the South-east states, including gas processing companies.

It will also claim 50 per cent of revenue due to member states of the commission from the ecological fund among others.

Hon. Nkem-Abonta Uzoma (PDP, Abia) expressed total support for the bill arguing that it would cushion the effect of long time neglect of the zone.

He said the initiative offered an opportunity to have funds for sustainable development, adding that “We must be united in sovereign welfare of Nigerians.

Poor conditions have led to insurgency in the country.”

Hon. Henry Nwawuba (PDP, Imo) said the bill represented a legislative solution

Dogara...this could pose some challenge

to recurring problem of agitation in the country.

On his part, Hon. Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu) described the commission as a special purpose vehicle needed to bridge lack of direct government funding and development.

But another legislator, Hon. Sunday Karimi (PDP, Kogi) though not against bill, expressed worry that a similar bill on the North Central Development Commission was recently halted by the Speaker, who asked that it should be left out for now.

But for the northerners, the greatest undoing of the bill was the reference to the need for the zone to have a similar initiative of the North East zone which was to address the agitation in the area, especially Boko Haram and which the House expeditiously passed.

They expressed concern that the quest to establish development commissions in the geopolitical zones was becoming a matter of competition given that there’s also the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Others felt threatened by the reference to the Nigerian Civil war and felt it was illtimed to make such allusions, especially at a period of the Biafrian agitation.

To some extent, the bill looked set to sail through given that there was significantly favourable debate towards it. Onyema at a point, submitted that though the bill may not be perfect, there’s still opportunity to fine-tune it at the committee and public hearing stages.

They expressed concern that the quest to establish development commissions in the geopolitical zones was becoming a matter of competition given that there’s also the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Others felt threatened by the reference to the Nigerian Civil war and felt it was ill-timed to make such allusions, especially at a period of the Biafrian agitation But when question was put by the Speaker on those who supported that the bill be read for the second time, the “Yes” initially appeared to carry the day. Not sure, the

speaker again put the question to the House and this time, there was an overwhelming “Nay”.

Immediately, all the South-east lawmakers staged a walkout from the plenary, complaining bitterly over the outcome. Some of them blamed the speaker for their travail.

But other northern legislators, who spoke to journalists amid the tension, absolved Dogara of blame and instead asked the eastern lawmakers to “put their house in order and be united”.

It was further suggested that the Igbo lawmakers may have contributed to their own defeat because they had the chance to challenge the vote by demanding for the division of the House to enable the vote be counted per legislator. But they chose to stage a walkout. The lawmakers from the South-east were particularly disturbed that a proposed commission which will be funded from the respective state’s resources and not from the federation account will not be allowed to see the light of the day.

They made reference to similar initiatives for the northeast and Niger Delta, which exist by drawing from public funds and wondered why it was passed expeditiously without opposition.

The South-east lawmakers warned that the defeat of the bill may have ushered a new era of legislative disharmony in the House. This simply means they could also frustrate any bill which is of interest to other zones and this could be of huge cost to Nigerians and the economy at large.

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IMAGES

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minent Anglicans held a meeting with thePrimate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), The Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, at the International Conference Centre Abuja, to interact and discuss crucial matters of national importance, for the church and its future. Here are the photographs of some the personalities at the event Photos: Julius Atoi

L-R: Chief Wole Olanipekun and Chief Olabode George

L-R: Bar B E I Nwofor (SAN) and Senator Andy Uba

L-R: Prof Jerry Gana and C N Ukachukwu

L-R: Dame Virgy Etiaba and Nkem Okeke

L-R: Dr Alex Ekwueme and Senator Ifeanyi Okowa

L-R: Most Revd George Lasebikan and Primate Most Rev Nicholas Okoh

L-R: Most Revd Ikechi Nwosu; Most Revd Caleb Maduoma and Rt Revd O C Onuoha.

L-R: Gen Ike Nwachukwu (rtd) and Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu.

