Wednesday 27th September 2017

FG’s N100bn Debut Sukuk Offer Oversubscribed by 6% Obinna Chima Defying its critics, the N100 billion seven-year debut Sukuk offer by the Debt Management Office (DMO) which closed last week Friday, has been

oversubscribed by 5.87 per cent The sukuk, a projecttied investment facility, according to a statement yesterday by DMO, attracted investors from across a broad spectrum

of the public comprising pension funds, banks, fund managers, institutional and retail investors DMO added that the total subscription to the sukuk offer was N105.88 billion Reacting to the

development, the Director General of DMO, Ms. Patience Oniha said that the acceptance of the offer was an indication of the viability of the instrument as an investment option as well as a demonstration of

utmost faith in the economy.

She commended the federal government and in particular the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun for the policy support that led to the success of this initial offer, which industry

watchers acknowledged as another window that has been opened to the government to raise funds to fill the nation’s yawning infrastructure gap.

Continued on page 12

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$9bn Has Been Used by FG to Defend Naira, Says Senate… Page 48

Emefiele Defends Quantitative Easing, Says CBN is Not Overfunding Govt MPC holds policy rate, FX window records $7bn inflow in five months Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja and Obinna Chima in Lagos The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has defended the Bank’s funding of the federal government through quantitative easing (QE),

stating that there was no substance in the claim that the central bank was overfunding the government, on the one hand, and mopping up liquidity through special auctions, on the other.

Continued on page 12

N’Assembly: Nigeria’s Unity Not Negotiable, Agitators Must Abide by Law House to revisit Devolution of Power Bill Buhari promised to address agitations, says Umahi James Emejo in Abuja and Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki Fresh from its two-month recess, the National Assembly yesterday maintained that

the country’s unity was not negotiable, adding that every Nigerian must respect the constitution.

Continued on page 12

You're a Come and Chop Politician, INVESTITURE FOR NEW NSE FELLOWS… Fellowship award recipients, Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, and Chairman, Heirs Holdings and Founder Tony Sagay Tells Oyegun… Page 47 Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu, at the Nigerian Economic Society’s 58th annual conference and conferment of fellowships, held in Abuja… yesterday

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PAGE TWELVE EMEFIELE DEFENDS QUANTITATIVE EASING, SAYS CBN IS NOT OVERFUNDING GOVT Emefiele dismissed the claim at the end of the two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBN yesterday, where the committee for the 14th consecutive month retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 14 per cent.

The MPC also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.5 per cent, Liquidity Ratio at 30.0 per cent, and the asymmetric corridor at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR. Emefiele, while speaking on the central bank’s quantitative easing, said the CBN remained one of the most transparent in the world and there was nothing illegal about the use of Open Market Operations (OMO) as

a means of money supply and control in the economy.

The governor was responding to the observations made by one of the members of the MPC, Dr. Doyin Salami who had at the July meeting of the committee remarked that the CBN was providing “piggy bank� services to the federal government.

Salami had observed that the CBN’s claims on federal government at N814 billion was twentyfold higher, while the claims of commercial banks rose marginally by 0.4 per cent to N4.6 trillion; 30 per cent increase to N454 billion in CBN’s purchase of government treasury bills; five per cent increase in federal government’s overdrafts to N2.8

trillion; and an increase in the mirror account from N3 billion at the end 2016 to N1.5 trillion in April 2017. “It is clear that the CBN has provided ‘piggy bank’ services to the federal government. To prevent the effect of continuous and massive injections of cash to fund the federal government showing up in sharply higher inflation and currency weakness, the central bank now applies ‘special auctions’. “We thus find ourselves at a point where government borrowing from the CBN is ‘neutralised’ by raising the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) of banks, thereby limiting private sector access to credit. In other

words, the private sector is deliberately ‘crowded-out’. “It is ironic that the government, in need of tax revenues – having in the first half of the year accumulated its full-year deficit – is constraining the private sector,� Salami added.

However, Emefiele said there was no substance in Salami’s observation, adding that it remained one of the most transparent central banks globally.

According to him, the CBN is not just a banker but an adviser to the federal government and the lender of last resort, pointing out that there was nothing illegal about the issuance of treasury bills, which the bank uses through OMO as an instrument

of monetary supply and control.

He noted that the federal government had decided that all its funds should go into the Treasury Single Account, adding that even in conventional banking, there was nothing wrong for a bank customer to request and overdraw his or her account.

He said at a time of global economic strain, every central bank comes to the rescue of their governments, stressing that there was no truth in the overfunding of government.

On the non-performing loans in the banks, Emefiele said most Nigerian lenders were within the 5 per cent threshold or slightly higher, adding that efforts were

being made to do something about the few that had overshot the threshold.

Salami and another member of the MPC, Hassan Balami, at the July meeting had also expressed concern over the high NPLs of what they termed “Four Outlier Banks� with bad loans of over 15 per cent.

Salami, in particular, noted that the four banks cumulate in size to one Systemically Important Bank (SIB), taking the view that “since the failure of any of the SIBs is a source of concern, excluding these ‘Four Outlier Banks’ does not adequately take cognisance of the contagion effect which

sukuk, as a novel investment platform, achieved one of its aims, which was to offer new investors an opportunity to participate in Nigeria’s growing capital market.

A look at the investors that subscribed to the sovereign sukuk revealed that another significant objective was achieved

through the participation of over a thousand retail investors from across the nation who accounted for over four per cent of the total subscription.

With this positive development, the DMO has been energised to continue its role of meeting the government’s funding needs, as well as

introducing new instruments to develop Nigeria’s capital market, the statement added.

DMO also expressed hope that the success of this offer and the proceeds from it, would enable the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to commence work on the road projects in earnest.

of Nigeria in the face of daunting challenges and threats by certain groups who are bent on causing disharmony and dis-unity among Nigerians. “Indeed, there is no better time to come out with such a strong position than now. “In the same vein, the lawmakers’ resolve to work with Mr. President for one Nigeria so as to take the country to the next level of development is laudable. “I wish to assure the lawmakers, under the leadership of Mr. Speaker, the Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara that Mr. President remains resolute and committed to bringing the change he promised Nigerians in different facets of our lives. Thus he needs the support of the House to achieve this. “It is our hope and belief that the House would continue to work hand-in-hand with the executive to achieve the laudable and positive programmes of this administration. “We thank members of the House for their support and cooperation since their inauguration on June 9, 2015.�

Meanwhile, the chairman of South-east Governors’ Forum and Ebonyi state governor, Mr. David Umahi yesterday disclosed that the president has promised to address all the issues leading to the agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and would further the discussions with the South-east governors.

Umahi made the disclosure in Ezillo, the headquarters of Ishielu local Government Area in the state during the 2017 Ebonyi Peace Day celebration.

Umahi stated that he was shocked by the president’s humility, as he listened attentively and was humourous when he brought up the issue with Buhari in New York during the 72nd United Nations General Assembly, adding that it showed the president has a good heart.

The governor stressed that he had no apologies for the decision of the South-east governors to proscribe IPOB, noting that the decision saved about 12 million Igbo lives in the Northern part of the country and other Nigerians living in Igboland.

He noted that though they were abused and vilified over their

decision, but if the circumstances presented themselves again, he would always toe any path that would ensure the peace and safety of his people. “Let me hint on this day of peace that I discussed all issues of agitations with President Muhammadu Buhari and he would further the discussions with the South-east governors. “We would address all issues of concern with him under an atmosphere of peace, even as he sends his regards to Igbo people. “In the course of the discussion, he said that it did not matter what people thought about someone but God who sends one to do justice to all and leaves the rest to Him,� he said.

He advised that the agitation for secession and concerns over marginalisation should not degenerate to self-help, adding that agitation was not only “insulting to our president, it was insulting to other tribes�.

The governor said that some Igbo youths had been misdirected and the South-east governors had agreed that the agitators would be reabsorbed and reintegrated into meaningful ventures.

He directed his Commissioner of Economic Empowerment and Job creation to open a register for the agitators to be reabsorbed and reintegrated so as to keep them gainfully employed.

Continued on page 46

FG’S N100BN DEBUT SUKUK OFFER OVERSUBSCRIBED BY 6% In the run up to the offer, Nigerians developed tremendous enthusiasm, as they embraced the investment instrument advertised nationwide through roadshows by officials of the DMO, Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja and

Kaduna, the statement said.

The awareness campaign which drew attention to the projects that the sukuk was aimed at, include the construction and rehabilitation of 25 roads across the six geopolitical zones and aroused in the investors the patriotic fervour that led to the

oversubscription.

Investment experts were optimistic that with this issue, a new instrument, the sovereign sukuk, had been introduced to Nigeria’s capital market, and has added to the variety of products available to domestic issuers and investors.

They pointed out that the

N’ASSEMBLY: NIGERIA’S UNITY NOT NEGOTIABLE, AGITATORS MUST ABIDE BY LAW Its position came in response to recent agitations by various groups, which have threatened the country’s co-existence.

This is just as the House of Representatives passed a resolution to immediately revisit the Devolution of Power Bill in the interest of unity.

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in his welcome remarks, challenged the upper legislative chamber to stand for the unity and indivisibility of the country amid rising agitations and calls for restructuring by various groups.

He said: “We must condemn in the strongest possible terms all forms of violence as a form of engagement. The constitution and laws have laid down tools and procedures for us to push through our interest as all democratic nations do. “Our nation is blessed with exceptionally talented and beautiful people, we are collectively strong and indomitable and it is time for all of us to stand up for our nation. “Our dream of a virile nation must keep us motivated and this dream is already in the horizon.�

Saraki added that the national interest must override other interests. “As leaders closest to our people, we must rededicate ourselves to the values we have institutionalised in this chamber. In this chamber, we are first and foremost Nigerians. “Yes, we are Igbos, Yorubas, Hausas, Fulanis. Yes, we are Muslims, Christians and traditional worshipers. “But we must in all our conversations and decisions continue to be first and foremost Nigerians and as Nigerian citizens be our brothers’ keepers. “Too many of our youths, too many of our families from the South to the North need a lift. Our job is to help government give them a hand and once again make them feel great again about being Nigerians. This is our mission,�

Saraki admonished.

Also, the Senate, after a closeddoor session yesterday, maintained that all groups seeking any form of agitation must pursue such agitations constitutionally, adding that violators would henceforth be brought to book.

Briefing journalists, Senate spokesman, Sabi Abdullahi said the red chamber further committed to exploring all avenues to ensure that peace is restored in all parts of the country.

Nevertheless, the Senate passed a resolution, mandating the Ministry of Water Resources to commence the dredging of the Rivers Niger and Benue as a practical step towards addressing incessant flooding which has taken a huge toll on the national purse and displaced several persons.

The Senate also took time to clarify some issues concerning the resumption date of its former majority leader, Senator Ali Ndume who was suspended on March 29 for 180 days. He was rumoured to have resumed today.

But Abdullahi told journalists that going by the administrative calendar of the National Assembly and by the Senate rules, Ndume was expected to resume on November 14.

Also towing the path of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, in his welcome address at plenary, urged agitators to lawfully resolve any differences they have.

He said as a constitutional democracy, the country has a clear legal framework for resolving differences that normally arise among citizens, between citizens and government as well as between the structures and arms of government. “Make no mistake, as representatives of the people we have a duty to champion the protection and preservation of the rights of our constituents and peoples. “We are very conscious and indeed jealous of the fundamental rights provided under our constitution as well as human and people’s rights under the African Charter. “As an institution, this House stands firmly on the side of those who seek equity, fairness and justice so long as such is pursued in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which we as honorable members have sworn to protect and preserve. “Anyone or group who assaults our constitution will not find a

partner here because our oath of office repels it, but those who stand for justice, fairness and equity will have partners in us because our oath of office compels it. “We would work shoulder to shoulder with all those working within the ambit of the constitution and the law for all Nigerians, regardless of creed or ethnicity, to be first class citizens as no nation can truly be first class if it harbours within its borders second or third class citizens,� he said.

He also asked rhetorically: “Do we have a legislative response to the issues that have been thrown up?

Is the National Assembly involved in the debate? Can restructuring take place outside the existing legal order?� “Indeed all the arguments about restructuring are at the end of the day, legislative issues. It may be necessary in due course for the National Assembly to have a second look at the issues that have been thrown up. “The National Assembly as a representative and product of the people cannot act contrary to the wishes and aspirations of its constituents. We need to sift all the ‘noise’ and find out what exactly a majority of our people actually want? This is a responsibility we cannot outsource,� the speaker added.

Also, at the resumption of plenary yesterday, the House passed a resolution to immediately revisit the Devolution of Power Bill in the interest of unity.

It also resolved to set up a strong committee to liaise with all stakeholders across the six geopolitical zones for practical solutions to strengthen unity in the country.

House Majority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos) moved the motion under a matter of urgent national importance.

He noted that there have been different agitations across the country and divergent views on the suitability of redefining the structures upon which the unity of Nigeria rests.

He further noted that the various agitations had also resulted in the proscription of groups, loss of lives and judicial pronouncements.

Gbajabiamila said events of the last few weeks brought Nigeria

close to the precipice, but for the determination of Nigerians in their show of commitment to the peace and unity of the country.

He said the situation required urgent intervention by the House to salvage the country.

He further argued that it was imperative that the members of the House who hold brief for their constituents must drop partisan politics, ethnic and religious interests and speak in one voice to save the country from disintegration.

The leader of the House urged his colleagues to take the bull by the horn and stand together for unity.

The House consequently assured that it stood for the co-dependence of the regions in the country.

However, before putting the motion to vote, Dogara reminded members that the House would be remembered for those issues it confronted in the interest of Nigerians and that which it shied away from.

The lower chamber subsequently voted overwhelmingly to pass the motion.

The newly formed committee saddled with the responsibility of fostering national unity has the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Yussuff Lasun as its chairman, while Gbajabiamila serves as its deputy chairman. It also has seven principal officers and two other lawmakers as members.

Reacting to the National Assembly’s commitment towards fostering the unity of the country, the presidency yesterday commended the various peace initiatives by the legislature.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President, National Assembly Matters (House of Reps), Hon. Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, said the move by the lower chamber was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to reunite the country.

He said: “I wish to use this medium to welcome members of the House of Representatives from their annual recess to continue with their legislative business for the betterment of Nigeria and Nigerians. “May I use this opportunity to commend the 360 members of the House for unanimously passing a resolution to work for the unity

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COMMENT

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

‘SHOOT THEM, KILL THEM’(2)

The military assault on IPOB and others in the Southeast is indefensible, argues Sonnie Ekwowusi

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t is fairly easy to deduce that the average Igbo man believes in the Kanu’s Biafran cause. They believe that they are the only ones who have been marginalised in the country. When the country’s revenue had dropped and the allocation to states from the Federation Account had correspondingly reduced, the South East compatriots believe they ought to receive what they had been getting prior to the recession. With this siege complex they have been unable to realise that appointments alone do not add up to development. They may have shared in Kanu’s madness and differ only in the method...

No matter the pent-up accusation, grouse, hatred or animosity there should be no recourse to self-help and use of military force in seeking what one perceives is the only available remedy. Recourse to self-help or use of military force in killing or mowing down defenceless civilians is the real madness that we should be worried about. In our presidential democracy, the rule of law occupies a unique place to safeguard the rights of the citizenry. Such respect for the rule of law is the bedrock upon which a society lays claim to civilisation. If Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB are terrorists you cannot use terrorism to bring them to justice.

Two wrongs cannot make a right. You cannot become a terrorist in order to cure terrorism. You cannot use illegal means to achieve a lawful end. The end does not justify the means. Put differently, you cannot deploy the military to the South-east to vanquish Nnamdi Kanu and proscribe IPOB. First, the military stormed the South-east and carried out destruction of lives and property. Thereafter the federal government tried to justify the illegality in order to look good in the eyes of the outside world. Then it declared IPOB as a terrorist organisation. Still feeling guilty that it had violated due process in destroying lives and property in the South-east especially in the face of public criticisms of the destruction, the government through the Federal Attorney-General immediately proceeded to the Federal High Court, Abuja and secured a court order proscribing IPOB. If the government knew at the outset that the right thing to do was to approach the law court, why did it deploy troops to the South-east in the first place? If IPOB was a monstrous terrorist organisation which was getting out of hand why didn’t the Attorney-General file the suit earlier at the Federal High Court, Abuja proscribing IPOB thus avoiding deploying military troops to the South-east and shedding the blood of people who had nothing to do with IPOB. No matter the grievances, recourse to violence and force can never be justified. The celebrated Supreme Court case that easily comes to the minds of many in considering the aforesaid illegality is the case of OJUKWU V GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE where the Supreme Court clearly condemned recourse to self-help and use of force in seeking remedy But in rationalising the deployment of military troops to the Southeast, some argue that it was aimed at defending Nigeria against internal terrorist aggression. This pseudo-rationalisation is fatally flawed. To begin with, under customary international law (as was decided in the notable Caroline case (1906) and other cases), anticipatory self-defence is lawful if the necessity is immediate, overwhelming and when there is no other choice. Prior to deployment of troops and heavy military tanks to the South-east, there were other choices and options waiting to be employed. For example, a dialogue would have been initiated with

THE USE OF A COUNTRY’S MILITARY TO PUNISH PERCEIVED ENEMIES OF GOVERNMENT IS AN ABUSE OF THE MILITARY

IPOB as former President Olusegun Obasanjo and many others have been suggesting. Alternatively, the federal government would have brought a legal action against Kanu and IPOB in a court of law as it did in the past. In any case, for a plea of self-defence to exculpate the military, the defence must be aimed at protecting unarmed innocent civilians against the aggression. It must be a defence without the intention to kill unless it can be shown that in the face of the deadly attack the soldiers were in such reasonable apprehension of death that the only option open to them at that time was to kill the civilian protesters. More importantly the defence must be proportional to the aggression offered. This requires the use of no more force than is necessary. If the force far exceeds the aggression then the use of force will be unjustified.

It was obvious that the recent strike of the Nigerian military in the South-east fell short of the aforesaid criteria. For instance, the military vehicles and military tanks shown in the media making their way to the South-east pointed to the fact that the means employed in the defence was disproportionate to the end sought.

It appeared that the soldiers went to the South-east with premeditated intention to kill. Obviously, self-defence cannot avail a person with pre-meditated intention to kill. That was why in the case of Adeyinka Albert Laoye V The State (1984) Justice Karibi-White stated that self defence is unavailable in a case in which the person using force which causes death first started the assault with the intent to kill. In other words, a plea of self-defence cannot avail a person who at the onset resolved to kill another person before the necessity of self-defence or self-preservation arises. Above all, section 217(2)(c) (d) of the 1999 Constitution has in no unmistakable language spelt out the circumstances and conditions under which the military can be invited to intervene in quelling internal secession or conflict in a country. While the President of Nigeria can freely deploy our military to defend our country against external aggression and to maintain our territorial integrity, he cannot, pursuant to section 217(2)(c)(d) of the 1999 Constitution, freely do so against internal insurrection and internal armed-conflicts without “such conditions as may be prescribed by an act of National Assembly, and “performing such other functions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly�. It is obvious that the aforesaid constitutional provision was violated when military troop was recently deployed to the South-east.

As many have repeatedly queried, if the military is so keen on protecting the Nigerian territorial integrity why hasn’t it waged a strong war against the AK-47 wielding Fulani herdsmen who have proved to be the foremost terrorist group in recent times, freely going about maiming and killing their victims in different Nigerian communities? So let’s stop using the military to exact personal vengeance.

The use of a country’s military to punish perceived enemies of government is an abuse of the military. A peaceful meeting between South-east governors and Nnamdi Kanu and others was still on when the military struck and started shooting and killing. But shedding of innocent blood cannot be a preferred option to dialogue on how to restructure Nigeria to the benefit of all as Obasanjo and others have been re-echoing.

AREWA 2019 AND THE PRESIDENCY Tanko Madaki previews the presidential race and the chances of those on the train

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ith the peculiar exception of the resurrection of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Arewa 2019 barometer has been unresponsive to the presidential potential being paraded by the handful of self-declared aspirants in recent times.

The barometer is not to blame. The atmospherics of presidential politics in Nigeria, particularly in the North, have risen higher into the layer of pragmatic processing of preferred aspirants for the second-term entitlement to the Presidency.

That means it is no longer a matter for a patently anti-Arewa military legionnaire to manipulate and dictate for the selfish agenda of reactivating his rusted third-term agenda by unholy anointment of his choice of Arewa stooge. It will never again be a blind sentimental selection of candidate that is politically doomed on arrival because there was no screening for competence and capability rating before adoption. The North just cannot continue being reduced to tactical two-year tenure while the South usurps the remaining period by Machiavellian exploitation of acting presidency.

The first anti-dote to the political poison plaguing Arewa’s presidential entitlement is an injection of stark realism into the body politic motivated principally toward retrieval of the dynamics of strategic decisions and agenda setting from the mountain tops to the downto-earth domains of the serially fooled, used and dumped talakawa. Enough of all the hero-worshipping and personality cultism that overtook Arewa’s vibrant culture of ideological politics and constructive engagement with the

rest of Nigeria.

If anything has been learnt from the political misfortunes inflicted on the northern presidential entitlement since 2007, it is the heightened frustrations of the talakawa as well as the southern political constituency with the apparent stagnation and sterility of politics in the north. In the 2015 presidential outing, only the potent populism of General Buhari’s political bandwagon saved the North from relegation.

Today that brand of populism has significantly suffered from a crippling combination of selfsustained disabilities and unforeseen challenges of governance with terminal consequences on its perceived potency and survivability. For the first time in a long time, Arewa is not cock-sure of tipping the scales of presidential elections to its advantage in 2019!

But the real shocker is that the discredited demagogues of the stagnation and sterility stigmatising Arewa politics remain undeterred in sinking the region deeper with their capsized ambitions. Totally blinded by inordinate lust for the spoils of presidential office and compelled by the ulterior motive of evading imminent foreclosure of their qualification to contest, among other personal agenda, the arena of presidential aspirants in the north is enveloped in toxicity.

With ex-VP Atiku on top of the heap where the likes of Sule Lamido, Kwankwaso, Bukola Saraki, David Mark, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, Nasir el-Rufai, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, Kashim Shettima, Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki and Senator Bala Muhammed hang around the carcass of northern presidential candidature like scavengers, the north is actively romancing relegation and rejection come 2019

elections.

If the north really wants to be given just one more chance to salvage presidential entitlement, reputation and reckoning in 2019, it must send unambiguous signals to the rest of Nigeria that it will not be Arewa politics as usual. We cannot be pushing for the retired and tired old brigade (and brigadiers for that matter) and expect support even in many northern constituencies, when Nigerians are still reeling from the nightmare of acting presidency. We cannot be showcasing aspirants with questioned and questionable credibility and assume that fumes of dubious deodorant will not suffocate the electorate and strangulate the prospector. We dare not place Arewa’s complicated and implicated candidature in the clumsy clasp of local champions limited by national anonymity and disabled with political polio and not end up in quarantine.

Conspicuously absent from the roll of rowdy Arewa aspirants is immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, now Sokoto State Governor, Right Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal – for good reason! He definitely does not belong to that crowd of the controversial and contentious pretenders. In terms of height of national leadership attainment, achievement and acceptability he is wig and shoulders above them all in today’s Arewa and today’s Nigeria.

By professional precedence there is no injunction sustainable against his advantageous comportment and capacity to navigate the challenging terrain of democratic governance, more so with his seamless dual dexterity as chief legislatorturned-chief executive.

Governor Aminu Tambuwal’s clear cut overriding national political clout and connectiv-

ity is therefore the greatest arsenal for powering a convincing rapprochement with the movers and shakers of political dynamics outside the North, which Arewa desperately requires for an assured second term entitlement. Tambuwal was the emergent presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress who was obliged to withdraw his sealed progressive consensus candidature in the late hour in deference to General Muhammadu Buhari. In the national interest he willingly withdrew where the others would have remained adamant.

Above all, Aminu Tambuwal was the centre of gravity of the grand newbreed political alliance that redefined the partisan allegiances of the National Assembly and produced a patriotic independent coalition of the federal legislators across party and geo-political divides.

His marvelous bonding with his south eastern deputy and magnetic embrace of the south western caucus effectively transformed him into a defacto shadow president and put a bite into the bark of the legislature as the vigilant overseer of the executive in the Goodluck Jonathan era.

The Tambuwal template for a truly united pan-Nigerian political movement powered by the new generation of Nigerian politicians with the vision and commitment to move Nigeria forward still retains its network and stratagem and is undoubtedly the most credible and acceptable alternative to the conspiracy of neo-military caucuses and money-bag mandarins laying siege on the progressive prospects of popular democracy in Nigeria. Arewa 2019 cannot get a more formidable platform to re-launch and regain its second term entitlement in the national interest.

Madaki wrote from Jos

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EDITORIAL THE CHALLENGE OF POWER SUPPLY

After more than two years of privatisation, consumers are paying more and getting less electric power

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t is understandable that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) would express outrage at the hint of raising electricity tariff through a major review of Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO). According to Reginald Odiah, chairman, MAN’s economic policy, such policy review would hurt the nation. “What we know, which we want them to know is that our budget is done yearly and any attempt to change the tariff of electricity to monthly or quarterly period will affect our budget and worsen the harsh economic situation,� said Odiah, “What we pay as electricity bills is outrageous. The electricity reform that we clamour for has failed.�

The frustrations of MAN are understandable. When in November 2013 the electricity distribution and power generation companies were handed over to some private operators at an elaborate ceremony, the hope was that daily blackouts and power outages would be reduced to the barest minimum, until they were gradually eased out. But it is THE VERY SOURCE OF now apparent that THE HUGE DISTORTION those hopes were IN THE SECTOR MUST BE largely misplaced.

ATTACKED BY METERING Today, consumers are paying more and ALL CONSUMERS getting less electric power. Indeed, energy costs perhaps account for the highest spending in many homes and businesses as Nigerians are largely dependent on generators as alternative source of energy.

Against the background that the economy cannot grow if there is no electricity to power basic industrial and domestic operations at reasonable cost, the outrage by MAN reects the mood of the nation. That explains why the recent clamour by the electricity distribution companies (Discos) for a raise in tariff is being met with resistance. But the Discos have also insisted that the tariffs paid by customers are not cost-reective. This was accentuated by their disagreement with the electricity generation companies (Gencos) over the planned

Letters to the Editor

centralisation of their accounts. The federal government had threatened to centralise the accounts of the Discos over their inability to fulďŹ l their monthly remittances to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), accusing them of remitting only 30 per cent of their monthly energy invoices.

Meanwhile, it was the same consideration which inuenced an earlier plan to hike electricity tariff by 45 per cent in 2016, but was shot down because of stiff opposition from the public.

It is not clear if the provisions of the act are taken into consideration in the current contemplation to review the MYTO. But given the worsening services being provided by the Gencos and the Discos, raising the tariff will be an uphill task. One of the major grouses of those opposed to the tariff structure is that Nigerians are being billed for what they do not consume.

W

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TO OUR READERS Letters in response to speciďŹ c publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (9501000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

LAGOS AND THE AGONY OF TRAFFIC GRIDLOCK

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any roads in Lagos State are subjected to regular traffic jam largely due to indiscriminate parking by tanker drivers in many places notaby, Fadeyi, Ijora, Coconut, Wharf, and the ports, to mention but a few. Motorists usually spend hours on end in traffic. This ugly situation has incidentally continues to defy permanent solution by successive administrations in the state.

For instance, former Lagos State Governor, Raji Babatunde Fashola visited the nation’s prime ports where the road has been blocked to motorists by tanker drivers. He ordered the immediate removal of all vehicles. Consequently, soldiers were drafted to the area to carry out the major operation by making sure that owners of the vehicles adhered strictly to the governor’s order. The operation only lasted for two or three days and the tanker drivers were back to the place. It seemed as if the state administration could not tackle the problem.

Few years ago, a tanker-filled with petroleum product went into flames on the bridge at Berger along Lagos - Ibadan Expressway. Many people lost their lives and vehicles in the inferno because

hile about 60 per cent of electricity consumers are billed exorbitantly and arbitrarily since they are not metered, there is no assurance that a new hike in tariff will translate to improved services. Only last week, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola admitted that even though the country now generates about 6000 megawatts of electricity, the highest at any point in time, much of it could be evacuated because of decayed infrastructure.

That perhaps explains why Nigeria has one of the harshest environments for doing business.

China, for instance, spends less than 10 per cent of its production cost on electricity. In Nigeria, it is in excess of 40 per cent as individuals and businesses have had to resort to self-help through an assortment of generators. Yet, as we have noted on this page, we must reiterate that price hike alone will not reform the sector. We need a robust and efďŹ ciently managed grid, appropriate incentives to attract necessary investment, and smart regulation.

Above all, the very source of the huge distortion in the sector must be attacked by metering all consumers.

of indiscriminate parking by tanker drivers.

No too long, Lagos State Governor Ambode Akinwunmi had tried to impose compulsory movement at night by trucks and tanker drivers to ease the traffic congestion. Days later they went on strike by blocking many roads to defeat the good idea. Today, tanker drivers behave as if Lagos belongs to them alone. The problem is that once the traffic starts at one point it spreads rapidly to many places at the same time. The uncontrollable situation coupled with deplorable condition of roads have made Apapa Wharf a no-go area as small scale business owners have started to leave there in droves to other parts of the state.

It is unfortunate that working hours are spent in the traffic instead of offices. The hours wasted have serious implication on the country’s economy. Time is money. Many employers have capitalised on lateness to office to sack their workers. This poor development promotes poverty leading to dependency on others.

Nigeria in general and Lagos State in particular cannot move forward when disorderliness, carelessness and lawlessness have become a way of life. Something urgent needs to be done.

Sunday Yovo, Lagos

ENOUGH OF THE DIATRIBE AGAINST ATIKU, DAURA

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f recent, it has become the past time of Dr. Junaid Mohammed, the erudite and firebrand socialist politician to descend and insult the elders of northern extraction.

Dr.Junaid Mohammed had been pouring his venom on the pages of newspapers during interviews. The recent in the New Telegraph newspaper where he said that the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has no integrity and cannot win the 2019 election even if he contests.

Though, Dr. Junaid Mohammed has the fundamental right to voice his grievances, but decorum needs to be applied especially with regard to the northern leaders such as Atiku Abubakar.

The extreme criticism of the uncle of President Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Mamman Daura, a non-political person is also a source of concern. Dr. Junaid Mohammed should know the fact that Alhaji Mamman Daura, has a rich pedigree in public service having risen to become the Managing Director of the New

Nigerian Newspapers in the 80’s.

It is inconceivable for Dr. Mohammed to be always at the neck of this erudite elderstateman. May be he holds grudges against President Buhari who truncated his political ambition as elected member of the House of Representatives in the second republic when the military struck in 1984.

Ever since, Dr. Junaid Mohammed has great disdain for President Buhari and anybody close to him like Alhaji Daura.

He has integrity and discipline coupled with the fact that he is today one of the respected northern leaders and a reference point for the up-and -coming generation of leaders. In fact, Alhaji Daura is not Dr. Junaid Mohammed’s match in almost every sphere of life. Dr. Junaid should accord all due respect as one of the northern leaders.

They are role model. Therefore, the challenge, insult and vituperation being poured on these two gentlemen by Dr.Junaid Mohammed should stop henceforth.

Danladi DanAsabe Chairman, Adamawa Think TankDemsawo, Jimeta,Yola

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T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY,SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

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MIDWEEKPOLITICS

Group Politics Editor Tobi Soniyi Email tobi.soniyi@thisdaylive.com 08033146139 SMS ONLY

THE NEWSMAKER

Dasuki: Forgotten in Jail

Tobi Soniyi revisits the plight of Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the former National Security Adviser to Dr Goodluck Jonathan as president, who by December would have spent two years in custody even though he has not been convicted of any offence

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xcept for relatives who still remember that one of their own is in solitary cell, not many Nigerians remember that Col. Sambo Dasuki, the erstwhile National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan is locked up in a cell at the Department of State Security.

When he was the NSA, Dasuki’s house and office were like Mecca where people came to seek favour . Today, he is a lonely man. Visitors are few and far between.

A few years ago, that would have been unheard of. Then, Dasuki determined who should be locked up or should walk free. Then, Dasuki possessed the resources to make you an instant millionaire. The fact that he is locked up somewhere today is a reminder to those wielding powers of life and death, power to detain and to release, power to choose which courts orders to obey, that that power is transient.

Although charged with offences bordering on corruption, the federal government has left no one in doubt that his trial is political. All the offences against him are bailable. After leading not guilty, he was accordingly granted bails by three different high courts and the ECOWAS Community Court but the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has refused to obey the court orders. Even the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu who was charged with treasonable felony, an offence that is not ordinarily bailable was allowed to go on bail.

When the trial started, people said Dasuki was being punished for the role he played during the coup that ousted General Muhammadu Buhari from power. The Federal Government denied it. Even Dasuki himself reportedly issued a denial.

But how do you explain a situation where three courts ordered that Dasuki be released on bail and those in authorities wilfully disobeyed these orders? That certainly goes beyond the fight against corruption. It is simply executive lawlessness and vendetta.

Since 2015, when Dasuki was arraigned before different high courts, he has been granted bail

by Justice Adeniyi Ademola and Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohhamed both of the Federal High Court as well as Justice Peter Affen and Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf of the Abuja High Court..

On the 4th October, 2016, ECOWAS Court declared the arrest and detention of Dasuki, as unlawful and arbitrary. The court also held that the further arrest of Dasuki by government after he had been granted bail by a court of law, amounted to a mockery of democracy and the rule of law. The court also ordered the federal government to release him immediately from the unlawful custody and imposed a fine of N15 million on the government. None of the orders was complied with.

Those following the trial have also watched helplessly as government agencies particularly, the DSS continue to frustrate the trial. The agency would either not produce him in court or would bring him late.

At one of the sittings, a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), who represented Salisu Shuaib, a former Director of Finance in Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), charged alongside Dasuki accused government of frustrating the trial.

He said it was irritating for government to have persistently and consistently refused to produce Dasuki in court to face trial even when the ex-NSA is the custody of DSS in flagrant disobedience of the bails granted him by several courts. That was the second time in a week that the DSS would fail to bring him to court

Detained since December 29, 2015

and about the fifth time it would happen.

The senior counsel said that the defence of government that the inability to produce Dasuki in court for trial was an oversight was not acceptable and not tenable because the government having taken custody of Dasuki in spite of the bail granted him by four judges, ought to have be prepared to bring him to court to defend himself in the interest of justice.

He said: “I find it irritating for a prosecutor to say that the failure to produce a defendant in a criminal matter is an oversight. It is absurd and there is the need to keep record of day to day of the defendant in order to allow him to defend himself in the criminal charges brought against him.

“No one should foist a state of hopelessness on the court but I urge the court to order that those keeping Dasuki should ensure that they are alive to their responsibility of producing him at the next adjourned day.”

