Sunday 26th November 2017

Disquiet in Civil Service over Non-deployment of Perm Secs There is an unsettling grumble over the failure of the federal government to swear in and assign portfolios to six appointed permanent secretaries. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, then serving as Acting President, had on August 10 approved the appointment of

21 successful candidates as permanent secretaries, following the promotion examinations held for Level 17 Directors in the MDAs. The process was coordinated by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, whose office is empowered to conduct

such exercises. They were among the 300 directors who vied for available vacancies in their states, through a series of tests and examinations. Fifty-nine eventually appeared before a technical committee in the last stage of the selection, out of which 21

eventually made the cut. The permanent secretariesdesignate and their states of origin are Osuji Ndubuisi Marcellinus (Imo); Ekaro Comfort Chukwumuebobo (Rivers); Nabasu Bitrus Bako (Plateau); Muazu Abdulkadir (Kaduna); Sulaiman Mustapha Lawal

(Kano), and Adekunle Olusegun Adeyemi (Oyo). The Acting President had sworn in 15 permanent secretaries on August 16, while the swearing-in of the seven others was put on hold. Those sworn-in were duly assigned portfolios.

Barely a week later, the HoS redeployed nine substantive permanent secretaries and assigned them to different MDAs to bring the number of assigned federal permanent secretaries by the administration to 24. Continued on page 8

Falana: I Bought Abuja Property from A Group Properties, Not EFCC … Page 12 Sunday 26 November, 2017 Vol 22. No 8256

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With Election Season Approaching, INEC Still Awaits Relevant Electoral Amendments Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Damilola Oyedele in Abuja With less than one and a half years to the next general election in 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission

is still expecting relevant amendments to the electoral laws. The non-passage of the amendments by the National Assembly has left the commission in a dilemma. INEC had initiated moves to

introduce innovations meant to improve the electoral process and proposed key amendments to the electoral laws to give legal backing to the initiative. But the bills to effect the alterations, both to

the 1999 Constitution and the 2010 Electoral Act, are dragging in the National Assembly. THISDAY learnt that some of the bills for the amendment of the Electoral Act had been passed by the Senate and were

awaiting concurrence by the House of Representatives. But the ones requiring constitution amendment are currently bogged down in the lingering constitution amendment process.

A source close to the National Assembly, however, exonerated the federal legislature from the delays, insisting it is the turn of the Houses of Assembly to Continued on page 8

In Unison, Southern Senators Demand Implementation of 2014 Confab Report Ask president to convene a meeting of governors, lawmakers, political leaders, CSOs to discuss report Urge National Assembly leadership to open debate on document to expedite implementation Bassey Inyang in Calabar In a display of unity, the Southern Senators’ Forum, yesterday, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately commence measures aimed at implementing the 2014 National Conference report. Rising from a three-day conference in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, the senators from different political parties tasked President Buhari to immediately set up a platform for governors, members of the National Assembly, Houses of Assembly, political leaders, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders, to discuss the report's implementation mechanism. The conference was convoked by the Peoples Democratic Party–led administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The All Progressive Congress, which was then in the opposition, had boycotted the Continued on page 8

IN HONOUR OF OSHOBI … L-R: Renowned author, Prof. Adebayo Williams; former Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Oye Obidapo-Obe; Chairman, The Resort Group, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN); former Chairman, Punch Newspapers Limited, Chief Ajibola Ogunsola; Publisher, Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka; and Mrs. Iyabo Ogunsola, at the dinner/reception organised by Babalakin & Co. for one of its partners, Mr. Tola Oshobi, for his elevation to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in Lagos at the weekend

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PAGE EIGHT WITH ELECTION SEASON APPROACHING, INEC STILL AWAITS RELEVANT ELECTORAL AMENDMENTS take action on the constitution amendment. “The buck has since been passed to the state assemblies, which are yet to revert,� the source stated, expressing optimism, however, that the relevant amendments to the constitution relating to elections would be done before the 2019 polls. The proposed amendments to the constitution include alterations to the following sections: 65(2), which deals with qualifications for election; 66. (1), disqualifications; 68. (1), tenure of seat of National Assembly members;76 (1), time of election to the National Assembly; 77(2), direct election and franchise; 91, composition of the House of Assembly; 106, qualifications for election; 107(1), disqualifications; 109 (1), tenure of seat of House of Assembly members; 112, state constituencies; 113, size of state constituencies; 116 (1), time of elections to Houses of Assembly; 117(2), direct election and franchise; 131, qualification for election as President; 132 (1), election of the President: general; 134. (1), election: two or more presidential candidates; 137 (1), disqualifications from presidential election; 177, qualification for election as governor; 178 (1), election

of governor: general; 179 (1), election: single candidate and two or more candidates; 182 (1), disqualifications from governorship election; and 225 (3), finances of political parties. There is also a proposal to add new sections to the constitution, dealing with the death of a presidential or governorship candidate before his/her declaration and return after an election, and the timing of pre-election litigations. INEC has also proposed alterations to the following sections of the 2010 Electoral Act: 18, power to issue duplicate voters’ cards; 25, days of election; 27(1) (b), 2(a), announcement of election results; 30 (1), notice for election; 35, withdrawal of candidate; 47, hours of poll and the question of diaspora voting; 48, display of ballot boxes; 49 (1), issue of ballot papers; 52, conduct of poll by Open Secret Ballot; 53, over voting; 63 (1), counting of votes and forms; 78(4), power of the commission to register political parties; 99, seeking increase in the time for campaign for election; 100 (1), rules governing campaign for election; and 105 (1), delineation of electoral wards. INEC also proposed amendments to correct observed

discrepancies between Paragraph 51(1) and 51(2) of the First Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and Section 137 (3) of the Electoral Act. The commission proposed new sections to provide for stay of execution in pre-election matters and legalise E-collation and transmission of election results. Findings by THISDAY show that out of the 25 items contained in the proposed amendment to the constitution, only about six have been considered while 20 others are pending. Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, recently appealed to the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the relevant bills expected to guide the conduct of elections to give the commission ample time to prepare for the 2019 general election. The amendments are critical to the elections, from the electioneering to the declaration of results. For instance, while the extant provision, section 30 (1) of the Electoral Act, provides that INEC shall publish the notice of election not later than 90 days before the day of an election, 150 days is being proposed in the amendment. There is also

the issue of electronic voting and transmission of results, which require constitution amendment. INEC says the use of technology would help to increase transparency in the electoral process and enhance the integrity of the country’s elections. Meanwhile, some important bills seeking to amend the Electoral Act, which were passed by the Senate in March, are yet to get concurrence from the House of Representatives. They include the bills seeking to legalise the use of smart card readers for authentication of accredited voters, and approval for the use of electronic voting for future elections. The smart card readers were deployed for the 2015 polls. But amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 is still required to legalise their use. THISDAY gathered that the amendments passed by the Senate had all undergone second reading in the House. They have, however, not been subjected to public hearing before they could be brought for third reading. After the amendments are passed by the House, they would be subjected to harmonisation by the Joint Committee of both chambers. Other major amendments passed by the Senate include those on the electronic transmis-

IN UNISON, SOUTHERN SENATORS DEMAND IMPLEMENTATION OF 2014 CONFAB REPORT conference, on which basis the current APC-led government has consistently maintained that it would not implement the report. Political analysts have, however, argued that the National Assembly could on its own take key recommendations of the conference as private member bills and pass them or include them as amendments in the ongoing constitution review exercise. The position of the senators was contained in a four-point communiquĂŠ read by the chairman of the forum, Senator Hope Uzodinma, at the end of the conference themed: “National Unity and Restructuring.â€? According to the communiquĂŠ, the forum asked the leadership of the National Assembly to also open debate on the same document so that the implementation thereof would be expedited. The communiquĂŠ further stated that while the unity of the country could not be compromised, the forum believed that the principles on which the country was created by the founding fathers had been eroded, hence the need for a restructuring of Nigeria to create a new order, where equity, justice and peace would prevail. Uzodinma said, “After presentation of papers, contributions and general brainstorming, it was resolved that Nigeria and Nigerians have come a long way. As such, it has become imperative and in the interest of all to live together as one united family under one indivisible and indissoluble country with justice, equity and fairness. “While the unity of Nigeria should not and cannot be compromised under any circumstance, it has become apparent that the foundation upon which Nigeria was built at independence in 1960 has been eroded. There is a need

to return to the original dream of true federalism, which was a product of negotiation, compromise and accommodation.� The retreat, the chairman said, witnessed the presentation of papers from prominent Nigerians on various topics, among them: “Sustaining National Unity in a Restructured Nigeria�, “Provisions for National Unity in the 1999 Constitution (Amended)�, “Between the Dreams of Preindependence Nationalists and Restructuring: A Critical Look at the Past and Present� and the “Imperatives of Restructuring in Multi-Religious Nigeria.� Uzodinma noted that the senators, who attended in their numbers, also engaged in robust deliberations on what they considered the best way to move Nigeria forward. Key Recommendations of the 2014 Confab Report at a Glance! Creation of 18 New States The conference recommended the creation of 18 new states – three per geo-political zone. They include Apa, Edu, Kainji, Katagum, Savannah, Amana, Gurara, Ghari, Etiti (South East zone), Aba, Adada, Njaba-Anim, Anioma, Orashi, Ogoja, Ijebu and New Oyo. Resource Control/ Derivation Principle/Fiscal Federalism The conference held that assigning percentage for the increase in derivation principle, and setting up Special Intervention Funds to address issues of reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas ravaged by insurgency and internal conflicts as well as solid minerals development, require some technical details and consideration. Public Finance/Revenue Allocation The conference noted that the sharing of the funds to the Federation Account among the three tiers of government should be done in the

following manner: Federal Government – 42.5%, State Governments – 35% and Local Governments 22.5% Forms of Government The conference recommended the Modified Presidential System, a home-made model of government that effectively combines the presidential and parliamentary systems of government. The president shall pick the vice president from the Legislature and should select not more than 18 ministers from the six geo -political zones and not more than 30% of his ministers from outside the Legislature. Legislature The conference proposed a Bi-cameral legislature, but noted that members should serve on part-time basis Power Sharing/Rotation The conference recommended that the presidential power should rotate between the North and the South and among the six geo-political zones while the governorship will rotate among the three senatorial districts in a state. Local Government Local Governments, the conference recommended, will no longer be the third tier of government. The federal and states are now to be the only tiers of government. States can now create as many local governments they want. The Joint State/Local Government Account be scrapped and in its place the establishment of a State RMAFC with representatives of Local Government and a Chairman nominated by the Governor. Immunity Clause One of the critical issues discussed is the immunity clause and it was agreed that it should be removed if the offences attract criminal charges to encourage accountability by those managing the economy. Independent Candidacy To open up the political

space, the conference recommended that every Nigerian who meets the specified condition in the Electoral Act should be free to contest elections as an independent candidate. Governance The creation of the office of the Accountant General (Director-General) of the Federation as a distinct and separate office from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federal Government was recommended. The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation shall oversee the accruals of revenue into and disbursement from the Federation Account as and when due; and shall administer these funds as required by the Constitution, while the office of the Accountant General of the Federal Government shall oversee the accounts of the Federal Government, the conference inferred. Anti-corruption the conference proposed Special Courts to handle corruption cases in the light of undue prolongation in the trials and prosecution of corruption cases in the regular courts. Land Tenure Act The Land Tenure Act, according to the conference, should remain in the Constitution but be amended to take care of certain concerns, particularly on compensation in Section 29 (4) of the Act to read “land owners should determine the price and value of their land based on open market value�. National Anthem The conference also proposed the re-introduction of the old National Anthem Religion The Conference recommended that would no longer be any government sponsorship of Christian and Muslim pilgrimages to the holy lands. It also resolved that churches and mosques should begin to pay tax to government.

sion of results from the polling units in encrypted and secure form, and death of a candidate after the commencement of elections and before the declaration of a winner by INEC, as happened during the November 2015 governorship election in Kogi State. The Senate’s amendment also gives political parties the right to adopt direct or indirect primaries in choosing their candidates, while qualification or disqualification of candidates for elections will be solely based on the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. THISDAY could not get an update on the amendment bills from Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Suleiman Nazif, as he did not keep his interview appointments. Other members of the committee, who were contacted for their reactions, also failed to respond to enquiries, except Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, who confirmed that the passed amendments were awaiting concurrence from the House of Representatives. In the meantime, six of the amendments to the Electoral Act have been referred to the National Assembly constitution review committee. They include

review of Section 294 (1) of the Constitution for accelerated hearing of pre-election matters; review of Sections 65 (2) (b), 106 (d), 131 (c) and 177 (c) with 142 (1) and 122 of the constitution with respect to independent candidacy; review of Section 285 of the constitution on timelines for the determination of election petitions and appeals; and review of section 174 (c) of the constitution for the Attorney General of the Federation’s power of nolle prosequi not to be exercisable in respect of electoral offenses. Others are review of Section 134 (4) and (5) of the Constitution with respect to the number of days within which INEC is to conduct a rerun presidential election if a winner did not emerge, taking into account logistical challenges involved in organising a fresh election within seven days as currently provided in the constitution, and review of sections 15 (c) (d) and (f), 225, 226 and 228 of the constitution to support the unbundling of INEC with regard to regulation of political parties. The issue of independent candidacy was passed during the constitution amendment vote in both chambers.

DISQUIET IN CIVIL SERVICE OVER NON-DEPLOYMENT OF PERM SECS The established officials, including Nuratu Batagarawa, Christian Ohaa, Bamgbose Olukunle and Aminu Bisalla were posted to other ministries and parastatals to fill the vacancies created by the retirement of some other permanent secretaries. For instance, Ohaa was deployed to the FCT following the retirement of Dr Babatope Ajakaiye while Batagarawa replaced Ambassador Danjuma Nanpon Sheni at the Ministry of Defence. Aside from Ajakaiye and Sheni, other permanent secretaries, whose retirements created vacancies were Mr Taiwo Abidogun (Oyo), August 21, and Mrs Belema Wakama, (Rivers) who retired on August 31, from Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. Others who retired in August were: Dr Henry Akpan (Cross River), OSGF Special Duties, and Alh Aminu Nebegu (Kano), OSGF, Special Services. Dr Roy Ugo (Imo) in the OSGF (General Service Office), and Alh Mohammed Abbas (Kaduna), Science and Technology, are both due to retire early December 2017. The appointment of the seven permanent secretariesdesignate would have increased the number of serving federal permanent secretaries to 31. Though efforts to get reactions from the office of the Head of Service of the federation, were not successful, THISDAY checks revealed that government delayed the swearing-in of the permanent secretaries designate to allow for the expiration of the tenure of the outgoing permanent secretaries. It has been an administrative policy of government that each state of the federation be represented by at least one federal permanent secretary in the civil service. Previous governments had, indeed, appointed additional permanent

secretaries on geo-political basis, subject to exigencies. According to civil service sources, it was on that ground that Nabasu Bako is yet to be sworn-in because Ambassador Sheni, also a Plateau State indigene, was due for retirement on October 8 as permanent secretary in the ministry of defence. Bako and Osuji, the Director of Training and Development at the Office of Head of Service, were not sworn in on August 16, as Plateau and Imo were still having active permanent secretaries at that time. It is also gathered that Adelakun will have to wait until the middle of next month when the substantive permanent secretary from Oyo State will retire. “Government was aware that in less than three months, their representatives would step aside, so they conducted exams for all of them to fill in these vacancies in advance. Though government appointed them, it could, however, not swear them in when the six persons representing their states were still in service. They are waiting for those people to retire for the appointed officials to be sworn in,� a source said. According to the source, since the run-out dates of the retiring permanent secretaries have been crossed, it is expedient that they are sworn-in and duly assigned. The delay in the swearing-in of the designated permanent secretaries could have a flipside as many MDAs are running without the benefit of the enlightened experience of permanent secretaries. Similarly, the retirement date of the permanent secretaries-designate from the service is already counting while they await their portfolios. The source advised on the urgent imperative of the swearing-in of the permanent secretaries-designate to restore confidence in the ability of the civil service to produce its leadership on merit.

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SUNDAY COMMENT

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

EKWUEME: PASSAGE OF A NATIONALIST Alex Ekwueme, statesman and former Vice-President of Nigeria, dies at 85

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hile there is a certain hypocrisy associated with the death of prominent politicians in our country, most Nigerians would agree that the late Second Republic x Vice-President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, truly deserves all the encomiums that are being lavished on him. Until his death last week, Ekwueme brought to politics and governance in Nigeria an uncommon decency while his belief in democracy was w founded on a strict adherence to the rule of law and abiding principles. In a nation where political prominence goes with the smell off corruption, it can Ekwueme was among be safely said off the few in his generation the late Ekwueme that he towered who placed premium above most off on politics of ideas. his peers and that stature remained Not for him the narrow untainted throughethnocentrism that out his political career spanning four has held the nation decades. As an achostage for so long. He complished professional and businesswas reputed to have man before joining authored the current politics, Ekwueme demonstrated the six geopolitical zoning point that any seriarrangement that has ous politician who genuinely wants been used to dampen to serve the people ethnic pressure and must always have a second address. ensure some balancing Until he died, in the geopolitics of the Ekwueme ran a successful business country empire comprising his architectural ďŹ rm, a hotel chain and real estate ďŹ rm without involving himself in any scandals. Indeed, what endeared Ekwueme to most Nigerians was his being able to stay above the fray in an environment where many go to public ofďŹ ce to enrich themselves. In December 1985, a judicial

Letters to the Editor

tribunal headed by Justice Sampson Uwaifo, said of him: “Dr. Alex Ekwueme’s wealth, in actual fact, had diminished by the time he was removed from ofďŹ ce as Vice President via a military coup. I see no prima facie case being made here to warrant his trial for any offence known to law; and were he to be put on trial on the facts available, it would be setting a standard of morality too high even for saints.â€?

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

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

hile only few public ofďŹ cials (past and present) in Nigeria can secure such testimonial, Ekwueme would also be remembered for his politics anchored on principle and one that is devoid of bitterness. When, for instance, he and likeminded democrats felt the nation had had enough of military rule, Ekwueme deďŹ ed the jackboot ferocity of the late General Sani Abacha administration to demand a return to civil rule. His political organisation in this regard was nationalistic in its spread. Yet, it is one of the curious ironies of Nigerian political contradiction that Ekwueme, who was the prime arrowhead of that move, never became the immediate post-military president. In his lifetime, Ekwueme taught us many lessons. He was a party man par excellence. From 1999 till he died, he remained steadfast to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), of which he was a founder, despite series of intra-party turbulence at different epochs. His memory therefore deserves a bouquet from the PDP. Ekwueme was also imbued with an uncanny independence of thought and action because politics was never a means of earning a living for him. Besides, his relationship with President Shehu Shagari, throughout the Second Republic and after, is a model worth recommending to the contemporary situation in which a president or governor and his deputy hardly part on good notes. Conservative and urbane, Ekwueme was among the few in his generation who placed premium on politics of ideas. Not for him the narrow ethnocentrism that has held the nation hostage for so long. In its place, he was reputed to have authored the current six geopolitical zoning arrangement that has been used to dampen ethnic pressure and ensure some balancing in the geopolitics of the country’s 36 states. In the demise of Alexander Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, therefore, Nigeria has lost a most illustrious patriot, exemplary nationalist, political avatar and indeed a notable ambassador of that class of leaders that the nation desperately needs, especially at these perilous times. May his gentle soul rest in peace.

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 (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

LAGOS’ SPORTS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

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rom the glorious days of the Roman empires with its huge amphitheatres which were used for gladiatorial combats, animal slayings and executions among others, governments have realised the unifying power of sports as an agent of mass mobilisation and political stabilisation even in troubled times and periods of civil unrest. The sporting sector is quite huge with enormous capacity to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product of any country. The potential of sports to generate employment among the value chain is quite vast. It is in a bid to appropriately leverage on the power of sports that the Lagos State government has come up with quite a number of initiatives that could accelerate sports development in the state. The vehicle through which this is being

achieved is T.H.E.S.E, acronym for tourism, hospitality, entertainment and sporting excellence. Since his assumption of office, Governor Ambode has left no one in doubt about his resolve to grow the Lagos economy and empower the youth through several alternative means which include the tactical promotion of tourism, entertainment and sports. In order to accelerate sports development in the state, Lagos State Sports Commission was carved out of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development with a mission to make Lagos Africa’s sport hub within three years. This singular act has helped to divorce sporting matters from all administrative bottle necks and bureaucracy. The Sports Commission’s first priority was to stop age cheating in the state’s sporting circle. To this end, a policy to fast track progres-

sion of athletes of varied age grades in the state has been put in place. A database of all Lagos State athletes in the state was created as a major step forward in this regard. The state government is equally working hard to ensure upgrade of existing sporting infrastructure as well as construction of new ones. For instance, three astro turf facilities are being constructed in Festac, Ikeja and Surulere. There are plans to build a world class aquatic centre in Epe and Lagos to include world class model swimming pools as well as adjoining hospitality facilities by 2018. The project, when completed, will attract thousands of tourists annually, as well as create several short and long term job and potentially to generate significant revenue for the state annually. There is also an ongoing transformation of Onikan stadium as well as a major upgrade

of the Teslim Balogun stadium. This is in addition to the construction of the Lagos Game Village. Presently, the state’s sporting infrastructure development project has created about 3,000 short and long term jobs across the state. Grassroots sports development is also being given a huge boost by the state government.. In 2016 for instance, the state government sponsored 35 grassroots sports competitions such as Lagos State boxing individual open championship, Lagos International Squash Classic, Lagos invitational artistic gymnastics championship, maiden edition of under- 17 Judo Slam, three-day Closed Wrestling Championship, Lagos Triathlon Fiesta, Lagos Under-18 Fives Championship, First Lagos Secondary Schools’ Hockey League, Lagos Junior Golf Training/ Championship, Lagos T20 Cricket Tourney, First Lagos State Secondary Schools Traditional Sports Competitions and Governor Ambode First South West under- 18 Badminton

Competition, among others. Through these competitions, some new talents have been discovered. In order to further reinforce its intention to develop sports in the state, the Ambode administration equally conceived and pioneered the now famous Lagos City Marathon. A total of 100, 000 athletes from 27 countries participated in the second edition of the Access Bank sponsored Lagos marathon which held on February 11, 2017. With a view to encouraging more younger folks to develop interest in sports, all of the state’s public schools are now mandated by the state government to organise annual inter house sports competition. Aside its potential to discover new talents, it is equally meant to promote the culture of friendliness, keeping fit and unity among students across the school.

Jeddy Omisore,Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Lagos.

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News Editor Abimbola Akosile E-mail: Ă‹ĂŒĂ“Ă—ĂŒĂ™Ă–Ă‹Ë›Ă‹Ă•Ă™Ă?Ă“Ă–Ă?̜ÞÒÓĂ?ĂŽĂ‹ĂŁĂ–Ă“Ă Ă?Ë›Ă?Ă™Ă—Ëœ ͸΀͸ͺ͚͚͝Ϳ͞͝Π̙Ă?Ă—Ă? Ă™Ă˜Ă–ĂŁĚš

Buhari: We’re Committed to Tackling Nigeria’s Economic Monster t FG to engage fresh 300,000 unemployed graduates for N-Power Seriki Adinoyi in Jos and Hammed Shittu in Ilorin President Muhammadu Buhari has again blamed the poor state of Nigeria’s economy on the manifold corruption and mismanagement of resources in the past, but however assured citizens that his administration has put structures in place to check the hydra-headed monster. Comparing Nigeria to the international community which focuses on investment on a global scale, the President said, “We are where we are today because of our failure to invest.� Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN yesterday spoke at

the graduation ceremony of the Senior Executive Course 39 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos, Plateau state. Buhari mentioned one of the measures as the Treasury Single Account (TSA) which he said succeeded in blocking the financial recklessness and leakages in the nation’s economic system. He said in July 2015, government ordered that all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should open one account where the federal coffers will go to, noting that this has yielded positive results as government can now boast of what it has in the account “as ghost workers have been flushed out or reduced

to the barest minimum, while money is being saved�. He added that it is because of the economic measures taken by government to tackle corruption head-on that Nigeria is exiting from financial recession, adding also that government has made agriculture its focus in order to diversify the economy. The president expressed happiness that the price of rice has dropped drastically, pointing out that all the moribund fertiliser plants have been revived. He asserted that government is seeing 2018 as the year of many plans, as government is encouraging more industries thereby creating jobs for the teeming unemployed citizens of the country.

On security, he said government is doing all it could to cage and crush the remnants of the Boko Haram insurgency in the country, while appealing to the people to be tolerant of other religions. To the participants, the President urged them to deploy the knowledge gained at the institute to help the nation in whatever capacity they find themselves, admitting that government was aware of the hardship the institute is facing and is committed to addressing them. Earlier, the acting DirectorGeneral of NIPSS, Mr. Jonathan Juma, congratulated the 66 participants on their successful completion of their course. He ap-

pealed to government to approve special financial intervention for the institute to enable it to address the myriad of problems confronting it. In a related development, Prof. Osinbajo also disclosed that the federal government has concluded plans to engage fresh 300,000 unemployed graduates for the second phase of its NPower programme. Osinbajo stated this in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital at the official launching of the state branch of the Government Enterprising and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and MSME One-Stop Shop programmes organised by the federal government in collaboration with the Bank of Industry for traders, artisans and other medium and small-scale

business operators. He said the 300,000 graduates would be employed to make the beneficiaries 500,000, having engaged 200,000 previously. The Vice President explained that the government came up with the idea of the GEEP and MSME One-Stop Shop programme to make it easier for those who run medium or small-scale enterprises to access loan and operate without encumbrances. He said the One-Stop Short facility would provide services of regulatory agencies like the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and explained that the facility would operate as a centre for making enquiries on manufacturing and operation of businesses.

NESH Gala Dinner Holds Today

HONOUR FOR OSKAR Olorogun Oskar Ibru being congratulated by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd.), after he was conferred with Honorary Doctorate Degree by the Igbinedion University‌with them are his wife, Wanda Ibru (left); and Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shuaibu, in Okada, Edo State... yesterday

Ă’Ă? âĂ?Ă?Ă&#x;ÞÓà Ă? Ùà Ă?ĂœĂ˜Ă™Ăœ Ă™Ă? Ă‹Ă‘Ă™Ă? ÞËÞĂ? Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Ă’Ă‹Ă“ĂœĂ—Ă‹Ă˜ Ă™Ă? Ă™Ă&#x;ÞÒĂ?ĂœĂ˜ Ùà Ă?ĂœĂ˜Ă™ĂœĂ? Ă™ĂœĂ&#x;Ă—Ëœ Ùà Ă?ĂœĂ˜Ă™Ăœ Ă•Ă“Ă˜ĂĄĂ&#x;Ă˜Ă—Ă“ Ă—ĂŒĂ™ĂŽĂ? ĂĄĂ“Ă–Ă– ÞÙÎËã Ă”Ă™Ă“Ă˜ Ă?Ă—Ă“Ă˜Ă?Ă˜Ăž ĂšĂ?ĂœĂ?Ă™Ă˜Ă‹Ă–Ă“ĂžĂ“Ă?Ă? ÞÙ Ă?Ă?Ă–Ă?ĂŒĂœĂ‹ĂžĂ? ÞÒĂ? ĂœĂ?Ă—Ă‹ĂœĂ•Ă‹ĂŒĂ–Ă? Ă?Ă?Ă‹ĂžĂ? Ă™Ă? Ă?âĂ?Ă?ĂšĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜Ă‹Ă– Ă“Ă‘Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă‹Ă˜Ă? Ă‹Ă? ÞÒĂ? ĂšĂ?Ă?Ă“Ă‹Ă– Ă&#x;Ă?Ă?Ăž Ă™Ă? Ă’Ă™Ă˜Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœËœ Ă“Ă˜ Ă‹ Ă‘Ă‹Ă–Ă‹ Ă˜Ă“ĂžĂ? Ă?Ă?Ăž Ă?Ă™Ăœ ÞÒĂ? Ă?Ă™Ă&#x;Ă˜ĂžĂœĂŁËŞĂ? ĂŒĂ?Ă?Ăž Ă‹Ă?ĂšĂ“ĂœĂ‹ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜Ă‹Ă– Ă˜ĂžĂœĂ?ĂšĂœĂ?Ă˜Ă?Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ë› Ă’Ă? ĂžĂœĂ“Ă&#x;×ÚÒĂ? Ă™Ă? ÞÒĂ?Ă?Ă? Ă‹Ă?Ă?Ù×ÚÖÓĂ?Ă’Ă?ĂŽ ÚËĂ?Ă?Ă?Ă?ÞÞĂ?ĂœĂ? Ă‹ĂœĂ? ĂŒĂ?Ă“Ă˜Ă‘ Ă?Ă?ĂœĂ?Ă˜Ă‹ĂŽĂ?ĂŽ ĂŒĂŁ Ă“Ă‘Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă‹ Ęś Ă˜ĂžĂœĂ?ĂšĂœĂ?Ă˜Ă?Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă’Ă“Ăš Ă&#x;Ă—Ă—Ă“Ăž Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Ă™Ă˜Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ? Ě™ ĚšËœ Ă“Ă˜ Ă‹ Ă?Ă–Ă‹Ă?Ă?Ă“Ă? Ă?Ă Ă?Ă˜Ăž Ă‹Ăž Ă?Ă•Ă•Ă“ ÙÖÓĂ?Ă?Ă&#x;Ă—Ëœ ĂœĂ™Ă Ă“ĂŽĂ?Ă˜Ă?Ă? ĂžĂœĂ?Ă?ĂžËœ Ă?Ă? ĂŽĂ—Ă“ĂœĂ‹Ă–ĂžĂŁ Ă‹ĂŁ ĂŒĂŁ ʹÚײ Ă? ÞÒĂ? Ă‹Ă˜Ă˜Ă&#x;Ă‹Ă– Ă?Ă–Ă‹Ă‘Ă?Ă’Ă“Ăš Ă?Ă Ă?Ă˜Ăž Ă™Ă? ÞÒËÞ Ă’Ă‹Ă? Ă‹Ă?Ă›Ă&#x;Ă“ĂœĂ?ĂŽ ĂœĂ?ĂšĂ&#x;ĂžĂ‹ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜ Ă?Ă™Ăœ ĂŽĂ“Ă?ÞÓÖÖĂ?ĂŽ Ó×ÚËĂ?Ăž ĂŽĂ?Ă–Ă“Ă Ă?ĂœĂŁËœ ÞÒĂ? Ă?Ă™Ă&#x;Ă˜ĂŽĂ?Ăœ Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Ă?Ă’Ă“Ă?Ă? Ă’Ă™Ă?ĂžËœ ĂœË› Ă—Ă?Ă•Ă‹ Ă‘ĂĄĂ&#x;̋ÙÔĂ&#x;Ëœ ĂœĂ?Ă?ÞËÞĂ?Ă? ĂžĂ’Ă‹ĂžËœ ˍÞÒĂ? ĂšĂ?Ă?Ă&#x;Ă–Ă“Ă‹Ăœ Ă“Ă˜ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă?ĂžĂœĂŁ Ă™Ă? Ă“Ă‘Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă‹Ă˜Ă? ÞÙ Ă‘ĂœĂ™ĂĄËœ Ă˜Ă&#x;ĂœĂžĂ&#x;ĂœĂ? Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Ă—Ă‹ĂžĂ&#x;ĂœĂ? Ă“ĂŽĂ?Ă‹Ă? ĂžĂ’ĂœĂ™Ă&#x;Ă‘Ă’ ÞÓĂ?Ă• Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Ă‘ĂœĂ“Ăž Ă’Ă‹Ă? ĂœĂ?Ă—Ă‹Ă“Ă˜Ă?ĂŽ ÞÒĂ? Ă?ĂœĂ“ĂžĂ“Ă?Ă‹Ă– Ă“Ă˜Ă?Ă?Ă˜ĂžĂ“Ă Ă?Ă? ÞÙ ĂœĂ?Ă?Ă™Ă‘Ă˜Ă“Ă?Ă? ÞÒĂ? ĂŒĂ?Ă?Ăž ÞÙ Ă?Ă˜Ă?ĂœĂ‘Ă“Ă?Ă? ÞÒĂ? ĂœĂ?Ă?ĂžËŹËœ ËŤ Ă’Ă? Ă?Ă&#x;Ă–ĂžĂ&#x;ĂœĂ? Ă™Ă? Ă?Ă&#x;Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă? Ă“Ă? ÞÒĂ? ËÞÞÓÞĂ&#x;ĂŽĂ? Ă?Ă™Ăœ Ă‹Ă?Ă?Ù×ÚÖÓĂ?Ă’Ă—Ă?Ă˜ĂžĂ?Ëœ Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ ĂĄĂ? Ă‹ĂœĂ? ÚÖĂ?Ă‹Ă?Ă?ĂŽ ÞÙ ĂŒĂ? Ă?Ă˜Ă‹ĂŒĂ–Ă?ĂœĂ? Ă“Ă˜ ÞÒĂ? ĂŒĂ‹ĂœĂ‘Ă‹Ă“Ă˜ËŹËœ Ă‘ĂĄĂ&#x;̋ÙÔĂ&#x; Ă—Ă‹Ă“Ă˜ĂžĂ‹Ă“Ă˜Ă?ĂŽË›

Interest Charges Push Discos’ Market Debts to N576bn Chineme Okafor in Abuja The interest charges by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) on the outstanding obligations of the 11 electricity distribution companies have put the total market debts to N576.2 billion as at April 2017, THISDAY can report. A document obtained by THISDAY revealed that interest charges on the N477.8 billion market debts owed by the 11 Discos rose to N98.4 billion, representing 17 per cent of the total market debt. The interests were levied on Discos’ financial shortfalls to the market by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) at the Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate (NIBOR) plus 10 per cent. There were indications at a Lagos meeting between the Discos and generation companies (Gencos) that the interest charges would have to be paid along with the outstanding liabilities

of N477.8 billion. But the Discos contended that the huge debts had eroded their equities and made it quite difficult for them to look for loans or financial facilities to support their operations. The meeting was convened to discuss extant financial challenges of the market, vis-Ă -vis the impacts of the absence of a cost-reflective tariff and NERC’s seeming disinterest in operationalising two tariff reviews it had done so far. Meanwhile, a former Managing Director of the NBET, Mr. Rumundaka Wonodi, had described as unnecessary last week ‘s decision of some of the Discos to notify the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) of their intention to declare force majeure on their operations. He believed the Discos were scared of the competition that would be created when the eligible customers regulation on which they based their reasons for the force majeure takes effect. Wonodi, who spoke on a

TV programme monitored in Abuja, noted that by latching on the eligible customers’ regulation to declare force majeure, the Discos were perhaps ignorant of the business opportunities they could take away from the regulation. “I am a little bit shocked by that because this is something that took time to take place, and it is a provision under the law,� he said. “We have always felt that some Discos are laidback and do not want to do more than they are doing now. The Discos need to wake up, they have held the industry to ransom in some instances like metering. “One of the expectations is also that we see the metering within the industry deregulated and open up the industry. Competition frightens people, who are in a monopoly industry and Discos are reacting very badly to this because there is a lot to do in the market, and the Discos still have the primary

advantage to serve the eligible customers at a higher tariff too. It is a provision they could actually take advantage of,� noted Wonodi, who added that the force majeure was premature and unlikely to give out the desired result to the Discos. In another development, the Interim Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr. Usman Mohammed, has revealed that major contractors engaged by the TCN took advantage of leadership gap in the company to dictate its proceedings and operations. Mohammed, who disclosed this in an interaction with journalists in Abuja, specifically stated that because of the lack of firm managerial leadership and transparency in the company, its contractors practically converted it to their respective ‘farmlands’ with pockets of loyalty and power silos that were frequently serviced. Recruited early this year from the African Development Bank

(AfDB) by the federal government to manage and revive the TCN shortly after the government disengaged the Canadian firm, Manitoba Hydro International (MHI), it engaged in 2013 as a management contractor for the company, Mohammed also stated that with juicy incentives, these contractors were able to divert the loyalties of the workers of TCN to themselves to pave the way for their biddings to be done unrestricted. He stated that while the TCN never audited its accounts for the entire period it was managed by MHI, an audit of these accounts had however been initiated up to 2017. He noted that even the practice of issuance of Letters of Intents to contractors which was abused, had been stopped. Mohammed, however, said: “We are here to reposition the TCN and also expand the grid. We didn’t come as an arrangement between the AfDB and Nigeria, I came out of my willing-

ness to assist Nigeria. “When we came in, we met TCN in shambles in terms of leadership, there was an absence of leadership and transparency because then there was no coordinated leadership, you see an organisation that had pockets of leaders and powers all over the place.� He further explained that, “The unfortunate part of it was that we discovered that in some areas, contractors were running the show, because some of the contractors were paying some of the staff and their loyalties were to the contractors.� “They took the TCN like their farms, and so all those projects that they were getting, we have stopped them from getting them. All the arrangements they made with the TCN including Letters of Intent, we have stopped them. I have cancelled 150 Letters of Intent, since I came, and we do not issue Letters of Intent anymore,� he added.

T H I S D AY SUNDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2017

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

NEWS

In Brief Abba-Risqua’ll Not Recontest Kano Guber Election

PROMOTING E-BUSINESS L-R: Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Adebayo Adelabu; Chairman, Committee of E-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH), Dele Adeyinka; Chairman, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Mr. Tunde Lemo; and Vice Chairman, CeBIH, Mr. Stanley Jacob, at the 2017 Annual Retreat of CeBIH held in Abeokuta,

Abba Risqua, the eldest surviving son of late Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, is set to take a break away from partisan politics to concentrate on his business and philanthropic activities. Abba Risqua, who vied for the 2015 primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) gubernatorial flag-bearership in Kano but later settled for the running mate of its torchbearer, Malam Salihu Sagir Takai, after an impressive showing at the primaries, is said to have finished consultations with family members, associates and political allies over the decision to step aside from politics. A source close to the revered family told this medium that Abba Risqua is now of the view that partisan politics is a distraction to his business interests and it is shielding him from contributing effectively to the activities of Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF), a non-governmental organisation founded on the ideals of his late father.

Falana: I Bought Abuja Property from A Group Properties, Not EFCC Challenges AGF to substantiate allegation that EFCC allocated or sold property to him Abimbola Akosile Human rights activist and lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN yesterday said the property he bought in Maitama District, Abuja, was from A Group Properties and not from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as alleged. He said the property located at 42, Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja, was one of the assets used to collaterise a loan obtained from Bank PHB by A Group Properties over 10 years ago. The Senior Advocate also disclosed that the property in

question is a subject matter of a suit which is currently pending before the Federal High Court sitting at Abuja. (Suit No /2015 between Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria v A Group Properties Limited). In a statement he issued yesterday, titled ‘Sale of Property to Femi Falana is Another Lie from AGF’, which was sent to THISDAY, Falana also challenged the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to substantiate his claim that the property was allocated or sold to him (Falana) by the EFCC as alleged in media reports.

Bharti Pledges $1.1bn to Boost Philanthropy EmmaOkonji withagencyreport The Bharti Family, which has built one of India’s leading business enterprises, and operates Bharti Airtel telecommunications company in different countries of the world, including Nigeria, yesterday pledged 10 per cent of their personal wealth for philanthropic purposes, which includes the setting up of Satya Bharti University, a world-class University to offer free education to deserving youth from economically weaker sections of society. The family decided to pledge 10 per cent of their wealth, including three per cent of their stake in group flagship Bharti Airtel, towards supporting the activities of Bharti Foundation, the group’s philanthropic arm, which is one of the few professionallymanaged philanthropic bodies in India. With the commitment, the Family envisions to significantly step up the scope and reach of Bharti Foundation’s activities, and

further enable the Foundation to develop and execute innovative development models to support the aspirations of India’s underprivileged including students of Satya Bharti Schools. Announcing the commitment, the Founder and Chairman, Bharti Enterprises and Chairman, Bharti Foundation, Sunil Bharti Mittal, said, “Today is a major milestone in the journey of the Bharti Family. Being first generation entrepreneurs, we feel absolutely privileged that this nation gave us the opportunity to imagine and build world-class businesses. Bharti’s DNA has always been about creating a deep positive impact on society through our businesses, and we are proud to have contributed to the India growth story.” According to him, “As firm believers in Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of Trusteeship, we have always reckoned that ownership of business is a social responsibility, and wealth creation cannot be an end in itself.

The aforementioned property, said to have been recovered by the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform, was linked to the task-force’s former chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, who was sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari after his controversial recall into the civil service; an issue which is currently being probed by government agencies. Falana’s statement referred to a media report in a national daily (not THISDAY) which quoted the Attorney-General of the Federation as saying the said property worth N1 billion was sold to “a Lagos lawyer”. The AGF was said to have made the comment when he appeared before the Senate committee probing Maina’s recall into service after he was declared wanted over alleged fraud. Falana, in his response to the allegation, described Maina’s claim concerning the alleged sale of the property to him by the EFCC as a figment of the former pension boss’s imagination, and also challenged the AGF to substantiate the allegation. Falana’s press statement reads, “When the news of the scandalous recall, reinstatement, promotion, deployment and payment of the arrears of salaries and allowances of a fugitive from the law, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina broke out last month I joined other well-meaning Nigerians in calling on President Mohammadu Buhari to sanction the members of his administration who had

exposed the nation to ridicule. “Shortly thereafter, the President ordered Mr. Maina’s removal from the public service and directed that an inquiry be conducted into the matter. Aggrieved by my intervention in the shameful episode, the fugitive and his cohorts have attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to link me with the criminal diversion of one of the properties purportedly recovered by the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform. “According to The Nation newspaper of November 24, 2017, Mr. Maina’s official new legal adviser and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN “mentioned a property at 42, Gana Street, Maitama District, Abuja which he claimed is worth N1 billion. He said it was allocated to a Lagos lawyer.” “Even though Mr. Malami did not mention my name The Nation newspaper had reported that Mr. Maina had linked me with the property. Hence, I have decided to join issues with Mr. Malami over his false claim that the EFCC had sold the property in question to me. “Contrary to Mr. Malami’s claim I never bought any property from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). If Mr. Malami had conducted a search on the property in question he would have found that it was one of the assets used to collaterise a loan obtained from Bank PHB by A Group Properties

over 10 years ago”, Falana stated. According to his statement “He would also have found that the property is a subject matter of a suit which is currently pending before the Federal High Court sitting at Abuja. (See Suit No /2015 between Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria v A Group Properties Limited). “The suit was instituted by AMCON due to the failure of the company to liquidate the loan. In granting the ex parte application filed by AMCON in the matter the court ordered an interim forfeiture of the assets of A Group Properties Limited including No 42, Gana Street, Maitama District, Abuja. The said order was granted on November 11, 2015. “However, in a bid to pay the loan A Group Properties Limited decided to sell some of the properties. The sale of the property in question to me was made subject to the setting aside of the order of interim forfeiture which had been obtained by AMCON. Up till now, the case has not been concluded as the parties have asked for time to resolve the dispute amicably and file terms of settlement. “To that extent, the transaction on the property remains inchoate. Although the said order of interim forfeiture was granted in favour of AMCON over two years ago, Mr. Malami has not deemed it fit to disclose to the Federal High Court that the property at 42, Gana Street, Maitama District, Abuja was recovered by the Presidential

Task Force on Pension Reform”, the statement noted. “Having regard to the facts and circumstances of this case, Mr. Maina’s allegation that the management of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission sold the property at No 42, Gana Street, Maitama District, Abuja or any property to me is a figment of his fecund imagination for mischief. “Since the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Malami SAN has apparently swallowed hook, line and sinker, the cock and bull story of Mr. Maina, a fugitive from the law of the Republic, I am compelled to challenge him to substantiate his mendacious allegation that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had allocated or sold the property in question or any other property to me. “Instead of engaging in a cheap campaign of blackmail Mr. Malami SAN should have taken steps to recover the alleged N1 billion property for the federal government if he is convinced that it is a proceed of crime. “However, since the order of the interim forfeiture of the property at No 42, Gana Street, Maitama District, Abuja which was granted by the Federal High Court has not been vacated or quashed the property is still vested in AMCON. Incidentally, the granting of the order was well reported by the Nigerian press at the material time”, Falana added.

KOMNET Holds Ministers’ Camp Meeting Koinonia Ministerial Network (KOMNET), a platform where ministers of God come together to fellowship and inspire one another, will be holding the next edition of its Annual Camp Meeting from today. According to the statement from KOMNET’s International

President, Apostle Tony Olukoyede, this year’s edition with the theme Heaven Rules, will be featuring Bishop Humphrey Erumaka (Wordbase, Lagos) as the Guest Speaker. He will be ministering alongside the International President and other seasoned ministers of God.

The meeting, which is scheduled to take place at the PurposeLife Retreat Centre along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will end on Tuesday November 28, and will also be featuring a seminar on 4 Streams of Income and other special workshops. 4 Streams of Income (an

initiative of Purposetoday Network) is a faith-based personal development training programme aimed at helping people discover the four basic streams of income that are at their disposal, and stirring up their potential for the fulfillment of their purpose in life.