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IMAGES

L-R: Most Revd George Lasebikan; Primate Most Rev Okoh and Most Rev Dr Adebola Ademowo

L-R: Hon Emeka Ihedioha and Senator Ben Obi

Prof Itse Sagay

L-R: Mr. Ikedi Ohakim and Hon Austin Okpara

L-R: Mr Jim Orife and AVM Joe Ehigie (rtd)

L-R: Senator Tunde Ogbeha; Most Revd Adebola Ademowo and Dr. Ayodeji Fagbemi

L-R: Most Revd Michael Fape and Most Revd Ignatius Kattey

L-R: Most Revd Emmanuel Chukwuma and Most Revd Christian Efobi

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SUNDAYSPORTS

Edited by Demola Ojo Email demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

Rampant Real Thrash Juve, Retain Champions League

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ristianoRonaldo scored twice as Real Madrid defeated 10man Juventus 4-1 in Cardiff to retain their Champions League crown.

Madrid became the first team in the Champions League era to successfully defend the trophy with their sixth triumph in the competition – and 12th when you include it in its former guise of the European Cup – three of those victories coming in the last four years.

A thrilling first half saw Ronaldo put Madrid ahead, becoming the first player to score in three different Champions League finals in the process Mario Mandzukic equalised for Juventus with a spectacular overhead kick that will live long in the memory.

But Madrid dominated the second half as Juve collapsed, Casemiro scoring with the help of a huge deflection before Ronaldo made sure of the victory from close-range, ensuring he finishes above Lionel Messi as the competition’s top scorer this season.

Any hopes of a Juventus comeback were ended when substitute Juan Cuadrado was sent off 18 minutes after coming on, the winger

Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals to end as leading scorer in the competition with 12 goals

receiving a second yellow card for a clash with Sergio Ramos, before Madrid sub-

stitute Marco Asensio put the icing on the cake in the last minute.

Having also secured LaLiga glory, the win seals a famous double for

Zinedine Zidane in his first full season at the helm, with Madrid the first side since

AC Milan in 1990 to win back-to-back European crowns.

French Open: Murray Beats Del Potro, into Fourth Round

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ndyMurraysaw off Argentina’s Juaan Martin del Potro with a superb straight-set win to reach the fourth round of the French Open.

The world number one, 30, won a gripping 84-minute opening set on his way to a 7-6 (10-8) 7-5 6-0 victory.

The Scot, bidding for his first Roland Garros title, goes on to face American John Isner or Russia’s Karen Khachanov.

After searching for consistency in his opening two matches, Murray found something approaching his best form to win the most anticipated match of the first week.

Former US Open champion Del Potro, whose ranking has slid after injuries, posed an unusually severe test for the third round and he began strongly.

The Argentine’s huge forehand drew regular gasps from the crowd, as well as what Murray later described as “a very manly grunt” from Del Potro.

But once he had levelled in a high-quality first set, Murray edged a thrilling tie-break and then dominated in arguably his best performance of 2017.

“I played some good matches at the beginning of

the year, but definitely in the clay-court season, the second or third sets were the best I have played, for sure,” Murray said.

He out-scored the powerful Argentine with 41 winners to 35, all the while mixing up his game with deft drop shots and sharp volleys.

The match turned late in the first set when Del Potro failed to serve it out and Murray eventually took the tie-break with his third set point, having saved four.

A distraught Del Potro slumped on the net post for most of the changeover, pausing only to smack down his racquet in anger before moments later dropping serve at the start of the second set.

I couldn’t believe that I lost that set, because I had many opportunities to win,” he said.

“But this happens when you play against the number one in the world.” There was no way back, especially after the Argentine - who struggled with a groin injury on the previous round - called for the doctor.

Murray’s hopes faltered only briefly when he failed to serve out at 5-4, but the Scot broke serve once again in the following game and then reeled off the last seven games in a row.

