Friday 2ND FEBRUARY 2018

A’Ibom Leaders Warn Against Reintroduction of Onshore-Offshore Dichotomy Okon Bassey in Uyo and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja A group, Akwa Ibom State Leaders Vanguard, yesterday warned against attempts to reintroduce the already settled issue of the onshore-offshore

dichotomy, warning that it will spell doom for the country.

The group spoke against the backdrop of the report submitted last week to the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC),

Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, by the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, who chaired the party’s Committee on True Federalism and Restructuring.

The report of the APC committee had made farreaching recommendations,

including allowing states of the federation to have control over the onshore minerals, mining, oil fields and gas resources in their states, but not offshore resources.

The committee also recommended that the

existing revenue sharing formula be tinkered with to limit the application of the derivation principle to only oil resources domiciled onshore.

But at a press conference in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom

State capital, the group said: “Regrettably, the party’s (APC) position on resource control clearly prognosticates an irredeemable disaster for Nigeria.”

Continued on page 10

President Sends Edward Adamu's Name for Senate Confirmation as CBN Dep Governor… Page 46 Friday 2 February, 2018 Vol 23. No 8324. Price: N250

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Obasanjo: Greeting Buhari Did Not Undermine Gravity of My Letter Vows to abandon CNM if it ventures into partisan politics Femi Ogbonnikan in Abeokuta and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja Former President Olusegun

Obasanjo has explained that his exchange of pleasantries with President Muhammadu Buhari in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, during the

African Union (AU) summit, did not in anyway undermine the significance of his statement to the president advising him not to contest the 2019 elections.

Obasanjo, who spoke at the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the Oke Ilewo neighbourhood of Abeokuta, Ogun State,

yesterday when he went to register at the launch of the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), added that his statement to Buhari

was not borne out of malice but out of deep concern for the parlous state of the country.

Continued on page 10

Court Upholds Senate’s Power of Confirmation Legislature hails judgment, urges Buhari to substitute Magu Damilola Oyedele in Abuja A Federal High Court in Abuja has upheld the powers of the Senate to confirm or reject the statutory nomination of a candidate for the position of Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Senate, hailing the judgment as a vindication of its position, yesterday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to substitute the acting chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, with a credible candidate, in line with the judgment.

Hon. Justice J.T Tsoho, in a ruling delivered January 15, said the expression “subject to” used in Section 2(3) of

the EFCC Act, introduces a condition, a restriction, and therefore translates that the import of the section is that the appointment of a chairman made by the president is dependent on confirmation by the Senate.

Tsoho gave the ruling in suit number FHC/ABJ/ CS/59/2017 instituted by one Oluwatosin Ojaomo, with the Senate President and the Attorney General of the Federation as the first and second defendants respectively.

Ojaomo sought a declaratory order of the court that the first defendant (Senate) does not possess the statutory power to reject the appointment of Continued on page 10

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PAGE TEN COURT UPHOLDS SENATE’S POWER OF CONFIRMATION Magu as chairman of the EFCC, according to the Act establishing the commission.

According to the judgment, Ojaomo is a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and is currently a legal practitioner.

He also urged the court to interpret the provisions of Sections 2(1)(a)(i) (ii) (iii) and 2(3) of the EFCC Act, 2004, with respect to the appointment of the chairman by the president, and subsequent confirmation of the appointment by the Senate.

Ojaomo, in the suit filed on January 24, 2017, sought

the determination of whether or not the Senate can reject a valid statutory appointment made by the president for EFCC chairman.

According to a copy of the judgment made available by Senate spokesman, Senatar Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the defendants did not file any reaction to the originating summons.

Although Justice Tsoho struck out the suit on the basis of doubtful locus standi on the part of the plaintiff, he considered the merit of the issues raised for determination.

“The first defendant can therefore reject a statutory

appointment of a chairman of the EFCC made by the president, if there is a good basis for doing so. Issue one stands resolved.

“It should be realised that the provision of Section 2(3) of the EFCC Act empowers the Senate, headed by the first defendant, to confirm an appointee to the Office of the Chairman of the EFCC by the president.

“The Senate is thus conferred with the authority to ensure the choice of only suitable and credible persons for appointment to that office.

“The submission of the plaintiff, however, gives the

impression that the Senate only exists to rubber stamp the president’s appointment of a chairman.

“Such viewpoint runs counter to the proper intendment of Section 2(3) of the EFCC Act and is misconceived. Issue two is also resolved,” the judge ruled.

Hailing the judgment yesterday, the Senate spokesperson while briefing National Assembly reporters, said it is one that protects Nigeria’s democracy.

“By this judgment, we hope the executive will be guided by the rule of law and do the needful so

that we can move forward.

There is nothing personal, but when you stick to the rules of engagement, it is good for everyone,” Abdullahi said.

He added that the inability of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to form a quorum to hold its meetings would soon be resolved if the president does the “needful”.

“There are cases (nominations) we have rejected that were replaced by the executive,” the spokesman added.

The Senate has withheld

confirmation processes for nominees whose agencies are not listed in the Constitution, pending the legal determination of its powers to confirm the nomination of the EFCC chairman.

The impasse followed the inaction of the executive over the rejection of Magu’s nomination twice by the Senate and comments credited to VicePresident Yemi Osinbajo that the nomination for the EFCC was not listed in the Constitution, and therefore did not require the confirmation by the Senate.

“In the like manner, the spate of violence, criminality, organised crime, insurgency and terrorism have not received sufficient proactive ameliorative responses through transformational leadership – a determined leadership that brings cohesion and wholesomeness to the polity.

“Nobody and no group should feel excluded in his or her country. Inclusion and popular participation must be visibly pursued in terms of politics, the economy and our overall social life,” he declared.

He, however, noted that through CNM, Nigerian youths will be emboldened, empowered, have employment and play meaningful and responsible roles in the leadership and governance of the country in all ramifications.

Obasanjo added: “Nigerian women will have dignity, responsibility and equal consideration with men in the affairs of Nigeria. The movement is a means to an end.

“The end is Nigeria unshackled, united, dynamic, strong, secure, cohesive, stable, and prosperous at home and respected outside, and as a result, able to play decisive roles assertively within the comity of nations.

“A Nigeria of hope, aspiration and assurances which belongs to all with no sacred cow nor sacrificial lamb is what we want.

“My Nigeria, your Nigeria and our Nigeria with an enchanting presence and secure and glorious future.

Join the movement to build a new Nigeria that will be in the hands of God.”

OBASANJO: GREETING BUHARI DID NOT UNDERMINE GRAVITY OF MY LETTER CNM, which was launched at the national level in Abuja on Wednesday, is a political movement comprising politicians, professionals and civil society group, that have come together to chart the way forward for Nigeria in the areas of governance, development and poverty alleviation.

Obasanjo said he never condemned the Buhariled administration in totality, explaining that he commended the president in areas where he had performed creditably.

The ex-president, who addressed scores of potential members of the CNM who came for the launch in Abeokuta, said: “Last week, I issued a statement which I did not do lightly or frivolously but out of deep concern for the situation of our country.

“I wonder why some Nigerians were worried why I had to pay respect to the Nigerian president at Addis Ababa. That’s my own upbringing as a well-born and bred Yoruba boy.

“That doesn’t mean that what I have said about the president, which I did not say out of bitterness and hatred… it is evidence that the president has performed, in some areas, good enough.

“In other areas not good and the proper advice I gave,

which he may take and he may not take.

“I didn’t do that out of malice or out of ‘bad belle’.

I did it out of my respect for that office and my interest and I hope in your interest and the interest of Buhari.”

He declared that his envisioned CNM was not a third force as being touted, but a popular movement to accommodate all Nigerians, regardless of their political leanings, in order to propel Nigeria forward.

Obasanjo, who sounded confident that the movement would spearhead the processes, programmes, policies and priorities to make Nigeria a great country both in the West African sub-region and on the African continent, equally averred that the group would mobilise membership all over Nigeria and in the diaspora.

He noted that though members of the movement would be free to collectively decide on whether CNM becomes a political party or not, he vowed to abandon the movement the day it decides to enter active partisan-politics.

Obasanjo, who was accompanied by the former governors of Cross River and Osun States, Donald Duke and Olagunsoye Oyinlola, respectively, two-time Ogun

State PDP gubernatorial candidate, Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka, former Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Modupe Adelaja, and party stalwarts drawn from both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was afterwards decorated with the official emblem of the movement

by Duke.

Youth organisations, pressure groups, professional bodies and members of civil society groups were also in attendance at the event.

Speaking further, Obasanjo, who expressed delight at the launch of the movement in Abuja, observed that Nigeria as a nation, cannot continue with business as usual, observing that “if the instruments we have used so far in our nation building and governance since independence have not served us well, it is imperative that we should have a rethink and retool”.

Obasanjo stressed that Nigeria, like any other nation, has various challenges, stressing that the coalition’s readiness to mobilise Nigerians for peace, unity, security, stability, love, welfare and the well-being of vulnerable Nigerians, particularly the youths and women, was timely.

He referred to the disrespect

for the federal character as espoused in the country’s constitution, the spate of killings and violence in virtually every part of Nigeria, and the parlous nature of the nation’s economy under the Buhari administration, as some of the reasons for the birth of the coalition.

“Let me emphasise important areas, programmes, priorities, or processes for improved attention: To start with, we seem to have taken nation building for granted.

“Nation building must be given continued attention to give every citizen a feeling of belonging and a stake in his or her country. For instance, the federal character principle, as espoused in our Constitution, was to guide the leadership to search for competent holders of major offices to be distributed within the entire nation and avoid concentration in a few ethnic hands or geographical places as we currently have in the leadership of our security apparatus.

“To avoid such a nonintegrative situation, we have the National Assembly and the Federal Character Commission (FCC), both institutions which must raise the alarm or call for correction of actions by the executive that violates the spirit of our Constitution.

Accusation of Plagiarism However, as the CNM was being launched in Abeokuta, a group under the auspices of Coalition for Nigeria (CN) yesterday accused the former president of plagiarism, saying Obasanjo stole its idea and name by launching the CNM. Speaking at a press briefing, Sabo Odeh, a spokesman for the group, said the authentic Coalition for Nigeria has noble intentions centered around galvanising Nigerians for nation building around tenets that are long term without pandering to unnecessary drama and media hype.

According to him, “Our coalition is not limited to creating a backdoor for retired and tired politicians to install puppets in government for the purpose of continuing to loot the treasury while ruling Continued on page 12

A’IBOM LEADERS WARN AGAINST REINTRODUCTION OF ONSHORE-OFFSHORE DICHOTOMY A spokesman for the group, Senator Anietie Okon, cautioned that with the attempt to revisit the issue of resource control, Nigeria was at the threshold of history that could make or mar her as a country.

“We are saying no to the illegal reintroduction of a settled matter on the onshore-offshore dichotomy.

It is an expensive joke taken too far. Nigeria might not survive this. Our patience has been stretched to its elastic limit.

“It is inconceivable that any person or group of persons with an iota of knowledge of our nationhood will attempt to create more crisis in an already volatile Niger Delta

region that has endured most of the ills of the contraption fraudulently referred to as a federal system finagled on Nigeria,” Okon said.

He called on the APC leadership in Akwa Ibom State to stand up and speak out at “this critical moment in the nation’s history”, especially as the reintroduction of the onshore-offshore dichotomy will affect the people of the state.

According to him, “It will be interesting to know where they stand on this all important matter. They cannot sit on the fence. It is now imperative for them to show clearly on which side of the divide they stand.

“It is frightening that the chieftains of the party in the South-south are dangerously quiet over this calculated attempt to subtly reintroduce through the backdoor the vexed onshore-offshore dichotomy that has long been settled in Nigeria.

“For the benefit of doubt, we want to state explicitly and unambiguously our concerns and consternation about the ambivalent and duplicitous position of the APC as it is clear to every discerning mind that the APC is a party in disarray.

“For instance, in his new year speech, President Muhammadu Buhari clearly considered restructuring an anathema that should not be contemplated.

“Juxtaposing that with the position of the APC, as a party represented by the el-Rufai committee, that on the face value seemingly supports restructuring, it is dangerous to say the least for Nigeria.

“It brings to the fore the unlimited confusion, the hallmark of the APC, that our dear country has been subjected to in the past three years.”

He maintained that the “defective and deceitful promises” of the APC had exemplified the height of its dishonestly, and the committee’s report is an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians.

“For every discerning mind, the president is

averse to restructuring Nigeria, although other factions of the party seem favorably disposed to tinted restructuring; while waiting for the APC to come to terms with the reality regarding true federalism,” he said.

Akwa Ibom was at the vanguard of the fight under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration to ensure that littoral oil producing states in the Niger Delta became beneficiaries of the derivation principle.

Given that the bulk, if not all, of the oil and gas mineral resources produced in Akwa Ibom are offshore, it stands to lose the most should the recommendations of the APC committee

become a reality.

Other littoral oil producing states include Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Lagos.

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STARTERS

Osinbajo C’ttee: Criminals Have Hijacked Two-Minute Briefing Herders’ Killings to Make Money NEWS Constitutes sub-committee to dialogue with Miyetti Allah Again, seven persons killed in Kaduna Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna The Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo-led committee set up by the National Economic Council (NEC) to look into the protracted killings by herdsmen, with a view to ending the menace, yesterday in Abuja said it could not guarantee an immediate end to the crisis because some of the perpetrators engage in the violence to make money.

Making this disclosure at the end of a meeting of the committee at the State House, Abuja, Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari, said the committee had constituted a sub-committee chaired by the governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, to interface with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Dealers’ Association with a view to bringing the crisis under control.

He said since the committee could not guarantee an immediate complete end to the menace, its commitment at the moment is to bring the matter under control.

He also named Governors Simon Lalong and Bindow Jubrilla of Plateau and Adamawa States, respectively, as members of the committee, adding that governors of affected states such as Benue, Taraba and Zamfara will also be brought into the committee later.

According to him, some criminals have exploited the crisis to unleash mayhem because it has become an avenue for them to make money, insisting that setting up the committee to bring the matter under control had become critical.

“At the end of a meeting with the vicepresident on the herdsmen-farmers’ clashes, there is progress. One, this committee is a NEC committee established by the vice-president so that this issue of herdsmen-farmers’ clashes will be put to rest.

“Though it has been a long standing problem since 2007 in some states, particularly in my own state, we have been battling with it. Now, the states and federal government under the leadership of the vice-president, we agreed to have a small committee at NEC so that the situation will not get out of hand, and so that it won’t be looked at as an ethnic or religious crisis.

“So, in our discussion today, we have set up a committee headed by the governor of Ebonyi State, while the Plateau and Adamawa State governors are members. Other people will be brought to join the committee from hotspot states – Benue, Taraba, Adamawa and

EDITORIAL The Case For Public Toilets

With46millionpeoplestill practisingopendefecationinthe country,Nigeriahasbeenranked thirdintheworldamongcountries wheresuchhabitisstillprevalent.

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POLITICS Dickson, Sylva Renew Their

Rivalry Asthegeneralelectiondraws near,thegovernorofBayelsa State,SeriakeDicksonandhis predecessor,TimipreSylvaare lockedinafiercebattleforcontrolof thepoliticalspace…

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Osinbajo

Zamfara - where there are conflicts, so that they can interface with the Miyetti Allah and other groups to see how we can reduce this to the barest minimum.

“Why we cannot say we can put this matter to rest completely is because some of them have taken this as a money making venture. Some are criminals who hide under this to perpetrate this act.

“And as government, we have to take all the measures despite the fact that the army, police and all the security agents are on the field in the respective places.

“Still, we have to form this committee to interface with the actors so that this matter can be reduced to the barest minimum and possibly wipe it out,” Yari stated.

The meeting of the Osinbajo-led committee came just as reports indicated that armed gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Wednesday invaded Kaguru village in Chukun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing seven people in the process.

Several others were also said to have sustained injuries from gunshots.

However, police sources said four people were killed while six others sustained injuries in the incident.

A resident of the village, who pleaded anonymity, said the attack took place

on Wednesday by 7 p.m.

He said the attackers were herdsmen who stormed the village in large numbers and started shooting and setting houses ablaze as soon as they arrived.

“The came around 7 p.m. on Wednesday and started shooting and setting houses ablaze. Seven people were killed on the spot, some people were wounded.

“We had to run to the bushes for safety. Right now we are living in fear of the unknown,” he said.

The spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, Aliyu Mukhtar, could not be reached when THISDAY phoned him to confirm the incident.

But a senior police officer, who pleaded anonymity because it is not his duty to speak with the media, confirmed the incident.

He, however, said four people were killed while six others were injured.

“We received reports about the attack in Kaguru village and the report showed that four people were killed and six others were injured.

“I believe the PPRO (police public relations officer) will issue a press statement on the issue today or tomorrow, so you can wait for the it,” the police officer said.

OBASANJO: GREETING BUHARI DID NOT UNDERMINE GRAVITY OF MY LETTER by impunity as had been experienced in the past.

“The Coalition for Nigeria has noble intentions centered around galvanising Nigerians for nation building around tenets that are long term without pandering to unnecessary drama and media hype.

“Obasanjo’s coalition movement seeks to do the exact opposite while leveraging on our credible name to sell its lies to Nigerians.”

He described the Obasanjo-led coalition as a group of failed politicians and those that had made immense contributions towards wrecking Nigeria, with a sprinkling of youths that have anger issues.

Odeh stated: “The Coalition for Nigeria, having the best intentions of our dear nation at heart, is careful to go about effecting change in a way that does not jeopardise the stability and safety of Nigeria.

“There is nothing to be gained in burning our country in the name of seeking improvement; the reforms

Nigeria, Niger Sign Pact to Build Refinery in Katsina in 60 Days NigeriaandtheNigerRepublic,willin 60daystimesignbindingbilateraland technicalagreementsthatwillenable bothcountriesdevelopandbuilda newpetroleumrefineryinaKatsina Statetown…

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we all desire are achievable through persuasion, consensus building and collaboration without resorting to inflammatory acts and utterances as we have seen with some people.

“Instead of pursuing peaceful growth and evolution, what we have seen in the children of anger in the Obasanjo coalition movement is a situation where old politicians in their twilight are manipulating youths to be incendiary.

“Our coalition is made up of Nigerians that yearn for a better country with the firm belief that the dismantling of the infrastructure for corruption is a necessary first step that can ensure that we can then build the country on a solid foundation that provides a level playing field to all citizens.

“The Obasanjo coalition movement is however at variance with this noble and laudable assembly, hence its obsession with stealing such a respectable name.

“The failed assemblage is made up of former public office holders that are suffering the withdrawal symptoms of not having access to the proceeds

of corruption upon which their unsustainable lifestyles had depended.

“This demographic is supported by their entitled offspring and lackeys that have similarly lost access to easy money.

“The authentic Coalition for Nigeria will continue to pursue the noble objective of having credible persons to drive the Nigeria project irrespective of differences pertaining to class, ethnicity, religious or political affiliation.

“Our belief is that such melding is important for building prosperous nations and Nigeria should not be left behind. This is why we find it distasteful that an impostor coalition is using our identity to malign fellow Nigerians on the divisive concepts of ethnicity and geo-political differences.

This is not only criminal but also sick.”

The group cautioned Nigerians not to be duped into “thinking they are dealing with the authentic group when in reality they could be playing into the den of persons that have track records of being political dupes”.

WEEKENDFILE 'My Life is Fulfilled Without

Breasts’ Abigail Simon-Hart had a double e mastectomy in 2014 after she was diagnosed with cancer of the breast. In this interview withh e Mary Ekah, she talked about the w joy of being cancer-free and how she has lived a very fulfilling life despite all the odds Page 27

BUSINESS ‘Nigeria Can Earn $500bn

from Privatisation, Economic Diversification in Five Years’ Economicexpertson Wednesdayprofferedsolutions toNigeria’sshort,mediumand longtermeconomicrecoveryand suggestedhowthecountrycan raise$500billionwithinthenextfive years.

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CITYSTRINGS Agony for Owerri Traders SincethedemolitionoftheEkeUkwuOwerrimarketbytheImo StateGovernment,tradersinthe markethavebeenplungedinto anguish,writesPeterUzoho Page 40

INTERNATIONAL Poland’s Senate Passes Controversial Holocaust Bill Poland’s Senate has approved a controversial bill making it illegal to accuse the Polish nation or state of complicity in the Nazi Holocaust, according to BBC. Page 45

SPORTS Ezenwa out for Three Weeks, to

Miss CHAN 2018 Final CaptainoftheHome-basedEagles, IkechukwuEzenwa,whogotinjured inWednesday’ssemifinalclashof theCHANbetweenNigeriaand Sudanhasbeensidelinedforthree weeks.

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COMMENT

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

BUHARI, ATIKU AND 2019

Atiku Abubakar must device a winning formula that can checkmate the incumbency edge, writes Nosike Ogbuenyi

A

ccept it or deny it, the raging poser on the front burner of public discourse in the country today is the looming frontal duel for Aso Rock presidential stool between former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] and the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress [APC]. The debate recently intensified in political circles following the release of the timetable for the 2019 general election by the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC].

Truly, the electoral umpire’s unveiling of the dates for the party primaries and the actual elections constantly rings a bell over the immutability of the climactic 2019 presidential slugfest on February 16, 2019 which is approximately one year from hence. Within the camp of APC and even among the party’s sympathisers there is palpable anxiety with many doubting whether President Buhari still has the steam and mystic to checkmate PDP and Atiku’s ferocious surge for the numero uno. Only few days ago, an obvious Atiku disdainer, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, advised Buhari against seeking re-election ostensibly with a premonition that he may be bloodied in the race.

As full-blooded Fulani Muslims from the North, Atiku and Buhari are equally keeled. This means that tribal, religious and regional sentiments that were freely deployed to muddle the waters before and during the 2015 contest would become far less effectual weapons in 2019. But ethno-religious index is about the only yardstick that places the duo on a leveler because of its commonality to them. That being the case, I will now proceed to evaluate other factors that confer strength or weakness on Atiku in the run down to the presidential contest.

Atiku being a successful businessman is believed to have the requisite deep pocket to fund a formidable campaign against the incumbent. He is also seen as a strategist of repute who is adequately nuanced in the intricacies, maneuverings, horse trading and theatrics of the political chess game. Perhaps, these explain why the renowned strategist outsmarted Buhari, Tinubu and other APC red necks to tilt the apple cart in the election of Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies way back in June 2015.

Atiku is also an old political war horse with powerful tentacles spread around the country. He has been a constant player on Nigeria’s political turf since the aborted Third Republic era of Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida beginning from the late 1980s.

At the early stage, he was a loyal and trusted disciple of the effervescent General from Katsina, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. The late general had made an audacious bid for the Presidency during the period but got controversially banned by Maradonic Ibrahim Babangida from vying for the ultimate seat alongside Adamu Ciroma and others which he was hugely favoured to clinch.

Atiku as one of those who had considerably mastered the rope from the guru, Shehu Yar’Adua, was thrown into the fray in the presidential contest leading to the 1993 general election. He came third in the presidential primary contest of the Social Democratic Party [SDP] which produced late Chief MKO Abiola as the party’s flagbearer. It was

AS FULL-BLOODED FULANI MUSLIMS FROM THE NORTH, ATIKU AND BUHARI ARE EQUALLY KEELED

reported that Shehu Yar’Adua wanted Abiola to choose the Adamawaborn politician as his running mate, but the business mogul instead opted for Mr. Babagana Kingibe, a Kanuri from Borno State, who was the runner up in the SDP presidential primary.

The former vice-president was among members of the elite G-34 who formed the PDP in 1998. He played some role in the shadow politics that led to the ascension from prison to presidency by General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. Perhaps, the part he played contributed in Obasanjo choosing him as his running mate for the presidential election in 1999 even after he [Atiku] had won the Adamawa State governorship election on the same party’s [PDP] platform.

He went ahead to serve as vice-president for eight years under President Obasanjo. The second term of that era between 2003 and 2007 was marred by distrust and bile intrigues between the two leaders, largely due to their conflicting dispositions and ambitions.

All these variegated experiences add up to make the Wazirin Adamawa, perhaps the most experienced and the best prepared for leadership out of the motley presidential contenders in the country today. In fact, it is believed by many that Atiku is one man who is amply prepared for leadership. In other words, he has a ready-made blueprint on what he intends to do to fix the national economy and put the country back to work if elected president in 2019.

Inversely, Atiku’s greatest incubus in the race is the odium of corruption being spread on him by his detractors led by his former boss, Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo. The accusation, true or false, makes many to distrust Atiku. The Waziri of Adamawa and his political foot soldiers have continued to vehemently debunk the allegations as baseless product of Obasanjo’s bile politics. They retort that the corruption charge is part of the price the former vice-president has been paying for standing firm against Obasanjo’s selfish and undemocratic third term bid to elongate his presidency.

For Atiku to become president he must cross two stormy rivers.

First, he must overawe the challenge of many others who would also be bidding for the PDP presidential flag. In this category are the likes of Gombe State Governor, Dr. Ibrahim Alhassan Dankwambo; former governors of Niger, Jigawa and Kebbi States, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, Alhaji Sule Lamido and Alhaji Ibrahim Shema. There are high speculations that some present APC members eying the topmost office such as former Kano State governor, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso may eventually switch over to the PDP in pursuit of their ambition. If that happens, then Atiku and other PDP presidential contenders would have more hurdles to cross.

Second, he must develop a resilient and responsive electoral war chest and constitute an intelligent, informed and proactive media and public relation arsenal. He must equally device a winning formula that can successfully counterbalance APC’s incumbency edge. But for now, the former vice-president remains both a veritable front-runner in the race for PDP presidential ticket and a man well equipped to battle Buhari and APC to finish.

Ogbuenyi who wrote from Abuja can be reached through nosikeogbuenyi@gmail.com

ARRESTING CARDIAC ARREST

Tayo Ogunbiyi canvasses the need for regular medical checks and healthy living

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ecent research reveals that about 220 million people across the world experience one heart problem or the other at a particular time in life. According to a World Health Organisation data, by 2020, major heart illness will be the principal cause of death in the world, especially among men. The economic cost of untreated heart illness is more than 150 billion dollars each year in the United States. Thus, if not properly addressed, heart- related illness could as well turn out to be a time bomb waiting to burst in an already distressed world.

Of late, cardiac arrest has become a prominent source of medical concern across the world.

Globally, cardiac arrest is a foremost cause of death as it is annually responsible for no less than seven million deaths. It is important to emphasise that cardiac arrest differs from heart attack. Heart attack (also called myocardial infarction or MI) occurs when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart is reduced or completely blocked, resulting in damage or death of part of the heart muscle.

During a heart attack, a victim may be conscious and can complain about symptoms they experience.

The person may be awake and the heart is still beating.

In contrast, in a sudden cardiac arrest, there is an electrical malfunction in the heart that causes it to suddenly stop beating. The casualty will abruptly lose awareness. Sudden cardiac arrest is delicate, and onlookers will usually notice what has occurred. Curiously, most cardiac arrest patients never survive it. Except, there is the possibility of vital intervention, survival chances are often very minimal. However, an intervention as simple as

chest compression may be life-saving if started immediately.

Sudden cardiac arrest symptoms are instant and severe. It includes sudden collapse, no pulse, no breathing and loss of consciousness. However, other symptoms often pave the way for sudden cardiac arrest. These possibly will include fatigue, fainting, blackouts, dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, weakness, palpitations or vomiting. A family history of coronary artery disease, smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, a sedentary lifestyle, excessive intake of alcohol, nutritional imbalance, such as low potassium or magnesium levels, using of illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, cannabis, etc., could also increase the risk of cardiac arrest.

In Nigeria, the risk of cardiac arrest is becoming quite alarming. According to available statistics, a reasonable proportion of critical admission cases in most public health facilities in the country are heart related. And surprisingly, the elites and those who engage in physical sports are becoming more and more involved in cases of fatal cardiac arrest. Not too long ago, the country lost two of her most industrious sports personalities, Stephen Keshi and Shuaib Amodu, to cardiac arrest.

Usually, a diagnosis of cardiac arrest is made in the absence of carotid pulse in a patient who is unconscious. Furthermore, numerous tests can also be carried out to detect the underlying cause of cardiac arrest in order to prevent a recurrence among survivors. Such investigations include electrocardiography to diagnose the pattern of arrhythmia, echocardiography, toxicology screening and so on.

Steps to take in order to reduce the risk of cardiac arrest include regular checkups, screening for heart

disease and living a heart-healthy standard of living such as saying no to smoking, taking alcohol in moderation or staying away outright from it, eating a nutritious balanced diet, getting involved in regular physical exercise and a host of others.

Health educators insist that embracing a healthy lifestyle, especially in terms of eating habit could really go a long way in enhancing a healthy heart. Such eating habit being prescribed includes consumption of fat-free or low-fat dairy products, such as skim milk; fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, trout, about twice a week.

Also, regular intake of fruits such as apples, bananas, oranges, pears, and watermelon as well as legumes such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, black-eyed peas and vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, and carrots is highly recommended. Adults in particular are equally advised to consciously avoid the consumption of too much red meat, excessive oily and salty stuffs, sugary foods, saturated fat, baked and processed foods.

Perhaps, more importantly is the fact that Nigerians need to cultivate the culture of taking out time to rest and relax regularly. In as much as it is true that the times are a bit tough, it is also true that it is only the living that can actually conquer tough times. Research has shown that when people set out time to relax, it sharply reduces the risk of a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer and diabetes. Relaxation relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety, improves mood, and enhances general psychological well-being.

It has also been established that contact with natural habitat improves physical and psychological health. This is why more people should take out

time with family and friends to regularly visit parks and gardens or even spend holidays in areas with rich rural setting. In Third World countries especially, urban areas with its increasing diverse pollution and stressful culture are fast becoming hazardous for human habitation.

No doubt, the alarming increase in cases of heart- related deaths calls for constant public enlightenment campaigns by all critical stakeholders in the country’s health sector. Efforts must be geared towards putting in place an all- inclusive health education to boost consciousness of the major risk factors for heart related illness and also to closely bring to the knowledge of the citizenry the various causes and signs of most heart related disease. In a rapidly digital world that ours is, ignorance about critical health matters shouldn’t exist any longer.

Therefore, it needs to be stressed that everyone must begin to take deep interest in all health related matters. As people transit from one phase of life to the other, they must recognise certain decisive changes in their body make up and deal decisively with such as occasion demands. To recognise such changes and do nothing about it is akin to sleeping while the house is on fire. This, of course, isn’t in anyway logical. According to medical experts and health educators, sudden death is only a culmination of medical complications that are left unattended to overtime. It could be a reflection of ignored symptoms and harmful habits. This is the time to become more watchful about critical heath necessities such as regular blood pressure and blood sugar checks among other such routine heath checks.

Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Lagos

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T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ Í°Ëœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍś

EDITORIAL THE CASE FOR PUBLIC TOILETS There is need to create awareness on the dangers of open defecation

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ith 46 million people still practicing open defecation in the country, Nigeria has been ranked third in the world among countries where such habit is still prevalent. Some 57 million of our citizens do not have access to safe water supply and 45,000 children under the age of ďŹ ve die annually from diseases caused by poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene. Such dire statistics from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which recently warned of the health consequences of the practice, should worry the authorities.

Although the Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, has said the federal government is considering legislation against open defecation in the country, we believe there should be a more coordinated response than that. According to Adamu, such laws will go a long way to address those who indiscriminately defecate in the open. “We are looking at having a legislation WE CALL ON to punish those GOVERNMENTS, AT practicing open EVERY LEVEL, TO defecation,� said INVEST MORE IN Adamu. “This is PROVIDING PUBLIC important because TOILETS, AND EVEN it will serve as deterrent to others MORE, BY CREATING AWARENESS ON WHILE and also encourage everyone to build PEOPLE SHOULD USE and use their THEM toilets.�

That no fewer than 46 million people in the country use the open ďŹ elds, forests and bushes and bodies of water as convenience is bad enough. What is worse is that even in supposedly modern cities like the federal capital territory, Abuja, it is common to see people defecating in the open. Yet, the cost of this unhealthy living conditions - of not having access to toilets - is expensive.

According to both UNICEF and the World Health

Letters to the Editor

Organisation (WHO), lack of toilets remains one of the leading causes of illness and death among children with diarrhea, a disease often associated with poor sanitary condition and respiratory infections resulting from poor hygiene, killing about 400,000 children, under the age of ďŹ ve, annually. According to the Water and Sanitation Section, UNICEF Nigeria, the consequence of open defecation on the health of our citizens is huge.

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

ALIERO’S LEGACY IN KEBBI STATE

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t has been quiet on the Kebbi State front. The agricultural exploits of rice farmers hit the headlines more than any other issue. Unfortunately, it seems the frustrated politicians and other disgruntled elements are bent on fouling the air in their preparations for 2019 elections.

