Monday 11th December 2017

CBN Mulls Reducing CRR for SME-friendly Banks Bankers’ Committee relaxes conditions for accessing SME investment fund

Obinna Chima

As part of efforts to encourage commercial banks to lend more to operators of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is considering lowering the cash reserve

requirement (CRR) for SMEfocused banks.

This formed part of the deliberations at the ninth Bankers’ Committee retreat titled: “Improving Financial

Access, Job Creation and Inclusive Growth in Nigeria,” whic took place in Lagos at the weekend.

Briefing reporters yesterday at the end of the two-day

retreat, the CBN governor and chairman of the committee, Mr. Godwin Emefiele said the central bank would develop the framework for a strategy aimed at incentivising the

banks to support MSMEs next month.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN has kept the CRR at 22.5 per cent, Monetary Policy Rate

Buhari Heads for Paris, to Participate in One Planet Summit… Page 58

(MPR) at 14 per cent and Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent for several months, in a bid to check inflation and ease demand pressure in the foreign exchange market.

As a monetary policy tool, Continued on page 8

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Automotive Council to Develop Electric Car Policy Bennett Oghifo

DANJUMA: STILL GOING STRONG @ 80

L-R: Ex-military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon; First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari; former Minister of Defence, Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma; his wife, Senator Daisy Danjuma; and wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, during the 80th birthday dinner and reception held in Lagos for Gen. Danjuma… weekend

Despite Nigeria’s inability to produce fuel-powered cars to meet the needs of its domestic market and the shortfall in the country’s electricity supply, the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) has indicated that it is strategising and developing an electric car policy to prepare the nation for the production and use of electric vehicles.

A statement issued yesterday

by Jelani Aliyu, the Director General of NADDC said the council was working Continued on page 10

APC, PDP Exchange Barbs over Convention Okorocha expresses regret over Atiku’s defection Jonathan, ex-VP congratulate Secondus, others, Dokpesi makes U-turn

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and James Sowole in Akure Following the conclusion of the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that threw up Uche Secondus as the national chairman of the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP were at each other’s throats yesterday, with

the ruling party faulting the convention and describing it as an exercise tainted with irregularities.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, APC said it was surprised that things had not changed in the PDP.

APC made reference to the allegations of moneyfor-votes during the elective convention, adding that “systematic rigging was brazenly perpetuated during the convention”.

But in swift riposte, the PDP dismissed the statement by the APCº, saying its successful

conduct of the convention had sent jitters down the spine of the ruling party.

Last Saturday’s convention of the PDP saw some contenders for the post of chairman of the party withdrawing from the race and others protesting the presentation of a “unity

list” containing the names of favoured candidates, including that of Secondus, before the actual voting began.

Although Secondus eventually won the chairmanship post by a landslide, it was not a smooth sail, as other chairmanship candidates such as a former

Neconde Lawyers Urge PENGASSAN Not to Disobey Court Order… Page58

education minister, Prof. Tunde Adediran, and the founder of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, complained bitterly about being schemed out of the process.

APC, in its reaction to the outcome of the convention, said that it was mindful of the popular axiom: “A leopard cannot change its spot.”

Continued on page 8

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PAGE EIGHT CBN MULLS REDUCING CRR FOR SME-FRIENDLY BANKS the CRR is used to set the minimum deposits commercial banks must hold as reserves rather than lend out. It is usually applied to influence borrowing and interest rates by altering the funds at banks’ disposal to create loans. “We agreed that we need to come up with some form of regulation. What that means is that the CBN will provide some form of forbearance such that if a bank lends a certain percentage of its funds to SMEs, maybe its CRR would be lower than that of other banks that are not embracing the initiative. “So, what that means is that if you want us to ease your CRR, then a certain percentage of your loans must go to this sector of the economy,� Emefiele explained.

Also, the Bankers Committee agreed that the central bank and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will review the framework for mobile money transactions in the country to accelerate access to finance and financial inclusion.

In addition, following the apathy that has trailed the disbursement of the Agribusiness, SME Investment Scheme Fund (AGSMEIS) since its introduction by the Bankers’ Committee, Emefiele said the committee agreed to relax conditions for accessing the fund.

Emefiele said it was a shame that not even one firm was able to access the N26 billion AGSMEIS fund since it was set up.

Accordingly, the committee agreed to peg the interest rate for the fund at not more than five per cent, noting that it would no longer be an equity fund, “but in the form of preference shares arrangement or like a debt structure which makes it easy for those who want to access it�.

In terms of pricing, the

Bankers Committee said it should not be more than five per cent for those accessing the fund. “It was meant to be just equity. But we found out that because of apathy on the part of people who have businesses and would have wanted to be part of it, most people shied away from the equity requirement. “We decided that the fund needed to be reviewed completely. Indeed, that this fund must be affordable and with the best possible pricing, so that it will be the contribution of the Bankers’ Committee towards national development,�

Emefiele explained.

In order to achieve this, the CBN governor said it was agreed that the tenor of the SME and Agricbusiness fund should be at a minimum of seven years, with a moratorium, so that those to access the fund would be able to do so at a tenor that would give them ample time to repay.

According to Emefiele, the Bankers’ Committee agreed that the fund must be development-oriented and must be a non-profit maximisation scheme for the banks. “Also, that there must be a professional and transparent management process around it, to give everybody comfort such that everybody will be happy contributing to this fund and we would know it is our contribution to job creation and economic growth in the country. “We also agreed that under the governance principles, it must be seen to be sustainable and the fund must have a life and if possible, it must be in perpetuity. In which case, every year, banks must contribute. That means the fund would continue to grow,� he added.

In terms of the strategy for

the allocation of the fund, Emefiele said it was agreed that 50 per cent of the N26 billion should be allocated to operators of micro businesses across the country, through what he described as a direct disbursement.

Under the arrangement, the banks were directed to set up MSME desks.

On the part of the CBN, the central bank is expected to make its entrepreneurial development centres in the six geo-political zones in the country available to train operators of MSMEs who will benefit from this scheme.

He explained: “We are saying this would be mainly for people who are really low on the cadre. There are some of them who want to go into the hair barbing business, hair

salons, make up, etc. “We are going to get people who will train them in those various skills, taking into consideration the various geo-political zones. “After training them, we will not disburse cash to them just like we do under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme where we buy seedlings, fertilizer and herbicides and give to farmers. “In this case, we will buy the cosmetic equipment and deliver to them, we will buy the barbing equipment and deliver to them, we will buy the sewing machines, among others, and give to them. “Also, if you are in the agriculture sector, we would buy the equipment, cost it and deliver to them.

“We would also provide them working capital in case they need to rent a store. “We estimate that if we start this, the fund should be disbursed by latest February because it will take some time to get the equipment.�

He added: “On the part of the CBN, currently on the agriculture side, the central bak has an institution known as the Nigeria Incentive Riskbased Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). “That is working but we feel there is a need to create a Nigeria Incentive Base Risk-based Sharing for SME Lending (NIRSME) under NIRSAL, where it affords the CBN, through its agency, to determine if you as a bank decides to lend X amount to a company, we will all

consider and agree that this is an SME, a small manufacturer and we would share the risk with you. “Sharing risks also goes to the point of talking about the interest drawback, because NIRSAL does not just engage in risk sharing but also the interest drawback. “So, with that, while we are sharing the risk, we are also giving some form of interest drawback to banks that have extended SME loans or to small manufacturers so as to drive that. “I can assure you that latest

by January 1, 2018, all these regulations and measures will be put in place so that the banks can go aggressively towards supporting SMEs and small manufacturing businesses.�

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (second right); Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (second left); his Ogun State counterpart, Sen. Ibikunle Amosu (left) and Archbishop of Enugu, Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma (right) during the 80th birthday thanksgiving service held for Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos... weekend

APC, PDP EXCHANGE BARBS OVER CONVENTION Continuing, it said: “The abnormalities that trailed the PDP national convention have further exposed the PDP as a party not ready and willing to change. “Indeed, the PDP has once again displayed itself to the generality of Nigerians that it is a party with corruption deeply rooted in its DNA. “Again, it is tragic that the PDP which used to pride itself as the ‘biggest political party in Africa’ has now been reduced to a regional party. “By frustrating South-west chairmanship candidates, it is unfortunate that the PDP has decided to punish the South-west for not voting for the party in 2015. “We urge members of the PDP that can pass the integrity test to join the APC so that we can together bring about the much-needed change the country deserves.�

PDP Knocks APC But in response to the APC statement, the PDP said its successful conduct of the national convention had sent jitters down the spine of the ruling party.

A statement issued yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the PDP had succeeded in uniting on all fronts by conducting a very credible elective convention.

PDP said that it was laughable that the APC which has roundly failed in not only managing the affairs of the country but also its own internal issues would “recourse to panic mode just because the PDP has succeeded in uniting its fronts by conducting a very credible elective national convention�. “We were very much aware of the plot by the APC to scuttle the convention and failing in that, it has resorted to a failed attempt to discredit an elective convention that has been adjudged as credible, novel and laudable by political stakeholders and lovers of democracy across the nation. “This unwarranted attack is only symptomatic of a party that has lost control and is only clutching at straws for survival having been rejected

by Nigerians. “Is it not disgusting, reprehensible and embarrassing that the APC that has repeatedly failed to hold meetings, congresses and a convention in the last three years and has flagrantly continued to violate its own constitution is questioning our party’s right to perform her legitimate and constitutional obligation? “Perhaps, APC leaders have never read Article 25 (A)(i) of their party’s constitution which stipulates that ‘the National Convention of the party (APC) shall be held once in two years at a date, venue and

time to be recommended by the National Working Committee (NWC) and approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC), subject to the giving of the statutory notices to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and at least 14 days notice given to members eligible to attend’. “What impunity could be higher than APC violating its constitution? It is strange that APC can be moralising on the principles of social justice, whereas its actions against Nigerians are a complete departure from the norm,�

Ologbodiyan said.

He noted that it was important for the spokesman of a failed party – Bolaji Abdullahi – and his pack of incompetent members to reminisce on the needless pains and suffering they had inflicted on Nigerians rather than getting jittery over the successful outcome of the PDP elective convention. “Nigerians have come to discover that APC is a fraud, an organisation of deceitful characters who have failed to keep a single of its countless promises made to the citizens. “It is no longer news that the nation is drifting under APC and the PDP has come to the rescue. We must, therefore, remind the APC that the era of deceit, trickery and scaremongering, which have been the hallmarks of their government, is gone and

Nigerians are just waiting to kick them out come 2019,� the new PDP spokesman added.

Also responding to the APC statement, Mr. Reno Omokri a former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan reminded the ruling party that the man who released the APC statement taunting the PDP that it cannot change its spots was Bolaji Abdullahi, “a former PDP member and minister in the PDP administration of Goodluck Jonathan�.

According to Omokri, “The APC spokesman is himself, living proof of what he says cannot happen. And it is not only him; 50 per cent of APC are likewise proof of that. “But to address the specific charges in Bolaji Abdullahi’s statement claiming the media reported that money was paid to delegates, I remind Bolaji Abdullahi that such unfounded claims were made by an online news media notorious for spurious claims. “That same media has reported that President Muhammadu Buhari is the mastermind of the recall, reinstatement and double promotion of Abdulrasheed Maina, the alleged notorious pension thief, dismissed and declared wanted by the PDP administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. “That same New Yorkbased media also reported that President Muhammad

Buhari’s chief of staff received a bribe of N500 million from a major Nigerian corporation.

That same media reported that President Buhari colluded with the GMD of the NNPC over the $25 billion contracts that did not follow due process. “That same media reported that money was paid to delegates to vote for President Buhari against Atiku Abubakar using public funds during the last APC presidential primary. “So, if Bolaji Abdullahi accepts that this media’s story is true in this instance, does he also accept that their stories were true when they reported negatively against President Buhari and his cronies?�

Omokri said it was a pity that the APC spokesman described the PDP as a regional party, reminding him that it was not the PDP or any of its members that said: “The constituents who gave me 97 per cent cannot, in all honesty, be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5 per cent.�

He added: “Perhaps Bolaji Abdullahi is missing the PDP, his original home and mistaking it for the APC. “While unsuccessfully mocking the PDP, may I remind Bolaji Abdullahi that his beloved APC has shifted its midterm non-elective convention three times this year alone. “It originally fixed it for April, then August, later November and now till next year.

“Yet, this is a party that is pointing its leprous fingers at the PDP that held its own convention on the date that it said it would hold it. “And finally, it is laughable that Bolaji Abdullahi calls on PDP members that have integrity to join the APC. Is that not the same promise they Continued on page 10

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NEWS

Mo Abudu Honoured at 2017 IOD Nigeria Awards The governing council of the Institute of Directors Nigeria (IODN) has honoured the chief executive of EbonyLife TV & Films, Mo Abudu, with the Fellowship Award of the institute as well as the 2017 IoD Entrepreneurial Award.

This is the first time in the history of the institute that anyone has been honoured with two awards in the same year.

The investiture took place recently at the IoD annual directors’ dinner and dance, held at the Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The IoD Entrepreneurial Award is awarded to the entrepreneur who has shown outstanding business acumen, leadership and demonstrated outstanding results in a company that has displayed great potential to become a successful player in the local and international marketplace.

During her acceptance

speech, Ms. Abudu said: “It is indeed an honour to be part of an elite group of business innovators and game changers. Tonight, we celebrate entrepreneurs – the backbone of our economic prosperity and growth. “When we started EbonyLife TV & Films, it was our goal to inspire the next generation of visionaries and this honour is a testament that you can achieve your goals with resilience, a positive outlook and a can-do attitude.�

The awards came on the eve of the world premiere of The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai which took place yesterday at the Eko Hotel & Suites.

Other awardees on the night included former Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi and President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

L-R: Chief Executive of EbonyLife TV & Films, Ms. Mo Abudu; Director of FirstBank of Nigeria, Mrs. Ije Jidenma; and President of Institute of Directors Nigeria (IODN), Alhaji Ahmed Rufai Mohammed, when Abudu was presented with a Fellowship Award and the 2017 IoD Entrepreneurial Award by the IODN‌ recently

APC, PDP EXCHANGE BARBS OVER CONVENTION made to Abdulrasheed Maina when the Attorney General of the Federation visited him in Dubai and discussed his return to Nigeria to help the APC fulfil its change mantra? Are we not witnesses to Maina’s APC campaign posters for governor of Borno State? “My advice to Bolaji Abdullahi is to appeal to Maina to release some of his pension loot to him so he can pay for courses in media management.

He surely needs it.�

Okorocha Regrets Atiku’s Exit But even as the APC and the PDP bickered over the convention, a chieftain of the ruling party and governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha at the weekend admitted that the defection of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from APC to the PDP was not a good development for the ruling party.

Okorocha bared his mind during an interview with journalists after receiving an honorary doctorate degree at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, stating that Atiku is a political heavyweight. “I have taken a holistic view of our party, it (Atiku’s exit) is not the best because no matter how anybody thinks, Atiku carries some political weight.

His leaving our party is not the best,� he said.

Nonetheless, Okorocha, who is the chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, noted that since Atiku has decided to move on politically by returning

to the PDP, the APC should adjust and his (Atiku) place filled up accordingly.

While tacking the national leader of the APC, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his comment about the possibility of Buhari running in the 2019 presidential election and the position of APC governors, Okorocha said he would support Buhari for a second term.

Okorocha was earlier reported to have said that all the governors would support an automatic ticket for Buhari as the sole candidate of the party at its presidential primary for the 2019 election.

But Tinubu disagreed insisting that the APC presidential candidate must emerge through a competitive primary.

Responding to Tinubu’s statement, Okorocha said: “The statement came to me as a surprise. Come to think of it, I never referred to him.

I referred to the governors of Nigeria including the PDP governors and I said only one or two of them had not joined yet. “Since I made the statement, no governor has said something contrary to what I said. I am surprised that Asiwaju (Tinubu) will now be speaking for the governors. “He looks like somebody crying more than the bereaved.

I did not see any reason for the statement actually. But he commands my respect and I don’t want to join issues with the national leader of my party. “What I mentioned was for the governors and secondly what I said was I would

support for Buhari. The word I used is support and that does not mean there will not be primary. “The governors can only contribute 37 votes, we still have over 5,000 votes up there. What I was talking about were the governors. I was not talking about other party members. Governors alone do not determine the flag bearer of a party. “If you recall, I said but for Buhari, I would have run for the presidency of Nigeria.

But I found in him a credible man and he still has another four-year term to do. “I will allow him to complete that and I will go back to my political trenches because I would still run for presidency anyhow. I consider myself young enough to wait until 2023 and I don’t hide my stand on any issue. But for now, my support goes to President Muhammadu Buhari.�

Ahead of the 2019 elections, Okorocha said the ruling party was not jittery about the outcome of the PDP convention, assuring reporters that Buhari would defeat any candidate presented by any opposition in 2019. “There is nothing to be jittery about the outcome of the PDP convention. We are very confident that our presidential candidate to be, President Muhammadu Buhari, is up to the task. “He has an impeccable track record that it would take an unusual presidential candidate of a rival political party to match him. “That is the strength of our party, coupled with the fact that

APC governors are performing, so we are sure we will deliver in 2019,� Okorocha said.

Jonathan, Atiku Congratulate New PDP Officials Meanwhile, former President Jonathan and former VicePresident Atiku Abubakar yesterday congratulated the newly elected national officers of the PDP and urged them to seek to carry everyone along and reposition the party.

In a statement issued yesterday by Jonathan’s spokesperson, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, the ex-president also urged members of the party to make sacrifices, adding that the only way to achieve the party’s goals and aspirations was to unite as members of one political family.

Jonathan said in the statement: “I congratulate the newly elected members of the National Working Committee of our great party led by Prince Uche Secondus and wish them a successful tenure as they seek to reposition our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party. “I reiterate that the only way to prove that this is a victory for the PDP and all our members is for the new leaders to be magnanimous and aim to carry everybody along, for we cannot achieve our mission and aspirations unless we unite as a family. “To the rest of us, let us make sacrifices, put our differences behind us and accept this as a new dawn that will take our party to greater heights.�

Also in a statement issued by

his media office, Atiku called for unity among members of the PDP. In his congratulatory message to Secondus as the new national chairman of the PDP and other elected officials of the exco, Atiku said the immediate challenge before the newly elected national officials of the PDP is to run an all-inclusive administration where the various interests within the party can find accommodation.

Atiku reminded the new national officials that Nigerians are looking up to the PDP for unity in the party, “because it takes a united and coherent PDP to sack the APC government in 2019�.

He added: “Our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party is again at the threshold of an historical moment. Just as we mobilised to bring an end to prolonged military rule in 1999, the people of Nigeria at this moment look up to us to rescue the country from the misgovernment of the APC. “Arising from our elective congress, there should be no victor and no vanquished.

Our paramount attention should be focused at sacking a government that deceived the people of Nigeria into power by promising our youths three million jobs annually, only to deliver three million job losses annually; a government that is repeatedly living in denial of its commitment to restructuring. “We must be united to take power back to where it belongs: the Nigerian people. “As members of the PDP, we must take pride in being able to hold a national convention and in so doing, we have lived

up to the billing of being a truly democratic political party. “Our major opponent has not been able to achieve this feat and I join millions of our party members to congratulate the Ahmed Makarfi-led national caretaker committee. “I understand that there are complaints and grievances from many of the co-contestants in the congress. I am aware that the PDP has a mechanism for addressing such complaints and it is important that such avenues of redress are made available for members to explore without let or hindrance.

"In the meantime, I call on all our leaders and members to rally around the new executive for the sake of our party, Nigeria and the good of our people.�

Their congratulatory messages came just as the founder of Daar Communications, Chief Dokpesi, who contested the PDP chairmanship position but lost, made a U-turn yesterday by congratulating Secondus.

Dokpesi, who had earlier faulted the process of the party’s convention held in Abuja on Saturday, declared that “the delegates have spokenâ€?. â€œĂŒ appreciate the delegates for voting at the convention and congratulate the newly elected National Working Committee of the PDP led by Prince Uche Secondus. “You will recall that I said that the PDP must be the ultimate winner at the end of the contest. “God bless the Peoples Democratic Party.

Congratulations PDP as I wish all our members the best of luck,� Dokpesi said.

among others. “More are in the immediate pipeline such as ATBU Bauchi and the University of Ibadan.

Their equipment has been purchased by the NADDC and it’s now in the country and will soon be deployed to empower their students.�

He recalled that the NADDC had structured the National Automotive Industrial Development Plan while the National Assembly passed it as a legislation, in full support of local automotive manufacturing.

To ensure easy purchase

of these vehicles, he said: “NADDC is also actively working with the relevant stakeholders to provide vehicle financing schemes so that Nigerians will not have to put down 100% cash when buying new cars.�

Aliyu said he was desirous of a country where new cars are accessible to all Nigerians “Not a Nigeria of a few highly expensive cars and then millions of cheap very old ones, but a Nigeria of millions of modern new cars and then more of the current high-end ones,� he said.

AUTOMOTIVE COUNCIL TO DEVELOP ELECTRIC CAR POLICY on developing the policy to support the adoption and use of electric cars in the country. “NADDC is working on strategising and developing an electrified vehicle policy to support the adoption and use of electric vehicles in Nigeria because we must position ourselves to be at the forefront of viable new automotive technology,�

Aliyu said. “Inputs from relevant stakeholders are being collated before the final document is submitted for government’s approval.�

He said the NADDC was also actively working with global automobile manufacturers – BMW, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen – towards setting up operations to produce brand new cars locally and employ thousands of Nigerian. “NADDC is strongly supporting local automotive producers. Honda, Ford, Nissan, Fuso and Yutong are already producing vehicles in Nigeria. Innoson is producing its own vehicles in Nnewi.

