Sunday 4th February 2018

With N69.3bn ‘Under-recovery’, NNPC Retains Petrol Price at N145/ltr in Jan Calculation based on new consumption rate, landing cost Under-recovery in line with credit structure, corporation insists Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) may have absorbed a financial subsidy worth N69.393 billion in January to keep the pump price of petrol

at service stations within the government’s regulated price of N145 per litre, THISDAY investigation has revealed.

THISDAY checks were based on disclosures and figures given by the NNPC on the landing

cost of petrol and current volume of petrol consumed in the country. These figures were provided in December 2017 – for the landing cost, and January 2018 – for current consumption rate.

Though the NNPC did not confirm the figures, it however told THISDAY that its underrecovery in this regards was in line with its credit structure, but that it was looking to the federation to help in the

recovery.

The NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, had last December, disclosed to journalists that the landing cost of petrol was N171.40, with a metric tonne at $620.

He also stated during a session with the Joint National Assembly Committee on Petroleum Downstream in January that the current Continued on page 8

FG Releases N110bn for Social Investment Programme… Page 10 Sunday 4 February, 2018 Vol 22. No 8326

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Benue Killings: IGP Complicit, On Mission to Mislead Nigerians, Says Ortom Gov insists killings preceded anti-open grazing law Abimbola Akosile in Lagos, George Okoh in Makurdi, Daji Sani in Yola Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State yesterday

condemned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, for blaming the incessant killing of natives by herdsmen on the state’s anti-open grazing law, saying the IGP’s stance portrays him as deceitful and

complicit in the murders. In a statement by his press secretary, Mr. Terver Akase, Ortom said the bloody attacks on communities by herdsmen predated the law and prompted it, as the state government sought measures

Herdsmen-farmers’ clash claims lives in Adamawa to stop the killings.

In a related development, several people were killed yesterday in Song and Shelleng local government areas of Adamawa State, with many villages destroyed, following

a gun and arson attack by herdsmen said to be on a reprisal mission. The affected villages included Simba, Shure, and other adjoining communities.

Ortom was in the release

responding to statements credited to Idris, where he was quoted as offering the law banning open grazing of cattle in Benue State as explanation Cosntinued on page 8

2019: Buhari’s Men Court Igbo with 2023 Presidency, But S'West Remains an Issue Proposed change in election order still a concern in Aso Rock Olawale Olaleye In a new strategy to smoothen the path to the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari, some of the president’s henchmen have begun moves to penetrate the South-east zone of the country with a view to securing the support of the Igbo and in turn assure them of the 2023 presidency.

A presidency source told THISDAY at the weekend that the idea was that if the Igbo embrace this campaign, the 2023 presidential election, which is expected to shift to the south of Nigeria, might just be theirs for the taking.

Thus, in strengthening Buhari’s re-election project, some of his men have concluded that such understanding with the South-east could help break the likely southern opposition to the reelection of the president if the Igbo see the sense in the new argument to trade their support for the presidency in 2023.

The South-east voted massively in support of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Buhari’s

opponent in 2015 presidential election. The zone was until recently a cauldron of secessionist agitations.

The president’s men are said to hold the view that the prevailing circumstance provides the best opportunity for the Igbo to produce a president of their extraction in 2023 since it is the only zone in the South that is yet to produce the president of the country since the return of democracy in 1999.

The reasoning is that by 2023, Buhari would have completed his second term. But supporting a fresh candidate from the North in 2019 would mean pushing the Igbo hope to 2027, as the new candidate would want to do two terms.

It is therefore the belief of the president's strategists that some of the prominent southern leaders who have begun to declare support for Buhari are doing so because they have their eyes on the nation’s number one seat and importantly, they are doing so

STANDING WITH WORLD LEADERS...

DJ Cuppy (middle) teaching French President Emmanuel Macron (right) and Senegalese President Macky Sall how to DJ at

Cosntinued on page 8 the Global Partnership for Education Financing Conference in Dakar... recently

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ͼ˜ ͺ͸͹΀ ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

PAGE EIGHT 2019: BUHARI’S MEN COURT IGBO WITH 2023 PRESIDENCY, BUT S'WEST REMAINS AN ISSUE to secure a tacit understanding of the president to support them in the 2023 presidential election.

But these allies of the president hold the view that if there is any part of the country deserving of producing the presidency in 2023, it should be the South-east hence they have commenced a subtle campaign for an Igbo president in 2023 with the understanding that the Igbo would play the Buhari card in next year’s election.

The source said, “The Igbo cannot get secession or any other request that is antithetical to the unity of the country because other parts of the country would not even back such a move.

It is to that extent that the presidency could be theirs to lose in 2023 only if they can clearly read the political climate, build consensus and tag along with the current frequency.

“This is doable but to get it done, they must support the Buhari project. They must not play the hate card they played during the 2015 elections, where they gave their votes to someone else and lost total relevance by no fault of anyone else. But they must see the sense in a Buhari coming back in 2019 so that the pendulum can swing to the South and by extension, the South-east. It is the ideal

thing to do and it is fair that the Igbo produce a president of the country.”

Though this strategy looks plausible, it would however have to contend with the two other zones from the South that might want to field their own people in 2023, particularly the South-west - the only zone in the South the President won in the 2015 election - which currently occupies the vice presidential seat. There are no signs that President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who have enjoyed a good working relationship, including the period Osinbajo served as acting president when Buhari was away on medical vacation in the United Kingdom last year, would not run on a joint ticket in 2019. This would further heighten the interest of the South-west zone in the 2023 presidential race, particularly with the rumoured aspiration of a national leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

But the source contended that the logic behind the Igbo presidency strategy was that since the South-west through former President Olusegun Obasanjo had spent eight years as president, coupled with the possibility that the zone would have also produced a vice-president for eight years if the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket wins again in 2019, and then,

considering the South-south five years of former President Goodluck Jonathan, then, the South-east narrative would be an easy sell.

The source said while Buhari’s re-election cannot be totally predicated on the South-east extrapolation, it was a sincere calculation meant to stoke the South-east into reviewing their strategy for power acquisition.

Secretary to the Government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, recently hinted at the thinking in the corridors of power, when at a reception organised for the Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Affairs Office, Georgina Ehuria, by a former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, said 2023 was Igbo’s best chance to produce president.

Mustapha, who was reacting to comments by Kalu, that the Igbo have decided to give 75 per cent votes to President Buhari in 2019, said, “You made allusions to the fact that the South-east would support Buhari. Let me confirm to you that for any thought of Igbo presidency, this is the shortest part.

“I have been in this game in the last 35, 37 years. I can attest to it. I know what it is, I know the permutations. I know what is on ground and I am an election manager,” he said.

Meanwhile, the proposed change in the order of election by the National Assembly has continued to cause some stir in the presidency as the president’s men are pondering different options, because they see the move as capable of unsettling their 2019 permutations.

THISDAY gathered that the presidency is still working seriously to have the parliament change its decision to alter the sequence of election, which puts the presidential poll as the last bout of the exercise, a move believed could harm Buhari in 2019.

The House of Representatives, recently amended certain sections of the Electoral Act including the sequence of elections, which presupposes that the National Assembly elections would now hold first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly polls, while the presidential election would be conducted last.

The amendment, which was made at the committee of the whole and presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Yussuff Lasun, changed section 25 of the Principal Act and substituted it with a new section 25 (1).

Immediately, the House’s amendment was announced, the Senate too announced the

composition of its conference committee to reconcile the differences in the amended version of the Electoral Act passed by the House and the one it passed last year.

Those in the committee as announced by the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, are Senators Shehu Sani, Biodun Olujimi, Hope Uzodinma, Dino Melaye and Peter Nwaoboshi.

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

The notion that the move was deliberate and targeted at the president is now very rife in the Villa and among supporters of the president, who are now seeking political solution to the situation by engaging the leaders of the National Assembly. The president’s men are currently pondering different options on how to get round it,.

Although it was reported that contacts had been established with the leadership of the National Assembly, they are however said not to be budging.

The source explained, “We know the game they are playing and we know why they are playing this game at this time. They want us to come to a negotiating table.

They want to cut a deal that will secure their place in the

next dispensation. It is unfair what they are doing and we are not going to sulk up to anybody especially that we know where this is coming from,” a presidency source said.

However, the source said, “I see their (the lawmakers) concern though, because this is politics. They feel you cannot be talking about the re-election of the president and leave their own career hanging. So, they want some kind of negotiation, such that they would secure their own future while the plan to get the president re-elected is on.

“For instance, the speaker of the House of Representatives is not in good terms with his governor and he believes he has been a good boy of the party, doing what the party wants in many instances and, therefore, justifiably nurses the feeling that he should be protected and that, I believe is right.

“The Senate President, too, is in the same position. It is not true that he wants to leave the party. At the very best, he wants to negotiate his return as Senate President. But the route they had taken us on this is very unfair and discomforting.

But if we (the presidency) come out of this without their help and understanding, then, we might be unable to help them too and that would be it.”

He added, “The IGP should tell Nigerians if states like Adamawa, Zamfara, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Enugu, Edo, Plateau, among others, where armed herdsmen have killed hundreds of people, also have anti-open grazing laws in place.”

Ortom stated, “With his latest demand that the ranching law of Benue be suspended, it is now clear where the loyalty and interest of the Inspector General of Police lies – certainly not with innocent Nigerians. He has now positioned himself not only as the mouthpiece of those who are killing Benue people but, indeed, as their shield.

Little wonder herdsmen still proudly carry sophisticated weapons and wilfully terrorise innocent people in the state without being arrested.

“We wish to place it on record that contrary to the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Inspector General of Police should relocate to Benue to ensure that the killings stop, the IGP spent only one day in Benue and left for a destination where only he could tell. No one has seen him in Benue since that day.”

The governor said killings were still going on in the state, despite claims by Idris that the police had provided adequate security for the people.

He said, “The constitutional responsibility of the police is to maintain law and order and not to make or criticise same.

That the IGP would have the audacity to blame a law made to ensure peace in the state and call for its repeal amounts to taking sides with lawless groups that gave notice to invade and carried out their threats.

“There is no surprise that the police ignored petitions for the arrest and prosecution of leaders of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the masterminds of the current invasion and the attendant massacre.

“If the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Idris, is not competent to help bring an end to the invasion and killing of innocent people in Benue and

other states by herdsmen, the noble thing to do is to resign instead of twisting facts to suit his objective.”

Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Hon. Terkimbir Ikyange, spoke in a similar vein. Ikyange debunked insinuations that the anti-open grazing law of the state was the cause of the killings by herdsmen. He said the Miyetti Allah, IGP, and others currently using the law as alibi for murder were given ample opportunity to make inputs during the making of the law, but they failed to contribute and only chose to sabotage the law.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Adamawa State was reported to have started after some herders led their cattle into a local pond said to the only source of drinking water in the area and matched a woman who complained about their action. This irked the locals who mobilised and tried to force out the intruding Fulani herders and their cattle, allegedly, killing four herdsmen in the resultant melee. The herders were said to have called in reinforcements, which launched a fierce attack on the communities, killing many people and razing entire villages.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Adamawa State, Mr. Othman Abubakar, a Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident, but said he could not give the causality figure until full details were received from the Divisional Police Officer in the area.

In the meantime, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, has called for more deployment of technology to tackle the security challenges in the country. Waziri, who is also the founder of a nongovernmental organisation, Women Youths Children and Crime Organisation, made the call in Makurdi, when she led other officials of the group to donate relief materials persons displaced by the herdsmen attacks in the state.

BENUE KILLINGS: IGP COMPLICIT, ON MISSION TO MISLEAD NIGERIANS, SAYS ORTOM for the recent killings in the state. An unnamed member of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs had on Friday alleged that the IGP told the committee that the implementation of the law was responsible for the attacks by herders, which resulted in the death of 73 persons in Logo and Guma local government areas on January 1. He was also alleged to have called for the suspension of the law. Idris appeared had before the committee behind closed doors to brief the lawmakers

on his extent of compliance with a two-week ultimatum issued him on January 14 by the senate to arrest and prosecute the assailants.

The governor stated in the release, “We read statements credited to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, as having blamed the recent killing of innocent Benue people by herdsmen on the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of the state. We thought that the IGP was misquoted

and expected the police authorities to issue a rebuttal to the reports, hence our delay in responding. Consequently, we have to respond to the erroneous impression, which the reports have created.”

He said the law was conceived as a permanent solution to the spate of attacks and clashes between crop farmers and herders, stressing that the IGP’s conclusion that the law is the cause of the crisis is unfortunate.

“This is shameful. If truly

the IGP said what was widely reported by the media, our conclusion is that his is a clear case of a man who is either on a mission to mislead the nation or is complicit in the attacks on Benue communities and the killing of many people by terror herdsmen,” the statement said.

The governor noted that Fulani herdsmen had attacked Benue State more than 50 times and killed several people before the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law was enacted.

WITH N69.3BN ‘UNDER-RECOVERY’, NNPC RETAINS PETROL PRICE AT N145/LTR IN JAN volume of petrol consumed in Nigeria everyday had gone up to 55 million litres from its previous level of 35 million litres because a syndicate of crossborder smugglers were taking advantage of the country’s current supply challenges to force NNPC to push out more products.

Similarly, Baru, explained that NNPC’s crude for product swap programme - the Direct Sales Direct Purchases (DSDP) was under pressure and unable to satisfy this increased petrol consumption because it was originally programmed to meet the 35 million litres daily consumption level and not the new 55 million litres.

Following from this, THISDAY added the N14.3 distribution margin approved in the last pricing template for petrol by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to the N171.40 landing cost, to arrive at N185.7, which should be the current market price of a litre of petrol in the country. PPPRA is the agency responsible for periodically calculating and approving products’ pricing for the market, It then calculated the difference between N185.7 (actual market price per litre) and N145 (government price per litre) to arrive at N40.7 -

the subsidy or under-recovery recorded over every litre of petrol supplied by the NNPC which in October reportedly became the sole importer of petrol in the country.

THISDAY then multiplied the N40.7 by 55 million litres daily consumption to arrive at N2.238 billion, being the daily subsidy figures, and then N2.238 billion by the 31 days in January to get the N69.393 billion total amount of subsidy the NNPC may have absorbed in the month.