T H I S D AY SUNDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2017

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

OPINION FROM DETRIBALISATION TO RETRIBALISATION Matthew Hassan Kukah raises many questions in the search for a detribalised nation

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n February 24 this year, I delivered the Convocation lecture for the University of Abuja, titled, Though Tribe and Tongue May Differ: Managing Diversity in Nigeria. Drawing from Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, I came to the very sad conclusion that coming to the critical point where two roads diverged, our leaders have always avoided the road less travelled. The result is that rather than make a difference, many of the leaders have continued to make the same mistakes. The cumulative effect litters the landscape and goes by different names: corruption, underdevelopment, stagnation, decay, etc. In the lecture, I argued that: We have lacked the courage to take some of the tough decisions that would have changed our country today. We found the discipline and demands of equality enshrined in our democracy difficult to uphold and therefore we opted to cohabit with feudalism. The result is that we have constructed a rickety double decker identity vehicle whereby we inhabit one section as citizens and another as subjects. Government has been unable to secure the loyalty of its citizens who prefer to preserve their reverence and loyalties to their local communities. The consequences of our lack of clear choices now stare us in the face. We are unable to submit to a single loyalty code. The elites steal from government and return home to feather the local nest presided over by the local hegemon before whom they prostrate as favourite sons and daughters adorned with feathers of recognition and appreciation. No Nigerian leader has found the way to deal constructively with both feudalism and religion and break from these strangulating hegemons which have delayed our national integration. Both these hegemons of feudalism and religion have become totems which people claim to identify with when it is convenient for them to do so. Unless and until a Nigerian leader confronts these twin institutions and defines and clarifies their roles in society, common citizenship in Nigeria will remain an illusion. This is a summary of the dilemma that we are in. My intention in this presentation is to continue the exploration of themes that have been at the centre of my research and reflections for the last 30 or more years as a public intellectual. The questions are varied and complex, they are vertical, horizontal, intersecting and counter penetrating. They seem interconnected, yet dispersed, they both attract and repel. Look at a few of them: Are we a country, a nation or a people and what is the significance of and the difference between each

of these nouns? Is national cohesion an illusion? How do we fix Nigeria? How can this country work for us? Why do we love to hate our country with equal passion? What needs to be done and who needs to do what? What and where are the tools? Who will design or manufacture them? How do we end inequalities? How do we find a balance between religion and politics? Can both ever serve the common good? Can they do so together? The questions are legion. The theme for the conference according to the convener, Professor Epiphany Azinge, is, Nigeria: In Search of a Detribalised Race. It seems that Professor Azinge seeks to address some of the issues that are also captured in the questions I have posed above. However, I imagine he thinks that if we could produce a detribalised race, then we would have found answers to all our complex problems and would safely be on our way to El Dorado where we would all live happily ever after! I am not here to dispute this assumption, but to add my voice and to raise some even more serious questions. Those who have read my articles or have heard me speak will be familiar with the fact that I prefer to ask more questions than provide answers. I believe that a chance to address an audience at any time is a rare privilege and no one should take it lightly. It would be dangerous to assume that one is on the podium because he or she is the most informed about the issues. So, I see these events as opportunities to further our collective search for meaning. So, going forward, my questions are: What does a detribalised race look like? What are the causes of detribalisation and how do people get detribalised? What are the ingredients of detribalisation? In fact, can there be such a thing as a totally ‘detribalised’ race or person? Who writes the prescription and who administers the dosage? What are the obstacles to detribalisation? Again the questions are many and finding answers to them will now occupy our attention. Detribalisation and Retribalisation: Causes and Consequences: I am neither an Anthropologist nor a Sociologist and might not have the precise definition of the concept of tribe. However, as a social category, I see tribe as a unit of organisation that holds together a community that shares a sense of common ancestry, history, mythology, language and culture. These go on to produce feelings and bonds of affinity. Tribalism on the other hand, is the operational instrumentalisation, and unfortunately even manipulation, of that identity as a platform for organisation and negotiation, or the application of that identity to secure advantage for the group. Tribalism appropriates that identity, draws boundaries and excludes other members

from the privileges. When employed, it can become the rallying cry, an ideology for war for the protection of the tribe or the appropriation of resources to maintain the supremacy of the group. Detribalisation, therefore, does not mean the negation of tribal identity per se, but it means the negation of tribalism, the abandonment of tribal loyalties and their substitution with what may be perceived as higher goals of modernity. This last note stems from the premise that tribalism is often associated with traditionalism which is often perceived to be something static, established and unchangeable, and therefore in conflict with modernity. The discussion on the relationship, oft times seen to be conflictual, of African traditional cultures and modernity is one I will not go into here but it is one on which there is a lot of research already done and on which much more is needed. However, for the purpose of this conversation and our understanding of ‘detribalisation’ as the negation of tribalism, the question is, what are the aggregate units of bad things that would need to be abandoned for an aggregate of good things that can enable a people to embrace the alternative as an appealing concept? We cannot answer the question in isolation because the title of my paper suggests a second leg, namely, what I refer to as retribalisation which in effect would be the alternative offered as the identity factor of the people (tribe). I have introduced the notion of retribalization so as to create a balance in the concepts. By my lose definition, it is an abandonment of the tent of detribalisation and a return to a new tribalisation. What it means therefore is the feeling that the promises that were offered to make us abandon tribalism have not paid off and now the individuals or groups realise that they were sold a counterfeit; thus we see the quest for a return to the womb of tribalism. The interplay of these forces is what we are confronted with today. I am not in a position to provide answers, but my concern is to offer a few items on the menu and hope that all of us can begin a process of debating these challenges, looking at the merit or demerits of each of the issues. The first question to ask is, what are the factors that would lead to detribalisation? What are the incentives? In other words, why would people trade one identity for the other? To attempt to answer these questions, we need to look elsewhere, and here, game theories can help illustrate what we mean.

Excerpts from a lecture delivered by Bishop Kukah at a conference organised by the Professor Epiphany Azinge Foundation, Abuja

BUHARI AND THE BROADCAST INDUSTRY

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The Buhari administration has done relatively well, argues Chuks Akamadu

T e might not pass for an iconic leader – at least not yet, nor can anyone factually say that so far, he has discharged his duties as a superlative performer; but there are a number of areas, truth be told, that President Muhammadu Buhari has done quite commendably. For some reason, the present government’s anti-corruption war has remained, by the estimation of many, a mere colourful road-show or at best an exercise in hypothesis! Not a few also think that federal government’s handling of IPOB and herdsmen recurrent crises betrays some degree of poverty of ideas and/or regrettable deficit in statecraft. Similarly, unless urgent remedial steps are taken in favour of equity, justice and balance, the pronounced lop-sided character of sensitive appointments will remain federal government’s sore thumb that sticks out. Those low marks named above notwithstanding, the Buhari–led administration has also recorded some positives - sterling accomplishments - that cannot be denied. Love her or hate her, the government has decapitated Boko Haram in manner her predecessors could not. It is also to her credit that the naira got rescue. In the same vein, cynics are still at sea over how government was able to retrieve the economy from the vice grip of recession. On October 31, 2017 Chief Audu Ogbeh, honourable Minister of Agriculture, spoke with unmistakable pride during All Progressives Congress’ (APC) National Executive Council (NEC) meeting where he declared that by 2018, Nigeria would no longer import a grain of rice. This is coming on the heels of Nigeria’s recent yam exportation to Europe. Good effort.

In compliance with International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) resolution of 2006, late President Umaru Yar’ Adua had in 2007 set up a presidential advisory council (PAC) whose mandate was to design a road map for Nigeria’s transition from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting by 2012. Granted that we failed to keep that date of ours with history on June 17, 2012 by our inability to attain the analogue switch off and digital switch on aspiration, but the current state of the digitisation policy-especially as regards visible milestones structures and competent manpower is something to cheer about. Consistent with the provision of federal government white paper on the PAC recommendations, a broadcasting signal distributor (BSD) called Integrated Television Services (ITS) Limited has since been birthed by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) alongside the digital implementation Team (DigiTeam). It is instructive to note that although the PAC had recommended the provision of seed grant for the smooth take–off of the BSD which government committed itself to in the white paper, that is yet to materialise; but that did not deter those who midwifed it. Currently, ITS uses transmitters that are DVB-T2 compliant technology, manufactured by the world’s unarguable best transmitter manufacturers, Rhode and Schwarz (Germany). Herein rests the wisdom in section 12.2 of the white paper which states, interalia, that “in order to maximise the existing broadcast infrastructure, the committee recommends that the existing and massive broadcast transmission infrastructure owned by the Nigeria Television

Authority (NTA), the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) should form the backbone for the broadcasting signal distribution‌.� Thankfully, this infrastructure (The DVB-T2 compliant technology inclusive) inherited by ITS, like every modern broadcast technology, contemplates future developments and therefore makes rooms for backward integration. This by implication saves our country scares resources as there necessarily is no need for us to appropriate huge sums, given prevalent economic realities, for the procurement of new broadcasting technology. Whilst no one doubts that the DSO process is on full throttle, government should take greater interest in the digitalisation policy. Pressing issues such as funding, provision of adequate set-up boxes and need for expansion should be given priority. For if Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya could transit from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting, Nigeria most certainly can and the time is now! Talking particularly about set-boxes, there is sufficient empirical evidence to show that if local manufacturing is escalated, our country will be saving, at a minimum, $500million annually. Beat that if you can! What is more, a successful DSO will, by necessary implication, retrieve significant number of frequencies, which will consequently create countless jobs for the growing number of unemployed Nigerians. Let the present administration, in her enlightened self-interest, speedily wrap up the DSO process, before she goes into the evening of her life – which is within earshot. Akamadu is Managing Director, Afrocultour Limited.

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LETTERS BETWEEN NORWAY AND NIGERIA

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orway is a nation of five million people and invests the revenues from its 1.64 million barrels daily oil production through its sovereign wealth fund which today is valued over $1 trillion, making it the largest and most profitable in the world. By law, the Norwegian government is only allowed to spend 4% of the annual profits of its $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund in the country’s economy meaning the balance 96% profits is reinvested in the fund. This means that the Norwegian government has to generate 96% of its annual spending from taxation and its tax system is so transparent that there is a website where annual taxes paid by the citizens are made public. In return, Norway runs a pension scheme that guarantees its citizens 75% of their last working pay for the rest of their lives after retirement at the age of 65, ensuring only

Buhari those who sow in taxes reap the pension dividends. Norway is also able to

provide free first class medical services to its five million population and free world

class nursery to tertiary education for its young population ensuring the ready availability of top class qualified personnel.. Norway’s public infrastructure is world class even by first world standards and with life expectancy in the eighties, no doubt sustained by the generous pensions enjoyed by Norwegians for the duration of their retirement lives. The trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund which has investments across the world, and which is run by the Norwegian central bank has now decided according to the Financial Times, that it will dump its investments in oil and gas stocks. This means that the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund officially known as Government Pension Fund Global will be divesting shares it holds in such companies as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil. According to the Financial Times, the Norwegian central bank says this will make the

country’s one trillion dollar wealth less vulnerable to a permanent drop in oil and gas prices. This decision is most intriguing as Norway is not just only an oil producing nation but its one trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund was built over the last two decades from oil revenues. Although the investment by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund in oil stocks make up just 6% of its total portfolio, the central bank says this move is not about predicting the future oil prices or of the future of oil itself. But when you view this divestment decision together with the earlier decision of Norway to phase out petrol driven cars for electric vehicles in the next eight years, that is by 2025, you have to agree that Norway is doing just that. Through these two critical decisions, that is divesting from oil stocks and phasing out petrol powered vehicles, Norway is predicting that oil and gas prices in the future

PDP NATIONAL CONVENTION AND UNITY LIST The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came into power in May 1999 after several years of military rule amid infrastructural decay. Today, the biggest and strongest party in Africa is not only playing the role of opposition in Nigeria but is also struggling to put its house in order after it suffered defeat in an election almost three years ago. The humbling of the PDP in 2015 did not come to some people as a surprise because the leaders of the party became arrogant with power and lost touch with the people, thereby ignoring the core values upon which the party was formed and the slogan of the party ‘power to the people.’ Impunity, lack of internal party democracy and imposition of candidates during elections became the norm of the PDP. Party positions were no longer contested and won on the basis of merit but on the whims and caprices of godfathers who sponsor candidates for elections to satisfy their own selfish and primordial gains. The Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s post- election committee report was vivid and explicit on this matter, identifying the main cause of PDP’s failures in the 2015 general elections. The report also made several recommendations that will salvage the current predicament. We thought that the leadership of the party will learn some lessons from the 14 months leadership crisis that ended at the Supreme Court on July 12, 2017, but we were wrong. The PDP is once again deeply enmeshed in another round of intrigues, serious power game and the culture of impunity that ruined the fortune of the party in 2015 is back. It is very important for Nigerians, PDP members and supporters to understand

the men and women behind these power game and this is a clarion call for all concerned PDP members to rise up to challenge this ugly trend before the party is thrown into another catalogue of crisis. Just last week, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and some of his colleagues gathered in Enugu to endorse his national chairmanship aspirant, Prince Uche Secondus but this plan was truncated by other governors of the party who believe that endorsement is also part of impunity. It has also been revealed that some leaders of the party, especially the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who in his post-election committee report identified

impunity and imposition of candidate as the bane of PDP is spearheading the drawing up of the so-called unity list with a view to excluding other candidates contesting various offices at the convention without testing their popularity in the field. Interestingly, the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and some stakeholders of the party have since rejected this idea of exclusivity, and had called for a level playing field where all eligible candidates will be allowed to contest for any offices of their choice. The reintroduction of ‘Unity List’ to disenfranchise others from contesting at the convention is therefore undemocratic and a

return to anarchy. These stakeholders have also suggested that if the party leaders are hell bent on pruning down the number of aspirants for the convention, especially those for the National Chairmanship position; the stakeholders have proposed an election at the respective zones to determine the best candidate out of the ones contesting for the same offices at the zonal levels. According to the stakeholders, delegates from the South West and South South regions of the country should be allowed to cast their votes for the best aspirants from their respective zones to represent them at the national convention instead of the current selection process that seems to exclude some aspirants

which may also lead the party to more crises. Finally, these critical stakeholders of the party have challenged all the aspirants contesting for the office of national chairman of the PDP to tell party members and supporters what they have in stock for the PDP if elected. The stakeholders accused the aspirants of abandoning the party at the time the party needs them the most and are only resurfacing after some people suffered to resuscitate the PDP. The success or failure of PDP at the scheduled National Convention will largely determine the stability of Nigeria’s democracy.

Jide Olawale, Ibadan, Oyo State

will remain low and the sector itself has no sustainable future. Nigeria on the other hand is also an oil producing country like Norway but that is where the similarity ends. Unlike Norway which saves its oil revenues in a sovereign wealth fund, Nigeria shares its own oil revenues. With a population of more than 170 million people, Nigeria shares on a monthly basis the revenues from its 1.8 million barrels of daily oil production, not even among its citizens but among the three tiers of government. Among these three tiers of government, the federal gets 54%, the 36 states 26% and the 774 local governments 22%, and end up spending 80 - 90% of their annual budgets on recurrent expenditures. This monthly sharing bazaar and misallocation of funds of course excludes Lagos State which generates 75% of annual revenues from taxes and is able to spend 65% of its annual budget on capital expenditure. The end result is that Nigeria’s healthcare is substandard, its educational system is in a shambles and its public infrastructure very inadequate even by Third World standards, insecurity high and life expectancy in the mid-fifties. Expected to be the third most populous country in the world by 2050 due to its high birth rate, Nigeria’s main revenue source and foreign exchange earner is likely to be a worthless commodity by then. With Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund having a paltry $1.5 billion and a population of 170 million compared to Norway’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund and a population of 5 million, which country out of the two has a future?

Kingsley Omose, kingsleyomose@gmail.com

NIGERIA AND THE LEADERSHIP QUESTION â€œâ€ŚTo build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.â€? This is the last verse in the second stanza of our national anthem. The second stanza happens to be my personal favourite part of the anthem as it calls on God to guide our leaders right and help our youths the truth to know. However it seems our leaders are far from the part they have been directed. They have continued to lie to us, to disappoint us, to betray us and to shame us. Isn’t it shameful that we have been writing the same articles for 57 years? Isn’t it shameful that we’ve been suffering the shameful plights for 57 years? Isn’t it shameful that the story is still the same for 57 years? Bad roads, poor education system, inadequate health care facilities, unstable

power supply, discrimination based on tribe and religion, corruption at all levels of government? Isn’t it shameful that we protest and campaign over the same national issues for 57 years? I suppose it isn’t very surprising when you realise that we have had the same set of leaders for 30 years. The ruling class has remained the same with the same men and women and the same families. They just keep recycling them. I wonder what sort of democracy we have here. How they have managed to keep the youths myopic and distracted from the truth deserves study. How they have constantly been able to manipulate the young people of Nigeria and convince them to hate and pick up arms against their brothers simply because they speak a different language remains

a mystery to me. It saddens me greatly that we have such great a population of able bodied and enterprising young people, but the system has been set up to keep the rich richer and the poor poorer. Getting admitted into public universities can at this point be compared to getting a U.S visa. Graduating with a first class is a rare thing because to some lecturers, “A belongs to God and B belongs to your lecturer�. Isn’t it amazing how Nigerian students seem to excel in universities overseas but struggle in Nigeria? Getting a decent job based on merit is nearly impossible. Over the years, they have deliberately denied the youths the potential to grow and become leaders; rather they choose nepotism by using their own offsprings to fill

the few vacancies in the country. They exploit our vulnerability, and push young people into fraud, robbery, prostitution, kidnapping and what not. How do we continue to survive like this? One truth that is clear is that they don’t care about us. How can they? Their children are already set up for life- live large, study in private universities in Nigeria, or study abroad, and when they graduate, a job is waiting for them or a political position. The average Nigerian youth is completely on their own. We share the same plights; we suffer the same neglect and abuse. Truly, we are all we’ve got. Why then do we keep letting them manipulate us and use us to attain their evil ambitions? They use young men and women as political thugs to instigate hate speech and violence.

Why do we allow tribe and religion dictate who we should help, love or support? When do we realise that the only way to turn our lives around is to fight together and not against one another? Arise O’young people of Nigeria! Wake up and smell the coffee. The time has come for us to take charge of our own destinies. The time has come for us to lift one another up with love and resilience. Our leaders have failed us. It is now up to us to build a better Nigeria for ourselves, our children and for the future generations. It is up to us to show them how it should be done. It is up to us to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.

Chisom J. Omeokachie, PRNigeria, Abuja.

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INTERNATIONAL

Zimbabwe’s Post-Mugabe Era and the Challenge of Unconstitutional Legality

O

n Wednesday, 15th November, 2017, the people of Zimbabweplayedhosttoacoupd’Êtatthatneverwas. It was admittedly a coup that never was, because the Zimbabwean military forcefully removed President Robert Mugabe from power but still claimed that the removal was not a coup. Without any scintilla of doubt, it was a coup d’Êtat per excellence. The coup d’Êtat led to the removal of Robert Mugabe from power after 37 years and paved the way for his former Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to succeed him. In fact, the coup was interesting from different perspectives. First, it not only raises the critical issues of contradictions between moments of joy (for the new president) and sadness (for the ousted president), chicanery in African politics, and philosophy of resolving African problems by African leaders, on the one hand, but also how to deal with the challenge of democracy of unconstitutional legality that is gradually emerging as a basis of political governance in Africa, on the other. Additionally, the coup d’Êtat, led by the Chief of Army Staff of Zimbabwe, General Constantino Chiwenga, is an act that was largely unconstitutional both in conception and execution but legal in outcome. It was a coup, deductively speaking, initiated by Emmerson Mnangagwa, but in collaboration with the military and executed by the military, but which the people later accepted and acquiesced to. This is the rationale for the description of the coup as an act of unconstitutional legality. Second, the coup particularly raises the non-seriousness of purpose of many African leaders, especially in terms of their attitude towards political chicanery in the governance of Africa. What really is the problem of Zimbabwe? Is it that Robert Mugabe has stayed for too long in power? If it is, how do we explain the people’s acquiescence to the long stay? If the problem is not simply about the need to put behind dictatorship, what really is the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union able to do about the many other sit-tight leaders in Africa? Third, the standing rule of all African leaders is that, under no circumstance would any forceful change of government be condoned. Is the coup d’Êtat in Zimbabwe a forceful one? What makes a coup forceful? Is it when it is violent and when people are killed? When force is used, to what extent is the force measured to be eligible for consideration as a forceful change? More important, a forceful change can be considered as any act that is not constitutional, or more precisely in the thinking ofAfrican leaders, that is not democratic. Can it then be rightly argued that the General Chiwenga-led coup against an elected president, Robert Mugabe, is legitimate? We contend here that, at best, it is not constitutional. It is illegal and against theAfrican spirit, even if many people of Zimbabwe are happy about the coup. For now, there is nothing to suggest that it is actually not Emmerson Mnangagwa that initially planned the coup, because he also said: “I was in constant contact with the service chiefs throughout.â€? When did the contact with the Service Chiefs begin? Logically, it can be argued that the contact began following the removal of Emmerson Mnangagwa from office as Vice President. Additionally, the removal from office is enough reason to be much angered and then contemplate the need to unseat Robert Mugabe, more so that he had already alleged that there was an attempt to poison him. There was also the issue of Mrs. Grace Mugabe, who reportedly accused Emmerson Mnangagwa of disuniting the ZANU-PF and that she was going ‘to crush this big snake’s head.’ Mnangagwa responded that ‘so many lies were told.’ Without doubt, the big snake referred to is the new president and this is why he could state as follows: “I don’t know whose head has been crushed now.â€? By asking whose head has now been cut, is only clearly insinuating it is that of Robert Mugabe, who sacked him and that of Grace Mugabe, his wife, who was also put under house arrest with her husband. Fourth, many have argued that Robert Mugabe was very dictatorial, when he was in power. Whether or not he was, was his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, not part of his government during the alleged period of dictatorship? If he was, and true enough, what role did he play in the matter in his capacity as Vice President? In fact, President Mnangagwa’s given nickname is Ngwena, meaning a ‘crocodile.’ How do we explain this type of nickname in light of shedding the ‘crocodile tears’? Crocodile tears suggest lies and insincerity. In any case, for the Zimbabweans, the nickname is to recall his ‘fearsome power and ruthlessness,’ and nothing more. It should not be quickly forgotten that Emmerson Mnangagwa joined the Zimbabwean independence struggle in 1966 at a young age (he was born on September 15, 1942, hence at the age of 24 years) and had training in China and Egypt. He was arrested for his anti-colonial militancy and sentenced to capital punishment, but his sentence was commuted to 10 years of imprisonment as a result of his young age. It was largely because of this background of his that led to his appointment by President Mugabe as Minister of National Security. The problem, however, is that Emmerson Mnangagwa was the one who directed the Gukurahundi massacres, considered as ‘a brutal crackdown on opposition supporters that claimed thousands of lives in the Matabeleland and Midland provinces of Zimbabwe. Now, as President of Zimbabwe, to what extent is he likely to be tolerant of the opposition? When he returned from self-exile in South Africa, he ‘appealed to all genuine people of Zimbabwe to come together’, because as ‘we are all Zimbabweans, we need peace in our country and jobs, jobs, jobs.’ In this regard, who are the genuine people of Zimbabwe? Is it the ZANU-PF party members, on which he places

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

Mugbabe great emphasis? Without any jot of doubt, the differentiation between genuine and non-genuine people of Zimbabwe is already a people divided against itself. The new president can only have a good leeway to succeed if he sees himself as the president of the whole nation and not as the president of a section, the ‘genuine’ ones. This point is noteworthy because Mnangagwa told other Zimbabweans that those outside the Zanu-PF can “bark and complain. Let them bark while we carry on ruling the country� but the Zanu-PF train is moving forward, meaning that he would not be in a hurry to tolerate the opposition. In the light of this, what does the post-Robert Mugabe era look Like? In which way is President Emmerson Mnangagwa likely to be different from that of his friendly enemy not to say his mentor and comrade in arms? Will those crying Messiah today not become the crucifiers of tomorrow? Whatever is the case, time will tell. But before allowing time to tell, let us explicate some of the dynamics of Zimbabwe’s future, especially some of the critical issues involved domestically and externally. Dynamics of the Post-Mugabe Era The post-Mugabe era can be categorised into two: immediate and distant future. The immediate future is the period lasting until September 2018, when the general elections are scheduled to constitutionally take place under normal circumstance. The distant future commences from September 2018. At the domestic level, the pledges made by the new president cannot but constitute the main dynamics of political governance in the country. For instance, he not only promised to ensure the holding of elections come September 2018, but also that the elections would be free and fair. He wants to put an end to corruption in all its ramifications, as well as create jobs and jobs. This simply means that the economy is much likely to be given priority attention in the future. Mathew Davies, theAfrica Business Report editor has identified five ways of reviving the Zimbabwean economy after Mugabe: injection of hard currency as Zimbabwe ‘hasn’t had a currency of its own since 2009, after hyperinflation killed off the old Zimbabwean dollar’; the need to dump damaging policies and neutralising corruption. In this regard, the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act (IEEA) signed into law in 2009 and which placed 51% of companies into the hands of black Zimbabweans, has forced many companies to close down. In fact, ‘much of the farmland that was seized from white farmers ended up in the hands of army generals and the political elite; need to negotiate with foreign lenders, especially that the country has been in default on $9 billion for about 20 years; need to create a better environment for unemployment reduction and attraction of the Diaspora to return home. Unemployment is estimated at 90% while about 3 million of the total population of 16.15 million live abroad; and the need to create a Zimbabwean national currency. Zimbabwe had an average GDP per capita of USD 1,070.98 in the period 1960-2016. In 2016 alone, the per capita income was put at USD 908.80 by some observers. The highest per capita since 1960 was USD 1342.50 in 1998 while the lowest per capita was recorded

in 2008. As noted by the IMF World Economic Outlook in October 2017, Zimbabwe had a per capita income of USD 1,137 in 2015, USD 1,112 in 2016, and USD 1,150 as at October 2017. The per capita income appears to be witnessing growth and has to be sustained. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said in this case that Zimbabweans ‘are witnessing the beginning of a new democracy’ and that he wants ‘to grow our economy.’ The Zimbabwean army cannot but also continue to remain dynamic to be reckoned with in the immediate future. The military is currently the king maker. It had a sort of an entente cordiale with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, when he was Vice President. This special understanding will continue to the extent that the president’s policy decisions cannot be taken detrimentally to the interest of the military. The post-Mugabe era is basically to complete the tenure of Robert Mugabe coming to an end in September 2018. By implication, the need to prepare very well to satisfy public interest in order to have a better profile for the purposes of possible election cannot but be a priority. Perhaps, more importantly, as President Emmerson Mnangagwa has his supporters within the ZANU-PF ruling party, so has the former president, Robert Mugabe. The fact that Mnangagwa described Robert Mugabe as the father of the nation, as well as his mentor and comrade-in-arms has the potential to endear Mugabe’s followers. Additionally, the new president has noted his responsibility as serving ‘all citizens regardless of colour, creed, religion, tribe, totem or political affiliation.’ This is good. The challenge remains how to manage official relationship with the opposition, which is another important dynamic. There is the yet-to-be-known role of the new First Lady, Auxlia Mnangagwa.GraceMugabeisonrecordtohaveinfluencedherhusband to sack the Vice-President in order to create a vacuum to be possibly filled by her. Will the new First Lady be simply a spectator? Will she aspire to be a strong stakeholder in her husband’s administration? It is not likely that she will accept being relegated to the background. African women are increasingly showing keen interest in national and African politics with the objective of advancing the interests of women. Perhaps more important is the age factor of the new president: 75 years, 10 out of which he spent in the prison for attacking a train under the white minority rule and 37 years spent in government and party politics. As he is growing in age, the energy required to discharge official duties will continue to reduce in spite of his oath-taking led by the Chief Justice, Luke Malaba, during which he pledged to ‘be faithful to Zimbabwe’ protect and promote the rights and people of Zimbabwe,’ as well as discharge his duties to the best of his abilities. At the external level, President Emmerson Mnangagwa is much likely to be given support, especially by the British who had made several attempts to unseat Robert Mugabe, but to no avail. However, the support cannot but go along with much caution as the Zimbabwean economy is still largely seen as fragile. Besides, the performance of Mnangagwa in the immediate future is much likely to define how the international community will relate with Zimbabwe in the distant future. If the president does well on the basis of good governance and is able to also play to the admiration of the Breton Woods institutions, the people of Zimbabwe may begin to dream of better days coming. But, revamping the economy, ensuring political stability, and securing national sovereignty and territorial integrity cannot but remain a good dream without first and constructively addressing the conflict between regulatory policies, on the one hand, and the wishes of the people, on the other. There is also the problem of interpretation and ambiguities in many national constitutions. As we noted in this column on December 25, 2016, ‘the critical issue in the DRC (Congo Kinshasa) is the intention of President Joseph Kabila not to respect the interpretation of the new electoral law, which limits the presidential terms to only two. President Kabila has done two terms, if we reckon with his first term before the adoption of a new constitution in 2006. In fact, his second term expired on Tuesday, 20th December 2016, going by the old constitution. However, he never made any arrangement for election, not to mention admitting the possibility of any successor. President Kabila, who took over power in 2001, following the assassination of his father, Laurent Kabila, has the intention of interpreting the Constitution in such a way as to be allowed to have a third term contrary to the spirit of the present Constitution.’ In Zimbabwe, the rule of no forceful change of government favours Robert Mugabe but the wishes of the people, who considered that Robert Mugabe had overstayed for too long in power necessarily militate against the rule of the African Union. Consequently, the most critical challenge for Zimbabweans, in particular, and the whole people of Africa, in general, is how to reconcile policies, though good and desired at a point in time, but for reasons of force majeure, later become unwanted. And more interestingly, the case of removal of Robert Mugabe has necessarily raised the need to redefine forceful change of government and what constitutes a coup in Africa. At the end of the day, did Emmerson Mnangagwa, as Vice President, not plan a coup to oust his boss in order to pave the way for his own succession? He admitted having regular contacts with the military during the coup making. When will the military that eased out Robert Mugabe not come back to also remove the newly appointed president? Is Zimbabwe’s coup not new and not an elitist coup in which the objective is simply to change guards and not punitive, and in which security is provided under a house arrest, there is no criminal prosecution, and there is provision of full retirement benefits and honours, etc?

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

BUSINESS

Business Editor Vincent Obia Tel: 08054681757 Email: vincent.obia@thisdaylive.com

IEA: Lower Supply from Nigeria, Algeria, Iraq Dipped October OPEC Output by 80,000bpd Global energy needs to rise by 30% over 23 years, projects WEO

LAST WEEK CBN The Central Bank of Nigeria yet again injected$210millionintotheinter-bank Foreign Exchange Market on Monday. CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, in a statement said the interventions were in the Wholesale,SmallandMediumEnterprises, andinvisibleswindows.Okoraforsaidthe bank offered the $100 million to the wholesalesegment,whiletheSMEssegmentreceived$55million.Okoraforalso saidtheinvisiblessegment,comprising tuitionfees,medicalpayments,andBasic TravelAllowance,amongothers,received anallocationof$55million.Accordingto him, the releases are aimed at boosting liquidity, trade and ease of remittances for legitimate personal commitments. VAT Revenue generated from Value Added Taxincreasedby1.73percentinthethird quarterof2017,theNationalBureauof Statisticssaid.Thefigurewasannounced inasectoraldistributionofVATreportfor thirdquarter,2017postedonthebureau’s website.Thepostrevealedthatthefigure increased from N246.30 billion in the second quarter to N250.56 billion in thirdquarter.Italsostatedthatthefigure generatedinthequarterwashigherthan N196.70billionrecordedduringthesame periodin2016,representing1.73percent increasequarter-on-quarterand27.39 per cent increaseYear-on-Year. INFLATION Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria Godwin Emefiele said the apex bank wasworkinghardtorealiseitstargetof bringingtheinflationratedowntosingle digitsbynextyear.TheNationalBureauof StatisticssaidinitsConsumerPriceIndex ReportforOctoberthataverageheadline monthlyinflationrateforfivemonthsof theyear(JunetoOctober2017)stoodat 1.06percent.Thereportsaidtheyearly ratewas0.07percentpointslower,from 15.98 per cent in September to 15.91 per cent in October 2017. But the CBN governor,whospokeattheendofthetwodayMonetaryPolicyCommitteemeeting inAbuja,saidthebankwasworkinghard, withthesupportofothermonetaryand fiscalpolicyauthorities,tobringinflation down to single digits.

Barrels of oil

Kunle Aderinokun Due mainly to lower supply from Nigeria, Algeria and Iraq, the OPEC crude output in the month of October dropped by 80,000 barrel per day, the Oil Market Report for November has revealed. This came to light as the World Energy Outlook 2017 has projected that the global needs for energy would rise by 30 per cent between now and 2040. The rise, the outlook pointed out, would be equivalent of adding another China and India to today’s global demand. According to the November OMR, which was released alongside the WEO 2017 by the International Energy Agency (IEA), recently, “output of 32.53 mb/d, the lowest since May, was down 830 kb/d from the record rates seen a year ago.” The IEA in the OMR, explained that the aforementioned proportion of drop in output were as a result of real interruptions in Iraq where shipments from the North fell by an estimated 170 kb/d in October, as well as lower production in Algeria, Nigeria and Venezuela. “These supply disruptions, geopolitical concerns, a growing expectation that the OPEC/ non-OPEC output accord will be extended through 2018 at the end of the month, and with demand growth still robust,” it added, “largely explain firmer prices.” Pointing out that, the compliance

ENERGY rate with supply cuts in October was 96 per cent, the report added that, for the year-to-date, it was 87 per cent. The OMR explained that higher prices and relatively mild early winter temperatures contributed to a downward review of IEA’s demand forecast. “Growth has been revised down by 0.1 mb/d for both 2017 and 2018 and we now see increases of 1.5 mb/d in 2017 (or 1.6 per cent), to 97.7 mb/d, and 1.3 mb/d in 2018 (or 1.3 per cent) to 98.9 mb/d,” it noted. Nevertheless, the OMR stated that global oil supply rose 100 kb/d in October to 97.5 mb/d on higher flows from non-OPEC countries. According to the report, “production was 470 kb/d below a year ago, with OPEC supply sharply down from high 4Q16 levels. Non-OPEC supply is expected to rise by 0.7 mb/d in 2017 and 1.4 mb/d next year, led by higher US output.” It recalled that Hurricane Harvey contributed to OECD industry stocks falling by 40 mb in September to below 3,000 mb for the first time in two years. “Global stocks dropped by 63 mb in 3Q17, only the second quarterly draw since 2014. In October, stocks drew in the US and likely in China, but rose elsewhere.” Similarly, the OMR reported that benchmark crude prices increased

by $1-2 per barrel in October versus September and pushed higher in early November, buoyed by tensions in the Middle East. Oil product markets weakened relative to crude following the return of US refineries to higher throughput levels. For 4Q17, it noted that, “Our refining throughput forecast is revised marginally lower to 80.8 mb/d, but refined product inventories are forecast to build as demand seasonally slows down. Relatively robust refining This came to light as the World Energy Outlook 2017 has projected that the global needs for energy would rise by 30 per cent between now and 2040. The rise, the outlook pointed out, would be equivalent of adding another China and India to today’s global demand

activity level continues into January and February 2018, with runs forecast to grow 1.1 mb/d y-o-y.” Besides, the November OMR stated: “Our analysis of global oil balances implies oversupplied crude oil markets in 4Q17 and 1Q18. While refined product inventories are also forecast to increase, the main oil stock draws are expected from increased seasonal demand for LPG.” Meanwhile, the WEO 2017 noted that its projection on the global energy demand was strengthened by “a global economy growing at an average rate of 3.4 per cent per

year, a population that expands from 7.4 billion today to more than 9 billion in 2040, and a process of urbanisation that adds a city the size of Shanghai to the world’s urban population every four months.” According to the report, “The largest contribution to demand growth – almost 30 per cent – comes from India, whose share of global energy use rises to 11 per cent by 2040 (still well below its 18 per cent share in the anticipated global population). “Southeast Asia is another rising heavyweight in global energy, with demand growing at twice the pace of China. Overall, developing countries in Asia account for two-thirds of global energy growth, with the rest coming mainly from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America,” it added. The WEO 2017, themed: A World in Transformation, explained that, “Four large-scale shifts in the global energy system set the scene for the World Energy Outlook 2017: the rapid deployment and falling costs of clean energy technologies, the growing electrification of energy, the shift to a more services-oriented economy and a cleaner energy mix in China, and the resilience of shale gas and tight oil in the United States.” These shifts, it noted, came at “a time when traditional distinctions between energy producers and consumers are being blurred and a new group of major developing countries, led by India, moves towards centre stage.”

FACEBOOK Facebookannouncedanewnationwide initiativeinNigeriatofurtherbroadenits presenceandinvestmentinthecountry. Theinitiativeinvolvesaseriesofhighprofilepartnerships,trainingprogrammes, and a physical space that will serve as a centreforlearningandskillsdevelopment. Facebook said the move was aimed at helpingtodevelopandnurturecommunities,includingSMEs,thetechandstart-up ecosystem, and youths. In partnership withCCHub,Facebooksaiditwillbeopeningthedoorstoitsfirstcommunityhub spaceinLagosearlynextyear.“NG_HUB from Facebook” will be a multi-faceted creativespace,whichwillconnectandbring together developers, start-ups and the wider community to exchange ideas. INTELS AsthebattlebetweentheOilandGasFree ZonesAuthorityandIntelsraged,sixsister companiesofthefirmthatwereoperating in the Onne FreeTrade Zone pulled out. Before the disagreement with OGFZA, IntelsalsohaddifferenceswiththeNigerianPortsAuthorityoveritsrevocationof apilotagecontractawardedtothefirm. ThefirmshadnotifiedtheOGFZAoftheir intentionstowithdrawfromtheOnnefree tradezone,promptingthelattertowrite theImmigrationServicerequestingthe cancellation of the visas of expatriates working for the companies. Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Servicerevokedtheresidentvisasofthe expatriatesandinstructedthemtoleave thecountrybeforeNovember30orrisk deportation.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Kemi Adeosun, Finance Minister

Despite Tepid Q3 GDP, FG Must Sustain Structural Reforms to Consolidate Growth For most economic experts, including those with multilateral financial organisations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, an economic growth of 1.4 per cent for Nigeria in 2017 is unimaginable. But in its characteristic manner, Nigeria achieved the unexpected growth three months after it emerged from its worst recession in two decades. Notwithstanding the remarkable growth, the federal government has been asked to strengthen the recovery process. Kunle Aderinokun and Bamidele Famoofo report

I

n second quarter of fiscal year 2017, Nigeria, biggest economy in Africa, emerged from an economic recession which lasted about five quarters.The 0.55 per cent growth at the end of second quarter, which was later revised to 0.72 per cent was considered weak by economic analysts and there were concerns on sustainability of the growth . But three months later, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), disclosed that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has again grown by 1.4 per cent, which means GDP almost doubled compared with 0.72 per cent growth recorded in the preceding quarter. Beyond doubling its GDP, it is to the nation’s credit that it has surpassed growth projections of both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for 2017. IMF/World Bank Projections IMF raised projections for Nigeria’s economy to grow 0.8 per cent in 2017 and also revised its growth forecast for Nigeria in 2018 to 2.3 per cent. This was contained in its January 2017 World Economic Outlook –“A Shifting Global Economic Landscape. The latest forecast for Nigeria was revised based on prospects of higher oil production due to security improvement. The IMF growth projection for Nigeria came a week after the World Bank projected Nigeria’s GDP to grow by one per cent in 2017.

Q3 GDP But the reality according to the Statistician General, NBS, Dr.Yemi Kale, is that Nigeria’s economic growth at three months before the end of 2017 has surpassed what both the IMF and World Bank could envisage. “The nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew in Q3 2017 by 1.40 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms, the second consecutive positive growth since the emergence of the economy from recession in Q2 2017. This growth is 3.74 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 (-2.34 per cent) and higher by 0.68 per cent

points from the rate recorded in the preceding quarter, which was revised to 0.72 per cent from 0.55 per cent (Q2 was revised following revision by NNPC to oil output and hence led to revision to Oil GDP). Quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was 8.97 per cent”, the NBS GDP report for third quarter 2017 disclosed. According to the NBS GDP report, Nigeria’s aggregate GDP stood at over N29.45trillion in nominal terms higher when compared to over N26.55 trillion in Q3 2016, resulting in a Nominal GDP growth of 10.98 per cent. This growth is higher relative to

On the negative side, Jacobs indicated that it meant that “the growth rate may not be sustainable because productive sectoral groups performed extremely poor in Q3 recording negative growth with the Non Metallic being the biggest loser receding by -2.02per cent; followed by Motor Vehicle Assembly -1.54per cent; followed by the Basic metal, Iron and Steel that plummeted by -0.48per cent; with the Cement sub-sector following closely with -0.40per cent

growth recorded in Q3 2016 of 9.15 per cent. The report puts Nigeria’s year to date Real GDP growth at 0.43 per cent as at end of September 2017. Analysts Meanwhile, there are differing thoughts from experts over the improved economic growth in the third quarter period. They were, however, united in expressing no surprise at the impressive Q3 growth rate, especially with the rising fortunes of oil. In a swift response, the World Bank stated that notwithstanding Nigeria’s positive economic growth in Q3, the country needed to address what it identified as the many fiscal challenges at the different levels of government. The World Bank Lead Economist for Nigeria, Ulrich Bartsch, said:“In light of the continuing fiscal pressures, there is a strong need to strengthen the performance of the states through the full and sustained implementation of reforms to increase internally-generated revenues and state spending efficiency, and to strengthen state debt management and fiscal transparency.” The bank stated that while all states have made progress on the reform measures included in the 22-point Fiscal Sustainability Plan, implementation is incomplete. In its view, Renaissance Capital said Nigeria’s GDP growth remained on track to meet its 0.7 percent forecast for 2017 though recovery is lopsided. The

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Despite Impressive Q3 GDP, FG Must Sustain Structural Reforms to Consolidate Growth Cont’d from Pg.. 18 report, which analysed the third quarter performance of the Nigerian economy pointed out that the growth has largely been driven by the oil sector.“Outside of agriculture, the remaining two-thirds of the economy is sluggish. Manufacturing’s return to negative growth territory highlights the fragility of this recovery. That said, we think GDP growth remains on track to meet our 0.7 per cent forecast for 2017. We expect the stepping up of government capex and pick-up in demand, on the back of improved FX liquidity, to help lift growth to 2 per cent in 2018. The consumer confidence index’sYtD upturn, since it bottomed in 4Q16, suggests demand is picking up, albeit off a low base. The lopsidedness of the recovery implies downside risk to our 2018 forecast”, Renaissance Capital added Also, President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr. Frank Jacobs, noted that the principal factor that contributed to the growth in the nation’s GDP in the 3rd quarter was the upward swing in the quantity of crude oil production and price. This, he pointed out, was“evident in improvement in oil production by 0.42million barrels per day relative to the corresponding quarter in 2016 and 0.16million barrels higher than the revised output of Q2.” Equally critical to this is the oil production cut exemption granted Nigeria in 2015 by OPEC in compensation for producing below allotted quantity in the last few years, Jacobs added. “Other factors include the obvious improvement in sourcing of Forex, relative stability in exchange rates, seeming improvement in the price of crude oil, global rating of the country on Ease of Doing Business, introduction of new policies, regulatory environment, general perception of the business community that government would effectively implement development oriented policies, receding inflation and on-going nationwide upgrade in infrastructure.” Jacobs noted that by recording a consecutive positive growth at an incremental rate growing from 0.72per cent (revised) in Q2 to 1.40per cent in Q3, “Nigeria is now on the part to strengthening her recovery from recession.” “It is however important to note that this growth rate is increasing at a decreasing rate which should be a cause for concern. Equally worrisome is the fact that the productive sector like manufacturing, construction, trade, coal mining that ideally should drive meaningful and sustainable growth, all dipped into the realm of negative growth. Equally noteworthy is the fact that NBS report shows that the non-oil sector experienced negative growth of -0.76per cent while the economy grew positively and the oil sector appeared to have contributed entirely to the growth of the economy in the quarter,“ he added. Jacobs, who stated that looking at the issue from the point of view of a manufacturer, the implications were numerous, pointed out that, on the positive side, it means that things are looking up. According to him, “The oil sector being the mainstay of the economy has broken the jinx of negative growth over the years and hopefully would be positioned to provide the much needed employment.” Similarly, he said “This also portends likely improvement in investment, consolidation of the extrication of the economy from recession and expectation of better days ahead.” On the negative side, Jacobs indicated that it meant that“the growth rate may not be sustainable because productive sectoral groups performed extremely poor in Q3 recording negative growth with the Non Metallic being the biggest loser, receding by -2.02per cent; followed by Motor Vehicle Assembly -1.54per cent; followed by the Basic metal, Iron and Steel that plummeted by -0.48per cent; with the Cement sub-sector following closely with -0.40per cent.” “You may agree with me that with the aforementioned negative growth rates recorded by the productive sector with manufacturing recording -2.58per cent; all is not well yet and I boldly say that Nigeria may not be entirely through with recession,” he cautioned, urging that the government adopt an urgent measure to arrest these downward trend before the economy recedes into recession. Given this scenario, Jacobs demanded that the government rise to the occasion by further deploying strategic synthesis of fiscal and monetary policies, further make the operating environment friendlier, enhance the purchasing power of average Nigerians, further support the manufacturing, agriculture, telecoms and oil and gas with comprehensive and integrated support system that would guarantee meaningful growth. According to him,“The manufacturing sector at the moment still requires stable and adequate enabling environment, a reliable policy support systems that would effectively address existing familiar challenges like inadequate power and dearth of basic infrastructure prevalent in the sector.”

