Friday 26th JANUARY 2018

FG Plans $2.5bn Eurobond Sale in Q1, Seeks Return to JPMorgan Index Weaker dollar may not hurt naira, says Osinbajo Obinna Chima with agency report Nigeria may sell $2.5 billion of Eurobonds in the first quarter to refinance its domestic debt

and wants to start talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co. about being reinstated on its local-currency emergingmarket bond index, the Debt Management Office (DMO)

has revealed.

The issuance would complete a dollar-debt programme that started with selling $3 billion of Eurobonds in November, the Director

General of the DMO, Patience Oniha told Bloomberg.

The yield on dollar bonds due November 2027 have fallen about 60 basis points since they were issued late

last year to 5.92 per cent, almost eight percentage points lower than the yield on similar maturity local-currency government bonds.

President Muhammadu

Buhari’s administration is selling more foreign debt to help reduce the financing burden from paying doubleContinued on page 8

Defence Minister Blames Anti-Grazing Law, Not Herdsmen for Killings… Page 8 Friday 26 January, 2018 Vol 23. No 8317. Price: N250

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Amendment to Electoral Act Causes Discomfort in Presidency, INEC As senate empanels c’ttee to reconcile differences in Bill Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The House of Representatives’ amendments to the Electoral Act, which effected a change in the

election order, has caused ripples and discomfort in the presidency and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), THISDAY has learnt.

The amendment to Section

25 of the Electoral Act, 2010, which the House members voted for on Tuesday, would see the National Assembly elections holding first, before elections into the State Houses of Assembly and

governorship on a separate day, while the presidential election would be conducted last to complete the general election cycle.

Specifically, the House amended Section 25 of the

Principal Act and substituted it with a new Section 25 (1).

According to the amended version, the elections shall be held in the following order: (a) National Assembly elections (b) State Houses of

Assembly and Governorship elections (c) Presidential election.

Similarly, Section 87 was amended by adding a new Continued on page 10

APC C’ttee Backs Devolution of Power, Revives Onshore, Offshore Debate Okays state police, referendums, fiscal federalism, others Rejects state creation, proposes mergers Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The All Progressives Congress (APC) committee on true federalism yesterday submitted its report to the leadership of the party with one of its key recommendations that the constitution be amended so that power can be devolved from the federal government to the states.

Chiefly, it made a recommendation for the movement of mining, minerals, oil fields and natural gas from the Exclusive List of the Constitution to the Concurrent List, so that the states will have control over their mineral resources, but

this shall be limited to onshore resources only.

With this recommendation, the committee revived the ageold debate on the onshore, offshore dichotomy.

While giving support for the amendment of the Constitution to allow for state police, power devolution and referendum, the APC committee failed to uphold the agitation for the creation of additional states, recommending instead that avenues for the merger of some states be explored instead.

Speaking during the presentation of the committee’s report yesterday, the chairman Continued on page 10

Buhari Heads for AU Summit, May Meet Obasanjo... Page 51

HAILING AMOSUN AT 60...

L-R: Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice-Chairman Aiteo Global Group, Mr. Haffner Onochie; Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga; Group Managing Director, Aiteo Power, Dr. Ransome Owan; Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; and Group Managing Director, Aiteo Eastern E&P Co. Ltd., Mr. Chike Onyejekwe, when the executive management of Aiteo Group visited the governor in Abeokuta, Ogun State to felicitate with him on his 60th birthday… yesterday

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Defence Minister Blames Anti-Grazing Law, Not Herdsmen for Killings Concerned about US terms for Tucano aircraft sale Comments by prominent Nigerians on social media to be monitored Policeman, farmer killed in fresh Benue attack Omololu Ogunmade, Paul Obi in Abuja and George Okoh in Makurdi The Minister of Defence, Col. Dan-Alli (rtd.) yesterday in Abuja stoked the embers of fire, when he claimed that the enactment of the anti-grazing laws by some states was the immediate cause of violence by herders.

The minister who made the claim while briefing journalists at the end of a security council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in the State House, Abuja, blamed the enactment of such laws on the unwillingness of the affected communities to accommodate their fellow Nigerians.

Disclosing that the meeting discussed the herders-farmers’ conflicts, Dan-Ali who said there were immediate and remote causes of the crises, highlighted the remote cause as the blockage of cattle routes which he said were available at independence.

He insisted that the immediate cause for the herders-farmers’ conflict was the unwillingness by communities to accommodate the herders whom he described as their fellow Nigerians. “You see, when ever a crisis happens at any time, there are remote and immediate causes. Look at this issue (of killings in Benue and Taraba), what is the remote cause of this farmers’ crisis? “Since the nation’s Independence, we know there used to be routes whereby the cattle rearers took because they are all over the nation. You go to Bayelsa, Ogun, you will see them. If those routes are blocked, what do you expect will happen? “These people are Nigerians. It is just like going to block the shoreline, does that make sense to you? These are the remote causes of the crisis. But the immediate cause is the grazing law. These people are Nigerians and we must learn to live together with

each other. “Communities and other people must learn how to accept foreigners within their enclave, finish!� he said.

But when asked if the claims of the immediate and remote causes of the conflicts that he listed were justifiable reasons for the mindless killings of hapless Nigerians by the herders, Dan-Alli described the situation as a matter of internal security, claiming further that some of the killings were perpetrated by militants.

He also attributed the rampant killings by the herders to the proliferation of arms in the country, a reason he said propelled the approval for the establishment of the new National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons by the security council yesterday to check the menace, pointing out that no unauthorised person is allowed to possess or carry arms in the country. “You are deviating from what I came here to do.

However, this is internal security. I can provide some answers: I have told you that the immediate cause is the grazing law. Since independence, there were clear routes where these people passed. “On the issue of arms, they are all over the place. In the killings you are talking about, there are also militias that also did the killings.

Some people were caught with arms and they call themselves forest (livestock) guards or whatever with AK47s. “There is no where in this country where arms are allowed to be carried other than by legitimate security forces. So, anybody carrying any arm is doing so illegally. “Militias were caught in the same land doing the same killings. So, the killings were not done by any particular group. It is a communal issue,� he claimed.

Reminded that there were claims by the presidency at the weekend that the killings

were being carried out by foreign terrorists, Dan-Ali swiftly added: “Of course, that is why I said they are militias. Militias are part of illegal immigrants. These are the people.�

He also disclosed that the security council approved the establishment of the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons, which shall be chaired by a retired army general and will include all the service chiefs, the National Security Adviser and Minister of Interior to come up with measures aimed at checking the proliferation of arms.

According to Dan-Ali, the commission was inaugurated yesterday and commenced work immediately.

He also said the meeting deliberated on the planned sale of 12 Super Tucano A29 aircraft by the United States to Nigeria and the terms and conditions for the sale.

Dan-Alli, who said the aircraft were being offered to Nigeria at the cost of $494 million, added that the terms and conditions for the purchase of the aircraft were stringent, disclosing that the deadline for payment given by the U.S. government was February 20.

He added that the $494 million includes the cost of training.

Speaking on the terms and conditions for the sale of the Super Tucano aircraft, the minister highlighted these to include undertaking training where the facilities will be accommodated as well as the inclusion of continuous service contracts for the aircraft.

Another stringent condition included the arrival of the aircraft in two years time and disallowing Nigerian technicians from participating in production inspection. “Some of the stringent conditions include that we will start getting them from 2020, which is two years from now. They are also thinking of not allowing our technicians to be part of the production inspection. “But this is what we

normally do in all defence contracts: We send our personnel to go and understudy the production process, especially when it comes to specialised contracts. “Like in Russia, our personnel are permanently based where the production is being done for the MI35 helicopters,� he said.

Providing further clarification on the deliberations at the security council yesterday, the minister’s spokesman, Col Tukur Gusau, said the president yesterday gave approval for the establishment of a National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

The presidential approval, he said, automatically transformed the previous Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons into a full fledge commission to function under the purview of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Ministry of Defence. “In compliance with the presidential directive for the establishment of National Commission on the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the country, the Ministry of Defence in conjunction with the Office of the National Security Adviser has set up a committee to work out modalities to transform the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM) to a national commission,� he said.

Gusau said the minister commended Buhari for his continuous funding of the Armed Forces to perform its constitutional role, especially now that Nigeria is confronting multiple security challenges. “The minister informed the council that in line with the decision of the present government to increase the strength of the Armed Forces to address the manpower challenges, the three services had in the last two years enlisted and recruited qualified Nigerians. “The Ministry of

Defence is also building befitting accommodation for members of the Armed Forces in the six geopolitical zones. Similar accommodation was built by the Defence Headquarters and commissioned by the minister in Abuja last month. “This has gone a long way to solving accommodation problems and boosting the morale of personnel serving in Abuja. “Similarly, during the period under review, the military pension verification exercise was conducted in all the 36 states and the FCT, the process enabled the Military Pension Board to update its data payroll and ensure financial savings for the government,� he added.

Gusau also revealed that the minister briefed the council on the need by the relevant security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, tackle the propagation of hate speech through the social media particularly by some notable Nigerians.

On this, he said the Armed Forces were currently synergising with other security agencies through intelligence sharing and joint operations to address the various security challenges in Nigeria.

Though Gusau did not specify the class of notable Nigerians, the move may not be unconnected to the government’s plans to monitor the social media activities of Nigerians across board.

The plan last year was greeted with public condemnation over the attempt by government to prevent citizens’ right to free speech. “The minister also briefed the council on the update of the presidential visit to the Kingdom of Jordan from 2-3 December 2017. The visit provided an avenue for the implementation of an agreement for the procurement of excess defence articles from Jordan. The agreement entails rebuilding and modernisation of some of our military platforms,�

Gusau said.

Policeman, Farmer Killed in Benue But even as the council deliberated on the security challenges in the country, at least two persons including a police officer were among those killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen yesterday in Guma Local government Area of Benue State, just as several others were reported missing.

This was disclosed by the Benue State Governor Dr. Samuel Ortom, when he hosted the former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso in Makurdi, the state capital.

According to the governor, a farmer in Guma was slaughtered and burnt in his house while the policeman was shot dead.

He said despite the presence of security agencies, the attackers were still carrying out horrific killings in the state.

The governor also reiterated his call for the arrest of members of the Miyatti Allah Kautal Hore, whom he said were behind the killings in the state.

According to him, “People who are saying I’m talking too much. They should give me justice and I will keep quiet.�

He alleged that those attacking Benue were known to the security agencies but the agencies had not been able to arrest them.

In his response Kwamkwanso said he was in the state to pay condolences to the governor and people of Benue over the slaughter of innocent people by criminals in recent weeks.

He condemned the killings and disclosed that he and his colleagues in the National Assembly were putting heads together to find a solution to the age-long crisis.

He also donated 1,200 bags of rice to the 80,000 displaced persons in various camps in the state.

Meanwhile, the police yesterday confirmed that one policeman was shot dead in Guma while another officer was missing.

FG PLANS $2.5BN EUROBOND SALE IN Q1, SEEKS RETURN TO JPMORGAN INDEX digit yields on local-currency bonds.

That would help free up funds to increase investment in infrastructure and spur economic growth.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast the Nigerian economy will expand by 2.1 per cent this year compared with 0.8 per cent in 2017, driven by the oil sector.

The issuance is “subject to market conditions�, Oniha said in an interview in Abuja. The whole $2.5 billion could be raised in one go or in tranches, she added.

Oniha said the government also plans to begin talks with JPMorgan about being included in its government bond index for emerging markets.

The nation’s naira securities were removed

in 2015 because of foreigncurrency shortages. “We would like to get back on the index,� Oniha said.

Daily trading volumes for the naira have risen to about $200 million from as little as $20 million three years ago, according to Standard Chartered Plc. That bodes well for discussions on returning to the index, according to Oniha. “The securities trading was never the problem, it was always the foreigncurrency liquidity,� which has now improved, she said. “The government is looking to sell another Sukuk -- debt that complies with Sharia principles -after the 2018 budget is approved. The securities are tied to specific projects,�

Oniha added.

Nigeria in September sold a seven-year Sukuk of N100 billion ($278 million), and used the proceeds to fund development of 25 roads across the country.

Due to declining borrowing costs in Nigeria, corporate bond sales are expected, probably after the second quarter as the process of issuing improves, Oniha explained. “There is money on the table. Rates are lower. So let’s begin to work on encouraging corporate bonds. The main reason there aren’t many corporate bonds in Nigeria is because interest rates were too high,� she said.

Of the $3 billion raised in November’s Eurobond sale, $2.5 billion went to funding the 2017 budget, and $500 million to refinancing local debt.

On her part, the Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said the government was focused on improving the economy, saying indexes would “naturally� return to Nigeria when they see adjustments in line with their requirements. “JPMorgan have their own framework of how they evaluate an economy, and when they are ready, when conditions are good, they will list Nigeria again,� Adeosun said in an interview in her office in Abuja She added: “We should just move in our own direction. What we need to do is to re-position this economy. JPMorgan or any other index will come naturally. “My focus really is on the recovery of the economy.

They will come when the

macro fundamentals are right. They left because the macro fundamentals were not right,� Adeosun said.

Meanwhile, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said a weaker United States dollar does not necessarily hurt the Nigerian economy.

According to Reuters, Osinbajo made the comment after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin welcomed a weaker dollar, saying it benefited U.S. trade balances in the short term.

OPEC member Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer.

Crude oil sales make up two-thirds of Nigeria’s government revenues and most of its foreign exchange earnings. “A weaker dollar doesn’t necessarily hurt Nigeria,�

Osinbajo said while Continued on page 10

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NGN NGN 2.03 22.10 0.18 4.43 0.49 12.49 0.50 13.00 0.48 12.68 NGN NGN 2.02 18.88 0.24 2.31 0.27 2.65 SKYEBANK 0.13 1.28 UNITYBANK 0.12 1.20 HPE Nestle Nig Plc â‚Ś1,500.00 Volume: 536.430 million shares Value: N6.634 billion Deals: 6,002 As at yesterday 25/01/18 See details on Page 43

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NEWS AMENDMENT TO ELECTORAL ACT CAUSES DISCOMFORT IN PRESIDENCY, INEC Subsection (11) on the order and timing for the conduct of primaries political parties. “The primaries of political parties shall follow the following sequence: (i) State Houses of Assembly (ii) National Assembly (iii) Governorship, and (iv) Presidential. “The dates for the above stated primaries shall not be held earlier than 120 days and not later than 90 days before the date of elections to the offices.�

The House also amended Section 36 to allow the running mates of candidates who die before the conclusion of elections to inherit the votes of the dead candidates and continue with the process.

The proposed amendments, which came barely two weeks after INEC released the final timetable for the 2019 elections, differ from the current order that provides for the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections first, and governorship and state assembly elections conducted afterwards.

Going by the INEC

timetable, the presidential and National Assembly elections were slated for February 16, 2019, while the state assembly and governorship elections have been scheduled for March 2, 2019.

But sources told THISDAY yesterday that the presidency was shocked by the amendments and considers them a deliberate ploy by the leaders of the National Assembly to influence the upcoming polls.

The fear in the presidency is that the bandwagon effect of the first set of elections into the National Assembly could affect the other elections.

Under the current order, the reverse is the case as the outcome of the presidential elections, in particular, has a bandwagon effect on the governorship and state assembly elections.

With the re-ordering of the primaries, the House has also made sure that the state governors minimise their influence on the conduct of primaries for the state and national legislatures, so that

candidates vying for seats in the assemblies can in turn back them (governors) at their own primaries.

Speaking on the amendments passed by the House, a lawmaker explained yesterday that the presidency had expected that the lower chamber would have gone the way of the Senate with the amendments. “The presidency had expected the House to go the way of the Senate, which made its own amendments to the Electoral Act since early last year. “The amendments by the House are considered suspicious because of the bandwagon effect of elections in this part of the world. “If the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), for instance, wins the majority seats in the National Assembly, that momentum could affect other elections and voters may not be so inclined to vote for another party. “So there is a fear that it is the deliberate handwork of the Senate President and

the Speaker,� the lawmaker, who preferred not to be named, said.

Another source in the National Assembly said that with growing concerns that Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara may decamp to another party, the amendments may have been deliberate. “Remember that there are already moves to see to the impeachment of Saraki, who they fear may be planning to move to another party to actualise his presidential or even senate ambition (with the way things are going in the APC), and Dogara may not be able to retain his seat under the APC also as he is at war with the governor of his state. “So the fear is that the two men may move together to another party, which is being tagged the ‘Third Force’, and the amendment may have the impact of helping that ‘force’ win more seats,� the source explained. “As it is, the Senate has set up its conference committee to harmonise the two versions (Senate

and House amendments) but in the presidency, the feeling is that the committee would go with the House’s amendments. “And this will put the president in a spot if he declines to sign, as he may be perceived to be against free and fair elections even though he has been a beneficiary,� the source added.

He noted that even if President Muhammadu Buhari elects to veto the legislation when passed, the National Assembly would most likely override his veto, making the amendment to the Electoral Act a fait accompli.

The source, however, clarified that the discomfort in INEC stems from the fact that the electoral body already has its plans outlined with the recent release of the timetable, and may have to rearrange its plans.

Reinforcing this position, the Senate yesterday announced the composition of its conference committee to reconcile the differences in the amended version of

the Electoral Act passed by the House of Representatives and the version passed by the Senate last year.

Members of the Senate conference committee, as announced by Saraki, include Senators Shehu Sani, Biodun Olujimi, Hope Uzodinma, Dino Melaye and Peter Nwaoboshi.

The conference committee is to be chaired by the chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Suleiman Nazif.

The committee is expected to meet with the House to harmonise the Senate version of the Electoral Bill with that of the lower chamber before it is sent to the president for his assent.

Saraki yesterday also announced the appointment of Senator Victor Umeh as the vice-chairman of the Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity.

Umeh, who was sworn in last week, represents Anambra Central Senatorial District in the Senate on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

National Judicial Council (NJC) will exercise control over the appointment and discipline of judges of the federal government only. “We have proposed the creation of the state Court of Appeal so that from the High Court, you can first appeal to the state Court of Appeal before it goes to the Supreme Court of the Federation. Again, this is consistent with federal practice all over the world,� el-Rufai explained.

The committee also proposed a constitutional amendment to allow for referendums to be conducted on burning national or state issues before decisions are taken. “Right now, the Constitution has no room for referendums, but only in the creation of states,� he said.

On independent candidacy, the committee noted that majority of respondents were opposed to it.

However, the committee said it still recommended that parties should support proposals for independent candidates since the demand is for widening the political space. “We believe that having independent candidates with the necessary safeguards will make the political parties more honest and more democratic. “So, because a majority of the respondents were against independent

candidacy, we believe largely that this was because most of those that took an interest in our deliberations were party members. “However, we believe that widening the political space is consistent with the APC and the president’s commitment and we have made recommendations for independent candidacy but with very strict conditions.�

The committee chairman said that apart from the recommendations contained in the report, the committee also went ahead to compile draft legislations in the form of bills, which can be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration.

Earlier, while receiving the report of the committee, the National Chairman of APC, Chief John OdigieOyegun, said: “Today is one of our proudest moments since we were entrusted with the task of running this party and we have succeeded in producing the government which has sustained us till date and today. “We have a report by a team of the most intelligent, young Nigerians, young Nigerians dealing with the most fundamental issues and challenges that beset this nation.�

Oyegun assured Nigerians that the leadership of the party will study the report of the committee with a view to making its recommendations to the government.

in the army. Security is dynamic and you have to keep working at it,�

Osinbajo said. He did not provide details of the number of new recruits.

Attacks on energy facilities in the Niger Delta region pushed Africa’s biggest economy into recession in 2016, its first in 25 years.

Niger Delta Avengers, the group which claimed responsibility for most of

the attacks, last week said it would resume attacks within days. “We are in constant consultation with all groups in the Niger Delta,� said Osinbajo, when asked about the government’s response to the latest threat.

The country’s recovery has largely been driven by crude oil sales since emerging from the recession in the second quarter of 2017.

APC C’TTEE BACKS DEVOLUTION OF POWER, REVIVES ONSHORE, OFFSHORE DEBATE of the committee and Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai said the committee engaged about 8,040 persons during 14 sittings throughout the federation; had 12 public consultations in all the six geopolitical zones in the country, while 409 memoranda were received from respondents.

He said the committee initially started with 10 members but was expanded to 23 members.

He added that in the process of their research, Nigerians indicated interest in 24 issues. “Out of these 24 items, the committee made recommendation on 13 in the report, which has four volumes,� El-Rufai noted.

On the issue of exploitation and revenue sharing of resources accruing from oil minerals or what is popularly known as “resource control�, the governor said the committee proposed that mining, minerals, oil should go to the states but that it should be limited to onshore areas. “There will be certain constitutional amendments.

The Petroleum Act will be amended to show that states can now issue oil mining licences; the Land Use Act, Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act, the Petroleum Profit Tax Act, 2007, would all need to be amended. “So, we have proposed amendments that will ensure that minerals, mining and oil are vested

in the states except offshore minerals,� he said.

Among the 24 items identified by the committee and for which it carried out opinion surveys on were on the creation of states, merger of states, state police, the derivation principle, fiscal federalism, local government autonomy, devolution of powers, type of government, independent candidacy, public holidays, the land tenure system, power sharing and rotation, type of legislature, affirmation for vulnerable groups like the physically challenged, women and youths, the minimum wage, border adjustment, secular statutes of the country, and the conduct of referendums.

On the police, the governor said the committee recommended that this be moved to the Concurrent List. “We are recommending that police should be both federal and state,� he said.

On public holidays, the Kaduna governor said the committee proposed that public holidays be moved from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List so that there will be federal public holidays and state public holidays. “This is already happening unconstitutionally. This will just make the action of state governments lawful and legal and avoid confrontation with the federal government,� he explained.

On the agitation for state

creation, el-Rufai said the outcome of the committee’s survey showed that only 36 per cent of the respondents supported it, adding that a majority rejected the demand for the creation of more states.

But he said that thought there was no consensus on the merger of states, the committee felt there was need to allow states the option of coming together. “The first item that we felt needs legislative action on is the merger of states.

It is pertinent to note that only 36 per cent of Nigerians want more states created while a majority of Nigerians don’t want more states. “For us, since the creation of states is already in the Constitution, there is no action needed than to implement that. “So, the first recommendation for which we have proposed a draft bill for constitutional amendment is the merger of states. Though there was no consensus from stakeholders on the merger of states, we felt that we should propose a bill that allows states to merge and it is left for the National Assembly, the party and the people of Nigeria to decide on that. “On the issue of the derivation principle, the committee recommended that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission

Act be amended to vest it with the powers to periodically review the derivation formula and make recommendations to the president who shall table the same before the National Assembly for necessary action. “With regard to fiscal federalism and revenue allocation, the committee proposed an amendment to Subsection 2 of the Constitution to give more revenue to the states and reduce the federal government’s share,� he explained.

El-Rufai also explained that there was overwhelming popular demand for the devolution of powers to the states and the committee recommended the same. “Hence the committee has recommended that in the First Schedule of the Constitution, Part 1 and 2 be amended to transfer some powers to the states.�

Another area which the APC committee made daring recommendations was the proposal to amend the Constitution to provide that states should be allowed to develop and enact laws to have local government administration systems that are peculiar to each of them.

The report of the committee also proposed an amendment to create the State Judicial Council (SJC) that will appoint and discipline judges within a state while the

FG PLANS $2.5BN EUROBOND SALE IN Q1, SEEKS RETURN TO JPMORGAN INDEX speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. “We are concerned most about ensuring that we are able to make our own exports cheaper and we working on all of that.

Our major concern is how to make ourselves more competitive,� he added.

The welcoming of a weakened dollar, seen by markets as a departure from the usual U.S. currency

policy, has been seen as an indication that President Donald Trump is stepping up his attack on China and other big trading partners as part of his America First agenda.

Trump arrived in Davos yesterday.

Earlier this month the president was accused of using vulgar language against Haiti and African countries, though he denied using the specific language.

“We need each other: Africa needs America.

America also needs Africa in several important ways, so for me the most important thing is that we continue to maintain those relationships,� Osinbajo said, when asked about the alleged remarks. “I’m also told that Mr. Trump has said that he did not in fact make those statements and we should be able to accept that,� he

said.

The vice-president also discussed security in Africa’s most populous nation, which is contending with Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast and working to maintain a fragile peace in the restive southern Niger Delta oil-producing region. “We are recruiting more policemen and we are recruiting more people

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COMMENT

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

WIKE’S BOUNTY AND A SAFE NATION Wike’s bounty could help to eliminate irrational killings, writes Ikeogu Oke

Did Wike’s bounty create the magic That found those agents of the tragic, The killers who menaced his state, And served their gang a bitter fate? – Ikeogu Oke, “Wike’s Bounty� s we seek solutions to the mass killings that have wracked our nation’s peace in recent times, the N200 million bounty Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike placed on the killers of 17 people in the state on January 1, 2018, should specially interest us. So should the swift response of security operatives who liquidated the alleged culprits. “For desperate ills, desperate remedies,� goes a French saying. Which captures the circumstances of Wike’s and the security operatives’ response, though the ideal is for such suspects to be punished as sentenced by the law.

The interest should be in Wike’s response as a model of a desperate remedy for a desperate ill threatening our nation’s survival as a peaceful, safe and united entity; since, with similar killings by herdsmen taking place rather concurrently in other states, there is no apparent effort to bring the perpetrators to book. And this is despite their leader having virtually taken ownership of the killings, which claimed 73 lives in Benue State, including disembowelled women and children, by explaining them as a retaliation for the loss of their cattle in the victims’ territory.

Indeed, the summary execution of Osama bin Laden, as the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks, by the United States’ Navy Seals who stormed his hideout in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, and the shooting by London Police of three of the suspected terrorists in the London Bridge attack of June 7, 2017, which claimed eight lives, for which neither those responsible nor their countries were apologetic, show that situations arise in which even the “best� democracies, generally believed to be scrupulously respectful of human life and the rule of law, can ignore the ideal in responding to such national security emergencies that can be foisted on countries through such recent killings witnessed in Rivers and Benue States. To the above examples of desperate remedies for desperate ills, we may add the killing by the French Police on October 1, 2017, of a knife attacker who had stabbed two young women to death. All these are examples of serious governments acting swiftly to assure their citizens of their commitment to combat such murderous threats against them.

However, the runner-up to the American case, which takes the palm for taking its campaign to the air as well as abroad, actually comes from Africa. It is the case of the Egyptian Army using an air raid to kill some of the suspects in the November 24, 2017, mosque attack in Bir al-Abed, which killed 305 people and wounded 120. This comes second for taking its onslaught to the air but not also abroad like the American one.

Following the attack, the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, talked tough. He vowed that it would “not go unpunished�, and that the Egyptian “armed forces and the police will avenge� the country’s “martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force�.

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WIKE’S BOUNTY HAD AN ILLUSTRIOUS PEDIGREE IN ITS AMERICAN PREDECESSOR. IT ALSO PROVIDES A MODEL WHICH, FOLLOWED

BY OTHER LEADERS IN OUR COUNTRY TODAY, COULD ELIMINATE SUCH KILLINGS

BY INCENTIVISING SECURITY AGENTS TO ACT SWIFTLY TO DEAL WITH THE CULPRITS, RESTORING OURS AS A SAFE NATION

And there could hardly be a better expression of a country’s commitment to guaranteeing the safety of its citizens than the Egyptian Army spokesman Tamer Rifai stating that the Egyptian “air forces chased the terrorists and discovered and destroyed a number of vehicles that were involved in carrying out the brutal terrorist attackâ€? while “those on board were also killed.â€? This was a case of chasing down the assailants from the air, “who ‌ arrived in four 4WD vehicles.â€?

And if you come from a country like ours where, weeks after someone had virtually owned up to the murder of scores of its citizens on behalf of his group of herdsmen in a supposedly lawful state, and yet no arrest has been made, then you will appreciate why some of our citizens applauded President Donald Trump’s recent description of African countries, of which ours claims to be the giant, as “shit hole� countries.

And without such an intervention by Governor Wike, our country could pass for a giant “shit hole� of insecurity where 90 citizens killed by cultists, and herdsmen identified by our government as “foreigners�, “criminals�, or “fellow citizens� (by our President, Muhammadu Buhari, while appealing to their victim state to accommodate them), could have been buried with no apparent effort to deal decisively with the culprits as in the cases of the countries cited above.

If they are foreigners, it contradicts our claim to being able to defend our territorial integrity against such serial and deadly breaches by such invaders. If criminals, which would apply whether they are foreigners or our “fellow citizens�, it shows our incapacity to combat such large-scale, repetitious, murderous criminality within our shores, even as a threat to our nation’s survival like many consider the herdsmen’s attacks, an incapacity some would attribute to a failed state. And if our fellow citizens, it raises a question, in the light of Mr. President’s said plea, of whether our ability to empathise as a people has so degenerated that we now think the right response to the killing of our citizens by their compatriots is to urge the accommodation of the killers by their victim communities without bringing the killers, whose identities may not be unknown, to justice.

Incidentally, President Buhari is a patron of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACABAN), under whose banner the herdsmen operate. This exposes him to the suspicion that his tepid response to the killings by the herdsmen is due to conflict of interest.

And for those who think the killings by the herdsmen are cases of violent blackmail to force their victim communities to yield to their demand for grazing land for their cattle, emboldened by the tacit support of a president who is of Fulani ethnic stock like them, the president’s “I-ask-you-in-the-name-of-God-to-accommodate-your-countrymen� plea on behalf of the herdsman could seem an insensitive case of backing the violent blackmail with an emotional one, in a way that rubs salt on a fresh injury. And also puts the name of God to the perverse use of facilitating blackmail and the condonation of evil!

Oke, a poet, is the winner of the 2017 Nigeria Prize for Literature

ECHOES OF ANIMAL FARM

Dele Agekameh argues that Nigeria’s economy should not be allowed to be overrun by cattle

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hen George Orwell wrote his timeless book, Animal Farm, he was consumed by thoughts about the ills of communism and the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917.

In the satirical work published in 1945, Orwell imagined a dystopia where the masses, represented by farm animals, unite to topple their tyrannical overlords, chiefly represented by the human character of “Mr Jones�, the owner of the dystopian “Manor Farm�. The farm was then re-christened Animal Farmby the animals following their revolution. Thick in timeless satire about equality and the designs of oppressive leadership, the book remains one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century.

After Orwell’s dystopian farm animals successfully rebel against their owner, Mr Jones, by chasing him and his men out of the farm, “Napoleon�, the pig, became the de facto leader. And with the aid of propaganda, perpetually modified laws and a band of dogs trained to kill, he brings the animals under harsh rule that sees the pigs, like Mr Jones, enjoy the spoils of the new farm. In the end, the “laws of animalism� are subsumed into a single law – that “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.�

Animal Farm provokes thoughts about real problems of oppression and inequality in virtually every society. However, what many have never contemplated, and perhaps, beyond most people’s wildest imaginations, is an actual uprising of animals in society. Odd as it may seem, Nigeria now appears to be as close to this unfathomable experience as possible, especially as our cattle seem to have already acquired human vassals to do their bidding and enforce their will on us humans.

In recent times, allusions have been made to Nigeria being a zoo full of animals. One imagines what an animal government would look like in this ‘zoo’. Of course, cattle will run the show, due to

their already immeasurable contributions and efforts towards colonisation of humans as we have it in Nigeria today.

The first order of business for the animal government might be to suspend our laws and systems, to be replaced by a cattle-cracy, governed by the law of repercussion. This will ensure that cattle will be “more equal than other mammals� and one cow’s life will be worth several human lives as it is now happening in modern day Nigeria.

Since the cattle are mostly from the north, there would be a need for some measure of balance to assuage other animals. The South-west, being the enjoyment or owambe capital of Nigeria and the most cattle-loving region (never mind the nature of this love) would be a beneficiary in this regard. A worthy goat from the extensive stock of asun goats in the south west would suffice as the deputy head.

As we all know by now, if you put yam where a goat is, the goat will eat the yam. The head cow will ensure that there is plenty of yam to keep the deputy head goat occupied so he won’t interfere in the enjoyment of the cattle.

One imagines that there will also be strategic appointments into military and other security positions in the Animals’ Republic. Crocodiles from the Niger Delta will serve as marine guards in the inland waters and creeks, while great white sharks of the Atlantic, also found in the Niger Delta, will man territorial seas. The Chief of Air Staff will, of course, be a guinea fowl from the North East, to command a fleet of eagles and vultures. The Chief of Army Staff may be a ram, chosen by nepotism, also from the north, to command more qualified animals like tigers, lions and leopards. And dogs, who enjoy a good treat but can be quite ferocious at other times, will make good policemen under the new dispensation.

The inner caucus of the head cow at the Federal Cattle Territory (FCT) including the Chief of Staff and others, will most likely consist of hyenas

who will also populate the cattle secret police. An assortment of snakes and pigs will be in charge of ministries and the states, while some humans will be kept on as vassals and foot soldiers. One is only thankful that majority of these animals are herbivores. However, in a world of acquired tastes, as Napoleon and the other pigs prove in Animal Farm, one ought to be cautious with expectations.

The very first description of Napoleon in Animal Farm paints him as a “fierce looking� boar “with a reputation for getting his own way�. In like manner, the cattle-cratic code imposed by the head cow, one expects, will be quite simple when it comes to voting in elections. Whoever the cattle vote for, wins an election, although other animals would be allowed to vote. To keep up appearances as well, a true, unruly parliament of many animals will be created to engage in useless debates which will end up in fights as they devour each other.

Now, let us wake up from this cattle-cratic nightmare. It is scary that, were we in a world where animals have the intelligence to think up such elaborate schemes, the present situation of mindless killings in the country and the proposition of absurd laws do, in fact, seem like a preparation for such eventuality. Scarier still is the feeling of helplessness that has been fostered by the inaction of the security forces.

We may not be subject to any cattle-cratic codes now, and never will, but it is the symbolism that matters. Truth is, we are not far removed from the Orwellian dystopia of Animal Farm. In the past, we have switched from the kleptocratic oppression of one regime to another. Today, our country is caught in the throes of totalitarian oppression, the ramifications of which we are yet to fully grasp.

Unfortunately, there are no messiahs in waiting or in hiding for that matter to rescue us. We are only availed with more lecherous and serpentine boogeymen openly flirting with power and dwarfing all would-be champions of the people.