Evidence of their evil plan came to light when all of a sudden they targeted one of the most illustrious leaders of Kebbi State, Senator Adamu Aliero, for political blackmail and image smearing in the misguided belief that his emergence as first citizen of Kebbi State was responsible for their travails. This was the vogue more than a decade ago when he was Governor of the state but it ended in futility soon after. Now its sponsors are recycling their trashed vendetta by launching a discredited media campaign purportedly urging the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the ICPC to respond to an 11-year old petition of spurious allegations they concocted against Senator Aliero as governor.

It is worth recalling that out of frustration that their petition failed the credibility test of the agencies several years ago these same disgruntled detractors pursued their delusions to the obsessive

n a related report, both organisations have also ranked Nigeria only ahead of China and India on the list of countries without access to potable water and where 20 per cent of our population indulged in the shameful practice of “open defecationâ€?. This latest report is evident that the country had not made any progress. Indeed, the ďŹ gure is suggestive that more Nigerians now use the outdoors to ease themselves.

Even if we are not sure of the hours, it is obvious that sanitation is a major challenge in the country.

The evidence is everywhere. The country is one huge ďŹ eld, where people defecate, without shame, and without putting into consideration the impact of their action on the health of others. In many rural communities, people still build houses without provision for toilets, or as the case may be, latrines where waste can be emptied without others coming in contact with it.

In the urban centres, the issue is pervasive. In many of our so-called modern cities, many people use the outdoors as bathrooms and toilets. Many walkways and nearby bushes reek of urine and decaying faecal matters. Some of university communities also spread intense odour as many students, in the absence of clean toilets in the hostels, use any available space as convenience. And experts have consistently warned that when large numbers of people are defecating outdoors, it’s extremely difďŹ cult to avoid ingesting human waste, either because it’s entered the food or water supplies or because it has been spread by ies and dust.

We therefore call on governments, at every level, to invest more in providing public toilets, and even more, by creating awareness on while people should use them.

extent of seeking court order to force the agencies to do their bidding by “prosecuting� Aliero! The Supreme Court expectedly dismissed their vain clamour, saying the agencies know best and cannot be stampeded. Since then it has been a humiliating acceptance of the futility of their frivolity which, contrary to their wishes, actually enhanced Aliero’s reputation for incorrigibility and stickler for due process in official transactions.

Even under the mudslinging attack of his detractors, Aliero fired a missile of self-confidence in his anti-corruption principles when he took the unprecedented step of officially inviting EFCC to investigate a huge financial scam he uncovered involving some of his commissioners. The ensuing investigation ended in prosecution of the cabinet members involved and their collaborators in the state civil service. This episode demonstrated the courage and conviction of Aliero as an uncompromisingly upright person who maintained such sterling qualities of God fearing honesty and integrity in public service where many got carried away to pilfer and plunder recklessly.

Abubakar Magaji Gwandu and Ibrahim Mohammed, Birnin Kebbi

OBASANJO, EZEKWESILI AND THE THIRD FORCE

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agree with former President Olusegun Obasanjo that Nigeria needs to be rescued from the “misgovernance guillotine� of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.

Obasanjo expressed his desire for the deracination of these bands of misfortune in his latest missive.

He said: “We need a Coalition for Nigeria, CN. Such a movement at this juncture needs not be a political party but one to which all well-meaning Nigerians can belong. That movement must be a coalition for democracy, good governance, social and economic well-being and progress. Coalition to salvage and redeem our country. You can count me with such a movement.�

A few weeks ago, Oby Ezekwesili launched the Red-Card Movement, a group or “Third Force� forged with the bounden aim of shoving the APC out of the dais of power and keeping the PDP in the abyss of oblivion. It is clear that Obasanjo is in spirit with Ezekwesili’s movement.

I agree with Ezekwesili that the APC and the PDP deserve the red card, but I do not believe that a “movement of big egos� will solve Nigeria’s

leadership problem.

As a matter of fact, all the key figures of the movement once held political office in the country; Nigeria’s problems 18 years ago are still alive today.

If the sponsors of this group had possessed the Midas touch to turn the country into a terrain of gold, citizens would not have been in a state of loss and confusion today. The country and its leadership is the way it is because of the past mistakes and failures of members of this elitist movement. What tonic can these people administer to anaemic Nigeria?

As of now, the “Obasanjo-Ezekwesili� movement does not have an alternative to the status quo. And since the group has elected to be a pressure group and not a political party, it is safe to say it may support a candidate from any political party other than the APC and the PDP. I will not go into the charade that a few other political parties are, but a young candidate of a party in the Osun local government election could not participate in the exercise because his party tactlessly failed to submit his name to INEC. How do you define incompetence?

Fredrick Nwabufo, fredricknwabufo@yahoo. com

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T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱ˜ ͰͮͯͶ

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018

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

POLITICS

Dickson, Sylva Renew Their Rivalry As the general election draws near, the governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson and his predecessor, Timipre Sylva are locked in a fierce battle for control of the political space, writes Segun James

T

he political season is here again; it is the period when seeds are planted for harvest time. In Bayelsa state, it is the time when the battle for the control of the political space is fiercest and sometimes bloody. It is also the time when the rivalry for the control of the soul of the state between arch rivals Governor Seriake Dickson and former Governor Timipre Sylva is renewed.

Before you finish reading this, one of these three things is likely to happen in Bayelsa State: kidnapping or hostage taking, killing of security operatives or disruption of an oil company operation by irate militants operating along the creeks.

It is in the middle of this movie-like action, which at every event has profound effect on the economy and security of the nation that a new drama has emerged.

Although local in nature, but the effect will reverberate and have profound implications on the body polity of Nigeria. The battle for the soul of Bayelsa is not only going to be breath taking, but chilling, exciting and likely bloody.

The gladiators are three and formidable.

They are a former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the titular head of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva and Henry Seriake Dickson, the incumbent governor of the state.

Nigeria’s economy runs on oil. No other commodity exerts as much leverage over the nation’s economy and financial health.

In normal times, the current slowdown in the economy means that the federal government cannot afford crisis in the cash cow Niger Delta area of the country. Yet, the All progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government of Nigeria is desirous in taking control of this most important region from the PDP at all cost in order to nip the continued threat of the militant group, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) in the bud in the next four years assuming it wins the 2019 general election.

This is the situation as the APC battles to take over the very critically and strategically important Niger Delta state and the southsouth region.

This, more than any other thing, is the underlying factor in the intrigue that is propelling the tension that is now brewing in the region.

Bayelsa State today is the background for the litmus test as the battle is now drawn between Dickson and Sylva for the control of the soul of this very volatile state.

Without doubts, the battle lines are drawn, but the battle is not over who will become the next governor of the state, as that election will not take place until 2020; but which party will produce the National Assembly and state assembly legislators come 2019.

This, obviously will have effects on who becomes the governor in 2020.

Although Dickson is not contesting the 2020 governorship election as he has had his two terms, but he is determined to install his successor at all cost. This is where his differences with both Sylva and more especially, former President Jonathan begin.

Already Dickson has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on his Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, and the leader of the APC in the state, Timipre Sylva, to stop sponsoring killings and destabilizing the peace of the state.

The governor also called on Buhari to prevail on his party leaders to stop aiding criminals and their harmful activities in state.

Dickson

Sylva

The governor said he was of the view that the president might not be aware of the activities of Lokpobiri and Sylva, which he said were inimical to peace and stability. He accused them of conniving with some elements in Abuja to sponsor activities against the peace, security, stability and development of Bayelsa.

If the governor’s call was an indication or a desperate move that the APC is now threatening his political stranglehold on the state he did not say, but the governor in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, called on Bayelsans to resist any attempt by any group of persons to turn the state into a killing field.

The statement quoted Dickson as saying that: “I want to call on political leaders of Bayelsa to stop destabilizing and playing politics with law and order in our communities.

They should stop what they are doing in camping criminals and terrorists.

“I have issued statements before calling on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to call his party leaders in this state to order, especially his Minister for State, Heineken Lokpobiri, Who is the one that has armed and equipped the people that

have subjected communities to this level of insecurity.

“All the guns and equipment they have been using to terrorize the people are provided

by Lokpobiri. I have evidence that by the 3rd of January, this Kareowei and his killers from Ekeremor were celebrating together.

“Bayelsa remains one of the safest in the country in spite of the nefarious acts being sponsored by some characters. Even the incident that took place at Ekeremor happened in Delta. The military operation came from Warri. Bayelsa is generally peaceful, we are doing our best.

“Thank God that I am leading the team, I call on the community and youth leaders not to join them. Once those boys they use are arrested, they spend money to silence them to cover their tracks. They will only use you and abandon you. They don’t use their children, they use others. They create crisis for other people’s community. The media should join the sensitization.”

“We expect the FG which is in charge of the national security apparatus, I don’t believe that the president is aware, and I have issued a statement to that effect that he should take charge, these guys are working with some elements in Abuja.”

Reacting to the governor’s allegation, Sylva, who denied involvement in any criminal activities, said Dickson was sick. He described the allegations as spurious. He said that the governor has returned to his notorious game of accusing him of sponsoring criminality in Bayelsa State.

The former governor in a statement by his media adviser, Doifie Buokoribo accused

The truth however is that there is more to this feud than meets the eye.

Dickson of providing “zero facts to support his irresponsibly frivolous claims that Sylva and Lokpobiri are providing cover for alleged cultists and other criminals.”

Buokoribo recalled that “we have had cause in the past to accuse Governor Dickson of paranoia. Our response to this latest falsehood, especially the governor’s attempt to link Sylva with the outlaw that killed five soldiers in Ekeremor Local Government, is that Dickson needs urgent help. He is sick.

“No amount of falsehood against Sylva will pay workers’ salaries in Bayelsa State.

No amount of falsehood against Sylva will cover Dickson’s incompetence and cluelessness. No amount of falsehood against Sylva will protect lives and property in Bayelsa State, where Governor Dickson has elevated the ignoble act of arming and using lawless elements to intimidate the people to win elections, as the whole world saw in the last governorship polls in the state. And no amount of falsehood against Sylva will cleanse the blood of innocent Bayelsans on Dickson’s hands before God or erase the history of political violence institutionalised

by Dickson before men.”

The truth however is that there are more to this feud than meets the eyes. The battle of words began soon after the news broke that the construction of the road to Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area country home of former President Goodluck Jonathan has resumed as a result of the influence of Sylva. This provoked political reactions in the state with some people accusing Dickson of abandoning his leader and benefactor.

When President Jonathan’s father died in 2008 while he was vice president, there was no road to his community. Scandalized by the prospect of people coming from far and wide travelling by boat to Otuoke, Governor Sylva embarked on the construction of a road to the community which was finished before the burial took place.

But following the siting of a university in the community and apparent increase in the traffic to the community, the situation of the road deteriorated rapidly and, less than eight years later, it was no longer motorable.

That was the situation until reports have it that Sylva was able to persuade the federal government to begin the reconstruction of the road. If this was true, it was a political masterstroke that has triggered a renewed rivalry between Dickson and Sylva.

No doubts, there are unconfirmed reports that while Sylva is interested in contesting the governorship, a position he once held, Senator Lokpobri on his part is desirous of going back to the Senate. Both Dickson and Lokpobri come from the same Bayelsa West Senatorial District. A win by the minister, it is believed will critically dent the political hegemony of the governor.

For, Sylva and Lokpobri this is payback time. The senator presently representing the district, Chief Foster Ogola is seen as weak and has not been able to pull his weight, a situation that the Sylva/Lokpobri camp has capitalized upon to make significant inroad into the area.

Since then, Dickson had asked the state chapter of the PDP to buckle up. In order not to incur the governor’s wrath, the state chairman of the PDP, Chief Moses Cleopas, for the first time in a long time issued a statement mimicking that of the governor where he said that the state PDP “has observed with dismay some recent activities of the Minister of State for Agriculture, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, in Bayelsa State and some Riverine communities in the neighbouring Delta.”

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018

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POLITICS

Fear of Herdsmen Grips Delta Community With heavy presence of herdsmen in their locality, the Urhobo people of Delta State are apprehensive and want government to come to their rescue to ensure that the carnage that took place in other states does not happen in Delta, writes Shola Oyeyipo

N

o better words can describe the mood of the residence of tUrhobo land in Delta State than extreme fear and apprehension.

As it is now, the people go about their daily activity with the fear that they are vulnerable to attack by herdsmen who have been terrorising them. With many more herdsmen arriving and lurking around the community there is palbable fear that the situation may degenerate.

The Urhobos in Delta State, occupy near the North-western Niger Delta, they are the major ethnic group in Delta State with an estimated 2 million population and are in major cities and towns such as Okparabe, Arhavwarien, Warri, Sapele, Abraka and Ughelli. Ethiope East and Ethiope West are local government areas where Urhobo traditional homes are located in Delta and Bayelsa States. It is a largely Christian community and their most important occupation is farming.

It has been a relatively peaceful region. It has never been involved in inter-tribal war and even presently, the people have reiterated that they are not prepared for confrontations with the cattle rearers who have been killing people, destroying farms and raping women in their territory.

Hence, a passionate appeal was recently made to President Muhammadu Buhari to direct relevant security units to swing into action and avert potential herdsmen attack in Urhobo land.The people are particularly worried because they do not want their area

to become yet another field of carnages as some parts of Benue State.

Really bothered about the trend and considering that there was the need to be proactive, the President-General, Uhrobo Progress Union (UPU), Olorogun Moses Taiga, at a press conference at his Ikoyi, Lagos residence, said the federal government should urgently step in to avoid a repeat of the Benue killings in Urhobo nation.

His concern is quite understandable. He has observed that there is a surge in the number of herdsmen in Urhobo whereas their presence had brought sour taste to the people.

Raising the alarm Taiga said: “Right now, about 300 herdsmen are illegally occupying shops in an ultra-modern market not in use between Otovwodo and Ogor towns in Ugheli North Local Gvernment Area and there are fears that the number of the herdsmen might double in no time.

“Now my people live in perpetual anxiety and trepidation. I call on President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and security authorities to dislodge these hoodlums immediately before they wreck havoc.

“The Urhobo are peace-loving people. What happened in Benue State, where 73 people were killed, must not happen in Urhobo land or any other place, for that matter again in Nigeria.”

He said he was speaking the minds of Urhobo people, against the background of the growing activities of herdsmen in the region. He warned that there is “danger in the land as women can no longer go to the farm for fear of attack and there is hunger in the land.”

Taiga, who said the Urhobo leaders are not envisaging a confrontation with the herdsmen and are not arming their people, noted that: “We are standing on the precipice that is very dangerous and we must bring peace back and stop people from marching and troopoing down as an army of occupation.”

According to him, there have been incessant attacks on Urhobo people by Fulani herdsmen in their own towns and villages for sometimes now.

He said: “Our men are being killed and our wives and daughters are being raped. The attacks are going on in Urhoboland.

“The attacks are going on in Abraka, Uwheru kingdoms and towns, Ovwor and many other towns and villages in Urhoboland. Last week, they struck in Ovwor, attacking three men and raping one woman. Ironically, one of the men they attacked is a butcher going to his place of work very early in the morning. Even a butcher, who patronises them was not spared of the attack.”

And just as some states and communities have continued to protest against the proposed cattle colony by the federal government, Taiga also maintained that the Urhobo people are vehemently opposed to the opening of such facilities in their territory and would resist it.

“I want to use this opportunity to inform the federal government that the Urhobo nation is against the proposed ‘cattle colony’ and the Urhobo will not cede an inch of their land land for the purpose of establishing a ‘cattle colony’.

Cattle rearing is a private matter and individuals should make their private arrangement, just as crop farmers do in that regard.”

Attributing the growing conflict to the gdesertification in African countries like Togo with 69 percent desertification of its hitherto arable land, Nigeria (57 percent) and Uganda (53 percent), the elder statesman suggested that Nigeria urgently needed reafforestation.

“The herdsmen issue is a fundamental problem, calling for special attention. I propose for serious attention of the federal and state governments to consider that the latest 2018 version of the London Economic Intelligence Unit EIU lists the world countries that are affected by deforestation. We therefore need a major policy of afforestation.

“Let us plant trees! And grow the forests.

Also, we need to increase our irrigation projects.

There was a time that the Lake Chad Basin was as large as the arable land in the entire South-eastern Nigeria. Today, the Lake Chad is not larger than Yaba in Lagos,” he said.

Taiga also recommended automation of the cattle movement and a return to the 1960 constitution as some of the ways to address the lingering crisis claiming lives.

“In the long term, government is to explore the movement of cattle by rail and lorries.

Automation is preferred and used years ago, instead of movement by land through arable land. The earlier stand of the Urhobo people for a return to the 1960 constitution where regions managed their resources and only contribute a percentage to the federal government.

PERSPECTIVE

Fashola’s Challenge to Igbo Leaders The massive reconstruction of federal roads in Eastern Nigeria embarked upon by the Muhammadu Buhari administration is an indictment on Igbo leaders who exploited their closeness to the Goodluck Jonathan administration for selfish gains to the detriment of the south-east, writes Godfrey Ekwunife

I

was a few months ago at once pleasantly and shamefully surprised to watch on both the prime Channels Television news and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Network Service as the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, flagged off the reconstruction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway which has been a deathtrap for upwards of a decade. Awarded to a leading multinational, the reconstruction work has been going on at a frenetic speed even in the rainy season. The reconstruction is reminiscent of the massive work going on on such federal roads in Eastern Nigeria as the Onitsha-Enugu Highway and now the Calabar- Odukpani Road in Cross River State.

The reconstruction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway brought about in me the paradoxical feelings of elation and shame because much as all of us are happy at the long awaited development, it highlights how top Igbo political leaders have been using their positions to manipulate their followers while feeding fat at their expense. To underscore the point one is making, I crave your indulgence to quote in detail a passage from a new book entitled ‘The Politics of Biafra and the Future of Nigeria’ by Chudi Offodile who served in the National Assembly with Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and ex Senate President Pius Anyim who was to hold the powerful position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation under President Goodluck

Jonathan. Like Ekweremadu and Anyim, Offodile is a lawyer and comes from the Southeast geopolitical zone. He was also in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) like the two. So, Offodile should know what he is talking about. Here is the passage from pages 189 to 191 of the interesting and fearless book.

“Pius Anyim’s achievement as the SGF may be the Centenary City Project located in Abuja. The records also show that the two projects central to the economic development of the South East zone were left unattended to and remain death traps. I refer to the Enugu-Onitsha highway and the Enugu Port Harcourt highway. Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President did not consider the two roads important. His politics remain unabashedly self-serving. As a serving senator, he ensured the election of his brother as chairman of their local council and another as a member of the Enugu State House of Assembly. Deploying his huge financial war chest, he was about to disrupt the zoning arrangement in Enugu State to run for governor in the 2015 elections. The firm resistance mounted by the former governor, Sullivan Chime, ensured that the Nsukka zone took their turn.

“Anyim and Ekewremadu are from two neighbouring communities, though in different states. Anyim is from Ishagu in Ebonyi State while Ekweremadu is from Mpu in Enugu State. To approach both communities, you must drive approximately 30 kilometres

on the Enugu –Port Harcourt highway from Enugu Airport. After the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozala, three major turns to the left lead to Ishagu and Mpu, two communities of about 20, 000 people where the Federal Government, at the behest of the two gentlemen, sank an estimated sum of more than N20billion to build one of the best road networks in Nigeria.

“The tragedy is that the crucial Enugu-Port Harcourt highway, which connects Aba, Umuahia and Okigwe , remains a deathtrap.

These gentlemen prioritized roads leading to their village mansions, ancestral shrines and farmlands over the all-important Enugu-Port Harcourt highway. The Enugu-Onitsha highway with the highest vehicular traffic in the South East connects the commercial centres of Onitsha and Nnewi to Enugu International Airport, but the road to the airport is no longer passable. Yet, for eight years, Ekweremadu, as Deputy Senate President, signed off on the national budget before its presentation to the President for assent.

“It is clear to me that imperfections in the Nigerian arrangement are compounded, in the case of the South East, by a declining quality of leadership that has pushed the younger Igbo generation to embrace separatism and yearn for Biafra. If the two gentlemen who scrambled for and occupied the two highest positions zoned to the South East had acted in the collective interests of the zone, the state of physical infrastructure

in the zone would not be as bad as it is now. They used the benefit of their positions to divert available resources in pursuit of selfish, narrow interests”.

The self-serving leadership of the Southeast geopolitical zone which Offodile discusses with erudition and fearlessness in his book on Biafra may not have attributes peculiar to the zone’s leaders. Profound leadership deficit is a nationwide problem. Our leaders use the people as cannon fodder to be used and dumped while pretending to be serviceoriented. Perhaps it is more pronounced in the Southeast.

By refusing to fix the critical but awfully dilapidated Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway which passes by what Americans would call their neck of the wood but prefer to build new, state of the art roads in their villages which in economic terms lead to the middle of nowhere, both Anyim and Ekweremadu personify the village mindset which many current Southeast politicians possess. Interestingly, it is a Yorubaman, Mr Fashola, the trailblazing erstwhile Lagos State governor, who is now reconstructing not just the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway but also the other critical highway in the Southeast which has been in a total mess for years, the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway. Media accounts say the reconstructed part is far better than the original construction, with new drainage facilities and other things now being added.

Chief Ekwunife, an economist and management consultant, wrote in from Enugu.

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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%

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1.36% 1.36%

EXCHANGE RATE N305/1US DOLLAR* ĚŠ

Quick Takes Arik Wins Security Watch Awards

Arik Air has won award as the Best Security and Safety Conscious Airline in West and Central Africa at the 14th Africa Security Watch Awards to be held in Kigali, Rwanda in February 2018.

The CEO of the airline, Captain Roy Ilegbodu has also been named the Most Outstanding Aviation Personality in West and Central Africa.

The award was given to Arik Air in recognition of the airline’s strict compliance to international security and safety standards and the use of modern security tools in its operations. Arik Air won same award in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Similarly, the airline’s Chief Executive OďŹƒcer, Captain Roy Ilegbodu was conferred with the Most Outstanding Aviation Personality in West and Central Africa because of his pragmatic leadership in bringing back Arik Air to life and commitment to international best practice on security and safety for passengers and luggage.

Reacting to the awards, Arik Air CEO said, “We are pleased to again be a recipient of the Africa Security Watch Awards. Safety and security have been at the core of our operations and we will never compromise the safety of our customers. We took over this airline under very challenging circumstances and we are proud of the entire sta and management who with the support of Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) have rejuvenated the fortunes of the airline.â€?

Etihad Adds Additional Flights to Nigeria

COURTESY VISIT

L-R: Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Mr. Olalekan Alli; State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi; Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Mr. Olukayode Pitan; General Manager, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (South), Mr. Abdulganiyu Mohammed; and Head, Media and External Relations, Ms. Mabel Ndagi, when the bank officials visited the governor, in his office, in Ibadan... recently

‘Nigeria Can Earn $500bn from Privatisation, Economic Diversification in Five Years’ Ademola Babalola in Ibadan

ECONOMY

Economic experts on Wednesday proffered solutions to Nigeria’s short, medium and long term economic recovery and suggested how the country can raise $500billion within the next five years.

Their position was echoed by the Economic Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, who lauded their patriotism and support in the nation’s quest to strengthen the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) launched by the federal government about two years

ago.

The Economists and other stakeholders who spoke at the first 2018 monthly seminar of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), include a Cambridge trained Dr. Ayo Teriba, now the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Economic Associates; Professor Ademola Oyejide; Prof. Akpan Ekpo; Prof. Olu Ajakaye; Dr. Obadiah Mailafia; Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie; Mr. Ben Akabueze and Dr. Doyin Salami among others.

Teriba in his lead paper, ‘Transiting from Bust to Boom: Fiscal, Financial and Infrastructure Options,’ was applauded by the wide spectrum of other notable economists and seminar participants as they endorsed his recommendations.

Teriba was of the view that rather than keep borrowing to fund the budget and pay other debts, the government should simply liberalise certain sectors of the economy and privatise all infrastructures to raise up to $500 billion in five years.

To make this happen, he posited that liberalisation, breaking government monopoly

by licensing new entrants which have worked in the telecommunication sector, can also work in other aspects of rail, road transport, health, education and sports.

By liberalising some sectors, and embracing joint ventures as done in the oil and gas sectors and partially or wholly privatising assets, he said government would realise the revenue needed to shore up foreign reserves, boost non-oil revenue, build more infrastructures and also widen access to finance for the Nigerian business people.

Continued on page 20

Envoy Raises the Alarm over Upsurge in Smuggling, Human Trafficking, Piracy at Seme Boarder Eromosele Abiodun The Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, Oguntuase Kayode has called on security agencies at the Lagos-Seme boarder to be alive to their responsibilities, noting that the boarder is a safe haven for criminals.

He said smuggling of prohibited and restricted items, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, human trafficking, illicit drug trafficking, piracy, illegal bunkering, oil theft and international terrorism, are thriving in the area.

The envoy stated this when the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme and Ogun Area

MARITIME Command, led the delegations of the Joint Border Security Forum from both Commands to pay him a courtesy visit.

Kayode said the economic and security challenges along the Nigeria/Benin borders require urgent action.

The meeting, which was at the instance of the Nigerian ambassador, afforded him the opportunity to meet with the various federal government agencies operating in the South/ Western part of Nigeria and Benin Republic borders. The agencies comprise the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the

Department of State Security (DSS), Nigeria Police Border Patrol, Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), National Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Port Health, among others.

He added that facilitation of the smooth movement of people, goods and services along the Nigeria/Benin Republic borders without compromising Nigeria security and national interest will also be enhanced.

The envoy went back memory lane to inform all the border security apparatus that converged in his office that the Nigerian embassy in

Cotonou was established in 1974 at ambassadorial level to carry out representative duties, forge strong enduring political, economic historical ties and to perform consular functions in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians in Benin Republic.

He pointed out that because Seme Krake, Idiroko and by extension, Owode border posts remain the Nigeria commercial gateway to ECOWAS countries, particularly the Lagos-Abidjan economic corridor, the need for the meeting cannot be overemphasised.

Consequent on the aforementioned objectives, the ambasContinued on page 20

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – Etihad Airways today reaďŹƒrmed its commitment to Nigeria with the announcement of two additional weekly ights on the popular Abu Dhabi–Lagos route, taking it to a daily service. The new Tuesday and Thursday services will start on May 1, 2018. The airline said the route would continue to be operated by a two-class Airbus A330, with 22 Business Class seats and 240 in Economy.

George Mawadri, Etihad Airways General Manager, Africa said, “Nigeria is an important market for Etihad and our home of Abu Dhabi. The airline is committed to oering attractive schedules and choice to our guests travelling between Lagos and the UAE capital as well as convenient connections to destinations including the GCC, India and Asia. “Since launching the Lagos route in July 2012, Etihad has carried almost 600,000 passengers between our hub at Abu Dhabi International Airport and the commercial heart of Nigeria. It is pleased to be able to support the high demand for our service by soon operating the route on a daily basis.â€?

The airline said passengers travelling to Lagos on Etihad Airways would experience the airline’s award-winning service by multinational cabin crew and onboard nannies, extensive in-ight entertainment selections, and a choice of complimentary international meals and beverages. Depending on the class of travel, passengers can enjoy a generous baggage allowance of two bags of up to 23kg each in Economy Class and up to 32kg each in Business Class.

Etihad Airways noted that as the trading centre of Africa and home to 21 million people, Lagos is a regional hub for many multinational companies.

US, Qatar Reach Agreement on Aviation

US Secretary of State RexTillerson said the United States and Qatar have reached an understanding on civil aviation which addresses concerns of US aviation industry stakeholders, Airwise has reported. “The President has made this matter a priority, and the outcome we achieve will ensure a level playing ďŹ eld in the global aviation market,â€? Tillerson said.

The agreement is intended to address the concerns of major US airlines and industry unions who maintain that three Gulf carriers, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Air, have received over $50 billion in government subsidies in violation of Open Skies agreements.

As part of the agreement, Qatar Airways will have its accounts independentlyauditedtointernationalstandards,andalltransactions will have to be made on commercial terms.

Qatar has also committed not to introduce ďŹ fth freedom ights to the United States. Fifth freedom rights allow airlines to y passengers between other countries on services that originate or terminate in the airline’s home country.

“From this part of the world (Africa), it is difficult to compete with the big boys (airlines) on the other side�

CEO of Medview Airline)

Alhaji Muneer Bankole

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BUSINESSWORLD ‘NIGERIA CAN EARN $500BN FROM PRIVATISATION, ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION IN FIVE YEARS’ According to him, partial privatisation and joint ventures should also work for refineries, pipelines, power transmission and some aspects of rail, if embraced.

Some of the assets include prisons, stadia, and government high rise buildings in prime areas.

Citing the examples of Saudi Arabia, which just privatised 16 sectors of her economy in spite of its financial strength above Nigeria and the United Kingdom, which has started relocating its prisons to free space in high brow areas, Teriba said Nigeria should no longer delay in developing non-oil revenues because of the huge infrastructural gap and poor revenue base.

The economist, who was prodded on by his colleagues, explained that except the Nigerian government develops non-oil revenues systematically, it will continue to contend with bust and boom as a result of unstable oil prices in the international market.

ENVOY RAISES THE ALARM OVER UPSURGE IN SMUGGLING, HUMAN TRAFFICKING, PIRACY AT SEME BOARDER sador led the delegation from the two border commands to an interactive meeting, which focused on the topic: ‘Enhancing Effective and Efficient Border Security and Management Along the Nigerian/Benin Republic Borders.’ He said the theme for the discussion was quite apt and appropriate in the face of the current economic and security challenge facing Nigeria.

In the light of the challenges, he charged the security agencies to be more vigilant, alert, effective, and proactive to display due diligence, commitment and professionalism in the discharge of their duties along the borders.

He also disclosed some lapses to the Nigeria border control agencies and urged them to rise up to the challenges.

th

NEWS

Security Threat: FAAN Begins Profiling of Airport Personnel Chinedu Eze In order to forestall security breach and incursions, the nation’s airports the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has started profiling workers who provide services at the various terminals of the major airports in the country.

THISDAY learnt that this was in response to the recent unconfirmed reports of alleged pilferage of bags on taxing business jets on the runway of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The airport management also said it was determined to prevent any action that could compromise security at any of the nation’s airports, including insider threat, which investigations revealed has been responsible for the bombing of aircraft and terrorist access to some airports in different parts of the world in the last few years.

Presently, all personnel who work at all the private jet terminals, the construction workers at the airside of all the major airports in the country and all other workers who are not substantive staff of government agencies, airline and handling companies are subjected to profiling before they access the airport terminals, especially the airside of the airports.

Also, FAAN has started quarterly security screening

of Aviation Security (AVSEC) personnel and has introduced a policy that no staff would serve in one post for more than three months. “The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) set up a committee to investigate the alleged theft on the airport runway of the Lagos airport but when the committee wanted to hear from those who reported the theft none showed up.

But we have taken proactive

measures to fortify our airports and henceforth we must profile all the personnel who work at those private terminals. “Although we used to do this before, so we just resumed and from the feedback we have been getting, it is those who are against the strict security measures that we have taken that are spreading the rumours of theft on the runway. So far we have not been able to confirm any of the allegations, although

investigation is still on-going,� a top official of FAAN told THISDAY. Without comprehensive security and perimeter fencing at many of the major airports in the country, THISDAY learnt that trespassers, miscreants and bandits could gain access to many of these airports and past experience has indicated that due to porous nature of the airport fences some host communities extend their

farmland to the airports and most airports have small tracks which serve as thoroughfare to the villagers who live around the airport.

A retired security operative with FAAN told THISDAY that this was overlooked in the past but at the present era of terror attacks, the agency has taken measures to prevent host communities from having access to the airport environment.

BULLISH ON EQUITIES MARKET

L-R: Group Managing Director/CEO, Cordros Capital Limited, Mr. Wale Agbeyangi; Head, Research and Strategy, Mr. Christian Orajekwe, and Head Investment Banking, Mr. Femi Ademola, at the presentation of the Nigeria 2018 Outlook Report by Cordros Capital in Lagos‌ recently sunday adigun

US Coast Guard Hails Nigeria’s Implementation of ISPS Code Eromosele Abiodun The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has expressed satisfaction at the compliance level of Nigeria with the International Ships and Ports Security (ISPS) facility Code at the nation’s ports.

A delegation from the USCG led by Lt. Commander Jacob Hopper of the International Port Security (IPS) Liaison for USCG in West and Central Africa and Europe who were on a two-day visit to some of the ports in Lagos, noted that there have been a lot of improvements in the nation’s port as a result of

the security architecture put in place.

Speaking further, John Hopper commended the feat achieved by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) which is the Designated Authority (DA) for the code in Nigeria and also noted that he was elated by the level of expertise and knowledge demonstrated by the NIMASA personnel during the visit.

While describing the NIMASA team as very resourceful, he charged the Agency not to rest on its oars in ensuring total compliance to the issues relating

to safety and security at the nation’s ports.

Earlier, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside thanked the USCG for their continuous support and noted that the Agency remains committed to the ideals of international best practices in carrying out its mandates.