A textile plant... the manudacturing sector still recorded negative growth In his view, Director General, West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Prof. Akpan Ekpo, the Q3 positive growth of 1.4 per cent was a welcome development, indicating that the economy was on a recovery path after exiting the recession. He, however, added that,“it is still to a large extent the oil story.” Also, Ekpo noted that,“In addition, fiscal policy, that is, spending on capital projects is beginning to have marginal but positive effect on the economy.” “However, vital sectors registered such as manufacturing and its sub-sectors grew negatively; only agriculture showed positive growth rate when compared to last quarter and same quarter of last year. It should be noted that the economy is still in a stagflation phase as shown by high rates of unemployment and double-digit rate of inflation. Government needs to spend more and sustain structural reforms to ensure that the growth of GDP at least equal the growth rate of population,”he added. In the same vein, Director, Union Capital Ltd, Egie Akpata, said given the significant improvement in oil prices and stability in the FX market, GDP growth of 1.4 per cent was not a surprise. Akpata added that compared to the population growth rate of 2.8 per cent, the current growth rate was not something to celebrate. He believed the government would have to execute more ambitious plans to get growth back above 5 per cent at which point the masses might feel some positive impact. A lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, Lagos Business School (LBS), Dr. Bongo Adi, acknowledged that the growth was unexpected. He was, however, quick to attribute the surprise growth to improved developments in the international oil and gas market, which he said was the only reason Nigeria was able to record the growth. “The reason why we exited recession in the first place was because of the improved earnings the nation got from the international oil market, which boosted government’s revenue, eased tension in the local foreign exchange market. This, however, does not mean we are out of the woods”, Adi disclosed. The LBS economist pointed out that Nigeria’s economic recovery as seen in the last two quarters was not due to its capability to produce. According to Dr. Bongo Adi, Nigeria remains the least undiversified economy in the world at the moment. But a seasoned economist, Dr. Boniface Chizea, says the drivers of Nigeria’s economy must be given some credit for taking the nation out of recession and further deepening the growth achieved in second quarter, which led to GDP doubling in third quarter. Though Chizea, like Adi, acknowledged that oil remained Nigeria’s biggest growth driver, he said other policy measures adopted by organs of government like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), have helped improved economic growth. Chizea noted that the CBN’s Investors’and Exporters’ (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market had increased the confidence of foreign investors in Nigerian

markets, which is one of the other reasons why the economy had recorded increasing growth beginning from second quarter in 2017. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the end of its last meeting in 2017 held in Abuja last week, noted that the I&E window had increased liquidity and boosted confidence in the market with over US$18.70 billion in transactions since its introduction in April 2017. Head, Research, SCM Capital (formerly Sterling Capital Markets Limited), Mr. Sewa Wusu, told THISDAY that the efforts of government to achieve the growth must be commended. He, however, cautioned that economic predictions by the IMF and World Bank were usually modest. “Sustaining growth after recession is a big achievement and it suggests that the potential for economic growth is bright”. He wants government to keep stimulating the economy to sustain the third quarter growth of 1.4 per cent. Nevertheless, Wusu believed conscious efforts must be made by government to ascertain that the ordinary Nigerian feels the impact of economic growth, which he argued is yet to trickle down to Nigerians. Like others, Wusu noted that resurgent in oil price helped Nigeria to achieve the growth, said the impact of efforts to diversify the economy by government through agriculture and other means will soon begin to reduce the domineering impact of oil on the revenue of government. He, however, warned that the ability of government to implement the budget and also monitor its workability as well as creating the right environment for investment will keep the country on the path of growth perpetually. The CEO, Global Analytics Consulting, Tope

The economy is still in a stagflation phase as shown by high rates of unemployment and double-digit rate of inflation. Government needs to spend more and sustain structural reforms to ensure that the growth of GDP at least equal the growth rate of population

Fasua, said it was news, given where Nigeria was coming from. “We should believe that the economy is finally on a positive trajectory that we can only build upon. The issues still remain - inclusiveness of the growth for one. There is also the fact that with inflation still at double digits, and population growth around 4per cent, what we have is still negative growth in real terms. I personally believe Nigeria oughtn’t have gone into a recession in the first place,”he said. Fasua noted that the‘unfortunate’occurrence was due to a combination of bad policy miscues and political nonchalance at the highest levels of our leadership.“The pains of the recent years have been excruciating for most Nigerians. Businesses have been destroyed and jobs lost. I believe that the managers of the economy should now understand the urgency of our predicament. Until the day Nigeria grows at 15 per cent per annum, we would not have arrived.” Corroborating Fasua, CEO, The CFG Advisory Ltd, Adetilewa Adebajo, posited that the GDP growth recovery was now on a sustained upward trajectory, which was positive. He, however, added that,“The growth rate is still very fragile and fiscal issues still persist that constrain growth.” “The growth is also nowhere above our population growth rate of 3 per cent which will be the benchmark for a sustainable growth rate that will drive the economy from recovery mode to realistic economic growth,” Adebajo also submitted. To the CEO/Lead Consultant, Sound Invest Ltd, Mr. Wale Champion, much more is expected from government to drive economic growth in Nigeria. He said despite the exit of recession and the consolidated growth recorded in third quarter, state of infrastructure in Nigeria, which should be a key driver of investment into the country, was far from the expected.“The fact that oil is the only reason why GDP is growing shows that we are not totally in control of the economy. I don’t believe that OPEC will not still cut oil price in 2018 and it can be very challenging to keep depending on revenue from the sales of commodities to run your economy”, he lamented. Outlook The Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN said forecasts of key macroeconomic variables indicate a positive outlook for the economy up to Q1 2018. But the committee predicated its forecast on continued implementation of the 2017 budget into early 2018. It said in the communiqué of its November 2017 meeting in Abuja that anticipated improvements in government revenue from the implementation of theVoluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) as well as favourable crude oil prices, will keep sustaining the economy. “The development finance initiatives by the CBN in the real sector, particularly in agriculture, are expected to continue to yield positive results in terms of output expansion and job creation”, the committee said.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

BUSINESS/AVIATION

L-R: Council President, ICAO, Dr. Olumuyiwa Aliu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Minister of State (Aviation), Hadi Sirika, and President, AfDB, Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina at the conference

At ICAO Conference, Africa’s Airport Infrastructure, Taxation Take Centre Stage At the just-concluded ICAO World Aviation Forum organised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation in collaboration with the federal government, industry experts identified poor airport infrastructure, high taxation of airlines and non-liberalisation of Africa’s airspace as key factors that stunt growth of air transport sector in the continent. Chinedu Eze writes

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or the first time, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) held the ICAO World Aviation Forum (IWAF) outside Montreal, Canada, the headquarters of the global body and the choice was Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. The event, which was themed“Financing the Development of Aviation Infrastructure,” brought in industry stakeholders from all over the world to Nigeria’s capital where they brainstormed and came up with key solutions to solving the problem of air transport in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. The key issues raised at the conference included the urgent need to expand airport infrastructure because of the rapid growth of air travellers in the continent, sourcing fund to build these necessary facilities and how to expand the African travel market, which many of the experts believe has huge potential and how to empower African airlines to curb the dominance of European and Middle East airlines that give back little in return for the huge profit they make from their African destinations. Funding The Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who played host at the conference, said in his address that according to the Nigeria Integrated infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), $775billion was required to develop Nigeria’s transportation infrastructure over the next 30 years. Also the African Development Bank (AfDB) estimated $35 billion per year from 2010-2020 was needed to fund airport facilities. Sirika noted that to develop airport infrastructure there was need for funding from the private sector and urged international financiers and funding agencies to put their money into Nigeria’s airport infrastructure. “I strongly believe that Nigeria is the place to put your money not only because we moved up 24 places in ease of doing business recently but more so because the rate of return on investment is 34 per cent- one of the highest in the world. The Nigerian government together with relevant stakeholders developed a roadmap that included but not by any means limited to: safety and security, infrastructure strengthening: Concession

of Airports (starting with Abuja, Lagos. Kano. And Port Harcourt), establishment of a national carrier (private sector led); establishment of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) centre, establishment of an aviation leasing company (ALC), development of agro cargo terminal and associated infrastructure, establishment of an aviation/aeronautical university ) and the development of aerotropolis. “In executing the roadmap, which is private sector-led through PPP, the government has engaged internationally reputable transaction advisers for the various components in accordance with the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission Act (ICRC) of 2007 and also in-line with global best practices. These advisers have since commenced work,” the minister said. Investment The AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said the African aviation industry needed huge investment, especially in infrastructure expansion and modernisation because of the growing passenger movement and the funding of aircraft acquisition to make it easy for African airlines to increase the number of their operating aircraft. According to him,“We need to develop airport terminal capacity to expand passenger growth, develop regional aviation hubs to improve connectivity, and upgrade air navigational services and air traffic control to improve safety. Modern and cheaper technologies such as the satellite based air navigation services now preclude the need for ground infrastructure, and make it possible to serve remote areas with radars. We must also develop within Africa, aircraft maintenance services and strengthen regional and sub-regional aviation safety agencies.” Adesina said Africa needed to procure about 970 jets and 700 turboprops over the next 20 years, noting that financing needs would exceed $150 billion. He added that African aviation needed fleet modernisation, efficiencies, better connectivity and much improved quality of services for an exponential growth in the number of passengers. “The fact is Africa faces much higher costs for aircraft purchases due to the relatively small size of most airlines, weak balance sheets for corporate loans, a lack of access to export credit agreements, higher insurance costs, inability of commercial banks to provide long term financing, and very high

interest rates when they do. Africa also does not have any aircraft leasing markets, and therefore has to lease planes at much higher costs, sometimes 100 percent higher than developed economies. There is a compelling need to address market failures in aircraft financing,” said. High Taxation Adesina averred that, what had significantly contributed to the stunted growth and development of air transport in Africa was the high taxes leveled on airlines by government agencies and that explains why the region loses about 80 per cent of its market to foreign airlines. According to him, it costs much more to travel in Africa than any other part of the world by air and that has undermined the growth of the sector in the region, thus denying the continent thousands of more jobs that would have been created by the aviation industry. “The cost of air travel in Africa remains exorbitantly high and is 200 per cent more than costs in the European Union and 250 per cent higher than in India for similar distances. “A big part of this is the very high taxes, fees, and levies that are charged in Africa. For example, it costs $128 to fly between London and Rome, but $597 to fly between Abidjan and Niamey, a shorter distance. And just to go from Johannesburg in South Africa, to next door neighbor Lilongwe in Malawi, the cost is $406. Again, a much shorter distance than from London to Rome. “If you require another example of this serious imbalance, consider for a moment that taxes paid for a Lagos to Kinshasa ticket amounts to $397 which is 300 percent higher than the total air travel costs between London and Rome. And that’s just the taxes alone!” he said. Adesina also lamented that Africa’s aviation growth was held back by very restrictive regulatory environments, which limit market size, profitability, and drive up costs. Noting that a study by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed that liberalising aviation markets through open skies for 12 African countries alone would increase annual GDP by $1.3 billion and create an additional 150,000 jobs, he remarked that essentially, open skies meant more jobs and increased trade and investments.

Urgent Need The President of ICAO Council, Dr Bernard Aliu, who is also a Nigerian, emphasised that there were challenges with aviation infrastructure in Africa, noting that by 2020 most airports in the continent would exceed their capacity due to the projected high growth of passengers in the region. He regretted that during the period, there would be increase in the number of passengers, who travel by air and the airport facilities that would be overstretched might not be expanded to meet the passenger surge. This, he said, would become an impediment to airport operation. “So the airport infrastructure has to be ready for that growth. This is not limited to airport terminals but includes runways and taxiways; landing aids, meteorological equipment and others. The African Development Bank and World Bank are looking at ways towards the funding of airport facilities. It is better to invest in airport infrastructure in Africa to make them consistent with global standard,” Aliu said. Liberalisation The Secretary General of African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), Mrs. Iyabo Sosina, stressed that Nigeria and other African countries would benefit hugely from the Yamoussoukro Decision, which is open sky policy for Africa endorsed by African states since 1999 but yet to be implemented. She said it would open the door for the liberation of African sky, which would give a boost to air transport in the region with the attendant economic explosion and huge growth in the continent’s GDP . Sosina pointed out that before now only 11 countries agreed to adopt the open sky policy, including Nigeria, but as at last week, the number of countries agreed to embrace the open sky policy had increased to 23. The implementation of theYamoussoukro Decision would commence in January 2018. Perhaps it was not a coincidence that the ICAO World Aviation Forum, which largely dwelled on how to develop air transport in Africa was hosted in African heartland, Abuja, Nigeria. With pledges made by international and regional financiers in their commitment to infrastructure development of airports, it is hoped that the dream of having modern, expanded airport facilities would be realised.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

BUSINESS INTERVIEW

Ohuabunwa

PHOTOS: Vincent Obia

Ohuabunwa: FG Should Adopt 3 Yearly Budget Cycle, With Annual Adjustments Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa is an entrepreneur, social worker, and author. A pharmacist by profession, Ohuabunwa was president of the West African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, president of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, and chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. He was Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer Products Limited. In 1997, he led the management buyout of Pfizer Inc. from the company, transforming it to Neimeth International Pharmaceutical Plc., and also becoming its President/Chief Executive Officer. Ohuabunwa bemoans the persistent problem of poor budget implementation in Nigeria and recommends as solution a change in the country’s budget cycle, from the current yearly cycle to a three or four yearly cycle. He says this would give the necessary time and opportunity for the execution of capital projects and ensure better budget performance. With hindsight, he also talks about ways to build a strong industrial base and grow the country’s economy. Ohuabunwa speaks with Vincent Obia. Excerpts:

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resident Muhammadu Buhari recently presented to the National Assembly the 2018 budget of N8.612 trillion, with 30.8 per cent of the budget earmarked for capital expenditure. Do you have much faith in this budget? I think it is time for us to rethink our budget cycle, because it looks like this has become a mere ritual. Every year, the

executive will write a budget, and then go and make a show and dance at the National Assembly. The National Assembly will say they are doing hearing. They go forward and backward. They argue on exchange rate, oil price, etc. Then there is an argument whether National Assembly has the right to increase the budget. Finally, the president is more or less blackmailed to assent to the budget with all the padding. But at the time he is assenting to the budget, he has made

up his mind that nobody would fund all those things they added. So we start budget implementation sometimes middle of the year. After a few months, we are told the budget year has ended and all unspent monies must be returned. When you check, the best that would happen is a 50 per cent capital utilisation. Then we start another cycle. I say we should rethink it.

So you are not excited about the

prospects of the growing capital budget? The intentions are wonderful. N8.6 trillion budget is great, but how much are we going to spend producing real result? We have made budgets in the last 18 years, but how much result have we received. I believe we need to change this budgeting process if it will produce result. I’m no longer excited that x amount is allocated to capital projects, etc., because at the end of the day you find that what was allocated has no relationship with

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

BUSINESS INTERVIEW

Excessive Influence of Politics on Economy Disincentivising Foreign Direct Investment

will tell you that your life and property are safe. They show you infrastructure, they have power. They will tell you they have good roads and those things that would reduce your cost and make your work pleasurable. They will tell you that corruption is not high, that this is a nation where you come to do business and people treat you well. That is what people who are looking for FDI do.

what was utilised. Usually, the cash backing is lagging behind the budget. It didn’t start today, but it is getting much more ludicrous.

What can be done to make the country’s budgets more viable? We should do a three to four year budget cycle, in which case government submits one budget in one year, maybe the year they came to power, and let it be a budget that would run for three or four years. Now, every year it is the same thing – budget of consolidation, budget of change – but nothing is changing. What we are saying is, write a three or four-year budget, broken into years with different assumptions and send to the National Assembly. The National Assembly approves it, and budget implementation starts and goes seamlessly one year after another. After each year, you do a kind of retouch based on changed assumptions or conditions. But let’s have budgets that would run seamlessly, so that we have three, four years to build roads, not the current situation where contractors mobilise and demobilise because money has stopped coming. Let money flow. Capital projects are not one year projects. The National Assembly spends half of the year talking about budget. But if you do a three or four-year budget, it would give them more time for legislation and oversight, and even create opportunity for part-time legislature that is being recommended in an effort to save money for capital expenditure. We are spending so much money to service bureaucracy at the three tiers of government. We are eating up our seed. If you eat up your seed, what do you have to plant? What is happening to us is not witchcraft or magic. They are consequences for the way we have organised our politics and the economy. If we do not change it, we frustrate ourselves and the government. It is as if government is doing nothing. But they are struggling to do something.

What would you say about the recent improvements in the economy? Our economy is improving now, not because of what government is doing, largely, but because of oil prices that are rising again. More foreign exchange is made available; more goods are imported, etc. That is not the fundamental change in our economy. We need to invest properly and create the appropriate infrastructure and invest in human capital development that would give us the competitive advantage. If you look at countries that transited from Third World to First Word, you would notice that they did four things. First, they invested a lot in human capital development. Second, they focused on attracting investment. Third, they had an open trade opportunity, where trade was emphasised and they removed obstacles to trade. Four, they ensured there was law and order, and protection of intellectual property, where people can spend their money and energy building businesses and they are certain that nobody would acquire those businesses or take them by force, if they bring money they can also take them out. So the ease of doing business affects the growth of an economy.

Do you really think the budgeting cycle you are recommending is feasible under Nigeria’s political circumstances – just like many other developing countries? When last did you hear that the American president was submitting or defending budget in their Congress? You can’t hear this song and dance we do here in Nigeria. In the developed countries, they make lump sum budgets, which are revalidated every year. In the U.S., for instance, they have approved their budget for another 10 years. Even though other developing countries are not doing it, why can’t we do it? Nigeria started the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, which is exactly what I am recommending. But all they do in the MTEF is to make assumptions; they don’t build up a budget. They make assumptions and send to the National Assembly, and those assumptions are mainly what they bring to the national budget. In fact, I suggest that you send your budget to the National Assembly electronically. We don’t have to go to the National Assembly carrying bags to make a show and then, create high expectations that are

Cont’d from Pg. 21

The question of political stability…

Ohuabunwa dashed in the end. It has a negative effect on the people, government, and the economy. We can prepare one budget with clearly established principle and direction, which can be adjusted yearly in line with changing assumptions. This yearly trips to the National Assembly by the executive to defend budgets promote corruption and inefficiency. You are doing something that is not producing good result, why should you continue doing it? Why don’t you develop the MTEF, which is a three-year plan, as a budget and stop this every year circus? Convert the MTEF to full budget. In any case, the assumptions don’t really change, except when oil prices drop.

How economically sustainable is the current practice of basing the budget on oil money? I have proposed that oil money should be put out of our budget. The finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, says we are not an oil economy, but the day we put oil out of our budget is when I will believe her. In Norway, for instance, they invest their oil money in a sovereign wealth and take the income yields or dividends and put in the budget. You can say that is not an oil economy. But ours is an oil economy pure and pure. Oil is giving us more than 90 per cent of foreign exchange, even though its contribution to GDP has declined to about 10 per cent. It means the other sectors that contribute 90 per cent of GDP give us 10 per cent of foreign exchange. We can make those contributing 90 per cent of GDP to generate their own foreign exchange. In developed countries, businesses generate their foreign exchange. They are not in this business of allocating foreign exchange. The key things we are supposed to pay attention to, we are not sufficiently paying attention to them.

But are there areas the current government is doing well economically? Of course, there are a few things going on, I must admit. In the area of ease of doing business, which is one of the things that drive investment and global competitiveness, we have seen government make effort, and we must acknowledge that. For once, we are looking at the issues holding us down and we are beginning to address them. But all of us know that what needs to be done is a lot more than what we are doing. And the question is, these things we have done, are they sustainable, knowing the motivation of our public service? I admit that government

is making some effort, but that effort would be undermined by this inability to implement budgets successfully.

Why is Nigeria not attracting sufficient foreign investment, especially, foreign direct investment? There are a couple of reasons. The first is the image of our country. We still present the image of a people who are laidback as a government. We are not seen as aggressively competing, because foreign direct investment is like water. It goes down the hill, it follows gravity. It follows the least line of resistance. Where it is easy to go, where there is no much resistance, it goes. Where it is better rewarded, it goes. FDI is cowardly, immediately you frighten it, it runs away. So countries that have understood that go out of their way to court FDI. The same way people come to sell Coca Cola, that is the way countries sell themselves. What do they sell? They sell their potentials as a nation, how you can make a lot of money if you invest in their nation. They tell you that you can bring your money and go out with it, there is no restriction. They tell you that there is intellectual protection. They tell you that their legal system works. If somebody monkeys with you, you can take him to court and in a very short while, you will get a resolution. They

Write a three or fouryear budget, broken into years with different assumptions and send to the National Assembly. The National Assembly approves it, and budget implementation starts and goes seamlessly one year after another. After each year, you do a kind of retouch based on changed assumptions or conditions

Their politics is stable. They don’t change policies anyhow. They don’t cancel contracts, as we saw with Intels recently. Somebody just sat down, he has never built a kiosk before, he doesn’t know what it means to borrow money from a bank to build a business. He just wrote that this contract is cancelled. A contract that has been on for over 20 years! I was reading in the papers recently about how many other firms were pulling out of Onne. Onne has become a major export hub for oil and gas. Onne is declining. It doesn’t matter what it costs the economy, as long as we achieve our political objective of getting back at somebody. This kind of nation is not serious. We are not a serious nation when it comes to attracting foreign investment. Foreign investors look at political stability. They look at how you integrate politics into your economy. If politics thrives above economy, they are afraid because policies can change tomorrow. It has happened severally in Nigeria. In fact, it is so bad that you cannot even predict continuity within a given party. One president comes, he jettisons what the previous president from his own party has done. It is worse when they are from different parties. So we have not matured. Public sector is domineering in the economic sphere. There must be separation between the levers of politics and the levers of economy.

But beyond politics, Nigeria has a lot of innate potential. We have fundamentally attractive things. First, we have the population. If not for the drop in oil price and the delay by this government in responding to the situation, which brought us into recession, Nigeria was beginning to grow into a middle income country. The number of middle income earners was growing; many companies were coming into our country to sell their products. The market is one of the things that attract investment. We have a good climate. We have a stable earth crust. We don’t have earthquakes and some of these violent earth issues. Besides, we are significant in Africa. We always tell our foreign partners, if you want to play in Africa, then you can’t run away from Nigeria. South Africa and Nigeria are the most significant countries in Africa. That geopolitical position puts us in a good place. But when they look at us and dig through, they discover an uninspiring leadership, a leadership that doesn’t have a proper vision. If we don’t have a vision, it means we can move forward and backward. If we are all focused on going somewhere, then the world can see us moving in that direction. We should have an enlightened government and build a national vision.

Small and medium enterprises have proved to be a veritable engine of growth in many developing countries, but in Nigeria, SMEs are hampered by the high cost of funds. What can government do to solve this problem? For me, there are two solutions. The short term solution is the type of development funding that the Central Bank of Nigeria seems to be championing. The CBN is championing the creation of development funds, which help to reduce interest rate. The Bank of Industry, a new development bank being set up, etc. That is the way to go. But right now, we are scratching the surface. We will begin to have impact if we can deepen it in quantity and quality. But the government development funding is not sustainable. What is sustainable is support for big investments. For example, if by the grace of God Dangote refinery starts, 90 per cent of those who would supply input to the refinery are the SMEs. In those countries where SMEs became critical in the development equation, there were big companies that gave them

23

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

BUSINESS/INTERVIEW

Hassan: Capital Market Needs More Enlightenment to Increase Investor Participation Damilola Hassan is Head, Meristem Wealth Management Limited. In this interview with Goddy Egene, Hassan speaks on how the capital market can attract more investors, and how individuals can successfully plan their estates and ensure businesses live beyond the founders, among other issues. Excerpts:

T

he stock market is heading towards a positive close this year after three years of decline. How do you feel about this?

strategy can be quite emotionally-tasking for individuals and rational decisions can be blurred in heavy fogs of sentiment. To aid this thought process for many qualified investors, we have put together a team of professionals to lead discussions on estate planning and wealth transfer. The seminar is scheduled to hold on Thursday 30th of November and will feature speakers with varied experiences in tax planning, estate planning and trust services, law and succession planning. The event is at no fee, as it is our own little way of bringing to the fore issues that should be considered as investors try to navigate the waters of generational wealth transfer.

It has been quite exciting seeing the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index rise from 26,000 at the beginning of this year to about 36,000 now. The rebound is largely a reflection of the recovery of the economy going by economic indicators, such as Gross Domestic Product, inflation, the price of crude oil. Investors with keen eyes on the market took strategic positions in the market and are benefiting from such decisions today. Others who were less optimistic have a different story to tell.

Apart from the seminar, what other ways is Meristem Wealth Management encouraging savings and assisting investors to grow their wealth?

Why do you think the market recorded three straight declines, despite efforts by regulators and operators? The market is driven primarily by forces of demand and supply. Where there is pessimism about the state of an economy, investors’ participation in equities market dry up. I do believe that regulators and operators have a significant role to play, especially when it comes to building investor confidence and creating greater market efficiency. However, these cannot have the desired impact if investors do not find the market attractive enough for participation.

Capital market regulators have introduced initiatives, such as the e-dividends, to reduce unclaimed dividends and direct cash settlement, among others, to encourage more patronage. How would you react to these initiatives? These initiatives are a welcome development and long overdue. In this day and age where technology is leveraged on to create additional layers of comfort into what we do, electronic payment of dividends is the way to go. More and more retail investors are embracing this comfort and the level of synergy demonstrated by stakeholders in achieving this is commendable. A lot more still needs to be done on enlightenment in order to increase investor participation.

In the past we had wealthy investors and business moguls who owned thriving family businesses, but today not much is

Hassan

heard or known about their investments. Why is this so? Several factors are responsible for these sad recurring cases of family wealth not crossing the second generation. These may include the absence of: proper business structures, effective separation of ownership from management, business operations and systems devoid of sentiments and the list goes on. For a family business or any business at all to last beyond the founder, there must be deliberate efforts to institutionalise the business and also put in place a proper succession plan devoid of emotions and sentiments.

Developments like this discourage investors who may be wondering what could become of their estate when they

are no more. What do you think is the solution? As the years roll by, an investor, having achieved success in building business empires and acquiring assets, begins to redirect his thoughts from growing such wealth to concerns over how his loved ones can have relatively easy access to his estate when he/ she is no more. Arriving at a decision on how best to transfer this wealth depends on a whole lot of factors peculiar to each individual and family. The timing of such decision and the various platforms and options to consider require extensive consultations with professionals who will carefully weigh these options within the investor’s context to proffer solutions. At Meristem Wealth Management, we acknowledge that arriving at a decision on the most appropriate transfer

A lot of people want to save and invest to achieve a certain level of financial independence but key things are missing: lack of adequate information on the choice of investments and credible platforms and partners they can reach out to. At Meristem, we are bridging these gaps by providing up to date market information across asset classes, so that investors can make informed decisions. We are active on social media and have online chat rooms where we constantly engage investors. To address the issue of credibility, we have engendered transparency into the fabric of our wealth management services and this has helped us to gain the confidence and trust of our clients over the years.

How can regulators and operators collaborate more to ensure investors patronise the nation’s capital market for it to properly play its role in the economy? A lot is already being done to foster this, but there is room for more. Investor education cannot be overemphasised. If the growth we desire is a long-lasting one, it has to be driven by adequate knowledge premised upon market sanctity and integrity. We have seen the regulators wield the big stick in recent times without caring whose ox is gored. The market needs more of this discipline to improve investor participation. Also, market offerings need to be further deepened to encourage increased participation, especially from local institutions.

Excessive Influence of Politics on Economy Disincentivising Foreign Direct Investment the opportunity to grow. Related to that is a deliberate easing of the limitations. I believe that is what government is trying to do through the easing of doing business initiative. But the ease of doing business initiative is still at the symbolic level, it hasn’t gone deep at all. If this goes deep, and we combine it with government development funding, and interest rate remains single-digit, the process and procedure are simplified. Our experience so far is that less than two per cent of SMEs actually get the development funds.

If you were a governor, what would you do to help SMEs or attract SMEs to your state? I would look at the issues for SMEs today. One is land. Land is very expensive, N100 million, N200 million. Except you want to go to the bush to buy land, I don’t know where you can get it cheaper. Two, power. You buy generator and fuel. By the time you add up your cost, you are operating at a loss from the beginning. Even when you borrow money, you cannot pay back. That is why you have

a high level of default. Now to solve the problem, there is land that government can acquire everywhere in this country. Today they are acquiring land and using it for largely housing. Housing is okay, but if you build your houses on an economy that is unsustainable, sooner or later, the houses would not attract the right return on the investment. So I would focus on industrialisation. I would acquire land, but instead of dividing it into residential plots, I would divide it into industrial and commercial plots. Then I invite businessmen to come. I give you a piece of land, build roads, and service the estates. If I cannot get reliable power from the national grid, I can buy a chain of generators. I will assess how much power they need and then buy generators. A country like Gambia, for instance, didn’t have power from the national grid for a long time. They were using generators. For a city, a set of generators would fire till night, they go to rest, and another set would take from night till morning. If you are in a hotel in Gambia,

your light would not go off. If somebody wants to do business, and you give him land, electricity, water, have you not halved his problem? Some of my South-east governors say, come home and invest, this is the way to bring people home. And I assure you all these I’m saying won’t be equal to the annual security vote of a governor. I’m not saying do this for the private sector free. My proposal is, set up your industry and employ my people, you pay them salaries, and the government starts taking PAYE. They buy things, government takes VAT. Then, I will amortise your land. This land, for instance, is worth N50 million, after your third year, you have started making money, you start paying back N2 million a year. In a few years, you pay off. For electricity, you can be billed right away, because it would be cheaper than buying and maintaining your own plant. An industrial establishment has a multiplier effect. Immediately you set up a factory at a place, maybe sachet water company, the people who make plastics would start

Cont’d from Pg. 22

coming, people who make chlorine, filters, etc., will start coming. You start a whole set of economic activities that would grow the economy. An economy grows as a result of the level of transactions that happen in the system. These things a doable, only people in office just allow themselves to be corrupted by power, circumstances, and privilege. I have tried it. The only question is, is it your priority? If a governor does these things in his first two years, by the third year, the results would begin to manifest. Sometimes I ask myself, am I being naïve? I used to asked myself this question when I was younger, is there something that happens to people when they get to a certain level? Then I said, maybe because I hadn’t gotten to that level. But God took me from the first level as a pharmaceutical sales rep, and I became chairman/CEO of a multinational company. I believe that nothing changes. What changes is that you get busier, and having gotten busier, you devise how to use your time more efficiently.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

Sunday, November 26, 2017

DW džƉĞĐƚĞĚůLJ ,ŽůĚƐ WŽůŝĐLJ ZĂƚĞƐ ĂƐ LJĐůŝĐĂů 'ƌŽǁƚŚ ZĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ džƚĞŶĚƐ ƚŽ Yϯ

ĞƐƉŝƚĞ ƚŚĞ ďƌŽĂĚůLJ ĐŽŶƐĞŶƐƵƐ ǀŝĞǁ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ DW ŽƵƚĐŽŵĞ͕ ƚŚĞƌĞ ǁĞƌĞ ĐĂůůƐ ĨƌŽŵ ƐĞǀĞƌĂů ƋƵĂƌƚĞƌƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƌƵŶ ƵƉ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ŵĞĞƟŶŐ ĨŽƌ ŵŽŶĞƚĂƌLJ ĞĂƐŝŶŐ ǀŝĂ ƌĞĚƵĐƟŽŶ ŝŶ ďĞŶĐŚŵĂƌŬ ƌĂƚĞ ƚŽ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ ƚŚĞ ŶĂƐĐĞŶƚ ĂŶĚ ƐůŽǁ ƉĂĐĞ ŽĨ ĞĐŽŶŽŵŝĐ ƌĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ͘ ĚĚƌĞƐƐŝŶŐ ƚŚŝƐ ĂƌŐƵŵĞŶƚ͕ ƚŚĞ E 'ŽǀĞƌŶŽƌ ŝŶ ŚŝƐ ƐƉĞĞĐŚ ĂĐŬŶŽǁůĞĚŐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ũƵƐƟĮĐĂƟŽŶ ĨŽƌ ĞĂƐŝŶŐ͗ ǁĞĂŬ ĞĐŽŶŽŵŝĐ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ǀŝƐ-ă-ǀŝƐ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƟǀĞ ĞdžƚĞƌŶĂů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ ǀĂƌŝĂďůĞƐ ʹ &y ƌĂƚĞƐ ĐŽŶǀĞƌŐĞŶĐĞ͕ ŝŵƉƌŽǀŝŶŐ ĐĂƉŝƚĂů ŝŶŇŽǁƐ͕ ƐƚĞĂĚLJ Žŝů ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ĂŶĚ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ŝŶ ƌĞƐĞƌǀĞƐ͘ zĞƚ͕ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŵŵŝƩĞĞ ŽǀĞƌǁŚĞůŵŝŶŐůLJ ǀŽƚĞĚ ƚŽ ƌĞƚĂŝŶ ƉŽůŝĐLJ ƌĂƚĞƐ ŝŶ ĐŽŶƐŝĚĞƌĂƟŽŶ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ĚŽǁŶƐŝĚĞ ƌŝƐŬƐ ŽĨ Ă ƉƌĞŵĂƚƵƌĞ ĞĂƐŝŶŐ ĐLJĐůĞ͕ ǁŚŝĐŚ ŝŶĐůƵĚĞ͕ ϭͿ /ŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ĨŽƌ ŝŵƉŽƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬ ŽŶ ĐƵƌƌĞŶƚ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ďĂůĂŶĐĞ͕ ĂŶĚ ϮͿ /ŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ ŽŶ ĞdžĐŚĂŶŐĞ ƌĂƚĞ ĂŶĚ ĐŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ͘ ůƚŚŽƵŐŚ ƚŚĞ DW ƌĞŝƚĞƌĂƚĞĚ ŝƚƐ ƉŽůŝĐLJ ƟŐŚƚĞŶŝŶŐ ŽďũĞĐƟǀĞ͕ ƚŚĞ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ƌƵŶ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĮdžĞĚ ŝŶĐŽŵĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŚĂƐ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞĚ ƵŶĂďĂƚĞĚ͕ ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďLJ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ ƉƌŝŵĂƌLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞ ƌĂƚĞƐ ʹ d-ďŝůůƐ͕ KDK ĂŶĚ ďŽŶĚ ĂƵĐƟŽŶƐ ʹ ĂƐ ǁĞůů ĂƐ ĮƐĐĂů ƐƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ ƚŽ ƌĞĚƵĐĞ ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ĚĞďƚ ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞƐ ŝŶ ĨĂǀŽƵƌ ŽĨ ĞdžƚĞƌŶĂů ĚĞďƚƐ͘ ƚ ƚŚĞ DK ďŽŶĚ ĂƵĐƟŽŶ ŚĞůĚ ŵŝĚ-ǁĞĞŬ͕ ƚŚĞ ϱ- zĞĂƌ ĂŶĚ ϭϬ-zĞĂƌ ďŽŶĚƐ ŽŶ ŽīĞƌ ǁĞƌĞ ŝƐƐƵĞĚ Ăƚ Ă ŵĂƌŐŝŶĂů ƌĂƚĞ ŽĨ ϭϰ͘ϴй ĂƉŝĞĐĞ͕ ϮϬďƉƐ ůŽǁĞƌ ƚŚĂŶ KĐƚŽďĞƌ ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞ ƌĂƚĞƐ͘ ǀĞƌĂŐĞ LJŝĞůĚ ŽŶ ďĞŶĐŚŵĂƌŬ ďŽŶĚƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƐĞĐŽŶĚĂƌLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŚĂƐ ĂůƐŽ ŵŽĚĞƌĂƚĞĚ ϭϮϯďƉƐ zd ǁŝƚŚ ůŽŶŐ ĚƵƌĂƟŽŶ ďŽŶĚƐ ĞŶũŽLJŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ʹ Ă ƉŽŝŶƚĞƌ ƚŽ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĂƟŽŶ ŽĨ ůŽǁĞƌ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ƌĂƚĞ͘ tĞ ďĞůŝĞǀĞ ƚŚĞ ŵŽĚĞƌĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ LJŝĞůĚ ĞŶǀŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚ ĂŶĚ &'E ĞdžƚĞƌŶĂů ďŽƌƌŽǁŝŶŐ ŝƐ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƟǀĞ ŽĨ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ͘ ,ĞŶĐĞ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ĨƵƌƚŚĞƌ ŶŽƌŵĂůŝnjĂƟŽŶ ŽĨ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ƌĂƚĞƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĂůƚŚŽƵŐŚ ƚŚĞ ŵƵĐŚ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞĚ WŽůŝĐLJ ƌĂƚĞƐ ĐƵƚ ŵŝŐŚƚ ŶŽƚ ŽĐĐƵƌ ƵŶƟů ƚŚĞ DĂƌĐŚͬDĂLJ DW ŵĞĞƟŶŐ͘

Yϯ͗ϮϬϭϳ ' W ZĞƉŽƌƚ͗ 'ƌŽǁƚŚ ĐĐĞůĞƌĂƚĞƐ ŽŶ LJĐůŝĐĂů ZĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ ŝŶ Kŝů ^ĞĐƚŽƌ KŶ ƚŚĞ ϮϬƚŚ ŽĨ EŽǀĞŵďĞƌ͕ ƚŚĞ EĂƟŽŶĂů ƵƌĞĂƵ ŽĨ ^ƚĂƟƐƟĐƐ ;E ^Ϳ ƌĞůĞĂƐĞĚ Yϯ͗ϮϬϭϳ ' W ƌĞƉŽƌƚ ǁŚŝĐŚ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚůLJ ƐŚŽǁĞĚ ĂŶ ĞdžƉĂŶƐŝŽŶ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĞĐŽŶŽŵLJ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ƐĞĐŽŶĚ ĐŽŶƐĞĐƵƟǀĞ YƵĂƌƚĞƌ͘ dŽƚĂů ŽƵƚƉƵƚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĞĐŽŶŽŵLJ ŐƌĞǁ ϭ͘ϰй z-Ž-z ŝŶ Yϯ͗ϮϬϭϳ͕ ďĞůŽǁ ůŽŽŵďĞƌŐ ŽŶƐĞŶƐƵƐ ĂŶĚ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ZĞƐĞĂƌĐŚ ƉƌŽũĞĐƟŽŶƐ ŽĨ ϭ͘ϱй ĂŶĚ Ϯ͘ϳй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͕ ďƵƚ ĂďŽǀĞ ƌĞǀŝƐĞĚ YϮ͗ϮϬϭϳ ' W ĞƐƟŵĂƚĞ ŽĨ Ϭ͘ϳй ;ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϱй ƌĞƉŽƌƚĞĚ ĞĂƌůŝĞƌͿ͘ hŶĚĞƌůLJŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ĂĐĐĞůĞƌĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ YƵĂƌƚĞƌ ŝƐ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞĚ ĞdžƉĂŶƐŝŽŶ ŝŶ Kŝů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ͕ ǁŚŝĐŚ ŐƌĞǁ Ϯϱ͘ϵй z-Ž-z ƚŽ ŽīƐĞƚ ƚŚĞ Ϭ͘ϴй ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƟŽŶ ŝŶ EŽŶ-Kŝů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ͘ dŚĞ Kŝů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ

dŚĞ ŐĞŶĞƌĂůůLJ ĚŝƐĂƉƉŽŝŶƟŶŐ DĂŶƵĨĂĐƚƵƌŝŶŐ ĂŶĚ ^ĞƌǀŝĐĞƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ĐĂƐƚƐ Ă ƐŚĂĚŽǁ ŽŶ ĂŶ ŽƚŚĞƌǁŝƐĞ ƌŽďƵƐƚ Kŝů Θ ŐƌŝĐƵůƚƵƌĂů ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ͕ ƚŚƵƐ ĞŵƉŚĂƐŝnjŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŶĞĞĚ ĨŽƌ ƐƚƌƵĐƚƵƌĂů ƌĞĨŽƌŵƐ ƚŽ ďƵŽLJ EŽŶ-Kŝů ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟǀŝƚLJ ĂŶĚ ĐŽŵƉůŝŵĞŶƚ ƚŚĞ ĐLJĐůŝĐĂů ƚĂŝůǁŝŶĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ Kŝů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ͘ ŐĂŝŶƐƚ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬĚƌŽƉ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ůĞƐƐĞƌ ƚŚĂŶ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ŝŶ Yϯ͕ ǁĞ ŚĂǀĞ ƐůĂƐŚĞĚ ŽƵƌ &z͗ϮϬϭϳ ĂŶĚ &z͗ϮϬϭϴ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ĨŽƌĞĐĂƐƚƐ ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ Ϯ͘ϰй ƚŽ Ϭ͘ϳй ĂŶĚ ϭ͘ϲй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͕ ƌĞŇĞĐƟŶŐ ϭͿ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞĚ ƐƚĞĂĚLJ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ Žŝů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ĨƌŽŵ Yϰ͗ϮϬϭϳ ĂƐ ůŽǁ ďĂƐĞ ĞīĞĐƚ ǁĞĂƌƐ Žī͕ ĂŶĚ ϮͿ ^ƟĐŬLJ ŚĞĂĚůŝŶĞ ŝŶŇĂƟŽŶ ĚĂŵƉĞŶŝŶŐ ƌĞĂů ĐŽŶƐƵŵƉƟŽŶ ƐƉĞŶĚŝŶŐ͘

28000

ďŝŐŐĞƐƚ Kŝů ƉƌŽĚƵĐĞƌƐ - ^ĂƵĚŝ ƌĂďŝĂ Θ /ƌĂŶ͕ ĂƐ ǁĞůů ĂƐ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞĚ ĞdžƚĞŶƐŝŽŶ ŽĨ Žŝů ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ĐƵƚƐ ďĞLJŽŶĚ ƚŚĞ ŝŶŝƟĂů ĂŐƌĞĞŵĞŶƚ ǁŚŝĐŚ ĞŶĚƐ ŝŶ DĂƌĐŚ ϮϬϭϴ͘ dŚĞ KW ͬEŽŶ-KW ŵĞĞƟŶŐ ǁŽƵůĚ ďĞ ƚŚĞ ƐŝŶŐůĞ ŵŽƐƚ ŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚ Žŝů ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚƌŝǀĞƌ Ɵůů ƚŚĞ ĞŶĚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ LJĞĂƌ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉĞĚ ĞƋƵŝƚLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƐ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ǁŝƚŚ Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ƚƌĞŶĚŝŶŐ ŶŽƌƚŚǁĂƌĚƐ͘ dŚĞ h^ E ^ Y ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ͕ ƵƉ ϭ͘ϰй t-Žt ĂƐ dĞĐŚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ŝŵƉƌĞƐƐŝǀĞ ŐĂŝŶƐ ĚƵƌŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ^ΘW ϱϬϬ ƌŽƐĞ Ϭ͘ϵйt-Ž-t ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ h< &d^ ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ǁŝƚŚ Ă Ϭ͘ϱйt-Ž-t ŐĂŝŶ͘

'ůŽďĂů ƋƵŝƚLJ DĂƌŬĞƚ ZĞǀŝĞǁ ĂŶĚ KƵƚůŽŽŬ

ĐƌŽƐƐ ƚŚĞ Z/ ^͕ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ůĂƌŐĞůLJ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ǁŝƚŚ Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĐůŽƐŝŶŐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŐƌĞĞŶ ƐĂǀĞ ƚŚĞ ŚŝŶĂ ^ŚĂŶŐŚĂŝ ŽŵƉŽƐŝƚĞ ǁŚŝĐŚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ Ϭ͘ϵй t-Ž-t ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬĚƌŽƉ ŽĨ ƟŐŚƚĞŶŝŶŐ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ĐŽŶĚŝƟŽŶƐ ĂŶĚ ƟŐŚƚĞŶŝŶŐ ƌƵůĞƐ ŽŶ ůĞŶĚŝŶŐ͘ dŚĞ ZƵƐƐŝĂ Zd^ ůĞĚ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƚŚĞ ƌĞŐŝŽŶ͕ ƵƉ ϭ͘ϴй t-Ž-t͘ ƌĂnjŝů͛Ɛ /ďŽǀĞƐƉĂ ƚƌĂŝůĞĚ͕ ƵƉ ϭ͘Ϯй t-Ž-t ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ ^ŽƵƚŚ ĨƌŝĐĂ &d^ ͬ:^ ůů ƐŚĂƌĞ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ Ϭ͘ϯй t-Ž-t͘

WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ 'ůŽďĂů ĞƋƵŝƚLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƐ ǁĂƐ ůĂƌŐĞůLJ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ĂƐ Žŝů ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ƌĞďŽƵŶĚĞĚ ĨƌŽŵ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ǁĞĞŬ͛Ɛ ůŽƐƐ͕ ŐĂŝŶŝŶŐ Ϭ͘ϳйt-Ž-t ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ Ăƚ h^Ψϲϯ͘ϭϱͬď͘ dŚĞ ƌĞŶĞǁĞĚ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŐůŽďĂů Žŝů ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŝƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞĚ ŐĞŽƉŽůŝƟĐĂů ƚĞŶƐŝŽŶƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ DŝĚĚůĞ ĂƐƚ ďĞƚǁĞĞŶ ƚǁŽ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ tŽƌůĚ͛Ɛ