Since the first military coup in Nigeria in 1966, the country has been replicating Orwellian leadership in every form and system of government it has adopted. For this reason, many have been lured to other countries like the sugar-loving character of “Mollie� the mare (female horse) in Animal Farm that is enticed away from the farm with the promise of sugar, ribbons and other fineries. Many that remain are also like Mollie, concerned about themselves alone and their material wants.

Also in Animal Farm, there is a hardworking but impressionable horse named “Boxerâ€?. Of very low intelligence, Boxer works tirelessly with naĂŻve belief in Napoleon until he is eventually sold away to his death when he becomes old and sick and is no longer of value to Napoleon’s regime. Boxer is like many Nigerians with blind loyalty, including Fulani herdsmen, all other militant groups and even working professionals that allow cunning Napoleons all over the place to exploit them for selfish gains.

It seems we are a country of Mollies and Boxers, ruled by Napoleons who are wolves in sheep’s clothing and pigs at heart. The result of this mix is what we are experiencing at present. The answer is surely not in transforming the country into one giant cattle colony. Nigeria should not be overrun by cattle in the name of accommodating a tiny spec in the visible economy of the country. The cattle trade is an inadequately taxed cash business, and giving pride of place to a trade that generates little or nothing to the national purse is unsound reasoning, especially when it comes at the cost of human life.

Going into an election year, if the issue of cattle continues to dominate national discourse, we may find ourselves in a situation where it becomes an important factor in swinging votes. With the numbers of Fulani and other northerners involved in the cattle trade, and with the rhetoric coming from those quarters, we may eventually find ourselves in an actual cattle-cracy. Too bad!

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EDITORIAL THE UNENDING MAINA SCANDAL The nation needs to know the whole truth about the Maina affair

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f any proof was needed that the ďŹ ght against corruption by the current administration is no more than a self-deceiving ruse, it is in the desperation to prevent the Senate from investigating the circumstances under which the fugitive former Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina, was reinstated and promoted in the Federal Civil Service. The Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Mr Abubakar Malami who admitted publicly that he met Maina in Dubai before the controversial decision was taken has lately been hopping from one court to the order, in a bid to stop the Senate investigation.

In expressing surprise that a man who was given ample opportunity by both chambers of the National Assembly to state his case on the Maina issue was now the one going to court to stop a legislative investigation, the Senate last week sent a poser to both Malami and perhaps also the presidency: “We are wondering what the AGF is afraid of. When he appeared before our committee, he was well received WHY IS IT VERY and fairly treated.

IMPORTANT AND URGENT He indeed expressed FOR MALAMI TO STOP THE his happiness with INVESTIGATIVE HEARING? the protection given WHAT IS THE AGF TRYING to him by the comTO HIDE? mittee handling the Maina case. Why then is it very important and urgent for him to stop the investigative hearing? What is the AGF trying to hide?�

This is very important question that needs to be addressed not only by Malami who is at the centre of this never-ending sordid drama but also by the presidency that is looking the other way on a scandal that calls to question the integrity of the Buhari administration. Nigerians have not forgotten that the name of President Muhammadu Buhari had also been dragged into the controversy by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred

Letters to the Editor

In a leaked memo that is yet to be disputed, OyoIta had conďŹ rmed what most people suspected: that the president knew about the whole Maina saga. “Mr. President on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 after the FEC meeting where I briefed His Excellency verbally on the wide-ranging implications of the reinstatement of Mr. A. A. Maina, especially the damaging impact on the anti-corruption stance of this administrationâ€?, Oyo-Ita reportedly wrote.

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owever, even before that taint, in all that has transpired on this seamy drama, the president should be held to account for allowing or overlooking Maina’s reinstatement in spite of a contrary counsel from the HOS. The questions we have been asking which remain unanswered are: What did the president know?

When did he know it? How long did it take between when the president was alerted and when the reinstatement took place? Why would the case of an assistant director in the civil service attract relentless attention to the extent that the president has to do the dirty job of ďŹ ring him? Did the president ďŹ re him because the deal had gone public or because the administrative machinery of his government has been compromised or has become dysfunctional?

That a government which came to power with the campaign to ďŹ ght corruption would enthrone this brazen act of misdeed is rather shameful. All the raging issues of deďŹ cits of enlightened governance and lack of ďŹ delity to public morality that Nigerians witness almost on a daily basis run counter to any avowed commitment to right the wrongs of the past. Mounting instances of tardiness in taking prompt decisions on matters of transparency and accountability have also begun to taint the personal integrity that was the selling point of Buhari before the 2015 presidential election.

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

ALMAJIRIS, FAMILY UNITS AND THE NORTH

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Oyo-Ita and there has been no denial about his complicity despite directing the sack of Maina when the whole scandal broke.

t the University of Abuja, a fabric of the course matter of Sociology 201 (SOC 201) reflects the maxim that the family unit is a microcosm of the larger society. Thus, if the family unit is broken down, the larger society fares terribly indeed. Which is why it was disturbing to read in the newspaper that a father withdrew two of his male children from school in Jigawa State and journeyed thence to Gombe State where he dumped these kids by a road intersection and hoped that they would find a madrassa to take them in to study “Koranic education.� Away this father returned to Jigawa State in the smug satisfaction that his family-size is lightened and he could now take in a “fresh� wife for another spell of “enjoyment� without the added burden of caring for those two abandoned boys. True, the almajiri system is a gross corruption of the Eli-HannahSamuel historical story-line of the Bible. Hannah was sure Samuel would be thoroughly cared for at the Temple before making her vow. When a people try to corrupt Bible teachings, the result is widespread poverty. Since the parents of the almajiris cannot build the individual home-front, is it any wonder then that Northern Nigeria towns and cities are terribly fractured and usually economically-depressed?

Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna Niger State

JIME: DOING NEW THINGS AT NEPZA

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t is the Chinese who say “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step!� Meaning: it all starts with the proverbial first step! That first step may not tell the complete story or give a definitive ending, but it defines the journey-man: his first impressions, his seriousness, his focus, his direction, his zeal and his

pace.

All the foregoing can conspire against him or cooperate with him. They can conspire against him by exposing his first impressions as non-impressions and they can, on the other hand, cooperate with him by making his first impressions lasting impressions.

For Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Jime, there is no noise or ambiguity about the kind of first impressions he has made – it is very evident that his impressions are not only lasting, but would reverberate for a long time!

Already, staff of the authority, in appreciation of some of his innovative interventions, have taken the liberty of using his surname “Jime� to coin a pharmaceutical brand: “Jimedol� (a cure for low-staff morale) – thus, making a powerful addition to the pharmacological lexicography.

But salutary as his stance on welfare is, his biggest impression yet is in the areas of building investor-confidence, inter-agency cooperation, administrative and governance structure, and a strategic engagement of industry specialists.

The direct and immediate outcome of these positive moves is the establishment of three new Free Trade Zones under his superintendence i.e. i.e. Nasco Town Free Zone,

valued $2.086billion; Quit Aviation Services Free Zone, valued at $215million and Tomaro Industrial Park, in Lagos, valued at $450million. Upon completion, these new FTZs envision creating direct and indirect jobs in tens of thousands.

So, Jime’s nine months have been innovative, dynamic and action-packed. Although nine months may be too brief to make a comprehensive review of his stewardship, his purposeful steps so far can be described with a plurality of adjectives like: dynamic, innovative, eventful, pragmatic and unusually promising.

For someone who came into office with zero executive experience, his grasp of the Free Zone scheme has been described by many as phenomenal. And since dynamism is one of the qualities Jime has always brought to the public service table, the effervescent Jime is dynamically redefining public service with the spirit of dynamism and the power of his personal example.

This is 2018, and Jime is determined that things keep looking up at NEPZA. And it does not look like a vain determination. After criss-crossing the country last year on fact-finding and familiarisation tours to the Free Zones, he has all the needed facts to make a difference, and, indeed, take NEPZA to the next level.

And with the appointment of a new board, with a former of Ekiti State, Mr. Segun Oni, as chairman, the handsome hope of many is that things can only get better.

Simon Imobo-Tswam, Abuja

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T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2018

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

POLITICS INTERVIEW

Ahmed: States, Not FG, Decide How to Spend Paris Club Refunds For Governor Ahmed Abdufatah of Kwara State, telling states how to spend the Paris Club refund was a mere advisory because states have a responsibility to determine how they utilised money. He spoke with Politics Editors. Tobi Soniyi was there and presents the excerpts: in addition to our desire to ensure that our programmes as encapsulated in our budget are carried out to the letter, but most importantly we are strengthening the institutions that will support governance. These are the areas that drive good governance and deliver service. So, with the arrangements that are in place, we are sure that those who will come in with the strengthened institutions will begin to see the need on how to carry these things out accordingly.

So, there is no fear about who is coming in to take over from us.

On the issue of status at the federal level, you and I are not unfamiliar with the fact that there was a major shift from the PDP to the APC, and truly, APC came with a lot of expectations.

However, the attendant circumstances at the time the APC government was being ushered in, especially the drop in the price of crude oil affected the economy.

In trying to gauge what APC has done so far, from a modest perspective, I think it has done well because it had so many facets to tackle. It has the facet of ensuring that institutions are working, ensuring that resources are available to drive programmes; there is a huge deficit of infrastructure especially in energy and roads. These are very critical to development and growth. So, by and large, getting to create platforms that will bring these things into the right platforms to allow governance to move on was quite herculean. I will say that modestly, the APC government has achieved and it requires some time to build on what it has achieved as platforms to give the desired impact that will truly change what people’s expectations are.

Do you think governors should be monitored on how they use the Paris Club refunds?

The Paris Club money is a refund to the states which presupposes that their monies had been taken in the past and is being returned to them.

For us in the state we had expectations of this money and we keyed it into our budgeting system and it has since supported the execution of the 2017 budget.

Why would you monitor people on how they execute their programmes? It is their money.

If I borrow money from you today and I pay you back, would I tell you how to spend the money? I can only give my advice.

Like the president said they should pay salaries and all that?

He was just being suggestive because those were the pressures that were brought across to him by governors in making the request for their refunds. So, he was also advising that since some of you said you needed it to pay salaries, this is the money, just pay salaries so that they are happy’ but that does not mean that it is to compel governors.

How far have you gone in making Kwara state an agricultural hub of the nation?

Agric, as you know is one area that has been supported by the federal government through various funding windows. As a state, we’ve taken advantage of all the platforms provided by the federal government. You will recall that we pioneered commercial agriculture through invitation of displaced farmers from Zimbabwe who came in to drive commercial agriculture here. As it is, we are happy that they have gone through their thick and thin and have settled down into three major consumptions largely: poultry, mixed cropping and dairy.

This is about your seventh year in office.

Looking back, what are the things you feel you should have done better?

Largely, when you are coming into an office like this, you have very high expectations, high hopes of things you want to achieve. But don’t forget that you are largely guided by a welldesigned, methodically put together Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) keyed into our budgeting systems. And most importantly, we have looked at an aggregate of what the needs of our people are and we’ve worked out the financial model to suit into these. As it is, I will say I am happy with some of the areas we’ve been able to achieve and made impact in areas of health, water supply, roads and most importantly, we’ve impacted on the basic education level too.

As it is, we have been challenged financially. It is not unconnected with the fact that we are all heavily reliant on the federally allocated funds.

But I am happy to let you know that we have changed our revenue base and have since changed our funding window and improved the way and manner in which we are carrying out our expenditure in Kwara State. As it is now, we don’t have the luxury of time but the modest achievements we’ve had, have since keyed into our revenue base and our programmes are being carried on despite the paucity of funds that we are faced with in the country today.

We understand that you are one of the states

Abdulfatah Ahmed

paying salaries as at when due, how have you been able to do that?

The financial challenge started kicking in around 2013-2014 and this prompted our senses to look at other areas where funds can be assessed. The first thing we did was to look internally. We reviewed our revenue generating platform. We changed the people, we changed the process and we changed the technology to drive the process and this saw the movement of our revenue from an annual accrual of N7 billion to about N17 billion. That automatically created some level of headroom to carry out our expenditure- both recurrent and expenditure, hence our ability to support salaries and also carry out capital projects as you see them going on right now.

Are you grooming anybody to succeed you and do you think your party, APC has performed well to merit another term in 2019?

Firstly, at the state level, what drive governance truly are strengthened institutions. As it were,

The way and manner we used to do it in the past is not going to work again because the space is getting smaller

What are some of the legacy projects you administration has put in place in the last seven years?

In the last seven years, we have approached developments from a very strategic perspective.

Firstly, we broke down our systems into Human Capital Development which can even drive our infrastructure. In the area of Human Capital Development, we looked at the tertiary institutions and we sought to enhance engineering in the state university. As it is, we have been able to build a brand new engineering vomplex to give a proper platform for engineering studies in Kwara State University. Of course, in the secondary schools, we have not only renovated quite a number of our classrooms, we have also been able to ensure that teachers are available on the agreed ratio basis to teach the pupils. I am happy to let you know that we have been able to translate this into an increased percentage of students that are passing at the right level to close to about 64 to 70 percent which is quite new and a major achievement for us here.

In the area of health, we modelled five general hospitals across the state, one of which was the Ilorin General Hospital which hitherto was the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital and since they moved out to the permanent site, they left a carcass there. We have since transformed this into a first-class general hospital that is centrally located and serves our people. And most importantly, it is fully equipped and it fully complements the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital in terms of service both in material and personnel. We have also worked in other areas of the state especially in Kwara North where we remodelled a general hospital in Kaiama.

We also remodelled the hospitals at Share, Offa and the one in Omu- Aran also remodeled. Of course, we have a plethora of basic health centres that have also been worked on but these ones are very critical because they are the secondary level of healthcare service delivery.

In terms of roads, we have done roads across the 16 local governments. Some are being rehabilitated, new ones are being done.

We are carrying out what we call the diamond underpass, which is going to be the first of its kind in this environment. But most importantly, the roads have touched every local government, township roads, state roads linking communities, farmlands and several other areas too numerous to mention.

What is your reaction to the call for the creation of cattle colonies?

I think we need to sit down and truly look at what is going to work for us as a country.

We must first recognised that the cattle herders are Nigerians whose interests have not been truly looked into in the light of the services that they render to the national economy. We require a very responsive agricultural policy which must be wholistically pursued and must carry everybody along to ensure that nobody is left out. I am sure that by the time that we are able to sit down and look at what practises are done in other parts of the world we would be able to domesticate something that would suit our interest and will suit our peculiarities.

But one thing is clear, the way and manner we used to do it in the past is not going to work again because the space is getting smaller, the population is growing and we require optimal land use in such a way and manner that we will begin to get the right benefit. Most of our lands especially for agriculture is not optimally utilised. So much land but with very small output because we have not improved on the way and manner that we are going to create inputs and expect outputs; i.e. based on education, types of seeds, types of herbicides. All these things would need to be reviewed wholistically so that we begin to see optimal land use to generate maximum wealth and also create space for cattle herders in such a way that they would see the benefit of improving over and above what they are doing today. Everybody knows that the movement of cows from one location to the other is very tiresome and most importantly, does not give us the kind of benefit that we are supposed to get from the cattle. By the time they move from Point A to Point B, they are almost emaciated.

Given the mutterings within the party, should party chieftains who defected from PDP to APC decide to return home to PDP what would you do?

It is an unlikely scenario, but don’t forget that because we run an inclusive system, the followership decides the direction they want us to go to. If they insist that they want to us to remain, we remain; if they want us to go, we go. When we decided to leave the PDP for the APC; it was an inclusively designed position.

Inputs were taken from the ward to state levels before we took the decision we took at that time, but I must tell you that as it is today, we are comfortable with where we are and we have not seen any basis why we should leave the APC.

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BUSINESSWORLD

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

ÍŻ Í° Ëœ Í° ÍŽ ÍŻ Íś MONEY MARKET OBB OVERNIGHT

REPO 18.33% 19%

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

17.83% 18.83% 19.83%

S & P INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY MONTH-TO-DATE

333.95% 0.71% 1.36%

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

1.36% 1.36%

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Quick Takes HMD Sponsors Event for Startups

ABACUS MONEY MARKET FUND LISTED

L – R: Former President, Fund Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN), Dr. Ore Sofekun; Managing Director, Investment-One Funds Management Limited, Mrs. Tope Omojokun; Head, Shared Services, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Bola Adeeko; Chairperson, Investment-One Funds Management Limited, Mrs. Adejoke Chukwuma; Acting Head, Listings Business Division, NSE, Mr. Tony Ibeziako; Directors, Investment-One Funds Management Limited Mr. Azubuike Okonkwo and Mrs. Gbemi Adelekan during the listing of Abacus Money Market Fund on the exchange in Lagos‌recently

CSJ: 2018 Budget Contains Frivolous, Unclear, Wasteful Expenditure Items Ndubuisi Francis and Udora Orizu in Abuja The 2018 Budget proposal currently before the National Assembly is replete with frivolous, unclear, and wasteful expenditure items, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), has said.

CSJ stated that the N8. 612 trillion budget expenditure which represents a 16 per cent increase over the 2017 figure; retained revenue of N6.607 trillion, being a 30 per cent increase over the 2017 estimates and a deficit of N2.005 trillion lacks what it described as a big picture of the 2018 budget projections.

The Convener of CSJ, Mr. Eze Onyekpere, who unveiled

ECONOMY the budget proposals at a civil society organisations summit in Abuja under the aegis of Citizens Wealth Platform (CWP) stated that the budget estimates contain frivolous, unclear and wasteful expenditure that are of no value to the nation and its citizens.

Onyekpere noted that key assumptions include the benchmark price of $45 per barrel of crude oil, daily production of 2.3 million barrels per day (mbpd) and an average exchange rate N305 to 1USD, projected real GDP of 3.5 per cent and inflation rate of 12.4 per cent.

The projected expenditure of N8.612 trillion, although

high in naira terms amounts to a paltry $28.24 billion and when divided by 180 million Nigerians amounts to a per capita federal expenditure of N47,844.44, he argued. “The budget like the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) should be anchored on high level national policies and planning frameworks such as Vision 2020 and its implementation plans or the recently approved Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. Virtually all the budget codes start with ERGP which implies that they are drawn from the ERGP “This is a good development considering that previous budgets of the administration lacked an anchor. However,

merely using ERGP code does not necessarily show an anchor.

Substantial compliance lies with interrogating the actual provisions to see if they are in tandem with the goals and objectives of the ERGP. “ A big picture is missing in the 2018 budget projections.

The first issue is that capital expenditure is to take 28 per cent of the overall vote. While it looks good on paper, previous experience indicates that capital vote is very poorly implemented so it’s imperative for the administration to ensure that a bulk of capital expenditure is developmental rather than administrative. “Nigeria is faced with massive Continued on page 20

Experts Identify Pitfalls of Open Sky in Africa Chinedu Eze Despite the gains enumerated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) on the liberalisation of Africa’s airspace, known as Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), experts have identified the pitfalls of the open sky policy.

SAATM, which will be adopted this week, is the actualisation of Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) that was conceived and endorsed by African states in 1988 and ratified in 1999 and it is the liberalisation of Africa’s airspace for free entry and exit of African registered airlines.

Industry operators and others insist that Africa is not yet ripe

AVIATION for the policy because many countries still want to protect their airlines against competition, while government owned airlines may have robust financing and could be resuscitated when it goes down, but it is not so for privately owned carriers, which presently dominate the African airspace as largely small operators, The policy has been embraced by 23 countries, including Nigeria and its implementation would be kicked off this week in Addis Ababa.

The federal government has fully endorsed the policy and this means that it will open its sky for easy entry and exit of

all African registered airlines.

But some industry operatives said that SAATM is being championed by few airlines in the continent that are bound to benefit from the policy at the expense of other airlines that are yet to develop large aircraft fleet and many destinations.

Many airline owners and service providers are of the view that while Africa may want to follow European Union and other regions that adopted similar policy (although YD predates the adoption of such policies in other regions) the African Union, which delegated AFCAC to implement the policy, has not done its homework well.

According to airline operators, for the policy to work in Nigeria, there should be uniform

Customs duty and tariffs; all landing charges and taxes must be the same, no matter which country the airline is coming from or flying to. Every airline registered in the continent must be given equal opportunity and treatment. “In the European Union tariffs are the same, landing and parking charges are the same and they even have single currency, but in Africa, each country is protecting its own airlines and when you want to fly to their country they will make it extremely difficult for you. Even when you obtain approval to fly to that country they will kill you with high charges but they come Continued on page 20

As part of eorts to support tech startups in Nigeria, HMD Global, the Home of Nokia phones is sponsoring Techpoint Build 2018 billed for the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos, from 25th - 27th of January 2018. The event’s theme is “Using technology to Accelerate the Nation’s Economyâ€?.

Organised by TechPoint.ng, Nigeria’s largest chronicler of tech developmentswiththegoalofencouraginginnovationandtechnology to bring revolutionary change to Nigeria’s economy, the event is billed to showcase creativity and innovation from several Nigerian tech start-ups. Head of Marketing, West Africa, HMD Global, Olumide Balogun explained that technology development is an essential factor if Nigeria’s economy is to grow, hence, the company’s support of Techpoint Build 2018. According to Balogun, “Unquestionably, there are endless opportunities for individuals and for the nation through the proper utilisation of technology. As an organisation, we believe that the unity or coming together of tech startups, to debate actionable ideas, for economic development is laudable and that is why HMD Global, the Home of Nokia phones is taking part in this event.�

Highlight of the event will be a panel discussion on the topic: “Where is the market: oine or online?â€? Discussants will include Olumide Balogun, Head of Marketing, West Africa, HMD; Lanre Akinlagun, Founder Drinks.ng; Jason Njoku, CEO Iroko Partners; and, Lola Cardoso, Head, Corporate Strategy and Innovation at Union Bank. The panelists will critically examine the scope of the Nigerian online and oine markets. The discussion will focus on themes such as the cost of customer acquisition, market dynamics, go-to-market strategy, the readiness of the Nigerian market, amongst other issues.

Etihad Executive Eyes World Record

Senior Etihad Airways executive, Andrew Fisher, has embarked on a journey of a lifetime on January 21, 2018 when he attempted to break the world record by ying around the globe in the shortest time frame on scheduled ights, and with the fewest number of sectors. Fisher, who works as the airline’s Vice President Fleet Planning, hopes to shave three hours o the current record of over 55 hours by completing the journey in only four sectors.

His ight path began in the early hours of Sunday morning in Shanghai, taking him to Auckland, Buenos Aires and Amsterdam before returning to the Chinese city in the early hours of Tuesday morning, 23 January. A self-proclaimed ‘aviation geek’ with a love of studying airline networks and schedules, Abu Dhabi-based Andrew is well placed to chart his journey and fulďŹ l a dream he has been keen to attempt for over 20 years. “It’s about time the job was done,â€? he said. “The planning has taken a long time, essentially to ensure the ight timings, routings and transits are kept as tight as possible and there is only a short window of opportunity for this to happen.â€?

Emirates Oers Attractive Fares

Emirates has announced that it is oering Nigerian travellers the opportunity to visit Dubai with a special Economy and Business Class return airfare that includes attractive fares, a free third piece of luggage of up to 23 kg and a “My Emirates Passâ€?.

The airline is also extending its popular My Emirates Pass programme with more partners. Nigerians traveling to Dubai between February 5 and September 30, 2018, would get exclusive oers and discounts across the city. The fare oer which is for a limited time only and tickets must be booked between February 5, 2018 and February 15, 2018. Under the special oer, an Economy Class ticket from Lagos to Dubai costs $849, from Abuja to Dubai costs $680 and Business Class ticket from Nigeria costs $3,499. The cost of the ticket includes airport taxes. The airline said Nigerian customers visiting Dubai this winter season, can now also enjoy special discounts at over 250 world class restaurants and hotel dining outlets in Dubai. Exclusive oers are also available on a range of leisure activities including visits to championship golf courses, thrilling theme parks or luxury spas across the city.

“Liberalisation of African airspace will be of benefit to all African states, including those without air carrier,�

Secretary General of African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC)

Iyabo Sosina.

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BUSINESSWORLD CSJ: 2018 BUDGET CONTAINS FRIVOLOUS, UNCLEAR, WASTEFUL EXPENDITURE ITEMS unemployment and underemployment challenges. At the end of 2017, unemployment stood at 18.8 per cent and underemployment 21.2 per cent, so a budget that seeks to regenerate the economy should tie expenditure and its underlying policies to reducing unemployment and job creation but the budget was entirely silent on how its proposals would reduce the high unemployment figures. “The budget also needs to be anchored on a robust and realistic economic, fiscal and developmental framework which emphasises domestic resource mobilisation and popular capitalism driven by the commitment of all members of the society, where every ready and willing Nigerian partakes in the baking of the cake and as such, claims right to be at the table on the sharing of the proceeds of national investments,� he argued.

EXPERTS IDENTIFY PITFALLS OF OPEN SKY IN AFRICA to Nigeria, pay almost nothing and take our passengers away.

For example, what we pay for landing in Accra, Ghana is different from what African World Airlines (AWA) pay because AWA operates from Ghana,� an operator who own major airline told THISDAY. Speaking in the same vein, the CEO of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi said that before the policy should be adopted AU should ensure that at least 70 percent of the countries in the continent have embraced the policy before they start its implementation.

Sanusi compared the open sky policy for Africa to globalisation, which he explained has the effect of encouraging dumping of goods by well developed countries on poor nations an noted that the policy is good because if fully implemented it would boost Africa’s economy and improve intra regional trade, but there are certain things that must be in place before it is adopted.

th Group Business Editor

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NEWS

LADOL Partners Ford Motors to Assemble Cars in Nigeria Eromosele Abiodun The bid by the federal government to ensure that the automobile industry in the country gains traction is getting the needed boost as the management of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) plans to get global automobile maker, Ford Motor to assemble motor cars at its fabrication facility in Lagos.

LADOL is currently playing host to the fabrication of a $3.8 billion oil and gas logistics service facility commonly known as the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) rig, for the Egina project.

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is currently building a facility for the integration of Egina Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel on its arrival from Korea.

The project, which has been described as first-of-its-kind in the sub-Sahara Africa, is being built for Total Oil Exploration and Production Company with LADOL acting as the local content partner.

Executive Director of LADOL, Jide Jadesimi disclosed the new arrangement with Ford Motors in a chat with journalists on the arrival of the Egina FPSO in Lagos.

He said LADOL is in talks with the American consulate about working with Ford Motors to assemble motor cars in Nigeria, as well as fabricating railway tracks.

“And we are working with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) on that and other projects. The future for LADOL is bright, we are working on multiple projects, there are other FPSOs on the immediate horizon and we are working on multiple projects.

We have FPSO for Bonga South West and Zabazaba as well.

But the beauty of this facility is the flexibility. We are looking

at non oil and gas industrial heavy industry projects. We have the capability to actually service the maritime sector as well as all the different heavy industries, manufacturing and things of that nature,� he said.

Speaking on the arrival of the FPSO, he said: “This is a great and historic moment for Nigeria and for Africa. It is going to turn a new chapter in way that investment in flowing

into Nigeria and in a way that the scale of this project can be undertaken. It is going to save billions of dollars for the Nigerian economy and inflow of billions of dollars as well.�

On what industries who want to come to the free zone will enjoy in terms of charges, he said LADOL’s charges are based on a variety of factors. “It depends on the nature of the project. But we are as a

free zone do not have access to foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

So, it mandates that we charge in dollars. However, it is not the denomination of the charges that is important, what is important is the cost savings that we have delivered to the industry, which is over 60 per cent in terms of the logistics support services in exploration and production projects,� he said.

A BOOST TO THE ECONOMY

L-R: Director of Mines and Steel Development at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE ), Mallam Muhammad Dikko; Enugu State Governor, Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi ; and BPE’s Director-General, Mr. Alex A. Okoh, during a working visit of the privatisation boss to the Governor in Enugu... recently

Shittu: ICT Sector Remains Fourth Pillar of GDP Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja The Minister of communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu has stated that the diversification of the Nigerian economy began with the liberation of both the telecom and ICT sectors in 2001, disclosing that the sector contributes about 10% to the country’s GDP yearly, making it the fourth pillar of the GDP. He stated this yesterday while playing host to the Executive Director, Nigerian Diaspora Direct Investment Summit (NDDIS), Mr. Bimbo Folayan, in Abuja. “The liberation of the telecoms and ICT sectors in 2001 triggered a realistic opportunity of economic diversification, as the sector is adjudged to be one

of the major support service needed to promote growth and modernisation of other sectors of the economy�, he said. “The ICT sector is the 4th pillar in terms of its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.

The sector is the fastest, growing at a rate over 25% and currently contributes about 10% to the country’s GDP�, Shittu added.

He said he was happy that the summit had been dedicated to ICT, as ICT has brought many changes to the global world and Nigeria.

According to him, “I am happy to report that this 5th Nigeria Diaspora Direct investment Summit has been dedicated to the promotion of potential investments in the ICT sector in Nigeria. The Nigeria economy has been monolithic up to the

recent past, owing largely to its dependence on crude oil revenues. “Consequently, Government has recognised the need to diversify the economy so as to attain solid and sustainable economic growth. Economic diversification is a global solution for overcoming rigidity of and vulnerability.�

The minister added that effort had been made over the years

by Nigerian government to develop the non–oil sectors of the economy by initiating various supportive policies and incentives aimed at encouraging economic diversification with varying levels of success.

He said that the ICT had broken distance barriers, and such, can act in its own right now, not just as an enabler but,

indeed, an effective catalyst to drive social- economic transformation, growth, developments and modernisation across all sectors of the economy.

He added: “The impact of the sector is evident in virtually all countries, Nigeria inclusive, and is likely to continue in the changes in all sectors and dimensions of human life and societal condition�. He continued.’’ Earlier, Folayan stated that the aim of the summit was to create confidence in Nigerians in the diaspora, convince them of investing in Nigeria and also to attract other foreign investors and that so far they have attracted many investments including a pesticide manufacturing company to Kaduna.

According to him, “All our

summits have been very successful we have most Nigerians who have relocated and bringing in businesses to Nigeria. I just talked about a chemical plant in Kaduna state that is been built by an Italian to produce pesticide that if sprayed will eliminate mosquitoes for a period of 5 years it’s been a huge success as more Nigerians are relocating home, they are getting more confidence about Nigeria through the summit. “What we do is getting the minister to come and preach, we can’t have about 15 million Nigerians in the diaspora and 15 million is like a region. UK alone is about two million and out of the two millions that live there; three hundred thousands are businessmen and they have shops and businesses.

Capital Market Editor

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Sokoto Govt, Firm Sign MoU on New Sugar Factory Sokoto state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Goronyo Sugar Company for the establishment of a new sugar factory in Sokoto state.

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Professor Bashir Garba and the Managing Director of the company, Hamza Muhammad Sambo signed the dotted lines at a ceremony in Sokoto Government House.

The event was witnessed by

the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar and the Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council, Dr. Lateef Busari. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said his administration is determined to diversify its revenue sources and create job opportunities for its teeming populace. “We want to create opportunities for our citizens by

setting up viable industries and supporting the private sector to invest in our state. All enabling environment has been created and we want to assure that all investors’ funds are safe here. “We always abide by the letters and spirit of all agreements we entered into. We will work together to see to the realisation of this important project within a reasonable time frame,� he added.

The Governor commended

the Minister for her active interest in the project, saying she has done well since her appointment into the Federal Executive Council as a representative of Sokoto State.

In her remarks, the junior minister said Nigeria has been lagging behind in her 10-year sugar development plan, but that efforts have been put to ensure speedy implementation.

She expressed satisfaction with the role Sokoto state is

playing in supporting federal government policies, adding that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has put in place programs to move the nation forward.

Before the signing of the MoU, Governor Tambuwal, along with officials of the State Investment Company, led the Minister to the site of a sugarcane nursery planted near Goronyo Dam, where the factory will be located.

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BUSINESSWORLD

AVIATION

AIR WATCH

Air Peace Begins Flights to Freetown, Banjul, Dakar Chinedu Eze One of Nigeria’s leading airlines, Air Peace has announced a new date for the launch of its flights from Lagos to Freetown in Sierra Leone, Banjul in The Gambia and Dakar in Senegal.

The airline said it would now connect the three West Coast destinations on February 19.

The airline had fixed the launch of its flights to Freetown, Banjul and Dakar for December 15, 2017, but it was however suspended at the last minute, due to the industrial unrest by air traffic control (ATC) in Dakar.

The carrier had pledged to announce a new date for the launch when it was certain that the industrial action in Dakar, a critical connection in its route plan, had been fully resolved to avoid its passengers being put through a strain.

A statement issued by Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah said the new destinations would now join its route network on February 19. The routes, the statement said, were part of the second phase of the airline’s expansion project on the West Coast of Africa and would bring its network to a total of 14 destinations.

Air Peace made its first scheduled commercial flight out of Nigeria from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos into the Kotoka International Airport, AccraGhana on February 16, 2017.

The airline plans to operate flights to five other regional routes as well as six international destinations comprising Dubai, London, GuangzhouChina, Houston, Mumbai and South Africa soon.

Air Peace, which recently embarked on a project to increase its fleet size to 24

aircraft, said its Freetown, Banjul and Dakar routes would be serviced by its Boeing 737 aircraft to guarantee the comfort of its guests. “We are pleased that after the unfortunate suspension of the launch of our Freetown, Banjul and Dakar services fixed for December 15, 2017 due to the industrial action by air traffic control in Dakar, we can confirm that our inaugural flights to the three destinations will now take place on February 19, 2018. The new routes constitute the second phase of the expansion of our network on the West Coast of Africa. This is an exciting step in fulfilling our promise to unlock the economies of the region, offer air travellers on business and leisure trips seamless connectivity as well as create jobs for the people when we launched our first flight out of Nigeria into Accra, Ghana on February 16, 2017�, Air Peace said.

NDLEA Boss Chairs African Regional Counter-narcotic Meeting The Chairman/Chief Executive, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (Rtd.) has chaired the first annual Africa Targeting Working Group meeting of International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC).

The meeting, which holds at the Capital Menlyn Main Hotel in Pretoria, South Africa from January 23 to 24, 2018, elaborated on drug trafficking in the region.