Government has also ignored calls by well meaning Nigerians and organisations asking it to release Dasuki in line with orders of courts.

The Nigerian Bar Association had called for

The senior advocate admitted that the trial of Dasuki was beyond ordinary crime because it “has doses of politics which at the end of the day may have to be resolved in a manner that will accommodate the political aspect”

his release but nobody heeded the call. The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN who is always ready to sacrifice human rights for the fight against corruption had surprisingly lent his voice to the call for Dasuki to be released.

Having exhausted all legal avenues to get his client released Dasuki’s counsel, Ahmed Raji, SAN recently appealed to the president to release him on humanitarian ground and in the interest of justice.

Raji was apologetic on the detention of his client rather than being confrontational on the issue.

He also stated emphatically that he would not join issues with either the president or the government but would rather plead that on compassionate ground, Dasuki should be allowed to go on bail or at worse be placed under house arrest.

“I hold President Buhari in high esteem, I respect him in his private and official capacity, I have tremendous respect for him and I mean it. And my plea to him is to allow Dasuki to go on bail or at worst be placed under house arrest, be confined to his house.

“Whatever he might have done wrong in the past outside what we have been told I plead in the name of God that he should be forgiven. I am not confirming that he has done anything wrong but I plead that he be forgiven if at all he had done anything wrong in the past”, he said.

He appealed to government to obey the court orders, adding that it is through the instrumentality of the same court that the fight against corruption would be prosecuted.

He stated that If the government continued to violate court orders, the consequences would be too great for the system.

“All over the world there is what is known as judicial review or administrative action but there is nothing like executive review of the

judicial decision. The implication of disobedience of the four court orders is that there appears to be a concept of executive review of judicial actions on Dasuki which is abnormal.

“I will only humbly plead with the Federal Government to, in the interest of justice and sanctity of law and orderliness, to allow Dasuki to go on bail even if under house arrest.

“Col. Dasuki’s problem is an internal affair of Nigeria, he has no other country. I will want the problem to be resolved within the context of the Nigerian affairs”, he said.

The senior advocate admitted that the trial of Dasuki was beyond ordinary crime because it “has doses of politics which at the end of the day may have to be resolved in a manner that will accommodate the political aspect.

“It is in the light of the political doses involved that I am pleading that even if it is under house arrest, Dasuki should be released in the interest of justice”, he added.

Dasuki was born on December 2, 1954 in Wusasa, Zaria, Kaduna State, to Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, the 18th Sultan of Sokoto. He is the first son of the deposed sultan. Dasuki attended Kaduna Capital School for his elementary education and later Government College, Kaduna, for his secondary education. He entered the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1972 and was coursemate with officers such as Colonel Kayode Are, General Owoye Andrew Azazi, and Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye. Dasuki received his commission from the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1974 and was posted to an Army Headquarters platoon.

Sambo Dasuki (then a Major) and military assistant to General Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi participated in the 1983 Nigerian coup d’état that installed Major General Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s Head of State. Later, Dasuki was among four majors (Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, Lawan Gwadabe, and Abdulmumini Aminu) who arrested the Nigerian head of state Muhammadu Buhari in the 1985 palace coup led by Major General Ibrahim Babangida.

Following the coup, Dasuki was made Aidede-camp (ADC) to General Ibrahim Babangida.

Dasuki was also a former managing director of Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Limited (NSPMC). He resigned in protest from the NSPMC following its controversial privatisation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In early 2015, while serving as national security advisor, Dasuki informed the Independent National Electoral Commission “that operations against Boko Haram militants meant the military “will be unable to provide adequate security” for the upcoming 2015 Nigerian general election.

The elections, scheduled for 15 February 2015, were postponed until March 28.

Also in April 2015, he insisted that the Nigerian military would ensure that Sambisa Forest, the last fortress of Boko Haram, would be liberated before the May 29 inauguration of President Buhari’s new government.

Coincidentally, on the one year anniversary of the abduction of Chibok school girls, Dasuki insisted that government was concerned about the welfare of every single Nigerian not only the Chibok girls, as terrorists abducted other innocent Nigerian girls, boys, men, and women and security agencies were making all efforts to rescue them. The military rescued more than 300 abductees a few weeks afterwards.

On December 1, 2015, Dasuki was arrested

by Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS) for allegedly stealing $2bn and accused of awarding phantom contracts to buy 12 helicopters, four fighter jets, and ammunition meant for the Nigeria’s military campaign against Boko Haram Islamist militants

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY,SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

19

PERSPECTIVE

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

Agbedi Ups the Ante in Bayelsa Politics Aformer chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State and two-time member of the House of Representatives, Fred Agbedi may have decided to take a shot at the Baylesa State Government House, writes Segun James

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n politics, fame appears in myriad forms. Over the airwaves and the news stands, on the playing field, by dint of hard work and ability or by reputation; very ambitious politician tells tales of what they will do and how they will transform their state into an Eldorado in four years.

The Bayelsa governorship race has begun as politicians position themselves and realign their interests. What have those jostling for the job to offer to the state that is reputed to be the least developed in the south, yet the resource from the bowels of its land sustains the nation?

In period of political stress, all sorts of theories are entertained about the nature of problems besetting the country or state and how to tackle and solve them; but when better times return, these theories simply fade away from memory and they return back to the status quo.

However, some politicians who have mastered the art of governance are careful about this.

They realise that both the good and the bad times never last forever, but a careful planning and management of resources help at critical times.

Such politicians are guided by facts, reality and crunchy scrutiny of questions and answers they give. For example: what is your economic plan for the state, what is your developmental goal for infrastructure, education and the economy, will a project deliver reasonable return on capital invested?

One of such politicians is Frederick Agbedi the member representing Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency of Bayelsa state in the House of Representatives. A realist who believes that political leadership goes beyond rhetoric and noise and unfulfilled promises.

In planning for the future, politicians dare not look beyond the next election, lest they dash their feet to a stone, and lose power before the future comes. Since continuity is one critical ingredient that is missing in the nation’s political system, how do you ensure this?

Agbedi believes that in the ever-changing world of politics, only change is constant.

Hence the need for Bayelsa state to look beyond oil revenue as the days of easy money are over. To him, even though the oil that comes from the state is the mainstay of the national economy, the state has been left holding the short end of the stick in terms of development.

He applauds Governor Seriake Dickson for his efforts to open up the deep riverine areas to communities on the fringe of the Atlantic Ocean.

To him, such ambitious programme must be consolidated upon before the oil dries out or ceases to be of any relevance in the world.

Continuity on the work of Dickson is what Agbedi offers.

Agbedi is not new to the politics of Bayelsa state. He was until elected member of the House of Representatives, the special adviser to

What have those jostling for the job to offer to the state that is reputed to be the least developed in the south, yet the resource from the bowels of its land sustains the nation?

Agbedi eyeing Bayelsa State Government House

Dickson on political matters. He was also the director general of the governor’s successful election campaigns both in 2012 and 2015.

Today, the kingmaker is angling to be the king.

Agbedi was born on February 20, 1960 in the riverine community of Aghoro Town in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa state.

He had his early education at State School, Aghoro, later at Oporoza Grammar School, Patani and proceeded to College of Education, Warri where he bagged the Nigeria Certificate in Education in English and History.

Agbedi also attended the University of Port Harcourt and University of Abuja where he graduated with B.A (Education) English and Masters in Public Administration respectively.

He has been a teacher, a profession at which he excelled and as a civil servant. He was confidential secretary to the Secretary, Local Teaching Service Committee, a pay officer and member of the Ad hoc Committee on Verification of Primary/Post Primary School Teachers. He was also at a time the Confidential Secretary to the Military Panel on Screening and Verification of staff of Burutu LGA, Delta State in the mid eighties.

Agbedi left the civil service and ventured into business and politics where he became local

government secretary, National Republican Convention (NRC) Ekeremor, 1992-1993.

He was elected as one of the youngest members of the National Assembly to represent Ekeremor Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives from 1992-1993.

While there, he served as member, Public Accounts and Sports and Youth Development Committees, House of Representatives.

Agbedi joined the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) and was a member of that party’s House of Assembly aspirants’ screening committee in Bayelsa State as well as contested for Bayelsa-West Senatorial District primary of the Party and ended first runner-up in 1998.

He later joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the ward level; Ekeremor Ward

Agbedi believes that in the ever-changing world of politics, only change is constant

Eleven (11), served as Special Assistant to the Chairman, 2001 PDP Computerized Membership Registration Committee, Bayelsa State, member and secretary of the PDP National Committee on Supervising, Monitoring and Conduct of Congresses/Convention 2001in Abia State, aspirant Bayelsa West Senatorial primary in 2002, member Transitional Committee on Handover of Power in Government of Bayelsa State, 2007 and later state chairman Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 2005-February 2008.

Agbedi has held several appointments including Senior Legislative aide to the President of the Senate, Campaign Director-General, Restoration 2012 “Dickson for Governor”, Special Adviser to the Bayelsa State Governor on Political Matters and Campaign Director “Dickson for Governor 2016” .

He has also received numerous recognitions including “Face of Bayelsa in the National Assembly” by Bayelsa Media Awards (BMA).

Among other things, Agbedi likes playing table-tennis, volley-ball, reading, swimming and travelling.

As the race for the Creek Haven Government House hots up only the toughs can get going and with the looks of things, Fred Agbedi is one of such people

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017, Ëž T H I S D AY

20

FEATURES

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

Garbage Reigns Supreme in Abuja Abuja, the nation's capital is at the risk of becoming a filthy state, as the city centre, satellite towns and the suburbs have been taken over by refuse. Adedayo Akinwale, Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole and Nnenna Akuma report

A dumping site at Utako Village

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he vision of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to build a world-class capital city that is comparable to any city in the world is currently under threat as the nation's capital that is supposed to be the image of the country to foreigners and outside world has been taken over by refuse both within the city centre and the satellite towns.

Though, having sniffed this danger of the city sliding into a filthy state, the FCT Minister, Muhammed Bello last year approved the immediate removal of the Director, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Baba Shehu Lawan who was immediately replaced by Mrs. Oluwatoyin Omolola Olanipekun. The tsunami that swept the board last year was largely due to non-performance and the takeover of the city by heaps of refuse.

The FCT minister remarked that a lot of things were not going on well at the board and further warned the new team to work to change the tide immediately. He also warned that all lackadaisical attitude to work must be stopped forthwith as Abuja must be rid of filth, street beggars, street hawkers and all other environmental nuisances immediately.

However, one year down the line after the tsunami that swept the AEPB, the Board seems to be overwhelmed with the challenges of keeping the city clean as indiscriminate

refuse have taken over the city once again.

Nevertheless, the board claimed to have contracted 21 cleaning contractors tasked with the collection of waste in the city.

But the level of waste generation in the FCT and satellite towns currently has increased tremendously, hence; the need for the companies to step up and ensure

The vision of the Federal Capital Territory Administration to build a world-class capital city that is comparable to any city in the world is currently under threat as the nation's capital that is supposed to be the image of the country to foreigners and outside world has been taken over by refuse both within the city centre and the satellite towns

the city remains clean.

THISDAY checks revealed that places like Jabi, Karu, Gwarimpa, Dei Dei, Karimo and Gwagwa, the indiscriminate disposal of refuse has become the order of the day, while dumping of refuse in drainages by the residents has shown no sign of abating.

Inasmuch as the AEPB is trying its best to keep the city clean, all indications showed that the board is finding it difficult to cope with the high level of waste generation by FCT residents.

The fact finding mission to ascertain the level of sanitation and waste collection in the city and the suburbs started in Jabi where THISDAY office is located. The office has been practically turned to public toilets where every Tom, Dick and Harry especially motor park touts from Jabi Park which is directly opposite THISDAY office have turned it to a place to ease themselves without regard to the discomforts they are causing the staff of the organisation.

The serenity of the office and the environment has been absolutely polluted with the smell of urine. The perpetrators sometimes dare the staff of the organisation. THISDAY office has been turned to a total mess, while authorities concerned have turned blind eyes.

Also, Jabi Park, which happens to be the major park in the nation's capital is extremely dirty. The only time when the presence of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) can be easily felt in the park was

during collection of taxes from the union.

The maintenance of the park has been given less priority by the council. The park lacks organisation, waste bins are not in existence and the sorry state of the park demands serious attention from the council in charge. The current state of the park showed that the taxes being collected are either not judiciously used, or they end up in private pockets. The council has refused to be alive to its responsibility.

Speaking to THISDAY on the state of the park, a passenger, Ms. Ochigbo Blessing said the environment was not conducive to passengers due to lack of shelter and waste baskets which made the park to be untidy. “As for the environment, actually it’s not that conducive. It's dirty and also congested.

The park is not conducive for passengers because passengers always have to wait under the sun for the bus to fill up. There is no shelter, the shelters they have here are just for shops and if you are not buying anything you can't sit down there. I will like to recommend that waste bins and baskets be provided for the park to check littering of the park.

Similarly, a driver at Jabi Park, Mr. Salawu Taofeek, revealed that cleaners employed by AMAC are in charge of keeping the park neat and tidy. Initially, he said there was a place provided for the users of the park to ease themselves but it was demolished

by AMAC task force team.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017, ˾ T H I S D AY

21

FEATURES

Some people urinating in front of THISDAY office, Abuja

Dumping site in Karimo

Drainage blocked with refuse at Karimo Fish Market

Bello...should pay more attention to the health of Abuja residents

“Before, we had a place where people used to urinate but it was demolished by AMAC task force, that is the reason why people turned THISDAY entrance to where they ease themselves. We have waste bins in this park before but they were stolen by waste collectors (baba nbola).”

Corroborating his story, Mr. Adegboye Oyedele who is also a driver at the park said “AMAC are in charge of ensuring the cleanliness of the park. Despite paying taxes everyday through obtaining of tickets, they have refused to put the park in order. Though the cleaners work from Monday to Saturday.”

Jabi Park, which happens to be the major park in the nation's capital is extremely dirty. The only time when the presence of Abuja Municipal Area Council can be easily felt in the park was during collection of taxes from the union

The appraisal of the city's cleanliness continued with a visit to Karimo Fish Market.

Unlike Jabi Park that was fantastically dirty, the management of the market seems to be working wonders due to proper sanitation of the market. Though, the drainage in front of the market has been blocked due to clogging by refuse but the market itself is clean to some extent.

Also, in Karimo, while the place is not absolutely tidy, the level of sanitation observed by the residents compared to previous years is commendable. Sadly, some spots on Karimo, Gwagwa-Dei Dei Road have been turned to dumping site. In some cases refuse dumped by the residents have encroached to overtake the road.

Similarly, about four or five years ago, there was an outbreak of cholera in Dei Dei due to improper disposal of waste before Rotary Club International came to their rescue with sensitisation campaign.

The recent visit of THISDAY to the suburb revealed that there was great improvement in terms of sanitation of he environment by the residents compared to four years ago.

Although, dumping of refuse on water channels is still a norm.

The Health Officer in charge of Primary Healthcare, Dei Dei, Ms Esther Bulus said she was not the officer in charge of the centre when the outbreak of cholera occurred about four years ago, stressing that since 2015 when she took over till date, the centre has not recorded any outbreak.

She stated: “The people in the community were sensitised on health education

particularly on the water they drink, waste disposal; so unlike the previous years, the people are now more enlightened on how to take care of their surroundings and ensure proper sanitation.

“The people have been educated on proper waste disposal that is why we are experiencing great improvement especially as regards the issue of cholera. One thing is to sensitise the people, another thing is for them to practice what they were sensitised on, but in this case, they are practising it, that is why you are seeing improvement,” Bulus noted.

When contacted, AEPB spokesperson, Mr. Muktar Ibrahim, told THISDAY on phone that indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the city and the satellite towns will not be tolerated by the agency.

He said the function of the AEPB was to provide a functional and clean environment that is hygienic, stressing that there has to be a communal approach to ensuring a cleaner city.

According to him, “recently, we held meetings with our city cleaning contractors and they were actually warned against issues of illegal dump site. We also warned them that cleaning of the city is supposed to be a daily routine. These are issues that we will not condone at all.”

Against this background, he said the Board has contracted about 27 cleaning contractors to carry out the task of cleaning up the city. Ibrahim stated categorically that while AEPB focuses on cleaning up the city centre, satellite towns falls under the

purview of Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA).

He noted that, “Jikowyi/Karu axis, that falls really under the purview of Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA) and also the Area Council because you must realise again that we have Area Councils that are expected to focus on cleanliness of the satellite towns, even as the AEPB concentrates on the FCT. “In many instances, AEPB has had to go into the satellite towns to carry out some intervention exercises when these places were amounting to unacceptable level that would pose serious health challenges to the residents. These are the things we do constantly and we rely on even you the media especially to enable us to be aware of some of these shortcomings that we may not be readily aware. The AEPB cannot be everywhere but we need the support of the media to also assist us and to also let the citizenry know they equally have an obligation to join hands with us to keep our city clean.

“Cooperate bodies also need to engage in CSR to ensure that they do not leave everything solely to the government. There is nowhere in the world where government alone can do it all, even other cities that have achieved zero waste disposal, they reached that level through the support and cooperation of the citizenry. We also have to become environmental marshals ourselves, we have to tell our neighbours that engage in improper waste disposal that it's not right,” he added.

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IMAGES

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, SB Telecoms and Devices Limited, Mr. Afolabi Abiodun; Chairman, Diamond Bank Plc, Prof. Chris Ogbechie; Deputy Director, EDC, Nneka Okekearu; Director, EDC, Mr. Peter Bamkole and Chief Executive Officer, Vconnect, Mr. Deepankar Rustagi, during the EDC SME Alunmi Conference in Lagos…recently

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Aviation, Alhaji Zakari Sabiu; Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Usman Mukhtar; Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika and the Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Saleh Dunoma, during the Presentation of Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos, Aerodrome Certificate, at the Ministry of Aviation, Abuja… recently

L-R; Executive Director Operations, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc,Biyi Ashiru-Mobolaji; Group Head, Communication and Lifestyle, Interswitch, Robinta Aluyi and, Managing Director, Mutual Benefits Life Assurance Ltd, Femi Asenuga during the presentation of the Interswitch Payment Innovation Driver Award in the Insurance Category, to Mutual Benefits in Lagos...recently.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017, ˾ T H I S D AY

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

L R ; Former SSG Osun State,Engr.Olusola Akinwumi; Member Board of Director Odu’a; Dr.Adepeju Esan and GMD/CEO.Mr.Adewale Raji at the Official Commissioning of ACE Estate of Odu’a Investment Company Limited in Ibadan...recently felix ademola

R-L:Managing Director/CEO,Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Mr.Olaotan Soyinka,Chairman of the Company STI Plc,Mr. Olusegun Ajayi, and the Company Secretary,Mrs.Yetunde Martins,at the 22nd Annual General Meeting of the Company held in Lagos...recently: dan ukana.

L-R; GM Industrial PAN, Egr. A. Okolo; former MD, Dr. Haroun Aliyu; PSA Peugeot, Eric Maydieu; MD/CEO PAN Nigeria Limited, Ibrahim Boyi and EDF PAN, Jumat Alli-Oluwafuyi at the send forth dinner organised in honor of Eric Maydieu, PSA Peugeot regional representative who has move to Morroco to take charge of North and West African region in Kaduna...recently

L-R; Children of Kwara State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Teslim and Farida, Commissioner for Justice, Barr. Kamaldeen Ajibade, Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, Ajibade’s son and wife, Ridwan Ajibade and Hajia Aisha Ajibade during Reception Organized by the State Government in honor of new SAN, Barr. Ajibade at State Banquet Hall, Ilorin..recently

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S NIBOR OVERNIGHT 1-MONTH

A S

A T

NIBOR 15.3333% 17.0332%

3-MONTH 6-MONTH

20.1621% 23.1621%

M A R C H 9 , NITTY 1-MONTH 2-MONTH

Group Business Editor Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Email chika.amanzenwachukwu@thisdaylive.com 08033294157

2 0 1 7

13.0970% 14.0684%

3-MONTH 6-MONTH

15.7898% 19.6644%

EXCHANGE RATE N305.50//1US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes LCCI Holds Lecture Series

MERITORIOUS AWARD

L-R: Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe; Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, representing the State Governor, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade; and the Chairman, Association of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (ACCOBIN), Mr. Opeyemi Adojutelegan, during the presentation of pioneering compliance award to Wigwe at a dinner/award night to mark the 10th anniversary of (ACCOBIN) in Lagos…recently

10 Banks Facilitate N55.6tn Investments on FMDQ OTC Exchange Goddy Egene Access Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Limited, Ecobank Nigeria Limited and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, led the banks that facilitated highest trading value on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange between January and July 2017.

Trading data obtained by THISDAY for the period of seven months showed that a total of N78.91trillion was traded on the fixed income and currency exchange.

The top 10 banks accounted for N55.61 trillion or 70.48 per cent. A breakdown of the banks’ performance indicates that Access Bank Plc, Stanbic Bank Limited and Ecobank

ECONOMY Nigeria Limited accounted for 44.91 per cent or N24.97 trillion in the review period.

The three banks have maintained the first, second and third positions for seven months running. According to FMDQ OTC Exchange, the three banks have a combined market share representing 29 per cent of the overall trades executed (buy and sell sides) in the markets.

United Bank for Africa Plc placed fourth, while First Bank of Nigeria Limited occupied the fifth position. Other banks that made the top 10 included: Diamond Bank Plc; Standard

Chartered Bank Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Citibank Nigeria Limited and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. While investors traded N78.9 trillion in seven months, there was a decline in the month of July compared to June. Investors traded N11.53 trillion in July, down from N12.62 trillion recorded in June.

But an analysis of the transactions in July indicates that the fixed income market, dominated by the Treasury Bills (T.bills) segment continued to dominate market share. It accounted for 43.6 per cent while activities in the Foreign Exchange (FX) market accounted for 22.01 per cent Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds recorded

4.53 per cent.

Turnover in the fixed income market in the month under review settled at N5.60 trillion, with T.bills accounting for 90.58 per cent. Outstanding T.bills at the end of the month stood at N9.06 trillion, an increase of 6.38 per cent from N8.51 trillion in June, whilst FGN bonds’ outstanding value increased by 1.22 per cent to close at N7.12 trillion in the period under review.

Transactions in the FX market settled at $7.71 billion in July, a decrease of 4.9 per cent when compared with the value recorded in June. The CBN sold a total of $1.17 billion through Continued on page 24

Report: Inadequate Access to Finance, Biggest Stumblingblock to Businesses Obinna Chima Inadequate access to financing is still the biggest barrier to doing business in Nigeria and other African countries, a report has stated.

The report titled: “Where to Invest in Africa in 2018,”

by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) obtained by THISDAY, noted that the repatriation of hard currency from African markets had been a significant drawback — especially over the last two years.

According to RMB, although exchange controls and pricing remain key causes for concern, since 2014, the issue of liquidity has been the biggest hurdle to business.

ECONOMY It further noted that in most African countries, lack of consistent dollar inflows had led to foreign exchange restrictions.

“These have been designed to shield the currency of the country in question, but at the same time, have made it increasingly difficult for investors and business owners to repatriate capital or pay for imports.

“In some instances, hard currencies are being used exclusively for the facilitation of priority transactions.

“Although we expect liquidity challenges to be addressed in the coming years, the pace

of this easing will be slow — especially considering their association with a sluggish recovery in commodity prices,” it added.

It argued that the risk profiles of most African countries have deteriorated significantly — especially in 2015-2016.

This deterioration, according to the report had been driven mostly by weakening debt metrics.

“To state the obvious, risks, which range from economic to political ones, will either encourage or discourage funding opportunities for businesses wanting to enter African markets. “What is important to note is the role

that credit ratings play here: the ratings show the evaluated credit risk of a prospective debtor (whether an individual, company, or government) as well as that entity’s predicted ability to pay back the debt and include a forecast for the likelihood of the debtor defaulting,” it stated.

In addition, the report also stated that corruption remains rife in many African governments — as well as in several private sectors across the continent.

It argued that the political will to stamp out corruption remains weak for real headway to be made over the next five Continued on page 24

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said it is set to play host to this year’s edition of its Omolayole Management Lecture, the 33rd in the series.

The event is slated for Thursday 28th September, 2017, in Lagos.

The Director General, LCCI, Muda Yusuf said the lecture is held annually in honour of Dr. Michael Omolayole, the former Chairman/Managing Director, Lever Brothers Nigeria Plc., now Unilever Nigeria Plc. Omolayole was also the former Presidential Advisory Committee member and Chairman/Director of numerous multinational companies.

According to Yusuf, “the annual lecture is a brain-child of AIESEC Alumni Nigeria as part of its activities and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, aimed at addressing socio-economic issues of national and international concerns.

HesaidAIESECAlumniNigeriaorganisestheOmolayoleManagement Lecture in collaboration with four other notable organisations, in which Omolayole played a significant role over the years.

The partners include the LCCI, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM) and Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).

Yusuffurtherstatedthat,“AIESECAlumniNigeria(AAN)isanonprofit organisation and the world’s largest youth-run organisation that helps university students explore and develop their leadership potential.

“It has presence in over 1,700 universities across 110 countries and territories. AIESEC aims to promote social understanding, management skills development, entrepreneurship and transformative youth leadership.”

He added: “The lecture will have in attendance guests from diverse sectors of the economy, including CEO’s of top corporations, management gurus, related government agencies and financial institutions.”

Tigo, Bharti Airtel May Merge

Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) regulator has granted conditional approval for a merger between the local operations of Millicom’s Tigo and Bharti Airtel, a notice to employees of the subsidiaries said. According to Reuters, the two networks agreed in March to combine their operations based on equal ownership and governance rights. It is the first such joint venture proposed in Ghana’s highly competitive telecom sector.

Put together, the new entity would become Ghana’s second largest mobile operator serving around 10 million subscribers with revenues close to $300 million. South Africa’s MTN is leading mobile operator in Ghana, followed by Britain’s Vodafone. Others are Globacom of Nigeria and Sudan’s Sudatel Expresso. “Kindly note that on Thursday, September 14, we received a conditional approval from the National Communications Authority on the planned Tigo Ghana and Airtel Ghana merger,” a notice to Airtel and Tigo employees that was seen by Reuters stated. It did not provide details of the conditions set in the approval but added that further information would be shared once discussion around the approval is closed.

Bloomberg Inaugurates Business Forum

Bloomberg Philanthropies hosted by former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, has inaugurated its first Global Business Forum with an astounding line up of global innovators, including Africa’s richest man, Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote. Following talks by former US president Bill Clinton, French president Emmanuel Macron, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, Aliko Dangote took the stage with Bill Gates of Microsoft, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank. The CEO of the Carlyle Group, David Rubenstein, moderated the panel on technology’s ability to disrupt poverty. Dangote cited Nigeria’s 130 million cell phone lines and his own company’s initiative to use biometric data and mobile banking to target one million Nigerian women for small grants. Dangote and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation cited their collaborated effort in fighting polio by vaccinating seven million children using mobile trackers.

We have identified road projects that the Sukuk bond is going to be tied to and there is no religious attachment to it

Minister of Finance

Mrs. Kemi Adeosun

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD 10 BANKS FACILITATE N55.6TN INVESTMENTS ON FMDQ OTC EXCHANGE various interventions conducted during the period under review, a 32.2 per cent decrease from the figure recorded in June. The apex bank also maintained its marginal rate for the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) – Wholesale Forwards intervention at $/N320.00 and $/N357.00 for Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles.

Also, in the month under review, rates for the naira converged even further, as the parallel market closed the month at $/N365.00 trading at a premium to the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) FX Window which closed at $/N367.88. The CBN official spot rate experienced a slight appreciation, gaining N0.30 to close at $/N305.65 from $/ N305.95 at the beginning of the month Total volumes traded in the I&E FX Window settled at $1.85 billion for July, an increase of 13.80 per cent when compared with volumes recorded in June.

REPORT: INADEQUATE ACCESS TO FINANCE, BIGGEST STUMBLINGBLOCK TO BUSINESSES years.

Transparency International’s (TI) annual Corruption Perceptions Index report had shown that the relationship between corruption and inequality feeds populism.

The TI report had stated: “When traditional politicians fail to tackle corruption, people grow cynical. Increasingly, people are turning to populist leaders who promise to break the cycle of corruption and privilege. Yet this is likely to exacerbate — rather than resolve — the tensions that fed the populist surge in the first place.”

To this end, the RMB report argued that the insights from TI were most relevant to Africa.

In fact, it stressed that out of the 20 most corrupt countries in the world, 12 are African nations. Somalia, South Sudan and Libya are the three most corrupt countries in Africa, with Botswana, Cabo Verde and Rwanda being the least.

NEWS

PEF Equips for Post-PIGB Operations, Embarks on Capacity Upgrade Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Petroleum Equalisation Management Fund (PEF) has said it was working towards enduring through the process of Nigeria’s reform of her oil and gas industry through the instrumentality of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), and would embark on massive upgrade of the skillsets of its workforce to deliver efficient services afterwards.

PEF’s Executive Secretary, Mr. Ahmed Bobboi, disclosed that the Fund would embark on three key objectives to stay up and relevant in the sector’s reform programmes, adding that on that basis, it would seek to drive its efficiency through standard change management processes.

He said this in Abuja at a meeting with the Inspirational Development Group (IDG), a global leadership and management performance consultancy group that specialises in improving business performances through behavioural change.

“There is a development in the industry – the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB). The continued survival of PEF depends on what this law determines. Fortunately, we have gone through the process with the Senate successfully and now working with the House of Representatives to get through.

“In management, we see

three major focal points to concentrate on – one is for PEF to continue to be relevant and operate, two is after survival, to try to expand our operations and services we render to the public, and three is then to focus on capacity building and utilisation. We have to have the right skills and people to be able to deliver,” said Bobboi.

He however stated that even though the agency was looking more at the challenges that the PIGB would bring its way, it would still continue to upgrade its capacity to operate in the country’s oil industry.

“Learning is a continuous exercise and we want to improve continuously, we see the world improving today especially on

technology,” Bobboi added.

Similarly, the Managing Director IDG, Craig Preston, stated at the meeting that the group would be looking to help the Fund develop the leadership and team skills its needs to survive the reform and operate in the sector.

He said: “We do have the capacity to help develop the

leadership and team behaviours within PEF through what has been and would be a period of really quite challenging change and it is important that the right people are able to provide example and strength to those who find change really tough, and if it is done properly, PEF would only go from strength to strength.”

A SHOW OF LOVE

Group Head, Product and Marketing Support, FirstBank, Biodun Famuyiwa (1st left); Assistant Matron, Old People’s Home, Yaba, Sumbo Daniels (2nd left); Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank, Mrs. Folake Ani- Mumuney (middle); Head, Media and External Relations, FirstBank, Babatunde Lasaki (1st right), along with other staff of the Bank during the visit to the Old Peoples Home in commemoration of FirstBank’s Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week

Nigeria’s Low Economic Productivity Linked to Shortage of Women Engineers Chineme Okafor in Abuja The immediate past president of the Federation of African Engineering Associations (FAEO), and one-time president of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr. Balarabe Shehu, has attributed Nigeria’s low economic productivity to shortage of women in the country’s engineering science sectors.

Mustapha, stated at a workshop in Abuja on the promotion of engineering among women in Nigeria and Africa, that the percentage of women in engineering in Nigeria has remained very low despite the huge population

of women in the country.

He explained that this development had a direct impact on the economic productivity, and technological advancement of the country, considering the number of women who could have taken up engineering science related professions and subsequently contribute to the country’s development.

“In general, science, engineering, and mathematics are subjects students are reluctant to go into, talk less of females, but to be honest we are not far away from what obtains in other countries including Europe and Asia.

“The percentage of women in engineering is not much in

Nigeria. There are efforts to make sure women are encouraged to go into sciences and engineering because of the importance of engineering to national development,” said Mustapha.

He further explained: “In terms of development, we have to say we are missing because the percentage of women in our population is almost 50 per cent, and when there are few women in engineering science, it means there is a lot of them that are almost doing nothing and perhaps not into any profession.”

“If we have less number of women in the engineering science, it means the

productivity of the country will be low. We are not saying everybody would have to go into engineering and science, but you know the progress of a country is determined by the level of infrastructure development in that country, that is why participation in engineering and sciences is a yardstick in measuring a country’s productivity,” he added.

Similarly, the chairman of the committee for women in engineering in FAEO, Mrs. Valerie Agberagba, who presented a statistical report on women in science and engineering in Nigeria, Rwanda and Malawi, noted

that there were factors comprising family dispositions, lack of motivation and role model, poor instructional methods, and poor career counselling in Nigerian schools, that have contributed to the low turnout of women engineers in the country.

Agberagba, explained that the statistical report showed that female science students who achieved outstanding results in mathematics in Nigerian schools all had private coaching or tutorial supports, and that career counselling was non-existent for most students especially those in senior secondary school.

Group Business Editor

Expert Recommends Online Courses to Boost Digital Expertise

AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Emma Okonji

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Crusoe Osagie

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

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

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (Maritime)

Citing global technology advancement that is changing different narratives in the technology space, the Chief Executive Officer of Paradigm Initiative, Mr. Gbenga Sesan has advised youths in Nigeria and other African countries to consider online courses as veritable means to digitally develop themselves.

Making reference to one of the bestselling books in the world, written by Thomas Friedman, titled “The World is Flat”, Sesan supported

the views of the author that several developments in the 21st century such as outsourcing, the personal computer, the Internet, the standardisation of commercial technology globally and international trade, have led to a shift in economic competitiveness across the world.

According to him, the shift has created a level playing ground and new opportunities for millions of people in developing countries who hitherto were economically and socially disenfranchised.

“Empowered by these new

opportunities, many of the world’s poorest nations have over the space of a decade developed highly skilled workers who have not only put pressure on workers in developed nations but are also displacing them in some instances. Several corporations in the European Union and the United States now outsource services such as call centre operation and computer coding to markets in Asia,” Sesan said.

One of these levelers of development, the Internet, has transformed the way educational content is deliv-

ered worldwide. The rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) allows millions of people to attain professional and university level training affordably and at their own pace.

This has undoubtedly revolutionised education in the past decade, Sesan said, adding that MOOCs platforms such as Edx and Coursera, backed by leading international universities, provide easy access to training in highly sought skills such as Data Science and Computer Programming.

He said Africa’s severe developmental challenges have often meant that development workers and partners working on digital inclusion on the continent have often focused more on providing the basics such as greater internet access and computer appreciation to the mass of underserved youth on the continent.