The NIMASA boss, who was represented by the Executive Director, Operations, of the Agency, Rotimi Fashakin, also said that the goal of NIMASA is to attain 100 per cent compliance with the ISPS Code and it remains open to all forms of collaboration with

Stakeholders both locally and internationally, geared towards making Nigeria a maritime hub in Africa. “Let me commend your support to us over the years and tell you that it has kept us on our toes, thereby assisting us to achieve this feat you have noticed today. We also seek your continuous partnership; because for us in NIMASA, it is work in progress and we remain open to all forms of partnerships that can assist us reach our desired goals� he stated.

Peterside also used the opportunity to inform the

team that NIMASA has successfully updated the Global Integrated Ship Information System (GISIS) since 2017, and called for an update by the US Port Security Advisory (PSA) as it still display 2013 information about Nigeria. “NIMASA was appointed the DA for ISPS Code implementation in Nigeria in May 2013 and has since then left no stone turned in ensuring that the nation’s ports are compliant in line with global best practices, which has earned the Agency several commendations, “he added.

Group Business Editor

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Nigeria Strategic to Tackling Maritime Crimes in GoG, Says NIMASA Eromosele Abiodun The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside has described the Nigerian maritime sector as strategic to tackling issues of insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

Peterside, stated this in a paper titled: ‘Nigeria’s role in combating maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea,’ at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London. He noted that Nigeria, which accounts for 65 per cent of cargo generated and accounts for the largest population within the

region, is central to the success or otherwise of the fight against piracy in the GoG. While acknowledging that maritime insecurity has economic, social and environmental implications in the region, the NIMASA boss told the international community that Nigeria is leaving no stone unturned to solve the challenges, “which has led it to approaching the menace through a total spectrum maritime strategy which include law enforcement, regional cooperation, response capability building and enhanced maritime domain awareness for all organs of government responsible for maritime security.�

“We in Nigeria have installed satellite surveillance systems, Coastal Radar systems, and the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System GMDSS amongst others. The Anti-Piracy Bill, which is currently undergoing legislative procedures, is aimed at criminalising piracy and all maritime crimes in the country’s maritime domain with attendant punishment enshrined in the Nigerian legal framework,� he said.

The NIMASA boss noted that the implementation of an Integrated National Surveillance and waterways protection solution with command and control infrastructure in the agency is

part of Nigerian government deep blue contract to enhance security in the Gulf of Guinea.

According to him, “the deliverables from the deep blue project are expected to bolster Nigeria’s maritime security architecture and increase monitoring and compliance enforcement within the Nigerian waters and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).�

He said the Nigerian Navy has stepped up its activities in the Nigerian creeks which has seen the figures of illegal refineries destroyed rise exponentially from 97 in 2015 to over 1221 in 2017.

Peterside also cited global

maritime piracy statistics obtained from icc-css, which shows a decline in piracy attacks in Nigerian waters from 445 in 2010 to about 180 in 2017 as an indication that the fight against piracy in Nigeria is headed in the right direction.

Accordingly, he noted that Nigeria’s intervention has led to the establishments of ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Security Strategy (EIMS), and Inter-Regional Coordination Centre (ICC) in YaoundÊ Cameroun and that Nigeria played a leading role in the establishment of African Integrated Maritime Security (AIMS).

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BUSINESSWORLD

AVIATION

FAAN Fortifies Security at Airports Chinedu Eze The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that it has reinforced security at its major airports to prevent any kind of breach as recently alleged when reports indicated that there was theft on taxiing business jets.

The General Manager, Corporate Affairs, FAAN, Mrs. Yakubu Dati said that plans have reached advanced stage for the agency to install Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at the strategic locations within the airside to monitor activities in order to forestall aircraft poaching and other incidences.

She also disclosed that FAAN has commenced evacuation of abandoned aircraft at the airside of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.

“At least, 13 aircraft belonging to different airlines have been abandoned at the airside of the airport for

several years with their owners reluctant to relocate them despite several warnings issued by the agency in the past,” Yakubu said.

She disclosed that FAAN had severally told the owners of these aircraft to relocate them away from where they are presently abandoned without any fruitful response from them, stressing that where they are presently abandoned constitute danger to safety and smooth ground movements of airplanes.

So far, she said four of the abandoned aircraft were relocated last week while additional four were moved on Monday.

She gave the names of the aircraft relocated last Friday by the agency as Associated Air, IRS, Dana Air and Hak Air. Others that were moved Monday were aircraft belonging to the liquidated carrier, Air Nigeria, Associated Cargo, Bellview, JedAir, Precision Aviation Handling Company

and PAC, TopBrass and others.

She said the relocation became necessary in order to give more space for airworthy aircraft to land, take off and manoeuvre as expected during ground movements at the airside, insisting that FAAN would continue to take safety and comfort of airport users as a top priority.

She said: “The airports belong to FAAN, which means that it is the property of the Federal Government and there is no airline that is bigger than Nigeria.

Nigeria has given them a long time to be able to move their aircraft and they have refused to do this. FAAN is not taking possession of their aircraft, but we are moving them away from where they are to another place within the airport where they will not serve as eyesore and where they will not constitute nuisance to activities on our airside,” Mrs. Yakubu said.

‘Ekiti Deserves Cargo Airport for Agricultural Produce’ In order to find easy transport of perishable agricultural produce from Ekiti state, a former Nigerian Air Force Officer, Chief Flight Surgeon and Chief Aerospace Medical Consultant, Dr. Makanjuola Akindele Owolabi, has joined prominent personalities in the state to demand for the establishment of cargo airport in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

Owolabi said that farmers in the state would only earn justifiable income from their produce if they are evacuated quickly to the markets like Lagos, Abuja and other cities and it is only air transport that can provide such quick movement.

He noted that Ekiti is an

agrarian state, despite the fact that it is known for its intellectuals and noted that agriculture is the beckon of hope to overcome the present unemployment and also to empower rural dwellers financially, adding that under the present administration many people have gone back to agriculture and they are doing so well.

Owolabi , who was a gubernatorial aspirant in Ekiti state said that agriculture is the key to creating jobs but the market for the farm produce lies outside Ekiti state.

He said the airport is necessary because there are plans to introduce mechanised agriculture in the state, which would

boost the farm produce that need to be evacuated quickly to the target markets where they would be consumed.

“We are going into mechanised agriculture.Ekiti State is perhaps, one of the states that have best arable lands in Nigeria. As farmers, we have determined that mechanised agriculture is the way to go. It entails getting all the youths, train and also motivate them to know that the richest people in America and other parts of the world are farmers. We should also let them know that I started my aviation hospital, which is now well known worldwide, from the proceeds of farming,” Owolabi said.

Air Peace Extends Operation to Kano,Yola Air Peace has announced plans to launch its Kano and Yola service on February 12 and 15 respectively. The services, the airline said, would cover Lagos-KanoLagos, Kano-Abuja-Kano, Lagos-Yola-Lagos and AbujaYola-Abuja.

Air Peace had earlier fixed February 19 for commencement of its flights from Lagos to Freetown in Sierra Leone, Banjul in The Gambia and Dakar in Senegal.

With the addition of Kano and Yola, the airline would be launching five new routes in February alone.

Air Peace, which also plans to start its flights to Dubai, London, GuangzhouChina, Houston, Mumbai and Johannesburg this year, said it would operate both morning and evening flights from Lagos to Kano.

A statement from the

company’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah said the new routes were a confirmation of the seriousness of the airline’s pledge to connect many domestic, regional and international destinations this year and make air travel seamless for its teeming customers.

“We are delighted to announce that Kano and Yola will be joining our fast-growing route network on February 12 and 15 respectively. The new routes will come on stream just days before the launch of our flights to Freetown, Banjul and Dakar. The huge expansion project is strategic to our vision to create dependable air connectivity and make travel experience seamless and comfortable. We are reputed for our on-time performance, uncompromising disposition

to matters of safety, affordable quality service and excellent pro-customer orientation.

“These are the values we hope to bring to Kano, Yola and other routes we will be launching in the next few days.

Importantly, we are not just expanding our route network; we are also massively growing our capacity in terms of equipment and human resources and positively impacting the economies of the states and countries we operate in,” he said.

Iwarah disclosed that the flight schedule is 6.40am and 5pm Lagos-Kano, 10.50am and 6.50pm Kano-Lagos, 8.30am Kano-Abuja and 10.20am Abuja-Kano, adding that flights were planned to ensure that passengers travelling to the three major cities for business and other reasons are able to conclude their transactions and still return to their places of residence.

AIR WATCH Of Local Carriers and Int’l Destinations

Nigerian airlines have a marked failure in operating international destinations. Industry observers argue that Nigerian carriers are never prepared; that their desire to operate beyond the West Coast to London, Johannesburg, New York, Dubai, etc is gingered more by passion, ego than pragmatism.

They noted that indigenous airlines rarely meet the standard of other operators on the routes by operational aircraft, in-flight service, in-flight entertainment and timeliness.

Over the years, no Nigerian airline has successfully operated long haul destinations, except the defunct Nigeria Airways that flew on the wings of government support and goodwill.

The defunct Bellview Airways aspired farther to far-flung destinations like India but did not last long on the route. So were Okada and others whose first long-haul destination was the beloved London. Even at a time, the Nigeria Airways could not go to London and hard to partner British Airways in a profitable commercial arrangement that earned the former national carrier some revenues from BA flights.

Then Virgin Nigeria Airways failed with such unassailable reputation and expectation and did not last long in its flights to London, Johannesburg and Dubai. Arik Air was able to sustain its international destinations of London, Johannesburg, New York for years but not without hiccups. It failed in its Dubai operation.

This raised the question, why is it that Nigerian airlines fail when they operate international destinations? A retired aircraft pilot told THISDAY that Nigerian airlines are not well prepared when they operate international destinations. He said they do not prepare well to compete and even when Nigerian passengers patronise them as their own, they disappointment them over time.

The pilot who is also an operator said that Nigerian airlines don’t plan well; that if they plan well they would be able to know the possible hindrances and then nip them before starting the operation, adding that an airline must have available aircraft it can deploy within few hours as alternative to operating aircraft. “I ask myself, why should I leave Emirates and board Nigerian flight if I am going to Dubai? I will do that if I’m going to get similar service. I may be attracted to the Nigerian carrier because of its relatively low fare and the fact that I will want an airline from my country, but there is a limit I can take in a service that is not commensurate with my expectations.

“I have been in this industry for a long, long time and I know that if an airline prepares itself well it can not only survive in operating domestic destinations and regional operations but it will make huge profits on those routes. You must not go to London, New York, Johannesburg and Dubai. You must be well prepared if you want to succeed. There must

be adequate equipment,” the seasoned pilot said.

Another industry insider advised Nigerian airlines to move beyond ego trip and stop the aspiration to operate long-haul flights; unless they take out time to study those routes and how they could operate such routes for a long time.

On Monday when Medview Airline announced the temporary suspension of its Dubai operation, the Managing Director of the airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole explained why Nigerian airlines cannot compete with international carriers.

“On this part of the world, it is difficult to compete with the big boys on the other side if you do not have the resources. We are talking about having a capital base of $300million. We are looking for $2.3million from CBN (forex) to pay for the lease, the resources is the key. There is no place in this country or in this part of the world, where you have a basic Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility, such that if anything happens to the aircraft, you can maintain it. There is no spare parts vendor that can provide you support in 24 hours.

“In Europe, there are platforms that work for 24 hours. When you get the spare parts, transporting them into the country within 24hours is another challenge; otherwise, the aircraft will remain on ground. Also Customs procedure is another challenge. Whereas in some other countries, you pick your item and go, we have to go through the bottlenecks before you get approval. Unless these things change, we will continue to lag behind our competitors. They said we will not last six months but today we are over two years on the London route. We have a very good relationship with UK’s CAA (Civil Aviation Authority), European Union members and the vendors. We are carrying capacity to Gatwick. We have done well and we are still there and we will not leave,” Bankole said.

Travel expert, Ikechi Uko attributed the failure of Nigerian airlines on long haul destinations to poor planning. “You have to plan for a long term. If you want to operate to Dubai, plan that you may have losses for one year. Do not expect to make profit so soon. That is what is done when you are developing a new route. If you introduce promotional fares let it last for a long time in order to build customers on the route. You also have to look at competition.

Etihad Airways has increased its frequency; Emirates has resumed its Abuja- Dubai flights and has also resumed its second flight from Lagos; you should expect that this will affect your load factor,” Uko said.

However, Uko who is the organiser of Akwaaba African travel market said that Medview might have been sabotaged by authorities in London by the banning of its operational aircraft, thereby forcing it to lease alternative.

“Banning that Boeing B767 was sabotage. The leased aircraft messed them up because they took the plane in a hurry. UK authorities did not want to know that. When you lease aircraft you operate with very low margin. That is Nigeria losing money there,” Uko added.

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Abdulsalam: Training Young Pilots Comes at a Cost The Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, Captain Mohammed Abdulsalami, reasons that young pilots should gain experience in general aviation than to seek to work for commercial airlines. He’s also of the view that due to the inherent risks in training, major airlines are reluctant to engage inexperienced pilots. He spoke recently in Zaria. Chinedu Eze brings the excerpts: Is there no way that the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria can reach an agreement with employers to aid pilots get jobs with them as there are hundreds of unemployed pilots in Nigeria?

Unemployed pilots , this is a subject that is dear to me because every day I get a call from someone who wants his son employed or I get a question that says, Why would I bother to come out and train as a pilot when there are no jobs? As you know, we have about 300 unemployed young pilots in the market and the airlines are reluctant to employ and train them because they claim that when you train some of them they run away. This is the issue the Ministry of Transport and the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) are discussing so it is receiving government’s attention but NCAT cannot get involved in seeking jobs for its graduates, we are a training institution.

We can train people, we can give references when you finish but we cannot get involved in getting jobs for our graduates. I keep saying that our young pilots need to get involved in general aviation. The practice worldwide is that when you graduate from a flying school such as Zaria, with about 250/300 flight time on a light aircraft you go into general aviation, some of them stay on with the flying school to gain experience and build flight time, that’s how I started.

Some of them then go into general aviation and fly light and medium aircraft to gain experience before they now eventually qualify to go for Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) before they join commercial airlines, this is the practice in the US, this is the practice elsewhere.

Unfortunately for us in Nigeria, every pilot that comes out wants to go and fly big jets, it is more glamorous to fly passenger jets but the airlines cannot absorb everybody. If you recall, when Virgin Nigeria was set up in 2005, virtually every pilot in Nigeria applied to Virgin Nigeria, I was one of them and Air Nigeria was able to pick whoever they wanted and so they picked those they wanted and retrained them completely regardless of their background.

Shortly a few years after Virgin Nigeria, Arik came on board and they also employed these other pilots that didn’t go into Virgin Nigeria.

More airlines started up and that was when the industry started recovering and then Arik developed rapidly, they were having up to 30 aircraft at one time and so they were able to mop up all the experienced pilots that had been in the industry. After that airlines had to look elsewhere and that was when they started employing these young inexperienced pilots and began to train them.

That training comes at a cost. Training an inexperienced pilot when you are carrying 150 passengers is not ideal, normally in flight training when you train a pilot, he learns by trial and error by taking him into the air and showing him how things are done and then you give the controls back to him and say, “Now it’s your turn show me what you can do”, and he will try to do it and obviously make mistakes. You allow him to make some mistakes as long as the safety of the aircraft is not compromised so that he can learn from his mistakes that is how we train pilots. But when you now have 100 sometimes 300 passengers sitting in the back and you have someone in training, you don’t want him to make mistakes; otherwise those passengers may never fly with that airline again.

So it is not the ideal training environment.

So you find that the training takes too long and it is expensive and at the end of the day the airline says ‘this man is not trainable’ and they stop training; that is why a lot of airlines are reluctant to start bringing people, that is my opinion and I have said this before and the

Abdulsalam

social media was awash that the Rector said such things about pilots. But I believe the key to this problem is improving our general aviation, if you count the number of private jets we have in Nigeria, if they can employ on each private jet, at least one of these unemployed pilots at a giving time that will create jobs.

On the average, for normal operations for a light user they have four pilots or three or two working and one is on leave multiply that by the number of pilots that is a lot.

The creation of a national carrier will also create employment opportunities for these young men, I am not saying that the national carrier will employ them immediately, but you find out that a lot of our experienced pilots when the national carrier is coming they will leave where they are and try to join the national carrier; thereby leaving openings for these young people

These young men are not cheap to employ and it is easier for them to handle such aircraft; in fact, general aviation is the best training ground for them. It is more difficult to work with a private aircraft than it is to work with a commercial aircraft because when working on a private aircraft you are on a one man show, you are the pilot , you are the dispatcher you fuel the aircraft yourself, you are the accountant; whereas in an airline you have people who do all these for you so it’s a good training ground for them and so my opinion that the general aviation sector should open up to these young men and absorb them and when they gain the experience they can join the airlines.

And the creation of a national carrier will also create employment opportunities for these young men, I am not saying that the national carrier will employ them immediately, but you find out that a lot of our experienced pilots when the national carrier is coming they will leave where they are and try to join the national carrier; thereby leaving openings for these young people. So really the national carrier will be the catalyst for change and growth in our aviation industry.

How did NCAT get to being an ICAO Regional Training Centre of Excellence (RTCE), what were the processes and do you think you have the capacity of being an RTCE? One of the requirements before you are granted that international status by ICAO is that you need to meet certain criteria. This journey was started by NCAT 11years ago when we became members of the TrainAir Plus, before you become a member of TrainAir Plus there are also criteria

you need to meet which included access to training facilities and personnel.

The global aviation office sent auditors from ICAO to Zaria to come and assess us, they came with their checklist and of course typically there were some gaps and we were given time within which to close these gaps, and we were reassessed and it was determined that we met the requirement to be a member of the TrainAir . The next level was the change in nomenclature now it’s called TrainAir Plus and also that requirement was for the institution to develop a standard training package which we did in 2013 and in 2015.

“We started the process of getting this RTC status and that required a lot of things, including and not limited to developing extra training packages, at the time NCAT signified interest to go for the RTC that was when the criteria was changed. Now they needed the applicant to develop a minimum of three standard training packages and we had to do that and then train an internal validated and for that training of an internal validator, we had to develop another standard training package. So with that, NCAT was able to satisfy the requirement of being awarded RTC Status.

To answer your question, yes we have the capacity, we have the plans to increase that capacity because by being an RTC opens a lot of opportunities for NCAT there will be a lot of training at NCAT and it will improve the requirement that we need to keep this status.

We have to keep increasing or improving on our facilities and one of the things we need to meet these criteria is to modernise our classrooms.

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ABDULSALAM: TRAINING YOUNG PILOTS COMES AT A COST simulator has been built and warehoused. We didn’t complete the payment but we have now made substantial payment of about 70 percent payment and so very soon we will have the simulator installed in Zaria and when we do that we will be offering Boeing 737 type-rating as well as recurrent training for the pilots which is a huge drain on the foreign exchange of the airlines and the country.

Even recently the Managing Director of Med-view was asking when the simulator be ready so their pilots can start the recurrent training as they are spending a lot of money, as you know for commercial operators pilots they will go for the recurrent training every six months, so we hope to capture that market and start having that training done in Zaria. When the national carrier does take off eventually, we hope to partner with the national carrier and should they be operating Boeing series of aircraft, we have a ready facility that they can use to train and then we also have made provision in the building for expansion to take additional simulators. The facility is one that can house four simulators.

If you go to our classrooms you will see that there are modernised and standardised to meet ICAO requirement complete with projectors and interactive boards. What we need to do in anticipation for the increased demands for courses is, you build more classrooms, office accommodation and hostel accommodation and all this in anticipation of our approval and we made allowances for in our 2017-18 budget and we are fully ready to meet the challenges and opportunities of this new status that NCAT has.

Is there a way NCAT can issue degrees in aviation related courses?

Already NCAT Offers post graduate diploma in aviation management, we have identified the need to have this, and anytime we interact with airline owner we stress the need for them to train people in aviation management because we have a lot of technical people who are involved in running airlines or administrative functions but they lack the proper training in aviation management. So we are already conducting these courses and we hope to introduce additional courses in the future. We are also talking to other educational institutions so we can collaborate with some of them both in Nigeria and outside.

You recently acquired new aircraft types for your training because of cost of fueling the types you already have. Would you say that decision was rewarding, looking at other factors?

Availability and cost of Avgas (aviation gas, fuel) has been a challenge for any operator of piston engine aircraft, which was why the decision was taken by NCAT management long before I came to replace our Tampico aircraft that use Avgas to the diamond aircraft that uses Jet A1.

We already have taken delivery of one Diamond 42 aircraft. We have more in order, the process is slow because of budgetary allocations and releases but even recently we discussed this with the house chairman on aviation and she agreed there is need for us to have increased allocations so we can bring in more aircraft instead of one at a time. If we are able to re-fleet within the shortest possible time, we will not be facing this challenge of availability and cost of Avgas. We bought some and took delivery of some consignment of Avgas last week and we have enough stock to last us quite a while.

What are the beneďŹ ts of being RTCE? Being a RTC allows the college to develop training programs for all the ICAO Annexes. So we can develop trading programs in Aerodromes, air transport, facilitation, environment safety, security all of them so it opens a lot of windows of opportunities as we can develop these programs ourselves and anytime someone from any part of the world is interested and part of the ICAO TrainAir plus, they can utilise these programs and NCAT gets to benefit because we get paid anytime someone uses our training programs Also Our instructors because they have been trained and certified by ICAO can be invited to conduct training in any part of the world.

My deputy here had gone to conduct training in Singapore and that goes to show the level of confidence the ICAO global training office has in NCAT. As you are aware, in the last three years NCAT has won an award for the most trained ICAO instructors and incidentally we are also the institution with the highest number of ICAO accredited courses in the world in two years now. In ICAO circles NCAT is very well known This RTCE that we have covers the flight school and the air traffic services and communication school those were the two schools subjected to that audit. The flying school is department made of flight training school, ground school, cabin crew and flight simulation, flight dispatch training they are all under flight school.

Even the aviation management school conducts ICAO accredited course right now we have the PIC Course in place, which is an ICAO course the participants actually register with ICAO, some of them pay through ICAO, we have two participants from the republic of Sudan who are currently training in the school, just three weeks we had two from Mauritius who were training for airport emergencies procedures. I cannot tell you off the top of my head all of them because as you know, the college is made

Abdulsalam

up of five schools and these schools run their own programs and aviation management has the highest program as they run short courses.

And all programs are approved by ICAO or the NCAA (the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority).

How many projects do you plan to carry out and do you have the funds to do this?

We have a number of projects we want to carry out and we cannot have all of these projects on one budget period so for 2017 we had provision to build additional classrooms and a 250 bed student hostel and also upgrade our classrooms and this is in addition ongoing projects. Also in our five-year development plan and we have made provisions for increase in these classrooms and office space and hostel accommodation. For this year we have had some of these appropriated but as you know, releases have not been much and so we have not started any new capital project.

You spoke about new acquisition of aircraft earlier, how many are you looking at?

As for the aircraft, when the contract was awarded it was for 20 -aircraft, five DA-42 which are the multi engine and 15 DA-40 which is single engine aircraft. At the time of award, the exchange rate was about N155 to the USDollar right now it’s over N300 to a dollar and so the cost rate of the contract has doubled in Naira terms because we are given the money in naira. In dollar terms the cost of the aircraft is the same but in Naira terms it has doubled.

So with what is released it means the time it will take to deliver them aircraft has doubled.

I have said this before and the social media was awash that the Rector said such things about pilots. But I believe the key to this problem is improving our general aviation, if you count the number of private jets we have in Nigeria, if they can employ on each private jet, at least one of these unemployed pilots at a giving time that will create jobs

Now, aircraft manufacturers do not start manufacturing process until you have dropped the deposit and 2016 was particularly difficult because of the recession and non-releases it was not easy to get money to bring this aircraft that’s why we could only get one. Now this year, we had wanted to bring additional aircraft, we decided we should bring in the single engine DA-40 but the manufacturers told us that they were relocating their production line from Austria to Canada and would not be able to produce for six to seven months but will start producing in six to seven months in Canada and then they told us that rather than pay for one or two, it’s better and more cost effective to increase the number.

It will be cheaper for us to reduce the cost of transportation because the aircraft will be shipped in a container and reassembled in Zaria. So based on that we decided that in 2017 we would not bring in anything but this year we will bring in a larger number and start meeting the objective of phasing out these older aircraft. And we are looking at a minimum of five and if possible we may go for 10 or a minimum of five.

Does NCAT plan to start type-rating pilots that graduate from the college?

As you know, as a pilot you have to have a type rating before you fly any aircraft, when you get out of school you are type-rated on the kind of aircraft used in the flying school.

That is what is stamped on your license. When you get a job your employer will now give you a type rating on the type of aircraft your employer operates. So NCAT cannot provide type rating for all the kinds of aircraft in Nigeria but what the management of NCAT did a few years back is they identified the most commonly used aircraft in Nigeria which is the Boeing 737 and used that to purchase a 737 simulator that would be installed in Zaria.

This simulator project was also affected by the foreign exchange issue because it was also a dollar denominated project so the cost has doubled but I am glad to inform you that NCAT has made substantial payment for this project and work has commenced on the building that is going to house the simulator.

We had wanted to use an existing building that is housing the current simulator that we have but the CAE, manufacturers of the simulator we are purchasing have told us that building needs to be modified to house the simulator.

When we assessed it we decided rather than go through the trouble of modifying the existing structure we should build a new one and so we have gone far and by God’s grace we hope that by the middle of next year the simulator will start its journey from Canada to Nigeria. The

What is hindering the arrival of the stimulator?

What the CAE said is, they will not ship the simulator until the building is ready because they do not want the simulator to just sit in containers so we have asked the contractor to expedite work and the only thing that would delay the project is the release of funds but it is our firm believe that this project will see the light of the day soon.

It would take at least six months to build the structure before CAE would take time to ship the simulator and even the transportation of the simulator will be a big issue because it’s a wide load, it is going to come in wide pieces so there is going to be some specialized form of transport to bring the parts from Lagos to Zaria.

We considered air lifting from Lagos but were told that it would not fit into a conventional aircraft. It can only go into that huge Antolov and we cannot afford that.

What Challenges, other than ďŹ nance, does the College face?

As you know, we are a government agency and most of our courses are subsidised by government to male aviation trading affordable and reachable by the ordinary Nigerian so we get part funding from the government and also run on our internally generated revenue which is made up of 7 percent of the 5 percent passenger service charge (PSC) and whatever we are able to generate from school fees.

One of the challenges we have is that a lot of government agencies are not even aware of our existence, they don’t know what we offer so you find them sending students abroad to go and do courses run in Zaria which are four to five times what it costs to do the same courses here. I can tell you for a fact that right now, virtually on a weekly basis we get an application from a student who started his training abroad and came back home, they couldn’t complete because of lack of funds and then they come to us to complete that training.

So if there is increased patronage from our agencies, from organisations and from government that would greatly improve our IGR and so NCAT will be better positioned to carry out its programs without heavily depending on the government. One day we will even be able to declare a profit. This was highlighted during the last conference on national policy in Sokoto. It was identified as one of the factors affecting NCAT. Apart from the classrooms, hostels that we are building, we need additional infrastructure; still has to do with money. Every budget year we have a ceiling. We have to keep within the ceiling so that limits the number of projects we can carry out. You know we have NBTE (Nigerian Board for Technical Education) accredited courses, we do national and higher national diplomas in engineering; we are in the process of establishing and equipping laboratories, so all these are part of the things we are doing to expand the capacity of NCAT. Things can go faster with more funds but we are taking it easy, one at a time, subject to availability of funds.

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NPA’s Drive to Boost Oil & Gas Free Zones Eromosele Abiodun posits that the safe arrival of the Egina FPSO is an indication of the infrastructure and operational preparedness of the Nigerian Ports Authority

Hadiza Bala-Usman Muhamadu Buhari

In the 1980s, several studies were undertaken by the federal government designed to define policy towards identifying areas or regions where companies are taxed lightly or not at all, free of customs or possesses favourable custom regulations in a bid to encourage development and foreign investment.

The continuation of this global strategy and the Nigeria comparative advantage in the oil and gas has elicited enormous contribution to the nation’s economy. Over the years, oil and gas accounted for about 90 per cent total export and 80 per cent of government revenue. It is also on record that Nigeria is the biggest producer of oil and gas products in the sub-Saharan African region. Its reserves have proven to be the largest in the area and are strategically located in the middle of the region.

Consequently, the federal government decided to make a distinction to establish the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) through the promulgation of Decree No, 8 of March 29, 1996. This Act forms the authority as a parastatal and regulatory agency in charge with responsibility of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country as it relates to oil & gas and other hydro carbon. The authority is also responsible for registering, licensing and regulating Oil & Gas Free Zones (OGFZ)in Nigeria.

The success of the regulatory activity of the OGFZA is the pioneer OGFZ at Onne from a fallowed piece of land and now transformed into a model not just in the West African sub-Region but also throughout the continent.

Many entities are now operating in these OGFZs and leveraging on their wide range of opportunities and incentives lined up by the Nigerian government. Encouraged by the successes recorded at Onne, in terms of achievement recorded as it relates level of FDI, revenue generation and technology transfer, government encourages OGFZA licensee a similar FZ at Warri in Delta State on 14th May, 2011 and as matter of urgency emphasised that the OGFZA to take over all OGFZs in Nigeria as contained in the Authority statutory mandate.

Recently, the registration/licensing of the Eko Support Services (Oil & Gas Free Zone) in Lagos, was announced. The new OGFZ was established in partnership with Eko Support Services Limited under a Public/Private Partnership model. Also, it is designed as a structural platform for technology transfer to indigenous Nigerian oil industry workers as per the local content development policy of government.

Eko Support Services is expected to provide

Rotimi-Amaechi

direct and indirect employment to at least 1000 people within the first three years and has an immediate investment commitment of over $124 million.

Brass Oil & Gas City is another OGFZ. This is a project approved by the federal government of Nigeria, to be under the supervision of the authority. The project, as proposed, is to position Nigeria as a leading hub for downstream oil & Gas manufacturing and industrial activities in Africa.

NPA’s Giant Stride Meanwhile, while the federal government deserves commendation for its effort at licensing oil and gas free zones, agencies responsible for the implementation of the government’s directive cannot be put aside.

For instance, since her appointment as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman has championed the revival of existing oil and gas zones.

The NPA, in its promise to increase its support to the oil and gas industry, enhance export trade, encourage port users to land their cargoes directly at the free trade zones and to ensure that the ports, serve as platform for oil and gas support services.

Bala-Usman’s support for oil and gas free zones yielded the needed fruits on Wednesday 24th of January 2018, when the NPA received the biggest oil and Gas vessel, a Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility that would be deployed at the Egina Offshore field, developed by Total in partnership with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and some foreign Oil Companies like CNOOC, SAPETRO and PETROBAS. Speaking at a reception held at the LADOL base in Lagos, the NPA boss described the safe and hitch-free arrival of the FPSO vessel as an attestation to the infrastructural and operational preparedness of the NPA, explaining that the authority is equipped to serve her clients efficiently now and going forward.

According to Bala-Usman, this will be the first time NPA and Nigeria, will be receiving a vessel of this size, described as the largest ever to berth anywhere in West Africa, as she expressed happiness to showcase the capacity of the Authority in trying tomeet the demands of the various clients.

Ensuring Enabling Environment The managing director pledged to ensure that the enabling environment would be provided so that trade and logistic costs in Nigeria would be internationally competitive.

“The Egina FPSO vessel success story comes

at a critical time of Nigeria’s economic renaissance. The completion of the fabrication and integration of the Egina facility will further strengthen the Federal government’s local content policy with multiplier effect, evident in employment opportunities, capacity building, technology transfer, reduction in capital flight as well as attraction of high value new oil and gas investment to the country.

“The Egina FPSO vessel sailed from Samsung Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea on October 31, 2017, for a 90- day voyage to Lagos, where it was received at the first FPSO fabrication and integration yard in Africa, located within the LADOL free trade zone in Lagos.

“The newly built oil and gas processing platform has a hull length of 330metres, width of 61metres, depth of 33.5meters and gross tonnage of 219,000tonnes, with storage capacity of 2.3million barrels. The platform can house 240 personnel onboard,” she said.

She added: “It also has an oil processing capacity of 208,000 barrels per day and gas compression capacity of 10.2million cubic square meters per day. It will be deployed within the Oil Mining License 130 and the integration process of the Egina FPSO at LADOL is expected to take six months, before its onward journey to the Egina offshore field in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“The NPA is the federal agency that serves as the landlord and operates seaports in Nigeria.

The authority, under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, administers six major ports, oil terminals and jetties spread across the country, and remain the country’s main international gateway.”

In recognition of the federal government’s support in her effort to revive existing oil and gas free zones, the management of the NPA, under the leadership of Bala Usman commended President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Ameachi and the Board of Directors of the NPA for their unflinching support in the quest to transform the organisation to become the hub of maritime commerce in the region.