The invitation to chair the event was at the instance of United States’ Drug Enforcement Administration (USDEA), which is the key facilitator of IDEC. According to Andre W. Kellum who conveyed the

invitation, “We here at DEA are sincerely appreciative of your support and efforts in the battle against drug crimes.�

The purpose of the Africa Targeting Working Group meeting was to discuss the Drug Trafficking Organisations operating throughout Africa with drug trafficking networks cutting across borders. The meeting was also to prepare the African region for the forthcoming IDEC meeting in Rotterdam, Netherlands in April 2018.

Abdallah described the invitation as a product of Nigeria’s leading role in ensuring that the entire Africa region is on the same page in combating the illicit drug trafficking challenge.

The Chairman further said: “This alarming trend in the emergence of new psychoactive substances both synthetic and plant based has further reinforced the need for regional and multi-lateral cooperation against Drug Trafficking Organisations�.

He stressed that the meeting coming up very early in the year was a warning sign to the drug trafficking organisations that this year 2018 would be full of troubles for their organisations and networks�.

The Agency under the leadership of Abdallah has continued to enjoy robust training and logistic support and exchange of intelligence from the international partners.

Ascentech Career Expo Focuses on Job Seekers, MSMEs, Others Nosa Alekhuogie Ascentech Services Limited, a Human capital-focused firm, has said that over 2,000 participants are expected at its career expo slated for March this year.

Addressing journalists recently in Lagos, the company’s human resource manager, Henrietta Owie, said the participants include job seekers, key industry players, over fifty blue chip companies and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

According to him, the expo will serve as a platform for more than twenty speakers to chart strategies to diversify the nations’ options in order to ensure career development and reduce unemployment in the nation. “The career expo slated for March 16 in Lagos is a capacity building event with a difference, designed to reduce the growing

unemployment rate in Nigeria by connecting employable talents to prospective employers.

It is set to be an annual symposium on human capacity development for employees seeking new opportunities across the junior, middle and senior management levels. It will also feature a wide range of exhibitors of any career- focused expo in Nigeria, consisting of private, international, governmental, non-governmental, and bilateral organisations.� Owie added.

According to him, the expo will connect thousands of candidates with various employers to experience the perfect job interview set to happen throughout the day of the event.

Some participating companies expected at the expo include Azinova Solutions Limited, CWAY, SIMBA Group, Sweetco,

among others. .

He described Ascentech Services as a full-fledged human resource solution provider committed to forging long-term partnerships through flexible services that address the changing needs of businesses through recruitment and selection, outsourcing, training and development.

Speaking further, he said: “As outlined by the government during the December graduation ceremony of the Senior Executive Course 39 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, the Federal Government sees 2018 as a year of consolidation of the economic recovery, and the gains from improved macroeconomic management, and the extensive investments made in agriculture, infrastructure and the business environment.

Opens Skies for African Airlines

Arik Air

On Tuesday, African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) saddled with the responsibility of executing the open sky policy for Africa, known as Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) by the African Union spearheaded the sensitisation of Nigeria’s aviation industry on the need to embrace the open sky policy at a workshop hosted by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The objective of SAATM is to have total deregulation of the African airspace as an endorsement of Yamoussoukro Decision, which was agreed on by African states in Yamoussoukro, Cote’Ivoire in 1988 with the objective to have single African air transport market.

The open sky for Africa allows easy entry and exit of African airlines to the airspace of each country without immigration hindrances in order to enhance connectivity and trade among African nations. But since the policy was ratified in1999, it has not been fully embraced by African states.

One of the reasons why it has not been fully embraced is because some African states believe that it would not favour them opening their airspace for other airlines in Africa to have free reign. Many of such countries reluctant to embrace the policy do not have strong carriers and may not have realised the benefits of a deregulated open skies for African airlines.

Ironically, some of these African countries open their airspace wide for foreign carriers from Europe, Asia and the US, that for one to travel from one African destination to another, one has to travel to one European hub or another to connect flight back to Africa.

However, plans have been concluded to launch SAATM this weekend in Addis Ababa and so far 23 countries of the continent have embraced the policy.

Initially, 11 African member states championed the Declaration by signing the Solemn Commitment to actualise the Yamoussoukro Decision creating the single market.

These member states were constituted as a Ministerial Working Group with the responsibility to follow-up implementation progress, provide guidance, and spearhead the advocacy campaign to urge more Member States to join the single market.

In May 2016, the African Union Commission (AUC) wrote to those states that have signed the Solemn Commitment to highlight a number of concrete measures for them to undertake to initiate operationalisation of the single air transport market in the continent as soon as possible.

The Secretary General of AFCAC, Mrs. Iyabo Sosina identified the 23 members that have embraced the policy to include Benin, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia and Gabon. Others are Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe.

Sosina explained that the 23 countries that have ratified the policy have a combined

population of roughly 670 million, more than half the population (57 percent) of the continent as at 2015, noting that the combined GDP of these members amounted to $15 billion in 2015, which was over 65 percent of the continent’s average $1888 per capita.

Besides the fact that some countries have refused to embrace the policy, some airlines in the continent are kicking against it. For example, in Nigeria, domestic carriers allege that it is an opportunity for established airlines in the continent to exploit the market at the expense of others.

The Executive Chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Captain Nogie Meggison, said during the sensitisation workshop that some countries are using protectionism to block airlines from other countries from entering their airspace. He said that Nigeria, which has the largest travel market in the continent, is being targeted for exploitation, but ironically Nigerian airlines are blocked by outrageous charges by other African member nations with attendant prolonged paper work from freely flying to various destinations in the continent.

But the AFCAC Secretary General, Mrs. Sosina dismissed the allegations and said that Nigerian airlines should prepare themselves to compete; otherwise, they would be overtaken by the new policy which is projected to boost the economy of the continent. However, she said that AFCAC is talking to those countries to review downwards their charges and open up their processes to allow the single market policy to work.

The Director General of NCAA, Captain Muhtar Usman said the importance of SAATM to African aviation cannot be overemphasised. “Thus, it is imperative that we organise this sensitisation workshop to intensify awareness campaign among the critical stakeholders (airlines, airports, Air Navigation service providers (ANSP), aviation sector downstream, tourism industry etc) on the impact as well as benefits of SAATM on the industry and national economy,� he said.

The Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who was represented by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Captain Fola Akinkuotu said more than ever before, “the future presents both our greater challenges and our greatest potential as a continent striving to reposition itself by leveraging on the immense potential that the full implementation of Yamoussoukro Decision through the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) offers, especially in enhancing traffic connectivity and significant growth in passengers volumes over the next few years.

We must all therefore strive to commit to the full implementation and operationalisation of SAATM, we need to leap forward so as to become an effective global competitor in aviation,� Sirika said.

It is believed that if SAATM becomes fully implemented, African airlines would be able to wrest substantial air traffic market from foreign carriers from Europe and Asia, which today holds about 80 percent of the international travel market in the continent.

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Aero Maintenance Facility as Local Content Pathway Aviation industry stakeholders have continued to applaud Aero Contractors, which recently rolled out its Boeing B737-500 after successfully conducting a C-check on the aircraft, positing that the facility could save Nigerian and West African airlines a lot in terms of capital flight, writes Chinedu Eze For aviation industry stakeholders, the ability to conduct C-check on a major aircraft brand, Boeing B737 in Nigeria was a great milestone.

It was something many of them thought would not happen soon. One of the major challenges fingered by the industry as retarding air transport growth in Nigeria is lack of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility.

But Aero Contractors without long ceremonies has charted a good course by putting together such maintenance facility, which would serve as a prelude to a major maintenance hangar in Nigeria. Many of the industry observers are also of the view that Aero could take up from there and become a major aircraft maintenance provider for West and Central Africa. In the past, it used to be a dream; today, it is a reality.

towards the use of this facility at least to the extent of its capabilities and certifications, would go a long way towards ensuring the growth of the Aero MRO into being certified for other Aircrafts types,� Kuru said.

Kuru maintained that it was important to underscore the fact that Aero Contractors’ certification to conduct the C-checks for Boeing 737-500 series locally remains a boom for the industry because it would save millions of dollars that Nigerian Airlines and not just Aero, spend outside this country on facilities such as this. “It is our belief that Aero’s maintenance facility will achieve huge savings for operators even from other neighbouring African countries, thereby attracting the much needed funds that are required to strengthen our economy,� Kuru said.

He stated that the success Aero has achieved with the facility could be replicated across other industries in Nigeria.

Kuru said he strongly believed that more could be done if the industry imbibed good corporate governance, hold management accountable, and have responsive regulators, adding that this was epitomised by Aero, which rolled out the first successful conduct of a Boeing 737-500 series C-check in the country, adding that this justified AMCON’s resolve and commitment towards the development and stabilisation of the challenged aviation sector.

Forex

It is estimated that West African airlines spend about $1billion on aircraft maintenance annually. According to the former President of National Association Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Isaac Balami over 70 percent of the sum is paid by Nigerian airlines, so Nigerian carriers, which earn their revenues in Naira spend humongous amount of money on forex.

Also the Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika said the facility would save airlines over $90 million annually in capital flight as C-check which hitherto was done outside the shores of Nigeria, would now be done locally.

He said Nigeria experiences huge capital flights of nothing less than $1.8million to $3million per Boeing aircraft on C-Checks overseas. “It is noteworthy that Boeing 737 aircraft are the most aircraft fleet operated in Nigeria by most indigenous airlines, prior to now and in the lifespan of other administrations, Nigeria experienced huge capital flight of nothing less than $1.8million to $3million per Boeing aircraft that left our shores for C-Checks and there are more than 30 of such aircraft operating; so you do the arithmetic,� he said in his address.

The Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi said that maintaining aircraft locally would save Nigerian airlines at least 35 percent of the cost of maintaining the aircraft overseas and Aero can obtain bank guarantee from airlines and conduct the checks for them, which means that they would not be under pressure to offset the cost of the aircraft maintenance immediately.

Extra Costs

Besides, the direct cost of the maintenance service, ferrying aircraft overseas attracts other costs. Senior official and engineer at the Aero Contractors, James Ominyi recently said that the cost of ancillary service could add about 15 percent or more to the total cost of aircraft maintenance overseas. “You need to seek the over flight permit of the country. And then, depending on the distance, you have to pay for fuel. But I know it will not be less than $50, 000. You also will have to pay for landing and fueling, which is called technical stop, Ominyi said.

Sanusi explained that when an airline moves its aircraft to the Aero facility and in examining the panel, it is discovered that more extensive checks would be done in the aircraft, it would be easy for the airline to re-evaluate the maintenance scope. But if it is overseas, the airline would have to spend more money moving spares and incurring other expenses.

Ominyi explained: “When they open the engine and they open the side wall panels they may see cracks that are beyond what is agreed on, which they have to rectify and this will be at extra cost. I have seen a C-Check that had cost up to a million pounds in UK. That is possible because the moment they open up the aircraft, they will see so many things that ought to be done that was not tracked before.�

Aero’s Tenacity

Captain Sanusi, attributed Aero’s feat to staff dedication, professionalism and hard work during

Sanusi

the roll out ceremony a fortnight ago. “Today’s occasion proves that with good policies, smart management, effective oversight and professional dedication by staff, hard work gets rewarded and companies dedicated to public services can be revived from the brink of collapse�, he said.

According to him, conducting aircraft C-Check in Nigeria is a huge milestone for the aviation sector, further adding that in Aero, there were several challenging moments. “Thankfully, our team of engineers and technicians persisted and surmounted the challenges to make today possible. Permit me to mention here that this certification of Aero to conduct C-Checks in Nigeria seamlessly dovetails into the Ease of Doing Business Policy of the present administration. Aero hereby invites airlines to conduct their C-Checks for B737 Classics with us bearing in mind the tangible deliverables to be derived from patronising Aero. “These include saving foreign exchange, getting a quicker aircraft turn-around time, enriching Nigerian technical expertise and knowledge base and strengthening the Nigerian aviation sector as the regional and sub-regional hub for aviation activities. Aero hereby extends its hand in partnership to all.

Sanusi also stressed on the collaboration between Aero and its technical partners, including South Africa Airways Technic and AJ Walters Group and other partners with whom the airline formed a strong and successful synergy in its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul division. “S.A.A Technique and AJW Group remain our technical partners whom we hold in the highest esteem for their commitment in adding immense technical value to our maintenance department. Both companies went far beyond the terms of the MoU we signed on this project

and worked with our team like a family. This gathering today is highly resulting from their commitment to aiding Aero build up its technical capacity,� Sanusi remarked.

Sanusi in his address also called on the federal government to assist Aero by interfacing with the Nigerian Customs Service to ensure that it expedites the easy passage and clearance of tools that are imported for imported for aircraft maintenance, said this would greatly help in avoiding loosing days waiting for Customs to clear our tools to enable us proceed with the maintenance.

Patronage

Also, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Asset Management Corporation of Niger (AMCON), Mr. Ahmed Kuru at the ceremony called on aviation industry practitioners to patronise Aero Contractors’ MRO facility.

Kuru, who was represented at the event by the Executive Director in charge of Operations at the Corporation, Mr. Aminu Ismail also called on other airline operators in the country to see the rare facility as credible alternative and a strategic way of stopping the huge capital flight that leaves the shores of Nigeria anytime Nigerians take their aircraft to other countries for C-checks. “I would like to solicit the support for Aero MRO by all stakeholders, particularly the relevant aviation regulatory bodies, towards ensuring that this seed that has been planted is allowed to grow, in our collective interest as Nigeria and Nigerians. “We cannot continue to allow capital flight of our scarce foreign exchange towards paying for services that are available in Nigeria and would provide a source of employment for our people. To this end a directive to other airlines

AMCON’s Intervention

He recalled the controversies that have trailed AMCONs intervention in the aviation sector particularly for those who did not really understand AMCON’s mandate as a resolution and stabilisation vehicle, and the good intentions of both the federal government and AMCON in the sector.

He said: “For us, aviation is not just a critical sector but also a strategic and core component of any economy or country that wants to compete on the global scale. If Nigeria must compete, our only option is to have a sustainable, vibrant and dependable aviation sector. Therefore intervening in Aero and indeed all other airlines in the country, was for us a national assignment, geared towards both our resolution objective and the need to help in rebuilding the Nigerian economy. As a recovery agency of the federal government, it was not for us an option to stand aloof and watch while airlines such as Aero, with its rich history and others are grounded as a result of challenges in management and governance, plus accumulated debt obligations.�

Sanusi hopes that with this achievement made, Aero would grow the maintenance facility to become able to carry out maintenance not only on Boeing B737 classics but also on New Generation versions to C-check level. It has been conducting line maintenance for other aircraft types and before now it has been able to conduct C-check on Bombardier Q300 and helicopters.

The maintenance facility would give Aero a robust source of revenue and with it, the airline may rise to become the richest carrier in Nigeria.

Already the airline is revamping its schedule flight operations and it stretches its hand to grab the old reputation and goodwill which endeared passengers to its hitherto enviable service.

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Resolving the FAAN, Bi-Courtney Imbroglio On Monday the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission met with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited with a view to resolving the protracted disagreement over the concession of the domestic terminal of the Lagos airport. Chinedu Eze writes that the parties for the first time showed interest in resolving their lingering dispute There is hope in the horizon that the over a decade disagreement between the host and landlord- the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and its tenant and concessionaire, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) would be resolved soon by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).

This is coming after more than 10 years of legal battle and the same period of acrimony and belligerent outburst, exacerbated by media wars and occasional fisticuffs.

But surprisingly, on Monday when the representatives of the two organisations met at the conference hall of the domestic terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, known as MMA2, a facility built

by BASL, there seemed to be a disappearance of the old and well-known hostilities. The two groups seemed to have carved the façade of two cantankerous children allowed to exhaust a fight, tired and vanquished motioned to be separated. ICRC as an arbiter seemed to have stepped in at the right time.

The leadership of ICRC led by its acting Director-General, Chidi Izuwah met with top officials of BASL and FAAN to chart a way to resolve the intractable problem, which officials of the concessionaire and the agency agree was long overdue for resolution. The crux of the disagreement was the terms, duration and content of the concession of the terminal, the hotel being built by BASL opposite the terminal and the conference located adjacent the terminal.

The terminal, which took off in 2007 was given out in concession by FAAN, as representative of the federal government on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, but while BASL insists that the concession agreement was for 36 years and that the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) belongs to the company in cognisance of the agreement, FAAN insists that it did not endorse 36 years for the concession but 12 years and that GAT was not part of the agreement.

Addressing the representatives of the two companies, Izuwah said the objective of ICRC was to amicably resolve the problem and put an end to the crisis that has bedeviled that concession for years, so as to encourage the private sector to continue to invest in public infrastructure development in the country.

Izuwah said he was aware of the pains both FAAN and BASL were going through by the current disagreement so ICRC is seeking for solution that would be beneficial to both the agency and the concessionaire. “The Commission is therefore here today as the regulatory body saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and ensuring the efficient execution of all Private, Public Partnership (PPP) projects entered into by MDAs (Ministry, Department and Agencies) on behalf of the federal government as spelt out under section 20 (a) of the ICRC establishment Act, 2005,� Izuwa said.

The acting Director-General noted that the MMA2 and the hotel and the conference centre that were also given out to BASL in concession

by FAAN were projects that were particularly dear to ICRC. “The projects no doubt have had their fair share of the challenges, which the Commission is not unaware of. We want to assure you that the Commission is equally concerned about the difficulties these projects have experienced even as a model greenfield aviation PPP terminal in Nigeria,� Izuwah said.

The concession of MMA2 was endorsed in 2003 between FAAN and Bi-Courtney, while that of the hotel and conference centre was done in 2005 for duration of 40 years. The initial concession of the airport terminal was billed to last for 12 years, but according to Bi-Courtney, after renegotiation and inclusion of facilities, the duration of the concession was extended to 36. This is where FAAN disagrees with BASL. The Chairman of BASL, Dr. Wale Babalakin in a welcome speech told ICRC about what his

company has gone though, seeking that the concession agreement, which allegedly was repudiated by FAAN, be respected. He told of how the GAT, which ought to be part of the concession, was taken away.

He said that one of the misconceptions about the concession is that BASL drafted the agreement between it and FAAN and stressed that it was not true, disclosing that it was drafted by Prof Akonde who was appointed by FAAN and the Ministry of Aviation.

He also said another misconception was that the concession was given to BASL without due process and described it as false, adding that BASL did not win the concession. Standerton Venture won the concession and BASL only inherited the concession as a reserved bidder and based on this fact, BASL could not have been handpicked as alleged.

Babalakin said that a minister allowed Arik to operate at GAT and when his company protested and there was no positive response BASL went to court and the court ruled in its favour. “Since then GAT has been operating unlawfully, all the revenue generated from GAT belong to BASL and we are going to insist on the payment to us in arrears. At one of the sessions in National Assembly, one of FAAN’s advisers said FAAN has appealed to the court, I am not aware of it and even if there was an appeal, it does not affect the judgment of the court or stay of proceedings and if there is stay of proceedings I would like to see a copy but if there is none, any such statement is an invalid statement of law. “So we ask ICRC to study the document and effect a handover of the GAT and the payment of all arrears since the legal operation of this facility began, to us,� the BASL Chairman requested.

However, speaking on behalf of FAAN, the Deputy General Manager, Public Private Partnership, Mrs. Monica Alphonse who has followed the case for a long time as senior official in the legal department of FAAN said that GAT has never been part of the concession agreement and that the

monopoly status that stated that no other airport terminal should be developed during the course of the concession period by BASL may have taken cognizance of the fact that the concession was only for 12 years.

Mrs. Alphonse traced the background of the concession and said: “There was a request by FAAN inviting bidders to send in their bids for the development of a domestic terminal and that was how we came about the concession we have today. Talking about the agreement, Yes, Professor Akonde was engaged in drafting the document by the Federal Ministry of Aviation being one of the grantors. I am aware that the agreement was negotiated by both parties, so it is a product of the parties that executed the agreement. “If you actually want to resolve the issues between the parties, it is fair that you hear from the other side. You cannot just hear from one side and pass decisions and expect it to be binding on the other party.

The decision will also impact on the other party. I have not heard where that is done and I don’t know how that is supposed to be done. We are not aware that the Minister of Aviation was put on notice, asked to send in their nominees or asked to come and make presentations. These are issues that concern both parties because when you talk of disputes, it takes at least a minimum of two parties for a dispute to arise, so you cannot hear from one side and draw conclusions,� Alphonse said, She noted that resolution on the case was passed without recourse to FAAN and the agency was asked to implement it.

Mrs. Alphonse said FAAN has suffered so much over the concession. “FAAN is bleeding over this concession.

This is typical to the advert of a bank, where a woman holds the hand of her baby and walking into the bank and the girl was crying.

That is FAAN going into the bank crying and shortly after that, they came out and the little girl was laughing and that is Bi-Courtney laughing. Since the commencement of this agreement, FAAN has not earned anything

from the concession. The five percent concession fee is stated in the agreement. FAAN has not earned one kobo from Bi-Courtney and the reason is that we operate the GAT terminal and allow domestic flight into it.

She said the sole responsibility of FAAN apart from managing airports is to ensure that the airport operations grow seamlessly. “What the agreement says is that it is for12 years and Bi-Courtney shall have exclusivity for the operations of all scheduled domestic flights. FAAN shall not materially develop any existing terminal that will compete with Bi-Courtney and FAAN shall not develop any competing terminal. When this agreement was put down, I have my reservations concerning the clauses. “It was conceptualised with the vision of 12 years. Should we now say, based on the addendum that was put for 36 years, that for the next 36 years, FAAN should not materially develop another terminal? If the drafters of this agreement had the vision of 36 years at the back of their minds, I assure you, the issue of exclusivity would not have been there, the issue of non-development of domestic terminal to compete with Bi-Courtney terminal will not have been there,� Alphonse insisted.

She said the vision of government and its responsibility is to develop the country and described the Bi-Courtney agreement as anti-competition and monopoly, “for you to say that for 36years, there shouldn’t be any terminal that should be materially developed. That means for 36 years, we will remain with Bi-Courtney and even if aircraft are so much and there are no facility for them to land, they will remain in the air. I don’t like the experience of the air traffic controllers telling the pilots to keep hovering in the air for some minutes because there are no spaces to park the aircraft. Is this in the interest of Nigeria?�

Industry stakeholders reason that with the ICRC’s intervention, it is hoped that the issue, which is the most controversial in the aviation industry, would be amicably resolved.

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BUSINESSWORLD

MARITIME

Elixir for Nigeria’s Shipping Companies Eromosele Abiodun posits that the move by the NNPC to embark on changing its trade terms from Free on Board to Cost Insurance and Freight will ultimately boost indigenous shipping capacity For several years, shipping has been recognised as one of the catalysts for socio-economic development. This is because shipping has since the ancient times been at the fore front of opening up the world and thus a major driver in the process of globalisation. Specifically, container shipping has been both a cause and effect of globalisation and is believed to be the world’s first truly global industry.

Container shipping could claim to be the industry which, more than any other, makes it possible for truly global economy to work.

It connects countries, markets, business and people, allowing them to buy and sell on a scale not previously possible. As a matter of fact, it is impossible to imagine world’s trade and ultimately our lives as consumers, without container shipping. Shipping has led to a phenomenal growth in world merchandise trade, which has consistently grown faster than output.

In 2006, goods loaded at ports worldwide were estimated at 7.42 billion tonnes, up from 5.98 billion tonnes 2000. The value of total world export increased from $6.454 trillion in 2002 to $40.393 trillion in 2005 representing an increase of 64 per cent. However, the reverse seems to be the case in Nigeria. It is on record that no fewer than 90 per cent of shipping companies owned by Nigerians have either completely shut down their operations or are barely struggling to survive.

Some of the indigenous shipping companies include: Equitorial Energy, Oceanic Energy, Morlap Shipping, Peacegate, Pokat Nigeria Limited, Al-Dawood Shipping, Potram Nigeria Limited, Joseph Sammy, Genesis Worldwide Shipping and Multi-trade Group all in Lagos; Niger-Delta Shipping in Warri, Delta State; and Starzs Investment Group in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

Of all the companies listed above, only two can be said to be operating viable businesses while others, representing 83 per cent of the companies are either completely dead or are in comatose condition.

Ironically, all the shipping companies based in Lagos are either dead or struggling to survive while the ones in Warri and Port-Harcourt are thriving.

Contribution to GDP

Despite its importance, the contribution of shipping to Nigeria’s GDP has always been a matter of conjecture rather than fact. In the recent publications of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shipping is categorised under “other services� and not as a standalone item.

Whilst one may be tempted to frown at this practice by the NBS, it is most obvious that the ships that trade the goods into and out of Nigeria, and the freight the ships earn, do not add to the GDP because their revenues all go to the foreigners who own them. Nigerians, at best, earn commissions on shipping support services like marine insurance and law, cargo survey, freight forwarding, transportation and warehousing, some of which have their individual headings in the NBS’ GDP computation. Given the volume of oil and gas cargo that Nigeria exports daily, coupled with the regular importation of refined petroleum products chief of which are premium motor spirit (petrol) and automated gas oil (diesel); add to this the volume of non-oil import and export that pass through our seaports, the loss of capital contribution to the economy from the ships that move these cargoes is better imagined than calculated. With regards to domestic shipping, ownership of tankers and offshore supply vessels (OSVs) is still tilted in favour of foreigners despite implementations of the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003 and the Local Content Act of 2010 both of which confer on Nigerian citizens the right to building, ownership, management and crewing of vessels that operate within Nigerian territorial waters. Not a little loss of national income, one could rightly surmise.

It is important to note that shipping remains the largest industry on earth, or rather the industry with the largest multidisciplinary components. Maritime economics, maritime law, maritime geography, marine insurance, fishery and oceanography, naval architecture, boat and ship building, cargo and marine survey, marine meteorology, maritime logistics and supply chain management, shipbroking and ship/port agency, transportation and warehousing, marine engineering, marine electronics, metallurgical engineering, shipping accounting and finance, maritime ICT/software development, purchasing and supply, health safety and environment (HSE), and maritime training and education are some out of the numerous fields that combine to give the industry its robustness and depth.

To harness the latent opportunities that shipping presents therefore, experts believe decisive steps towards the development of human resources in the various fields as well as investment in same by Nigerians are long overdue. “At a time like this that Nigeria is battling with high level of youth unemployment, professional training and practice in any of the fields in the maritime sector can help alleviate the scourge. Since virtually all these fields are untapped, they provide golden opportunities for Nigerians to earn decent living and contribute to developing the economy.

What is unique about professional training and development in the shipping industry is that many of the fields of study do not place emphasis on particular academic qualifications, particularly those fields that are not science or engineering-based. “For instance one could become a marine insurer without having academic background or qualification(s) in insurance study. Likewise people have reached the peak of their career in seafaring as Chief Engineers or Masters of Vessels without as much as any formal schooling beyond secondary school. Guided professional education and training takes care of the knowledge gap. Professional courses abound in transport logistics and supply chain management that can launch people into the world of shipping irrespective of their academic background,� said maritime expert Victor Ikheloa.

According to him, beyond professional

training and education, Nigeria needs shipping investors (foreign and local) to increase her maritime asset base.

He said: “This is a rather touchy issue as most Nigerians believe that investing in shipping requires breaking a bank vault. But this assumption is often taken too far. Mature maritime nations in Europe, North America, Far East and Middle-East Asia have made investments in shipping so fluid, flexible and all-encompassing so much that virtually any one or group of persons can invest in ships and allied assets while communal savings and funds that do not have immediate use find good haven of investment in ships. “A good case is the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) which is among the three biggest tanker companies in the world, funded with pension funds of 5 million Iranian pensioners. As of 2015, NITC had 42 very large crude carriers (VLCCs), each capable of transporting 2 million barrels of oil per voyage. The company transports Iranian crude to export markets and also engages in cross-trading of crude oil cargoes for some 150 oil majors worldwide, including Royal Dutch Shell, Total SA, Saudi Aramco and state-run producers in Kuwait and Abu Dhabi. With capacity for 11 million tons per year average, the NITC generates some $1.5 billion dollars revenue per annum in voyage charter freight and time charter hires for its owners. “Imagine what fortune Nigeria is missing out on by not having as much as a single tanker of its own to lift her crude. Granted that crude lifting contracts are now being given to some indigenous companies, the tanker vessels that lift the crude cargoes are still all foreign-owned and foreign-flagged, while negotiations for their chartering are done with the shipowners’ brokers who are neither Nigerians nor resident in Nigeria. In essence, even the traditional 5 per cent broker’s commission does not enter our national income portfolio.�

The NNPC Solution

Meanwhile, ship owners and other stakeholders in the maritime sector are on the verge of getting the desired change in trade terms from Free On Board (FOB) to Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) which would enable them to begin to lift Nigeria crude and ultimately boost indigenous capacity.

This new encouragement was a fall out from the stakeholders’ engagement on changing Nigeria’s crude oil affreightment trade term from FOI to CIF which was organised by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Abuja.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who declared the event open, welcomed the development, noting that the issue on this trade term is an aged long challenge that has lingered too far and charged participants to come out with resounding resolutions that would be of National benefit.

Also speaking at the event, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru stated that the corporation does not have any reason not to allow Nigerians lift crude that there were conditions which made NNPC opt for the FOB trade.

He, however, noted that the NNPC also sees benefits in the CIF trade term but processes have to be followed which may include transition period before finally opting for the CIF trade term.

Shipowners and major stakeholders, who spoke at the engagement, lauded the initiative.

A former Director General of NIMASA, who is also a ship owner pointed out that there is a lot of benefit in the CIF trade term.

He stated further that that it would eliminate crude theft, create employment and ultimately compliment the diversification drive of the Federal Government.

In the same vein, the President of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) and Managing Director of Starz Marine Group, Greg Ogbeifun observed that what is needed to make the great CIF initiative to grow the Nigerian shipping industry and the economy is the needed Government support, which is coming at the right time, when the country wants it most to diversify the economy.

All other stakeholders, who spoke at the event including leading members of the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA) and Master Mariners, unanimously agreed that the CIF trade term would be more beneficial to the country than the present FOB on which the crude lifting is currently based upon.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2018

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WEEKLY PULLOUT

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

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COLLAGE | P36

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FILE

RETELLING THE CIVIL WAR

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26.01.2018

The stairwell descending into the Voice of Biafra bunker

Several pictures describing the war's tragedy were on display at the museum

The Ilyushin 28 Bomber and Fighter Aircraft on display at the museum

The museum's curator, Mercy Aduoka

Retelling the Civil War The National War Museum in Umuahia brings to life Nigeria’s most tragic years, writes Solomon Elusoji On July 6, 1967, war broke out between eastern secessionists and Nigeria’s federal troops. The conflict was birthed from a complex animosity that had its roots in Nigeria’s cultural and political diversity, a product of British colonialism.

“The growth of nationalism in the society and the subsequent emergence of political parties were based on ethnic/tribal rather than national interests, and therefore had no unifying effect on the peoples against the colonial master,” a military scholar, Abubakar Atofarati, wrote in the early 90s. “Rather, it was the people themselves who were the victims of the political struggles which were supposed to be aimed at removing foreign domination. At independence Nigeria became a federation and remained one country. Soon afterwards the battle to consolidate the legacy of political and military dominance of a section of Nigeria over the rest of the federation began with increased intensity. It is this struggle that

eventually degenerated into coup, counter coup and a bloody civil war.”

During the war, which lasted for two and half years, there were about 100,000 overall military casualties, while between 500,000 and two million Biafran civilians died from starvation. It was a tragic moment in the nation’s callow history.

To remember the war, several books and films have been made. One of the most important of such literature is Chimamanda Adichie’s novel ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’, which was later adapted into a movie directed by Biyi Bandele, The story follows two sisters who are caught up in the war’s outbreak.

But, curiously, the war continues to be a sensitive topic in Nigeria. In 2014, the Nigerian National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) flagged the screening of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’, citing national security issues.

While people around the world watched the film, in Nigeria, its release was delayed. “One

of the reasons Nigeria is more divided today than it was before the war started is because we have refused to talk about the elephant in the room,” the film director, Biyi Bandele told the BBC then.

Bandele is right. History is largely avoided in Nigerian classrooms and the government has little interest in reviving discussions around the war. This, of course, leads to a kind of collective amnesia that makes possible the repeat of history. In 2017, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu an Igbo secessionist leader jailed by the Muhammadu Buhari government for treasonable offences, emerged as the face of the latent Biafra nation. Although the dissent was quelled, the factors that gave rise to his emergence are still in play.

Perhaps, one way to keep the country together will be to build a sense of national narrative through encouraging citizens to understand the war’s history. Interestingly, seated in the heart of Igboland, is an institution

that perfectly performs this role: the National War Museum in Umuahia.

When THISDAY visited this January, the sun was full of bluster and the clouds were clear. A group of workers huddled under a tree, and a group of young visitors were inspecting one of the automatic guns used during the war. Sited in Umuahia’s Ebite Amafor community, the museum complex sits in the middle of a sprawling compound dotted with lanky coconut trees.

“This is a first-of-its-kind museum in Africa,” the museum’s Curator, Mercy Aduoka, told THISDAY. But last year it received just 18,014 visitors.

After the war, which ended in 1970, a Nigerian Military government, decided to immortalise its events “for the purpose of preserving for posterity Nigerian war efforts through the ages.” On January 15, 1985, the then military Chief of Staff, Major-General Babatunde Idiagbon, launched the complex.

29/COVER

26.01.2018

A Nigerian Army combat kit on display inside the museum

One of the ships used to prosecute the Biafran war

A Biafran Fuel Refinery on display at the museum

Visitors stand next to one of the aircrafts on display at the museum

What the museum tries to achieve, according to its Chief Education Officer, Peace Otumbadi, is to provide a comprehensive narrative of Nigeria’s military and war history. Otumbadi, who has been a staff of the museum since the late 1980s, gave THISDAY a detailed tour.

The museum has three indoor galleries.

The first one is called traditional warfare gallery, which showed the kind of warfare technology used in ancient Africa. The walls were adorned with pictures such as Shaka De Zulu with a spear. Then there were the Amazons, women warriors wielding muskets.

The use of animals – horses, donkeys – featured greatly during this period.

“Look at this soldier with sophisticated weapons; when you compare him with Shaka De Zulu, you can see that the difference is clear,” Otumbadi said, pointing out a contrast.

Pictures from the American War of Independence were also available and the imaginary paintings of the early men with tools for fighting during the stone and iron age.

A very interesting feature of this section was the display of traditional weapons, ranging from different types of guns, stones, daggers (classified as a ‘shock weapon', because of the reaction of the victim), lances, javelins and lots more.