Murray

Port Harcourt Club Holds Rivers @50 Golf Tourney Olawale Ajimotokan

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he Port Harcourt 1928 Golf Section will come to life when it plays host to the Rivers @ 50 Golf Tournament today, Sunday June 4, 2017.

The tournament is powered by the Rivers State Golden Jubilee Committee and will feature a

shot gun format as golfers are expected to arrive at 12noon to tee off at 12:30pm.

The club Captain, Emmanuel Okene, announced last night that the tournament is organized to celebrate the journey and accomplishments of the state created in 1967.

The participants will include the Rivers State government, captains of industries and

other well meaning citizens of the state, including the state’s first governor and now the traditional ruler of Twon-Brass, King Alfred Diete- Spiff.

Awards will be presented to notable citizens of the state who are golfers in their own right. The event will crown the golden jubilee celebration of the state.

An array of prizes in different categories; men nett and gross, veteran, guests and ladies will be won.

“The golden anniversary is a special and proud moment for all us in Rivers State. I want to also use this platform to acknowledge the immense support of Governor Nyesom Wike to the club in the past two years,” Okene said.

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High Life

͎͎͜;ʹ͜͜ͳ;ͳͰ

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

About Tosin, Senate President Bukola Saraki Daughter’s Impending Wedding

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t is yet a hush-hush aair but those close to the family of the inuential Senate President, Bukola Saraki, are swearing by everything they hold sacred that plans are already at fever pitch for the wedding of their ďŹ rst daughter, Tosin. Tosin is the ďŹ rst of the four children of Bukola and Toyin Saraki. She clocked 25 last December. Given the background of her parents and grandparents, the grandness of the upcoming wedding is settled. Tosin’s mother, Toyin, is the daughter of boardroom guru and businessman of note, Otunba Adekunle and Erelu Ojuolape Ojora. For the past six decades, the Ojoras have been a looming and respected ďŹ xture on Nigeria’s high society.

And they are not retired from attending or throwing parties that remain indelible. Tosin’s father is Bukola, the silverspoon son of Oloye Olusola Saraki, former Senate Leader in the Second Republic who until his death was the deciding factor in Kwara State politics. Also a twoterm governor of Kwara State, Bukola is the third most powerful politician in today’s Nigeria. We will keep you updated.

Dein of Agbor, Benjamin Ikechukwu

WAITING FOR DEIN OF AGBOR’S ‘A KING WITHIN’ The alchemy between modernity and tradition epitomized flawlessly by the Dein of Agbor, His Royal Majesty Benjamin Ikenchukwu, Keagborekuzi 1, the cinematic representation of which should have been a pull for millennials and movie buffs in his vaunted biopic, A King Within, may not come to fruition any time soon. About two years ago, award-winning British filmmaker, Tamara Gordon, announced the

Tosin Saraki

production of a film titled ‘The King Within’, centred on the variegated life of the acclaimed world’s youngest monarch, his growing up years in London and how he has balanced his traditional responsibilities in a 21st Century society.

Gordon, in an interview in 2015, claimed that she was inspired to do the biopic because, “The subject matter proved fascinating.

Nigerian monarchies have experienced massive changes in the last century, and although stripped of their constitutional power in the 1960s, they still rule their kingdoms and function not just as living symbols of customs and traditions, but as portals of ancient wisdom.� She continued, “I decided immediately that I wanted to make a film about Keagborekuzi’s life. For this is the story of a supposed ordinary kid from the streets of West London, who returns to his ancestral land and turns out to be a king. For all intents and purposes, his life is the perfect modern fairytale, but also reveals the complexities of today’s multicultural world.� Despite the feverish anticipation that trailed the announcement of the production of ‘The King Within’, the movie is yet to be out and no word has been heard about it since then.

Gordon, who has worked as a director and producer for the BBC, the United Nations and the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation among others, may have realised that in Nigeria, it’s hard to reinvent the wheel because you can never get the wheel to balance. Recorded in the 1981 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest monarch of his native Agbor in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, as a mere 28 months old in 1979, the very good looking Dein clocks 40 this month.