NPA Partners OGFZA That is not all. A few days after the FPSO arrived Nigeria, the NPA announced that it has opened discussions with the OGFZA to forge closer ties on a range of issues from use of land in the ports where oil and gas free zones are located to strategic cooperation.

The strategic engagement move between the two government agencies began when the Managing Director of OGFZA, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, paid a courtesy call on Bala Usman, at the NPA head office in Lagos.

Briefing her on the series of reforms and progress in the free zones since he took over as CEO in September 2016, Umana said more would be achieved with greater support and cooperation of the NPA. He proposed a partnership agreement in which the NPA would cede lands to OGFZA in the nation’s seaports hosting oil and gas free zones to free up access to land for investors in the form of subleases. Suggesting that the proposal should be formalised with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Umana explained that OGFZA would administer such leaseholds in collaboration with the NPA. He emphasised that collaboration between OGFZA and the NPA on land use and other policy issues would have positive impact on the ease of doing business in the free zones in line with the policy thrust of the federal government.

The NPA MD commended Umana on his efforts to sanitise the free zones by insisting that all licensees comply with extant laws and regulations and pledged unflinching support to OGFZA in the bid to realise the full objectives and potential of the oil and gas free zones.

She expressed full support for Umana’s position that OGFZA and NPA needed to strengthen their collaboration to ensure that a level playing field is provided for all licensees and concessionaires.\ Bala Usman pledged to direct port managers in the nation’s seaports to work more closely with OGFZA, promising ever ready support to new and existing investors in the free zones with regard to approval for facility upgrade and other material need.

In particular, she said the Notore Channel would be dredged to boost economic activities in Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone.

Umana had while speaking at another forum recently declared that OGFZ Gas offers enormous advantages and incentives to foreign companies to invest in Nigeria.

He added that OGFZ creates the environment necessary to support Nigeria’s economic and industrial development.

He also said that all goods manufactured in the free zones can be sold in the Nigerian market.

“The OGFZ helps Nigeria maximise its natural resources to attract foreign investments and create employment, enhance the welfare of the people, aid technology transfer and the overall economic development of the country,” he said.

He said the success of the Intels OGFZ has led to the creation of similar zones in Warri and Lagos.

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Bala-Usman Vows to Maximise Nigeria’s Seaports Potential Eromosle Abiodun The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman has assured relevant stakeholders in the maritime sub sector and beyond of the determination of the management of the NPA to providing an enabling environment for investors to do business within the ports across the nation . This she said was to ensure the huge economic potential available in

the sector, are fully harnessed for the growth of the nation’s economy.

According to the NPA boss, renewed efforts are being encouraged by way of partnership, collaboration and improved synergy amongst key players in the industry towards ensuring that the management thrusts are realised within the nearest possible time.

Bala-Usman, who was represented by the General Manager (Land and Asset

Administration) Adams Jatto made these remarks during on a working visit with the visiting Presidential Team, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (CRC) led by its acting Director General, Chidi Izuwah to the Lagos Free Zone [LFTZ] located in Lekki, Lagos.

The acting DG had informed the gathering that the Presidential Team was in Lekki Deep Sea Port to have a firsthand

information and assessment of the state of infrastructural development that has taken place in the project since the Committee’s last visit with a view to providing all necessary technical support for its swift take off. According to him, the Lekki Port project when completed would facilitate amongst others a platform for the creation of 170,000 jobs for Nigerians, generate an increased revenue base for government and most

importantly strengthen the federal government’s drive for the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria as well as creating an enabling environment for the reception of bigger vessels.

The General Manager Projects, Lekki Deep Sea Port, Mr. Steven Heukelom, while conducting the guests on a tour of the facilities within the ports, stated that when completed in 2020, the project would boast a 16.5 meter depth base, thereby facilitat-

ing trans-shipment within the sub-Saharan Africa.

On the facility appreciation tour was the Assistant General Manager (PPP) NPA, Yakubu Nana and the Legal Counsel/ Relationship Director, Lekki Deep Sea Port, Adesuwa Ladoja.

The management of the NPA is prioritising the execution of a 25-year Port Master plan for the sub-sector in order for activities to thrive along the lines of best practices.

TCIP Customs Command Bags World Customs Organisation Award Eromosele Abiodun The Tin Can Island Port Customs Command, Lagos has bagged the World Customs Organisation (WCO) award, for consistently and effectively securing its business environment.

Conferred by the WCO Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya, the award was apresented by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), who specifically noted that the International Customs Day celebrated by Customs administrations all over the world, provided an opportunity to X-ray, review and evaluate the role of Customs in nation building, not only as a revenue generating agency, but also in terms ensuring secure business environment.

Speaking on this year’s theme: ‘To Secure Business Environment for Economic Development,’ the CGC reminisced on the giant strides of the Service in 2017, and declared that the Service by generating N1.3 trillion into the nations coffers, did remarkably well in anti-smuggling operations through spectacular seizures among others.

He also stated that the international event was an auspicious moment to recognise private and public organisations as well as officers and units that have demonstrated outstanding performance during the period

under reference for awards by the WCO. While receiving the award on behalf of the Command, the Comptroller, Bashar Yusuf recalled the exploits of the command in the past two years.

The obviously elated Comptroller Bashar said: “I assumed leadership of the command at a time its rating was at the lowest ebb in terms of functionality in areas of Revenue and Seizures which forms the core mandate of the Command.

“I thank God Almighty for giving me the wherewithal to justify the confidence reposed in me by the CGC and his management which is evidenced in this International Award.

“I therefore dedicate it to the entire Tincan Team, comprising the officers/men, the CIU, Valuation, PCA, the Customs Brokers, critical Stakeholders and the Media for their tremendous support.”

Under Bashar’s leadership, the Tin Can Island Port Customs Command has in the last two years generated over N544,049,621,515 in revenue through various far reaching reforms which he instituted.

Part of the reform agenda was the building of an ICT Training Centre as well as a fully equipped clinic which was officially commissioned by the CGC on the 11th of November 2017.

Ex ATCON Present Appointed SSG in A’Ibom The Akwa Ibom Government has appointed a former National President of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, as new Secretary to State Government (SSG).

The state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Charles Udoh, announced this in a statement in Uyo recently.

Ekuwem who is presently the Chief Executive Officer of Teledom Group, a technology company that is into point to point wireless connectivity, hails from Akwa Ibom State, and has played key roles in the technology development of the state.

Industry stakeholders who are pleased with the

appointment, said it came at a time, when technocrats are accused of not participating actively in the Nigerian politics, hence they always lose out in political appointments that needed persons with technology skills.

Industry players have accused the federal government of neglecting technocrats in political appointments, especially appointments into offices that have to do with technology development.

But in response to their complaints of lopsided appointments, the federal government had always challenged the technocrats to participate in Nigerian politics at any level, if they must earn political appointments.

UNITED AGAINST SMUGGLED POULTRY PRODUCTS

L-R: Kwara State Deputy Governor, Elder Peter Kisra; Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed and National President, Poultry Association of Nigeria, Ezekiel Ibrahim, during a seminal on impact of smuggled poultry products on the economy and health of Nigerians in Ilorin...recently

Workclick Launches On-Demand Instant Service App Peter Uzoho On-demand service networking company, Workclick, has officially commenced operation in Nigeria with 5000 workers already registered in its platform.

Speaking at the launch of the service in Lagos, Co-founder, Workclick, Mr. Samuel Ajiboyede, said the major aim of the company in Nigeria was to help large population of skilled and semi-skilled persons in the country make additional income while providing instant services to customers at their utmost convenience through the mobile app.

Ajiboyede, who noted that the

company is presently available in US and Kenya, stressed that with the service, the rate of youth unemployment in the country would be reduced drastically.

He said the 5000 workers, who have signed up with the platform have been screened and trained to meet up with the company’s standard.

According to him, some of the services currently available on the company’s platform include hairdressing, plumbing, tailoring, gardening, barbing and painting. Others are mechanical and electrical services, dentistry, and photography, among others.

Ajiboyede said prices for all available services are already

listed on the app and that the company will collect only 20 percent of the money as service charge for every job successfully done while the balance goes to the worker.

“We believe that through our services, the unemployment rate in the country will be reduced and even those who already have jobs, will make more income through Workclick.

We are simply taking over the marketing aspect for skilled individuals and connecting them to customers in their locations,” he said. Explaining the workings of the app, Ajiboyede said: “Through the app also known as Workclick, we pool a cluster of highly skilled and

well-trained experts ranging from gardeners, barbers, tailors, plumbers, DSTV Installers to medical practitioners, and connect them to customers who need their services.

“The app is available on PlayStore and App Store. It comes in two forms; one for the worker and another for the customer.

“Before deploying our workers, we thoroughly screen them and conduct further training for them to meet our standard.

Once this is done, they return to their various normal job and locations. The app will subsequently alert them when a customer using the app requests for their service.”

Lalong’s Efforts at Re-building Jos Main Market Commended Seriki Adinoyi in Jos Various professional bodies in the Plateau state including the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Market Associations, as well as the Bureau for Public Procurement have lauded Governor Simon Lalong’s efforts at re-developing the burnt Jos Main Market, and the transparency that has characterised the processes.

Opening the bids for the re-development at the state Secretariat, the state government again pledged that the bidders

will receive equal and fair treatment in the process of selection, adding also that quality will not be compromised.

Speaking at the occasion, which held at the Joseph Gomwalk Secretariat, Jos, the state Commissioner of Commerce, Ezekiel Daju said, “today marks a major milestone towards the re-building of a project that is dear to the heart of the people; an economic live wire of the state.”

Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Samuel Ngomar, the Commis-

sioner painted the aftermath of the wreak of the market, lamenting that some people, who lost all their livelihood in the disaster even committed suicide because of the volume of the losses in the burnt market that served the entire West Africa.

He however said that the cheering news was that “we are now at the threshold of bringing life back to the edifice.”

Daju commended Lalong for keeping his eyes fixed on the project, and for committing all efforts towards its actualisation.

Two companies submitted bids for it; MN Atat Construction Limited, who was represented at the opening by Mr. Henry Duamyim, and Edil Belmonte Ltd, also represented by Mustapha Abbas. The state government had in 2016 signed an MoU of N230 million for the job with a UK-based company; Roughton International Ltd, in collaboration with Cynergy Associates Consortium to commence the first phase of re-development of the market that was burnt in 2002.

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WEEKLY PULLOUT

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

LIVING | P31

COLLAGE | P36

THISLIFE | P37

FILE

'MY LIFE IS FULFILLED WITHOUT BREASTS’

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'My Life is Fulfilled Without Breasts’ Abigail Simon-Hart, Co-founder of BRICON Foundation, had a double mastectomy in 2014 after she was diagnosed with cancer of the breast. In this interview with Mary Ekah, she talked about the joy of being cancer-free and how she has lived a very fulfilling life despite all the odds when I was quite young so I had grown hearing about cancer quite a lot – witnessing my mother’s radiotherapy and chemotherapy, so I was already familiar with the whole cancer arrangement. And also because my mother was a survivor and she refused to accept it when she was told she was going to die and she beat cancer for 33 years, it meant my own cancer experience was not necessarily 100 per cent negative. And because my mother also had breast cancer, I was going to regular mammograms with her so it meant I was already fully aware of cancer and I was also very aware of the fact that if the cancer was detected early, I will be able to beat it.

Although when I first got diagnosed, I felt bad and I quickly decided that if my breasts were going to kill me, I will quickly take them off and so I did just that. So I had a double mastectomy, started my treatment and got on with it. I didn’t allow it to hold me back.

I refused to let people come around me and cry. I needed to be surrounded by positive people, so I didn’t allow negativity around me, so I surrounded myself with positive people and things. And that’s how ultimately I was able to cope. I refused to go down the road of negativity. Though there were days I cried and got upset but I didn’t allow that to get at me because I needed to fight the disease and do everything I can do to live and the rest were in God‘s hands. My faith is key to my being able to cope with having breast cancer. In fact, I know that everything has a purpose. I honestly believe that my life was spared for me to set up this foundation. We are able to touch lives now because I had cancer and also because one of our parents died of cancer. Because we have had that experience it has equipped us to be able to understand the sufferings of the families as well as the cancers patients themselves.

The World Cancer Day is billed for February 4, what plans do you have to further spread the word about prevention of the disease?

BRICON Foundation started out in 2016. It was set up to help people who have already been diagnosed with cancer. We are slightly different from most NGOs in that our focus is not on screening even though we do promote screening for early detection. Our focus is on people who have already been diagnosed with the disease. We support the patients as well as their families.

For World Cancer Day itself, we have decided to focus on our Help for Husbands (H4H) group and how to support the husbands who are taking care of children and to ensure that the children remain in school. So for the World Cancer Day we have launched out our Keeping Kids in School Initiative (KKIS) and that is making sure that the kids of cancer patients remain in school and are not being held back at home just because their parents can’t afford school fees. So as part of the World Cancer Day celebration, we are covering school fees for 14 of our beneficiaries at various stages of their education. We think that is really important so that their second generation does not suffer as a result of a parent having a cancer.

Yes, World Cancer Day is fantastic but people with cancer live with cancer every day, so we can’t just focus on cancer only on World Cancer Day. We have to understand that cancer is every day for someone who has cancer. They live with the cancer every day. When cancer day comes we make a lot of noise but in-between everybody forgets us who have cancer. So it is really important that though World Cancer Day is an amazing opportunity for a global proclamation about the importance of awareness of cancer but we have to remember that outside February 4, there are people who are going to be living with cancers before that date and are still going to be dealing with their cancers after that date.

What in the first place informed your decision to establish BRICON, an organisation that focuses on breast cancer?

My mother died of cancer in 2013 that was after having heart cancer four times previously. She actually lived for 33 years after the last time they told her she was going to die and then she got sick and died so quickly. She was dead within six weeks of the last diagnosis. Six months after she died I was diagnosed with cancer myself. I had barely got over losing my mother when I was diagnosed with cancer (of the breast) myself. And because my mother had cancer, I was very much aware of the disease. I went for regular mammograms and so we caught the cancer very early. Thankfully because we caught the cancer very early, I had options. I didn’t require radiotherapy because we caught the cancer early. I had surgery and was placed on medication and four years after, I am still cancer free. When I got back from treatment abroad, I sat down and thought over it – supposing I didn’t have access to insurance or funds, how would my cancer journey have been in Nigeria. And we now decided to look at the cancer journey.

BRICON’s co-founder, Dr. Niyi Adekeye’s father died of prostate cancer. And so between the two of us, we decided to do something different and that there was no point having lost family members and I having conquered cancer, and we do not in some way contribute in making things better for cancer patients.

If I cannot use my own suffering or he use his own suffering in helping people who are going through similar things, then it is almost like the experience was wasted. And that is why we decided to be slightly different and focus on those who are already diagnosed with cancer. There are enough NGOs doing

Simon -Hart

screening but after screening what happens.

Who covers the cost of treatment? We knew there was a gap and so we decided to fill that gap by establishing BRICON Foundation.

Do you do any other job aside running the foundation?

We actually run a consulting firm called Bricon Global Consult Limited. That is the main business that we do. I am actually the managing partner. We provide Health Care Advisory and support services for companies and individuals. And because we have already been in healthcare s0pace for quite a while, it was a natural kind of transition to set up an NGO as well. And the whole purpose of setting up the NGO was that we would have a non-profit outfit totally separate from the profit making outfit so that we would have a foundation that is 100 per cent charity while we continue with our normal consulting business.

As someone who survived cancer, can you talk about what it is like to go through that phase in life, especially the emotional aspect?

Cancer is devastating in the sense that you suddenly become very aware of your mortality and also aware of the fact that there is the possibility that you are going to die. So a lot of people who suffer cancer live in fear. But

the truth is that some people died yesterday who did not have cancer and people will still die tomorrow even though they do not have cancer. So we need to stop focusing on dying and start focusing on living. Live your life the best way you can. As long as you have life, enjoy it because you may be worrying about death and yet live for another 10 years meanwhile you were worrying about death and lived 19 miserable years instead of living 10 happy years.

Another thing with cancer is that it ruins a family financially. It is so expensive to treat.

And there are the financial implications of cancer where many people have sold all they had in order to cure cancer. We have seen people whose husbands abandoned them at the hospitals and families turned their back on them as soon as they heard they had cancer.

There is a stigma attached to cancer patients.

So cancer is such a heavy-duty disease in that apart from the emotional implications, there is the financial implications that are far-reaching.

It is so bad that when you mention the word cancer, the first thing that comes to mind is death, misery, suffering and financial ruin.

So cancer does not just affect the person who has the disease but affects every member of the family.

But my experience of suffering cancer is a bit strange because my mother had cancer

How did your husband take the news that you had cancer of the breasts and that you were actually going to remove your breasts permanently?

My husband and I knew each other from when we were quite young and we both already had awareness about cancer in the family. He knew my mother had cancer and that she also died of cancer, so cancer was what we spoke about freely in the home before it happened to me. My children, I have two amazing sons, were very much aware of cancer and they were fully involved in my recovery. So it was never an issue. Life has always been the most important thing so it has not in any way affected anything.

Cancer comes with trauma, stigma and burdens, especially for women that have to do a double mastectomy like you did.

What will be your advice to those suffering in one way or the other as a result of cancer?

First of all, the decision to live or die is yours. That’s what I came to realise. My position has always been, if your breasts are going to kill you, take them off and that was what I did. My position was, anybody that was going to care about me will care about me without my breasts. If removing my breasts increases the chance of my life, for me it is not debatable. And we are in a country where we don’t have support structure for treatment of cancer, so by leaving your breasts, you are making it more difficult to cure the cancer. We have heard people who say, if I remove my breasts my husband will leave me and I always told these women that if you die, your husband is going to move on. And if your breasts are what is holding your marriage together, then your problem is bigger than cancer. So it has to be life first. Having breasts does not define me as a woman. If I don’t tell you that I had a mastectomy, there is no way you would

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in training of medical professionals, investment in equipment and facilities; legislation that enables people with cancer to get treated at a subsidized cost because at the moment cancer is a very expensive disease to treat. So if you don’t have some form of insurance or some form of financial assistance for patients, they are as good as dead. And the further advanced the cancer is the more difficult it is to treat.

know. Womanhood is so much more than having breasts. Womanhood is internal; it is how you behave to other people. What are your roles in the society? How are you celebrating life? What kind of example are you setting? And how are you impacting other women? Breasts are peripheral. And what is the point of going to the grave with my breasts intact, when I could have removed my breasts and lived a fulfilled life? So the first issue has to be curing the cancer first. Then you can start worrying about the breasts or no breasts. When you have cured the cancer, you can then talk about other options like artificial breasts or breasts reconstruction.

Cancer is not a death sentence. I honestly think that it is possible to live a long and fulfilling life even if you have a stage 4 cancer. It is all about the quality of life you live and not necessarily the length of life.

So my message for those who have cancer is stop focusing on dying and fear of dying and start focusing on living. Live your life the best way you can and then the rest is up to God.

You did mention that cancer treatment in Nigeria is still not for the poor. How should the poor seek help?

One of the things that our foundation does is to provide support for people who cannot afford treatment but we work with the teaching hospitals. People don’t come to us off the streets and if they do, we refer them back to the teaching hospitals where they would be assessed by a consultant who would write a medical report explaining their case, the stage of cancer and what need to be done and the approximate cost. Once we have that, we now know what we can do to assist. So we do assist financially with patients’ treatments; we also provide Prostheses, that is artificial breasts and bras, thanks to a donor In the UK. We provide emotional support as well because some people can afford the treatment but lack who to talk to. So emotional support is very important not just for the cancer patients but for the care giver and that is why we set up our help for husbands’ project where we support men whose wives either died of cancer or are battling with cancer.

Breast cancer is the highest female cancer in Nigeria. Why has the prevalence continued to go up?

Well, the thing with breast cancer is that we are not so sure whether breast cancer incidence has increased because there is more awareness now, so people are actually going out and getting screened and there is a lot more information or whether it is because we have changed our lifestyle. You know we have become Westernised these days, so we are eating lot of processed food, we are not getting enough exercise, and we are getting too obese. We are not living healthy lives but living under high stress. We are drinking alcohol now and we are smoking more. These are all of the things that actually contribute to people having cancer. So I think that between the change in lifestyle, and the greater awareness of the disease, we are getting higher figures, so we are not sure whether it is I00 per cent really increasing because of the change in lifestyle or whether it is because in addition to lifestyle changes there is also more awareness now that is making us have more statistics.

What is your organisation doing to address breast cancer issues in the country?

We run support group for women who have cancer and another support group for husbands whose wives have cancer. In our women’s group we do a lot of awareness about the disease.

We talk about chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, diet, that is the importance of nutrition if you have cancer and even talk about other forms of cancers. For instance, we talked about cervical cancer during a seminar we just held because just because you have breast cancer does not mean that you don’t have a risk of getting cervical cancer, so we try as much as possible to inform. We have also partnered with Macmillan Cancer Support UK which is one of the oldest cancer organisations in the UK. They produce a lot of educational materials, so we are actually in partnership with them to reproduce some of the materials in Nigeria.

What categories of women are more prone to breast cancer?

You would be shocked that cancer is no respecter of any persons – whether you are rich or poor, whether you are young or old, Christian or Muslim, traditionalist or a pagan, it does not discriminate. And you would be shocked that educated people have cancers but out of fear or ignorance will not follow up on it. So cancer is not necessarily dedicated to any particular income group per say , although you find that in the poorer income group, because of lack of funds and education, they tend to come later but we have seen some women who are quite well to do, who are supposedly educated presented with stage 4 cancer. Another challenge we have is faith healers in the sense that a lot of people are diagnosed early but they would have gone to all the prayer houses et al the native doctors for solutions before they eventually come to us for medical help by which time it would have been too late. We are not saying do not go to church but we are saying, complement your medical treatment with prayer and your faith but do not substitute. If you are asking God for help, do not tell Him how to do His job. Let Him chose how He wants to heal you.

How do you get funds to assist these cancer patients?

All our funds are raised by donations and events. We have been just fortunate that we have quite a few individuals and corporate donors who have kindly donated towards our patients’ treatments and quite recently, one of our donors in the UK provided funds that is enabling us to pay for school fees of children of women who have died of cancer.

We find out that husbands had emptied their pockets for payment of cancers treatments while the children stay back from schools due to lack of funds so that the children not only lose their mothers but are also losing their education as well. So we have been able to pay school fees for some of the beneficiaries of our foundation so that the children will remain in school, and can also grow up and not being so affected by the fact that they lost their mothers. Of course we are always looking for more donors to be able to help more patients

Simon -Hart

What are the unique features of breast cancer?

How would one know they are developing a cancerous lump in their breast?

Breast cancer manifests in different ways depending on the kind of cancer but generally speaking, any kind of change you noticed on your breasts, you need to flag it. The most common sign of breast cancer is a breast lump. Others signs are the nipple inverts.

The nipples which were normally sticking out would now go in. You may have rashes on your skin or the skin resembles the skin of an orange or you may notice that one breast is bigger than the other but the most common is breast lump. When you touch your breasts and you now notice that there is a lump or a feeling of a mass that was not there before, check it – but not all breast cancers necessarily have lumps even though that is one of the commonest signs of having something wrong with your breast. So it is really important that women, just after each menstrual period should examine their breasts get familiar with your breasts, so that when you notice any changes on your breast whether it is a lump or not, you need to get it checked. It is so important with breast cancer that you get it early. Once you notice it early, it is cheaper and easier to treat.

Nigeria has about two million cancer patients and yet there is huge limitation in terms of availability of facilities and equipment for treatment with only a couple of radiotherapy machines. What is the way forward?

I understand that we have eight radiotherapy machines and at any point in time only two are working. It is understood that in Nigeria we have about two million cancer patients, with approximately 65 per cent of patients needing radiotherapy and yet you only have two machines working, sometimes we are lucky four work, if you do your mathematics very well, it means that really, we don’t have

facilities at all to cope with the sheer volume of cancer patients.

Now, tell us the peculiar challenges you face in Nigeria in trying to tackle the issue of breast cancer?

The challenges we are facing is number one, we do not have enough oncologists and qualified personnel. I understand that we have just over 60 oncologists and not enough nurses who are trained in oncology. Then there is the challenge of the availability of medication because it’s not just the mediation is expensive but the availability. For example, sometimes we need medications for our beneficiaries but they are not available. Then the radiotherapy machines are not working because many of them are almost obsolete. We need to do something about it. We have a challenge where we keep on screening and screening in this country but when you finish getting these cancer patients, you don’t have the facility or the professional competence to deal with the cancer. You ought to be able to screen and treat and not just screening and generating more patients that our current infrastructure cannot even cope with and yet every year we keep on doing more screening. Yes, screenings is fantastic and praise the Lord for early detection. What happen to the ones detected earlier? Where do they get treated? These are the challenges.

So we really need to work on increasing the amount of facilities and the competencies of the medical personnel to deal with it because if we have a machine and you don’t have a competent medical personnel, it is as good as having nothing. We need people who can interpret results, we need people who have the ability to be able to handle the patients appropriately and provide the supports needed for the families as well.

So what is the way forward?

Investment is the way forward - Investment

What qualifies those who are your beneficiaries?

We have some basic criteria that we look at like your income, the stage of cancer to decide on what we can do because for patients who are already dying of cancer, in most cases it is not chemotherapy that you are paying for but you are actually paying for them to have a comfortable and pain free death.

And unfortunately, we have found that a lot of the cases that we have seen are stage 3 and 4. People are not coming early enough that you can do something tangible. The interesting thing about stage 3 and 4 does not mean you are going to die tomorrow, it simply means the cancer cannot be cured but you can live with it. People in Europe are living with stage 4 cancer for 15 to 25 years because they have the facilities. Everything is about having the medical competence and infrastructure to be able to ensure that people who have cancer can live long and quality lives in spite of the fact that the cancer will ultimately take their lives.

What is your advice to people in terms of preventing cancer?

Women need to check their breasts regularly.

We are seeing breast cancer in women as young as 25. So it is important as a woman you learn to know your breast and if you notice anything slightly different, go and check it fast because prevention is a lot cheaper than cure. Then we need to start watching our lifestyle. We need to start eating healthy food. Stay away from processed things and stop drinking sugary drinks and eat lots of vegetables. We should also do a lot of exercise. And if you know that you have a family history of cancer that should make you more aware of the need to check yourself.

So it is really all about early detection and information.

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Foundation Fêtes Widows, Less-priviledged Children Funmi Ogundare writes that the Dorcas Benevolent Foundation has been giving succour to widows and less-privileged children for the past 21 years For 21 years, the Dorcas Benevolent Foundation(DBF) has been giving succour and caring for widows and less-priviledged children in the society and one way through which the foundation allows them to drink from its milk of human kindness is through its the annual Christmas and new year party.

This year’s programme which held recently at Lafiaji Community Centre, Lagos Island, witnessed the distribution of gifts items such as clothes and clothing materials, cups, plates, vacuum flasks, branded umbrellas, T-shirts, exercise books and pens, shoes, scandals and raw foods, among others to about 220 widows and their children who turned out to savour the joy of the day.

The Coordinator of the Foundation, Mrs. Theresa Atai Sappor, said the programme was designed to give them a bearing particularly after the loss of their husbands, noting that this is something that can be very traumatic.

“I believe that we can give them succour by assisting them. Some of them are lonely so we try to give them that moral support, and even mobilise public bodies and individuals, associates to support them as well as encourage the donors to support them with funds during their monthly meetings.”

She expressed delight that the children and widows always look forward to the party. “To tell you how eagerly the widows await this annual event, they often troop in as early as nine o’clock in the morning, yet the party doesn’t kick off until 2p.m.”

Aside the annual Christmas and New Year party, Sappor said that other ways the foundation reaches out to them is through scholarship awards.

Her husband Mr. Abiola Sappor who corroborated her said, “we started a micro-credit scheme, but the only challenge we have had is really with the people. Some of them find it difficult to refund the money. Over the years, we were giving them interest-free for

a period of six months. This we do for those of them who are petty traders. We have been exploring ways whereby organisations give us their product to distribute to them.”

Asked on the impact of the programme on the widows in the last 21 years, Sappor said, “some of them have been able to look after their families much more than they were doing before, some of them have also been able to keep their children in school and see them through education with the support they get from us. But we help them support their homes and families.”

He said their driving force behind the programme in the last 21years has been love adding, “I believe that whatever talent that God has given you, you are meant to give back. The love of one’s country should be an essential of our existence to impact others. It is the impact that gives joy.”

He however expressed concern that he is yet to see a Nigerian leader that is articulating his thoughts to impacts lives of the people like Chief Obafemi Awolowo saying, “today the ordinary person cannot afford good health and education because it cost a lot of money.”

On where he sees the foundation in the next five years, Sappor said, “we hope that our children will be able to pick up, but one of them; the eldest of my children has started something like this in Ife three years ago by giving support to less-priviledged children at the end of every long vacation. We try to impact in them the spirit of giving back.”

Some of the widows at the programme thanked the foundation for their support over the years saying that its efforts have gone a long way in putting smiles on their faces and alleviate their suffering.

One of the oldest members of the foundation and a widow, Mrs. Funmi Ogunnaya said since she joined 17 years ago, the impact has been immense as her children were given scholarships which saw them through their education.

The Coordinator of the Foundation, Mrs. Theresa Sapoor flanked by widows at the party held recently

Legor: A Legislator for the Times In giving account of his stewardship, Hon. Idagbor Legor appears to have to strike a balance between effective representation and constituency intervention, and in the same vein attracting a flurry if goodwill. Paul Obi writes For Hon. Idagbor Legor, leadership comes with not just the display of power, but the responsibility to render service to citizens in a more practical way. It is an avenue for sacrifice, a call to go the extra mile and extend a hand of fellowship to mostly the downtrodden.

Since his adventure into politics in 2007 as the Chairman of Bekwara Local Government Area of Cross River State, Legor has operated within and even above the pay grade of leadership positions he had been called to serve. Over time, Legor had carried on without any format of let or hindrance, striving to succeed in a turbulent terrain - of politics.

Though, Legor belong to the club of ruling elites who have usurped political power for themselves, it is not difficult to spot and isolate him out. His focus has been to stay on the job and carry out the function of a legislator without displaying the vagaries that political power can afford.

This thread resonated recently during the annual constituency empowerment programme

by Hon. Legor for the Obudu/Obanliku/ Bekwara Federal Constituency. Speaking at the event, Cross River State deputy governor, Prof. Ivara Esu commended Legor's efforts in reaching out his constituents. Esu added

that, by empowering many of his constituents and providing quality leadership on the floor of the House of Representatives, Legor was fulfilling the core mandate expected of a Nigerian legislator.

According to Legor, "we need to empower our people to utilise the full value chain, that is to enable those people empowered to be able to make a living from their hand work, to ensure that people have access to loans for small scale businesses that will be beneficial to them," he added.

On the importance of the empowerment to the economic well-being of the constituents, the lawmaker explained that "Our rice and other agricultural produce if properly utilised will boost our economy." He further stressed that "we need to encourage the farmers in the rural areas in particular to commercialise their farm produce and encourage more access roads which agriculture will hardly thrive without."

Speaking against the backdrop of his role in promoting youth friendly legislations, Legor stated that, “I am a youth friendly Representative, for those that know me; my doors are never closed but opened 24 hours.

So I will continue to interact with our youths, continue to find out what we can do that

will better the lots of our youths in Cross River State and Nigeria.

"We need to do a lot for our youths. I’m thankful that the bill, Not Too Young to Run scaled through and has gone through third reading and now the age limit for every elective position has been reduced. On my own part, I will continue to do my best within my power to ensure that we give our youths opportunities," Legor said.

In the same token, the lawmaker appears to have stirred some level of curiosity on how he balances his role as an intelligent lawmaker and a politician on the side of the people. For Legor, it is merely about understanding the tide, it's about rooting for the people course and standing firm to the reality of the times.

From his early years in politics as local government chairman, to being a commissioner and to the House of Representatives, Legor's focus had been to serve, and with humility too. Though, remaining steadfast in the current political dispensation may be a tough task, he has rather navigated his path, avoiding the political snares and traps thus far. His dexterity to reach his goal even in this turbulent era makes him a true legislator of the present times.

Legor...presenting empowerment items to his constituents

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02.02.2018

AUN President to Matriculating Students: Focus on Service, Not Material Gains Solomon Elusoji President of American University of Nigeria, Dr. Dawn Dekle, has charged the school’s newly admitted students to focus their energies on service to humanity and not on money or material acquisitions.

She gave the advise during the university’s 2018 spring semester Convocation and Pledge Ceremony last Monday.

Dekle also counselled that there is more satisfaction by counting acts of service than by counting money.

“At AUN, service is one of our core values, and each of you will have the opportunity to serve during your time here,” she said.

Parents and guardians joined the new students, who come from 27 states of Nigeria and from the Republic of Cameroon, as they took the AUN Community Pledge of ‘Truth and Absolute

Integrity’, an important tradition in Americanstyled universities.

Dekle, who conducted the new students’ formal induction at the library auditorium, inspired them with wise sayings from two iconic Americans--one real, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the other fictional, Benjamin Button.