In December, Baru said while responding to a question on the landing cost: “The landing cost goes with the CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) price of PMS. As of Friday, the CIF price was in the neighbourhood of $620 per metric tonne, with the official exchange rate of N305 to the dollar, the landing cost should be N171.40 per litre.

“The government has consistently indicated that the N145 per litre is the price and to do that, it has mandated the NNPC to keep the equivalent depot price of N133.28 per litre, which will keep a cap of N145 per liter. There is a lot of profit in-between after taking the transportation cost of N7 off, so there is sufficient margin for the marketers in that PPPRA template at the price cap.”

He also said at the National Assembly meeting: “The sudden and unnatural shock in fuel consumption to record levels has over-stretched the DSDP crude for product supply arrangement which was originally based on 35 million per day petrol consumption pattern.”

Similarly, the Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, recently said the petrol subsidy was not paid by the government to oil marketers or the NNPC, but that the corporation was making under-recoveries which were affecting the Federation Account.

“Now, when there is the talk of payment of subsidy, technically today, there is no subsidy but there is under -recovery. Why that is because NNPC is presently doing all the importing.

“They are importing at a higher price than they are selling which means they are losing money, which means effectively that loss is being borne by everybody and effectively it reflected in the federation account,” Adeosun said.

Speaking to THISDAY over the phone on the development, NNPC’s Group General Manager, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, explained that the corporation like other business entities has a credit structure and that its

under-recovery was in line with this.

Ughamadu equally noted with regards to the landing cost, that the NNPC was bringing in products within the confines of its DSDP programme. He, however, noted that suppliers in the programme were complaining that prices of crude oil had gone up.

“In terms of under-recovery, it is in line with our credit structure.

Every entity, including Coca-Cola, have credit structures, but what matters is how you recoup the under-recoveries, and that is why we are making appeals to the federation to see how it can help,” said Ughamadu.

The spokesman further stated that, “NNPC is supplier of last resort, and you know that. If it behaves like other marketers and back out when the situation get tough like it is now, the whole country would be in trouble.

Many marketers still rely on NNPC for supplies and this has impacts on our operations because the downstream is just one aspect of what we do.

“If you consider all the manhours and workload put into this, and quantify it, you will see that it is affecting us, and this comes with other challenges like diversion, hoarding, profiteering and all others.”

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 4, 2018

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SUNDAY COMMENT

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

WHICH EDUCATION AND WHAT EMERGENCY? The education sector is in a crisis. We need clear objectives and measurable timelines to reform it

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he crisis in our educational sector is so total and frightening that nothing short of a well thought-out strategy will do for any meaningful change to occur. That explains why we do not understand why an administration that has effectively entered a lame-duck stage would be canvassing emergency declaration whose scope and content remain unclear, even to the proponents. Besides, what has the federal government been doing for the past three years to revamp the sector?

Even with the benefit of the best background and information on our educational crisis, the idea of an emergency declaration by a government that in practical terms has only a few months left before the campaign season sets in seems very cynical. Ordinarily, it would take more than the next nine to 12 months to even understand what we are dealing with in What the current the sector. situation and our What we developmental therefore challenges dictate is need are short, medium and a system of education long terms plan with clear to produce creators of objectives and measurable jobs and opportunities. timelines to reform our While there cannot educational system. We be any meaningful also need public input educational reform and international peerage without addressing to make any headway. Is this fundamental the Education Minister, philosophical Mallam Adamu Adamu, dysfunction, a mere who is proposing declaring pronouncement of emergency in the sector some meaningless in April thinking along words in Abuja just that way or is this another to be seen as doing political gambit for 2019? something will not As things stand in make the crisis go away Nigeria today, nearly every segment of our public education system has collapsed.

The primary and secondary schools in most states lack basic facilities from classrooms to instructional materials. Majority of the teachers, at practically all levels, have also relapsed into illiteracy for lack of training. That is aside the fact that many

Letters to the Editor

of them go unpaid for months on end. In fact, the Nigeria Union of Teachers on Thursday threatened to embark on another nationwide strike because 13 states have not paid the salary of their teachers, some for as long as 28 months!

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

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

n response to the demand for better quality, the last two decades have witnessed the emergence of a vibrant but expensive private education at all levels, especially in the urban areas. These institutions offer better quality, employ more qualified teachers and invest in modern facilities but at costs that are beyond the reach of the poor majority.

Yet the products of these elite schools graduate into the same society where they are outnumbered by the less privileged products of our distressed public schools, a testimony to our inbuilt governance of inequality. In this process, we have inadvertently deepened the class antagonism that will haunt the future of our children.

At the tertiary end, employers are already discriminating between graduates of elite private schools and the products of our public universities. What that suggests is that this crisis goes back to the very fundamental philosophy that underpins our educational system.

What the British bequeathed here is a system that prepares young people to queue up for jobs. There was neither any entrepreneurial content nor room for creativity. What the current situation and our developmental challenges therefore dictate is a system of education to produce creators of jobs and opportunities. While there cannot be any meaningful educational reform without addressing this fundamental philosophical dysfunction, a mere pronouncement of some meaningless words in Abuja just to be seen as doing something will not make the crisis go away.

In addition to equipping its products to qualify to seek jobs, the British format of education perhaps envisaged that former colonies like Nigeria and India would develop into economies dominated by the public sector. As Britain itself was to rudely discover under late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the dominance of the private sector in the economies of the future was inevitable. The imperative of that inevitability was to quickly transform from an educational system that produced job hunters to one that served the end of an open market private sector- dominated economy. The education that we need in order to play competitively in the new global economic environment is one that produces creators, innovators, pathfinders and versatile enablers of opportunities. This is the urgent educational reform that challenges and faces us.

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

NIGERIA’S BURGEONING CLASS OF DEGENERATES

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s religion not a way by which we try to reach our gods or God? Man’s effort and quests to know what lies beyond the earth plane and the origin of Man gave birth to the existence of many diverse religions in our today’s world. Today, we’ve such religions as Confucianism, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam, African Traditional Religion, Christianity, and others. Each religion has its own doctrines and teachings to which its followers adhere. But, all religions preach love.

Religion, which is one of the agents of socialisation, is a force for engendering positive morality in the society. No true religious teachers and priests would encourage members of their religious groups to perpetrate anti-social deeds. That’s why in the past those who were reared and bred in deeply religious

homes grew up to become respectable, responsible, and God-fearing individuals, who had positive morality – code.

In the past, when church ministers were true to the teachings and doctrines of their religions, they would preach the message of holiness and righteousness rather than prosperity messages, not to talk of them committing heinous and atrocious crimes. Then, people with probity were revered and accorded high respect in the society.

But with the passage of time, after our attainment of political sovereignty in 1960, the erosion of ennobling family values started in Nigeria. Sadly, the proliferation of mosques and churches in every nook and cranny of Nigeria has not succeeded in stemming the tide of vices by Nigerians. Rather, religious mountebanks, who are

desperate to make money and attract people to their churches, preach about the indispensability of wealth in a man’s life instead of instilling the virtues of honesty, faithfulness, and love into the people. Those who are fired up by those teachings and messages do seek to acquire money by any means and at any cost.

To our surprise, now, even pastors exploit the vulnerability, naivety, and frustration of members of their churches and fleece them of their money. Recently, the papers reported how some Pentecostal pastors fleeced Wilson Oruma, a former international football star of his hard-earned money, causing him some distress. Against this background, our people’s craze to amass wealth by foul means is understandable.

Here, now, everybody wants to become rich at any cost since it’s

their possession of material things that qualifies them to be called successful people.

So, corruption thrives here simply because of our values, norms, and philosophies. In our country, welleducated people with probity, who are not rich, are derided and treated with scorn while we eulogise and lionise illiterate people with ill-gotten wealth.

A former local government chairman who did not dip hand into the financial till is called a sucker.

Not surprisingly, corruption in all its ugly manifestations has become normative. Politicians who are elected into high offices perceive their occupation of those offices as a license to loot our exchequer. And, many seemingly educated Nigerians, who profess either the Christian religion or the Islamic faith, would cut corners and circumvent rules to secure university admissions for their children. And, they do hire surrogate candidates to

sit such examination as NECO and SSCE for their children and wards, too. Those impressionable secondary school pupils are initiated into our reprehensible and egregious culture of corruption when their parents hire people to sit examinations for them.

Has the whole moral order in Nigeria not been upturned? So, can well-adjusted and God-fearing children emerge from homes, where parents are corrupt and morally debauched? The answer to the question is a categorical no. Family is the basic unit of the society. And, a child’s first contact is with the immediate members of his/her family. Children look up to their parents for guidance and see them as role models, too.

But parents who have penchant for executing despicable deeds cannot breed children who possess unblemished character.

––Chiedu Uche Okoye, Uruowulu- Obosi, Anambra State

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ EBRUARY 4, 2018

SUNDAYNEWS

News Editor Abimbola Akosile E-mail: abimbola.akosile@thisdaylive.com, 08023117639 (sms only)

Keep Your Advice, Buhari’ll Win in 2019, Ebute Tells Obasanjo Abimbola Akosile

A former President of the Senate, Ameh Ebute, has told former President Olusegun Obasanjo to keep his advice, while stating that President Muhammadu Buhari would “coast to victory in 2019 to engender more development for Nigerians”.

Ebute, in a lengthy letter addressed to Obasanjo, replied the

former president on the issues raisedinhis specialletter,wherein he accused Buhari of underperformingandurgedhimnottorun for re-election in 2019.

The former Senate president, in his own letter, a copy of which was seen by THISDAY, accused Obasanjo ofbeingeconomicalwith thetruth,andaddedthattheseeds of Boko Haram insurgency were sownunderhisadministrationin

Borno and exploded.

Also, according to Ebute, “The issues of poverty, insecurity, poor economic management as trumpeted in your letter have existed withNigeriaandaggravatedunder your reign as President.”

The letter titled, ‘Re: The Way Out: A Clarion Call For Coalition For Nigeria Movement’, reads: Your Excellency, Chief Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo,

Former President of Nigeria, Obasanjo Farms, Otta, Ogun State.

Your Excellency, Sir, Re:THEWAYOUT:ACLARIONCALLFORCOALITIONFOR NIGERIA MOVEMENT I am bemused to again read a publicletter/specialpressstatement from you addressed to President MuhammaduBuhariGCFR,titled

HONOUR FOR AIG-IMOUKHUEDE L-R: Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ganiyu Olatunde; Ogun State Governor and Visitor to the University, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; the Alake of Egbaland, Oba (Dr.) Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo; and Chairman, Coronation Capital, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, who was conferred with Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) Honoris Causa, at the 27th Convocation Ceremony of the University held in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State...recently

“The Way Out: A Clarion Call for CoalitionforNigeriaMovement.”

I recall that in 2013, you wrote a similar letter to former President GoodluckJonathan,GCFR,which you captioned, “Before It Is Too Late.”

Inmyconsideredandcarefully drafted response to that letter to formerPresidentJonathan,Ifaulted thecontentofyourepistlevariously andreturnedtheverdictofguiltand

condemnation you irreverently, dishonestly and selfishly handed downontheadministrationofDr Goodluck Jonathan back to your doorstep. AsanerstwhilePresident of Nigeria, I was riled and never concealed my anger against your grandstanding,passionandobsession with open letters to serving leaders,insteadofasilentadviceon presumedwrongstepsasrequired of your status.

BRILLIANT ASMAH Daughter of Sheikh Mansur Williams, Asmah Masur-Williams,

being congratulated by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Vinney, at the Bournemouth University graduation ceremony in United Kingdom where she bagged First Class Honours in International Business Studies...recently

Insecurity: Navy to Access 1% Maritime Fund in New Amendment Damilola Oyedele in Abuja

The House of Representatives, in a landmark move, has passed an amendment to the act establishingtheMaritimeOperations CoordinatingBoard,toallowthe Navy access one per cent of the MaritimeFund,tobetteraddress its funding challenges.

Theamendmentreconstitutes the board and includes the navy as a member. That way, the navy would also be allocated one

per cent of the fund derived by Maritime Fund accruing to the NigeriaMaritimeAdministration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) under its establishing Act. ChairmanoftheCommitteeon Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, Hon. Mohammed Umar Bago, presenting the report,saidthenavywouldnow be able to enhance its capacity to better police the Maritime environment and protect the Nigeria’s maritime territorial

Lassa Fever: Death Toll Rises to Nine in Ondo, 36 Cases Confirmed James Sowole in Akure

The number of deaths recorded from Lassa Fever infection in Ondo State has increased to nine. The figure was disclosed by the Ondo State Governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, in a state broadcast on the dreaded disease on Saturday.

The governor disclosed that a total of 102 suspected cases of theailmenthadbeenreportedin eight local government areas of the state. He added that 36 of the 79 cases with laboratory results had been confirmed, including nine deaths.

Akeredolu said at present 127 Hospital Contacts and 308 Community Contacts were line-listed in all the affected Local Government Areas while 30 have completed their follow-up.

He said patients were being managed at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owo, while confirmatory tests are done at

IrruaSpecialistTeachingHospital, Irrua, Edo State.

To contain the spread of the disease, Akeredolu said an Emergency Preparedness and Response Team had been reactivatedatboththeStateandLocal Government levels, in addition toactivesurveillanceandcontact tracing in the affected council areas.

According to Akeredolu, sensitisation and community mobilisation are going on in all local government areas for traditional rulers, religious leaders, political leaders, market women and other stakeholders.

“Publicity is also ongoing through radio jingles, radio and television discussions in our media houses. Information, EducationandCommunication materials such as handbills, flyers and posters have been produced and these are being distributed.”

integrity.

Headdedthattheamendment became necessary in the face of dwindlingbudgetaryallocations to the Navy, and the urgent need toproperlyfundher,indischarge of her constitutional mandate.

Speaking with THISDAY on the passage of the amendment, the Chairman Committee on Navy,Hon.AbdussamadDasuki said Nigeria cannot afford to not properly fund the outfit, in the face of rising challenges in the

maritime sector.