FORMER SPEAKER, SALISU BUHARI, IS BACK TO LIFE Thanks to acting President Prof. Yemi Osibajo, reprieve has come the way of disgraced former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Salisu Buhari. He was among the 42 people inaugurated into the board of the Nigerian Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council last Tuesday. The council, comprising leaders from the private and public sectors, is expected to spearhead the industrial agenda that will boost the contribution of manufacturing to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 250 per cent over a five-year period, make her a manufacturing

hub for West Africa and diversify the economy from its over-dependence on oil.

Nigerians have not forgotten so soon that Buhari, a Kano State legislator, emerged as Speaker at the outset of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic but was disgracefully impeached after it emerged that he had forged his certificate and falsified his age. Prior to his emergence as Speaker, he was already mired in controversy about whether or not he partook in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps. But he scaled through. Then aged 29,

Salisu Buhari

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Another Royal Wedding to Remember...as Oba Adedapo Tejuosho Gives Out another Daughter in Marriage

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ix months after the urbane Osile of Oke Ona of Egbaland, Oba Adedapo Tejuosho, held an elaborate wedding for Princess Layebi, one of his daughters, it was the turn of Princess Abisoye to be so given out under even more glamorous bliss and grandiose blitz. The ancient city of Abeokuta, where the 79-year-old Oba Tejuosho has been the paramount ruler for decades, was awash with matchless mixes of screaming colours and gaiety.

Oba Tejuosho ensured that he pulled high society, the royal class where he is a primus inter pares and power brokers to the wedding of a daughter that has been the apple of his eyes. A traditional wedding

of influence and affluence, yet, with echoes of modernity and unforgettable merriment, the elated Princess Abisoye and her prince charming, Adebisi Adeoti, were confident yet, not cocky, as they reeled out their wedding vows to the delight of the colourful guests.

Standing close to each other, though not quite in status but certainly in each of their contributions to the glorious occasion and the years ahead, it was obvious that their vows of “we’re in this together� would last. They exchanged knowing glances and smilingly snuggled up to each other while naira notes rained on them as they danced to the music of evergreen juju maestro, Chief Ebenezer Obey.

when Section 65 Section 1(b) disqualified anybody under 30 years from contesting membership of the House of Representatives in the first place, Buhari had also lied about bagging a degree in Business Administration from the University of Toronto, Canada. After a teary apology, he vacated his exalted seat. He, thereafter, went into political oblivion.

However, his first political reprieve came in 2013 when President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him as a member of the governing board of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The appointment was greeted with a groundswell of opposition.

Then Special Adviser to the president on media and publicity, Reuben Abati, defended the appointment saying, “If you recall after that conviction, he not only apologised on the floor of the House of Representatives, the administration at the time subsequently granted him pardon. Pardon means you can no longer be punished for whatever offense you have committed. It means that your rights have been restored and you can again legitimately act for the society. The pardon says you can’t be shut out of the society. If you have opportunity again to serve your country, of course, you can be asked to be part of the process.� The appointment stood. Now, Prof. Osibajo has added icing to Buhari’s political cake..

ABOUT AISHA BABANGIDA’S NEW LOOK Like a phoenix, it does

Aisha Babangida

seem that Aisha, first daughter of General Ibrahim Babangida, has emerged from the pyre of her broken marriages even stronger, more youthful and even more beautiful than the world has always known her. She was conspicuously active at the wedding, recently, of her youngest sibling, Halima, who got married as the third wife of Sarkin Sudan Gombe, Alhaji Auwal Lawal Abdullahi, in their native Minna, Niger State.

You could not miss her glow and grace. There is no doubt that Aisha has encountered myriad of numbing defeats especially on the love front, but has refused to be defeated or allow the strife and storms of life define her otherwise enviable life.