“Everybody can be great . . . because everybody can serve . . . You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love,” she said, quoting from King, a civil rights champion, who would have turned 89 on January 15.

Dekle continued: “January 15 is a day of citizen action volunteer service, in honour of Martin Luther King Jr., and we take inspiration from this.” She then added that the King Day has relevance with AUN. She went on to quote excerpts from the film ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ starring Brad Pitt: Throughout the movie, Button is aging

backward, beginning as an old man and growing ‘younger’. When his daughter is born, he knows he will be dead before he can give her his guidance as a parent. So, Benjamin Button wrote a letter to his daughter, urging her to go on and make the best or worst of becoming what she wants. “I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”

With those words, Dekle told her audience: “My wish for each of you is to step into your greatness, to live out loud, and make your lives a masterpiece. Welcome to AUN!” A high point of the ceremony--the 26th pledge ceremony since AUN began admitting students in 2005 was the presentation of the 2021 class sash to each of the new students.

AUN, widely regarded as Africa’s first development university, admits students twice a year--in the fall and spring semesters.

Dekle

Amorka Community Honours David Ezeibe Anayo Okolie Sons and daughters of Amorka community gathered at the palace of the Chairman Ihiala Traditional Rulers Council and the Traditional Ruler of Amorka, HRH Igwe K.O. Obiriolemgbe to witness the affirmation of David Ezeibe as Omeiheuku of Amorka.

HRH Igwe Obiriolemgbe while welcoming Ezeibe, the Omeiheuku of Amorka to the community, urged him to join other members of the cabinet in building the community for better.

According to him, “join us in building Amorka for better. Peace is essential in our community. I talk of peace because I know that no community can grow if there is no

peace. It therefore becomes very pertinent for us all to maintain peace in our various homes.”

Commending the community for recognising and honouring him with the title of Omeiheuku of Amorka, Ezeibe promised not to disappoint the community, adding that he will do his best to ensure that the unemployment rate in the community is drastically reduced.

Ezeibe, who is from Umuezike Village of Amorka, said: “I will tackle the issue of unemployment through my company. I am also planning to establish another company in Amorka to enable me create jobs and affect the lives of my people. I strongly believe by doing that the issue of unemployment will be curbed.

According to him, “I was decorated with the title of Omeiheukwu today because of my personality and role in the community.

I believe the reason God is blessing me is to support my community, and I promise them that I will not disappoint them as a chief in this community. Anywhere that the community is lacking I will try my best to support them.

“I will also ensure that there is peace in the community because without peace, progress and development are difficult to be attracted.

My advice to the community is that they should keep on praying for indigenes and supporting them. I believe that as long as the community is in peace that blessings and more progress will come.”

David Ezeibe and his wife at the ceremony

Abia Activates Security Fund Law, Seeks N1.5bn to Enhance Security Ikpeazu lauds security personnel in Abia State Emmanuel Ugwu, Umuahia Abia State Government is set to enhance the operational efficiency of security agencies in the state and has therefore concluded plans to raise N1.5 billion in order to meet the set goal of making Abia very secure.

To this end the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has activated the Abia State Security Fund Law, which had been kept in abeyance several years after it was enacted. A security fund planning committee headed by the deputy chief of staff, Chief Ukpai Agwu Ukpai has been constituted and charged with the responsibility of raising the needed funds to enhance security in God’s own state Speaking at a press conference, Ukpai said that it was in keeping with his promise of providing security to all residents of Abia that Governor Ikpeazu has decided to activate the security fund law.

According to him, the security fund would be spent on all security agencies in Abia in order to provide them with modern security gadgets, patrol vehicles, training and retraining as well as improving the general welfare of all security personnel in the state.

The security committee chairman noted that though the target of N1.5 is expected to be raised at the launch of security fund slated for January 30, 2018 it would be a continuous exercise as wellmeaning individuals and corporate bodies were expected to be making contributions at all times.

“It behoves on all Abians both at home and abroad and all friends of to support the Abia State Security Fund through financial and material donations,” Ukpai said, adding that every hand

Ikpeazu

must be on deck to provide strategic security architecture for Abia.

When reminded of the security vote that the governor receives on monthly basis, Ukpai said that though he did not know how much the security vote is worth it would nevertheless be enough to meet the security needs of the state.

He noted that the time dynamics change hence the need to respond to the changing times and make security agencies proactive in dealing with emerging security challenges.

In his remarks the coordinator of ASSF, Mr. Darlington Anyanwu stated that “criminal dynamics continues to change by the day” hence provision of effective security would continue to gulp huge amount of money and indeed no amount of money is enough for security.

Special Adviser to the governor on Security Matters, Capt. Awa Udensi (rtd) said that the state government has always maintained cordial relationship with all security agencies in the state, adding that they were all represented in the security fund committee.

He identified the herdsmen as one of the security issues in Abia but pointed out that the problem has to do with “resident cattle rearers” who have been living in the state for upwards of 15 years.

While maintaining that Abia has no migrant herdsmen, Awa revealed that a profiling of all herdsmen in Abia was being carried out and at the end of the exercise it would be easy to establish their identities and maintain enduring peace between herdsmen and farmers.

In another development, Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has expressed gratitude to security personnel in the state for the synergy that exists amongst them and which has helped to reduce crime in the state.

Speaking at the launch of the Abia Security Fund and unveiling of the Abia Security Card in Umuahia, the Governor commended the contributions and sacrifices of the various security agencies and other citizens who volunteer information to security agents, noting that their efforts led to the peaceful yuletide season enjoyed in the state last year.

He however gave God the glory for watching over the state, stating that the mishaps that have befallen other states, including bank robberies, terror and herdsmen attacks have been far from the state due to God’s protection.

“Every Abian should be grateful to God for his protective shield over us as a state and also appreciate our brave and hardworking men and

women in the security services. Since 2015 that we came on board I can’t remember any incidence of bank robbery in the state. God is indeed with us and our state is blessed.”

The governor said the launch of the Abia Security Fund and the Abia Security Card are expedient in the effort to nip crime in the state.

Ikpeazu also stated that based on 2016 reported crimes data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Abia State is the second safest state in the country but noted that “no part of the world is absolutely secure and hence Abians still need to work hard to further reduce crime.”

According to him, “the task of securing a state is huge and no government can do it alone and we hope that with today’s launch, government will in the days ahead be able to provide security personnel in the state with modern security gadgets and sundry support for policing the state better.”

He also recommended the security card to all Abians as capable of loading money to the Abia business community.

In his remarks, the chairman of the occasion and Chief Executive Officer of Novena Majesty Company, Prince Sunny Aku, pointed out that security is everyone’s business as no development can take place without security and called for support for the governor to make Abia greater.

Earlier, the Chairman of the organising committee of the event, who is also the deputy chief of staff to the governor, Chief Ukpai Agwu, said that Nigeria was confronted by a myriad of security challenges with Abia State not insulated but likelier to be more impacted because of its position at the centre of the confluence of five states in the South-east and South-south regions.

Ogun Govt Rehabilitates Abeokuta-Lagos, Ilaro Federal Roads to Ease Vehicular Movement Ehime Alex In a bid to reduce the sufferings and loss of man-hour faced by motorists and other road users plying the Abeokuta-Lagos and old Ilaro roads, the Ogun State Government has recently completed the rehabilitation of some bad portions of the roads.

In a statement, the State Commissioner for Works

and Infrastructure, Arch. Olamilekan Adegbite, who noted that the rehabilitation had become necessary to make for safer motoring in the areas, also said that carrying out the maintenance was crucial as a result of large volume of human and vehicular activities occurring on the roads on a daily basis.

Adegbite hinted that Senator Ibikunle Amosunled administration was strategically prioritising

state’s funds on major dilapidated roads within the state.

He said, “It is our duty to ensure that all the roads within Ogun State are in good condition, but due to paucity of funds, we have to strategically choose the roads to be rehabilitated in terms of importance.”

The commissioner said that quite a number of federal road within the state have undergone

rehabilitation since the past six and half years as the state government could no longer wait for federal government to have acted, adding that the roads were critical for the socio-economic life of the people.

He was full of optimism that the current administration would not relent in its efforts at ensuring that all roads within its state, not minding their classification, would be put in good condition.

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02.02.2018

Ahmed Abubakar and the Challenges of Leadership Ibrahim Bello Every day in Nigeria, government and its agencies are daily accused of nepotism, bias and negligence in their appointments.

In most cases, individual competence, exposure, better service delivery and loyalty to nation-building - attributes that are supposed to be the yardsticks for government appointments - are easily discarded on the altar of the nebulous “quota system.”

But since he became Nigeria’s President on May 29, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari has never hidden his intention to make the country great once again, following years of misrule and setbacks caused by the ineptitude of both the military government and subsequent civilian administrations.

Buhari came on board on a high pedestal of untainted credibility, high hopes and expectations. So, at every given opportunity and forum, the president has always emphasised his commitment to bringing an enduring change in all the activities of government.

He also promised to make all the necessary sacrifices to stop or reduce the corruption scourge to its barest minimum.

In the last 30 months of his administration, President Buhari has always expressed profound interest in employing people who are most qualified, with character and zeal to drive the change mantra of his administration.

And from all his appointments so far, he has remained careful, consistent and pragmatic in choosing the calibre of people that run the government with him. Besides, it is important to say it clearly that as the president of this great nation, Mr. Buhari has the right to appoint any Nigerian who is qualified and competent to hold public office and can also help him achieve the objective of the government.

With the recent appointment of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as the new Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), it is obvious that the president truly meant well for the nation. It is pertinent also to appreciate the voices of many Nigerians who have applauded President Buhari for making the bold initiative and putting the right peg in the right hole. We must also not fail to appreciate the lean voices and feelings of some people who have been going all out to defame the character of the new NIA DG. Not only that, even the man that appointed him had been getting considerable vituperations from those

Abubakar

lean voices.

But is Ahmed Rufai Abubakar a versatile and thoroughbred intelligent officer that merits that position? Absolutely!

Abubakar was, for over two years, the Senior Special Assistant to the President (SSAP) on Foreign Affairs/International Relations. His experience with the workings of the Presidency and the President ensured that he understands the Change Agenda of President Buhari’s administration. His technical exposure, expertise and competence in the areas of international affairs, diplomatic practice, peace support operations and mediation is unarguable. A polyglot, he is fluent in English, Arabic, Hausa and French.

This is a man who served as a key adviser to the President for more than two years without blemish. He attended all the president’s meetings with foreign leaders and interprets for the president. He is someone who enjoys the president’s confidence.

Another lie from those who have made criticism of the president their pastime is that Buhari appointed a man that retired from the NIA as an assistant director after failing some examinations. But it has been

proved that Abubakar retired honourably as a deputy director. He earned several honours and never failed any examinations.

Some would want us believe that Abubakar’s wife is a Moroccan. How ludicrous! The man has just one wife, and they both hail from the same community in Katsina!

Given his previous experiences and contributions to nation-building, I think he is best prepared to face the challenges of leadership of the new position, bearing in mind how he could use his new position as a platform to drive the change agenda of the Buhari government.

Ambassador Abubakar had a wonderful career, spanning over two decades in the highest quarters of Nigeria’s Foreign Service.

And as an intelligent officer, the Kastina-born former university teacher has also paid his dues in the academics as well as the various departments of Foreign Service. His technical exposure and competence in international affairs, diplomatic practice, peace- support operations and mediation was worthy of note. So also are the roles he played as the Senior Political Adviser at the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). The coalition of countries of the Lake

Chad Basin, with headquarters in Ndjamena, Chad, where he offered sensitive advice on how to win the war against the Boko Haram, ensured the protection of civilians and helped in providing general security in the region.

He also provided strategic/political support to the MNJTF in the implementation of his mandate, just as he helped the Mission to establish effective monitoring, analysis and reporting mechanism with clear timelines and benchmarks.

Until he was fished out by President Buhari, Ambassador Abubakar had spent many years representing Nigeria, working with the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) in places like Morocco, Addis Ababa, Darfur, Dakar, Qatar and others.

So, two years ago when he was appointed the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs/International Affairs, it was obvious then that he would definitely make an indelible imprint. There should be little doubt that it was one of the reasons the president decided to give him a much higher responsibility. And in his capacity as the new DG, he is certainly, in the best position to prove to the world, how best he can transform the agency for Nigeria and Nigerians.

Holding such a sensitive position in the country usually comes with a lot of expectations and challenges. But even that cannot justify the outright falsehoods fabricated by the camp of Buhari haters to keep lambasting the president.

The questions to ask is, is Abubakar deserving of that position? The answer is definitely in the affirmative. And for those querying his nationality, is it possible for an alien to successfully escape the scrutiny of the security agencies between 1993 and 2005 when he served with the Foreign Service and rise to the position of deputy director? After all, Buhari wasn’t president when Abubakar joined the service in 1993.

Nigerians should be concerned with what Abubakar is bringing to the table as the new DG of NIA. I believe the man is bringing integrity to the organisation. He is bringing sanctity and global respect. Nigerians should be assured that his long years of experience, exposure and competence would surely help in discharging his responsibilities as the boss of that sensitive agency and Nigeria would definitely be better for it.

Abia Progressive March to an Agricultural Hub Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu Abia is on an impressive climb in agricultural productivity as a result of its laudable agricultural policies and initiatives. The latest in the pack is its Poultry Cluster Initiative.

This initiative is coinciding with a similar initiative in egg production in which the federal government has designated Abia as the focal state in the South-east.

The poultry cluster initiative is a response, according to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, to the state's findings that many young farmers are unable to sustain their interest in poultry farming. This is anchored on two grounds.

One is the dynamic nature of the business, and two is that these youths lack proper understanding of these dynamics.

Another essence of the cluster is that poultry is characterised by diversity and these variables must be kept as constant as possible. Provision of adequate feedstock in the right quantity, quality and at the appropriate time, and how best the farmer is feeding the chicken and the output, constitute the variables.

There is the need to strike a delicate balance on how well and how best the farmer feeds his chicken and this is the gap the cluster tends to bridge. The delicate balance is very important in poultry business. The implication of starving birds for few hours is enormous. Also, poultry business requires regular vaccination and the availability of good water, and these provisions would be met in this noble initiative, including the

Ikpeazu

provision of a pen.

The clusters which will be established in the three zones of the state would provide buildings, veterinary extension services, appropriate drugs, water, electricity and classroom. This is part of the youth empowerment strides of the state and reinforces the Chinese proverb of "teaching people how to teach rather than giving them fish.

In this arrangement, if the youths are empowered with either cash or day-oldchicks, they will be taking to the clusters.

They will be taught the economics of poultry.

These teachings will empower them with the knowledge of the quantity of feed required to feed a certain quantity of birds, administering the appropriate feed to the appropriate species, and getting the right stock for the right quality of feeds.

Besides, the arrangement is configured in a way such that even when the youths go away, the state will take over the feeding of and raising of the birds, so that the state will not lose everything. Whenever the youth returns, he will be shown the books kept by the state, and whatever is spent on feeds and vaccination would be removed while the youth receives his profit.

The cluster is designed to house a cold store and a processing line. If the farmer desires to sell his chicken, he is free to do so but if he wishes the cluster to process for him to go and sell, he would be allowed to do so. There are three significant things the poultry would achieve. One is that it would minimise losses and casualties. On the other leg, it would sustain the interest of youths in poultry farming by bringing them together.

It would also improve the farmers’ skills in poultry farming and provide the ladder to Abia's climb to an agricultural hub.

The Abia Poultry Cluster Initiative is of significant interest, the disclosure made by the National President of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, during the association's visit to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, in Abuja

recently, revealed that the poultry value chain has contributed among others over 25 per cent of the Agricultural GDP of the Nigerian economy with a current worth of US $8 billion (about N1.6 trillion).

Abia State is also extending its frontiers to starch processing. God willing and other things being equal, the state's cassava programme will be launched this year. The governor said that the "unique thing about our cassava programme is that we have taken into cognisance of our land holding challenges because we are small land holders."

In Governor Ikpeazu's words, "We want to see how we can get the buy-in of the average village woman, so that if you cultivate a few plots, we will reach an uptake agreement, first by providing you with the right cassava stems (Protein A stems) and then following up in your farms. The villagers or local woman can register. When they take out the ones they want to use for the table, the other ones government can uptake and process into starch."

It is projected that in few months ahead Abia would procure pieces of equipment for starch production. The agro-industrial area is the Ubani area where the Ubani Ibeku Modern Market is situated. The estate is already acquired and the project would be private sector driven.

Consequently, in few years ahead, Abia would add to its feather, a hub supplying raw materials (starch) to pharmaceutical companies as well as starch-based food companies.

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02.02.2018

DMGS Old Boys Class 77 Reunite 40 Years After Forty years after graduating from Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha, the 1977 graduates went back to the school that molded them and donated a skills acquisition centre. Kasie Abone who witnessed the reunion, reports It was a memorable moment filled with nostalgia.

It was a moment when accomplished men in different fields of endeavours suddenly became boys again.

The event was historic and very special. It was the 40th anniversary celebration and reunion of the class of 77 old boys of Dennis Memorial Grammar School, (DMGS) Onitsha. The C77 were those students who graduated/sat for their West African Examination School Certificate Examination in 1977 at DMGS. Tagged 40th Anniversary Celebration/Reunion DOBA C77 which evoked so much emotions as most of them were seeing themselves for the first time after 40 years, the occasion also served to give back to a school that molded them into men of substance and means most of them had grown to become. From far end of the world where they all dispersed to after leaving their alma mater they gathered in their numbers leaving every other important engagement to witness the historic reunion 40 years after leaving DMGS. From Canada, USA, Europe, UK to join their mates within Nigeria to witness the epoch gathering. Their coming together was characterised by bear hugging, back slapping calling out their various nicknames, shouting out greetings from a distance. Some could not withhold shedding a tear or two of joy. They allowed it flow uninterrupted.

The feeling was indescribable stepping their feet once again 40 years after for most of them into the school that molded them and seeing most of their classmates alive and doing well after such a long time. Fond memories of the Dengram days came flashing back in leaps. And relish it, they all did.

The day started with a thanksgiving church service at All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha conducted by Ven. Obiora Uzochukwu, the Sub Dean of the Cathedral, joined by one of their own now a venerable of the Anglican Communion, Ven. Chuks Godson Okoli, DMGS Principal, Rev. Canon Chigozie Anieto among other Reverend gentlemen.

While delivering his sermon, Ven. Uzochukwu admonished the celebrants to not only use their substance to serve humanity but also to live lives that exemplify Christ teachings as instilled in them in this cathedral while they were yet students. He said: “You may have been big this 40 years but there is a banquet waiting in heaven for only those who are truly born again and that have the spirit of Christ dwelling in them. This is an opportune time to receive Jesus Christ. It is my prayer that the spirit of God will quicken your spirit to be born in Christ with the hope of eternal life.”

Sermon over, they rendered their school anthem.

It was a nostalgic moment. It was a moment when accomplished men in different fields of endeavours suddenly became boys again. This was followed by special anniversary thanksgiving.

The high point was handing over the skills acquisition centre to the school through the principal of the school, Rev. Canon Chigozie Anieto. It was a moment of giving back to the school that gave so much to them. In line with the demands for practical learning the C77 set donated a vocational centre for skills acquisition to the school.

While unveiling the centre, Rev Anieto, who expressed gratitude to the class said the gesture was in line with current government move towards skills acquisition in schools. “I am so excited because I already have it in mind to do such a thing but it was going to cost us a lot of money.

So, I reached out to them and today they have done something which I am excited about. Thank you as we expect more from you.”

Also speaking, President General DMGS Old Boys Association, Sir Dr. Eric Anazodo, commended C77 for aligning with the new philosophy of DOBA for Class Sets to mobilise themselves towards giving back to their alma mater. In his words, “Forty years after leaving the school they have kept in touch with one another and they have thoughtfully decided an area where we really need, a vocational centre. When we were here we had tailoring hobby and all that. So, it was very good they have tried to revive one of the projects we used to enjoy in DMGS. And do it in a very significant move. I am sure other class sets would emulate and go to other areas of need in the school.”

“Entering the school, I have a feeling of nostalgia, the school has done so much for us and that is why whenever old boys are in every part of the world we think home so to say,” he added. He described the occasion as wonderful occasion

DOBA C77 group with Anambra State deputy governor, Dr. Nkem Okeke, at Engr. Freedom Ifeobu's country home, Obosi where the latter hosted his classmates

adding entering the school I have a feeling of nostalgia.”

Barr. Okey Dike Secretary C77 extended profound gratitude to all their classmates who came and who gave their time and talent towards the completion of the project.

After the unveiling, they relocated to Engr.

Freedom Ifeobu’s country home at Obosi who together with his amiable wife hosted them to a sumptuous lunch. The moment provided ample time for a lot of catching up, threw banters at each other laced with jokes reminiscing of their good old days; which elicited so much laughter.

It was joyous and memorable. Some others who missed earlier activities received rousing welcome as they joined the lunch. One of the late arrivals was the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke whose arrival elicited wild jubilation.

Throwing all protocols to the winds, he melted into their company. Okeke, though naturally very unassuming was in his best elements. Tears of joy rolled down his cheeks as he relieved how he almost derailed before his father withdrew him to Lagos where he was remolded and redirected.

“Today brings beautiful memories. We were all together, we were all young not knowing what life will bring. Today, we are all achievers in our different fields. We thank God for His mercies.

We pray that things will continue to improve in our lives. Our children will grow up to be like us or even better.” Asked what he was sharing with his mates he said, “I was telling them a story how I derailed in DMGS until my father took me out to Lagos. I became a day student and he was teaching me at home. I realised I didn't know much. I completely derailed. My father knew the value of education. In fact, he made a statement one day that really changed my life. He looked at me one and said “You can't be my son.” So, I realised that I had to change my ways and become more focused. Look at me today, with God's grace I have become the deputy governor of Anambra State. I have a lot to thank God. I really do.”

Dr. Browne Okonkwo was the brightest and most intelligent of his mates. He topped the class in WAESC coming out with distinction. His classmates have not forgotten. “To God be the glory I graduated in flying colours. In fact, I was the best in our set. I had aggregate 10 Grade One distinction in WAEC. And from Class 5 I entered the university. We had five distinctions in our set but I had the best, Freedom Ifeobu, (their host) also made distinction with aggregate 12. School was cool. We enjoyed ourselves in school. We had good time unlike what is happening now. We were studious, we were hard working. Though we didn't have a lot of teachers at the time but we studied very hard and we came out in flying colours. Uniting with my classmates today makes me feel good. In fact, I had to shelve a lot of programmes to be here. As a medical doctor I had to keep a lot of patients at bay to be here.”

For Canada-based Prince Peter Ezenwa, the brain behind the vocational centre, “the reunion has made it possible for most of us to come back for us to see. This union has been most eventful.

I am happy about that. Recalling memorable

moments, he said “We used to go to fetch water at Nkisi River about five kilometres away. You fetch the water with a bucket that had no cover.

By the time you get to the school the water is half the bucket. The way we cut the grass. So much we enjoyed.”

The Interim Chairman, DOBA C77, Mr. Sunny Chuba Nwachukwu, said there were so many he had not seen in the last 40 years after graduation. In fact, 60 per cent of the people I saw today I had not seen them since leaving school in 1977. As a matter of fact over 60 per cent of my classmates I saw today I never saw them since we left school. So it is full of nostalgia and I give appreciation to the Almighty God to have kept us alive to meet today, it is wonderful.

About 22 of our members have passed on but we will continue to pray to the Almighty to continue to keep their souls in eternal peace."

Mr. Ben Okafor, a Lagos-based business man who works in the oil sector gave a graphic account of life as a Dengramite. "We were victims of the Civil War. Between 67 and 70 we were out of school. When the Civil War ended I now finished my primary school. In 1972 when we were entering for secondary school, you have to choose three schools. My father chose three schools for me DMGS number one, Government College, Owerri and Government College, Umuahia. As fate would have it I passed common entrance. I had 35 score. I guess the highest was 36. So, my father said I should go to grammar school. So, I went to grammar school on merit. My father was the person that brought me to school. That was the first time I was leaving home. Though we were matured then by virtue of the Civil War but then in the mix of different students from different backgrounds it was quite exciting.

The basic facilities were not there in terms of toilets, going to fetch water and all that but after a while all that became part of us. So, it was quite great. And the first prayer we had with our principal was at the same cathedral we visited today. I could vividly remember what he said. He quoted one version in the Bible and he said “when I was a boy I thought like a boy, I did like a boy. When I now became a man, everything changed.” In other words, telling us that we were no more boys and now we were on our own and we should think and do things independently. He looked at us as boys who were coming from different homes so we should be strong. School was very perfect. We went through it religiously especially attending our chapel, evening prayer. It was very religious because they made sure they inculcate the right morals in us. Every evening we had prayers and sing Ancient and Modern hymn book. At a point Ancient and Modern became part of us that we can sing off head without looking at the book because every evening we must sing. On Sundays we go to chapel in the morning, in the evening we return to All Saints Cathedral and we pray and sing. So, all the church activities and the Anglicanism that I grew up with in DMGS was so deep in me in terms of Ekpele n’Abu and the things that are there. That is the moral. In terms of academics, all our teachers

were quite excellent and disciplined."

Okafor who was more a socialite then, a smart dresser and party freak, a combination of character that earned him the nickname "Don Pedro" also spoke about being a deviant. "Then I could remember that I was deviant, the first bad report I had was by my house master; that a boy who comes to school with coloured dresses, because I would come with those things I would wear to attend parties. When I returned home my father really flogged hell out of me. He now took it upon himself to check my box anytime I was going back to school to see what I was going back with. Even at that I had to find a way out of it. So, that was why in school, every party I must be there. Not that I was a bad boy but I like the social aspect of it. I enjoyed myself. I must attend debate, I was a good debater. I was an average student. Probably if I had committed more of time to academics I would have been above average. But because I spend so much time on the social part of it, it took most of my time. My father worked in Shell before the war. He was an impeccable dresser. In my hometown they referred to him as the most handsome man in his own days. So, his dress sense robbed off on me. That was the aspect of my life at DMGS everybody still remembers. In fact, we had a clique, we called ourselves Cosmic Generation. Anywhere they had any party if Cosmic was not there it was not a party. So, they called me Don Pedro. Dan Collins, First Apollos, etc. If you don't have a nickname in DMGS you don't belong. So, they call me Don Pedro, the don of parties. So, it was fun for all of us and I thank God after forty years we were able to come together and see my classmates again. Oh it was so glorious, it was wonderful.

Something keeps coming to my mind. In 1972, the first church service we had in that cathedral, our first principal, Rev. Canon Chinwuzie from Oba, mounted the pulpit, he quoted that verse I was telling you. I could just remember the section of the pulpit where he was. And seeing my classmates coming into the same cathedral where we were well nurtured in Christian way.

I tell you if you pass through DMGS and you don't turn up a disciplined person, apart from the teachers and most importantly the religious aspect of it, going to All Saints Cathedral on Sundays, in the evening you return to All Saints Cathedral. Evening prayers you must come, you sing. So, it was awesome. From Monday to Friday, we must have evening songs. If you come to morning assembly you must sing. At some point, we sing off head because of the thing you do every day. It was awesome seeing the same people you grew up with coming together after 40 years. Most of them who married early are now grandparents they are all achievers in their different fields. So it is great. And what we did today was to express gratitude to God for keeping us alive after 40 years and giving back to the same institution which in one way or the other shaped us into who we are today.

We have not done enough. I believe we shall do more and to set a kind of standard that others coming after us will follow."

35/ENTREPRENEUR

02.02.2018

‘Washing People’s Clothes is a Family Tradition’ Eniibukun Adebayo, founder of Clean Ace Drycleaners, a popular dry-cleaning brand in Nigeria, under the auspices of his foundation, Clean Ace Foundation, recently established a dry cleaning school, Clean Ace Academy as a way of strengthening the dry-cleaning industry in Nigeria, In this interview with Mary Ekah, the Ondo State University graduate of Economics who said washing of clothes has been his family tradition, speaks on what influenced his decision to be a washer-man and his efforts over the years to revolutionise the industry been laid down from your grandfather, so do you have any of your own children preparing to take over from you?

Gone are the days when parents forced their children to do what they wanted and not what their children wanted. These days, we don’t force the children but we can influence them. Like my son Josiah, from age seven, he has always come into the factory whenever I was working helping to pick up hangers and garments that fall on the ground. He was about two years old when we started the Clean Ace brand so automatically he has grew to see me washing and ironing cloths and from age two, he has grown to 20 watching branches of Clean Ace springing up from two branches to over 15 branches today. So, needless to say that I’m strongly influencing him to look inwards and may probably take up the mantle of leadership of the Clean Ace brand.

Tell us a bit about your journey into the drycleaning business?

I have been dry cleaning for 25 years now.

It started from my grandfather, my father and then I. My own components of the business started in 1991. It is the only business that I have done and I take it more as a calling. I noticed from the onset that there was no proper structure in the industry. And we looked at it that for the industry to thrive, there was need for some measure of conglomerate energy and resources put together to be able to advocate, regulate, renovate and compete in a favourable positive manner that will bring creative energy into the dry-cleaning business. So I came into the dry-cleaning industry in 1991; my cleaning brand is exactly 12 years old. I have worked in my father’s business and also with the biggest and best laundry in Nigeria, which I was also the founding partner. At a point I pulled out. I wanted to go into consulting in the dry-cleaning industry, but by self-conviction and divine direction, I was convinced that it was better I first build a successful brand before I can start training or consulting for others so that the brand would be a prove to people that this man really has an idea of what he wants to give out or share. That was how I ventured into dry-cleaning and now we are coming up with the academy proper.

What was the inspiration?

As a young boy, in primary and secondary school then, I loved ironing cloths. I always told myself that when I grow up, I want to be a washer-man. I didn’t like to wash but I loved to iron. I could spend the whole day ironing; even if you don’t say thank you, I can continue to iron for you. I ironed so much that even my father’s friends on our street and estate then would wash their clothes, starch them in their houses and bring them to me at the weekend and I would spend my whole Saturday and Sunday to iron them. It was something I did passionately and enjoyed so much. In 1991, when my father was starting his own laundry business, I had finished secondary school in 1988 and I was expecting admission into the university. I kept writing JAMB for six times. During that period, my father started his laundering business and I loved it because it helped me to express my ironing skills. Then, I saw bigger irons like the ones in my training factory now. Eventually, I gained admission and my father asked me, what I wanted to do. If I wanted to continue with his business or go to the university because I was so much involved in the business at the time.

I said yes, it was good for me to be educated because it will help me improve on the things that I liked doing. So all through, as I was growing up, I only had it in my mind that for me and as many young people that are interested in the dry-cleaning business, I was going to make sure that there is a good company where people can work and be proud to say, ‘I am a washer-man’ and will not feel anybody pushing them aside in the society.

Coming into the dry-cleaning business proper, I now saw a lot of loopholes why young people will not be interested and that was because there was no structure, there was nobody training them, everybody was just doing it on the local level.

Only few people were able to go to England or America to learn dry-cleaning professionally. I now said instead of going to America and UK to train, we must have a training centre here. I spoke with the Americans and other people all over the world asking them to come and set up a school in Nigeria but you know the problem

Adebayo

What kind of training are we expecting at the academy?

We are bringing in innovation. Everybody in their own home uses the ordinary pressing iron and wet the cloths with water from their hands but we will be training them with bigger irons. They would see the re-engineering and re-defining factor in making quality fabric care affordable to all. We have people that are trained all over the world who will take part in this academy to train people in the professional way and method for proper laundry. The kind of training we will be giving will be based on practical. We would show them different types of materials and how to take care for them.

We want to also tell Nigerians that they should produce cloth with care label, because there are institute that check those materials abroad. A lot of people bring cloth to for dry-cleaning and causes problem, so we are working on insurance policy that is going to help. The academy will stand to regulate all these things to make sure things are done in proper way. The academy is coming up to support the sectors of the; tailors, vendors and the manufacturers and going by the quality of our facilities in the academy, we have spent about N50 million and more innovation is still in progress. We are number one in Nigeria and Africa and we want to reach the whole Africa because the academy is for everybody. of coming to set up a business in Nigeria so I had to take it upon myself to do it. I felt that if this was the only legacy I can leave, it would have been worth it. So I decided to create the academy and make it as standard as possible. I have travelled as far as South Africa searching for consultants and trainers that can really train people, to come and partner with us. We are asking them to come to Nigeria but all of them keep pulling back. And I said to myself, if people outside cannot help us, we Nigerians must help ourselves and that is what has brought about this academy.

Is the training going to be free?

It is not going to be entirely free and that is why I talked about the Clean Ace Foundation which is our way of giving back to the society, but the academy is the operational arm. It must be self-sustainable. It’s not for profit and of course it will not be run at a lost. We are not begging people to come and support. It is what we have been called to do. It is a legacy we are proven to leave behind. We have come into the dry-cleaning industry and we are not going to leave it the way we met it.

This seems to be a family tradition that has

So would you say you were also influenced by your parents to take up dry cleaning as a job?