Peugeot in Kaduna has introduced new models that

it produces,� he said.

NADDC, he noted, was in the process of building three test centres in Lagos, Enugu and Zaria to make sure that the cars and components produced, sold and used in the country are of world standard.

NADDC said it was also working on building automotive supplier parks in Nnewi, Kaduna and Oshogbo that would focus on automotive components’ production.

In this regard, the council said it was engaging the

National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers of South Africa, which supply the big global automotive companies to support the parks as part of a body of other international technical partners.

Local capacity building is also being addressed, as Aliyu pointed out that NADDC has donated mechatronics equipment to tertiary institutions such as Lagos State Polytechnic, Federal Polytechnic Kaduna and Federal Science and Technical College Orozo,

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COMMENT

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

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF RESTRUCTURING NIGERIA (2)

The solution to Nigeria’s socio-economic and political problems lies more in a much-needed change of attitude to governance, argues Bukar Usman

P

erhaps, it is in realisation of the impracticality of returning to the 1963 structure and worried by the malfunction of the current state structure, that some of the advocates floated the idea of adoption of the current geopolitical zones as the federating units. This idea was canvassed and rejected in the course of the constitutional discussions prior to the promulgation of the 1999 Constitution.

Another proposal is for a supra body of federation of some states within the federation. That is to group the states into several federal regional governments and empower the federated states to have representations overseas, just like it was when the regions had consular-generals. The workability of this proposal is suspect and should be rejected.

It may be recalled that Nigerians were jubilant and hailed the creation of their states. It is therefore, inconceivable that the states as presently constituted would willingly give up their hard-earned freedom and again subordinate themselves to the former regional capitals. The ensuing struggle for a would-be capital of the proposed sub-federating units is another issue that must be anticipated. Can Nigeria afford more rounds of squabbles and expenses to site and build new capitals for the proposed sub-federating units?

Besides, much as there is serious concern about the economic viability and sustainability of the existing states, many interest groups still clamour for further balkanisation and creation of more states, no matter what. Eighteen new states were shortlisted during the constitutional conference of 2014 and the demand is still relentless.

Hence, there is need for the two extreme groups – those calling for further balkanisation vs those demanding for sub-federating entities – to seriously reconcile their views.

Undoubtedly, serious questions have been raised by the demands for restructuring. Unfortunately, the answers are not easy to come by. The way forward, however, is not in a return to the bygone structures of the early 1960s. Such proposals remain mere nostalgia as the bygone structures of that era can’t be re-enacted in their exact format today. The answer to the re-structuring question lies more in collective self-examination, in fundamental change of attitude, and in a public-spirited approach to public administration by the current operators of our constitution. Fortunately, there is a silver lining after the initial heated agitations. This is in the realisation that Nigeria as a whole is in better stead than the constituent parts standing alone and that solution to the questions raised should be sought within the context of maintaining Nigeria’s sovereignty.

Nigeria, the largest black nation on earth, a creation of God and blessed with a lot of potential, can be administered properly by a more ethical, transparent and accountable leadership at all levels.

There is urgent need to uplift the living standard of the citizenry and this also calls for a more judicious use of our God-given resources.

While there is need to put in place measures that will ensure our current leaders exhibit the right attitude in the performance of their

THE EVILS OF CORRUPTION, GREED, SELFISHNESS, IMPUNITY AND MISMANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC FUNDS WHICH HAVE PLAGUED THE NATION FOR YEARS ARE NOT STRUCTURALLY INDUCED

functions, the more urgent and fundamental need is to work out a way of inculcating and sustaining in the younger and future generations patriotic zeal that puts service and loyalty to country above selfish and parochial inclinations.

Given the required change in attitude, the 1999 Constitution is workable. Contrary to its condemnation by some critics, it is not the product of a single individual. It is a reflection of the totality of all the numerous efforts and experiences Nigeria gained and harnessed at constitution making since the amalgamation of the country in 1914. At least there were seven consecutive constitutions drawn up for the country prior to the 1999 constitution.

Many living Nigerians could testify that they participated in several constituent assemblies, the discussions of which preceded the promulgation of the different constitutions by the military, as a matter of formality.

The centre may well have turned out to be too powerful, hence the current call for devolution of powers and redistribution of resources. However, it cannot be denied that the powerful centre is the outcome of intense agitations by Nigerians of the 1960s that the regions were too powerful and imbalanced and should be balkanised. The agitations were heeded and implemented to grant self-determination to some communities and preserve the unity of Nigeria.

Nigeria needs to move forward. This is not possible with unending revisionism and the constant undermining of its constitutions and institutions. On this point, one cannot agree more with Mr. Simon Kolawole who perhaps out of exasperation remarked: “...

We are unable to reach anything close to a national consensus on the way forward. Some just take the opposite direction out of ignorance, some out of mass hysteria, some for political reasons, some for cheap publicity, some out of hardened ideologies and some for no reason.� (THISDAY, November 12, 2017, P.88). Surely, it is not the structure that is to blame for the nation’s woes. Even if Nigerians come up with a new constitution and choose to operate outside the letter and the spirit of that constitution, as is currently the case, the result would be the same.

Certainly, the evils of corruption, greed, selfishness, impunity and mismanagement of public funds which have plagued the nation for years are not structurally induced. They arise mainly from human weakness and poor compliance with rules and regulations. It is not a structural matter that disposal of litigations in courts is prolonged in Nigeria relative to the swiftness with which similar cases are disposed of in courts in other countries.

Electoral malpractices are not structurally induced. They are due to non-observance of the rules. While one may not want to invoke the adage, “A bad workman blames his tools,� it should be re-asserted that the solution to some of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political problems greatly lies more in a much-needed change of attitude to governance by the operators than in restructuring of the country.

Usman is a former Permanent Secretary in the Presidency

SECONDUS AS SECOND CHANCE

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Kennedy Emetulu contends that the emergence of Uche Secondus as the national chairman is good for the PDP

think the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) delegates’ choice of Uche Secondus as Chairman is a strategic bull’s eye in the circumstances. I know that this would be presented by some as a loss for the South-West, but I don’t think so. I am not a PDP man, but I would have preferred my friend, Professor Tunde Adeniran to win, not because he’s my friend, but because I think he’s the most credible of all the candidates. He’s an even-handed no-frills intellectual heavyweight who has the stature and ideas to reposition the party and make it fit for purpose. But this is politics and I can understand why in the circumstances Secondus’ emergence is the best result, if, as we know, the presidential ticket has been zoned to the North.

I think Governor Ayo Fayose may have supported Secondus for personal reasons. Having declared his intention to contest the PDP presidential ticket, he knows the party will not give it to him, but this is just a bargaining gambit. The eleven PDP governors’ choice of Secondus is first to test their strength as a block and secondly, because Secondus is the most experienced party hand in the contest considering he’s been a deputy chairman for years and had even led the party briefly after Adamu Muazu left. But generally, this was an attempt by the governors to test-run their power and indicate that their chosen person will be the one winning the presidential ticket and that they would have influence in his choice of a running mate.

From this result, it’s obvious that the PDP has kept the vice presidential slot open to only the South-West and the South-East. Electorally speaking a choice from the South-West to match the APC would be the most reasonable. The South-East can

be rewarded with the Senate presidency if the PDP wins back the national parliament, including getting some high-powered ministerial positions, while they strategise for the presidency to be specifically zoned to the South-East after one or two terms of the president of Northern extraction likely to emerge, if such a person is of the PDP. I’m not a fan of zoning and all that stuff, but I believe if it’s the consensus, it should be adhered to. So, the South-East can quickly concede the vice-presidential slot to the South-West and extract a firm promise from the South-West, the North and the South-South to zone the presidency to the South-East in any subsequent presidential election, depending on whether the incoming president serves one or two terms, if PDP were to produce him.

This will work very well for PDP because they do not need to campaign much in the South-East and the South-South as these are traditional PDP constituencies. President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC have done nothing to win them over and are not likely to do so before the election. The party would then expect their presidential candidate to fight for the Northern vote with Buhari and for a South-West vice-presidential choice to fight Bola Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo in the South-West. I think Fayose’s calculation is to be that candidate and if that happens, I can see how that will make PDP very competitive in the South-West because Fayose as a Vice-President is more likely to be a more powerful and more influential Vice-President than an Osinbajo.

So, the party reconciliation machinery should be cranked up now to reach out to all aggrieved parties, as is to be expected after such a keen contest. Secondus must be humble and magnanimous in victory; he should display the openness he displayed when he was briefly leader and keep it

that way. He must concentrate his efforts on ensuring that the party is not factionalised by carrying all major party leaders and political tendencies along. He cannot show partiality in any way and while he must try to always cooperate with the governors who obviously are the party’s main source of support at the moment, he has to always show with his actions that the party’s interest is paramount. They must expect the APC to attempt to destabilise them and it’s obvious where they would be targeting as the party’s soft spot. They will look to explore the seeming present disenchantment with Secondus choice in the South-West and thereby use that as a basis to factionalise the party because they know a disunited PDP will be no match for the APC during the election. They will attempt to use Buruji Kashamu and a few others for this purpose.

But South-West party leaders must resist this. Rather, they should work within themselves to present one candidate for the vice-presidential slot.

If Fayose wants the position, he will have to reach out to all PDP leaders in the South-West and humbly plead his case while assuaging their hurt feelings over this election outcome. He must explain to them why having the slot of a powerful vice-president well negotiated with a Northerner as president is better than that of party chairman.

If the other leaders are united and want someone else for the post, then they will have to reach out to Fayose to convince him to back their choice. As a governor, he does have power, but it must be noted that he would be leaving office this coming year, so his successor (if PDP) might hold all the aces, even if he’s a Fayose choice. The only thing is that such a fellow might not have properly consolidated before the presidential primaries. Whatever the situation though, Fayose would still have a huge influence in the PDP in the South-West, so there is the need

for everyone to sing from the same hymn sheet.

They should know that what really undid them in their quest for the chairmanship was the multiplicity of candidates from the South-West contesting.

They should have gone with one candidate. If that had happened, Fayose would not have had the opportunity to undermine them to protect his own ambition.

Besides, let me state that in truth, where the president comes from has largely been irrelevant in Nigeria because in our experience it does not translate to anything meaningful for the ordinary citizens of his home base. True, his family, friends and the elite from his side of the country might enjoy some prominence within his administration (overtly or covertly), but it actually means nothing on the ground. Perhaps, this is because of the kind of poor leaders we’ve had so far. While it is unfortunate that our electoral politics has been constructed in such a way that we have more or less through zoning made ethnicity the most qualifying factor ahead of merit, I would pray for a true national leader to emerge, a leader who will show that where he comes from does not matter, but rather what he does as president of one Nigeria with his positive footprints all over the country in terms of achievements. Buhari’s clannishness and nepotism is not a great example.

Anyway, I think it’s all okay for the PDP now.

Let’s see how the next few days and weeks pan out. Nigeria needs not only a viable opposition, but a new, thinking and working government at the centre. If the PDP reorganises properly, they could win back the trust of Nigerians and return to power more experienced and better ready to deliver the democratic goods and manage the expectations of a free society. kemetulu@googlemail.com

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EDITORIAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE REVOLT AGAINST SARS‌(2)

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There is an urgent need to review the recruitment process into the security agencies

he decision by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to reorganise the Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS) following allegations of misconduct ranging from harassment, extortion, assault and extra-judicial killings has been well noted. But a cynical approach to a fundamental problem, taken essentially to buy time, will not do in an environment where impunity has for long been the order of the day. With Nigeria gradually descending to the Hobbesian state of nature where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short�, there is need for a more coherent strategy to deal with the challenge at hand and it must begin with the personnel.

Since the processes leading to the recruitment of personnel into many of the security services in our country have been compromised, many social misfits are legally carrying arms to terrorise Nigerians. The manifestation of that is what we see with SARS, but it is not an isolated case. We therefore demand that the federal government THE INSPECTOR- GENERAL must, as a necessity, review the recruitOF POLICE HAS THE ment processes into PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY the security agencies OF RE-EDUCATING HIS and make it rather MEN ESPECIALLY IN THE stringent.

But that AREA OF RESPECT FOR will still not resolve PEOPLE’S RIGHTS AND all the problems.

THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN To say that the LIFE criminal justice administration in Nigeria needs reform is to state the obvious. In particular, armed robbery and kidnap suspects are arrested and paraded at crowded press conferences addressed by police commissioners.

After the “media trial�, there have been reports that some of these suspects were extra-judicially executed and secretly buried in mass graves. Such suspects are usually reported to have died during shoot-out with the police anti-robbery squads or while attempting to escape from custody. But the unofficial justification is usually that if the suspects were charged to court they

Letters to the Editor

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may be released and then turn round to kill the police personnel who arrested them.

Given the foregoing, there is an urgent need to reform not only the administration of justice in Nigeria but also the operational strategy of the police if they must regain public confidence. Complaints are rife that information given to the police in confidence sometimes finds their way to the ears of criminals, who in turn hunt down the informants. Emphasis, therefore, needs to shift from law enforcement to crime prevention with reforms targeted at ridding the police of its bad elements and enhancing the investigative skills of its operatives.

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eanwhile, several reasons have been adduced to explain the trigger-happy disposition of the Nigerian policeman.

Such reasons include their conditions of service especially the poor salary, living condition in the barracks and low self-esteem. All of these combine, it is often argued, to make the policeman an angry man with arm and ready to pull the trigger at the slightest provocation. But nothing can justify the whimsical murder sometimes committed by some of these men and officers.

The federal government should no longer continue to look the other way while innocent citizens get summarily executed by those whose constitutional duty it is to secure their lives and property. No matter the extent of provocation a policeman must not resort to killing outside the law. Extra-judicial killing violates the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and other similar conventions and treaties of which Nigeria is a signatory. It is the nonchalant attitude of government towards investigating and punishing perpetrators that has allowed this culture of impunity to persist.

While we do not subscribe to the call to scrap SARS, the Inspector-General of Police therefore has the primary responsibility of re-educating his men especially in the area of respect for people’s rights and the sanctity of human life so they would not continue to see the killing of unarmed and sometimes innocent citizens as a badge of honour.

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

THE WORLD AND LEADERS-INDUCED TERRORISM

errorism has become the world’s nightmare. Every nation on earth today is prone to terrorist attack.

While nations are still grappling with how to deal with this monster, some world leaders constitute themselves into terrors to their immediate environment and the world at large. The North Korean leader in recent time has shown himself to be an unrepentant terrorist. He has been building and developing nuclear missiles against the UN injunction and recently boasted after a nuclear test that he has developed a missile that can hit the US mainland. Like a loose mad dog, he seems not to care about the implications of his actions as it affects the rights of other nations. He wants North Korea to be seen as a nuclear superpower. The impulsive American leader, Donald Trump, would take none of that. He has actually threatened that if war breaks out, he will reduce North Korea to rumbles. While these two world leaders gallivant over their powers, the world is held in bated breath, unsure of what would happen next.

While two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. That is while the UN must call Pyongyang and Trump to order, otherwise, these two are capable of throwing the world into a third world war. Pyongyang must respect the territorial integrity of other nations even with their nuclear tests. In a show of military force, the US and South Korea flew their joint military war jets around the South’s airspace. May war

never break out! The way it is going, if these two nations decide to fight, Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be a child’s play.

We must save the world from these two men.

Donald Trump’s foreign policy on the Arab and far North nations is not helping matters. He is a master of his own trade and brooks no opposition. A liberal American leader would have been better for the world. While it is condemnable for Pyongyang to believe in terrorising other neighbouring nations, it would have taken a liberal American leader to douse such threats. But not Donald Trump who acts unilaterally and impulsively, just as he has declared Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. This decision on its own has outraged the world and sparked off protests in the disputed territory. A man must have apologies for his wrong actions but not Donald Trump who believes that all his actions are in the best interest of America. He clearly said so before and after his election as president that America comes first in all his actions. America first is not a bad policy, but it must not jeopardise peace around the world. His recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is without the backing of the UN and will greatly affect negatively the peace efforts around the Middle East.

Both Pyongyang and Donald Trump behave like drunken sailors and demented spirits and are in need of deliverance by staunch actions of the UN and prayers. Prayers do work wonders particularly on men who have a third force working

inside of them.

My serious worry is that the UN appears helpless where these two leaders are involved. The UN has been severally described as a toothless bulldog. The UN must look for teeth and be ready to bite. Those era of describing UN resolution as a mere opinion not backed by law must be over. International law must be separated from international politics.

Pyongyang’s actions of nuclear armament and Trumps’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital must be seen as a breach of international norms that require sanctions. It is time the world rises up against these two men before they plunge it into avoidable war. These two men must not be allowed to become law unto themselves, else the world is finished. These men are only pursuing their parochial interests, not minding the negative effect on the rest of the world. Pyongyang and Donald Trump must follow the rules of the game. If terrorism must be stamped out or reduced drastically around the world, world leaders must recognise the rights of the ordinary citizens and must be seen as working together in areas of their foreign policy which will be to cultivate international relations that would build trade, investment, provide aid, reduce clash of cultures which in turn will engender peace around the world. If North Korea and America continue this way under their leaders, we may be saying goodbye to a peaceful world.

Chimezie Elemuo, Port Harcourt

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POLITICS

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

M O N D AY D I S C O U R S E

A New Dawn for PDP?

The election of Uche Secondus as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party brings with it new opportunities and challenges. His ability to meander through the political landmines ahead will determine how the party fares in the 2019 general election, write Tobi Soniyi and Onyebuchi Ezigbo

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ight from the beginning, the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Elective Convention in Abuja promised to be interesting. > Twenty four hours to the election, it had become clearer which side the pendulum would swing. But the events leading to the decision to vote Uche Secondus, a former Acting Chairman of the party from the South-south, were such that threatened the fragile unity in the party even though the leaders tried as much as possible to make it look like all was well.

Except for Chief Olabode George who was bold enough to expose the machinations that left the south-west to be left in the cold, everyone tried to create the impression that the party was truly united.

In refusing to support the south-west, other zones and power blocks had argued that the inability of the zone to agree on a consensus was the driving factor. With about seven contestants from the zone, this explanation appeared legitimate. But insider pointed to the existent of a grand plan which had nothing to do with the number of the contestants from the south-west.

If those calling the shots behind the scene had wanted someone from the southwest to be the chairman they would have included his name in the so-called unity list.

The Legal Argument

As rightly pointed out by the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, the office of the national chairman of the party was zoned to the entire south while the presidency was zoned to the north. You need not be a lawyer to understand that all the 17 states in the south were eligible to vie for the office of the national chairman.

The fact that the south-east chose not to present any candidate did not mean that it could not, if it had wanted to. In this wise, the south-south which fielded Secondus and media mogul, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, was also on a strong legal wicket to feature the candidates. Unlike the botched Port-Harcourt convention where the chairmanship was micro-zoned to the south-west, a zone that had not produced the party national chairman, no such micro-zoning was in place during last Saturday’s election. Therefore, the argument that the south-west is the only zone that had yet to produce the chairman and should have been given the opportunity amounted to raising a sentimental issue which is not supported by the legal arrangement put in place by the PDP. In this regard, Chief Olabode George was wrong to have relied on a micro-zoning that simply did not exit.

Legal arguments aside, those who supported the decision to elect a south-south person as the chairman also raised a moral argument. In the south-south, all the states were won by the party unlike in the south-west where only Ekiti state is under the PDP. Why should the party’s highest office be ceded to a zone that largely did not vote for the party? In the last presidential election, the ruling All Progressives Congress got more votes in the zone than the PDP. So, the argument went, morally speaking, the south-west was undeserving of the chairmanship office.

Secondus, the new National Chairman

the south-west for voting APC and in so doing had made it clear to the people of the zone they were free to continue to vote APC. The problem with that decision is that, it will be tough for the PDP to win the presidency. The reason is not far-fetched.

Whichever Party Wins the South-west Wins the Presidency Since both PDP and APC are preparing to field candidates from the north for the presidency, couple with the fact that both the south-south and the south-east are unapologetic PDP, the south-west has automatically become the battle ground. Whichever party wins the south-western states will undoubtedly produce the next president in 2019.

Now that the chairmanship of the party has gone to the south-south, the PDP has clearly ceded the south-west to the APC. The party may also have shot itself in the foot. The south-west obviously has no incentive to vote PDP, at least for now.

An Alternative Argument

There appeared to be an understanding that the south-east would take the vice presidential ticket. This, perhaps explained why the zone chose not to contest for the office of the national chairmanship position.

But there is also another argument. While Nnamdi Kanu was on rampage with his Indigenous People of Biafra, leading members of the PDP in the north took the view that running with a vice presidential candidate from the south-east would affect the chance of the of the PDP in the north. Therefore, potential presidential aspirants from the north were said to have shown preference for a vice-presidential candidate from the south-west. If executed, that decision in itself has implication for the party. In support of this theory, Ekiti State Governor. Ayo Fayose, who reportedly nurses a vice presidential ambition was said to have supported Wike to ensure that the south-west lose the chairmanship seat. With the loss, Fayose is one step closer to getting his ambition of running as a vice presidential candidate realized.

If the vice presidential ticket is given to the south west that will spark a revolution against

In Politics, Legal Arguments Don’t Win Votes But the events leading to While those who relied on the above legal

arguments have had their way, as they realised their intention and motive perfectly, they must however await the consequence of their choice.