The display included different types of shields made from animal skin, metal, raffia, most for protection against bows and arrows.

Then there were iron chainmail, horse saddles, horse rider shoes and trumpets, used mainly

military used during the colonial era and the personalities that shaped its evolution.

This history cut through the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force.

For each of the military arms, there were sections devoted to ranking order, pictures of its main historical events and personalities, and a display of their ceremonial and combat uniforms; rare pictures of relevant military leaders such as Muhammadu Buhari, were sighted in this gallery.

The third section was the Voice of Biafra bunker, from where the then Biafran leader, Odumegwu Ojukwu and his men radioed information about the war to the world. This section featured the Biafra flag and coat of arms, the radio transmitter, and more pictures of the war and the personalities that shaped its origin and resolution. The escape hatch of this bunker led to a tunnel which travelled several miles across Umuahia to Ojukwu’s bunker. Although the tunnel has now collapsed, covered by red earth.

When THISDAY visited Ojukwu’s Bunker, a Senior Technical Officer and Guide, Christian Eke, said the bunker’s depth is 26.9 feet and that it was built within 90 days.

“The three main reasons why it was built were for them to conveniently hold secret meetings to chart the course of the war,” Eke said. “Also, for relaxation and to host important guests.” However, the bunker, when THISDAY visited, was quite empty.

Beyond the indoor exhibition, the National War Museum’s outdoor exhibition is a feast

A 'Flying Ogbunigwe' on display at the museum

for communication. The use of charms during early African wars was also represented.

“What we are trying to show here is the concept of technological advancement, to trace how our arms have evolved,” Otumbadi said.

The second indoor section, tagged the Armed Forces Gallery, was dedicated to narrating the origins of Nigeria’s military: this involved the types of uniforms and weapons the

for the eyes, with its array of airplanes and automatic guns on display. One of the ships used to prosecute the war is also on display.

“All the weapons here are the real ones used during the war and not replicas,” Otumbadi said.

Some notable mentions include the Bofor Anti-Aircraft Gun/Launcher fabricated by the Biafran Research and Production Unit (RPU) engineers. It was used by the secessionist’s Air Force to guard strategic military locations.

Also on display is the Ilyushin 28 Bomber and Fighter Aircraft donated to the Nigerian Air Force by the Egyptians. The Russian made aircraft, which flies at the speed of 8833km/h, earned the name ‘Genocide’ during the war, because of its random destructive capabilities.

“Its entry, together with Mig 17, which were flown by the East Germans, changed the course of the war against the secessionists,” a display at the museum read.

Another notable weapon on display at the museum is the ‘Flying Ogbunigwe’, which was manufactured by the Biafran RPU engineers and was used to launch bombs towards the enemy.

Some other notable weapons and equipment at the museum include several Armoured Personal Troops Carrier, Ferret Scout Cars, a Biafran Fuel Refinery and Biafran Armoured Cars.

To end the tour, Otumbadi led this reporter into the one of the ships used to prosecute the civil war. Its entrails were dark and stuffy, but it reeked, too, of history.

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26.01.2018

Cleric Tasks Political Leaders on Nation Building Mary Ekah The state chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Lagos branch, Apostle Alexander Bamgbola, has called on the nation’s political leaders, especially those at the national level to pause for a moment and take a look at the deplorable state Nigeria has become under their watch.

He noted that, “For many Nigerians, it is a sad story. The question that today’s political class must ask itself is: ‘Are we truly building the Nigerian nation or are we destroying it?’ What kind of Nigeria do we want to hand over to our children?’

Bamgbola who said this during a press conference presided over by members of the association’s State Executive Council to announce it plans for 2018, noted, “I will like to remind every member of today’s political class that no condition is permanent in the life of a man. Death is certain; and everyone came into this world empty and will return empty. It is appointed unto man once to die and then judgment.”

Speaking further, he said, “We are sad about what we see, hear and read of innocent people being killed every now and then, but what can we do than to continue to pray to God to give us peace in the land. So the political leadership should do everything to make sure that we have peace in the land. If we do not have peace, we cannot do anything right. So my personal opinion is that we should continue to pray and continue talking to the leadership to please fear God and rule justly and fairly because when you fear God, you would not be part of evil but if you don’t fear God, you continue to take part in evil.”

Calling on the political class to do every

L-R: Secretary of CAN, Lagos, Baba Aladura, Israel Akinadewo; Chairman of CAN Lagos State Chapter, Apostle Alexandar Bamgbola, Treasurer, Bishop Stephen Adegbite and Chairman Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Lagos State, Bishop Sola Ore at the Press briefing

within their power to ensure that they build the nation to a desirable state, the cleric noted, “I will be 72 by February and I have seen this nation from 1960. I came back in 1979 after so many years abroad as an expatriate. I was an expatriate for this nation for six years. I have been mourning every day and I am still mourning. How can we have all the resources and yet cannot build our nation? Go to other nations of the world and see how Nigerians are building those nations. I was part of the builders of America and this is my nation, I want to build but I do not have the chance to do that. Unfortunately, the leaders who are given the opportunity to build the nation are not doing that at all. That is why the church is talking to its members get up and get their voting rights. The church has to be involved in choosing the right leaders who have the capacities to build

this nation.”

The cleric posited that the days of Christians not being involved in partisan politics is over, stressing that stressed that votes should be cast for candidates based on their pedigrees and not based on the party they belong while also encouraging good Christians to vie for political positions.

On the gruesome killings by the Fulani herdsmen, he said, “It is high time we stopped the killings in this nation and if we don’t act on a serious note, people will begin to defend themselves and that’s the way it starts. There must be rule of law in this nation. Ownership of lands must not create problem in this nation because every state is in control of its land, so I can’t just bring my livestock to any state and they begin to feed on the grass without talking to those in charge of the land. So we just have to address things rightly.”

Grand Cereals Donates to Orphanage Home To further promote its corporate social responsibility efforts and provide for the needy in the society, Grand Cereals Limited, an integrated food production company has donated items to charity. The items ranged from cartons of Grand Cornflakes to Grand Pure Soya Oil. The donation was made during a visit to the Little Saints Orphanage in Lagos by the Regional Sales Manager, Monjarin Sunday on behalf of the company.

Speaking during the visit to the Orphanage home, Monjarin reiterated the organisation’s desire to be involved in social enterprises which ultimately impacts on the society.

“We want to ensure that everyone in the society has the opportunity to have a happy celebration irrespective of the circumstance.

Apart from serving our customers, part of our corporate values is to give back to the society. We thus try to make sure that everyone has access to the nutritious qualities that our products offer.’’

Founder, Little Saints Orphanage, (Rev.) Mrs. Bamidele George, who received the food items with joy, expressed delight at the gesture courtesy of Grand Cereals Limited. She stated that “we are very delighted to receive these items from Grand Cereals Limited. These items are

L-R: Regional Sales Manager, South West Grand Cereals Limited, Monjarin Sunday, Founder, Little Saints Orphanage, Rev. Dele George and one of the employees, Grace George during the presentation of the food items

some of the urgent items that we need in the orphanage. With this kind of support, the orphanage can continue to groom the children into responsible individuals and be effective in the society.”

In 1997 UAC of Nigeria Plc acquired a major shareholding in Grand Cereals Limited.

The company which was incorporated in 1983, was originally designed to produce baking flour from imported wheat but

following the ban placed on imported wheat, GCL modified its operation and production objectives, and today, the growing subsidiary of UACN Plc is steadfastly engaged in many value-added agriculturalbased industrial activities. GCL consistently delivers to consumers, high quality cereals, oils and feed, via the careful application of internationally acclaimed techniques to manufacture premium products.

MPM to Hold World Anointing Programme Ayodeji Ake In commemoration of the annual 21 days fasting and prayer which ends with an anointing prayer night, the Manna Prayer Mountain (MPM) ministry has announced the 2018 prayer night will hold on January 26 at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos.

The Assistant General Overseer, Rev. Flora Kwakpovwe noted that it will serve as a point of contact with God in prayers to usher Christians into the New Year.

She said: “The programme is all about prayer, about what God wants from us as regards fasting and prayers. At the beginning of every year, we commence on a 21 days fasting and we round it up with a powerful prayer night. It’s going into the presence of God. “Our daily manner started small, people going through it saw the need to meet with the bishop for prayers. When we started the

General Overseer of Mana Prayer Mountain Ministry, Dr. Chris Kwakpovwe with wife / Assistant General Overseer, Rev. (Mrs) Flora Kwakpovwe

yearly prayer, we discovered our auditorium here can’t contain the crowd anymore, so we move down to the national stadium first and later we moved to TBS. we were

using the stadium but we wanted a safer place, so we chose TBS” she said.

Speaking further, she said the programme is ordained by God as a breakthrough event which will make positive impact on Nigerians as individual and the nation.

“There are things individuals will get from fasting and prayers because the Bible said we should walk in the way of the Lord, so it will help us as individual to walk in the path of God. As a nation, if it can affect the individual then we will be able to impact the nation. Going into the presence of God, there will be breakthrough which will not only positively affect us as an individual but also as a nation. What makes our annual program unique from other program is that we are not just a denomination but other churches come to fellowship together, so it’s an interdenominational gathering. This program has been on for 10 years now” Rev. Flora said.

Couple Wins Holiday Trip at PZ-Coolworld Promo Draw A Lagos-based couple has a won the first prize of an all-expense paid ‘trip for 2’ to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The couple, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Ude won the first prize at the raffle draw event which was held on Tuesday, January 28 at the Victoria Island, Lagos branch of the Coolworld Retail Store.

Coolworld Electrical Retails Stores, a subsidiary of PZ Cussons had organised the Coolworld Year-End Promo for its customers across its seven stores all over the country to reward and engage its customers as the year 2017 rolled to an end. The promo ran from the 1st of November till the 31st of December 2017.

Coolworld Retail Stores’ customers participated from Lagos, Enugu, Ibadan, Abuja, Kano and Port-Harcourt by making purchases of products worth over N10,000 and above which earned them tickets to participate in the raffle draw. The draw event was observed by representatives of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Lagos State Lottery Board (LSLB) and journalists from various media houses.

The second prize of a SMART 75 inches Haier Thermocool TV set worth over One Million Naira and the third prize, an American styled-fully stocked refrigerator was won by Daniel Nzeka from Enugu and Olusegun Babayemi respectively while three others won consolation prizes of microwave ovens.

In his opening remarks, the Commercial Director of PZ/Coolworld Electrical Stores, Mr. Olugbenga Kolawole made it clear that Coolworld Stores would continue to reward its loyal customers with incentives and experiences that would keep them coming back for more.

He said, “Being the first Omni-channel retail outlet in Nigeria, we have over the years held our customers in high esteem and have always shown appreciation to them in, so many ways and we intend to continue to do so.” Olugbenga further gave more insight into the company’s operations, “At Coolworld we offer premium quality home appliances and consumer electronic products. We stock a range of brands including Thermocool, Sony, Kenwood, Philips and many more. Our relationship with PZ Cussons Company allows us to leverage their expansive distribution network which has 25 distribution centres and over 28 after-sales service centres nationwide. This benefits our customers as it ensures that no matter where you are we can get to you both to deliver products but also to help you maintain them to the best standards.

When you order online, we’ll ensure your product is delivered to you nationwide within 72 hours of your payment clearing.”

The draw event ended with a vote of thanks from the Marketing Director Thermocool, Bukola Bandele and she used the opportunity to encourage consumers to patronise the nearest Coolworld Store for the best consumer electronics and home appliances and promised more rewards for them in the comings months as a lot had been planned to engage and give them a fulfilling experience at the various Coolworld Stores across West Africa including Nigeria and Ghana.

Big Brother Naija Returns on Sunday The highly anticipated third edition of Africa’s biggest reality television show, Big Brother Naija, premieres on Sunday, the 28 January, 2018 at 7p.m. Nigerian time. Viewers on DStv can watch the show on channel 198, while GOtv viewers can tune in to channel 29 to watch all of the excitement as contestants battle for the grand prize of an SUV and N45 million worth of prizes.

The premiere follows weeks of excitement as auditions for the show held across different regions in Nigeria.

Big Brother fans were also treated to nostalgic fun as housemates from the second edition gathered for a special reunion show broadcast exclusively on DStv and GOtv. Speaking on Big Brother Nigeria’s return, the General Manager, Sales and Marketing for MultiChoice Nigeria, Martin Mabutho, said: “Without a doubt, this promises to be the most exciting edition of the Big Brother franchise on the African continent. The last edition of Big Brother Naija was incredibly successful and we see just how much the show continues to resonate with fans in Nigeria and around the continent. We can hardly wait for Sunday, and we guarantee not only that our viewers will enjoy the premiere show, but that they will stay tuned for three months until the show’s finale when the winner is revealed.”

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26.01.2018

Taking Charity to the Widows Ayodeji Ake For the past 12 years, founder, Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo along with his wife, has shouldered an annual empowerment programme for widows in Osun State. But for this recent edition, he decided to go extra mile by empowering larger number of widows.

At the last edition, which took place at the Kings University, Ode-omu, over 17,000 widows across over eight local government areas in Osun State were empowered with food, drinks, cloth and with estimated cash of 17million naira.

The 25-year-old Fausat Adeyanju, a mother of three, who resides in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, joined the league of widows a year ago after losing her husband to the cold hands of death. Fausat shared her story with THISDAY how she has been struggling to cater for her three children alone.

"My husband died in 2017 and since then life has been upside down. I have been trying to earn a living to ensure my kids get the best but it has not been easy with three kids.

Rashida on my back is just a year and some months and my first born is eight years old.

Coming here today is a privilege, a friend of mine told me about this programme. God bless Pastor Ashimolowo and wife," she said.

Mrs. Omotosho Omotayo who was also a beneficiary of the programme narrated how death claimed her husband from her eight years ago and left her alone to raise the children through rough and tough times.

"My husband died in 2010. I have been coming every year for the past seven years.

The very first time I was invited for this programme, I never wanted to come but I decided to give it a trial to confirm what I have been hearing. God will bless Pastor Ashimolowo because he has been a blessing to us the widows. I also pray for my children to grow up and be like him," she said.

The 2018 widows empowerment programme according to Pastor Ashimolowo featured eight local government areas; Isokan, Ikire, Aponmu, Ikoyi, Osogbo, Ile-Ife, Modakeke and Ode omu, with total expenses of over 60 million naira.

Addressing the journalists during the empowerment exercise in Osun, Ashomolowo noted that the programme has been designed to remember and celebrate with the widows, giving them food, drinks, cloth and money irrespective of their religion as well as feed them with the word of God. "It started 12 years ago with just about 380 widows, the next year, it blossomed into 850 widows and at 10 we started rolling out in thousands. This year, we have astonishing number of 17,000. There is a lot of needs in Nigeria so what we are doing is not much.

We are giving them food, drink, new cloth for each one of them and some money. This is not an initiative of KICC but that of my wife and I with the supports from friends.

We have people who flew all the way from London and England to support this mission.

"My vision for the future is that with 17,000 this year, it should be something that should metamorphose into something bigger than just giving the widows. We want to start a ministry call, Christ compassion to the rural and we want to hit the rural with six levels of needs we want to meet.

One of them is that we are going to bring hospitals, where up to five surgeries can be done at a time. For this event, we thought we will be spending 50 million naira but so

Widows on a long queue collecting gift items and food

far, we have spent over 60 million naira," he said.

Speaking further, he urged Nigerian politicians to come together to battle poverty in the country.

"There is poverty in the country and we believe that the nation can do more. Let those that have enough remember the needy.

There is need in the country and I can only challenge the government to look into five Es ; Economy, Electricity, Environment as in agriculture, Engineering as in a mechanise and industrialise nation, Electronic as in driving into information system. Nigeria economy is working, we need our leaders to put aside politics, religion and culture and look into our country holistically. We need a plan that can change the affairs of the country," he added.

As a mother, Mrs. Yemisi Ashimolowo expressed her joy empowering the widows as she charged them to move closer to God. "It’s a privilege to be of help to the widows because it’s about touching lives. This is an assignment that God gave me and my husband. This is the 12th year that we have been doing this and we thank God that has been giving us this opportunity to put smile on the faces of these widows because when you see the joy in them, it makes us glad.

I want to encourage widows out there that they are not forgotten, God loves them and will surely take care of them."

Also at the event, Senator Iyiola Omisore commended the effort of Pastor Ashimolowo and his wife, for cultivating the habit of giving to the poor, most especially widows, as he enjoined Nigerians to support the needy with the little they have, adding, “Being a philanthropist is not by wealth but the will to help others no matter how little," he said.

Ashimolowo giving out cash and cloths to one of the widows

Pile of cloths still waiting to be collected by the widows

BAOSA: Why We Chose to Invest in Education Ayodeji Ake While several associations embark on different community projects, the Baptist Academy Old Student Association (BAOSA) has emphasised its dedication to the development of education.

Recently, at the 2017 Annual Reunion Dinner and Awards Ceremony held in Lagos, the President of BAOSA, Mr. Lanre Idowu spoke on some of the projects accomplished

by the association, listing the inauguration of a standard library, an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) centre with about 90 computers, and the rehabilitation of the school hall.

Idowu further explained that the promotion of education is not only the duty of the proprietor. “Education today cannot be left alone to the school proprietors. The parents, students and the alumni associations and the community in which the school is

situated, all have a legitimate concern in ensuring that schools should be nurtured so that they can maintain their pride of space,” he said.

The immediate past president of BAOSA, Chief Olatunde Onakoya, narrated how the politicians left the school in a sorry state in a bid to achieve their aim which is the main reason for BAOSA intervention to redefine the school.

“This is its first of its kind and we have

laboured for many years to try and see if we can put up this sought of reunion because the school has suffered from a number of disparagement when the politicians came and took over the school, they messed up a lot of things, and the school was in a sorry state. By this, we thought of gathering the old students until few years ago when we discovered sets of enthusiastic student who are devoted to the transformation of the school,” he said.

32 / XTRA

26.01.2018

Heart of Gold Nseobong Okon-Ekong reports his experience on the trail of a charity that used the Yuletide and New Year celebrations to show care and compassion to others

Giving out babies clothes to mothers

Ibidunni Ighodalo with one of the babies

“Mummy, we just arrived. Please.”

Her eyes widened in perplexity. She looked at her staff and the team of volunteers. They had worked very hard and were ready to call it a day, but she could not ignore the passionate plea from these three women carrying their babies. The ceremony was winding down.

Against the good judgment of her staff that it was already dusk and that scarcity of petrol had made commuting very difficult, she persuaded them gently to re-consider the decision.

“We came here for these people. We cannot turn them back.” It was an appeal (not a command) from Mrs. Ibidunni Ighodalo, CEO of Elizabeth R, a top-notch events planning company and wife of Ituah Ighodalo, accountant and Senior Pastor of Trinity House. Persuading them with more soothing words, she moved ahead to make the women comfortable. Enveloping one of them in a hug, she took a baby from another.

It was the first edition of the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation baby shower charity called, Baby’s Day Out at the Open Field of the Millennium Housing Estate, better known as, Tinubu Estate

Mothers and their children at the IIF event at Ikorodu

in Ibeshe-Ikorodu, Lagos.

The IIF had announced that the event was for pregnant women and children between one day and one-year-old, but the organisers were forced to observe this restriction more in the breach-elderly women, teenagers and single ladies showed up in their thousands to benefit from the IIF largesse. Though there was a captive population in the estate, a teeming number of people joined them from nearby and far-flung neighbourhoods around Ikorodu and beyond.

Buses and trucks marked with the Trinity House and Elizabeth R insignia that carried various gift items were parked beside the field.

Personnel from K-Square, a private security company were busy, trying to keep the children and their mothers from becoming unruly. There were two teams of men of the Nigeria Police keeping an eye on the crowd. Thank God, the situation never got out of control. By and large, the mild disruption was foisted on the event by parents who could not stay on the queue and excited children, who scampered to get

a gift bag from Santa Claus.

The handouts from the IIF were in different categories. Pregnant women were given clothes, baby bath set, raw food items and a bag filled with baby toiletries. Though some mothers tried to shave some months off their grown babies, officials of IIF insisted on giving the baby clothes to the right recipient. For the baby cot bed, pregnant women took to the dance floor to dance to music from DJ Shexy in order to decide who will take it home. The elderly women smiled home with one live chicken and food items.

Mrs. Ibijoke Adeboyejo said she was familiar with the charitable disposition of the Ighodalos since she worshipped under Pastor Ituah at the Redeemed Christian Church of God Christ Church, Gbagada. She got to know about the Baby’s Day Out on Facebook. Mrs. Olayinka Mokwenye heard of the charity through a friend. A good number of the women were residents of the estate. Many of them had modest expectations when they were notified of the event. But it turned out that the organisers exceeded their expectations by far.

Mrs. Bola Egbo, a teacher said she expected a children’s party. “The crowd is too much,” she said. Another teacher, Mrs. Sharon Uche who lives in the estate thought it was going to be a platform for evangelism. Her presumption was fulfilled in another way. “What the Ibidunni Ighodalo did was better than preaching and hitting people on the head with the Bible. They

carried out practical Christianity.” Mrs. Shakirah Lawal, a Medical Laboratory Scientist said she saw much more than she expected. Mrs. Florence Uju confessed that the IIF came with loads of gifts, but advised that they should be better organised next time. Perhaps, the luckiest of the women was Mrs. Jennifer Ojukwu who was visiting her sister in the estate. As a pregnant woman, she was not only gifted with items for her unborn baby and herself, her four children also went home with gifts.

An IIF spokesperson said the organisation was growing fast and was beginning to accommodate responsibilities which were not part of its original obligation. “We set out to help couples who were challenged with conception.

It was a simple obedience to God. When you walk with God, you do not know where He is taking you. You just follow Him in complete trust and surrender. God is opening new horizons.

Everything is related. When couples conceive, the next thing is a baby. The expansion of our mission is within rational progression.”

On New Year Day, the IIF team led by Ibidunni and her husband, Pastor Ituah visited five hospitals within Lagos; including Island Maternity, Lagos, Ajeromi General Hospital in Ajegunle, the Mother and Child Hospital at Amuwo Odofin, the General Hospital in Mushin and the Gbagada General Hospital. At every facility, they distributed gifts to the babies born on New Year Day and their mothers. They also paid bills for indigent patients.

Overcome with emotion, one of the mothers at the IIF Ikorodu event

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Davos 2018: Sahara Group Urges Global Support for Access to Energy in Africa Peter Uzoho Leading African energy and infrastructure conglomerate, Sahara Group will make a strong case for collaborative efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through more access to energy in Africa at the 2018 World Economic Forum annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

Executive Director and Co-founder, Sahara Group, Tonye Cole will form part of the continent’s private sector leadership delegation to the summit.

Heads of government and business leaders will this year deliberate on the theme: ‘Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World’.

According to Cole, the world is in urgent need of a more coordinated level of shared expertise, resources and influences to forge ahead on key developmental fronts. “The mission to realise the SDGs is possibly the most daunting objective faced by the United Nations. The impact the attainment of these goals will have on the ability of the entire global system to co-exist peacefully

Cole

cannot be over-emphasised. It is in the interest of all humanity to collaborate on the SDGs, especially in Africa where we believe access to

energy holds the key to achieving the 17 goals by the 2030 target.”

An African Development Bank Group report has found that a majority of countries in subSaharan Africa have average grid electricity access of around 23 per cent of the population. This leaves over 640 million people in the region without access to grid electricity. Some of the highest electricity supply deficits which exist in the region include Nigeria at 90 per cent, Ethiopia at 70 per cent and DRC at 60 per cent, while current power supply in SSA is estimated to be 80GW. “Access to energy is crucial not only for the attainment of health and education outcomes, but also for reducing the cost of doing business and for unlocking economic potential and creating jobs. Significant impediments to improving the power situation still prevail. Governments have been known to intervene in order to set electricity tariffs. These tariffs are seldom cost reflective thus affecting the viability of the sector.

Also, there is a gaping deficit of indigenous

human resources in SSAs power sector as the region relies on imported skill and talent for the execution, operation and maintenance of power projects.”

Cole, who also represents Sahara on the advisory board of the UN SDG-Fund, said the continent requires more support for ongoing regional pool activity that is gaining traction through bilateral agreements existing between some West African countries and East African countries. “With other similar initiatives, providers will no longer be restricted to markets within their country borders. This is probably the most effective way of enhancing access to energy; but again, it would require strong political will and huge funding that can only be achieved by global collaboration,” he added.

There are credible prospects for upward trends in access to energy in Africa. These are evident via continuing privatisation and unbundling of power assets, emergence of more decentralised power models and growth in power demand across the continent.

IG Shows Love to the Orphanage Rebecca Ejifoma Again, forging ahead with his vision of compassion and care, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has given his widow’s mite and share of love to Precious Pearls Orphanage, Egbeda, Lagos.

The items donated included: bags of rice, cartons of spaghetti, mattresses, cartons of fruit juice, bottles of vegetable oil and cash.

“One of his cardinal points is this issue of show of compassion. Apart from doing our professional duties - going out there to fight crimes - there is this aspect of compassion of the police. We have come to share love to those who really need it,” he added.

The IG, who was represented by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos Corporative, CP Shola David, noted that the donation of gift items was in line with the IG's mission and vision. “It's

not only running after criminals. We are friends of the society. And this is a way of giving our widow’s mite.”

Idris further lauded the management of the orphanage having seen the health status of the children. "We appreciate and commend them for the good works. We pray they keep it up.”

According to him, “this exercise is a continuous show of love. And with the support of the IG of police, it will be a continuous thing. We shall do our best.”

Reacting to the August visit from the men of Lagos Police Corporative, the Founder, Mrs. Hannah Omeiza, expressed gratitude to the kind gesture. “This is quite surprising. I did not expect it at all from the police. May God bless the IG and the Nigerian Police.”

She assured the officers that her orientation of the police had been changed. “I never thought

Police officers at the Precious Pearls Orphanage, Egbeda, Lagos

police could show such care and compassion towards us.”

A Glorious Jubilee for Grace School Gbagada Peter Uzoho It was not a mere anniversary but a reunion, a moment to reckon with, a time to reward achievements in an ambience of glitz and glamour.

Recently, Grace High School, Gbagada, Lagos, staged what could be called a gathering of the ‘who’s who’ at the Havilah Place, Oniru Estate, Lekki, during the 50th anniversary of the school in honour of the founder, late Deaconess Grace Bisola Oshinowo. The school was established by Oshinowo in 1968 as part of her gift to society and, guided by its motto of raising a total child.

The occasion witnessed the formal launch of a compendium titled: ‘Five Decades of Grace Schools’, which contains 13, 000 past pupils and students of the school including wife of the Minister of Mines and Steel, Mrs. Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi and Nigeria’s screen Star, Funke Akindele.

Award of different categories were presented to deserving staff and personalities at the occasion, among them were the Distinguished Old Staff and the Long Serving Staff Awards.

Dignitaries at the occasion included the special guest of honour and former Governor of Kano

L-R: CEO, FEFA International, Mr Akin Taylor; Administrator, Grace Schools, Mrs. Iyiola Edun; Chief Launcher and Chairman, Multi-Choice Nigeria, Mr. Adewunmi Ogunsanya (SAN); Special guest of honour and former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; and Director-general, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, at the golden jubilee celebration of Grace School/launch of compendium held in Lagos...recently

State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; DirectorGeneral, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo; Chief Executive Officer, FEFA international Company, Mr. Akin

George Taylor; Chief Launcher and Chairman, Multi-Choice Nigeria, Mr. Adewunmi Ogunsanya, as well as Queen’s College Old Students, amongst others.

Speaking at the event, the Director and Administrator of the school, Mrs. Iyiola Edun, said the occasion was organised to remember and honour the founder for gifting such an excellent institution of learning and character moulding to the society, noting that existing for 50 years and making remarkable achievements seamlessly was worth celebrating.

She said education remains the key to national development and appealed to government to provide qualitative education to Nigerian children, advising that education in Nigeria should go beyond grades and certificates.

"Education should go beyond grades and certificate, additional skill is equally required for the total development of a child," Edun said.

The administrator bemoaned the poor state of public schools in the country, pointing that, in developed societies, education was prioritised as basic need and provided with adequate funding.

Also speaking at the occasion, Kwankwaso said the occasion was a moment to remember, appreciate and pray for the founder of the school, late Oshinowo for her gift to humanity, advising that while alive, people should try and establish worthy legacies.

AsharamiSpeaks: Stimulating Conservations, Collaborations for Sustainable Development Peter Uzoho It was an emotive gathering that gave a resounding voice to the cause of girl-child empowerment. The thoughts expressed were passionate; the discussions in depth. The speakers were distinguished media, entrepreneurship and film experts. The event was the maiden edition of #AsaharamiSpeaks, a Sahara Group thought leadership platform created to stimulate collaborative action towards global sustainable development.

The panel discussion event featured appearances by A-list screen actors and public figures

including, Rita Dominic, Ramsey Nouah, Dakore Akande, Jadesola Osiberu, Bodunrin Sasore and Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji. They were joined by young filmmaker and girl education advocate Zuriel Oduwole and award-winning broadcasting journalist and CNN Africa producer Stephanie Busari. The panelists deliberated on: ‘Enhancing girl-child empowerment through the medium of film’.

The audience had some of the beneficiaries of Sahara Group's 'Grooming Film Extrapreneurs' project which saw Zuriel coordinate filmmaking classes for 90 young ladies in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire - in line with the leading African

energy conglomerate's passion for empowering and transforming lives.

Some of the most pressing issues brought to the fore included the paradigm shift in gender dynamics with one live tweet commenting that “women don’t submit anymore”. The twitter assertion was roundly debunked with equal doses of seriousness and humour. Social entrepreneur Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji riposted “Men must not feel emasculated by the presence of a strong woman. The power of a woman shouldn’t make you feel any less adequate as a man.”

Another subject which livened the conversation was, the current climate of gender

equity illustrated by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements occurring across the Atlantic. The movement has caused tectonic shifts not only in terms of gender dynamics but also in terms of the power play that exists in established institutions like Hollywood and the British Houses of Parliament.

Ramsey Nouah’s opinion on the subject indicated the need for boys all over the world to treat girls with respect. “It is so important to train our boys from an early age to respect the girls and women in their lives. How we raise our children really does set the tone for future gender dynamics. “

34/XTRA

26.01.2018

Assessing Governor Ugwuanyi’s Leadership in Enugu Enyi Idike The success and failure of a people largely depend on the quality and philosophy of their leadership. Little wonder why the Bible says in Proverbs 29:2 that when good people are in power, the people rejoice but when the wicked are in power, the people groan. In Enugu State today, a good man is in power. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s first tenure as governor of Enugu has been very beneficial to the good people of the state and marked by extraordinary feats in the midst of the prevailing harsh economic conditions bedevilling the country. It takes extraordinary intellect, keen vision, passion, hard work and great leadership to engender such good governance. Looking at the prevailing state of governance in Enugu State today, one can safely say that the people are blessed.

When the immediate past governor of the state, Sullivan Chime, anointed Governor Ugwuanyi as his successor, majority of the people of Enugu State hailed Governor Chime’s decision not because they were convinced of the leadership qualities of Governor Ugwuanyi at the state governance level, but largely due to his achievements while serving as an Honourable member representing a federal constituency in Enugu State at the National Assembly and for the fact that Governor Ugwuanyi was seen as having a good and caring heart and also was perceived as a man of the people. It was apparently due to the latter that he was politically christened “Gburugburu” which epitomises a person who is great and whose kindness radiates “everywhere” and on “everyone”. As his reign indicates, Governor Ugwuanyi is a great and intelligent leader who is interested in results and whose leadership qualities have triggered socio-economic development and impacted positively on the people of Enugu State. In this regard, the immediate past governor, Chime, deserves commendation for his imaginative presentation of Governor Ugwuanyi. Enugu State is not new to such successful presentations.

In fact, Governor Sullivan Chime was also a great success in Enugu State and was a dark horse when he was presented as governor by his predecessor, but posted an impressive performance in Enugu State.

The performance of Governor Ugwuanyi

Ugwuanyi

is quite interesting and peculiar because he was the first from Enugu North (Nsukka senatorial zone) under the current rotational arrangement in Enugu State, to take up the mantle of leadership in recent times. The question has been whether an Nsukka man can perform but this question has been put to rest with the incredible performance and disciplined governance style of Governor Ugwuanyi. He has made Nsukka people proud and created an indelible record for himself in the sands of time. I have visited Enugu regularly since Governor Ugwuanyi became the governor of Enugu State and had waited to be sure that the governor had a sustainable economic plan and strategies to generate the desired developmental changes in Enugu State before I can express my thoughts about his government.

Governor Ugwuanyi has delivered a great performance on poverty alleviation generally in Enugu State but the most remarkable is the regular payment of workers’ salaries and clearance of pension arrears. My investigations show that workers in Enugu State receive their salaries on the 23rd day of each month. In the current dispensation in Nigeria, several

states are owing several months in workers’ salaries. It is interesting that while Enugu State is amongst the states with low federal allocations, Governor Ugwuanyi has managed the resources very well and maintained a regular payment of workers’ salaries. This is a clear demonstration of exceptional leadership, discipline, efficiency and humanity to the suffering masses. The governor also approved the payment of the prestigious but rare 13th month to workers in Enugu State in order to further alleviate human suffering and motivate the workforce for superior performance.

In the area of development of critical infrastructure, Governor Ugwuanyi equally posted an outstanding performance across the state. In Nsukka, his construction of the Opi-Nsukka Road is legendary and shows his large heart. Governor Ugwuanyi clearly demonstrated with the Opi-Nsukka Road that charity begins at home. Enugu State Government has now deepened its existence and impact on Nsukka people. If their son did not remember them, who would? Governor Ugwuanyi has demonstrated that rotational governance is good in Enugu State as it ensures widespread development and, arguably, key

to Nigeria’s even development. Previously, the Opi-Nsukka Road was not given great attention despite its sensitive position as harbouring the prestigious University of Nigeria and the residence of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first president. This has now been addressed by Governor Ugwuanyi for posterity in the form of a dual carriageway that starts from Opi and terminates at the entrance of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Critics might argue that he is giving Nsukka more attention but Nsukka has suffered neglect over the years in the area of infrastructural development. The reality is that Governor Ugwuanyi has replicated such efforts in other parts of Enugu State.