I personally liked cleanliness and looking very smart as a young child. And then, my father was a very stylish person, quite fashionable and a proper gentleman. So I learned how to do his clothes nicely and then when he started his laundry business, it was another training ground for me and I just kept developing interest in it.

So I was heavily influenced by my father even as a very young boy in the line of cleanliness and doing things properly, especially in the area of washing cloths and ironing them. So it just became a hobby, a habit and later I have been able to form my whole life around it.

You started this job with so much passion and determination but a lot of people starting today do not have such passion. What’s your advice to them?

That is why we want to share the story of how God made Clean Ace what it is today at our newly established Dry Cleaning Academy. People must come to be encouraged and empowered.

If God had done it for me, He can do it for you as well. All you have to learn is what to do and what not to do. I say, dry-cleaning is in my DNA because my grandfather did it and then bequeathed it to my own father and now it has become a life time trade in our family. So there are things we have learned over the years and those are the things that we are going to share at this academy.

Can you share a few of these life time lessons you have learned over the years?

One of such lessons is that you must save. My father would say, ‘what you have not saved, you have not earned’. So people must cultivate the habit of making sure that money goes into the bank. Secondly, cleanliness is next to godliness.

My father practicalised that so well. He always said that if you have clean heart and hands, you must wear clean clothes. If you have clean hands, then you would want your entire environment to be clean. If you take care of people’s cloth so well, they would tell their friends about you.

These are what I learned from my father. My father used to dress so neatly that in the evening when he is coming back from work and his friends would be asking if he was going to work because his shirt was always neatly worn.

And learn how to grow business by learning how to grow customers – take care of your first set of customers very well, if anything goes wrong between you and any of them, ensure that you rectify it.

36/COLLAGE

02.02.2018

L/R COMMISSIONER OF POLICE LAGOS STATE, IMOHIMI OLUWOLE EDGAL SHAKING HAND WITH HIS EMINENCE DR. SAMUEL EMEKA KANU PRELATE METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA DURING 65TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF HIS EMINENCE DR. SAMUEL EMEKA KANU HELD AT METHODIST CATHEDRAL OF PEACE AND EXCELLENCE OPEBI, LAGOS...RECENTLY

(L-R) Head of Security, Airtel Nigeria, Oluwaseyi Adetayo, Manager: Talent Sourcing, Airtel Nigeria, ; Bam Eko Inika and, Human Resources Director, Airtel Nigeria, Gbemiga Owolabi during the kick-off of the 2018 Airtel HR Week in Lagos...recently

R-L; Head, Clients & lndustries, Deloitte, Mr. Amani Momodu; Publicity Secretay, lndependent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (lSAN), Mses lgbrude; National Coordinator, lSAN, Mr. Adeniyi A. Adebisi and Treasurer, Mrs Temilade Durojaiye at the lSAN new year party in Lagos...recently MUBO PETERS

L-R: Second Vice Chairperson, Oyo State Market Leaders' Council, Mrs. Labake Lawal; Council Chairperson, Alhaja Amdalatu Lawal; and State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi,during the inauguration of the council by the governor in Ibadan...recently.

PHOTO: GOVERNOR'S OFFICE

L-R; Former Ekiti State Governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; Chief Harry Akande; the Celebrant, Mrs. Ayodele Ogunade; her husband, Otunba Kunle Ogunade; former Chairman Dunlop, Sam Bolarinde; and Dr. Sonny Kuku at a dinner to mark 60th Birthday of Mrs. Ogunade in Lagos…. recently SUNDAY ADIGUN

L- R; CEO, Payport, Eyo Bassey; Adenike Bankole and Head of Communication, Benjamen Amu during an interaction round table with the mediaa by Payport CEO in Lagos...recently ABIODUN AJALA

Prof Toyin Falola (left) welcoming His Imperial Majesty, , the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III to the Toyin Falola@65 Conference held at the University of Ibadan...recently

37/ THISLIFE

02.02.2018

Ekwueme: An Exemplary Life Lived in Service of Humanity

Late Ekwueme

Chinedu Nebo It is time to say farewell. Certainly, a time like this must come. No amount of sentiment, no amount of longing, fears, trepidations and anxieties can stop it. Otherwise, instead of this dispiritedness, instead of this bemoaning, the Iroko would have been standing still, for everything would have been done to stop it from falling. And what a fall!

Indeed, if it were in the power of man, many would have created a human barrier and stepped on the way to stop the cold hand of death. If it were in the power of man, this deed would have been reversed. If it were in the power of man, our Ide, the pillar, would still be very much around today.

For with humanity, Dr. Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme maintained an unending kinship that stretched beyond the ordinary, a symbiotic conviviality that made him inseparable with the society and the people he loved – love that saw him at times, mock at danger, confront most daunting odds and defy roaring lions.

For their sake.

But, like every iron must return to the furnace, it is not in the power of man to interfere in what God, the divine creator, has made his exclusive preserve. For His, it is, to make that eternal call. And when he calls, no man, no matter how powerful, can or will refuse to answer.

For this icon, one of the greatest men that has ever breathed and strode the landscape of Nigeria, nay, the world, a rare gift to humanity, whom at every point, that call came on November 19, 2017.

With that a chapter was closed and a new one began for this sage, who used his life to teach humanity the raison d’etre of God making man the highest of earth’s creature.

Yes, with Ekwueme, humanity learnt that man is not on earth to live, eat grow and die, but on the contrary, must strive to impact his environment positively, always. He must do so by developing his latent instincts to the full and putting all the products therefrom at the disposal of his fellow beings, all in the service of God. That was what he espoused and his life reflected at every turn in his 85

years on earth.

Although not a trained, like Alexander the Great, with whom he shared the same name, Ekwueme, was no less a soldier. He was indeed a soldier’s soldier. For in him were countless and demonstrable evidences of uncommon courage as he fought several battles and wars on different fronts. But unlike the Macedonian General, who earned his title, by going about conquering physical territories, his territory was quite different – the frontiers of humanity and how to enhance it.

Imbued by this special love for people, he had to pick up the gauntlet at the time it mattered most, and fought one of the most ferocious battles, post independent Nigeria, against the dark forces in the bid to create an atmosphere of a free and democratic society.

At the time his contemporaries and many others were cringing in fear and reclining to their cocoons to escape some palpable unpleasant consequences of confronting the military anti-democratic forces, Ekwueme rose to the occasion by leading other prominent Nigerians to confront the late General Sani Abacha, in his heydays as Nigeria’s most dreaded draconian ruler.

He did this, not minding that the many unpleasant outcomes included threat to personal liberty or even death. But it was all about courage.

Far from being reckless, Ekwueme’s rare bravery in forming and leading the G.34 against the late despot and asking him to give up power, was not because he had no blood in him, but borne out of a more compelling and ennobling need for democracy. For that alone and personal liberty and life itself, were no barriers or at best a secondary consideration. It was his way of re-echoing that epochal declaration of Patrick Henry to Americans – Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.

He also had another opportunity to press home the point that his uncommon sacrifice, was not being driven by the quest to satisfy personal ambitions and goals, but to pursue the greatest good for the greatest number of the society.

After the military was eventually eased out, the lot fell on him once again to organise the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), nurture

it and make it one of the most formidable political platforms in the country. But, at the time it was for him to savour the glorious fruit of his labour, he was shoved aside by some more formidable forces, which denied him the opportunity of contesting the presidential election under the same platform and becoming President.

Yet, contrary to expectation, and perhaps scheme of his traducers, he brushed aside the negativity of the obvious conspiracy and climbed to a higher ground.

Indeed, having been a former Vice President, stupendous material wealth, tremendous political influence, and the sympathy that trailed his unfair treatment, the natural reaction, were he any other Nigerian, would have seen him breaking away to form another platform. But no, to emphasise that it was not about personal ambition, he again, submitted himself and subsumed his ambition to the democratic ethos of the majority.

Twice, he was given this treatment, and twice he remained resolute and not only made himself available to the party, but continued to avail it of his wealth of experience as the Chairman Board of Trustees (BOT) and later, an elder statesman.

How many Nigerians have displayed such a great show of selflessness, resilience, forthrightness and resoluteness to a common cause? How many in politics today, are willing to bury personal ambition in pursuit of common good?

A consummate scholar, philosopher, uncommon philanthropist, versatile professional, author and teacher, this sage, in spite of reaching to the zenith of human expectations, never even assumed a cavalier attitude common to his class, but also hobnobbed with the ordinary folks in the society.

His philanthropic gestures, epitomised Christ’s example of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, as he used his wealth to lift the downtrodden. Because he would remain always at the background, very few today can associate with building churches, schools, and public-spirited works that enhanced the society. Fewer yet, know about his scholarship foundation, through which he became the

bridge through which many indigent persons within his community in Oko, Orumba North Local Government Area, of Anambra State, and beyond, also acquired education and attained great heights themselves.

Always finding solutions rather than being the problem, his six-zonal structure, which he canvassed and gave Nigeria, has become the basis on which a major problem of Nigeria has eventually found solution.

One of the founders and patrons of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the highest decision-making body of the Igbo people, he was the arrowhead of the Mkpoko Igbo, an intellectual and influential body that aggregated the Igbo position to the 1995 National Constitutional Conference, organised by then government of Abacha, where the idea was given its flesh and blood.

Here was a man, who was arrested and thrown into jail in 1984 for his role as the Vice President, by a military government, on charges of corruption. But, after rudimental judicial sieve, he was not only pronounced completely blameless and unblemished, but was described as leaving government poorer than he went in.

Yet, even with this and the greater injustice of being made to face this sweltering prison experience as an innocent man, Ekwueme never bore any animosity or misgiving towards anybody. Neither those who jailed him, nor those who conspired to deny him a well-deserved position of Nigerian President and others who hurt him in many other ways, he never uttered as much as one foul word in retaliation. What more could this mean than living life as God designed it?

That Ekwueme emptied himself to the full, stretched himself to the limit and gave his all to a nation and a people he loved so much to the last, cannot be debated.

What remains to be seen is how much of his exemplary life, will form the golden standard we must look up to whenever the shrouding serpents which have infested our land strike our feet.

Farewell, Ide. Prof. Nebo was the immediate past Minister of Power

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T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018

40

CITYSTRINGS

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

Earthmovers carrying out the demolition of Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market last year with the protection of security agents and state thugs

Agony for Owerri Traders Since the demolition of the Eke-Ukwu Owerri market by the Imo State Government, traders in the market have been plunged into anguish, writes Peter Uzoho

W

hen traders at the Eke-Ukwu Owerri, an ancestral market in the Imo State capital closed the day’s business and went to bed, they never thought that the next day, their once happy life would suddenly slide into despair. They never believed that the next morning, they would be singing songs of sorrow, pain and disappointment.

Misfortune has overshadowed them – they are now living in poverty and pity.

On August 26, 2017, Owerri was thrown into pandemonium and mourning. It was a bloodbath of sort. On the order of the governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, arm-carrying security agents, led by soldiers at the 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, officers of the Nigerian Police Force, the Imo Youth Network and thugs, accompanied operators of bulldozers to Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market and had it razed to ground level. In the process, investments worth millions of naira were destroyed while others were stolen by criminals who saw golden opportunity in the demolition exercise.

Also during the exercise, some people lost their lives through stray bullets allegedly fired by the soldiers. Among the deceased was a 10-year-old boy, Master Somtochukwu Ibeanusi, from Anambra State who was assisting his father to pack their goods.

Several others sustained different degrees of injury and are currently crying in pains in hospitals.

Also known to Imolites as Eke-Onunwa, Eke-Ukwu Owerri is an ancient market in

Imo State nestled on Douglas Road, Owerri, on a land said to be owned by the people of Umuororonjo and Amawom, two of the communities in Owerri Municipal Council of the state. It used to be a-must-go-to, for anyone wishing to buy or sell any kind of household items both in piece and in bulk.

Eke-Ukwu Owerri used to host, on a daily basis, over 5, 000 people from within and outside the state, who trooped to the market to buy and sell. Amongst these are traders who had risen from selling on tables and hawking to become multi-millionaires in their respective lines of business. Some had spent decades in their daily hustles in the market.

The demolition of EkeUkwu Owerri Market has left traders crying in anguish. To them, life has become miserable and no more worth living. They wonder while on earth would a governor who has the well-being of his people at heart embark on such harmful exercise

Most of these traders are breadwinners of their different families – providing food, shelter, paying school fees, and rendering some help to distant families.

Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market was held so dearly by both the original landowners and the people of Imo State owing to its importance to their lives and the economy of the state. This was buttressed by a saying in the state that “he who is hosted by EkeUkwu Owerri does not go home hungry.”

Many people depended on this market for their survival. Not only the main traders, also artisans, transporters, and wheelbarrow pushers who were living on income generated from services rendered. Landlords equally made good cash from rents paid by these traders using their houses.

However, the demolition of Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market has left traders crying in anguish.

To them, life has become miserable and no more worth living. They wonder while on earth would a governor who has the wellbeing of his people at heart embark on such harmful exercise. They said the governor paraded himself to the people of Imo during electioneering in 2011 as a “rescue mission agent” but has become an “agent of Imo annihilation”. According to them, “he wants all of us to die and God will not allow him to achieve his evil plan in Imo.” “I had two shops in this market fully loaded with goods and all were destroyed by the agents of the governor. Some were stolen by criminals he brought to carry out this evil act. I’m now left with nothing for me and my family,” Mr. Chidiebere Fidelis, one of

the traders, told THISDAY. Fidelis said: “This is the only market we have and the only thing the governor can do is to come and destroy it. So many people who depended on this market for their survival are now roaming the streets hopeless. Some have gone mad because they couldn’t bear the loss. Just look around here, nothing is happening here again. And since they demolished it they have not done anything tangible on this land. The governor just decided to make life difficult for us in this state.

“He asked us to go to Relief Market where nothing is happening. How can a governor be initiating policies that cannot help the people in anyway. It’s really sad that things are going this way in the state,” he noted.

According to Fidelis, the governor’s action stemmed from the refusal of Owerri people to allow him take their land located at Area K, Word Bank, Owerri. “He now came to use force to dispossess us of our cherished market. This market has been in existence before the governor; other governors have come and gone without demolishing it,” Fidelis noted.

“Rochas has decorated us with pain and hardship,” Mr. Boniface Mmaduakolam, who deals on foodstuff, lamented. Mmaduakolam was seen in one corner of the demolished market with his grinding machine and some quantity of his stock but with no one to patronise him. He had been sitting all day and no sale made. This was against his experience when the market had not been demolished.

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018

41

CITYSTRINGS Honestly, Rochas has suddenly become a different person for us in this state. I don’t know why he derives joy in seeing us suffer in spite of the support we gave to him during election. We voted for him massively.

He didn’t spend like his opponents to get to that office. We loved him and thought that he would show us same love but he’s paying us back with wickedness “We’re just here looking around. Nothing is happening. You can see for yourself. All my goods have been destroyed and some stolen by criminals employed by the governor.

I’m only here trying to see if I can see at least N500 to feed my family today but since I came out today I’ve not sold up to one naira,” he said.

Mmaduakolam said: “Honestly, Rochas has suddenly become a different person for us in this state. I don’t know why he derives joy in seeing us suffer in spite of the support we gave to him during election. We voted for him massively. He didn’t spend like his opponents to get to that office. We loved him and thought that he would show us same love but he’s paying us back with wickedness.

“He has banned Keke operators in Owerri and, has heightened the cost of transportation here. Keke that we used to pay N50 to come here is now N100 by bus and, to see them is very difficult. What have we done to him to deserve all these,” he asked.

“Our condition is worse now. We’re waiting for Okorocha to come and finish what is left of us,” Mrs. Kelechi Rowland, a fish seller and mother of four, says disappointingly.

“As it stands now to feed is a problem. To pay my children’s school fees is a problem.

I’ve even withdrawn them from the private school they were attending to public schools to see if I can cope,” she said.

Mrs. Charity Ogu, who sells wrapper, said the governor’s decision to demolish Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market without proper relocation plan was shocking to her. According to her, the action has worsened the condition of the people of the state, particularly, they, the traders.

“I’ve never seen this kind of governor before – a governor that will act without proper planning. He said we should go to Egbeada; we should go to Naze; we should go to Relief Market and, none of these places has been developed. The only thing he could do is to mobilise his armed men and thugs to come and destroy all we have worked for years. Rochas has reduced us to beggars.

God is watching him,” Ogu said.

“We have suffered in this state. Okorocha has messed this state up. Nobody is happy.

We’re dying of hunger here while our governor is smiling,” Mr. Nwachukwu Bethel, who sells men’s clothes, said.

Having lost his hard-earned millions, Bethel is now pondering over where to run to for help to enable him recover from the pain.

“I’ve lost my hard-earned millions. I had over N4 million worth of goods in my shops and all were destroyed and looted. I don’t know where to run to for help. How can a governor be this wicked to the people he’s governing? What have we done to him to deserve this,” he lamented.

According to him, some of them would have joined tricycle (Keke) business as another means of survival if that had not been banned by the governor. “How are we going to survive this? No means of survival anymore.”

Mr. Uchenna Iwu was among those whose business ran into millions before the calamity. He deals on shoes and has been in the business for over three decades. He had four shops at the Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market fully stocked with shoes worth N10 million and all of these got lost in the demolition. Iwu

Some of the traders found in the market struggling for the day’s bread

Traders and buyers at one corner of the demolished Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market

Some of the traders found in the market struggling for the day’s bread

is now struggling to survive the shock. With the little money in his account, he was able to buy few shoes and has been reduced to shedding his wares on the floor while begging for patronage.

Recounting his ordeal, he said: “Look at me, just look at me. All I have toiled for

over 30 years have been vandalised. I had four shops here in Eke-Ukwu Owerri and all filled with shoes. Now this is what is remaining. I’m now trying to sell them off at a giveaway price just to get some money to feed my family.

‘They didn’t give us any formal notice.

No notice at all. We were only hearing it as rumour that this market would be demolished.

We didn’t take it seriously. Now everybody is in agony and pain. How do we survive this? Where do we start from here? Are we going to relocate to the village or what?” he noted.

T H I S D AY ˞ , Ͱ˜ 2018

42

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Nova Merchant Bank Commences Operations Obinna Chima Nova Merchant Bank Limited, a newly licenced merchant bank with a focus on wholesale and investment banking as well as asset management, formally opened its doors to members of the public yesterday.

The unveiling of the financial institution whose corporate head office is situated at Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, attracted top bankers, business leaders, and industrialists including Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

Speaking at the launch, the promoter of the bank and its Chairman, Mr. Phillips Oduoza expressed optimism that the bank would play a major role in providing financial solution in the country which has wide infrastructure deficit. “Banking is changing globally with the emergence of new entrants and the infusion of non-traditional business models leveraging advances in technology. We believe Nigeria should not be left behind.

Therefore, NOVA is here to bring a new experience in the banking industry. “Our mission is to create

superior value in markets where we operate. We also want to re-establish merchant banking as a key economic driver by providing long-term funding and advisory services.

In terms governance, at Nova, it ranks very high and we have adopted best practice,� he explained.

Speaking further, Oduoza reaffirmed his belief that the number of merchant banks in Nigeria is still very low, saying there is opportunity for more, considering the key role merchant banks play.

Dwelling on the strength of the new bank, Oduoza, who until recently was the Group Managing Director/CEO of the United Bank for Africa, noted that NOVA is equipped with talented people and cuttingedge technology, necessary to deliver its mandate as a merchant bank. “We have structured our products and designed our business model around merchant banking. We have carved a niche for ourselves and we believe strongly we will deliver in this area,� he promised the customers.

Declaring the bank open, Dangote, who was the Special Guest of Honour, commended

the promoter of the bank who hedescribed as a thorough bred professional with a strong track record of achievements in the banking industry. He expressed his confidence in the quality of the board of directors of the Bank and the senior management team. “This is good news for the business community since funding or the lack of it is a major barrier to doing business in Nigeria. I am particularly elated that Nova is a merchant bank and the investment banking space is one that is craving for innovation. The past couple of years have been quite challenging for the Nigerian economy and this weighed down on assets quality. “Given the personalities on your board, under the leadership of Phillips Oduoza, I have no doubt that Nova Merchant Bank will not just survive, but would play a dominant role in the financial service landscape. I know what you (Oduoza) did at UBA and we don’t expect anything less from you. Phillips is a thorough bred professional who has had an exceptional and unblemished banking career,� Dangote added.

Report Predicts Positive Outlook for Nigeria’s Cement Sector Analysts at RMB Nigeria Stockbrokers (RMBNS) have forecast a positive outlook for the Nigerian cement sector, stating that 2018 could be the beginning of the next growth cycle for cement consumption in Nigeria. Specifically, RMBNS projected that Nigeria’s cement consumption would grow at about seven per cent yearon-year in 2018, compared with a 17 per cent decline it recorded in 2017, especially following the country’s exit from a challenging economic downturn in 2017.

Furthermore, RMBNS expects stronger consumption growth at 12 per cent compound annual growth rate (CGAR) between 2018 and 2023.

RMBNS stated this in a recent report on the Cement Industry obtained yesterday. The Head of Research at RMBNS, Gbenga Sholotan, foresaw supportive cement consumption drivers from the emergence of concrete roads and housing deficit which could unlock 53 metric tonnes and 24 metric tonnes

respectively by the end of 2020. “RMBNS sees improving government capex commitment and implementation as well as ongoing public-private partnership infrastructure financing initiatives as positives for cement demand,� it added.

The key risk for the Nigeria’s cement sector according to the report, in 2018, was the possibility of a price cut based on RMBNS in-house free cash flow (FCF) margin-cement price parity model. RMBNS reasons that cement prices could decline by about 12 per cent in 2018 after almost 60 per cent year-on-year increase in 2017. “The likelihood of BUA’s three metric tonnes per annum OBU II plant starting operations in 2018 further supports our view, given that historically, some price cuts have been implemented in the sector when smaller players announce new capacity,�the report added.

On a stock level, RMBNS recommended that “investors Overweight (OW) Dangote Ce-

ment, setting a 12-month target price of N271 per share and Underweight Lafarge Africa at N49 per share. RMBNS is of the view that Dangote Cement’s 2018 cement volume could come in higher at 11 per cent year-on-year (-c17% y/y; 2017e) to 24.5mt, with 2018 FCF growth robust at 55 per cent year-on-year (N296 billon), implying attractive FCF yield of seven per cent, on moderate capital expenditure needs. “RMBNS also sees Dangote Cement’s Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) margin resilient at 47 per cent going forward, with 2018 EBITDA growing 11 per cent year-on-year, helped by gains from the Pan-African operation. “On Lafarge Africa, RMBNS sees limited catalysts, negative excess return estimate of -8%, risks of potential operational plant downtime from ageing plants and continued unfavourable market dynamics in South Africa as supportive of its underweight rating.�

Fitch Affirms UBA’s Stable Outlook Fitch Ratings, one of the foremost global credit rating agencies has affirmed the long term issuer default rating of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) at “B�, with a stable outlook.

According to Fitch, the rating of UBA was driven by the standalone credit worthiness of thebank, as defined by its viability rating, which is constrained by Nigeria’s operating environment.

In its latest report, Fitch highlighted UBA’s systemic importance, its well established franchise and internationalisation across 19 African countries, all of which reinforce the rating strength of the Bank.

Furthermore, Fitch viewed UBA’s earnings and profitability positively, especially as it’s reported impaired loans/gross loans ratio (i.e non-performing loanratio) remained relatively low at around four per cent.

Fitch noted: “Corporate lending dominates the loan book, but much of it is collateralised.

UBA’s exposure to the oil & gas sector represents 20 per cent of total loans, lower than the 30 per cent sector average.�

This, it stated was a reflection of the diversified structure of UBA’s credit portfolio and an apparent evidence of the sound risk management of the Bank.

In addition, Fitch noted the

improved foreign currency liquidity of UBA, following the successful issuance of a$500 million Eurobond in 2017 and also affirmed the strength of the bank’s local currency funding profile.

According to the rating agency, UBA’s retail deposit is higher than the average of peers and local currency liquidity ratios are high. “We reckoned UBA maintained a liquidity ratio of 40% through the first nine months of 2017, a notable buffer over the regulatory requirement of 30%, despite the stressed liquidity in the Nigerian banking system within the period.�

Oduoza

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

8,367,573.19

-- Quasi Money

11,960,641.22

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

9,732,990.89

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

12,118,463.42 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?

7,834,536.74

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)

5,486,804.65

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

1,868,735.07

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

22.63

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

13.35

Savings Deposit Rate

4.08

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.86

3 Months Deposit Rate

10.14

6 Months Deposit Rate

11.51

12 Months Deposit Rate

11.40

Prime Lending rate

17.69

Maximum Lending Rate

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

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT, WED, JAN 31, 2018 The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $66.28 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $66.60 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 ˾ , FEBRUARY 2 , 2018

43

MARKET NEWS

Guinness Nigeria Returns to Profitability, Records N2.131bn in Six Months Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie

indicated that the brewery recorded a revenue of N70.6 billion compared with N59.491 billion in 2016.

According to the company, the top-line growth was driven by both spirits and beer reflecting the expansion of the company’s portfolio, and improved operating margins with benefits from productivity initiatives despite sustained

Guinness Nigeria Plc has announced its half year results for the half year ended December 31, 2017, showing a profit after tax (PAT) of N2.131 billion, up from a loss of N4.667 billion in the corresponding period of 2016.

The unaudited results

cost pressures.

However, one factor that contributed to the positive performance was the rights issues raised by the company last year, which assisted to reduced finance costs from N4.578 billion to N3.106 billion in 2017.

Also, marketing spend increase by 17 per cent, demonstrating sustained

investment behind Guinness Nigeria’s brands, administrative and distribution expenses declined, driven by the company’s continuing focus on productivity.

Consequently, the profit before tax (PBT) stood at N3.544 billion as against a loss of N4.662 billion, while a PAT of N2/131 billion was recorded.

PRICES FOR SECURITIES TRADED AS OF

also against the backdrop of lapping inventory reduction from prior year.”

According to him, they believe in the continued execution of their strategy, allowing them to navigate a tough environment characterised by down trading of consumers as disposable income is subjected to additional pressure.

Commenting on the results, Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Peter Ndegwa, said: “In a difficult operating environment, notwithstanding recent signs of economic recovery, we delivered a strong performance with net sales growth of 19 per cent for the half year with growth in spirits and benefits of an expanding portfolio and

A S AT 3 0 / 0 1 / 2 0 1 8

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

29 PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC

MARKET CAP(Nm)

30

973,291.31

31.00

-0.16

434

15,571,720

31

434

15,571,720

OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FBN HOLDINGS PLC

MARKET CAP(Nm) 506,123.63

32

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

33

14.10

0.71

709

41,197,430

34

709

41,197,430

1,143

56,769,150

35 FOOD PRODUCTS

BANKING

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

MARKET CAP(Nm) DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 4,600,937.00 BUILDING MATERIALS

S/N PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

270.00

0.75

37 37 37 1,180

204,887 204,887 204,887 56,974,037

36 37 FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERSIFIED S/N 38

CROP PRODUCTION

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

S/N

1,012.00

0.46

-8.00

2

150,000

40

68,776.91 71,000.00

72.10 71.00

1.43

21 28 51

82,516 1,470,626 1,703,142

FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC FISHING/HUNTING/TRAPPING ELLAH LAKES PLC.

MARKET CAP(Nm) 511.20

LIVESTOCK/ANIMAL SPECIALTIES LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC.

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.

39 HOUSEHOLD DURABLES

MARKET CAP(Nm) 3,360.00

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

4.26

-

0

0

0

0

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

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

42 43

1.12

4.67

54

2,204,268

44

54

2,204,268

105

3,907,410

45 46 47 48 49 50

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

1,588.37

0.60

-

5

21,462

194.58 2,111.93

0.50 3.25

-

5 0

45,305 0

99,994.06

2.46

9.33

693

160,989,028

33,711.17

17.55

-0.28

75 778 778

1,264,489 162,320,284 162,320,284

51 52 53 BANKING S/N 54 55

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

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

8,314.87

3.20

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (REIT) UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST

AUTOMOBILES/AUTO PARTS DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC BEVERAGES--BREWERS/ DISTILLERS CHAMPION BREW. PLC. GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. BEVERAGES--NON-ALCOHOLIC 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC.

FOOD PRODUCTS DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

56

4.79

-

0 0

0 0

57

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

58

30.00 6.60

-

21 0

229,771 0

59

21

229,771

TRADES

VOLUME

%CHANGE -5.00

60 61 62 63

39

2,787,868

39

2,787,868

65

64

MARKET CAP(Nm) 2,000.00

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

66

100.00

-

0

0

67

11,300.89

45.20

-

0

0

26,682.70

10.00

-

4

50,000

70

4

50,000

71

64

3,067,639

68 69

MARKET CAP(Nm) 2,386.33 MARKET CAP(Nm) 22,470.65

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

0.50

-

0

0

0

0

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

76

2.87

3.99

17

288,000

77

242.22

0.89

-

0

0

113.00

2.73

55

1,092,210

550,135.16

64.00

-

10

23,005

1,199,535.31

150.00

-0.60

133

11,553,782

215

12,956,997

TRADES

VOLUME

MARKET CAP(Nm) 82,000.00

74 75

247,513.26

MARKET CAP(Nm) 65,321.00

72 73

PRICE 101.97

%CHANGE -

78 79 INSURANCE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES S/N 80

0

0

81

0

0

MICRO-FINANCE BANKS

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

16.40

1.86

219

8,122,182

S/N 82 83

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

252,600.00

21.05

0.48

77

80,957.72

30.85

-0.16

166

1,041,614 2,728,277

24,425.01

3.08

10.00

492

87,178,626

1,861.25

0.50

-

0

0

1,015.74

5.70

-

2

13,972

55,240.79

20.85

-

24

173,483

3,676.41

13.45

-

0 980

0 99,258,154

FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERSIFIED CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. NESTLE NIGERIA PLC.

MARKET CAP(Nm) 29,675.59 1,165,204.69

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

15.80 1,470.00

3.27 -2.00

79 59

661,472 113,411

138

774,883

HOUSEHOLD DURABLES

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

1,767.74

23.25

-

0

0

3,418.97

3.28

4.79

66 66

3,408,479 3,408,479

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

93,504.73

23.55

-

23

137,524

253,929.24

44.20

-0.67

33

170,690

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

BANKING

MARKET CAP(Nm) 373,170.83 73,881.64

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

308,214 116,706,727

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

12.90 3.19

0.39 10.00

318 401

17,920,075 99,863,968

20.00

-2.25

73

767,503

3.80 48.95 1.12 1.54 2.20 8.20

-2.06 0.51 4.46 10.00 10.00 1.23

435 427 115 463 211 107

42,395,216 17,135,756 11,710,291 93,616,198 36,472,650 1,188,042

12.85

-1.15

318

19,602,216

1.44 1.34

9.09 9.84

45 330 3,243

2,933,269 47,385,963 390,991,147

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

9,880.80

0.48

-4.00

1

100,000

4,504.63

0.65

3.17

73

11,465,271

27,405.00

2.61

-

16

426,105

3,000.00

0.50

-

0

0

16,077.75

1.55

1.97

17

1,307,200

7,364.75

0.50

-

0

0

7,000.00 2,411.47

0.50 0.53

-

0 0

0 0

ACCESS BANK PLC. DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL 366,991.02 INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC 110,104.23 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 1,440,656.22 JAIZ BANK PLC 32,999.96 SKYE BANK PLC 21,375.66 STERLING BANK PLC. 63,338.92 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 238,790.17 UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA 439,462.56 PLC UNITY BANK PLC 16,832.65 WEMA BANK PLC. 51,689.78 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

56 1,455

1,913.74

0.50

-

0

0

3,070.00

0.50

-

0

0

642.04

0.50

-

0

0

3,368.78

0.46

-4.17

2

148,000

4,124.48

0.96

-

2

21,000

5,520.00

0.69

-4.17

29

1,221,073

4,000.00

0.50

-

1

2,000

9,610.52

1.82

1.11

19

549,181

3,869.74

0.50

-

1

2,904

2,648.78

0.48

-

8

111,359

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

-

1

1,100

1,291.15

0.50

-

1

1,000

6,933.33

0.50

-

1

55,000

8,000.00

0.50

-

0

0

9,234.09

0.69

7.81

132

14,245,894

304

29,657,087

MARKET CAP(Nm)

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

11,799.67

2.58

-

0

0

4,070.22

1.78

9.88

40

1,069,460

40

1,069,460

PRICE

%CHANGE

TRADES

VOLUME

1.30

-

0

0

0.50

-

0

0

MARKET CAP(Nm) 5,460.00 7,370.87

˜ ͺ˜ ͺ͸͹Ͷ ˾ T H I S D AY

44

MARKET NEWS

NSE, ASHON Sign MoU on Commodity and Future Exchange The Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as part of efforts for the seamless take-off of the proposed Lagos Commodity and Futures Exchange, (LCFE).