This is because their decision appeared to have resulted in a situation where the south-west was left in the cold. To put it more clearly, the PDP seemed to have made up its mind to punish

the decision to the choice of Uche Secondus from the South-south were such that threatened the fragile unity in the party

the party in the south-east because it would amount to short changing a zone that has kept the faith and remained steadfast in its support for the PDP. While such a move may pacify the south-west, it will unsettle the party’s loyalists in the south-east.

The Flawed Argument of Lack of Consensus Candidate from the South-west.

The argument that the south-west should have presented a consensus candidate does not also hold water once the party financiers had made up their minds. Attempt by the PDP’s governorship candidate in Lagos and a former aspirant for the office of the party’s national chairman, Chief Jimi Agbade to lend credence to this argument appeared self-serving, otherwise, why did it take him few hours to the election before he came to the realisation that the number of candidates from the south-west was an impediment to the ambition of the zone to produce the chairman?

Suffices to reproduce the statement he issued while announcing the decision to step down. > He said: “Our great party, the PDP, has, from inception, adopted certain principles, which have evenly balanced offices amongst the country’s geo-political zones. In line with such and other parameters, I have, at different fora, expressed my strong belief that the next National Chairman should come from the South-West.

“I am however convinced that with 7 out of all 9 aspirants coming from the South-west, this multiplicity of contenders will work to the detriment of our zone when it comes to voting.

Delegates’ votes split 7 ways will not produce a chairman from the South-west. It therefore becomes necessary to prune our number down to no more than two.

“With less than 24 hours to the convention, I have painfully decided to withdraw from the race hoping that others will join me in bringing down the number such that the South-west can have a fighting chance of clinching the National Chairmanship of the PDP. “The support from serving and past governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives, women, youth and opinion leaders has been tremendous. While sincerely thanking them for their unflinching loyalty, I empathize with the great disappointment they must feel at this decision. I plead that we all put the overall interest of PDP first.

“I pledge my support to whoever emerges as the National Chairman as determined at the National Convention.

“Kindly take this letter as my formal notice of withdrawal from the race for National Chairman of the PDP.” The question, for emphasis is that if Agbaje cared this much about the south-west, he should

not have waited till the dying minutes to announce his withdrawal. Those who raised this argument cited his lackadaisical attitude to the campaign. While he remained in the race, he showed no determination to push his decision to be the party’s chairman through.

Before he announced his withdrawal, many knew long time ago that Agbaje was not in the race.

Another contestant from the south-west and a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel who committed a lot of resources and travelled across the country to further his ambition to be the chairman was a bit more diplomatic than Agbaje in his withdrawal message.

He said: “As you are aware, in the last three months when I took the decision to contest for the post of the National Chairman of our great party, I have done what has been described in many quarters as most unprecedented. I traversed the length and breadth of our great country, in all the 36 states and the FCT, meeting with various stakeholders, leadership and party members, and setting up structures not just for my personal aspiration, but also to feel the pulse of Nigerians and test the strength and popularity of our party among the citizens. > “It was another learning curve for me because I discovered that in spite of our widely publicized pockets of internal challenges, many Nigerians are sincerely and justifiably looking for a credible alternative to the ruling party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), and most happily, the Peoples Democratic Party is still being looked upon as that credible and acceptable alternative.

“It was a great opportunity for me to spread the message of hope, renewing the confidence of not only our party members but also Nigerian citizens about our great party. I believe that I did what is expected of a loyal and committed party member to inject a new life into the party, refresh and reenergise it for optimum acceptance by the electorate. > “We are a political party, and a democratic one at that. Contest for offices are expected to be competitive and this is what we have demonstrated sufficiently with the good number of very credible aspirants who have shown interests in all the various offices of our National Executive Committee to steer the ship of our party to victory in 2019. No doubt, we have suffered huge losses, from the control of some 25 States into only 11 states, capped with the loss of the Presidency in 2015. This, to me is the greatest challenge before our party, and regaining this lost glory is more important to me than any aspiration for offices. > “In order to sustain the new found peace and renewed confidence of Nigerians in our party and reduce the veiled but potential line of frictions, I consider it in the best interest the party to voluntarily withdraw from the Chairmanship race so that we can collectively look for and elect good leaders for the purpose of winning elections in 2019.”

George’s Provocative Statement May Come Back to Haunt PDP Among the contestants who withdrew from the election, non sounded as convincing as George.

Party leaders will be well advised to read and digest the innuendo contained in his statement.

He appeared to have captured the general mood of the party’s followers in the south-west. Besides, George spoke for the south-west and nor just for members of the party in the zone. If the PDP genuinely wants to know how the people of the south-west feel about the decision to elect a south-south person as the chairman of the party, CONT’D ON NEXT PAGE

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POLITICS

MONDAY DISCOURSE

A N E W DAW N F O R P D P ?

Wike, now calling the shots

Olabode..PDP has not learnt its lessons

the speech to read is that of George. He said he withdrew from PDP chairmanship race because it had been sold to the highest bidder even as he described Wike’s unguarded utterances against Yoruba, as a show of shame. > Many thought that PDP at this time needed a leader who is discipline, firm and bold at this time and that George would have provided such leadership if given the opportunity.

For emphasis and clarity, the statement is substantially reproduced here.

He said: “Since the ancient days when the Yoruba people began their historical challenges on the plains and the hills of Ile-Ife, we have always been defined by our instinctive integrity, our methodical industry, our consistent loyalty and our steadfastness in protecting and defending the truth.

“It is in all these characterization that I have personally lived my life. It is in all these summative portraits that I have pursued my personal and political engagements, strengthened in the resolve that truth, sincerity of purpose, fearlessness, equity, ethical balance are the basic ingredients of a purposeful life.

“I have gone through many travails in my life. I have climbed the highest hills. and I have been through the lowest valleys. But in all, I have been guided by the holiest of heart’s affection, the genuine and the utmost surrender to the will of the Lord. “But I have never been afraid of a good fight. I have never disengaged from a meaningful challenge. I have always committed myself to any struggle with absolute dedication and unflinching, resolute vision.

“It is in this spirit and clarity of selfless engagement that I decided to run for the National Chairmanship position of our great party. I did not enter the contest for any personal benefits.

I did not throw myself into the fray because of some pecuniary benefits.

“I have come to serve. I have come to offer myself because I believe in the greater glory of our party and in the growth and development of our nation. I have served continuously for 10 years in various high level positions in our party administration, including the second highest echelon of Deputy National Chairman.

“With all sense of humility, I can say that I know the workings and all the administrative processes and the tools of making our party work.

“That shattering and very divisive crises of the last two years have made our party very vulnerable, weak and basically tottering on the edges of the cliff.

“Less than one year before the next general election, our party must now elect new managers to direct our affairs. The foremost of these new managers is the position of the National Chairman.

“In this highly challenging scenario, the party naturally needs an experienced, trusted, proven, reliable and astute administrator who can guide our party to the land of redemption and the land of triumphant rebound.

“It is in this vein that I have offered my humble service to lead our party. But more importantly, I have entered the contest on the fundamental predication of the micro zoning principle as laid down by our founding fathers.

“The zoning principle, which was publicly reinforced last year in Port Harcourt, had specifically and rightly affirmed the South-West as the zone to produce the National Chairman. This binding proclamation was based on equity, fairness and natural balance that hold any organisation together.

“But this old, legitimate and morally sound micro zoning principle has now been trashed, dumped in the waste bin, flung into the gutter by very little men who have compromised the pivotal moral anchor of civilised engagement

for temporary selfish gains.

“Everywhere you look, the Yoruba people are now being brazenly insulted. The very traditional fiber of our founding fathers are now being trampled upon, debased and soiled by external forces and mercenary traitors within.

“It appears the PDP is now bent on self destruction. It has obviously allowed money moguls to dictate its thematic largeness. The party has lost its soul. It has lost its principled beginning and the predications of righteousness.

It has traded the finer principles of democratic guidance and equity for the squalid, dirty and shameful resort to mercenary agenda where nothing matters save the putrid, oafish gains of the moment.

“I cannot be part of this screaming aberration.

And as the Atona of Yoruba land, I do not expect any well meaning, well disciplined, forthright, sincere Omoluabi of Yoruba land to continue with this deceit and shameful theater.

“The Peoples Democratic Party has now mangled and distorted its soul and spirit. There is no morality here anymore. There is no sanity or any sense of enlightened civility.

“As a result of these observed aberrations wherein the position of the National Chairman has been apparently sold and auctioned to the highest bidder, I, as an Omoluabi and as an authentic Atona of Yorubaland, will not partake in this charade.

“I, hereby, withdraw from this brazen fraud and absolutely preconceived, monetized, mercantilist convention.

“The Yoruba people have been openly maligned. The Yoruba have been savaged, tormented, treated with contempt, scurried, scoffed at, humiliated and denigrated by little men whose sun will soon set.

“As a Yoruba patriot and the pathfinder of Yoruba land, I will stand by our people, I will stay with them thick or thin, I will fight for their good cause without compromising any ethics.

“The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike must as a matter of priority and ethical importance tender unreserved apology to the people of Yoruba land for his unguarded utterances on national television this morning. It was a show of shame.”

Convention Aside, Issues Remain The PDP should be under no illusion that it has done anything to win back the people’s trust. Or to warrant the electorate voting for it. On the contrary, the party has not done anything to convince Nigerians on why they should vote for it.

The only thing that has happened in the party’s favour is that the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC has taken some steps that alienated it from the people. This has made the PDP to think that it has become the favourite of the electorate. PDP also argued that Nigerians have married two husbands and now know which one is better.

But that position is fallacious. PDP ruled for 16 years. APC has barely done three years. There is no basis for comparison. Far from it. The PDP has failed to redeem its battered image as a party of crooks. The party has never denied the fact that its members looted the treasury.

Its argument is that the fight against corruption

As rightly pointed out by the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, the office of the national chairman of the party was zoned to the entire south

Adeniran... alleges foul-play

is one sided. That is the more reason the PDP must win so that it can come and prosecute APC members who have stolen.

But before other contestants from the southwest withdrew from the chairmanship race, one contestant, Chief Akintayo Akin-deko had drawn the attention of the public to the scheme going on under ground.

He said: “With his stepping down Chief Bode George becomes the latest “casualty” in an election that has degenerated into an overly heated battle between interest groups that have huge war chests but don’t have the national network to win public elections.

“Chief Uche Secondus is currently the biggest benefactor of these powerful groups, followed closely by Prof Tunde Adeniran and then Ex-Gov Gbenga Daniel. Chief Dokpesi seems to be a distant fourth “It is the reality of modern day Nigerian political culture, which has come to stay. Loot your way to power or stand aside. I came to terms with this several weeks ago and quietly stepped aside to re-strategise.

“We can only pray that the ongoing horse trading behind the scenes will come up with a workable solution before the Convention holds on Saturday. But this has become less likely given the reticence and the advanced age of our trusted traditional leaders who usually anchor such meetings.”

The Signs have always been there For those who could read in between the lines, the direction in which the party would go had been quiet clear all along. The north which initially was rooting for the southwest changed gear. Then came the south-east caucus.

In an advertorial the PDPSouth-East caucus said it had endorsed Secondus as its preferred national chairmanship candidate for the national elective convention.

The National Vice-Chairman (South-East) of the party, Austine Umahi first announced this at a meeting after the caucus meeting on Friday in Abuja.

Umahi said the caucus took the decision after a careful consideration of Mr. Secondus’ “content and character.”

“We, the stakeholders of PDP South-East geo-political zone, have examined all the people vying for the national chairmanship position of our party, PDP. “We wish to commend, highly, all the aspirants especially on how they have conducted themselves during their campaigns fully aware that this is an internal party affair.

“We are very conscious of the personality of who becomes the national chairman of our great party for the next four years.

“Based on the fore going, we have unanimously in our today’s stakeholders’ meeting, decided that we will back an aspirant that has character and content.

“In this circumstance, and without prejudice to the right of other aspirants to this national chairmanship position, credible and transparent election, we have decided to back and vote for Prince Uche Secondus,’’ he said.

The meeting was attended by South-East PDP leaders, including the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi and former Ebonyi governor, Sam Egwu.

Former Senate President Adolphus Wabara and ex-Abia governor, Theodore Orji, former PDP national chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, a one-time Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, were also in attendance.

The PDP governorship candidate in the Nov. 18 Anambra governorship election, Oseloka Obaze, among others also attended the meeting.

Dokpesi...not satisfied with conduct of election

What Next for the PDP If it was the plan of the party to ditch the south-west, then it had a very successful convention. However, if the party wanted the south-west to be part of it, then it has a challenge on its hands.

With two of the chaiirmanship candidates accusing the officials in charge of the convention of allowing systematic rigging of the election, the first task ahead for the new exco will be reconciliation. Both Raymond Dokpesi and Tunde Adeniran said the processes were skewed against them, but in favour of Mr. Secondus.

Dokpesi said he drew the attention of the organisers of the convention to the circulation of a document referred to as the “unity list” which he alleged was distributed to delegates asking them to vote for the people on the list.

He said the chairman of the electoral subcommittee of the convention, former a governor of Benus State, Gabriel Suswam, told him that there was nothing he could do about his complaint.

However, the convention planning committee denied the existence of such a list.

In his reaction, Adeniran called for the cancellation of the entire exercise because it was compromised.

Reconciling with aggrieved members of the party will prove a challenge. But, if the party must make an impact in the next general elections, it has no choice but to bring the aggrieved back to its folds. There may be no better place to start than the south-west.

The decision to edge out the south-west from the chairmanship race will certainly have a fall out. As rightly asked by George, when he said: “My concern is that how do you manage the fall out. This is the first time in the history of the party that a zone is being used against another.

There will be consequences.”

For now, the convention has successfully postponed the evil days. The evil days can be contained.

The reconciliatory efforts should not be restricted to those aggrieved by the outcome of the convention, rather it should be extended to those who became political enemies during the Makarfi-Sheriff’s leadership tussle. It should also be extended to those who left even before the 2015 general election.

Even, if the new leadership fails elsewhere but succeeds in bringing all these people back into the PDP, it would have succeeded in putting in place a party that will be ready to take power back. But no one should be under an illusion that this will be easy.

Apart from the urgent need to embark on reconciliatory moves, the PDP also has work to do to rebuild its damaged image and credibility.

Unfortunately however, the way the new chairman emerged shows that the party is still the party of imposition and the usual impunity which the party is known for, may still be there. Old habit dies hard. Convincing Nigerians that this is a new PDP is therefore the second urgent task ahead of the new exco.

All political parties have challenges managing the conflicting interests of its members. In Nigeria, where politicians see their political ambition as a matter of life and death, managing these conflicting interests has always proved to be a daunting challenge. This is why politicians often embark on endless litigation. As at press time, many cases are pending against the party. Micro managing these interests will also be difficult. A chairman whose election was pushed by a vested interest will have difficulty running the party when this vested interest inevitably clash with the interests of other members of the party. How Secondus manages such conflicting interests will determine how long he will last as chairman.

22

IMAGES

L-R: Virtual Reality & Blockchain, Accenture South Africa, Joshua McDonald; Managing Director Technology, Accenture Nigeria, Niyi Tayo; Augmented Intelligence, Robotics Analyst, Accenture South Africa, Karia Clinniah; and Marketing & Communications Lead, Accenture Nigeria, Segun Olalandu during Accenture Tech Vision 2017 Demo, in Lagos...recently

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Photo Editor ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜ ÔËÖË Email Ă‹ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜Ë›Ă‹Ă”Ă‹Ă–Ă‹ĚśĂžĂ’Ă“Ă?ĂŽĂ‹ĂŁĂ–Ă“Ă Ă?Ë›Ă?Ù×

L-R;Director, One-Card Nigeria Ltd, Babatunde Omidiran; Shareholder, Femi Omotayo; Chairman, Ayotunde Odulaja; Director, Folusho Odegbaike; Shareholder, ldowu Mebube and Company Secretary, Jumobi Orioye at the Annual General Meeting of One-Card Nigeria Ltd in Lagos...recently

L-R: National Head of Sales, MultiChoice Nigeria, Ismail Olalekan; Project and Field Service Manager, MultiChoice Nigeria, Ekom Esang and, acting Head of Corporate Communications, MultiChoice Nigeria, Caroline Oghuma during the press conference on the Launch of DStv Installer App held at the MultiChoice Head OďŹƒce in Lagos... recently Abiodun Ajala

L-R: Chairman, Casers Group, Enyi Odigbo; Vice-Chairman, Ikechi Odigbo; and Executive Director, Tony Udenze, at the press briefing on the 30th anniversay of the company in Lagos....recently yomi aknyele

L-R;iGroup Head, Channels Management, Maximedia Global Ltd, Seyi Iwayem; Chief Operating OďŹƒcer, Wazobia FM, Serge Noujaim and Head of Station, Wazobia FM, Femi Obong-Daniels during the presentation of an award to Maximedia Global Limited at the Wazobia FM 10th anniversary awards in Lagos...recently

L -R: Chairman Organising Committee , Pest Control Association of Nigeria ( PECAN ), Mr Soneye Adebayo; Treasurer / Financial Secretary , Mrs. Kofo Adegboye; President , Mr Ayo Ogunyadeka and General Secretary, Mr Oluyemi Taiwo, all of PECAN, at the PECAN end of the year Award night in Lagos...recently.

L-R; Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Bolaji Oyeleye; Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Wale Oshinowo; Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru and Commissioner for Forestry, Prince Kolawole Lawal during the flag-o of the Harmonisation of Haulage Revenue Collection scheme in the state...recently

23

T H I S D AY ˞ ˜ DECEMBER 11, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET OBB OVERNIGHT

A S

REPO

A T

CALL

5.17% 6.25%

1-MONTH 3-MONTH

7.25% 8.63% 10. 50%

D E C E M B E R S & P INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY MONTH-TO-DATE

319.19% 0.41% 0.52%

Group Business Editor Chika Amanze-Nwachuku

Email chika.amanzenwachukwu@thisdaylive.com 08033294157

8 ,

S & P INDEX 1/4 TO DATE YEAR TO DATE

2 0 1 7 8.03% 21.75%

EXCHANGE RATE N306.40/1US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes Kanekalon Hosts Trade Partners

ThepromotersofKanekalonbrand,makersof oneoftheworld’snumber braids,inNigeria,havelinkedtheirsuccessinthemarkettocommitmentof theirstakeholders,especiallyhairstylistsandfashionconsciousNigerian women. Managing Director, STB McCann, Mrs. Owodunni, who stated this at the Arigato Stylist Event held recently in Lagos, indentified the need to appreciate the people behind the scene of beautiful, bold and smart appearance of women hair and their overall appearances. The award presentation anchored by the duo, ace comedian Idowu KoďŹƒ and Oniwo Kyla, saw the organizers STB McCann, publishers of African Hair and Beauty Magazine, the Associations of Hairdressers, Barbers andCosmetologistsinLagos,honourMrsTaireMorenike,WomanEditor, Vanguard Newspaper for her contribution to women empowerment.

GuestsattheeventincludedfoundersofKenakalonfromJapan;Director, STB McCann, Mrs. Omowunmi Owoduni; the reigning Miss Kanekalon, Miss Benahili Ojeme Faith and the second runner up, Miss Opaluwa Ojotole Tamarai and other timber and calibers in the beauty industry.

Speaking at the event, Owodunni said the event was part of Kaneka Corporation Japan, makers of Kanekalon fiber whose brands included Darling, Nina and Expression, to appreciate stylists who have continued to play a vital role in the Nigerian hair industry.

Multichoice Unveils Season Promo

GATHERING OF CEOS

L-R: Director General, Budget OďŹƒce of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ben Akabueze; Founder/CEO, Rack Centre Nigeria, Maher Jarmakani; MD/ CEO, Avon Healthcare Limited, Adesimbo Ukiri; Managing Director, Vodacom Business Nigeria, Lanre Kolade, at the 2017 edition of the BusinessDay CEO Forum held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos ‌recently

THISDAY Model Portfolios Surge to 30.5% amidst Market Rally Goddy Egene In a week that the Nigerian stock market bench index gained 3.64 per cent, the THISDAY Model Portfolio (TMP) surged higher to hit 30.5 per cent, from 24.7 per cent the previous week.

All the five various portfolios that constituted the TMP sustained positive performance last week, indicating the resilience of the stocks. TMP, which is an initiative of THISDAY Economic and Financial Intelligence Unit (TEFIU), is designed to enable leading stockbrokers and investment houses in the country share their trading skills and

CAPITAL MARKET methodologies with ordinary investors.

The investment houses involved in the project are Afrinvest Limited, FSDH Securities Limited, Capital Assets Limited, Meristem Limited and Lead Advisory Limited.

TMP consists of five different portfolio types constructed individually in conjunction with five leading stockbroking firms in the country with different investment objectives.

Each of the partner stock broking houses constructed a portfolio of 10 stocks selected according to their individual

best judgement and using their best and well tested stock selection and investment strategies.

Each of them then deployed an imaginary fund of N10 million to invest on the 10 stocks in whatever proportions they considered best.

An analysis of the performance of the TMP since 24 weeks of its introduction has shown a positive performance.

Specifically, as at the week ended December 8, 2017, the N50 million imaginary deployed, has appreciated to N65.263 million. This implies that it has generated an aggregate return of N15.263 million or

30.5 per cent.

While the aggregate returns stood at 30.5 per cent, two of the portfolios have generated returns above 40 per cent.

Portfolio C is leading with a return of 44.5 per cent, up from 38.4 per cent the previous week.