He, however, said that in the past five years, several tech clusters have emerged across Africa, a testament to the maturing expertise of a young people in Africa in the higher end tech skills.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, ˾ T H I S D AY

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BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Transcorp Hilton Abuja Wins Double Seven Stars Hospitality Awards 2017 Transcorp Hilton Abuja has received the Signum Virtutis (Seal of Excellence) in the Hotels and Resorts Category of the 2017 Seven Stars Luxury Hospitality and Lifestyle Awards, the second of such award, having received similar award in 2016. This year, Transcorp Hilton made it double, as it was also conferred as the leader in luxury hospitality innovation in Nigeria, given the $100m renovation project which has successfully delivered world-class experience in some of its floors with over 60% of work done. The Award Gala ceremony took place at the most exclusive private members country club in Greece, the Ecali Club, on Saturday, 23 September, at the 5thanniversary of the award body.

An elite panel of luxury lifestyle experts selected nominees and eventual winners of the Seven Star Luxury Hospitality and Lifestyle

Awards with voting open to the public. Transcorp Hilton Abuja, the first and only Nigerian hotel to win the awards for 2 years running.

Receiving the award with CEO’s, Presidents, Managing Directors, Owners and GM’s of the most exclusive properties from around the world in attendance, Valentine Ozigbo, Managing Director/CEO, Transcorp Hotels Plc, said: “To be consistently recognized as a luxury hospitality leader by a global award body for the second consecutive year is truly an acknowledgement of Transcorp Hilton Abuja’s commitment to the delivery of world-class luxury hospitality experience. With the on-going upgrades to the Hotel and innovative service initiatives well underway, we look forward to celebrating more milestones and achievements as we continue to strive for the delivery of exceptional guest experience in every aspect of our service offer-

ing.”

Commenting on the award, General Manager, Transcorp Hilton Abuja, Etienne Gailliez said: “We are proud to be honoured with such a prestigious award as it further reinforces the status of our Hotel as a leading provider of luxury hospitality experience in the continent of Africa.”

The 5-star hotel’s Asian specialty restaurant, The Oriental, was recently honoured with the World Luxury Restaurant Award 2017 prize in the Asian cuisine category for African continent. Also for the third consecutive year, the hotel has been nominated for the World Travel Awards 2017 in five categories including Africa’s Leading Business Hotel. In addition, the iconic hotel has recently been nominated for the World’s Leading Business Hotel award at 2017 World Travel Awards Grand Final which will take place on 10 December in Vietnam.

Western Lotto Rewards N15m Jackpot Winner Ugo Aliogo, Omotayo Ajayi and Afolabi Lawal Western Lotto Nigeria Limited has rewarded the first jackpot winner on their platform Ms. Dorcas Nwagbara, with a cheque of N15 million.

Speaking at the cheque presentation ceremony, Wednesday in Lagos, the Managing Director, Western Lotto, Yomi Ogunfowora, said they are excited about the victory, adding that this confirms their claim that customers can win every prize on offer across all their games and they would honour such wins.

He also stated that today, they presented the winning cheques to 20 winners in addition to the 137 re-

warded on September 11, where winners got N50, 000 each.

Ogunfowora said in line with the firm’s promise to continue to reward their Mega Upgrade Promo (MUP) winners, cheques were also presented to additional 20 winners.

He explained that the offer is in addition to the 137 winners who received their rewards last week and added that out of that number, 112 came through their brand ambassadors, while the others simply joined the MUP on their own.

The Western Lotto added that they are committed to bringing the Nigeria consumer games that offer opportunities to change the

narratives of their lives, while maintaining that just one winning combination with minimal expenditure can modify the life story of a subscriber.

He added: “On September 11 our brand ambassadors joined us to host winners in the Mega Upgrade Promo, where we were rewarding 414 players with cheque of N50, 000 for their participation in the promo. Our plan remains to reward 2042 players with fantastic prizes, including the two cars parked in our premises.

The next draw of the Mega Upgrade Promo comes up on October 5th. Your commitment to the tune of N3,000 in our gaming platform could lead to a mega upgrade in your life.

Ministry Trains MDAs’ Officials on NMRDSS Kasim Sumaina in Abuja The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, through the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) Project, said it has organised a three-day training on Nigerian Minerals Corridor- Decision Support System (NMRDSS) for officials of across different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

It disclosed that, NMRDSS was developed as a part of “MinDiver” project funded by the World Bank, while RMSI Private Limited from NOIDA, India is the technical consultant to Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in the development of web GIS based application.

A statement by the Ministry in Abuja, noted that the main objective of the

training was to improve the attractiveness of the Nigerian Mining sector as a driver for economic diversification for long-term private sector investment in the exploration and production of minerals and to create a globally competitive sector capable of contributing to wealth creation, providing job opportunities and advancing Nigeria’s social and economic status.

The statement hinted that the Nigerian Minerals Corridor- Decision Support System came into existence as an economic transformation strategy. Adding that, It is a web based decision support system which helps users to analyse mineral resources occurrences and mineral resource corridors.

According to it, “participants at the three-day

training were drawn from the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development; Ministry of Works, Power and Housing; Ministry of Environment; Ministry of Transport; Ministry of Trade and Investment; Ministry of budget and Planning.

“Others are Nigeria Bureau of Statistics; National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); Nigerian Insurance Trust Fund; Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation and the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA).”

In his opening remarks, the Project Coordinator, MinDiver, Mr. Linus Adie, urged the participants to be committed to learning all they could in the training, adding that the training was designed towards achieving the transformation objectives of the mineral Sector.

ELEVATING TO THE NEXT LEVEL Marie-Therese Phido

Why You Should Not Devalue Your Price Many of us think if we lower our price to the barest minimum it will help us attract clients and give us the assignment or project over our competition. This is not always the right course of action to take. I have a potential client who has come back to price the assignment they want from my company at a very ridiculous rate. While I have given them a counter offer and I am waiting for their response. I must admit the pricing option they came back with perturbed me.

I have decided not to lower my price, despite the fact that the lower pricing may help me attract this customer. I have also concluded that I would be doing myself a dis-serve by not charging what my business and service is truly worth because I know and can attest to the value I am going to infuse into their business. This attestation is from other customers not mine.

Don’t get me wrong, I have lowered my price to get customers before, especially when I know that pricing can be an entry strategy and can enable me make more money down the line. At the start of my business, I conducted a service for a client and charged very little money. Today, that client is paying me many times more than the initial cost because of the value derived from the first project. I am on the third project with this client and having discussions on moving to a fourth.

The above example, I can relate with.

But, some clients just want to pay you less even though they may be paying your competition more for similar work than what they want to pay you. I have come to realize that charging less than your competitors, signals to potential clients that you doubt the value of what you offer and you should have absolutely no doubt about what you have to offer. You need to value yourself and your business.

Being low cost has no advantages says Dan Kennedy, a marketing coach. He advises his clients, “that the best way to position themselves and their services, is to provide maximum value to both themselves and their clients; that premium pricing (or valuable pricing) can be advantageous if you ensure you constantly provide value and innovation all the time. Being the second lowest price has no advantage”.

Indicated below are his reasons:

Higher prices attract better quality clients

Clients or customers who only want to buy from you because you are the lowest cost provider will treat you as such. These “bottom of the barrel” clients will expect the world from you, blame all of their problems on you

Clients or customers who only want to buy from you because you are the lowest cost provider will treat you as such. These “bottom of the barrel” clients will expect the world from you, blame all of their problems on you and leave you for a competitor in a heartbeat

and leave you for a competitor in a heartbeat.

When you switch to premium prices and position yourself as the best at what you do, you’ll attract clients who value your unique offering. These types of clients tend to take responsibility for themselves and have reasonable expectations about what’s possible to achieve from your service or your work together. They are more likely to stay loyal, instead of leaving for the lowest cost option the moment it appears.

In short, they’re easier to work with, easier to satisfy, and they pay a lot more. They know that the old adage “you get what you pay for” is true, and they’re willing to invest in quality and doing things right instead of looking for the lowest price.

Your clients will value what you have to offer

When you beg to work with your clients and show that you’re willing to do anything to get the sale, including lowering your prices, you’re showing your clients that you’re a body for hire and that they are in control of the relationship.

As a result, you’ll often be treated like an employee rather than a trusted expert. This happened to me recently and I have promised myself never to be in that position again. In every business dealing it has to be a client and business relationship, not someone thinking you are his/her employee. As a business owner, you should never put yourself in this position.

When you charge premium prices, offer specific and defined services, and you show an unwillingness to budge on what you’re worth, you will be treated as a respected authority in your market.

By creating some exclusivity and by being out of reach to the lower-end customers, you actually shift how your customers view you in their mind. You get to dictate the terms of the arrangement, and you get to decide exactly what value you provide instead of doing anything the client asks. This leaves you a lot more focused, and your client will treat you with respect.

Your clients will get better results When you charge higher prices, your clients will be more invested in getting results. If you sell training or education, charging low prices will cause your clients to give up at the first sign of resistance, difficulty or struggle. When your clients pay a premium to work with you, they’re much more likely to stick with the process long enough to get results, even if that means trying and failing a few times before getting it right.

You can offer better support You will build stronger relationships if you sell to less people than more people. Selling to more people will not make you to form real relationships or provide quality support to your customers. Selling to less people will help you address each client’s unique needs to make sure they get the result they paid for.

The second option gives you the freedom to spend the time making sure that every single one of your clients’ needs are addressed, their unique challenges are overcome, and they get the best possible outcome from your work together.

Going forward, I have decided to stop devaluing myself, my service and my business by being low cost. I will provide value and innovation to the satisfaction of my clients and charge the right fees for the right service.

I hope you will also start to do the same.

– Marie-Therese Phido is Sales & Market Strategist and Business Coach Email: mphido@elevato.com.ng tweeter handle @osat2012

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, ˾ T H I S D AY

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BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

New Vista for MSMEs The National Collateral Registry Act which provides the legal framework for banks to lend to micro, small and medium scale enterprises will help enhance economic activities in the country, writes Obinna Chima Micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) play a major role in most economies, particularly in developing countries.

Indeed, MSMEs contribute up to 45 per cent of total employment and up to 33 per cent of national income (GDP) in emerging economies, according to a report by the World Bank.

According to estimates, 600 million jobs would be needed in the next 15 years to absorb the growing global workforce, mainly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In emerging markets, most formal jobs are with SMEs, which also create four out of five new positions. However, access to finance is a key constraint to SME growth, as without it, many SMEs languish and stagnate.

Clearly, 50 per cent of formal SMEs don’t have access to formal credit. The financing gap is even larger when micro and informal enterprises are taken into account. Overall, the World Bank report indicated that approximately 70 per cent of all micro, small and medium scale enterprises in emerging markets lack access to credit. While the gap varies considerably between regions, it’s particularly wide in Africa and Asia.

The current credit gap for formal SMEs was estimated to be $1.2 trillion; the total credit gap for both formal and informal SMEs as high as $2.6 trillion.

Furthermore, a World Bank Group study suggests there are between 365-445million micro, small and medium enterprises in emerging markets: 25-30million are formal SMEs; 55-70 million are formal micro enterprises; and 285-345 million are informal enterprises.

Also, improving SMEs’ access to finance and finding solutions to unlock sources of capital is crucial to enable this potentially dynamic sector to grow and provide the needed jobs.

That is why since the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act (otherwise known as National Collateral Registry Act) and the Credit Reporting Act, were signed into law by acting President Yemi Osinbajo (as he then was), expectations have been high that it would help to expand access to finance to MSMEs in the country.

Already, movable assets valued at N392 billion have been registered on the National Collateral Register (NCR) as at August 24, 2017.

According to the central bank, 136 financial institutions, 22 commercial banks, 106 microfinance banks, one non-bank financial institution, three merchant banks, three development finance institutions and one non-interest bank have registered 16,236 financing statements for 20,684 movable assets on the NCR as at August this year.

The NCR aims to stimulate responsible lending to MSMEs by providing a mechanism for efficient registration of security interests in movable property and realisation of such interests in the event of a default.

The registry is also expected to provide information on the existence of relationships between lenders and borrowers as they relate particularly to movable and immovable collateral as well as other ancillary functions.

The registry is also expected to play a key role in creating an enabling environment to ensure easy access to credit.

Justification for NCR The NCR initiative was in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The NCR is expected to unlock access to credit, which has always been a major concern to Nigerian MSMEs. The registry allows financial institutions, bank and non-bank, to register their priority interest in movable assets as collateral for loans. It is an on-line, real time notice based registry that allows borrowers to prove their creditworthiness and potential lenders to assess their ranking priority in potential claims against particular collaterals.

There is empirical evidence, that the establishment of collateral registries has increased

CBN building

Emefiele

lending to MSMEs in other jurisdictions.

In China, for example, the adoption of the collateral registry resulted in 84 per cent of SMEs securing their loans using movable assets.

The use of the registry in Mexico also grew loans secured with movables by four times while 45 per cent of total loans went to the agricultural sector.

Similarly, in Afghanistan, with the operations of the new centralised collateral registry, 90 per cent of loans by financial institutions were granted to SMEs. CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele pointed out that financial institutions traditionally prefer fixed assets, such as land and building as collaterals for loans, while majority of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can only provide movable assets such as inventory and equipment.

He recalled that in his maiden press briefing upon assumption of office in June 2014, he had stated that part of his vision, was to create a people centred central bank.

According to him, one of the key strategies to achieve this was to significantly improve the credit culture in the Nigerian Banking System, by designing and introducing a robust system that effectively reduces information

asymmetry, assists lenders to make good credit decisions and ultimately improve access to credit by MSMEs. He pointed out that top of that agenda was the establishment of a Secured Transaction and National Collateral Registry (ST&NCR).

“That promise has now been fulfilled with the commencement of live operations of the National Collateral Registry on May 25, 2016 and the accent to the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act, 2017 by Osinbajo on 30th May, 2017,” he added.

He added: “In this regard, i am hopeful that the commencement of operations of the NCR will have tremendous impact on MSME lending in Nigeria, as we strive to increase lending by banks to the sub-sector to about 10 per cent from 0.067 per cent in the next few years.

“I am happy to note that the strategy this yielding positive results. The lack of access to credit for MSMEs in Nigeria has resulted in a huge financing gap.

“Records show that in 2016, loans to MSMEs by deposit money banks as a percentage of their total loans and advances to the economy declined to 0.067 per cent from 0.099 per cent achieved the preceding year.”

He said there was no gainsaying, that the lack of access to finance had been one of the major impediments to the development of the sub-sector in Nigeria today, saying that it was expected that the Registry will motivate banks to accept moveable assets as collateral Furthermore, the CBN Governor anticipated that it would boost production and create employment, adding that increased access to credit would increase productive capacity and generate employment.

“The Registry will cut down the cost of verifying borrowers by 35 per cent and therefore reduce the cost of credit and non-performing loans,” he added.

Also, the CEO of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, expressed optimism that the NCR would bring about a positive shift in banks’ lending to small scale businesses.

Wigwe specifically noted other steps taken to enhance bank lending to MSMEs. “First of all, the Credit Registry Act and secondly the use of Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), which means that if somebody defaults on a loan, we can blacklist that person and he cannot have access to credit in the system.

“The fact that I can’t lend to somebody who had defaulted means that, that person has been excluded from borrowing in the system.

“So, people are looking for more ingenious ways to make money and it is happening.

There is increased agency banking. One thing I can tell you for sure is certain, the proportion of loans that is going to be lent to retails and SMEs is going to be a lot more in 2017, than it was in 2016.

“And in 2018, it would be a lot more. If you take my bank for instance, our traditional arrangement was we were a wholesale bank, but we are now a large diversified bank and we have invested significantly this year as far as expanding our channels and retail network is concerned,” he said.

But the Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Mr. Charles Kie, urged the government to also ensure that there is proper identification of all the stakeholders in the MSME space.

“With that, it becomes quite easy because you know who you are transacting with and you know how to relate with him,” he added.

Therefore, while it is expected that this new legislation would further encourage banks to lend more to MSMEs, it is also expected that the CBN in collaboration with the banks would create awareness on the benefits of this platform to bank customers across the country.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

Of Capital Importation and Segmentation among Banks Goddy Egene writes on the significant growth in capital importation into the country in the second quarter of 2017 that was mostly facilitated by three banks It was a positive news when the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Capital Importation Q2 2017 Report, which it obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), disclosed that a total of $1.792 billion capital was imported into Nigeria in the second quarter of this year through Nigerian banks. This figure showed a jump of 95 per cent when compared to the $884.1 million recorded in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017.

The performance also indicates a growth of 43.6 per cent year-on-year from N1.042 billion recorded in the second quarter (Q2) of 2016.

According to the NBS, the bulk of capital imported into Nigeria in Q2 came from the United Kingdom, which accounted for $696.7 million or 38.87 per cent of the total. The second largest value of capital importation came from the United States with $287.82 million or 16.06 percent. Belgium occupied the third position with $283.6 million, while South Africa came in at the 9th position with $51 million, the only African country among the top 10.

“A month-on-month analysis of capital importation in the second quarter shows that the month of May recorded the highest of amount of capital importation ($616.5 million), followed by June with $612.6 million and July with $563.3 million,” the NBS report stated.

Instructively, only last year, the Nigerian economy almost collapsed as foreign exchange scarcity, triggered by plummeting global oil prices and ambiguous policies, brought most businesses and companies to their knees.

Capital flight and divestment from the country heightened as investors went elsewhere. In response, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched a raft of exchange rate policies until it settled for a flexible regime governed by the interplay of market forces. With this, some measure of stability was restored to the system and helped to bolster investor confidence in the economy.

Hence, the rise in the level of capital importation as more investors react positively to the new CBN’s foreign exchange management strategies, which is restoring investor confidence.

However, overall, portfolio investments (PI) was the key mover of capital during the quarter, growing by 145.7 per cent, followed by other investments (OI), which rose by 95.02 per cent, and foreign direct investment (FDI), which grew by 29.8 per cent over the Q1.

In figures, PI accounted for $770.5 million, or 43.0 per cent of the total. In second place was Other Investments with $747.5 million, or 41.7 percent, and FDI with $274.4 or 15.3 per cent.

A further analysis of the capital importation during the review period showed that Stanbic IBTC, Citibank Nigeria and Standard Chartered Bank accounted for 70.7 per cent or $1.267.8 billion of the capital importation while the other 22 banks generated the balance. Stanbic IBTC facilitated $589.84 million (N216.47 billion) capital inflow, ranking it first among the financial institutions that imported capital into Nigeria. This amount represents 33 per cent of the total share during the period, an increase of 9.12 per cent over the $536.78 million the bank posted in the Q1 of 2017.

This brings to $1.127 billion (N413.62 billion) capital importation by Stanbic IBTC in the first six months of 2017.

The performance of these three banks, though not surprising to industry operators, underlines the imperative of having banks with the global network and resources to support Nigeria’s economic recovery and development.

For instance, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria is wholly owned by Standard Chartered Bank Plc, a British banking and financial services company with headquarters in London. Citibank Nigeria is a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc, a US-based leading global financial services company. On its part, Stanbic IBTC is majorly owned by Standard Bank.

Yinka Sanni

However, Stanbic IBTC stands out as the only African institution among the trio, being a member of the 154 year-old Standard Bank Group, the largest African financial institution by assets and earnings. It is firmly rooted in Africa with strategic representation in 20 countries on the continent.

The performance of Stanbic IBTC, Citibank Nigeria and Standard Chartered Bank, besides highlighting the global network they bring to bear on their operations in Nigeria, also demonstrates the pivotal role of banks in facilitating capital importation, which is instrumental in providing the funding and foreign exchange needed to drive economic

The performance of these three banks, though not surprising to industry operators, underlines the imperative of having banks with the global network and resources to support Nigeria’s economic recovery and development

development.

Financial analysts and investment commentators agreed that Nigeria’s fundamental developmental dilemma is that of infrastructure.

From power, which is barely existent, to transportation, which is still cumbersome, from mineral refining, which is still at the primary stage, to agricultural expansion, the tale is the same: underdevelopment and underfunding.

This situation, they said, invariably requires a solid intervention of players, both local and intervention, with the experience, expertise, reach and clout to help nourish economic ties necessary to put the economy on its feet. Stanbic IBTC, for instance, provides such a critical link. Its parent company, Standard Bank, is owned 20 per cent by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank. The resultant partnership is imbued with a global reach, immense resources and expertise to make a huge impact on Nigeria’s economy. ICBC, within the context of a visionary financial organization, is striving to proactively make inroads into developing countries with their vast untapped potential. To the bank, these countries offer huge opportunities and limitless partnerships ready for harnessing. As the Standard Bank Group is development-focused, its combination with ICBC, which is also very focused on trade and infrastructure financing, creates a strategic synergy with enormous capacity to facilitate investment flows and access between Nigeria and the rest of the world.

Besides helping to stabilise the local currency, it is hoped that in the medium to long term, Stanbic IBTC, which itself has a distinguished pedigree in infrastructure financing, ICBC and Standard Bank will collaborate much further with Nigeria towards a new regime

of rapid and massive infrastructure development. The impressive facilitation of capital inflows into the country already signposts the potential of the partnership and now needs further deepening in order to create a steady momentum for FDI inflow into the country.

Some years back, inflow of FDI was low.

But the situation has improved significantly as financial institutions used the expertise and international links.

According to Head of Investment Banking at Standard Bank Group, William Blackie, in 2000 not a single African country attracted more than $2 billion year-on-year in FDI inflows, while by the end of 2012 no fewer than eight countries on the continent had attracted more than $2 billion year-on-year in FDI. He said based on Standard Bank’s experience in the 20 markets in which it operates across the continent, FDI in Africa is likely to continue to surge as the global appetite for Africa’s energy and mineral resources continues unabated.

“FDI is also emerging as an important source of infrastructural investment for the continent with the 2014 Africa Economic Outlook revealing that between 2001 and 2011 FDI accounted for about 16 percent of the continent’s gross fixed capital formation.

That compares to a global average of 11 percent, meaning FDI is a major source of investment in infrastructural capital such as roads, bridges, dams and the like in Africa,” Blackie added.

For Stanbic IBTC, capital importation flows naturally from its focus on supporting Nigeria’s developmental aspirations through strategic interventions in crucial sectors of the economy that would enable the country take its rightful place as a favourite investment destination in Africa.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, ˾ T H I S D AY

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BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

Credit Data Base for Pensioners The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate has been conducting the verification of about 21,000 federal civil service pensioners resident in Lagos. Ebere Nwoji captures their assessment of the exercise

Pensioners

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate(PTAD), will tomorrow (Thursday September 28) conclude the 11 days pensioners verification exercise it started in Lagos last week.

The Directorate said this round of verification, which it will extend to other South Western states may be the last pension verification for civil service pensioners in the country, depending on its ability to get credible secured data base for pensioners.

The exercise, which took place in five designated centers in Lagos, has been adjudged by both the pensioners, the Senate Committee on Establishment and Pension as well as the House of Representatives Committee on Pensions who witnessed the exercise as the best so far among other exercises conducted in the past.

The Executive Secretary of PTA, Sharon Ikeazor also said she was much more satisfied with the conduct of the exercise.

THISDAY visited some of the centers and the exercise was not rowdy as was the case in the past.

The pensioners were well organised, seated in different locations while the PTAD officials attended to them in very friendly manner.

At the Yaba verification centre located at the popular Lagos State Sports Commission Alagomeji, Yaba, security operatives were seen handling the pensioners in a very peaceful and respected manner.

Unlike in the past when there were squabbles over collection of the verification forms, the forms were given in an orderly manner.

While those who were yet to collect seated quietly outside the main hall where the exercise was conducted, those who had collected were gently ushered in by security operatives to take their seats as they awaited their turn.

Prompt attention was given to very old pensioners and sick ones just as food and drinks were distributed to them. The food was first tested by Ikeazor before distribution to the pensioners.

Some of the documents the pensioners were required to provide for verification included letter of appointment, letter of confirmation, letter of last promotion, letter of retirement approved by a competent authority, severance pay slip, evidence of change of name where applicable, duly signed and stamped bank statement of accounts, stamped computation sheet, birth certificate, evidence of payment of

gratuity, a colored passport photograph, and approved letter of Merger/Condonation from the office of Head of Service of the Federation for those who merged their service.

Some of the pensioners who spoke to THISDAY said they were much more satisfied with the manner PTAD organised the exercise. However some had their reservations about expectations not met.

One of the pensioners Mrs. M. Shonowo, who retired as Commercial Manager, Ministry of Communications Bank Road, Ikoyi said: “The arrangement now is superb. In the past, we were kept under sun and rain. No seat, no priority to elders and sick ones. But because it is a woman that is handling it now, she is very considerate; she has pity, she made provision for the elderly and the sick ones to get prompt attention. It is a good arrangement, God will continually help PTAD, they will know no sorrow they will reap the fruit of their labour.”

Asked if she had done her own verification, she stated: “I have already been verified. I am only waiting for my sister to come out so that we go back. My verification was not stressful, it was better than before. I was able to provide all the documents they required from me, I had complaints before, but it has been rectified.”

Another pensioner, Mrs. Adenike Olajumoke King, who said she worked with the Presidency and retired at grade Level 8, shared her experience in the exercise: “I want to commend PTAD for a job well done. I hope after this, pensioners will be happy to receive their pay. It is well organised compared to the previous ones we have been doing. The difference is that they are well organised than the previous ones; they even gave us food.

She added: “I give PTAD kudos; they tried, they should maintain and improve on the standards.

There is no stress; we were not stressed at all.”

On the regularity of her monthly benefits, she said: “I have been collecting my pension regularly, only that I was short-paid, they did not pay me according to my level and my year of service was not well calculated, but it has been rectified.”

But Mrs. Constance IllO, who worked with Ministry of Defence as headmistress of many military primary schools and in military secondary schools before retiring in 1999,said though the verification recorded some improvements, she was not too happy with government because of

discrimination in payment of pension benefits between her and her military colleagues.

Comparing the previous verification exercise with the present one, she said that the previous ones were done in one centre hence the stampede suffered by most pensioners, some of who lost their lives in the process.

According to her, the current one was better because they divided it into different centers.

Speaking further, she said: “But I hope they will improve on it because there is always room for improvement. I worked with Ministry of Defence, I did transfer of service from state to federal. I was headmistress of almost all the military primary schools in Lagos from Bonny Camp to Mile 2, Maryland, and I was posted to secondary schools where I retired. But my annoyance is that all my contemporaries who were uniform men and with whom I was on the same salary level were paid full pension benefits but we the civilians, who they call ‘bloody civilians’ our pension benefits are shared into three. If I tell you what I receive after these years, you will laugh. We complained and they said they will rectify it, but since then, nothing has happened. The uniform men are paid full pension. I retired in August 1999,” she complained.

Asked what she wants to tell government, she queried: “What do you want me to tell Nigerian Government? I worked for them, received their commendation, I taught most of the senior officers, ministers, but today, they don’t recognise us. I thank God I’m alive and my children are helping me”, she stated.

In his assessment of the exercise, Chairman House Committee on Pension, Honourable Hassan Adamu Shekrau, said it was quite impressive.

“I can see pensioners are happy and jubilating being well attended to and that is why I am happy for the exercise. The pensioners said they have not seen it that way before; that was why we left Abuja to come here to see things for ourselves”.

According to PTAD Executive Secretary, about 21,000 pensioners were verified in Lagos.

According to her, the federal government, this year, has so far spent about N67.5 billion in payment of pension benefits to 250,000 pensioners in PTAD’s pay roll.

She promised that shortly after the verification exercise, the pensioners whose names were

dropped from PTAD pay roll, who through the exercise have been discovered to be genuine pensioners, will start receiving their monthly benefits.

According to her, the above figure was paid to police pensioners, paramilitary and parastatals pensioners under the Defined Benefit Pension scheme managed by PTAD. The Defined Benefit Pension scheme is managed

by PTAD. Ikeazor explained that the exercise was a forum for PTAD to verify genuine pensioners because when PTAD was established, it inherited pay roll that was not verified.

“In the exercise, we are capturing their biometrics, their finger prints, photographs and we are taking all original documents including letters of appointments”, she explained.

According to her, pensioners involved in the exercise were those who retired after June 2007 while those who retired before then, fall under the management of the Contributory Pensions Scheme.

“PTAD had in its pay roll, pensioners it was not sure of their existence. We had in our pay roll pensioners we were paying but not sure of whom we were paying. In December 2015, we had 15,600 pensioners’ accounts dropped because they had no BVN but they were receiving pension without BVN. She said after the verification exercise done in different parts of the country, especially in South south and North east, the Directorate reinstated 18,000 pensioners to payroll, assuring that after the Lagos exercise, in less than six months, the Directorate would reinstate genuine pensioners whose names were dropped.

“With all the documents available, we will do quality assurance, we will sit down, compute every pensioner’s benefit and effect payment”.

On the 23 percent outstanding increase to pensioners promised by government since 2010, Ikeazor, said the Minister Of Finance, who is the supervising minister for pension matters has presented the pension liability to the Federal Executive Council and has got the approval to raise bond and promissory note to be able to clear the 23per cent increase arrears.

She added that the president, has set up inter ministerial committee on pension liabilities and explained that with the constraints in the economy, government is looking at ways of clearing the arrears.

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T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, ˾ T H I S D AY

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BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Biosafety Agency Raises the Alarm over Unauthorised Importation of GM Maize AdedayoAkinwale in Abuja The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has raised the alarm over unauthorised importation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) maize into the country.

The Director General of the agency, Dr. Rufus Ebegba gave the hint at a press conference in Abuja recently, where he revealed that the tonnes of GM maize were imported into the country without necessary approvals.

Nigeria’s Real Estate Set for Global Investment Standard The quest for diversification of the Nigerian economy and attraction of foreign investment is set for a boost with promoters of the Oceanna unveiling investment options for partownership, similar to what earned the Dubai real estate sector global appeal.

The Group Managing Director, Palton Morgan Holdings, Adeyinka Adesope, revealed that the hotel segment of the iconic project is open to part-ownership with flexible payment options, secure and high returns on investments.

“We are opening up the real estate sector to investors both in Nigeria and the Diaspora.

Having embarked on a project that has clearly redefined the real estate sector in Nigeria

by setting the standard for luxury and working with globally acclaimed professionals/consultants, we now invite investors to participate,” he said.

Information available on its website indicates that Grenadines Homes, a member of Palton Morgan Holdings, is trying to match the Nigerian real estate sector with Dubai where luxury, safety of investments, flexible financing and high returns, among other things have combined to increase global appeal to that market.

According to Head, Marketing Services, Palton Morgan Holdings, Kikelomo Williams, the company desires to open up a plethora of opportunities and experiences

He stated that the agency was notified through intelligence report and has set in motion necssary machineries to track the importers and bring them to book. According to him, “The NBMA got an intelligence report on the importation of

GM maize into the country.

We have no application from anyone on this and we are not aware of any move to bring in this maize. The NBMA Act 2015 has stipulated steps and procedures of the importation, production and processing of

GMOs in the country and we will ensure that the country and we will ensure that the act is strictly followed.” Ebegba however urged the general public not to panic as the agency would never compromise on its mandate of ensuring that

the safety of Nigerians and the environment was topmost in its dealings. He reiterated that the NBMA and the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) would not allowed any GM food into the country without adherence to due diligence.

NBS: Releases Three Million Passengers Airlifted in Second Quarter

Bala-UsmanVows to Stick to Regulations in Discharge of Duties

Chinedu Eze

Eromosele Abiodun

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed in its latest report that about three million passengers were airlifted in the second quarter of 2017, which represents an increase of 21 percent from the first quarter but decline of 19 percent when compared to the previous year.

FBNQuest Research disclosed that NBS relied on data from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and noted that for most households, spending patterns have been adjusted to reflect the current economic realities.

According to the report, although some signs of economic growth have emerged, purchasing power and consumer confidence

remained subdued.

The report said that the traffic figures indicated that the economic situation is not completely gloomy.

“The pickup recorded when compared with the previous quarter amounts to increased air ticket demand. According to the report from the NBS, 71 percent of total air passengers in Q2 were domestic travellers,” the report indicated.

It reported that the domestic air traffic increased by 27percent in Q2 to 2.1million passengers and given that Lagos is the commercial hub of the country; there are no surprises that the MMIA Lagos domestic airport accounted for the largest share (41 percent) of domestic passengers during the quarter under review.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman has asserted that she would continue to stick to laid down regulations and adhere to government policies in the discharge of her duties.

Speaking, when she received the visiting President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Ismaila Muhammadu Zakari in her office, the NPA boss added that she would strengthen collaboration with the ICAN and other similar bodies as this would help to enhance capacity building of the personnel of the organisation. Bala-Usman who had the Executive Director Finance and Administration

Mohammed Bello Koko by her side, added that the NPA administration would give priority considerations to fresh ideas and suggestions which would in turn help improve efficiency in the authority being the gate way to the economy of this great nation. Earlier in his address, the President of ICAN, Zakari, charged the NPA boss to remain steadfast in the discharge of her duty, as the nation looks up to her and appreciate all she had done since her appointment.

Zakari stressed that ICAN desire to strengthen its relationships with the NPA since the Institute has a large number of her members in the organisation, adding that they are impressed by all the MD’s efforts to plug leakages in the NPA and her efforts to train the human resources of the organisation.

T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ Í°ÍľËœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ

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EDUCATION As Schools Resume, Repetition of Classes Seems Old-fashioned

Stakeholders in the country’s education sector have over the years been calling for an overhaul of the sector. The call is perhaps as a result of the declined standard with remedies becoming almost impossible. In this report, KuniTyessi examines the inability of schools to make under-performing students repeat classes as one of the possible reasons for the decay The long vacation that stakeholders especially primary and secondary schools students look forward to has come and gone as most schools have resumed for the new academic session.

The new academic session entails that students will change classes because the exams they sat for at the end of the previous term were promotional and this means many things to many people, especially judging from the fact that one is advancing not just in age but also in status, level and career as the case may be.

However, this might not be properly done or achieved as repetition of classes seems to be regarded as old fashion with many excuses which might not necessarily hold water being tied to it.

It is a well-known fact that no two humans are the same, not even the ones that developed at the same time in one womb. This fact further confirms what the holy books have said about the uniqueness in the creation of every individual, and that explains the peculiarity of all mortals and the need to be dealt with in different aspects of life.

Based on these arguments, it will be out of place to expect that all pupils of primary schools and students of secondary schools will understand at once and at the same time all that have been taught them in class and this has to do with teaching techniques and the ability to make the students understand with ease.

While some students are science inclined, others are arts-driven. That is to say that when science-related subjects like integrated science, health science, mathematics, among others are taught, the science-inclined are bound to understand and appreciate the period unlike the arts-driven ones who cannot wait for the period to end so that the teacher can leave.

At the end of the term and session, it is expected that all of them will write the same exams irrespective of what they feel about the subjects and the teachers that have taught them. At the end of the day, papers are marked, scores and grades are given and the performance of all is usually placed on notice boards for all to see.

It is at this juncture that students that are expected to repeat a class are known and measures which are expected to have been in existence are ‘enforced’ as it used to be, but not anymore.

These days, students no longer repeat classes but are promoted on trial with the hope that they will improve if given a chance and this includes the poorly performed ones.