“The passage of this amendment, is a sign of our commitment, working with the House Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, to ensure better funding for the navy, considering its economic benefits to securing Nigeria’s waterwaysandmakethecountry more resilient to internal and external aggression,” he said, Dasuki said the proportion of thetotalallocationtotheNavy,to

Fashola: Power Sector Prepared to Support Growth in Mining, Others Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said the ongoing expansion in the power sector was done to support expected growth in the country’s mining sector and other heavy industrial concerns. Fashola said these expansion efforts were in support of the government’s planned diversification of the country’s economy to embrace mining, agriculture and manufacturing.

Speaking at a workshop to educate civil society groups on the import of the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) which the government developed with the World Bank to revive Nigeria’s ailing power sector,Fasholaexplainedthatthe government was committed to fully implementing the PSRP. A statement from his senior

special assistant on communications, Mr. Hakeem Bello, on SaturdayinAbujacontainedthis.

He urged Nigerians not to put down the country in comparison with other countries of the world, and said Nigeria is a greatcountryinbothpopulation andpotentialityforeconomicand industrial development.

According to him, Nigeria as a nation has taken great strides in the area of development and has the potential to compete favourablywithotherdeveloped and emerging economies if its citizenry work together. He frowned on the comparison of Nigeria’s power situation with countries like South Africa and Germany, and said the power thatanycountryneededwasnot only a function of its population but also a function of the level of its development and industrialisation.

the national budget in 2015, was 1.73 per cent, but dropped to 1.41 per cent in 2016, 1.25 per cent in 2017 and further to 1.11 per cent in the 2018 appropriation bill.

“In2017,outoftheoverN26billionallocatedtotheNavy’scapital projects, only about N15 billion was released. For overhead, over N4billionwasappropriatedand N2.3 billion was released. This is unacceptable.Forinstance,seven patrol vessels on 24 hour surveillance for 30 days will consume

diesel worth N1billion,” he said.

He lamented that with such development, the Navy cannot perform optimally in discharge of its duties.

“These are people sacrificing their lives to ensure the safety of ourexclusiveeconomiczone,the overallmaritimedomain,andwe areheregivingtheminadequate equipment, that is very unfair to thenationitself.Butnowtheycan procureequipmentandmanage their ships better,” Dasuki said.

FG Releases N110bn for Social Investment Programme Omololu OgunmadeinAbuja The federal government yesterday said N110 billion of the total N900 billion approved in 2016 and2017budgetstofunditssocial investmentprogrammehasbeen released.

Italsosaidover246millionmeals hadbeenofferedtoprimaryschool pupils across 20 of the 36 states of thefederationsinceDecember2016, undertheNationalHomeGrown School Feeding Programme.

A statement by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s spokesman, Mr. Laolu Akande, said the total number of the meals is expected to rise to 313.9 million in the last week of February, 2018.

Akande said more states are also expected to be added to the feedingschemethisyear,adding that the scheme plans to implementfeedinginatotalof28states, whileitaimsatlinkingfarmersto school feeding markets. “In the

samevein,severalmilestoneswere recordedbytheBuhariadministration’sNationalSocialInvestment Programmes(NSIP)in2017,inline with its inclusive growth plan, whichincludestacklingpoverty andhunger,andcreatingjobsfor Nigerians.

“About 40,000 direct jobs have sincebeencreatedfromtheSchool Feeding Programme across the participating states.

The 20 states that have so far been covered by the NHGSFP include Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta,Abia,Benue,Plateau,Bauchi, Taraba, Kaduna, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa, Niger, and Kano.

“Also,in2017,theschoolfeeding programmecollaboratedwiththe Federal Ministry of Health to deliver an integrated deworming programme for pupils in all public primary schools classes 1 to 6 across 17 states nationwide.

T H I S D AY ˾ SUNDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2018

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ ͼ˜ ͺ͸͹΀

NEWS APC Leaders Move to Stop Kwankwaso’s Defection Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja Apparently worried by the plans by former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his huge supporters to leave the All Progressives Congress (APC) -- over the lingering crisis in the state, President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the John Odigie Oyegun-led national executive committee of APC have held

different meetings with Kwankwaso in the last few days to persuade him to drop the ideal of leaving the party, a source in the presidency told THISDAY in Abuja yesterday.

This came as a close associate of Kwankwaso and former Managing Director of the Nigeria Port Authority, Arc. Aminu Dabo, yesterday cautioned the presidency and the national leadership of the party against the huge consequences of taking

sides with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State in the pronounced disagreement between the governor and the former governor.

THISDAY gathered that the different meetings with Kwankwaso and Governor Ganduje came as the political group of the former governor, Kwankwasiya, is expected to meet today to review its planned move.

The Political Adviser to the

President, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, confirmed the presidency’s meeting with Kwankwaso and Governor Ganduje in a post on his Facebook account.

“Last night Vice President Yemi Osinbajo led a team of myself, Hon Adamu Farouk to engage Governor Ganduje of Kano on the need for unity and peace in our party in Kano State”, the presidential adviser on politics stated.

“We made substantial prog-

CELEBRATING ADEOLA R-L: Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Bank, Mr. Yemi Adeola; Nigerian football legend, Austin Jay Jay Okocha; and wife of the celebrant, Mrs. Banke Adeola, during a visit to mark the CEO’s 59th birthday at the bank’s corporate head office in Lagos... recently

ress, just as we did earlier in the week when we met former Governor Kwakwanso. Insha Allah all will be well very soon and we shall once again have one big APC family in the ancient and progressive city.”

Dabo has cautioned the presidency and the national leadership of the party against losing the strongest political base of Buhari/APC to the opposition.

The crisis in Kano APC became pronounced recently when the state Police Commissioner, Rabiu Yusuf, cautioned Kwankwaso from going to his home town for political activities scheduled for last Tuesday.

The tension generated by the police advice led to the postponement of the planned visit

by Kwankwaso.

Condemning the action of the police, the Senate recently directed the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to provide security cover to Senator Kwankwaso to visit the state.

Speaking with journalists yesterday in Abuja, Dabo accused Governor Ganduje of trying to drag the presidency and the national leadership of the party into the crisis, which he said is “fast consuming” the governor’s political career in the state.

According to Dabo, “Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has suddenly realised that his quarrel with our leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is overwhelming him; that the people of Kano State are not happy

with him, and he is becoming very unpopular in the state.

“He has realised suddenly that the only way for him to survive or to feel protected is to bring the presidency and the national leadership of our party into it. This is going to be very serious and the presidency, especially President Muhammadu Buhari, will pay a very huge political price.

“The consequence of taking side with Governor Ganjuje in this crisis will be huge because the people of Kano State are not happy with the governor and what is happening.”

Reminding President Buhari that Kano State remains his “biggest and strongest” political base in the country, and that the state gave him almost two million votes in the 2015 presidential election, Dabo advised the president to be politically correct in relating with all the stakeholders involved in the current crisis in Kano APC. Dabo, a close political associate of Kwankwaso, who said the current political situation in Kano is very dicey, wondered why the police and the presidency would assist Governor Ganjuje to scuttle a mere visit

by Senator Kwankwaso to his senatorial district.

He continued, “How can you stop a normal visit? If you think you are popular why not allow other people to do their own activities? How can you stop a serving senator from visiting his senatorial district?

This is very unfortunate.”

Nigeria to Launch National Cancer Control Plan t Obaseki tasks researchers on urgent cure, Adewole urges physical exercise Senator Iroegbu in Abuja As part of activities marking World Cancer Day 2018, the Federal Government will on Friday, February 9 launch a four-year action plan on cancer.

The four-year National Cancer Control Plan (2018-2022) will be launched by the heath minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole.

The Executive Director of Project Pink Blue, Ms. Eunice Chidebe, disclosed this on

Saturday in Abuja during the World Cancer Day 2018 walk convened by the organisation to create awareness against the disease.

Chidebe said the Project is to appeal for treatment support for three cancer patients; Kauna Monday, Beatrice Aghabo and Nkem Chibuzor who need N2.8 million, N3 million and N1 million respectively.

Soliciting support for the women, she said 65 per cent of

cancer deaths occur in low and middle income countries like Nigeria, stressing that in the country, over 102,000 people are newly diagnosed of cancer and many of them could not afford their cancer care and treatment.

According to her; “30 Nigerian women die every day from breast cancer, death from prostate cancer is easily preventable if detected early and yet it kills 14 Nigerian men every day”.

World Cancer Day, she said,

is commemorated globally by millions of people across the globe with cancer awareness, walk, fund raising and otherwise. He said the organisation has recorded tremendous success in the last three edition of walk against cancer with the objective of “raisins awareness on cancer, promoting early detection of cancer and raising funds for cancer patients in Nigeria” She said the Board Chair

of Project Pink Blue, Prof. P Ebigbo will launch “Upgrade Oncology: US- Nigeria science and technology exchange programme”, which is a medical oncology training program funded by the US Embassy in Nigeria, while there will be a presentation of an insight on the bill signed by President Muhammadu Buhari for the establishment of the National Institute on Cancer Research and Treatment.

The 2018 walk took participants across major streets of Abuja such Olusegun Obasanjo Way, Shehu Shagari Way and Ahmadu Bello Way with about 2000 people comprising of stakeholders, rights activists, students, journalists, cyclists, power bike riders and roller skaters also feature human rights campaigner Joe Okei- Odumakin, veteran broadcaster Sadiq Baba, cancer survivor Adenike Oyetunde and some victims.

Adeboye Leads RCCG Worshippers to Pray against Killers, Protectors, Sponsors

Senate Moves to Establish Chartered Institute of Forensic Auditors

ISGPP Tasks Govt on Diversification of Economy

Abimbola Akosile

Damilola Oyedele in Abuja

Experts have stressed an urgent need for the Nigerian economy to be diversified, utilising the current relative improvement in the price of oil and foreign reserves, for job creation and inclusive growth.

There is also a need to redefine the role of government, in terms of thinking ahead; and also addressing the perennial problems of policy summersault, reversal and abandonment.

These calls were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a monthly seminar series of the Ibadan School of

The General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Friday night led members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) to pray against people shedding blood in Nigeria, their protectors as well as their sponsors at the church’s February Holy Ghost Service held at the Redemption Camp.

Members of the church in 198 countries participated in the programme through viewing centres. They prayed for the killers and their collaborators to be exposed and dealt with. THISDAY gathered that Adeboye will also hold special three-hour prayer session for Nigeria at the Redemption

Camp on February 13.

Explaining why he had not personally commented on the widespread killings in the country despite calls for him to speak out, he said he belongs to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) both of which have leaders who have spoken on the issues on behalf of their members, including himself.

But at the well-attended event, he decided to talk about the killings to members of the church in his capacity as their General Overseer. He chose to address the issues mathematically by reducing them to simultaneous equations to derive an answer.

The Senate has passed through second reading a bill seeking the establishment of the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigate Auditors, as part of moves to detect corruption and fraud in the public and private sectors of the economy.

The bill sponsored by Senators Ahmed Lawan and Andy Uba is fully named “a bill for an act to establish the chartered institute of Forensic and Investigate Auditors in Nigeria to provide for the registration and regulation of membership and for other matters connected therewith.”

According to the Lawan, the institute would provide the platform for the training of qualified

professionals to deploy forensic science and other technological tools and techniques of forensic and investigative audit in public and private sectors.

They would be trained to deploy the acquired tools in line with international best practices, he added.

Lawan explained further that it is also expected to save Nigeria millions annually, which is used to hire foreign forensic auditors to detect high profile fraud.

Uba also argued that the institute would assist to eliminate cases of compromised audits from manipulation of accounting facts and figures. It therefore holds the potential to prevent fraud due to the fear of easy detection, he added.

Abimbola Akosile

Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), titled: ‘From Bust to Boom: Fiscal, Financial and Infrastructure Options’ held at the ISGPP seminar Hall recently.

Key speakers at the event included the Economic Adviser to the President, Amb. Yemi Dipeolu; Member, Board of Economists and CEO, Economic Associates, Dr. Ayo Teriba; Faculty member, Lagos Business School, Dr. Doyin Salami; and Members, Board of Economists, Dr Shehu Yahaya, Prof. Olu, Prof.

Sylvanus Ikhide, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, and Prof.

Ebere Onwudiwe, among others.

T H I S D AY ˾ SUNDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2018

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Ͳ˜ ͰͮͯͶ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

OPINION Planning Without Growth And Development Nigeria has been achieving growth without development because it’s planning and budgeting processes lacked growth elements, argues Francis E. Ogbimi

N

igeria has had many plans and budgets since independence in 1960. Nigeria had four National Development Plans in the period 1962-1985: 1962-68, 1970-74, 1975-80 and 198085. Nigeria also adopted the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and its Rolling Plans in 1986. SAP remains the main programme Nigeria is implementing today, because the principal elements, philosophy and ideological inclination in 1986 have not changed and they have been the bases of managing the Nigerian economy. Whereas Nigerian government officials claimed to have been implementing reforms, NEEDS, Nine-point Agenda, Vision 20:2020 and Transformation Agenda, ERGP (the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, 2017) and now Budget of Consolidation, SAP’s elements: the mandatory currency devaluation machinery (the foreign exchange market) now known by various names, privatisation of public enterprises and adoption of deregulation(frequent increase in prices of petroleum products) as the economic philosophy for managing public projects and activities and technology transfer strategy remain the principal features of the Nigerian economy.

Some Nigerians and their foreign friends, the World Bank and IMF who have been influencing Nigeria’s economic policy over the decades, like to deceive the ignorant public that it is the name of a programme that counts, rather than the elements. They are wrong. It is the elements of a programme that determine its impact on the people. Nigeria has been achieving growth without development (GWD) for decades because Nigeria’s planning and budgeting processes have always lacked growth elements.

Economists claim that growth comes from the capital rather than the recurrent part of budget because they were brought up to believe that mere capital investment promote sustainable economic growth. But they are wrong. The research works of Charles Cobb (a mathematician) and Paul Douglas (economist) in

1928, Douglas (1948), Abramowitz (1956) and Solow (1957) showed that capital contributes very little to achieving sustainable economic growth and industrialisation. Gerschenkron (1966) examined the Western industrialisation experience and found out that capital investment was not a prerequisite to it.