/Ŷ ƚŚĞ ƵƌĂƐŝĂ ƌĞŐŝŽŶ͕ Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ t -Ž-t͘ dŚĞ ,ŽŶŐ <ŽŶŐ ,ĂŶŐ ^ĞŶŐ ůĞĚ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ͕ ƵƉ Ϯ͘ϯй t-Ž-t͘ /Ŷ ƚƵƌŶ͕ &ƌĂŶĐĞ ϰϬ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ ϭ͘ϱй t-Ž-t͕ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ 'ĞƌŵĂŶLJ y dZ y ƌŽƐĞ Ϭ͘ϲй t-Ž-t ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ :ĂƉĂŶ EŝŬŬĞŝ ϮϮϱ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ Ϭ͘ϲй ŚŝŐŚĞƌ͘ /Ŷ ĨƌŝĐĂŶ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƐ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ĂƐ

dŝĐŬĞƌ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DANGSUGA LINKASSU INTBREW NEM UNILEVER NAHCO NEIMETH CUSTODYI ETERNA FIDELITY

dŝĐŬĞƌ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

FO GLAXOSMI CILEASIN UACPROP NB LAWUNION UNITYBNK CAVERTON JBERGER CCNN

ůŽƐŝŶŐ WƌŝĐĞ 17.24 0.64 58 1.46 40.9 3.9 0.61 4 4 1.7

ůŽƐŝŶŐ WƌŝĐĞ 40 22.8 1.33 2.66 130.07 0.61 0.5 1.25 28 8.97

Top 10 Outperforming Stocks for the Week WƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ tͲŽͲt Dd zd tĞĞŬΖƐ ZĞƚƵƌŶ ZĞƚƵƌŶ ZĞƚƵƌŶ ůŽƐĞ 14.33 0.56 51.8 1.33 37.5 3.61 0.57 3.75 3.76 1.6

20.3% 14.3% 12.0% 9.8% 9.1% 8.0% 7.0% 6.7% 6.4% 6.3%

14.9% -25.6% 18.4% 16.8% -0.7% 20.0% -6.2% 0.0% 8.1% 11.8%

182.2% 28.0% 213.5% 39.0% 28.5% 23.4% -14.0% 2.8% 29.0% 102.4%

Wͬ ZĂƚŝŽ 6.7x 9.4x 60.7x 4.3x 25.2x 10.4x 16.8x 4.2x 3.5x 1.5x

Top 10 Underperforming Stocks for the Week WƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ tͲŽͲt Dd zd Wͬ tĞĞŬΖƐ ZĞƚƵƌŶ ZĞƚƵƌŶ ZĞƚƵƌŶ ZĂƚŝŽ ůŽƐĞ 48.62 25.25 1.44 2.85 138.8 0.65 0.53 1.32 29.33 9.27

-17.7% -9.7% -7.6% -6.7% -6.3% -6.2% -5.7% -5.3% -4.5% -3.2%

0.0% -9.5% -25.3% -1.5% -13.3% -14.1% -2.0% -0.8% -4.5% -7.5%

-52.6% 44.8% 166.0% 1.5% -12.1% -23.8% -9.1% 38.9% -27.4% 79.4%

10.1x 4.7x

32.0x 3.8x 4.8x 1.5x 4.4x

Wͬ s ZĂƚŝŽ 2.9x 0.3x 13.8x 1.0x 9.6x 1.0x 0.9x 0.7x 0.5x 0.2x

Wͬ s ZĂƚŝŽ 4.5x 1.7x 0.2x 0.1x 5.8x 0.4x 0.1x 0.3x 1.5x 0.8x

Wͬ^ ZĂƚŝŽ 1.0x 1.3x 5.1x 0.8x 1.8x 0.8x 0.5x 0.8x 0.0x 0.2x

Wͬ^ ZĂƚŝŽ 0.4x

0.7x 3.0x 0.6x 0.1x 0.2x 0.3x 0.6x

20-Nov-17

05-Nov-17

21-Oct-17

06-Oct-17

21-Sep-17

24000

06-Sep-17

26000

22-Aug-17

/s͘ dŚĞ ĂƐLJŵŵĞƚƌŝĐ ĐŽƌƌŝĚŽƌ ǁĂƐ ƌĞƚĂŝŶĞĚ Ăƚ нϮϬϬ ĂŶĚ -ϱϬϬ ďĂƐŝƐ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ĂƌŽƵŶĚ ƚŚĞ DWZ͘

30000

07-Aug-17

///͘ >ŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ƌĂƟŽ ǁĂƐ ƌĞƚĂŝŶĞĚ Ăƚ ϯϬ͘Ϭй͖ ĂŶĚ

32000

23-Jul-17

ZZ ǁĂƐ ŚĞůĚ Ăƚ ϮϮ͘ϱй͖

34000

08-Jul-17

//͘

36000

23-Jun-17

DWZ ǁĂƐ ŚĞůĚ Ăƚ ϭϰ͘Ϭй͖

38000

08-Jun-17

/͘

NSE All Share Index Historical Price Trajectory

24-May-17

dŚĞ DŽŶĞƚĂƌLJ WŽůŝĐLJ ŽŵŵŝƩĞĞ ŚĞůĚ ŝƚƐ ϲƚŚ ĂŶĚ ĮŶĂů ŵĞĞƟŶŐ ĨŽƌ ϮϬϭϳ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ϮϬƚŚ ĂŶĚ ϮϭƐƚ EŽǀĞŵďĞƌ ĂŶĚ ŝŶ ůŝŶĞ ǁŝƚŚ ĐŽŶƐĞŶƐƵƐ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĂƟŽŶ͕ ĐŽŵŵŝƩĞĞ ŵĞŵďĞƌƐ ŽǀĞƌǁŚĞůŵŝŶŐůLJ ǀŽƚĞĚ ƚŽ ƌĞƚĂŝŶ ƉŽůŝĐLJ ƌĂƚĞƐ Ăƚ ĐƵƌƌĞŶƚ ůĞǀĞůƐ ǁŚŝůƐƚ ĞŵƉŚĂƐŝnjŝŶŐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ŶĞĞĚ ƚŽ ĐŽŶƐŽůŝĚĂƚĞ ŽŶ ŐĂŝŶƐ ŝŶ ĞdžƚĞƌŶĂů ďĂůĂŶĐĞ ĂŶĚ ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƐƚĂďŝůŝƚLJ͘ ,ĞŶĐĞ͕

ĞdžƉĂŶĚĞĚ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ƐĞĐŽŶĚ ƟŵĞ ƚŚŝƐ LJĞĂƌ͕ ŐĂŝŶŝŶŐ ŵŽŵĞŶƚƵŵ ĨƌŽŵ Ă ƐŽŌ ϯ͘ϱй z-Ž-z ĞdžƉĂŶƐŝŽŶ ŝŶ YϮ͕ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞŵĞŶƚ ŝŶ Žŝů ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ƚŽ Ϯ͘ϬŵďƉĚ ĨƌŽŵ Ă ůŽǁ ďĂƐĞ ŽĨ ϭ͘ϲŵďƉĚ ŝŶ Yϯ͗ϮϬϭϲ͘ dŚŝƐ ǁĂƐ ƵŶƐƵƌƉƌŝƐŝŶŐ ŐŝǀĞŶ ƚŚĞ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ ĨƌĞƋƵĞŶĐLJ ŽĨ ŵŝůŝƚĂŶƚƐ͛ ĂƩĂĐŬƐ ŽŶ Žŝů ŝŶƐƚĂůůĂƟŽŶƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ EŝŐĞƌ ĞůƚĂ ŝŶ ƌĞĐĞŶƚ ƟŵĞƐ͕ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ &'E͛Ɛ ĞŶŐĂŐĞŵĞŶƚƐ ǁŝƚŚ ƉŽůŝƟĐĂů ĂŶĚ ĞƚŚŶŝĐ ůĞĂĚĞƌƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƌĞŐŝŽŶ͘ EŽŶ-Kŝů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ ŚŽǁĞǀĞƌ ƌĞŵĂŝŶƐ Ă ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ-ƉŽŝŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŝƚ ƌĞůĂƉƐĞĚ ŝŶƚŽ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ĂŌĞƌ ƐŚŽǁŝŶŐ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƐŝŐŶƐ ŝŶ Yϭ ĂŶĚ YϮ͘ dŚĞ ĚŝƐĂƉƉŽŝŶƟŶŐ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ EŽŶ-Kŝů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ - ǁŚŝĐŚ ǁĂƐ ůĂƌŐĞůLJ ƵŶĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ŐŝǀĞŶ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƌĞĂĚŝŶŐƐ ĨƌŽŵ ůĞĂĚŝŶŐ ǀĂƌŝĂďůĞ ƐƵĐŚ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ WD/ - ŝƐ ĞǀŝĚĞŶƚ ŝŶ ǀŝƌƚƵĂůůLJ Ăůů ƚŚĞ ŵĂŝŶ EŽŶ-Kŝů ƐƵď-ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ͕ ƐĂǀĞ ŐƌŝĐƵůƚƵƌĞ ǁŝůů ĞdžƉĂŶĚĞĚ ϯ͘Ϭй z-Ž-z͘ DĂŶƵĨĂĐƚƵƌŝŶŐ ŽƵƚƉƵƚ ĨĞůů Ϯ͘ϵй͕ ĚƌĂŐŐĞĚ ďLJ Kŝů ZĞĮŶŝŶŐ ;-ϰϱ͘ϰйͿ ĂŶĚ ĞŵĞŶƚ ;-ϰ͘ϲйͿ͕ ǁŚŝůĞ ^ĞƌǀŝĐĞƐ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚĞĚ Ϯ͘ϳй z-Ž-z ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ǁĞĂŬĞƌ ĂĐƟǀŝƟĞƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ dƌĂĚĞ ;- ϭ͘ϳйͿ͕ / d ;ϰ͘ϱйͿ͕ ŽŶƐƚƌƵĐƟŽŶ ;-Ϭ͘ϱйͿ ĂŶĚ &ŝŶĂŶĐŝĂů ĂŶĚ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ;-ϱ͘ϵйͿ ƐƵď-ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ͘

09-May-17

DW džƉĞĐƚĞĚůLJ ,ŽůĚƐ WŽůŝĐLJ ZĂƚĞƐ ĂƐ LJĐůŝĐĂů 'ƌŽǁƚŚ ZĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ džƚĞŶĚƐ ƚŽ Yϯ

Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŐƌĞĞŶ͘ dŚĞ <ĞŶLJĂ E^ ϮϬ ƌĞǀĞƌƐĞĚ ŝƚƐ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĨƌŽŵ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ǁĞĞŬƐ ƚŽ ĞŵĞƌŐĞ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ ŐĂŝŶĞƌ͕ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŶŐ Ϯ͘ϲй t-Ž-t͘ >ŝŬĞǁŝƐĞ͕ ƚŚĞ ŐLJƉƚ 'y ϯϬ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ϭ͘ϵй t-Ž-t ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ 'ŚĂŶĂ '^ ŽŵƉŽƐŝƚĞ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ϭ͘ϰй t-Ž-t͘ dŚĞ EŝŐĞƌŝĂ ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ /ŶĚĞdž ŝŶĐŚĞĚ ŚŝŐŚĞƌ ďLJ ϭ͘ϴй t-Ž-t͘

ŽŵĞƐƟĐ ƋƵŝƚLJ DĂƌŬĞƚ ZĞǀŝĞǁ ĂŶĚ KƵƚůŽŽŬ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ >ŽĐĂů ŽƵƌƐĞ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ ǁĂƐ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ďĞŶĐŚŵĂƌŬ ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ /ŶĚĞdž ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ϭ͘ϴй t-Ž-t ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ ϯϳ͕ϯϲϱ͘ϵϭ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ zd ƌĞƚƵƌŶ ĞdžƉĂŶĚĞĚ ƚŽ ϯϵ͘Ϭй͘ ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐůLJ͕ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ EϮϯϰ͘ϵďŶ ĂƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝnjĂƟŽŶ ƌŽƐĞ ƚŽ Eϭϯ͘ϬƚŶ͘ ,ŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů ƐŽŌĞŶĞĚ͕ ƌĞŇĞĐƚĞĚ ŝŶ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ǁŚŝĐŚ ĨĞůů ϱϮ͘ϰй ĂŶĚ ϮϬ͘ϭй t-Ž-t ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ Ăƚ ϴϳϬ͘ϲŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ Eϱ͘ϬďŶ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ dŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ h ;ϭϱϭ͘ϴŵͿ͕ E/d, ;ϭϰϮ͘ϯŵͿ ĂŶĚ ^^ ;ϭϯϯ͘ϰŵͿ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ ǁĞƌĞ E/d, ;Eϯ͘ϱďŶͿ͕ 'h Z Edz ;Eϭ͘ϲďŶͿ ĂŶĚ E ^d> ;Eϭ͘ϲďŶͿ͘ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ůĂƌŐĞůLJ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ĂƐ Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ 'ƌĞĞŶ ƐĂǀĞ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁŚŝĐŚ ƐŚĞĚ ϭ͘ϱй t-Ž-t - ŵĂũŽƌůLJ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƐĞůůŽīƐ ŝŶ &KZd K/> ;ϭϳ͘ϳйͿ͘ KŶ ƚŚĞ ŇŝƉ ƐŝĚĞ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ĞŵĞƌŐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ ŐĂŝŶĞƌ͕ ƵƉ Ϯ͘ϯй t-Ž-t͕ ďƵŽLJĞĚ ďLJ ŐĂŝŶƐ ŝŶ E' D ;нϰ͘ϯйͿ͘ >ŝŬĞǁŝƐĞ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚĞdž ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ Ϭ͘ϴй t-Ž-t ŽŶ ƵƉƟĐŬƐ ŝŶ >/E< ^^hZ ;нϭϰ͘ϯйͿ ĂŶĚ E /D d, ;нϳ͘ϬйͿ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ŝŶĐŚĞĚ Ϭ͘ϱй ŚŝŐŚĞƌ t-Ž-t ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ŝŶ E'^h' Z ;нϭϬ͘ϯйͿ͕ E ^ KE ;нϵ͘ϬйͿ ĂŶĚ hZz ;нϰ͘ϳйͿ͘ dŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ŝŶĚĞdž ĐůŝŵďĞĚ Ϭ͘ϯй t-Ž-t ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƚŽŽŬ ƉŽƐŝƟŽŶƐ ŝŶ E/d, ;нϯ͘ϲйͿ ^^ ;нϯ͘ϭйͿ ĂŶĚ / DKE ;нϳ͘ϬйͿ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ƐŝŐŶŝĮĐĂŶƚůLJ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ ϭ͘ϰdž ;ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϱdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ &ƌŝĚĂLJͿ ĂƐ ϯϰ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ Ϯϰ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞƌƐ͘ dŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĞƌƐ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ǁĞƌĞ >/E< ^^hZ ;нϭϰ͘ϯйͿ͕ E'^h' Z ;нϭϬ͘ϯйͿ ĂŶĚ E ^ KE ;нϵ͘ϬйͿ ǁŚŝůĞ &KZd K/> ;-ϭϳ͘ϳйͿ͕ '> yK^D/d, ;-ϵ͘ϳйͿ ĂŶĚ &>KhZD/>> ;-ϴ͘ϬйͿ ůĞĚ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ͘ KƵƌ ŶĞĂƌ ƚĞƌŵ ŽƵƚůŽŽŬ ƌĞŵĂŝŶƐ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ͛ ƉŽƐŝƟŽŶ ĂŚĞĂĚ ŽĨ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞĚ LJĞĂƌ-ĞŶĚ ƌĂůůLJ͘

25

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

DŽŶĞLJ DĂƌŬĞƚ ZĞǀŝĞǁ ĂŶĚ KƵƚůŽŽŬ &ŝŶĂŶĐŝĂů ƐLJƐƚĞŵ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŝŶ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ƚĞƌƌŝƚŽƌLJ Ăůů ǁĞĞŬ ƐĂǀĞ ĨŽƌ dŚƵƌƐĚĂLJ ǁŚĞŶ ĂŶ KDK ŵĂƚƵƌŝƚLJ ďƵŽLJĞĚ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ďĂůĂŶĐĞ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ͘ Ɛ ƐƵĐŚ͕ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ƐƚĂƌƚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ͕ DŽŶĞLJ DĂƌŬĞƚ ƌĂƚĞƐ ʹ K ĂŶĚ KsE ŽƉĞŶĞĚ ŝŶ ĚŽƵďůĞ ĚŝŐŝƚƐ͕ ƵƉ ϵ͘ϭ ĂŶĚ ϭϬ͘ϴ ƉĞƌĐĞŶƚĂŐĞ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ƚŽ ϯϴ͘ϯйĂŶĚ ϰϭ͘ϳй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ /Ŷ ŝƚƐ ĚƌŝǀĞ ƚŽ ĨƵƌƚŚĞƌ ƟŐŚƚĞŶ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ͕ ƚŚĞ E ĐŽŶĚƵĐƚĞĚ KDK ĂƵĐƟŽŶƐ ŽŶ Ăůů ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶƐ͖ ŶŽƚǁŝƚŚƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐ͕ ŵŽŶĞLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƌĂƚĞƐ ƚƌĞŶĚĞĚ ůŽǁĞƌ ʹĂůďĞŝƚ Ăƚ Ă ƌĂŶŐĞ ŽĨ Ϯϳ͘Ϭй ϯϭ͘Ϭй ŽŶ dƵĞƐĚĂLJ ĂŶĚ tĞĚŶĞƐĚĂLJ͘ LJ dŚƵƌƐĚĂLJ͕ K ĂŶĚ KsE ƌĂƚĞƐ ŚĂĚ ƐŝŐŶŝĮĐĂŶƚůLJ ŵŽĚĞƌĂƚĞĚ ƚŽ ϭϭ͘ϵй ĂƉŝĞĐĞ ŽǁŝŶŐ ƚŽ KDK ŵĂƚƵƌŝƚLJ ŽĨ EϮϬϬ͘ϬďŶ͘ dŚĞ E ƌĞƐƉŽŶĚĞĚ ďLJ ŇŽĂƟŶŐ ĂŶ KDK ĂƵĐƟŽŶ ǁŽƌƚŚ EϭϬϬ͘ϬďŶ͕ ďƵƚ ǁĂƐ ŽŶůLJ ĂďůĞ ƚŽ ŵŽƉ ƵƉ Eϱϰ͘ϬďŶ͘ Ɛ Ă ƌĞƐƵůƚ͕ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ďĂůĂŶĐĞ ƐƚŽŽĚ ŝŶ ĞdžĐĞƐƐ ŽĨ Eϯϲ͘ϯďŶ͘ ZĂƚĞƐ ĞǀĞŶƚƵĂůůLJ ŝŶĐŚĞĚ ďĂĐŬ ŚŝŐŚĞƌ ʹ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ĂŶ KDK ĂƵĐƟŽŶ ƚŽ ϯϬ͘ϴй ĂŶĚ ϯϮ͘ϲй ŽŶ &ƌŝĚĂLJ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϭ͘ϲ ĂŶĚ ϭ͘ϳ ƉƉƚ t Ž t ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ dƌĞĂƐƵƌLJ ŝůůƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ ĂƐ ƌĂƚĞƐ ƚƌĞŶĚĞĚ ŶŽƌƚŚǁĂƌĚ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ƐƚĂƌƚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƟŐŚƚ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ͘ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚƵƌŶĞĚ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ďLJ ŵŝĚǁĞĞŬ ĂƐ ƌĂƚĞƐ ŵŽĚĞƌĂƚĞĚ ŽŶ tĞĚŶĞƐĚĂLJ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϮϱďƉƐ ƚŽ ϭϲ͘ϲй͕ ĂŶĚ ĞdžƚĞŶĚĞĚ Ɵůů ƚŚĞ ĞŶĚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ͘ ǀĞƌĂŐĞ d ďŝůůƐ ƌĂƚĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ŵĂƚƵƌŝƟĞƐ ƐĞƩůĞĚ Ăƚ ϭϲ͘ϰй ŽŶ &ƌŝĚĂLJ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϮϵďƉƐ t Ž t͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŵŝŶŐ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ƚŚĞ E ǁŝůů ďĞ ĐŽŶĚƵĐƟŶŐ Ă d ŝůůƐ ĂƵĐƟŽŶ ŽĨ Eϭϭϳ͘ϮďŶ ĨŽƌ Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĂƟǀĞ ƚĞŶŽƌƐ ;ϵϭ͕ ϭϴϭ ĂŶĚ ϯϲϰ ĂLJƐͿ͘ tĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ ŝŵƉĂĐƚ ŽŶ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ďĂůĂŶĐĞ ƚŽ ďĞ ŶĞƵƚƌĂů ŐŝǀĞŶ ƚŚĞ ƐĐŚĞĚƵůĞĚ ŵĂƚƵƌŝƚLJ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ĂŵŽƵŶƚ͘ ,ŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ ĂŶ KDK ŵĂƚƵƌŝƚLJ ŽĨ Eϱϯ͘ϰďŶ ŝƐ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ďƵŽLJ

ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞůƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ E ƚŽ ŵŽƉ ƵƉ ǀŝĂ KDK ƐĂůĞƐ͘

&ŽƌĞŝŐŶ džĐŚĂŶŐĞ DĂƌŬĞƚ ZĞǀŝĞǁ ĂŶĚ KƵƚůŽŽŬ &ŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ĚĞĐŝƐŝŽŶ ƚŽ ŵĂŝŶƚĂŝŶ ƐƚĂƚƵƐ ƋƵŽ ŽŶ ŬĞLJ ƌĂƚĞƐ͕ ƚŚĞ DW ŶŽƚĞĚ ƚŚĞ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞŵĞŶƚƐ ǁŝƚŶĞƐƐĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ &y ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŽǀĞƌ ƚŚĞ ƉĂƐƚ ϳ ŵŽŶƚŚƐ ʹ ƉĂƌƟĐƵůĂƌůLJ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŶǀĞƌŐĞŶĐĞ ŽĨ ƌĂƚĞƐ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞŐŵĞŶƚƐ ĂŶĚ ŚŝŐŚ ƚƵƌŶŽǀĞƌ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ /Θ tŝŶĚŽǁ͘ ŐĂŝŶƐƚ ƚŚŝƐ ďĂĐŬĚƌŽƉ͕ ƚŚĞ E ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞĚ ŝƚƐ ĞīŽƌƚƐ ŝŶ ŵĂŝŶƚĂŝŶŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďŝůŝƚLJ ŝŶ EĂŝƌĂ͛Ɛ ĞdžĐŚĂŶŐĞ ǀĂůƵĞ ǁŝƚŚ Ă h^ΨϮϭϬ͘Ϭŵ ŝŶũĞĐƟŽŶ ŝŶƚŽ ƚŚĞ ŝŶƚĞƌ ďĂŶŬ ĨŽƌĞŝŐŶ ĞdžĐŚĂŶŐĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŽŶ dƵĞƐĚĂLJ͘ ĞƐƉŝƚĞ ƚŚĞ ŝŶƚĞƌǀĞŶƟŽŶ͕ ƚŚĞ E/& y ƌĂƚĞ ĚĞƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ ĨƌŽŵ EϯϲϮ͘ϴϬͬ h^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ ŽŶ DŽŶĚĂLJ ƚŽ Eϯϲϰ͘ϮϬͬh^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ ďLJ ŵŝĚǁĞĞŬ͘ KŶ dŚƵƌƐĚĂLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ĚŽǁŶǁĂƌĚ ŵŽŵĞŶƚƵŵ ďƌŝĞŇLJ ƌĞǀĞƌƐĞĚ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ŝŶƚĞƌďĂŶŬ ƌĂƚĞ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ ƚŽ EϯϲϬ͘ϭϴͬh^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ ďĞĨŽƌĞ ĐůŽƐŝŶŐ &ƌŝĚĂLJ Ăƚ Eϯϲϰ͘ϰͬh^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ŽĸĐŝĂů ƌĂƚĞ ŵĂƌŐŝŶĂůůLJ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ ϭϬ ŬŽďŽ ƚŽ EϯϬϱ͘ϴϱͬh^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ ĨƌŽŵ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ͛Ɛ EϯϬϱ͘ϵϱͬ h^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ ǁŚŝůĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƉĂƌĂůůĞů ŵĂƌŬĞƚ͕ ƚŚĞ EĂŝƌĂ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ŇĂƚ Ăƚ Eϯϲϰ͘ϬϬͬh^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ Ăůů ƚŚƌŽƵŐŚ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ͘ ƚ ƚŚĞ /Θ tŝŶĚŽǁ͕ ƚŚĞ E & y ƌĂƚĞ ƐůŝŐŚƚůLJ ƌĞĐŽǀĞƌĞĚ ĨƌŽŵ Ă ϭϱ ŬŽďŽ ĚĞƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŽŶ dƵĞƐĚĂLJ ;ĨƌŽŵ Eϯϱϵ͘ϵϭͬh^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ ŽŶ DŽŶĚĂLJ ƚŽ EϯϲϬ͘Ϭϲͬh^Ψϭ͘ϬϬͿ ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ Ăƚ Eϯϱϵ͘ϵϴͬh^Ψϭ͘ϬϬ ŝŶĚŝĐĂƟŶŐ Ă ϳ ŬŽďŽ ŐĂŝŶ t Ž t͘ ,ŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ƌĞůĂƟǀĞ ƚŽ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ǁĞĞŬ ĂƐ ŽīƐŚŽƌĞ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞ ƚŽ ƉŽƐŝƟŽŶ ŝŶ EĂŝƌĂ ĂƐƐĞƚƐ͘ tĞĞŬůLJ ƚƵƌŶŽǀĞƌ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ h^ΨϳϮϳ͘ϵŵ ;ĂƐ Ăƚ dŚƵƌƐĚĂLJ ϮϰƚŚ EŽǀĞŵďĞƌͿ ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ h^Ψϲϳϰ͘ϯŵ ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ƉƌŝŽƌ ǁĞĞŬ͘

/Ŷ ƚŚĞ &D Y Kd ĨƵƚƵƌĞƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ͕ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƚĂů ǀĂůƵĞ ŽĨ ŽƉĞŶ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ EĂŝƌĂ ƐĞƩůĞĚ Kd ĨƵƚƵƌĞƐ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ϭϮ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ĐĂůĞŶĚĂƌ ƐƚŽŽĚ Ăƚ h^Ψϯ͘ϰďŶ ĨƌŽŵ h^Ψϯ͘ϯďŶ ƚŚĞ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ǁĞĞŬ͘ dŚĞ :hE ϮϬϭϴ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚ ƌĞĐĞŝǀĞĚ ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƐƵďƐĐƌŝƉƟŽŶ ;h^ΨϰϬ͘ϬŵͿ ďƌŝŶŐŝŶŐ ƚŽƚĂů ǀĂůƵĞ ƚŽ h^Ψϭϴϱ͘ϴŵ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ ƌĞƐƚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚƐ ƌĞĐĞŝǀĞĚ ŵŝŶŝŵĂů ƉĂƌƟĐŝƉĂƟŽŶ͘ EĞdžƚ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ƚŚĞ E'h^ EKs ϮϬϭϳ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŽƚĂů ǀĂůƵĞ Ăƚ h^Ψϱϰϯ͘ϭŵ ǁŝůů ďĞ ŵĂƚƵƌŝŶŐ͘ tĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚŝƐ ƚŽ ďĞ ƌĞƉůĂĐĞĚ ďLJ ĂŶ ĞƋƵŝǀĂůĞŶƚ E'h^ EKs ϮϬϭϴ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚ͘ tŝƚŚ ĞdžƚĞƌŶĂů ƌĞƐĞƌǀĞƐ Ăƚ Ă ϯϬ ŵŽŶƚŚ ŚŝŐŚ ŽĨ h^Ψϯϰ͘ϵďŶ ĐŽƵƉůĞĚ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ h^Ψϯ͘ϬďŶ ƌĂŝƐĞĚ ǀŝĂ ƵƌŽďŽŶĚ ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞƐ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ E ƚŽ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶ ĨƌĞƋƵĞŶĐLJ ŽĨ ŝŶƚĞƌǀĞŶƟŽŶƐ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ EĂŝƌĂ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ƐƚĂďůĞ Ăƚ Ăůů ƐĞŐŵĞŶƚƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ &y ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŶĞĂƌ ƚĞƌŵ͘

ŽŶĚƐ DĂƌŬĞƚ ZĞǀŝĞǁ ĂŶĚ KƵƚůŽŽŬ dŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽŶĚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ǁĂƐ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ ĂƐ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ &'E ďŽŶĚ LJŝĞůĚ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ŵĂƚƵƌŝƟĞƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϭ͘ϴй t Ž t ƚŽ ϭϰ͘ϵй ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬĚƌŽƉ ŽĨ &'E ƐƵĐĐĞƐƐĨƵů ƵƌŽďŽŶĚ ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞ ĂŶĚ ŶĞĂƌ ƚĞƌŵ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĂƟŽŶ ŽĨ ŵŽŶĞƚĂƌLJ ĞĂƐŝŶŐ͘ dŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŽƉĞŶĞĚ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ŽŶ Ă ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ŶŽƚĞ ǁŝƚŚ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ LJŝĞůĚ ĐůŽƐŝŶŐ Ăƚ ϭϱ͘Ϭй ;ϭϲďƉƐ ůŽǁĞƌ ƚŚĂŶ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ &ƌŝĚĂLJ͛Ɛ ĐůŽƐĞ ŽĨ ϭϱ͘ϮйͿ͘ dŚĞ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ǁĂƐ ĞdžƚĞŶĚĞĚ ƚŽ dƵĞƐĚĂLJ͛Ɛ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ďŽŶĚ LJŝĞůĚ ĨĞůů ϭϬďƉƐ ůŽǁĞƌ ƚŽ ϭϰ͘ϵй ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƚĞŶŽƌƐ͘ LJ ŵŝĚ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚƵƌŶĞĚ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ DK͛Ɛ ŵŽŶƚŚůLJ ŽŶĚ ĂƵĐƟŽŶ͘ dŚĞ DK ƌĞ ŽƉĞŶĞĚ ƚŚĞ :h>z ϮϬϮϭ ĂŶĚ D Z , ϮϬϮϳ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ ǁŝƚŚ EϱϬ͘ϬďŶ ĞĂĐŚ ŽŶ ŽīĞƌ͘ 'ŝǀĞŶ ƚŚĞ ŚŝŐŚ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ĨŽƌ ůŽŶŐ ĚƵƌĂƟŽŶ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ͕ ƚŚĞ :h>z ϮϬϮϭ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ ŚĂĚ ŵŝŶŝŵĂů ƉĂƌƟĐŝƉĂƟŽŶ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ

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26

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

TRAVEL

Edited by Demola Ojo Email demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

A Sheraton Lagos Club Guest Experience Demola Ojo

T

he concept of a hotel within a hotel is very evident at the club rooms and lounge of the Sheraton Lagos. It starts from check-in. Rather than queuing-up at the general reception at the hotel lobby - a distinct possibility at the busy hotel, especially in the evenings when flight crew from various international airlines arrive – a fast track check-in on the sixth floor is one of the perks club guests get. The personalized service starts from knowing guests’ preferences.“Complimentary wine, red or white? Or would you prefer a fruit bowl?”says the receptionist. Not far from the check-in desk is the Club Lounge that is accessible only by your room key. This is for guests on the club floors; five and six. Being a club guest comes with enhanced privileges. Complimentary tea and coffee is served all-day at the lounge, while snacks and drinks (fresh fruit, beer, spirits and cocktails) are served between five and seven in the evenings. The ambience is homely, yet executive, almost like a first-class airport lounge, especially when you see a pilot in uniform, relaxing after a long-haul flight. Tastefully furnished without straying too far from the generally earthy tones of the hotel’s décor, the lounge is exclusive and a perfect place for hotel guests to entertain visitors, or socialize with high net worth individuals. The club rooms and suites at the Sheraton are newly renovated, all 107 of them refreshed and elegantly furnished with modern interiors and enhanced amenities. It is part of the brand’s new elevated and customized approach to design as part of Sheraton 2020, a 10-point plan designed to put Sheraton back in the global spotlight and solidify its positioning as a leading global hotel brand of choice. The rooms come equipped with Sheraton Signature Sleep Experience, with particular attention given to the lighting to ensure efficient task lighting where required and just the right level of ambient light for relaxation. The use of a mosaic pattern on the wall tiling adds intricate detail to the rooms, while still maintaining its earthy tones; shades of brown are prominent, against a pristine white backdrop. Furniture is a mix of wood and glass and the bathrooms, which are thoughtfully designed with

Sheraton Lagos Club Lounge premium bath amenities, is see-through by choice. A retractable wooden board means it’s convertible and leaves the choice to the guest, a feature that shouldn’t be taken for granted. (A particular competitor in Lagos will do well to take note and upgrade.) The club rooms and lounge are beneficiaries of a hotel-wide renovation that has also seen the La

Giara Italian restaurant and Pumkin Leaf restaurant refurbished. Sheraton Lagos, which opened in 1985, takes advantage of its proximity to the international airport and has since been a hotspot for locals and expatriates. Its Wazobia nights on Fridays attracts a cross-section of fun lovers hooked on the medley of contemporary

Dubai onTrack to Set New Arrival Record A total of 11.58 million international overnight visitors arrived in Dubai during the first nine months of 2017, reflecting a 7.5 per cent increase over the same period last year, keeping the Emirate on track for another record year in tourist volumes, according to the latest data released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism). India retained top spot on Dubai’s list of source markets for inbound tourism, with 1,478,000 Indian tourists arriving in the city between January and September, registering a significant 20 per cent rise over the same period in 2016. This increase affirmed the effectiveness of various innovative promotional activities driven by Dubai Tourism in the market, including highly successful influencer-led collaborations with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Meanwhile, China stayed in fifth place with impressively large 49 per cent year-on-year growth, delivering 573,000 visitors in the first nine months of the year and continuing to benefit from regulatory changes introduced in late 2016 granting Chinese citizens free visa-on-arrival access to the UAE. Saudi Arabia and the UK also retained their positions as Dubai’s second and third largest feeder markets respectively. A total of 1,250,000 Saudis and 905,000 British travellers arrived in the emirate between January and September 2017, the former showing a slight drop compared to the first nine months of 2016, reflecting the ongoing economic challenges facing Saudi Arabia, while the UK witnessed a resilient 2 per cent year-on-year increase despite continued Brexit instability. Almost all the top 10 markets – with the exception of Oman and Kuwait, which saw declines of 23 and 3 per cent respectively – posted healthy increases

in tourist traffic, including sixth-placed US up 6 per cent, seventh-placed Pakistan up 4 per cent, eighth-placed Iran up 16 per cent and ninth-placed Germany up 6 per cent. Among the top 20 feeders of traffic, Russia topped the growth charts, posting an increase of 95 per cent and continuing the pronounced resurgence seen earlier in the year following the February introduction of UAE visa-on-arrival access for Russian citizens. Philippines in 11th position, France in 15th, Jordan in 17th and Lebanon in 19th also saw double-digit year-on-year increases of 10, 12, 18 and 15 per cent respectively, with 13th-placed Egypt, 16th-placed Italy and 18th-placed Canada showing lower, yet stable increases at 2, 4 and 1 per cent respectively. Only two markets –Australia and Bahrain – witnessed nominal declines of 2 per cent each. From a regional perspective, the GCC emerged as the largest contributor of overnight visitor volumes, with a 21 per cent share compared to second-placed Western Europe’s 20 per cent. These were closely followed by South Asia with a share of 18 per cent, the Mena and North and South-East Asia regions with 11 per cent each, the Americas and the Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe bloc with 6 per cent each, Africa with 5 per cent and Australasia with 2 per cent. The wide geographical spread reflects Dubai’s diversified market strategy aimed at driving consideration from a broad spectrum of countries and visitor segments. As Dubai continues to evolve and expand its offerings across all pillars of its destination proposition, these latest figures affirm the strength of the emirate’s tourism industry as well as the growing attractiveness of Dubai as a leisure and business destination.

Burj Khalifa Dubai

and old-school hits belted out by the live band. A lively and eclectic Sunday brunch, and theme nights on weekdays also help to create the ideal setting for friends, family and colleagues to converge and connect. Recreational facilities include a gym, outdoor pool, tennis courts, and a mini golf range ensuring guests can make the most out of every stay.

Marriott CEO:Trump Effect Pushing GroupTravel from US to Canada Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson said US President Donald Trump is helping to make Canada great again for business travellers, who he says view the country as less divisive and easier to navigate than its neighbour to the south, Bloomberg reports. Sorenson said that Trump’s nationalism and harsh rhetoric on immigration have led planners to shift conferences and meetings from the US to Canada, citing“the view that bringing in an international group would be more hassle-free in Canada and maybe a little bit riskier in the US”. “You’re going to have people coming in from everywhere, and they’re going to be looking at ‘Can we get our people in? Are they going to want to go to that place?’”said Sorenson. “At the moment there’s a perception around the world that the US is a little less welcoming than it was in the past.” Financial growth at Canadian Marriott hotel properties is expected to be in the mid to high single digits this year, compared to one to two percent in the US, Sorenson noted. The Marriott CEO said he has raised the issue of the perceived unfriendliness to international travellers in meetings with Trump administration officials, and Sorenson has repeatedly said that Trump’s efforts to ban travel from Muslimmajority countries is bad for business.

27

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ͺ͞Ë&#x153; ͺ͸͚Ϳ

MARKET NEWS

Lafarge Africa N132 Billion Rights Issue Opens Goddy Egene The Rights Issue of  3,097,653,023  ordinary shares  by Lafarge Africa Plc  to existing shareholders opened last Friday and will close on December 15, 2017. The offer is being made at N42.50 per share. Lafarge Africa Plc had, at the beginning of the month, applied to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to raise N132 billion fresh capital from existing investors through  the  Rights Issue. Shareholders of the cement

manufacturing firm had in June approved the proposal by the company to raise about N140 billion. However,   the company is raising   raise about  N132 billion through  the issuance  of  3,097,653,023 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at  N42.50  per share on the basis of five  new ordinary share for every nine  ordinary share s held as at November 1, 2017. Shareholders of the company had given the approval for the rights issue  with a charge to the directors that the company would

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 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;sharesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on the

remain listed on  the NSE. The Chairman of Lafarge Africa,  Mr.  Bolaji Balogun, had said that the rights issue, which is the first since 2005, represents an important step in resolving the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foreign currency  exposure  and impact on its earnings. According to him, apart from reducing debt of the company, the right issue provides all shareholders opportunity to increase their investment in the company. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The recapitalisation is positive

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 23-Nov-2017, unless otherwise stated.

and our largest shareholder, LafargeHolcim has committed to subscribing to their rights in full through a conversion of existing shareholder loans. This investment is a strong indication of the groupsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; continued belief in the Nigerian story. It is the largest right issue and the largest investment in a listed company by an investor. It reduces our foreign currency exposure by approximately half, improves our cash flow and positions the company for our future capacity expansion plans,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Responding to request by the shareholders that the company should not be delisted after the right issue, Balogun said if the LafargeHolcim was considering that option, it would not commit to make such huge investment in the company. Speaking on the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turn-around plan launched in the third quarter of 2016, the chairman said it has started yielding results. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The plan revolves around  achieving  high reliability  across our production

facilities, increasing the use of alternative fuel(biomass) and locally sourced coal as a way to mitigate  disruption of production by gas supply shortages and the impact of devaluation on cost of gas. We have increased local sourcing of critical materials to lower foreign exchange component of our operational costs. Finally, we are working on a new route to market initiative and improvements in logistics with increased vehicle turn-around and size of fleet of third party providers,â&#x20AC;? Balogun said.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors. Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return. NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 1 270 1680 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 178.22 179.44 40.53% Nigeria International Debt Fund 234.56 235.91 11.02% 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 0.81 0.82 16.39% ACAP Income Funds 0.63 0.63 79.56% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.03% 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 17.84 18.38 44.48% ARM Discovery Fund 373.92 385.20 30.21% ARM Ethical Fund 26.54 27.34 18.79% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.73% 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 147.16 148.19 39.91% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 18.22% 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 18.68% Paramount Equity Fund 12.07 12.38 28.96% Women's Investment Fund 98.08 100.60 15.94% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.24% CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronation.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.70% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.00 1.01 0.47% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.00 1.03 1.56% FBN QUEST 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 1,110.05 1,111.18 9.58% FBN Heritage Fund 147.70 148.96 32.48% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.61% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $110.77 $111.98 7.81% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $110.17 $111.38 7.97% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 157.83 160.14 40.19% 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 1.37 1.40 47.21% Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund 2.95 2.95 14.64% 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 2,910.86 2,950.95 32.38% Coral Income Fund 2,428.22 2,428.22 16.50% 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 17.51% INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.40% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.08 2.11 23.77%

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 18.42% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 113.37 113.37 16.84% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD ďŹ ncon@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 1.17 1.19 18.03% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,041.55 1,041.55 10.54% 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 13.28 13.39 37.44% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 18.82% 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 1.22 1.24 22.59% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.93 10.99 5.13% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 17.03% 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 123.77 125.50 21.92% 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 1.42 1.42 13.66% 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 2,209.58 2,222.76 20.69% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 174.75 174.75 13.50% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.98 0.99 27.92% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 216.67 216.67 15.93% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 171.89 174.12 32.40% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.60% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 9,476.68 9,587.80 24.97% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.05 1.05 5.00% 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 1.32 1.33 17.54% United Capital Bond Fund 1.51 1.51 23.55% United Capital Equity Fund 0.89 0.91 32.93% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.40% 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 12.63 12.81 30.37% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.28 13.43 21.58% Zenith Income Fund 18.85 18.85 13.98%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.41 131.74

1.01% 6.27%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

11.15 136.51 105.27

11.25 139.47 107.26

29.11% 37.99% 38.93%

Fund Name FSDH UPDC Real Estate Investment Fund SFS Skye Shelter Fund

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 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 GrifďŹ n 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

4.51 8.58 16.93 19.83 143.54

4.55 8.66 17.03 20.03 145.54

62.86% 21.92% 43.07% 24.17% 13.11%

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 managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website and FMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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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UT H

& RE A S O

N

LIFE LESSONS WITH AYO AROWOLO

ayo.arowolo@thisdaylive.com

09067059433 (SMS only)

non-contributory pension of those days. It just didn’t occur to me then. Well, I did some consulting in engineering and management, but I was not chasing money. You understand what I mean? I believe one can make money through diligence, honesty and hard work especially if one is in the right market. For me, I wasn’t in the right market because I was a retired public servant executive; people don’t hire public servants to tell them how to run their business and the public service itself did not hire anyone to teach them management: government itself was not serious about training and management consultancy in those days. But I had broadcasting and telecommunication briefs, however. I made a living on my personal reputation. But you can’t retire making a living like that. It will get to a time when you will have to stop, and it would not be easy if the business has not taken on a life of its own as a corporate organ.

DON’T JUST PRAY; ALSO

WORK LESSON

1

Know what you want and go for it. I could have studied Medicine, Law or Science, but I chose Engineering for two reasons. First, is that it is a challenging subject: only bright students study it. I was good at Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics, which are the core subjects for studying Engineering. The other reason, of course, is that if I chose Engineering, I would not only have a scholarship, but also spend four years abroad. That, to me, was glamorous. Everything seemed to be working perfectly well in my favour. I had a provisional admission from the Leeds University, United Kingdom (UK). I also got a scholarship from the Western Region Government to study Engineering abroad. However, I had a rude shock, around April 1956 when I got a letter from the same Western Region Government, stating that my scholarship to study Engineering was no longer tenable abroad but at the Nigerian College of Arts Science and Technology, Zaria. Instantly, I reasoned that was unacceptable. The reasons were clear. I had an uncle who was one of my role models; he studied Engineering at the Higher College, Yaba. And when he qualified, he was designated engineering assistant. I didn’t want that. Again, I wanted a degree not a diploma which I was sure Zaria was going to offer. So, I said no way. Four of us were affected, three from my class and one other person. We decided to travel to Ibadan to meet the Minister for Education. Unfortunately, we tried for several months without success. That ministry argued that Zaria needed us to populate their school, but we tried to persuade the government that unless people like us took a degree in Engineering, the teachers at Zaria would always be the expatriate university graduates. At a point we decided to meet late Anthony Enahoro, then Minister for Home Affairs, who was also in charge of complaints. We explained to him why we insisted on going abroad for our studies and he saw reason, and eventually we got another letter from the government allowing us to travel abroad. I met another opposition when I got to the UK: the education officer at the Western Region Office in London told me that I had been assigned to Woolwich Polytechnic. I told him no, I was going to the Leeds University; that I had an admission to Leeds. He said that was impossible, that people didn’t just go to Leeds. I told him that at home (in Nigeria) I was assigned to Zaria, I refused. Here (in London) you are asking me to go to Woolwich Polytechnic. And I refused to go. When he discovered he couldn’t persuade me, he said okay go to Leeds. At Leeds, my professor told me that somebody had been piling pressure on them to remove my name from the admission list and put that of somebody else, but that they refused. Go for what you want!