Research has shown that most times, students that were promoted on probation do not improve in the new classes because what was expected to have been understood is still hanging and yet to be grasped, as well as other several factors. It is common to note that with this impediment, the school does not take them back to their old classes with the belief that the syllabus has gone far and ironically, their cases will be different.

Investigations have also revealed that schools that charge exorbitant fees do not allow their students to repeat classes for fear that parents will withdraw their children and take them to ‘rival schools’, thereby making them lose students who are more/less customers. This also shows how the education sector has been taken for granted with no one at a vintage position to scream wolf.

While it is true that the economy is harsh and biting harder, should that be the reason parents will not allow their children to repeat classes? Is that also good enough for schools to

There is need to improve the quality of education to secure their future

deceive parents with claims that their children are good enough to be promoted to the next class?

Ladi Bulus is a teacher in a private school in Abuja; she does not blame schools for promoting students even when their performance is poor.

She blames the parents, describing them as the catalysts to the educational challenges of their children. “It is not the fault of the school, but that of parents because most often than not, they will always insist that their children should be promoted because they don’t want them to develop inferiority complex which has a way of taking its toll on them at adulthood.

They claim that the children will not be able to stand seeing their classmates in senior classes, while they have been made to repeat. “In the case of female children, the parents will tell the teachers that age matters a lot especially in today’s world where everyone is interested in being on the fast lane. Most of the time, you will see mothers even coming with letters that were addressed to the proprietors of the school from influential people in the society and pleading that the child should be allowed to move to the next class. If parents are blaming the school, don’t they see the report sheets of their children? Don’t they see their performance and should know whether a child has done well or not and deserves to be promoted or not?� “The teacher has nothing to lose in this even though as a professional he/she will pity the child. Also, the child’s promotion or repetition will not affect the teachers’ remuneration in anyway,� she added.

Another teacher, Mana Jakada, who teaches Further Mathematics and Physics teacher at Grace of God Schools, Mararaba, a neighbouring town to the FCT, opined that repetition of classes is not a crime as the motive behind it is to ensure that the child understands what is expected of him/her at that age and class, and with constant enlightenment, parents will understand and appreciate it at the long run.

“It is true that the economy is harsh but I believe that with constant enlightenment on the part of the teachers and school management to the parents, they will appreciate reasons why their children have to repeat for poor performance. Asking a child to repeat doesn’t mean the child is doomed. It doesn’t mean he/she is not intelligent because that is sadly the thinking of most parents. “Teachers cannot do everything and so it behoves on the parents to also counsel their children and boost their morale towards accepting their fate when asked to repeat and brace up to understand subjects and topics they didn’t. They should be made to understand that it is for their own good and the good of their future. “Issues such as refusal to repeat a class can be said to be one reason why students perform poorly in external exams such as WAEC and NECO. Curricular for schools are always established based on the age of the child, the class, level of understanding at that age, as well as psychology. It will be difficult for the child to understand in secondary school what he/she didn’t understand in primary school and that is because the teachers in the secondary schools will base their teachings on the curriculum and will have no time to go back to what was expected to have been learnt in primary school. So while new lessons are on-going, the child will be struggling to grab and understand what should have been understood in the past. So the motive of repeating a class should always be weighed and considered,� he Jakada.

Catherine Anazodo is a parent and she shares a contrary view. She is of the opinion that some children don’t perform well in the beginning of their educational pursuit but come out outstanding in later years and as such, asking such a child to repeat will be unfair. “No child is born dull and no child is happy when he/she fails. That is to say that there must be a level of understanding from the teachers who must be trained that some children

don’t do well in their early years but with encouragement, which can come in the form of promotion to the next class, understanding and patience, such children will come out to shock the world with outstanding performances. “We all know that exam is not the true test of knowledge because most of the time, children read just to pass exams and not to necessarily understand. There is need for us to copy the west in terms of recognising skills and not certificates. We live in a world that is asking ‘what can you do and what can you give and not what are your qualifications’?�

Another parent, Kabiru Zakari is of the opinion that all private schools are businesses that have been established to primarily make money while dissemination of knowledge is secondary. “Private schools these days are established primarily for profit. The proprietors only hide behind the quest for sound knowledge to extort parents who want the best for the increase in school fees almost every term not minding the fact that salaries have not been increased.

So what do you expect? He who plays the piper must dictate the tune of the music. “So why should they make the students to repeat classes after collecting exorbitant fees?

It simply means that unqualified teachers are the employees who cannot give out what they do not have. Or how do you explain this because no child is born dull.

Teaching has now become an occupation in waiting. Graduates indulge in it because there are no jobs and immediately they get better offers, they leave. This also has a way of affecting the students who are already familiar with the methods of teaching of the former teacher and all of a sudden, he/she leaves and a new teacher comes in with an entirely different technique of teaching. So whose fault is it? Why should students be forced to bear the brunt?

The debate is ongoing while the practice continues to thrive with little or no policy to checkmate it.

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EDUCATION

ECOWAS Partners Skill-G to Promote TVET, STEM in Member Countries Kuni Tyessi in Abuja The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has seen the need to harmonise the education sector of member states, especially in the field of entrepreneurship and has partnered Skill-’G’ Nigeria Limited in the promotion of science, technology, technical and vocational education in Nigeria and West Africa.

The two-day meeting which had African Union, World Bank, UNESCO, NEPAD and

diverse development partners in attendance and with the theme ‘Better Harmonisation of the Educational System of the Region and the Development of the Human Capital Based on Knowledge Economy’ had experts from the region who brainstormed on and drew a road map for ECOWAS member countries.

The ECOWAS Commissioner for Education, Science and Culture from Burkina Faso, Mr. Boly Hamidou, said the training was beyond acquiring

certificates, but hinges on the need to promote skills acquisition for the development of the region. “We are trying to harmonise everything to make the people in the region to move around and get the knowledge to increase their skill and be hard workers for the development of the region. This is our aim at the ECOWAS now. “It is not only diplomas and certificates but all about knowledge and giving all the possibility to be able to develop practical knowledge

and being real entrepreneurs because diploma is sometimes for those who want to work with the public service. We want people to know the knowhow and being able to go to the field and develop it by themselves and being business people. “We are starting now and from now to four-five years, we want to see that professionalism of our youths has really improved. There is a benefit that people can acquire during the training. “We will do a demand-driven

curricular that fits our needs.

What is involved in this can be compared to somethings that have already being done because what is needed in Nigeria is needed in Ghana and Cote d’voire and so there’s need for us to quickly seize this opportunity,� he added.

The CEO and Managing Director of Skill-’G’, Dr. Gregory Ibe , said the company was specifically brought on board to help design strategy framework for ECOWAS Technical and

Vocational Education (TVET) as well as skills improvement for employability in the region. “The partnership with Skill-’G’ is in the delivery of specialised education centres in the 15 member countries of ECOWAS and it is a thing of note. “We started to work with UNESCO on how to deepen TVET, STEM education and it has eventually merited recognition by ECOWAS for adoption in all. The 15 member nations,� he said.

Group Condemns Govt’s Closure of Excommissioner’s School Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki There was an uneasy calm in some quarters as Ebonyi State Government shut down the Royal Comprehensive Secondary School, belonging to the former Commissioner for Education, Chibueze NdubuisiAgbo in the state over alleged 12 years tax evasion.

A letter from the Board of Internal Revenue, signed by the Special Assessment Unit, Mr. J.A Oge, addressed to the school proprietor noted that the arrears cover from 2005 to date, amounting to N1.5 million.

The letter gave the school management seven days to settle the outstanding liability or face court recovery action.

The closure did not go down well with a group known as Advocacy for Good Governance that described the action as a vendetta, calling on the state government to rescind its decision in the interest of peace in the state.

The group also faulted the state government over the increase of school fees in all the boarding secondary schools in the state.

Briefing journalists in Abakaliki, the state Coordinator of the group, Okenwa Uka stated that the fees increment would bring untold hardship on the people and would also force many students out of school.

He said the group was formed to enthrone positive change and to ensure that the tenets of democracy and accountability

are entrenched in the present administration of Governor David Umahi.

Uka emphasised that the platform was not to antagonise the Umahi led administration, but it was expedient to redirect the focus of the administration to suit interest and demands of the people.

A student, who pleaded anonymity, said she has not returned to school because there was no prior notice of the school fees increment until the school reopened for academic activities.

She called on the state government to reverse the increment or allow them back to school so that their parents can be sourcing for the money while they partake in the academic activities in the school.

The group further expressed dismay that over one hundred indigenes of the state are still stranded abroad in spite of all efforts to attract the attention of the state government to complete their various scholarships. “The past administration converted some pilot secondary schools in the state into model schools with model facilities with a tuition fee of about N6,000, but the present administration has increased it to about N16,000 per student. “It is also disheartening that the present administration inherited over one hundred Ebonyi scholars pushing various degrees in foreign universities.

Some of the students are still stranded abroad succinctly, while many had to return home.

L-R:The President, Old Boys Association, St. Gregory’s College, Lagos, Dr. John Abebe; the guest speaker, Prof. Pat Utomi; an old boy of the college, Sir Steve Omojafor; and another old boy, Mr. John Ediale, during a leadership/mentorship forum, organised by the association in Lagos‌ recently

ESUT Restates Commitment to Modern Medical Education, Inducts 29 Doctors Uchechukwu Nnaike The Vice-Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Prof Luke Anike, has charged the newly graduated medical doctors not to cut corners but to stick to the ethics of the medical profession in the discharge of their duties.

Anike, who warned the young doctors against greed for quick money, stated that the sky would be the limit of any professional that choses the path of hard work and excellence.

Speaking in Enugu at the induction ceremony of 29 young medical doctors of the College of Medicine, ESUT, the vice-chancellor stated that due to the critical role of doctors in health care delivery, the institution would continue to invest in research, capacity building and

Winners Emerge in A’Ibom @ 30 Quiz Contest Winners have emerged in the quiz competition organised for secondary schools by the Akwa Ibom State Government as part of activities marking its 30th anniversary.

Three secondary schools from each of the three senatorial districts of the state came first, second and third in the competition held at the Civil Service Auditorium, Uyo. The first position went to Secondary School, Ikot Akpan Ishiet in Onna Local Government Area with 24 and a half points; Northern Annang

Secondary School in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area came second with 24 points; while Heritage College, Uyo came third with 23 points.

The schools received giant trophies, while the students were presented with laptops and Samsung tablets accordingly by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Moses Ekpo, who represented Governor Udom Emmanuel.

The other six secondary schools that participated in the finals also got smart phones as consolation prizes. They are

Neson Secondary School, Uyo which came fourth; Ibesikpo Secondary Commercial School, Nung Udoe, fifth; while Notre Dame Girls’ Secondary School, Urua Edet Obo and Essien Udim Community Secondary School came sixth; Iko town, Eastern Obolo came seventh.

Others are Odoro Ikono Secondary School, Ini Local Government, which took the eighth position, while Adiahaobong Secondary School, Ekpene Ukim, Uruan Local Government Area was the ninth.

modern medical education to ensure that only the best comes out of the medical school.

He disclosed that out of 49 students that went through the final assessment exercise supervised and approved by external examiners from other universities in the country, only 29 of them were found worthy to practice medicine.

In his remarks, the Provost, College of Medicine, ESUT, Prof. Anthony Ugochukwu, said the college’s academic programmes have been revised and streamlined such that a student coming into the college knows exactly when he/ she would graduate, all things being equal. He said the new academic regulations designed in line with the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Medical and Dental Council of

Nigeria (MDCN) now awaiting ratification of the university senate, was designed to plug all loop holes in the previous regulations which allowed medical students to beat the system and overstay.

While congratulating the medical doctors, the provost told them that the journey had just begun in their pursuit of greater heights in their medical career, adding that “the journey of climbing to higher levels in the medical profession is tough, demanding and tortuous, it requires absolute dedication and persistent hand work after a first degree, you must strive to train and specialise in any branch of medicine.�

Presenting the 29 medical graduands to the Registrar, MDCN, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi for induction into the medical

profession, the Dean, Faculty of Clinical Medicine, Prof. Frank Ezugwu, expressed satisfaction with the academic performance of the graduands throughout the duration of their studies and described them as worthy in character and learning.

Ezugwu enjoined the graduands to work hard and show high level of discipline in their medical practice, even as he challenged them to always ensure that the health of their patients is paramount in their medical practice.

He cautioned that any act of negligence of their patients’ care could cause the withdrawal of their professional license, stressing that one way of appreciating their alma mater is to show excellence and commitment to their duty as good ambassadors.

SSUCOEN Wants Internal Provost for FCET Umunze Members of the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education (SSUCOEN), Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Anambra State, have called for the appointment of an internal provost to succeed the outgoing Provost, Prof.

Josephat Ogbuagu.

The union said appointing a staff from the college would encourage continuity in administration and help in consolidating the gains and legacies of the present administration.

The newly elected executives of the union led by the Chairman, Echedo Ethelbert, made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the provost in his office. Other members of the union during the visit were the Vice-Chairman, Nwangwu Bredan, the Secretary, Nwankwo Anayo, the Treasurer, Ochuba Nkiruka, the Financial Secretary, Lauretta Onubogu and the Public Relations Officer, Uzowulu Ugochukwu Pascal.

Echedo commended the provost for the rapid transfor-

mation of the college during his administration, which he said was a testimony of good leadership. He appealed for a staff of the college to be appointed the next provost, to continue the good work recorded by the Ogbuagu administration. While commending the union for the peaceful conduct of its election recently, the provost urged the newly elected executives to live up to expectation by projecting the interest of their members and the good image of the college.

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Osun Commissioner Advocates Teaching with Local Languages Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo The Osun State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Kola Omotunde- Young has added his voice to the call for a more effective use of indigenous languages in knowledge impartation.

The commissioner, who made the call during an event organised by a US-based NGO, Adonis Quality Life Initiative, in Osogbo, urged teachers in the state to use the Yoruba Language to teach and use locally available examples and concepts for illustration in order to achieve effective understanding of the subjects by students He also called on teachers and parents in the state to support the functional education drive of Governor Rauf Aregbesola by showing commitment to teaching and giving the children adequate parental care.

Alao speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Enterprises and Wealth Creation, Hon Akintoyese Ademola, charged Nigerian youths to be upright and to be focused on what they could do to be relevant in the society, rather than thinking of what the government can do for them. “It is time for youths to develop themselves in the area that they could be useful for in their immediate society.�

Ademola also reiterated the commitment of the current administration to youth development.

Delivering their papers, a senior lecturer from the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Mr. Babatunde Isamuko and a social commentator, Dotun Ojon, urged the youths to first change their mind set and increase their level of activism if they really want to take over the reins of government. In their separate addresses on the topic, ‘Youth Engagement in True Democracy’ the duo urged the youths to become genuine vehicles for societal change. Isamuko advised them to monitor the affairs of government and those in power and most importantly to engage the elders in their activities. “The youths should help themselves, they should increase their level of activism because nobody will give political power to the youths on a platter of gold. They should go beyond being “bread and butter� activists. “The problem of our country is not the government not working; the problem is people not taking responsibilities for themselves. If as a youth, you cannot take responsible for yourself, then you are likely to graduate to an irresponsible elder.�

In his remarks, the coordinator of the initiative, Mr. Seunayo Isola, explained

that the organisation has a lot of initiatives geared towards youth development part of which is the Adonis Health Club, which was established recently following the approval from the state ministry of education and that the club now exists in all the high schools in Ilesa, Ijebu Jesha, Esa Oke, Obokun, Imesi Ile, Otan-Ile and Ibodi.

He urged other organisations and wellmeaning Nigerians to partner Adonis as it aims to extend the health club to the rest of the state by 2018.

Also speaking, the chairman of the event, who is the Patron of Egbe omo Obokun in Ijeshaland in the United States, Prince Joseph Babalola, lauded the efforts of the founder of the initiative, Mr Ademiju Omodara Adonis. He said the initiative has impacted the youths of the state in a positive way.

Highlight of the event was the presentation of awards to Aregbesola and a traffic marshal in transportation ministry to Mrs. Toyin Adeleke.

This year’s International Democracy Day event organised by Adonis Quality Life Initiative was held in three countries: United States, United Arab Emirates and Nigeria.

L-R (front row): A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), currently the Chief Medical Director, Menfys International Hospital for Neurosurgery, Enugu, Prof. Sam Ohaegbulam; Prof. Hongo Kazuhiro; Dr. GotoTetsuya; Dr. Takatoshi Hasegawa; Mrs. Maki Kamijo; Mrs. Uche Ezeme of Menyfs and others, during the visit of a team of neurosurgeons from Shinshu University, Japan to the hospital to endorse partnership arrangement ‌ recently sunday adigun

Nigerian Breweries Redeems Pledge to 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year Okon Bassey in Uyo In fulfilment of its pledge to honour the 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year, Mr. Imoh Eno Essien, Nigerian Breweries Plc, has unveiled an ultra-modern block of classrooms, library and toilet facilities at the Special Education Centre for Exceptional Children in Uyo, Akwa lbom State.

The provision of the facilities in the school where Essien teaches was part of his prize for emerging as the 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year.

Essien, who defeated nine other finalists to the coveted prize last year, also got N1 million cash prize, an oversea training plus another N1 million to be paid to him annually for five years.

The Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Johan Doyer, who was represented at the occasion by the Corporate Affairs Adviser, Mr. Kufre Ekanem, explained that the idea of the school-based project was to ensure that when a teacher wins, the community where he/she teaches also wins or benefits.

He said the Maltina Teacher of the Year initiative was hinged on the realisation that teachers hardly get the recognition they deserve in spite of the pivotal role they play in determining the quality of

education and the future of the country. “We set out with an aspiration to recognise, celebrate and embolden teachers.

So far, the initiative has produced 42 state champions and two overall winners selected by an independent panel of judges.�

Handing over the keys of the building to the state government, Doyer thanked Governor Udom Emmanuel for accepting to inauguate the facility for use by the school. “It is a unique time to have his excellency commission this project which has further drawn attention to our collective responsibility of nurturing our children with special needs in a conducive learning environment.�

Doyer also thanked the Federal Ministry of Education and other stakeholders for the support and partnership with the company since the commencement of the Maltina Teacher of the Year initiative.

The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Education, Mr. Paul Udofia, congratulated Essien for making the state proud and commended the company for the worthy initiative aimed at celebrating exceptional teachers in Nigeria. “This is an excellent motivation to spur them to greater heights. The package for the winner is breath taking and I am proud

that an Akwa Ibom teacher has risen to the greatness of conquering teaching profession in Nigeria.�

In her remarks, the Principal of the school, Mrs. Deborah Benjamin thanked Nigerian Breweries for what she described as an unparalleled support for the cause of education in the country. “This singular gesture is a significant milestone in the entire reward system adopted by Maltina Teacher of the Year organisers by bringing the school that produced the champion into their scheme of activities.�

An excited Essien also commended the company for the gesture, adding that it takes commitment on the part of the company to appreciate the sacrifice and contribution of teachers to the development of the nation. He enjoined his fellow teachers across the country to rededicate themselves to the profession and deepen their passion for their calling.

The Maltina Teacher of the Year is an initiative of the Nigerian Breweries/ Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund.

The fund was established in 1994 with a take-off capital of N100 million to assist the company play a more active role in the development of education in Nigeria.

Homely Remedying Bromhidrosis (II) My 805 train reaches New Addington. New Addington station is a major interchange for buses and trains. In the morning rush hour, lots of people get on this Wimbledon-bound train while fewer people get off at stops that feed the residential areas on this tram network. At stops like Sandilands, East Croydon and East Street, which are more cosmopolitan areas with major train and bus links to the west end, south-west, south-east and indeed to stations outside London, a massive exodus of commuters get off. With this exodus atmospheric lightness gains ground- the difference is ever so clear!

We leave New Addington in this huge, compartmentalised, windy, public transport with its hotdogs in brine mostly standing a breath away from each other. Four stops further is Sandilands. Quite a number of commuters exit the train and huge numbers wait to hop on. By purely reflective behavior, commuters remaining on the tram, move well into the cabins to create room for those needing to get on. You never hear orders like, “Madam shift! shift!� or “Oga dress, dress!� with the accompanying, shoving and “packing� of commuters into our molues in Oshodi, Ojota and Mile-II, that our Nigerian conductors practice. Rather occasionally you may hear the PA system ask passengers with civility to, “please move well into the train/tram to allow more passengers in.�

The doors close and our tram moves on. The air on the train is now dense with aftershaves and eau-de-toilets; with bubble baths and bath oils; with deodorants and antiperspirants; with garlic and curries; with whiffs of metabolising supplement tablets and regular medication escaping from mortal man’s orifices.

Just like my 202 courses about the varieties of English at the University of Ife, approximately 30 years ago, a “variety of smells according to culture� are perceivable in the atmosphere on the train. You see, essentially every one of us is odorous.

By this I mean that each of us has and emits a characteristic smell or odour. From my personal memoirs I share this with you - For a very long time, I clung onto my deceased mother’s nighties that were returned to us from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, after she lost her battle with cancer. It was therapeutic for me to inhale her body odour from her nighties in those successive months of her demise. In fact for years, I convinced myself that I could still smell her until those nighties became mouldy and discoloured among my personal effects.

On my 8:05 train are whiffs testifying to the ‘multi-culturalness’ of the UK. The “curriesâ€? (Asians) are journeying; the “jerksâ€? (“jamosâ€? or Caribbeans) are journeying; “the bacons and sausagesâ€? (British) are journeying and of course the “Jollof-riceâ€? (the black community in general) are on the train. By the way, it seems that jollof-rice is fast becoming the unifying dish of the black community in the UK. The entire air on our train is at once odoriferous and malodorous! I being very introspective decided to casually research what would make an individual to have a body odour. These, ladies and gentlemen are my humble findings: Ëž âĂ?Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă“Ă Ă? Ă?Ă?Ă?ĂœĂ?ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜Ă? Ă?ĂœĂ™Ă— ËÚÙĂ?ĂœĂ“Ă˜Ă? Ă‘Ă–Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽĂ? ÞÒËÞ ĂŒĂ?Ă?Ù×Ă? malodorous on bacterial breakdown. Apocrine glands are sweat glands that occur only in hairy parts of the body, especially the armpit and grown areas. Ëž âĂ?Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă“Ă Ă? Ă?Ă?Ă?ĂœĂ?ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜Ă? Ă™Ă? ÞÒĂ? Ă?Ă?Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă˜Ă? Ă‘Ă–Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽĂ? ÞÒËÞ ĂŒĂ?Ă?Ù×Ă? malodorous on bacterial break down. Eccrine glands are glands that are distributed all over the body. They are densest on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands. Ëž Ă˜Ă‹ĂŽĂ?Ă›Ă&#x;Ă‹ĂžĂ? Ă’ĂŁĂ‘Ă“Ă?Ă˜Ă?Ë› Ëž Ă?ĂŽĂ“Ă?Ă‹Ă– Ă™Ăœ ĂŽĂ?ĂœĂ—Ă‹ĂžĂ™Ă–Ă™Ă‘Ă“Ă? Ă?Ă™Ă˜ĂŽĂ“ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜Ă? Ă‹Ă?Ă?Ă™Ă?Ă“Ă‹ĂžĂ?ĂŽ åÓÞÒ Ă’ĂŁperhidrosis or overgrowth of bacteria may contribute to the development of body odour. Examples include: Obesity, diabetes mellitus, intertrigo, trichornycosis axillaris and erythrasma. Ëž Ă‹Ă?Ă‹Ă– Ă?Ă™ĂœĂ?Ă“Ă‘Ă˜ ĂŒĂ™ĂŽĂŁ Ă“Ă? ĂœĂ?ĂšĂ™ĂœĂžĂ?ĂŽ ÞÙ Ă?Ă‹Ă&#x;Ă?Ă? Ă‘Ă?Ă˜Ă?ĂœĂ‹Ă–Ă“Ă?Ă?ĂŽ ĂŒĂœĂ™Ă—hidrosis in the paediatric population. Ëž Ă?ĂžĂ‹ĂŒĂ™Ă–Ă“Ă? ĂŽĂ“Ă?Ă™ĂœĂŽĂ?ĂœĂ? Ă—Ă‹ĂŁ Ă?Ù×Ă?ÞÓ×Ă?Ă? ĂŒĂ? ÞÒĂ? Ă?Ă‹Ă&#x;Ă?Ă? Ă™Ă? Ă?Ă?Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă˜Ă? bromhidrosis and constipation. This may result in the common “fish odour syndromeâ€?, “the sweaty feet syndromeâ€? and the “odour of cat syndromeâ€?, to mention but a few. Ëž Ă˜Ă‘Ă?Ă?ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜ Ă™Ă? Ă?Ă?ĂœĂžĂ‹Ă“Ă˜ Ă?ÙÙÎĂ?Ëœ ĂŽĂœĂ&#x;Ă‘Ă? Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ ÞÙâÓĂ? Ă—Ă‹ĂžĂ?ĂœĂ“Ă‹Ă–Ă? Ă—Ă‹ĂŁ cause eccrine bromhidrosis. Ëž Ă–ĂŽĂ?Ăœ Ă—Ă?ĂŽĂ“Ă?Ă‹Ă– ĂžĂ?Ă˘ĂžĂŒĂ™Ă™Ă•Ă? ĂœĂ?ĂšĂ™ĂœĂž ÞÒËÞ Ă™Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă˜Ă?Ă“Ă Ă? Ă?Ă—Ă?Ă–Ă–Ă? ĂĄĂ?ĂœĂ? characteristics of diseases like gout, scurvy or typhoid. Ëž ĂžĂœĂ?Ă?Ă? ĂĄĂ’Ă?ÞÒĂ?Ăœ Ă?Ă—Ă™ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜Ă‹Ă– Ă™Ăœ ÙÞÒĂ?ĂœĂĄĂ“Ă?Ă? Ă—Ă‹ĂŁ Ă–Ă?Ă‹ĂŽ ÞÙ Ă‹Ă˜ increased production of sweat. Ëž ĂĄĂ‹ĂœĂŽĂœĂ™ĂŒĂ? Ă?Ă&#x;Ă–Ă– Ă™Ă? Ă?ĂŁĂ˜ĂžĂ’Ă?ÞÓĂ? Ă?Ă‹ĂŒĂœĂ“Ă?Ă? Ă?Ă™Ăœ Ă?Ă’Ă™Ă?Ă? Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Ă?ÖÙÞÒĂ?Ă? that do not allow the body to breathe. Ëž Ă?Ă˜Ă™ĂšĂ‹Ă&#x;Ă?Ă?

Omoru writes from the UK

35

T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ Í°ÍľËœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ

Adegbola: Education Policies, Teachers must be Practical in Approach Mrs.FunshoAdegbolaistheDirector,TheValeCollege,Ibadan.SheexplainedtoFunmi Ogundare why the country must have a more practical approach to policies on education through inputs from people that are actually running the system and that teachers must be above board to be recognised, among other issues. Excerpts The Vale College recently moved to its permanent site since its establishment 23 years ago, how has it been managing the college?

The college is the result of a dream given

by God to raise men and women who will be knowledgeable and of service to their community.

When I came back to Nigeria after my university education abroad in 1986 for my Law school, I volunteered to teach in a school in Molete, Ibadan and a lot of people were complaining about the standard of education. I knew I had a passion for young people especially teenagers.

In 1986-87, God gave me the vision to start the college. But then I wasn’t so sure about it, but because I grew up within a family that invests a lot in education. When I was growing up, I believed I was going to succeed, my parents believed in me and education. They believe that if you give your child the best education, he will be able to look after him/herself. I thank God that they really invested in me. In 1994, I founded The Vale College. Now 23 years on, when I look back, I always thank God. It has not been an easy road but all along the path, God has been there all the way. I will say that I am a beneficiary of God’s grace. I started the school as a 33-year-old; I didn’t start with a nursery school. I didn’t start it because of my children who were still young then, but God sent dream helpers all along the path of my life. The first person I shared my dreams with was my late brother; Babatunde Ige who passed on in his sleep in 1993, he never saw the physical manifestation of the college, he had died before we started and that is why I do a scholarship in his memory every year. After God, the greatest benefactors to me were my parents. My father gave me the seed capital to start the school, while my mother gave me her own building to start. That was a huge sacrifice, for a child who is coming out to do law to starting a school. They had faith in me and they believed it was going to succeed and supported me all the way. God has also used my staff to bless me; there are not many school owners who have the crop of dedicated teachers I have in my school who also ran with the vision. I have staff that have been with me for between 16 and 20. The average is for eight years, so I am blessed. I also thank God for the parents, for you to entrust someone else with your child is a wholesome responsibility.

We don’t take it for granted at all. I started my school with 14 students and 10 teachers and though with the first 13 students, it was a real work of faith as I didn’t have a track record but they just believed in me. That is the foundation which the college was founded and that is what we have built on. The vision of the school is that our relationship with the parents and students will be life-long. I had students who have started giving scholarships.

One of my former students is 27 years old is already giving N400,000 scholarship to a current student and he is going to be giving it every year. That for me is one of the best things that could happen. Another student also got an award from the Queen of England, she was one of the best engineers in UK. She was head girl while in school. I had a number of students who got first class degrees in Pharmacy, Law, Accounting. This year, I have students who got seven distinctions in the subjects. In the tutorial where we have A levels, I introduced a scholarship scheme in my mother’s memory which is worth N2 million. The boy who got the scholarship last year, got three distinctions in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. So when I look back, I was able to build my hostel in 2007 with my money but it took me this long to be able to grow this permanent site.

What other features make the college standout?

and English in secondary schools so that they will be able to do well.

Despite global recognition, it is believed that teachers are too often undervalued and under-empowered; do you share in this view?

I think it is a personal thing. Generally I would say they are undervalued but I value teachers very much because I am a professional myself, so you have to respect them. There will be no lawyers if there are no teachers, no doctors and right from when I started the college, I knew I will never be the principal, if am not qualified to be. I have a principal and I got my team right from day one. I wasn’t cutting corners; neither was I having one teacher teach five subjects.

You teach your specialist subjects. I started with 10 teachers and 14 students. That is a lot and I was so focused, I had the best teachers. First my students had to do an exam to come into the school; my teachers also do an exam to come into the school. You must start off in a professional way and have a passion for it, you also have to be clever, computer literate and be above board. The students must be able to look up to you and not look down at you. You must not be someone who must be begging someone for money. That has been my vision and it has worked for me so much so that I had to share my vision with my teachers. I had teachers from villages that I have never heard before, but the fact that they come from such places, I valued them.

Adegbola We treat our students as human beings and not as statistics, we know every student’s weakness, strength and their parents; and we are able to identify if any child is not doing well, we note that very early and help that child. The vison of the school is 300 students; two arms of 25 students. In a class of 16 or 18, we can meet the front runners and the weaklings. That for me is what is unique about the school. Every child is an individual, we know you. The vision of the college is not a place to dump your child, it is a place where the school, parents and the child work together. We have that synergy and it has really prospered us in the last 23 years.

Your school once had a partnership with the Bayelsa State government, what was the outcome?

A few years ago I had 24 students from Bayelsa State, it was when former President Goodluck Jonathan was Governor of the state, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) came to the school and said they want to do a scholarship scheme and when they were doing their retreat, they said instead of building schools in the south-south, it was best to send the children out of the region so that they can go and affect other children and mix with then so that they can have a clearer picture of what Nigeria is. I was very touched, they came to me and I gave them the template, they wanted to send 50 children but I told them I couldn’t take 50 because I told them I take 50 students per year. So I gave them 24 slots so that the ones coming in will still be more. I told them that I don’t mind if they are indigents but that the ones coming must be able to compete academically. They sat for the same exam which the students are doing to come in and the government paid for everything to make them comfortable such that they will not lack. They were here for six years and I thank God, they have all finished from the university. By the time they finished form the college, Jonathan had become president

and he decided that he was going to sponsor them. That is why he respected me so much and even invited me to Aso Rock, Abuja to bring the students. When he was campaigning, he actually came to my school. Those are the things that made the 23-year journey worthwhile.

What innovative activities are you embarking on to impact your immediate community?

A few years ago, I started the Bola and Atinuke Ige scholarship for pupils in public schools. The Bola Ige scholarship is for children in public primary schools in Oyo and Osun States. Every year we give a scholarship for the best boy and best girl, they do an exam and they get a scholarship for six years. It is worth N12 million for the six years. I also do the Atinuke Ige scholarship for students in public secondary schools, with the same features for the Bola Ige scholarship but will come for their A levels at the tutorial college for a period of one year, the value of that is N2 million and we have been doing that for the past five years.

How have the students fared?

They have fared very well. The foundation students are studying medicine in University of Ibadan. When I started the foundation, one of my friends told me it is a fantastic initiative and said she would like to partner with me by giving a third scholarship, that touched me because that was when I started my school.

So we had to trace the girl who emerged third position to her house, by the time we got there, she had gone to sell bread and her mother had to go and look for her on the route where she sells. It is a scholarship that was given by a third person. It is not in the number of houses or buildings but about making impact. A former student who is in medical school had already started her NGO, she organises extra lessons for children in poor areas that she grew up. She and other undergraduates teach students tutorials in Maths

What effort is the college making to achieve the new global education goal (SDG4)?

My students do leadership courses at the Africa Leadership Academy (ALA) in South Africa and two of them have gone for the Yale summer school. One took place in Ghana, and the one of this year held in Rwanda on a scholarship and I am a recipient of Alliance Francaise, I am the president, I have been to Harvard Business School. I have presented my staff to Cambridge for training. We do a lot of international exposure and my students have gone on excursions. 50 per cent of them go to universities abroad.

How do you think government can improve on education policy?

In terms of policy, I think a lot of people who take policy decisions on education are mainly people who are theorists. We should have more practical approach, there should be more inputs from people who are actually running the system so we can tell them what our leads are and where we need more emphasis.

What are some of your father’s legacy as an advocate of education?

My father has always believed in equal access to education. He believes that all Nigerian children must have quality education and he believes in raising the next generation. I also got the legacy of hard work from my dad, my mother was the nerve centre of the family so I grew up under that kind of environment. I was the first child and I realised that I have a whole lot of responsibilities and God has been with me even in the last 14 years that they passed on. If we invest in the youths, Nigeria will be a better place.

Where do you see the college in the next ďŹ ve to 10 years?

This is just the beginning, God has greater plans for the college and the tutorial college, we believe that we will continue to expand. We already have a succession plan. I am looking forward to when my alumni will begin to send their children to the college. I am also looking forward to when my children will take the college to the next level.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017, ˾ T H I S D AY

36

CITYSTRINGS

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

Anambra Succumbs to Erosion Anambra is one of the states in Nigeria being ravaged by erosion, but one of the erosion sites, Oko/Nanka gully site seems to need urgent attention as fears have risen over the safety of residents of the area, reports David-Chyddy Eleke

The Oko/Nanka erosion gully

T

hat Anambra State is the second to the smallest state in Nigeria in terms of land mass is a statement of fact. The state is slightly bigger than Lagos State whose land is surrounded by water on all fronts. But while Lagos State is witnessing massive development through private efforts, which has led to the reclaiming of land from the sea, part of which now form the highbrow parts of Lagos State, Anambra is steadily being depleted by erosion menace as could be seen in the Oko/Nanka disaster, to which both communities have lost several hectares of farm land.