The N10 million deployed

by Portfolio C has thus appreciated to N14.458 million as at last week.

But Portfolio D, which maintained the second position, made a great jump last week Continued on page 24

OPS Warns against ‘Powerful, Single’ Regulator for Petroleum Industry Obinna Chima The Organised Private Sector (OPS) has advised members of the National Assembly to create two regulatory bodies each focusing on the downstream and upstream sectors of the industry while reviewing the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).

The OPS expressed their dissatisfaction with the idea of creating a Petroleum Regulatory Commission (PRC), a commission that would be empowered to regulate the entire petroleum sector, as contained in the PIGB.

ENERGY They stated this in a communique at the end of a meeting in Lagos recently.

The OPS is made up of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture (NACCIMA), National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (NASME) and the National Association of Small Scale Industries

(NASSI).

They argued that “an allpowerful single regulator will not be able to technically examine and appreciate the regulatory, commercial and other operating environment issues from the deserved different dimensions and from the different viewpoints of the stakeholders.�

The OPS stressed the need for the lawmakers to be mindful in merging and streamlining the number of existing regulatory agencies in the face of dwindling revenue of government.

They maintained that there was no need creating another

regulatory agency that would further swell the list of existing agencies with similar functions and duplicated mandates. “Specifically, we canvass a simplified arrangement where the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) which has been saddled with the responsibility of commercial regulation since 2003 and has the relevant experience, structure and personnel, should be strengthened to continue to superintend the downstream sector of the Petroleum Industry while the Department of Petroleum Continued on page 24

Pay TV operator, MultiChoice Nigeria, has announced its festive promotion for consumers across the country with the #12GoodReasons goody bags. From Friday, 24 November 2017 until 18 March 2018, subscribers on both the DStv and GOtv platforms stand a chance to win free subscriptions and kitchenware whilst gaining access to new and exciting content at no extra cost.The #12GoodReasons promotion covers the spectrum of DStv and GOtv oerings and gives new and existing customers the chance to amongst other things win big and enter a rae draw. Speaking about the promo, the General Manager, Sales and Marketing, MultiChoice Nigeria, Martin Mabutho said: “As 2017 draws to a close, we are rewarding our loyal customers and dealers, whilst also providing an exciting opportunity for new subscribers to get on board. For the festive season, you can now pick up a HD decoder and dish with one month compact subscription for just N9,900.You can also get a DStv HD decoder and dish with two months’ Family subscription for only N10, 900. Our GOtv subscribers can enjoy our ‘GOtv Chop Life’ promo which has something for everyone. “New GOtv customers only have to pay N4, 300 and they get a GOtv decoder plus one month GOtv Plus subscription. If you also pay for an additional month’s subscription you automatically enter a rae draw where you stand the chance of winning exciting prizes, including 1.5KVA generators, a set aluminum cooking of pots and 6kg Camp gas with Stainless Steel burnerâ€?. In a related development, from 29 November to 31 January, DStv Premium customerscanenjoyShowMax,MultiChoice’sVideoonDemandservice whichsuppliesanextensivecatalogueofworldclassTVshowsandmovies.

Unilever Restates Sustainable Living

Infulfillmentofitspurposeofmakingsustainablelivingcommonplace, thePresident,UnileverAfrica,BrunoWitvoethasrestatedthecompany’s commitment to actualising this through its social mission initiatives with focus on the health and wellbeing of people in its community of operations. Bruno stated this when the company took its Perfect City Community outreach initiative to Ken-Ade Private School in Makoko, communityof Lagos.Hewasjoined byothervolunteers from Unilever to educate the pupils and teachers of the school about oral hygiene using the Pepsodent Brush + Day night campaign.The community visit forms partofthecriticalpillarsofUnilever’sPerfectCityOutreach.PerfectCity is one of Unilever’s initiatives to drive Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, USLP.“Throughthisinitiative,weleverageoncommunityinsightstodrive inclusive market growth and development while improving livelihood and wellbeing through our brands. In demonstration of this, we have spent quality time at the school educating the children on oral hygiene using our Pepsodent Brush + Night campaign.These children are at the stageofhabitformation.Iftheyimbibetherightcultureofbrushingtwice daily, it will signicantly reduce oral health issues like cavity.� Bruno said.

“We have acquired over 13,000 acres of prime land and currently concluding the negotiation of another 12,000 acres, to make the Petrolex Oil City at 101 square kilometres, Africa’s largest petroleum products hub�

Chairman of Petrolex Group

Mr. Segun Adebutu

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24

BUSINESSWORLD OPS WARNS AGAINST ‘POWERFUL, SINGLE’ REGULATOR FOR PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

Resources (DPR) oversees the upstream sector,� they stated.

According to them, a single unified regulator would effectively be a regulatory monopoly which “in the long run will promote the usual monopoly related inefficiency.� “A particular concern about a monopoly regulator is that its functions by default would be more rigid and extremely bureaucratic than of specialized agencies regulating the downstream and upstream separately. “A single regulator will not spur competitiveness nor enhance the contribution of upstream and downstream sectors to the national economy. “The creation of a single regulator implies placing enormous responsibilities on a single entity of government especially with regards to the complexities of the upstream and downstream sectors which require astute efficiency and monitoring to achieve the required productivity. “A single regulator would not be able to effectively handle the enormous challenges and complexities of the Petroleum Industry as well as the vast sub sectors within its value chain,� they added. In addition, members of the OPS pointed out that in 2003, the federal government had taken into cognisance the decay and inefficiency that characterised and had established the PPPRA as a separate and distinct regulatory body to oversee the downstream sector. “This singular act has to a large extent restored the commercial viability of the sector through private sector investment. “Therefore, history and economic reasoning is on the side of two regulator- model for the petroleum sector because in the recent past, the single regulator-model has been tried and found to be inefficient and unsuccessful,� they added.

Furthermore, they stated that it was necessary to increase the ratio of non-executive to executive directors and provide specific criteria to guarantee the independence of the nonexecutive directors.

Also, the statement pointed out that the composition on the Board should be reviewed to include stakeholders to represent the interests of the OPS and the organised labour.

THISDAY MODEL PORTFOLIOS SURGE TO 30.5% AMIDST MARKET RALLY from 34.5 per cent to 43.9 per cent. This indicates that the N10 million deployed has grown to N14.393 million.

Similarly, Portfolio B hit a new high of 37.5 per cent from

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Jonathan Eze

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

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

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (AgriBusiness)

30.1 per cent. Its value has improved from N10 million to N13.751 million as at last week.

Portfolio A crossed the 20 per cent threshold to 23.3 per cent last week, from 17.5 per cent

last week. Also, Portfolio E maintained an upward trend rising from 2.7 per cent to 3.3 per cent last week.

Meanwhile, the two stocks in Portfolio C that crossed 100

per cent the previous week showed more resilience last week as they rose further to 129.4 per cent and 126.6 per cent from 107 per cent and 104 per cent respectively in the

previous week.

This was followed by 56.5 per cent; 36.5 per cent; 31.2 per cent; 22 per cent; 21.2 per cent; 12.9 per cent; 10 per cent; and 4.0 per cent.

Angbazo: Business Environment Didn’t Favour GE’s Listing on NSE Ugo Aliogo The Chief Executive Officer of General Electrics, (GE) Lazarus Angbazo, has stated that the Nigeria business environment has not favoured the listing of GE in the Nigeria Stock Exchange Market (NSE) despite being a net investor in the country.

Angbazo disclosed this in Lagos at the America Business Council (ABC) media launch aimed at showcasing the first comprehensive business survey of US firms operating in the country.

He said that the direct benefit for GE to be listed on the NSE is basically to raise capital locally, but at the moment it is not the priority, adding that the company is a global firm and any investor, who is interested in buying the GE stocks is able to access it

on the global stock exchanges.

Angbazo also noted that it is difficult to be listed in all of the relatively smaller stock exchange market in the world and GE is listed only in New York Stock (NYSC). He expressed confidence that a day is coming when GE would consider local capital raising either through the stock exchange or the bond market.

He noted that as a net investor, GE has contributed immensely to the Nigeria economy through its investments.

According to him, US companies have played a significant role in the development of the economy since 1960, stressing that as a result the partnership between Nigeria and the US continues to improve and these companies continue to grow their businesses.

In his remarks, A Partner with

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Darren Mcgraw, said in 2017, major investments were made

by Karelux with Tolaram Group and the investments are coming to fruition.

Continuing, Angbazo said ABC is an integral stakeholder in the Nigeria-US Bi-National Commission (BNC) meeting with the US mission which is aimed at building partnership for tangible and measureable progress on issues critical to the US and Nigeria’s shared future.

He added that the among other policy drive and regulatory reforms, the council has organised strategic discussions with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Minister for Trade and Investment and the Minister for Budget and Planning, “all of whom

who have sought the council’s feedback and input on major policy decisions, including the Economic Recovery Growth and Recovery Plan (ERGP).�

According to Angbazo, “I think the diversification strategy which the government has launched is brilliant and we are all for it. We are very supportive of it as the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). We have a document that talks about the priorities for economic growth and development. Within that document we outlined the key sectors we believe are critical to the quantum leap growth of Nigeria as we see. This includes basic infrastructure and human capital development, business climate, and the financial sector management. This talks at length about why it is so important that we address those issues

in order to attract investments. “It is also important to talk about the policies and the environment that is critical to retaining what we already have.

Another thing critical for us is how we continue to invest so that Nigeria becomes the export hub for West Africa that for us is key. Those are the policy areas we have engaged with various governments entities. “As you can see it has yielded some results. We have shared this advocacy document to government; they have been receptive to it. We have also used it to advocate for net inflow of investments in Nigeria and it is a very simple message. Nigeria is only one option for companies such as GE. The country needs to do what should be done for attracting investments in the country.�

Ship Owners Decry Nigeria’s IMO Council Election Loss Eromosele Abiodun

Group Business Editor

NEWS

Contrary to its earlier blanket support for the choice of the headship of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), over the weekend, decried NIMASA’s lack luster performance in the just concluded International Maritime Organisation (IMO) council election held in London.

Nigeria had last Friday contested for an IMO Category ‘C’ Seat and failed woefully, coming second from the rear.

At Nigeria’s expense, Egypt, Liberia, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, and even Kenya coasted home to victory; confirming industry watchers prediction that Nigeria was going to lose, over shoddy preparation, fast depleting tonnage and woeful failure to combat the rising waves of piracy and crimes in the nation’s waters.

Speaking at SOAN end of year dinner in Lagos, the SOAN President, Greg Ogbeifun told the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi to replace the NIMASA management over what he described as gross incompetence. “The event at the recent IMO elections into Category C of the Council where Nigeria lost and actually came second to the last position underscores the importance and urgency of the theme of this end of the Workshop and Dinner: Giving a Critical Lifeline to the Nigerian Maritime Industry, “Ogbeifun said, stressing that while the country has sacked officials over fraud in the past, no one is presently on record for being relieved of his post, on the account of non-performance, or incompetence.�

He added: “That our flag administration is extremely weak such that the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) which

owns a large trading worldwide is unable to register their ships in the Nigerian flag and boost our tonnage. Instead, they have all their ships registered in foreign Flags of Convenience.

NLNG actually approached our flag administration to express their desire and preference to register all their ships in Nigeria if the flag administration can be enhanced and reorganised to meet international standards. “They went further and paid for a Consultant to carry out a study of our Flag Administration and make recommendations to achieve this objective. The report and recommendation have been awaiting implementation by the Maritime Administration since then, over three years ago. “That the Honorable Minister of Transportation on assumption of office and with promptings from stakeholders, set up a committee to study and make recommendations for the revamping and restructuring of

our flag administration to make it more attractive for international patronage. A team of sound professionals worked assiduously to produce a comprehensive report and recommendations to achieve the objective but there has not been the political will to implement the recommendations of that report. “That our own Maritime Administration, instead of engaging and collaborating with stakeholders, ship-owners, shiprepairers and Maritime Security providers to grow the Industry, they only specialize in collecting levies and revenues and meting out punitive measures on these stakeholders such as ship owners whose arrests, threats to arrest, and shutdown of ship repair yards with the accompanying consequences to the Industry which the International Maritime Communities and the IMO are observing, “he said.

Amaechi however rejected the idea, stressing that SOAN was

making the claim because NIMASA, had refused to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), despite the severe toll the non-disbursement was taking on the shipping industry. “Guess the question I asked Greg when he came back. I said: I hope you will have the stomach to take my reply and he said yes. The issue is that I will not release that fund even if I would be removed tomorrow as the Minister of Transportation. “Why won’t I release the fund? We gave over N300 billion to owners and business men in Aviation industry; some took N32 billion, N35 billion, and they disappeared! Some took the money to go and build a bank, in Ghana and Sao Tome; and nothing has happened! Nothing!� the Minister indicated, adding “And then he says, (Ogbeifun) fire the man at NIMASA; he should probably add, fire also the Minister!�

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25

BUSINESSWORLD

MARKET REPORT

Equities Market Sustains Rally on Strong Investor Sentiment Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie

According to analysts at FSDH Research, the bullish momentum was sustained and largely driven by high demand for banking, consumer goods and insurance stocks The analysts noted that although profit taking is expected to continue in the coming sessions, the market will remain positive and active as we approach year-end.

A further analysis of the trading activities shows that three sectors closed in the negative while two appreciated. The two gainers were the NSE Consumer Goods Index and the NSE Banking Index that appreciated by 2.7 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively as a result of sustained buying interest in Nigerian Breweries Plc (+2.2 per cent), Nestle (+6.0 per cent) Zenith Bank (+5.6 per cent) and Access Bank (+3.3 per cent).

On the other hand, the NSE Industrial Goods Index shed 0.8 per cent following profit taking in Dangote Cement (-0.4 per cent). In a similar vein, the NSE Insurance Index fell 0.5 per cent following losses in AXA Mansard (-4.7 per cent) and NEM Insurance (-4.6 per cent) while the NSE Oil & Gas Index shed 0.4 per cent as a result of to selloffs in Total Nigeria (-5.0 per cent).

The bulls remained in control of the equities market as the market recorded its third consecutive gain on sustained strong investors’ sentiments.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index, which had appreciated the previous week, rose to a new high last week. Specifically, the NSE ASI 3.46 per cent to close at 39,257.53, while market capitalisation added N457.6 billion to close at N13.672 trillion.

With last week’s gain, the month-todate and year-to-date returns increased to 3.46 per cent and 46.08 per cent respectively.

Despite the bullish performance, three of five sector indices appreciated while two depreciated. Leading the gainers was the NSE Consumers Goods Index, up 6.1 per cent. The NSE Banking Index followed with a gain of 5.3 per cent higher, while the NSE Insurance Index rose by 0.2 per cent. Conversely, the NSE Industrial Goods Index shed 1.4 per cent just as the NSE Oil & Gas Index fell by 0.5 per cent respectively.

According to analysts at Cordros Capital Limited, “notwithstanding likely profit taking, overall, we expect the market to remain upbeat, as market fundamentals remain strong amid improving macroeconomic conditions.�

Daily Market Performance Still in a bullish mood, the market resumed for the week on a positive note with the NSE ASI rose by 0.08 per cent to close at 37,974.58 points. That was actually the 4th consecutive day of a positive close. Monday’s positive performance was buoyed by buying interest in consumer goods bellwethers – Nestle Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries and FBN Holdings Plc. The total value of stocks traded was N6.36 billion invested in 500.19 million shares in 4,966 deals, down by 70.27 per cent from N21.38bn recorded the previous trading day.

The three most actively traded sectors were Financial Services (368.81 million shares), Conglomerates (91.93 million shares), and Consumer Goods (21.91 million shares), while the three most actively traded stocks were: Custodian and Allied (70 million shares), FBN Holdings (56.86 million shares) and Zenith Bank (55.62 million shares).

Sector performance was mixed with three indices trending northwards and the other two indices closing bearishly. The NSE Consumer Good Index appreciated the most, gaining 0.4 per cent. Similarly, the NSE Insurance Index rose by 0.2 per cent, while the NSE Industrial Goods Index added 0.1 per cent.

Contrarily, the losers were the NSE Banking Index and NSE Oil & Gas Index shedding 0.6 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.

The market continued with its gaining streak rising by 1.37 per cent to be at 38,494.43. Similarly, the market capitalisation climbed to N13.4 trillion. Appreciation in the share prices of FBN Holdings, UBA, Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Sugar, and Unilever was mainly responsible for the gain recorded in the index. “The rebound in the prices of banking stocks today strengthened the positive performance recorded in the equity market. The stocks of FCMB, Fidelity and Diamond recorded strong demand, traded at the upper limit and closed on bid. The renewed bargain hunting and increased activities are indications of the gradual take-off of the anticipated year-end rally,� analysts at FSDH Research said.

The market hit a new high on Wednesday on the continuing rally in

the market with the NSE ASI crossing 39, 000 mark to 39,075.30, showing a gain of 1.51 per cent. The appreciation recorded in the share prices of FBN Holdings, UBA, Nigerian Breweries, ETI, and Zenith Bank bolstered the performance.

The Nigerian equities market extended its bullish run for the fourth consecutive day this week as investors’ positive sentiments continued. As a result, the Nigerian Stock Exchange

(NSE) All-Share Index (NSE ASI) appreciated by 1.17 per cent to close higher at 39,534.14. Similarly, market capitalisation added N159.8 billion to close at N13.77 trillion.

The positive performance yesterday could be linked to gains recorded

by Nigerian Breweries Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and FBN Holdings Plc. However, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc led the price gainers with

10.1 per cent trailed BY Fidelity Bank Plc with 7.5 per cent, while NAHCO Plc chalked up 7.2 per cent. Okomu Oil Palm Plc and FBN Holdings Plc garnered 7.1 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively.

Conversely, Total Nigeria Plc led the price losers with 5.0 per cent, trailed

by AXA Mansard Insurance Plc with 4.6 per cent. NEM Insurance Plc shed 4.6 per cent, while Livestock Feeds Plc closed 4.1 per cent lower.

Market Turnover The market recorded a total turnover of 3.316 billion shares worth N36.451 billion in 29,771 deals were traded during the week under review by investors compared with in contrast to a total of 14.257 billion shares valued at N35.056 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 17,379 deals.

The Financial Services Industry remained the most traded led the activity chart with 2.785 billion shares valued at N26.075 billion traded in 18,293 deals, thus contributing 83.97 per cent and 71.54 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 247.639 million shares worth N1.330 billion in 1,333 deals. The third place was occupied

by Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 185.560 million shares worth N5.976 billion in 6,137 deals.

Trading in the Top Three Equities namely – FBN Holdings Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 958.742 million shares worth N11.355 billion in 6,765 deals.

Price Gainers and Loseras A look at the price movement chart showed 47 equities that appreciated in price during the week 39 of the previous week, while 20 equities depreciated in price, lower than twenty-three 23 equities of the previous week.

FBN Holdings Plc led the price gainers with 26.3 per cent, trailed by Cadbury Nigeria Plc with 22.8 per cent. Fidelity Bank Plc chalked up 20.8 per cent, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc garnered 18.9 per cent. Other top price gainers include: Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (15.9 per cent); Access Bank Plc (15.5 per cent); FCMB Group Plc (14.7 per cent); Diamond Bank Plc ( 14.3 per cent); Sterling Bank Plc (13.0 per cent); NASCON Allied Industries Plc( 11.9 per cent).

Conversely, Total Nigeria Plc led the price losers with 5.4 per cent, trailed

by International Breweries Plc with 5.3 per cent. Chellarams Plc and Guinness Nigeria shed 4.9 per cent, just as Studio Press Plc went down by 4.7 per cent.

AXA Mansard Insurance Plc declined by 4.6 per cent, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc shed 3.7 per cent.

Morison Industries Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc went down by 3.6 per cent, just as Julius Berger Nigeria Plc closed 3.5 per cent lower.

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BUSINESSWORLD

INSIDE BROAD STREET

A view of Lagos financial district

AKINWUNMI IBRAHIM

FX Window Records $1.11bn Transactions in One Week Obinna Chima The level of activities on the Investors and Exporters (I&E) foreign exchange (FX) window strengthened to $1.110 billion in just one week, compared with the $759.2 billion recorded the preceding week.

However, the indicative exchange rate for the I & E window, known as the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX), which gained on the first two trading days, to N359.91/$1 and N359.83/$1, closed the week at N360.41 to the dollar. This represented an appreciation by 16 kobo, compared with the N360.25 to the dollar it closed on this segment of the market, the preceding week.

Also, the naira strengthened against the dollar at the interbank market (NIFEX), the Bureau De Change and parallel market segments to N361/$ and N364/$ respectively.

These were amid injections by the CBN worth $210 million into the foreign exchange market of which$100 million was allocated to Wholesale (SMIS),$55 million was allocated to small and medium scale enterprises and $55 million was sold for invisibles.

Meanwhile, dated forward contracts at the interbank OTC segment appreciated amid sustained increase in the foreign exchange reserves – the 1-month, 2-month, 3-month and 6-month contracts appreciated week-on-week by 0.24 per cent, 0.34 per cent, 0.42per cent and 1.25 per cent to close at N365.05/$, N370.16/$, N375.62/$ and N392.33/$ respectively. “This week, we retain our favourable outlook for the exchange rate amid sustained stability in global crude oil prices which should result in further build-up in foreign reserves as well as CBN’s continued intervention in the various segments of the interbank foreign exchange market,� analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited stated. Following the success of the $3 billion Eurobond issue by the federal government last month, coupled with higher oil prices and production, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, last week disclosed that the country’s external reserves have hit a four-year high of $38.2 billion. With the rate of accretion, the reserves are expected to meet the central bank’s projection of $40 billion by the end of 2017.