– Vincent Maduka As the Director-General (DG) of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in the ’70s and ’80s, Engineer Vincent Maduka, OFR, was noted for his no-nonsense stance on issues bordering on professional ethics. That, of course, put him on a collision course with the authorities leading to his controversial sack by the then civilian government shortly before the 1983 General Elections. He was, however, reinstated by the military government that took over power on December 31, 1983, in a coup d’état. Over 82 now, Maduka, also a recipient of the Leader Without Title (LWT) award from the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL), Lagos, shares some life lessons. Please, enjoy the reading. LESSON

2

Stick to what is right, not what may save you. As the DG of NTA I had a series of fights with the political authorities over what I saw as a breach of professional ethics. I paid for it because it got to a point when they could no longer tolerate me and they asked me to leave the NTA and go to where they felt I would not interfere with their plan to use the station as a propaganda organ. The military government that handed over to the civilians in 1979 set up a board for NTA, headed by Alhaji Babatunde Jose. It was a highly respected board and we were able to set up the ground rules that were largely ethical. For whatever reason, the civilian government that came in dissolved the board. Instead of appointing a new board, the President appointed a special assistant to run NTA as a board. I was the DG, while he was the Chairman and Board. We never agreed because he would have nothing to do with our ethical rules. I recall a world press conference addressed by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the opposition party. We had mobilised our team to cover it, but then, I got a phone call from the special assistant that NTA must not cover it. I told him it was impossible, how could the whole world media be there and NTA, the host station would not be there? He said that was his instruction. After a long argument and not to be seen as insubordinate, I made arrangements for our team to only go and record the press conference but not air it. But that gentleman called again and instructed that we must not

MISTAKE The professional mistake which I still remember and regret rather deeply is not going ahead to cover the Awolowo world press conference and air it and, perhaps, some similar cases. I did not sufficiently act and “damn the consequences.”

go there and that our cameras must not be seen there. At that point, I gave up. Much later, I asked, why did I obey that instruction? I could have gone ahead and created a controversy. I regretted it. On the professional ground, I had a duty to record that event, whether you broadcast it or not is secondary. But I didn’t, and that wasn’t professional.

LESSON

3

Keep your nose clean. December 31, 1982, I was removed from office; no reason was given. But I felt relieved because the intrigue was becoming too much, and the battle was becoming too intense with the ruling party then always on my back to do their bidding. I did not get a sack letter from anybody; it was announced on television during the 7p.m news on the same NTA which DG I was. They didn’t accuse me of anything, they just announced that I had been removed as the DG of NTA and assigned elsewhere. I knew the job was going to go; it was just a question of when and how. It is important to keep your nose clean.

LESSON

4

Invest for the later years. I did not intentionally focus on building something for retirement, although I bought some shares and also built a house but they were not targeted at my retirement period. I didn’t know I would live this long. My mistake is that I should have realised how important it was to make better investments. We didn’t have a contributory pension scheme which would have been more valuable than the

LESSON

5

Get close to your children. I have a very lovely family. My wife and I have now been married for 50 years. She is the first woman engineer in Nigeria and perhaps in Africa. It has not been all rosy. As for our children, my regret is that I was not as close to them as I should have been. Yes, in the early years, I was always around, helping the children with their homework. But as the demands of the job increased owing to increasing responsibilities, I was not as close to the latter kids as to the older ones. They are all grown now. We are getting on well, but I wish I had been closer to the younger ones during their growing up years.

LESSON

6

Keep working mentally and physically. Whatever good health I am enjoying is just God’s grace. I eat very well and I eat plenty. If you offer me a glass of wine I will take. If you offer me a second one, if it has been up to an hour since I took the first one I may chose not to take. I go to bed by 12.30a.m or 1.00a.m. That has become a habit as media person. Even in retirement, going to bed late has become part of me. I also wake up late, at 7a.m or 8a.m. I get about six hours’ sleep which is not really good. But I am working at it. I believe one thing we need to know is that one must keep working mentally and physically. I don’t really do structured exercises, but I don’t like to sit in one place too long. I am also active in professional work. I am an active member of my professional association, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Nigerian Academy of Engineering. In fact, we have an investment company which I chair. I am also the chairman of a private company as well as two or so other not-for-profit organisations.

LESSON

7

Don’t just pray; also work. I am generally a liberal. Religion should be a personal matter; it doesn’t deeply consume a liberal. I am a practising Catholic; I go to mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation. I am not an intensely religious practitioner, may be because I am too rational and logical. I tell people that prayer is very good, but hard work is key. You have to work and pray. If you think that prayer alone will see you through life, well, it doesn’t work that way for everyone. I wish we worked harder than we prayed in Nigeria. We pray too much. Go and check it, every successful country got there through hard work. God has given us brain to use. Everyone else in the world is using his brain and also praying, but we are praying powerfully, and not using our brain enough, except, perhaps, to cheat. I am, of course, aware of the saying that Nigeria would have been much worse off if it was not for our prayerfulness.

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

26.11.2017

EZEKIEL ADAMU & AKIN ESHO

TEAMING UP ON DRINKS!

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COVER

Akin Esho (l), Ezekiel Adamu and Goke Obembe (r)

EZEKIEL ADAMU & AKIN ESHO

TEAMING UP ON DRINKS! Two friends, Ezekiel Adamu and Akin Esho, have pooled resources to transform the landscape of the $40 billion Nigerian drinks industry through a first-of-its-kind exhibition and summit called the International Drinks Festival. Nseobong Okon-Ekong reports

I

Ezekiel Adamu (r) and Akin Esho

canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say if it is the rule. Everyone in the office smiles and acts friendly. This notion of acquaintanceship was deepened for the duration I spent waiting for the arrival of Akin Esho, chief operating officer of Balmoral group of companies. The lady at the front desk, Layo, who says she is a graduate of English and International Relations and I got into a heated discourse on Pidgin English. We were still at it when Esho arrives. That conversation ends as I stand up while he courteously holds the door for me to walk through. I make a mental note of it- politeness runs in this environment, not minding your designation. My encounters with Esho are many. But it is the first time we are meeting face-to-face. We have previously exchanged emails and talk a lot on the phone mainly about his novel exhibition, the Wed Expo. Our meeting was facilitated by â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Big Samâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Olatunji, his publicist, at the time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We meet finallyâ&#x20AC;?, I said. Neither of us believe our encounter would be under this circumstance. A few botched meetings in the past, probably made the possibility of running into each other remote. Since we had already broached the subject matter, the interaction starts as soon as we sit. I know Balmoral. Everyone knows Balmoral for providing cosy event venues. What is yet to fit in is Eshoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s connection. It still did not divulge much to understand that he uses Balmoral for his Wed Expo events. I do not want to make any assumption, after all I was sitting right across the table from him. It turns out that a lot of things have changed about Eshoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business. He has entered a business trinity comprising Ezekiel Adamu as Chief Executive Officer, Goke Obembe, Executive Director and himself

as Chief Operating Officer. He also collapsed (or expanded it depending on the angle from which you are looking) his Wed Expo dream. He makes no fuss. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are looking at the big picture. Wed Expo is now under Balmoral Exhibitions, which also handles other exhibitions. Our major concern is to create innovative platforms that are tailor-fit for specific sectors of the economy.â&#x20AC;? He went on to explain the transformation of Balmoral. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Balmoral used to be known as just venues. Now we have Balmoral life which is the strategic thinking, marketing and ideas arm. We have Balmoral Exhibitions. We have Balmoral venues which is the old Balmoral. Now we are also adding Balmoral hospitality. We intend to create our own events and we will also partner with people to develop their ideas.â&#x20AC;? For Adamu and Esho, working together at this level was a matter of time. In fact they have always had some kind of partnership; because Adamu never charged monies for allowing Esho use his venue for Wed Expo. Therefore, deciding to pool their businesses under one umbrella was not such a difficult decision for both men. They are united in their quest for greater glory. As more venues are opening across Lagos, it was time for Balmoral to look for another area of competitive edge; and Esho, on his part, desired something bigger than Wed Expo. Esho talks excitedly about the conversion of Balmoral. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are a 360 events solution company and the International Drinks Festival which is coming up at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos between December 1 and 3 is our flagship since Balmoral became a bigger company. We are going to have several other brands under the Balmoral group. What we pride ourselves on is creating platforms for industries. With the International Drinks Festival, we are creating

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Guests posing with ‘sound bites’ at the mini-drinks festival

Guests at the min-drinks festival

platforms whereby we have the drinks summit, which is where the business of drinks is being discussed. We have the exhibition, where the real brands will be able to showcase and also meet consumers as well as the hotel owners, club owners and the general public, then we also have the beer village which is more like an entertainment hub, whereby you have food and soft drinks. On the last day, we have the concert.” “Why did you choose a drinks festival from other options?”, I ask him. “We had several ideas but we decided to go with this because we felt it was really untapped. This is the first event you are going to see a Diageo opposite a Remy Martins; a Nigerian Breweries beside Guinness, Coke beside Pepsi, It is good for the consumers. A lot of people drink wine in this country, they don’t even know what they are drinking. There are a lot of people who don’t have a choice of drink, they just take whatever they see. With proper education, which is why we have the Masterclasses, you will be able to understand; from tasting of wine to food pairing - don’t expect to have Amala with wine. The experts will teach what goes with Amala; and what goes with other things. “And will participation cover all aspects of the drinks industry?” “We are not just having an entertainment event. What happened in the past was just an entertainment event, everybody comes to drink and have fun. We have that as a small part of what we are doing. The beer part of it is the entertainment part. We still have the B2B part, where the general managers of hotels, the owners of clubs, top level management in drinks companies, government agencies like NAFDAC, Customs, SON are coming to and discuss how to take the drinks industry forward. Customs is going to be talking on importation, We have SON to talk on standards. NAFDAC will talk on how brands that want to come into Nigeria or even the small brands that want to register because you have a lot of people now making smoothies and different kinds of drinks. NAFDAC will be there to discuss how to get your NAFDAC certification and the right steps to take. All these agencies will exhibit their services.” We were not expecting Adamu when he walked in and perched on the side of the table. Both of us look at him for a moment, but he waved us on. Apparently, he needs time to catch the trend of the conversation before venturing an opinion. Among the things Esho hopes the International Drinks Festival will achieve for Nigeria is the collation of reliable and verifiable statistics. A lot of figures are being touted about Nigeria being one of the biggest consumers of beer and champagne. “Yes, Euro Monitor has contacted us on their desire to conduct a survey because this is the only time they can meet everybody they need to talk to in one place. We are also going to run our individual survey as

Guest post at the palmwine booth at the mini drinks festival

people come in.” Without any sort of statistics, but just by observing the trend of happenings around them, Esho and Adamu reached certain conclusions. They believe the drinks industry continue to thrive even while the country was in recession. They are convinced that Nigerians celebrate a lot of things for which they buy loads of drinks. Euro Monitor published a couple of years ago that the Nigerian drinks industry was worth USD36 billion annually. Of course that figure would have since gone up. As an active operator in the wedding business, Esho can say confidently that individuals spend as much as N100 million on drinks alone at a wedding. This revelation among other things

influenced the decision to organise the international drinks festival. Adamu raises his hand. He is ready to contribute. He said, “People have money in this country, but they may not even know what industry to get into. An event like this helps them make up their mind. It will open opportunities. More companies and investment will go into the drinks industry.” The festival is expected to be a huge market place where drinks will be sold at prices far less than the regular. And this is why the organisers choose December, when people tend to buy more drinks for the year end festivities. A major entertainment offering at the festival is the Flair Bartending Show, where the performers will display astonishing bottle juggling skills. An appetising teaser of things to come at the

main event was showcased last August. Having a mini-show four months ahead in itself was a never-before-seen novelty in Nigeria. It was all they needed to convince brands and other participants that the main event was going to be a different experience. “We are expecting about 25000 people. We are using the whole of Federal Palace Hotel. The Balmoral Centre is just one pavilion. We are also having extra pavilion. The entertainment hub, that is, the beer village is outdoor. We have satellite parking, there is security guaranteed. Everything has been looked into to ensure that people have a seamless experience from when they come in, says Adamu” I drew his attention to the huge variety of drinks being made supposedly from African herbs and how it is being consumed in large quantities. There is a school of thought that believes that these type of drinks have done more damage than good and may be responsible for the prevalence of liver problems in the country. How can the drinks festival remedy that situation? His answer is that government agencies can come in and standardise such drinks and make them safe for consumption. “I hear that people can make wine from kolanut, cocoa and date. It is not only grapes that are good for wine. If you don’t have a platform like the International Drinks Festival then the foreign investors will not come in because it is difficult coming into Nigeria and having to go from one person to another. But by the time you cone to a platform like this, it gives you a credible insight. They can come into Nigeria to test the market. Instead of doing individual surveys they can come into one platform like this and see thousands of people.” Beginning to sound a bit outlandish, Adamu says, “What we are doing has never happened in Nigeria before. Not at this scale because we are well travelled. We travelled specifically to see what drinks events are like in London, US and Germany to be able to come up with ours. And we are not going to do anything less. We have quite a number of exhibitors who are represented locally and they have their foreign counterparts coming to experience what we are doing. We even have some foreign companies that are interested in experiencing the market here that are also coming.” With an estimated number of 250 adhoc staff to cover security, technical and other areas during the festival, Balmoral Exhibitions is creating jobs. But this is tip of the iceberg. The ultimate goal for Adamu, Esho and Obembe is to expand the drinks industry such that it can create hundreds of thousands of permanent jobs. And they believe Nigeria has the human, material and financial capital to make it happen. A bottle of water is on the table since we started talking and Esho hardly touches it. So, I wonder aloud if he is a teetotaller. “I consume alcohol in small quantities. I drink every other thing like soda and juice.”

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with Ě&#x201C; ͎ͯͯ͜ͲͲ͡ͳ͹ͰͲË&#x153; nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com

Deploying Entertaining Social Media Tools for Growth Arraying personal charisma and an entertaining style, each speaker at a recent training on deploying social media tools to develop individual businesses and the media industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collective growth fired the imagination of participants. Nseobong Okon-Ekong reports

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ot a few expected the day to end with some sort of entertainment, hopefully, musical performance. This hope was not totally misplaced. It would be true to character if it happened. Similar events linked to him in the past like the Nigeria Entertainment Conference climaxed with a show. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t all talk. There was always the opportunity for some play. And it looked like there would be some kind of performance at this one, as well. Having worked so hard to make himself and (some of) his businesses top-of-mind in the entertainment industry, it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a bad guess to think the training session organized by Ayeni Adekunleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Blackhouse Media and supported by his other companies, Plaqad, ID Africa and the NETng would dovetail to some kind of entertaining display. The subject may not have explicitly suggested this. There was no ambiguity in the invitation. The offer was for a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Social4Mediaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Masterclass. In fairness to the organisers, the 10-person faculty was composed of individuals with diversified background. However, with 50 per cent of them operating in the entertainment sector, the bias weighed heavily in favour of those in show business. Although, there are arguments that social media can be deployed to enhance information and business in all walks of life, the reality of the Nigerian, and perhaps, global situation is that social media is frequently used by people in the entertainment industry. Virtual communities and platforms became a strong habit in Nigeria about seven years ago. Some participants at the training became masters at their game as early as three years ago. This confession was made by Ized Uanikhehi, Social Producer, CNN who is still trying to comprehend the fame and multiple stream of income from her engagement on social media platforms. Perhaps, owing to the compelling need to keep up appearances, personalities in the entertainment and ancillary sectors appear to imbibe the social media convention more. The faculty at the Social4Media Masterclass had the likes of rapper and entertainment entrepreneur, Jude â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;MIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Abaga who now runs Chocolate City Records, Tosin Ajibade, founder of Olori Supergal and covener of New Media Conference; actor, businessman and comedian, Ali Baba Akpobome, Osagie Alonge, editor-inchief of Pulseng and comedian and actor, Kunle Idowu, better known as Frank Donga. To strike a good balance, facilitators from other sectors like civil society and governance represented by Yemi Adamolekun, executive director of Enough-is-Enough, Tomiwa Aladekomo, MD of Ventra Media Group, the vendor that is helping to change the face of one of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading publications to bring it up to speed with digital reality, John Adewusi, founder of Funny Africa, a platform that aggregates comic content, Femi Falodun, COO of ID Africa, a digital marketing and digital content provider company and Ized. All the speakers alluded to the fact that they may not necessarily be better than or have superior knowledge over the participants, but that they were willing to share knowledge and experiences. This trend was set by Falodun who opened the discourse with his presentation titled, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Getting Started on Socialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The speakers after him followed that style. In his opening remark, Adekunle had stated he had a burden to educate everyone on the changing media landscape. He said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are going to do our best to train as many people as we can, as often as we can, so we can all build the future together. Journalism is under economic threat globally and in Africa.

LUCHIA STATES BISOLAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S STRUGGLES Big Brother Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2017 first runner-up, Bisola Aiyeola takes her fans down memory lane on her new single capturing her struggles from grass to grace. Produced by talented beat-maker, Rhyme Bamz, the multi-talented actress teases her fans with the new song as a signpost to the release her forthcoming EP project. The mid-tempo song, Luchia is the name of Bisolaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beloved mother delivered in seamless blend of English and Yoruba languages. She sings about her rejection at different auditions before she finally found

Ayeni with Ized

MI with Frank Donga

Technology, which disrupted traditional media in many ways, offers an opportunity to reclaim control and innovate. The desire to have our industry understand and exploit these opportunities gave birth to Social4Media. The Social4Media Training is a workshop to help reporters, bloggers, editors, PR executives and other professionals who work in media to better understand the relevance of social tools, and how to use them.â&#x20AC;? He further said that Social4Media has been introduced as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;system that periodically provides an opportunity for Nigerian media industry professionals to learn and share on an ongoing basis, in order to develop individual businesses and the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collective growth.â&#x20AC;? Over 70 media professionals gathered at

Protea Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Lagos for the full day workshop. The invite-only masterclass, which had over 300 registrations online, aims to help media and communication professionals get the best value out of their businesses by providing tools and techniques needed to develop effective strategies, increase platform traffic, improve reach, interpret data analytics, create, distribute and monetize content, among others. As a major goal of the training was to teach participants how to make money from their engagement on social media platforms, every speaker touched on the subject. Falodun summarized his presentation into the acronym, SMART, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time based. According to him the simple objective of every business should

her breakthrough at Big Brother Nigeria (BBN). It is now released worldwide across all media platforms by pan-African record label, Temple Music (TMPL), a sister company of leading creative talent agency, Temple Management Company (TMC). Lively and infectious, she was born in 1986 and has lived in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Before then, she hugged the limelight when she emerged among the finalists at the 2008 edition of MTN Project Fame WestAfrica which was won by singer, Iyanya

Mbuk. She has also worked as an OAP with WFM 91.7 (Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1st Radio station for Women and their families). Also a talented voice over artist, she hosted Billboard Nigeria which aired on TV stations from 2011-2013. Bisolaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s movie career spans across both Yoruba and English sectors featuring in movies like â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Life of a Nigerian Coupleâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Forever with Usâ&#x20AC;? among others. GOLDBERG PROMOTES ONDO CULTURE Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading culture-centric beer brand, Goldberg recently felicitated with

be SMART. Ized taught on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Growth Hacking Techniquesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, meaning â&#x20AC;&#x153;marketing techniques which uses creativity, analytical thinking and social matrix to sell products.â&#x20AC;? Ali Baba struck a chord in many when he said that he was drawn to social media to engage the emerging market, the existing market and the people who make the market thrive. According to him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I make it clear when I went on social media that people I engage with must be those who can add value. The things and the people you allow into your social media space will affect you; so do not be afraid to block people who do not add value to you.â&#x20AC;? Aladekomo emphasized that social media is a business and must be treated as such. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is better to identify a niche and not a mass market.â&#x20AC;? This understanding was echoed by Ajibade. She said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can never be like me. Find your space. We are not the experts people make of us. We are constantly learning. I do a lot of reading online.â&#x20AC;? Adewusi warned that things are very fluid in the social media space. Adamolekun said her organization was born of the first protest which was live streamed and leveraged on social media, celebrities and influencers. Alonge harped on the usefulness of data. In order to create amazing content that should be monetized, you must be analytical, he said. Abagaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presentation was anchored on two pillars, integrity and value. According to him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the medium will change but the story will remain the same. Donga said there is a message in every content that he creates. He, therefore, emphasized the importance to engage with fans and followers on social media. Many left the training with a resolute commitment to deploy social media tools to improve on their job performance.

the people of Ondo State during the annual Oyemekun festival. This is in line with the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three-point agenda of culture, respect and enjoyment. Over the years, Oyemekun Festival has provided an opportunity for all the indigenes of Akure, both at home and in the Diaspora, to come together and celebrate their rich cultural heritage. Goldberg is a leading sponsor of cultural festivals in the Southwest, which is also one of the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way of demonstrating respect for the people. These age-old festivals are among the elements that bind the Yoruba

NOVEMBER 26, 2017˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

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Fela and his queens

people together, and they represent the norms and values which are highly cherished by the people. The festival activities included Prayer service at Akure City Hall, Public Lecture, Cultural Day, Jumat service at Akure Central Mosque, a football match and the Akure Carnival Day. It was rounded off with a thanksgiving service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Redemption Court, Akure.

A Sneek Peek at FELA and the Kalakuta Queens Yinka Olatunbosun Perhaps, it is no longer news that the Fela spirit will be revived once more in December as the theatre production powerhouse, Bola Austen Peters Production stages the musical, “Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’’ in December. What is really new is what the musical is all about. No doubt, the Fela story has been told from both the cinematic and theatric sides. However, there is no stage drama that has unraveled the world of Fela’s Queens. For those familiar with Fela’s biographical tales, the legendary Afrobeat musician married 27 wives shortly after his commune was besieged by unknown soldiers. Since the death of Fela, not much has been said about these women who were loyal to Fela and helped to develop a strong music brand in Afrobeat. The musical which debuts in Lagos at Terra Kuture Arena is a story of the joy, pain and uncommon love of these women that decorated the life and times of this enigmatic musician. Starring Kunle Afolayan, the sneek preview of Fela and the Kalakuta Queens took place at the rehearsal hall with the famed jazz artist, Adeniji Heavywind playing Fela. With a man that has sound knowledge of this genre of music, Heavywind brings some substance to his rendition of Fela’s music. Quite striking too, his voice is a match with the great man he is cast to mimic. And the queens- they are a mash up of different temperaments accommodated in

a carefree musician’s commune. At the risk of being a musical spoiler, one can reveal that some of the scenes in the play were closely tagged to Fela’s major hits such as, “Yellow Fever’’, “Democrazy’’, “Sorrow, Tears and Blood,’’ “Zombie’’, to list a few. Perhaps the actors who play “Duro’’, Fela’s pianist and Heavywind will shed some weight to visually satisfy the physical characteristics of these legends. Sponsored by MTN Foundation, the show will run from December to January for 10 days during the holidays. There will be 18 shows and the cast is massive. The producer of the play, Bolanle Austen Peters revealed how the play was conceived before the press preview of the musical. “About a year ago, we started compiling the story of Fela and the girls. No one had even told the story of Fela’s girls. These women are fashion pacesetters. Their face paintings are global styles copied by the likes of Beyonce. The Kalakuta Queens brought a prowess to African dance,’’ she said. While expressing gratitude to the Estate of Fela for letting the production company access the works of Fela, she particularly commended the convener of Felabration, Ms. Yeni Anikulapo Kuti for her willingness to assist in telling the true story of the Queens. One of the Queens, simply known as Lara, was present at the press briefing. She was one of the eight writers of the story of “Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’’ who described Fela as “a fighter’’ and “a great man’’.

as the undisputed leader of all things entertainment.’’ FASHION ART FUSION HOLDS TODAY Fashion and cultures buffs will assemble again today for the 4th edition of an event that is fast becoming a must-see on the Nigerian culture calendar, Fashion Art Fusion. The 2017 edition comes up at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos continues with the enduring theme ‘Wear Nigeria’. This subject has been agreed on by Austin Aimankhu, owner of the fashion label, Luzol and promoter of the Fashion Art Fusion event and his major supporter, the Federal Ministry of Informationa nd Culture as a celebration of the Nigerian textile tradition. Some of the designers whose works will be showcased on the runway include Ejiro Amos Tafiri, Ayo Van Elmar and Luzol. The Commissioners of culture from Ogun, Delta and Edo State are expected at the event. The fashion designers will be working exclusively with Nigerian made fabrics like adire, aso oke from the south west; anger from the middle belt, akwete from the east, and akwaocha from the south south. The organisers have also announced that His Imperial Majesty, Oba Ogunwusi Adeyeye Enitan Ojaja 11, Ooni of Ife will play the role of the royal father of the day. The festivity which also encompasses an exhibition will showcase fashion, music, poetry and arts. The audience will be entertained with musical performance by Ijodee and Funmi Abe. An intellectual and literary aura is conferred on the event with the appearance of Akeem Lasisi a highly respected poet and journalist and talented lawyer and poet, Donna Ogunaike. The event is also supported by the Lagos state government.

A TASTE OF JUSTICE LEAGUE A night of exclusive pre-screening of the super hero movie sequel, Justice League took place recently at Genesis Duluxe Cinemas, Lekki. It began with popcorn treats, soda, light conversations, invitation verification and finally a walk through the footlights that usher every cinema goer into a dark auditorium with seats almost full. Directed by Zack Snyder, Justice League was originally written by the comic writer Gardner Fox. It has been adapted into screen by Chris Terrio and hit the cinemas across the globe on November 17, with critical reviews in its wake, Justice League follows the event of the 2016 blockbuster, Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. Prompted by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists new ally, Diana Prince to face an even greater threat. Batman and Wonder Woman worked swiftly to recruit a new team to combat this new enemy. This new team include Aquaman, Cyborg, and Flash who have the mandate to save the planet from an assault of fatal dimensions. Flash, a naïve but comical character is the movie’s comic relief. Superman, long dead, is resurrected on the request of his rival, Batman. Maximising Flash’s speed and technical knowledge, Superman is revived and it didn’t take long for him to recall his age-long rivalry with Batman. But as a common enemy threatens them all, Superman becomes a useful accessory in recovering the boxes that empower the enemy. Even the powerful Aquaman has his weakness and insecurity, which he accidentally discloses to the team, much to his own embarrassment. Cyborg, a hubrid of machine and human comes in handy to track the enemy and the location of the boxes. But will this sequel end without a casualty? That is what movie goers will find out. Meanwhile, the host of this pre-screening night, Multichoice Nigeria remarked that the event sets Nigeria on a global map for reel entertainment. The General Manager for Multichoice Nigeria, Martin Mabutho said that the “MNet Channels remains the only option for lovers of blockbuster movie titles and exclusive drama series.’’ In the same vein, the regional director, M-Net West Africa, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu observed that the exclusive pre-screening “puts Nigeria once again on the global map of blockbuster movie appreciation’’ L-R; Nollywood Actress, Lala Akindlu; Joselyn Dumas; Joke Silver; Executive Director, Premiere of Potato Potatoes Movie, Shirley Frimpong-Manso; and Nollywood and “reinforces Multichoice’s position Actor, Blossom Chukwujekwu, during the preview of Premiere of Potato Potatoes Movie, held in Lagos, recently….

Photo: SUNDAY ADIGUN

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T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

COLOURS OF LIFE WITH KOKO KALANGO

See You at THE EXPERIENCE f you had a 15-minute appointment with the world’s richest black woman, Folorunsho Alakija, or Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, or a powerful and generous politician and there was the likelihood that if you spent the first 10 minutes praising them with dance and song, you would be handsomely rewarded by them, would you conform? Let me add that this exercise will be performed in private; only yourself, the individual and God will ever know what transpired. My guess is that 95% of us will happily dance our hearts out and sing merrily, for obvious reasons. If you have ever been at a party where Juju Music icon, King Sunny Ade, and his band were playing, you will witness the wonder working power of praise. The impact praise has on human beings is an incline of what happens when we praise God. Here are just 3 examples: 1. When we praise God we get delivered from prison. Most, if not all of us are prisoners in one way or the other; prisoners to fear, prisoners to people, prisoners of our own success, prisoners to secret sins or shameful habits and we need deliverance. Paul and Silas were serving time in a physical prison after they were arrested for preaching the gospel. They decided to praise God at

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midnight and as a result there was a great earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison, caused all the prison doors to be open and every prisoner ’s bonds to be loosed. (Acts 15:25-34). We get delivered from prison when we praise God. 2. When we praise God we achieve victory in battle. As long as we are alive, we are in spiritual warfare. Our ignorance of or disinterest in the war does not exclude us, if any thing, it can result in us falling casualty in this fierce and merciless conflict. There are different battles in life; health battles, relational battle, career battles, family battles, etc. King Jehosaphat of Judah was minding his business when the Moabites, the Ammonites and the inhabitants of Mount Sier attacked his kingdom. After consultation, Jehoshaphat led his people to praise God. As they did this, extra-ordinary things began to happen. First the Ammonites and the Moabites turned against the people of Mount Seir and destroyed them. Then they turned and destroyed one another. So Judah won the battle without lifting a finger to fight. (2 Chronicles 20). We emerge victorious from the battles of life without having to fight, when we praise God. 3. When we praise God we get

increase from the earth. In Nigeria today many of us are toiling to eek a living. Things are tough. We are feeling the pangs of the recession and the hardship is not abating. The burden is heavy and there seems to be no way out. No wonder the rate of suicide is going up. If you have worked hard, prayed, fasted, sown your seed, watered it and there is still no harvest in sight, how about switching to praise because the earth responds to us with increase when we praise God (Psalm 67:5-7). Much as benefits accrue to us when we praise God, our real reason for praising Him should be because He is our creator and He deserves our praise. Psalm 150 is a great guide to praising God as it tells us where, why, how and who to praise God Psalm 150 1 Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,

praise him with the strings and pipe, 5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. When over 750,000 people gather to praise and worship God it is not just a jamboree. It is rather an opportunity of a lifetime, greater than 10 minutes before any rich and powerful man or woman. Join us at THE EXPERIENCE on Friday, 1st December, 2017 at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos. According to the Paul Adefarasin- led House on the Rock, organisers of THE EXPERIENCE, ‘it is a sacrifice in faith so that as praise ascends to God, He will look upon our nation favourably and bless the land’. The theme for this year is Christ the King. Various gospel artists: Don Meon, Donnie MacClurkin and Travis Greene, from the USA, Chevelle Franklyn from Jamaica and from Nigeria Nathaniel Bassy, Frank Edwards, Chioma Jesus and Midnight Crew, amongst others will lead us in a time of praise, worship and thanks to God from 7pm till dawn. THE EXPERIENCE in God’s presence will bless you.

How Ono Bello Motivates Budding Enterpreneurs

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igital magazine OnoBello. com recently hosted 60 young entrepreneurs at her newly launched project ‘Get Motivated with Ono Bello’ (#GetMotivatedwithOB), an exclusive event aimed at hosting young entrepreneurs across Nigeria. The event took place at Sappers Waterfront Lounge in Victoria Island, Lagos. It featured a day of inspirational talks and business tip on how the young entrepreneurs in attendance can start and grow a business. The event kicked off with a verification process for attendees. She spoke on her “Inspiration” as an entrepreneur, a theme for this maiden edition. Her speech highlighted crucial points in her life and career. She said: “My inspiration for going into my business came after I completed my Master ’s Degree, I felt I was full of so many ideas and I knew they were being underutilized in my place of work then, I would say I was not totally fulfilled even though the job looked interesting to outsiders, it had become boring to me, I wanted more. I needed a place where my ideas were being put to good use, I wanted start and grow them, I would say I had some big ideas but they were not being utilized and most of you working in organisations might be able to relate to that. So, I decided to start something small and put in everything I had to make it grow.” “At the time, I was living and working in the UK, so I made a decision to move back to Nigeria, with no money, nowhere to live in Lagos because prior to this I had sold my car, all my belongings and moved out of my small mini flat to study in the UK and chase my dreams working for a magazine there. My parents don’t live in Lagos, so it was not a question of moving back with my parents, I

Ono Bello

Ono Bello sandwiched by participants at the event

had graduated with my first degree six years prior to that time and I couldn’t see myself asking my parents for money because I had been quite independent and taking

care of myself all these while. However, before I quit my job, I started putting things in place to kick start my dream, started building my website with the help of a friend

that knows how to build websites and doing a lot of research on what I wanted to do.” “I then moved back to Nigeria and was staying with a friend for a few months who I had asked to give me three months to get my place. I was a squatter. I only had money to transport myself, around and buy food for four months. The pressure was on. I was hopeful I had something to offer, I worked hard, had sleepless nights, stay consistent, hopeful, surrounded myself with people that inspired me, validated my dreams and make me want to strive for better. Most of all I prayed fervently. I still do all that today, I haven’t hit it big yet to relax, I haven’t achieved my vision yet. So, you see I can relate with a lot of the struggles you are going through to start off and grow in your businesses.” Speakers that also spoke about their inspiration and tips on how to start and grow a business were; Lanre DaSilva Ajayi, Creative Director of fashion brand LDA, Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, CEO Zapphire Events, Oke Maduewesi, CEO Zaron Cosmetics , who was represented by Mary-Jane Ohubu, the General Manager for the brand, Seun Tayo-Balogun, CEO Brief Essentials & Co-Founder of Techmonks Limited, Tunji Ashiru, Executive of Strategic Policy Engagement, Interswitch Group and Ibikunle Bolorunduro, Fidelity Bank SME Business Advisor. After the talks, attendees were given the opportunity to ask the speakers questions, there was also networking over drinks, plenty of food and fun entertainment. The day ended with Ono Bello giving away N500,000 shared among 10 Entrepreneurs- N50, 000. 00 each with the hope that this money will help them grow their business in a specific area highlighted during the registration process.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

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VISIONS OF REALITY One of the LagosPhoto Images

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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ARTS & REVIEW\\ART FESTIVAL

VISIONS OF REAL

LagosPhoto festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eighth edition explores the quest for truth and its presentation in the contemp Uwaezuoke reports

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litzy openings at prime venues have been the hallmarks of LagosPhoto, which now enters its eighth edition. The annual cocktail of engaging visual offerings, which was launched in 2010 by African Artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Foundation (AAF), remains Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and, perhaps, only â&#x20AC;&#x201C; international photography festival. This year, the fiesta was officially declared open on Friday, November 24 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; more than a month later than its traditional opening dates in October â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and remains open until Friday, December 15. But what it calls its â&#x20AC;&#x153;professional weekâ&#x20AC;? runs only until Friday, December 1. For photography aficionados, this edition â&#x20AC;&#x201C; like the ones preceding it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; offer so much to look forward to. A casual peek into its programme unfurls the following highlights: an amateur photography competition, publicity photography walks, short film/ documentary screenings, family day picnics in the parks, month long indoor and outdoor exhibitions, photography development programmes for teens, workshops and panels by artists and art experts, press conferences and interviews and performance art. Featuring are the works of a miscellany of high-profile international and locally-based photographers like Lubabetu Abubakar (Nigeria) Logor (Nigeria) Mohammed Althoum (Sudan) Bas Losekoot (Netherlands) Bruno Barbey (Morocco/France) Joel Lukhovoi (Kenya) Alun Be (Senegal) Osborne Macharia (Kenya) François Beaurain (France) Andrew Mageto (Kenya) Jody Brand (South Africa) David Magnusson (Sweden) Owanto Berger (Spain) Giya Makondo-Wills (South Africa/UK) Joana Choumali (Cote dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ivoire) Leakey Nduati (Kenya) Cristina De Middel (Spain) Ruth Ossai (Nigeria/UK) Medina Dugger (USA) Eloghosa Osunde (Nigeria/USA) Kadara Enyeasi (Nigeria) Lorena Ros (Spain) Jan Hoek (Holland) Stephen Tayo (Nigeria) Nadine Ijewere (Nigeria/UK) Justine Tjalinks (Netherlands) Seye Isikalu (Nigeria/UK) Kadir van Lohuizen (Netherlands) Ivan Forde (USA) Dagmar Van Weeghel (Netherlands) Samuel Fosso (Cameroon) Sarah Waiswa (Kenya) Keyezua (Angola) Amina Zoubir (Algeria) Francis Kokoroko (Ghana) Nicola Lo Calzo (Italy) Raphael Leonce Agbodgelou (Benin) Wura-Natasha Ogunji (Nigeria/USA) Micheal Gouken (Nigeria) Abba Makama (Nigeria) CJ 'Fiery' Obasi (Nigeria) and Winston Sylvans (Nigeria). Everything about this edition swirls around the theme, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Regimes of Truthâ&#x20AC;?, which explores the quest for truth and its presentation in the contemporary society. It gleans its inspirations from the writings from some of the most influential literary realists and intellectuals of both the 19th and 20th century. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gustave Flaubertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Empire de la BĂŞtise (Empire of Stupidity), Orwellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creation of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;doublethinkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; from his dystopian novel 1984 as well as the writings of Foucault, Achebe and Huxley all possessed foresight about contemporary societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concurrent quandary, whereby access to information on [the] one hand and substantive facts on the other hand, are masked by a constructed rhetoric,â&#x20AC;? information on the LagosPhoto website elaborates. Thumbs up to the LagosPhoto organisers for its consistent annual outings right from its inception. Also noteworthy is the fact that its grand openings at Eko Hotel and Suites in the upmarket Victoria Island neighbourhood have always attracted the crème de la crème of the Lagos culture scene.

Lagos Photo image But more importantly, the annual event have remained a platform for not only harnessing local talents but also for the cross-fertilisation of ideas with the already established professionals in the international scene. Indeed, the dispersal of its events across several venues in Lagos has helped elicit both the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curiosity and interest in photography. Perhaps, the public will be more interested by the fact that this edition of the festival will explore the legacy of two major historical events that happened in Nigeria: the proclamation of the secessionist Republic of Biafra in 1967 and the second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) held in 1977 in Lagos. It should also interest its habituĂŠs to know that one of the exhibitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; commissioned work pays to the late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (the mother of the late Afro-beat legend Fela AnikulapoKuti). The exhibitor, Cristina de Middel, specifically references the tragic military invasion of Fela's home, Kalakuta Republic, exactly 40 years ago with her â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unknown Soldierâ&#x20AC;? 2017. The other commissioned works are Osborne Machariaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;No Touch Amâ&#x20AC;? 2017 and Leonce Raphael Agbodgelouâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Love and Fear Womanâ&#x20AC;? 2017. The AAFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s director and the LagosPhoto artistic director, Azu Nwagbogu, disclosed at a recent press briefing that the body of works to be presented at the festival will be an entrĂŠe to the exploration of the ideas of constructed realities and the relevance of legitimacy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We explore the various tensions between faith, reality and belief through smokescreens with ambivalence a dynamic intersection of photographic encounters featuring the most recent creative output and world premier of the work by renowned award-

winning artist, Samuel Fosso, whose new series â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Black Popeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; delves into the politics of religion in Africa and confronts its image dissimulations,â&#x20AC;? he told the gathering of art journalists at the AAF building in Victoria Island, Lagos. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We rotate from one belief system to another; from religion to science with Where Will We Go? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rising Seas as Dutch photographer Kadir van Lohuizenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presents his compressive photo-essay that explores the impact of human activity on global climate change with a focus on some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most challenged cities.â&#x20AC;? Nwagbogu also linked photography with the expression of truths. Thus, the festival seeks to wring authenticity from out of the photographic narratives that mirror the cultural perspectives. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were looking out for the quality of works,â&#x20AC;? he later added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just looking at works that looked back but the ones that looked forward. We are not just interested in documenting but in creating a new vision.â&#x20AC;? If the AAF building is hosting most of the LagosPhoto events, it is because it provides more rooms for the exhibitions. There are yet other venues like Gallery 16/16, The Studio by Polly Alakija, Quintessence, Yaba College of Technology besides the outdoor venues. There is, of course, also Eko Hotel and Suites, which besides hosting the grand openings has been one of the eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sponsors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have always got the venue for free,â&#x20AC;? Nwagbogu said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Without their support, we wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have had LagosPhoto festival.

Mrs Kavita Chellaram and Azu Nwagbogu at last year's The space we used had never been used by anyone before for an exhibition. We then showed them the possibility of using the space as art space.â&#x20AC;? As the curator of this edition, he will be supported by a familiar curatorial cast comprising of Maria Pia Bernadoni and Mariella Franzoni as well as the in-house AAF curatorial team with Nguveren Ahua, Uche Nwalozie, Asibi Danjuma and Karimah Ashadu.

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NOV Í°Í´Ë&#x153; Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ Ëž THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

ARTS & REVIEW\\ART FESTIVAL

LITY

porary society, Okechukwu

s grand opening at Eko Hotel and Suites in VI, Lagos Past editions of LagosPhoto have had international collaborations, which have further exhibited the works of its participants. Among these collaborations are those with FOAM Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Bozar, Brussels (Belgium), Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein (Germany), Rush Arts Gallery, New York (US) and Rencontres dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Arles, Arles (France).

The Inverted Pyramid; Adapted from a novel by Emeka Dike

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NOV Í°Í´Ë&#x153; Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ Ëž THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

ARTS & REVIEW\\LITERATURE

LIPFEST 2017: THE LIPS HAD IT! Yinka Olatunbosun

â&#x20AC;&#x153;L

et's ignore the softness of the moist lips as they pressed against each other. And the probing tongue between them and the fire they can collectively ignite in the heat of passion. Instead, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus on the words they speak.â&#x20AC;? That was the attitude of most of the audience at the Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPFEST) recently held at the Freedom Park, Lagos. Running from November 1 till 5, it was a roll call of wordsmiths, artists, poetry merchants and deep-thinkers who sat calmly during the five days of the festival that featured guest poets from the UK, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana and other parts of Africa. Sponsored by the Nigerian Breweries, the night that signalled the start of this phenomenal show was very animated, thanks to the QDance, led by Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foremost dance export, Qudus Onikeku and Femi Leye, who really should stop singing and do more of what he knows how to do best: strum away the guitar like a rock star. He brought an orgasmic energy on stage with his â&#x20AC;&#x153;Siseâ&#x20AC;? track, accompanied by voluntary choruses from the audience who participated during the call and response performance. But the gathering was for words not just dance, music or beer, though the sponsors ensured that the latter was sufficient. The poets dazzled, provoked thoughts and gasps and a few laughs. Moderated by Isabella Akinseye, the sessions were welltimed and the poets gave a good account of themselves, justifying the applause that ushered them to the stage by means of the quality of delivery, measured in their naturalness and truthful lines. In his opening remarks, Kufre Ekanem, the Corporate Affairs Adviser of Nigerian Breweries Plc, delivered his poetry to everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pleasant surprise, without apologies. A lover of the arts, Ekanem said the sponsorship is a strand in the fabric of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s philosophy of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Winning with Nigeria.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;We recognise that the arts play an important role in strengthening the cultural values of our society and we believe that we can help to contribute to the breeding of young, emerging talents and create a shared performance space for poets from Nigeria and across the world,â&#x20AC;? he said. Ekanem added that Nigerian Breweriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; support hinges on projecting the role of poetry as a tool for re-engineering of

British performance poet, SoďŹ a Walker performing at the closing ceremony of the Lagos International society. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Poetry does not only interpret society or serve as its mirror, it also helps us imagine better ways of being and living,â&#x20AC;? he explained. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme, Bridges from Walls explores arts capacity to unite society around its common humanity. As promised, the festival included workshop, master classes and road trip to Badagry, a major tourist destination. Last year, the festival was aborted due to financial constraints. But this year, it was a determined effort to sustain what Efe Paul Azino, the Founder/Director, Lagos International Poetry Festival conceived. Azino praised Nigerian Breweries for the unwavering support for the arts community and its huge investment in the intellectual life of Nigeria and Nigerians. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nigerian Breweries

should be lauded for its immense support of initiatives that add value to people,â&#x20AC;? he said. But there are several poets who should be lauded for their contribution to the literary festival. One of them is Chike Jones, an epitome of calmness. He was the opening act at the opening and closing ceremony. Contrary to the belief that the best is usually saved for last, Jones is one unbeatable pace setter whose poems may not necessarily rhyme as they speak directly to the heart. In his first performance poetry, he painted a vivid imagery of blood â&#x20AC;&#x153;under our feetâ&#x20AC;?, making it tempting to actually take a glance at the floor, just to be sure it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t literally spoken. Dike Chukwumerije, all the way from Abuja, mesmerised the audience with his unassum-

COLLECTING ART LAUNCH REKINDLES CULTURAL PRESERVATION Yinka Olatunbosun

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heceremoniallaunchofthebook,CollectingArt-AHandbook at the Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi provided the platform for art collectors and enthusiasts to stress the need for preserving culture through artefacts and art. Chaired by Dr. Okey Anueyiagu, the ceremony was organised in honour of the co-authors for the book, Professor Fabian Ajogwu SAN and famed collector, Jess Castellote, also regarded as Spanish-Nigerian. The book was described by the authors as a product of shared values and divergent viewpoints on the same subject matter of interest, namely art collecting. While the book has not been designed as a holistic textbook on the subject, many collectors who had read the book acknowledged its relevance in understanding the rudiments of collecting art. Some of these collectors include Femi Lijadu and Mrs. Dudu Peterside who preferred not to be addressed as an art collector. In their submission, the authors revealed how they were compelled to write the book having observed the art space in Nigeria and frequent unethical practices that had been reported around it. For Castellote, there are different reasons why individuals may collect art and the book does not offer address that since it is a rather personal decision. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some diversify their portfolio by collecting art

as assets while some just love the art pieces,â&#x20AC;? he explained. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The book is not telling us what to collect but how to collect; the good practices of collecting even if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see yourself as a collector. The book is to make people better collectors.â&#x20AC;? He identified two kinds of collectors namely the organised and the chaotic. He stressed the need for due diligence in procuring pieces of artistic expressions.â&#x20AC;&#x153;To collect on impulse or in an irrational way is not good. You need to be knowledgeable. To be a serious collector, you need to read and study. Some collectors are prudent while others are not. A serious collector does due diligence before collecting, checking the authenticity and condition of the work but an uneducated collector will regret buying a work later. Some people just accumulate works. A good collection has focus or purpose.â&#x20AC;? The co-author, Ajogwu mused over the timing of the book launch, adding that in legal profession, such events are held in the early hours of the day with legal personalities formally dressed. Without attempting to prolong the wait for the cocktails, he delved into a brief history behind the making of the book. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jess and I had been on this book for five years,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a product of friendship, shared values and the need to contribute to the advancement of art collecting. It's also a product of disagreement. When it comes to understanding some contemporary works, it can be tough. Jess would say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;art is not meant to

be understood but appreciated.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;The industry is open and there are not a lot of regulations. Can I buy a Gerald Chukwuma's Blue Moon and change the blue to yellow? Even when sold, the artist still retains the copyright. Awhole lot is left untouched in the art space. Understanding the practice of art is different from understanding the business of art. Artists often overlook the rights and formalities.â&#x20AC;? Meanwhile, the demise of many art collectors in Nigeria had initiated the conversation around the estate of an art collector. This,Ajogwu said had been treated in the book. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you get enlisted in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;of blessed memoriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, will your children declutter your garage where you keep your collection? What about sale and estate? What about moral rights?â&#x20AC;? he asked, rhetorically. In her intervention, Mrs. Dudu Peterside recounted her experience with art collecting without requisite knowledge. She said her friendship with the likes of Femi Lijadu was based on benefited for free advice on the best practices of art collecting. For her, art collecting is an emotional thing. Afine artist, OluAjayi also observed that artist often muster painstaking effort in explaining the meaning of works to be sold. For him, the book will help in building a refined art community. In conclusion, the co-authors agreed that preserving culture through artefacts and art is very essential to humanity.

ing stance that contrasts the power of his words. When he played around the subject matter of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;otherâ&#x20AC;? in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Where Are You From?â&#x20AC;?, comparing racism with tribalism, indigeneship, religious difference and other social margins that create walls amongst humans, it was simply touching. For copyright reasons, he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t perform a political poem but a personal one on the closing concert. He delivered an emotional poem telling of a father that buries a child the same place he was conceived- in his heart. Then again he played with wild imaginations when his lines hinted at sexual undertones. Then came Rhyme Sonny from Accra, Ghana. He started with a eulogy to the Almighty then began a very sexually provocative poem that was just about a car. He named the brand in the end. Aduke Gomez, one of the oldest performers on the stage, spoke about being a well-bred Yoruba girl, the criticisms from other tribes for being overtly respectful, in their greetings and general decorum. Like Chukwumerije, Rex tha Poet, danced around the black theme with his â&#x20AC;&#x153;Black is usâ&#x20AC;? chants. The UK based, internationally renowned poet, theatre maker and educator, Sophia Walker raised the roof with her performance poetry on migration. Dramatic and didactic, the poet is quite historical, bringing mental ashes kept from Vietnam to bear on the subject of existentialism. Yomi Sode from the UK was clad in well embroidered Yoruba traditional wear, Buba and Sokoto, with sparks reflecting on his left ear, thanks to the little stud he had on. His accented delivery was punctuated by applause, the type that brought Ruth Sutoye, a black British poet back on stage for a second time to perform after a little technical glitch. Titilope Sonuga was quite mid-tempo in her performance which were sometimes read. But there is no crime in reading as Koleka Putuma from South Africa proved when she missed a line and with all sense of dignity, requested for a copy of her collection, which made her recollection smooth. Azino couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t escape performing. He delivered without microphone his popular poem that his fans now know by heart. Next year, LIPFEST will return with magnificence as most emerging and established poets will contribute to human development through their well thought out words.