Consequently, unemployment, poverty and high crime wave problems have been worsening. Also there are no physical structures to show for the trillions of naira budgets announced every year and the rapidly growing national debts. Nigerian governments have merely been wasting resources and imposing unnecessary and untold hardship on the ignorant and unsuspecting citizenry.

Growth elements must be introduced into Nigeria’s planning, if the nation is to make progress. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to

The Nigerian economy is weakened for lack of linkages; people are either acquiring theoretical principles alone or a small quantity of practical skills alone. This is the reason virtually all the 300,000 university graduates armed with the plenty theoretical principles produced in Nigeria today, join the unemployment queue

explain how the missing growth elements can be introduced into Nigeria’s planning and budgeting process to promote growth that makes positive impact on the people, growth that promotes competence-building (or growth that increases individual and national capabilities for solving problems including production) and growth that promotes industrialisation and transformation of the Nigerian economy from its agricultural status into an industrialised one so as to eliminate unemployment, poverty, hopelessness and high crime wave.

The industrialised European and Asian nations and the United States of America were like African nations of today, a long time ago. That is, they had agricultural economies and were unable to produce or manufacture scientific products. However, they learnt over the centuries and acquired the knowledge, skills and competences (KSCs) they now use in solving problems including manufacturing. It is for this understanding that learning is the primary basis of industrialisation that virtually all nations in the world have educational institutions today. Sadly, still, Western education (economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, psychology, etc., and related fields like accounting, management, banking, law, etc.) do not understand the science of transforming an agricultural economy into an industrialised one.

Because economists and others whose expertise derived from acquiring Western education and related fields were brought up to believe that mere capital investment promotes sustainable economic growth and industrialisation, they throw money at all problems. So, economists measure changes in GDP. But it is not mere changes in GDP that Nigeria and other African nations need.

–– Prof. Ogbimi wrote from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

Nigeria And Recovered Loot (1) Abdullahi Y. Shehu writes that illicitly obtained funds are usually invested abroad for several reasons

C

orruption is the greatest tragedy and main obstacle to the stability and development of Nigeria. The many faces of corruption and the various ways it affects and impacts on the socio-economic and political systems of the country are too glaring and have been well documented and need not be regurgitated here.

Annual cross-border flow of proceeds of crime is estimated at US$1-1.6 trillion. Half of this is from Less Developed or Developing Countries (LDCs), out of which $20-40 billion is from bribes to public officials in LDCs. Nigeria’s share, is the highest due to the prevalence of corruption. In 2014, the African Union High level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows estimated that about $60 billion has been illegally transferred out of Africa - $40 billion from Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari, in his speech at the 70th United Nations General Assembly in 2015 stated that $150 billion was looted from the government treasury in Nigeria between 1995 and 2015. Other estimates suggest that $182 billion was stolen from Nigeria and stashed offshore between 2000 and 2009. Investigations into arms procurement for the military under the office of National Security Adviser revealed that $2.1 billion was shared among politicians leaving the citizens at the mercy of the Boko Haram insurgency.

In all, more than $500 billion has been lost to graft in Nigeria since independence.

The greatest expectation on President Buhari was and still remains in the ability of his government to stem the tide of the monster called ‘corruption’. Consequently, asset recovery is a priority on the anti-corruption agenda of the Buhari administration. This has been appropriately articulated in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017.

Illicitly obtained funds are usually invested abroad either because domestic currency or economy is unstable; to avoid detection or simply to place the money outside the reach of a national government’s jurisdiction. Until recently, financial institutions in financial centres were accepting and would accept stolen money without question. This has now changed relatively due to the anti-money laundering standards being enforced the world over.

The principles behind the recovery of asset include the common understanding that it is an economic intervention strategy with potential of bringing back what have been stolen or misappropriated, thus, increasing the revenue profile of the government. To that extent, it serves as a restitution to the society/citizens who have been ‘victimised’ by acts of corruption. Asset recovery also aims to deny criminals their illegal gain and to prevent them from misusing it for organised crime purposes. But most importantly, it is an anti-corruption strategy with potential of removing negative role models from society and rebutting the notion that crime pays.

The international community and governments have developed various tools for recovering the proceeds of crime. However, in spite of domestic legislation, which allows confiscation and forfeiture of the proceeds of crime, globalisation and technological advancement

have allowed perpetrators of crime to continue to launder the illicit proceeds of their crimes. The subject of asset recovery has become one of the major themes in discourses on development funding, due in part to the enormous amount of resources that are lost annually by developing countries to corruption. Over the last couple of decades, the legal and criminological approach to dealing with criminal activities like drug trafficking, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing have undergone a paradigm shift from the utilitarian and the traditional “just deserts” model of punishment to a “dispossession” model which aims at taking the profit out of crime. Recovering the proceeds of crime takes the profit out of the crime because it deprives perpetrators of their illicit gains. Asset forfeiture and asset recovery have thus, become some of the more innovative tools to combat economic and financial crimes.

The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the ground breaking convention on asset recovery. The UNCAC explicitly identifies asset recovery as its fundamental principle. It enjoins states parties to establish comprehensive domestic regulatory and supervisory regimes to prevent money laundering. Countries that have ratified the UNCAC are required to criminalise the offence of bribery, embezzlement, misappropriation or other diversion of property by a public official and, laundering of the proceeds of crime. However, criminalisation of illicit enrichment, is left to the discretion of the states. Nevertheless, Article 21 of the UNCAC encourages states parties to put in place measures that would criminalise illicit enrichment, which is defined as “a significant increase in the assets of a public official that he or she cannot reasonably explain in relation to his or her lawful income”. Applying the principles of Article 21 means that a significant increase in the assets of a public servant raises a prima facie presumption that the public official concerned benefited from illicit enrichment. This presumption can be rebutted by furnishing facts which reasonably explain the legal source of the assets. While several jurisdictions have successfully enacted and enforced illicit enrichment, others consider it inconsistent with their constitutions and fundamental principles of due process.

The greatest innovation of the convention is contained in chapter five. Asset recovery and the return of such assets to countries of origin is a fundamental principle of this convention, and this chapter contains provisions such as prevention and detection of transfers of proceeds of crime; measures for direct recovery of property; mechanisms for recovery of property through international cooperation in confiscation; international cooperation for the purposes of confiscation; return and disposal of assets; the requirement for the establishment of financial intelligence unit; as well as bilateral and multilateral agreements and arrangements (Articles 51–59). Specifically, Article 51 states: ‘The return of assets pursuant to this chapter is a fundamental principle of this Convention, and States Parties shall afford one another the widest measure of cooperation and assistance

in this regard.’ And on matters of direct recovery of property, the Convention provides (Article 53) that Each State Party shall, in accordance with its domestic law: (a) Take such measures as may be necessary to permit another State Party to initiate civil action in its courts to establish title to or ownership of property acquired through the commission of an offence established in accordance with this Convention; (b) Take such measures as may be necessary to permit its courts to order those who have committed offences established in accordance with this Convention to pay compensation or damages to another State Party that has been harmed by such offences; and (c) Take such measures as may be necessary to permit its courts or competent authorities, when having to decide on confiscation, to recognise another State Party’s claim as a legitimate owner of property acquired through the commission of an offence established in accordance with this Convention.

Despite these comprehensive international framework, recovering the proceeds of crime is premised on evidence; that is, the existence of assets. Thus, the spirit and letter in the international instruments is that in order to conduct a successful recovery of criminal proceeds, assets must be followed not only to their final hiding place, but causality must be established between the asset and the criminal activity. This process is complex, technical and time consuming; as such, it poses particular challenges for developing countries like Nigeria that is a cash-based society with low capacity.

Stolen assets are often layered through different accounts and corporate vehicles. Therefore, identifying and tracing illicit assets successfully require expertise, resources and cooperation between multiple intelligence and law enforcement agencies, as well as prosecutors. It is thus, crucial for the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to cooperate and work together to build an iron- clad case each and every time.

The existing legal and institutional framework for asset recovery in Nigeria is still evolving. Although the country has made provision for confiscation pursuant to a criminal conviction in the MLPA 2011 and the EFCC Act, based on the outcome of cases that have been handled by the EFCC, it can be argued that the institution has been effective in respect of fraud cases involving ordinary citizens but less so in respect of cases involving politically exposed persons (PEPs). In other words, prosecutions and convictions are fewer in matters involving PEPs and many of these cases are being delayed while others have been struck out by the courts.

Nevertheless, within one year (from May 29, 2015 to May 29, 2016), following pressure from the public, the government announced the recovery of assets in cash totaling N78, 325, 354, 631.82; $185, 119, 584.61; £3, 508, 355,.46; €11, 250.

––Shehu is a Professor of Criminology, National Open University, Abuja

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 4, 2018

LETTERS

WILL SENATE GET IT RIGHT ON HEALTHCARE?

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he timeless aphorism says that health is wealth. Yet one of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria since independence has been the country’s inability to guarantee affordable and universal health care to its citizens. Little wonder that we are consistently ranked in the comity of poor nations.

Access to healthcare is not only important, it is fundamental to all areas of social development, from combating poverty to achieving a high standard of living.

In May 2017, the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy in partnership with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria organised a symposium in Lagos, tagged Health of the Nation - the imperative of interprofessional collaboration. The keynote address delivered by Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, a former Minister of Health and foremost health economist, was revealing and damning. Nigeria, said Lambo, was ranked 187 among 191 countries by World Health Organisation in 2000. X-raying the sundry challenges which the nation’s health system has had to face over the years, Lambo noted that the constitution makes very scant provision for health while there is hardly any legislation that defines the roles and responsibilities of the three tiers of government, while adding that the National Health Act 2014 has not resolved the problem.

In Nigeria today, demands on the health care systems have increased alarmingly and health care organisations are

Saraki

feeling overwhelmed and pressured to provide more timely services while at the same time working with limited human and financial resources. There is an urgent need to strengthen national health systems and improve health outcomes for the citizenry.

According to data from the National Demographic Health Surveys (NDHS), in a research conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, about 900,000 children and mothers die each year in Nigeria from health reasons that could often have been successfully resolved with an effective healthcare system.

Nigeria contributes just under 15 per cent of all maternal deaths

globally and about 13 per cent of all under-five deaths worldwide.

If we are to challenge these grim statistics, then we must get good healthcare into every home.

Along these lines, the weakness and gaping holes in our health system especially from an insurance point of view is evidently manifest in the rise of crowd-funded medical cases. Remember Mayowa of blessed memory, Baby Ade and most recently, Sadiq Daba as well as the many other Nigerians who have resorted to platforms like Gofundme to raise funds for medical reasons.

While Nigeria has several private healthcare providers, their service, expensive and

limited, are largely exclusive to the well-to-do citizens residing in the cities and urban areas.

The National Health Insurance Scheme, which largely caters to public service employees, is also, as currently constituted, very limited in scope. Neither existing solutions can cater to the healthcare needs of the majority of Nigerians, who are either rural dwellers, unemployed or involved in the informal sector.

In view of the aforementioned, the importance of reforming our healthcare system cannot be overemphasised.

Fortunately, it would seem that the need to get our healthcare system right is fast rising on our list of national priorities and gaining attention in the right quarters. With our population growing astronomically, urbanisation more rapid than ever, there is now a greater call for social development to catch up with societal expansion. It therefore gladdens the heart to see some level of advocacy in the National Assembly where senators are tabling bills and debating ideas on how to get an efficient and effective healthcare system for every Nigerian.

Recently, Senate President, Bukola Saraki stated that one of the best ways to achieve universal health coverage was to provide health insurance scheme to the informal sector. Perhaps he is drawing from his experience as the Governor of Kwara State, when he introduced the Informal Health Insurance Scheme to cater to people in the rural areas.

To see Saraki leading the charge and leading his colleagues in the

L AGOS , WASTE M ANAGEMENT A ND T HE E NVIRONMENT

T

he question that comes to mind as Africa’s model mega city contends with waste dumped by its residents indiscriminately on highways and major roads is: what is responsible for this unwholesome state?

Lagos with its rapid urbanisation, infrastructural development and good governance, is a victim of its own success. The population of the state, which is estimated at around 22 millionand is still growing, continues to receive boosts from ceaseless migration from the hinterland and the West African suburbs.

As the country’s commercial hub, Lagos houses about 2,000 Industrial complexes, 15,000 commercial ventures and a bourgeoning middle class with high purchasing power.

Since inception of the present political dispensation in 1999, successive administrations have consistently developed critical infrastructure and taken decisive steps to enhance the ease of doing business with the result that Lagos remains attractive to investors, entrepreneurs, as well as those seeking greener pastures. The downside to all these is not just the pressure on public infrastructure but the growing challenge of managing municipal solid waste emanating from the immense

domestic, commercial and industrial activities in the state.

According to the World Bank, the generation of solid waste is tied to population, income and urbanisation. If the report by this body which puts per capita waste generation rate at 1.2 kg per person per day is anything to go by, waste generated in Lagos far outweighs the official figure of 13,000 tonnes per day.

Also, the fact that the per capital waste generation has been projected to rise to 1.42 kg in the next 15 years presents a serious cause for concern.

This concern is succinctly put by Prasad Modak in the Shangai Manual when he avers that: cities are at the nexus of a further threat to the environment, namely the production of an increasing quantity and complexity of wastes. The estimated quantity of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated worldwide is 1.7 – 1.9 billion metric tonnes. In many cases, municipal wastes are not well managed in developing countries, as cities and municipalities cannot cope with the accelerated pace of waste production. Waste collection rates are often lower than 70 per cent in low income countries.

More than 50 per cent of the collected waste is often disposed of through uncontrolled land filling and about 15 per cent is

processed through unsafe and informal recycling.

Increasing with the population of the state is not just the waste generated but the cost of handling it and this underscores the need for more efficient and enduring system of solid waste management. While they might have served their purposes, the PSP operators leave a yawning gap in the effort to keep Lagos Streets free of refuse as experience has shown that they lack both the financial and technological capacity to cope with the waste challenge in the nearest future.