Married in her youth to

Oba Adedapo Tejuosho giving out his daughter in marriage

Basheer Nalado Garba, a relative of the Sani Abachas, the marriage went south over accusations of intolerance and arrogance. They lasted just three years. In 2008, she found succor in then Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Aliyu Shinkafi, who, at the time, already had two wives.

Under the wings of Shinkafi, Aisha seemed to flourish and it seemed only death would do them part. However, constant confrontations from Shinkafi’s older wives and a failed reelection bid did the marriage in. As at today, Aisha is single but doesn’t wear her status on her sleeves. Many are even suggesting she returned to the arms of her first love, Kola Abiola, whose harem, however, is full. Incidentally, her parents, Ibrahim and Maryam, were the epitome of an enduring marriage.

They got married in 1969 and remained together till death took the ebony-hued former first lady in 2009. The former Head of State has refused to remarry despite multiple speculations to that effect.

DIEZANI ALLISON-MADUEKE SURVIVES CANCER? If the news making the rounds in London are be believed, beleaguered former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, may have got a new lease of life as the growth of her cancer seems to have been nipped in the bud and is currently enjoying a new lease of life. News of Diezani’s cancer came to light after a controversial interview with Dele Momodu, the publisher of Ovation

magazine. Describing herself as ‘one of the most vilified women in Nigeria’s history’ in Momodu’s The Boss newspaper, Diezani, looking disheveled and wizened in the interview pictures, claimed that she was down with cancer. This was in the wake of intense scrutiny of financial dealings in the NNPC, one of the agencies under her purview as petroleum minister. It would be recalled that she was first arrested by the UK National Crime Agency over corruption allegations, before reports emerged that she cannot leave London until she answered to all the allegations of financial impropriety levelled against her. Then, the news of her battle with cancer blew into

Diezani Alison-Madueke

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˜ ˞ JUNE 4, 2017

HIGHLIFE

Who Did Tokunbo AďŹ kuyomi Oend?

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choes of happenings at the disrupted primaries of the All Progressives Congress held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, penultimate Saturday, must still reverberate.

Not only for the orgy of violence that trailed it, but even more so for the comprehensive beating Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi got in the hands of thugs and party faithful. Afikuyomi was the chairman of the party’s primary election in Lagos. Prior to the primaries, tension had heightened among party members owing to the Machiavellian imposition of candidates.

Afikuyomi was dutifully reading out the names of 18 consensus candidates for endorsements when the aggrieved

members, initially venting their anger through protests, later threw caution to the wind and began throwing chairs and other objects. A hapless Afikuyomi was caught in the crossfire. Despite the protective ring around him, daredevil party members broke through and rained blows, hockey sticks and other such objects on him. His buba was torn in the ensuing melee as his portly, flabby torso being pummeled by blows, became a standalone spectacle.

That day, the former Commissioner for Tourism in Lagos, was given more than enough reasons to consider hitting the gym real hard and shedding more than half of his Body Mass Index. Afikuyomi was later extricated from the jaws of death by security operatives who whisked him out, partially naked, and into safety.

the open. Thereafter, she reportedly had a successful cancer operation and has been recuperating since then. Now, all seems to be well with her again considering also that probe into her activities as minister has reduced.

LIKE APOSTLE SULEMAN, BIODUN FATOYINBO, OUR DAILY MANNA PASTOR IN THE EYE OF THE STORM This seems to be a time of comeuppance for wanton Nigerian pastors.

The salacious tales of sex that trailed, in recent time, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, Abuja, and Apostle Johnson Suleman, founder

Chris Kwakpovwe

and General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Asaba, Delta State, are still hot-button issues in religious and social circles. While Fatoyinbo was, in 2014, frontally accused of sexual liaison by the victim, to which he said he would issue a ‘robust reply’ (he still hasn’t), Apostle Suleman’s alleged love victim, Stephanie Otobo, a Canada-based Nigerian singer, has dragged him to court for breaking his promise to marry her, seeking $5million Canadian dollars for damages resulting from alleged breach of trust, breach of fiduciary relations, breach of contract, negligence, defamation, poisoning, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional stress.