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NOVEMBER 26, 2017˾THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

ARTS & REVIEW\\EXHIBITION

FADUGBA'SFEMALEFORMATION Yinka Olatunbosun

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he sight at the airy pool side behind Temple Muse, Victoria Island is one that captures the reality of every human's quest for survival. The painting, done with unusual musky hue, is one in the series of works by Modupeola Fadugba, in her first solo show with the optimistic theme, “Heads Up, Keep Swimming”. At a press preview of the show which opens on November 6, Fadugba introduced her multimedia pieces, relishing the moment after laborious months of painting, fact-checking and preparations for a much anticipated solo exhibition. Fadugba develops the theme against the backdrop of swimming, a skill she thinks is a rarity amongst women of colour. Hence, she assembles images of women, across several age brackets, to articulate her message of equity, feminism, and social justice. Born and raised by Nigerian diplomat parents, Fadugba had the privilege of multicultural childhood, and issues of identity naturally became her preoccupation as soon as she veered into art as a profession. As a child, educated in United Kingdom and United States of America, swimming was an essential life skill she learnt at school. Every swimmer knows that swimming can be tiring, hence, the need for perseverance, words of encouragement and team spirit. Fadugba inadvertently taught this through her visual narratives comprising of synchronized female swimmers. Inspired by her find in Ibadan, Fadugba’s clusters of female swimmers as subjects of most of her works is no surprise. But while visiting with her parents in Ibadan, she was surprised to discover an international school where young girls learn to swim, even as synchronized swimmers. She, a guest speaker at one of the school’s event, is expecting to host a handful of these brave friends of water with her show in view. At the exhibition opening, her paintings will be showcased alongside a live performance by synchronized female swimmers that speak of togetherness, and if the strength in unity. Fadugba had just returned from an art residency program in Casablanca, Morocco, perhaps with baggage full of clothes and rich cultural ideas, await-

ing “baggage claim”. To identify her works as they roll along the conveyor belt, you must look out for signature style-a technique in burnt paper which generally gives each piece a dated look. Fadugba explained that her use of burnt paper is to hint at the value of the nation’s currencydeteriorating. Having lived in others parts of the world where coins are considered as part of legal tender, she articulated her thoughts

on female heroes by engraving their images in history through her well-thought out paintings. Take for instance, the large burnt paper coin showing the artistic interpretation of the image of Nigeria’s medical heroine, Dr. Stella Adadevoh, who identified the first Ebola victim in 2014, saving Africa’s most populous nation from what could have been a major catastrophe. Fadugba told the art journalists the story behind the

making of this phenomenal piece. She recalled that at a point, it became very necessary to meet Adadevoh’s son whose account added more emotional feel to the work. Coupled with artistic liberty, Fadugba played around Adadevoh’s braids, emphasising the right side, splitting the image vertical to give a compelling interpretation to the physical characteristics of this brave woman. When asked why

Fadugba chose to appropriate the coin motif in her work, despite the reality that Nigerians no longer spend coins in every day transactions, the award-winning artist revealed that the coin still represents a piece of memorabilia, while notes can fade or tear with time. Hence, that quality of durability fascinates Fadugba in coins which she made several miniature pieces capable of attracting young art collectors. Born in Togo in 1985,

Fadugba had been drawn to coins as a child- which came to play in body of works titled, “Heads or Tails”. She validates her career in art with art commitment to using her art to fight for global access to education, especially for girls as she debuts at Art X Lagos this weekend, with support from SMO Contemporary Art. This exhibition sponsored by Zircon Marine, Zenith Capital and Veuve Cliquot runs till November 27.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

CICERO

Editor Olawale Olaleye Email wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08116759819

IN THE ARENA

Fixing Nigeria’s Scandalous Education System Nigeria’s education sector needs help, writes Olawale Olaleye

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he running story from Kaduna State in the last few weeks is disturbing. It is about some unqualified teachers in the state’s employ. Some 33,000 of them were handed primary 4 pupils’ competency test, out of which a large chunk 21,780 failed. Government thought such a poor result was scandalous and therefore resolved to sack them all. Ever since, all hell had been let loose by the teachers, who had threatened to shut down the state. Indeed, the Nigeria Union of Teachers in the state had also issued an ultimatum to the government to rescind its decision. The ultimatum is due to lapse tomorrow, Monday. But already the state claimed it had received another fresh application for the yet-to-be vacant teaching jobs, about 23,000 of them including some of those who failed the competency test. That was Kaduna. Whatever happened with the teachers, unfortunately, is not peculiar to the state, least of all, the region – North. It is a general problem. The signal from Kaduna is indicative of the poor state of education across the country, leaving no particular state or region out of this growing but ugly concern. In August 2013, former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, randomly picked on a primary school teacher, Mrs. Augusta Odemwingie, who could not read her own age declaration certificate, after spending 20 years in service. The video of the encounter which went viral embarrassed not just the former governor, but the teaching class in the state. About the same time in Rivers State, former governor Rotimi Amaechi also picked on a teacher during an exercise by the Best of Nollywood team, who had come to read to students with faces in the acting industry. She also failed a simple test. But the governor did not make a case from it. The Minister of Mines and Steel, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, had a tough time during his term as Ekiti State governor. Fayemi had insisted on carrying out assessment of teachers as part of the recommendations of a reform panel to improve the state’s education system. What was merely an innocent suggestion for the betterment of the state soon became the governor’s albatross. In fact, there is a strong

President Buhari in a handshake with Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu

belief that the move accounted largely for why some of the institutions in the state moved against his re-election, because they abhorred the change he dared to bring about in the education sector of the state. Although Ekiti used to be known for sound education, the teachers could not vouch for themselves and would rather form an opposition against the government just to save face. Today, Ekiti is struggling to compete for attention in terms of rating in the education sector. Senate President Bukola Saraki also had similar encounter as governor of Kwara State in 2007. The mass failure of teachers in Kwara, when a competency test was conducted by former Commissioner for Education, Malam Boalji Abdulahi, was so alarming that Saraki had to devise a means of handling it. In Kwara, the test was organised for a total of 19,125 teachers and out of whom 2,628 were university graduates. The tests were designed for primary four pupils in English and Mathematics. But at the end of the exercise, only seven teachers out of the 19,125 passed, while only one out of the 2,628 graduate teachers

passed the test. Ten graduates scored outright zero. In essence, about 90% of the teachers failed the primary 4 exams. But rather than sack them, Saraki realised the teachers too were victims of a poor education system. He then designed what was called Teacher Professional Development (TPD) supported by DFID/World Bank. Through the programme, government developed a Teaching Manual, which reduced the lesson plans to simple easy-to-follow manual from Primary one to Primary six. He also recruited a team of State Schools Improvement Team made up of the few that did well and lecturers in the state colleges of education. From the State Schools Improvement Team, teachers were later assigned to five schools each. Saraki further set up the quality assurance unit to monitor compliance and within a year or so, the tide changed completely for the public schools in Kwara. Across the country, there is a need for capacity building of the teaching class as part of the efforts that government must invoke in addressing the deteriorating state of education

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

Abaribe’s Kindness Gone Awry

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enator Enyinnaya Abaribe from Abia State is no doubt a good man. And this kindness , he recently extended to an irreverent brother of his, Nnamdi Kanu, the controversial leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), when he stood as surety for him the day he was granted bail after almost two years in detention. However, after flouting practically all the conditions of his bail, including inciting his people against the g ove r n m e n t , a m ove t h a t p r e c i p i t a t e d why IPOB was designated as a terrorist

group, Kanu has since disappeared and Abaribe has become a regular face in court following his failed bid t o p r o d u c e K a n u a s d e m a n d e d by t h e court. Th a t m ay n o t b e a wo r t hy l e s s o n f o r the senator, whose kind gesture might have gone awry from all indications . It is certain Abaribe may not take kindly to how things are turning out, however, the lesson here is not just for him, but ev e r yo n e w h o i s i n c l i n e d t o s t a n d i n g in for people they feel are deserving of t h e i r k i n d n e s s . Th e r e i s a g r e a t t a k e home lesson here for all.

Sen. Abaribe

in the country. What is obtainable all over the nation is so bad that government at all levels must come together for a critical review of the entire education sector, starting of course, with the teaching capacity. It goes without saying that lack of jobs in the country may be partly responsible for the poor recruitment into the teaching service, because it is also cheap for government at the end of the day. This is why government must review the process and uphold standard. The strength of the education of any country is a major yardstick to measuring her prospects, especially at the foundation stage. Nigeria is below par here and the factors are not far-fetched. Public schools used to be the pride of education back in the days and just a few years down, Nigeria seems to have lost it all. Even the private schools are worst hit. This is why government must take the revolution too to the private schools, but first, charity must start from home. Government cannot afford to sit back and do nothing. Education standard in Nigeria is failing and falling and therefore, government must act and act fast.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 26, 2017

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BRIEFINGNOTES Atiku 2019: The Real Battle Has Begun... Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s exit from the ruling All Progressives Congress has set the stage for the 2019 presidential bout, writes Onyebuchi Ezigbo

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ormer Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, last Friday, announced his decision to resign from the All Progressives Congress (APC). Although the decision by Atiku may not have come to many as a surprise, it nonetheless sent some shock waves among political stakeholders, especially members of his former party, the APC. The resignation of a politician of no less a personality than Atiku from any party is bound to generate a lot of concern. A similar movement made in the wake of the crisis in the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), by Atiku and the group of five governors destabilised the party and led to its ouster from power. If indeed Atiku is moving back to the PDP, his supporters who are currently in the APC will follow suit and defect as well. Depending on their numbers, such mass defection could unsettle the APC or put it in a very precarious state ahead of the next election. Already, such fears are gaining grounds and might be a source of concern for the ruling party. National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi confirmed such fears when he reacted to the departure of Atiku, saying what will make the party to loose sleep is if the he drags his followers with him. “A loss of fortune is in numbers. So, if we are able to see the number of people that followed the Vice President to his new party that is when we will begin to worry but we have not seen. So, when we see we will know whether we need to worry or not,” Abdullahi said. There is no doubt that Atiku would add value wherever he goes to play his politics. Many of his staunch supporters, who are presently in the APC will most likely join him to advance his dream in another party. Another critical factor is that Atiku is noted for his deep pocket and wide political network across the country and if he is able to deploy them effectively, APC and whoever it will present at the election, it is believed, might be in trouble. Already, many of Atiku’s political allies in his home state, Adamawa had moved to secure strategic positions in the state chapter of the PDP. During the just concluded state congress held by the party to elect delegates for the December 9, National Convention of the party, many political foot-soldiers of Atiku had secured the slots in anticipation of his entry into the PDP. It is therefore expected that more of his associates will be joining him to quit the APC in droves. Joining the PDP at a time when the party is working hard to get its acts together is certainly a big plus for Atiku. What it means is that he would be getting the support of experienced hands in the party and the well laid-out structures nationwide. However, whether Atiku will be able to pull more influential members of the APC along with him and thereby cause the kind of implosion that took place in the PDP between 2013 and 2014 is what everyone will be waiting to see in the days and months ahead. Just as there are positive sides to Atiku’s move to rejoin the PDP, there are also some negative and perhaps clear obstacles on the way. Recently, a leading member of the Adamawa State PDP, Dr. Umar Ardo accused Atiku of hijacking the state executive of the party during the congress. The aggrieved politician cautioned against taking Atiku back in the PDP, saying the party will fare better

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in the 2019 elections without having the former Vice President returning to its fold. For instance, the PDP chieftain said apart from the ensuing struggle for the presidential ticket of the party, it is an open secret that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo would move against Atiku if he declares his presidential ambition. Ardo, who is a former Special Assistant to Atiku on Research and Strategy, said from all indications, what the party stands to lose in the cause of bringing Atiku back far outweighs the expected. Ardo identified three advantages of Atiku coming back to PDP. First, he said PDP stands to be seen as bringing in men of timber and caliber, because Atiku has a name; and so it will give the impression that PDP is attracting a man of means. “Secondly, he is usually described as a man of deep pocket...So, he will be able to foot the bills of the party, which the party being out of government will need a lot of money, as they say money is to politics what breast milk is to a baby. To that extent, Atiku’s return is an advantage. Thirdly, he has people across the country. And these people will all be in the party as the mobilizers

and these will all be an advantage. But against these three advantages, there are also three disadvantages. “I learnt that Atiku is coming back to the party with an ambition; an ambition to contest for the presidency. Now, that will be a source of conflict because there are others, even in the party who are also interested and they are nursing this ambition. There will be conflict among party members. “Secondly, the deep pocket that Atiku has will just serve that ambition. But it will deepen the conflict. The third disadvantage is that those foot soldiers will also serve for the ambition and in the process deepen the conflict”. No doubt, Atiku will have to do a battle of his life before picking the ticket of the PDP. Whether the party will be able to manage the conflict that will arise following the tussle for the presidential ticket is another issue altogether. And with Atiku’s exit from the APC, the coast is now clear for the much anticipated automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari. But the development has also thrown up fresh permutations for the 2019 presidential contest.

For instance, should Atiku join the PDP and secures its presidential ticket, then he might have to clash with President Buhari. If such a scenario plays out, both men will then meet each other in an electoral contest for the second time. The first time being when Buhari and Atiku slugged it out during the APC convention to elect its presidential candidate. The only difference will be that at the APC convention, they had the party delegates to contend with while that of a presidential election will be determined by the Nigerian electorate. Again, while Buhari had the advantage of an astute political mobilizer and former Lagos state governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on his side to pull the strings for him in 2015, it is not certain now whether such will be replicated during the 2019 election. Each of them will be required to show the stuff they are made of to the electorate. Indeed, it will be more of confronting reality than perception for both men, who have had the opportunity of being in power and to prove to Nigerians what they have done and have the capacity to do if elected the next president.

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Mnangagwa: From Mugabe’s Shadow, the Crocodile Emerges All eyes are on 71-year-old Emerson Mnangwaga, the new leader of Zimbabwe, to help salvage a country that has retrogressed in recent times due to the idiosyncrasies of his co-revolutionary and former President Robert Mugabe. Mnangwaga would need to prove that his rule will bring the new dawn Zimbabweans and much of the world hope to see, rather than an extension of the 37-year reign of his predecessor, writes Demola Ojo

Mnangwaga and Mugabe

he past 10 days in Zimbabwe have been extremely dramatic. Penultimate week, the military took control of affairs in the country, precipitating a chain of events that resulted in the forced resignation of former president, Robert Mugabe. Mugabe, who was a fixture in global affairs for nearly four decades, was toppled i n a move that was sudden, swift and bloodless. Replaci ng the on ly president Zimbabweans had k now n u nt il last week is Emerson Mnangagwa, a former revolutionary alongside Mugabe, a former securit y ch ief and u nt il last month, a former vice-president. Nick named the “crocodile” because of h is polit ical cu n n i ng, Mnanagag wa was i n st rumental i n t he overt h row of Mugabe. Origi nally desig nated as the president-i nwaiting, Mnangwaga was sacked unceremoniously by h is erst wh ile pri ncipal (Mugabe), as the first step i n handi ng power over to his wife, Grace. But Mnanag waga’s allies in the military were having none of it, thus the mult iple events that have seen h im ret ur n from a brief self-imposed exile to become only the second president since Zimbabwe’s i ndependence i n 1980. Mnang waga has taken to h is new job like someone prepared, making the right noises as he hailed a “new and unfolding democracy” and promisi ng to provide “jobs, jobs, jobs” to resuscitate an ailing economy, with some est imates put t i ng u nemploy ment rate at a staggeri ng 90 per cent. He also told supporters at the headquarters of the ruling Zanu-PF party that he had been the subject of several assassination plots and thanked the army for running the “process” of removi ng Mugabe peacef ully. Accordi ng to reports emanat i ng from the ruling Zanu-PF party, Mnangagwa, 71, would ser ve the remainder of Mugabe’s term u ntil elect ions due to be held by September 2018. A few days ago, thousands of part y supporters waited for hours to welcome him in

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his first public appearance since coming out from h idi ng. During his 20-minute speech, he corrected himself at least once for referring to Mugabe as president rather than former president. His message was largely conciliatory. But he also relished h is st u n n i ng ret ur n to power and successful removal of Mugabe, when he brought up a speech Grace Mugabe gave a day before he was removed as Vice-President. In the speech she said, “we must deal with the snake by crush i ng its head.” In reference, Mnanag waga said, “I wonder which snake’s head was crushed,” as the crowd cheered loudly. Under the constitution, the role of successor to Mugabe would have normally gone to a serving vice-president, which was Phelekezela Mphoko, Mnang waga’s replacement and an ally of Grace Mugabe. However, he was fired by Zanu-PF, thus pavi ng the way for Mnang waga. New Leader, Same as Old? Wh ile many are excited and over joyed at seei ng the back of Mugabe – who before h is resignation was the world’s oldest president at 93 – a valid question is whether the handover to Mnangagwa will bring about the real change Zimbabwe craves. The soft landi ng afforded Mugabe – he would be granted f ull im mu n it y – attests to the relat ionsh ip the previous president has with the current dispensat ion. Mnangag wa’s loyalt y to Mugabe long preceded h is appoi nt ment as vice-president i n 2014. The t wo have been comrades for more than three decades, with Mugabe making h im the cou nt ry’s first mi n ister of nat ional securit y i n 1980. A leading guerrilla fighter during Zimbabwe’s War of Liberat ion i n the 1970s, Mnanag wa’s powerful hand in government following independence saw him rise to top spymaster of the country’s Central Intelligence Organisation. In the 1980s, he oversaw the Gukurahu ndi massacres, a civil conf lict duri ng wh ich

thousands of Zimbabweans from the eth n ic Ndele group were killed. Still feared by many and largely believed to be responsible, he has den ied any responsibilit y. Veterans of the liberat ion war have long dominated Zimbabwean politics. Mnangagwa’s leadership of the Joint Operations Command kept h im i n good stead with the cou nt ry’s security forces, whose support paved the way for his impending accession to the presidency. David Coltart, a founding member of opposition party Movement for Democratic Change, t weeted: “We have removed a t yrant but not yet a t yran ny.” However others are more optimistic. Analysts have suggested major economic growth potential for the southern African nation following years of damaging economic mismanagement and i nter nat ional sanct ions. Zimbabwe is one of the world’s top producers of platinum and lithium, among other highly valued extractives. Currently, poverty exceeds 70 per cent and Zimbabwe ranked 154 out of 176 nat ions i n Transparency Inter nat ional’s 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. “Mnangag wa’s apparent support for probusi ness reforms is cause for caut ious opt im ism after decades of m ismanagement u nder Mugabe,” said Ryan Tur ner, analyst at Protect ion Group Inter nat ional. And while speaking with CNBC last week, Jean Devli n, a part ner at Cont rol R isks explai ned: “It’s u n realistic to expect you’d get anyone who hasn’t been a significant political i nf luencer i n the last 20 years com i ng i n as leader. “There certai n ly is a st rong element of cont i nuit y but we can’t u nderest imate the fact that anyone who’s goi ng to come i n is a different character and will be able to exercise leadersh ip i n a different way.” The hope for Zimbabweans is that the former vice-president, who snapped back crocodile style to become interim president, would come i nto h is ow n and be the breath of fresh air that Zimbabwe so badly needs.

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Ekwueme: A Patriot is Gone! Former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, who passed on last week, was a patriot and a distinguished statesman, writes Shola Oyeyipo

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any actors have been well captured for either the negative or the positive roles they played in Nigeria’s political trajectory. Former vice-president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, is one Nigerian, who maintained and retained his place as a worthy patriot till he breathed his last. This reputation is not only because he served as the fifth vice-president of Nigeria, but because he was truly a nationalist and patriot, both well embedded in his gentlemanly demeanor. Between October 1, 1979 and December 31, 1983 along with former president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the Oko, Orumba North local government area of Anambra State-born politician earned a place of pride in national development by his dispassionate contributions and nationalist ideologies. That much was reflected by the preponderance of eulogies from wellmeaning Nigerians – an attestation to his patriotic contributions to national unity, development and a successful private and business life. Shortly after the news of his death broke on November 19, 2017, having marked his 85 birthday earlier in October, former presidents Shehu Shagari and Olusegun Obasanjo, and the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari; Senate President Bukola Saraki; Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a very long list of other prominent persons had impressive things to say about the late octogenarian and national leader. President Buhari, in his condolence letter to the family tagged the late Ekwueme as someone, who worked assiduously to improve the livelihood of many poor and underprivileged people through the Alex Ekwueme Foundation, saying he served his country and humanity. To Obasanjo, Ekwueme “devoted his life to the service of his fatherland,” while Atiku said “Ekwueme was a man of character and never faltered in his belief in Nigeria.” Former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, described Ekwueme as an “outstanding statesman, who lived to see Nigeria develop,” adding that “The sudden passage of Dr Alex Ekweme is indeed a very painful national loss. The former vice president was a genuine patriot, an outstanding statesman whose total fixity was predicated on the growth and the development of the Nigerian state.” Summarily, every commentator underscored the sacrifices he made in helping to lay the foundation for sustainable democracy in Nigeria and how he did so selflessly. He was a gentleman, a thoroughbred, civil, humble but yet radiated a powerful intellect and a scholarly presence, stripped of arrogance. Aside the roles he played as vicepresident, Ekwueme was a respectable Nigerian leader with his participation in birthing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in August 1998 through his membership of numerous groups and organisations, including the groups known as G-18 and G-34. They came up with a party with broad political base and ideology that supports economic deregulation, human rights, and greater funding for health care and education, among other goals. The G34 which had other prominent Nigerians as members eventually became what is today known as the PDP

Ekwueme...truly a patriot and they worked hand-in-hand in the interest of the country. And despite the unfair treatment meted to him by the party, especially what transpired during the party’s presidential primary before the 1999 general elections, which he was almost going to win until the eleventh hour, he remained a consistent member of PDP. Ekwueme mobilised the group of 34 eminent Nigerians, who risked their lives to stand up against General Sani Abacha’s military junta in Nigeria and became the founding chairman of the ruling party in Nigeria and was the first Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees. In fact, while many members of the G34 were changing from one party to another, Ekwueme remained in the PDP and this earned him huge respect and admiration in the party, hence he was always the first to come to mind whenever the need to resolve a serious crisis in the party arose. He had intervened in many of such situations in the party and always in national interest. He would be remembered for his famous proposals at the national constitutional conference for a just and equitable power sharing in Nigeria, which gave birth to the six geopolitical zones that are now accepted as necessary for maintaining a stable Nigerian polity. He was a die-hard adherent of the zoning principle and in fact, during a meeting where Alhaji Lawal Kaita suggested that he should be the presidential candidate of the PDP, Ekwueme said in an interview that, “I said no, that that wasn’t the way it should be and that if we had set out to set up democratic norms, we should do

things differently and that we should be different from the military we were trying to oust. “I said we should let people conclude that all we did at the constitutional conference, to the all-politicians summit, which I chaired, to the Institute of Civil Society, which I chaired, the G-34, which I chaired and the party, which I was then chairing was merely calculated to make me presidential candidate by fiat without going through any democratic process. “So, I didn’t want a precedent to be set whereby democratic ethos would not be followed in the party and that was why I didn’t want to encourage that decision at that occasion. It wasn’t more a matter of humility but a matter of being a stickler for democracy.” He revealed that during his 20 months incarceration along with former governor of Ogun State, Chief Bisi Onabajo, he told him that his interest was to bring about a format that would guarantee stability for the country and not one that would throw the country into wanton take-over by the army. For those close to the late elder statesman, it was obvious he was a meticulous man, who wanted to avoid the blemishes that characterised politics in this clime, even though there were many issues that really agitated his mind. For instance, the allegation by President Buhari that he was the mastermind of some atrocities in the Shagari government didn’t go down well with him. Listen to him: “The worst one was a press statement made by General Muhammadu Buhari, then Head of State, that the President didn’t really know so much about what was hap-

pening that it was the vice president who was in charge of petroleum, who was in charge of Abuja. “But of course the president was the minister of petroleum then and he had a minister for Abuja. I was the only person, who could not award a contract during the Second Republic. But Buhari came out to say that I was in charge of Abuja and I was in charge of petroleum and that they had all the facts and that whenever they were ready to present the facts to me, there would be no way I could get out of it. “Buhari was my accuser, he was the judge and he had concluded that there was no way I could get out of it. So, I was put away for 20 months, waited for those 20 months, for them to present the facts or to come and question me – for 20 months. They did not come and ask me any question at all until after 20 months. And the facts that they said they had, nothing was brought to my attention – for 20 months. “It is half true. First, I did not chair any tenders board. In fact, I was the only member of cabinet, who could not award any contract. The permanent secretaries, tender’s board, directors, could award contracts and these had limits but as vice president, I did not have powers to award any contract and anything beyond those limits will have to come to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).” Despite this, he remained a firm believer in Nigeria and supported successive administrations and that much did President Buhari confirm on Monday in his condolences to Nigerians, and to the government and people of Anambra State, following the news of his passing. In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari said the deceased’s regular counsel on national issues and mediations for peaceful co-existence would be sorely missed. “The president affirms that Dr Ekwueme’s unwavering commitment to the unity of Nigeria had been a major encouragement to many governments, recalling the personal sacrifices he made in helping to lay the foundation for sustainable democracy in Nigeria.” Until his death, like most other Nigerians, Ekwueme was an advocate of a restructured Nigeria. He held that there was need for the country to return to what was inherited from the founding fathers, arguing that what Nigeria negotiated and agreed with colonial masters before independence was a regional government, where each has a constitution, which was annexed to the Republican Constitution of 1963. The republican constitution, he further noted, provided for 50 per cent revenue sharing formula for the regions, 30 per cent to a distributable pool, and 20 per cent to the centre. He advocated the immediate implementation of the 2014 National Conference report. He is well loved by his people because before he gained national and international limelight as the vicepresident, he was actively involved in the socio-economic development of his community. He was renowned as a prolific philanthropist, public servant, and a man of peace. There is no doubt Nigeria has lost one of the few men of integrity and outstanding principle of his generation. It is unfortunate that Nigeria failed as a nation to fully take advantage of the knowledge, passion, wisdom and guidance of great men as Dr. Ekwueme to develop the country. Indeed, a patriot is gone!

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Jonathan: Unbowed at 60! At 60, former President Goodluck Jonathan remains undaunted and unbowed, even in the face of scathing criticisms, writes Emmanuel Addeh

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is life is what blockbuster movies are made of. A character from nowhere emerges in a fictional work, wafts his way through a few scenes and ultimately becomes a hero or heroine in a well-scripted work of art. Whether or not his detractors accept it, Former President Goodluck Jonathan is a phenomenon, a movement, a standard against which present and future Nigerian, nay African leaders would be judged in terms of their disposition to and use of political power. Many African leaders, who have left power, aside just a handful, become either reclusive after holding office or even go on self-imposed exile, because they cannot bear to face the people they once ruled for fear they would be physically abused. But Jonathan’s case appears different. From Gusau to Ado- Ekiti, from Umuahia to Asaba, the reception he gets everywhere he goes, more than two years after he left office remains unprecedented in spite of his self-effacement and abhorrence for wanton adulation, deserved or not. His was the quintessential lowly background, having been birthed in a relatively unknown community in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State by Lawrence Ebele Jonathan, a canoe maker and a farmer mother, Eunice. Educated at St. Stephen’s Primary School, Otuoke; St Michael’s Primary School, Oloibiri; Mater Dei High School, lmiringi; Ogbia, and University of Port Harcourt, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree, Master’s degree and Doctorate in Hydrobiology and Fisheries Biology, Jonathan has never forgotten his trajectory or “where he is coming from” as Nigerians would say. It would be almost boring recapping his meteoric and remarkable political career, after all, this has been the subject of many articles, books and television documentaries but suffice it to say that his political career effectively took off in 1998, when he was picked as running mate to the late Diepreye Alaimeyeseigha. With the success of the Alaimeyeseigha/Jonathan ticket, he became the first civilian deputy governor of Bayelsa State on May 29, 1999 until December 12, 2005, when he was sworn in as governor after Alaimeyeseigha was impeached. In the thick of his campaign for election as governor of Bayelsa in 2007, Jonathan was nominated as vice presidential running mate to then Governor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of Katsina State. The joint ticket succeeded and he became the vice president. How Jonathan became Acting President and later Nigeria’s 14th President, how he lost his re-election bid to now President Muhammadu Buhari and how he gracefully conceded defeat to his opponent has become a piece for the history books. However, what has become noticeable about his seemingly extraordinary life is that after leaving office, the former President has devoted all his energies and resources to preaching peace and amicable resolution of knotty issues, rather than licking his wounds or making governance difficult for the succeeding administration like his ilk are wont to do. After all, he comes from a region that supplies 90 per cent of Nigeria’s revenue and could have easily stoked or incited the boys from the region to crumble the economy. But in all his engagements, the former president has always appealed to the militants to sheathe their sword in the interest of peace and Nigeria’s continued prosperity. Never known for being a power monger, the essential Jonathan has continued to push the frontiers of ‘soft power’, a concept developed by Joseph Nye, a Harvard Professor, who believes that persuasion, moral suasion, consultation rather than brute force works better in building consensus. From Africa to Europe, Jonathan has carried the beacon of democracy and democratisation through his message of strict observance of the rule of law, respect for human rights as well as conduct of free and fair elections like the example he showed in 2015. As President, his enactment of the Freedom of Information Act, electoral reforms, even the card reader, which many believe eventually led to his ouster and his non-interference in electoral outcomes, gender inclusion and equity remain major strides even by world standards. Jonathan’s “nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian” singsong ensured that in the run-up to and during the 2015 presidential poll, despite the prediction by a section of the international community that the election would be bloody, ended peacefully. Unlike other politicians, who will never acknowledge anything good about their political opponents, Jonathan was magnanimous enough when asked by a journalist a few weeks ago, on his assessment of the Buhari government. “Honestly speaking, they have tried in the area of security and fighting corruption, even if they’ve tilted more towards us”, Jonathan said in what appears his usual fair judgment of events. He was also quick to add a few of what he achieved in office. “But we did a lot in our time in the area of agriculture, transport, managing the economy, rule of law, free and fair elections”. The rest, he said, will be left for Nigerians to judge. Even some of his most ardent political opponents, including former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, on Jonathan’s 60th birthday

Jonathan could not help but highlight his glowing features, describing him as the ‘face of democracy’ “A very happy 60th birthday to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the Face of Democracy in Africa. Your words that your ambition isn’t worth the blood of our citizens will stand forever. I wish you continued good health and wisdom”, Atiku wrote. President Buhari’s birthday message to Jonathan at 60 was largely empty, but that of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) appeared to have recognised the place of the former President in Nigeria’s political history. The APC believed Jonathan demonstrated love for the country during the 2015 Presidential election, describing him as a patriot. “We join well-wishers in celebrating a statesman, whose life and politics have been defined by patriotism and humility. “The APC recalls the commendable and exemplary conduct of Dr. Jonathan before and after the 2015 presidential election, which demonstrated his patriotism and love for Nigeria. “The party urges Dr. Jonathan to remain steadfast to the positive ideals he stands for and continue to support the development of the country. The party wishes Dr. Jonathan many more happy, healthy and rewarding years of service to the nation”, a statement by Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s spokesman noted. Jonathan’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also took time out to eulogise him, saying they were extremely proud of him. “You are sixty years today and we are proud that you have made wonderful contributions to the stability of our democracy and the overall development of our country, Nigeria during the prime of your age. “Your Excellency, Nigerians will remember that under your administration our economy became the largest and number one in Africa. Nigeria witnessed unprecedented infrastructural development in all areas of the economy. Inflation was at single digits and we had a stable foreign exchange regime. “You consolidated Nigerian democracy by ensuring free and fair elections culminating in the historic presidential election of March 2015 in which you graciously conceded defeat and congratulated your opponent even when there were substantial grounds to dispute the outcome. “Most importantly the rule of law and the human rights of Nigerians were greatly respected. For these and many more, you

have written your name in gold in the hearts of all Nigerians and you will be remembered as one of the greatest leaders of Africa. “We miss you and Nigerians will be forever grateful for the period you were in the saddle as the President of Nigeria. We love you and share in every moment of your joy and pains. May the Almighty God continue to protect and guide you in every area of your life”, a statement by Dayo Adeyeye, the party’s spokesman said. But whatever anybody thinks of Jonathan as a person or as a political leader, the man himself feels he made great sacrifices for the country, though he wouldn’t shy away from his own foibles. Addressing some youth groups that trooped to his house last Monday in Otuoke, on the day he marked his birthday, Jonathan said he did his best for the country. He decried the ‘persecution’ of his lieutenants by the current administration, stressing that despite the turn of events, the youths of the country should not be afraid to join politics. “So, I am speaking to the future of this country, whatever sacrifices I have made as an individual or I discussed with my political party and others, because elections is not only about one person, we know a number of persons that are in court, not even me yet, who are suffering because of me. “Politics is all about the people, so the decision I took, though I made the pronouncements, but it affected everybody. So, if we have made this kind of sacrifice and people are still sacrificing now, my plea with you is that you know that this country is in your hands”, he told the youths. Jonathan is hopeful that Nigeria would lead the world in the not-so-distant future if the youths take their proper position and continue from where he stopped. “Sometimes things could be so challenging that we begin to think that it is over but with what I have seen today, I am convinced that we still have a country. All of your speeches centre on the position I took especially when I surrendered in a way and made sure there was peace in the country, because the tension was quite high. “Whatever sacrifices I have made, be willing and ready to make similar sacrifices whenever it’s your turn. Make similar sacrifice for the collective interest of our nation”. As his many supporters clink glasses to him to his 60th, many Nigerians believe there might just still be a future in politics for Jonathan, in whatever capacity, even if advisory.

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Peter Obi and Willie Obiano

Anambra Election: The Day After Last week’s governorship election in Anambra State did not leave behind much surprise, because many already saw the outcome as a fait accompli. With a disorganised opposition, it was easy for analysts to predict incumbent Governor Willie Obiano’s victory. However, the outcome of the election has dealt a huge blow to some political actors in the state and placed others in vantage positions. While some of the political gladiators are still licking their wounds, others are basking in the euphoria of their new political status. The election also provided a glimpse into the likely pattern of voting in the state in 2019. Christopher Isiguzo, Onyebuchi Ezeigbo, Amby Nneze and David-Chyddy Eleke report

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he November 18 Anambra State gubernatorial election may have come and gone, but the pre-election intrigues, clandestine maneuvering, underhand tactics and what eventually turned out to be the outcome of the election will continue to dominate discussions across party lines not just in Anambra State but in the entire country for some time. Apart from the margin of Obiano’s victory, which was thought would be at worst, a three-horse race amongst the three dominant parties - APGA with Obiano, APC with Tony Nwoye and PDP with Oseloka Obaze - the peaceful conduct of the poll was the highlight of that election. The election also witnessed an average turn out of voters, who clearly defied the call by a pro-Biafra group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for a boycott. The outcome of the election not only demystified some hitherto revered political actors, it also changed the state’s political matrix.

Winners and Losers… The Winners… Willie Obiano When controversy was stirred by the withdrawal of his security details three days to the election, everybody had thought it was all over for him. But on the day of the election, he totally proved bookmakers wrong by winning in all the 21 council areas of the state. When he was clearly abandoned by Mr. Peter Obi, his estranged godfather and former governor, Obiano was not disillusioned. Rather, he identified with the people of the state, who held him in high esteem. Perhaps, his performance in the critical areas of payment of salaries and pensions, and execution of people-oriented programmes got him back to the Government House. He is the principal winner.

Victor Umeh The former National chairman of APGA and Director General of Obiano re-election campaign has clearly made himself a major force to be reckoned with in Anambra State, having led governorship campaigns for a record four times and won all. He stood by former Governor Peter Obi during the period of his political travails and ensured his party retained the governorship. In thelast governorship poll,hewasthegeneralthat led thebattle and fromtheonset,hewasneverdistractedbythepoliticalintrigues.Hewas sure of his game and when it mattered most, he delivered the trophy.

Odumegwu Ojukwu Although dead, the former Biafran warlord still continued to dominate Anambra’s political landscape. His pictures were so conspicuous during the campaigns and the people of the state did not disappoint him. Even when his son, Emeka Ojukwu jnr., dumped APGA barely 72 hours to the election and pitched tent with APC, it

did not change what was already destined. Even in death, Ojukwu was a winner in the just concluded poll.

Anambra People

for him – the presidency, security, 24 state governors etc – is indeed a major loser in the election, though he has since returned to the Green Chamber of the National Assembly, where he is representing his federal constituency

The people of Anambra were unfazed by the tension that took over the state. They clearly understood the implications of not retaining the Oseloka Obaze status quo and as such were not ready to gamble with it. Their political With support from eleven governors elected on PDP platform, decision ensured that peace returned to the state after the election. a former president and being a candidate of PDP in dire need of a comeback ahead of the 2019 general election, Obaze, a renowned technocrat and former Secretary to Anambra State Government The PDP Defectors They were not candidates in the election, but their political decision under Obiano is a big loser. His victory during the PDP primary election over pre-primary also changed the tide. Never in the history of the state has a party won election in all the 21 local government areas. The moment Ifeanyi Uba, favourites like Ifeanyi Uba, Obi Ogbolu, Stella Oduah and Linda Ken Emeakayi, Annie Okonkwo, Nicholas Ukachukwu and other Ikpeazu among others had made him a force ahead of the election but PDP leaders pitched tent with Obiano, it narrowed the contest to a he ‘collapsed’ like a pack of cards on the day of the election, picking large extent. Had Obiano lost, it would have meant a death sentence a distant third position. on their political careers.

Osita Chidoka and 33 others INEC and Buhari Looking at the pre-election intrigues, it was thought by many that the electoral umpire had already compromised. But the commission and President Muhammadu Buhari finally delivered an election with minimal hitches. As it stands, all the gladiators, irrespective of political leanings, have declared the election as credible enough to the extent that none of the major actors has given any indication of any form of post-election litigation yet. Having been endorsed as the best election since the nation’s return to democracy, INEC and indeed the president that refused to influence the exercise are prime winners.

APGA If the party had lost the election, it would have gone into extinction since Anambra is the only state it controls. With the victory, the party is now well positioned to possibly expand its territory.

APC The party and its leaders had made frantic efforts to possibly penetrate the South-east through Anambra State in readiness for the 2019 election. That desire still remains a pipe-dream But the election has brightened the future of APC in the South-east. The party came second, far ahed of PDP, which is the dominant party in the zone. Before the Anambra election, nobody would have thought that APC could do better than PDP in an election in Anambra State., particularly with the growing opposition to the APC-led federal government and the protests that trailed Operation Python Dance II in the zone.

The Losers… Tony Nwoye Four years ago, Nwoye, who was then the PDP governorship candidate lost to Obiano, ended up as the first runner up. Again, he ended up as the first runner up in last weekend’s election won again by Obiano. Nwoye, who from the face value had everything going

The former Aviation Minister had shone like a bright star during the political debate organised by Channels Television to the extent that he became the favourite of many. But last weekend, Chidoka and 33 other candidates could not garner up to 20,000 votes despite their efforts, financial commitments, campaigns etc. They lost even though Chidoka was the first to concede defeat.

Peter Obi Four years ago, he singlehandedly made Obiano governor. But, that was then. Everything changed in the build-up to the November 18 election. He was in charge, dictating the pace to the point that the election became more like a do-or-die project. He took Obiano, his one-time godson to the cleaners during the campaigns, staking all he had in the process. But, on election day, he could not even deliver his Anaocha local government to his candidate.

Arthur Eze Twice has he invested heavily in Tony Nwoye and twice he failed. The billionaire businessman is indeed a major loser in the election. Not only did he lose in his local government, Arthur Eze threw everything into the ring but failed to deliver when it mattered most, his huge investments notwithstanding. Like Obi, Eze is also a major loser

Chris Ngige The former governor, former Senator and now, Minister of Labour, failed to deliver his Idemili North to his party, the APC, which had reposed so much confidence in him. Four years ago, he lost as a candidate, coming third having run on the platform of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). This time again, as the Director General of the Tony Nwoye campaign, Ngige lost.

The Road to 2019 Like it or not, the outcome of penultimate Saturday’s governorship

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Mahmood Yakubu

Victor Umeh

Late Odumegwu Ojukwu

Tony Nwoye

Osita Chidoka

Oseloka Obaze

election in Anambra State would tell on the 2019 general election. The lessons it portends for political stakeholders and Nigerians remain very critical as the nation navigates towards the 2019 general election.. Both in terms of participation by political parties and the electorate, the election was the most competitive of all elections so far conducted after the 2015 elections. It recorded the highest number of governorship candidatesâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; 37 of them â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and just as the votes have shown, there was a major improvement in the number of votes cast as against the general apathy that normally characterises such an exercise. For the politicians, political parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Anambra governorship election presented an opportunity for them to test their readiness for the 2019 poll.