The import of the foregoing is that the system of solid waste management that yields to inadequacies in the collection, transportation and disposal services is not sustainable and cannot on the long run support the vision of a clean, secure and more prosperous Lagos State. Hence, the emergence of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative as a new model to address the observed shortcomings in the state’s solid waste management sector is welcome.

Precipitating the change initiated by the Administration of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode was the need to inject technology, fund and international best practices in the management of municipal waste to replace the old order of haphazard waste

collection services, caused by low technology input into route optimisation; poor coverage, especially for hard-to-service areas; environmentally degrading and social nuisance-causing dumpsites; poorly managed dumpsites infested with unsightly scavenging and criminal activities; and low cost-recovery for operators due to poor billing solutions.

The new system, encapsulated in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative, subscribes to Ernest Agyemang Yeboah’s maxim that: “If you want to feel the sunshine, change position!” as it offers not only waste management solution through a concession arrangement with a major player in the municipal waste management business, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions(VSS)but also has incorporated into it other components such as highway and street sweeping, job creation, development and management of sanitary landfills and Transfer Loading Stations.

The dumpsites are no help either. It is a fact that they have all passed their primes with hardly any platform left for dumping of refuse.

––Mukaila Sanusi, Lagos State Ministry of the Environment, Alausa, Lagos.

upper chambers with the same drive and determination to see healthcare extended to every man, woman and child who is Nigerian is a clean break from the selfish toga with which the red chamber had been adorned.

–The ongoing amendment of the National Health Insurance Scheme is evidence of moving from passion to action. Central to this bill, which seeks to repeal the National Health Insurance Scheme Act and enact the National Health Insurance Commission Bill 2017, is the need to ensure a more effective implementation of a health insurance policy that enhances greater access to health care services for all Nigerians. This means that the bill would lay down the framework for a

universal healthcare care system where everyone pays into the insurance scheme and everyone gets quality healthcare delivery, regardless of their employment status or personal wealth. The bill is also geared towards effectively regulating private health insurance providers in Nigeria to ensure that they deliver, not just for the well to do, but also the poor and people in rural areas.

In December, the Senate Committee on Health held a public hearing on the amendment, which was well attended by the representatives of public and private health institutions, regulatory and professional bodies as well as labour and trade unions. At the public hearing, the Senate Committee

OBASANJO AND THE REST OF US

I

t did not come like a bolt of lightning. Perhaps if he had not formed a penchant for interference in such a “rude and unwholesome manner” then his treatise would have been like a jolt of electric shock, waking us up to the reality of our present despicable situation in a country blessed with all the ingredients of greatness but far too often, wallowing in despair, mediocrity and underdevelopment.

But we have become used to Obasanjo`s once in a lifetime interventions in public discourse in the life of national governments and administrations. He, it was who told us during Ibrahim Babangida`s endless experimentations with democracy that we had a duty for the purpose of our national sanity, to verify the time of day whenever the gap-toothed general observed the daily ritual of salutation. With the dark goggled General,Sani Abacha, Obasanjo`s challenge of the then military dictatorship was not allowed to fully take off when he was swiftly picked up for alleged coup plotting and sundry activities and promptly clamped in jail. From jail, while waiting for death to come (the type that had allegedly come the way of Shehu Yar’Adua) but praying against its inevitability, Nigeria and Nigerians beheld a true rags to riches story as a combination of international and local conspiracies and intrigues led to the permanent exile of the dark goggled general from the world of the living, and brought the man awaiting death to the very pinnacle of political power in the country. Obasanjo, the prisoner had become president of the federal republic of Nigeria - for the second time. The first time he had dressed in khaki as a military dictator.

He was not perfect, and when his imperfections showed, such as his blatant manipulations to secure an illegal third term by interfering with relevant constitutional provisions, there was no Obasanjo to write Obasanjo about the follies and dangers of such an act. OBJ for obvious reasons could not attack OBJ. In the absence of the epochal, regime defining treatise from Obasanjo warning himself

against his own third term bid, it was left to Nigerians to rise to the occasion. Led by politicians who were most times, not better than the man they were seeking to stop, the unholy alliance between an unpatriotic political class and a vibrant civil society combined to send the farmer from Otta ignominiously back to the welcoming fold of his chickens and vegetables in Ogun State.

Obasanjo is a Nigerian phenomenon full of contradictions.

He could have been described as an enigma if not that enigmas do not operate in the public space the way he does. Enigmas are illusive and elusive, always leaving you to second guess them. Obasanjo is the exact opposite. He is like a gold fish, and we know that a gold fish has no hiding place. Like a fish that needs the water to survive, Obasanjo needs the public space, the attention provided by the media to survive, to be an Obasanjo. It is said that he no longer has an electoral value since he left political power. To buttress that, his traducers point to some elections where he lost his ward to an opposition party as well as his daughter losing an election in her constituency. But the reality is that the Obasanjo phenomenon is not tied to his ward or constituency.

It is tied to the entire country.

Those who have not understood him have found out too late how much potential and capacity he has for “vice or virtue.” There are three great evils associated with Obasanjo that must be avoided at all times. The first is: Do not share a bowl of pounded yam with him especially if you are having a running battle with him on just about any issue. The colony searching minister, Audu Ogbeh, found this out to his detriment when he honored the former president`s invitation to a bowl of pounded yam. A day later, after the yam eating incidence, he was removed as national chairman of the PDP. The second is: Do not invite Obasanjo to your house warming party if you have unresolved issues with him and allow him share the dance floor with your wife. By the time the late Senate president, the Oyi of Oyi, Chuba Okadigbo discovered this, he was already out of a job a few days after.

––Achike Chude, Lagos

16

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ Ͳ˜ ͰͮͯͶ

INTERNATIONAL

That Ambassador Adeniji May Live On!

A

mbassador OluyemiAdeniji, CON, was a career diplomatist, who served as Nigeria’s Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryAmbassador toAustria, France and Switzerland. His services to the Nigerian state and people were not simply extraordinary in performance but also with full powers in terms of accreditation and international representation. He was fully acknowledged at home and abroad for his integrity and sincerity of purpose when he was alive. This meant that he enjoyed the full trust of both the sending and receiving states to which he was accredited.

For instance, at the Nigerian level, he was appointed the Director General of the Ministry of ForeignAffairs in 1991 and given the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger in 2001.

In 2003, he was appointed the Minister of ForeignAffairs and in 2006, the Minister of Interior.At the international level, he reflected truly that charity begins at home. In this regard, he carried abroad his character of dint of hard work, generally characteristic of the Ijebu people, his unreserved patriotism largely predicated on the fear of God, and his negotiating skills that are also largely defined by objectivity of purpose.

His general attitudinal disposition as a diplomat, diplomatist, and international functionary, is acknowledged internationally and remains a source of sweet inspiration. He was the President of the United Nations Conference on Certain Conventional Weapons from 1979 to 1980 and Chairman of theAd Hoc Committee at the United Nations Second Special Session Devoted to Disarmament in 1982.

More important, he was appointed in 2008, the Special Envoy of the Chairperson of theAfrican Union Commission for the Sudan Comprehensive PeaceAgreement. He was also the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in 1999.

Without scintilla of doubt,Ambassador OluyemiAdeniji, though born locally in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, in 1934, was truly a citizen of the world. The blood that ran in his capillaries was multilateralist. His thinking was globalist and peace-seeking. His attitudinal disposition was always defined by the five main principles of peaceful co-existence. His negotiating strategy was clothed with perseverance and relentlessness.And perhaps most interestingly, his operational word for any action was always identification of which and in whose interest was a diplomatic action. This same national and international civil servant passed on to glory on November 27, 2017 in London. It is in acknowledgement of his life well spent that people who are peace keepers are mourning his passing away in a manner truly compatible with best diplomatic practices.

Put differently, several activities were organised as part of his obsequies. The first was the launch of TheAmbassador Oluyemi Adeniji Foundation for Strategic Studies and Conflict Resolution (TAOAF-SSCR) on Tuesday, 23rd January, 2018 at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. It was established to reflect the values for whichAmbassadorAdeniji stood when he was alive: ‘integrity, fairness, and compassion.

The Foundation has an interesting operational methodology: a dynamic think-tank approach, which will be made results-oriented by providing ‘a platform for global leaders in diverse fields to fashion out pragmatic solutions to the world’s most pressing and/or seemingly intractable issues.’And perhaps, most interestingly, ‘this will be done using inter-generational experience, expertise and passion at periodic symposia, workshops, master classes, etc, to be hosted by the Foundation.At the end of each event, the central ideas advanced therein will be crystallised into a position paper. This will be shared with the Federal Government of Nigeria and relevant international bodies.’

The application of this methodology took effect immediately with a symposium organised to mark the inauguration of the TAOAFSSCR. The symposium had as theme: ‘Bridge-building in Response to Violent Extremism.’ It was chaired by a veteran and seasoned journalist, Mr. John Momoh, the Chairman of the twelve-time best television awards winner. Mr. SegunAdeniji, one of the children of AmbassadorAdeniji, served as the moderator of the discussions.

There were two lead speakers. The first was Dr. Chris Stout, a clinical psychologist, Founding Director of the Centre for Global Initiatives, and former Visiting Professor at Rush University. Sheikh Muhammad Dawah Institute of Nigeria, as well as Trustee and Member of the Senior Management Board of the Islamic Education Trust, was the second lead speaker.

Mr. John Momoh appreciated the importance and relevance of the theme of the symposium, particularly its consistency with the

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

Olu Adeniji

philosophy ofAmbassadorAdeniji regarding conflict resolution and peace building. He posited thatAmbassadorAdeniji preferred consensus building to conflict. He stood for pluralism and diversity.

More important, he reminded everyone of the greater virtue in peacemaking and the challenge of the deepening tensions in the world of today, and therefore, the essence for an urgent response and timeliness of both the founding of the Foundation and the theme of the symposium.

Sheikh Nurudeen Lemu noted that neither violent extremism nor religious extremism was new. What should be noted was that extremists see themselves as reformers and not as extremists. Consequently, any analytical effort at understanding the problem will need to first look at the context of each act of extremism. This means that no single solution fits all. More important, he gave the stories of the potholes and the example of leadership in Nigeria: when there is a problem, leaders look out through the window to blame others. But when there is credit to take, they look at the mirror to see themselves.

Dr. Stout underscored the psychology of terrorism and therefore the need to approach the quest for solutions to violent extremism from a multidimensional approach. In this regard, he suggested the use of civil society organisations as a medium for discussions on the matter, particularly for purposes of advocacy, training, promotion of community resilience. He noted that government had failed and had left the faith leaders to take over the responsibility of peace-making. In his eyes, government should provide the required good environment for the culture of peace to evolve.Ambasador OlusegunAkinsanya shared this view and suggested the inculcation of education as an instrument of peacemaking in the curriculum of schools, as well as the need to fletch out the contents of the areas of strategic studies and conflict resolution to be focused on by the TAOAF-SSCR. The crux of the discussions at the symposium focused on God and gods, on the one hand, and leadership in Nigeria, on the other hand.

Few people had the opportunity to speak from the floor: Mr.Ayo Adeniji,Ambassador Wole Coker,Ambassador SegunAkinsanya,

Being an Ambassador of Nigeria is good but cannot be good enough without also becoming an Ambassador for Christ because of life after death, because of eternity, because the world is coming to an end and because it will not profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul.This was the epicentral message generally underscored in all the activities organised to celebrate the Passing Away to Glory of Ambassador Adeniji, a diplomatic functionary per excellence. It is well with his soul. Adieu!

andAmbassadorAyo Olukanni. Momoh raised the issue of all of us having a common devil but many gods. Sheikh Lemu argued that there is only one God but different conceptions of the same God. While Dr. Stout posited that the trust and the education of today is not and cannot be a solution to prejudice, simply because we all like learning but do not want to be taught.

Momoh shared this view differently by suggesting that leadership is a major problem in Nigeria and that there is a need for a new crop of leadership in the country. He noted that the recruitment of youth for purposes of violent extremism is easy, because of their neglect for a long period in development policy calculations. In this regard,Ayo Adeniji considered that the provision of education on the implications of violent extremism at the early stage of primary education can go a very long way in shaping the viewpoints of pupils and preventing violent extremism. In other words, there is the need to catch them young before they grow up into becoming agents of societal ills.

For the adults that already have their own worldview,Ambassador Coker suggested that theAdeniji Foundation should be sustained on a permanent basis as an instrument for the propagation of peaceful values. He explained that the basics of good neighbourliness had been completely destroyed and therefore, the teaching of values common to both Christians and Muslims should be underscored and taught.AmbassadorAyo Olukanni looked at the issue from the perspective of the extent to which there had been progress at the level of the interfaith dialogue in Nigeria, Christians’ commitment to the prosperity theory, and the Muslims sayingAllak hubaru in Bethlehem.

Answers to various questions and observations made at the symposium were difficult. Dr. stout even admitted that the issue was very complex and therefore opted to leave Nigeria with the hope that the brilliant people in Nigeria would offer to take the foundation to higher levels in addressing the problems of the future.

Responding to this challenge, Sheikh Lemu advised on the use of language by media professionals. For instance, he explained that the word ‘crusade’ is being used to refer to fighting Muslims in the Holy Land, but it is being reviewed today. ‘Jihad’ is also being used in the context of revival. Consequently, media houses were advised to be more cautious of the language they use and should seek to underscore and repeat condemnations of violent extremism. Sheikh Lemu also drew attention to the fact that 70% of Boko Haramists are not married and that 47% of the members have no parents or have single parents.As such, ease in recruitment of young people is self-explanatory.

TheForeignPolicyDimensions

Apart from the symposium, two foreign policy issues were raised at the Commendation Service, held on Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at Our Saviour’s Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, in theAnglican Communion of the Diocese of Lagos, and at the Funeral Service conducted forAmbassadorAdeniji on Thursday, January 25, 2018 at the IjebuAnglican Diocese Cathedral Church of Our Saviour, Ita-Olowajoda, Ijasi, Ijebu-Ode. At the commendation service in Lagos, the sermoner asked all those present in the church whether they were preparing for eternity.

The sermoner asked this question in light of his strong belief that, no matter how long one lives, one must die.And because one cannot escape death, the need for everyone to set his or her priorities right cannot but be a desideratum.