As a result of previous work already done by a construction firm to which the federal government had awarded a N2 billion contract to tame the disaster in its phase one, the Nanka side of the disaster has been contained to an extent, but there are fresh fears for the Oko section, especially with the intensity of the rains.

A recent visit by THISDAY to the Oko/ Nanka erosion site showed that the site poses great danger to inhabitants of the area who already live in fear for their lives and homes, which it was gathered have been caving in from time to time. The site however is not the only site in the state, as several communities across the state have their erosion sites of different sizes and magnitude. From Abagana to Ojoto, Enugwu Ukwu to Nimo, Nnewi area and Agulu among others all have their sites, but among them, the Oko/Nanka site, which is said to have started about 100 years ago is said to have proven to be the most radical site in the entire Africa and has as well consumed properties belonging to the people of the area.

For example, there are fresh fears over the safety of the homes of some residents of Oko community side of the erosion site, including the home of the former Vice-President of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme. This fresh fear THISDAY gathered during a visit to the site is posed by the planned pull out of the site

by Rhino Construction Services, the company

handling the project. The ancestral home of the former Vice-President which has been on the danger list since two years it was gathered from a villager has finally been chopped into by the gully as a result of the rains, and may cave in anytime soon.

It would however not be the first time the community would be losing a building to the gully. Pa Joseph Okoye, an over 100 years old indigene of Nanka community told THISDAY at the site that, “I and my father and other family members used to have our home here. We lost it about 100 years ago to the gully when it developed. I am older than this gully, even though it is about 100 years old. Part of the problem of this gully is negligence. When it started, my parents and other members of the community shouted for help from the federal government, but they got nothing, and slowly, the gully started taking our houses, and we had to leave.”

There are fresh fears over the safety of the homes of some residents of Oko community side of the erosion site, including the home of the former Vice-President of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme. The ancestral home of the former Vice-President which has been on the danger list since two years it was gathered from a villager has finally been chopped into by the gully as a result of the rains, and may cave in anytime soon

A staff of Rhino Construction Services who was on ground at the site during the visit who begged to remain anonymous also led THISDAY into the 98 feet deep gully to see some of the job done in the first phase of the project which cost the federal government N2 billion. He said the job was supposed to come in about three or four phases for the gully to be totally chained and tamed, but the refusal of the federal government to award the second phase of the job a year after the completion of the first was affecting their stay in the site.

He said, “We completed this project since June last year, and we have even done extra work, hoping that the federal government will approve the commencement of the second phase of the job, but the federal government is not forthcoming. This job requires about four phases, but from what we gathered, the Anambra State Government has written to the federal government asking them to hands off the job as the World Bank was taking over. What we have done in this first phase of the job can sustain this project for another 10 years, but the federal government needs to approve palliative works on the project for it to last that long. This is because we all know that the World Bank will not commence work on the site immediately.

Procurement process for projects take years, and even around Anambra here, there are some other projects that the World Bank is handling that have lasted years without being awarded, and it would not bye-pass those ones to award this one.”

He said the period that would be spent for the commencement of the World Bank contract would hamper the work already done on the project if palliative work was not done on it. He said it would be useless for government to leave a N2billion project to collapse because of lack of palliative that won’t cost much. “It was specified in the contract paper that the job would come in phases, but we have only done the phase one, and since then, we have waited to be mobilised for the second phase and that is not forthcoming, so we have to move our

equipment out.”

He blamed the Anambra State Government majorly for falling for the World Bank’s promise that it would continue with the job. He expressed surprise why the state government should write to stop the federal government from completing the job when it would not be required to make any financial impute to the job. He said the World Bank have several other projects it is handling within Anambra State which have not been awarded, and queried if the Anambra State Government thinks the World Bank would abandon other projects it is handling to commence a project it just inherited. “Let me tell you, with that demand for handover, this job may remain like this for a long time, and the already achieved work may be washed away by the rain, thereby further putting the communities in danger.”

THISDAY however reached out to the Commissioner for Environment in Anambra State, Engr. Romanus Ejikeme to confirm that the state government truly wrote the federal government seeking to let the World Bank take over, and what would be the gains of the state as the federal government would not be asking for any counterpart funding for the project. Several attempts to reach him by phone calls and text messages yielded no fruit as the commissioner would neither take calls, return calls or text messages sent to his phone. A visit to his office was also abortive as he was said to be very busy.

A source said the action of the state government would put the communities in danger as everyone in Anambra knows that the state governor is too engrossed in his re-election project than working on erosion site. The source said the World Bank may also ask for counterpart funding from the state government, which may also not come as all finances are still tied to the success and failure of the governor in getting reelected in November this year. “What they seek to gain by asking the federal government to hands off the project is what I do not know.”

Inside the 98 feet deep gully, THISDAY gathered that to chain the soil underground,

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017, Ëž T H I S D AY

37

CITYSTRINGS

Ekwueme (left) has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to save Anambra from erosion menace

If not for the job the company has done so far, more houses would have collapsed into the gully. Dr. Ekwueme has tried his best to reach out to President Buhari over his threatened home, he has even paid a visit and written several letters, all to no avail. I want to say that if government allows Rhino to leave the site without any palliative work, it will wash away the work so far done, which cost government N2 billion already. I do not think it is wise for Anambra Government to have demanded for the World Bank to take over the project THISDAY correspondent inside the 98 feet deep erosion gully in Oko/ Nanka community

the company moved over 19,000 tons of stones, which is equivalent to 700 long trailer loads of stones into the gully. The stones it was gathered were arranged by hand in basket-like gabions which had five coaches deep into the ground to chain the earth to avoid further slide from the ground. The gabions which is said to be resistant to all kinds of weather also runs the full length of the gully, which is over half a kilometre.

Some residents of the community who spoke to THISDAY expressed fear that the planned withdrawal of the Rhino Construction Company from the site, and the takeover of the project by the World Bank on the orders of the Anambra State Government would endanger the communities. They said it would be more catastrophic for Nanka and Oko communities if the company leaves.

Chief Handel Okoli, a former member of the House of Representatives and erstwhile aide of Dr. Ekwueme who spoke with THISDAY said, “If not for the job the company has done so far, more houses would have collapsed into the gully. Dr. Ekwueme has tried his best to reach out to President Buhari over his threatened home, he has even paid a visit and written several letters, all to no avail. I want to say that if government allows Rhino to leave the site without any palliative

work, it will wash away the work so far done, which cost government N2 billion already. Again, I do not think it is wise for Anambra Government to have demanded for the World Bank to take over the project, because we all know how long procurement process takes in their jobs. This site you see is the most radical erosion site in the whole of Africa, and so many lives have been lost to it already, same for houses. You can see the size of Oko and Nanka land that has been lost to the gully, and we want to beg the federal government to continue with the second phase instead of handing it to the World Bank.�

The Nanka erosion site had been awarded in 2011 by then President Goodluck Jonathanled federal government to Rhino Maritme and Construction Company at the cost of N1.1billion, with a mandate to cage the erosion. The contract also involved the construction of drainage channel of 2.2kilometres for flood water to find a channel to go through, a 2.2 kilometre road to ease access for villagers to their residents, and also to cage the erosion through laying of gabions in the gully. A second phase of the project THISDAY gathered would have involved the laying of more gabions to firm up the soil and stop further sliding, but this may

Obiano...should pay more attention to erosion menace in Anambra

never come following the foot dragging by the federal government as a result of the order of the state government. But in all,

the people of Oko and Agulu may be the ones at the receiving end of the negligence of the two tiers of government.

T H I S D AY Ëž , SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

38

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Osinbajo Urges Transparency in Tax Matters Nume Ekeghe The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has challenged African tax administrators to address issues relating to Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and increase transparency in resource mobilisation.

Osinbajo gave the advice while declaring open the third international conference of Africa Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) in Abuja yesterday. The vice president added that the continent also needs to ensure transparency and information sharing among member states.

He explained that information sharing involves establishing automatic information exchange as the new global standard for cooperation in tax matters and ending legal secrecy of

ownership of companies and trusts, especially those based in tax havens. According to a statement, the Executive Secretary, ATAF, Mr. Logan Wort and Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Tunde Fowler, also at the Senate hearing on new tax bills, disclosed that Africa loses about $1 trillion to BEPS and Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) from Africa.

According to the vice president, to contain base erosion and profit shifting, which had done significant damage to domestic resource mobilisation in the continent, a range of potential actions were being planned by member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

“The Forum had committed to this cause since August 2008.

After the International Conference in 2008 on a somewhat similar theme: Taxation, State building and Capacity development in Africa, senior tax administrators and policy makers from 39 African countries agreed to work towards the establishment of the Forum as a platform for sharing best practices in taxation matters in the region. “It is remarkable, indeed, that the Forum has, through the years, been unwavering on its founding mission and ideals. But it is worth noting also that the tax problems of African states have remained much the same in complexity and character since,� the vice president said.

IoD to Introduce Certificate Courses for Directors Elects Mohammed president Ugo Aliogo The Institute of Directors in Nigeria (IoD) plans to introduce a new training initiative which will focus on certificate and diploma courses for both executive directors and non-executive directors of corporate organisations. The initiative is part of the efforts of the institute led by the newly installed President, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed, to position IoD as a key driver of good corporate governance in the country.

Speaking at the investiture ceremony of the 15th President/ Chairman of Governing Council, weekend, in Lagos, the newly installed president said the courses would be undertaken both online and physically in the classrooms.

He also noted that the aim of the courses would be to provide

deeper and more entrenched knowledge about corporate administration and directorship to directors in leadership position and those aspiring.

Mohammed remarked that it would also serve well in the anticipation of the approval of the charter of the IoD which he noted is before the National Assembly.

Furthermore, the IoD president explained that there would a comprehensive directory with extensive syllabus on director capacity development which would last for up to three years or it would be developed and marketed. This, he said would serve as the training module for the certificate and diploma programme to be run by the institute. “Within the next two years, we shall make efforts to establish a permanent IoD training and

Osinbajo

research centre in Lagos which will compete favourably with the most reputable executive training centres in the country,� he noted.

According to him, there would be a staff audit to be conducted by an independent consultant to ensure that qualified persons are placed in the right positions, undertake an overhaul of the organisation structure and salary structure, fill established vacancies professionally and implement a continuous training programme for all staff.

Mohammed also pledged the commitment of the administration to assist budding entrepreneurs with governance skills, and establish a Young Directors Forum (YDF) with a view to providing necessary mentoring facilities for the YDF to teach them about governing their business.

Fidelity Bank Boosts Entrepreneurial Capacity of SMEs The Group Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo has identified lack of capacity as one of the major impediments to the growth and development of small scale businesses in the country.

Speaking in Abuja during the opening session of the entrepreneurship training workshop for small businesses organised in partnership with EMPRETEC, he added that unstable government policies, lack of collateral to access loans, hostile business environment and funding remained a nightmare for aspiring businesses.

However, he said the bank

had decided to wade in to ameliorate the challenges of SMEs through capacity enhancement following findings that lack of capacity accounted for over 80 per cent of the challenges facing small scale businesses.

Represented by the Group Head, Specialised SMEs, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Ndubuisi Onuoha, the MD said the bank had strong focus for the development of small scale entrepreneurs. He said the training programme would expose participants to the complexities of the business environment so their business would be able to contribute effectively to the

growth of the economy He added: “In Fidelity, we are very strong in SMEs and we have a lot of programmes being run for SMEs and we are partnering with Lagos Business School to encourage exports for our customers. This program is to empower our entrepreneurs to make them better businessmen.�

He said the bank was committed to building sustainable small enterprises, noting that only 50 per cent of such enterprises survive beyond three years because of lack of capacity and funds which pose major challenges.

FCMB Rewards Winners in Promo First City Monument Bank (FCMB) said it rewarded another set of 644 customers of the bank with cash and various gifts at the third draw of its on-going reward scheme tagged: “FCMB Millionaire Promo Season 4.� The electronic selection of the winners took place at the regional and zonal levels of the bank across Nigeria and was witnessed by officials of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Consumer Protection Council, thousands

of customers of the financial institution and other dignitaries.

According to a statement, while four lucky customers were rewarded with the sum of N1 million each at the regional draws held in Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and Ogun states, 640 others won LED televisions, generating sets, decoders, tablets, smart phones and other consolation prizes respectively.

At the Abuja & North regional draw held in Abuja, Pindar Fatsuma Saidu won the

star prize of N1 million, while Sanusi Amadu was rewarded with the same amount at the Lagos draw which took place at the Agege branch of the bank in Lagos. In the same vein, Joy Ottonah Ben emerged winner of N1million at the South-east/ South-south draw held at the Garden Avenue branch of the Bank in Enugu, Enugu State, just as Ayodeji Ogedengbe won N1 million at the South-west regional draw in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

DECEMBER 2016 Broad Money (M2)

23,840,392.42

-- Narrow Money (M1)

11,520,166.67

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,820,415.90

---- Demand Deposits

9,699,750.76

-- Quasi Money

12,320,225.75

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

9,353,504.03

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

14,486,888.39

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

26,970,297.97

---- Credit to Government (Net)

4,595,579.89

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

7,436,917.79

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

-2,841,337.90

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

22,374,718.08

--Other Assets Net

-12,483,409.58

Reserve Money (Base Money)

5,837,322.41

--Currency in Circulation

2,179,174.28

--Banks Reserves

3,318,344.71 Ëž Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă? Ě‹

MANAGED FUNDS Month

December 2016

Inter-Bank Call Rate

10.39

Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

13.96

Savings Deposit Rate

4.18

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.53

3 Months Deposit Rate

8.80

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.23

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.76

Prime Lending rate

17.09

Maximum Lending Rate

28.55 Ëž Ă™Ă˜Ă?ĂžĂ‹ĂœĂŁ ÙÖÓĂ?ĂŁ Ă‹ĂžĂ? Ě‹ ͯ͹Ϲ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT, MON, 25 SEPT 2017 The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $55.62 a barrel on Monday, compared with $54.84 the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), ZaďŹ ro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

39

˾ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Nigeria’s top 50 stocks based on market fundamentals

26-Sep-17

25-Sep-17

% Change

Capitalisation

EPS

P/E

P/S

Div. Yld

Price/ Book Value

Table 1 Market Statistics Mkt Indicators

01 Dangote Cement Plc

206.00

213.00

-3.29%

3,510,344,525,430.00

13.34

15.95

4.93

3.76%

4.40

02 Nigerian Breweries Plc

167.00

168.00

-0.60%

1,324,159,848,296.00

3.58

51.23

4.64

1.96%

8.77

03 Guaranty Trust Bank Plc

39.60

39.50

0.25%

1,165,474,697,270.40

4.49

8.79

2.78

4.48%

2.16

1,205.30

1,225.00

-1.61%

955,388,580,535.60

10.00

122.02

5.32

2.38%

31.32

05 Zenith Bank Plc

22.12

22.01

0.50%

694,490,442,546.32

4.13

5.52

1.41

7.89%

1.02

Table 3 Top 5 Gainers

06 Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc

39.50

39.50

0.00%

395,000,000,000.00

2.85

14.20

2.59

0.25%

2.88

Stock

07 Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

18.00

18.00

0.00%

330,291,921,870.00

0.68

26.61

0.56

3.44%

0.53

08 United Bank for Africa Plc

8.65

8.70

-0.57%

313,817,902,685.30

1.99

4.81

0.91

6.26%

0.78

09 Access Bank Plc

9.55

9.60

-0.52%

276,262,129,076.05

13.18

0.76

0.76

5.50%

0.64

450.00

450.00

0.00%

248,989,640,850.00 -82.02

-5.88

4.21

3.30%

0.71

11 Presco Plc

59.00

57.06

3.40%

234,258,145,655.00

0.03

2,338.93

3.81

1.90%

6.49

12 Lafarge Africa Plc

50.02

50.00

0.04%

227,836,188,536.20

3.71

15.36

1.18

5.26%

1.04

Table 4 Top 5 Losers

13 FBN Holdings Plc

5.60

5.61

-0.18%

201,013,639,635.20

0.16

35.99

0.35

2.55%

0.35

Stock

14 Unilever Nigeria Plc

44.29

44.10

0.43%

167,562,190,912.50

0.81

49.26

2.17

0.13%

12.95

15 Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc

13.70

13.80

-0.72%

164,400,000,000.00

2.01

6.92

0.77

3.60%

2.19

16 Guinness Nig Plc

99.28

99.28

0.00%

149,504,579,304.64

-3.06

-25.17

1.12

4.16%

2.94

17 International Breweries Plc

35.68

37.55

-4.98%

117,538,814,310.40

0.02

1,642.11

4.58

0.68%

11.11

231.00

231.00

0.00%

78,429,544,347.00

43.58

5.43

0.28

5.92%

3.41

5.99

5.80

3.28%

72,087,367,175.06

0.29

23.59

0.18

10.95%

0.43

20 Flour Mills Nig. Plc

26.55

26.55

0.00%

69,673,497,314.85

3.71

7.82

0.14

6.90%

0.72

21 Forte Oil Plc.

49.90

49.90

0.00%

64,993,807,039.70

3.66

13.66

0.50

6.90%

1.38

170.00

170.00

0.00%

61,301,194,540.00

22.61

7.69

0.67

4.14%

2.92

23 Okomu Oil Palm Plc

63.21

63.21

0.00%

60,296,651,100.00

5.15

12.75

4.36

0.15%

3.68

24 7-Up Bottling Comp. Plc

90.02

90.00

0.02%

57,665,944,477.26 -21.86

-4.21

0.52

2.39%

5.47

1.24

1.26

-1.59%

48,014,036,807.00

-0.03

-43.98

0.83

0.00%

0.57

29.33

29.33

0.00%

38,715,600,000.00

-2.89

-11.83

0.32

4.39%

0.64

1.30

1.30

0.00%

37,651,361,399.60

0.39

3.54

0.26

11.68%

0.21

28 National Salt Co. Nig. Plc

13.10

12.50

4.80%

34,707,642,751.80

0.91

14.26

1.88

4.23%

4.28

29 U A C N Plc

15.19

15.19

0.00%

29,177,930,038.53

3.37

4.44

0.38

6.68%

0.38

1.00

1.00

0.00%

28,790,418,126.00

0.18

5.86

0.27

8.57%

0.35

22.00

22.00

0.00%

26,309,282,736.00

3.02

6.95

1.67

1.43%

1.50

1.13

1.14

-0.88%

26,171,239,533.84

-0.29

-4.02

0.13

0.00%

0.12

33 PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc

25.22

25.22

0.00%

25,220,000,000.00

5.69

4.73

1.87

0.37%

0.72

34 Cap Plc

33.00

33.00

0.00%

23,100,000,000.00

2.17

15.89

3.54

3.33%

16.77

35 Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc

3.63

3.63

0.00%

21,351,167,027.85

1.06

3.35

0.51

3.93%

0.64

36 Mansard Insurance Plc

2.00

1.91

4.71%

21,000,000,000.00

0.25

7.57

0.96

2.63%

0.99

37 FCMB Group Plc

1.06

1.06

0.00%

20,990,873,427.86

0.09

13.13

0.13

8.93%

0.12

11.00

11.00

0.00%

20,660,222,440.00

-0.64

-18.74

0.70

10.77%

2.15

39 Wema Bank Plc

0.50

0.50

0.00%

19,287,233,040.50

0.07

7.59

0.37

0.00%

0.41

40 Honeywell Flour Mill Plc

2.04

1.95

4.62%

16,177,603,222.32

-0.40

-5.19

0.35

7.62%

0.50

41 Continental Reinsurance Plc

1.50

1.57

-4.46%

15,559,116,468.00

0.30

4.51

0.54

8.96%

0.69

42 Cement Co. Of North.Nig. Plc

8.80

8.80

0.00%

11,058,764,340.80

1.29

6.96

0.70

1.11%

0.90

43 Skye Bank Plc

0.54

0.53

1.89%

7,495,362,761.40

-2.93

-0.21

0.05

49.18%

0.08

44 Wapic Insurance Plc

0.50

0.50

0.00%

6,691,369,126.00

0.18

2.78

0.85

6.00%

0.41

45 Unity Bank Plc

0.56

0.54

3.70%

6,546,029,247.52

0.19

3.16

0.08

0.00%

0.08

46 Resort Savings & Loans Plc

0.50

0.50

0.00%

5,664,866,202.00

0.03

17.71

3.72

0.00%

1.94

47 UACN Property Development Co. Limited

3.00

3.00

0.00%

5,156,249,985.00

-0.90

-3.23

0.79

24.05%

0.15

48 Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc

3.03

3.03

0.00%

4,921,382,812.50

0.36

9.51

0.69

5.88%

0.85

49 Fidson Healthcare Plc

3.10

3.15

-1.59%

4,650,000,000.00

0.50

6.46

0.41

1.56%

0.69

50 AIICO Insurance Plc

0.54

0.55

-1.82%

3,742,310,419.20

1.48

0.38

0.14

8.93%

0.45

04 Nestle Nigeria Plc

10 Seplat Petroleum Dev. Co. Ltd

18 Total Nigeria Plc 19 Oando Plc

22 Mobil Oil Nig Plc

25 Transnational Corporation Of Nigeria Plc 26 Julius Berger Nig. Plc 27 Fidelity Bank Plc

30 Sterling Bank Plc 31 Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig. Plc 32 Diamond Bank Plc

38 Cadbury Nigeria Plc

TOTAL

11,449,591,314,821.20

TOTAL MARKET CAP

12,130,399,898,006.60

% OF MARKET CAP Annotation - MA* = Simple Moving Average

94.39%

NSE All Share Index NSE Market Cap (N'Trillion) Thisday BGL 50 Index Thisday BGL 50 Market Cap (N'Trillion)

Open 25-Sep-17

Close 26-Sep-17

Change %

35,358.73 12.19

34,951.27 12.05

-1.15% -1.15%

148.78 11.58

147.05 11.45

-1.16% -1.16%

Open Close Change 25-Sep-17 26-Sep-17 %

National Salt Co. Nig. Plc Mansard Insurance Plc Honeywell Flour Mill Plc Unity Bank Plc Presco Plc

12.50 1.91 1.95 0.54 57.06

13.10 2.00 2.04 0.56 59.00

4.80% 4.71% 4.62% 3.70% 3.40%

Open Close Change 25-Sep-17 26-Sep-17 %

International Breweries Plc Continental Reinsurance Plc Dangote Cement Plc AIICO Insurance Plc Nestle Nigeria Plc

37.55 1.57 213.00 0.55 1,225.00

35.68 1.50 206.00 0.54 1,205.30

-4.98% -4.46% -3.29% -1.82% -1.61%

Market slides by 1.15% Market pulse on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today - Tuesday, September 26th, 2017 ended negative as the market closed red. This was further highlighted by negative performance from the NSE Subsectors: Banking, Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas (Save Insurance). However, trading activities increased in volume as 500.30 million shares worth N3.62 billion in 3,120 deals exchanged hands today. This is an increase from the 107 million shares worth N1.37 billion in 2,848 trades were carried out on Monday.

Topping in volume terms are: Sterling Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Mansard Insurance Plc; while Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc ended trading as the most active stocks in value terms.

The All Share Index (NSEASI) closed negative with 1.15% (-407.46) decrease to close at 34,951.27 from 35,358.73 the previous trading day. Market capitalization depreciated in tandem to N12.05 trillion from N12.19 trillion of prior trading day. Similarly, the Thisday BGL 50 Index closes with an increase of 1.16% to 147.05 from 148.78 recorded at the end of the previous trading day, while its market capitalization stood at N11.45 trillion from N11.58 trillion of the previous trading day.

A total number of 16 stocks gained on the bourse today while 19 stocks declined, leaving 62 stocks unchanged.

Leading the pack again was Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc led with a gain of 4.84% to close at N0.65 per share. It was followed by National Salt Co. Nig. Plc with a gain of 4.80% to close at N13.10 per share. Others on the gainers’ list include: Mansard Insurance Plc, Honeywell Flour Mill Plc and C&I Leasing Plc. On the decliners’ list, International Breweries Plc led with a loss of 4.98% to close at N35.68 per share. It was followed by McNichols Plc with a loss of 4.76% to close at N1.20 per share. Others on the decliners list include: Continental Reinsurance Plc, A.G. Leventis (Nigeria) Plc and LAW Union & Rock Insurance (Nig.) Plc. National Salt Co. Nig. Plc emerged the toast of investors as it topped the Thisday BGL 50 Index gainers’ list with a gain of 4.80% to close at N13.10 per share. It was followed

by Mansard Insurance Plc with a gain of 4.71% to close at N2.00 per share. Others on the gainers chart include: Honeywell Flour Mill Plc, Unity Bank Plc and Presco Plc. On the decliners’ list, International Breweries Plc led with a loss of 4.98% to close at N35.68 per share. It was closely followed by Continental Reinsurance Plc with a loss of 4.46% to close at N1.50 per share. Others on the decliners’ list are: Dangote Cement Plc, AIICO Insurance Plc and Nestle Nigeria Plc.

REQUIRED DISCLOSURE This report has been prepared by BGL Plc. BGL Plc does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report. Investors should use this report as one of many other factors in making their investment decisions.

For more details go to www.thisdaylive.com

T H I S D AY Ëž , SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

40

MARKET NEWS

NSE Index Falls Further Despite 164% Rise in Trading Value Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie The Nigerian equities market recorded a mixed performance yesterday, as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index(ASI) fell further while value and volume of trading surged by 164.8 per cent.

The market had opened for the week on a negative note on Monday as investors await

the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria. At the end of the meeting in Abuja, the MPC left all left all key rates unchanged, while the stock market posted a higher decline.

Specifically, the NSE ASI fell by 1.15 per cent to close at 34,951.27, compared with a depreciation of 0.37 per cent the previous day. The

T H E MAIN BOARD

DEALS

MARKET PRICE

depreciation recorded in the share prices of Dangote Cement, Nestle, Nigerian Breweries, Access Bank, and United Bank for Africa was mainly responsible for the negative close recorded in the index. The performance has reduced the year-to-date (YTD) appreciation in the index to 30.05 per cent.

However, the value of trading improved significantly

N I G E R I A N QUANTITY TRADED

STO C K

VALUE TRADED ( N )

Daily Summary as of 22/02/2016 Printed 22/02/2016 14:36:10.010

Daily Summary (Bonds) No Debt Trading Activity Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board EQTY AGRICULTURE Crop Production OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals AGRICULTURE Totals CONGLOMERATES DiversiďŹ ed Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. DiversiďŹ ed Industries Totals CONGLOMERATES Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Infrastructure/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Totals Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals CONSUMER GOODS Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Totals Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. Beverages--Non-Alcoholic Totals Food Products DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. TIGER BRANDED CONSUMER GOODS PLC Food Products Totals Food Products--DiversiďŹ ed CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Food Products--DiversiďŹ ed Totals Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. Household Durables Totals Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. Personal/Household Products Totals CONSUMER GOODS Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. SKYE BANK PLC STERLING BANK PLC. UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC UNION BANK NIG.PLC. UNITY BANK PLC WEMA BANK PLC. Banking Totals Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC WAPIC INSURANCE PLC Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals Micro-Finance Banks NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC Micro-Finance Banks Totals Other Financial Institutions AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS PLC CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC UNITED CAPITAL PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals HEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC

6 6 12

30.00 34.00

19 19 31

to N3.620 billion staked on 500.299 million shares in 3,120 deals, from N1.367 billion invested in 107.148 million shares in 2,848 deals the previous day.

The three most actively traded sectors were: Financial Services (448.22 million shares), Conglomerates (19.34 million shares), and Consumer Goods (11.60 million shares), while the three most actively traded

12,629 11,640 24,269

374,530.15 421,345.20 795,875.35

1.25

1,078,511 1,078,511 1,102,780

1,358,964.30 1,358,964.30 2,154,839.65

5 68 13 86 86

0.77 1.13 20.47

33,500 6,740,423 65,995 6,839,918 6,839,918

25,070.00 7,635,453.96 1,344,425.15 9,004,949.11 9,004,949.11

13 13

41.50

31,970 31,970

1,409,214.78 1,409,214.78

5 5 18

5.20

28,901 28,901 60,871

154,716.48 154,716.48 1,563,931.26

6 24 7 98 135

2.85 118.85 20.00 99.00

190,900 53,000 15,200 429,541 688,641

528,079.00 6,201,924.95 293,757.00 42,728,789.84 49,752,550.79

9 9

168.50

166,476 166,476

28,285,937.95 28,285,937.95

54 38 6 12 1 29 140

5.61 19.00 1.37 6.86 6.65 1.27

2,120,306 314,421 40,000 119,863 433 3,285,739,119 3,288,334,142

11,610,520.13 5,953,792.96 55,716.00 842,442.48 2,736.56 4,074,348,894.07 4,092,814,102.20

11 54 65

17.86 700.00

18,825 98,360 117,185

329,518.50 68,567,962.00 68,897,480.50

11 11

4.46

99,050 99,050

420,455.00 420,455.00

13 21 34 394

21.90 28.00

36,887 133,117 170,004 3,289,575,498

820,034.75 3,737,067.92 4,557,102.67 4,244,727,629.11

82 51 21 25 200 41 16 147 11 15 67 676

4.10 1.49 15.60 1.21 16.70 1.07 1.76 2.95 5.30 0.63 0.98

3,962,506 2,163,396 278,470 790,900 4,847,312 1,969,858 1,204,932 8,586,418 39,752 501,617 5,920,564 30,265,725

16,210,255.82 3,314,106.88 4,136,459.40 958,864.34 80,963,793.44 2,115,552.11 2,087,767.85 25,302,954.71 205,645.40 316,018.71 5,813,502.17 141,424,920.83

14 8 2 3 7 10 1 1 46

0.80 0.90 0.50 0.50 2.06 0.76 0.50 0.50

200,107 276,500 5,004,000 1,000,000 351,540 327,285 37,708,135 10 44,867,577

160,838.67 251,350.00 2,502,000.00 500,000.00 720,728.80 245,325.31 18,854,067.50 5.00 23,234,315.28

1 1

1.08

4,760 4,760

4,950.40 4,950.40

31 7 105 7 20 170 893

2.46 4.00 0.85 14.15 1.31

1,149,464 27,041 31,257,120 38,035 708,255 33,179,915 108,317,977

2,830,722.84 104,002.06 26,613,309.20 537,985.34 931,556.31 31,017,575.75 195,681,762.26

27

2.69

614,065

1,572,223.05

stocks were: Continental Reinsurance (190.51 million shares), Sterling Bank (83.31 million shares) and Access Bank (50.98 million shares).

A look at the price losers’ chart showed that International Breweries Plc led with 4.9 per cent, trailed by MCNichols with 4.7 per cent. Continental Reinsurance Plc shed 4.4 per cent, just as A.G Leventis Plc went down by 4.2 per cent.

Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc closed 4.1 per cent lower, just as Morison Industries Plc lost 4.0 per cent.

On the positive side, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc and NASCON Allied Industries Plc led the price gainers with 4.8 per cent apiece. AXA Mansard Insurance Plc added 4.7 per cent, while Honeywell Flour Mills Plc chalked up 4.6 per cent.

E XC H A N G E

MAIN BOARD GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC Pharmaceuticals Totals HEALTHCARE Totals ICT IT Services TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. IT Services Totals ICT Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials ASHAKA CEM PLC BERGER PAINTS PLC CAP PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. Building Materials Totals Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC. Electronic and Electrical Products Totals Packaging/Containers BETA GLASS CO PLC. Packaging/Containers Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC Energy Equipment and Services Totals Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors CONOIL PLC ETERNA PLC. FORTE OIL PLC. MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD Exploration and Production Totals OIL AND GAS Totals SERVICES Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Totals Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC Courier/Freight/Delivery Totals Printing/Publishing LEARN AFRICA PLC Printing/Publishing Totals Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC Transport-Related Services Totals Support and Logistics CAVERTON OFFSHORE SUPPORT GRP PLC Support and Logistics Totals SERVICES Totals EQTY Board Totals Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board ASeM CONSUMER GOODS Food Products MCNICHOLS PLC Food Products Totals CONSUMER GOODS Totals ASeM Board Totals Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board PREMIUM FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC Banking Totals Other Financial Institutions FBN HOLDINGS PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials DANGOTE CEMENT PLC Building Materials Totals INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals PREMIUM Board Totals Equity Activity Totals

DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

32 4 6 69 69

25.33 0.94 0.69

551,998 16,020 597,000 1,779,083 1,779,083

13,903,164.18 15,299.40 412,110.00 15,902,796.63 15,902,796.63

1 1 1

1.69

500 500 500

805.00 805.00 805.00

16 9 4 6 10 31 76

24.00 9.30 35.78 8.62 3.36 80.50

110,727 40,229 26,700 142,300 299,900 14,373,223 14,993,079

2,707,053.97 362,501.29 992,680.00 1,227,076.00 966,480.00 1,157,057,077.16 1,163,312,868.42

6 6

1.51

134,500 134,500

204,240.00 204,240.00

5 5 87

50.00

24,529 24,529 15,152,108

1,165,135.50 1,165,135.50 1,164,682,243.92

2 2

0.50

24,262 24,262

12,131.00 12,131.00

90 90

3.47

3,827,573 3,827,573

13,288,632.05 13,288,632.05

21 7 8 21 7 64

18.34 1.84 342.00 150.00 145.00

81,125 100,300 20,300 16,295 13,699 231,719

1,505,034.50 182,832.00 6,595,470.00 2,396,080.60 1,959,692.96 12,639,110.06

33 33 189

318.00

389,934 389,934 4,473,488

124,037,602.56 124,037,602.56 149,977,475.67

1 1

0.50

941 941

470.50 470.50

5 5

3.80

32,870 32,870

127,756.40 127,756.40

13 13

0.89

624,500 624,500

538,430.00 538,430.00

1 22 23

2.29 4.00

4,588 251,094 255,682

10,001.84 1,001,583.80 1,011,585.64

1 1 43 1,811

1.68

10,000 10,000 923,993 3,428,226,216

16,000.00 16,000.00 1,694,242.54 5,785,390,675.15

2 2 2 2

1.21

270,464 270,464 270,464 270,464

327,261.44 327,261.44 327,261.44 327,261.44

306 306

11.45

13,929,679 13,929,679

159,605,439.23 159,605,439.23

278 278 584

3.74

10,438,552 10,438,552 24,368,231

39,515,087.18 39,515,087.18 199,120,526.41

35 35 35 619 2,432

139.83

38,770 38,770 38,770 24,407,001 3,452,903,681

5,304,666.00 5,304,666.00 5,304,666.00 204,425,192.41 5,990,143,129.00

2 2 2 2 2 10 10 10

2,330.00 2.33 6.02 11.09 18.07

3,000 20 20 20 15 3,075 3,075 3,075

6,986,000.00 46.70 120.20 221.80 270.65 6,986,659.35 6,986,659.35 6,986,659.35

Daily Summary (ETP) Exchange Traded Fund Name NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND (ETF) VETIVA BANKING ETF VETIVA CONSUMER GOODS ETF VETIVA GRIFFIN 30 ETF VETIVA INDUSTRIAL ETF Exchange Traded Fund Totals ETF Board Totals ETP Activity Totals

41

˾ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

MARKET NEWS

Investdata, APT Securities Educate Investors on Trading Strategies Investdata Consulting Limited in partnership

with APT Securities & Funds Limited is set to equip investors with profitable strategies to invest in the stock market.