The case is still in court. This time, it is the turn of Our Daily Manna Prayer Ministry, Pastor Chris Akpovwe, who has been accused by a member of his ministry, Rita Abeni, of making sexual advances at her. Rita has caused to be released different alleged recorded telephone conversations from the pastor to her. In the released recordings, the pastor could be heard boasting about his sexual prowess, how he could marry Rita because even his wife, whom he addressed as mummy, was fond of her and all such. However, the church, typically, has released a statement, “We want to state without any element of equivocation that the voice messages referred to above and others like it

Tokunbo AďŹ kuyomi

are not from Bishop (Dr.) Chris Kwakpovwe. They are the handiwork of satanic agents who are employing the aid of technology to cause distraction and havoc in the body of Christ. We enjoin the church and the general public to disregard it.� Time will tell.

THE RISING INFLUENCE OF RCCG IN GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS Last week, Acting President Yemi Osibajo approved some appointments including, notably, that of Kayode Pitan as Managing Director, Bank of Industry. Without prejudice to his qualification and suitability for the job with corporate and banking experience spanning over 25years, Pitan was the pioneer pastor of Olive Tree Parish in Banana Island, Ikoyi, between November 1996 and October 2010, when he was promoted assistant pastor and transferred to Tabernacle of David, Ajah, Lagos. This is the crux of the matter. Pitan handed over to Osinbajo as pastor at the Olive Tree Parish which prides itself as ‘a place where professionals, entrepreneurs and politicians are transformed and empowered to take their place in the nation and in the world and one where purpose is discovered, vision is received and destiny fulfilled.’ Last April, Alex Okoh, a former Managing Director/CEO of NNB International Bank Plc and Managing Partner of Ashford & McGuire Consulting Ltd, a wholly indigenous consulting firm,

was appointed DirectorGeneral of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

Incidentally, Okoh took over as pastor of the same church from Osinbajo. When life happened and Osinbajo was elected Vice President, he handed over to Okechukwu Enelamah, a medical doctor and current Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment. Enelamah was the only candidate nominated

by Osinbajo as Minister in 2015. It is now crystal clear that attending the influential Redeemed Church parish is a sure-fire ticket to getting a federal government appointment. Or, does Acting President Osinbajo think otherwise?

Kayode Pitan

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Sunday, June 4, 2017

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Price: N400

MISSILE Bello to Melaye “Honestly speaking, when a human being is talking, then I will respond.

Surely, I don’t see anything coming out of that and I don’t think I have to waste my time in responding to whatever side distraction. Honestly speaking, I’m too focused to be distracted.”

– Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, saying he would not dignify Senator Dino Melaye with a response over allegation that he registered twice with INEC.

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simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

Don’t Blame the Youth

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n 1985, or was it 1986, a top official of the Babangida administration said something that, up till today, I am still struggling to understand. The naval officer and member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) said: “We are over-pampering the youth when we call them leaders of tomorrow.” I now can’t remember the occasion or the context, but I was already a teenager at the time and was used to the popular expression that “the youth are the leaders of tomorrow”. It was a simple, indisputable statement and a natural fact, I always thought. I, therefore, couldn’t understand his proclamation. Maybe I was too young to appreciate it.

I am much older now and if you ask me to interpret that statement, I would still struggle.

Maybe he meant it as a deliberate check on youthful exuberance. Maybe he meant the youth should be reminded of their responsibilities since more emphasis was being constantly paid to their rights. Maybe he meant there is more to leadership than the youth were being told, and being called “leaders of tomorrow” had the power to intoxicate, rather than motivate, them. Whatever he meant, though, the face value of the statement was awful. Imagine if there was social media then: the man would have been slaughtered electronically.