However, through a combination of proactive engagement of the politicalstakeholdersandgoodsecurityarrangement,thecommission was able to conduct the election in a relatively peaceful environment. But this is not to say that the Anambra governorship election did not have its flaws and low points. There were reported attempts by thugs to rig the election by trying to hijack ballot boxes or smuggle in ballot papers, which were thwarted by security agents and vigilant electorate. With these, it may well be said that INEC is somewhat ready for the bigger challenge, moving forward.

it garnered from aggrieved PDP members and their supporters. However, Adeyeye refused to align with the position that such self-inflicted injury must have arisen from the shoddy primaries and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poorly managed backlash. Rather, he was of the view that irrespective of the perfections or imperfections of the PDP primaries, the party members in Anambra had developed conflicting mindsets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We did our best to bring all under one Caretaker Committee, hoping that things will work out wellâ&#x20AC;?. Another party that has reacted to the outcome of the governorship election in Anambra is the United Peoples Party (UPP). The party and its candidate, Osita Chidoka, were aggrieved by what they described as a dangerous trend in the electoral process as the nation looks forward to the 2019 general election. UPPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major grouse was the alleged incidence of vote-buying said to have been perpetrated by its opponents during the election. National chairman of the party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, addressed a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, where he lamented the increasing influence of money in determining the outcome elections in the country. The party regretted that the governorship election was characterised by incidences of vote-buying. UPP therefore alerted INEC, the National Assembly, the Presidency and the general public to what it described as unsavory dimension the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s democracy has assumed, adding that if such acts are not nipped in the bud it is capable of giving a completely new definition to democracy as it is being practiced in Nigeria. No doubt, the outcome of the Anambra governorship election has proved to a large extent how tough the 2019 general election could be. A close observer of the activities leading to the final day of the election will notice that it was a keen contest with each of the political parties throwing all they had into the ring. It also shows how a highly mobilised and enlightened electorate could be an important determinant of electoral outcome. Another salient point from the outcome of the Anambra poll was that Nigerians are beginning to take participation in election very seriously and that popularity at the grassroots is the key to electoral success. It might also be taken for granted that the electoral umpire is beginning to assert itself and fast learning to resist influences, no matter where it is coming from by ensuring that the process is transparent. Also, the performance of the security agencies during the election was a clear departure from the ignoble role some of its men played in aiding and abetting election rigging in the past. Although still very fluid, certainly, the path to 2019 is beginning to form its own shape, the Anambra election being a major case study.

INEC The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had been telling anyone, who cared to listen that it was developing a new model for organising elections in a painstaking and seamless manner. It recently released its timetable for the 2019 general election well in advance, setting out dates for the presidential, governorship and National Assembly elections in the country. Part of the new thinking by the new leadership at INEC is that planning and preparations for elections should be done in good time and with high level of commitment. The commission had given early notification for the Anambra governorship election, providing adequate timelines for all activities leading to the main event, including registration of new voters through the continuous voter registration exercise. From all indications, the electoral body has been able to carry out all the activities marked out for the Anambra election without any major hindrance. In terms of preparations, the commission was able to distribute its sensitive materials in record time. At least, there was little or no incidence of late arrival of materials and officials to polling booths on election day. The commission also seems to be getting better with the often troublesome card reader machine to the extent that the incidence of card reader problems was reduced significantly. If there was any area where INEC recorded significant improvement in the electoral conduct, it was on the election security. Before the election, most people believed that security would be let loose and that the threat by the aggrieved members of the now proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) was going to lead to violent crisis.

The Political Parties Before the governorship election in Anambra State, APC and other frontline parties were embroiled in controversies over allegations and counter-allegations of plots to rig the election. Although the party is in government in Imo State, it still does not have a good following in the South-east and during the 2015 elections, it failed to register any appreciable impact in the elections. But a lot has happened since the outing in 2015 and APC has successfully attracted some political bigwigs, who defected from other parties. These political gladiators were assembled by APC to help give the final push to earn it victory in the governorship contest. Also, President Muhammadu Buhari and other governors from the partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s platform were drafted to Awka to help boost the fortunes of the APC candidate, Tony Nwoye, during the last lap of his campaign. Other parties especially APGA, party of the incumbent Governor Willie Ă&#x201D;biano, had accused the APC candidate of hoping to rely on federal might to actualise his governorship dream. But in the end, the election went smoothly with Obiano winning with a landslide. In his reaction to the outcome of the election, the national chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said despite losing the election, the party has posted an impressive performance. He said the partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance clearly showed that progress was being made in terms of its appeal and inroads in the South-east. His remarks, however, summed up the thinking of the APC about the implication of the Anambra experience with regards to the electoral chances of the party in the South-east as the 2019 general election draws close. If the APC was pleased with its performance in the Anambra governorship election, the PDP certainly will be bemoaning its lackluster performance in a state, where it hitherto held sway. The Spokesman of the party, Dayo Adeyeye, confirmed this position when he lamented that APGA won the election due to protest votes

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Kabiru: APDA Not Zoning the Presidency Anywhere Mallam Shittu Mohammed Kabiru is the National Chairman of the Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance. In this interview with Stanley Nkwazema, he gave an insight into the state of the party and the projection ahead of 2019. Excerpts:

A

PDA was supposed to be PDP’s fallback option and now that the PDP is sorted, what is the next move for your party? For us in APDA, we never had such notion that says we are a fallback option to the PDP. APDA is an ideological political party; it cannot be a fallback. It is when you don’t have an ideology; you don’t know where you are going that you can only be a fallback. When you don’t know what you want for the country and you don’t have vision and mission that you can be tagged as such. What do you even mean as a fallback in the formation of a political party, if I may ask? No one party will ever agree that they are fallback and for us in APDA, we can never be one. As an ideological political party, we have our mission and we have our vision. We believe in the indivisibility of Nigeria. We believe that it is time we stop calling ourselves a nascent democracy. We have to now build a political party that will help take Nigeria to the comity of developed nations. That is our mission. We know that the serious-minded ones have stayed and have been offering us the best of party politics, we had people who were not serious and they have been shoved aside. Party politics is all about loyalty APDA is a relatively new party and has also had its share of leadership crisis, what really is the problem? For us, APDA has no problem. We are in a country when an ideological party is emerging, changing from what we understand before now to be the normal way of politicking to an ideological political party, you must be able to experience people with various ideas. Those who believe the status quo must remain will definitely want APDA to be the same. But we are saying no, that it cannot be. We have come to a point whereby we must reform the way politics is played in this part of the world. We have put up a new ideology, mission and vision, so it is not easy for the main to be in the same boat. They found it difficult, but some of us who share same ideology and mission must steer the ship to sail smoothly. It’s all politics. The focused, resolute will always carry the day and that is what is happening here. They had to give way hence the cracks that were experienced some time ago. So, we are moving forward. Now, let me make it clear, that while they believed that APDA should be a fallback, we made them understand that we can never be a fallback party rather an ideological party that has come to reform the way politics is played in this part of the world and has come to stay. The party will surely give a new life to Nigerians. The crises made us stronger and brought us together. There is no group that can survive without one crisis or the other. It has made us look back and reflect on what is best for us when we talk about modern politics What are the options before APDA as the nation journeys to 2019? Honestly, we believe that it is time we do away with money politics. We are putting up a bill, where it will be prohibited that parties or candidates distribute materials during electoral campaign. If you ban distribution of food items or other materials during campaign or the heat of elections, then we are heading towards a new era. Then people will start thinking about this party and what they have come to offer. Then it will be ideological, what you believe that is good about the country. What the country wants is not for me to give you some thousands of naira and tomorrow I am in power, then you shouldn’t expect anything from me, because I paid you to get me in. That shouldn’t be the way. I want Nigerians to join a party, because of what it has got to offer and the calibre of men behind it – their programmes and deliverables. It is time we start promising what we can do and not what we cannot do or promise the electorate so many things but when we get into positions of authority, we forget all what we had earlier promised and derail. The promise but fail kind of way of life shouldn’t form our political lifestyle at this age and time. We have to grow and care to construct a good road for you or to put up an infrastructure that will stand the test of time and really help you. APDA has come with an ideology of nationalism; social welfare, where we look at Nigeria first and the total elimination of the indegenship issue in whatever we are doing in this country. What we need to have in Nigeria is citizenship and not indigeneship or what we call state of origin. With this, people must have confidence to invest their earnings or attract investors to wherever they feel will be the best and yield the desired economic results. Communities strive and flourish when we have this kind of approach to issues. But when you are talking about indigeneship, there is this palpable fear that when you invest in those communities or areas, they have no right over their investments or what happens. Let’s make Nigeria an investment hub for other African countries, where they feel safe and move freely. In the past, Nigeria used to

Kabiru be the brother’s keeper, the safe haven for other African countries. I am sure that we still have the men and, materials to make it happen. It will really attract investment and boost our economy. Isn’t it a waste of time pushing APDA when those who formed it are back in the PDP and in fact wanting to contest elections? Who are the people that formed APDA? Let me make it clear that nobody can say he formed APDA. The party evolved over time. It as an ideological party that nobody can lay claims to say he is the owner or laid, or did all the ground work for the emergence of APDA. Even me as the National Chairman, we are all joining hands to build an egalitarian society where our ideology will stand the test of time and become a way of life. The truth is that we don’t believe in quota system, regionalism but merit in all that we are doing and it is the bane of APDA. It may take time, the journey and task maybe arduous but we are starting something that will stand the test of time. Politics is all about interest. May be some people joined us, because they were thinking that they won’t stay long or will command the affairs without having the leadership qualities. But we are saying if you want to leave, the door is open but if you have something to offer Nigerians in terms of quality leadership and exemplary way of life, then you are welcome. But if you leave and think you can come back and direct us on how we can go about our business, it may be impossible because we are like-minds ready to sacrifice and move the country forward. Can you sustain the party the way you are going about your own politics? We believe that we can sustain it. Nigerians are tired; they have been taking peanuts, which have led them nowhere. They want to move to the party that offers them fresh hope and better ideas on the way forward. If you look at the way things have turned out in this country, you will now agree with me that we can’t go forward if the greed, money politics and all the shenanigans have dogged us over the years. Money politics is not allowing us to breathe and produce the best of brains and ideas that we really

need. Can you imagine that the third republic evolved since 1999 and yet we are still not getting it right? When will we do the right thing and conduct elections that we can thumb our chest and say yes, we got it right by up to 70 per cent? If APDA gets it right just like we have assembled the best brains now, then I think we are on the part of progress. This is the right time for us to come out, this is the time for the best minds to do the best for the country and I think that APDA is the right party. We believe that you can come from anywhere, we don’t believe in North South or West or East. So, we are not going to zone positions or offices for people to contest for elective positions. We believe in what you can offer Nigerians, what do you have that you can use to better the lot of Nigerians and make it a better society. Where investment, economic development, education will strive. Even in the event of a working relationship with any other political association, what has APDA got to negotiate with? We have assembled the best of brains that believe in the development and indivisibility of Nigeria. We equally have one of the best economic blueprints we are going to offer Nigerians and we believe that Nigerians will buy it. I am a total believer in our party’s ideology and we have some of the best brains that can move beyond a peripheral level. Our National Secretary is a Professor from the Macebuh family. We brought him from the United States of America to come down and help us develop some of the ideas and turn them around so that all sections of the society will accept it. We have a wide spread. We are in every state of this country. Our party is not sectional – youths, adults and the aged are all with us. In Zamfara, we have them; Sokoto, we have a crown Prince and then the man, who gave us the blueprint on railways, so also in Ondo, Imo, Abia and Anambra States, where we have serving Senators as our members holding forth. You see we have spoken so much about the blueprint and let me just give you an insight. I need to do that, because we want the buy-in of Nigerians; we want them to know what we are offering them. (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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Omotosho: Labour Party’ll Shock Nigerians in 2019 Dr. Mike Omotosho is an entrepreneur, social change crusader, a philanthropist and curator of the “My Dream Nigeria”, a Guinness Record for the World’s thickest book. The Harvard Business school graduate is the Chief Oversight Officer and Chairman, Board of Trustees of Sustainable Healthcare International. He was recently elected the National Chairman of the Labour Party. He spoke to Iyobosa Uwugiaren on some national issues and the new direction of the party. Excerpts:

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our emergence as the new National Chairman of the Labour Party has been generating some controversies. What happened during the recent national convention of your party? I vehemently disagree. I do not share that opinion and neither do a majority of my party members. Yes, there is an aggrieved minority but like in any organisation that chooses to restructure and cut out mediocrity, there is the tendency to contend with opposition. My emergence is an intervention to restore peace and dignity to a party that hitherto has been consumed in disunity, mismanagement, mediocrity and that is the reason we followed due process, conducted a proper election that was monitored by INEC, where I emerged as chairman. Has INEC has recognised your leadership? Yes, totally. They monitored the process at the convention, and it was all captured on camera in the presence of the media. It was a transparent process, although some mischievous members have rumoured that we forcefully took over. It is completely untrue. I am a man of principle and that was why I followed the constitution of the party to the letter. I do not get myself entangled in sensationalism. I have a party to restructure, and bring back on its feet. I was invited to the National Working Committee meeting, where they wanted me to express my willingness to serve and discuss my vision for the party. I did and also gave a condition that though I was ready to be part of the leadership but everybody must agree to work hand-in-hand with us and must be ready to uphold the constitution of the party always and they agreed. On that basis, I said I was ready to move ahead and that is it. Then we moved to the National Executive Council meeting, the same thing applied and then we had a National Convention, due process was followed, INEC was duly notified for 21-days, and INEC was present to monitor, security agencies were present and it was a very peaceful special convention. Don’t you think the seeming division within the leadership of your party could affect the chances of the party in the forthcoming elections? No, I don’t think so. Funny enough, I think people deserve to know the truth and exactly what has been happening. On the corruption and forgery charges against the past chairman, we shall follow due process. The National Working Committee has written to the police, and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the situation. We are already thinking towards 2019 and developing our strategy. I don’t think it’s going to affect the chances of the party at all. Labour Party has a new Chairman and for that to change, due process must be followed. We will not tolerate any form of lawlessness in the Labour Party anymore. There is a new sheriff in town. We are already at work, building a strong party that can bring about a revolution in these hopeless times and we will not be deterred. I don’t want to dwell much on the past, but I want to focus more on the future, where I’m taking the party to, and the opportunities the party is going to afford Nigerians. I want to focus more on galvanizing Nigerians and showing that LP is a strong force and should be seen as such. We want Nigerians to know that this is their party – the party of the people and not just for the organised labour but for the unorganised labour as well. That is why it takes just N50 to become a card-carrying member of the party. All over the world, Labour Party has been the force to reckon with. It’s been the populist’s party and Nigeria shouldn’t be an exception. We are ready to move the people forward, give them the opportunity and then, let them enjoy the dividends of democracy. We are very aware of the corruption toga on a party and the non-performance toga on another party, so this is a huge opportunity for LP to take its rightful position as the party of the people – the ordinary man and woman on the streets. We offer equal opportunities and social justice for everybody; the opportunity to be the best you can be starting from the smallest unit of society – that is family. That is why our logo has the father, the mother andachild–evidenceofthesmallesteconomicunit.Youcannotcontinue to talk of building roads, bridges and providing light when the family cannot even feed, when the parents cannot afford to take care of their sick child or even send their children to school. We need to revive our education sector, the health sector, the economy, the transportation system and in fact, the entire polity needs to be revived. Going forward, what are you doing to reposition the party? We intend to unveil our vision and work plan in the next few weeks. Of course, we hope the media will give the necessary support. But first, we must give people the opportunity to know that this is their party and become part of us. Gone are the days when moneybags can hijack the party and true owners are relegated.

Omotosho Sincerely, governance is for the people and they deserve to take ownership. So, you can say that Labour Party is back and the interest of the common man will reign supreme in all our steps. Some have argued that LP has not really defended the rights of the organised labour in the country. What do you intend doing to make the organised labour find their voice in the party? Before now, the party has been operating like every other political party. But, it is about time we showed Nigeria why we are above par, stay tuned for the New LP, watch how we’ll evolve now and see how each organ, including the organised labour fits into the puzzle. We have ideologies, which translate into equal opportunity for everybody. The welfare of the masses is part of our prerogative as we strive for social justice, so we can continue to shout ‘Forward Ever, Backward Never.’ We seek avenues to give everyone a voice and opportunities they need to be the best they can be and that equal opportunity is what we are promising our people. We have created the Nigerian dream. We are going to roll out strategies that will allow ordinary people contest without the huge financial bottlenecks. We are going to give priority to women and youths. We are not just going to talk; we are going to walk the talk and we intend to take the political space in Nigeria by storm come 2019. As a labour party, you seem to be silent over the socioeconomic condition of the country. Why is that? That is the point. All these are going to change; it is part of what we are going to unveil. Please, wait for it. What are you going to do to appease the aggrieved members? Incidentally, our members are happy across the country. See, people have been yearning for this change. Messages of support have been coming in from individuals, groups, unions and affiliates. In any case, we are having consultative meetings to bring all aggrieved members back to the team, but we are also working on attitudinal change. Politics is a game of number. But then, for us, it is not an all comers’ affair and for us as a party, you must have the ideology of equal opportunity and social justice. Yes, we want everybody to be part of us but if your ideology does not tally with what we stand for in the LP, of course, you will not be welcomed. We are reaching out to those who ran or wanted to run under the platform but were treated unfairly or unsatisfactorily. We are reaching out to people whom we know are interested in the Nigerian project but cannot fit into any of the existing political parties and look away from LP, because they are not able to align

with the previous leadership. It is time to come back home to join hands with us to forge a way forward for our country this great party. Tell us some of the factors that could be working against LP? That is exactly the narrative that we need to change. We must avoid people coming to borrow the LP as platform to run. We need people who are sincerely interested in the welfare of the people. In the past, people come in and use the platform of the LP. However, we are already putting in place parameters to seek out people that are genuinely interested in toeing the line of the ideals of the party. We want people who will work with us, build the party and not just use the platform then dump it. That has been the problem and all that is going to change moving forward. We are not just going to sit down and wait for people that are unable to get tickets in some other political parties to come in and borrow the platform, no. We are going to work with people who are genuinely interested and believe in the ideology of the party so that we can all work together to build and entrench the structures especially in the hearts and minds of the people. That way, when they eventually win, which I believe, they will have no choice than to stay back and defend the mandate that they have been given. What are your plans for 2019? We are optimistic that the LP will be repositioned to produce the next president of Nigeria and in a situation, where we see a presidential candidate whose ideology is in sync with the ideology of LP, then, we will work with the person. It’s not about forcefully taking over; it’s not about agitation; it is a movement and one that will be a revolution. We want to revamp Nigeria and the nation called Nigeria shall rise again. Does your position as the chairman of the party preclude you from contesting an elective position? No, ironically it does not. I can always resign to go and contest. However, and more importantly, we have a task at hand and for me, that is what I’m facing now. What is your forecast for 2019? In 2019, Nigerians are in for a pleasant surprise because they will get what they want. It has happened in the US, France and Austria. We are going to have an underdog coming to shock everybody because the people are now socially aware and more politically conscious and they know that it is time for them to demand for what they truly deserve which is the dividends of democracy and the LP offers that platform for equal opportunity and social justice.

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President Buhari in a handshake with CJN Onnoghen, while other senior members of the bench look with interest, at the opening ceremony of the 2017 All Judges’ Conference

When Judges Converged to Take Stock Last week, members of the bench converged on Abuja for the 2017 All Judges’ Conference. It was an avenue for stock taking, writes Alex Enumah

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or President Muhhamadu Buhari, who declared the 2017 All Judges’ Conference open last week, the theme is very important and apt as the country’s democratic system cannot survive or prosper without strict adherence to the Rule of Law. For the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Samuel Walter Onnoghen, the conference itself is unique, in the sense that it serves as a forum for Judges to come together every two years and address common problems as well as exchange ideas and experiences for the enrichment of their performance as the third arm of government. Unarguably, the judiciary has never been in such a bad light as in the last two and half years of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The height of the judiciary’s humiliation was the invasion in November 2016, of the homes of seven serving judges and justices by officials of the Department of State Service (DSS) in a sting operation. This notwithstanding, Onnoghen argues that the judiciary is not as corrupt as being perceived by the people. “I must state categorically however, lest I am accused of the fallacy of hasty generalisation, that the Judiciary in Nigeria is not totally corrupt or inefficient. No. Only few Judges are found wanting. It is an established fact that the Judiciary in Nigeria is as good as the best anywhere in the world. Indeed, this fact can be readily corroborated by such countries as The Gambia, Botswana and Seychelles where some of our Judges have served meritoriously and without blemish”. So while for the judiciary the conference provides opportunity for soul searching and designing of concrete steps to redeem its battered image, for the executive it was time to woo the judiciary into the corruption war. “My lords, earlier this year the Judiciary came under investigation. Let me again assure the judicial community, this action taken by the Executive was in no way a prelude to usurping the powers of the National Judicial Council or aimed at

intimidating the Judiciary as wrongly portrayed in some sections of the media. Executive and legislative officials were also investigated”, Buhari said. He however, pointed out issues such as delays, conflicting judgments by judges, which he said were not just lowering the reputation of the judiciary but deserves urgent attention. Two and half years into the live of this administration and despite the number of high profile cases of alleged corrupt persons in courts across the federation, not one conviction has been secured. This has been attributed to undue delays caused by frivolous applications by parties in the matter. “For the judiciary, the public expects fairness, impartiality and speed in the administration of justice. Regrettably court cases can drag on for years and years, sometimes decades without resolution. I need only mention land cases in Lagos to illustrate my point. “Furthermore, there are huge backlogs of cases waiting to be dispensed especially at the appellate levels. Reform of the judiciary should start at eliminating these seemingly endless delays in settling what to the layman are apparently simple cases”, the president said. However, it was not all knocks for the judiciary as the president commended ongoing reforms by the current leadership of the judiciary and pledged his support. “Mr. Chief Justice, our administration’s commitment is to accord the Judiciary its constitutional rights. I therefore commend your recent decision to ask all judges at lower courts to provide you with a comprehensive list of all corruption and financial crimes in order to designate special courts to handle them. I support your action and the public is awaiting the results of this initiative. While acknowledging some of the problems identified by the president, the CJN said efforts were already on to remedy the situation. “As we are all aware, the Judiciary has been in the eye of the storm in recent times, due largely to the activities

of a few bad eggs in our midst. The public today has a very wrong perception of the Judiciary, and this is rather unfortunate. We have a duty to change the wrong perception and narratives”. Part of the measures, he noted, is the constitution of the Corruption and Financial Crimes Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO) to serve as a check on the excesses of some bad judges. The committee is headed by Justice Suleiman Galadima, CFR, JSC (Rtd). He said it was not enough to get the bad eggs from among them, but also to ensure their prosecution and conviction. In response to the prolonged trial of corruption cases, Onnoghen revealed that special courts would be designated to handle such cases to ensure speed in their dispensation. “It should no longer be business as usual. I believe the stream of justice must be kept pure and free at all times from poisonous contamination”, he said. Onnoghen said, a good place to start this image laundering is the lower Courts – the Magistracy and Customary Courts. “These Courts are the first contact most citizens have with the Judiciary, and most times, the only contact they would have. “I therefore urge the Heads of various Courts to pay close attention to the activities of the lower Courts within your Jurisdiction. Proper supervision and feedback mechanisms are imperative if we most succeed”. However, on the issue of speedy dispensation of justice in the country, the CJN believes it would require concerted efforts by all stakeholders, including the Executive and Legislature to achieve. He called for increase budgetary allocation to the Judiciary, regular capacity building programmes for Judges, training of Professional Court Administrators, financial independence for state Judiciaries and security for Judges in order to enhance justice delivery in the country. Onnoghen, however urged the Executive to obey court judgments and respect the independence of the judiciary, adding that this to a large extent reflects the level of

democracy and freedom of the country. “The independence of the Judiciary can only be sustained and guaranteed when there is no interference by the other arms of government in the discharge of its duties. “Closely linked to the independence of the Judiciary is the need for governments and institutions to obey court orders and judgments. Today, Nigerians easily refer to the recent Supreme Court judgment in Kenya and some court orders in the United States of America and conclude that the Judiciaries in those countries are doing better than ours. They, however, forget to mention that President Uhuru Kenyatta promptly accepted the judgment annulling his victory in the August 8, 2017 Presidential election and agreed to a re-run against his opponent. “That is the Rule of Law in practice and I urge the other arms of government, especially the Executive, to consider the obedience of court judgments and orders as a strong motivation to the fight against corruption and the entrenchment of the Rule of Law in our country. He also called for adequate funding particularly, of states judiciary, adding that funding is the most important and critical indices for assessing the independence of the judiciary. He suggested a constitutional amendment that would see that funds due to the State Judiciaries are deducted from source and paid directly to the judiciary once the states receive their monthly allocations from the Federation Account. Administrator of the National Judicial Institute, Justice Roselyne Bozimo, described the conference as a stock taking event for justices and judges of superior courts of record from all over the country, to reflect upon the activities of the Judiciary with the benefit of hindsight; and reflect on the achievements and challenges of the Judiciary. “The Conference also provides a platform for judges to strategise on the means of adopting global best practices to meet critical challenges in the dispensation of justice to all in our great country”, she stated.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž VEMBER 26, 2017

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PERSPECTIVE

The Oloyede Phenomenon at JAMB Akin Owolabi

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rofessor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede is just a little over one year as the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board. He took over the reins of the 41-year-old board exactly on August 1, 2016. This Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin appears to be turning everything around for good and stirring controversies in the area of financial prudence and the management of a body designed primarily to coordinate admissions into the three levels of tertiary education in Nigeria. By design, JAMB is not a money spinning organisation. It is a social platform that should be accessible to all candidates for the third stage of formal education. The admission seekers cut across the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s socio-economic strata. The designers of JAMB (which went into operations 39 years ago) wanted it to be, and that is what it has always remained, governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intervention in the admission into tertiary institution processes in Nigeria - a rectification of perceived skewed and individualistic unversity admission policies that tended towards winner-takes-all. Federal Government, in its wisdom then perceived that some states were, and are still educationally disadvantaged and charged the new board to address the imbalance. The board is mandated to charge fees that would cover its operations. Going by the norms, JAMB should even be heavily subsidised to make its operations accessible to poor candidates. In recent past, the board often resorted to borrowing big from the commercial banks in anticipation of an assured revenue. Yes, JAMBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revenues have always been as sure

as the fact that each year tens of thousands of students fall over one another to patronise the board which has remained the only gateway to tertiary education in the country. And for the 39 years of its existence, the JAMB board had barely made any appreciable returns to the coffers of the Federal Government and this could be excused in view of its weighty responsibility as a non-profit making organisation. Suddenly, the seemingly tenable paltry financial returns from JAMB has been â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;magicallyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reversed. And Oloyede is at the vortex of such reversal. How? Hitherto, JAMB was consistent at posting a paltry N3 million annually as its left-over for the national till. Anything above this could simply be interpreted as exploitative of the candidates since admissions should not put a heavy burden on the parents and wards of the young ones so involved. Moreover, any high returns would draw the attention of the stakeholders, especially the big father - Federal Government - that there could be more to it than meet the eyes. Yes, it would signpost that the place was juicy which could spur a rat race for its plush post. Magically, Prof. Oloyede, within one year as JAMBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO, posted N5. 2 billion into the Federal Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coffers. He is not done yet with that superlative performance as JAMB still has another N2.8 billion to remit to the central purse. This is not only extra large in all ramifications but simply unprecedented - especially that the new helmsman did not invent new revenue generation strategies nor did he go outside the existing structures to raise JAMBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s income bars. The Registrar merely implemented inherited parameters designed by his predecessors but attained dizzying heights that more than dwarfed the entire scope of those before him. This is graphically depicting that the new revenue attainment is 40 times more than the

entire 39-year returns of JAMB. This development has nudged the Federal Government into wanting to know how past earnings were managed and this is logically necessary. It is a clear pointer to the fact that such monies had been dissolving into private bank accounts. It is instructive that Oloyede expanded the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination monitoring teams and deployed hi-tech methodology in checking examination malpractices. That is to say that he spent more money on 2017 UTME than his predecessors. Yet he posted money that made the previous remittances a laughing stock. No public institution in this clime ever exceeded its brief to the extent of becoming an income generating, profit-making organ of government. Government itself would never do this on the pretense that its mandate would be breached if it does. And this must have been the yardstick for Oloyedeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s predecessors. Someone up there would have been pulling past registrars by their bootstraps, making them toe the path of (in)discretion. What would have been the connecting rod these past years? Were the past JAMBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s helmsmen overly corrupt, eating with both hands or were they being goaded into playing the lucre game by their overlords in the parent Federal Ministry of Education? The latter is a sure bet while the former was quite latent. Civil servants would never sit back and watch a field as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;whiteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for harvesting as the JAMB or any other in such plum situation. While registrars come and go, the civil servants are the patient dog that eats the fattest bones. These crop of Nigerians are the bulwark behind monumental corruption in the public system. Woe betide an appointee, JAMB Registrars inclusive, who would not play the game according to their dictates. The public officers have the suavity and the stickiness to waltz on very slippery slope without

falling and could dance out of any precarious situation. Theirs is the D. O. Fagunwaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fabled character - Akaraogun, baba Imulemofo.. (epic vanity). It is therefore imperative that any attempt to unravel the deals prior to Oloyedeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current tenure should widen its dragnet to cover ministerial meddling in the boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s affairs. This is because no public institution could spin-off such large misappropriation without the connival of top officials of government. It must have been big bazaars all these years since no one ever sensed that such large chunk of money was flowing into JAMB and that very big fish was swimming in its river. The truth is out at last but who and who would or should bear the brunt? The past JAMB helmsmen, of course. But limiting it to them would at best be surface scratching. There were the big ministerial masquerades behind the episode: those who were lining their pockets full from the slush and papering over it over the years. The books of the board were audited and JAMB given a clean bill of health. Capital projects were conceived and executed. Many things, cock and bull, and the like would have come into play. But one thing has been established and that is there had been fraud galore in the JAMB stable. Period. Please donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t deny that Oloyede, who now stands high above the JAMB rot, would have been appraised of the goings-on and pressured to join in. He thus becomes the modern-day integrity keeping Biblical Joseph. Many would see in the professor a whistle blowing type of job. It goes far beyond that. It is the net sum of what public service should be. Oloyede is the epitome of transparency and integrity, yes, the very best of steely integrity. It is rare to combine capacity and integrity as Prof. Oloyede does. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Owolabi is a veteran journalist based in Lagos

Ihedioha, Leading Imoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Narrative Nonye Eze

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n the published Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement for August, released in September 2017, Imo State received Gross Statutory allocation of N4.832b but net allocation of N3.964b, because of deductions at source for a combined debt of N869m, whereas neighbouring Anambra State, for instance, got gross statutory allocation of N4.477b but net allocation of N4.333b, with a paltry debt of N141m. This gives an indication of the level of financial prudence of the Imo State government. In an April 23, 2016 report in Punch, â&#x20AC;&#x153;N338b Bailout: Benue, Imo, diverted funds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ICPC Reportâ&#x20AC;?, Imo State is one of only three states in Nigeria that ICPC accused of mismanaging the recently disbursed bailout funds from which the state received N26b but still owes salaries of workers and pensions of retirees. But the above indicators are a tip of the iceberg of what has become the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Imo conundrumâ&#x20AC;? given the avalanche of negative stories that have been brought upon the state by the actions or inactions of the government. A simple â&#x20AC;&#x153;Googleâ&#x20AC;? of Imo State will leave you in shock as to why the leadership of a once progressive state has embarked on a tragic race to the bottom. Imo Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sons and daughters at home and in the diaspora have suddenly become nostalgic of the good old days of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Deeâ&#x20AC;? Sam Mbakwe, first civilian governor of the old Imo State â&#x20AC;&#x201C; angry and disappointed that succeeding governors have squandered the solid foundations set by Sam Mbakwe and expectedly, hopeful that 2019 will become the year of their liberation from the clutches of a non-performing â&#x20AC;&#x153;rescueâ&#x20AC;? mission. Against the backdrop that the current Governor, Rochas Okorocha, is completing his second and final term in office, Imo State will be the cynosure of eyes as the race for his successor unfolds by the day. Christmas in Imo State this year will be electrifying with all manners of permutations, scheming, and alliances, across party lines especially among the two leading parties, APC and PDP.

Ihedioha

It is, therefore, not surprising that all kinds of groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; political and non-political are emerging within and outside the state, expectedly united by the desire to raise and focus on the issues that currently plague the state and need to be frontally addressed, going forward. Prominent among these issues are gradual destruction of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public service system, fallen standard of education, poor health care delivery, youth joblessness, insecurity, and total collapse of public infrastructure. Nigerians woke up one morning in 2016 and were alarmed to hear that the Imo State Governor, without legislative approval, has cut civil service working days from five days to three days and ordered civil servants to farms. He also ordered and coerced civil servants to forfeit a percentage of their hard-earned salaries, while also cutting pensioners pay by 40%. All these while he goes about executing unplanned and largely unbudgeted white elephant that have remained largely uncompleted, with little benefits to the lives of ordinary Imo people; building a new university with state funds (whose ownership is unclear) while Imo State University and The Polytechnic Umuagwo are hugely underfunded with many unaccredited courses. Unknown to many, beneath the façade of the Imo State Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trumpeted free

education is a decaying system. To be sure, the quality of education â&#x20AC;&#x201C; primary, secondary, and tertiary â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is at an abysmal low. Teachers are regularly owed salaries; there are no training and re-training programmes for teachers to update their knowledge; there are inadequate teachers, especially for Mathematics and the English language; and school infrastructure has decayed over the years The story of healthcare in Imo State is scary as captured by the state chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association, which highlights are as follows: an alarming increase in reported cases of HIV/AIDS with no corresponding emergency response by the state to tackle the upsurge; Imo State University Teaching Hospital has lost its accreditation to produce medical doctors In one-fell swoop in January 2016, Governor Okorocha embarked on a mass sack of workers in 19 parastatals, agencies, and departments in the state civil service on contradictory stands of â&#x20AC;&#x153;sharp practicesâ&#x20AC;?, and using â&#x20AC;&#x153;the entire resourcesâ&#x20AC;? of the state. Rising incidents of crime across the state as routinely reported in the media have caused residents to live in fear, wondering who may be next in the series of murders, and kidnappings, amongst others. Save for the knee-jerk Imo Security Network, whose mode of operation is not clear, no one seems to know or understand the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategic plan for combating all forms of security lapses in the state. These are the issues around which Imo people are united. Ndi Imo are therefore earnestly looking for a true leader, a man or woman, who will remind them of the glory days of Sam Mbakwe and restore the dignity of the Imo citizen. More importantly, however, is the willingness of the Imo people to galvanize themselves, volunteer their time and resources, to mobilise grassroots support for the actualisation of their long desired dreams. Enter Emeka Ihedioha, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and leader of resurgent PDP in Imo State, who has from two flanks aligned with the peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; desire to actualise the Imo State of their dreams

by canvassing the strengthening of grassroots development through the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third tier of government and giving Imo youths a platform to volunteer for grassroots mobilisation of ndi Imo. In a keynote address recently at the National Congress of Rural Sociological Association of Nigeria, held at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Rt. Hon. Ihedioha made a strong case for strengthening the local governments so as to accelerate grassroots development and strengthen our evolving democratic governance. According to him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;there is a direct link between democracy and rapid grassroots development...Unfortunately, however, local governments have not been performing the development functions that underscore their institutionalisation in Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;Ś the constitution did not provide adequate political autonomy for the local governments in Nigeria. It did not, also, stipulate specifically, that the composition of a new local government council should be solely through democratic elections. These factors leave local governments at the mercy of state governments to determine the nature, content and direction of local government elections and method of administration.â&#x20AC;? He regrets that whereas more Nigerians live in the rural areas, and so democracy should be strongest at the grassroots to accelerate development, the reverse is the case as grassroots governance is rather weak and almost insignificant. The former deputy speaker therefore eloquently posits that â&#x20AC;&#x153;development of grassroots must begin with the active participation of people at the grassroots in governance. With a vibrant and functional government at the grassroots level, affairs of the local people can then be managed by means of their positive participation. Democracy is never complete until there is active involvement and participation of the people. Similarly, development is never complete unless the people are consciously carried along and involved fully in the development process.â&#x20AC;? He canvassed strong local governance that (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž VEMBER 26, 2017

PERSPECTIVE

Combating Medical Tourism with Health Sector Investment Taoheed Dolapo Ajao

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his piece is an attempt at a discourse on the Nigerian Public Health sector and the general problems facing heath care management with the singling out of one â&#x20AC;&#x201C;- lack of good training schools for medical practitioners to access world class specialised medical education â&#x20AC;&#x201C;- whose eventual overcome, has to be the irreducible minimum in the foundation for a solid heath sector. The problems facing the Nigerian health care management are myriad: from inadequate number of hospitals that provide standard medical services to lack of medication; from long queues in the available clinics to lack of functional surveillance system and routine medical intelligence during epidemics; from bad education of management specialists to unfulfilled dreams arising from corruption in the health sector; from lack of funding to ill-trained doctors and nurses, the list is endless! Health care for the citizenry is one of the core social services that most governments worry about. Some governments prioritise it and try to democratise its access to the people while some others, particularly in the social democracies of the world, struggle to find a way to subsidise and make it affordable. While the degree of governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involvement in health care still remains an ideological choice, incontrovertible evidence points to the fact that the abysmal level of health care services in subSaharan Africa makes it compelling for governments to intervene to boost the overall poor health indices of the people. The criticality of the medical profession to society is underscored by the use of the parameter of life expectancy by the World Health Organisation, WHO, as a development index of the people. Before the discovery of modern medicine, life was fleeting and the environment was replete with a lot of diseases and medical challenges. The indispensability of the medical doctor is again highlighted in humanityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desire to constantly push the boundaries of medical technology by modern medical research. Therefore, forming the substructure of the public health sector edifice, are medical doctors whose professional and ethical exertions on the health challenges of society, will forever remain invaluable. It is because of this that this piece has zeroed in on the abysmal statistical ratio of doctor to people and the alarming rate of attrition even among the unimpressive number of the trained local doctors. This is done with a view to highlighting the emergence of a local medical training university surrounded by state-of-the-art facilities that will start turning out highly trained doctors in a couple of years! At the currently prescribed World Health Organisation (WHO) ratio of 1:600 (one doctor to every six hundred persons) as against Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1:4,000 (one doctor to every four thousand persons), it becomes compulsory to increase the number of medical doctors from its present 36,000 to the desired figure of 237,000 in order to meet the myriad challenges in the national health sector. Although many more medical doctors have been trained by the available medical schools in Nigeria, a lot of them have left for greener pastures due to lack of self-actualisation occasioned by inadequate job fulfillment within an unrewarding and unresponsive health sector. Be that as it may, according to Mrs. Ogunsola, a lecturer at

Gov. Akeredolu

the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, â&#x20AC;&#x153;even if no doctor leaves Nigeria after being trained, it will still take us about 100 years to have the desired number of doctors we need going by the capacity of the available training schools!â&#x20AC;? Again, compounding the health situation in Nigeria has been the increase in the incidence of previously rare ailments and diseases requiring only advanced medical knowledge from institutions with specialised and intensive health education for their treatment and management. The loss of confidence in domestic medical health care services â&#x20AC;&#x201C;- itself, a combination of a Nigerian psychological complex for anything foreign and past government failures to properly reform the health sector at the secondary and tertiary health care levels â&#x20AC;&#x201C;- has cost the nation very dearly on foreign medical trips yearly. The economic fallout from foreign medical tourism has been so enormous that from the 5000 people that travel out monthly to India and sundry countries, Nigeria loses $500 million annually with India alone, accounting for $260 million of the cash flight! . These were the informing reasons for the Ondo State government in 2015, to establish the University of Medical Sciences in Laje, Ondo city, as a citadel of medical education to offer services of specialised facilities for medical training and research. In trying to make the university a complementing arm of medical education to an already established array of medical facilities in the area, it was expected that the further development of medicine would be served by the synergy of a mutually reinforcing relationship between the school and the surrounding medical facilities where the former uses its academic medical training and research to complement the latterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s virtually limitless possibilities in practical application. Offering these virtually limitless possibilities in practical medical application, has been what is now referred to as

the Laje Medical Complex in Ondo city; a veritable resort of local medical tourism, comprising the Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostic Centre; Mother & Child Hospital, one of the busiest maternity hospitals in Nigeria; the Accident & Emergency Services Hospital (Trauma Centre), accredited by the National Postgraduate Medical College in less than 3 years of operation for post graduate training in General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery and Radiology; the Call Centre and Kidney Care Centre, a state-of-the-art facility with just about the highest simultaneous functional capability for the most dialysis sessions in the country! Situated in the centre of this Medical Complex is the University of Medical Sciences whose initial 5 programmes â&#x20AC;&#x201C;- Medicine & Surgery, Dentistry, Physiotherapy, Nursing and Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degrees in Anatomy, Physiology and the Physical Sciences â&#x20AC;&#x201C;- will be supplemented by and enriched with Medical Laboratory Science this year 2017, while other courses will come later. Professor Friday Okonofua, FAS, the pioneer Vice Chancellor and renowned Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, hinted on the possible addition of Pharmacy and Herbal Medicine by the next academic year 2018. Expatiating further on this at the Media Stakeholders Meeting on Monday, 16th of October 2017, the Vice Chancellor talked about the possibility of harnessing the unique potentials of the medicinal powers of herbs and roots and the revolutionary application and academic standardisation of the acquired knowledge to provide an alternate and sometimes, complementing paradigm of cure to orthodox medicine. As a matter of fact, Professor Okonofua said due to the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suitable position to advance the cause of herbal medicine, the school has begun a multidisciplinary research into it and is expected to acquire herbal farms soon. Expectedly, the first set of doctors and dentists will graduate in the year 2019. Not only has the University of Medical Sciences, Laje, Ondo, been accredited by the National Universities Commission and the Nigeria Medical Council, the school, as a result of the application of modern techniques in the teaching of medicine, has become virtually the first choice for students in medical education training curricula. The rash of academic strikes by lecturers and closure of schools normally endemic in the Nigerian university system have not hit the school probably because it is not yet a member of the Academic Staff Union of Nigeria Universities, ASUU, and again, because of the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leadership culture of accountability, transparency and consensual decision making. Compared with other medical schools of even less facilities, the University of Medical Sciencesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; school fees are surprisingly low. Since making enhancement of access to education at all tiers is part of the founding philosophy of the school by the Ondo State government in 2015, it should occasion no surprise that the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s affordable fees had to be in harmony with governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Caring Heart policy and the inherited progressive educational tenet of late Chief Awolowo. The school is proud to continue this legacy with the current administration and despite the prevailing cash crunch, it has been making judicious use of the unfailing subvention from the current Ondo State government. (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

Dankwamboâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Unconventional Approach toTackling Insurgency, Illiteracy Idowu Ajibade

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he National Universities Commission (NUC) recently approved the establishment of Gombe State University of Science and Technology making it the 154th university in Nigeria. The epoch-making event was witnessed by the State governor, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who apparently had looked forward to the day when his well-envisioned dream of creating an enduring legacy in education in a state that was hitherto at the bottom of the ladder. The approval followed an application by the governor for an upgrade of the College of Science and Remedial Studies, located in Kumo, Akko local government area of the state, to a full-fledged state university of science and technology. An elated governor Dankwambo, there and then assured that the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faculty of medicine and that of pharmacy would commence full operation by January. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are ready for the project and by January, faculty of medicine and pharmacy will be functioning properly. He said about 150 hectares of land has been set aside for Gombe State University of Science and Technology, assuring government total commitment to providing sound and quality education in the state. He also said that the emergence of the new university will not affect the development of the existing state university. Securing an approval for a second state university for Gombe less than two years into the end of his second term tenure might well be a climax for Dankwambo, one that relieves a sense of hopelessness that characterised its first four months in office

in 2011 when the whole of 19,000 students that sat for the yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Senior Secondary School Examination (WAEC/SSCE) failed woefully. The result presented a sad spectacle of an education sector in dire need of emergency. The governor took the bull by the horn by first identifying the problems and proffering solutions. For him, the challenges of mass illiteracy in a zone that is facing a problem of insurgency is huge. Gombe state in the volatile northeast shares border with Yobe and Borno States, the epicenters of the Boko Haram insurgents. According to Dankwambo, â&#x20AC;&#x153;most internally-displaced persons have relocated to Gombe State and experts have proffered a lasting solution to insurgency and it is learning.â&#x20AC;? Jolted by this reality and to guarantee quality education, the governor and his team had to come up with remedies to raise learning standard. And to reverse the poor academic performance in the state, the governor recognised the urgent need to review the entire education architectures beginning from the teachers, who obviously needed refresher courses to update their knowledge to enable them impact positively. In order to lay an enduring foundation for sound and qualitative education, the Dankwambo administration set up teachers training colleges across the senatorial districts in the state to carter for both western and Islamic education. He started building new classrooms and upgrading old ones. To make the learning environment more attractive and conducive especially for out-of-school children of school age, Dankwambo embarked on free-meal and free-education for students from primary to secondary levels. He also built schools for science and remedial studies to up the preparation for WAEC/SSCE. The efforts yielded spectacular results. With 400 blocks of classroom built, enrolment figure doubled

and by the end of first four-year tenure, the state recorded over 90percent successes in WAEC and other external examinations. Additionally, the state government built Technical Colleges for those that have chosen to pursue technical education. Already, 15,000 youths have been trained and employed by the state from the scheme. But then, the governor, a doctoral degree holder, was not oblivious of the inadequate space for admission placement into the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 153 universities. He expanded the space for tertiary enrolment by building tertiary institutions. Consequently, he commenced an expansion program for facilities in the existing state-owned university and looking ahead to carter for the surplus university admission applicants. Hence, the decision to upgrade the School of Science and Remedial Studies in Kumo to accommodate the new Gombe State University of Science and Technology. The Executive Secretary of (NUC), Abubakar Rasheed, who announced the approval, said the University becomes the 46th state-owned university and 154th in Nigeria. According to him, there are 153 universities in Nigeria, out of which 40 are owned by the federal government, including the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna and Police Academy in Kano. Indeed, Mr. Rasheed acknowledging the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s need for more universities, noted that Nigeria would not achieve a knowledge-based economy without huge investment in education. â&#x20AC;&#x153;More than 1.5 million candidates write JAMB every year to get admission into the University, but Nigeria universities can only admit less than a million. Every year, youths are frustrated because they cannot get admitted into the University, the NUC boss said while welcoming the creation of the new GSUST.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;NUC welcomes anyone that wants to establish a university in order to assist our population. But we do not compromise on standard. We have sent seven proposals for private universities to the Minister of Education, he said adding that JAMB, TETFUND and NYSC had been informed of the creation of the university. This partly explains why Gombe State under Governor Dankwambo remains peaceful and attractive to many especially from the crisis-ridden north-east zone. With the 2019 presidential contest beckoning to all northerners, those with track record of economic and political successes are well-situated to seek popular mandate. Little wonder, eyes are on the governor of Gombe State, a man with an impressive, albeit, largely unsung track record who is today the underdog among PDP contenders. Two indisputable facts appear to have favoured him ahead of others. First, is his performance record in Gombe where he is leaving enduring legacies especially in education, health, security and infrastructural development. Dr. Dankwambo cuts the image of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first-generation leaders like, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello (Sardauna of Sokoto) and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, with his inspiring visionary leadership style. His giant stride in primary, secondary and tertiary education is certain to benefit generations yet unborn in the state. Second is his unshaken loyalty to the party even at a time when it was politically suicidal in that part of the country to identify with PDP. As the only PDP 2nd term governor from the entire northern region, Dr. Dankwambo remained resolute even in the days of adversity, crisscrossing the length and breadth of Nigeria, seeking solution to reunite his party. - Bakare is an Abuja based journalist

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PERSPECTIVE How Okowaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SMART Initiatives Triggered Deltaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Giant Leap in Economic Ranking Victor Efeizomor

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athy Gates, the author of â&#x20AC;&#x153;7 Secrets to a Great Lifeâ&#x20AC;? wrote in his book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;A great life doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen by accident. A great life is the result of allocating your time, energy, thoughts, and hard work towards what you want your life to be. Stop setting yourself up for stress and failure, and start setting up your life to support success and easeâ&#x20AC;?. When Senator Ifeanyi Okowa was inaugurated on May 29, 2015 as governor of Delta State, he knew the enormity of the tasks and challenges before him - to pilot the affairs of the state, so he allocated his time and energy to priorities. Immediately after the inauguration, Gov. Okowa hit the ground running by initiating policies and programmes that would help him realise his goals. After two years and five months of four years tenure of Gov. Okowaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s administration, an independent and none political group, the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN), a private-public non-profit organisation in Nigeria, has passed a verdict. The NCCN a forth night ago rated Delta State as number one in human capital overall ranking in Nigeria. The council also rated the state as overall second in Sub-National Index overall ranking in the country behind Lagos that came first. The council, whose mandate it is to improve the attractiveness of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy as a place to do business in the global marketplace, carried out its assessments of Delta State socio-economic development devoid of any bias or political interference, based on what Gov. Okowa had done and how he had been steering the ship of the state. The implication of the NCCN report is that Gov. Okowa has met the expectations of Deltans , considering the promises he made. He has spread development across the state and removed the mistrust that existed between the three senatorial zones in line with the SMART agenda of transforming lives in tandem with the prosperity agenda No doubt, assessing Okowaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accomplishments must come from a non-partisan angle with analytical mind to give a fair verdict that support value for democracy.