The will be done at the second edition of a free equity investment education workshop in Lagos with the theme: ‘Profitable Stock Market Trading Strategies for Financial Independence and Freedom.’

The workshop theme and timing, according to a statement by the organisers, is in realisation of the fact that real independence today is synonymous with financial freedom.

This event, which holds in Lagos, on October 2, 2017, is coming just after the Abuja free equity investment summit where market players, high 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

net worth and retail investors were shown how to protect their capital and profit from market correction in a recovering economy and market.

“Just as in the Abuja edition, participants at the workshop will learn simple stock trading and investing mathematics their brokers will not show them which would lead to profit and successful wealth creation.

The workshop will equip you with simple and proven strategies that make you a successful trader and investor in any market conduction, including know how to protect your portfolios, as well as the mindset your needed as an investor and trader to managing risk, while eliminating emotions when trading to avoid irrational investment decisions,” the organisers said. 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 25-Sept-2017, unless otherwise stated.

They explained that their team of experts and time-tested resource persons will show participants how they too can successfully and confidently trade and invest in stocks profitably on their own from their phone, laptop and/or desktop computer.

“This workshop is primarily organised to prepare and show you how to become financially independent through equity investing/trading by understanding the market dynamics, the fundamentals of stock trading and investing, trading and investing strategies that will help you manage your risk, protect your capital and profit from market correction. You would also learn how to trade on your own online, using the APT eTrade platform on your phone and laptop;

the psychology of trading and investing and how it will make you successful,” they added.

Speakers at expected at the workshop include: Managing Director, APT Securities & Funds Limited, Alhaj Garba Kurfi; Chief Research Officer, Investdata Consulting Limited, Mr. Ambrose Omordion; Head of IT, APT Securities, Mr. Raphael Olaoye, and Mr. Meshach Ukpoma, who is an expert on technical analysis, among others.

Commenting on the workshop, Mr. Omordion said: “You as an investor need to equip yourself with knowledge, not only to preserve your funds, but to profit from the market and the recovering economy to truly achieve financial independence and freedom.”

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 169.91 171.26 34.06% Nigeria International Debt Fund 232.70 233.55 10.04% 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 0.80 0.81 13.96% ACAP Income Funds 0.63 0.63 79.39% ACAP Income Funds 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 18.76% 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 16.64 17.15 34.81% ARM Discovery Fund 354.65 365.34 23.49% ARM Ethical Fund 25.19 25.95 12.76% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 18.38% 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 140.43 141.42 33.51% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 18.60% 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 19.04% Paramount Equity Fund 11.57 11.87 23.63% Women's Investment Fund 94.94 97.47 12.28% 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 19.70% 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 1,138.53 1,139.66 12.19% FBN Heritage Fund 140.65 141.90 26.18% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 19.34% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $110.88 $111.88 7.82% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $110.30 $111.30 8.00% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 148.52 150.67 31.91% 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 1.31 1.34 40.96% Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund 2.88 2.88 12.02% 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 2,822.43 2,864.72 28.45% Coral Income Fund 2,364.82 2,364.82 13.49% 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 15.95% 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 18.25% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.03 2.05 20.83% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 17.97%

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 1.13 1.15 13.95% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,042.42 1,042.42 8.41% 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 12.37 12.48 28.03% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 18.96% 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 1.17 1.20 18.08% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.82 10.89 4.16% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 14.40% 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 119.89 122.00 18.31% 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 1.38 1.38 10.58% 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 2,138.68 2,150.76 16.79% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 166.45 166.45 8.11% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.93 0.94 21.43% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 210.47 210.47 12.62% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 165.12 167.21 27.16% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.56% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 9,131.82 133.37 -39.26% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.04 1.04 4.00% SIAML PENSION 40 130.57 133.37 31.97% 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 1.31 1.32 16.82% United Capital Bond Fund 1.42 1.42 16.20% United Capital Equity Fund 0.83 0.85 24.15% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 18.43% 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 12.28 12.46 26.44% Zenith Ethical Fund 12.96 13.10 18.37% Zenith Income Fund 18.50 18.50 11.90%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.41 130.42

1.01% 5.20%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

10.56 102.25

10.66 104.17

22.42% 34.93%

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

4.27 9.07 16.49 19.61 133.31

4.31 9.15 16.59 19.81 135.31

54.29% 28.85% 39.47% 22.80% 5.29%

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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ͻ ŽŶƟŶƵĞĚ ĨƌŽŵ ƉĂŐĞ ϳ

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INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Erdogan: Iraqi Kurds Must Give up on Independence or Go Hungry Turkey’s president has said Iraqi Kurds could go hungry as a result of the punitive measures it is considering after Monday’s independence referendum.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government of “treachery” for pressing ahead with the vote despite international opposition.

Massoud Barzani should now “give up on this adventure”, he said.

Mr Erdogan has previously threatened to cut a vital Kurdish oil pipeline and stop lorries crossing Turkey’s border.

Turkey fears that the emergence of an independent Kurdish state on its border will stoke separatist feeling in its own Kurdish minority.

The results of the referendum are yet to be declared, but a“yes” vote is expected.

Kurdish leaders say that would not automatically trigger a declaration of independence, but rather give them a mandate to start negotiations on secession with the central government in Baghdad and with neighbouring countries.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ruled out any such talks on Monday night, saying he would not discuss the referendum’s results because it was“unconstitutional”.

In a speech on Tuesday, Mr

Erdogan said he had expected“until the last moment”that Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani would postpone the vote.

“This referendum decision, which has been taken without any consultation, is treachery,”he said.

“If Barzani and the Kurdish Regional Government do not go back on this mistake as soon as possible, they will go down in history with the shame of having dragged the region into an ethnic and sectarian war,”he warned.

Mr Erdogan said Turkey, which has long been the Kurdistan Region’s main link to the outside world, might now impose sanctions to persuade Mr Barzani’s administration to“give up on this adventure that can only have a dark end”.

“It will be over when we close the oil taps, all [their] revenues will vanish, and they will not be able to find food when our trucks stop going to northern Iraq,”he added.

Cross-border trade between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey was worth some $5bn (£3.7bn) in the first six months of 2017, according to Kurdish officials, while hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil flow daily through a pipeline from Kurdish-controlled oil fields to the Mediterranean via Turkish territory.

Iraqi soldiers also joined Turkish troops for military exercises in south-eastern Turkey on Monday,

near the border with Iraq.

The US earlier said it was “deeply disappointed” that the Kurdistan Region held the referendum, but stressed that their “historic relationship”would not

change.

The referendum was held in the three Iraqi provinces that make up the Kurdistan Region, as well as in adjoining disputed areas claimed by the Kurds and

the Arab-led central government that are controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported that 72% of the 5.2 million Kurds

and non-Kurds registered as resident in those areas had voted. Ballots were still being counted on Tuesday, with initial results expected by the end of the day.

Falana Asks UN to Investigate Attacks on Kenyan Judges Gboyega Akinsanmi A human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, yesterday asked United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to conduct fact finding mission on the recent attacks on some judges of the Kenyan Supreme Court.

Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), also condemned the attacks, intimidation and threats against judges, thereby calling for whoever “is suspected to be responsible to be brought to justice promptly.”

He made the demand in a letter addressed to Mr. Diego Garcia Sayan, Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Office, Geneva.

In the two-page letter, Falana asked the Government of Kenya

“to take measures to ensure effective protection of judges and to promote their independence, security and freedoms including throughout the hearing of the presidential election petitions.”

He lamented that the Inspector General of Police who is expected to provide security to all Government facilities, had repeatedly ignored calls to act, thereby exposing Judicial officers, property and litigants to danger He explained that individual judges, particularly of the Supreme Court, as well as other judicial officers and staff had been attacked, threatened and negatively profiled on social media.

Besides, the senior advocate said senior political leaders“have also threatened the Judiciary promising to cut it down to size and teach the Judiciary a lesson. I am writing to respectfully request that you use your good offices and position to

urgently investigate recent reports of attack on judges in Kenya.”

He explained that it was imperative for the UNHRC“to make it very clear to the Kenyan authorities that your mandate will not accept intimidation, harassment or any form of attacks against judges and other actors of the justice system.”

He noted that the attacks “are coming at a time when the Judiciary is starting to hear the 339 petitions already filed in various courts. The attacks on judges and court officials would seem to be politically motivated.

“I am concerned that apart from violating the rights of the judges to personal dignity and security, the attacks also constitute a threat to the independence and impartiality of the judiciary and the entire justice system.

“The attacks amount to improper interference and pressures on the judiciary, and can undermine the

smooth function of justice, public’s confidence in the rule of law, effective enjoyment of human rights, and ultimately lead to people taking the law into their own hands.”

He noted that impunity for such acts of intimidation and harassment could have grave impact on other judges, negatively influencing the quality of their work, forcing them to renounce certain kinds of cases, and working in the fear that they or their families may be at risk because of their judicial work He lamented that attacks, intimidation and threats against judges and judicial officials are likely to increase ahead of the re-run election later this year, noting that the Kenyan government “has an obligation to provide a conducive environment and to guarantee that judges can do their job without intimidation and without risking their safety.

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World’s Largest Diamond Sells for $53m British jeweller Graff said yesterday that it has purchased the world’s largest uncut diamond — roughly the size of a tennis ball — for $53 million or US$47,777 per carat.

Canadian miner Lucara Diamond sold to Graff the 1,109-carat gem, the Lesedi La Rona, which was found in Botswana’s Karowe mine in November 2015. “We are thrilled and honoured to become the new custodians of this incredible diamond,� said company chairman, Laurence Graff, in a statement. “The stone will tell us its story, it will dictate how it wants to be cut, and we will take the utmost

care to respect its exceptional properties.� “This is a momentous day in my career, and I am privileged to be given the opportunity to honour the magnificent natural beauty of the Lesedi La Rona,� he added.

Lucara confirmed the hefty price tag in a statement issued in Vancouver. “The discovery of the Lesedi La Rona was a company defining event for Lucara,� said William Lamb, president and chief executive of Lucara. “It solidified the amazing potential and rareness of the diamonds recovered at the Karowe mine. We took our time to

find a buyer who would take the diamond through its next stage of evolution. “The price paid is also an improvement on the highest bid received at the Sotheby’s auction in June 2016. Graff Diamonds is now the owner of the Lesedi La Rona as well as the 373-carat diamond purchased earlier this year, which formed part of the original stone. We are excited to follow these diamonds through the next stage of their journey,� the statement read.

Lesedi La Rona means “our light� in Botswana’s Tswana language. It could be cut into smaller gems for jewellery or left whole in a private collection.

1,100-plus carat stone

Irate Qatar Airways Passengers Cause Commotion at Lagos Airport Some aggrieved passengers of Qatar Airways yesterday caused a commotion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, over the delay of their flight for two days.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the passengers had besieged the airline’s check-in counter, demanding to be put on any

available flight to enable them meet their engagements outside the country.

They had on Sunday boarded the flight at 10.00 a.m. en route Doha to connect to their respective destinations, only to be disembarked due to operational reasons.

One of the passengers, Segun Agbetuyi, in a text message, said

they were taken to a hotel later on Sunday. “They woke us all up at 4.30 a.m. this morning to take us to the airport for boarding, only to get to the airport and find that no serious arrangements had been made,� he said.

The spokesperson for the Lagos Airport Police Command, DSP Joseph Alabi, who confirmed

the incident, said the issue had been resolved.

He said: “They have since left and the issue has been resolved.

I learnt that there was a delay and the passengers were not happy. “However, when I arrived, I saw things moving smoothly at the check-in and I was informed that arrangements have been

made to convey them to their destinations.�

On his part, a media consultant to the airline, who gave his name as Mr. Mike, said the passengers were agitated because they had been in the hotel for two days and their flight had been delayed. “They needed to get to their destinations and so when they came in here, it was a crowd but

we have sorted out the issue and put some of them on the flight. “The few of them that are remaining, we are taking them to other airlines,� he said.

Qatar Airways is under obligation to compensate the passengers for the delay, in accordance with the provisions of Part 19 of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (NCAR).

increased by 7.03 per cent during the same period as a result of increased international remittances, inclusive of public sector and JVC payments, which rose by 58.59 per cent in the period under review,� Emefiele said The MPC, according to him, observed the trend towards convergence between the rates at the bureau-de-change (BDC) segment of the FX market and the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) segment, as well as the stability of the exchange rate at the inter-bank segment of the FX market during the review period. “Similarly, the committee noted the success of the Investors’ and Exporters’ window (I &E) of the foreign exchange market and traced this not only to foreign investor confidence but also to the zeal and commitment of Nigerian exporters who have demonstrated preference for the window to the parallel market. “The committee observed that the I&E window has increased liquidity and boosted confidence in the market with over US$7 billion inflow in the last five months. “The committee will continue to introduce policies that will improve the confidence of foreign investors in the country’s macroeconomic management regime,� he said.

the central bank to begin to see itself as a stimulant, rather than an institution that is reactive. “It is about the timing and not about the action itself, while the action should be the stimulant.

That is, what we want is an action that would change the outcome and not the timing. “It is time for the central bank to take a more proactive, rather than a reactive stance.

But they made it clear in their statement that they would maintain flexibility of policy in between the meetings. “So I am optimistic that they would do something. They can move the direction of interest rates, rather than just moving the policy rate,� Rewane said.

Ecobank Nigeria’s analyst, Mr. Kunle Ezun, however, welcomed the outcome of the meeting, saying more time should be given for the fundamentals in the economy to strengthen before a shift in the monetary policy stance.

He listed these fundamentals to include the exchange rate, inflation and interest rate. “Basically, the outlook is that we should begin to see a drop in MPR to support growth. But as long as we know that the growth we have today is still very fragile and needs more reinforcement, it will be too early to begin to drop the interest rate because there is no stability yet around the exchange rate and inflation rate is still very high,� he said.

Ezun further said that by its decision, the MPC was able to show its level of independence to foreign investors, thereby enhancing confidence. “Ordinarily, going by political pressure, one would have thought the MPC would have dropped the MPR today. But the fact that they have remained consistent to say it would be too early to reduce the rate, is going to reinforce the level of independence of the MPC,� he explained.

EMEFIELE DEFENDS QUANTITATIVE EASING, SAYS CBN IS NOT OVERFUNDING GOVT they could trigger�.

At the end of yesterday’s MPC meeting, however, the committee decided to retain the benchmark rate at 14 per cent, making it the 14th consecutive month since the policy rate was raised from 12 to 14 per cent in July 2016.

The MPC also retained the CRR at 22.5 per cent, Liquidity Ratio at 30.0 per cent, and the asymmetric corridor at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR. In arriving at the decision, the CBN governor said the MPC took note of the gains achieved so far as a result of its earlier decisions, including the stability in the foreign exchange market and the moderate reduction in inflation.

According to him, the option was whether to hold, tighten or ease, adding that these were subjected to extensive debate. “As in previous meetings, although tightening would help rein in inflationary expectations and strengthen the stability in the foreign exchange market, the committee felt that it would further widen the income gap, depress aggregate demand and adversely affect credit delivery to the private sector. “The committee also noted that tightening may result in the deposit money banks re-pricing their assets and loans, thus raising the cost of borrowing and therefore heightening the already weak investment climate and non-performing loans. “With respect to loosening, the committee believed that although while it would make it more attractive for Nigerians to acquire assets at cheaper prices, thus increasing their net wealth, and therefore stimulate spending as confidence rises, it nevertheless felt constrained that loosening at this time would exacerbate inflationary pressures and worsen the exchange rate and inflationary conditions,� he said.

Emefiele added that the committee also felt that loosening

would further pull the real rate deeper into negative territory as the gap between the nominal interest rate and inflation widens.

He continued: “On the argument to hold, the committee believes that the effects of fiscal policy actions towards stimulating the economy have begun to manifest, as evident in the exit of the economy from 15 months recession. “Although still fragile, the fragility of the growth makes it imperative to allow more time to make appropriate complementary policy decisions to strengthen the recovery. “Secondly, the committee was of the view that economic activity would become clearer between now and the first quarter of 2018, when growth is expected to have sufficiently strengthened and gains in receding inflation very obvious. “The most compelling argument for a hold was to achieve more clarity in the evolution of key macroeconomic indicators including budget implementation, economic recovery, exchange rate, inflation and employment generation.�

In consideration of the headwinds confronting the domestic economy and the uncertainties in the global environment, Emefiele noted that the committee decided by a vote of six to one to retain the MPR at 14 per cent alongside all other policy parameters. “In arriving at this hold decision, the MPC commits to employing maximum flexibility to guide the economy on the path to optimal growth. “Consequently, six members voted to retain the MPR and all other parameters at their current levels, while one member voted to lower the MPR to signal an ease to the current stance of tight monetary policy. “However, overall, majority of the members expressed a strong commitment to policy flexibility that would allow the

committee to promptly take the necessary actions that would promote overall macroeconomic stability and engender sustainable growth,� he explained.

Emefiele observed that the Nigerian economy exited the recession in the second quarter of 2017, with a modest positive short to medium-term outlook, resulting largely from deliberate macroeconomic stimulus and a stable naira exchange rate.

He stressed that inflationary expectations also appeared anchored on the strength of the prevailing tight monetary policy stance.

The MPC, he said, noted headwinds still confronting the optimistic global growth prospects to include: recent developments on the Korean peninsula; the damage to infrastructure caused by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria; the lull in Brexit negotiations; and the normalisation of monetary policy by the U.S. Fed, which is expected to trigger global capital flow reversals. “Other challenges include the continued slow pace of recovery in global oil and other commodity prices and China’s reduction in uptake of global commodities. “In addition, the committee noted the tepid global inflation momentum, implying that continued monetary policy normalisation could be injurious to global growth prospects. “The uptick in global inflation persisted, but moderated, in response to rising oil prices, continued accommodative monetary policy in the advanced economies; and currency appreciation in some emerging markets and developing countries,� Emefiele said.

On developments in money and prices, he said the committee noted that money supply (M2) contracted by 11.06 per cent in August 2017 (annualised), in contrast to the provisional growth benchmark of 10.29 per

cent for 2017.

The contraction in M2 was largely due to the contraction of 18.42 per cent in other assets net (OAN) in August 2017. “Similarly, M1 contracted by 12.25 per cent in August 2017 (annualized) to -18.37 per cent. Net domestic credit (NDC) contracted by 0.14 per cent, annualised at -0.20 per cent, driven majorly by net credit to government, which also contracted by 1.05 per cent against the programmed growth of 33.12 per cent. “Credit to the private sector, however, grew marginally by 0.07 per cent in August 2017, compared with the provisional benchmark of 14.88 per cent,� the governor stated.

Money market interest rates, he added, oscillated in tandem with the level of liquidity in the banking system, as the average inter-bank call rate which opened at 18 per cent on July 26, 2017, closed at 7 per cent on August 31, 2017.

The committee, he said, noted the continuing improvement in Nigeria’s external reserves position and the equities segment of the capital market, adding that the foreign reserves position grew to US$32.9 billion at the close of business on September 25, while the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 7.20 per cent from 33,117.48 on June 30 to 35,504.62 on August 31. “Market capitalisation (MC) improved by 6.90 per cent to N12.24 trillion from N11.45 trillion during the same period.

Relative to end-December 2016, capital market indices rose by 32.10 and 32.30 percent, respectively, reflecting growing investor confidence due to improvements in foreign exchange management. “Total foreign exchange inflows through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rose by 1.98 per cent in August 2017, compared with the previous month. Similarly, total outflow

Mixed Reactions Trail MPC Outcome Reacting to the outcome of the MPC meeting, financial market experts yesterday expressed divergent views on the decision of the committee to keep all its tools unchanged.

To the CEO of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, the outcome of the meeting was widely expected.

But considering the situation in the economy, Rewane urged

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017Ëž T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Ă?ĂĄĂ? ĂŽĂ“ĂžĂ™Ăœ Davidson Iriekpen Ă—Ă‹Ă“Ă– davidson.iriekpen@thisdaylive.com, 08111813081

Nigeria Ranked 125th in Global Competitiveness Index as Ease of Doing Business Reforms Get Nod CAC crashes cost of business registration Omololu Ogunmade Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Chima Obinna Ă“Ă˜ Ă‹Ă‘Ă™Ă? åÓÞÒ Ă‹Ă‘Ă?Ă˜Ă?ĂŁ ĂœĂ?ĂšĂ™ĂœĂž Despite the efforts by the federal government to make it easier for companies and individuals to do business in the country, Nigeria only managed to move up two notches to improve its ranking on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) for 2017-2018 to 125th position, out of the 137 countries ranked.

The country was ranked 127th on the 2016-2017 index released last year.

The ranking came as the expanded meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) which held in the State House, Abuja, yesterday approved what it described as a new National Action Plan to drive reforms on ease of doing business in Nigeria.

But the WEF in the latest GCI obtained by THISDAY yesterday stressed that Nigeria recorded the slight improvement “only because other countries are deteriorating faster.�

This implied that the measures adopted by government to improve ease of doing business were yet to make a meaningful impact.

In fact, WEF noted that the country “has failed to increase its overall score since 2012.�

It listed some of the challenges hindering the country’s improvement on the index to include its macroeconomic environment (down 14 to 122) and institutional strength (down 7 to 125).

Others considered as barriers in the face of efforts to kick-start economic recovery included poor infrastructure (132) and Health and Primary Education (136).

Regrettably, Nigeria only managed to perform better on the GCI than war-torn or economically depressed countries such as Congo Democratic Republic (126), Venezuela (127), Haiti (128), Burundi (129), Sierra Leone (130), Lesotho (131), Malawi (132), Mauritania (133), Liberia (134), Chad (135), Mozambique (136), and Yemen (137).

Also, Nigeria was not among the top 10 ranked countries in Africa.

According to the report, Mauritius (45), Rwanda (58), South Africa (61), Botswana (63), Namibia (90), Kenya (91), Senegal (106), Seychelles (107), Ethiopia (108) and Cape Verde, were the top 10 countries in the latest GCI.

“Competitiveness is stalling across sub-Saharan Africa: In fact since only Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda have managed to improve performance consecutively for five years since 2010,� it stated.

The report is an annual assessment of the factors driving countries’ productivity and prosperity It pointed out that 10 years on from the global financial crisis, the prospects for a sustained economic recovery remains

at risk due to a widespread failure on the part of leaders and policymakers to put in place reforms necessary to underpin competitiveness and bring about much-needed increases in productivity For the ninth consecutive year, the report found Switzerland to be the world’s most competitive economy, narrowly ahead of the United States and Singapore.

Other G20 economies in the top 10 were Germany (5), the United Kingdom (8) and

Japan (9).

China was the highest ranking among the BRICS group of large emerging markets, moving up one rank to 27.

Drawing on data going back 10 years, the report highlighted in particular three areas of greatest concern. These included the financial system, where levels of “soundness� were yet to recover from the shock of 2007 and in some parts of the world are declining further.

This, it said was of concern

given the important role the financial system will need to play in facilitating investment in innovation related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Another key finding “is that competitiveness is enhanced, not weakened, by combining degrees of flexibility within the labour force with adequate protection of workers’ rights. “With vast numbers of jobs set to be disrupted as a result of automation and robotisation,

Cont’d on Pg 52

You’re a Come and Chop Politician, Sagay Tells Oyegun Onyebuchi Ezigbo Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË The war of words between the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Chief John OdigieOyegun, and Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay (SAN), has continued unabated with both men resorting to derogatory words.

Sagay who reacted to his being labelled by the APC’s leadership as a “quintessential rogue elephant,� described Oyegun as a “come and chop’’ politician.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, had in a statement last Monday labelled Sagay as “Rogue Elephant,� adding that in his sheer arrogance, the PACAC chairman forgot that it was impossible for him to call out the leadership of the party as “weak� and “unprincipled� without indicting the president, who is the leader of the party.

The party also denied that it’s leadership is not comprised of most unprincipled group of people� who are “encouraging and accepting rogues� in the party as alleged by the presidential aide.

But in his reaction yesterday, the constitutional lawyer said: “I am an accomplished man long before any appointment.

I am not a “come and chop� politician like you lot.

“My loyalty is to the president and not to the party which has continued to fail under the leadership of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.  “To start with, I am not a ‘come and chop’ person as you are. I did not come to ‘chop’; so the party is not doing me a favour. You are the ones that have come to ‘chop.’ “Secondly, my criticism of APC is not against President Muhammadu Buhari who I think is a man of great honour, integrity and whom I admire and who inspires me. “I took this job because of Buhari and Osinbajo, who I admire greatly. The people I am referring to in my criticism are John Odigie-Oyegun and one Bolaji Abdullahi, who is (Senate President Bukola) Saraki’s Man Friday. They are dining with the devil who wants to destroy the party. “They are appeasers, who are acting the way (former) British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, appeased Adolf Hitler and in the process, they will destroy the party because they are weak and unable to confront evil and they will end up helping that Hitler to destroy the party. “What is APC without Buhari, Osinbajo and Tinubu?

The Oyegun-led executive, which is doing a policy of appeasement, will destroy the party.�

LOCAL CONTENT STAKEHOLDERS

L-R: Technical Senior Adviser to Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Gbite Adeniji; Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote; Head of Research and Development, University of Uyo, Dr. Edu Inam; Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Tayo Alasoadura; and Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mr. Osagie Okunbo, at the Nigerian Content Research and Development Fair in Lagos...Monday

FG, China Adopt Export-Import Funding Model for Mambilla Plant Management contract, concession unlikely for TCN

Chineme Okafor Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË China would finance the construction of a project that would become Nigeria’s largest hydro power plant – the 3,050 megawatts (MW) Mambilla plant - through an export-import financing model, the Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed.

Fashola, who spoke on Arise News - a sister broadcast arm of THISDAY – last Monday in Abuja, explained that Nigeria would shortly negotiate the terms of the financing framework with the Chinese.

He said the government was awaiting the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to proceed with its negotiations for the finance of the project which he said would cost $5.72 billion to build. “What we just did was to award the contract (Mambilla) for the first time in over four decades. The next phase is to

go and negotiate the financing, as the Chinese have offered to fund it under an export-import financing arrangement where they will contribute 85 per cent of the financing and we will contribute 15 per cent,�

Fashola, said in response to a question on the project’s financing details.

He further explained: “The negotiations for the finance is the next step after council award. Council is the organ of government that can award projects of that size – it is a $5.72 billion contract, we are waiting for the Attorney General’s office so that we can sign the contract within the next few days. With that contract, we can go into negotiations with the financiers.�

However, by its nature, export-import financing models which are usually concessional loans, have long moratorium of up to five years, in addition to long tenor that could be as long as 20 years, and very

low interests of like two per cent as against the 17 per cent interest on government treasury bills which is one of the funding sources available to the government.

Also, they require that companies, equipment, and workers of countries offering the loan are often used in the projects, but infrastructure financing experts told THISDAY that Nigeria in this case, could derive a lot of benefits from the arrangement and project construction.

They noted that if it sails through, Nigerians would mostly provide and man the trucks for movement of materials to the project site, cook food for workers at the site, while materials such as sand, granites, cements and others would be sourced locally.

Already, Fashola in the interview noted that about 25 local insurance firms had indicated interests in providing insurance coverage for the project.

He stated in this regards, “we have received not less than 25 applications from insurance firms already, just hearing that we have signed Mambilla, they are saying they want to provide insurance for the project, and it is just going to give a lot of momentum to the Nigerian economy when the construction starts.�

The Mambilla power project according to Fashola had remained unattended to since 1972 when it was initiated, but would now be completed within six years.

Similarly, the minister disclosed that the next plan of the government for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) would be to hold on and run it as an efficient firm after an ongoing restructuring of the entity.

His assertions on TCN suggested that government was not considering a fresh management contract or concession arrangement for the transmission network.

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$9bn Has Been Used by FG to Defend Naira, Says Senate Summons Udoma, Adeosun over poor funding of 2017 budget James Emejo Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË The Senate yesterday said the sum of $9 billion had been spent by the federal government to

defend the naira. It expressed worry that only 10 per cent of the N7.4 trillion 2017 budget has so far been implemented barely three

Ambode: Awolowo’s Contributions Key to Restructuring Nigeria Unveils statute in honour of late sage Gboyega Akinsanmi The call for a negotiated restructured federation yesterday was on the front burner yesterday when Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, noted that the thoughts and ideas of the first Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, were key to redefining the future of Nigeria.

Ambode equally defended the position of Lagos State on restructuring, which according to him, was in line with the standpoints stipulated in the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He expressed the views yesterday after unveiling a 20-feet statute the Lagos State Government erected at the intersection of Lateef Jakande Road and Obafemi Awolowo Way in honor of the late sage.

The unveiling was witnessed by some children and grandchildren of the late sage including the Chairman of African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, Mrs. Omotola Oyediran and her husband, Prof. Kayode Oyediran; Executive Director of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, Mrs. Tokunbo AwolowoDosunmu; Executive Director of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Dr. Segun Awolowo and wife of the Vice-President,

Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo.  Ambode, who paid tribute to the late sage before unveiling the statute, explained the relevance of Awolowo’s ideas and thoughts to modern Nigeria, noting that it remained a source of inspiration and benchmark for progressive leadership.

Thirty years after his death, according to him, Awolowo’s thoughts and ideas on a wide range of issues relating to the economy, fiscal federalism and education among several others “are still as relevant today as they were back in time.

He said his legacies and landmark achievements, particularly in South Western Nigeria including Lagos State, “have endured and remain a source of inspiration and benchmark for progressive leadership.�

He added that Awolowo was a symbol “to the aspiration of Western Nigeria and Lagos territory during his days. His achievements at the helm of affairs in Western Nigeria, gave us supremacy and that is what Lagos has alwaysaspired to be.�

On the call for a negotiated restructured Nigeria, Ambode defended the position of Lagos State on restructuring, noting that the position of the state was different from what the APC stipulated in its manifesto.

FG Releases N336bn Capital Vote Ndubuisi Francis Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË The federal government has clarified that  it has released a total of N336bn from the 2017 budget to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) for funding of capital projects  in the first quarter of 2017.

The Ministry of Finance, in a statement, said the balance of N14 billion was being processed, pending the resolution of some formalities within the agencies concerned, to bring the total to N350 billion.

At the public presentation of the 2017 budget in Abuja onJune 19, 2-17, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun had assured that the government was ready to release N350 billion for capital projects, immediately.

Giving a breakdown of the N336 billion so far released, the ministry said Power, Works and Housing received

months to the end of the year.

Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi) who sponsored a motion on stabilising and sustaining post recession growth of the economy, argued that the level of harmony between the fiscal and monetary policies of government remained “very low.�

He expressed frustration over the inadequate funding of the 2017 budget by the executive, fearing it could pull the country back into a recession.

Consequently, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma and the Minister of Finance, Mrs.  Kemi Adeosun were both summoned to appear in plenary to explain the failure to fund the budget.

The motion was unanimously passed by the upper legislature chamber.

Abdullahi tasked the national economy managers to remain focused and ensure that the current weak growth of a mere 0.55 percent is built upon and increased substantially in the months and years to come.

The Senate however, urged both the fiscal and monetary authorities to come together and harmonise policies with a view to drastically reducing the high interest rate that has adversely affected borrowing for investment by the real sector of the economy.

It called on fiscal authorities to drastically reduce the accumulation of domestic debt in order to free the market for better access by the private

sector.

Senator Barau Jibril (APC, Kano State) who seconded the motion asked that the managers of the nation’s economy be put on their toes so that they would not be complacent.

He argued that the failure to release money to fund the budget had become a serious threat to the economy.

Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi  West) claimed that “our economic managers are just joggling the economy using ways and means to manipulate it.�

According to him: “If it is true that the foreign reserve has grown from $25 billion to $34 billion, why are we incapacitated in funding the 2017 budget? We must say

the truth. We must go back to the drawing board and take key decisions. We must engage in massive production and we must engage in massive spending too. What we have done is not a geniune approach to addressing the problem of the economy and getting outbof recession.�

Senator Biodun Olujumi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Ekiti State while noting that Nigeria is only technically out of recession but still languishing in economic quagmire, lamented that barely three months to the end of the year, the 2017 budget had not recorded 10 per cent implementation.

She said the major problem is that the economic managers were yet to develop a viable economic blue print.

CRUCIAL STATE MEETING

L-R: Senator Balla Ibn Na’alla; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen; and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.....yesterday

Ë›

House Orders SEC to Resolve Oando Shareholders’ Impasse Within Two Weeks James Emejo Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË

the impasse.

A shareholder said: “The strict the largest allocation of N90 The House of Representatives timeline that the committee has billion; followed by Defence Committee on Capital Market given for the enquiry to be and Security which got N71 and Other Institutions yesterday concluded is another positive handed a two-week ultimatum as this case has dragged on billion.

Transportation received N30 to the Securities and Exchange for nearly five months and billion. Agriculture received N30 Commission (SEC) to resolve played out in the media for billion, and Water Resources the impasse with Oando three months, in that time got N12 billion,  other sectors shareholders. Oando shareholders have The meeting which was seen a significant loss in the combined, received a total sum attended by the management value of their shares. The of N103 billion.

The N7.44 billion 2017 Budget team of SEC, was held behind lawmakers must be applauded has a capital component of closed doors.  for intervening.

The Deputy Chairman of N2.36 trillion has a provision “We are very hopeful that of N553.71 billion for Power, the committee, Hon.  Tony this new development will help Nwulu, who chaired the resolve the issue in favor of all Works and Housing.

Also, N241.71 billion for meeting, threatened to conduct shareholders of the company, as Transportation; N150 billion an investigative public hearing we all want to see a conclusion for Special Intervention should the commission fail to that is in the interests of both Programmes; N139.29 billion resolve and reconcile the parties we the shareholders and the future of the company.� for Defence; N104.24 billion within the timeline.