Emefiele said: “In January 2014, Nigeria’s reserves were about $40 billion and by October 2016, it had dropped to $23 billion, all because of the haemorrhaging of foreign exchange. “But I am happy that today, we are beginning

MARKET INDICATOR to sing positive songs and our story is looking good at this time. We have seen reserves move up from the $23 billion to $38.2 billion.�

He stressed the need for the country to focus on job creation to cater for Nigeria’s rising population and create job opportunities for Nigerian youths.

He also emphasised on the need for private sector support, saying government alone cannot create jobs.

FX Restriction on 41 Items The CBN at the weekend said the restriction of access to FX on the 41 items about two years ago has had a positive impact on the economy.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the Bank, Mr. Isaac Okorafor stated this at the CBN Fair, a sensitisation programme, held at the Cultural Centre in Calabar, Cross-River State.

Okorafor said the implementation of the policy has created employment and helped to conserve the hitherto depleting nation’s foreign reserve, therefore buoying up the economy. Okorafor, who was represented by Mr. Chukwudum Nzelu said the restriction of access to FX placed on the 41 items made Nigerians to start looking inward for the production of goods and products that the country has comparative advantage to be produced locally.

The CBN spokesman explained in a statement that the successful implementation of the 41 items policy gave birth to the other initiatives such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) which has caused a revolution in the production of rice across the country.

Continuing, he said the production of rice under the ABP was not only to ensure food security, but to create jobs along the value chain of rice production. He added that with improved seedlings and farming techniques under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, rice production which stood at 3.5 tons per hectares has jumped to 7 tons per hectare.

Okorafor urged the participants to also key-in into the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS) which was targeted at youths between the ages of 18 to 35 years.

The AADS when fully operational, is expected to employ at least 10 thousand jobs per state, across the 36 States of the Federations including the FCT. The essence of this initiative, according to him, was to reduce drastically youth unemployment.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Branch Controller, CBN Calabar Branch, Dr. Graham Kalio said that the CBN fair was an interactive forum aimed at bridging the information gap that might exist concerning the policies, programmes and activities of the apex Bank.

The fair was attended by farmers, SMEs, persons from government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and others who were genuinely interested in taking advantage of the CBN polies and programmes.

Interbank Naira Market In the week under review, the interbank lending rates moderated on the back of boost in financial system liquidity.

Specifically, treasury bills worth N32.23 billion matured via open market operations while FAAC disbursements worth N532.8 billion were made.

Hence, the Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate (NIBOR) for overnight funds, 1-month, 3-month and 6-month tenor buckets fell week to seven per cent (from 31.29%), 17.68 per cent (from 19.17%), 18.58 per cent (from 20.18%) and 19.94 per cent(from 22.46%) respectively. Also, the NITTY fell for all maturities tracked following renewed sell pressure: yields on the 1-month, 3-month, 6-month and 12-month maturities declined to 14.86 per cent(from 16.75%), 15.37 per cent (from 15.98%), 16.05per cent (from 18.98%) and 15.94 per cent (from 17.79%) respectively. “This week, treasury bills worth N138.56 billion will mature, hence, in addition to recent FAAC inflows, we expect boost in financial system liquidity with resultant stability in interbank lending rates,� Cowry Assets Management analysts stated further.

Bond Market Against the backdrop of boost in financial system liquidity, local OTC bond prices appreciated (and yields decreased) across the maturities tracked following renewed bargain hunting activity.

Specifically, the 20-year, 10.00% FGN July 2030 bond, the 10-year, 16.39% FGN JAN 2022 paper, the 7-year, 16.00% FGN JUN 2019 paper and the 5-year, 14.50% FGN JUL 2021 paper increased by N1.29, N0.50, N0.09 and N1.32 respectively while their corresponding yields declined to 14.51% (from 14.66%), 14.36% (from 14.52%), 14.98% (from 15.05%) and 14.56% (from 15.05%).

Similarly, FGN Eurobonds prices tanked across the maturities amid sustained profit taking activity on the London Stock Exchange.

Specifically, the 10-year bonds, 6.75% JAN 28, 2021 and 6.38% JUL 12, 2023 shed N0.30 and N0.21 respectively (corresponding yields increased to 4.66% and 5.29% from 4.57% and 5.26% respectively) while the 5-year, 5.13% JUL 12, 2018 bond lost N0.10 (yield rose to 3.46% from 3.35%). This week, the CBN on behalf of the Debt Management Office will auction FGN bonds worth N100 billion, viz: 5-year 14.50% FGN JUL 2021 paper worth N50 billion and 10-year, 16.29% FGN MAR 2027 bond worth N50 billion.

Also, Cowry Assets Management Limited anticipates their marginal rates to trek southwards from their previous stop rates of 14.79 per cent and 14.80 per cent respectively in line with declining inflationary trend. “At the OTC market, we anticipate bargain hunting with resultant price increase amid expectation of boost in liquidity,� they added.

FAAC The various states of the federation will now be part of the reconciliation team of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) revenue for the federation account to avoid discrepancies .

The Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum and Adamawa State Commissioner for Finance, Mallam Mahmoud Yunusa, who disclosed this last week, said the NNPC owned up to the shortfall in its account which culminated in the call-off of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting penultimate week.

Yunusa, who spoke at the end of the FAAC meeting in Abuja said: “They agreed there was shortfall in the earlier account given to us, but no fraud was intended. So going forward, we would be fully involved in the account. “In the reconciliation that took place, some state governors were involved, a committee was raised by the National Economic Council (NEC).�

Meanwhile, the three tiers of government shared for November the sum of N532.758 billion.

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mahmoud Isa Dutse, who chaired the session in place of Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, told the media that the sum N443.045 billion was statutory.

Under this tranche, the federal government got N205.700 billion, state governments got N104.334 billion, local governments received N80.437 billion, N40.847 billion was shared as 13 per cent derivation proceeds to went to the oil producing states, while N11.726 was set aside as cost of collection to revenue generating agencies and Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) refund.

T H I S D AY MONDAY DECEMBER 11 2017

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Custodian Life Launches Critical Illness Insurance Cover Ebere Nwoji Custodian Life Insurance Ltd, a member of the Custodian and Allied Group, has launched a special life insurance policy tagged, ‘Critical Illness Insurance Cover’ for those suffering from critical and terminal illnesses such as stroke, cancer, heart attack and Renal failures.

The company, which described the product as a standalone policy of its kind in Nigeria said the launching the product was informed by the present economic and health difficulties

in Nigeria and to assist millions of Nigerians who are victims of the above illnesses address their health challenges. “We are well aware of the current economic, health difficulties in our country today, for us at Custodian Life Insurance, tough times are for us to get tougher and not use the current climate as a negative block but rather an energising spring-board for new ideas. It is on the back of this that we are today launching the critical illness insurance cover which we are confident will assist millions of Nigerians to address their health

challenges�, the Managing Director Custodian Life Insurance, Larry Ademeso said.

According to him, unlike the group life insurance policy which benefits are paid to dependents of the policy holder at his death, in the case of the critical illness insurance cover, the policy holder is six times more likely to claim under his critical illness cover than under the group life cover. “Employers in Nigeria today are required by law to provide group life insurance cover for their employees, that is as far as the story goes, benefits will be

paid to your beneficiaries when you would have passed away, so what happens if you do not die but become incapacitated by some of the debilitating illnesses ravaging the populace, this is why we developed the critical illness cover to meet the yearnings of Nigerians�.

According to the Custodian Life Insurance boss, the Custodian Critical Illness cover, offers the policy holder added protection and confidence boost to go about his daily activities without fear of possible financial backslash associated with treating a critical

illness.

He quoted the World Health Organisation as saying that Nigeria, has the highest cancer rate in Africa while there is increasing precedence of stroke just as about 10 percent of adult Nigerian population is liable to have heart attack.

He listed key features of the product as enhanced protection, coverage against conditions that fall under cancer, stroke, heart attack, kidney failure.

He said the premium paid and benefit received are per the prevailing tax laws, adding that the intending policy holder can

choose period of coverage.

The sum assured for the policy according to Ademeso, is minimum of N1million while the term is minimum of five years. He also said eligible buyers of the product are people from 20 years to 60 years while the premium is paid annually.

He said since Custodian is the first company in Nigeria to sell the policy, in future, other conditions that make the policy more attractive and enable those who paid premium many years without benefiting may be considered.

Ambode Tasks Business Leaders on Youth Entrepreneurship Ikenna Ekwerike The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode has urged business leaders in Nigeria to make many entrepreneurs out of the teeming unemployed youths for wealth generation and creation of job opportunities.

Ambode, represented by Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello, directed this plea to the Institute of Directors Nigeria, IoD, on Thursday during the 2017 annual directors’ dinner and award night in Lagos.

While pledging that his administration will continue to provide the enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the State, the governor stated that Lagos State was encouraging the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst

the youths with appropriate mentoring from sectoral leaders.

He noted that business leaders can join in this drive by providing access to funds to the youths as well as mentoring opportunities to develop and sharpen their entrepreneurial skills in various sectors of the economy. The governor admitted that the burden of economic recession in the year 2017 challenged the collective ingenuity and resilience of Nigerians, adding that it was time to do things differently.

Thus, he said: “We have to look beyond the challenges of today and plan ahead for a more profitable future. The economic and investment landscape has to be in tune with global realities which is driven by innovation and technology. Recent devel-

opments in the business and investment environment require that we should take a critical look at the structure of corporate governance in the management of investment and ethical and legal framework. “This is time to focus attention on building the Nigerian brand with global relevance. There is an urgent need for the leadership of the Institute of Directors as a platform for business owners and managers to look into the factors affecting the seamless transfer of leadership within the indigenous enterprises for posterity and continuous wealth generation and job creation opportunities for our people.�

He equally urged them to support government’s initiative to curb unwholesome practices in the investment and business

environment in Nigeria. “I also wish to use this opportunity to emphasise the need for everyone to embrace the voluntary asset and income declaration scheme initiated by the Federal Government; to encourage individuals and corporate organisations to rectify their tax status with the regulatory authorities,� he concluded.

On his part, a former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, who was presented at the event with the 2016 award for good governance, blamed the economic crisis that bedeviled the country on bad governance.

While calling on business leaders to get involved in active politics, Obi said: “The greatest tragedy is that all of you who have managed to create wealth in Nigeria have left it

to be managed by those who created nothing. It is time for you to take back your country.�

Earlier in his welcome address, the president/chairman of governing council, IoD Nigeria, Alhaji Ahmed Rufai Mohammed said the IoD remained committed to promoting corporate good governance and excellence. “Our objectives and strategic position in the Nigerian business environment and the increasing national and continental visibility have placed enormous challenges on our shoulders.

One of these challenges is to rise to the occasion of recognising, honouring and rewarding the uncommon feat of excellence by some Nigerians and Corporate organisations in their various fields of endeavour through due regard and respect for best corporate

governance practice,� he stated.

The highpoint of the event was the presentation of award plaques to deserving individuals and corporate organisations.

Obi, a former governor of Anambra State received the award for good governance 2016; Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank group got the IoD Anofi Guobadia award for leadership and excellence 2017.

Others were Mosunmola Abudu, founder, Ebony Life TV, who received the IoD entrepreneurial award 2017 and Dr. (Mrs) Omobola Johnson, Ex M.D. Accenture & Former Minister of ICT took away the outstanding women directors award 2016 while Dangote cement Plc won the IoD corporate governance award 2017.

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BUSINESSWORLD

MONDAY INTERVIEW

Adebutu: We’re Investing in Nigeria and Creating a New World of Possibilities With an investment of over $330 million, Petrolex Group has completed sub-Saharan Africa’s largest tank farm, scheduled for inauguration tomorrow in Petrolex Mega Oil City in Ibefun, Ogun State. The chairman of the company, Mr. Segun Adebutu told journalists that the facility would decongest Apapa by at least 70 per cent as 2,000 tankers would be removed from Apapa roads. Ejiofor Alike presents the excerpts: Before now, you had established a reputation for bankrolling big projects in the entertainment and gaming industries. A while back, you shifted focus to the oil and gas industry.

What exactly informed this shift and what is your investment strategy?

Mine has been an interesting journey. When you succeed in one area, you are naturally bold enough to do bigger things. And of course as an economist I know that diversification is part of strategy. So basically, what we are doing is to effectively diversity our investment so as to make bigger impact on the Nigerian economy.

My father was one of the pioneers in the gaming industry, eventually branching out into casinos and then the lottery business. The experience of working with my family gave me the foundational stones for my eventual growth in business.

Over the years, I have been engaged in a number of businesses which cut across oil and gas, solid minerals, construction and maritime. I also run the Oladiran Olusegun Adebutu Foundation (OOA) focused on creating opportunities for children to thrive.

What is equally important is that we have recorded remarkable success in all the sectors we have invested in. That success is what we seek to also replicate with our Petrolex Oil and Gas Limited.

How long did you incubate the idea that led to the establishment of Petrolex Group and what do you want to achieve through the company?

In the bid to revolutionise the Nigerian energy landscape with industry-defining assets across the energy value chain, Petrolex commenced the planning, design and development of The Petrolex Mega Oil City, located in Ibefun, Ogun State about five years ago.

We thought to ourselves, where can we site a tank farm which will not compound the problem Nigerians are already facing in the Lagos and Apapa areas in particular. After years of careful research, we came up with Ibefun, in Ogun State.

We were particularly concerned about the woeful plight of the inhabitants of areas where tank farms are concentrated and we believe that this project will ameliorate their suffering. The envisage approximately 60 -70 per cent decongestion of the Apapa and Ibafo tanker traffic, that is, over 2000 tankers and elimination of associated hazards Also, as you may know already ours is a proposed integrated oil and gas city so this is just one step in a series of steps that will get us to our desired destination. As part of the city, we will have a refinery, a fertilizer plant and lubricants facility as well as a liquefied petroleum gas plant.

But a little more focus on the tank farm, it’s a model slightly different from what others have done, we have planned it in such a way that drivers that are coming to our tank farm to pick products can load up quickly and go back to their destinations. Apart from this, those who need to stay back a bit before returning have a comfortable place to nap before the return trip.

How big is this Oil City and what is strategic about it?

What we are commissioning on Tuesday (tomorrow) is our ultra-modern tank farm which comprises Phase 1 of our 10 year expansion programme. To date, we have acquired over 13,000 acres of prime land and currently concluding the negotiation of another 12,000 acres, to make the Petrolex Oil City at 101 square kilometres, Africa’s largest petroleum products hub, with a size that is approximately 10 percent the size of Lagos state.

The tank farm enables petroleum products to

Tell us about the sustainability component of this project Our unique sustainability model includes a comprehensive environment conservation and reforestation programme and a successful hostcommunity engagement framework whilst its corporate social investments continually add value to millions of lives.

One of the challenges the oil and gas sector has faced in Nigeria is the issue of sustainability. Another is the entire range of problems surrounding local content and participation.

We put these into consideration in setting up Petrolex oil city. We can say that the local community was carried along in the whole gamut of events beginning from inception, to the commissioning of the tank farm which comes up on December 12. As a matter of fact, the commissioning of the project will be monitored in most of the local communities surrounding the location of Petrolex oil city.

Apart from this, we carried along traditional rulers and pressure groups. But beyond these, this project will deliver jobs to thousand of locals and boost their incomes. We are also delivering infrastructure including roads. I must add that all of these things are being done already in one way or the other. In summary, our extensive social investment is planned to impact over two million lives

Adebutu

be stored and distributed effectively and more efficiently, allowing for better services and higher turnovers.

With the capacity to turnover 600 million litres of petroleum products every month, the tank farm is set to improve petroleum products distribution in Nigeria.

This legacy investment, audited by Price Waterhouse Coopers, is over $330 million. It is positioned to transform the future of petroleum products distribution in Nigeria as sub-Saharan Africa’s largest products storage tank so far. The mega oil city houses the state of the art Petrolex

Our facility is easily reachable via the waterways, with easy access from the Atlantic Ocean, proximity to the Lagos market, and easy accessibility to the Northern & Eastern parts of Nigeria, all to aid supply and distribution of petroleum products around the country.

We are proactively advancing discussions with several state governments to ensure consistent and adequate supply of petroleum products to other areas of the country

tank farm which has a 300 million-litre storage facility, residential quarters, army barracks, 30 loading gantries, gas processing plant, vessels, and a 4000-truck capacity park with accommodation for drivers. The trailer park alone is an innovation with an automation and speed that is critical to the delivery of the efficiency that the industry requires. In addition, we have put an expansion plan in place which will increase the storage capacity of the tank farm to 1.2 billion litres in a few years.

Our facility is easily reachable via the waterways, with easy access from the Atlantic Ocean, proximity to the Lagos market, and easy accessibility to the Northern & Eastern parts of Nigeria, all to aid supply and distribution of petroleum products around the country.

We are proactively advancing discussions with several state governments to ensure consistent and adequate supply of petroleum products to other areas of the country. ]But this just the beginning of other things planned for the future.

What shift do you expect Petrolex to effect in the local oil and gas industry? ]First and foremost, the Mega Oil city is set to create over 10,000 new direct and indirect jobs in the short term. It will also guarantee improved and efficient delivery of products to retail markets.

It will lead to over 15 per cent reduction in retail cost to stations, a massive decongestion of the Apapa and Ibafo tanker traffic and elimination of hazards associated with storage and transportation of petroleum products in these areas of high population density.

Apart from this petroleum products bulk storage; distribution, retailing and refining, are the main links in Petrolex’s medium-term drive for growth. We plan to deploy a fleet of at least 150 vessels, barges and tugboats to provide a litany of services across Africa’s waters. Petrolex currently has 16 barges, 8 tug boats and a 30KT vessel.

ls Petrolex going to be listed someday?

We are targeting listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in the next 10 years to ensure the business outlives its owners and becomes bigger.

By the next five years we would have achieved a significant amount of our ambition, then begin strategy talks with the stock exchanges.

How is the local community responding to Petrolex?

The local community have accepted us with open arms. What you should know is that we are part of the community itself. So it was not a question of strangers coming to set up a facility in Ibefun. We have been part of this community for a very long time, what’s different is that we are manifesting in a different form.

We are grateful to all our key stakeholders who have made this a reality. From the federal government, the Vice President who has gracious accepted top commission the tank farm, to the Ogun State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Ibikunle Amosu, the Liken of Ibefun, all the regulatory agencies, our employees, etc. We have enjoyed tremendous support all the way.

Are you afraid of electric cars?

Certainly not! They will eventually complement our development. But for now, we must make the best out of what we have and in doing so we must work to see that existing technology works side by side with what electric cars can offer. It is certain that in the short to medium term, electric cars may not be as popular as many people are painting them to be, especially in the developing world. But that does not however mean that we should not be getting ready for what is a certain future.

What are your final words?

A New World of Possibilities� aptly captures the ever-evolving spirit of Petrolex, as we will not relent until we see Nigeria transformed into an energy self-reliant nation in the immediate future. As integrated energy conglomerate with strategic investments across the energy value chain, we are committed to building communities, transforming lives and driving economic growth and development in Nigeria.

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T H I S D AY MONDAY DECEMBER 11 2017

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32

T H I S D AY MONDAY DECEMBER 11, 2017

T H I S D AY MONDAY DECEMBER 11 2017

33

34

T H I S D AY MONDAY DECEMBER 11, 2017

T H I S D AY MONDAY DECEMBER 11 2017

35

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T H I S D AY MONDAY DECEMBER 11, 2017

T H I S D AY MONDAY DECEMBER 11 2017

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38

T H I S D AY ˞ ˜ DECEMBER 11, 2017

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Banks Urged to Enhance Private Sector Credit Obinna Chima The President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Prof. Segun Ajibola has advised commercial banks in the country to increase credit to the private sector to grow the economy.

Ajibola said this at an inaugural lecture he delivered at Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY. The paper was titled: ‘Rhythms and Riddles of Bank Credit: Synergies and Dislocations in Nigeria’s Economic Growth.’ According to Ajibola, so many needs compete for funds in the hands of banks. In constructing their portfolios, therefore, banks struggle to strike a trade-off between the conflicting objectives of liquidity and profitability. “Bank credits engender illiquidity but remain the most profitable assets of a bank. Indeed, the two pillars of financial intermediation are deposit mobilised from the

surplus funds unit and loans and advances to the deficit funds unit in the economy,� he said.

The don, in his paper, did not shy away from some of the criticisms and concerns often thrown at present-day banking and finance practitioners. These include competition among banks in a bid to declare humungous profits, often at the expense of the health of their customers and service offering; fraud and other malpractices such as insider abuse, staff connivance etc; high interest in quick wins with little concern for the growth of the real sectors of the economy and high interest rates amongst others.

While the CIBN head did not attempt to defend the banks against these allegations nor did he rationalise the criticisms, his submission however focused squarely on demonstrating the impact of bank credit on Nigeria’s economic growth over the years, using the findings from a series of works carried out by the don either individually or in conjunction with other

academics.

He also noted that banks as financial intermediaries channel depositors’ funds to the deficit units to finance economic activities in the various sectors of the economy. When discharging this function through credit allocation, banks’ decisions are often determined by the quality of collateral, political pressures, personality, loan size and covert benefits to loan officers influence, he said.

Ajibola urged banks to remain ethical and professional in conducting lending business as well as to continue to engage staff of right skills and competencies in lending while devoting more attention to capacity building in the relevant areas.