The MoU, which was signed in Lagos

by Chairman of ASHON Chief Patrick Ezeagu and The CEO of NSE Mr. Oscar Onyema

is aimed at creating professional and technical relationship between the two institutions for enhanced trading on commodities and futures.

Ezeagu explained that the MoU signed would enable LCFE access the superior technological capacity of the NSE as the oldest stock exchange in Nigeria.

According to him, LCFE would hit the ground running once it is able to perfect the registration process

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

with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Specifically, he said the strategic objective of LCFE was to have a technical partner that has the technical competence to enable it commence trading immediately after the regulatory approval without setting up a new platform.

“What we have done is to tap on the existing capacity that is already at the NSE so with that

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 31-Jan-2018, unless otherwise stated.

we cannot get it wrong,” he said.

In his comments, Onyema said that the NSE was willing and well positioned to support capital market development and provide necessary expertise to other emerging exchanges around the continent.

“The ASHON has championed

the establishment of the LCFE and this MoU that we signed positions the NSE to provide technology and other technical support to

the LCFE. As you know, we do have a service that we use to provide such support for other emerging exchanges around the continent, given the expertise that we have developed over the years and so the significance is that we are supporting market development and we are providing expertise to make it easier and more cost effective for an exchange such as the LCFE to hit the ground running,” he said

Also speaking at the event, the acting Chief Executive Officer of the proposed LCFE, Mr. Akin Akeredolu-Ale said: “The NSE has strong capacity for trading in equities, derivatives and commodities.

The Central Securities Clearing Systems Plc (CSCS), which is tightly coupled with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, will enable seamless and smooth operations of the Commodity Exchange.

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 198.49 198.70 11.51% Nigeria International Debt Fund 242.70 242.91 4.79% 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 0.86 0.70 -5.60% ACAP Income Funds 0.62 0.62 3.22% 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 20.60 21.22 12.73% ARM Discovery Fund 427.53 440.42 9.89% ARM Ethical Fund 28.80 29.66 5.39% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 16.02% 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 166.68 167.85 9.88% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 15.86% 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 13.11 13.45 6.07% 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 16.30% 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 16.83% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.12 1.14 12.85% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.05 1.09 6.92% 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 1,173.22 1,174.38 2.21% FBN Heritage Fund 152.23 153.70 9.25% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 15.60% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $114.41 $114.96 1.33% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $114.32 $114.87 1.35% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 195.99 198.89 14.76% 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 1.45 1.48 10.84% Legacy Debt Fund 2.92 2.92 1.25% 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 3,203.51 3,252.22 7.56% Coral Income Fund 2,499.87 2,499.87 2.20% 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 16.00% 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 15.42% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.24 2.27 6.50%

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 17.92% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 115.90 116.20 0.75% 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 1.95% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,041.72 1,041.72 1.07% 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 17.61 17.78 24.96% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 16.29% 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 1.29 1.31 8.11% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.20 11.28 1.58% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 13.96% 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 152.30 155.22 18.35% 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 1.17% 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 2,378.40 2,397.28 6.02% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 180.52 180.52 2.31% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.10 1.12 9.90% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 224.72 224.84 2.06% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 189.80 191.99 5.99% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 15.29% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,599.31 10,742.77 9.61% 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 18.79% United Capital Bond Fund 1.58 1.58 16.02% United Capital Equity Fund 1.02 1.04 11.61% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 14.88% United Capital Eurobond Fund 103.30 103.30 10.23% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.12 1.12 25.55% 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 13.83 14.04 10.10% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.88 14.04 5.25% Zenith Income Fund 19.30 19.30 2.03%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

10.00 133.01

-11.35% 0.42%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

12.81 169.15 126.53

12.91 172.87 128.92

5.67% 18.47% 15.83%

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

5.84 10.29 20.38 23.75 153.63

5.88 10.37 20.48 23.95 155.63

23.14% 7.47% 14.72% 20.63% 3.38%

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.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018˾ T H I S D AY

45

INTERNATIONAL WORLD OF ISLAM email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Poland’s Senate Passes Controversial Holocaust Bill Poland’s Senate has approved a controversial bill making it illegal to accuse the Polish nation or state of complicity in the Nazi Holocaust, according to BBC. The bill amendment, which sets fines or a maximum three-year jail term as punishment, must be signed off by the president before entering into law.

President Andrzej Duda says Poland has the right“to defend historical truth”.

But it has outraged Israeli MPs who are now seeking to strengthen their own Holocaust denial laws.

It says that “anyone, against the facts, that publicly states that the Polish nation or state was responsible or co-responsible for Third Reich crimes... is punishable by up to three years in prison”.

But it adds the caveat that:

“No offence is committed if the criminal act... is committed in the course of the one’s artistic or academic activity.”

It passed in a late-night sitting of the upper house of the Polish parliament with 57 votes to 23, with two abstaining.

The country has long objected to the use of phrases like“Polish death camps”, which suggest the Polish state in some way shared responsibility for camps such as Auschwitz. The camps were built and operated by the Nazis after they invaded the country in 1939.

But the more contentious point raised by the bill is whether it will outlaw references to acts of individual complicity by Poles with the Nazis - something historians say there is clear evidence for.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as MISS KAREEM TAWAKALITU MORENIKEJI now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OLAYINKA TAWAKALITU MORENIKEJI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. OTUSANYA ADENIKE FUNMINILOPE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. SHOFEKUN ADENIKE FUNMINILOPE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

I, formerly known and addressed as EBERE LILIAN NWANOKWAI now wish to be known and addressed as EBERE LILIAN SUNDAY. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note I, formerly known and addressed as MARGARET KINGSLEY now wish to be known and addressed as MARGARET IBEABUCHI . All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note

I, formerly known and addressed as IGIETEMHO EMMANUEL JAMES now wish to be known and addressed as IGIETEMHO JAMES IGHENEBA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note I, formerly known and addressed as ALI HASSAN now wish to be known and addressed as ALI MOUSSA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note I, formerly known and addressed as OKECHUKWU JONATHAN KANU now wish to be known and addressed as KALU JONATHAN OKECHUKWU. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note I, formerly known and addressed as EKANEM GOODNEWS now wish to be known and addressed as VICTOR GOODNEWS. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note

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The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as OCHAI VIVIAN HELEN, now wish to be known and addressed as OCHAI VIVIAN EDNA. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OLUSAN TITILAYO MORUFAT now wish to be known and addressed as MRS QUADRI TITILAYO MORUFAT. All former documents remain valid. Lagos state polytechnic and general public should pls take note

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The general public should please take note I, formerly known and addressed as ADEOGUN EMMANUEL ADEBOWALE now wish to be known and addressed as ADEYEMI EMMANUEL ADEBOWALE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note

Edited by: MJO Mustapha Email deji.mustapha@thisdaylive.com

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The general public should please take note.

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I, formerly known and addressed as EBERE LILIAN NWANOKWAI now wish to be known and addressed as EBERE LILIAN SUNDAY. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note I, formerly known and addressed as MARGARET KINGSLEY now wish to be known and addressed as MARGARET IBEABUCHI. All former documents remain valid.

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The Fall of the Family –3 Continued from last week

Abdal Hakim Murad/jamiat.org/ themodernreligion

T

he secular mind may be too witless to notice, but to religious people the New Social Doctrines are fast acquiring the look of a new religion. The twentieth century’s great liberationisms often feel like powerful sublimations of the religious drive, as the innate yearning for freedom from worldly ties and the straitjacket of the self becomes strangely transmuted into a great convulsion against restrictions on personal freedom.

In this sense, the politically-correct West is an intensely religious society. It has its dogmas and theologians, its saints, martyrs and missionaries, and, with the arrival of speech-codes on American campuses, a well-developed theory of the suppression of blasphemy.

Some have mused that all this is necessary, and that human beings need certainties and causes, and that without an orthodoxy to hold itself together the West would rapidly unravel and turn to lawlessness. But the trouble is that the new doctrines, which are now enshrined in legislation, school curricula and broadcasting guidelines, do not make up either an authentic new religion, or even a sustainable substitute for one. For religious morality, whether Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or Eskimo, holds society together with the idea that personal fulfilment is attained through the honourable discharge of duties. The West’s new religion, in absolute contrast, teaches that it comes about through the enjoyment of rights.

Given the extremism of this inversion, it is not surprising that the societies which it affects should be running into difficulties. To paraphrase Conor Cruise O”Brien, the trouble with secular social medicines is that the more they are applied, the sicker the patient seems to become. It is certainly a blasphemy today to suggest that the new orthodoxies have worsened our social ills rather than bringing us into a shining and liberated utopia – but this is what has happened. And yet the pseudo-religion is still powerful enough to ensure that the notions which have presided over such destruction may not be subject to criticism in polite society.

Muslims are perhaps the only people left who do not care for such politeness.

One of the most characteristic liberationisms of this century has been feminism. Divided into a myriad tendencies, some cautious and reasoned, others wandering into unimaginable territories of witchcraft and lesbianism, this is a movement about which few generalisations can be made. But perhaps a good place to start is the observation that women were the major though unintended victims of both Victorian pre-feminist and late twentieth-century feminist values. The disabilities suffered by wives in traditional Christian cultures, which denied that they even existed as financial or legal entities distinct from their husbands, may have been accepted without demur by most of them; but real injustice and suffering was caused to those for whom the social supports were cut away, and who found themselves in need of an independent existence. The feminism of the suffragettes was thus a real quest for justice. It moved Western society away from Christian tradition, and towards the Islamic norm in which a woman is always a separate legal entity even after marriage, retaining her property, surname, inheritance rights, and the right to initiate legal proceedings.

What Muslims are less happy about is the new feminism of the past three decades, the militantly ideologised world-view of Friedan, Greer and Daly. These thinkers initiated a new phase by attacking not only structural unfairnesses in society, but the most fundamental assumptions about male and female identity. “Until the myth of the maternal instinct is abolished, women will continue to be subjugated”, wrote Simone de Beauvoir; and similar noises could be heard from the new feminists everywhere. In this view, the

traditional association of femaleness with feminity and maleness with manhood was biologically and morally meaningless, and was to be attacked as the underpinning of the whole traditional edifice of “patriarchy”.

At this point, people of Muslim faith have to jump ship. The Quran and our entire theological tradition are rooted in the awareness that the two sexes are part of the inherent polarity of the cosmos. Everything in creation has been set up in pairs, we believe; and it is this magnetic relationship between alternate principles which brings movement and value into the world. Like the ancient Chinese, with their division of the 1,001 Things into Yin and Yang, the Muslims, naming phenomena with the gender-specific Arabic of revelation, know that gender is not convention but principle, not simple biology – but metaphysics.

Allah has ninety-nine names. Some are Names of Majesty: such as the Compeller, the Overwhelming, the Avenger. Others are Names of Beauty: the Gentle, the Forgiving, the Loving-Kind. The former category are broadly associated with male virtues, and the latter with female ones. But as all are God’s perfect Names, and equally manifest the divine perfection, neither set is superior. And the Divine Essence to which they all resolve transcends gender. Islam has no truck with the hazardous Christian notion that God is male (the “Father”), an assumption that has been invoked to justify traditional Western notions of the objective superiority of the male principle.

Islam’s position is thus a nuanced one.

Metaphysically, the male and female principles are equal. It is through their interaction that phenomena appear: all creation is thus in a sense procreation. But justice is not necessarily served by attempting to establish a simple parity between the principles in society “here-below”. The divine names have distinct vocations; and human gender differentiation was created for more than simple genetic convenience. Both man and woman are God’s khalifas on earth; but in manifesting complementary aspects of the divine perfection their “ministries” differ in key respects.

Islam’s awareness that when human nature (fitra) is cultivated rather than suppressed, men and women will incline to different spheres of activity is of course one which provokes howls of protest from liberals: for them it is a classic case of blasphemy. But even in the primitive biological and utilitarian terms which are the liberals” reference, the case for absolute identity of vocation is highly problematic. However heavily society may brainwash women into seeking absolute parity, it cannot ignore the reality that they have babies, and have a tendency to enjoy looking after them. Those courageous enough to leave their careers while their children are small increasingly have to put up with accusations of blasphemy and heresy from society; but they persist in their belief, outrageous to the secular mind, that mothers bring up children better than childminders, that breastmilk is better than formula milk, and even – this as the ultimate heresy – that bringing up a child can be more satisfying than trading bonds or driving buses.

There are already signs that women are rebelling against the feminist orthodoxy that demands an absolute parity of function with men, and that “dropping out” to look after a child is less outrageous in the minds of many educated women than the media might suggest. But much real damage has been done. The campaign to turn fathers into nurturers and house-husbands shows little sign of success; and many houses have become more like dormitories than homes.

Mealtimes are desultory, tin-opening affairs; both parents are too exhausted to spend “quality time” with active children; and the sense of belonging to the house and to each other is sadly attenuated. By the time children leave home, they feel they are not leaving very much. to be continued

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018Ëž T H I S D AY

46

NEWS

Ă?ĂĄĂ? ĂŽĂ“ĂžĂ™Ăœ Davidson Iriekpen Ă—Ă‹Ă“Ă– davidson.iriekpen@thisdaylive.com, 08111813081

Nigeria, Niger Sign Pact to Build Refinery in Katsina in 60 Days Chineme Okafor Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË Nigeria and the Niger Republic, will in 60 days time sign binding bilateral and technical agreements that will enable both countries develop and build a new petroleum refinery in a Katsina State town which borders both countries, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources has disclosed.

The ministry in a short statement exchanged with THISDAY yesterday in Abuja, explained that the refinery project would also include a crude oil

pipeline that is expected to come from Niger Republic, indicating the plant would be fed crude oil from Niger.

To actualise this, the ministry stated that both countries would within 60 days sign bilateral and technical agreements, while a high level technical committee between them would be set up to develop a strategy that would be used to undertake the project. “Yesterday, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, met with the President of the Republic of Niger, Mahamadou

Buhari Sends Edward Adamu’s Name for Senate ConďŹ rmation as CBN Dep Governor President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded the name of the Director, Human Resources of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Edward Lametek Adamu, to the Senate for confirmation as Deputy Governor of the bank, confirming THISDAY’s exclusive story last week on his appointment.

Adamu, if cleared and confirmed by the Senate, will replace Sulaiman Barau, from Zaria, Kaduna State, who retired in December 2017.

Buhari in a statement signed by his Special Adviser. Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said his appointment was in accordance with the provisions of Section 8(1) (2) of the CBN (Establishment) Act 2007.

with Issoufou would now proceed for completion.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has in a related development, renewed its call on the National Assembly to use the relevant findings in its various audit reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, to push for wider reforms in the industry.

NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Mr. Waziri Adio, made this appeal when he received members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum Upstream who were on monitoring and oversight visit to the NEITI Secretariat in Abuja.

Adio explained in a

statement from the Director of Communications in NEITI Â that its reports contain detailed information and data on company payments and government receipts as well as the process lapses and remedial actions required in the industry.

He said: “We see the National Assembly as important partners not just because we are answerable to you and we need you to approve our budget but because our reports can and should be inputs to your important work.�

Adio also expressed concerns that several reports with far-reaching recommendations have been placed in the public domain with clear challenges of implementation, and

urged the National Assembly to study the reports as important documents that would aid their law-making responsibilities.

He commended the National Assembly for the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), noting that the development was in support of the mandate of NEITI to strengthen reforms in the industry and promote investments and better revenue generation.

The Chairman of the committee, Hon. Victor Nwokolo, expressed in the statement the satisfaction of th committee over the impact of NEITI’s intervention in pushing for reforms in the extractive industries.

“President Buhari has nominated Edward Lametek Adamu and sent his name to the Senate for confirmation as deputy governor of CBN. “This was contained in a letter dated January 26, 2018, to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki. “Adamu, from Gombe State, replaces Mr. Sulaiman Barau, from Zaria, Kaduna State, who retired in December 2017. “The nominee, who has spent 25 years in the CBN, was appointed in 2012 as Director of Strategy. “He became Director, Human Resources in 2016, from where he was nominated as deputy governor,� the statement said.

Civil Society Group: Why We Joined CNM A body of professionals and civil society activists has identified with the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), a political movement mooted last week by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

The group known as Civil Society and Professionals Coalition for Nigeria (CSPCN) was represented at the inauguration of the Coalition for Change last Wednesday in Abuja by the trio of Kayode Samuel, a journalist and a former chief of staff to a past governor in Ogun State; Dr. Wale Okediran, former House of Representatives member, medical doctor and ex-President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), and Adamu Ayuba, a Bauchi-based management consultant. The spokesperson for CSPCN, Kayode Samuel, in a statement said: “We in CSPCN have decided to stand up to be counted in this mission, and are ready and prepared to join hands with other concerned compatriots to bring about the Nigeria of our dreams – where life is safe and secure, livelihoods guaranteed and the people have confidence in their government.�

He noted that it is self-evident that two crucial duties – security and prosperity of Nigerian citizens - appear to have been fulfilled mostly in the breach in

Issoufou, and the Energy Minister of the Republic of Niger, Mr. Foumakoye Gado. “A mutually beneficial agreement was reached for the construction of a refinery in the border town between the Republic of Niger and Katsina State, Nigeria, and a crude oil pipeline from the Republic of Niger to the new refinery. Definitive bilateral and technical agreements to be signed in coming days,� the note said.

According to a copy of the outcome of the meeting Kachikwu had with Issoufou and Gado, he expressed hope that the project which President Muhammadu Buhari conceived two years ago

the present government. “Insecurity and poverty roam the land and wrack the people.

This has created a climate of uncertainty and fear not just for individual Nigerians but more critically for the entire enterprise of nation-building,� adding that, “today, the country appears to have transited from the domain of bad governance to the zone of a failed state.

This has a damaging effect on both public security and citizen well-being.�

CSPCN, Samuel said, had observed that majority of Nigerian youths and women are fast reaching the conclusion that Nigeria is neither good for them nor fair to them, adding that to reverse the narrative requires more than lamentation but to become politically involved. “This historic duty is even more incumbent on civil society and professionals, who must have a continual interest in the good of society and its smooth functioning. They must now assume a custodial role in the remaking of Nigeria for a better future not only for themselves but also unborn generations,� he said.

He stressed that it was in the “enlightened self-interest of Nigerians to rise and be counted on the side of a rescue mission that is almost becoming belated.�

FARE THEE WELL, BELOVED

L-R: Brothers of the decease, Prof. Obumneme Ekwueme; Prof. Laz Ekwueme; and Widow, Mrs. Beatrice Ekwueme, during the Anambra State commendation service in hounour ofthe late former Vice President Dr. Alex Ekwueme, at the Ekwueme Square, Akwa, Anambra State... yesterday.

Anambra Stands Still for Ekwueme as Markets, Businesses, Schools, Others Close Ngige: S’East betrayed him David-Chyddy Eleke Ă“Ă˜ ĂĄĂ•Ă‹ Commercial activities were yesterday put on hold in Anambra State in honour of the homecoming of the late former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, whose remains arrived in the state for a commendation service.

As early as 8a.m., which is usually the rush hour in the state, streets and major roads in the state were devoid of traffic and the usual hustle and bustle in the towns in the state.

Schools, banks, markets and other public institutions were all closed around the state.

The popular Onitsha main market, Eke Awka market and markets in Nnewi were all closed while traders moved to Awka for the service.

The remains of the late statesman was received by the Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, at the border town of the state, Amansea, at about 11a.m., and was promptly moved to the venue of the

commendation service in Awka.

Speaking at the service, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, lamented that Ekwueme was betrayed by his people, else he would have climbed to an even higher heights in politics.

He described the elder statesman as a rare politician who had zero tolerance for bribery and corruption, saying he would have occupied more political offices if not for his integrity and refusal to compromise standard.

Ngige said 99 per cent of politicians in Nigeria have degrees in bribery and corruption, with many of them reneging on their campaign promises as soon as they assume power. “Ekwueme was successful in every sphere of life, politically, academically and otherwise. But when it comes to bribery and corruption, he is a complete failure. I score him F9.

“He suffered a lot of betrayal in the hands of politicians especially from his people in the Southeast because of his inability to play by their rules,� he added.

He described the late vice president as a humble, selfless and detribalised man whose life influenced him greatly, regretting that his type is very rare in today’s politics where politicians aspire for top positions without experience.

The minister, however, noted that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation who was to represent President Buhari at the occasion, was unavoidably absent due to exigencies of office, but said he would be at the funeral service today.

Also speaking, a former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, said Ekwueme was one of the Nigerian politicians who ventured into the murky waters of politics with his integrity intact. “They said politics is a dirty game but Ekwueme proved

them wrong because he had a very good soap of washing the garment of politics. “I can’t remember him having any case to do with EFCC and ICPC as most of us have. He maintained integrity in politics,� he added.

Earlier in his homily, the Anglican Bishop of Awka Diocese, Rt. Rev. Alexander Ibezim, said the greatest respect that could be accorded to the late elder statesman was to emulate his ethics - humility and political pattern.

He described life is a vapour, calling on all to be careful with the way they live their lives in view of the day of reckoning.

On his part, the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, said the death of the elder statesman came to him as a rude shock, having lost his mother late last year.

He, however, said he would take solace in the fact that he left indelible legacy, including his ability to bring stability to the turbulent storm of political instability in the state.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSXTRA

More Facts Emerge on Why Panel Recommended SEC DG’s Dismissal Gwarzo accused of unilaterally approving N1.7bn for voluntary retirees Ndubuisi Francis ÓØ ÌßÔË More information has come to light on why the administrative panel of inquiry recommended the dismissal of the suspended Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Mounir Gwarzo.

The panel of inquiry, which was set up by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had found Gwarzo guilty of violating public sector rules and financial regulations, and consequently recommended his dismissal.

One of the documents sighted by THISDAY which nailed him, was his authorisation of a severance package of N1.7 billion to 44 SEC personnel in 2015, an action said to have run foul of the commission’s budgetary provisions for that year.

The document indicated that Gwarzo in 2015 had invented a voluntary staff exit scheme for SEC personnel willing to quit the services of the commission.

The scheme, christened “2015 Golden Handshake”,

with an attractive package as well as a financial implication of N1,703,724,848.32, was designed to ease out staff on a voluntary basis.

However, the amount had no budgetary provision based on SEC’s 2015 budget.

Rather than seek the approval of the finance minister, Gwarzo unilaterally went ahead with the scheme in contravention of extant public service rules.

According to a top government source, who provided THISDAY with background information on the retirement package approved

by Gwarzo, “In 2015, he single handedly, without a budgetary provision paid N1.7 billion to a set of staff under a golden handshake scheme.

“By law, the DG of SEC is required to seek the approval of the Minister of Finance, even if there is a board in place. He should have sought the approval of the minister who, in turn, will present it to the president and the request is sent to the National Assembly.

“But the suspended SEC DG went outside the budgetary

provision to effect the payment.”

Besides approving a severance package of over N104 million for himself, Gwarzo was said to have contravened other public service rules.

The administrative panel of inquiry headed by the permanent secretary, Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mahmoud Isa- Dutse, which investigated Gwarzo following his suspension, said it made enquiries at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), banks and other major stakeholders.

It unearthed payments in millions of naira paid to firms linked to the embattled SEC DG. One of the firms – Outbound Investments Limited – has Gwarzo as a director on its board with 200,000 ordinary shares.

Several payments amounting to millions of naira were paid by SEC to the firm’s United Bank for Africa (UBA) account.

For instance, SEC on February 21, 2017 paid to Outbound Investments, the sum of N2,241,360 for the

supply of diesel.

Previously on October 10, 2016 and July 27, 2016, SEC paid the firm N1.9 million and N2.2 million respectively for supplies.

Series of payments also made to Outbound Investment

by SEC as indicated by invoices seen by THISDAY included N2,178,000 for the supply of 11,000 litres of diesel dated June 6, 2016 as well as the payment of another N2,464,400 on April 5, 2017 for the supply of 8,000 litres of diesel that was discharged on March 29, 2017.

Also, contrary to Gwarzo’s claim that he had resigned his membership of the boards of Outbound Investment and Medusa Investments Limited, another company linked to him, a copy of the resolution of the board of Medusa Investment dated August 15, 2016 proved otherwise.

Gwarzo, as managing director and Khadijat Mustapha, another director, signed respectively a copy of the board resolution.

A copy of Medusa Investment’s resolution also

addressed to its bank, GTBank directed it to issue new corporate naira MasterCards on the company’s account to Gwarzo and Khadijat, the firm’s two directors.

The source added: “Gwarzo’s personal interest in the identified companies is a clear contravention of the regulation, which explicitly prohibits public officers from being in situations that bring their personal interest into conflict with their public duties.

“Also, the use of the companies as suppliers to the commission, amounts to earning wealth illegally and contravenes the EFCC Act as well as the Code of Conduct for Public Officers,” the source noted.

Gwarzo was placed on temporary suspension last November on the directive of the finance minister, to pave the way for unfettered investigations into allegations of financial misconduct against him.

The administrative panel investigated and submitted its report this week.

Among the panel’s

recommendations to the federal government is the outright dismissal of Gwarzo from the public service of the federation.

It also recommended that the suspended SEC DG be referred to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) for further investigation of the allegation of using his position to influence the award of contracts to Outbound Investments.

Gwarzo was also asked to refund the sum of N104,851,154.94, being the severance package he approved and paid himself.

Adeosun and Gwarzo on had Tuesday appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, where minister justified her decision to suspend Gwarzo.

However, in his submission before the committee, Gwarzo said his suspension last November coincided with his refusal to stop the forensic audit of Oando Plc, a Nigerian energy firm, after Adeosun had pressurised him to do so.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSXTRA

$1bn Insurgency Fund: House Orders Audit of Excess Crude Account James Emejo ÓØ ÌßÔË The House of Representatives yesterday directed its Committee on Finance to investigate the current value of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and to among other things, determine if the federal government’s share had been tampered with following the recent approval of the National Executive Council (NEC) to draw $1 billion from the account to enable state governments fight the Boko Haram insurgency.

It mandated the committee to conclude its investigation and report back to the House within four weeks.

The resolution followed a motion sponsored by Hon. Kenneth Chikere (PDP, Rivers) on the need to deduct 13 per cent derivation from the $1 billion approved by the National Economic Council to Fight Boko Haram Insurgency.

But his prayer urging the Federal Ministry of Finance to ensure that the sum representing 13 per cent of the $1 billion approved by the NEC on December 14, 2017, to fight Boko Haram insurgency is deducted and paid to the oil producing states in Nigeria in compliance with section 162(2) of the 1999 Constitution only divided opinion among members and led to a heated debate which saw the motion almost literarily killed.

He noted that at the 83rd meeting of the NEC held in Abuja, it approved the deduction of the sum of $1 billion by the federal government from the ECA to fight the Boko Haram insurgency.

Chukere pointed out that the proviso to Section 162(2) of the

1999 Constitution stipulates 13 per cent of the proceeds of the oil producing states in the country as derivation fund payable to the benefitting states of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River, Edo, Abia, Imo, Ondo, Anambra and Lagos.

According to the lawmaker, the 13 per cent derivation fund payable to oil producing states had not been deducted and paid to them from the $1 billion before or after the approval of the said sum to fight Boko Haram insurgency.

Chikere expressed concern that if the 13 per cent derivation fund is not deducted from the $1 billion and paid to the oil producing states, it would amount to double contribution from the affected states and also a breach of section 162(2) of the 1999 Constitution as well as Section 1 of the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, etc.) Act, 2004.

But while some lawmakers welcomed the prayers of the motion, others called for restraint.

Essentially, as the debate progressed, it became evident that there were no clear positions on whether the federal government’s share of the monies in the ECA was actually tampered with- otherwise, the National Assembly would have no justification to interfere in issues relating how state governments choose to disburse and spend their own share of the account.

House Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, cautioned members against making hasty conclusions on the issue.

According to him, the

lower chamber shouldn’t get involved in the matter if the federal government’s share of the ECA was not touched in the withdrawal as parliament does not have the powers constitutionally to determine how the states spend their monies.

He said it would amount to putting the cart before the horse if the House decided to meddle in the issue without concrete proof.

“It’s not our duty to settle issues concerning states monies,” he said.

Deputy Speaker, Hon. Yussuff Lasun, said though the motion was important given the devastating effect of the insurgency, the issue

should be carefully considered, nevertheless.

He said the confusion appeared to be on how to determine what belongs to states and federal government in the ECA. He said there’s need to understand the clear separation of the Consolidated Account from the states account.

On his part, Hon. Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno) said the motion was purely speculative and needed facts.

He said: “We better step it down to have hard facts before progressing.”

Hon. Tajudeen Yusuf (PDP, Kogi) said: “We were not cleared. We need proof that

it’s states’ money.”

Nevertheless, some lawmakers, including Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Chukwuka Onyema (PDP, Anambra), and Hon. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje (PDP, Abia), suggested that the motion be amended, notwithstanding, to suit the intent of the subject matter.

At this point, the Chairman, Rules and Business, Hon. Orker-jev Emmanuel (APC, Benue), made an intervention to salvage the seeming deadlock.

He said the motion was speculative in nature and should be stepped down while for further consultation to determine the true situation

of the ECA. Emmanuel added that “by virtue of our rules, the motion can’t be considered.”

Dogara also said the rules of the House would not allow him to put a direct question on those in support of the motion or otherwise.

He called for mandatory assessment of “what is there in the ECA and what belongs to each tier of government” to be undertaken by the relevant committees.

Nonetheless, the House finally aligned with the speaker’s suggestion that the committee on finance should audit the ECA and give the true account of its status.

CONSULTATIVE MEETING

R-L: Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson; former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan; and Senator Nimi Barigha-Amangi, during a consultative meeting of Ijaw leaders in Yenagoa....yesterday

Restructuring: Jonathan Calls For Implementation of Confab Report

Again, Ijaw leaders meet on true federalism Emmanuel Addeh ÓØ ÏØËÑÙË Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday at his residence in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take a second look at the 2014 National Conference report, insisting that it holds the key to resolving several challenges currently being faced by the country.

Jonathan who spoke when Governor Seriake Dickson paid him a visit to intimate him of the work being done by the committee set up by Ijaw leaders on restructuring, said many of the current issues which fall under the purview of the committee were exhaustively treated during the 2014 National Conference which when sincerely implemented would douse tension in the polity.

He said it was a good idea that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was able to set up a committee to look into the same grey areas which featured prominently in the deliberations of the 2014 Conference.

Jonathan had in the first quarter of 2014 inaugurated the

492-member body headed by Justice Idris Kutigi, which after about four months, submitted its report on which the majority agreed on several knotty issues problems ailing the country.

Once queried on why he did not implement the report, the former president had said the time between when the report was turned in and the 2015 election was too short to do anything tangible.

A statement made available in Yenagoa by the Special Adviser to Governor Dickson on Media Relations Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, yesterday added that Jonathan also commended the governor for playing the leadership role of coordinating the thoughts of the Ijaw people on the sensitive issue of restructuring.

He said the governor must be appreciated for ensuring that the Ijaw nation did not speak in discordant tunes on the issue, maintaining that Dickson was performing the leadership role in accordance with expectations by coordinating the Ijaw people on restructuring.

“I am pleased with the calibre of people who came with the governor to brief me on the

issue of the recommendations of the APC Committee on restructuring.

“I must say that I am happy with the role being played by the governor on this issue of restructuring. Ethnic nationalities must not speak with discordant tunes on such pertinent issues.

I am pleased that Dickson is coordinating the Ijaw nation.

“I am also pleased that the APC set up a committee to look into the grey areas to come up with these recommendations.

When we were in government, we came up with a confab and several issues were addressed which if sincerely implemented would encourage relationship in the country.

“A sincere implementation of the recommendations on these grey areas will make the country to move forward,” the former president said.

Dickson, who led the delegation of Ijaw leaders to Jonathan to deliberate on the matter, along with other top Ijaw leaders called on President Buhari and the leadership of the APC to be sincere with the implementation of the recommendations of the party’s

committee led by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State.

The group maintained that a holistic and sincere implementation of the recommendations of the report on restructuring would encourage inter ethnic harmony and development in the country.

Dickson said that he led the delegation of the Ijaw leaders to the former president to consult with him and to brief him on the steps the Ijaws had taken to build bridges of understanding in the pursuit of what is right in the country.

He concurred with Jonathan that the recommendations contained in the report of the APC committee were the same as those contained in the 2014 National Conference.

He said: “As you all can see, this is a high-powered delegation of Ijaw elders and leaders from all the zones from Ijaw nation. I am leading them to meet and consult with our respected leader, the former president and also to brief him on steps we are taking.

“Steps we will continue to take to unify our people to build bridges of understanding and

to support all that is right and good, not only in this region, but across the nation.

“As you are aware, there is a raging issue of restructuring and moves made to bring about a fairer, egalitarian, stable and prosperous Nigeria. And here, in this state and in this region, we are proud to have our leader, the former president.

“So, today we came to brief him about the steps we are taking to study all the reports, including, the reports of the 2014 confab which was rightly empanelled by Mr. President and it is gratifying to note a number of the recommendations given by the APC panel are the

same conclusions that the 2014 confab arrived at.”