More interestingly, the sermoner submitted that many people go to church, but without knowing why, without having Jesus Christ in them, and without thinking about eternity. This, the sermoner considered, was most unfortunate, because the second coming of Jesus is nearer than ever imagined. He said the world was already gradually coming to an end. He explicated this within the framework of IsraeloAmerican foreign policies.As explained by the sermoner, Donald Trump of the United States had made clear his intention to defend the Jews and their interests. This implies that any Jewish policy stand has the potential support of the United States.

Additionally, the sermoner reminded that Israel was reported to have taken over the Mosque in Jerusalem. He appeared to be referring to the ‘al-Aqsa silver-domed Mosque inside the 35-acre compound referred to as al-Haram, al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary,

by Muslims, and as the Temple Mount by Jews. The compound, in an attempt to find a lasting peace in the Middle East, and particularly enduring resolution of the Israelo-Arab conflict, has been designated a World Heritage site by the UNESCO. The compound lies in the Old City of Jerusalem.

However, Israel has reportedly been making life very difficult for the Palestinians, numbering about 400,000, who were born and living in Jerusalem, but who were only given permanent residency status rather than citizenship, and by not only effectively controlling, but also Judaising the Old City and the whole of East Jerusalem.

Israel is on record to have built not less than 12 well-fortified Jewishonly illegal settlements in East Jerusalem in which more than 200,000 Israelis live.

Besides, the Israeli takeover of the Mosque can also be explained and understood within the context of the significance of the Mosque: the Muslims see it as Islam’s third holiest site and the Dome of the Rock, as a seventh-century structure, where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. For the Jews, the compound is where the Biblical Jewish temples once stood ‘but Jewish law and the Israeli Rabbinate forbid Jews from entering the compound and praying there, as it is considered too holy to tread upon’ (vide http://www.aljazeera, 6 December, 2017).

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

17

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾FEBRUARY 4, 2018

BUSINESS

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

Banking Stocks Emerge Best Performers, Offer Investors 73% Return in 2017

Lagos Central Business District.. where some of the banks have their head offices

Bamidele Famoofo Banking stocks, driven by TierOne banks, offered the best returns to investors in the equities market in Nigeria in 2017. The banking sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which was rated second best bourse in Africa and 11th best in the world, gave equity investors a 73.3 per cent return on investment in one year.

“Given the resilience demonstrated by the banks amidst tougher operating conditions, the banking index was unsurprisingly the best performing sector in 2017, up 73.3%. Performance of the banks remained driven by resilient earnings, supported by interest income (due to higher interest rate environment),” a report on the performance of the market released by Afrivest Research last week disclosed.

On aggregate, the NSE All Share Index delivered 42.3 per cent annual return to share investors (local and foreign) in the review financial year ended 2017.

“It was a significant bounce back following a three year losing streak,” analysts with Afrinvest Research disclosed.

The overall performance of the Nigerian stock market has been attributed to renewed interest by domestic and foreign investors following stability in macroeconomic fundamentals recorded by Africa’s biggest economy in 2017.

Analysts with Afrinvest revealed that the resilient performance from the banks, especially top Tier-One banks in the likes of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, was responsible for the favourable performance of the sector

BANKING

in the review period.

According to Afrinvest, investors showed significant interest in Tier-One banks, which led to Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc recording 64.9 per cent price appreciation in the period, while Zenith Bank Plc recorded 73.8 per cent price gain. Access Bank Plc increased its share value with a gain of 78 per cent, while United Bank for Africa Plc emerged the most improved stock in terms of price appreciation with 128.9 per cent growth.

Fidelity Bank, a Tier-Two bank, however, joined in the price gainer’s list with 196.4 per cent growth in share price in 2017.

The next most profitable sector for investors in 2017 was Consumer Goods. The sector ’s index offered 37 per cent, following distance banking. Analysts have attributed the favourable performance of the sector in 2017 to increase in product prices and improvement in access to foreign exchange, as well as the

relative peace in the north-eastern part of the country. Those factors, according to Afrinvest, positively impacted earnings of companies in the index.

The best performing stock in the Consumer Goods sector in 2017 was Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc. The stock, a member of the Dangote Group, boosted investor ’s money by 229.8 per cent price appreciation. This was followed by International Breweries Plc, which increased investors’ investment by 192 per cent price gain, as investors cheered the decision of its parent company – AB Inbev – to merge operations of all its subsidiaries in Nigeria.

In the same vein, the Industrial Goods index increased 23.8 per cent on the back of gains in Beta Glass Plc 69.2 per cent price gain, followed by Dangote Cement Plc, the most capitalised stock on the Nigerian bourse, which grew its share price with 32.1 per cent.

The Insurance index grew 10.4 per cent, as Linkage Assurance Plc increased share value by 32 per cent, while Mansard Insurance went up by

The banking sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which was rated second best bourse in Africa and 11th best in the world, gave equity investors a 73.3 per cent return on investment in one year... Performance of the banks remained driven by resilient earnings, supported by interest income (due to higher interest rate environment)

20.9 per cent.

The Oil and Gas index gained 5.8 per cent for the year, emerging the least rewarding sector. Seplat Petroleum Plc emerged the best gainer in that index with 56.9 per cent price gain while Oando Plc, despite the challenges faced with regulators in the year, delivered 27.4 per cent gain to investors. The positive performance of the oil and gas industry was mainly due to performance of upstream players, which was bolstered by the cessation of attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta as well as improved global oil prices. “Sentiment towards the downstream players remained soft during the year, due to absence of reforms needed to revitalise the sector,” Afrinvest Research noted.

The NSE All Share Index had declined 6.2 per cent as at April 20th, 2017 prior to the launch of the I&E FX window. However, following the launch of the window, massive buy interest returned to the domestic equities market to take advantage of cheap valuation of assets. Corporate releases for the rest of the year were reflective of the improving conditions in the broader economy; hence the rally was sustained all year. The NSE ASI gained 42.3 per cent in 2017, the second highest year-on-year index return in 10 years.

“Broad-based rally recorded across sectors as a result of the improved sentiment in the market. A broadbased rally was recorded, which drove all sectors to close in the green for 2017,” analysts said.

In its outlook for 2018, Afrinvest Research has projected that the banking index will again take the lead with 88.2 per cent return. Consumer Goods was tipped to return 37 per cent, like it did in 2017.

18

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 4, 2018

BUSINESS/SUBNATIONAL ECONOMY

An on-going infrastructural project in Lagos

With 80% Budget Performance in 2017, Lagos Makes Bolder Economic Projections From its 2018 fiscal plan, Lagos State economic outlook signals more prospects than it recorded in the past. Gboyega Akinsanmi writes

O

n December 18 last year, the national budget performance came under scrutiny at the Senate.

Contrary to a report from the Budget Office of the Federation that put the performance of the national budget at 40 per cent, the Senate discovered that the federal government had only implemented between 12 and 15 per cent of the budgeted capital expenditure.

That, indeed, was an abysmal narrative for Nigeria’s crawling economy, which, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, managed to record a 0.55 per cent growth in the second quarter of 2017. Even though it sustained growth by 1.40 per cent in the third quarter, national economic indicators still depicted“an economy in a whirl of winds”with unemployment rate rising to 18.8 per cent.

Uncertainty Apparently, this trend spelt uncertainties for almost all sub-national economies. For instance, oil-producing states were not spared from this spell of economic woes, which the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is struggling to resolve. Already, federal allocation to the state governments has declined drastically. Given their reliance on federal allocation, the trend altered the fiscal directions of most states in the federation, culminating in their failure to meet core constitutional obligations.

Standing Out But the Lagos economy has stood out, even though it is not totally immune from the economic turbulence.

This is evident in the performance of its 2017 capital expenditure; the growth its internally generated revenue recorded and the number of jobs the state created through its infrastructure development projects, urban renewal programmes and different initiatives under its economic trust fund.

From all indications, 2017 did not present much hope for Lagos. At inception, Nigeria was still reeling in the swirl and whirl of economic recession. As indicated in the NBS report, the national economy shrank by 2.06 per cent in the 2016 second quarter. Likewise, it recorded a wider decline of 2.24 per cent in the third quarter. However, the rate of negative growth shrank to 1.3 per cent in the fourth quarter with exchange rate crisis and inflation going out of control.

In the first quarter of 2017, the national economy was at the verge of recovery with a negative growth of 0.52 per cent.Yet, it did not present desired national economic indicators, which analysts said, could beam some rays of hope for Nigerians. Amid these national economic uncertainties, the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, reeled out an ambitious fiscal plan at a time Nigeria was neck-deep into recession,

the worst of its kind in the last three decades.

The issue was not the volume of the state’s budget valued at N812.998 billion, but the level of performance the Ambode administration recorded in the era of turbulence. The budget witnessed an increase of 18.47 per cent compared to what the state proposed the year before.

Despite the harsh economic realities, the state’s budget recorded 82 per cent performance. Ambode attributed this to God’s hands in the management of the Lagos economy.

At the tenth town hall meeting, penultimate week, Ambode said the total recurrent expenditure was N281.33 billion, which represented a performance of 92 per cent. He equally put total capital expenditure at N387.60 billion, accounting for 76 per cent.

Under the 2017 fiscal regime, the state proposed a total revenue of N642.848 billion and deficit financing of N170.151 billion. Aside what it received from the Federation Account, total revenue generated in 2017 was N503.7 billion, which represented a performance of 78 per cent. By implication, the state generated 75.30 per cent of what it spent in 2017.

In the last two decades, no administration has recorded this feat. However, all analysts acknowledged the fact that the administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu reformed the state’s tax system in 1999. From N600 million, the state proposed to generate N50 billion internally under the 2018 fiscal regime, which the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, said was achievable through the revenue expansion strategies the state had already mapped out for this fiscal year. However, he said that did not suggest that the state will increase the tax commitment of its residents, but rather it will expand its tax net to the over five million residents not paying taxes.

New Era The budget performance offered a window into the new fiscal year. That might be the main reason Ambode recently said the year“holds great promises for Lagos and its residents.”

Obviously, 2018 appears more auspicious for Lagos than previous years for three different reasons. First, the national economy has recovered from recession, coupled with rising price of crude oil at the international market. Second, the state proposed to spend N1.

046 trillion, which the governor said, accounted for an increase of 28.67 per cent compared with what he presented in 2017.

Third, under the 2018 fiscal regime, the state equally planned a total revenue of N897.423 billion, which showed a gap of N148.699 billion. But the state revenue projection showed that the state would bridge the gap through deficit financing – bond issuance programme and external loans, to be specific. Of the estimated total revenue, the state plans to generate N720. 123 billion,

representing 80 per cent, while expecting N177.30 billion from federal transfers and 13 per cent derivations In every economy, the level of budget performance often determines whether people’s aspirations are realised or whether reasonable measure of real growth is recorded under a specific fiscal regime. For Lagos, its annual budget analysis revealed an antecedent that signals more prospect than gloom.

In 2016, for instance, it was an account of boom, despite harsh economic conditions. Yet, the state recorded 78 per cent budget performance at the height of economic slump that almost shut sub-national economies. In 2017, too, the state attained an aggregate budget performance of 83 per cent, which was the highest it ever recorded since Ambode assumed office in 2015.

Across the federation, however, other states are reeling under the burden of debt and unpaid salaries.

Of course, Lagos is not on the list of sovereign debtors, though its net debt stock is N874.38 billion, which according to the governor, represents only three per cent of its GDP currently valued at $131 billion and rated the fifth largest economy in Africa. For Ambode, it is not an indication of fiscal viability, but of the state’s commitment to fiscal sustainability. Contrary to reports, his administration had not contracted any new external loan“to fund our projects since assumption of office.”Rather, he had completed transactions, which the governor acknowledged were already in place before he came into office.

By implication, Ambode’s administration inherited external loans from various past administrations, which according to him, constituted at least 60 per cent of the state’s total debt stock. The governor pointed out that the debt stock“is made up of some loans that have been running since 1989, about 30 years ago; and were contracted at an average of N80 to $1.

Today, the loans are being repaid at an average rate of N305 to $1, translating to 205 per cent increase in the loan repayment rate.”

Agenda At a lecture he delivered at Harvard University in October last year, Ambode unveiled a plan to create at least 250,000 jobs per annum. Aside, under the same fiscal regime, the state has set aside $13.5 million to empower small-and-medium enterprises under the different initiatives of the ETF. Already, the state has earmarked N135.815 billion to fund infrastructure projects. It has started construction of Pen-Cinema flyover, a 1.4-kilometre bridge designed to undo gridlocks in Agege. Aside this flyover, it equally planned to construct Opebi-Mende Link Bridge; dualise Lekki-Epe expressway; reconstruct 181 inner-city roads across the local councils and complete Oshodi-Airport road, among others.

In a 2017 budget report he presented last month,

Ashade disclosed the government’s plan to take advantage of the Public-Private Partnerships to deliver three critical projects. Under the current fiscal regime, the state would implement 3,000-megawatt embedded power programme, Ikorodu-Agbowa-Itoikin-Ijebu Ode road and Okokomaiko -Seme section of Lagos-Badagry road. Likewise, the state set aside N101.358 billion to execute different transport infrastructure projects. As indicated in the report, the allocation would benefit Light Rail (Blue Line) project and 10-lane Lagos-Badagry expressway.

From the allocation, the state plans to complete Oshodi-Abule Egba BRT corridor, jetties and terminals at Marina in Epe and Badagry with shoreline protection, among others.

Under the fiscal regime, the state had budgeted N54.582 billion to address different environmental challenges. It placed premium on the execution of Cleaner Lagos Initiative, which according to the governor, replaced the old regime of waste management in the state. Besides the CLI, the fund would be used to improve drainage channels; landscape Gbagada-Oshodi expressway and modernise the recreation park/botanical garden along Gbagada-Anthony road.

Like the year before, the state allocated N59.904 billion for housing and community amenities. With a housing deficit of over five million, however, Ambode acknowledged that the state government“cannot provide shelter for all residents.”But he believed the allocation would allow his regime deliver affordable housing units to interested residents under the“rent-to-own” schemes in Gbagada, Igbogbo, Iponri, Igando, Omole Phase I, and Sangotedo.