He also recommended that specialised financial institutions such as the Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry, Nigeria Export-Import Bank and the new National Development Bank should stick faithfully to their mandates of lending to specific segments of the economy.

Access Bank to Empower 30,000 Students in New CSR Initiative Access Bank Plc through its Project LEAD, a new corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative has concluded plan to empower 30,000 secondary school students across six geo-political zones in Nigeria.

The Personal Banking Division of Access Bank would be executing the project, which represents Leadership, Enterprise and Academic Development (LEAD). It is targeted at driving improvement in secondary school students in areas such as academic and moral excellence; financial literacy; reading culture; and personal leadership. The project which is for a three-year period, would see the first phase targeting at least 10,000 students more than 30,000 secondary school students, over a three-year period, who would have been impacted positively and positioned for excellence in their academics, leadership skills and financial literacy.

Speaking during the launch of the project in Lagos at the weekend, the chief executive of

Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe said the bank recognises the importance of the society, saying it forms the bed rock of activities of both the organisation and as individuals. “This is very evident in our corporate philosophy and fully expressed in our passion for customers as a core value. We have taken this passion beyond the walls of the banking hall, expressed it with our deepening roots in sustainability and it is not surprising the amount of accolades we receive for our efforts at CSR and sustainability. “Here today, we witness another giant stride by the humans of access (as we like to call ourselves) to leave an indelible impact on the lives of the future of our customer base, our bank and this great nation. “The LEAD Project by the Personal Banking Division of Access Bank has chosen to foster development in areas of academic and moral excellence, financial literacy, reading culture

and personal leadership amongst secondary school students across the nation,� he explained.

Also, the Executive Director, Personal Bank, Mr. Victor Etuokwu, said Access Bank had gone a step further to have projects by the various groups and sub-units within the bank. “By doing this, we have created an avenue where every individual is involved in a project and can be proud of its success and its resulting impact on both the society and the organisation as a whole. “Given the dearth of mentoring and guidance amongst the youth today, we are keen on impacting the younger generation because we believe every young person deserves an opportunity to excel. To enable us to achieve this, we have carefully selected Project Revamp Africa as our technical partners. Project Revamp Africa is an initiative poised to revive educational values, maximise potentials and develop young leaders,� he added.

Managing Risk Key to Corporate Governance, Says RMB Boss The Executive Director and Chief Risk Officer of Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), Nigeria Limited, Peter Blenkinsop has stressed that effective management of both organisational and personal reputational risk was key to sound compliance and corporate governance for banks in Nigeria as well as any other country.

Blenkinsop made the remark during a keynote speech at the November 2017 Monthly Meeting of the Association of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (ACCOBIN), held in Lagos recently.

In his address titled: ‘Managing Reputational Risk,’ he noted a bank’s approach to managing reputational risk should be no different from managing any other risk faced by banks in the operations of their banking

business.

Blenkinsop, therefore urged banks to define their reputational risk appetite by defining the boundaries of what they believe to be acceptable performance in this class of risk.

This, he said applies to product roll-out and product performance (perception versus what is actually delivered) as much as it does to behavioural aspects. He further urged banks to pay special attention to what he called “values/characterbased reputational risk�. “If this materialises, this leads to perceptual organisational loss or destruction of shareholder value, which ultimately leads to financial loss. “This is much more difficult to recover than financial losses as it is that ‘silent killer’ that is difficult to fully manage,�

he added.

Blenkinsop also stated that management of reputational damage needed to be addressed at both internal and external perceptual levels. “For sound corporate governance, all banks should work to vest an organisational culture where the board, executive management and employees align with the bank’s stated values and ethical risk appetite to achieve long term business success,� he added.

He further urged all banks to be honest in the evaluation of their board’s and executive management’s performance in so far as reputation and ethics management was concerned, and also tasked all bank staff to be honest about their own contribution to the organisational health in this regard.

Banking hall

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

AUGUST 2017 Broad Money (M2)

21,851,454.31

-- Narrow Money (M1)

9,890,813.10

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,523,239.91

---- Demand Deposits

8,367,573.19

-- Quasi Money

11,960,641.22

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

9,732,990.89

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

12,118,463.42

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

26,821,446.81

---- Credit to Government (Net)

4,824,226.22

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

7,834,536.74

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

--3,010,310.52

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

21,997,220.59

--Other Assets Net

--14,702,983.39

Reserve Money (Base Money)

5,486,804.65

--Currency in Circulation

1,868,735.07

--Banks Reserves

3,268,266.17 Ëž Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă? Ě‹

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

August 2017

Inter-Bank Call Rate

22.63

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

13.35

Savings Deposit Rate

4.08

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.86

3 Months Deposit Rate

10.14

6 Months Deposit Rate

11.51

12 Months Deposit Rate

11.40

Prime Lending rate

17.69

Maximum Lending Rate

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

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT WEDNESDAY DECEBER 6, 2017

The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $58.27 a barrel on Monday, compared with $57.55 the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela) SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

39

T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ ÍŻÍŻËœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ

MARKET NEWS

Flour Mills Applies to Raise N40 Billion via Rights Issue Goddy Egene

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN) has applied to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to raise about N39.856 billion from the existing shareholders. The funds would be raised through the issuance of 1,476,142,418 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N27 per share Rights Issue to existing shareholders on the basis of nine new shares for every 16

shares already held.

The company had been contemplating raising fresh capital to since 2015 to ease the debt burden and reduce high interests. However, the company’s stockbrokers, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited, formally applied to the NSE for the Rights Issue last week.

Following the high bank charges FMN was paying on borrowings, which has driven

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

costs of finance upwards for many years, shareholders authorised the directors to raise up to N40billion of additional equity via a Rights Issue in 2015.

However, the directors in July 2016 put the right issue on hold and planned to later raise the funds in three tranches.

According to the directors, given the economic headwinds, they decided to undertake the Rights Issue through a Shelf programme

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

(a situation whereby securities are sold over a period of time) to enable the company raise the required funds in several transactions over three year period.

The directors said they had already registered a N40 billion Shelf Programme with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding that they would continue to assess the economic climate to determine the most

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

appropriate time to launch the first tranche.

But last October FMN said board of directors had given approval to commence with the activities to raise the funds through the right issue and a Medium Term Notes (MTN).

Apart from the rights issue, the company had also said it would to raise up to N70 billion through the MTN. The leader in food and

O F

agro-allied products in Nigeria recently announced improved financial performance for the half year ended September 30, 2017, growing its revenue by 17 per cent from N255.30 billion in 2016 to N298.44 billion in 2017.

Profit before tax rose from N8.80 billion in 2016 to N13.38 billion in 2017, while profit after tax improved from N6.46 billion in 2016 to N9.36 billion in 2017.

0 8 / 1 2 / 2 0 1 7 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

˾ MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2017

40

Nigeria Daily Stock Market Report:

Monday, December 11, 2017

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

Ticker

Current Price

Previous Current Price Weighting Change

Price Change YTD

Price Change Index to Date

ROE

ROA

P/E

P/BV

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 1,584.68

-0.18%

58.5%

58.5%

20.1%

6.3%

7.2x

0.8x

3.9%

10.9%

1

Guaranty Trust Bank PLC

42.00

0.0%

21.5%

70.0%

70.0%

26.0%

4.3%

8.7x

2.2x

4.9%

11.4%

2

Nigerian Brew eries PLC

145.00

1.0%

9.7%

-2.0%

-2.0%

18.9%

8.6%

35.7x

6.5x

2.5%

2.8%

3

Zenith Bank PLC

26.91

-2.1%

13.3%

82.4%

82.4%

21.7%

3.2%

5.3x

1.1x

7.5%

18.8%

4

Dangote Cement PLC

245.00

-2.0%

6.5%

40.8%

40.8%

30.4%

15.7%

16.9x

4.8x

3.5%

5.9%

5

Nestle Nigeria PLC

1,410.08

0.0%

7.1%

74.1%

74.1%

78.4%

19.0%

36.7x

24.3x

1.8%

2.7%

5.2%

6

Access Bank PLC

11.55

4.8%

96.8%

96.8%

15.1%

2.0%

4.6x

0.7x

5.6%

21.6%

7

United Bank for Africa PLC

11.00

0.7%

5.8%

144.4%

144.4%

17.2%

2.2%

4.8x

0.8x

6.8%

20.7%

8

FBN Holdings Plc

9.02

0.1%

5.5%

169.3%

169.3%

2.6%

0.3%

14.7x

0.5x

2.2%

6.8%

9

Ecobank Transnational Inc

17.97

-2.3%

2.9%

74.8%

74.8%

-14.6%

-1.3%

0.7x

3.4%

-19.3%

7.3x

2.1%

48.00

-2.0%

1.7%

23.9%

23.8%

47.1%

9.8%

501.31

0.0%

1.7%

31.9%

31.9%

-12.4%

-6.7%

Unilever Nigeria PLC

41.61

-4.6%

1.5%

30.7%

30.7%

50.3%

8.4%

25.6x

9.8x

0.2%

3.9%

13

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

43.00

1.2%

2.9%

186.7%

186.7%

28.7%

3.4%

9.9x

2.6x

1.4%

10.1%

14

Guinness Nigeria PLC

92.70

0.0%

1.2%

17.9%

17.9%

4.5%

1.4%

65.2x

3.3x

0.7%

5.99

0.0%

1.2%

27.4%

27.4%

40.7%

4.2%

2.7x

0.6x

10

Lafarge Africa PLC

11

SEPLAT Petroleum Development C

12

16

Forte Oil PLC

44.50

2.9%

0.5%

-47.3%

-47.3%

44.3%

3.7%

11.2x

5.0x

17

11 PLC

159.82

5.0%

0.4%

-42.7%

-42.7%

32.6%

12.0%

8.5x

2.4x

18

Total Nigeria PLC

228.01

0.0%

0.5%

-23.7%

-23.7%

37.3%

7.4%

8.5x

0.0%

1.2%

86.7%

86.7%

37.4%

25.9%

10.0x

23.3% -20.8%

1.5% 37.0% 8.9%

5.0%

11.8%

3.0x

2.6%

11.8%

3.3x

2.0%

10.0%

19

Okomu Oil Palm PLC

75.00

20

UAC of Nigeria PLC

17.51

-2.4%

0.6%

6.1%

6.1%

6.3%

2.2%

11.2x

0.7x

5.6%

8.9%

21

Conoil PLC

28.00

0.0%

0.3%

-25.3%

-25.3%

12.8%

3.5%

8.1x

1.1x

11.1%

12.3%

22

Fidelity Bank PLC

2.49

2.9%

1.2%

196.4%

196.4%

8.0%

1.1%

2.2x

0.4x

5.6%

46.0%

23

Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

20.03

-2.3%

1.3%

227.8%

227.8%

23.8%

10.3%

7.8x

3.4x

2.5%

12.8%

24

Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC

35.00

0.9%

0.8%

89.3%

89.3%

10.4%

2.6%

8.8x

0.9x

2.9%

11.3%

3.93

4.8%

0.4%

1.0%

1.0%

18.9%

7.6%

4.1x

0.7x

7.1%

101.97

5.0%

0.3%

-21.0%

-21.0%

-56.7%

-13.9%

27.00

0.0%

0.3%

-30.0%

-30.0%

-12.2%

-1.2%

1.32

0.0%

0.4%

20.0%

20.0%

3.8%

0.6%

3.8x

0.1x

19.6%

4.1%

5.8x

1.0x

25

Custodian and Allied Insurance

26

7 UP Bottling Co PLC

27

Julius Berger Nigeria PLC

28

FCMB Group Plc

29

Transnational Corp of Nigeria

1.44

-4.6%

0.6%

65.5%

65.5%

1.44

-5.3%

0.5%

63.6%

63.6%

2.5%

0.3%

5.8x

0.1x

5.0%

0.5%

72.8%

72.8%

42.9%

25.9%

3.4x

1.2x

2.2%

29.3%

2.2%

5.1%

4.9x

24.3% -16.5%

1.4x

-8.4% 7.6%

26.1% 17.4%

30

Diamond Bank PLC

31

Presco PLC

69.30

32

PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC

23.00

0.7%

0.4%

58.6%

58.6%

11.5%

5.8%

19.7x

2.2x

33

International Brew eries PLC

56.78

-5.0%

0.8%

206.9%

206.9%

24.6%

7.4%

59.5x

13.5x

34

Cadbury Nigeria PLC

15.90

5.0%

0.4%

54.5%

54.5%

4.5%

1.6%

45.4x

2.7x

2.2%

35

Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

7.19

0.0%

0.3%

50.6%

50.7%

5.6%

1.2%

9.2x

0.4x

10.9%

36

Chemical and Allied Products P

33.93

0.0%

0.2%

6.0%

6.0%

84.3%

38.5%

14.8x

10.4x

1.13

0.9%

0.3%

48.7%

48.7%

6.1%

0.6%

5.9x

0.3x

37

Sterling Bank PLC

38

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Niger

17.2%

1.7%

6.5%

0.0%

0.3%

44.4%

44.4%

61.2%

23.6%

4.7x

1.7x

1.3%

0.0%

0.1%

22.8%

22.8%

11.9%

3.9%

10.2x

1.2x

2.4%

0.0%

0.1%

40.4%

40.4%

9.6%

4.4%

8.1x

0.8x

39

AXA Mansard Insurance PLC

40

Continental Reinsurance PLC

1.39

6.7% 16.8%

22.74 2.05

21.2% 9.8% 12.3%

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

LIN KA SSUR E

0.68

9.7%

A C C ESS

119.6

5.2%

A C C ESS

11.55

5.2%

F ID ELIT YB K

103.6

2.9%

P R ESC O

69.30

5.0%

A IIC O

53.2

0.0%

N A SC ON

17.85

5.0%

FB NH

39.3

0.1%

M OB IL

159.82

5.0%

D IA M ON D B N K

31.3

-5.3%

7UP

101.97

5.0%

T R A N SC OR P

23.4

-4.6%

15.90

5.0%

GUA R A N T Y

17.7

0.0%

N EM

1.52

4.8%

ET I

16.3

-2.3%

C UST OD YIN S

3.93

4.8%

FCM B

16.0

0.0%

LIVEST OC K

0.88

4.8%

SKYEB A N K

12.2

0.0%

C A D B UR Y

T ic k er

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V a l u e

T o p 10 L o s e r s P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

D A N GF LOUR

11.40

-5.3%

A C C ESS

1386.3

5.2%

D IA M ON D B N K

1.44

-5.3%

GUA R A N T Y

746.9

0.0%

IN T B R EW

56.78

-5.0%

FB NH

354.4

0.1%

UN ILEVER

41.61

-5.0%

ET I

293.0

-2.3%

T ic k er

(RC 603 315)

0.6x

Oando PLC

T ic k er

(A Dealing Member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange)

4.3x

15

T o p 10 G a in e r s

Afrinvest Securities Lim-

Divinden Earnings d Yield Yield

C A VER T ON

1.38

-4.8%

UN ILEVER

291.4

-5.0%

NA HCO

4.50

-4.7%

Z EN IT H B A N K

290.5

-2.1%

T R A N SC OR P

1.44

-4.6%

F ID ELIT YB K

263.2

2.9%

UA C N

17.51

-2.4%

NB

193.9

1.0%

D A N GSUGA R

20.03

-2.3%

P R ESC O

161.9

5.0%

ET I

17.97

-2.3%

ST A N B IC

134.9

1.2%

Investment Research

Brokerage Ayodeji Ebo | aebo@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Bolaji Fajenyo | bfajenyo@afrinvest.com

Omotola Abimbola | oabimbola@afrinvest.com

41

˾ MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2017

MARKET NEWS

Analysts Advise Seven-Up Minority Shareholders to Divest Goddy Egene

Investment analysts at Afrinvest West Africa, have advised minority shareholders of Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc to accept the tender offer from the majority shareholder, Affelka S.A to buy them out.

Affelka holds 73 per cent of the equity of Seven-Up. The majority shareholder recently informed the investing public of its plan to completely buyout minority

shares in 7UP for a consideration of N112.70 per share relative to the market price of N101.97 as at last Friday. While the planned purchase is still subject to approval by the shareholders at a Court-Ordered meeting, the company has received a “No Objection” from the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC).

However, Afrinvest said given the recent weak financial performance, historical illiquidity characterising Seven-Up’s stock

A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

- which will possibly worsen postacquisition - and the premium offered by Affelka relative to the current market price, they are recommending investors tender their shares for the price consideration.

The analysts explained that in its latest 2017 full year financial results, Seven-Up’s performance deteriorated on the back of rising direct and indirect cost profiles as well as finance charges despite growing

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 07Dec-2017, unless otherwise stated.

revenue considerably.

The Company recorded a N108.3 billion expansion in revenue and a loss after tax of N10.8 billion.

Similarly, in its half year (H1):2018 interim report, Seven-Up recorded a loss after tax of N3.8 billion. Following the planned acquisition of the ordinary shares of investors, minority investors are faced with the decision to either “Sell” or ‘Hold”.

Afrinvest explained that on the consideration of the options, its overall analysis favours a “Sell” decision premised on the illiquidity, weak investor sentiments and premium pricing.

“In the event that the shares of minority shareholders are being bought over, investors who decide to hold would be faced with illiquidity challenge associated with the stock. As such, prices of the stock will remain rather unreflective of fair market pricing,

thereby indicating an increasing likelihood of a substantial loss in value of investments,” they said The analysts added that the share price of Seven-Up has suffered negative investor sentiment on the back of disappointing performance scorecards with a YTD loss of 32.8 per cent as at last Wednesday, underperforming that of the Consumer Goods Index (+37.1 per cent ) and benchmark index (+47.1 per cent).

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 187.03 188.40 47.52% Nigeria International Debt Fund 234.96 236.46 11.24% 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 0.82 0.83 17.84% ACAP Income Funds 0.64 0.64 81.59% 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 18.07% 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 19.33 19.91 56.53% ARM Discovery Fund 397.66 409.65 38.47% ARM Ethical Fund 27.43 28.26 22.77% 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 154.29 155.37 46.69% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 18.12% 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.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.85% CORONATION ASSET MANAGEMENT investment@coronation.com Web: www.coronation.com, Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 18.18% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.08 1.10 9.10% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.02 1.05 3.81% FBN CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,129.56 1,130.73 11.37% FBN Heritage Fund 152.30 153.64 36.63% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 22.00% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $112.07 $112.97 8.91% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $111.54 $112.44 9.14% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 172.77 175.33 53.47% 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 1.44 1.46 54.26% Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund 2.96 2.96 15.33% 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 2,969.78 3,007.71 34.98% Coral Income Fund 2,441.23 2,441.23 17.12% 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 17.90% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.13 2.16 27.03% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 18.62% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 114.07 114.07 17.56%

LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.20 1.22 20.79% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,048.75 1,048.75 11.25% 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 14.03 14.16 45.23% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 18.73% 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 1.23 1.26 23.81% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.96 11.02 5.44% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 16.77% 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 132.20 134.34 30.36% 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 13.94% 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 2,252.81 2,266.50 23.05% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 175.65 175.65 14.09% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.01 1.03 32.47% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 218.06 218.06 16.68% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 181.36 183.72 39.70% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.68% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 9,781.18 9,897.02 29.00% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.06 1.06 6.00% 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 1.34 18.37% United Capital Bond Fund 1.49 1.49 22.41% United Capital Equity Fund 0.92 0.94 36.76% United Capital Money Market Fund ZENITH ASSETS MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.zenith-funds.com; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Zenith Equity Fund Zenith Ethical Fund Zenith Income Fund

1.00

Bid Price 12.91 13.57 18.94

1.00 17.40% info@zenith-funds.com Offer Price 13.10 13.73 18.94

Yield / T-Rtn 31.94% 23.28% 14.49%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.41

1.01%

131.99

6.47%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

11.98

12.08

38.51%

REITS 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

146.98

150.16

48.57%

Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

113.35

115.50

49.59%

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

4.76 9.15 18.01 20.71 144.43

4.80 9.23 18.11 20.91 146.43

71.79% 29.99% 51.93% 29.66% 13.79%

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

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MONDAY DECEMBER 11, 2017 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

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

Neconde Lawyers Urge PENGASSAN Not to Disobey Court Order Alike Ejiofor A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and counsel to Neconde Energy Limited, Mr. Uchechukwu Val Obi, has written to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), faulting the seven-day ultimatum given by the oil workers to the federal government to direct the company to recall its sacked staff or risk industrial action.

The learned counsel argued that PENGASAN’s ultimatum to the federal government was made in bad faith and with a view to overreaching the pending proceedings at the National Industrial Court.

He recalled that in the suit number: NICN/LA/268/2017 between Neconde Energy Limited and Anor. vs. PENGASSAN and Ors, the presiding judge, Hon. Justice O. A. Obaseki-Osaghae, had on June 5, 2017, made an order “that none of the parties should take any action that will lead to break down of law and order pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”

In a letter dated December 8, 2017, and addressed to Francis Johnson, Lumumba I. Okugbara and Abel Agar – President, General Secretary and Zonal Chairman, respectively, Obi, who is the Managing Partner of Alliance Law Firm, reminded the union leaders that disputes involving

Neconde and its staff members affiliated to PENGASSAN had received the best consideration of Neconde leading to a binding communiqué signed between Neconde and PENGASSAN in May 2017.

The senior lawyer also informed the PENGASSAN leadership that Neconde had fully complied with the terms of the communique.