Today’s discussion is inspired by two things: the campaign for the mainstreaming of Nigerian youth in governance — re-inspired by the election of 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron as the president of France — and a recent blog post by Rt. Hon. Dimeji Bankole, former speaker of the house of representatives who attained that position at the age of 37 in 2007.

There seems to be a very disturbing conclusion that the Nigerian youth are hopeless and do not deserve a chance in the management of our affairs in the country. Any mention of the Nigerian youth today is dismissed with such commitment that you just have to worry about our tomorrow.

Officially, Nigeria defines youth as anyone between the ages of 18 and 35. A professor once said, jokingly, that he stopped calling himself a youth after his national service.

Since we define youth as 18-35, our laws, as they stand, are not terribly restrictive on the qualification ages for political offices. You have to be at least 40 to be a president, 35 to be a governor, 35 to be a senator and 30 to be a rep. To be a minister, section 147(5) of the constitution says no person shall be so appointed “unless he is qualified for election as a member of the House of Representatives”.

That means a minimum age of 30. Apart from the president, everything is still within the 18-35 band. Not too bad.

But there are several observations, and questions, I want to table today. The first is that even though a Macron cannot emerge in Nigeria (because he is 39), the law allows us to appoint ministers who are as young as 30.

Without amending the constitution, therefore, we can still have ministers who are young.

How come we don’t even experiment with making a young person minister of youth development? That, I think, is the least we can do. Generally in Nigeria, we blame the laws for our problems. We want them repealed or amended all the time, but in truth we have not even made the best use of what we have on ground. The apple on the distant tree always looks juicier.

My second observation is that there is a general assumption that the youth are not good enough to be elected or appointed into

Bankole

public office. Commentators and analysts give several examples of young people who have occupied top political positions “with nothing to show for it”. I have two problems with this. One, there is an assumption that the older people have fared better. If so, Nigeria should be a much better place by now since older people have been calling the shots for years. I don’t think this is the case. Two, there seems to be an applied conclusion that to be young is to be incompetent. I do not link incompetence to age, certainly not in Nigeria.

Mr. Donald Duke was 37 when he was elected governor of Cross River state in 1999, and I do not think you would accuse him of incompetence because of that. Comrade Lam Adesina was elected governor of Oyo state the same year at the age of 60 and he did not exactly set the world on fire. I agree that there is a certain level of experience and maturity you bring to a job on the account of your age, but it is not a given. As we praise the elders for experience and maturity, we must not lose sight of the fact that innovation and energy are quite critical in today’s world.

We clearly need a mix of these qualities and attributes in the development drive.

In an article (“Reforming Nigeria from within”) by Bankole, which was published on the website of the African Research Institute (ARI), he offered some useful insight into his time as the youngest speaker of the house of representatives. He said then-President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua told the national assembly that only 40% of the 2007 budget’s capital expenditure had been implemented, a typical pattern since 1999. Bankole wrote: “The question that I wanted answered was: what happened to the remaining 60%, especially when we did not have a financing shortfall?”

That, he said, was the basis of the return of “unspent funds” to the national treasury

championed by him.

“I refused to sign the 2008 budget for four months until unspent funds from the previous year were accounted for and returned.

Eventually, over N450 billion came back, which in previous years would have been lost,” he wrote. “In 2009, when the President announced how the budget had performed, he also indicated the return of N300 billion in unspent funds. This was a marked shift in how things were done. In total, during my four years as speaker, N1.3 trillion in unspent funds were returned.” Now, when we talk about the youth not having impact in government, we do not remember this significant development. There is a general feeling of gloom when we talk about the youth.

We may say Bankole’s case is different: he came from a privileged background with an influential politician as a father and he studied at Reading, Oxford and Harvard. But that also presumes we do not have well-educated youth in Nigeria again. I have met young Nigerians all over the world who are doing very well in their fields — and in some of the world’s first-class institutions. Many of them studied both in Nigeria (in spite of our failing education system) and abroad.