Governor Ugwuanyi developed an admirable economic blueprint in Enugu State, a strategy that is targeted at making Enugu State an investment hub in Nigeria. The hosting of ‘Oganiru Enugu’ was quite remarkable and commendable and became the first Enugu State investment summit ever. Governor Ugwuanyi’s investment drives have yielded good dividends in the number of foreign direct investments he has attracted to Enugu State. The governor has maintained a good security network that provides a buffer for investments and business activities.

Governor Ugwuanyi enthroned an unprecedented traffic management system in Enugu State by instituting a traffic control in Enugu.

While I drove around in Enugu recently, I decided to test the character of the traffic wardens by driving on a side lane to beat the traffic. The traffic wardens accosted me and I stopped. They gently directed me to join the lane. Ordinarily, I had expected them to arrest me and tow away my vehicle. I was surprised that none of such things happened.

That was a culture of service engineered by quality leadership.

For his great performance in Enugu State, the governor mainly attributes his successes to God. He declares all the time that Enugu State is in the hands of God. I agree! Enugu is actually in the hands of God and God has used Governor Ugwuanyi, a great leader, to bless the people of Enugu State. I urge the governor to remain focused especially in his upcoming second term which the majority agrees he has worked very hard to merit.

Dr. Enyi Idike is a lawyer based in Lagos

Dennis Aliogo Bows Out at 70 Ugo Aliogo Mr. Dennis Chukwuka Aliogo was born into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Irabor Aliogo on January 10, 1947. He hailed from Idumu-Okete Quarters, Otolokpo, Ika North-east Delta State. He began his primary education at the Nigeria Baptist Convention Primary School which is now known as Okundaye Primary School, Boji-Boji Owa, Ika North-East Local Government Area, from 1955-1961.

In 1962, he gained admission into Unity Institute of Stenography, also in Boji-Boji Owa. Due to financial constraint, he dropped out in the second year in 1963. By 1964, late Chief Patrick Aliogo took him to Joseph Monye to learn driving. On completion of the driving training, he obtained his vehicle drivers’ license in 1967.

Thereafter, Chief Patrick Aliogo took him to Chief Igabor Ignatius Erigbuem where he started off as a private driver to the man.

During his stint with Erigbuem, he displayed exceptional skill and deep devotion to duties.

His lifestyle convinced Erigbuem that he was no stranger to hard work.

His personal passion and commitment to hard work was the touchstone which helped him to win the heart of Erigbuem who bought him a car, when the former became a major distributor to Nigeria Breweries Plc. Despite owing a car, he remained under the tutelage of Erigbuem learning the rubrics of the trade and distributing beer.

After four years with Erigbuem, he bought a Morris Minor WA1106 and ventured into transport business. This was a new wave of opportunity he wanted to explore because of his desire to try new things. The adventure didn’t produce much success as expected, however, during this period his path crossed with late Godwin Odim who also from Otolokpo. Odim

Late Aliogo

requested that Aliogo used his car to convey his expatriate friends from U.S. round the city of Port-Harcourt, River State, whenever they visited Nigeria.

He agreed and spent a long time with them in Port-Harcourt. His sojourn in Port-Harcourt helped in establishing a solid relationship with

Odim who was given a license by the federal government to import cement. The friendship between Odim and Aliogo created a strong fraternal bond which both individuals are grateful for even in death. Odim encouraged him to battle through life despite the odds.

When the cement business with Odim collapsed, he met another Otolokpo man, late John Elue who was a big brother to the Aliogo family. He was a major firearms distributor in Delta State. Elue had received a license from the federal government to sell firearms. He then made Aliogo a distributor under him in Boji-Boji Urban. In 1975, he got married according to native law and customs and the marriage is blessed with five children; three boys and two girls. Then in 2006, he wedded his wife Mrs. Augustina Aliogo, at St. Dominic Catholic Church, Boji-Boji Owa. Then in 1977, he met a friend named Gabriel Onyeugboh who introduced him into sales and distribution of beer at Obiaruku, Delta State. They began the business as partners.

Though they recorded some level of successes, but it was short-lived. The business collapsed due to shortage of capital and they went into other interests. For Aliogo, he decided to venture into rubber business.

He began buying rubber from various towns and communities in Delta State to sell to processing companies in Agbor, Sapele and Warri. While doing the rubber business, he ventured into palm oil processing and established an oil mill. It was a lucrative business which earned Aliogo great financial rewards. He played a key role in reviving the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Ogbosisi unit (plank shade), Boji-Boji Owa. When the NURTW Ika North-East unit heard of his exploits in the Ogbosisi unit, they decided to make him an integral part of the union. He was an adviser and also

chaired the union’s planning committee for various events at different times.

On the home front, he was a fascinating father figure to his children and a strict disciplinarian. He urged his children to strive to standout in anything they did. In the Aliogo family circle, his impacts were felt by everyone.

He was revered for his wisdom and depth in handling family issues. Despite enduring a period of long suffering with regards to his health, he was never broken. He lived everyday with renewed hope. His hard work and determination never won him the major successes he truly aspired for, but it is an issue he lost sleep over.

On December 16, 2017 he died after a protracted illness. He bowed out in a blaze of glory that was too good to be true. Aliogo was the man for the big occasion. His thought process was very quick and he had panoramic view of everything.

He had an extraordinary life and succeeded in everything he did as a father, leader and friend. Despite the difficulties he encountered in business, the decision to quit never loomed before him.

He never allowed anything to stand between him and his goals. He was one of the finest examples of a person battling against the odds. He was a man with a strong personality.

He had an incisive mind and the ability to cut through the logjam in any situation. He was a man with a knack for excellence. He crossed many milestones and broke many frontiers. His story is not only amazing, but imbued with moral courage and hope. He was more interested in creating an impact, than making an empire. He was a wonderful friend and a great comrade. Late Aliogo who would be buried on 3rd of February 2018, was a custodian of culture and moral rectitude.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2018

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36/COLLAGE

26.01.2018

L-R: Chairman, Dedication Planning Committee, Sir Kene Ekwunife; Bishop of Lagos West, Anglican Communion, Rt Rev Dr James Odedeji; his wife, Lydia ; Vicar, St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church Satellite Town , Ven.(Dr) Chudi Obi and his wife Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obi, during the dedication of the Church Building in Lagos... recently

Businessman Horticulturist and CEO, Shodex Gardens Limited Mr. Olusola Adekoya, supporting his affable wife and celebrant Opeyemi Mosunmola Adekoya to cut her 50th Golden Jubilee birthday in Lagos...recently

Hesha Queen performing during the Okepopo Carnival festival to mark the New year 2018 celebration in Lagos.... recently MUBO PETERS

First lady of Kebbi State, Dr. Zenaib Bagudu(m) flanked by the couple; Lindamaris Chukwuka and Taiye Adeyemi at the wedding reception ceremony of the couple in Lagos..recently

The Converner Musical Youth Fiesta Initiative,Seantor Oluremi Tinubu( sitting,middle)and Class 2018 Student of Leadership Academy for Girls at the Constituent office, Lagos...recently

L-R: Circuit President, Agege, Bldr. Ashimiyu-Towolawi; Amir, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria, Dr. Mash’hud Adenrele Fashola and President Agdingbi Jama’at, Pa Musemilu Yusuf, at the commissioning of Agidingbi Mosque in Lagos...recently

L-R Painter, Daraja Designs, Polly Alakija; Pupil, Ken Ade Private School, Benjamin Akinruntan; Headmistress, Ken Ade Private School, Bisi Jedo; Pupil, Ken Ade Private School, Glory Itima and Marketing Director (Foods), Unilever Ghana and Nigeria, Mrs Nsima Ogedi-Alakwe at the Unilever Nigeria Creative arts/Paint day with Polly Alakija at Ken Ade Private School Makoko in Lagos...recently

37/ THISLIFE

26.01.2018

For Professor Ndifon, a Glorious Exoneration Professor Cyril Ndifon, Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Calabar survived a rare onslaught over allegations of rape and returned all the glory to God in a thanksgiving service. Ahamefula Ogbu was there Trees that line the streets appeared to have been in agreement with the event of the day as they waved in the gentle morning Calabar breeze under the ambience of the early morning rays. Even the sun had arisen a bit earlier than usual as if not to be late for the occasion. The reflection of them gave the impression of smiles which tallied with the smiles of Professor Cyril Ndifon, the vindicated Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Calabar who was accused of rape by one of his students. The only difference was in the inner resolve or stubbornness of the university don. That attribute was later to lead to the event of the day.

Allegations against the only Professor of Law Cross River State has produced would marvel you. He was accused of different things in different security organisations like kidnapping, sexual assault, forceful detention before it was narrowed down to rape. As the allegations were losing steam with the progress of investigations, his accusers kept changing their narrative; so that the inconsistencies worked in his favour.

However, following the case and how the authorities responded at every stage, it could be concluded that God was on the side of Ndifons as it was clearly a case of the “the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob.” Obviously, there were bigger players behind the scene that wanted Ndifon out of the way using his student as a pawn in the chess board, but probably, like James Hardley Chase, a writer said, “assassins always leave a trace”, so everything did not work out to their plans.

At the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Navy Barracks, Akim, IBB Way, Calabar, last Sunday where the university don had a thanksgiving service for his exoneration, the cathedral witnessed an unprecedented crowd beyond the capacity of the imposing edifice. There were more people outside than inside while the event planner had a hectic time culling seats from all corners. They apparently had underestimated the turnout. Every person that received a positive touch of Ndifon’s kindness showed up to identify with him. One wondered how lonely he would have become if he was actually guilty of the allegations.

The first reading at the thanksgiving service conducted by Reverend Father Jacob Ukpogu was taken from Jonah 3:1-5: 10 and counselled that there should be no victor, no vanquished, no chastiser and no chastised but for the offended to forgive so that the mind of God would continually be established in the career of the Ndifons. He said the intention of the enemies may have prospered only for a while before it was be overturned.

The second reading was taken from Corinthians 7: 29-31 where he emphasised that the world was passing away so that anyone who embraced wrong values would regret.

Ukpogu charged those backbiting, telling lies, bearing false witnesses and pulling down others to desist while those offended through such should never see vengeance as an option but embrace forgiveness which he said freed the heart and soul.

“Professor Ndifon and family, I want to tell you that God is with you. Many did not go as far as you were taken and were utterly destroyed but God preserved you. No matter what situation you find yourself in, always take it to God in prayer. The Prophet Isaiah said that while you are still praying He will answer you. No matter the situation, always put your trust in God and do not go after those that offended you, those that caused you pains and caused you to go through what you went through. I owe special thanks and commendations to your wife, Dr. Rita for her understanding, perseverance and standing by you in your trying times, she is a very good and prayerful woman. God will bless and keep her because her type is rare,” Ukpogu admonished.

Professor Ndifon came close to tears when he was handed the microphone to speak. He said he had promised to thank God before the congregation when he was vindicated because he knew he didn’t commit any of the offences

Professor Cyril Ndifon and his wife, Rita, at the thanksgiving service

they accused him of and that the occasion was in fulfilment of the promise.

“What happened was that they aimed to destroy my career, reputation, the reputation of my family, my village, state and everything that I stand for. They took me and my family through the valley of the shadow of death but God delivered me and did not allow their scheme to succeed. I nearly died. My wife has been extremely wonderful.

“You won’t understand that there was an unseen hand manipulating and directing the movie but in all things I give God thanks, I always saw the hand of God. The fact that I am alive today is a miracle. If not for God, there were many avenues to have brought me down. When the medical report came out, I was exonerated, when the police report came out, I was exonerated and they passed the file from Federal Attorney General to the State Attorney General but in all these, they gave the verdict that I had no case to answer and to sum it up, it shows the favour of God,” he narrated.

At this point, the hall erupted with solidarity songs from students who marched down from all sides of the cathedral to the front and rendered songs praising God and the sterling qualities of Professor Ndifon. The students said the two years the action against their Dean went on nearly stifled activities in their faculty.

When his wife took over the microphone to thank the congregation, she broke down and amidst sobs, narrated that prior to the allegation against her husband, he received many threat text messages that she was scared for his life, so when the allegations came, she reasoned that it might still be the handiwork of those threatening him. He thanked everyone who contributed whether positively or negatively, adding that though they went through the valley of shadow of death, they feared no evil.

“No matter what happens, those who will believe you will believe you. They wanted my husband to go to prison but God did not allow them. I have cried enough, they accused him of being proud and too strict; yes, he is proud to do what they wanted him to do,” she narrated.

On the sideline, Rita said she never believed that her husband of 23 years committed the offence even though the barrage of misinformation and propaganda on the issue raged to the extent she was nearly sucked in. However, on a day she followed her husband to one of the police stations where he was invited, while sitting in a waiting room, “the issue of my husband somehow cropped up and they started discussing it without knowing we were the people they were talking about.

One girl in the room said ‘I know that man, he can do it, in fact I am sure he raped the girl’. At that point, my husband turned to the girl and asked her if she knew the Professor Ndifon and the girl responded that she knew him very well. When the girl rose, opened the door to leave, my husband called her back and told her to tell her parents that she saw

Professor Ndifon. It was at that point that I reasoned that if the person that has said she knows my husband very well did not recognise that he was the man in the same room with her, then I must stop listening or reading what anybody said about the case.”

Counsel to the Professor, Sunny Anyanwu said that once he heard of the rape allegation, he was sure Ndifon didn’t commit the offence, adding that when he saw the girl in question and how “bulky” she looked, he wondered from where the Law professor could have borrowed strength to subdue and rape such a huge girl. He also fought to the end and secured victory when after he was exonerated the university refused to restore him and he had to go to court.

The reception which held at the Library ground was a carnival of sorts with dancers, comedians, entertainment and so much to eat and drink. Ndifon used the opportunity to thank the Vice Chancellor of UINCAL, Professor Zana Akpagu who was earlier at the church thanksgiving service and the school authorities for their boldness and resolve to recall him after his exoneration despite pressure not to do so. Former Commissioner of Police, Lawrence Alobi was Chairman at the reception. As the day wore on, events shifted to his modest home at Akpabuyo, where visitors trudged to till the next day.

In the ivory towers, students are always seen as the weaker constituents and therefore draw unlimited sympathy so that when Professor Ndifon, was accused of rape by a student of the department, his balloon was adjudged pierced and therefore without remedy. However, not for the cerebral and equally stubborn don.

Ndifon described himself as the most investigated person in the country who while every security agency was mobilised to sift the wheat from the chaff in the allegation, was pilloried by the social media which tried and convicted him before the conclusion of the investigation.

The student was alleged to have been involved in cheating at a test, had her paper seized but later given the grace to recopy and submit her script in the presence of the Professor. Before then however, there had been threat messages from a number that investigations later traced to one of the lecturers that passed through the tutelage of Ndifon. The calculation must have been a complex one because going by seniority, he would not have been made the Dean even if Ndifon dropped dead. Apparently thinking that the Vice Chancellor coming from his area, could have helped in propping him up for the position, he allegedly spun the web.

According to the don, “My secretary was there with my office assistant, the girl in question.

When she finished copying her script, I came out and she locked my office. My staff after I had driven off asked to drop her but she said she was okay and would be going to her hostel. Remember that this is a girl that has been there in the faculty for four years, failed my course which she tried to redeem,

yet I never made any overtures to her, so why would I just come up to rape her?

“It was about two hours after I had left office that the idea of rape sprung up. From hindsight and investigations, she was goaded by someone very close to me to raise the allegation of rape and that man openly boasted thereafter that if I escaped other cases, that I will not survive the rape case. Soon, they spun several tales about it but, adding and subtracting along the way but I knew myself that there was nothing like that. How can a girl say I picked a condom from a shelf in my office, put it on, parted her legs and penetrated her and while that was going on, there was a knock on the door, I left her went to answer the door and spent like 20 minutes, came back and picked another condom and raped her again?

He took the embarrassment with equanimity under which people never knew there was an iron resolve to prove his innocence no matter the cost and for how long. As a first step, he was stripped of his deanship and suspended by the university authorities. Then, his erstwhile impeccable reputation went straight under the carpet. His feeble voice crying out his innocence was drowned by a plethora of traducers.

It was therefore a big surprise when a community of Professors visited him and offered to work out a soft landing which would have them plead on his behalf with the parents of the girl so that everything would come under control. It was therefore with shock and trepidation that they met a brick wall after Ndifon asked them to define the offence for which they intended to render an apology to achieve a middle ground. He politely declined and insisted that they should await the result of tests and investigations which the police and hospitals were vigorously already pursuing. For spurning the overture, he was tagged stubborn.

The shocking aspect of the event was that the result of the test from the police clinic was handed over to the accuser of the university don but unknown to her, it bore the truth of what happened. She had allegedly asked the officer on duty who received the medical report from her if all was well to which the female officer responded in the positive. It was therefore to her disappointment that the result which she allegedly later tried to change to incriminate the don became the pedestal upon which the Law Professor bounced back to life.

According to the final police investigation, the girl kept changing her statements while the person tagged “good Samaritan who allegedly assisted the girl to report the case after two hours, not to the school security but to Airport Police refused to show up claiming he wanted to be an anonymous witness in the saga. The biggest loss to the university community from the saga has been the withdrawal of accreditation for the Law Faculty of the university as while the saga was going on, the weightier matters of academics gave way to politics and the university lost big time. Students would not be admitted into the Law Faculty this academic session.

According to a Police Investigation report signed by Assistant Superintendent of Police Babatunde Lasisi, 2i/c Force Gender Unit, Force Headquarters, Abuja, three findings were made before recommendation that none of which indicted Ndifon.

After considering all the reports, the State Attorney General recommended that no case could be established against Ndifon and the University was notified. After high-wire politics, he was recalled but is yet to be restored to his office.

One document that sealed the tale of the accuser was a sworn witness statement on oath of Ndifon’s secretary, Monica Ogbaji who debunked the tales and graphically recalled the events of the day and how they parted with the girl on a happy note exchanging banters.

She dismissed the allegation as an afterthought.

She was however later removed from that office when Ndifon was suspended. Her other colleague who corroborated her affidavit was also removed but they insisted on the truth and were vindicated.

38/OPINION

26.01.2018

ADEOLAAKINREMI HOME TRUTHS!

adeola.akinremi@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0811 675 9785

Buhari’s Reign of Error

Side Effects…

Believe me; President Muhammadu Buhari should face stiff political headwinds, if he goes against his conscience to seek re-election. Look everywhere, but at the truth. In April 2015, days before his inauguration, Buhari penned an op-ed for the New York Times. It was a clever propaganda to present himself to the world as a ready-man. In that op-ed, Buhari quoted former South African President, Nelson Mandela, to make essential his message.

“Boosting education will be a direct counterbalance to Boko Haram’s appeal,” reads the op-ed.

“In particular we must educate more young girls, ensuring they will grow up to be empowered through learning to play their full part as citizens of Nigeria and pull themselves up and out of poverty. Indeed, we owe it to the schoolgirls of Chibok to provide as best an education as possible for their fellow young citizens.”

But statistics don’t lie. It is incontestable that Mr. Buhari ditched his words on making education a prime part of his work in Aso Rock. He started by cutting budget to education. We all know that budgets are statements of priority, but Buhari’s budgets for education since he came to power send clear message that education is not his priority.

True, the budgetary allocation to education under Buhari paled in comparison to what his predecessor had given, and in defiance to what the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), recommends.

Here is the figure: In the 2017 government budget, N448.01billion was allocated to education, representing about six per cent of the N7.30 trillion budget, a far less investment in education per UNESCO recommendation. Of the allocated fund, N398.01billion was allocated to recurrent expenditure (wages and salaries etc) and the balance of N50 billion allocated to capital projects (building of schools etc).

In 2016, N367.73 billion was budgeted for education—a decrease from the allocations during the Jonathan years.

The figures for the Jonathan years include N492.34 billion in 2015, N493 billion in 2014, N426.53 billion in 2013, N400.15billion in 2012, N306.3 billion in 2011 and N249.086 billion in 2010.

Admittedly, it is unfair to compare Goodluck Jonathan regime to Buhari administration, but education tippy-toed under Jonathan—he increased budgets and built new universities.

His budgets for education remain the largest contributions to the sector since 1999—something that placed him above Buhari in commitment to education.

Mr. Buhari has neglected the promise he made on the memory of Nelson Mandela, that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” So the headwinds should come from the students who have seen how budget cut to education made it impossible for them to get quality education from elementary to tertiary level. The headwinds should come from the students who continue to face frustration in finding acceptance into colleges, because the facilities are not there to increase the annual quotas the universities can admit. The headwinds should come from the undergraduates who have had their graduation date extended, because the teachers went on strike over unpaid wages and decrepit state of facilities at our ivory towers. The headwinds should come from the university teachers who had their colleagues (Vice Chancellors of 12 new federal universities) sacked in February 2016,

by Buhari, before reason prevailed on him to restore them to their positions.

Really, this is an important moment in our history, when politicians seeking to protect nepotism and the beneficiaries of the old order are out to make us feel like dummies. It is impossible to say too often or loudly how we feel about this government. The number of youngsters who couldn’t make it to universities should remind us.

The figure of 13.2 million out of school children, the largest in the world should unite us to push for true change.

Why did Buhari choose April 14, 2015, the memorial of the Kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls to write an op-ed for New York Times and not any Nigerian newspaper? It is one of two things: not his idea or he was brainwashed.

We all know Donald Duke. The former governor of Cross River State, who turned the city of Calabar into a beehive for tourism lovers in December of every year, is set to test the strength of disruptive politics in Nigeria. The suave and superstar politician wants to be president in 2019.

This is a clear dare move in the face of Nigeria’s ‘analogue politics’ that prioritise ethnicity above individual rights to seek political office. Who knows, Duke may be walking into OBJ’s Coalition of Nigeria (OCN). I welcome anyone who dares like Duke. If he wins, we will call it the season of Donalds, but not in the sense of current American politics.

DUKE’S DARING MOVE

ELUMELU’S EXCHANGE

President Muhammadu Buhari If he wanted to genuinely speak to Nigerians about his commitment to education, he will probably use any of Nigeria’s first tier newspapers.

Granted, he wanted to appeal to international community, but the tone of the op-ed suggested he was having conversation more with Nigerians.

This is what I think: well-off consultants in search of rich rewards may have persuaded Buhari as president-elect to have the op-ed under his byline. The hunt for cash rather than genuine concern for Nigeria may have prompted it. As it turns out, it’s not straight from Buhari’s heart.

Rebecca Winthrop, director of the Centre for Universal Education and senior fellow at U.S.-based Brookings Institution followed up on Buhari’s op-ed, telling him “This will take strong political leadership not only from him but all the way down the chain. And, it will take a sustained commitment to ensuring the north’s education system receives its fair share of resources.”

But that has not happened. Individuals, scholars, experts, groups, activists, senators, even his own minister in the Education Ministry have asked Buhari to declare emergency in education, yet he has been reluctant.

Last November, the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu, told Buhari of the danger of his poor investment in education and the need to declare immediate emergency, still Mr. President turned-deaf ears.

“Mr. President, to achieve the desired change that education needs, there is the need for improved funding and a measure of political will in national governance,” Adamu said. “Such is the weight of the problems that beset our education and the deleterious effect it has had on our national development efforts that I believe that this retreat should end with a declaration of a state of emergency in education so that we can face the challenges frontally and squarely.”

I doubt, even if Buhari declares state of emergency in education, he may still go to sleep.

He has antecedent in doing do.

As a candidate, Buhari gave a “do not lose hope” message to Nigerians on January 1, 2015.

In a statement by Dele Alake, the director of communications for Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Buhari explained what change means this way: “A Nigeria where citizens get the education

that is competitive and outcome-oriented in a knowledge-economy.”

Rhetorically he asked, “Are these things truly possible?” “Of course. That is the essence and outcome of leadership, and that is what my party and I promise you as we get into 2015,” he answered his own query. He even said: “I have faith that 2015 is the year we shall begin to write a new story –a story of genuine investment in our children and students be they in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka or in the Delta State University, Abraka.”

Sadly, Buhari’s leadership is ineffective in education. The lack of political will has made the states to give paltry investment to education since he came to power. The message is simple: the president shillyshallied on education.

And when you look at many data on our students’ mobility, you will agree that another four year term for Buhari will be a waste of time.

The World Education Service, a global nonprofit organisation that provides credential evaluations for international students recently alerted colleges in the United States and Canada to the problem with education in Nigeria as their own opportunities.

“The continued outward drive is likely due in no small measure to the lack of options at home: The nation produces some 1.5 million high school graduates each year. Only a quarter to a third can find placement in the country’s own institutions,” the WES report reads.

I will be the first to admit that it is hard to trust politicians, but the trust placed in Buhari to reform education was not a political trust. It was moral trust. That public trust is what Buhari has violated by not fixing the education sector since he came to power.

The promise of “genuine investment in our children and students, be they in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka or in the Delta State University, Abraka…” has been broken.

Truth is hard. Buhari has no passionate personal commitment to education, despite coming from a region where education is a big concern. There’s nothing in his heart to create equal opportunity for kids to receive quality education in order to have chance in their future. He cannot be trusted with another four years. It didn’t take me much effort to come to that conclusion.

The pilgrimage to Omaha, NE, in the United States, by business leaders to take lessons from America’s business magnate, investor and philanthropist, Warren Buffet, is happening in Nigeria.

This time, the pilgrimage is to Nigeria’s stylish banker and billionaire businessman, Tony Elumelu.

Well-known for his Africapitalist idea, budding entrepreneurs and business leaders are coming from all over Africa to sit at Elumelu’s feet.

It is interesting to also see the military leaders sitting at Elumelu’s feet recently to take business lessons on self-reliance in the production of military hardware and other sophisticated weaponry for the country’s national security.

In sharing his business experience with others, Elumelu, a noble business mogul, who has his hands in almost every business you can think of with love for mankind as a philanthropist, is building unusual legacy that we are all proud of as Nigerians.

Thank you Tony!

OBJ’S BALLET AND BULLET

After doing the “doctoral dance” with his wife the previous night to celebrate his doctoral award, the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, reached for his bullet the day after. It was interesting to know that his victim would be President Muhammadu Buhari—a man he campaigned for to such an extent that he called it quit with his own political party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

This letter to Buhari will be the third time Obasanjo is using published letter against a sitting president with whom he once had fellowship. He did with Umaru Yar'Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan. He has done similar thing with some chairmen of PDP and even his longtime friend, late Chief Sunday Awoniyi. They all went down. Will Buhari go down with OBJ’s letter? Time they say, will tell.

DOWNTOWN AT DAVOS

Once a special bride, Nigeria is not one of the biggest stories from the World Economic Forum (WEF) this year. We started taking steps backward in the last two years with no serious efforts to reinforce economic ties with countries that were in courtship with us. It is a lesson in foreign relations that this government placed at the bottom. But I got one sound bite from the chief executive officer of Diamond Bank, Uzoma Dozie. ‘‘I am here to tell the Nigerian story, how we are using new technology to drive financial inclusion,” he said. Let’s just call Nigeria’s show at WEF a downtime and not meltdown for now.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2018

39

40

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱʹ˜ ͰͮͯͶ

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2018

41

T H I S D AY ˞ , Ͱʹ˜ 2018

42

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

FG Urged to Channel Borrowed Funds Only to Infrastructure Financing Obinna Chima and Nume Ekeghe The federal government has been advised to only channel borrowed funds to specific infrastructure projects rather than increasing its debt profile for recurrent expenditure, especially the payment of salaries.

This advise was given by the Managing Director, Afrinvest Securities Limited, Mr. Ayodeji Edo, in a presentation he made at a forum on ‘Nigeria’s 2018 Economic Outlook,’ organised by members of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Lagos yesterday. According to Ebo, adopting such an approach would enable members of the public to monitor where such borrowed funds are being deployed to, just as he cited the case of the Sukuk Bond.

Ebo added: “For infrastructure,

we know government is putting a lot within that space. The Sukuk bond of about N100 billion was tied to 25 roads.

We feel this is a very positive initiative because it is easier to trace some of those projects to a particular fund. If government can employ that kind of strategy, we feel it would be more effective. “If this year they want to raise any Eurobond, they should tell us exactly what kind of project this bonds would be channeled into so we can easily track them. Even if implementation is 50percent, we can easily track what the funds is being used for. Rather than just raising the bonds to channel it into paying salaries,� he said.

He, however, argued that monetary policy may remain tight this year.

Ebo noted that a cut in interest rate would impact rates for

fixed income securities and may discourage investments into the country. “This will affect the current stability at the foreign exchange market and that is what the government would not want at a time the country is approaching an election period.�

He explained further that while the argument for a cut in rates is for increased lending to the real sector, a lower benchmark interest rate may actually not result in increased lending by banks. “Bringing down the MPR will not translate to improved lending by the banks. There is nothing like patriotic lending because we have to grow the economy. The banks will not use private money to grow the economy when they still see there is evident risks within the space. It is about the risk environment.

Ayeyemi: Private Sector Must Be Encouraged to Invest in Infrastructure The Group Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Mr. Ade Ayeyemi has stressed the need for the Nigerian government to create an environment that would encourage private sector participation in infrastructure.

The Ecobank Group CEO said this during an event titled: “Nigeria’s 2018 Economic Outlook: Challenges and Opportunities,� organised by the bank for its corporate customers. Renowned accountant and financial expert, Dr. Bode Agusto, gave a presentation at the event. According to Ayeyemi, for Nigeria to have good power and infrastructure, the federal government must be willing to support private sector participation. “That participation will reduce the drain on government resources for infrastructure

creation. In other countries, not only in advance countries, but even in Togo, Ghana, the private sector participates in the creation of infrastructure. “The government cannot spend all their monies creating terminals at airports, whereas the private sector can actually do that. “So, government needs to spend money on basic primary education, whereas the private sector should be allowed to participate in those things that they can participate in,� Ayeyemi explained. He pointed out that Ecobank is present in 33 countries in Africa. According to him, Nigerians should start focusing on how to start exporting their produce. “Today, Cote d’Ivoire is the largest producer of cashew nuts in the world, today, Cote

d’Ivoire is the largest producer of cocoa in the world, Cote d’Ivoire is also the fastest growing economy in Africa. “So, we need to start talking about what more we can do to employ a large number of our population that are in the rural areas by creating linkages between what they can do in the rural areas to the market. “If you can do that, then it will not just be oil and that is one of the ways of diversifying the economy,� he said.

On his part, the Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Charles Kie explained that the forum was to give customers of the bank ideas about how best they can run their businesses in 2018. He pointed out that last year was quite difficult for the economy, just as he acknowledged that the outlook for 2018 looks bright.

Sterling Bank Partners 9mobile, Solo Phone In order to ensure that more Nigerians enjoy the benefits of a digital eco-system that is mobile centric, Sterling Bank has partnered Telecommunications giants 9Mobile and Solo Phones to introduce a contract smartphone pre-bundled with mobile plans to new and existing customers of the Bank.

In a statement, the Executive Director Retail and Consumer Marketing, Sterling Bank Plc, Grama Narasimhan said the partnership reflects the bank’s commitment to delivering value to its customers.

Narasimhan said the bank will continue to be in the business of making valuable partnerships with key stake-

holders to deliver value to its customers as well as banked and under banked Nigerians.

He disclosed that the contract package allows the customer enjoy a very attractive monthly mobile bundle plan (Voice +SMS+ Data plan + Social media+ Recharge bonuses) in addition to a SOLO Aspire 4 smart mobile phone and the minimum period for the contract is twelve months.

Also, the Chief Marketing of the Bank, Mr Henry Bassey further noted that the bank will continue to be at the forefront of seeking valuable partnerships that will enrich the lives of customers.

Bassey further noted that

this alliance with 9Mobile and Solo Phone is a testament of the bank’s commitment to ensuring that every Nigerian is availed the opportunity to own a smart phone with all its attendant benefits which include Insurance cover, 90 minutes of call time, SMS, Social plans & free 1.5GB data.

Also speaking at the event, the Director of Enterprise Segment for 9Mobile, Mr. Plato Syrimis expressed the delight of his organisation to be part of a partnership that will increase smartphone penetration and its benefits to Nigerians who ordinarily cannot afford to pay the lump sum that is required to acquire these devices.

Investors Oversubscribe First FGN Bond for 2018

Buhari

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

Ě™

Ěš

AUGUST 2017 Broad Money (M2)

21,851,454.31

Ě‹Ě‹ Ă‹ĂœĂœĂ™ĂĄ Ă™Ă˜Ă?ĂŁ Ě™ ÍŻĚš

9,890,813.10

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,523,239.91

---- Demand Deposits

ÍśËœÍąÍ´ÍľËœÍłÍľÍąË›ÍŻÍˇ

-- Quasi Money

11,960,641.22

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

9,732,990.89

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

ÍŻÍ°ËœÍŻÍŻÍśËœÍ˛Í´ÍąË›Í˛Í° 26,821,446.81

Ě‹Ě‹ Ă?Ăž Ù×Ă?Ă?ÞÓĂ? ĂœĂ?ĂŽĂ“Ăž Ě™ Ěš Ě‹Ě‹Ě‹Ě‹ ĂœĂ?ĂŽĂ“Ăž ÞÙ Ùà Ă?ĂœĂ˜Ă—Ă?Ă˜Ăž Ě™ Ă?Þ̚

4,824,226.22

Ě‹Ě‹Ě‹Ě‹ Ă?Ă—Ă™Ë? ĂœĂ?ĂŽĂ“Ăž ÞÙ Ùà Þ˛ Ě™ Ă?Þ̚ Ă–Ă?Ă?Ă?

ÍľËœÍśÍąÍ˛ËœÍłÍąÍ´Ë›ÍľÍ˛

Ě‹Ě‹Ě‹Ě‹ Ă?Ă—Ă™Ë? Ă?ĂŽË› Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Ă“ĂœĂœĂ™Ăœ Ă?Ă?Ă™Ă&#x;Ă˜ĂžĂ? Ě™ Ěš

-3,010,310.52

Ě‹Ě‹Ě‹Ě‹ ĂœĂ?ĂŽĂ“Ăž ÞÙ ĂœĂ“Ă Ă‹ĂžĂ? Ă?Ă?ĂžĂ™Ăœ Ě™ Ěš

21,997,220.59

--Other Assets Net

-14,702,983.39

Reserve Money (Base Money)

ÍłËœÍ˛ÍśÍ´ËœÍśÍŽÍ˛Ë›Í´Íł

Ě‹Ě‹ Ă&#x;ĂœĂœĂ?Ă˜Ă?ĂŁ Ă“Ă˜ Ă“ĂœĂ?Ă&#x;Ă–Ă‹ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜

ÍŻËœÍśÍ´ÍśËœÍľÍąÍłË›ÍŽÍľ

Ě‹Ě‹ Ă‹Ă˜Ă•Ă? Ă?Ă?Ă?ĂœĂ Ă?Ă?