He drew the attention of the union leaders to their letter of December 7, 2017, addressed to “All NEC Members” of PENGASAN in which the union gave a seven-day ultimatum to the federal government and its relevant agencies of the association’s intention to embark on a nationwide strike effective December 18, 2017, if they fail to direct Neconde to recall its sacked staff.

Obi reminded the union that the right of Neconde, as an employer of labour to hire and fire personnel is within its legal rights as aptly pronounced by the “Supreme Court in the case of Chukwumah vs. Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (1993) 4 NWLR (Pt. 289) where the apex court held that an employer has the right to terminate its employee’s employment for good reason, bad reason or no reason at all.”

According to Neconde’s counsel, this prerogative of the management was expressly preserved in the communiqué aforesaid, adding that Neconde has made it clear that it properly disengaged the affected staff and paid due entitlements.

“When PENGASSAN and some

Buhari Heads for Paris, to Participate in ‘One Planet Summit’ Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow join over 50 other world leaders to participate in ‘One Planet Summit’ in Paris, France.

The summit, according to the president’s media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, is jointly organised by the United Nations, World Bank Group, and French government in collaboration with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking the reversal of negative effects of climate change.

Naming Bloomberg Philanthropies as one of such NGOs, Adesina said the summit would hold at the eco-friendly La Seine Musicale, located on the picturesque Seguin Island in Western Paris.

With the theme, ‘Climate Change Financing,’ Adesina quoted the organisers of the summit as saying that the main focus of the gathering would be to innovatively pool public and private finance “to support and accelerate our common efforts to fight climate change.”

He added: “While recognising that all countries are affected by the effects of climate change under ‘One Planet’ but some are more vulnerable, the summit seeks for tangible collective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Before heading for the summit venue, the Nigerian leader will attend a lunch hosted by President Emmanuel Macron of France for Heads of State and Governments at the Elysee Palace.

“President Buhari and other world leaders and participants will

make presentations under four subthemes namely: Scaling-up Finance for Climate Action; Greening Finance for Sustainable Business; Accelerating Local and Regional Climate Action; and Strengthening Policies for Ecological and Inclusive Transition.”

He recalled that Buhari, while signing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the sidelines of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22, 2016, said the agreement “demonstrated Nigeria’s commitment to global efforts to reverse the effects of the negative trend.”

According to him, the president later accompanied that move by signing the Instrument of Ratification of the Paris Agreement on March 28, 2017 at the State House, Abuja, which he said made Nigeria the 146th party to the Paris Treaty.

“It became binding on the country effective June 15, 2017, one month after the submission of the Ratification instrument to the United Nations on May 16, 2017 by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof.

Tijjani Bande.

“The participation of Nigeria’s delegation at the One Planet Summit will reinforce the country’s commitment to realising the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

“The president, who will depart for Paris today, accompanied by the governors of Adamawa, Kano and Ondo States, and Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Environment, will return to Abuja on Thursday,” the statement added.

of its members had continued to issue fresh threats despite its execution of the communiqué, Neconde had instituted a case at the National Industrial Court, namely Suit No. NICN/LA/268/2017 between Neconde Energy Limited and Anor. vs. PENGASSAN and Ors seeking declaratory and injunctive reliefs et al,” Obi said.

He also noted that on June 5, 2017, the National Industrial Court presided over by the Hon. Justice O. A. Obaseki-Osaghae upon hearing an application made orders that “All parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum”; and “that none

of the Parties should take any action that will lead to break down in law and order pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice. This Order has been served on PENGASSAN and it remains extant, binding, subsisting and enforceable to date”.

Neconde’s counsel also argued that PENGASAN’s ultimatum to the federal government and its relevant agencies to direct or prevail on Neconde to accede to its request to recall the sacked staff is made in bad faith and with a view to overreaching the pending proceedings.

The senior lawyer also described the threat by PENGASSAN to embark on a nationwide strike as an action that is capable of leading to a break down in law and order, which was expressly restrained by the binding order of the court.

“Under a democratic setting, the Courts should be allowed to hear and determine parties’ conflicts and it must be seen as an affront to the court’s constitutional powers for any litigant to resort to selfhelp or embark on acts capable of intimidating or undermining the constitutional adjudicatory powers of the court. Neconde therefore views

PENGASSAN’s ultimatum as a contempt of Court and would be taking necessary steps against PENGASSAN and its leadership seemingly behind this action,” Obi explained.

According to him, the present ultimatum of PENGASSAN threatening a “nationwide strike” should the executive fail to interfere in a pending judicial proceeding exposes the weakness and ineptitude of the current PENGASSAN leadership who have resorted to unorthodox and undemocratic antics to trade unionism.

WELL FED COWS

President Muhammadu Buhari (first right), inspecting his farm on the outskirts of Daura, Katsina State ....weekend

Fortnight After Defection to APC, Obanikoro Seeks Lagos West Senatorial Nomination Challenges Aregbesola, Afikuyomi, others Gboyega Akinsanmi Two weeks after he formally defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has indicated his interest to seek the 2019 senatorial nomination in Lagos West senatorial district, THISDAY has learnt.

By implication, it was gathered, Obanikoro would challenge Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola and former Commissioner for Tourism & Intergovernmental Relations in Lagos State, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi in bid to clinch the nomination for the senatorial district.

While Aregbesola had in May said he could contest election in any state of the South-west geo-political zone, Afikuyomi has engaged political leaders subtly in the senatorial district with a plan to return to the Senate.

At his defection penultimate Saturday, Obanikoro had specifically said he was on a mission to the APC because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could no longer offer him a platform to accomplish his mission.

But at the weekend, different

APC chieftains revealed thier plans to seek nomination in Lagos West, a senatorial district where Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, a twoterm member of Lagos State House of Assembly and a one-term member of House of Representatives is currently representing.

A chieftain disclosed that Obanikoro had made up his mind not to dabble into the governorship race due to what he ascribed to his resolve to team up with Tinubu and Ambode to strengthen the APC, not only in Lagos State and South-west, but also in the federation.

He revealed that Obanikoro would come out from Oriade Local Council Development Area (LCDA), though he had represented Lagos Central in the Senate (2003-2007) and had been the Chairman of Lagos Island Local Government (1998 – 2002).

The APC chieftain justified Obanikoro’s decision to seek the nomination from Oriade LCDA, noting that the former minister “has strong filial relationship with the area. So, he is qualified to contest senatorial election in Lagos West senatorial district.”

Aside, the party chieftain revealed that Obanikoro “has

started consulting political leaders across the senatorial district and engaging party leaders of Oriade LCDA ahead of the primaries.

However, another chieftain said Obanikoro’s decision to contest the senatorial election has thrown the APC chieftains in Lagos West senatorial district into confusion, especially those from six LCDAs/LGAs in Alimosho, citing their refusal to accept the party’s proposal to accommodate all interests in the constitution of the LCDA/LGA Executive Councils.

He said Obanikoro “is a son of the soil. We know his antecedents in Lagos State. He, also, has roots in Oriade LCDA. Aside, he has added much value to the people of Lagos State. So, he is qualified to seek senatorial nomination in Lagos West.”

Obanikoro’s defection at his Lagos Island constituency ended months of speculations about the status of his political allegiance.

Obanikoro defected to the APC along with other bigwigs of PDP in Lagos State including a former aide of former president Good luck Jonathan, Mrs. Modupe Shasore penultimate Saturday.

After receiving the party flag from the chairman of Lagos APC, Chief Oladele Ajomale, Obanikoro

noted that he was happy to return to the fold of his age-long political associates after his long sojourn in the PDP. He said he defected because he could not find fulfillment in the PDP and that he joined the APC because he had a mission to render service on its platform.

The ex-minister said his former party “cannot offer him the platform for the kind of service he want to render.

Today, I and others are not just joining the APC for joining sake, rather, we are joining because we are on a mission.

“I had joined the PDP a few years ago with the hope that certain things would be done right to enable me make the desired impact. That did not happen. And now, Tinubu has taken leadership to another level, not only in the state, but at the national level.

“So, my joining the APC is not by accident. It is to return to my people and seek a platform on which I can render service to my people, because leadership is about service and co-ordination of talents to achieve results. We have looked everywhere, and the only party that offers that platform for service delivery is the APC.”

MONDAY DECEMBER 11, 2017 ˾ T H I S D AY

59

NEWSEXTRA

FG Earned $7bn from Addax Petroleum Since 2009, Says Oil Firm Ejiofor Alike Addax Petroleum Development (Nigeria) Limited, which operates Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) PSC has produced 425 million barrels of crude oil and generated over $7 billion in revenue to the Nigerian government since 2009 when SINOPEC took over the company.

In addition, the venture has also invested over $5 billion in its business activities in the country, an investment that over the years resulted in job creation for residents of its operating host communities, and funding critical community projects in the areas of agriculture, health and education.

The company’s General

Manager in charge of External and Governmental Affairs, Mrs. Dorothy Atake, who made the disclosure, also said in a statement at the weekend that the Addax/ NNPC PSC was planning a fresh investment of between $3 billion and $5 billion in Nigeria over the coming years as part of efforts to optimise its operations in the country and increase production from its existing assets, both onshore and offshore.

The statement noted that the company as contractor to and on behalf of Addax achieved this feat through sustained investment in reserves and production growth activities, application of technology, strong NNPC/DPR partnership, as well as strong partnership with host communities.

The company’s statement

stressed that leveraging on its world class technical expertise and application of technology, Addax has brought various fields onstream and embarked on exploration and appraisal campaign in its adjacent concession areas resulting in commercial oil discoveries in Ofrima and Udele fields, a project pivotal to Addax growth plans in the country.

“Additionally, Addax Petroleum has a strong track record of developing under-exploited hydrocarbon resources and has through business drivers hinged on Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE), human capital development, operations excellence and capital efficiency achieved this feat,” the statement added.

Atake further stated that as

part of its production activities, Addax recently kicked off its sustenance campaign through the current drilling activities in the Njaba field in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 124 license area, premised on execution of low cost, capital efficient production optimisation principles to increase output from that area.

“The first oil producer in this drilling campaign was recently drilled and completed ahead of schedule and at significantly lower cost than budget. Preliminary well test results have also exceeded projected average oil production potential,” she said.

According to her, the company has also pioneered institution of a micro credit scheme, where over 480 women have been empowered to

develop their small scale businesses, through a revolving loan scheme initiated to empower small scale business women within its OML 124 host communities.

Technical Skill Acquisition Programme (TSAP) has enabled community youths within its host communities in Imo, Akwa Ibom and Rivers States to be trained at the Federal Technical College, Omoku in Rivers State, on selected vocations. “After each training session, Addax Petroleum donates tools and equipment to assist them set-up small scale businesses in their chosen vocation.

Thus far, significant amount have been expended on this scheme,” the company said.

The statement added that Nigerian Content Development

remains one of Addax Petroleum’s critical business drivers as the company ensures total compliance to the requirements of the Nigerian Content Act with the tremendous support of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

“Its future in Nigeria remains very bright with a planned investment outlay of $3 billion to $5 billion. Indeed, growth and profit enhancement opportunities within its existing licence areas and further onshore and onshore drilling and development activities are planned for next year and beyond,” the statement said.

Addax Petroleum has since 2009 been a wholly owned affiliate of the Chinese entity, Chineses Petroleum Company (SINOPEC).

NigerianVictims of Slavery Cannot Sue Libya, Says Falana

Infrastructure Hindering Foreign Investment, Says NEPZA

Ejiofor Alike

Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja

A human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, has stated that the Nigerian victims of slavery cannot sue Libya, stressing that the shameful slave trade which Nigeria is battling with is part of the fallout from the removal and brutal killing of President Muammar Gaddafi by armed gangs supported by the allied forces of imperialism led by the United States under President Barrack Obama.

Falana said in a statement yesterday that Nigeria had herself to blame for the tragedy in Libya, adding that without considering her political and strategic interests in the political crisis in Libya, Nigeria blindly supported the illegal resolution of the United Nations Security Council which authorised the invasion of Libya to effect a regime change.

According to him, while the regime change has ensured uninterrupted supply of the Libyan oil to Western countries, the country has been destroyed completely as not less than five armed gangs are laying claim to the leadership of the country.

Falana noted that it has been confirmed that the arms and ammunition looted from the armory

in Libya were sold to the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

According to the senior lawyer, the jurisdiction of the Community Court is limited to the West African sub-region, Nigerians whose rights are breached in other African countries would have been able to seek redress in the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights sitting in Arusha, Tanzania.

According to him, that is not possible as the federal government has refused to make a Declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the Court in line with Article 34(6) of the Protocol establishing the African Court which provides that “At the time of the ratification of this Protocol or any time thereafter the State shall make a declaration accepting the competence of the court to receive petitions under Article 5(3) of this Protocol. The Court shall not receive any petition under Article 5(3) involving a state party which has not made such a declaration.”

He recalled that in Femi Falana v. African Union (Application No. 019/2015), the Applicant challenged the validity of Article 34(6) of the Protocol establishing the African Court on the grounds that he could not be denied access to the Court due to the refusal of Nigeria to make the requisite Declaration.

The Managing Director of Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), Hon. Emmanuel Lyambee Jime, has said lack of infrastructure is a huge obstacle against foreign investment in Nigeria.

He stated this while speaking with journalists in Abuja at the weekend.

Lyambee said there has to be power 24/7 in a free trade zone, otherwise it is not a free trade zone.

“There has to be water running in a free trade zone, you’ve got to have road network, you’ve got to have everything that a company needs in order for it to be running at a less cost.” “You’ve got to put those incentives in place in a way that a businessman making those decisions to establish on your shores may decide that Nigeria is a preferred destination for my investments.

“Don’t forget that capital like all of us know is a coward, it doesn’t go where it is not needed, and so we are competing, we are in a competitive environment, and NEPZA recognises that,” he said.

NEPZA boss added that today, most investors who want to come to Africa, consider Ghana as the

ThreeVillagers Reportedly Killed, 10 Others Abducted in NigerVillages Laleye Dipo in Minna Three villagers were reported to have been killed and 10 others abducted in some villages in the Munya Local Government Area of Niger State.

A report from the area also had it that several villages in the local government area had been taken over by unknown persons.

The report believed that the unknown persons could be cattle rustlers or kidnappers.

Similarly, it was reported yesterday that the Kaduna-Sarkin Pawa road in the local government area had become impassable as a result of the activities of these criminals.

The villages said to be under the control of the criminals are Fwapai, Tsoho Kabulo, Shehudna, Bakin Nyanyi, Mudungo, Rigogo, Bakin

Dako and Sabo Gida.

Though the police in the state had not confirmed the development, the senator representing Niger East senatorial district in whose area the incident happened, Senator David Umaru, confirmed the story yesterday evening, saying the distressed villagers had already sent a “save our soul” message to him.

According to Senator David Umaru it was believed that those behind the incident were kidnappers that were dislodged from the Abuja – Kaduna road.

Umaru called on the state government and the police to “rescue the villagers from the clutches of these criminals.”

“I have received several calls from villagers in Munya Local Government Area about the activities of kidnappers operating

without challenge from security agencies. I am informed that about three persons have been killed while 10 other persons have been kidnapped on Friday and Saturday.”

He described the attack on the villagers as “unfortunate” and urged the state government to act immediately by protecting the lives and property of the people. Umaru lamented that the security presence in the area had been “drastically reduced” which he said gave room for increased activities of the hoodlums.

He explained that he had made efforts to get to the state Commissioner of Police and the Inspector General of Police on the matter without success.

All efforts to get confirmation from the police were abortive.

first thing they thinking about.

He added: “That really must be some cause for great concerns to us. I hear a lot of people say Nigeria has a big market – oh yes!

I’m told we are getting very close to about 200 million, and we keep talking about how big the Nigerian market is.

“But we have to recognise there are certain partnerships and certain platforms that have been put in place that will enable a businessman to put up his factory in Accra and still access the Nigerian market.

“You can use the ECOWAS platform and so that argument quite frankly is defective and I think quite honestly even dishonest. If people can understand that you can go and establish a factory in Accra, Ghana, where you don’t have interruption in power supply, where you don’t have infrastructural deficits and you still be able to access the Nigerian market, then what is the point in insisting that you must come into the Nigerian environment with all the challenges that are there in the Nigerian environment?”

Talking about deficit of infrastructure in the country, Jime said these are the policies that the federal government needs to critically begin to look at and to understand that without putting

its house in order, the likelihood of attracting these investments that appear to be a swansong, will continue to be so for a long time.

He further added: “Let me now report what I believe has happened since I resumed office with regards to infrastructure. The president travelled to China in 2016, and was exposed to a free trade zone in Shengchen which is example that I alluded to earlier and when he saw the massive development taking place there especially in the area of infrastructure, he now came back to Nigeria and decided to engage policy making.

“And because of that visit, I am happy to report that for the first time in the history of NEPZA, the president directed in 2017 massive injection of capital into the 2017 budget for development of infrastructure in our free trade zones and also for the creation of six new industrial parks.

“Now, we’ve just started as about N50 billion was placed in NEPZA vote and like I said before then the highest amount of money to NEPZA was less than N2 billion in all of the history of NEPZA, but for the first time in 2017 because of that exposure, we were given about N50 billion to start the process.”

He revealed that the process had started, and now that Calabar and Kano which are the two free trade zones that are directly under the management of the federal government are already seeing the injection of capital into the development of infrastructure.

Hopefully, he said with 2018 budget estimate that has been given, it means that there is the will to ensure that development of the infrastructure in the free trade zones goes on uninterrupted believing that it is the right way to go.

Jime argued that if the country keeps doing what it had to do, then hopefully in the next four years or so, there will be evidence on ground that infrastructure really has come to the level that the federal government is able to call a world class.

He added the president had demonstrated a lot of willingness to support the process so the country is able to deliver on a proper free trade zone concept.

He said the agency had so far been able to license three new industrial parks, including Nasco Crown free zone which is valued at N2.1 billion and is estimated at completion to be able to provide 15,000 direct jobs and Quits Free Zone.

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SERAP to Buhari: Extend Audit Panel on Recovered Loot to Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan’s Govts A civil society organisation, SocioEconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has sent an open

letter to President Muhammadu Buhari welcoming the inauguration of the Audit Committee on the

NCAA: Bad Weather to Disrupt Flights Chinedu Eze The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has warned air travellers in Nigeria that flights would be disrupted due to harmattan haze, which has already led to flight cancellations and delays.

The regulatory body said the warning was necessary because cancellation of flights by airlines due to unfavourable weather has led to altercations and sometimes violent protests by passengers.

In the previous years, airlines staff had been hounded during the yuletide by passengers who were eager to get to their destinations to enjoy the holidays, so NCAA has urged travellers to recognise and respect airlines’ decision on flight cancelation and delays.

“This advice is important due to the spate of delays and cancellations occasioned by inclement weather en route most of the nation’s airports.

During the week, most parts of the country witnessed adverse weather conditions which prevented most scheduled and non-scheduled flights from providing services,” noted NCAA in a statement signed by its spokesman, Sam Adurogboye.

Earlier, the authority had issued weather alert circular to all pilots and airline operators on the impending adverse weather, which forewarned all operators on the inherent danger associated with harmattan haze as regards

flight operations at this time of the year.

“Therefore, the prevailing weather condition is likely to herald a long and severe dust in the months ahead. During this period, air- to - ground visibility may be considerably reduced due to the dust haze.

“In addition, aerodrome visibility may fall below the prescribed minima due to the severe conditions. Dust haze can blot runways, the markings and airfield lightings over wide areas.

These make visual navigation extremely difficult or impossible.

Under these kinds of adverse conditions, air travel is bound to suffer delays and cancellations,” the regulatory body said.

NCAA therefore advised passengers to exercise restraint when their travels suffer these fates because pilots are merely observing what is contained in the departure, en route and destination weather which might sometimes necessitate outright cancellation.

“When these happen, the airline and the pilots are strictly adhering to the Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs).

So operating airlines are expected to share as much information as possible with passengers on the progress of their respective flights in line with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs) 2015 Part 19,” NCAA said.

Recovery and Management of Stolen Assets as a partial fulfillment of the judgment by Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

It also requests the president to use his leadership position to strengthen and extend the mandate of the committee to cover the periods starting from the return of democracy in 1999, as ordered by the court.

The audit committee established last month by Buhari is to undertake an audit of all recovery accounts established by government agencies.

The committee has four weeks to submit its report.

But in a letter dated December 9 2017 and signed by SERAP Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation urged Buhari to strengthen the capacity of the committee, and to extend the four weeks deadline within which it is expected to submit its report to at least six months so that the committee can effectively document the details of information ordered

by Justice Idris.

According to the organisation, “The rule of law might prove to be fragile if its force depends upon

the sum of the governmental calculations of costs and benefits made. The kind of commitment needed to nourish the rule of law is a strong political and ethical commitment to obey all judgments of courts in full, and not in part.”

The letter reads in part: “Extending the mandates of the committee to cover periods starting from the return of democracy in 1999 could have a profound effect on combating the culture of impunity that prevails wherever corrupt individuals feel that the risk of punishment is low, and that they would be allowed to keep their ill-gotten wealth.

“Partial implementation of the judgment by Justice Idris would continue to encourage impunity for grand corruption. And the effects of corruption on the rule of law are not only harmful, but destructive to the entire criminal justice system, as well as erode public trust in law and order. We believe that the more transparent and democratic a society is the more resilient it would be against corruption. And the more corruption is tamed, and recovered stolen assets properly spent on developmental projects,

the more Nigeria can thrive among the comity of nations.

“Detailed terms of reference for the committee have not yet been published. It is also unclear the periods of time covered by the committee’s mandate. These lacunas if not urgently addressed could undermine the effectiveness of the committee, and the integrity and credibility of its work.