Shareholders partly blame the The President of Rennaisance for Water Resources; N81.73 billion for Industry, Trade and problem on regulatory lapses by Stakeholders Association of Investment; N63.76 billion for SEC and the Financial Reporting Nigeria, Olufemi Timothy, Interior; N151.91 billion for Council of Nigeria for turning a who brought a six-page Education (including Universal blind eye to alleged lax corporate petition against Oando, alleged Basic Education Commission); governance in the capital market. flagrant disregard for corporate They, however,  expressed governance and insider abuse.

N55.61 billion for Health; He said: “The group has and, N103.79 billion for optimism that the intervention by the legislature would resolve negative working capital of Agriculture.

over N263 billion consequence of current liabilities above, lighter than current assets, meaning that the management was unable to service its obligations financially. “Claim of creditors is higher than the owners, shareholders equity, meaning that the  group could be liquidated by the creditors anytime if urgent action is not taken. “With accumulated losses of over N159 billion, shareholders could not get a dime as cash dividend. No hope of redeeming these reserved losses. “Court cases as projected by the management may take claims of over N608 billion which is for greater the assets of the entire group, meaning that the group is at a very high risk of liquidation if the court cases against the company succeeds. “Cost of litigations is very high. Litigation has damaging consequence on our company’s reputational risk under the current management.

Management was increasing

entitlements, remunerations despite lack of working capital. “Both current liabilities and long term liabilities stood at over N799 billion. Management was selling  assets of the company, especially moneyspinning assets such as downstream (Marketing) business without meaningful improvement in debts situation. It was planning to sell its share in OER which unfortunately is the last asset belonging to the company,� the petition read in part.

The shareholders called on the House to “as a matter of urgency save our investment in Oando Plc, look into these matters, cause an action to intervene in Oando Plc by ordering/remove the present management, to vacate office, allowing for proper investigation of the corporate governance abuses, financial mismanagement as noticed in the published full year audited financially statement.�

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017˾ T H I S D AY

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Dogara Insists NGO Bill will Compel Responsibility, Transparency Withdraw proposed legislation or lose our support, Kogi youths tell lawmaker James Emejo ÓØ ÌßÔË ËØÎ Yekini Jimoh ÓØ ÙÕÙÔË The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, in his welcome remarks at plenary after the lower legislative chamber resumed from its summer recess, has expressed the determination of the House to pass the NGO Regulation Bill which had been opposed by sections of the public.

He said contrary to some misconceptions, the bill will inject transparency, accountability and prevent the subversion of national security from both within and without.

He said: “No one can nor indeed should gag the operations of NGOs in Nigeria, but just as they aspire for this freedom, it must be stated that freedom does not come without responsibility as there is no such thing as freedom to be irresponsible.

“There are also desperate attempts to instigate religious bodies and cultural

organisations to oppose the bill by spreading falsehood that they are the target of this bill.

For the avoidance of doubt, let me state once again that churches, mosques, esussu, market women associations as well as local quasi financial institutions are not-for -profit NGOs and thus the bill has nothing to do with their operations .

“The legislative process cannot be short circuited. The National Assembly cannot be intimidated into abandoning its sacred legislative duties of providing a platform for Nigerians to agree or disagree on any proposed legislative measure. This openness and transparency is what the NGOs have always canvassed and promoted and they should therefore embrace this opportunity to interrogate the issues with open arms.”

The bill has passed second reading and is at committee stage in the House.

Dogara said: “Public criticism of the content of the

bill is a welcome development and there are many who are doing just that. Indeed it is the reason why every bill is subjected to public hearing so that the inputs of stakeholders can be obtained to ensure public buy in.

“I hasten to say that all Nigerians and other corporate persons including non Nigerians, are stakeholders and have a right to support or oppose a bill. However, when opinions are targeted at disparaging the institution of the legislature then it becomes imperative to interrogate the motives driving such,

especially when this emanates from those who should know.”

Meanwhile, some concerned youths in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, have called on Hon. Buba Jibril, member representing Lokoja Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, to urgently withdraw his bill against non governmental organisations (NGOs) or lose the people’s support.

The spokesman of the youths, Mallam Umar Danasabe Mohammad, who is the Executive Director, Youth Emancipation for the Society, described the bill as

undemocratic, coming at a time when people are seeking for opportunities through NGOs to contribute their quota to the socioeconomic development of the country.

Umar made this known yesterday at an interactive workshop of Four Successful and Positive Role Models to youths who grew out of similarly challenged communities to become successful in life in Lokoja, and was organised by Trees on Earth Development Foundation, working in Partnership with CLEEN Foundation.

He called for the immediate

withdrawal of the bill by Hon Jibril, noting that the bill is anti-people, and aimed at strangulating NGOs. Umar called on the sponsor of the bill to focus on bills that would provide jobs, improve the wellbeing of people, rather than concern himself with bills that are unpopular, anti people, anti-democratic.

The youths who described failure to withdraw the bill as going to incur the wrath of youths from the constituency, urged the lawmaker not to test their will to recall him, if by chance he fails to do the needful.

UK’s Fraud Office to Charge Afren Executives over Nigerian Fraud Ejiofor Alike áÓÞÒ ËÑÏØÍã ÜÏÚÙÜÞÝ Britain’s Serious Fraud Office will today charge two former executives of collapsed United Kingdom-listed oil company, Afren Plc, with alleged fraud over payments they received via secret companies relating to business deals in Nigeria.

The SFO said in a statement that former Afren Chief Executive, Osman Shahenshah and former Chief Operating Officer Shahid Ullah would appear at Westminster Magistrates Court charged with two counts of fraud and two counts of money laundering. “(They) stand accused over payments they received via secret companies they controlled relating to over $400 million of Nigeria business deals.

The alleged fraud is claimed to have led to the collapse of the $2.6 billion oil giant by their administrators,” Reuters quoted SFO as saying in the statement.

Afren sacked its chief executive, chief operating officer and two associate directors after an independent review into unauthorised payments in 2014 found evidence of “gross misconduct.”

The probe also found that seven more current and former employees also received payments and Afren said it had begun disciplinary action against these employees.

The SFO opened its investigation into Afren in June 2015.

Afren had promised to start legal proceedings against founder and CEO Osman Shahenshah, COO Shahid Ullah and associate directors Iain Wright and Galib

Virani to recover money related to the payments.

The review, conducted by law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher (WFG), began in July 2014 to determine if three legitimate transactions with Afren’s partners Oriental Energy Resources Ltd and AMNI International Petroloeum Development Co Ltd in 2012 and 2013 should have been disclosed to the market.

The review found that Shahenshah and Ullah had agreed with Oriental to receive 15 per cent of the net cash flows that was due to Oriental from the Ebok oil field for five years from 2013 in exchange for $400 million in funding by Afren.

Oriental paid $45 million for 2013 into a special purpose vehicle owned and controlled by the two top executives, who used the funds to pay bonuses to themselves and selected employees of Afren, the review found.

WFG also uncovered evidence that suggested that the two executives sought personal benefits from a 2013 management buy-out of AMNI. WFG’s review found no evidence that either matter was discussed with Afren’s board, according to the statement.

The company’s shares lost nearly all of their value after being hit by a slump in oil prices, the dismissal of the top executives and the absence of proven or probable reserves at an oilfield in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Afren went into administration in July 2015 after failing to secure support for a vital refinancing and restructuring plan.

REMEMBERING THE SAGE

L-R: Mr. Segun Awolowo; Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa; Governor Akinwunmi Ambode; wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; daughters of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mrs. Omotola Oyediran; and Ambassador Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, during the unveiling of the new Obafemi Awolowo statue at Lateef Jakande Road, Ikeja....yesterday

Afenifere Cautions FG against Inviting Military to Take over Power James Sowole ÓØ ÕßÜÏ The pan-Yoruba socio-political Group, Afenifere, yesterday warned the federal government to stop inviting the military to take over power in the country in view of the deployment of military operations in several parts of the country.

The Afenifere’s warning was contained in a communique issued at the end of its monthly meeting held at the house of its national leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti at Ijapo area of Akure, the state capital.

Reading the communique, the Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, condemned the recent announcement by the military to launch Operation Crocodile Smile in the South West region of the country to confront the badoo menace.

He noted that the Python Dance in the South-east has

been largely condemned locally and internationally “We stated that the badoo gang has been decimated by the Nigeria Police and the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in the area where it had occurred. We think if the group resurgences, it is the duty of the police to deal with it without causing tension, invasion and harassment as it happened in the South east in the ongoing Operation Python Dance.

“We insist that the military has no duty in going after badoo even if it comes back. We want the federal government to be careful at the spate at which they deployed solders all over the country. The other day, the Speaker of the House of Representatives lamented that 28 out of 36 states of the country are under one military operation or the other,” he said.

Odumakin said the Southwest has been adjudged as the

most peaceful area of the country and to now bring military here is to say that the entire country is not safe adding that they are sending a wrong signal to foreign investors.

“The federal government should be reminded before the coup of 1966, this is was how Tafawa Balewa Government started to transfer civil duty to military and the military now said they can take it over themselves.

“The government should be careful. We urged the federal government to tell the military not to bring any operation to South west and to end the Operation Python Dance in the South-east and allow the police to do their duty and not to result to militarisation of the country,” he said.

Afenifere condemned what it described as the desecration of the palace of Olubadan of Ibadan land by hoodlums

who invaded his palace and perpetrated violence during the installation of Mogajis in Ibadan.

“This is not direct attack on Olubadan but attack on the sacred institution in Yoruba land ,the value and our culture. It is not acceptable, it so condemnable. We call on the government of Oyo State and the Governor Abiola Ajimobi to immediately lead the effort to get the hoodlums and ensure that they are punished so that it will be a deterrent to others,” Odumakin stated.

The group also expressed worries by the brewing conflicts between the Ondo State and Osun State which had resulted in the attack of an Osun State Commissioner, Mr. Bola Ilori in Akure.

He said the situation had also led to a retaliatory attack on the Sunshine Stars Football Club in Ogun State.

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Catholic Priest Asks FG to Proscribe CAN, JNI Don’t toy with agitations for restructuring, says Atiku

Onyebuchi Ezigbo ÓØ ÌßÔË A Catholic priest and university teacher, Reverend Father Gabriel Teruwose Ngbea, has asked the federal government to immediately ban the activities of umbrella religious bodies such as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Jamatul Nasrul Islam (JNI) to stem the tide of religious instigated crises in the country.

He also said instead, government should set up an independent body to be known as ‘Religious Equity Commission’ whose mandate should be to ensure that there is no discrimination among Nigerians on the basis of their faith.

Both proposals are contained

in the new book authored by the Benue State-born priest who launched his latest work yesterday in Abuja.

Father Gabriel said on page 302 of his book that “CAN and JNI should be proscribed because apart from their failed mandate of advancing religious interests, the two bodies have constituted themselves into a political tool often deployed to pursue political interests.

Justifying his stance, the clergyman said in order to keep faith with section 20 of the Nigerian constitution and to ensure that Nigerians practice their faith in a manner that is devoid of discrimination he is proposing “the establishment of an independent Religious Equity Commission whose mandate

Army Must Produce Kanu, Parents, Says Family Emmanuel Ugwu ÓØ ×ßËÒÓË

leader and his parents for two weeks now without making The family of the leader of the any headway.

Indigenous Peoples of Biafra ( However, the army IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, yesterday has denied knowing the asked the Nigeria Army to whereabouts of the IPOB leader account for his whereabouts, and dismissed the insinuation since the September 14 military that he was in their custody. raid of the family house at A voice that picked the call Afaraukwu Umuahia. put through to the Operation Speaking on behalf of the Python Dance line just blurted royal family of Afaraukwu, out that “Kanu is not in army Kanu’s younger brother, custody.”

Prince Emmanuel Kanu, said But Kanu’s younger brother he strongly believed his brother called on the international fell into the hands of troops community to prevail on the during the raid.

Nigeria Army to produce his “It is either they (soldiers) parents and the IPOB leader, captured him or killed him adding that the family has been when they attacked our house. If in shock since after the invasion. they captured him they should He denounced the desecration release him to the police, and of his father’s palace by the if they killed him they should army without any provocation, produce the corpse because he saying that it was a big dent was last seen moments before on the democratic posture of the raid,” he said. the Nigerian nation.

Aside from his brother, Traditional rulers of Umuahia Emma also alleged that the North local government had whereabouts of the patriarch last week called on the army and the matriarch, Eze Israel to explain the whereabouts of Kanu, and Lolo Sally Kanu, Eze Kanu and his wife and also have remained unknown since denounced the desecration of his after the attack. palace and the ofo, the symbol According to him, the family of authority of the traditional has been searching for the IPOB stool.

Melaye Evades INEC’s Recall Notice Onyebuchi Ezigbo ÓØ ÌßÔË

few minute after talking to his aides outside of the chamber.

Officials of the Independent THISDAY gathered that the National Electoral Commission senator later left his office and (INEC) yesterday stormed the drove away immediately he Senate wing of the National was informed of the plan by Assembly armed with a INEC to serve the recall notice Notice of Recall for Senator at the office.

Dino Melaye, the lawmaker The officials who said they representing Kogi West were under specific instructions senatorial district. to deliver the notice directly The INEC officials arrived at to the lawmaker, left the heap the complex at about 11a.m. just of documents they came with as lawmakers resumed from at the senator’s office door their two months holiday to after they failed to trace his a closed door session. whereabouts.

INEC officials went straight The embattled Melaye had to the office of Melaye but the last Monday told journalists that door was locked. the period of 90 days given to They then spread themselves INEC to conduct the exercise in different strategic areas in has expired. and out of the upper legislative The lawmaker said with the chamber in an attempt to expiration, what INEC plans to ambush Melaye. do is unconstitutional which he Melaye was later sighted a would not be a part of.

should be to ensure that there is no discrimination among Nigerians on basis of faith.

CAN and JNI should be completely banned in the country.”

The priest said in order to ensure that the country keeps faith with section 10 of the constitution, the government should set up the Religious Equity Commission.

Meanwhile, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, insisted that government has a responsibility to listen to the citizens demand for restructuring.

Atiku, who was represented by former Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, George Daika, at the formal presentation of the book titled: ‘Constitutional Misconception of Secularism: Implications for Politics and Religion’, said the government should all be mindful of and sensitive to the feelings and preferences of Nigerians.

“Let me, however, use this opportunity to remind us all that at this delicate moment in our country’s history – with

separatist agitations, militancy of the religious and secular varieties, calls for restructuring, and jostling for future elections, we should all be mindful of and sensitive to the feelings and preferences of those who may not think the way we think, the way we speak or worship, the way we worship or belong to the same political party as us. Our diversity ought to be our strength and, together, we can still build the Nigeria of our dreams,” he said.

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, said politics and religion have been at the heart of problems confronting the country.

“Today in our country, two things are very important, politics and religion, and if we can get it right, we will be able to make Nigeria great,” he said.

He said both Christianity and Islam seek to bring love and peace to mankind, adding that it his hope that these two religions will work toward bringing peace

and love to the country.

On the brewing labour crisis in his state, Ortom blamed the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for employing blackmail tactics over workers’ salary arrears.

Rev. Father Bologo who represented the Archbishop of Abuja archdiocese, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, said religion and politics have been taken too far in our country and that this has caused a lot of problems for the country.

“Nigeria should not have been where it is now but because we are using religion to divide the country and to cause disaffection.

Nigeria is 90 per cent on the wrong path as far as religion and politics is concerned,” he said.

The priest also used the opportunity to observe one important positive outcome of the event which he said has helped to dispel the rumour that the Benue State governor, Ortom and his predecessor, Gabriel Suswan have been at daggers-drawn.

Both politicians who were all

special guests for the yesterday’s book launch warmly exchanged greetings to the admiration of the audience at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adau event hall in Abuja.

Booked reviewer, Prof. Da., described the book as extremely important for the challenges the country is currently battling with.

He identified some government actions that tended to undermine the secularity of the country to include the sponsorship of religious pilgrimages, building of mosques and churches with public fund.

Da also made reference to a report in a national newspaper that quoted a top official of Zamfara State Government who said the state was spending over N2 billion on Ramadan gifts alone in 2012.

The reviewer quoted the author as stating in his postulations that secularity is not an option but the only solution to the problems of the country.

He made a vote against state sponsorship of pilgrimages.”

WOMEN IN SCIENCE & ENGINEERING CONFAB

L-R: Former President, Federation of African Engineering Organisations (FAEO), Mr. Mustafa Balarabe Shehu; Senior Scientific Officer, African Union, Abuja, Dr. Mohammed Kyari; Secretary, African Union, Abuja, Mrs. Marie Johnson; and Vice President of African Engineering Organisations (FAEO) and African Catalyst Project Coordinator, Mrs. Valerie Agberagba, at the stakeholders’ review meeting for African Catalyst Project of Statistical Data for Women in Science and Engineering in Abuja...recently

Court Dismisses Fani-Kayode’s Application to Transfer Case to Abuja A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday dismissed an application by a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, seeking the transfer of a money laundering case against him to Abuja.

Fani-Kayode, who was also Chairman, Media and Publicity, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Organisation in 2015, is charged alongside a former Minister of State for Finance, Nenadi Usman.

Also charged is a former National Chairman of the Association of Local Government in Nigeria (ALGON), Yusuf Danjuma, and a company, Jointrust Dimensions Limited.

The accused are charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 17 counts of alleged N4.6billion money laundering.

They had, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The accused were first arraigned on June 28, 2016 before Justice Muslim Hassan of same

court, but the judge withdrew from the suit on March 16, (this year) following an application

by Fani-Kayode, on grounds of a likely bias.

The case was therefore, reassigned to Justice Mohammed Aikawa and the accused were re-arraigned on the charges.

At the last adjourned date on June 21, defence counsel, Mr. Norrisson Quakers (SAN), had prayed the court to transfer the case to its Abuja division, adding that the court lacked jurisdiction.

He had argued that the facts of the case showed that all the transactions carried out by the accused as Director of Media and Publicity of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, took place in Abuja.

Besides, he had argued that the accused resides in Abuja and has another trial ongoing at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Meanwhile, in objection, EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, had urged the court

to refuse the application, on the grounds that the transactions as well as cheques and receipts in furtherance of same, were done in Lagos.

He had urged the court to dismiss the application for transfer, as a mere waste of time.

Delivering judgment yesterday, Justice Aikawa held that some of the authorities cited by defence counsel were delivered before the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which he noted had provided exceptions to the issues of venue of court.

“In the case before me, the prosecution avers in its counter affidavit that “the sum of N30 million was paid to PW1 (Olusegun Idowu) of Paste Posters Company Ltd, who has his office in Lagos.

“This, in my view shows that all facts leading to the transaction was done in Lagos, and only evidence will prove otherwise.

“In the light of all these, it is clear that the facts and

circumstances of this case fall into the exceptions of the law regarding criminal trials.

“There is no justification to warrant a transfer of this case to Abuja; the interest of justice requires that the trial of this case continues in this court.

“This application hereby fails and is accordingly dismissed,” he said The court also ruled on an objection raised by defence counsel on the last adjourned date, challenging the tendering of photocopies of payment receipts

by PW1, who had began his evidence on June 7.

Aikawa held that it was not the business of the court to concern itself with whether a document is original, so long as the document sought to be tendered, is duly certified.

The court accordingly, dismissed the objections, admitted the receipts in evidence and marked same as exhibits 3 and 3A respectively.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWSXTRA

Agbakoba to Buhari: Don’t Delegate Responsibility of Restructuring to Others Sunday Okobi As Nigeria is increasingly taking the shape of a fragile state, human rights lawyer, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), yesterday appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to take the bull by the horn and lead the country to its full potential.

Agbakoba advised the president that the responsibility

of restructuring the country cannot be delegated to the National Assembly, National Council of State or any other arm of the government, saying Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution vests the president with executive powers of the federation, including the power to restructure the country.

“The president should initiate the restructuring project by

Saraki Reshuffles Committee Chairmen Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday named two senators from Anambra State as new chairmen of committees.

Andy Uba and Stella Oduah – lawmakers from the Southeastern state – were announced as replacement of two senators sacked by the court.

Uba was announced as chairman of the committee on interior, a position which George Sekibo, a Rivers senator, held until he was ejected from the red chamber Oduah is the new chairman of cooperation and integration committee as Abubakar Sani, a senator who represented Taraba North, has lost his seat.

Both senators indicated interest to contest the gubernatorial election in Anambra but failed to secure the tickets of their parties.

Uba was an aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), while Oduah lost out in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary.

The Cable reported that Saraki also announced the names of new vice-chairmen.

At the end of plenary, Sabi Abdullahi, spokesman of the senate, briefed journalists on the changes made.

“There was an announcement by the senate president on

the adjustment of some our committees so we have the following chairmen based on that announcement,” Abdullahi said.

“Trade and investment is now senator Sabo Mohammed, interior is now senator Uba, public account is now senator Matthew Urhoghide, culture and tourism is now senator Raji Rasaki, local content is senator Adeola Olamilekan, cooperation and integration is senator Stella Oduah, capital market development is Bukar Mustapha.

“We have vice-chairmen of some of the committees, trade and investment is now Mohammed Mustapha, we have communication senator Ademola Adeleke, judiciary is now senator Omoworare Babajide and local content is now senator Godswill Akpabio.”

Commenting on the suspension of Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno south, the senate spokesman said the suspended lawmaker is expected to resume onNovember 14, since his suspension is for 190 legislative days.

He said if there is a public holiday on October 2, Ndume would resume sitting onNovember 15.

Bolanle Awe, Aboyade, Others for Presentation of Briton’s Book on Nigeria Renowned historian, Prof.

Bolanle Awe; librarian, Prof.

Bimpe Aboyade; political scientist, Prof. Bayo Okunade, several educationists, academics, public policy experts and other stakeholders will gather at the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) tomorow for the reading of a book written on Nigeria by a Briton.

The book reading is a project of the ISGPP which is aimed at promoting public dialogue on issues of public policy which generate from books. The idea is also aimed at promoting reading among Nigerians, a cultured that is adjudged to be dying in the country.

The book, entitled: ‘Nigeria: a New History of a Turbulent Country,’ is written by Richard Bourne who is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Bourne was a journalist that was very active in the Commonwealth affairs since 1982.

He was education correspondent of the Guardian, assistant editor of New Society and deputy editor of the London Evening Standard.

Bourne got into Nigeria during his practice as a journalist in 1981. Since then, he bonded with the country and some citizens through which he acquired a deep knowledge of Nigeria and its history in addition to the knowledge garnered through his work at the institute of Commonwealth. He also worked on some other African countries.

In the 275-page book, the writer detailed Nigerian history in a well researched manner from the colonial era to the present time. He chronicled major events that keep reshaping the future of the country and some of the perspectives responsible for them.

Bourne posited that attempts to create a single state to which all citizens can owe allegiance, and in which all may prosper, is an ongoing struggle.

providing perspective that encompasses all section of the country. Restructuring can be implemented by executive and administrative orders and also presenting the 2014 national conference report to the National Assembly. The 2014 National Conference report actually examined and resolved a lot of the restructuring issues. So we should start with the report,” he said.

The human rights lawyer, who stated that the buzz for restructuring going on in Nigeria cannot be taken away from the fact that there is marginalisation, conflict and agitation everywhere in the form of IPOB, Boko Haram, Niger Delta militancy, Fulani herdsmen among others, added that Buhari must lead the process to restructure the

country.

“Section 5 of the constitution vests the president with executive powers of the federation and this includes the power to restructure Nigeria.”

At a press conference which took place yesterday in Lagos, Agbakoba, however, noted that notwithstanding, “there is a lack of clarity, context and direction on the issue of restructuring the country. Restructuring the country is not only about political arrangements, namely, new regions. It is also about economic and administrative governance.”

According to him, political restructuring is not enough, “otherwise, the inefficiencies at the centre will simply be transferred to the new regions.

Restructuring must address

other connecting issues like the bloated size of the public service. Why should 80 per cent of the national budget be used to service 3 per cent of the population? The Orosanye committee reviewed 263 statutory agencies of government and asked government to scrap 102 agencies. Government should therefore implement the Orasanye report immediately.“ He advised Buhari that after finding the way forward to restructure the country, he should focus on government core mandate, which is policy, execution and regulation and stay completely away from business matters, adding that this will empower a new set of economic actors, including the civil society and the private sector.

”This type of restructure is critical for economic development,” he added.

Agbakoba, who said he wasn’t satisfied with the response he got from former President Olusegun Obasanjo when he asked the latter to “become the Red Sea for young Nigerian to pass through to leadership,” said the only solution to Nigerian current quagmire, is to inject fresh ideas into the system in form of young Nigerians who can provide the right leadership for the people. He strongly agreed that power has to shift to the new generation.

He advocated that every section of the country must be carried along in order to give the restructuring a national outlook, adding that the process must involve ‘give and take’.

GEARING UP FOR POLITICS

L-R: Former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu; Okorafor Nduoma; Chairman, Youth Leader, All Progressives Congress (APC), Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, Hon. Onuegbu Abel Onuegbu; and Chairman, Women Leader, Mrs. Christiana Obasi, after an expanded ward executives meeting at Camp Neya, Igbere, Abia State....yesterday.

Osinbajo Challenges African Tax Administrators on Transparency in Resource Mobilisation Ndubuisi Francis ÓØ ÌßÔË The Vice President, Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo, has tasked African tax administrators to enhance transparency in resource mobilisation as well as tackle challenges relating to Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).

Osinbajo, who dropped the challenge at the opening of an international conference of Africa Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) in Abuja, noted that the continent was desirous of ensuring transparency and information sharing among ATAF member-states.

Information sharing, he noted, involves establishing automatic information exchange as the new global standard for cooperation in tax matters and ending legal secrecy of ownership of companies and trusts, especially those based in tax havens.

The vice president observed that in containing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting- which has also done significant damage to domestic resource mobilisation in Africa, a range of potential

actions were planned by OECD countries.

He said: “The forum had committed to this cause since August 2008. After the international conference in 2008 on a somewhat similar theme: Taxation, State building and Capacity development in Africa, senior tax administrators and policy makers from 39 African countries agreed to work towards the “establishment of the forum as a platform for sharing best practices in taxation matters in the region”. ``It is remarkable indeed that the forum has through the years been unwavering on its founding mission and ideals. But it is worth noting also that the tax problems of African states have remained much the same in complexity and character since. ``The elephant in the room in most discussions on tax in developing countries remains the problems of domestic resource mobilisation. Addressing the tax gap, or the difference between what we collect and what we could collect.

“The constraints are similar though in varying degrees across the continent, they include, a large informal sector, including large subsistence agricultural sectors, tax evasion and avoidance, tax exemptions, and inequitable and opaque rent-sharing arrangements in the extractive sector. ``Significantly also, by the use of aggressive and often suspicious tax planning and transfer mis-pricing multinationals minimise their tax payments or put more graphically, dodge taxes. The Thambo Mbeki report on illicit financial flows discloses shocking details of tax losses to African economies by these practices of multinationals and their local collaborators,’’ Osinbajo said He commended the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as the most innovative and forward looking tax administrator in Africa.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said there remained a strong link between an efficient tax system and economic development, even

as she underscored the need for a strong, robust and effective tax regimes across Africa.

She said: “There is no rich country with poor tax system and there is no poor country with a strong tax system”. It tells you the connection.

“So, we need to develop a predictable and transparent tax administration that can guarantee efficient flow of revenue. We can do it. Interestingly, there is a collective reawakening in Africa. Outside Africa, there is a general feeling of putting their country first. Now, it is time to put Africa first.

“In Nigeria, we are working hard to improve transparency in the system so as to boost confidence of tax payers. They need to know their money is well utilised to ensure they will be willing to pay tax.

“We also need legislative and judicial support to deal with willful tax evaders. Today, we have the lowest tax to GDP in the world at six per cent.

We are ready to take on it and correct it going forward”, she explained.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSXTRA

Turkish Govt to Deal with Collaborators of Arms Shipment to Nigeria Eromosele Abiodun The Turkish Government yesterday vowed to help the Federal Government of Nigeria to identify criminals behind the illegal importation of pumpaction rifles into Nigeria.

This is just as the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria yesterday declared that importation of pump-action rifles into Nigeria from Turkey was a pure case of smuggling as both countries agreed to work together to stop further importation of dangerous trends into the country.

The Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Cakil, in a

meeting with the ComptrollerGeneral of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), over importation of four containers of pump-action rifles into Nigeria in last eight months vowed to help Nigeria fish out criminals behind the illegal arms shipment to Nigeria.

According to a statement by the National Public Relations Officer of the service, Joseph Attah, a copy of which was made available to journalists, Cakil restated his country’s support for Nigeria’s security and would not support importation of dangerous shipment into Nigeria.

The statement explained: “Following concerns expressed by the general public on the recent seizures of pump-action rifles from Turkey, the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Cakil had a meeting with the management of the Nigeria Customs Service today (yesterday) at the NCS HQ to fashion out ways of dealing with the disturbing issue.

“The CGC, Col. Ali, expressed concern of the NCS and indeed that of Nigerians that four different arms seizures

within a total number of 2671 pump-action rifles coming from one source, Turkey, appears to suggest complicity of Turkish Authority, hence the need for the meeting.

“The Turkish Ambassador restated his country support for Nigeria security and well-being saying Turkey will not support importation of dangerous shipment into Nigeria.

“That all four shipments intercepted were false declaration on the bill of laden it is a clear case of smuggling

“That Turkish Ambassador will immediately communicate with his home country, finding from the NCS HQ with view to fishing out criminals behind the illegal arms shipment to Nigeria.

“That a team of NCS visit the Turkish Customs to further discuss ways of nipping such arms export from Turkey as well as strengthening agreement on mutual customs to customs assistance.

“The NCS provides for the Turkish authority list of prohibited items and in case

of arms, sample of end user certificate to enable them always verify before approving any legal arms export to Nigeria.

“That the Turkish government will cooperate with Nigeria in every step to deal decisively with those found involved.

“The meeting ended with both sides agreeing to work together to stop the dangerous trend. Both agreed to use the situation as opportunity to strengthen tides to prevent the use of either country as a base for export of harmful items to the other.”

Police Handover Captured Boko Haram Kingpin in Ondo to Army Paul Obi ÓØ ÌßÔË As efforts to arrest remnants of Boko Haram terrorists intensify, the Nigerian police has arrested a top Boko Haram kingpin in Ondo State.

The police also handed over the arrested Boko Haram kingpin to the Nigerian Army for further investigation.

Director of Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, explained that “Nigeria Police Ondo State Command arrested a declared wanted Boko Haram terrorist group member, Idris Ibrahim Babawo aged 42, that goes by the names ‘Idoko’ and ‘Nagada’.

“He is believed to be on serial number 156 on the wanted Boko Haram terrorists list. He was handed over to the 32 Brigade, 2 Division, Nigerian Army, at

about 2.00pm today Monday 25th September 2017 by the Ondo State Command of the Nigeria Police.”

According to Usman, “preliminary investigation shows that the terrorist kingpin hailed from Chinade village, Katagum Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

“He escaped from the Northeast due to military onslaught on the terrorists with a view to evade arrest and prosecution.

But nemesis caught up with him.

“In another development, Nigerian troops of 1 Brigade, 1 Division Nigerian Army on Operation SHARAN Daji on September 25, 2017, carried out a successful raid on suspected armed bandits Camps at Kahiru forest, Bakura Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

Don’t Drag NDDC ED into Unnecessary Contract Controversies, Delta APC Warns Ugo Aliogo The Forum of Delta State All Progressive Congress (APC) Local Government Area Chairmen have condemned in strong terms the recent attempts by some party leaders to defame the character of the Executive Director, Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Samuel Adjogbe, by dragging his name into unnecessary contract controversy.

The group in a statement jointly signed by the Warri South LGA APC Chairman/ Forum Chairman, Valentine Egbe, and Okpe LGA APC Chairman/ Forum Secretary, Grant Okpako, said in the NDDC, the Executive Director Project is only a member of the governing board which is the decision making body of the commission, adding that, it was ridiculous how people arrived at the conclusion that the Executive Director can be sharing contract as if it was his personal firm.

It also stated that the present board has reiterated its determination to ensure that due

process is followed in the award of contracts in a way that only qualified contractors who can deliver timely are engaged.

It added: “The Executive Director project as a person has proven to be a man of impeccable character with clear determination to diligently carry out the official mandate of the commission of transforming the NigerDelta, while remaining committed and supportive to the advancement of APC in the state.

“Hence, the party cannot condone any attempt by anybody, no matter how highly placed to defame or blackmail him. Consequently, we advise every party member in the state to desist from such infamous conduct as such will henceforth be treated as gross misconduct by the party.”

It further appealed to all party leaders to put their personal interests aside and work with the party to take over the government from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) failed regime which it noted Deltans are eagerly waiting to vote out in 2019.

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Managing Director, Dow West Africa LLC, Tony Groosman , Dow Chemical, Roberto Rigobello; Marketing Director, EMEA, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Sameh Attalah; Sales Director, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, The Dow Chemical Company and Lanre Dairo; Public & Government Affairs Leader, West Africa, The Dow Chemical Company at the Dow Packaging Conference in Lagos....recently

NIGERIA RANKED 125TH IN GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS INDEX AS EASE OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS GET NOD creating conditions that can withstand economic shock and support workers through transition periods will be vital.”

GCI data also suggested that the reason innovation often failed to ignite productivity was due to an imbalance between investments in technology and efforts to promote its adoption throughout the wider economy.

“Global competitiveness will be more and more defined by the innovative capacity of a country. Talents will become increasingly more important than capital and therefore the world is moving from the age of capitalism into the age of talentism.

“Countries preparing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and simultaneously strengthening their political, economic and social systems will be the winners in the competitive race of the future,” the Founder and Executive Chairman, WEF, Klaus Schwab said.

Meanwhile, the PEBEC meeting which was presided over by PEBEC Chairman, VicePresident Yemi Osinbajo, last night, said the new National Action Plan tagged NAP 2.0 approved had over 60 priority initiatives to be achieved by November this year.

The closed-door meeting which lasted for about two hours, was attended by the Chief

Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Bala N’Allah, who represented the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Deputy Governor of Kano State, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, representative of Lagos State Government, ministers and representatives of the private sector.

A statement last night by Osinbajo’s media aide, Mr. Laolu Akande, said the initiatives would cover areas such as: Starting a business, construction permits, registering property, getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes, trading across boders, enforcing contracts, simplifying the procurement process, entry and exit of people, and trading within Nigeria.

According to him, the council expressed optimism that the successful implementation of NAP 2.0 would deliver significant benefits notably to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) including making 1.3 Medium Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) eligible to do business with government; bringing about 75 per cent reduction in average clearance time for foreign travellers; 60 per cent reduction in time to get electricity; 75 per cent reduction in time to register business premises and 50 per cent reduction in time for filing

corporate income taxes.

He said while the initial NAP had a 70 per cent performance rate, the final results of NAP 2.0 would be announced in December by PEBEC secretariat.

Akande added that Osinbajo, while welcoming the CJN, Kano and Lagos State governments’ representatives as well as the representative of the Senate President to the meeting, highlighted the importance of the reform initiatives especially those around the Nigerian airports as an example.