3,268,266.17 Ëž Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă? Ě‹

MANAGED FUNDS Month

AUGUST 2017

Inter-Bank Call Rate

ͰͰ˛ʹ͹

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

13.35

Savings Deposit Rate

4.08

1 Month Deposit Rate

͜˛͜ʹ

3 Months Deposit Rate

10.14

6 Months Deposit Rate

11.51

12 Months Deposit Rate

11.40

Prime Lending rate

ͯ;˛ʹ͡

Maximum Lending Rate

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

Ndubuisi Francis Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË Investors have oversubscribed the first Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Bond auction conducted by the Debt Management Office (DMO) in 2018, demonstrating a continuing strong desire for government bonds.

The DMO had offered the bond, some maturing in July

2021 and others maturing in March 2027. The 14.50 per cent FGN July 2021 Bond was allotted at a rate of 13.3800 per cent, while the 16.2884 per cent FGN March 2027 Bond was allotted at 13.4910 per cent.

Both bonds were oversubscribed, with total subscriptions of N150 billion or 136 per cent.

However, the subscription level was higher for the 10-

year benchmark bond, which indicates investors’ preference for longer dated instruments.

The DMO allotted a total of N110 billion, which was the amount offered in its circular released ahead of the Auction.

The 14.50 per cent 2021 bond was allotted at a rate of 13.3800 per cent, while the 16.2884 per cent of 2027 was allotted at 13.4910 per cent.

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT, WED, JAN 24,2018 The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $67.61 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $67.32 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), ZaďŹ ro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

T H I S D AY ˾ , JANUARY 26, 2018

43

MARKET NEWS

Dangote Sugar, Afriprud, UBA Lead Price Gainers at Stock Market Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie

However, 21 stocks escaped from the charging bears to close higher. Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc led them with 10.16 per cent. African Prudential Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc followed with 4.1 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively.

FBN Holdings Plc chalked up 4.0 per cent while Access Bank Plc gained 3.9 per cent.

Transnationwide Exress Plc

The bears remained in control of the stock market leading to the fourth consecutive day of losses yesterday. The pressure from the bears pulled the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) fell further down by 0.99 per cent yesterday to close at 43,529.06.

and WAPIC Insurance Plc garnered 3.8 per cent and 3.8 per cent in that order. Other top gainers included: Livestock Feeds Plc (3.1 per cent); Linkage Assurance Plc (2.7 per cent); Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (2.6 per cent).

Flour Mills is currently shopping for N40 billion from existing shareholders through a Rights Issue.

Specifically, the company is issuing 1,476,142,418 shares of 50 kobo each to existing shareholders in the ratio of nine new shares for every 16 shares held as at the close of business on December 8, 2017 at N27 per share.

According to the Group Managing Director of the company, Mr. Paul Gbededo, the rights issue is part of strategy to grow

PRICES FOR SECURITIES TRADED AS OF

business growth and continuity,” he had said.

Meanwhile, Glaxosmithkline Consumers Nigeria Plc led the price losers for the day with 9.6 per cent. Caverton trailed with 9.4 per cent. Diamond Bank Plc and Skye Bank Plc shed 9.2 per cent apiece just as Unity Bank Plc and Wema Bank Plc depreciated by 9.1 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively.

and build long-term value for all stakeholders.

“The proceeds from the Rights Issue will be used to strengthen the company’s capital base by deleveraging our balance sheet, supporting our working capital needs and positioning the Company to exploit valueaccretive opportunities, whilst giving greater operational and financial flexibility to ensure

A S AT 2 5 / 0 1 / 2 0 1 8

Price List (Equities) PRICES FOR PREMIUM BOARD SECURITIES FINANCIAL SERVICES S/N 1

BANKING ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

973,291.31

31.00

-0.03

333

54,862,124

32

333

54,862,124

33 34

BANKING S/N 2 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRIAL GOODS S/N 3 BUILDING MATERIALS INDUSTRIAL GOODS PREMIUM BOARD TOTALS Price List (Equities) PRICES FOR MAIN BOARD SECURITIES AGRICULTURE S/N 4 5 6 CROP PRODUCTION S/N 7 FISHING/HUNTING/TRAPPING S/N 8 LIVESTOCK/ANIMAL SPECIALTIES AGRICULTURE CONGLOMERATES S/N 9 10 11 12 13 DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES CONGLOMERATES CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE S/N 14 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION S/N 15 16 INFRASTRUCTURE/HEAVY CONSTRUCTION S/N 17 REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT S/N 18 19 20 REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS) CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE CONSUMER GOODS S/N 21 AUTOMOBILES/AUTO PARTS S/N 22 23 24 25 26 BEVERAGES--BREWERS/ DISTILLERS S/N 27 BEVERAGES--NON-ALCOHOLIC S/N 28 29 30

OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FBN HOLDINGS PLC

MARKET CAP(Nm) 466,638.81

MARKET CAP(Nm) DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 4,433,258.41

BUILDING MATERIALS

31

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

13.00

4.00

718

31,209,983

718

31,209,983

35 FOOD PRODUCTS

1,051

86,072,107

S/N

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

260.16

-3.29

78 78 78 1,129

268,090 268,090 268,090 86,340,197

36 37 FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERSIFIED S/N 38 39 HOUSEHOLD DURABLES

CROP PRODUCTION

S/N

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

40

FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC

1,100.00

0.50

-

0

0

68,691.06 70,000.00

72.01 70.00

0.54 -

8 14 22

77,282 28,600 105,882

FISHING/HUNTING/TRAPPING ELLAH LAKES PLC.

MARKET CAP(Nm) 511.20

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

4.26

-

2

550

2

550

42 43

LIVESTOCK/ANIMAL SPECIALTIES LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC.

MARKET CAP(Nm) 2,940.00

TRADES

VOLUME

44

41

1,419,589

41

1,419,589

65

1,526,021

45 46 47 48 49 50

DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. JOHN HOLT PLC. S C O A NIG. PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC.

PRICE 0.98

%CHANGE 3.16

41 PERSONAL/HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS CONSUMER GOODS FINANCIAL SERVICES S/N

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

1,588.37

0.60

-

0

0

194.58 2,111.93

0.50 3.25

-

0 1

0 1,244

77,231.18

1.90

-2.06

459

66,405,677

S/N

32,251.31

16.79

-0.53

67 527 527

2,413,280 68,820,201 68,820,201

54

51 52 53 BANKING

55 56

ARBICO PLC.

MARKET CAP(Nm) 711.32

INFRASTRUCTURE/HEAVY CONSTRUCTION JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. ROADS NIG PLC.

MARKET CAP(Nm) 39,600.00 165.00

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

57

4.79

-

0 0

0 0

58

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

59

30.00 6.60

-

31 0

278,225 0

60 61

31

278,225

62 63

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

7,925.11

3.05

-4.69

17

405,910

65

17

405,910

66

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (REIT) UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST

MARKET CAP(Nm) 2,000.00

67

AUTOMOBILES/AUTO PARTS DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC

FOOD PRODUCTS DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC.

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

-

0

0

68 69

11,305.89

45.22

-

0

0

26,682.70

10.00

-

0

0

71

0

0

72

48

684,135

70

MARKET CAP(Nm) 2,386.33

BEVERAGES--BREWERS/ MARKET DISTILLERS CAP(Nm) CHAMPION BREW. PLC. 20,826.46 GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. 242.22 GUINNESS NIG PLC 254,303.45 INTERNATIONAL BREWER550,135.16 IES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 1,184,501.13 BEVERAGES--NONALCOHOLIC 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC.

PRICE 100.00

64

MARKET CAP(Nm) 65,321.00 MARKET CAP(Nm) 75,600.00

73 74

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

0.50

-

2

205,268

75 76

2

205,268

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

77

2.66 0.89 116.10

-3.27 -3.45

9 0 64

180,110 0 365,353

78

64.00

-

17

5,238,394

148.12

0.09

159

759,425

79 INSURANCE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES S/N

249

6,543,282

80 81

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

101.97

-

0

0

MICRO-FINANCE BANKS

0

0

S/N

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

15.12

2.65

211

3,632,011

264,120.00

22.01

10.16

147

3,745,596

80,826.51

30.80

2.67

195

6,112,022

82 83 84

HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC UNION DICON SALT PLC.

20,222.00

2.55

NIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. VITAFOAM NIG PLC. PERSONAL/HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC.

MICRO-FINANCE BANKS FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC MORTGAGE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC INFINITY TRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC

2,698,278

0.50

-

0

0

1,015.74

5.70

-

0

0

52,564.86

19.84

1.74

57

1,522,331

3,676.41

13.45

-

0 714

0 17,710,238

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

1.69

78 61

387,067 142,197

139

529,264

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

1,766.22

23.23

-

0

0

3,022.87

2.90

-1.36

13 13

212,620 212,620

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

93,306.21

23.50

-1.22

36

543,984

255,652.74

44.50

-3.26

70

1,345,889

MARKET BANKING CAP(Nm) ACCESS BANK PLC. 366,806.68 DIAMOND BANK PLC 61,375.03 ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL 357,999.74 INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC 93,298.85 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 1,467,732.91 JAIZ BANK PLC 31,526.75 SKYE BANK PLC 17,766.79 STERLING BANK PLC. 53,262.27 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 212,581.50 UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA 427,150.77 PLC UNITY BANK PLC 14,027.21 WEMA BANK PLC. 42,046.17 INSURANCE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES AFRICAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC AIICO INSURANCE PLC. AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC CORNERSTONE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC. EQUITY ASSURANCE PLC. GOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC GREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE COMPANY PLC LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. PRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. REGENCY ALLIANCE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. STANDARD TRUST ASSURANCE PLC UNIC DIVERSIFIED HOLDINGS PLC. UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC UNIVERSAL INSURANCE COMPANY PLC WAPIC INSURANCE PLC

104

1,861.25

FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERMARKET PRICE SIFIED CAP(Nm) CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 28,191.81 15.01 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 1,188,984.38 1,500.00

HOUSEHOLD DURABLES

-6.25

106

1,889,873

1,223

27,090,545

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

12.68 2.65

3.93 -9.25

228 96

44,843,584 12,896,206

19.51

-1.51

83

2,478,723

3.22 49.87 1.07 1.28 1.85 7.30

-0.31 -2.02 -4.46 -9.22 -4.64 0.14

409 318 59 56 70 73

64,692,364 27,396,463 12,759,450 14,246,013 14,364,963 2,538,826

12.49

4.08

243

43,133,867

1.20 1.09

-9.09 -8.40

120 34 1,789

15,650,366 2,569,821 257,570,646

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

10,292.50

0.50

-

0

0

3,950.22

0.57

-1.72

47

3,837,287

27,405.00

2.61

-1.88

37

1,619,045

3,000.00

0.50

-

0

0

14,833.02

1.43

-

6

78,000

7,364.75

0.50

-

1

1,000

7,000.00 2,411.47

0.50 0.53

-

0 0

0 0

1,913.74

0.50

-

0

0

3,070.00

0.50

-

0

0

642.04

0.50

-

0

0

3,661.72

0.50

-

0

0

4,124.48

0.96

-

1

10,000

6,000.00

0.75

2.74

9

644,000

4,000.00

0.50

-

1

500

9,768.93

1.85

1.65

25

1,653,024

3,869.74

0.50

-

1

9,802

2,759.15

0.50

-

0

0

3,334.38

0.50

-

0

0

4,170.41

0.50

-

0

0

6,455.52

0.50

-

0

0

4,670.54

0.50

-

0

0

1,291.15

0.50

-

0

0

6,933.33

0.50

-

0

0

8,000.00

0.50

-

0

0

7,895.82

0.59

3.51

71

4,599,004

199

12,451,662

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

11,799.67

2.58

-

0

0

3,224.16

1.41

-4.96

18

2,118,556

18

2,118,556

TRADES

VOLUME

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

5,460.00

1.30

-

0

0

7,370.87

0.50

-

0

0

6,005.46

1.44

-

0

0

˾ FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2018

44

Nigeria Daily Stock Market Report: dŚŝƐ ĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϮϳďƉƐ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

dŚĞ dŚŝƐ ĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ ŝŶĚĞdž ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϮϳďƉƐ LJĞƐƚĞƌĚĂLJ ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ Ăƚ ϭ͕ϴϭϰ͘ϴϴ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂLJ͛Ɛ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ůĂƌŐĞůLJ ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďLJ ƐĞůů ŽīƐ ŝŶ E' D ;Ͳϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ 'h Z Edz ;ͲϮ͘ϬйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ d/ ;Ͳϭ͘ϱйͿ ǁŚŝĐŚ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϯϭ͘ϱй ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŝŶĚĞdž͘ dŚĞ dŚŝƐ ĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ŚĂƐ ƌĞƚƵƌŶĞĚ ϭϳ͘ϲй zĞĂƌͲƚŽͲ ĂƚĞ͘

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

Ticker

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

DŝdžĞĚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ Ϯ ŽĨ ϱ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƌĞĚ͕ Ϯ ƚƌĞŶĚĞĚ ŶŽƌƚŚǁĂƌĚƐ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ŽƚŚĞƌ ŇĂƚ͘ dŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ůĞĚ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ͕ ĚŽǁŶ Ϯ͘Ϭй ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ůŽƐƐĞƐ ŝŶ E' D ;Ͳϯ͘ϯйͿ͘ >ŝŬĞǁŝƐĞ͕ ƚŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ŝŶĚĞdž ƐŚĞĚ Ϭ͘ϰй ĐŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚ ŽŶ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ 'h Z Edz ;ͲϮ͘ϬйͿ͕ / DKE ;Ͳϵ͘ϯйͿ ĂŶĚ d/ ;Ͳϭ͘ϱйͿ͘ KŶ ƚŚĞ ŽƚŚĞƌ ŚĂŶĚ͕ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ĞŵĞƌŐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ ŐĂŝŶĞƌ ĐůŽƐŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ĚĂLJ Ϭ͘ϳй ŚŝŐŚĞƌ͕ ĂƐ E'^h' Z ;нϭϬ͘ϮͿ ĂŶĚ E ^d> ;нϭ͘ϳйͿ ďƵŽLJĞĚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ͘ dŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ĂůƐŽ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ͕ ƵƉ Ϭ͘ϯй ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ Ă ƌĂůůLJ ŝŶ ^ W> d ;нϭ͘ϭйͿ͘ dŚĞ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚĞdž ĐůŽƐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ĚĂLJ ŇĂƚ͘

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚͲ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ Ϭ͘ϳdž ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϯdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ͕ ĐŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚ ŽŶ Ϯϭ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĚǀĂŶĐŝŶŐ ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ϯϬ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞƌƐ͘ dŽĚĂLJ͛Ɛ ďĞƐƚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵŝŶŐ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ǁĞƌĞ E'^h' Z ;нϭϬ͘ϮйͿ͕ &Z/WZh ;нϰ͘ϮйͿ ĂŶĚ h ;нϰ͘ϭйͿ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ ǁŽƌƐƚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĞƌƐ ǁĞƌĞ '> yK^D/d, ;Ͳϵ͘ϳйͿ͕ s ZdKE ;Ͳϵ͘ϰйͿ ĂŶĚ / DKE ;Ͳϵ͘ϮйͿ͘ tĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ Ă ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ĐůŽƐĞ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ϰ ĐŽŶƐĞĐƵƟǀĞ ĚĂLJƐ ŽĨ ůŽƐƐĞƐ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞ ƚŽ ůŽĐŬ ŝŶ ƉƌŽĮƚƐ͘

ŽŵƉĂŶLJ ŝŶ &ŽĐƵƐ͗ hŶŝƚLJ ĂŶŬ WůĐ ;hŶŝƚLJͿ hŶŝƚLJ ĂŶŬ WůĐ ;͞hŶŝƚLJ͟ Žƌ ͞ƚŚĞ ĂŶŬ͟Ϳ ƌĂŶŬƐ ĂƐ Ă dŝĞƌͲϮ ďĂŶŬ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŽƚĂů ĂƐƐĞƚƐ ŽĨ Eϰϴϯ͘ϳďŶ ĂƐ Ăƚ ϵD͗ϮϬϭϳ ďƵƚ ƌĞŵĂŝŶƐ Ă ƐŵĂůů ďĂŶŬ ďĂƐĞĚ ŽŶ E͛Ɛ ĐůĂƐƐŝĮĐĂƟŽŶ͘ hŶŝƚLJ ĞŵĞƌŐĞĚ ĨƌŽŵ Ă ĐŽŶƐŽůŝĚĂƟŽŶ ŽĨ ϵ ďĂŶŬƐ ǁŝƚŚ ĐŽŵƉĞƚĞŶĐĞƐ ŝŶ /ŶǀĞƐƚŵĞŶƚ͕ ŽƌƉŽƌĂƚĞ ĂŶĚ ZĞƚĂŝů ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ :ĂŶƵĂƌLJ ϮϬϬϲ͘ dŚĞ ĂŶŬ ƐƵĐĐĞƐƐĨƵůůLJ ƌĞĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝnjĞĚ ƚŚƌŽƵŐŚ Ă ƌŝŐŚƚƐ ŝƐƐƵĞ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϬ ĂŶĚ ƐƵďƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ ƌĂŝƐĞĚ ĂŶŽƚŚĞƌ EϰϬ͘ϬďŶ ǀŝĂ ƌŝŐŚƚƐ ŝƐƐƵĞ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϰ ƚŽ ƐŚŽƌĞ ƵƉ ŝƚƐ ĐĂƉŝƚĂů ďĂƐĞ͘ ZĞĐĞŶƚůLJ͕ hŶŝƚLJ ƌĞůŽĐĂƚĞĚ ŝƚƐ ,ĞĂĚ KĸĐĞ ĨƌŽŵ ďƵũĂ ƚŽ >ĂŐŽƐ ŝŶ ĂŶ ĞīŽƌƚ ƚŽ ĐŽŶŶĞĐƚ ƚŽ ŽƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƟĞƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĐŽƵŶƚƌLJ͛Ɛ ĐŽŵŵĞƌĐŝĂů ŚƵď͘ dŚĞ ĂŶŬ ĂŝŵƐ ƚŽ ďĞĐŽŵĞ ƚŚĞ ͞ZĞƚĂŝů ĂŶŬ ŽĨ ŚŽŝĐĞ͟ ĨŽƌ Ăůů EŝŐĞƌŝĂŶƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ƐƚƌĂƚĞŐŝĐĂůůLJ ĨŽĐƵƐĞĚ ŽŶ ƚĂŬŝŶŐ ĂĚǀĂŶƚĂŐĞ ŽĨ ůĞŶĚŝŶŐ ŽƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƟĞƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĂŐƌŝĐƵůƚƵƌĂů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ ĂƐ ǁĞůů ĂƐ ƐŵĂůů ĂŶĚ ŵĞĚŝƵŵ ƐĐĂůĞ ĞŶƚĞƌƉƌŝƐĞƐ͘ WƌĞƐĞŶƚůLJ͕ hŶŝƚLJ ŚĂƐ Ă ƚŽƚĂů ŽĨ Ϯ͕ϯϱϰ ƐƚĂī ŵĞŵďĞƌƐ ĂŶĚ ϮϰϬ ďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐ ŽĸĐĞƐ ƐƉƌĞĂĚ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ϯϲ ^ƚĂƚĞƐ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ &ĞĚĞƌĂů ĂƉŝƚĂů dĞƌƌŝƚŽƌLJ͘ ĞƐƉŝƚĞ Ă ůŽǁ ďĂƐĞ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϲ͕ hŶŝƚLJ͛Ɛ ϵD͗ϮϬϭϳ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ůĂƌŐĞůLJ ƵŶĚĞƌǁŚĞůŵŝŶŐ͘ 'ƌŽƐƐ ĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ ǁŚŝĐŚ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ Ϭ͘ϳй zͲŽͲ z ;ĨƌŽŵ Eϲϰ͘ϲďŶ ƚŽ Eϲϱ͘ϬďŶͿ͕ ǁĂƐ ƉƌŽƉĞůůĞĚ ďLJ Ă Ϯϯ͘Ϯй zͲŽͲz ũƵŵƉ ŝŶ /ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ /ŶĐŽŵĞ ǁŚŝĐŚ ŽīƐĞƚ ϴϱ͘ϵй zͲŽͲz ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ EŽŶͲ /ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ /ŶĐŽŵĞ ;ĨƌŽŵ Eϭϯ͘ϯďŶ ƚŽ Eϭ͘ϵďŶͿ ŽŶ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ŽĨ Ă Eϲ͘ϲďŶ zͲŽͲz ĚƌŽƉ ŝŶ &y ƌĞǀĂůƵĂƟŽŶ ŐĂŝŶƐ ǁŚŝĐŚ ďƵŽLJĞĚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϲ͘ zĞƚ͕ ĨƵŶĚŝŶŐ ĐŽƐƚ ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ ĞƌŽĚĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƐƵďƚůĞ ĞdžƉĂŶƐŝŽŶ ŝŶ ŐƌŽƐƐ ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ͕ ĂƐ /ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ džƉĞŶƐĞ ƐƵƌŐĞĚ ϭϭϯ͘ϳй zͲŽͲz͕ ůĞĂĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ Ă ϯ͘ϭй zͲŽͲz ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƟŽŶ ŝŶ EĞƚ /ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ /ŶĐŽŵĞ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ W d ĨĞůů Ϯϴ͘ϱй zͲŽͲz ƚŽ EϮ͘ϰďŶ͘ tĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ &z͗ϮϬϭϳ ƌĞƐƵůƚ ƚŽ ďĞ ƐŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ ƵŶĚĞƌǁŚĞůŵŝŶŐ ŽǁŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƚĞƉŝĚ ŐƌŽƐƐ ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ĐŽƵƉůĞĚ ǁŝƚŚ ŚŝŐŚ ĨƵŶĚŝŶŐ ĐŽƐƚ ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ ĂŶĚ ŽƉĞƌĂƟŶŐ ůĞǀĞƌĂŐĞ͘ ,ĞŶĐĞ͕ ǁĞ ŵĂŝŶƚĂŝŶ ŽƵƌ ĐŽŶƐĞƌǀĂƟǀĞ ŶĞĂƌ ƚĞƌŵ ŽƵƚůŽŽŬ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĂƟŽŶ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ĂŶŬ͘

Afrinvest Securities Limited (RC 603 315) (A Dealing Member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange)

Current Price

Previous Current Price Weighting Change

Price Change YTD

Price Change Index to Date

ROE

ROA

P/E

P/BV

Divinden Earnings d Yield Yield

1,814.88

-0.27%

17.6%

81.5%

24.8%

7.8%

8.4x

1.1x

3.2%

1

Guaranty Trust Bank PLC

49.87

-2.0%

22.3%

22.4%

23.0%

26.0%

4.3%

10.4x

2.6x

4.1%

9.6%

2

Zenith Bank PLC

31.00

0.0%

13.4%

20.9%

19.6%

21.7%

3.2%

6.1x

1.3x

6.5%

16.3%

3

Nigerian Brew eries PLC

148.12

0.1%

8.4%

9.8%

9.7%

18.9%

8.6%

36.5x

6.6x

2.4%

2.7%

4

Nestle Nigeria PLC

1,500.00

1.7%

6.6%

-3.6%

-3.6%

78.4%

19.0%

39.1x

25.8x

1.7%

2.6%

5

Dangote Cement PLC

260.16

-3.3%

6.0%

13.1%

13.1%

30.4%

15.7%

18.0x

5.1x

3.3%

5.6%

6

FBN Holdings Plc

13.00

4.0%

6.9%

47.7%

47.9%

2.6%

0.3%

21.2x

0.7x

1.5%

4.7%

7

Access Bank PLC

12.68

3.9%

4.6%

21.3%

19.6%

15.1%

2.0%

5.1x

0.7x

5.1%

19.5%

8

United Bank for Africa PLC

12.49

4.1%

4.5%

21.3%

20.0%

17.2%

2.2%

5.5x

0.9x

6.0%

18.3%

9

Ecobank Transnational Inc

19.51

-1.5%

3.2%

14.8%

19.9%

-14.6%

-1.3%

0.7x

3.1%

-17.8%

10

SEPLAT Petroleum Development C

692.58

1.1%

2.9%

10.6%

10.6%

-12.4%

-6.7%

11

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

43.72

-5.0%

2.6%

5.3%

6.9%

28.7%

3.4%

10.1x

116.10

-3.5%

2.4%

23.5%

23.5%

4.5%

1.4%

81.7x

4.1x

0.6%

1.2%

52.00

-1.0%

1.6%

15.8%

15.8%

47.1%

9.8%

4.7x

7.9x

1.9%

21.5%

4.3%

35.6%

2.3%

11.6%

>ŽĐĂů ŽƵƌƐĞ džƚĞŶĚƐ >ŽƐƐĞƐ͙ E^ ^/ ĚŽǁŶ ϵϵďƉƐ &ŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ϯ ĚĂLJƐ ŽĨ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ͕ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ LJĞƚ ĂŐĂŝŶ ĞdžƚĞŶĚĞĚ ůŽƐƐĞƐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ϰƚŚ ĐŽŶƐĞĐƵƟǀĞ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ /ŶĚĞdž ĨĞůů ϵϵďƉƐ ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ Ăƚ ϰϯ͕ϱϮϵ͘Ϭϲ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ zd ƌĞƚƵƌŶ ŵŽĚĞƌĂƚĞĚ ƚŽ ϭϯ͘ϴй͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ůŽƐƚ Eϭϱϱ͘ϳďŶ ĂƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝnjĂƟŽŶ ĨĞůů ƚŽ Eϭϱ͘ϲƚŶ͘ ^Ğůů ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞƐ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ďŽĂƌĚ ĞƐƉĞĐŝĂůůLJ ŝŶ ďĂŶŬŝŶŐ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ Ͳ 'h Z Edz ;ͲϮ͘ϬйͿ͕ ^d E / ;Ͳϱ͘ϬйͿ ĂŶĚ / DKE ;Ͳϵ͘ϯйͿ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞĚ ƚŽ ǁĞŝŐŚ ŽŶ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ͘ ,ŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϲ͘ϲй ƚŽ ϱϬϬ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ Ϯϴ͘Ϭй ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ Eϲ͘ϲďŶ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘

Friday, January 26, 2018

10.0%

0.9x 2.6x

12

Guinness Nigeria PLC

13

Lafarge Africa PLC

14

Fidelity Bank PLC

3.22

-0.3%

1.4%

30.9%

24.8%

8.0%

1.1%

2.8x

0.5x

15

Oando PLC

5.99

0.0%

1.1%

0.0%

0.0%

40.7%

4.2%

2.7x

0.6x

16

Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

22.01

10.2%

1.1%

10.1%

8.1%

43.2%

19.8%

8.6x

3.3x

-15.1% 1.4%

9.9%

37.0%

17

Okomu Oil Palm PLC

72.01

0.5%

1.0%

6.4%

6.4%

37.4%

25.9%

9.6x

3.1x

2.1%

10.4%

18

Unilever Nigeria PLC

44.50

-3.3%

1.0%

8.5%

10.7%

50.3%

8.4%

27.4x

10.4x

0.2%

3.6%

19

International Brew eries PLC

64.00

0.0%

0.8%

17.4%

16.4%

24.6%

7.4%

67.0x

15.2x

20

Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC

30.80

2.7%

0.6%

6.2%

6.2%

10.4%

2.6%

8.5x

0.8x

3.0%

11.8%

21

Transnational Corp of Nigeria

1.90

-2.1%

0.6%

30.1%

28.4%

19.6%

4.1%

7.6x

1.3x

-0.5%

0.5%

-0.7%

-0.7%

6.3%

2.2%

10.8x

0.7x

22

UAC of Nigeria PLC

16.79

23

Diamond Bank PLC

2.65

-9.2%

0.8%

76.7%

68.8%

2.5%

0.3%

10.7x

0.3x

24

Total Nigeria PLC

231.00

0.0%

0.5%

0.5%

0.5%

37.3%

7.4%

8.6x

3.0x

25

FCMB Group Plc

1.5%

13.2% 5.8%

9.3%

2.6%

11.6%

9.4%

2.92

-4.9%

0.8%

84.8%

3.8%

0.6%

8.5x

0.3x

3.4%

11.8%

209.00

0.0%

0.5%

7.4%

7.4%

32.6%

12.0%

11.1x

3.1x

3.8%

9.0%

2.1%

4.5%

26

11 PLC

27

Forte Oil PLC

49.40

-1.0%

0.5%

13.6%

17.6%

44.3%

3.7%

12.5x

5.5x

28

PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC

23.50

-1.2%

0.4%

14.1%

11.1%

10.7%

5.0%

22.3x

2.3x

29

Cadbury Nigeria PLC

15.01

0.0%

0.3%

-4.2%

-3.8%

4.5%

1.6%

42.8x

2.5x

30

Presco PLC

70.00

0.0%

0.3%

2.2%

2.2%

42.9%

25.9%

3.4x

1.2x

2.1%

29.0%

31

NASCON Allied Industries PLC

19.84

1.7%

0.3%

7.2%

3.2%

53.4%

18.1%

11.2x

5.1x

3.5%

9.0%

32

UPDC Real Estate Investment Tr

10.00

0.0%

0.3%

0.0%

0.0%

0.8x

6.8%

33

Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

7.30

0.1%

0.3%

-6.4%

-2.8%

5.6%

1.2%

9.3x

0.4x

34

Julius Berger Nigeria PLC

30.00

0.0%

0.3%

7.1%

7.1%

-12.2%

-1.2%

35

Sterling Bank PLC

1.85

-4.6%

0.4%

71.3%

63.7%

6.1%

0.6%

9.7x

8.0%

2.3%

10.7%

1.6x

-7.6%

0.5x

10.3%

36

Dangote Flour Mills Plc

15.12

2.6%

0.3%

24.4%

24.4%

61.6%

15.8%

4.9x

2.1x

37

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Niger

18.88

-9.7%

0.2%

-12.6%

-12.6%

61.2%

23.6%

3.9x

1.4x

1.6%

25.6%

38

Chemical and Allied Products P

38.86

0.0%

0.2%

14.3%

8.9%

84.3%

38.5%

17.0x

11.9x

5.7%

5.9%

39

Beta Glass PLC

59.38

0.0%

0.1%

15.7%

15.7%

18.4%

11.9%

8.4x

1.4x

1.7%

12.0%

40

Transcorp Hotels Plc

7.20

0.0%

0.1%

-0.1%

-0.1%

4.7%

2.8%

21.4x

1.0x

5.6%

4.7%

T o p 10 G a i n e r s T ic k er

20.4%

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 %

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

D A N GSUGA R

22.01

10.2%

T R A N SC OR P

66.4

-2.1%

A F R IP R UD

4.43

4.2%

F ID ELIT YB K

64.7

-0.3%

UB A

12.49

4.1%

Z EN IT H B A N K

54.9

0.0%

FB NH

13.00

4.0%

A C C ESS

44.8

3.9%

A C C ESS

12.68

3.9%

UB A

43.1

4.1%

0.81

3.8%

FB NH

31.2

4.0%

T R A N SEXP R WA P IC

0.59

3.5%

GUA R A N T Y

27.4

-2.0%

LIVEST OC K

0.98

3.2%

FCM B

21.0

-4.9%

LIN KA SSUR E

0.75

2.7%

UN IT YB N K

15.7

-9.1%

30.80

2.7%

ST ER LN B A N K

14.4

-4.6%

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

18.88

-9.7%

Z EN IT H B A N K

1700.2

0.0%

C A VER T ON

2.31

-9.4%

GUA R A N T Y

1365.6

-2.0%

D IA M ON D B N K

2.65

-9.2%

A C C ESS

560.9

3.9%

SKYEB A N K

1.28

-9.2%

UB A

525.0

4.1%

UN IT YB N K

1.20

-9.1%

FB NH

392.8

4.0% 0.0%

F LOUR M ILL

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 T ic k er GLA XOSM IT H

P ric e C hg %

WEM A B A N K

1.09

-8.4%

IN T B R EW

335.2

H ON YF LOUR

2.55

-6.2%

N EST LE

212.5

1.7%

43.72

-5.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

204.6

-0.3%

ST A N B IC FCM B

2.92

-4.9%

F LOUR M ILL

184.7

2.7%

ET ER N A

5.20

-4.8%

T R A N SC OR P

123.4

-2.1%

Investment Research

Brokerage Ayodeji Ebo | aebo@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Bolaji Fajenyo | bfajenyo@afrinvest.com

Omotola Abimbola | oabimbola@afrinvest.com

45

˾ FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2018

MARKET NEWS

Abacus Money Market Fund to Boost Returns on Investments Abacus Money Market Fund, an open-ended investment scheme will preserve investors’ capital market provide competitive returns to investors.

This was the assertion of the Chairperson, Investment One Funds Management Limited, fund managers of Abacus Money Market Fund, Mrs. Joke Chukwuma during the listing of the fund on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos.

A mutual fund is an investment vehicle that

pools monies from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and other assets. It is then managed by professional fund managers for optimum returns.

According to Chukwuma, the fund, which is the first listing on the exchange in 2018, is a good opportunity to reach out to the retail end of investing public, “and we belief with the listing of Abacus Fund, we will be able to reach out to a lot more

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

people outside the institutional investors.”

She explained that the fund is a diversified portfolio with investments in quality money market instruments, short term debt securities, such as bankers’ acceptances, commercial papers, treasury bills and others.

On the primary objectives of the funds, she said that it serves as capital preservation and provide competitive returns particularly for investors seeking short term returns whilst guaranteeing

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 24Jan-2018, unless otherwise stated.

investor’s principal.

Chukwuma added that the fund also offers opportunities for good returns compared to savings account while maintaining a low risk and conservative approach to the investment.

A total of 50 million units of the Abacus Money Market Fund were listed at N100 per unit.

Speaking generally on the company’s mutual funds business, Chukwuma said it provides individual and corporate clients access to the

firm’s collective investment management services.