“While we welcome the inauguration of the committee as a partial compliance with the judgment by Justice Idris, we urge your government to fully comply with the terms of the judgment by extending the mandate of the committee to cover the periods starting from the return of democracy in 1999, as well as accessing and collecting information on recovered assets as ordered by the court.

“We would again like to draw your attention to the judgment delivered in March 2016 by Justice Idris following a Freedom of Information suit no: FHC/IKJ/ CS/248/2011 brought by SERAP. The judgment directed your government to provide SERAP with up to date information on

recovered stolen funds since the return of civilian rule in 1999, including: Detailed information on the total amount of recovered stolen public assets that have so far been recovered by Nigeria.

“The details ordered by the court to be disclosed include: information on the total amount of recovered stolen public assets by each government; the amount of recovered stolen public assets spent by each government as well as the objects of such spending and the projects on which such funds were spent.

“The court noted that successive governments since the return of democracy in 1999 ‘breached the fundamental principles of transparency and accountability for failing to disclose details about the spending of recovered stolen public funds,’ and ordered your government to “ensure accountability for all recovered stolen assets under the governments of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, former President Goodluck Jonathan account fully for all recovered loot.”

Military Clampdown on Biafra Agitation, Not End to Restructuring Clamour, Igbo Elders Tell FG Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu The Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), a body of Igbo eders led by renowned constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben. Nwabueze and the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) yesterday in Enugu dismissed as false insinuations in some quarters that the military clampdown on Biafran agitators had ended the clamour for restructuring in the country.

The groups while warning that the delay in restructuring the country would throw up dire consequences also disagreed with the narrative that the South-east had been pacified “forcefully and violently” by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement by ILT Deputy Secretary, Elliot Uko, who doubles as the Secretary of ECA and made available to journalists in Enugu, the two groups said about 99 per cent of Igbo Youths were angry with Nigeria.

Uko said the celebrations in the “villa, that certain elders have helped them quench the restructuring gale blowing through the land up till a few months ago is fiction.

“Yes, a military invasion was carried out in second week of September at Afaraukwu, a huge propaganda onslaught was unleashed to force down a particular narrative. Yes agitators were declared terrorists. “Yes agitators were also proscribed.

Yes people in certain quarters clinked champagne glasses and congratulated themselves and mocked the angry youths that their agents among our people have helped them, as usual, put down the agitations.

“But nothing could be further from the truth. No matter the conspiracies in high quarters, no matter the complicity of the so called leaders to paralyse the demand for restructuring, and by extension, ensure the sustenance of the unjust status quo, truth is, resources deployed to save the status quo by attempting to crush the agitation to restructure Nigeria, is a wasted effort.”

According to them, branding oppressed, frustrated youths terrorists and proscribing them without addressing the real cause of their anger, which is the weak structure of unitary Nigeria and the 1999 military constitution, was akin to treating the symptoms of a disease without addressing the virus responsible for the disease.

DRIVING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

L-R: President of Rwanda, Mr. Paul Kagame; President of Egypt, Mr. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi; and Chairman, United Bank for Africa Plc and co-Chair of Africa 2017 Business Forum, Mr. Tony Elumelu, during the panel discussion on ‘Driving African Entrepreneurship’, at the Africa 2017 Business Forum that kicked off the Young Entrepreneurs’ Day, in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt....recently

Group Seeks to Create One Million Jobs, Grow GDP to $4tn within EightYears Solomon Elusoji and Ugo Aliogo A new group of Nigerian Professionals, the G-57, has said it will facilitate the creation of one million jobs, which will grow the country’s GDP to $4 trillion within eight years.

G-57’s Governing Board Chairman, Mr. Tom Isegohi, made this known to journalists at a press conference held in Lagos yesterday.

The press conference also marked the end of G-57’s two-day strategy event with the theme: ‘Designing the Nigeria we Want’.

When pressed by THISDAY, Isegohi, who is also former Chief Executive Officer of the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, avoided going into specific details of G-57’s plan for creating the one million jobs, but said the group was going to work “to put the right people in the right places.

“We are not a political party.

We are a non-partisan group of Nigerians who believe in the progress of Nigeria.”

G-57 was launched on October 1 at this year’s Nigeria’s 57th independence anniversary. Since its launch, it has attracted 600 like-minded professionals who have a combined followership of 250,000 people, Isegohi said yesterday.

He said: “You cannot buy your way into the group. The only way to get in is through invitation. If you do not believe in our values, if you don’t have the type of moral compass we require, you cannot be a part of what we are doing.”

Meanwhile, on the first day of the G-57 two-day conference, the Chief Executive Officer, Insight Publics, Feyi Olubodun, urged the federal government to harness the youth population of the country in order fast track the economic

growth process.

He explained that the capacity of these youths to produce goods and services must be combined with several industries that are developing and growing, noting that if people have the skills to produce goods and services “but the industry to absorb those goods and services are not strong enough, you will still have a gap.

“The same thing applies when you have sectors and industries that are developing, but you don’t have the people with the right skills to produce goods and services for those industries, you will still have a gap.”

He stressed the need for government to look at the economy beyond the single sector outlook, stating that sector such as the agriculture has not been largely tapped into. “While we are doing subsistence farming, we are yet to move into more advanced level

of agro-allied development where the value chain is fully rich and developed,” he said.

Olubodun lamented that 50 percent of tomatoes produced are wasted due to lack of logistics and modern preservation mechanism.

He added: “We have to work with the youths to make them employable, have real skills and do something. It ranges from corporate to vocational skills. As a country, we have de-emphasised the role vocational skills in nation building. We have placed more importance of having corporate skills. Advance economies don’t run only on corporate skills. There is a bunch of vocational skills that drive the economy. We are training many people for the corporate world.

They cannot all be absorbed by the corporate world. There should be transfer of skills and wisdom.

We need to pay attention to the fundamentals of the society.”

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MONDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

RUSSIA 2018 WORLD CUP

Burruchaga Reveals Argentina’s Ambition

Duro Ikhazuagbe with agency report

magnificent base camp and will put everything in to make it (winning the cup) happen,” Rohr stressed.

To Nigerian football fans still celebrating the 4-2 defeat of the Albiceleste in an international friendly in Krasnodar, Russia, Rohr stressed that Argentina is not the same team without Messi.

“We will not make the mistake of thinking that we already know them (Argentina).

“We beat them in friendly Krasnodar last month, but Argentina played without Lionel Messi. And Argentina without Messi, it’s not the same team.

“They let in four goals, they may not have changed much defensively, but offensively they can change everything.

“Argentina are still vicechampions of the world, and had not passed away from the coronation in 2014,” concludes the coach.

Like in the previous three World Cups, the two teams will clash again in the last Group D match after the matches against Croatia and Iceland.

Incidentally, Messi has featured five times in matches against Nigeria, but has only scored in two of such games.

The first was at the 2005

Under-20 FIFA World Cup in Holland when his two penalty- kick goals sealed a 2-1 victory against Nigeria in the final.

NPFL Invitational for CAF Campaigners, Others Begins

PREMIERSHIP

Former Argentina star, Jorge Burruchaga, has revealed that the South American nation is aiming to win her third World Cup in Russia next year.

The former winger who scored Albiceleste’s winning goal in the 3-2 defeat of then West Germany at Mexico ’86, told Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, Argentina was gunning for the silverware again 31 years after.

In a chat with Scorenigeria. com yesterday, the FrancoGerman Nigerian gaffer revealed his discussions with Burruchaga at the last World Cup 2018 Draw ceremony in Moscow early this month.

“I met Jorge Burruchaga at the (World Cup) draw.

He told me ‘we are coming to win the World Cup,’ revealed the Eagles coach who is also aiming to make history with the three-time African champions.

To show how serious the Argentines are about their ambition to win the cup in Russia, Rohr also hinted that the team’s handler Jorge Sampaoli and his crew have already secured a training base.

“They have chosen a

The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Invitational scheduled to kick off at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano today is expected to provide the six teams competing with the chance to have one final chance at oiling their machines before the competitive season begins in January.

NPFL champions Plateau United, last season’s runnersup MFM FC, seven-time champions Enyimba and currently AITEO Cup holders Akwa United will be joined by hosts and four-time champions Kano Pillars and the Home-based Eagles billed to participate in next year’s African Nations Championship (CHAN) in the pre-season tournament.

Prior to the NPFL Invitational, Akwa United, Enyimba, Kano Pillars, Plateau United and MFM have been very busy with pre-season games across the country.

Title holders Plateau United have had an underwhelming performance in their pre-season games so far, losing to Kano Pillars and promoted Kwara United.

Akwa United, Enyimba, Kano Pillars and MFM have racked up decent results in pre-season and their managers will look to continue in same stead in this dress rehearsal before the season kicks off on January 14.

One of the managers, Paul Aigbogun, was recently appointed to take charge at Enyimba. It is a return for

Aigbogun and he has the task of building a team to compete in the NPFL, AITEO Cup and CAF Confederation Cup next year. Already, the Peoples Elephant have brought in new players in Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Chinedu Udeagha, Abdulrahman Bashir, Austine Oladapo, Yinka Onaolapo, Wasiu Alalade as well as Ghanaian Farouk Mohammed.

Head coach of AITEO Cup winners, Abdu Maikaba, is already planning for the possible absence of his key players who could feature in the CHAN next month. Etim Matthew, Ajibola Otegbeye, Kelly Kester, Adesina Gata, Dennis Nya and Gabriel Wassa are among the new signings at the Promise Keepers.

MFM moved quick in the off-season to replace Stephen Odey with Victor Mbaoma from Remo Stars and the young striker is showing signs of promise as he scored three times in pre-season. Mbaoma’s teammate at Remo Stars, Oche Salefu also joined the Olukoya Boys but is doubtful for the opening game against Akwa United on Monday.

The Olukoya Boys also have Wilfred Ammeh and ex-Warri Wolves striker Zinte Udeh for the tournament.

Kano Pillars are beginning to look like Enyimba as they added petite midfielder Nzube Anaezemba and Ibrahim Mustapha to their playing personnel. They already have ex-Enyimba players in Chinedu Udoji, Emmanuel Anyanwu, Sikiru Kamal and Idris Aloma.

At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Messi scored twice in the 3-2 win over a turbo-charged Super Eagles in Porto Alegre.

He fired blanks in other games against Eagles. The first was the final match of the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing. He also followed up

the no-show against Nigeria at the 2010 World Cup group game in South Africa and the friendly match in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2011.

Manchester City players celebrating the record-breaking 2-1 defeat of Manchester United at Old Trafford...yesterday

Man City Beats United to Go 11 Points Clear Manchester City yesterday stretched its lead at the top of the table to 11 points and created English Premier League history with a 14th successive victory this season as the Citizens overcame Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Pep Guardiola’s side also ended United’s 40-match unbeaten run at home - which stretched back to the win in September 2016 - to strike a potentially decisive blow

against its closest rivals in the title race.

City took the deserved lead when man-of-the-match David Silva hooked home from close range after confusion at a corner on 42 minutes, only for United to be handed a lifeline in first-half stoppage time when poor defending from Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph allowed Marcus Rashford to steal in for a composed finish.

Otamendi made amends

nine minutes after the break when Romelu Lukaku - who had a nightmare game lashed at a clearance in the area and the City defender pounced on the rebound to score.

Citizens, who have dropped only two points in their first 16 games, had opportunities to extend their lead but it was keeper Ederson who made the decisive late intervention with a miraculous double late save from the luckless Lukaku

and substitute Juan Mata.

Guardiola’s side become the first team to win 14 successive Premier League games in a single season, also levelling Arsenal’s outright top-flight record, set between between February and August 2002.

It is a brave call to declare the Premier League title race over in early December - but the statistics and evidence is piling up to suggest the chase is on for second place behind Manchester City.

Nigeria Wins AfriGlobal C O P A L A G O S Unity Skate Soccer Cup Ambode Commends Beach Nigeria at the weekend defeated Ghana 8-1 in the AfriGlobal Unity Skate Soccer Fiesta at the Agege Stadium in Lagos.

The competition, which was organised by International Federation for Skate Soccer (IFSS) and co-sponsored by AfriGlobal Group and Binatone, was well attended by the fans.

Nigeria came back from one goal down to beat their arch rivals in the returned leg on Saturday. Ghana won the first leg 3-2 in Ghana.

Speaking after the game, IFSS President, Sunil Lalvani said he was satisfied with the quality displayed by both teams.

He insisted that the federation would used the Nigerian event as the yardstick for the African tournament to be hosted by Ghana next March.

“It was a very competitive game between Nigeria and Ghana. It was a very fantastic game. When Nigeria lost 3-2 to Ghana in the first game I expected Nigeria to fight back and they did just that. Nigeria played with confidence and dominated the encounter,” Lalvani noted.

In his own reaction, The Group General Manager, AfriGlobal, Maneesh Garg, heaped praises on both teams for the quality of para-soccer displayed.

“I have never seen this kind of energy exhibited by these players in my life. They played well and gave everything to the game. AfriGlobal is very proud to be associated with this sport and will continue to do our best to make it great,” Garg said.

Soccer Eagles, Gidi Sharks

Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, has applauded the performance of the country’s beach soccer team, the Beach Eagles, after putting up a great job at the 2017 COPA Lagos Beach Soccer Tournament that ended yesterday.

The state governor also hailed the state’s team, Gidi Sharks, for putting up an impressive performance at the three-day competition.

Speaking to newsmen on behalf of the governor, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, said Governor Ambode was happy with the performance of the two teams.

“It was a good outing for

the Eagles defeating Morocco and Lebanon in their first two matches,” he said.

“Looking at some of the countries that participated at the competition like Lebanon and Morocco, they both have beach soccer leagues and defeating them showed that we have potentials to be giant if we build on the success made so far in the game.

“I really want to appreciate the Eagles for their strong mentality because they have shown that with proper league, they can rule the world.

“I want to also give kudos to the Lagos State team, Gidi Sharks, for what they were able to achieve at the tournament.”

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MISSILE Buhari to Ganduje “What I saw in the elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers, the use of money and those things really upset me. I don’t wish to see that anywhere. I would not have won if money and killing was the modus of operation. That is my view of politics” – President Muhammadu Buhari responding to Kano State governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje’s plea to sanitise party politics to rid it of vote buying and violence.

IJEOMANWOGWUGWU BEHIND THE FIGURES

ijeoma.nwogwugwu@thisdaylive.com

Agbaje: Using Fairs to Redefine Retail Banking

S

egun Agbaje, the managing director/ CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), is not a popular man. To many, he is aloof, too strait-laced, not your typical run-of-the-mill Nigerian. As one of Nigeria’s foremost bankers, he has a reputation for running a tight and efficient ship, is unflinching in his pursuit and recovery of loans from the country’s systemically chronic debtors who have a sense of entitlement believing that they can borrow depositors’ funds without paying back, and does not give a hoot about those critical of his take-noprisoners approach to banking.

In the media space, he does not seek publicity, he lets his work speak for itself, could not care less if his story or photograph makes the front page of the newspapers, limits his bank’s advertising spend to what he believes is necessary to market and promote GTBank to a wider audience, and through NdaniTV and Ndani Blog understands the power of the social media in reaching out to youths that make a larger percentage of Nigeria’s and regional demographic where the bank operates.

To me, Agbaje is the ideal banker. He is not my friend and we only interact sparingly and strictly professionally as the need arises. Yet, I cannot help but wish that we had more bankers like him in this country. If we did, fewer Nigerian lenders would have to make provisions for unpardonable impairment charges on bad loans given to delinquent debtors, fewer banks would engage in reckless insider lending that threaten their capital adequacy and liquidity ratios, more banks would recognise that they have a fiduciary responsibility to manage their customers’ deposits with care, and more banks would know how to sweat their assets in the most cost-efficient manner to make the most attractive returns to their shareholders.

In all the key parameters used in defining the size of banks, GTBank, among the five Tier 1 banks in the country, is not by any stretch of imagination the biggest. In terms of total assets, loans and advances, customer deposits, number of branches, and presence on the African continent and beyond, FirstBank, Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) stand head and shoulders above GTBank. By Nigerian standards, the “big three” could be called banking behemoths and are very difficult to supplant. Still, GTBank, with its cost optimisation strategy, asset quality and stability ratios, among others, has over time proved to be the most profitable bank in the country. Its stock has remained the bellwether in the banking segment of the Nigerian bourse for years, signposting the confidence institutional and individual investors have in the bank.

But this article is not about GTBank’s financial performance. Its annual and quarterly reports, including those of its peers, are public documents that can be readily accessed for in-depth comparative assessment. What I have found more interesting about the bank is its focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Agbaje

and interventions in key economic sectors targeted at strengthening small businesses through not-for-profit fairs and capacity building initiatives. For two years in a row, GTBank has solely funded and hosted its Food and Drink Fair and Fashion Weekends, making them social and tourist events that feature prominently on Nigeria’s social calendar. That is not to say that the bank has not focused on other areas of CSR. Its 2016 annual report showed that GTBank

In the last two years, GTBank has handled both fairs singlehandedly without support from other institutions and/or the Lagos State government, a direct beneficiary of the events and their spin-offs. In 2016, the food and drink fair alone attracted 25,000 people; this year, it attracted 75,000 people

spent about 58 per cent of the N449.62 million of its CSR funds on education alone while community development accounted for another 30.8 per cent.

But it is GTBank’s focus on food, drink and fashion that have been the most impactful publicly, bringing together scores of promising, talented and recognised local and international chefs and food vendors, drinks makers and merchants, fashion houses, milliners, fashion accessory designers and leather goods makers in a dizzying, well-put together and well-thought out extravaganza that leaves the public yearning for more. Both events, which are open to the public, have been attended by several thousands of people, including children, for two years running that have left attendees breathless and wondering how the bank manages to package the two fairs in areas where it has no competencies.

The trick, says Agbaje, whom I had to hound to open up on the success behind both fairs, is getting and attracting the best participants and controlling costs by getting the bank to work directly with the contractors who have to build the stalls, decorate the venue, create play areas and cooking classes exclusively for children, and provide the music, etc., during both fairs; no middlemen or consultants are used by the bank. For him, the fairs present an opportunity for GTBank to deepen its footprint in the retail banking space and increase its SME lending from 2 per cent of the bank’s loan book to 10 per cent over the next five years.

With time, he would also rather extend more loans to small and medium-sized businesses that are more impactful on the economy and achieve a loan recovery rate of 70-80 per cent, than pursue Nigeria’s so-called “big men” with woeful credit track records. Although he was demur about what it costs his bank to host both events, he was emphatic that making money at this juncture is not the overdriving objective, at least not in the short-term, but recognises the long-term benefits not just for GTBank but other Nigerian lenders.

Beyond this objective and given the magnitude of both fairs and their potential to grow into annual events that could attract millions from across the global, Agbaje’s vision is not one to be trifled with. Already, the GTBank Food and Drink Fair and the GTBank Fashion Weekend create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and referrals for hundreds of young Nigerians who have to build the stalls, decorate the venue, and provide the music, entertainment, security and other support services to make them a resounding success. And they have the potential to create even more.

Aside the suppliers, vendors and designers that make brisk business and achieve record sales during the fairs, the Master Classes included in both events are helping to build capacity and drive innovation in the creative industry that has proved to be a major magnate for Nigerian and African youths. By bringing them under one roof, GTBank has also

provided a platform for shared services and given them the exposure that help these small businesses to grow and create more employment opportunities.

Without doubt, both fairs are worthy initiatives. But they could be better. In the last two years, GTBank has handled both fairs singlehandedly without support from other institutions and/or the Lagos State government, a direct beneficiary of the events and their spin-offs. In 2016, the food and drink fair alone attracted 25,000 people; this year, it attracted 75,000 people. I do not have the numbers for the bank’s fashion weekends, but I can imagine that the number of visitors will not be far off from those who attended the food and drink fairs.

Given the swelling numbers, both fairs have already started to cause traffic gridlocks on the days they are held. They are also attracting touts and hoodlums who mill around the roads leading to the venue and try to pounce on unsuspecting visitors as they alight from their cars or walk to the venue. On a positive note, big and boutique hotels, restaurants and food caterers on the Lagos Island experience an upsurge in occupancy rates and patronage by participants and the international media who have flown in to take part or cover the events. All these translate to more tourist dollars, taxes and revenue generation for the federal and Lagos State governments.

The import of this should not be lost on the federal and Lagos State governments.

They have to do more than just show a passing interest in what GTBank has started. Given the potential for both fairs to become global destinations for tourists and visitors on the African continent, Lagos State in particular needs to improve on its infrastructure in and around the venue where both fairs are held. It must improve on traffic management and security to ensure that visitors can move about with ease and feel secure. According to Agbaje, in terms of support, the state government has not yet stepped up to the plate, nor has his bank sought for any. But he does acknowledge that with time, GTBank will have to reach out to Lagos State because of the interest both fairs are generating in terms of attendance and participation.

Right now, Agbaje appears to be satisfied with what his bank has accomplished in terms of bringing both fairs to the public’s consciousness. But do the federal and state governments understand the roles that they have to play in institutionalising them and ensuring that they outlast his stewardship in GTBank? Cities like Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, New York and Melbourne that host major sporting, fashion, carnivals, music and film festivals every year, attracting thousands of visitors do not owe their success just to corporate sponsors but to the municipalities, state and federal governments that understand their roles and lend the required support to the private sector. As such, Lagos State needs to buy into the GTBank fairs as a public-private partnership that can and should work.

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