Ambode’s plan to use information technology to drive governance and solve diverse challenges associated to Lagos metropolis gets much attention.

At least N23.508 billion was allocated to complete the state’s strategic information management system; build information technology infrastructure state-wide and fund the Smart City project targeted at deploying technology to enhance security and revenue generation in the state.

Alongside other associated projects, the state allocated N64.485 billion to continue the development of Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ); N15.2 billion to execute the Heritage Centre for Leadership (Lugard House); N10.574 billion to accelerate its food expansion programmes; N9.059 billion to construct four new stadia in Igbogbo, Epe, Badagry and Ajeromi-Ifelodun and N37.708 billion to maintain law and order across the state with a clear vision to drive its economy.

Ambode said 2017 witnessed a massive leap in terms of infrastructure development in the state. In 2018, he said, some of the reforms in key sectors of the economy will take full flight. By implication, the governor is saying there is good reason to be optimistic about what 2018 has in stock.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 4, 2018

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Tanker parking area at a tank farm in Lagos

Averting Fire Outbreak at Petrol Tank Farms Barely six months after a fire outbreak at the Linc Oil and Gas Tank Farm in Calabar claimed 10 lives, a tank farm at Ijegun Ibasa in Ojo area of Lagos State was gutted by fire about a fortnight ago. Ejiofor Alike writes on the need for stricter health, safety, and environment practices by the regulatory agencies, the government, and tank farm owners to avert future incidents

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espite the effective Health, Safety and Environment regulations in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, the sector has continued to record increasing Lost Time Injury incidents. Apparently worried by the number of fatalities recorded in the incidents of 2017, the Department of Petroleum Resources had vowed to achieve its target of attaining zero LTI in the downstream sector in 2018.

Director of DPR, Mr. Mordecai Danteni Baba Ladan, had at the 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Lagos Zonal Office of the agency held late last year, described the ill-fated incidents recorded in 2017 as a dire reminder of the dangers inherent in the operating environment when the operators fail to adhere to safety rules.

Ijegun Ibasa Incident Barely three weeks into 2018, the industry recorded another incident, when Stallionaire Nigeria Limited’s tank farm at Ijegun Ibasa in Ojo area of Lagos was gutted by fire. Giving an account of the incident, Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Mr Rasak Fadipe, said the service received a distress call at 11:35am that a tank farm was on fire.

“I immediately alerted the Ojo fire station to rush to the scene,”Fadipe said.“I signalled all other stations around. When we got there and discovered that the fire was raging seriously, I had to call on our head office for more fire engines. We discovered that apart from the Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) tank, which was on fire, there were four other tanks surrounding it.”

Fadipe added that with the help of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, Nigerian Navy, and the Nigeria Police, the fire was put under control, without any casualty, around 3:30pm.

“Our men are still around, carrying out the necessary checks to ensure that everything is out. We were able to put everything under control with the modern fire engines recently acquired by the Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode,”Fadipe said.

Also speaking on the fire, General Manager of LASEMA, Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu, said the agency was alerted through the emergency toll free line 112/767.

“Consequently, the agency activated its emergency

response plan with all the relevant stakeholders. On getting to the aforementioned address, it was discovered that the facility, which is a fuel depot comprising a five tank farm, of which one of the tanks is filled with petrol, exploded and resulted in big inferno,”Tiamiyu was quoted as saying.

He added,“However, adequate and prompt response by the emergency responders was on ground to curtail the inferno to only the petrol tank, while others (diesel and kerosene) tanks were salvaged from the inferno. Proper investigation would be conducted on the incident, but there is need for owners and managers of oil and gas companies to always ensure that proper emergency response plan is put in place in these kinds of facilities.”

In his own account, a representative of NEMA, Mr Olayinka Ajaba, said the fire incident was caused by a trans-loading problem. Ajaba stated that the tank farm operators were trans-loading petrol manually into a tanker when the fire started and gutted the tanker.

no fewer than four people lost their lives with several others severely injured when the Apapa PWA loading jetty belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation caught fire in September 2017.

Apapa has three jetties – PWA, BOP, and NOJ – all belonging to NNPC, for the discharge of imported petroleum products.

THISDAY gathered that the fire at PWA Jetty started when hoodlums tampered with the manifold, which is the connecting pipe to the vessel, to scoop fuel.

It was not clear how hoodlums managed to enter the jetty, which was heavily guarded by personnel of the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies.

But there were concerns that security officials might have connived with miscreants, who scooped fuel from the pipelines at the jetty every night and in the early morning hours.

The fire incident was said to have occurred shortly after a vessel, MT HISTIA IVORY, finished discharging

Previous incidents Though no life was lost at the recent Ijegun fire incident, the tank farm fire was a sad reminder of the July 2017 fire incident at the Linc Oil and Gas Tank Farm in Calabar, in which 10 lives were officially said to have been lost. The Cross River Commissioner of Police, Mr Hafiz Inuwa, who reportedly gave the figure, had also added that several other persons sustained injuries.

Unlike the recent Ijegun fire incident, which NEMA blamed on a trans-loading problem, Inuwa had also stated that the manager of the Linc Oil depot did not brief the police on the cause of the incident.

“Up until now, nobody has come out to tell us that this is what caused the fire outbreak. We have gone round, we have done what we can do but investigation will later reveal what actually led to the explosion,”the police commissioner said.

The depot manager also reportedly refused to speak with journalists. He claimed that he was not authorised to speak.

However, it was reported that the fire outbreak occurred when the workers of the station were discharging the old product in the tanks to allow a vessel that berthed to discharge its content.

Barely two months after the Calabar tank farm fire,

Since the causes of these fire incidents are manmade, experts say there is need for enforcement of HSE regulations by the tank farm owners, regulatory agencies and agencies of government.

For instance, the Ijegun fire was said to have started when the tank farm operators were trans-loading petrol manually into a tanker, and that was a flagrant violation of HSE regulations

petrol at the jetty.

It was also gathered that the casualty figures would have been much higher if security officials of NIPCO Plc on duty had not opened the company’s exit gate through which the people at the jetty escaped from the raging inferno.

A source close to the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), which manages the three NNPC jetties in Apapa, had told THISDAY that it took the intervention of fire fighters from the Nigerian Ports Authority and NIPCO to put out the fire.

It will be recalled that a few years ago, an oil vessel owned by MRS Oil and Gas caught fire when discharging petrol into the company’s depot at Tin Can Island area of Apapa. Though no life was lost, NEMA had confirmed that four people were injured.

Proactive Measures Since the causes of these fire incidents are manmade, experts say there is need for enforcement of HSE regulations by the tank farm owners, regulatory agencies and agencies of government. For instance, the Ijegun fire was said to have started when the tank farm operators were trans-loading petrol manually into a tanker, and that was a flagrant violation of HSE regulations.

In the case of the Calabar Depot, the fire outbreak was said to have occurred when the workers of Linc Oil were discharging old product in the tanks to allow a vessel that berthed to discharge its content. It was also obvious that standard safety procedure was ignored.

Loading at odd hours, breach of HSE rules, lack of fire-fighting equipment, as well as use of sub-standard equipment and vehicles can trigger fire outbreak at a tank farm.

Experts believe there should be effective collaboration between the government and tank farm operators to arrest the flagrant violation of safety guidelines in the industry.

Besides, many believe proactive measures should be put in place to minimise the impact of unavoidable fire outbreak at tank farms. To this end, residents of Ijegun Ibasa community, where the recent tank farm fire occurred in Lagos have called on the state government to set up a fire service station in the community, which has about 10 tank farms established by 10 different companies.

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BUSINESS/AVIATION

Cautious Optimism as 23 Countries Embrace AU Open Sky Agreement Last week, the African Union launched the liberalisation of the continent’s airspace for airlines registered in Africa. Chinedu Eze examines the gains and pitfalls of the policy for Nigerian airlines

A South African Airways plane on a runway... one of the major airlines on the continent

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ast Sunday in Addis Ababa, during the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, member-nations inaugurated the Single African Air Transport Market. SAATM is meant to relax aviation rules and regulations to create a free market environment for airlines registered in the continent. It is also known as the liberalisation of Africa’s airspace or open sky for Africa.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who is the current chair of the 55-member AU, and Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Mahamat, unveiled the plaque at the commission’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, marking the inauguration of the SAATM. About SAATM SAATM is a flagship project of AU Agenda 2063, which aspires to create a single unified air transport market in Africa, liberalise civil aviation in Africa, and motivate the continent’s economic integration agenda. According to the AU, the launch of SAATM is expected to facilitate opportunities to promote trade and cross-border investments in the production and service industries, including tourism. These would then lead to the creation of an additional 300,000 direct and two million indirect jobs.

Eleven AU member states, including Nigeria, championed the Declaration by signing the Solemn Commitment to actualise theYamoussoukro Decision creating the single market. Signatories to the agreement have increased to 23 countries.

In May 2016, the AUC wrote to states that had signed the Solemn Commitment to highlight a number of measures they should take as soon as possible to initiate operationalisation of the single air transport market in the continent. Among the measures is that each country should officially publish in accordance with its national regulations or gazette that they are committed to the immediate implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision under the terms of the Declaration of Solemn Commitment in line with the AU Agenda 2063.

Nigerian Airlines Appraising SAATM, Nigerian airlines under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria appealed to

the federal government not to go ahead with the full implementation of the policy. The operators said while the idea might be noble on paper, government should not lose sight of the facts and the dangers of the decision on the Nigerian economy and the future of the country’s youth.

AON chairman, Capt. Nogie Meggison, in a statement said,“We are concerned that the timing is not right, as there are several unresolved issues and challenges being faced by Nigerian aviation that will ultimately undermine the perceived gains of this treaty that might be an illusion for our beloved country.”

Meggison enumerated the challenges the Nigerian aviation faced, which would not allow the sector to benefit from the liberalised African airspace.

He stated, “The basic issue of free movement of people and trade is an integral aspect of the declaration that will go a long way to determine the fairness of the SAATM project. Sadly, it is a well-known fact that Nigerians require over 34 visas to travel within Africa alone. This is an issue that first needs to be addressed, before opening the skies, open the visas.”

Incentive The AON chairman called on the government to come out with a clear policy that would position Nigerian airlines to take full advantage of the open skies. He said that Nigerian airlines were exposed to high bank interest rates of 28 per cent and above, contrary to the access to cheap funds provided and guaranteed by the governments of many African carriers at a maximum of two per cent.

Nigerian airlines payVAT while most African carriers don’t pay VAT both in their countries and here in Nigeria, Meggison said.

According to Meggison,“Airlines in Nigeria don’t have access to forex. We only get allocation per percentage of our bids which takes an average of six months.

Most of the African carriers are subsidised and are being funded by their government.

“Nigerian airlines are at a disadvantage to other African Airlines that are largely government-owned and heavily subsidised. For instance, South African Airways got on the average about $350 million yearly in the past decade; Kenya Airways got about $600 million in 2016, while RwandAir has never published its financial results for over a decade. Yet they will

be competing against Nigerian airlines with private finance at 28 per cent interest.”

The operators lamented that Nigerian airlines were subjected to multiple charges, taxes, levies and fees.

According to the airline operators, for the open air policy to work in Nigeria, there should be uniform customs duty and tariffs among member-countries; all landing charges and taxes must be the same, no matter which country the airline is coming from or flying to. Every airline registered in the continent must be given equal opportunity and treatment.

“In the European Union, tariffs are the same, landing and parking charges are the same and they even have single currency. But in Africa, each country is protecting its own airlines and when you want to fly to their country they will make it extremely difficult for you,” said one of the operators, who preferred anonymity.

Benefits A fortnight ago, African Civil Aviation Commission, which is saddled with the responsibility of executing the open sky policy for Africa, also known as Single African Air Transport Market by the African Union, spearheaded a sensitisation exercise for Nigeria’s aviation industry on the need to embrace the open sky policy. AFCAC launched the sensitisation campaign at a workshop hosted by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Secretary-general of AFCAC, Mrs. Iyabo Sosina, identified the 23 members that had embraced the policy to include Benin, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Gabon. Others are Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo, and Zimbabwe.

Sosina explained that the 23 countries that ratified the policy had a combined population of about 670 million, more than half the population (57 per cent) of the continent as at 2015. She said the combined Gross Domestic Product of these members was $15 billion in 2015, which was over 65 per cent of the continent’s average $1888 per capita.

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

expense of others.

Sosina said during the workshop that Nigerian airlines should prepare themselves to compete; otherwise, they would be overtaken by the new policy, which is projected to boost the economy of the continent.

However, she said AFCAC was talking to those countries to review downwards their charges and open up their processes to allow the single market policy to work.

Implementation The International Air Transport Association welcomed the launch of SAATM and said that enhanced connectivity would stimulate demand, improve the competitiveness of the African airline industry, and make air travel more accessible. In turn, this would enable higher volumes of trade, expanded tourism and growing commerce between African nations and with the rest of the world.

IATA’s Vice President for Africa, Rapahel Kuuchi, said,“The SAATM has the potential for remarkable transformation that will build prosperity while connecting the African continent. Every open air service arrangement has boosted traffic, lifted economies and created jobs.

And we expect no less in Africa on the back of the SAATM agreement. An IATA survey suggests that if just 12 key African countries opened their markets and increased connectivity, an extra 155,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in annual GDP would be created in those countries.

“We commend the 23 states that have signed up to SAATM. It is an important step forward. But the benefits of a connected continent will only be realised through effective implementation of SAATM—firstly, by the countries already committed, and also by the remaining 32 AU member-nations still to come on board.”