Okowa But , itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s necessary to put the records straight. Okowa came at a most difficult time of recession, huge debt profile, bloated wage bills, uncompleted projects, and pipeline vandalism and fall of oil prices that deemed economic potentials. With a clear vision, to create wealth, reduce unemployment through technical, vocational and formal education, make food abundant, have functional health institutions, enhance peace building for economic growth, the SMART agenda became the template. SMART means- Strategic wealth creation projects and provision of jobs for all Deltans, Meaningful peace building platforms aimed at political and social stability, Agricultural reforms and accelerated industrialisation, Relevant health and education policies, and Transformed environment through urban renewal. It is economic, political and social awakening to deepen Delta beyond oil and lay sustainable economic and infrastructural development. Okowa, upon assumption of office , blocked all leakages, made corruption unattractive and ensured prudent management and accountability to attract investors. This won him confidence of the masses. He has demystified political power and office, that is why all including the opposition see him as central point for fertilisation of ideas. Today, Delta is witnessing uncommon transformation in wealth creation, health institutions, agriculture,

industrialisation, rural and infrastructural development, peace building and inter-ethnic relations among others. The projects embarked upon by Okowa had multiplier effect on the economy. Delta invested in agriculture, acquiring 3,850 hectares of farmland and encouraged the establishment of rice processing mills to support rice cultivation. Fish farmers through technical partnership have increased production from 24,413 metric tons of fish production in 2016 to 59,347 in 2017. The gains are jobs creation, food production and agribusiness, palm production through palm plantations, rubber plantations and other cash crops. The synergy between government and farmers had discouraged rural-urban migrations and made agriculture attractive. Okowa places high premium on education. Education replaces ignorance. Thus, making it possible for people to understand the workings of government. Okowa through holistic education that combines technical training with vocational training has transformed the state. Technical colleges have been upgraded, public schools have their pride restored and teachers are now well remunerated, while students study under conducive environment. His greatest achievement is dousing ethnic tensions and building bridges of understanding across all sections of the state. Okowaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rescue mission has impacted on people and institutions. Okowaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strength is unity for justice, development, emancipation and service. The health sector is transformed with a universal health insurance scheme that affords every Deltan access to health. The stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teaching hospitals have been transformed in medical personnel, training and facilities. primary health care is also a priority and various communities have functional health centers that take health closer to people. The state is witnessing uncommon transformation of roads linking hamlets to villages, villages to towns and towns to cities, increasing transportation of goods and services, promoting economic activities. The civil service has been stabilised as the biometric exercise weeded ghost workers, discipline restored and punctuality at work upheld. Workers now imbibe ethics of service, salaries paid as and

when due, dedication rewarded with promotions and training. This has encouraged productivity, synergy between trade unions, labour leaders and government. The Commissioner for Economic Planning, Dr Kingsley Emu, while commenting on the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN) said that However, the NCCN report was the outcome of a research carried out last two years which justifies the huge expenditure by the State Government on developing its human capital base. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on record that since the inception of the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, over 46,000 jobs had been created in the state which is seeing as a major governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategy at disengaging the unemployed youth from being potential terrorists. Interestingly , the performance index which covered the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja saw Delta taking the overall fifth position in infrastructure ranking, although not surprising, as the State Government has demonstrated sincere commitment on infrastructure development and upgrade in the last two years. It is on record also that over N170 billion road contracts have been awarded by the State Government covering 179 road projects, just as over 56 of the projects have been completed so far. The Okowa led government recognised that road infrastructure has a connecting link with economic growth and development of a state, hence much effort has been put into ensuring that government gives much attention to this sector to alleviate the suffering of the people. Happily enough the NCCN rated the Delta State 7th in Institutions development such as security, justice, transparency and fight against corruption. There is no other time than now in joining hands with Gov. Okowa in the task of building a greater and prosperous Deltan for Deltans and Nigerians at large, rather than engage in senseless mudslinging and being a clog in the wheel of progress as the transformation train is already in motion. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Prince Efeizomor is print media assistant to Gov. Okowa

Ambodeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Slip Roads, Multiple Lay-Bys and Lagos Traffic Ademola Johnson

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or residents of Ketu, Owode Onirin, Mile 12 and Ikorodu, last week commissioning of the expansive lay-by in Ketu by the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, would go a long way in solving the traffic problem in that axis. At any time of the day, except perhaps past 12 midnight, you can only be lucky to spend less than one hour in Ketu. One can only imagine the evident sigh of relief and joy that the residents exhibited since the commissioning. The same innovation and strategic thinking is being replicated all over the state by Ambode and his team. Indeed, in the last two months, I have noticed a drastic reduction in the traffic gridlock along the Third Mainland Bridge-OworonsokiAlapere through Lagos-Ibadan Expressway axis of Lagos. Though I noticed the slip road and multiple lay-by at the popular Iyana -oworo bus stop and the recently launched slip road and multiple lay-bys at Alapere, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t initially link the reduction in traffic gridlock along this axis to them. As I noticed that the traffic situation along this axis has improved daily even in the peak hours in the evening, I realised that the slip road and multiple lay-bys at Oworo, the car wash lay-by, slip road at Olopomeji, the several see-through fence and the recently launched lay-by at Alapere bus stop are responsible for this. This is commendable and it shows that this is a government that is thinking and strategic; always providing solution with very cost effective methods. The idea of a slip road and lay-by may look simple but it is providing the much needed succour by easing the perennial traffic gridlock on the Third Mainland BridgeLagos-Ibadan Expressway axis. Before the slip roads and lay-bys were constructed, commer-

cial vehicles stopped indiscriminately on the narrow expressway to discharge passengers thereby causing heavy traffic gridlock especially at the Oworonsoki end of the Third Mainland Bridge. Since the mentioned slip roads and lay-bys became operational, commercial vehicles wanting to discharge passengers have no choice than to make a right into the slip roads and lay-bys which are very spacious and beautiful. Another noticeable feature is the see-through wire fence used to demarcate the new slip road and the main expressway. This has put a stop to the heavy human traffic crossing the expressway thereby causing another traffic gridlock with the risk of such pedestrians being knocked down. The recently launched Alapere slip road and and multiple lay-bys that have reduced traffic gridlock on the Third Mainland Bridge-Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, would also improve the traffic situation and offer a lasting solution to the perennial traffic gridlock along Ikorodu Road. Governor Ambode must have observed the positive impact that the Oworonsoki and Alapere slip roads and lay-bys have on the traffic situation along the Third Mainland Bridge-Lagos-Ibadan Expressway within the little time it became operational when he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the project was a significant milestone in drastically reducing the traffic along the corridor, its completion would no doubt impact directly on travel time as the targeted reduction of traffic along the length of the Third Mainland Bridge to the entire stretch of the axis, moving towards Old Toll Gate and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway would be accomplishedâ&#x20AC;? Due to its effectiveness in reducing traffic gridlock according to the governor, another multiple lay-by and slip road with car park and market with big stores would be constructed in Ikosi-Isheri. I have also noticed about three times on my way from Ibadan to Lagos, that since Berger

bus stop, which is the gateway to Lagos from Ibadan has been redesigned and reconstructed with multiple lay-bys and slip road, the traffic gridlock and the maddening scene that confronts one on entering the city have all disappeared. To many Lagosians, this is like a miracle. The same thing will surely happen to Oshodi by the time the Oshodi modern bus terminal and interchange is completed. Another first that was launched by Governor Ambode recently is the Intelligence Transport System (ITS). If this could be successfully executed as Ambode has been doing since he assumed office, the dream of Lagosians having an effective transport system which obtains in advanced countries may come true earlier than expected. The ITS involves the e-ticketing for commuters using the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), provision of additional new 800 buses in the next two months and 5,000 within 24 months as part of the Bus Reform Initiative (BRI); proper transport planning; location of each bus at any point in time; how the driver is behaving; the arrival time; space inside, among others. With the ITS, Lagosians may begin to have a feel of a well integrated transport system as moving from one location to the other in course of their daily activities becomes much easier. It will further reduce traffic as there will be fewer vehicles on the road because many vehicle owners will prefer to patronise the buses since they now have fixed arrival and departure time and are decent and comfortable. Moreover, the scheme will increase revenue generation of the state as many people will be attracted by the e-ticketing offer which will enable them to plan on their income weekly, monthly or yearly as may be convenient for individuals. The BRT will also reduce crime like the notorious â&#x20AC;&#x153;one chanceâ&#x20AC;? whereby criminals rob unsuspecting passengers at gun point while the vehicle is on motion and such

victim would be pushed out of the vehicle on motion. Many have died as a result of this. This kind of crime will almost be impossible with the new bus as the buses will come with CCTV camera while the movement of each bus is monitored at a base station for that purpose. It will create more jobs as the buses that are on their way will require trained drivers and other officials. If Governor Ambode could solve the traffic gridlock in Lagos and make transportation easier for the over 20 million commuters in the city, that would amount to a monumental achievement. While it is noted that Governor Ambode has done a lot in the area of road construction and rehabilitation by constructing or rehabilitating over 500 roads, many bridges and two landmark flyovers to ease traffic, his effort in these areas is now being felt with the construction of lay-bys and slip roads which has magically reduced traffic gridlock in such areas. More work still need to be done in this area as the construction of slip roads and lay-bys are necessary in many other black spots noted for traffic gridlock in the city. The officers and men of the Lagos state transport Management Agency LASTMA should be commended for their effort in solving the traffic problem in the city but they should do more in checking errant drivers and enforcing the ban on commercial motorcycles on restricted routes. The Federal Road Safety Corps are also commended for their role in ensuring free flow of traffic while the police are commended for tackling traffic robbery in the city. Ambode is performing wonders by his many innovations towards transforming Lagos from a mega city to a smart city not in name only but in deed. Lagosians could only pray that he keeps it up. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Johnson, a journalist, writes from Ibeju-Lekki

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ NOVEMBER 12, 2017

SUNDAYSPORTS

Edited by Demola Ojo Email demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

La Liga: Top of Table Clash as Barcelona Visit Valencia

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alencia and Barcelona are set to battle it out in a top of the table clash this evening at Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium. Marcelino’s team have put together an eight-game winning run, which has seen them rise to be Barcelona’s nearest challenges at this stage of the season. They are just four points off the La Liga leaders, but Marcelino will have to watch today’s game from the Mestalla stands. He was handed a two-match touchline ban following his dismissal during his side’s 2-0 La Liga win at Espanyol last Sunday. This will be their biggest test of the season against Barca, who have won 11 of their 12 league games. Barcelona midfielder Denis Suarez is well aware of the significance of the game. “It’s a very important game for us because it could leave us seven points clear at the top of the table” he said. “I know [Valencia manager] Marcelino very well because I played under him at Villarreal. His teams like to play on the counter, make quick transitions and are always very strong in defence. “They play Marcelino’s favourite 4-4-2 system. It won’t be easy because it never is down there, and they’re playing some incredible football this year.” Simone Zaza, Carlos Soler and Goncalo Guedes should all return for Valencia after they were rested in the win at Espanyol last Sunday but Jeison Murillo and Javi Jimenez remain on the sidelines. Barcelona defender Gerard Pique is suspended after picking up a fifth yellow card of the season last weekend against Leganes while Sergi Roberto, Andre Gomes, Rafinha and Javier Mascherano are all missing through injury. Lionel Messi, who signed a new contract

LLuis Suarez (left) and Aymen Abdennour during a match between Barcelona and Valencia earlier

yesterday, was rested against Juventus in midweek but will start. Valencia have won only two of their last 20 league games against Barcelona (losing 13 of those), and both were as visitors (3-2 in February 2014 and 2-1

in April 2016). However they have won eight consecutive games in La Liga, their best winning streak in the competition. Messi has had a hand in 26 of Barcelona’s last 33 goals against Valencia in La Liga (with 20 scored and six assisted).

Santi Mina has already scored five league goals in his 12 appearances this season, having hit just six in his previous 29 league games. Mina, with two, is the only Valencia player to have netted more than one goal against Barca.

EPL: Willian Saves Chelsea, United Close Gap on City

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Messi signing his new deal with Barcelona’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu

Messi Signs New Barca Deal until 2021

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arcelona forward Lionel Messi said he had moved closer to his “dream” of “finishing my career at home” after signing a new contract, with the buyout clause raised to 700m euros (£626m). Messi’s new deal will expire after the 202021 campaign. The 30-year-old had one year remaining on his old contract. The Argentine international, a five time Ballon d’Or winner, has scored 523 goals in 602 appearances for Barca. “The objective is to continue achieving things and making history,” he said. Since joining at the age of 13, Messi has helped Barca win eight Spanish league titles and the Champions League four times. “We’ve been lucky enough to have won a great many things and I hope there will be more in the future,” he added. “I’m happy to continue with the club, which is my home. My dream was to finish my career at Barca and we are moving down that path.”

helsea rode their luck to salvage a 1-1 draw at Liverpool thanks to Willian’s late leveller, while Manchester United cut Manchester City’s Premier League lead to five points with a 1-0 win over Brighton yesterday. Antonio Conte’s Chelsea were five minutes away from suffering a major blow to their hopes of defending the title after falling behind to Mohamed Salah’s opener at Anfield, but grabbed a point thanks to Willian’s leveller. Salah, who spent an unsuccessful spell with Chelsea from 2014 to 2016, returned to haunt his old team in the 65th minute. Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko miscued a clearance, giving Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the chance to prod the ball into Salah, who slotted a low finish past Thibaut Courtois. It was Salah’s sixth goal in his last five appearances

-- and his 15th for Liverpool this season -- but he opted not to celebrate, apparently out of respect for the more than 300 Egyptians killed in a terror attack this week. But just as the champions were facing their first defeat in five league games, in-form Willian came off the bench to rescue Chelsea with an 85th minute equaliser. The Brazil winger, who scored twice in the Blues’ 4-0 Champions League win at Qarabag midweek, found space in the Liverpool penalty area for cross that he sliced and saw loop fortuitously over Simon Mignolet and into the far corner. While Chelsea finished the happier side, the draw did little to enhance either club’s title prospects. The third-placed Blues are eight points behind leaders Manchester City, who travel to Huddersfield today, while Liverpool remain fifth and sit 11 points off the top.

3e Actuaries Open: Markus Aiming to Match Odoh’s E/Guinea Standard From Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

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lisha Markus has reckoned that he will draw inspiration from the dominant profile of Nigeria at next month’s 3e Actuaries Equatorial Guinea Open Championship in Mongomo. Nigeria’s Oche Odoh won two of the four editions of the tournament after compatriot, Gift Willy wrote his name on the maiden edition in Malabo in 2013. Markus is one of the seven Nigerian professional golfers that will compete for a slice of the $150,000 prize money in Africa’s biggest professional tournament from December 14-17 in the Wele-Nzas Region. In an exclusive chat with THISDAY last night, he said his target is to match the impressive profile of Odoh in Equatorial Guinea.

“It is a fact that we have a good record in Equatorial Guinea through the doggedness of Odoh and Willy. Though this a high profile and demanding international tournament, we have to keep the record straight by showing what Nigerian golfers are capable of doing,” Markus said. Markus qualified for the tournament for the first time by earning one of the three qualifying slots at the Ibadan Mesiogo Open last month. He said that he is undeterred by his limited international exposure, saying that he has asked those familiar with the terrain about what the 3e Actuaries Open is all about. “I have made the necessary enquiries about the tournament from those that have graced the stage and the response is about the beauty of the golf course, the excellent organisation and the amazing atmosphere in Mongomo. I am glad to be part of that group,” he said.

At Old Trafford, Jose Mourinho’s United bounced back from their surprise Champions League defeat at Basel in midweek to win their 39th straight home win in all competitions and equal a 51-year record set by Sir Matt Busby thanks to Lewis Dunk’s second half own goal. United made seven changes from the Basel loss and found it hard to break Brighton’s stubborn resistence, before finally nabbing the crucial goal in the 56th minute, putting Mourinho’s team just one game away from a club record 40 home wins in a row. Dale Stephens headed Marcus Rashford’s corner as far as Ashley Young on the edge of the area and his shot deflected off Dunk and arched over Brighton keeper Mat Ryan. ThatwasenoughtosecureUnited’ssecondconsecutive league win as they try to keep pace with City. “I think we were more spirit and heart than quality. My boys they didn’t play well but they gave everything,” Mourinho said. “For me probably Brighton deserve more than the result they got.” Tottenham’s bid to win the title for the first time since 1961 is in tatters after a 1-1 draw with lowly West Bromwich Albion left them 10 points behind City. Spurs have had mixed results at Wembley since moving into their temporary home while White Hart Lane is rebuilt and once again they lacked a cutting edge against supposedly inferior opponents.

RUSSIA 2018 WCQ RESULTS Crystal Palace Man United Newcastle Swansea Tottenham Liverpool Southampton Burnley Huddersfield Villarreal Valencia

2-1 1-0 0-3 0-0 1-1 1–1 v v v v v

Stoke Brighton Watford Bournemouth West Brom Chelsea Everton 2:30 pm Arsenal 3pm Man City 5pm Sevilla 6:30pm Barcelona 8:45pm

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High Life

85 ͎͎͜;ʹ͜͜ͳ;ͳͰ

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rich and famous

Ungrateful Nation ! Oil Magnates, Billionaires Top Bankers and Politicians Shun Goodluck Jonathan 60th Birthday

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he greyhound stands by its master, the hunter, through thick and thin, and the Cheshire cat snuggles and purrs by its mistress, through the darkest spells. Mere animals earnestly show such incontrovertible loyalty and love to their owners. It is only man that is innately capable of such grisly display of contempt and infidelity to his fellow man. This brings to mind, the scandalous desertion of President Goodluck Jonathan on his 60th birthday, by men and women who were until recently, his closest friends, political associates, court jesters and confidants. Now, Goodluck Jonathan is an ordinary Nigerian. His phones are no longer buzzing like high-pitched alarums. There is no retinue of aides, special advisers, lobbyists and powerbrokers at his beck and call. Jonathan is no longer the quintessential or circumstantial love object of the entertainers. So sad. They seemed to have abandoned him to his fate as they failed to sing

his praises the way they did when he marked his 57th birthday in 2014 when Jonathan had spent four years in the saddle and was preparing to run for re-election. Only in THISDAY were six advertisements. They were from a forum of Jonathanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former ministers, Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers; A.J. Turner, a traditional ruler from Bayelsa; Reuben Okoya, an architect; and David Omonibeke, president Azikel Group. Vanguard published one advert from Seriake Dickson, governor of Bayelsa State and The Nation also published an advert from Azikel Group. Jonathanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abandonment by his friends was noticeable as far back as November 2015, the first birthday he marked out of office since 2010, when he succeeded former President Umaru Yarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Adua. In 2015, Jonathan was 58, a few months after he was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari. And what played out today also occurred then: the reticence of the friends of power: the politicians, hangers on, business barons, social and political groups.

Goodluck Jonathan

THE CURRENT CHAMPION... MIKE INEGBESE CHANCES ON GOOD TIME

Mike Inegbese

There are moments in a manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life when tragedy and its dark shadows can be lightened by mere thoughts of the great moments. Thus, it is understandable that Oloorogun Mike Inegbese, the Atunwase of Lagos, has chosen to re-invent himself by reexploring the socio-political and economic scene. The good times are back again for Mike Inegbese. The Esan, Edo State-born, auto merchant and owner of Ine-Mic Motors has chanced on mother luck again after suffering a series of bad luck. Prior to his travails, the Edo high chief with an uncanny love for bowler hat and gold-plated walking staff loomed above the social scene with pomp and panache. So awe-inspiring was his personage that he became the toast of the drivers of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy as well as the ruling class. He was courted by all and sundry, and his presence automatically added glamour to every social event. Then, like shrapnel from a deadly mine, news of his bad fortune pervaded the air, casting a dark pall on his otherwise brilliant world. The rumour mills were agog with news of the millionaire auto magnateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imminent doom. Mischief-makers blamed his purported ill-luck on an alleged business deal gone sour. His showroom, located on Kingsway Road, Ikoyi, which used to be home to fleet of exotic automobiles, became a shadow of itself thus lending

some sort of credence to the rumour. Today, Chief Inegbese has bounced back and he is now into real estate business with choice properties scattered all over high-end areas both on Lagos Mainland and Island. As you read this, he has once again become the toast of old friends, associates and sycophants who ridiculed him when the going got tough. His show room is now filled to the brim again with cars.

PAN OCEAN BOSS, FESTUS FADEYI, MOVES INTO MULTI-MILLION NAIRA IKOYI CRESCENT HOME

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ËŁ Even under the burden of debt, oil magnate, Festus Fadeyi still doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t compromise his accustomed life of patrician comfort. Despite having a portfolio of luxury homes across the world, he is not done erecting homes that occasion gawks and double takes. Sources close to him say he just moved into a massive property in the elitist Ikoyi Crescent, Lagos. The mouth-watering, multi-million naira house, it was gathered, sits on massive land and is fitted with every imaginable luxury that makes living worthwhile for the blessed and favoured. The source further added that apart from the big swimming pool, the new house has all the trappings of a dream house that many can only dream about, the likes of which you find only in Monaco or Marbella. The

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HIGHLIFE

How She Stuck a Dagger on Her Back... Ex-Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, Accuses Diezani Madueke of Treachery

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ike a closet gladiator, bursting through her self-woven sheathe of tact and obscurity, Stella Oduah, exaviation minister, has decided to confront demons of her past, allegedly responsible for her travails in the political arena. Oduah recently alleged that she was removed as minister of aviation in 2014 at the prompting of Diezani Alison-Madueke, then minister of petroleum resources. Now a senator, Oduah made the allegation in an upcoming book, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, written by Bolaji Abdullahi, who himself served as a minister under Jonathan from 2011-2014. Oduah claims in the book that when the scandal broke over the $1.6 million BMW armoured cars bought for her by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in 2013, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan invited her to defend herself. The meeting allegedly took place with Alison-Madueke, who was perceived to be extremely inďŹ&#x201A;uential on President Goodluck Jonathan, and Anyim Pius Anyim, who was the secretary to the government of the federation in attendance. Although Jonathan reportedly seemed satisďŹ ed with Oduahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s explanation that there was nothing shady about the acquired vehicle and AlisonMadueke also seemed land was allegedly procured by knocking down many houses in old Ikoyi. Nobody forgets Festusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mansion in a hurry. Behind the gates of the impressive manor, luxury saunters in a colourful garb. The interior depicts his dreams of bliss; you could be forgiven for mistaking it for the fabled Atlantis. Amid its enchanting premises, you could get lost, especially if you are a first time visitor. Recurrent callers at the mansion have been known to marvel and keel over in humility, in deference to its lavish treats. Outside, the building is garlanded with arcs and flowers, and bunches of knot-grass. Festusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manor is a testament of class. However, the social barometer is flailing wildly. In twos and threes and more, it is being discussed in hushed tones and sometimes openly that Toke Makinwa, the latest apple of Festusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; eyes will probably move in with him in the new mansion. Though Festus has 5 growing up children but he is madly in love with Toke. Even the most formidable nobility in the world transforms into a ladyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fool, when caught in the pleasure trove of love. They have been dating for quite sometime now. However, like all conquests, Toke is desperate to retain the love of the old man. And Festus may have no other alternative but keep his love for her intact. That is because, unlike all his other conquests, she possesses the bragging rights to his affection. Expensive top designer dresses, a new Range Rover Sport and a tastefully furnished apartment in highbrow Ikoyi, Lagos makes falling in love with an older man pretty easy and so much fun for Toke who divorced her husband, Maje Ayida, last year. Add to the mix, unrestricted access to gold and platinum

Diezani Alison-Madueke

Stella Oduah

sympathetic and allegedly promised to urge her friends in the National Assembly and the media â&#x20AC;&#x153;to back downâ&#x20AC;? on the issue, Oduah laments that things still turned awry for her. AlisonMadueke allegedly betrayed her and Jonathan sacriďŹ ced her. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I thought she (Alison-Madueke) had my back. I did not know at the time that she was actually fuelling it and orchestrating all the media attacks. I knew

all along that Diezani could not deal with having another female around who had the kind of access I had to the president. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But she went too far. She thought I was the one who leaked the issue of private jet that put her into trouble with the House of Representatives (Diezani was accused of spending N10 billion on chartered jets). For her it was payback time,â&#x20AC;? Oduah tells Abdullah. The ex-aviation

credit cards and the innumerable possibilities presented by Festus, and you have a gleeful, girly paramour whose joy knows no limits. Flying private jet to Europe just to spend some days in an exclusive sauna or salon, getting her hair and nails done and a bank account set up where her much older companion deposits money in dollars to cover â&#x20AC;&#x153;incidentalsâ&#x20AC;? like Chanel bags, Hermes belts and the latest Louboutins and Gucci shoes, make Toke the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;dopestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sugar baby in town. Whether Toke will move in anytime soon or remain in the wondrous apartment he got for her, only time will tell.

MONEY ON THE BEACH... OBA SAHEED ELEGUSHI RAKES IN MILLIONS IN NIGHT BUSINESS The much-talked about Elegushi Beach is the popular name of the sprawling playgrounds along Lagos coastlines. During the day, the youths engage in different sporting activities there while petty traders do brisk business selling odds and ends on the sides. The length and breadth of the beach are lined with bars and restaurants operating from makeshift shops and ramshackle stalls. As dusk falls on the metropolis, the beach transforms into a virtual entertainment ground pulsating with different sights and sounds that make nightlife memorable and racy. There loads of watering holes making waves at the beach. But this is also where Oba Saheed Elegushi rakes in millions of naira on a weekly basis. In the last couple of months, the fun-loving traditional ruler and members of his council have been having undiluted fun, holding rambunctious meetings amidst a surfeit of drinks and steaming plates of

Oba Saheed Elegushi

minister reveals that twice, she oďŹ&#x20AC;ered to resign before her sack but Jonathan asked her not to, yet the issue did not go away. Alison-Madueke, who is currently battling fraud and embezzlement charges in British and Nigerian courts, â&#x20AC;&#x153;was paying people to keep the story alive. At the same time, she was whispering in [the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s] ears that he had to take action,â&#x20AC;? Oduah alleges.

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HIGHLIFE

So Sad! Aso Savings Boss Maimuna Aliyu SuďŹ&#x20AC;ers Three Painful Blows in 3 Months Ëž Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x161;Ă&#x161;Ă?Ă&#x17D; Ă?Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2014; Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă?Ă?Ă?ËŞ Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă&#x17E;Ë&#x17E; Ă&#x2122;Ă?Ă?Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x2039;ĂĄË&#x17E; Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x;Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x17E;Ă?Ă&#x153; Ă?Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2018;Ă?Ă&#x17D; ĂĄĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019; Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x17D;Ă?Ă&#x153;

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motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s twilight should be full of grace and unchecked splendor. But for Maimuna Aliyu, it descends in a haze of pain and sparse joy. Hope she nurtured in her youth unfurl in her twilight like frayed flags that quilt graveyards of unfortunate soldiers of humanityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lost wars. If Maimuna Aliyu thought motherhood was about getting old in bliss, she has learnt, albeit painfully, that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about losing the people you love. Few months after she made the headlines over the withdrawal of her nomination into the board of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission (ICPC), Maimuna is at risk of losing Maryam, her daughter. The latter was recently refused bail for allegedly killing her husband, Bilyamin Mohammed, son of Haliru Bello, a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Sanda reportedly killed Mohammed over allegations of infidelity. An Abuja High Court ordered the remand of Maryam and denied her bail despite pleas by her lawyer. The suspect who is

also a nursing mother with an eight-month old daughter was remanded in prison due to the gravity of her crime. Maryam allegedly killed Bilyamin in his Maitama home in Abuja on Saturday night. She reportedly stabbed him in the neck, chest and genitals following allegations of infidelity. He was later rushed to the hospital where he eventually gave up the ghost. In the wake of the incident, Maimunaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worst fears about the fate of her child are coming true; the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has filed criminal charges against Maryam and the court has remanded her in prison for two weeks. Two months ago, Maimuna faced serious issues with the management of Aso Savings and Loans Limited where she worked as an Executive Director. Maimunaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s appointment to the ICPC board had elicited negative reactions following allegations of corruption levelled against her. This led to withdrawal of her nomination by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Maimuna was accused of

pepper soup at the beach. Interestingly, the palace, conducive and well-appointed, is just a stone throw from the beach. To gain entrance into this world of fun costs N1000 per person and additional N200 per parking space. According to sources, the management of the beach, pay in some millions every Monday to Oba Elegushi as what Yorubas called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Isakoleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. When this reporter called at the beach around 1 am a few nights ago, there was no sleep on the faces of the revelers cutting across all ages. They mingled and bubbled with reckless abandon. It has become a melting pot for adventure seekers or nocturnal fun lovers who prefer an environment where there are neither regulations nor benchmark as to the limit of fun they could have. Getting through the kaleidoscope of characters that dot the entrance to the beach was a Herculean task.

PERILOUS SLIDE... AS GAY COUPLES, HARD DRUGS USERS INFILTRATE LAGOS CLUB The dam is already bursting at the seams and if left unattended to, the flood will sweep away so many ambitious youths, hapless young ladies and impressionable silver spoon kids. This is no doomsday prophecy. Among the Island in-crowd, the jet-set and the nouveaux riches, a perilous habit has become so widespread that it is assuming a life of its own. What are we talking about? Just like that, marijuana and its other derivatives have suddenly lost the allure they used to hold for many. Now, the use of cocaine, that powerfully addictive narcotic with the tendency to make a frequent user go bunkers, is the order of the day. If you belong to the above-mentioned circle or you are a new inductee into the happening mix, one of the tests of your might is to sniff cocaine. How we knew? Attend any rave party in Lagos or Abuja and you would be shocked to discover that cocaine is virtually always on the menu list. More worrisome even is that young ladies, especially those who want to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;belongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and those who play hard-to-get to

abusing her office as executive director of Aso Savings and Loans Limited. Subsequently, her nomination was withdrawn and she was charged to court on a three-count charge of abuse of office, misappropriation of public funds and criminal breach of trust. She cried blue murder claiming that top management in her company were after her life. While she was recovering from the embarrassing incident, the issue of her daughter came to the fore. In a few months, Maimuna experienced three of the ugliest realities that could befall a woman of her status: her reputation was tainted, she lost her nomination into a plum national office and she is saddled with the responsibility of raising an eight month old granddaughter while her daughter is remanded in jail. Watching her bemoan her fate, you could feel and touch her grief; she seems bereft of joy and simply goes through the motions every day, like someone who has signed out on laughter and the melody of tumbrels and harps. Life has certainly taken a bad turn for Maimuna Aliyu.

lascivious men, always fall prey to this ploy at such parties. We gathered that this happens with the spiking of a prospective victimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drink whether alcoholic or non-alcoholic, while a smokerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cigarette is unconsciously laced with the lethal dose. However, if every Nigerian involved in Oscar Wildeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way of life were to be clapped into gaol, there would be a large exodus from Lagos. This is because homosexuals have literally taken over certain Lagos nightclubs. They are mostly young guys who brazenly display their sexual perversions without bothering whose ox is gored. There are lots of major nightclubs patronised by them. Visit any of these clubs and you will see two guys kissing and smooching in public glare â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a situation which many have interpreted to mean a desperate attempt by homosexuals to achieve social acceptance and legitimacy. The other day the Senate passed a law banning gay marriages but that move has not gone beyond the upper

Tunde Soleye and Nike Osinowo

legislative chamber. It was greeted with commendation and condemnation alike. Ask the owners of Sip Bar and Club 57 in Lagos, they would confirm this.

TUNDE SOLEYEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TALL DREAM... WHY HE STILL WANTS NIKE OSINOWO BACK All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night wake in the day to find that it was all vanity but the dreamers of the day are often dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes. It is unclear what dreams the veteran socialite, Tunde Soleye, has through the night; it is his daydreams that give everyone cause for concern. When urbane medical doctor and veritable socialite, Dr. Soleye appeared recently, he seemed to have lost his bouncy strides. Apart from pussyfooting, the bearded former husband of ex-beauty queen Nike Oshinowo had a tentative, forlorn look

Maimuna Aliyu

around him. Subdued were the suaveness and confidence that made him a hit among men and women. Sources close to the affable doctor said his present outlook might not be unconnected with his separation from Nike. Despite denials and counter-denials about the state of their union, the couple, who got married in 2007 amid strident opposition from Dr. Soleyeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friends and immediate family, eventually went their separate ways in 2012. But the multimillionaire medical doctor, who was forced by the court to pay his ex-wife millions of naira while also forfeiting his London home in a divorce settlement, has told everybody who cared to listen that Nike would return to him because it was not the first time she would work out on the union.

LARA OGOMUDIA SOFTPEDALS Back in the days when her husband, General Alexander Ogomudia (rtd), held sway as Chief of Defence Staff, his beautiful wife Lara held sway over the social circuit like an emperorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife. The Idanre, Ondo State native exploited her husbandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position with such conceit that everywhere she went, a horde of soldiers served as her security detail administering to her every whim. Then she established Lavally, a popular boutique on Awolowo road, Ikoyi, Lagos, where she sold luxury unisex items. Expectedly, social butterflies and gold diggers swarmed on her boutique like bees to honey, doing her bidding and massaging her ego often to their benefit. But no sooner her husband stepped down from his exalted office, than Lola became a pariah of sort. Lavally, her once busy boutique, lost clientele like a smelly roadside restaurant. At this juncture, Lara virtually disappeared from the social radar. Many of her friends deserted her, sneering behind her back in cynical acknowledgement that she has become a casualty of power. Today, the rumour mill has it that she has moved out of Lagos. Some others merely claim though that she has finally understood that power is transient with her husbandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retirement from the military.

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Sunday November 26, 2017

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MISSILE Abdullahi to Omokri

“I mentioned real names of real people who attended the meeting. They are alive and well. Let those ones come out and dispute my account. Let them come out and say no such meeting was held and no such issues were discussed. Those are the people who can comment. I don’t have time for ball boys” – Former Minister of Sport, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, responding to Mr. Reno Omokri who disputed claims in Abdullahi’s upcoming book that former President Goodluck Jonathan asked the PDP to reject President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory despite having called to congratulate the APC candidate

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There is Oil in the Skies

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don’t know if these statistics would interest you: the aviation industry alone directly contributes $664.4 billion to global GDP yearly — and that is far more than Nigeria’s entire gross domestic product. Every year, over three billion passengers fly the world’s airlines. Over 50 million tonnes of freight are airlifted across the world. The direct jobs from these are close to 10 million. In the larger picture, the air passenger business supports 63 million jobs globally and triggers $2.7 trillion worth of value in the world’s GDP. It is said that if aviation were a country, it would be the 21st biggest economy in the world, just marginally out of the G20. These statistics are probably outdated — I mined them from a 2016 report commissioned by the Geneva-based Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), a coalition of aviation industry experts. Most of the statistics were from 2014, meaning things have certainly changed in the last three years, and only for the better. Aviation industry keeps growing in spite of all the challenges. It is an industry that has an impressive fleet of activities generating jobs and businesses directly and indirectly: construction, supplies, aircraft manufacturing, information technology, consumer goods, banking, hospitality and so on. Aviation is, of course, a major artery for tourism, as we all know. As we continue to discuss how to move away from our “petrocentric” economy — by which I mean an economy that relies mainly on the oxygen of petroleum resources to breathe — one sector that must begin to take its place of pride is aviation. The case for agriculture and industry has been well made by all and sundry. But, as things are turning out, Nigeria, with a population closing in on 200 million by 2020, needs to fully develop as many sectors of the economy as possible. There are millions of jobs and value-added outputs that are begging to be unleashed. The good news is that some sectors can fund themselves — all we need are good policies to open them up. Aviation is one of such. Senator Hadi Sirika, the minister of state for aviation, has articulated a roadmap for the sector which, in my opinion, needs all the interrogation and fine-tuning it can use in the overall interest of national development. Sirika comes across as a man of conviction and determination — and I must confess I did not become his fan until after the successful rehabilitation of the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, early this year. I was one of those who thought that even though rehabilitating the runway was of utmost importance, shutting down the airport for six weeks was unthinkable. But here we are. Turning Nigeria’s aviation to one of the most buoyant and active in Africa is not going to be a tea party. Countries such as Ethiopia, Morocco, UAE and Qatar have demonstrated that aviation can be a key driver of economic growth, but Rome was not built just like that. We talk about the successes of Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates and Qatar Airways all the time — and these are businesses that turn over billions of dollars yearly — yet we are unable to create our own success stories beyond saying that Lagos is one of the busiest airports in Africa and that Nigeria has a population of 185 million and all that. We are playing with the chickens when we should be soaring with the eagles.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika According to Sirika, his vision is to build an aerospace and aeronautic university in partnership with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the specialised UN agency that regulates global aviation. We need high-level manpower, no doubt about that, and we must be able to produce that at home. Quite importantly, we also need to go into research and development. It is interesting that a country like Brazil, which entered into aviation industry about the same time with Nigeria, is now producing aircraft. It is a Nigerian thing, right? NNPC started out around the same time with Statoil of Norway and ENI of Italy — and that is where the comparison ends. Sirika has also been very passionate about concessioning the airports. This has a lot of political implications — the unions are eternally opposed to private management of public assets, no matter the evidence that it is a better option for a country with weak public management capacity like Nigeria. The attraction, for me, is that the federal government will no longer be allocating funds to these airports. Most of them are commercially viable and should sustain themselves. But it pays some fat cats for budgetary allocations to keep pouring in every year. The Chinese, Singaporeans, Qataris and Saudis have chosen the concessioning route. We need to give it a chance too. A more contentious issue is Sirika’s proposal for a national carrier. I have opposed this idea from day one. My argument has been that any business managed by government in Nigeria will not run well. I can give a million examples. We all know how Nigeria Airways nosedived into the abyss. Government officials were distributing free tickets to their girlfriends and relatives. It was anything goes. Virgin Nigeria, partly owned by Nigerian institutional investors and Virgin Atlantic, took off on a promising note but soon flew into turbulence and ended in oblivion. It has been one sad story after the other. Thank God Sirika says the proposed national carrier has a different business model.

Other aspects of the roadmap which I find noteworthy are the establishment of maintenance, overhaul and repair (MRO) services to cater for airlines in Nigeria (Morocco, Ethiopia and South Africa are excelling in this); setting up of a leasing company to provide affordable finance to aviation entrepreneurs; creation of world-class search and rescue operations to support eventualities in the sector; and the creation of agro-allied airports — a very big deal, in my opinion, if we are to succeed with export-oriented agric business. Jos airport once served as a centre for flower export while the Yola airport was used for mangoes and such like. That is history now. What a pity. In a way, all these things are linked: training, research and development, concessioning of airports, MRO services to support the national carrier and other international airlines operating in Nigeria, provision of finance for aviation entrepreneurs, creating world-class search and rescue infrastructure, and designating airports for agric business. But the devil is always lurking at the corner. In this case, I am thinking of the bureaucracy. Virtually of all Sirika’s initiatives are going to be powered by the private sector, meaning there is less of government hands and finance involved. They sound good, but what about the agencies to implement and manage the process? Again, that means restructuring and strengthening them. An agency like the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which has 45 GMs, cannot continue to operate the way it is. Every GM is on Level 17, with all the benefits and perks of office. This is incredible. That is how wasteful the Nigerian bureaucracy is and any attempt to reform it will always face resistance. Sirika’s roadmap talks about reviewing the laws setting up these agencies in order to make them more efficient. He also says the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will become fully autonomous in order to exercise its regulatory oversight unencumbered. That is non-negotiable. In a way, things have been looking up for the Nigerian aviation industry. ICAO has just held its World Aviation Forum in Abuja — the first outside its headquarters in Montreal, Canada. That was a huge honour to the country and an apparent recognition of our potential and positive strides. Indeed, ICAO just issued a certificate to designate the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, as a Centre of Excellence for the West and Central Africa region — and that takes NCAT to the top 20 of the best training schools in the world. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency only recently got ISO 9001:2015 certification — the only African meteorological agency with that badge. I travel fairly often and I am saddened whenever I see the state of our airports, but I am much more demoralised when I see what Emirates and Qatar Airways are doing. We are far behind them. However, we need not beat ourselves too much: we are well positioned to write our own story with our own hands. If Sirika can implement the aviation roadmap with the same grit and guts that he displayed in closing down Abuja airport to rebuild the runway, then there will be much more to celebrate under his watch. I’m happy he engaged extensively with the stakeholders over the roadmap. They can do and undo. All going well, we can hit another oil — this time in the skies.

And Four Other Things… ATIKU TICKLES Whether or not he becomes president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar will go into history as one of the politicians that brought real excitement to the game in Nigeria. His resignation from APC on Friday, apparently on his way back to the PDP, has brought some vigour back to the polity. Politicking has really been super dull since the PDP was decapitated in the 2015 elections. With virtually everybody singing “Sai Baba!” in APC today, it looked like the 2019 presidential election was going to be a walk-over for President Muhammadu Buhari — who is definitely gunning for a second term. It is now looking increasingly likely that the PDP will field Atiku against him. Tickling. DSS VS EFCC When two security agencies clash physically — not just verbally — it is time for the rest of us to worry about our safety. The face-off between agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja on Tuesday is beyond shameful: actually, the security of the country is at risk. EFCC officials, we were told, were trying to arrest the former DSS directorgeneral, Mr. Ita Ekpeyong. The DSS agents repelled them, so to say. Now, this is no longer a question of who is right or wrong but an indication of serious problems of coordination of security agencies under this administration. Frightening. KILLING SOFTLY Maryam Sanda, the woman who reportedly stabbed her husband to death, has been dominating the airwaves. She allegedly killed her husband, Bilyamin Bello — son of Alhaji Haliru Mohammed Bello, former PDP chairman — over some messages she saw on his phone. This is a rare case of domestic violence in which the man is at the receiving end. This could distort, or undermine, the war against domestic violence in Nigeria. But this should not be solely about Sanda. I think we need to start thinking about making anger management core to premarital counselling. I also think that couples should stop snooping on each other’s phones. Trouble. MUGABE MEMES On a lighter note, one of the things I am going to miss with the exit of Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe is the “Mugabe said” memes on social media. Someone would just take an African proverb or invent a quote and attribute it to Mugabe, such that Mugabe “quotes” started competing with those of Aristotle in philosophical nature or Mark Twain in wit. Almost every funny saying was being attributed to Mugabe! This is certainly one of my favourites: “It’s hard to bewitch an African lady these days. Every time you take a piece of her hair to the witch doctor, either an innocent Brazilian woman gets mad or a factory in China catches fire.” Hilarious.

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