She said Investment One Funds Management Limited is currently the third largest mutual fund manager in Nigeria managing mutual funds and other retail investment products.

Investment One Funds Management Limited is subsidiary of Investment One Financial Services Limited, a company incorporated in 2008 as GTB Asset Management Limited.

The company was a wholly

owned asset management subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) to undertake the businesses of asset management and securities brokerage.

However, in 2011, due to new regulatory requirements, GTBank divested from the company following a management buyout and the company’s name was then changed to Investment One Financial Services with the long term goal of becoming the leading non-bank financial services group in Nigeria.

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 197.65 197.85 11.04% Nigeria International Debt Fund 242.65 242.83 4.75% 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 0.85 0.86 3.77% ACAP Income Funds 0.62 0.62 -4.39% 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 16.40% 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 20.42 21.03 11.74% ARM Discovery Fund 424.09 436.88 9.00% ARM Ethical Fund 28.56 29.42 4.53% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 16.54% 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 164.86 166.02 8.68% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 15.62% 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 15.10% Paramount Equity Fund 13.33 13.67 7.83% Women's Investment Fund 101.60 104.31 1.02% 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 16.48% CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 18.40% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.09 1.11 9.65% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.03 1.06 4.32% FBN QUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,168.76 1,169.93 1.82% FBN Heritage Fund 151.22 152.72 8.53% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 15.80% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $114.21 $114.70 1.13% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $114.13 $114.62 1.15% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 190.13 192.88 11.31% 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 1.47 10.14% Legacy Debt Fund 2.91 2.91 0.97% 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 3,177.65 3,225.87 6.69% Coral Income Fund 2,491.71 2,491.71 1.87% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 16.18% 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 15.66% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.26 2.29 7.27%

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 18.03% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 114.27 114.27 -0.80% 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 1.17 1.19 1.63% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,038.35 1,038.35 0.75% 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 16.74 16.89 18.79% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 16.53% 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 1.28 1.30 7.75% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.17 11.25 1.29% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 13.99% 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 151.97 154.65 18.00% 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 1.50 1.50 0.86% 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 2,370.08 2,388.47 5.64% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 179.99 179.99 2.01% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.09 1.11 8.91% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 223.69 223.82 1.59% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 186.59 188.75 4.20% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 15.62% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,561.47 10,703.02 9.21% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.07 1.07 0.94% 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 1.44 1.46 18.25% United Capital Bond Fund 1.58 1.58 21.09% United Capital Equity Fund 1.02 1.04 11.61% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 14.82% United Capital Eurobond Fund 103.30 103.30 25.55% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.12 1.12 7.29% ZENITH ASSETS MANAGEMENT LTD info@zenith-funds.com Web: www.zenith-funds.com; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 13.80 14.02 10.63% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.82 13.98 4.82% Zenith Income Fund 19.26 19.26 1.83%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

10.00 132.92

-11.35% 0.35%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

12.71 165.43 125.33

12.81 169.08 127.71

4.85% 15.87% 14.74%

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

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva 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

5.77 10.36 20.17 23.23 152.77

5.81 10.44 20.27 23.43 154.77

21.67% 8.20% 13.56% 17.99% 2.81%

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.

46

˾ FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2018

WORLD OF ISLAM

Edited by: MJO Mustapha Email deji.mustapha@thisdaylive.com

The Fall of the Family – 2 Abdal Hakim Murad/jamiat. org/themodernreligion (continued from last week)

T

he time for such an advocacy is now. In recent weeks, several religious figures in Britain have offered their thoughts, often anguished, generally cogent, on the tragedy of the progressive decay of the family. The Bishop of Liverpool and the Chief Rabbi have both summarised the process with the usual statistics: 34% of British children are now born outside wedlock; a similar proportion of adults suffer the heartbreak of divorce; within twenty years fewer than half of the nation’s children will be brought up by their own two parents; and so on. Few doubt the practical catastrophes which ensue: in the United States, it is said that over half of prison inmates are from broken homes, while men and women are known to suffer deep psychological harm from parental divorce even in middle life or old age. Sheppard and Sacks lament together that in a rapidly-changing world where the family haven has never been more needed by children and adults alike, it should have been wrecked by that most basic of all sins: selfishness. Nobody likes making a sacrifice: bowing at the idol of personal freedom we all shout for our rights and chafe under our duties. The lesson is irritating but clear: the Thatcherite egocentrism which posed as the apotheosis of Adam Smith’s advocacy of competitive self-interest as the key to collective social advancement is claiming so many casualties as to endanger the whole undertaking.

Greed creates rich men and happy Chancellors, but it now appears to come at a long-term price. Gigantic social and economic bills are now rolling in for extra policing, prisons, social workers and a growing blizzard of DHSS cheques. The socialist revolution has already failed; it seems that capitalism too may ultimately choke on its own contradictions.

So far, so good. It is unarguable, and not just to religious people, that greed has been a culprit. And yet the pleas for

a return to selflessness have been heard so often in past ages, and with so little manifest effect, that they cannot be seen as holding out a believably sufficient solution. If religions are truly to have the capacity to overcome the worst consequences of human sinfulness then they must acknowledge that simple appeals to “be good” rarely have much impact, and must be accompanied by a practicable paradigm for reform. Neither the bishop nor the rabbi seem to have much to offer that is practical and concrete; which is perhaps why they have been tolerated and even platformed by politicians and the liberal media. But as Muslims, possessed of a religious dispensation granted through an intermediary whose status as “a mercy to the nations” was manifested in a concrete social as well as moral programme, we know that the present plight of society will never be reformed through homiletics.

Structural changes are called for as well: and, given the gravity of the problem, we should not be surprised to learn that they can be painful.

Hardly less obvious than the causes of family decline are the reasons why establishment ideologues refuse to recognise them. The politicians are the most flagrant instance: last week’s sorry resignation by Social Charter minister Robert Hughes in order to “repair his marriage” after an illicit fling is simply the latest in a string of by now frankly boring incidents which show the political establishment (and not even the moralising Mr Ashdown, the leader of the UK Liberal Democrat Party, has been immune) as largely incapable of leading a moral life.

And yet tucked away in the office of every MP are all the clues we need. There before his desk, adding spice to his every tedious letterwriting moment, is that anarchic presence which unless he is very buttoned up indeed may prove his undoing. The number of MPs who have secretaries as second wives is second only to the number with surreptitious concubines. Only aberrant idiocy – or complaisance – can ignore the fact that if a politician, charged with that eroticism which power seems to generate, works late hours with a member of the opposite sex, a

conflagration is probable rather than possible. Under such conditions the system offers no protection whatsoever for suffering children and spouses, who will be traumatised even to the point of suicide. Again, the disastrous notion that individual rights take precedence over the rights of the family has resulted in degradation for both.

But politics is merely the most notorious example of an environment in which, as the Iranians say, “fire dwelleth with cotton”. As the current anguished debate over sexual harrassment reveals, there remains hardly a public space into which private desires do not obtrude.

Never before has there been a society in which men and women mingle so casually, and where the radically increased opportunity for temptation and unfaithfulness is so patent that even the most anti-moralising journalist, politician or social strategist must see it.

In Tom Wolfe’s popular novel Bonfire of the Vanities, a young financier commits adultery, destroying his wife and daughter, simply because New York is a city “drowning in concupiscence” and he is its child. It is not simply the routine mixing of the sexes that brings about his downfall. Everywhere his eyes wander he sees advertising, pornography, news stories and squeezy fashions that grasp at him and shout aloud the charm of duty-free sex. Wolfe’s adulterer is an ordinary, not a fundamentally evil man: he is simply living in a world in which most human beings cannot behave responsibly.

New York is not yet London – but the Atlantic grows narrower all the time, and the eroticising of the public space has become part of our culture. Middle-aged men with middle-aged wives once had little to tempt them, short of an unhealthy adventure with a Piccadilly tart.

Now, with a superabundance of flesh reminding them painfully at every turn of what they are missing, they are unlikely to remain loyal unless they are either stupid, or belong to that category of powerfully moral human beings which always has been and always will be a minority.

A radical diagnosis, although obvious enough: but is there a cure? Islam recognises as a major misdemeanour a

crime unimaginable in the West: khalwa, or “illegitimate seclusion”. Moral disasters always have preludes; Islam seeks to reduce the social matrix in which such preludes can occur. Thus our commitment to single-sex education.

Not for us the absurd desperation of the Clackmannan headmaster who last month introduced the rule that boy and girl pupils may not be closer than six inches from each other, because ‘spring is in the air.” But schools are the merest starting-point. The workplace, too, while not obstructing female advancement, should ensure that the rights of spouses are protected by denying all possibility of illegitimate seclusion in the office. Politicians and business people who insist on employing a personal assistant of the opposite sex should explain their reasons.

Pornography and sub-pornographic advertising should be carefully censored as intolerably demeaning and as an incitement to marital infidelity, the task of censorship being entrusted to those feminists who so rightly object to such portrayals of their sex.

The tragedy for Britain is, of course, that this remedy, while as self-evidently worth implementing as the sex drive itself, will be brushed aside with amazement and scorn by passing journalists and politicians. Convinced that Islam implies discrimination by its policy of gender separation, and privately depressed by the prospect of diminished sexual interest at work, the same liberal establishment which bewails the fragility of modern relationships will continue to encourage and live in the public environment which is at the root of the problem.

But Islam by its very nature takes the long view, and we should not be disheartened. The process of family collapse is proving so radical in its economic and human consequences that the time must ultimately come when the decadence will be recognised for what it is and radical solutions will be considered. Then, quite possibly, the principled Muslim conservatism that is so derided today will come into its own.

To Be Continued

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FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Libya Arrests Gang Torturing Nigerians, Africans Libyan forces have arrested gang members suspected of torturing Nigerians and other African migrants.

They are reported to have been arrested near Tripoli after torture video surfaced on Social media.

Details later but Nigerians who returned from Libya have narrated their harrowing experience.

Miss Loveth Ekumabo, 25-yearold Libya returnee, who blamed her father’s incestuous behaviour for her decision to flee to Libya, at least, for safety from her father; narrated how she was subjected to inhuman condition.

She described her journey to Libya as “jumping from frying pan into fire.’’

She has, in her life, gone through bitterness, especially her stay in faraway Libya, where she undergone forced labour and made a subject of serial rape.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), she cursed all those who raped her in Libya.

Mr. Harrison Okotie, 35, married and has two children is one of the returnees with gory

story to tell.

Okotie, who hails from Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, left everything in Benin City, where he had lived all his life, before leaving for Libya in search of greener pasture to take care of his family.

He noted that his journey through the desserts without food and water and the inhuman treatment meted on him, made him realised that there is no place like home. ”I will never in my life think of leaving my country again.

Whether there is work or no, I will stay here and manage with my family. ”The Nigerians held-up in Garian prisons are well over 4,000.

The Libya authorities do not want to release them because they are making money from them. ”They will call you from prison and ask you to call your people in Nigeria to send money for them to release you. Even if you succeed in getting money from Nigeria, they still would not let you go. ”It is a big business. They are not happy that the United

Indian Council Cultural Troupes toVisit Nigeria Eromosele Abiodun As part of its effort to promote Indian culture and enhance relations with Nigeria, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations has concluded arrangements for its cultural troupes to visit Nigeria.

The event is in collaboration with Indian High Commission, Nigeria and Indian Cultural Association.

The group known as Kathak Dancers visits countries around the world yearly to promote Indian culture.

This year’s edition will be held on January 28, 2018 at Muscon Centre Lagos.

Speaking on the development, President, Indian Cultural Association, Sanjay Jain, noted: “Kathak is one of the major forms of Indian classical dance. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the travelling bards of ancient northern India known as Kathakars or storytellers. The term Kathak is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha which means “story”, and Kathaka which means “he who tells a story”, or “to do with stories.”

Wandering Kathakas

communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music in a manner similar to early Greek theatre.

“The group consists of six members led by Ms. Surabhi Singh. Surbhi Singh is a very famous and popular Kathak dancer and have presented over 5,000 performances in India and all over the world. Her famous performances include – Aaj Ki Draupadi, Sundarkand Kathak Dance Ballet, Madhushala Dance Ballet, Devanand Night Dance Ballet etc.”

He said the current Indian High Commissioner, Mr. Shri B.N. Reddy is very active on promoting culture in Nigeria in spite of his busy schedule on his other official duties.

“The show has been made possible because of his pursuance. Indian Cultural Association is also actively involved in undertaking charities and charitable projects for the needy Nigerians. It also organises cultural events for promoting the culture between the two countries. This Dance Performance is one of the events in this line,” he said.

Rohingya Crisis: US Diplomat Quits Advisory Panel Veteran US diplomat Bill Richardson has resigned from an international panel set up by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to advise on the Rohingya crisis, according to BBC. He claimed the panel was a “whitewash” and accused Ms Suu Kyi, his long-time friend, of lacking “moral leadership”.

Myanmar accused him of pursuing “his own agenda”.

More than 650,000 Rohingya people, from a mostly-Muslim minority in Buddhist Myanmar, fled to Bangladesh last year in the face of a military crackdown.

Many are now living in refugee

camps in the neighbouring country. Bangladesh has said they will all be returned to Myanmar within two years.

Mr Richardson added that Ms Suu Kyi had been “furious” when he raised the case of two Reuters reporters on trial in Myanmar.

The journalists have been charged with breaching the Official Secrets Actwhile working on coverage of the Rohingya crisis.

Ms Suu Kyi “exploded” at Mr Richardson when he mentioned the journalists, he told the New York Times.

Nations and international bodies are helping to deport people to their countries. So they now keep Nigerians in their underground prisons.

He said: ”It was a horrible experience. One day a truck that carried 28 people, 15 of them died on the way due to lack of food and water.’’

The story of 34-year old Miss Josephine Ajabor, also from Delta State, is however strange.

Mr Sunday Ehiagina, another returnee, squandered his life savings on the trip to Libya.

Ehiagina, a native of Irrua in Esan Central local government area of Edo State, said he owned and operated a shoe factory for seven years in Benin City.

In Libya’s Garian and Saba prisons many people are tortured.

Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons(NAPTIP) had disclosed that more than 25,000 Nigerians have been held in slave and sex camps in Libya.

The Director General of NAPTIP, Mrs. Julie Okah-Donli, made this known while defending

the agency’s 2018 budget before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters last Tuesday.

She said of the figure, about 5000 of the victims were repatriated within the period in 2017. ”A large number of Nigerians have also been returned from other countries in Europe and Africa. ”All these people need to be properly received, profiled and assisted. ”NAPTIP has been working

in conjunction with other governmental and non governmental agencies such as NEMA, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and others to provide help to these unfortunate Nigerians,” she said.

She lamented that in spite of the evils of human trafficking not so much attention was focused on the menace.

She said the recent trend which marked the resurgence of slave trade was more alarming and required the attention it deserved.

Turkey to US: End Support for Syrian KurdishYPG or Risk Confrontation Turkey urged the United States on Thursday to halt its support for Kurdish YPG fighters or risk confronting Turkish forces on the ground in Syria, some of Ankara’s strongest comments yet about a potential clash with its NATO ally, Reuters reports.

The comments, from the spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan’s government, underscore the growing bilateral tensions, six days after Turkey launched its air and ground operation, “Olive Branch”, in Syria’s northwestern Afrin region.

Turkey’s targeting of the YPG, which it views as a security threat, has opened a new front in Syria’s multi-sided civil war.

Any push by Turkish forces toward Manbij, part of a Kurdishheld territory some 100 km (60 miles) east of Afrin, could threaten U.S. plans to stabilise northeast Syria and bring them into direct confrontation with U.S. troops deployed there.

“Those who support the terrorist organisation will become a target in this battle,” Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said.

“The United States needs to review its solders and elements giving support to terrorists on

the ground in such a way as to avoid a confrontation with Turkey,” Bozdag, who also acts as the government’s spokesman, told broadcaster A Haber.

The United States has around 2,000 troops in Syria, officially as part of an international, U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State.

Washington has angered Ankara by providing arms, training and air support to Syrian Kurdish forces that Turkey views as terrorists.

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U.S. forces were deployed in and around Manbij last March to deter Turkish and U.S.-backed rebels from attacking each other and have also carried out training missions in the area.

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Erdogan on Wednesday to curtail the military operation in Syria, the White House said.

However Turkey has disputed that characterisation of the conversation.

“President Trump did not share any ‘concerns about escalating violence’ with regard to the ongoing military operation in Afrin,” a Turkish official said.

“The two leaders’ discussion of Operation Olive Branch was limited to an exchange of views,” the official said.

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48

FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

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

Govs Accuse NNPC of Non-remittance of Full JV Proceeds for Five Years Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) yesterday in Abuja accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of shortchanging the country by failing to remit to the entire joint venture proceeds from the sale of crude oil to the Federation Account for a period of five years.

Briefing State House correspondents after a closeddoor meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the NGF Chairman, and governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, who led six other governors to the meeting, alleged that NNPC short-changed the country on the remittances between 2010 and 2015.

He said what was most irksome was that this non-remittance occurred when the joint venture

proceeds were high, recalling that the price of crude oil at the time was about $110 per barrel.

He said the necessity to meet Buhari yesterday over the matter was the offshoot of a National Economic Council (NEC) decision to resolve all outstanding issues on remittances, disclosing that the committee found that what was remitted to the federation account was lower than what was generated by the federation from joint venture operations.

Against this background, Yari who said the committee had earlier engaged the corporation on how to rectify the situation, noted that it became compelling to brief Buhari on how NNPC had short-changed the entire Nigerians.

“The meeting is on the decision of NEC that the seven-man committee was established to engage the NNPC and discuss a way forward so that we can be able to resolve

the issue that is outstanding most especially on the remittances to the Federation Account.

“Yesterday (Wednesday) the seven-man committee sat with the NNPC and today (yesterday), we have come to brief the president.

One of the things is about how they are paying the joint venture batch four and we have seen that what is being remitted to the Federation Account, to the entire people of Nigeria, is lower, because what is

being generated from the joint venture proceeds is higher than what is going to the Federation Account.

“So, we are concerned about that and NEC is concerned about that. So, they told the committee under my leadership to engage with the NNPC to discuss a way forward. The entire federation is being shortchanged by those activities. The NNPC since 2010, there were no payments of Joint

Venture proceeds when the oil was $110 per barrel up to when the president took over in 2015.

“So, why the funds Federation Account are always low is because they are making dual payments - paying the existing and at the same time paying the arrears.

So, we sat down with them to fine-tune how best we are going to get our partners to understand where we are more, especially now that the oil has started picking and

the price is becoming moderately good and then, we are slightly out of recession and we want to sustain that tempo,” Yari said.

The governors, besides Yari were Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State (PDP), Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State (PDP), Simon Lalong of Plateau State (APC), Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State (APC), Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State (APC) and Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna State (APC).

Seven Policemen,Two Soldiers Die in Adamawa Crisis The Brigade Commander, 23rd Armoured Brigade Yola, Brig.

Gen. Bello Mohammed, has said seven policemen and two soldiers lost their lives within the past two months as a result of Numan, Adamawa, sectarian crisis involving herdsmen and farmers.

Mohammed made this known yesterday in Yola, while addressing a town hall meeting of stakeholders on the crisis.

He said the military organised the meeting to sound a final warning to those involved that it would henceforth be hard on those who failed to embrace peace and dialogue in resolving differences.

“The crisis that initially started in Numan and environs spread to four local government areas namely; Girei, Demsa and Lamurde, and later to parts of Taraba.

“Sadly, the measures and strategies employed by security agencies have not yielded the desired effect; the stakeholders have regarded our soft handedness measures as weakness and incapable of dealing with the situation.

“Henceforth, we members of the security agencies forum have collectively resolved to tackle this mayhem and unwarranted killings at all cost.

“The first deliberate step towards permanently resolving this issue is this town hall

meeting.

“It is part of soft power approach to internal security situations, it would be followed by hard and smart power approaches; to be forewarned is to be forearmed,” Mohammed said.

While lamenting that elites, politicians and traditional rulers in the affected areas were not helping matters in addressing the problem, Mohammed said warring parties were also fond of over reacting and mostly on baseless and unconfirmed information.

The brigade commander said as part of measures taken by security agents to tackle the security situation in Numan, resisting an arrest or obstructing security personnel from carrying out their duties would be considered as serious offense.

Other actions that constituted serious offenses according to him included unlawful assemblies and movement of persons with arms in affected communities.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that those who spoke at the meeting included representatives of farmers, herdsmen, politicians, traditional and religious leaders.

They all condemned the crisis and resolved to mobilise their people towards peaceful coexistence and the need for dialogue in resolving conflict.

Abuja Airport Closed over Flight Incident Chinedu Eze An aircraft owned by Nestoil yesterday skidded off the runway and forced the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to shut down flight operations for 30 minutes at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The incident occurred when the aircraft landed at the airport.

FAAN explained that the aircraft lost its landing gear

but the pilot was able to manage the aircraft to avert more grievous outcome, as the airplane, which could not taxied, was pulled off the runway.

In a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Affairs, FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, said concerted efforts were made to put the situation under control and normalcy was restored.

The agency said the closure of the airport at that point was to enable the authority take safety precautions.

WEF DELEGATES

L-R: Founder, Bill Gates Foudation, Bill Gates; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; and Minister of Budget, Udoma Udo Udoma, at the Day Three of the 2018 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzserland... yesterday

Crude Oil Jumps as Brent Tops $71 on Drop in US Inventories NPDC plans to raise oil production mark to 500,000bd by 2022 Ejiofor Alike in Lagos and Chineme Okafor inAbuja with agency reports Crude oil prices yesterday hit their highest since December 2014 after the United States crude oil inventories posted a 10th straight week of declines and as the dollar continues to weaken.

International benchmark Brent futures settled at $71.12, above the three-year high of $70.37 reached on January 15, 2018.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures climbed to 66.22 dollars per barrel in early trading, also the highest level since early December 2014.

WTI first reached its highest since December 2014 on January 16 at $64.89.

Healthy world economic growth prospects and expectations for continued production curbs by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and their allies have continued to boost oil prices.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last Monday revised upward its forecast for world economic growth, which could help demand the for petroleum products.

This is coming as OPEC, Russia and other producers continue their supply-cut agreement which began in January 2017 and is due to run until the end of 2018.

OPEC’s main objective for the cuts is to eliminate a global surplus in oil stocks and rebalance the market.

There is some expectation that OPEC will let the agreement expire at the end of 2018, but major producers have not yet suggested that this is in the offing.

The sharp plunge in Venezuelan production is offsetting increases from the United States, which is on the cusp of breaking its all-time production record of 10.04 million barrels per day.

Venezuela’s output fell to a meagre two million bpd in 2017, far short of expectations for 2.5 million bpd, and the International Energy Agency said it could keep declining in 2018.

In foreign exchange markets, the US dollar hit its lowest level since December 2014 against a basket of other leading currencies.

A weakening dollar often results in financial traders taking investment out of currency markets and into commodity futures like crude oil.

Oil traders had said the prices were unlikely to fall far due to risks to supply disruptions.

In Nigeria, the militant group Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) had threatened to launch attacks on the country’s oil sector in the next few days.

The militant group had warned

the Nigerian Government to brace up for another round of attacks that it would soon unleash on oil and gas facilities in the country.

The group had also stated that with the recent killings across the country, the time was ripe for the restructuring of the country.

Reuters quoted analysts as saying that rising oil prices would likely start to have an inflationary effect.

Looming over the generallybullish oil market has been US oil production, which is edging ever more closely towards 10 million barrels per day (bpd), hitting 9.88 million bpd last week.

US output has grown by more than 17 per cent since mid-2016, and is now on par with that of top exporter Saudi Arabia.

Only Russia produces more, averaging 10.98 million bpd in 2017.

Meanwhille, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), one of the upstream subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has said it will increase its daily crude oil production to 500,000 barrels per day (bd) before 2022, from the 200,000bd it currently produces.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, disclosed this new crude oil production target of the NPDC when he inaugurated its board of directors in Abuja.

According to a statement from the Group General Manager, Public

Affairs of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, yesterday Baru, who is the chairman of the board, however charged its officers to grow the company’s assets and ensure that the 500,000bd oil production target is met by 2022.

He disclosed that the company was currently supplying 50 per cent of the gas needed by the West African Gas Pipeline, adding that it was necessary for it to have more gas assets.

HesaidtheNPDC’sMemorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with host communities should be tied to the availability of the gas lines, saying: “As stakeholders, they share in both our success and losses as well.”

The statement also quoted the Managing Director of NPDC, Mr. Yusuf Matashi, to have said at the inauguration that from the growth the company had witnessed since 2016, the 500,000bd target would be realised by 2022.

Matashi said the board came at an appropriate time, adding that it would address issues of processes and procedures necessary to drive a major oil company like the NPDC, while assuring it of the commitment of the company to the growth target.

The statement said the NPDC currently produces about 200,000bd of oil and would according to its work programme, increase it to 300,000bd in 2018.

FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY

49

NEWSEXTRA

Malabu: AGF Asks EFCC to Determine If Adoke, Etete, Others Have Case to Answer Shreds anti-graft agency’s evidence into pieces Says he has no regret meeting with Maina in Dubai, Buhari was aware of my meeting Tobi Soniyi in Lagos

The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, has called on the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, to thoroughly investigate the resolution of the dispute surrounding Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245 to determine if any offence was committed by the parties already charged before the court.

This is contained in a letter written by Malami to Magu.

The letter which was dated September 20, 2017, formed parts of the exhibits filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja by the team of lawyers hired by a former Minister for Justice, Mohammed Adoke, who is charged with others for alleged complicity in the handling of the transaction.

In the letter, the justice minister said there was a need to consolidate all the charges.

He said the Malabu case should be investigated “thoroughly in order to satisfy the constituent elements of offences.”

According to him, the investigation by the EFCC does not appear to have clearly revealed the case of fraud against the parties in view of their claimed that they acted in their official capacities with purported approval of the president.

The letter read: “Having fully examined the entire case file, I am incline to request you to consider the charge in relation to the composition of the parties, the offences, the proof of evidence and the case summary in view of the fact that nothing in the proof of evidence appears to have directly linked parties to the offences as charged.

“A curious observation of the entire file clearly indicates that the proof of evidence is unlikely to support the counts which border on fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.”

He gave the following reasons for reaching the above conclusion:

“A- there is nothing to show that the parties as constituted were at all times working together and having a meeting of the mind to wit: to forge CAC documents and use it for the purpose of divesting the shares of the complainant and thereafter enter into a settlement agreement with the federal government and other parties to take delivery of the proceeds of sale of OPL 245.

“B- there is nothing in the proof of evidence to support the charge of money laundering therefore it is unrealistic for the prosecution to prove the elements which include illicit funds, attempt to conceal/ concealment of illicit funds, transfer of such funds through various channels to introduce same as legitimate funds, in financial institutions without the express proof of these elements, this count may not be sustainable.

“I am of the view that the Public Officers Protection Act CAP P41 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 limits liability of public officers to a period of three months following the acts which are complained of unless if the acts were not within the mandate of the functions of the public officer, and your investigation needs to have covered that eventuality in view of the claim that the acts were authorised by the three presidents before this current administration.

“On the above grounds, I am of the considered view that there is the need to consolidate on the charges and the matter be thoroughly investigated especially regarding the allegations of wrongdoing in connection with the $ 1.1 billion in order to satisfy the constituent elements of offences.

“You are to also take steps to urgently file an application fora worldwide mareva injunction and or the forfeiture of the assets of the beneficiaries of the $1.1billion pending the conclusion of your investigation in the areas above stated.”

Adoke and a former minister of petroleum resources Dan Etete are among those charged with

You Lack Understanding About the Powers of a President, Alison-Madueke Tells EFCC Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani AlisonMadueke, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of displaying lack of understanding of the constitutional powers of a president in managing funds meant for security/intelligence agencies.

She said this in response to a report that she withdrew N1.3 billion from the account of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

In a statement issued on her behalf by Clem Aguiyi, her media aide, the ex-minister said the anti-graft agency ought to seek clarity about the process for release of funds requested by security/intelligence agencies.

Quoting Section 5 of the Constitution, Alison-Madueke said all executive powers are

vested in the president who may exercise it directly or through the vice-president or ministers.

She argued that as minister of petroleum resources, she was an appointee and delegate of the president.

“On the issue in question, the minister of petroleum resources acted on the basis of the written approvals and directives given by the president, which approvals were given after written requests from the relevant security agencies were made to the president,” she said.

“At such instances, as in fact the article clearly shows, a service chief or intelligence chief, makes a written request/ appeal to Mr President outlining whatever urgent and critical security needs of the nation they consider imminently paramount, at any given point in time.

conspiracy and other offences in the handling of the $1.1 billion paid as settlement for the dispute that arose after the federal government revoked the OPL. Both Adoke and Etete denied any wrong doing.

Adoke even filed a separate action seeking a judicial interpretation of the legality of obeying presidential directives concerning the sale of the oil block to Shell and Eni by Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011.

The case has been fixed for February 23, 2018 for ruling.

Adoke asked the court to declare his prosecution by the EFCC illegal.

He also asked the court to declare that he acted on the orders of exPresident Goodluck Jonathan and therefore was not liable.

However, Malami, in opposing the case, asked the court to dismiss the suit.

The justice minister said Adoke must face trial.

At the court yesterday, Kanu

Agabi SAN, counsel to Adoke, argued that his client was acting on the orders of the president.

Agabi, himself a former Attorney General of the then Federation and Minister for Justice said: “We operate a presidential system where all executive powers are vested on one man.

“It is dictatorial under the constitution and all powers are exercised by him. These dictatorial power enable him to take decisive actions.

“He takes action for his minister and if ithe actions fails he takes the blame.”

The former minister wondered why a minister who obeyed the president’s directive would be punished for wrongdoing.

“We are in peril because of our obedience. We ask your lordship to resolve the matter in our favour,” Agabi said.

On his part, Dapo Apata, counsel to Malami, said the Adoke should

not use the court as a shield from prosecution.

The trial judge, Mrs Binta Nyako, adjourned the matter to February 28.

Meanwhile, Malami has said he has no regrets meeting with the fugitive former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pensions, Abdulrasheed Maina, in Dubai.

“If hundreds of Mainas believe that they have information to offer as far at the protection of the national interest is concerned, I will meet them and will do so again,” Malami said in his first public interview in the current edition of The Interview magazine.

After a spell in exile, Maina who has been accused of stealing N2billion public pension, returned to Nigeria and was re-absorbed into service.

It is widely believed that Maina’s meeting with Malami in Dubai two years ago, paved the way for his return and reinstatement, a move that has sparked widespread public

outrage.

In the interview, Malami said his meeting was in pursuit of the national interest. “It boils down to whether I have indeed acted or I have not acted,” he said.

He added, without naming the specific examples, that information provided by Maina had helped in “solidifying (fraud) cases in terms of conviction” and recovering stolen funds.

Malami said President Muhammadu Buhari came to be aware of his meeting with Maina much later, “out of a desire to see for his (Buhari’s) directives relating to its application for the purpose of blocking leakages associated with the looting of pension funds.”

The MD/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview, Azu Ishiekwene, described Malami’s interview as “the first real window into the mind of a man who has been central to one of the most vexatious public issues in recent times.”

CHAMPION OF IMMUNISATION

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), Dr. Seth Berkley; Chairman of the Board, GAVI, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Chief Executive Officer, Avon Medical Practice and Chairperson, Avon Healthcare, Dr. Awele Elumelu, after Elumelu was announced the GAVI Champion for Immunisation in Africa, at a ceremony held on the sideline of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland….yesterday

Senate Issues Seven-day Ultimatum to NNPC to Clear Fuel Queues Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The Senate yesterday issued a sevenday ultimatum to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ensure there is adequate supply of petrol nationwide in order to clear the lingering queues at the filling stations within seven days.

The legislative body also directed security agencies to adequately police Nigerian borders to stop the smuggling of petroleum products.

This is in addition to the directive to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to double their efforts in enforcing price control and monitoring.

The resolutions were taken following the adoption of the report

of the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) presented at plenary.

The committee is chaired by Senator Kabiru Marafa who presented the resolutions reached by the joint committee.

“Direct NNPC to ensure the adequate supply of petrol and disappearance of queues nationwide within seven days.

“Direct all security agencies to ensure effective border control measures to avoid the smuggling of petroleum products.

“Direct DPR to double its efforts in enforcing price control and monitoring,” the resolution read.

Marafa explained that the committee met with officials of the NNPC last Wednesday and queried them on why the fuel queues have refused to disappear.

“On the reasons the queues are back, they told us that it was a combined issues of the supply gap, coupled with massive smuggling across our borders which is quite alarming. Even two day ago, I saw on national television where customs officials intercepted more than 3,000 jerry cans of fuel in addition to the quantities being smuggled across the borders,” Marafa said.

According to him, “On their challenges, they still talked about

this problem of smuggling, failure by marketers to sell at the approved pump price (N145). They told us that every litre of fuel in the country today is brought in (imported) by NNPC and that the corporation still sells at the controlled price till today. Therefore, anybody selling above the pump price is doing so at his own risk.

“They also told us that cooperation was required from the security agencies,” Marafa added.

Presiding, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, directed the committee to report back to plenary next week to confirm that NNPC has complied with the Senate’s directives.

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Yoruba Leaders, Bayelsa Reject Cattle Colonies Shola Oyeyipo in Lagos and Emmanuel Addeh inYenagoa As the leadership and the citizenry continue to search for a lasting solution to the carnage that characterises the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria, Yoruba leaders, under the auspices of Yoruba Summit, have rejected proposal for the establishment of cattle colonies across Nigeria.

The position was taken against the background of recent criminal activities of herdsmen across Yoruba land, particularly the killings of a pregnant woman in Ekiti State, a farmer in Ogun State and the setting ablaze and destruction of the farms of former Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG), Chief Olu Falae; ex Naval Chief, Vice-Admiral Samuel Afolayan; former Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Mr. Dele Adigun, and Mrs. Roseline Ogege in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Rising from an extra-ordinary session held in Lagos yesterday to address the matter, the body in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odunakin, condemned the renewed hostilities in Yoruba land, challenging the federal government to stop the attacks as he vowed that no part of the Southwest would be set aside as cattle colonies.