“Improvements in the airport has a way of defining the change we are talking about. It will show we are serious,” Osinbajo was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr. Bello Mahmud, yesterday said in Abuja that the cost of business registration in Nigeria was now cheaper and its process simplified to enable small entrepreneurs to register their businesses.

Muhmud announced this in a statement by Head, Public Affairs, CAC, Mr. Godfrey Ike. Muhmud disclosed this while addressing the MSME Clinic.

He said with the Company Registration Portal (CRP), any member of the public could now register businesses on-line at the comfort of their homes and offices.

“This has drastically reduced

the registration cost hitherto charged by professional middlemen (Lawyers, Accountants and Chartered Secretaries), in the registration process.

“Entrepreneurs who had already registered their businesses have the obligation to file Annual Returns with the Commission as and when due.

“Failure to file Annual Returns will result to striking-off of such defaulting entities on ground of dormancy.

“The MSME Clinic is an initiative of the Office of the vice president, which is aimed at holistically addressing all the operational challenges and bottlenecks of MSME in Nigeria,” Muhmud said.

According to him, the commission is one of the critical government agencies that has been participating in the on-going nationwide MSME Clinic that commenced in Aba in January.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported he added that the MSME Clinic was expected to be held in all states of the federation.

“So far, the clinic has been held in 13 states of the federation,” he said.

According to him, other relevant agencies like FIRS, SON, Bank of Industry (BoI), NAFDAC, SMEDAN participated in the clinic.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017˾ T H I S D AY

CRIME&PUNISHMENT AIG Visits Olubadan as Ibadan Family Tasks Police on Security Ademola Babalola ÓØ ÌËÎËØ Twenty-four hours after unknown gunmen wreacked havoc at the palace of Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 11, Mr. Oshodi Glover, yesterday visited the palace with a promise to track down the fleeing hoodlums.

Specifically, the police boss who allayed the fears of people of the city over the latest upsurge, vowed “to pursue, arrest and prosecute the said gunmen.”

Glover was accompanied by the state Police Commissioner, Abiodun Odude and other topranking officers to the palace situated at Popoyemoja Ibadan.

His visit also coincided with an earlier statement made available to journalists by the Authentic Ibadan Mogajis who had been spearheading the cause of Oba Adetunji as they cried foul that their lives were no longer safe in the present circumstance.

Their spokesman, Mogaji Wale Oladoja, who made the position of his colleagues; Mogaji AbdulJelil Adanla and Mogaji Abass Oloko known in a statement tasked the Force Headquarters in Abuja to wade in and fortify the palace and all of them “because the anonymous calls being received from different quarters are warning us to back out of the current struggle to protect our inheritance and centuries of peaceful ascension to the stool of Olubadan.

Oladoja added: “You recall two weeks ago, we addressed the press where we urged our revered monarch to begin the installation of new Mogajis and Baales to put a stop to the lull in the palace since the unfortunate crowning of 21 kings in a single day by the state governor. The anonymous

callers keep hammering on our roles which culminated in Monday’s ceremony at the palace. We have entered their bad book for standing with Kabiyesi to preserve our culture, system and tradition of Ibadan traditional institution as indivisible entity under the sole kingship of Olubadan.”

Oladoja also appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to take more than a passing interest in Oyo State and Ibadanland in particular, saying “if hoodlums could brazenly attack the palace and no arrest was made till now, no effort should be spared to save the souls of millions of inhabitant and defenceless citizens of the land.”

The AIG also expressed dismay at the manner the hoodlums desecrated the palace, saying, “Kabiyesi, it was immediately I heard of what happened here yesterday that I decided to come and visit you. I promise you that we are going to pursue the hoodlums and we will make sure they are arrested and brought to book”, he said.

Responding, the Olubadan, whose Director of Media, Adeola Oloko, had initially welcomed the team to the palace, appreciated the police boss for his timely visit.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has expressed shock over Monday’s attack on the palace of the Olubadan of Ibadanland.

The minister, in a telephone conversation yesterday with Oba Saliu Adetunji, described the gun attack on Olubadan’s abode as a desecration of culture and tradition.

He said it was inconceivable that anyone would make an attempt to exterminate Kabiyesi and his subjects under any guise.

However, Governor Abiola Ajimobi convoked an

Ogba Zoo Attack: We’ re on Top of Security Situation, Obaseki Assures Residents Adibe Emenyonu ÓØ ÏØÓØ ÓÞã The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has assured Edo people and Nigerians that his administration is on top of the security situation in the state.

Obaseki gave the assurance after an emergency meeting with security agencies in the state at the Government House in Benin City.

He condemned the gruesome killings of three police officers and the abduction of the Chief Executive of Ogba Zoological Garden and Nature Park, Mr. Andy Osa Enahire, last Sunday in Benin City.

“Our hearts are with the families of the slain police officers and we promise to deploy all the resources at our disposal to ensure Ehanire returns to his family in the

shortest time possible, and unhurt,” the governor said.

“When the Edo State Government received intelligence report on the kidnap of Ehanire, we immediately contacted the relevant security agencies to do all within their powers to secure his release,” he added.

Obaseki explained that Ehanire, who is a well known tourism practitioner in Nigeria, was scheduled to play a major role in the planned hosting of the 2017 edition of the World Tourism Day celebrations scheduled for Wednesday, September 27, 2017 by the state government.

He said the event was conceived to showcase the state’s huge ecotourism assets, woo domestic and foreign investors to the sector and put the state on the global tourism map.

emergency security council meeting in his office yesterday.

The meeting was attended by service commanders from the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Customs Service, Federal Road

Safety Corps, Air Force, among others.

The governor has also summoned a meeting of the traditional council of the 11 local governments in Ibadanland, which are being headed by

the Obas-in-Council, formerly known as members of the Olubadan-in-Council today.

Addressing journalists at the end of the security council meeting, Special Adviser to the governor on Security, Mr.

Segun Abolarinwa, pointed fingers at those he called failed politicians as the suspected masterminds of the recent disturbances emanating from the installation of some Obas.

SUMMIT FOR DISASTER MANAGERS L-R: Osun State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Oguntola Mudashiru; representative of the Lagos State Governor and Secretary to the Government, Mr Tunji Bello; and state Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr. Oluseye Oladejo, inspecting an exhibition stand, during the third Lagos State Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Summit in Lagos...yesterday

Ekiti Lawmaker Faces Prosecution over Alleged Sexual Assault on Widow Victor Ogunje ÓØ ÎÙ ÕÓÞÓ

beat her and tore her clothes to shreds.

Ekiti State Lawmaker The Legal Officer of the representing Ekiti East Local International Federation of Government Area in the state Women Lawyers(FIDA) in House of Assembly, Hon. Dare Ekiti, Mrs. Kemi Atitebi, disclosed Pelemo, may be prosecuted for yesterday that the body received alleged sexual harassment and a complaint of sexual harassment physical assault on a widow, and assault on Ilesanmi against Mrs. Mercy Ilesanmi.

Pelemo.

Pelemo allegedly fondled Atitebi added that the the breasts of the woman on lawmaker allegedly foiled the September 6 at the assembly mediating process by shunning complex. the invitation to come and defend Miffed by the lawmaker’s himself against the allegation. conduct, Ilesanmi raised the According to her, “FIDA alarm and condemned the Ekiti received the complaint of alleged act, but the lawmaker sexual harassment and assault later allegedly mobilised thugs against Hon. Dare Pelemo and to beat her up. the complainant is Mrs. Mercy The widow, who spoke Ilesanmi with journalists in Ado Ekiti that she was assaulted and yesterday, said the brutality on stripped naked right at the her took place in the office of premises of the state assembly the Majority Leader, Mr. Tunji complex.

Akinyele, where she had gone to “FIDA wrote a letter to invite lodge a complaint on the alleged the respondent for us to hear sexual harassment. his own side of the story and She alleged that the hoodlums to mediate in the matter.

“The woman is a widow and mother of children and her dignity has been violated for the fact that she was stripped naked. FIDA strongly condemns any form of assault against women in the state.”

Speaking further, Ilesanmi said: “I came to visit the honourable member representing my constituency, Hon. Samuel Omotoso, but he wasn’t present.

“On my way out, I met Hon. Dare Pelemo and we exchanged pleasantries.

Immediately, he fondled my breasts and I asked him what was the meaning of that, and that I am a married woman, and I don’t like how he touched my breast.

“He said that I am an enemy of the government, and I was not supposed to come to the assembly.

I now asked him: ‘Is that the reason why you are touching my breasts, a married woman for that matter? I challenged him.

“I went to report the matter to Hon. Akinyele and I met the

Clerk in his office with two other visitors. He was on phone so I waited.

“Before I knew what was happening, Pelemo came in with some miscreants and they started beating me, destroying things in that office, asking me what I was doing in the House of Assembly complex because I was not supposed to be there, and that I am an enemy of government.”

Ilesanmi

Police Arrest, Parade Five Suspected Kidnappers in Ekiti, Warn Residents Victor Ogunje ÓØ ÎÙ ÕÓÞÓ The police in Ekiti State have arrested five suspects who kidnapped a 67-year-old woman, Mrs. Florence Popoola, at her residence in Ikere-Ekiti on September 14.

The suspects, according to the state Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Chafe, were tracked down through the efforts of the antikidnapping unit of the police

command.

The suspected kidnappers are Adeoye Sunday, 30; Adeusi Dare, 26; Ogunlayi Seun, 25; Bamigboye Damilola, 27, and Ojo Tope, 32, who drove the woman to a forest in Awo-Ekiti and held her captive for four days.

A sum of N1.5 million was said to have been collected as ransom from the families of the victim before freeing her on September 18 when the police had closed in on them.

During the parade yesterday, Chafe disclosed that N323,000, being the remaining ransom money recovered from them.

Chafe who was represented by the command’s spokesman, Alberto Adeyemi, revealed that the woman was abducted shortly after arriving from the church, and was whisked away in her Nissan Sunny car with registration number AG 08 KER. The suspects who confessed to the crime revealed that they had used part of the ransom collected

to rent a two-bedroom flat and purchased other luxury items.

But the victim, Popoola, disclosed that the suspects seized her phone and drove her out of Ikere via Ilawe before arriving at the outskirts of Awo where she was held in captivity.

She said: “They stopped at a place in the bush and they asked my children to be looking for money, that they should pay N1.5 million for my freedom.

WEDNESDAY, ÍşÍżËœ ͺ͸͚Ϳ Ëž T H I S D AY

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WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

WORLD CUP QUALIFIER

Rohr Recalls Iwobi, Akpeyi, 21 Others for Zambia Clash in Uyo Femi Solaja As expected, only a marginal change was made in the list of  23 players invited by Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, for next week’s all-important 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying showdown against the Chipolopolo of Zambia in Uyo. Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi and Chippa United of South Africa goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, made their return to the squad expected to seal Nigeria’s passage to Russia 2018 with a win on October 7 in Uyo. Thigh strain knocked out the 21-year-old Iwobi from the back-to-back against African champions Cameroon. Akpeyi on the other hand, after his not too elegant performance against South Africa in the AFCON 2019 qualifier in Uyo, has been battling to regain his form.

Also on Rohr’s list are the usual suspects including skipper John Mikel Obi and forward Odion Ighalo (both based in China) and England-based Victor Moses.

Portugal-based goalkeeper Dele Alampasu dropped down to the standby sector alongside wing back Tyronne Ebuehi.

The list also includes defenders Leon Balogun, Abdullahi Shehu, William Ekong and Elderson Echiejile. The midfielders are; Wilfred Ndidi, Ogenyi Onazi and Oghenekaro Etebo with Ahmed Musa, Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon, and Anthony Nwakaeme making up the strike force Rohr has listed to get the job done.

Two home-based professionals, Ifeanyi Ifeanyi and Afeez Aremu, who were part of the

home-based Super Eagles that finished as runners-up at the just concluded WAFU Cup of Nations in Ghana, are on the standby list but will join the team’s training sessions in Uyo. Nigeria will welcome Zambia to the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo with the minimum win to guarantee a sixth FIFA World Cup appearance in Russia next year summer ahead of the final qualifying match away to Algeria in November.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said yesterday that all invited players are expected to report in Uyo on Monday, October 2.

THE FULL LIST Goalkeepers: Daniel Akpeyi (Chippa United, South Africa); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (FC IfeanyiUbah); Ayodele Ajiboye (Plateau United FC) Defenders: William Ekong (Bursaspor FC, Turkey); Abdullahi Shehu (Anorthosis Famagusta, Cyprus); Leon Balogun (FSV Mainz 05, Germany); Elderson Echiejile (Sivasspor FC, Turkey); Uche Agbo (Standard Liege, Belgium); Chidozie Awaziem (Nantes FC, France); Olaoluwa Aina (Hull City, England) MidďŹ elders: Mikel John Obi (Tianjin Teda, China); Ogenyi Onazi (Trabzonspor FC, Turkey); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Oghenekaro Etebo (CD Feirense, Portugal); John Ogu (Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel); Mikel Agu (Bursaspor FC, Turkey) Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Leicester City, England); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester

Golf: Hinton Leads International Pros to Ibadan Mesiogo Open Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja Englishman Craig Hinton will lead a bunch of 34 seasoned foreign professional golfers to the maiden Ibadan Mesiogo Open Golf Championship scheduled to tee off next week.

The tournament, billed for Ibadan Golf Club, from October 4 through 8 is one of the international qualifying tournaments preceding the 3e Actuaries Equatorial Guinea Open Championship in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea between December 13 and 16.

Seventy Nigerian professional players will contest for honour at the 72-hole competition.

Hinton won the Equatorial Guinea Open Championship last year.

THISDAY checks revealed that the Englishman opted to play the Ibadan Mesiogo Open for a feel as well as aim for a share of the N10 million prize money at stake. Â Peter Gustafson will lead two other Swedish golfers to the event, while Ebele Mvondo, Issa Nlareb

and three other golfers will fly the flag of Cameroon.

Ghana will parade six players, led by Emos Korblah, David Doe and Vincent Torgah, while Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia and Cote D’ Ivoire will feature three players apiece.

Two players will vie from Gabon, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea while The Gambia and Senegal will produce one player each.

Two female professional golfers: Uloma Mbuko (Nigeria) and Anna Magnusson (Sweden) will complete the international roster.

The Nigerian contingent is to be led by J. S. Odegha who won the Kwara State Open early this year.

Other notable aspirants include Mike Ubi, Daniel Pam, Sunday Olapade, Andrew Dominic and Lateef Lasisi.

The organising committee will also hold the IMEGA Awards to honour eminent Nigerians and leading sportsmen. The awards hold at the University of Ibadan International Conference Centre on October 7.

City, England); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium); Alex Iwobi (Arsenal FC, England); Odion Ighalo (Chang Chun-

Yatai, China); Victor Moses (Chelsea FC, England); Anthony Nwakaeme (Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel)

STANDBY: Dele Alampasu (Cesarense FC, Portugal); Tyronne Ebuehi (ADO Den Haag, The Netherlands);

Aaron Samuel (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Afeez Aremu (Akwa United); Ifeanyi Ifeanyi (Akwa United).

Eagles at training in Ndola when Nigeria took on Zambia in the Match Day 1 ďŹ xture of the Russia 2018 qualiďŹ ers

2 0 1 8 A F R I CA N S E N I O R AT H L E T I C S

Alli Commends Okowa, Says Asaba Track Will Produce Fast Times

The Chairman, Technical Subcommittee of the Asaba 2018 CAA African Senior Athletics Championships, Yusuf Alli, has commended the pace of work at the Asaba Township Stadium scheduled to host Africa’s flagship athletics event in August 2018.

After an hour inspection of the stadium on Tuesday, Alli said he was very impressed with the pace of work adding that he would have loved to roll back the years to compete as the facility will indeed aid better performances by the athletes.

In a statement signed by Head Media and Publicity, Olukayode Thomas, Alli said “I

am very impressed with what the Chairman of the Delta State Sports Commission, Chief Tony Okowa, is putting up here, if only I could roll back the years, it will be nice to also compete. “I know the athletes will run faster times on this track and jump further in Asaba,� Alli posited. Among other innovations, Alli commended Okowa’s vision as the state is putting up the first 100m both ways track in Nigeria. “The plan for the Asaba Stadium is a masterpiece, we are having the first 100m both ways track in Nigeria, first of its kind and the stadium is also being built in such a way that the crowd will be

close to the action; such electrifying atmosphere always brings out the best in athletes,� Alli noted.

Alli who also doubles as the General Manager for the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon said he was sure that Asaba will be the benchmark for future athletics events on the continent.

The former African Long jump record holder also commended Okowa for making sure that the timetable for work on the Asaba Stadium is being fully adhered to.

Alli thanked the state Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, for supporting the championships and backing the chairman of the commission, “The governor by hosting this

championship is leaving a huge legacy, completion of the stadium will be huge; having positive socioeconomic impact on the state and Nigeria generally� “At the rate, they are going, I am 110 per cent sure the stadium will be delivered on time.� Alli concluded.

The 2018 edition of CAA African Athletics Championship will also serve as trials for the highly competitive and lucrative 2018 IAAF World Cup in Athletics.

In this light, it is expected that the cream de la cream of African athletes and global leaders of the sport will be in Delta State to have a feel of what the oil rich state will be offering.

Ondo Claims Sunshine Stars Fans Were Injured by Osun Thugs James Sowole in Akure i The Ondo State Commissioner for Sports and Youths Development, Mr Saka Yusuf Ogunleye has blamed Osun United thugs for the injuries inflicted on supporters of Sunshine Stars last weekend in Ijebu Ode. Over 20 indigenes of the state who are supporters of the state-owned Sunshine Stars Football Club were attacked by irate football fans loyal to Osun State owned Osun United Football Club during the ongoing AITEO Cup match at the Ijebu Ode Stadium, in Ogun State.

Ogunleye who addressed the press in Akure on Monday alongside his Information and Orientation counterpart, Mr Yemi Olowolabi, alleged that the supporters of Sunshine Stars were injured by suspected thugs from Osun State.

He said about 40 vehicles with the inscription of Osun logo were mobilised to the stadium, adding that many of those who attacked Ondo people were suspected loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, going by the clothes many of them wore.

He said trouble started after the match ended 3-1

in favour of Sunshine Star FC, stressing that the Ondo team was caught unawares, thereby making many of them to sustain various degrees of injuries.

Ogunleye who said he was physically present at the stadium during the attack, alleged that Osun State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola called an Oba when those who perpetrated the attack were arrested by the Police.

Two of the victims of the attack, Messrs Ayodele Folorunsho and Felix Olowa who sustained injuries on their heads, recounted at the press conference that various weapons

including cutlasses and stones were used freely on them.

The duo said they lost many of their personal belongings including mobile phones, shoes and clothes to the attack.

Speaking, the commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Olowolabi said the attack on Ondo people was unfortunate and called on the Osun State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola to call his people to order.

Also, he called on wellmeaning traditional rulers and eminent personalities in Yoruba land to call Aregbesola to order to avoid dispute between the two neighbouring states.

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

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WEDNESDAYSPORTS U E FA C H A M P I O N S L E A G U E

Ronaldo Nets Brace as Real Madrid Beats Dortmund 3-1 Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 150th European game with two goals as Real Madrid sealed a 3-1 victory at Borussia Dortmund last night to go joint top of their UEFA Champions League group with Tottenham Hotspurs who similarly defeated APOEL 3-0.

Ronaldo claimed two secondhalf goals after Gareth Bale’s stunning early volley gave Real the lead at Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park The Germans fought back when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finally netted with just over half an hour left, but there was to be no repeat of last year’s 2-2 draw in Dortmund between the teams.

The result leaves Real top of Group H, just ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Apoel 3-0 away, with Dortmund third and six points adrift of Spurs, who they also lost 3-1 to in London.

Having also netted twice against Apoel, Ronaldo has now scored four goals in just two Champions League games this season.

He marked his 400th appearance for Madrid in total with another pair to leave him with 411 goals in the famous white shirt.

This is the first time Dortmund have lost at home to Real in seven European games while holders Madrid have now scored in 38 successive Champion League games.

Dortmund should have been awarded a penalty with 13 minutes gone when Sergio Ramos cleared Maximilian Philipp’s shot off the line and the ball deflected off his hand.

Andrey Yarmolenko’s initial cross sailed tantalisingly over the head of Borussia’s top-scorer Aubameyang in the build up.

Real took the lead three minutes later when right-back Daniel Carvajal whipped in a cross and Bale’s nonchalant volley sailed over Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki for a stunning goal.

With half an hour gone, Dortmund turned the screw with Carvajal having to rescue

Real by whipping the ball off Aubameyang’s toes with the Gabon striker bearing down on goal.

Aubameyang had the ball in the net on 38 minutes, when he spun and fired home Lukasz Piszczek’s pass, but the goal was ruled offside as it stayed 1-0 to Real at the break.

Real lived dangerously after the break when Mario Goetze tried to find Aubameyang, but centre-back Raphael Varane cleared the danger.

The Spanish giants doubled their lead on 49 minutes when Ronaldo met Bale’s inch-perfect cross.

Dortmund pulled a goal back on 54 minutes when Aubameyang slipped his marker to convert Gonzalo Castro’s cross, then hit the side netting as Borussia pushed for the equaliser.

With 15 minutes left, Burki had to push Isco’s shot around the post as Real kept the pressure.

Ronaldo, who was left in acres of space, settled the tie by blasting home Luka Modric’s cross on 79 minutes with Madrid’s third goal on the break to take the game out of Dortmund’s grasp.

Elsewhere, Harry Kane scored a hat-trick as Tottenham maintained their 100 per cent start in the Champions League with victory over Apoel Nicosia.

Kane - who also scored twice in Spurs’ opening win over Borussia Dortmund - put Spurs ahead in the 39th minute, slotting into the bottom-left corner from Toby Alderweireld’s pass.

The England striker then calmly stroked in Moussa Sissoko’s cross from the edge of the penalty area in the 62nd minute to double Spurs’ lead.

He completed his hat-trick five minutes later with a header into the bottom corner.

Kane’s three goals were Spurs first three shots on target in the match, and Mauricio Pochettino’s side had earlier rode their luck at times.

1 2 T H G OT V B OX I N G N I G H T

Joeboy Oto Unfazed by Opponent’s Records Ahead of the the 12th GOTv Boxing Night Independence Day programme, one of Nigeria’s rising star Oto “Joeboy” Joseph believes that the pedigree of Malawi’s Israel Kammwamba cannot intimidate him for the Commonwealth Africa Lightweight fight.

The undefeated Oto has had eight bouts since turning pro in 2015 and he is reluctant to search the records of his opponent as he hoping to do the talking in the ring.

“I don’t want to know anything about my opponent because in boxing, records don’ win fight and for me, it is inside the ring that we will know the better boxer between us.

“The only thing I know about my opponent is that he is a Malawian and for me I am ready to battle against any opponent so far we are both fighting for the same title.

“I am ready to take him on as I

am shaping up for the counter with the hope to continue my unbeaten run,” Oto said.

With four knockouts from his eight professional fights, Oto stressed he is eagerly looking forward to the bout as he cannot wait to get back into the ring after his last fight in March for the vacant West African Boxing Union Lightweight Title against Ghana’s Ayittey Mettle which he won by knockout.

“I have no other work than boxing and I know that my ability will see me through. I have increased the intensity of my training to ensure that I am in superb form for the encounter,” he added.

Oto is a boxer under the stable of WEO All Sports and the Chairman of the sports management firm – Wahid Oshodi has promised that the boxer will be supported in his quest to conquer Africa.

RESULTS Dortmund 1 – 3 R’Madrid Man City 2-0 Shakhtar Monaco 0-3 Porto APOEL 0-3 Tottenham Besiktas 2-0 Leipzig Napoli 3-1 Feyenoord Sevilla 3-0 Maribor Spartak 1-1 Liverpool

TONIGHT’S FIXTURES Basel Vs Benfica CSKA Vs Man Utd Anderlecht Vs Celtic PSG Vs Bayern Qarabag Vs Roma Atletico Vs Chelsea Juventus Vs Olympiacos Sporting Vs Barca

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace… last night

2 0 1 7 K A N O P O LO TO U R N A M E N T

Abuja Almat Group Wins Dantata Cup in First Attempt Almat Group polo team has added the Dantata Cup to their growing shelf with an impressive outing at the just concluded 2017 Kano International Polo Tournament. The team won the revered Dantata Cup in first attempt.

Powered by their patron, Maurice Ekpenyong, the Abujabased Almat polo kings, defeated a strong field of four other teams to extend their unbeaten run to five tournaments in the prestigious and highly competitive Nigerian polo circuit that is picking steam as the road tour intensifies.

Almat was rated outsider by bookmakers in the Dantata Cup which paraded two home-based champions, Kano Titans and Kano Dantex and two other ambitious teams with established names in polo and fortified with intimidating horse-power. Almat only had self-belief and determination as its biggest weapons.

It ultimately proved to be the event’s biggest surprise of the international polo fiesta, as Ekpenyong and his Almat Boys, Nura Suleiman, Idris Badamasi and Argentine import, Francisco Pancho stunned one of home crowd favoutires, Kano Terra 11-6 in their opening game to jump into the driver’s seat of the second most wanted polo prize in the century old Kano polo carnival.

Their final game against the long traveling Port Harcourt team was the game changer, with Maurice and his warriors cruising to comfortable 9-31/2 victory against their Niger Delta opponents, taking their goal haul to 20 goals and an incredible ten-goal difference. Kano Polo Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Dantata who has played every Kano tournament in the last 40 years describe the feat as a rear achievement in Nigerian polo history.

Patron Almat Group Polo team, Maurice Ekpenyong and his teammates showcasing their Dantata Cup after the colourful closing ceremony of the just concluded 2017 Kano International Polo Tournament in Kano…last Sunday Dantata whose team Dantex edged local rivals Titans and Port Harcourt to finish runners up in the Dantata Cup race, believes that one needs to dig deep into Nigerian polo archives to produce a record that would match the record set

by Abuja Almat, as such feat only rarely comes in the history of the tournament and Dantata Cup in particular.

“They just left everybody standing even before the final games of the round-robin format competition. I congratulate their resolve and determination that fetched them such a sensational victory. I do wish them well as the season continues as I’m looking forward to seeing them next year, to defend the title,” the Kano polo supremo added.

That Dantata Cup record

victory was their third major title this year, after emerging the overall champions at the glamorous Unity Polo Tournament in Abuja last May and also finishing tops at the Keffi Ranch International Polo Tournament earlier.

“I’m kind of glad,” he Maurice with a broad smile. “We are looking forward to maintaining the tempo and adding more polo laurels to our growing trophy shelf this year and the years to come,” he enthused moment after receiving the glittering Dantata Cup from the Emir of Bauchi representative, Alhaji Sanusi Isa Aska.

“I think he’ll be a major high-goal champion within the next couple of years, personally,” Bello Buba, Nigeria’s top rated player observed. “It’s awesome

to see Maurice and his players tearing it up there in the medium and the intermediate cups category.”

The good run for Almat started with the victory in Kaduna at the UNICEF Charity Shield last year and ended with another smasher at the Keffi Polo Ranch Open Tournament last December.

For polo aficionados, that was a rare feat for a young team that competed for honours in just two majors last year.

The incredible victory run of Almat Polo Team galloped off last October with the UNICEF Charity Shield Polo Tournament at the Fifth Chukker & Country Resort in Kaduna where Maurice and his squad won their first General Hassan Katsina Cup.

TR

Wednesday September 27, 2017

UT H

& RE A SO

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Price: N250

MISSILE

APC to Sagay “What Sagay is saying here is that, no matter what is at stake, he would rather resign than obey the president if the president tries to restrain him. This is the quintessential rogue elephant behaviour.” – The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) replying Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay to his critique of the party of being unprincipled and lacking in leadership.

ISSAAREMU GUEST COLUMNIST

Ibadan Declaration: The Age of Their Ideas

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o better platform to reflect on “Nation-Building” than the occasion of the 85th birthday anniversary of a global citizen, mentor, poet, pan-African leader and incorruptible role model, Hon. Justice Mustapha, Akanbi, CFR, PCA (Rtd) Wakili of Ilorin. Thank God, he turned 85 years on Monday, 11th of September 2017. Thanks to the Chairman, Management and Staff of Mustapha Akanbi Foundation (MAF), for the extended privilege to share some thoughts on the theme: “Nation Building in Africa: Role of some African Leaders” at a time compatriots of varying hues and persuasions are agonizing about the future of Nigeria. As an organiser/ unionist from the garment and tailoring sub-sector, I bear witness that Nigerians are indeed fashionable people.

We are fashionable in garments no less as in ideas! Not long ago, it was “resource control” defined almost as oil and gas, excluding the most important resource; human resource! “True” Federalism is, of course, a recurring decimal, as if there was ever a “false” Federalism. Following the criminal annulment of 1993 June 12 election, the fashionable dogma was “June 12 or nothing”. At one time, it was popular to “occupy Nigeria” which was already captured and occupied (and still) by ever corrupt ruining elite. Build up to 2011 elections, there was a red herring and almost doomsday prediction of an end to (Nigerian) history.

This false hysteria about Nigeria was fuelled by a former American Ambassador to Nigeria (2004 -2007), professor John Campbell. In a hysterical preview of his book entitled; ‘Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink’ he actually claimed, “The 2011 elections in Nigeria, pose a threat to the stability of the United States’ most important partner in West Africa.” Of course in 2005 as a participant at Senior Executive Course 27, we were tasked with a rather silly assignment of how to prevent Nigeria from being a failed state in 2015 based on a bizarre America CIA Report! Just before 2014, it was a fad to say, “Nigeria would collapse” after 100 years of colonial (note; not Nigerian) history! Until two weeks ago, it was a “Recession” defined as negative GDP growth rate. It seems every national frustration throws up its own buzzword or better philosophically put: false consciousness.

The new fashionable buzzword today is “Restructuring” being presented as a cure medicine for all Nigerian headaches. I was never a fan of one

Justice Mustapha Akanbi (rtd.)

Jeremiah Abalaka, a surgeon turned immunologist, who once, claimed to have developed all cure “vaccine” including for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

I know for sure that one cap size does not fit all heads, however “restructured” that cap or however “restructured” the heads (or is it “the mind” according to General Olusegun Obasanjo?)

Don’t get me wrong please. In this age of cheap smear blackmail and political correctness, I should make it clear that reform is part of nation building. Indeed, Reform of Nigerian federation has been on for years. Even the trade unions that I represent had undergone “restructuring” from over 1000 hitherto voluntary weak house unions into strong 43 national industrial unions we have today.

Hitherto there were four labour centres namely, Nigerian Trade union Congress, NTUC, United Labour Congress of Nigeria -ULCN, Labour Unity Front, LUF and National Workers Council, NWC. The viciously competitive decentralized labour

Given the fact that we have elected structures in place (however imperfect), it amounts to futile diversion from the current challenges of governance to talk of a leap into a discredited past constitution. Why cannot restructurists take the advantage of 2019 to canvass their positions through legitimate votes?

centres (just like old three regions of Nigeria!) came together to form the present day strong one labour Centre; Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). Just at it is for the union’s, Restructuring is a tool for nation building and at times as we saw through decade long IMF/World Bank inspired Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)/military regime, “restructuring” could be a tool for a nation-meltdown.

Watching Ibadan Restructuring who-is -who, it is worrisome, the way restructuring has become another passing fad for some politically exposed accused for corruption to pose as regional champions. My main concern here is the implication of presenting Restructuring as a new TINA (There Is No Alternative). The late patriot, Chief Abdul-Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, long liberated us from military dictatorship of views. Our world is a world of alternatives. . Let’s please debate the present and future of our country with all the patriotic passion. I agree with His Eminence, Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the father of the day at recent NLC colloquium on Restructuring who admonished all parties for “mutual respect”.

Reading the likes of someone makes the derisive reference to the North allegedly living on a “feeding bottle” is a departure from the norm guiding a nation building debate. The restructuring debate needs a quality control. We must avoid unhelpful diatribes. After all, this is a debate by Nigerians for Nigeria.

It is NOT a debate between Burmese and Rohingya. The controversial 2014 national conference had enforced ground rules of debate, which precluded smear campaign against opposing views. If 2014 conference made Nigeria stronger let no unstructured emergency debate on Restructuring turn us asunder.

I commend the peaceful Ibadan Summit of some “Yoruba leaders” on Thursday for articulating their views with pointed demand for “1963 constitution”. But the gathering raises a lot of questions than answers. Who are the “Yoruba leaders”? The 1963 constitution the Ibadan gathering favoured just like the vilified 1999 constitution never defined us based on our mother tongues or tribal marks.

The conceptual framework of Ibadan gathering was therefore flawed at conception; it is permanently hunted by this false consciousness. We are defined as Nigerian citizens not Hausa or Igala or Igbo. Don’t, please, get me wrong. Every corrupt Nigerian leader has shamelessly

turned insular and parochial. One cannot deny the fact that ethnic identities are real. Yes, people of same ethnic group can easily build exclusive/cave/cyclone sentimental solidarity. But Nigeria needs more than ethnic/regional sentiments to develop. The Yoruba potholes or Hausa power failure or the Igbo unemployment, under-development and poverty have no tribal marks.

In fact, corrupt leaders whether Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba are what they are; corrupt.

Nigeria needs urgently honest and rigorous all inclusive policy thoughts for growth and development. Ethnic politics has often been a negative force, which the elite use for manipulation and sectarianism. In a Republic like Nigeria defining us as tribes only foster monologue or at best dialogue of the deaf.

Only as citizens, we can have genuine national dialogue. In a democracy in which we have democratically elected persons and legally recognized panNigerian organizations, can unelected or unelectable men (very few women!) such as we saw in Ibadan speak for anybody? Given the fact that we have elected structures in place (however imperfect), it amounts to futile diversion from the current challenges of governance to talk of a leap into a discredited past constitution. Why cannot restructurists take the advantage of 2019 to canvass their positions through legitimate votes? Given their romanticism with the controversial past, it is not just their age, but the age of some participants at Ibadan gathering is problematic.

My take here is that whatever structures Nigeria adopts (whether regionalism, or federalism, parliamentary democracy or presidential system or a mixed bag like in Ghana and South Africa, even wholesale centralization like Communist China or two systems in Hong Kong), structures are just the MEANS not the END. Interestingly Nigeria had practiced almost all, with equal disastrous results by disastrous leaders, (some feasible at Ibadan gathering!). Structures are the means, the end is good governance, security and welfare of citizens and Nation building or what the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti long simplified as “food, water and light” and which Mustapha Akanbi Foundation has ably defined as deepening “…democratic values and fostering sustainable and viable democratic development in Nigeria”. r $PNSBEF "SFNV JT B NFNCFS PG UIF /BUJPOBM *OTUJUVUF NOJ ,VSV +PT

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