It was learnt that the meeting was a follow-up to an earlier meeting of top Ijaw leaders at Kiagbodo, the country home of Pa Edwin Clark on January 20, 2018 during which a 15man restructuring committee comprising some of the best brains in Ijaw land was set up.

The meeting which had in attendance, the Governor of Bayelsa, Clark, Alabo Graham Douglas among several others resolved that in the 2019 general election, the Ijaw people would reject anyone who does not support restructuring of the country.

Calabar-based Radio Station Marks Anniversary Calabar’s foremost urban contemporary radio station Hit 95.9 FM has, for two days, given out fuel to car owners at strategic filling stations in the Calabar metropolis. The station did this as part of the activities to mark its second anniversary yesterday.

The Head of Programmes and Production, Hit 95.9 FM, Mr. McDonald Peter-Anyangbe,

alongside On Air Personalities and staff were on ground at the filling stations, Eddy Excel and Uddy King on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, after it was announced on air, to put smiles on the faces of its listeners who got free fuel each.

The giveaway was considered a thoughtful one since it came amid serious nationwide fuel crisis.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018˾ T H I S D AY

49

NEWSXTRA

IG Orders Police CPs to Disband Militia, Vigilante Groups Silent on killer herdsmen Paul Obi ÓØ ÌßÔË The Inspector General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, yesterday gave a marching order to Commissioners of Police across the country to disband all militia and vigilante groups and ensure peace and security in their commands.

Idris was surprisingly silent on the herdsmen who have been involved in series of killings and battles with farmers in the North-central, part of Adamawa State and some states in the South.

He cautioned Commissioners of Police in the state commands against indiscriminate approval of vigilante groups in their states.

Addressing CPs across the states, Idris said: “I want to commend our men for maintaining security all over the country. Everybody us aware we are entering a tedious and serious period in this country.

“The political issues are coming up to the fore and I believe officers must gear up in our various locations and responsibilities to ensure that we provide law and order all over

NCC Yet to Receive Notice on 9mobile Preferred Bidder Emma Okonji Contrary to reports that the interim board of 9mobile has sent a notice to the telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on the choice of their preferred bidder for the sale of 9mobile, NCC yesterday denied ever receiving such notice.

The Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, Sunday Dare, who refuted the report, told journalists in Lagos that NCC would not take the interest of a particular bidder above others, but that the commission would be glad if 9mobile is eventually sold to a financially capable investor that is willing to invest in 9mobile.

“As a regulator, we will be glad to hear from the right source that 9mobile has a preferred bidder, and that must be communicated to us by the interim board of 9mobile to enable us guide the preferred bidder on how to apply to NCC for operational licence transfer, but as I speak to you, NCC is yet to receive any official notice from 9mobile, indicating its choice for the preferred and reserve bidder of the telecoms company,” Dare said.

NCC’s comment, puts to rest, the report making the rounds that Barclays Africa, the financial adviser handling the sale of 9mobile has submitted its recommendations to the interim board of 9mobile, who met last week and adopted Teleology Holdings Limited as the preferred bidder and Smile Holdings Limited as the reserve bidder.

According to Dare, since Barclays Africa has submitted its recommendations to the interim board of 9mobile, the board would meet, make their selection and communicate same to NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which it is yet do.

But in a swift reaction to NCC’s comment, an industry source close to 9mobile, insisted that the board has selected Teleology Holdings Limited as its preferred bidder and Smile Holdings Limited as its reserve bidder and that the board has equally communicated same to NCC. According to the source, NCC might not want to own

up for now until it sees a clear evidence that Teleology is able to raise the bid money within the period of 30 days given it to do so. The matter is already settled and once Teleology is able to make payment as at when due, I am sure NCC will be glad and willing to comment on the other side of the story, the source said.

Reacting to a report that Bharti Airtel and Helios Towers have petitioned the federal government on the sale of 9mobile, complaining that they were not given proper access to assess the benefits and liabilities of the 9mobile during the bid period, a source close to Barclays Africa dismissed the claim as untrue.

According to the source, both Bharti Airtel and Helios had every opportunity to assess the telecoms company and therefore they have no reason to complain in a sale process that have been described by industry stakeholders as transparent.

The source explained that Barclays Africa document, which tracks the due diligence activity of the five shortlisted bidders, shows that there were 2,900 relevant documents in the Virtual Data Room (VDR) set up for 9mobile. OALP is the law firm which wrote 90 page legal assessment for all for the bidders.

Ernst & Young wrote 104 page financial & tax report, Analysys Mason wrote a 194 page commercial & technical report on the process.

A source close to Barclays Africa disclosed that, contrary to the false claims by Airtel and Helios in the petition, Barclays Africa hosted two conference calls with all of the bidders as well as 9mobile’s other major creditors such IHS, Nokia and Huawei.

Only Teleology attended them all and thus was able to make an informed bid. The Source further disclosed that Helios did not enter the data room, nor attend management presentation day, nor go on any conference calls.

Globacom did not enter the VDR at all. Airtel missed most of the conference calls. If they suffered lack of information it is self-inflicted. To say they were barred from having access is simply not true, the source said.

Vigilantes arrest four herdsmen with guns, other weapons Nigeria. “As police officers, we know our duties. There is no Commissioner of Police that has served less than 20 years.

We know some issues must be considered very seriously because we are coming into a political arena. “Commands should be very conversant about arming of militia men or vigilante. Before a vigilante is established by a government, there must be a bylaw which must be passed by the House of Assembly.

“It is the responsibility of the Commissioners of Police of commands to study the bylaw and see how it conforms with the constitution and other laws of this country but whereby through the connivance of some police officers, you have a command arming militia men under several laws, I think our officers have to brace up and face these challenges.”

He explained that “no country or government in this country has the responsibility to approve some prohibited firearms for any Nigerian under any guise.

“I think it is the responsibility of CPs of commands is to put a close watch to the activities of some of these governments that are arming individuals which is against the laws of this country.

“All of us are aware of these prohibited firearms, you cannot

give approval to any individual to own a pistol or AK47 rifle.

These are prohibited weapons and only the government has the authority to give approval. I call on CPs of various commands to closely watch the abuse of office at various levels.”

Speaking against the backdrop of his relocation to Benue State and his sudden return to Abuja, the IG stated: “To be frank, like you said, I relocated to Benue for about eight days and when I came back, I left the DIG Operations there. I just came back from Port Harcourt and like it is observed, most of the incidences in Benue State and Nasarawa State have reduced drastically.

“It was just that we had an attack on some travellers in Gboko town where seven Fulani people were murdered.

This issue like I said earlier and that is what I mean by communal clashes. These are clashes occurring between two members of the community and like I stated in the states, as Nigerians, we should learn to live together and tolerant of each other. I believe that is an issue that every Nigerian must address.

“Even in Port Harcourt where I addressed the traditional rulers, I think they have a lot to do to bring peace and harmony within their community members. This

country needs leaders that can unite the communities not leaders that create divisions. I think it is high time the leaders answered their names and be among those that bring peace and stability all over the country.

“We are investigating the incidence in Gboko where some Fulanis who were in public transport. They were travelling from Taraba to Kogi State, they stopped in Gboko and the youths there, seeing they were Fulanis pounced on them, killed and roasted them.

“We are investigating that issue. Our monitoring team have been dispatched to Benue and arrests have been made in that regard. We are going to investigate the case thoroughly and that is why I said we have to learn to live together because creating enemity, division within the population does not pay anybody,” Idris maintained.

Meanwhile, Vigilante group in Agadagba Obon Town in Ese Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State has arrested four Fulani herdsmen with dangerous weapons.

The arrested men, whose identity were yet to be ascertained, were caught with guns.

The suspects were said to have been handed over to the state police command

for interrogation.

When contacted the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Femi Joseph, confirmed the arrest. He stated that the command had begun investigation on the matter.

“They have been handed over to us on and when we interrogated them, they told us that they were farmers that they wanted to board a boat to Edo State but we have begun investigation to ascertain their claim.

“However, there was no report the suspects had killed anybody with the arms they are carrying about,” Joseph said explained.

According to the PPRO, some items recovered from the suspects included guns, cutlasses, daggers and axes.

It was gathered that the development had created fear in the area as many people, especially women have reportedly stopped going to farm for fear of being attacked by the herdsmen.

To this end, a group in the community, under the auspices of Arogbo Ijaw Community Organisation in a statement issued on Thursday by the chairman of the association, Deacon James Ashidi, has appealed to the security agents not to allow the herdsmen enter into their community.

STATE VISIT

L-R: Chief of Staff to Edo State Government House, Chief Taiwo Akerele; Governor Godwin Obaseki; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; and state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and Head, Task Force Against Human Trafficking, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, during the governor’s visit to the minister in Abuja....yesterday

Nigeria’s First Private Medical University Calls for Admissions Senator Iroegbu ÓØ ÌßÔË A private medical institution, PAMO University of Medical Sciences (PUMS) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has invited all eligible candidates for screening into its first batch of undergraduate admissions.

The institution in a statement yesterday, said the 2017/2018 academic calendar would commence with various undergraduate degree

programmes in the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences and Faculty of Clinical Sciences.

For the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, students are invited to apply for degree programmes such as B.Sc. Anatomy, B.Sc. Biochemistry, B.Sc. Human Nutrition & Dietetics, B.Sc. Pharmacology and B.Sc. Physiology.

According to the Registrar of the Institution, Mr. W.U.G. Imoedemhe, Applicants can

equally apply to study Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery – MBBS at the Faculty of Clinical Sciences.

Imoedemhe said: “Interested candidates are required to have a minimum of five credit passes in Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry and Biology to apply.

“Applicants are required to have the five credits in not more than two sittings at SSCE (or equivalent).”

He stressed that interested candidates must also have

scored 200 and above in the 2017/2018 UTME in relevant subjects.

Imoedemhe said upon payment of application fee, the candidates would be requested to attend a compulsory screening/ clearance exercise on February 6 and 7, 2018, at 10 am daily.

The Registrar said the candidates can apply online at http://pums.edu.ng/ application-detail/ for the screening exercise.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018Ëž T H I S D AY

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NEWSXTRA

Union Disrupts Caverton, Bristow Operations in Lagos Chinedu Eze The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) yesterday disrupted the operations of Bristow and Caverton Helicopters in reaction to the alleged marginalisation of workers, retrenchment and violation of Condition of Service (CoS) by the managements of the two companies.

With support from other unions outside the nation’s aviation industry, NAAPE picketed the operations of the two companies as early as 4a.m. and prevented them from carrying out their businesses as required.

The union said the picketing of the two companies would continue until their managements accepted all their demands.

NAAPE accused the two organisations of enslaving Nigerians in the guise of employment and

alleged that it exceeded the expatriate quota recognised by the federal government.

The unions used their vehicles to barricade the entrance and exit of the two companies with placards to express their anger, while singing solidarity songs.

Some of the placards read: ‘Nigerians jobs for Nigeria,’ ‘Stop abuse and violation of our rights and privileges,’ ‘We say no to forced labour in Bristow,’ and ‘Racism in Bristow must stop,’ among several other protesting placards.

But Bristow and Caverton did not react to the incident when contacted by journalists.

The President of NAAPE, Abednego Galadima, Â in his speech at Bristow, accused the group of making 18 Nigerian engineers who obtained diplomas and licences over four years ago of remaining stagnant without type-rating them contrary to the subsisting

FG, Rusal Settle Battle over ALSCON Ownership The federal government has reached an out-of-court settlement with United Co. Rusal Plc over the sale of the Aluminium Smelter Co. of Nigeria, ending a decade long ownership dispute over the company.

The parties according to Bloomberg, agreed Alscon would resume operations in six months as part of the settlement, Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, told journalists in Abuja, the capital. The smelter had been idled since 2012. “We feel that apart from the legal issues, Rusal are actually best placed to be able to reactivate the plant,� Fayemi said Wednesday.

Government now owns a minority 20 per cent of the smelter, Rusal 80 per cent, the minister said.

These numbers were disputed yesterday by Rusal whose spokesperson said the company retained 85 per cent and Nigeria

15 percent. Calls to Fayemi’s office to seek a clarification were not answered.

The settlement follows a decision in September to opt for mediation after a Supreme Court ruling in 2012 that voided the sale of Alscon to Rusal.

The court ruled that Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the  privatisation agency, didn’t have the right to cancel an earlier sale of the smelter to Bancorp Financial Investment Group in 2007. “The Alscon sale dispute is one of the long drawn ownership battles that has impacted Nigeria’s ability to stick to contracts,� said Cheta Nwanze, an analyst at Lagos-based business advisory group SBM Intelligence. “Now that the dispute has been resolved, the smelter can return to production which will obviously have a knock-on effect on various industries in the economy,� he said.

Ortom Calls for Assistance for 100,000 Displaced Persons in Benue George Okoh Ă“Ă˜ Ă‹Ă•Ă&#x;ĂœĂŽĂ“ Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has called for support from the federal government, public-spirited individuals, organisations, as well as the international community to tackle the humanitarian challenges associated with recent attacks by Fulani herdsmen.

He spoke yesterday after visiting three camps of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Makurdi and Guma Local Government Areas maintaining that the influx into the camps have increased their number from five to seven with a total population of about 100, 000.

The governor stated that although the state government has responded to the situation by providing relief materials and facilities at the camps, the influx has overwhelmed its capacity especially with those who fled from attacks in neighbouring Nasarawa State.

He directed commissioners in the Ministries of Health and Water Resources to deploy more

staff to the camps and also ensure adequate water supply.

The governor reiterated his call on the federal government to rise up to its responsibility of protecting the lives and property of citizens by stopping the attacks and sanctioning those responsible for it.

He stressed that the permanent solution to farmers and herders incessant clashes with attendant casualties remained ranching which is an international best practice in animal husbandry across the world.

Ortom said it was unfortunate that in spite of his many letters informing the presidency and relevant security agencies of the attacks nothing was done to avert them which indicated that those in authority were accomplices.

He restated his call for the arrest and prosecution of officials of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who threatened to invade the state in May last year and have sponsored the current attacks.

conditions of service.

He also alleged that another 13 engineers who obtained diplomas and licenses over a year ago and ought to have been elevated to Level Engineer 3 had remained in limbo, following the failure of the airline to properly designate them as Trainee Engineers at entry in accordance with the CoS. Galadima  also explained that 10 Nigerian pilots who obtained their flying licenses from Florida over four years ago have remained in the same grade level, accusing the management of intentionally refusing to designate them as First Officers.

The union said rather than to properly designate the Nigerian professionals working with

companies, the management of the two organisations preferred to engage expatriates and place them on higher salary structures.

He added that the Bristow Group management had applied for over 50 expatriate pilots to fill the same positions Nigerians were qualified to handle, but had failed to saddle them with the responsibilities.

He described this as a form of racism against Nigerian professionals in the country.

Also the General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers, Segun Esan, vowed that the unions would continue to picket the two helicopter companies until their management reversed the “unpleasant working

conditions of Nigerians working� with them.

In his reaction, the Chairman, Unite Labour Congress (ULC), Lagos State chapter, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo, Â said the union had written several letters to the managements in the past without any fruitful response.

He explained that ULC ensured that there was cut off of aviation fuel to the two organisations, a strategy, which he said paralysed their activities.

Reacting to the disruption to it operations by NAAPE, Bristow’s management said the union had directed its members working with the company to withdraw their services in support of an industrial action, an action which

has since commenced without due notification in violation of the relevant labour laws.

It said the leadership of NAAPE madeanumberofinaccurateallegations against the company to support this action. “For the record, Bristow has acted (and will continue to act) in accordance with all national laws relating to its operations and with respect to its personnel.  In addition, since its inception, Bristow continues to be the leading recruiter and trainer of national engineers and pilots in Nigeria, many of whom have since progressed to take up very senior executive positions within the Bristow Group and other companies operating within Nigeria and internationally.Â

New Toll Tariffs Take Effect at Lekki and Ikoyi Plazas Bennett Oghifo Motorists that plan to use the Lekki-Epe Expressway and the Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge have been advised to fit their vehicles with electronic payment devices known as the e-tag for swift passage at the toll plazas on these roads.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive of Lekki Concession Company, Mr. Mohammed Hassan, gave the advice during an assessment of the level of compliance to the new tariffs at the toll plazas, which came into force yesterday.

There was unusual slow traffic at the gates, which the chief executive said was caused by some motorists, who claimed they were not aware of the new tariffs and so were not prepared to pay more.

The managing director who had to take up the barrier for a few minutes to bleed the traffic, said time was usually lost during such altercations that result in unnecessary long queues.

He advised motorists, whether they use the toll plazas frequently or not, to buy the electronic tag, explaining that the money they paid would remain in their accounts if they did not cross the gates.

Besides, he said the e-tag, which is like a telephone SIM card, is given to motorist for free and can be loaded from any payment channels or banks, as desired, not fixed amount. Also, holders are entitled to a discount of 10 per cent and subsequently would be given 50 per cent discount with increased use of the plazas.

To get the e-tag, he said motorists would need to present their  vehicle papers and means of identification. Also, the e-tag works in other pay booths, because they recognise the device.

Traffic, he said sometimes builds up on the e-tag lane because some people try to use the fast-track without the device and did not have the exact fare as stipulated.

Hassan said the increase in toll tariffs was inevitable and that its implementation was postponed twice at the instance of Governor Akinwumi Abode, who directed them to do more consultations.

He said: “The toll review was agreed on after series of engagements with the various stakeholders along the Lekki Peninsula corridor.�

Hassan said the increase became necessary “as a result of the current business realities and increasing cost of operation. “Since the commencement

of tolling in December 2011, the toll tariffs had remained the same despite the increase in the cost of our operations to ensure that the toll plazas and the road infrastructure are well maintained.�

Another reason he gave for the increase in tariffs was to enable the company meet its loan obligations to its local and foreign lenders, considering the fact that foreign exchange rates have continued to increase astronomically in the last couple of years. LCC cannot continue to operate or provide the services required from us if we do not review the toll tariffs. “It is worthy of mention that

despite the yearly increase in the cost of operation, LCC has continued to provide various services to ensure it operates and manages the roads in a way that delivers real utility to road users especially as it relates to their convenience services such as the 24/7 free vehicle breakdown and recovery services by the company’s Route and Incident Management team, who have assisted over a 100,000 road users since inception in 2009, LCC dedicated Police to ensure the security of road users, LCC dedicated LASTMA, toll free customer service helpline in addition to road maintenance and

other benefits.�

Motorists that used the two toll plazas yesterday generally complied with the increase in tariffs, which stipulates that commercial transport buses and motorcycles plying the Lekki-Ajah axis will now pay N100 instead of N80 they paid previously. Those with e-tag will pay N90.

Saloon cars and tricycles will now pay N200 from N120 but N180 with e-tag; SUVs, pick ups and light buses, N250, N225 e-tag; trucks and buses with one heavy axle N400 and N360 with e-tag; heavy trucks and buses with more than one heavy axle, N1,000 and N900 with e-tag.

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FRIDAYSPORTS

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

Ezenwa out for Three Weeks, to Miss CHAN 2018 Final Duro Ikhazuagbe with agency report Captain of the Home-based Eagles, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, who got injured in Wednesday’s semi final clash of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) between Nigeria and Sudan has been sidelined for three weeks.

The inspirational Enyimba goalkeeper is to also miss Nigeria’s historic CHAN 2018 final clash with hosts Morocco at the Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca on Sunday.

A top Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) official at the championship in Morocco hinted yesterday that initial report of the scan carried out on Ezenwa indicate that his injured knee would need between three and four weeks to heal.

“Ezenwa’s injury is not as bad as it was initially feared however, the report of the scan on the injured knee showed that he will need between three and four weeks to get back to action,” observed the top football official yesterday.

The former FC Ifeanyiubah goalkeeper carried his brilliant form for Nigeria during the World Cup 2018 qualifiers to the CHAN competition in Morocco.

He was partly responsible for Home-based Eagles progress to Nigeria’s first-ever final appearance.

Interestingly, Plateau United FC goalkeeper, Dele Ajiboye who replaced Ezenwa similarly gave a yeoman’s performance in the

semi final game with Sudan. The former junior international made several brilliant saves, including a last minute, point-blank effort from a Sudanese striker that would have dragged the game into extra time.

Meanwhile, Super Eagles Franco-German Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, who described Ajiboye as “wonderful” against Sudan is reported not to have him in Nigeria’s World Cup plans.

According to SCORENigeria the gaffer has narrowed his choice of goalkeepers to Ezenwa and two others, thereby making it impossible to include Ajiboye in his plans.

“Ajiboye is not in Rohr’s plans for the World Cup,” an unnamed official told SCORENigeria in Marrakech.

“Rohr has made up his mind and it does not look like he will change it no matter what happens here in Morocco.”

SCORENigeria further revealed that Francis Uzoho has been installed as the country’s No 1 goalkeeper for the World Cup even though he has only played 45 minutes for Nigeria in a friendly against Argentina in November and he is no longer playing first-team football at Deportivo La Coruna.

That explained why Enrico Pionetti will shortly relocate to Spain to specially work with Uzoho.

Rohr’s scouts have also picked out another goalkeeper with Nigerian roots who plies his trade in Germany.

MTN Facilitates 11 Lucky Fans Session with Arsenal Players A die-hard Arsenal fan, Oluwatoyin Famoofo, was full of praises to MTN as he was one of 11 lucky subscribers of the telecommunication company who attended an exclusive interactive session with three first team players of the English Premier League side.

“It’s an experience I will never forget. As a die-hard Arsenal fan I had always wanted to meet the players and interact but I never imagined it would happen this way. I did not only ask them all the questions I had wanted but also met other Arsenal fans.

“All these could not have been possible without MTN, so I want to give a big kudos to them. They did a great job!” the excited fan said of the interactive session with Arsenal players.

The MTN/Arsenal Q&A Session, which held at the MTN Headquarters, Golden Plaza, Ikoyi, Lagos on Wednesday, 31st January, 2018, featured a live video conference where 11 excited fans interacted directly with Arsenal players - team captain, Laurent Koscielny; attacking forward, Danny Welbeck and defender, Shkodran Mustafi and got to ask them whatever questions they chose.

The ‘Lucky 11’ emerged from a draw which held on Friday,

26th January, 2018 in Lagos.

They were picked from the numerous Arsenal fans who subscribe weekly to MTN’s service providing exclusive daily content on Arsenal FC (including match day highlights & interviews, press conferences, as well as classic banners of both Arsenal legends and present day players).

“MTN is a brand that truly cares about its customers.

Hence, going the extra mile to provide unique, enjoyable and memorable experiences such as this for our customers gives us great joy. You’d agree with me that Gunners’ fans are generally passionate about football and even more about the players and the club which has a rich history of supporting Nigerian talent such as Nwankwo Kanu and Alex Iwobi” said the General Manager, Brands and Communication of MTN, Richard Iweanoge while commenting on the event.

“This Q&A session has therefore given numerous Arsenal fans in Nigeria the opportunity to interact and also discuss matters affecting their club directly with the players.

It’s like being called to Arsenal’s board meeting and we’re glad we are the brand making it happen,” he concluded.

L-R: Team Nigeria’s Bobsled squad, Ngozi Onwumere , Akuoma Omeoga and Seun Adigun, during their welcome ceremony to Nigeria organised by Visa Inc. at the Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos…yesterday

Travelstart, KLM Partner Nigeria’s Winter Olympics Contingent Africa’s largest online travel agency, Travelstart and aviation giant, KLM Royal Dutch Airline, will serve as “Official Travel Partners” of Nigeria’s Winter Olympic contingent to the 2018 Winter Olympics, in PyeongChang, South Korea after partnering the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria (BSFN).

KLM Royal Dutch Airline, oldest airline in the world still

operating will also sponsor the Nigerian contingent to the Winter Olympics.

History was made back in November 2017, when the trio of Seun Adigun (Driver), Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga (brakemen) qualified Nigeria, thus becoming the first African team (men or women) to qualify in the Bobsled category.

Also making a first appearance at the Winter

Olympics is Simidele Adeagbo, who became the first African woman to qualify for the Skeleton category.

President of BSFN, Solomon Ogba, applauded Travelstart and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for identifying with the federation.

“We salute Travelstart and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for identifying with Nigeria’s Bobsled Team. It is a novel initiative to partner these history-making

Nigerians.

“The federation is proud of this development and it can only get better. Be assured that our team is ready to achieve more in PyeongChang. We salute Nigerians for the support so far,” Ogba said yesterday.

BSFN broadcast partner, Kwese, will showcase the Nigerian team on Kwese Free Sports.

The Winter Olympics begins on February 9.

Rivers Hoists African Flags for Wrestling Championship Another milestone towards the successful hosting of the African Wrestling Championship will be performed today as the flags of all the African countries to participate in the competition will be hoisted at the Alfred Diete Spiff Sports Centre, venue of the continental event in Port Harcourt.

The hoisting of the flags marks the first time the championship is taking place in West Africa.

Meanwhile, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the competition has put everything in place to ensure a

glorious outing.

The Chairman of the LOC, Hon. Boma Iyaye, assured stakeholders that Port Harcourt was ready to host the rest of Africa, in what he says would be one of the best championships ever organised.

According to him, the hoisting of the flags kick-starts the beginning of the African Wrestling Championship as is tradition across the world, pointing out that the famed welcoming culture of Rivers people would be on display throughout the one-week

event.

Iyaye, who is also Rivers State Commissioner for Sports, stressed that security measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of everybody before, during and after the championship.

Nigeria is to present an unprecedented 90-man team, comprising of 30 cadets, 30 Junior and 30 senior wrestlers to the tournament.

Among those that will lead Nigeria’s quest for glory include World silver medalist and 2014

Commonwealth Champion, Odunayo Adekuoroye; 7-time African Champion, Blessing Oborodudu; Commonwealth Champions Aminat Adeniyi and Ifeoma Nwoye and 5-time African Champion, Amas Daniel.

Officials of the United World Wrestling Africa, wrestlers across the continent and various heads of delegations are expected to arrive Port Harcourt between 5th and 6th of February, while the opening ceremony and championship proper start on Wednesday, February 7th.

Egbe Tips Eagles for CHAN Glory Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Monimichelle, a stadium construction outfit, Ebi Egbe, has tipped the Home-based Eagles to lift the CHAN 2018 trophy on Sunday.

Ragles will on Sunday do battle with host Morocco in what promises to be a thrilling final.

Egbe while hailing the Eagles for reaching their first ever final in the tournament, said the Salisu Yusuf tutored side has what it takes to break the heart of

Moroccans inside the massive Casablanca’s Stade Mohamed V. “Eagles are definitely in for a tough battle on Sunday, but I strongly believe it is a battle Nigeria is going to win. We have a bunch of players that are determined on doing the country proud and given the level of support they are getting from the soccer federation and government, I see them going all the way and lifting the trophy.

“What Nigerians should do is

rally round the team with their prayers. It would be wonderful starting 2018 with a trophy. The present NFF board has done well and I pray God crowns their efforts with a title ahead of the big one later in the year in Russia,” Egbe said.

Egbe while commending Morocco for the excellent facilities it is using to host CHAN, urged Nigerian authorities to do the same in the country insisting that Nigeria deserves to have world

class arenas.

“The big lesson we should learn from Morocco is the kind of facilities they have put forward.

Nigeria has the resources to do the same and my company Monimichelle is ready as an indigenous firm to ensure we eradicate the bad pitches that dot our country. What we have done in Yenagoa, Katsina and in another few weeks Aba is a pointer to what Monimichelle can do,” Egbe said.

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THE PEOPLES’ DEMOCRATIC PARTY AS A LEGACY TO NIGERIA BY DR ALEX IFEANYICHUKWU EKWUEME GCON

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T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2018

RC: No 1079631

You will always be dear to us at FCMB Group Plc. We appreciate the imperishable and pivotal role you played in the establishment of our bank, FCMB. You were a very dependable friend, confidant, and ally of our Founder.

The story of our establishment and expansion throughout this country will not be complete without mentioning your supportive role.

We thank you, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (Former Vice President of Nigeria) God bless your soul. Amen.

All of us at FCMB Group Plc

Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme 21 October, 1932 - 19 November, 2017

www.fcmbgroup.com

First City Plaza, 44 Marina Lagos, Nigeria.

TR

Friday, February 2, 2018

UT H

& RE A S O

N

Price: N250

MISSILE Abdullahi to Presidency “Nobody can remove Saraki. We elected him and we are not ready to remove him yet. From day one, they never wanted Saraki. What we are saying is that the right to choose the Senate President lies with senators and we have chosen our leader” – Spokes man for the Senate, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi sending a note of deterrent to the presidency against surreptitious moves to unseat Dr. Bukola Saraki as Senate President.

OBIADIMORA GUEST COLUMNIST

Ekwueme: A Life Worthy of Emulation

F

rom the outset, I must declare my interest. I was not only a great admirer of the late former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme (October 21, 1932 – November 19, 2017), I was also fortunate to be his devoted friend. To be associated with a man of such gravitas, learning and consequence was a tremendous honour. In fact, I estimate his friendship as an inexpressible pleasure and consolation for more than thirty years. Those fortunate to be close to Dr. Ekwueme would testify that he was a man possessed of undisputed, if quiet, brilliance.

He was so at ease in his wealth of wisdom and rare knowledge that he was absolutely approachable, even self-effacing. A stubborn optimist and warm personality, he was deeply jovial and radiated a certain fellowship and bonhomie.

Never a man of rough edges or surly habits, Dr. Ekwueme held himself to such high ethical standards that he was faithful to his word and commitments, whether that commitment was made to his social peer or a subordinate.

His signature traits included an infectious humility and unstinting clarity of expression.

Over the years of interacting with him, learning admirable lessons from him, I often reflected on the ease with which he turned friendship into a veritable gift. He was constant in his solicitude for his friends’ well being. Thanks in a large part to him, I came to realize the sheer beauty of friendship, often a relationship between two persons who do not share genes, yet have interests that intersect and entwine. Indeed, he taught me that few things in life are more prized than friendship, loyalty, love, and

Ekwueme

service. Epitomizing these qualities, he loved life completely and lived it intensely. His protean nature was revealed through his eclectic relationship with music. He loved Mozart, Bach and local music.

When Dr. Ekwueme made a promise, he kept it. He did so not only because he understood the meaning of responsibility, but also because he was a man of extraordinary ethical capital. He spent much of his life working selflessly to improve the lot of those dealt a harsh hand by life or circumstances. He carried out that impressive work through the Alex Ekwueme Foundation.

I was elated when he invited me to serve as a director of the foundation. In that role I saw first

hand the meaning and majesty of “quiet” philanthropy – the transformation of other people’s lives without drawing attention to oneself as the giver. Dr. Ekwueme was particularly sensitive to the pain of people consigned to the margins of society. His ability to understand the nature and scope of suffering, and to empathize with the downtrodden, was some of his most memorable attributes.

Those qualities are bound to endure, reminding those who knew him – as well as those who will come to know about him – that he lived a life that mattered, a life that was significant, and a life that recognized that true greatness lay in striving to make a difference in his society.

Every enlightened person should hope to leave a mark, to try their best to make the world slightly better than they found it. Dr. Ekwueme fulfilled that ambition many times over. His legacy in politics, an arena where egos often trump dedication to service, is peerless. If democracy is to function, a high percentage of those who hold public office must be honest, honourable and courageous people. Their office and service should enrich society and advance its interest rather than

When Dr. Ekwueme made a promise, he kept it.

He did so not only because he understood the meaning of responsibility, but also because he was a man of extraordinary ethical capital. He spent much of his life working selflessly to improve the lot of those dealt a harsh hand by life or circumstances… Every enlightened person should hope to leave a mark, to try their best to make the world slightly better than they found it. Dr. Ekwueme fulfilled that ambition many times over

enriching themselves. He sought to address injustice and to bring his vast intellectual acumen and ethical funds to bear on governance.

In 2002, I had the privilege of being the chief launcher at the presentation of his memoir titled From State House to Kirikiri. On the occasion, I enthusiastically declared, “unlike many, he did not go into politics in order to rig for himself an easy life. Instead, he set out to use the ameliorative powers of government to make a difference”. Those words bear echoing, for Dr. Ekwueme was an advertisement for the kind of noble-minded, visionary, and focused leader that our country sorely needs.

Many men and women aspire to greatness, yet few ever succeed in capturing the imagination and spirit of their times. The ones who do become truly unforgettable, and they achieve a kind of immortality.

I have no doubt that Dr. Ekwueme has earned his place among the small pantheon of those who, despite huge odds, challenged their fellows not to settle for a mediocre nation, but to imagine and work towards a loftier one.

While it may be too soon to undertake a full assessment of Dr. Ekwueme’s legacy, it is not hasty but altogether proper to underscore the fact that the former VP has been widely lauded, in Nigeria and beyond, by numerous newspaper editorials as well as his colleagues in architecture, business, politics and law. The unanimity of the laudatory verdict offers us a shape of the judgement that history is bound to render.

May His Excellency, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, GCON, rest in peace. r "EJNPSB XSJUFT GSPN -BHPT

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