We, therefore, are not reasonably justified to dismiss every young person as unqualified and incompetent. And even if they are, it is the duty of leadership to take a look at the problem and address it rather than celebrate it.

My third, and final, observation is that people who spend so much time on Twitter, Facebook and comment sections on websites — where the youth certainly predominate — have since concluded that the future of Nigeria is doomed going by the messages of hate and the gush of bile on the social media. I have heard people ask: is this the kind of youth that you call leaders of tomorrow?

There is also the worrisome bit about the quality of contributions to debate. There is usually shallowness and a poor understanding of the basic issues. There is the sad aspect of the lack of understanding of history. All these are legitimate worries. I, myself, am very disturbed by this.

But, please, don’t blame the youth. You reap what you sow. How much investment has Nigeria made in them? We all know what education system has become. Only the privileged can send their children to quality schools these days, and how many are so privileged in a country of 180 million people?

We have ended up with an overwhelming population of youth wreaking havoc on the internet and on the streets. What did we do 20 years ago, 10 years ago to prepare them for today? How were their minds shaped? Can they give what they don’t have? How are we preparing them today for their tomorrow?

How are their minds being shaped? Is there any change?

Progressive societies deliberately build the future of their youth. They deliberately give them good education. They deliberately mentor them through various programmes and schemes. They deliberately give them opportunities to express themselves and put their skills to use. They deliberately build their experience and self-confidence. They don’t tell them “we are over-pampering you by calling you leaders of tomorrow”. They deliberately prepare them for leadership. So a 39-year-old Macron can be president of France, but in Nigeria it will be front-page news today if a 30-something year old is appointed a presidential adviser. Rethink.

And Four Other Things...

DECREE 2 IS BACK! Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the information minister, says Nigerian State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2 of 1984 — which allowed for indefinite, incommunicado detention of Nigerian citizens — is still in operation, even though it was repealed in 1998 by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. The decree was promulgated by, erm, Buhari 33 years ago to detain people indefinitely for “security reasons”. It ousted court jurisdiction. To be sure, Lai did not use the words “Decree No. 2”. He simply said, on Friday, that the government will not obey court orders to release Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky “for security reasons”. Unsettling.

ROUGH ROAD One of the most enduring shames of Nigeria is the road that leads to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos — one of the busiest airports in Africa. I always cover my face in shame when passing through the road. Is this the right way to welcome visitors to our country? Is that the best we can do? For the past seven years, we’ve been discussing how the Lagos state government can rebuild the road since the federal government was not in the mood. I was so delighted to hear on Wednesday that the federal government has finally given the state the go-ahead to do it. What took us so long? Is the approval process similar to rocket science? Unbelievable.

SIGN OF THE TIMES Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was all set to sign the 2017 budget on Thursday. He had invited leaders of the legislature to the formal ceremony at the Presidential Villa. Suddenly, word got out that he was no longer going to do it. Why? Nobody told us, but the rumour is that since President Buhari is “likely” to return to the country this week, Osinbajo decided to defer to him.

I am still wondering what this is all about.

Section 145(1) of the 1999 constitution is very clear that Osinbajo can sign the budget and there is no Jupiter that can reverse it.

Did Osinbajo succumb to blackmail? Or was he trying to play the “loyalty” game?

Unfortunate.

DANGERS AHEAD As the Igbo marked 50th anniversary of Biafra declaration on Tuesday with a sit-athome in the south-east, my attention was focused more on the rising tension across the land. In my experience, some people are wont to dismissing the threat to peace and unity in Nigeria, and there is often this claim that Nigeria is “too big” to fail. But the vibes I get are that Nigeria remains sharply divided politically — as it was before Biafra. If anything goes wrong again, especially with the drama and intrigues currently playing out inside Aso Rock and the military, we may have more than one Biafra to contend with. We must work consciously to calm this tension. Unnecessary.

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