According to Odumakin, “We took strong objections to the obnoxious and vexatious proposal by the federal government to establish cow colonies across Nigeria in aid of private business and in violation of the sensibilities of different nationalities whose lands would be partitioned for Fulani herdsmen reminiscent of the Berlin Conference where Africa was portioned for

different colonial powers as a colony presupposing a settlement of invading power in a given community where alien laws and values prevail.

“The meeting resolved that no inch of Yoruba land will be available for cow colony as Yoruba are in favour of only ranching of cattle where those in such business will acquire land according to extant rules and subject their operations to the norms and culture of their host communities.

“It is against this background that we called on Yoruba people to begin venturing into modern ranching for home consumption and export while our state governments should evolve policies in promotion of ranching by Yoruba people.

The leaders were disturbed by the recent hostilities, which they described as unprovoked, provocative and unwarranted.

“These renewed attacks on Yoruba property and persons were considered unwarranted, provocative and brutal assault by marauding elements who now carry on as if the laws of the country have been suspended on their behalf by complicit authorities.

“We condemn these assaults and call on the federal government to be alive to its responsibility by enforcing the laws against these criminal activities and perpetrators of such in order to regain the confidence of the people.”

The leaders suggested that the federal government should take some more proactive measures to end the menacing activities of the killer herders.

Accordingly, they said: “Government should do the

following to end the menace of the armed herdsmen currently threatening peace, order and productivity in the county: ‘declare the killer herdsmen and militias as terrorists, disarm the herdsmen and militias and probe the source of their arms’.

“Government should also stop the mass illegal immigration of armed Fulani and others into Nigeria through the far northern and northwestern borders of Nigeria. An inquiry into the serial cases of illegal weapons that have been discovered at the Lagos port in recent time as they pose serious challenge to our security.”

The meeting presided over

by Chief Ayo Adebanjo was attended by Prof Banji Akintoye, Dr. Amos Akingba, Dr. Kunle Olajide, Senator Femi Okurounmu, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, Senator Kofo Bucknor-Akerele, Mr. Goke Omisore, Chief Supo Sonibare, Dr. Femi Adegoke, Hon Oladipo Olaitan, Otunba Deji Osibogun, Mrs. Tokunbo Ekukinam, Mr. Bolaji Ogunseye and several others.

Meanwhile, the Bayelsa State Government yesterday denied insinuations that it had agreed to set up a cattle colony in the state, describing the rumour as unfounded.

The government noted that rather than playing politics with cattle rearing, it was approaching the herdsmen issue as a business, with the establishment of a ranch at Elebele Palm Estate, in line with international best practices.

Accordingly, it explained that no occupant of the area at Elebele can erect any structure aside the rearing and butchering of cows , stressing that it was collecting taxes from the herdsmen operating there whichever part of the country they come from.

Doodei Week, the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, who made the assertion yesterday, added that Bayelsa has also embarked upon diversifying the economy to create jobs and ensure food security.

He added that over 600 young graduates have already been trained in various fields of agriculture, especially in areas

where the state has comparative and competitive advantage.

The commissioner spoke during the Inter-Ministerial/Agency Press Briefing organised by the Ministry of Information and Orientation to showcase the achievements of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson’s six-year administration.

Doodei said the upland fish farm at Igbogene remained an example of what the future of agric-business in the state would be.

He explained that the fish farm runs the full business circle, with hi-tech hatcheries, 500 ponds, fish feed mill and fish processor and dryers, Bayelsa holds the promise of not only feeding the state but also generate income through fish export.

The Commissioner said that the Ebedebiri Cassava farm is another big ticket project would deliver 30 million tonnes of starch annually.

Doodei described the cassava project as the biggest in the country and Bayesla state’s contribution to saving hundreds of millions of dollars expended annually to import starch for

industrial purposes.

He also mentioned the Integrated Poultry at Ebedebiri, as another star project being undertaken by the state government.

The commissioner said there are future plans to replicate the fish farm in every local government area of the state to generate employment for the teeming youths, stressing that work has commenced at the 250-hectare Southern Ijaw Local Government Fish Farm.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Information of Information and Orientation, Daniel IworisoMarkson, posited that the issue of food security must be tackled headlong with the fast growing population, insisting that a nation that cannot feed itself is not fully sovereign.

He said the administration of Henry Seriake Dickson had recorded life-long achievements in the agricultural sector with visible evidence for people to see.

The commissioner said that sustained peace in the state would create a virile environment for more successes in every sector.

Saraki: N’Assembly Struggling from Lack of Funds Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has disclosed that the National Assembly is grappling to meet its statutory obligations due to a lack of funds.

This, he noted, is despite the perception and criticisms that the legislature is overfunded.

Speaking when he paid a working visit to the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) on Wednesday, Saraki said the legislature has experienced funding challenges in the last few years.

Details of the visit were made available yesterday by Saraki’s Special Assistant on Print Media, Mr. Chuks Okocha, According to the statement, Saraki made the comments while responding to requests for the funding of a permanent office block for the service commission in the National Assembly.

“One of the things that I see here today is the issue of budgetary constraints. However, the impression around the country is often that the National Assembly has too much money. But we have seen the challenges of the last few years. As we work through the number of bills passed, the public hearings held, and the number of ad-hoc committees that have been established — we know the challenges of not being able

to fund some of our activities,” Saraki said.

“So far, I am happy to report that despite these constraints, the 8th Senate has been able to surpass all previous Senates in the number of bills that we have passed in two years despite the funding gaps.

We know that as we continue over time, people will begin to have more confidence in the National Assembly. However, right now, the challenges that we have are the issue of perception, and the issue of funding. We need to work hard to change this,” Saraki added.

He lamented that Nigerians have not appreciated the role of the legislature in governance.

“Therefore, we all have a lot of work in trying to make the people appreciate the role of the legislature in our democracy,” Saraki said.

“This has not been easy, this is why I am sure that working with the Commission, we can work towards this together so that we can improve the image of the National Assembly.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the NASC, Dr. Adamu Fika, lamented that the commission still operates from a rented apartment with the attendant cost.

He enjoined the leadership of the National Assembly to come to its aid by supporting it to build a befitting permanent office within the National Assembly complex.

PRESIDENTIAL HANDSHAKE

R-L: President Muhammadu Buhari, Zamfara State Governor and Chairman of Governors’ Forum (NGF), Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Dave Umahi, during a meeting with a delegation of the NGF at the State House in Abuja....yesterday

ICRC to Resolve TBS Concession Dispute Chinedu Eze The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has said it has completed plans to commence action plans to resolve the concession issue between BHS International Limited, the concessionaire of Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos and the federal government.

The commission, which is saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and ensuring the efficient execution of all PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP), projects entered into by government agencies on behalf of the Lagos State government said it has reviewed the project’s challenges and would ensure they are resolved.

The TBS complex was given out on concession to the company for 30 years since 2008 and it has been dogged by controversy since then.

Speaking during a visit by the Commission to TBS yesterday, the acting Director General ICRC, Chidi Izuwah said: “We are not unaware of the law suits involving

BHS International and the Lagos State government, the friction with the Nigerian Cricket Federation and a host of others.

“We are also informed that one or two committees may have been set up to further strengthen the implementation of this projects as well as an audit exercise which has been conducted as directed by the National Council on Privatisation. In this regard, the commission is here to listen to both parties with regards to the project performance and inherent challenges and thereafter brainstorm on possible ways forward in resolving these challenges.”

Izuwah remarked that infrastructure gap in Nigeria is massive and there is no way the massive infrastructure transformation needed to improve the people’s lives and boost the nation’s economy could be bridged without effective collaboration with the private sector.

He therefore encouraged both

parties to support the efforts of the commission in growing the nation’s infrastructure through PPP which is the most efficient procurement alternative.

CEO/Executive Director of BHS International Limited, Mr. Olu Adenodi, had requested the assistance of the commission in mandating agencies of government to commence contract re-negotiation program as decided by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to enable investors commit funds to build projects.

“We ask that the federal government consider a provision of seven-eight years construction period in the agreement or consider converting the last ten years consumed in multiple disputes as moratorium to enable BHS continue and complete the plan approval,” Adenodi said.

He asked that the Lagos State government withdraw the suit challenging ownership of the TBS, which is currently before the Supreme Court to pave the way for unfettered access to funds,

the indemnity notwithstanding.

In response, the head of management, TBS said BHS International Limited still owed an outstanding remittance fees of N465 million.

Usman however, commended BHS for making substantial payments in the last two years but stressed that a lot still needed to be done.

“The concession is a developmental concession, which means, in the first 10 years, they are expected to invest to generate more money but unfortunately, because of the circumstances on ground, the issue is yet to be addressed because there are no investments on ground for them to generate N250 million yearly.

“We have collaborated with them and they have provided their master plan. They have given them bill of N1.4 billion to pay to get the approval. Without the approval, the development cannot come on stream. The amount is so much and I do not know how they can generate the money,” he added.

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Obasanjo Still in Spirit with PDP, Says Lamido Visits Okowa, Delta PDP chairman Says APC elevated lying to level of culture Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba Frontline presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Sule Lamido, has said members of the PDP do not nurse hard feelings against former President Olusegun Obasanjo on account of his reported unsavory comments about the ability of the

party and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to provide effective political leadership in Nigeria.

He said the former president remains a member of the PDP because he still has the party’s spirit in him despite his harsh words for the party, describing his much-talked-about criticism of the two leading parties as simply “fatherly advice that should be

Buhari Heads for AU Summit, May Meet Obasanjo Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari will today leave Nigeria for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to participate in the 30th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU).

Buhari’s media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement, said the highlight of his principal’s engagements during the trip would be predicated on the historic theme for the summit: ‘Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation.’

Meanwhile, strong indications have since emerged that President Buhari might meet with former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is usually prominent figure at the summit.

THISDAY gathered that should the two leaders meet, it would be the first time since Obasanjo last Tuesday wrote an 18-page letter to the president criticising his administration, and advising him not to seek a re-election 2019.

According to Adesina, it is the first time in the 54-year-old history of the AU that anti-corruption would be made a theme of the gathering of the regional leaders.

He recalled that on July 4, 2017 at the 29th Session of the AU, African leaders unanimously endorsed Buhari to champion the fight against corruption on the continent adding that the endorsement was

in recognition of his personal commitment and widely acclaimed anti-graft drive at the domestic level.

He also recalled that on July 25, 2017, Buhari in a letter to President Alpha Conde of Guinea, the outgoing AU Chairman, formally accepted his nomination to lead members of the AU on this crucial crusade against a veritable socio-economic vice viewed as antidevelopment.

“Apart from anti-corruption, other issues lined for consideration

by African leaders and their delegations include, peace and security (transnational terrorism); institutional reforms of the continental body; free movement of persons; climate change; trade; aviation; education; gender and development.

“President Buhari will also hold bilateral meetings with some of his colleagues on issues of common interests,” Adesina added.

He listed those in the minister’s delegation to include: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, among others.

Abdulrahman Danbazau; the Minister of State (Aviation), Hadi Sirika; the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; and the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.

Ex-speaker, Dimeji Bankole Joins ADP Politicians over 60 years won’t get tickets, says party Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The former Speaker of House of Representative, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, has joined the newly registered Action Democratic Party (ADP).

The former Speaker was listed as member of the newly inaugurated contact and mobilisation committee ahead of the party for the 2019 general election.

Until his move to ADP, Bankole was a staunch member of the PDP. Dimeji’s father, who is also the chairman Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, Chief Alani Bankole, also confirmed in an interview with journalists yesterday that his son is now a chieftain of the opposition ADP. The 32-member committee headed by Senator Roland Owei, has Senator Isa Ndako, Senator Chris Ukpabi, Ambassador Mathew Adoli, Gen. Muhammed Gana and Hajia Hadisa Muhammed as members.

Speaking during the inauguration yesterday in Abuja, the National

Chairman of the party Mr. Yabaji Sani, said the committee was put together “to serve as vehicle to reach the unreached or reluctant to embark on decisive measures to rescue Nigeria.

“Our economy is in the doldrums, education has virtually collapsed, insecurity has become pervasive with several of our country men and women, mowed down daily by criminal elements.

“Obviously, we cannot keep silent in the face of evil and daunting challenges. ADP has stepped in to change the narrative. We are determined to rebuild Nigeria into an egalitarian nation where tribe and religion will never be factors that determine a citizen level of attainment.”

Responding, the Chairman of the committee, Owie, said the panel was in accordance with the genuine move of the party to raise up a new generation of party faithful and Nigerians for the party to rescue the country from what he described as avoidable hardship.

taken in good faith.”

The presidential hopeful noted that it was in the character of Obasanjo to speak out his mind on any national issue he felt strongly about.

“You see, Baba na Baba”, he said in Pidgin English, adding “He is father, he speaks as a father; it does not mean he hates the PDP. Baba (Obasanjo) is still a member of the PDP; he has the PDP spirit that believes in the unity of the people of Nigeria irrespective of differences in ethnic or cultural group or religion.”

Lamido made the remarks yesterday when he paid a courtesy call on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State at the Government House Asaba in continuation of his nation-wide tour for consultations with PDP stakeholders towards his 2019 presidential ambition.

Lamido, who is Nigeria’s former foreign affairs minister and erstwhile governor of Jigawa State, also visited

the state Chairman of the PDP, Chief Kingsley Esiso, and members of the state working committee as well as senatorial and some local government chairmen of the party.

He lamented that the APC has practically run the country aground with its divisive and propagandist style of governance which has increased animosity of Nigerians to other Nigerians to a level unprecedented in the history of the country.

He said it was clear as day that the longsuffering citizens of Nigeria were tired of the APC, which he said has “elevated lying to the level of a culture (as) in APC, the hallmark is lies,” stressing that Nigerians were yearning for a president who see them first as human beings.

Earlier, Lamido intimated Okowa about his 2019 presidential aspiration, saying he believes he has all it take to be president of African’s most populous nation

because he knows the country and the people well to lead the nation to grow and develop, saying God has given him a heart with the milk of human kindness which would spur him to take Nigeria out of the present crushing hardship.

He pledged his readiness to work with other PDP aspirants and leaders to ensure that national unity and focus remain the hallmark of the party as it braces up to tackle issues of transforming the nation by assuming power again at the centre.

In his response, Okowa called for love, commitment and focus among members of the PDP to galvanise the party to resounding victory in 2019, noting that the PDP needed to remain united and committed and carry all its leaders and members along so as to achieve victory in future elections.

Okowa said: “I am happy that our party is rediscovering itself after our successful convention in which

the leaders were able to come out as one united family, committed to the future of the nation and the party, our party is founded on love and commitment, we need to stay focused and sit down and take decisions as a party. We must start a relationship among our leaders to enable us talk about issues of our party and the nation and reassure Nigerians that we are truly prepared to lead this nation and take it to greater heights.”

The governor called for support for the various organs of the party so as to achieve success stressing “our collective strength will move the party forward to victory”.

While commending Lamido for being a committed and consistent party man, Okowa emphasised that only a presidential candidate that emerged from the party structure would be able to lead the party forward and wrest power from APC in 2019.

RUBBING MINDS ON DEVELOPMENT

Director of Career Services of Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Elizabeth Gill (left), and former Governor Peter Obi, during his visit and speech at the Yale University, United States....yesterday

Court Rejects Metuh’s Medical Report,Threatens Revocation of Bail Alex Enumah in Abuja Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday rejected a medical certificate attesting to the admission of the former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh in a teaching hospital.

Abang consequently ordered that the defendant must appear in court on February 5 and 6, the next adjourned date, or risk arrest and committal to prison.

The judge gave the order in a ruling on an application by the prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, seeking revocation of Metuh’s bail on the grounds that he has failed on two consecutive occasions to attend his trial.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had predicated its application on a purported medical report written by the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi indicating that Metuh was on admission.

Metuh’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), by the said letter written by Dr. O.C Ekweogwu,

on behalf of the university, dated January 21, 2018, was seeking an adjournment to enable Metuh attend to his ill health.

However, Justice Abang in his ruling agreed with the prosecution counsel that the “purported medical report is a trash, a useless paper only dumped on the court that is meant for a trash bin.”

According to Abang, the letter was strategically aimed at delaying the trial, adding that it was designed as a subtle way of staying proceedings in the ongoing trial.

Justice Abang noted that the said letter was fraudulently smuggled into the court’s record by a person unknown to the court with the intent to mislead the court.

“The person who submitted that letter must be known to the court, in this instant case, he is unknown.

“The court of law cannot rely on a public document tendered by a none party in a suit; it has no charge number and violated the three ways by which a public document can be submitted before a court.

“More so, the court observed that

the said letter was not accompanied by a verifiable affidavit, and expressed surprise that counsel to the 1st and 2nd defendants could not see anything wrong with the letter,” he said.

The judge while describing the letter as appalling, added that the medical report was also full of medical terms that could not make meaning to the court.

He therefore rejected the purported medical report.

In view of Metuh’s absence from trial, the court held unequivocally that the EFCC’s application seeking revocation of the defendant’s bail, “deserves to succeed”.

The court held that though the prosecution did not request for Metuh’s arrest, however, it is his view that fact of arrest of the 1st defendant is inherent in revocation of the bail.

“Arrest is a consequential order. If the 1st defendant’s bail is revoked, he will be arrested.

The outcome of his response when he appears in court shall determine whether or not to put him in prison, the court held.

“The fact that the prosecution

did not hinge his application for revocation of bail on Section 169 of Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 is not fatal.

More so, the court said it was not inclined to try Metuh in absentia because Section 266 of ACJA provides that a defendant in a criminal matter must attend trial.

He also refused the application of Metuh seeking an adjournment on health grounds.

“This court shall henceforth not accept any other medical report issued by any Medical Doctor in Nigeria until the trial is concluded,” Justice Abang ordered.

However, the court having considered the passionate plea of 1st and 2nd defendants counsel, suspended the revocation order.

“I hereby suspend my decision revoking the bail. It is expected that the defendant will turn to a new leaf, show compulsion and attend his trial on February 5 and 6.

“If he fails to appear in court on these dates fixed for continuation of his trial, his bail shall be revoked and he will be remanded in prison custody,” the court held.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2018

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FRIDAYSPORTS

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

WORLD CUP 2018

Croatian Targets Win against Eagles in Russia Duro Ikhazuagbe Croatia and Locomotive Moscow defender, Vedran Corluka, has hinted that his country is targeting victory against Nigeria when both countries open their Group D campaign at the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.

After Croatia’s fairytale run at its World Cup debut in France in 1998 with a semi final finish, the Eastern European nation has been unable to repeat the feat in their last two Mundial appearances.

They have not been able to advance from the group phase.

Now, Corluka and his compatriots are looking forward to riding back to relevant starting with victory against Nigeria on June 16 in Kaliningrad.

The former Manchester City and Tottenham defender who injury has dimmed his trip to Russia this summer however believes the three-time African champions wont come cheap.

“I would like to see our team pay attention to Nigeria because they are the first opponent in Russia, and it will be tough against the tricky team from Africa,” Corluka told sports.ru during the week.

“Getting past Nigeria will

be the toughest, but a win over Nigeria can give us a big boost before other games against Argentina and Iceland.

“Hopefully, Argentina can start well with a win and we can take it from there.

“We (Croatia) have a good and strong team for sure, and there are talents. We always say this before every major tournament, but in fact it does not always work out, so I hope that we will fulfill the task in Russia,” concludes Corluka on a positive now.

After the first match with the Super Eagles, the Croatians have another mountain to climb as they confront Argentina in their second game of Group D. They are to cap their group stage matches against Iceland.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) last week revealed an ambitious 2018 FIFA World Cup programme for Eagles with the sole aim of getting the team to surpass Nigeria’s best performance of second round feats.

Eagles Franco-German gaffer, Gernot Rohr, stressed that it was not impossible for the team to go all out to play in the final. He however cautioned Nigerians about blind optimism.

Super Eagles players celebrating their qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia last October The venues and dates for six pre-World Cup friendly matches, kit launch, camping programmes and the team base camp, sponsors’ event and how the team will travel during the World Cup finals proper were unveiled in that Lagos event.

Eagles are to play Poland, Serbia, Democratic Republic of Congo, England, Czech Republic and Chile on the way to the World Cup finals in Russia.

The team’s first phase camping will hold in Abuja or Uyo between May 22nd and

30th, while the second phase camping will hold at a health resort in Austria between June 3rd and 11th June. The close camp at the Eagles’ official World Cup team base camp is at Yessentuki, Stavropol Territory in Russia’s southern region, starting on 11th June.

Apart from the Croatia match, Eagles are to play Iceland on June 22nd in Volgograd Arena before heading to St Petersburg Stadium to play the group’s final game against South America power-house, Argentina on June 26th.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has signed an agreement with top Swedish football coach, Thomas Dennerby, to take the role of Head Coach of eight-time African champions, Super Falcons.

The contract also enables Dennerby to come into the job with an assistant, Mr. Jorgen Petersson, another highly experienced Swedish coach nominated by Dennerby himself.

Dennerby, who spent nine years with Hammarby IF of Allsvesnkan and played in the European Cup in 1983 and 1985, won 34 caps for Swedish junior teams between 1975 and 1981.

He coached the Swedish Women’s Senior Team between 2005 and 2012, during which the team played at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and the

2007 and 2011 FIFA World Cup finals, winning bronze at the latter tournament.

He also served time as youth coach for Stockholm FA and worked in various capacities for former club Hammarby between 1993 and 2001.

More recently, he did scouting and analyses for the Swedish FA at the 2013 and 2017 European Championships, the 2016 Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.

Petersson has worked with several top Swedish clubs including Moheda IF, Osters IF, Vaxjo, Alvesta Golf, IFK Varmamo, Malmo FF, Kalmar FF and Linkopings FC, was assistant coach of the Swedish U23 women team between 2006-2012 and scouted for the Swedish women national team at last year’s European

Championship.

The appointment is in line with the pledge made by NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, to get a world-class coach to take the Super Falcons and other women national teams to the next level (of competing creditably and for laurels at global championships), and who would also work assiduously with the federation to ensure robust development of women football in Nigeria.

Pinnick expressed delight that the process had gone smoothly and assured the coaches of a conducive working environment to achieve the set milestones.

“The NFF decided to go for a coach of the calibre of Thomas Dennerby for three reasons: to sustain and enhance the Super Falcons’ dominance

on the African scene; to take the Falcons and the other women teams to the next level of challenging for laurels at global competitions like the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup and; to generally lay the foundation for the real development of women’s football in our country,” Shehu Dikko, NFF 2nd Vice President/Chairman of Strategy, told thenff.com.

Dikko added: “Dennerby will live in Nigeria most of the time and support the other women teams whenever he has the time.

The contract is until the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in the initial, with the right for automatic renewal subject to meeting performance milestones as agreed. He will be in Nigeria very soon for the public unveiling.

African Players Boost Inaugural LPGAN Tourney NFF Signs Top Swedish Coach, Dennerby, for Super Falcons Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja Lady professional golfers from across Africa have offered support for the inaugural Ladies Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria (LPGAN) pro-am tournament billed for Abuja from February 15 to 18, 2018.

The brain behind the tour, Uloma Mbuko, remarked yesterday that several players of African extraction are backing Nigeria to oversee the affairs of the ladies professional golfers in the West African region.

The players reached the resolution when they met at the end of last year in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea.

THISDAY gathered that those in support of the tour include Silvie Djoko, Cameroon; Marian Soda Ndiaye, Oumy Di Eye Deck, Senegal; Vivian Kouame, Chantal Kouadio, Cote D’Ivoire; Flavia Namakula, Uganda; and Lucie Opayinka and Evelyn Oboh; Nigeria.

The 72-hole stroke play contest over IBB International Golf and Country Club is open to female players within Handicap 0-12 category upon the payment of N25, 000 (amateur) and N36,000 entry fees for professionals.

The LPGAN similarly intends to take charge of all the players professional needs in Nigeria, including organising qualifying school for female golfers aspiring to become professional and creating platform for players to forge strong alliance with their sponsors.

The LPGAN Tour, according to Mboku is seeking to become one of the strongest tours in Africa.

To actualise that, she said LPGAN is working with the Ladies Sunshine Tour of South Africa, Ladies European Tour (LET) and Ladies Professional Golfers Association of America (LPGA) for international affiliation and educational upgrading of the members.

Mourinho Extends Man Utd Contract to 2020 Manchester United Manager, Jose Mourinho, has signed a contract extension until 2020, with the option of a further year.

The 54-year-old’s previous deal at Old Trafford was due to expire in 2019.

Mourinho said he was “delighted” that United “feel and trust that I am the right manager for this great club for the foreseeable future”.

He added: “I would like

to say a big thank you to the owners and to (chief executive) Ed Woodward.”

The Portuguese, appointed as Louis van Gaal’s successor in May 2016, won the EFL Cup and Europa League in his first season.

This season United is second in the Premier League, behind runaway leaders Manchester City, with the club still in the Champions League and FA Cup.

Aussie Open: Halep Sees off Former Lagos Sports Commission Kerber to Face Wozniacki in Final Chairman, Deji Tinubu, is Dead World number one Simona Halep saw off 2016 champion Angelique Kerber in a thrilling contest to reach her first Australian Open final.

The Romanian, twice a French Open runner-up, saved two match points on her way to a 6-3 4-6 9-7 victory.

In Saturday’s final Halep will face Caroline Wozniacki, a straight-set winner over Elise Mertens, with both women looking for a first major title.

The world number one ranking will also be up for grabs for the champion.

Halep led by a set and a break but failed to convert two match points at 5-4 in

the decider, and two games later found herself facing two match points. Both Halep and Wozniacki have made it through to the final having saved match points along the way - Halep also saved three in the third round against Lauren Davis, while Wozniacki saved two in the second round against Jana Fett.

Also yesterday, Briton Kyle Edmund’s Australian Open run came to an end with a straightset defeat by Croatia’s sixth seed Marin Cilic in the semi-finals.

Cilic won 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 to reach his first Melbourne final, where he will face Federer or Hyeon Chung.

Immediate past Chairman of Lagos State Sports Commission, Deji Tinubu is dead.

THISDAY learnt last night that Tinubu who is also a former board member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) slumped and died while playing football at the retreat organised for Lagos Commissioners and Special Advisers with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode present at the event in Epe. Although no official statement from Lagos State as at press time last night, his family and associates in sports circle confirmed his death.

Sadly, Tinubu was certified healthy during the screening

carried out before the start of the novelty game aimed at ensuring none of the government officials had such misfortune. Until his death yesterday, Tinubu was Gov Ambode’s special adviser on commerce. He was moved from sports to commerce during the cabinet shake up carried out just recently.

Late Tinubu

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MISSILE FG to Obasanjo “We believe that Chief Obasanjo, because of his very busy schedules, may not have been fully availed of developments in the government’s efforts to revamp the economy, which was battered by the consequences of over-dependence on a commodity as well as unprecedented pillaging of the treasury” – Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on behalf of the federal government replying to former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter which wrote off president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and advising Buhari not to run for second term.

OKEYIKECHUKWU GUEST COLUMNIST

Imo State and Its Governor I

n addition to his many controversial engagements, governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State recently led some South East politicians to Aso Rock. Their mission was quite simple: To assure President Muhammadu Buhari that he could bank on their support in his rumored desire to have a second shot at the Presidency in 2019. Some commentators have been at pains to explain that it was “Igbo APC” and not Ndigbo, that went on the much-maligned trip. The governor is however unperturbed. He is a man of great energy, self-preserving populist gestures and (sometimes reprehensible) creativity.

Whether you like him or not is, therefore, a matter of complete indifference to him.

But it is time he looked around him a little more closely ….. just in case.

The governor must know that there is little consensus on the wisdom of many decisions and actions of governor Okorocha.

There is even less consensus on his real intentions. One thing is clear, however: The governor is very active and what he seems to lack in credibility he tries to make up for by irrepressible eloquence and repeated avowals of good intentions.

My first encounter with Chief Rocha Okorocha was in far away US, some 15 years ago, or thereabouts, after the World Igbo Conference of that year. He had convened a gathering to announce the setting up of what he called the Igbo Development Fund. Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, and Senator Ben Obi were among the prominent persons in attendance. The logic of the initiative, as enunciated by Okorocha, was that Ndigbo have the resources to develop Igbo land and should pool their resources and get on with it; rather than wait on Nigeria`s federated resources and the takings from the Federation Account. This created a stir among most of those present, especially Igbos resident in the US. Many among this latter group fleshed out the idea to mean that Nigeria should go to hell with its money.

While the idea of a development fund was intrinsically good in itself, I felt that it must not be so idealized as to discountenance the fact that Ndigbo must also get their entitlements until the much-vaunted day of total liberation comes. Such a Development Fund should be the much-needed financial adjunct to a group resolve to maintain relevance and live well in the present while working towards the future.

Okorocha`s idea was, at once, a striking proposition and also a pipe dream. I shared my skepticism with my long time friend and publisher of US-Africa, Chido Nwangwu, who was also present. He was also unsure of how the logistics and processes of such a proposition could be administered. But our conversation was interrupted by Rochas when, without warning, he flagged off the creation of the Igbo Development Fund with a fat cheque he displayed as his own contribution. Then came the bomb shell!

Okorocha

He stood up and, with an inexplicable swaying to and fro, a dramatic shaking of the head and a sonorous tinge to his voice (like someone overcome by drink or invisible forces), declared that the processes of the Igbo Development Fund would function “as the spirit moved you”. Forthwith he announced the setting up of a committee. He was also moved by the spirit to announce himself the Chairman of the committee to manage the fund, beginning with his “donation” of the hour. He then selected committee members from the floor, without consultation, and fixed the first meeting of the committee to hold shortly after the event. The venue of the committee meeting was his hotel room.

Speechless with consternation, I told Chido that it was time for us to leave. He urged that we hung on a little longer, since we were part of the committee. I obliged and we ended up in Okorocha`s hotel room for the committee meeting. I left barely five minutes into the proceedings of the

It was the late Sir Warrior, the Imo born great musician, who told his people, via a song: “Agamevu ari nma na aju”. Agamevu is a thorny plant with great capacity for discomfiting anyone who so much as brushed against it by mistake.

“committee”. I am not quite sure what happened to that Committee and its project.

My other memorable encounter with Rochas was at the lobby of the Hilton in Abuja, around 2008 or thereabouts. We met as I walked in with Dr. Sam Egwu, former governor of Ebonyi State, whose campaign organization for chairmanship of the PDP I headed at the time as Director General. With pleasantries done Rochas expressed frank admiration of what he called my “person, great analytical ability and eloquence in all appearances on national television and writings”. Then, turning to Egwu he said: “Please Your Excellency, biko ask this my brother why he keeps running away from me”, etc., etc. While I must confess to have stylishly avoided him whenever he came for meetings at the residence of my former boss, late Chief Ojo Maduekwe, I was not sure that was the basis for his comment. The truth is that I have watched Chief Rocha Okorocha for years, but can`t seem to understand his ways and his politics.

When a golden opportunity for a close encounter presented itself in 2016, and remembering what Okorocha said at the Hilton and also because of my friend Dan Onwuke, I grabbed it. After listening patiently to his personal review of Imo State under his watch at the time, and also from some evidence on the ground, one came away with the clear impression that Rochas had many good ideas, had made some commendable inroads in infrastructure development and needed to have his positive brain waves consolidated and better coordinated via wider consultations. But I still had this sense of unease about what really moved the man. He kept presenting his whims as state policy and every conjecture, no matter how absurd, as divine revelation.

In the intervening period since that encounter controversies have raged around Okorocha, his government and the quality of infrastructure he put in place. I therefore did not miss another opportunity, earlier in 2017, for a review of the earlier impressions. First, he was at his grandest best in self-inflation. There were just too many bad and uncompleted roads in the state capital. The bad roads included some of the newly built ones. He blamed that on the rains and the stubbornness of drivers of heavy-duty vehicles. There were also too many grandiose side attractions, too much self-deification and a reckless leaning towards impunity and megalomania. He did not seem like one who could be easy to advise any more. But why?

Governor Okorocha created a parliament for traditional rulers, with the newly created (elected) Eze Imo as head. This is because he believes, rightly, that there should be a further link in the governance chain beyond the received Western democratic institutions of Local Government and State House of Assembly. This “parliament” is closer to the people and may bring up and deliberate on issues which would

then be forwarded to the State Assembly for legislation. Brilliant! No well meaning person can fault the thought about such a culturally sensitive peoples platform.

But the costs, the politics and other things connected with it, may yet breed something unmanageable in future.

The Office of Eze Imo has a massive palace and impressive quarters. Part of the quarters is a duplex built for the “four concubines” Eze Imo is said to be entitled to by his status and “according to tradition”.

Okorocha`s argument is that we Africans are polygamous and, therefore, should live according to our norms. The issue, for me, here however is not whether an Eze Imo actually populates the building with concubines, but that the governor is a Christian presenting templates for a 21st Century generation. I raised this in 2016 when the building was still under construction and repeated the concerns to him last year. Perhaps Okorocha is being futuristic and the structure is anticipatory of a non-Christian Eze Imo. With statues, Happiness Ministry and much more dominating the Imo landscape today, one cannot say that one has come any closer to understanding governor Rochas Okorocha. While he is still governor he should be helped to manage his energy and influence better; for the greater good of all. Imo State does not need five indigent young people imported from several African countries for a life time of free education at this time the state also does not need massive statues of no moral, leadership or spiritual value at great expense. The self-adulation, reinterpretation of known scripture and sundry prancing ill Imo State.

While the governor is redefining statecraft, he and Ndi Imo should remember that every self-proclaimed messiah will have honour among his people while he is around because he is a false prophet.

Okorocha should build on solid ground of measurable integrity. Is it that he has no advisers or that he does not listen to them?

Does Imo, the state of Dee Sam and Sir Warrior, not have elders anymore? Won`t someone tell the governor that there is no celebration in the direction he is headed with his dancers and drummers. Society and humanity stand diminished whenever, and wherever, leadership stands truth and values upside down.

It was the late Sir Warrior, the Imo born great musician, who told his people, via a song: “Agamevu ari nma na aju”. Agamevu is a thorny plant with great capacity for discomfiting anyone who so much as brushed against it by mistake. Thus the statement “Agamevu ari nma na aju” is a truism. You do not reduce the pain and pressure of a heavy burden by using a thorn-filled object between your head and the load, as head rest. Anyone who really loves Rochas Okorocha, incumbent Governor of Imo State, should help him to see that many now regard him as Agamevu that is trying to pass itself off as aju.

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