The international body said one of the main obstacles to the implementation of previous open skies pledges – 1988 Yamoussoukro Declaration and 1999Yamoussoukro Decision – was the absence of an underpinning regulatory text. IATA welcomes the AU’s adoption of the regulatory text of the Yamoussoukro Decision – also the framework for SAATM – which covers competition and consumer protection and dispute settlement, as these safeguard the efficient operation of the market.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾FEBRUARY 4, 2018

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SUNDAY INTERVIEW

Uzoma

Dozie: Traditional Banking Infrastructure Can Only Provide Limited Services to Customers The recent appointment of Diamond Bank Plc as a forum member advisor to the World Economic Forum is no mean feat. The forum, which aims to shape global, regional and industry agendas to deliver WEF’s mission of improving the state of the world, has its membership by invitation. By standards, the invitation is extended only to the most dynamic businesses, using tech-driven disruption to drive growth. According to WEF, member companies represent outstanding firms that count among the world’s top innovators, market shapers, disruptors, niche market leaders and regional champions. They are businesses of growing influence that help economies thrive and contribute to societal prosperity, and are transforming into industry and regional leaders. Diamond Bank, now the first bank in Nigeria and the second in Africa so appointed as the WEF member advisor, is one of the country’s fastest growing retail banks. Established about 27 years ago, the bank currently serves over 150,000 businesses cutting across diverse sectors of the economy as well as MSMEs, for which it provides value-adding banking solutions. Back from the WEF annual meeting, just-concluded in Davos, Switzerland, where he participated in an interactive session titled ‘A Shared Vision for Financial Inclusion’, the bank’s chief executive officer, Uzoma Dozie, spoke with ARISE NEWS CHANNEL Anchor, Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, on the membership appointment, financial inclusion and sundry issues in the banking sector as well as the economy, especially as it relates to growth and interest rates

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SUNDAY INTERVIEW

In Diamond Bank, We Believe Financial Inclusion is not Charity, But a Beneficial Business Model Cont’d from Pg. 21

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iamond Bank was appointed a forum member advisor at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos. It is the first Nigerian company and the second African company to be a world economic forum advisor. What does Diamond Bank’s invitation as a forum member of WEF mean for the bank?

For us, it means a validation of what we have been doing. How we have been using new technologies to access new markets, provide banking and beyond banking services to our customers. And I think for the banking sector as a whole that it is a good platform to tell the world what we actually do here in Nigeria. I think we hear too many negative things about what is happening in the country, meanwhile, there are a lot of innovation and creativity going on for us. Because for us to actually access new markets, provide services for people, especially, in a country where the infrastructure is limited, you need to be innovative. And I think Diamond Bank and a few other banks in the country have used enabling technologies to do that in a cost-effective way.

What was your personal message in Davos?

Our message is that the future of Africa is digital; especially banks in Nigeria are using technologies to provide services for our customers in the market. The threat of Fintechs, as they say, Fintechs is going to take over banking sector. It is not as it portends here because we are actually partnering with Fintechs, fantastic real cases that Diamond Bank has done. Our foray into better proposition, which is providing better services to market women, was actually done in collaboration with Fintechs companies.

Our Diamond Yellow Proposition, which is in collaboration with MTN, the banking solution was actually developed in Nigeria by Fintechs.

So for us it is a course of business where we don’t feel that threat because we know that by collaborating we will be able to provide better services for people in Nigeria and really thrive the financial inclusion in Nigeria.

While discussing the main theme of this year’s event, one of the co-chairs: Chetna Sinha, called for financial access for everyone.

She announced an alternative investment fund of about 100 million rupees for female entrepreneurs, are there any lessons for Africa?

Definitely. In fact the themes from Davos should definitely resonate in Nigeria. First of all, it is talking about shared values in a fractured world. We have similar trait in Nigeria and one of the underlying things that was missed was that as we go into the fourth industrial revolution, how do we ensure that we use those emerging technologies to bring people out of poverty and make sure that there is inclusion and it is democratised? From what we have seen in the first, second and third revolution, although there was economic growth, there was increased inequality. So as we go into this new fourth industrial revolution where the trophy is going to be larger, if we do not take this into consideration, we will see increased inequality, which is simply what we see in Nigeria as well.

In the case of Nigeria, we have locations where people have not gone past the first, second and third revolution, where there is no power, no access to mobile phones or computing because of no network. So how do we leapfrog those stages so that we can provide better financial solutions? We can have inclusive network, people can be part of the economy, government can tax more efficiently, spread it across, and provide better utilities for Nigeria. So those were the things that we discussed in Davos but truly resonate strongly in Nigeria

On the side lines of WEF, the International Monetary Fund raised its global growth forecast for 2018 to 3. 9%, expecting the global economy to continue to recover on the back of trade and investment. What does this mean for Africa and Nigeria, in particular?

I think that resonates in Nigeria because we are beginning to see growth. If we look at where we are today compared to 12 months ago, we have seen a turnaround, especially in GDP growth. We were in recession 12 months ago, now we are out of that recession. Inflation is coming down.

There is increase in foreign currency liquidity in Nigeria and, today, the currency has stabilised.

Uzoma

We love small businesses in Diamond Bank. We know that if we help, the partnership and commitment is there forever. We know that there is tremendous opportunity in financial inclusion and we have seen that it is not charity but a sustainable business model contributing to our bottom-line And we are beginning to see GDP growth in non-oil areas like agriculture. But there is still a lot to do. We still have businesses that are financially excluded, that are supposed to be the engine of growth. In any developed economy, the small businesses are the engine of growth.

They are the biggest employers of labour, biggest generator of GDP. We have a long way to go from there. Banks like us, Diamond Bank, have a role to play in providing resources and support for those businesses to be sustainable.

An example that I usually give is if you have 17 million businesses that are financially excluded, if you provide enabling environment for them and they all pick one extra employee, that is 17 million people you are going to give jobs to.

Davos is generally considered the meeting of the famed 1% who control most of the world’s resources. Can they really be expected to honestly address the imbalance in the distribution of resources, and is it in their best interest to do so?

Certainly. That was one of the overriding discussions that we had in Davos. There is no economic growth without social inclusion and it is important. It is business’ imperative to ensure that the community in which they serve must be socially uplifted, if not, their business models will not be sustainable and the more that inequality gap increases, the more dangerous it is for the business and the geography as a whole.

Those were the underlining themes at Davos and they cut across every discussion that we had in the education area, health area, how do you democratise the new emerging technology, how do ensure that these emerging technologies are human-centred and are value-based. And it is highly important because just as they can do good, they can also do damage from areas of artificial intelligence. If they replace jobs , how are you going to create jobs for new people?

The jobs that are actually going to be displaced have more women, how do you ensure that we recruit people so that nations continue to

generate tax, provide services for their citizens?

Talking about inequality, Norway has one of the smallest gaps between rich and poor in the world and the most inclusive economy in the world. What lessons can Nigeria learn from that country?

You know Rome was not built in a day. And leadership has to have a foresight and a short term plan on what they want to provide for their citizens and Norway is an oil-producing country but they do not rely on oil and it is a windfall as they saw it. They are still focused on their core resources and I think that is what we ought to learn. We have to have a very long-term plan that we execute and we use sustainable resources that we have and certainly not oil. It is our people, 180 million people. It is a youthful population and it is an arable geography. So those are the competencies that we have and we should actually use.

Despite on-going efforts, the reality is that most poor people in the world lack access to sustainable financial services. What are the banking practices that continue to exclude these people and how can banks review those practices to align them with the objectives of financial inclusion?

With the traditional infrastructure that banks have, there is little you can do when it comes to providing services to people in remote areas and it does not make sense for banks to build branches in places where the financial activities are highly limited, especially in village areas where maybe there highest financial activity is during the market day, which is probably once a week. So we have to find new ways to provide access. In Diamond Bank, we have realised that we cannot use the existing banking models, it just does not exist. We see banking as a commodity now. It is a question of deciding that we are going to take banking to the people. Like any other service, it must be frictionless; banking must be done without thinking. Twenty-five

years ago, to do banking, you have to freeze your day, go to the bank and queue up, take a tally number and wear your best clothes so that people can have a good impression of you.

Today, nobody cares about that and people want to do banking without thinking that they are doing banking. What we have done is that we know that everybody has a mobile phone. There is a reasonable amount of mobile connectivity in Nigeria, so let’s try deal with that first. Where there is connection, let us enable people to access financial services in a very cost-effective manner that does not disrupt their day. So those are the things that have guided us in coming up with solutions that have been very successful. If we take that into consideration, we have 15 million customers; seven million of those were acquired over a 23-year period in 270 locations. The other half was acquired in three years. Nobody came into the banks because it was all done by mobile.

We have provided a platform in which they can access financial services in very cost-effective manner with what they use everyday. And what we have discovered is that in most cases, it’s not that they are poor but the banking system was inconvenient, too costly and they did not understand it and not much effort had been made to show them the benefit of using a more trusted and structured way of saving and doing their transaction in a cost effective manner. On the flip side of it, if financially excluded, it is very expensive because you have to carry and manage cash, even the cost of doing transactions, transferring money to people; the risk of loss is very high. What we see is that we actually change people’s lives. The stories that we have heard, especially from customers, like the market women, is how they have been able to keep their monies safe. They can save and send their children to school and those are the things that make Nigeria more sustainable and people can actually feel the economic growth.

But financial inclusion is not just for the people, is it? There is robust positive association between financial inclusion and bank stability.

Definitely. With Diamond Bank, the first thing that going retail has done for us is that it enhances the bank’s credibility. Not only are you serving just a small sector of the economy but you are serving a wider base. Secondly, to do that, you actually have to go beyond banking, which is one of the things we are very good at. We don’t see ourselves as bankers, we see ourselves as people who are working and partnering with people, helping them to provide an infrastructure for them to succeed. Whether they are individuals, small businesses, people who are financially excluded. We just want to bring them. Another indication is hand holding and it is actually required. If I look at Diamond Bank’s brand equity five years ago and now, it is a totally different place. Our partners and

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾FEBRUARY 4, 2018

SUNDAY INTERVIEW Membership of WEF Affords Us Platform to Tell the Nigerian Story, Showcase Our Achievments Cont’d from Pg. 27

Modele Sarafa -Yusuf, ARISE NEWS CHANNEL Anchor, with Dozie during the interview customers do not see us as bankers but partners who actually want to help them get on with life.

What are the key initiatives Diamond Bank is deploying in this regard?

The first thing we have done is that, we know we cannot do it by ourselves, so we have partners in telecoms place, in technology place and also advisory as well. For example, small businesses are not about just providing a bank account; it’s also about providing access to market. Even access to market includes using technology. So how do we create awareness of your goods, how do we ensure you have a cost effective way to do that? We partner with companies like Microsoft, who provides a cost-effective environment to actually access markets. I think we have certain years of relationship with EDC of Lagos Business School. We are in our seventh year of our Building Entrepreneurs Today (BET) Programme, which has been very successful and this year we are going one step further by using technology to showcase it across Nigeria. In previous editions, it was not captured on video, only a limited number of people could benefit from it, that is people who are participating. But this year, we are televising it. Even if you are not part of the programme, you can actually watch people who are in similar fields like you are and you can benefit from the questions and answers and the stories that are being told. So that is how we are going beyond banking to ensure that we provide you financial services, but also provide you with the services that we are sure will make you successful. Your business grows and you also have the resources that ensure that you are also sustainable. And the sustainability of our customers is directly linked to the success of Diamond Bank. So it is in our interest that that happens.

You once said, “I have always believed SMEs and young entrepreneurs, to empower them to play their role in employment generation and economic growth.” Why is this important to you on a personal level?

I like to be involved in growth and in change and I believe everything that I do is linked to growth or playing a role or trying to fix in success.

We love small businesses in Diamond Bank.

We know that if we help, the partnership and commitment is there forever. We know that there is tremendous opportunity in financial inclusion and we have seen that it is not charity but a sustainable business model contributing to our bottom-line. We also know that in our corporate business it helps grow them by providing a new way for them to mine their value chain. How do we connect small businesses with large businesses down to the consumers? So another tagline that we have is why we want to be relevant beyond banking. If we are seen as intermediary that connect people to markets and when people ask what does Diamond Bank do to be my partner, they can say, Diamond Bank helps me grow with relevant markets and keeps me sustainable.

People say what is the role of banks, how are we going to be sustainable, that’s how we are going to be sustainable. Beyond the commodity services that banks provide – others, including non-banking institutions, provide today – there

are things that we have. It’s a community that we have, a platform that we have built that enables people in that ecosystem to benefit from it and give them a reason to say Diamond Bank adds value to our lives and businesses.

You are also reputed to be highly passionate about technology. You’ve said that a couple of times in this conversation. At the recently concluded WEF, Ali Baba founder, Jack Ma sounded a note of warning on technology.

He said, “We are very lucky because the world is in a big transformation because of technology. This new technology will create a lot of successful people, interesting careers but honestly every new technology will create social problems”. Do you share his concerns?

Certainly. Too much of everything is bad for you. You also see it in households today. People are always on their phones. Social skills are being impaired completely. Going back to the theme of Davos, there must be human-centric approach to the deployment and use of technology. There is inherent value in any technology and to use them, you must constantly debate to deploy it: what are the impacts to humanity? Is it positive or negative, and what are the things to do to ensure that in deploying it we don’t lose humanity and it does not have negative impact?

In the early months of 2017, we saw the economy come out of recession, what would you say is the major driver of this improvement?

There are few things but the one that comes to mind was that Central Bank of Nigeria came out with some policies as well that made sense with markets and instilled confidence. So we have, one, policies that encourage foreign investment to come into Nigeria, two, we had policies that stabilised the naira internally, so the rush to look for foreign currency was limited and thereby providing access to banks and all their branches across the country. Then the policies to diversify the economy from oil also kicked in and then the limited importation; because of the high cost of dollar against the naira, consumers were very critical of what they imported, how they travel , looked at education and health so the demand on dollar dropped as well. The oil price also helped, although we are still trying to diversify from oil. We saw oil prices above $50 per barrel. We saw stable production, so there was less restiveness in the oil-producing areas.

Those are the things that actually help sustain that recovery.

Many have made allusions that the foreign exchange problem was partly solved. Isn’t it curious that activities in the domestic economy are still largely dependent on the happenings in the foreign exchange market?

It will be for a while. If we are self-sustaining from a food perspective, there are some areas where we will never be competitive and it does not make sense to build industries around it. So we are still going to need to import raw materials and some services for a long time to come unless we can do it more cost-effectively. For example, power is still an issue. It makes production and

I think the MPC stance on keeping the interest rates high to bring down inflation was a right one and we are beginning to see the results. We have seen the inflation come down. We still have a long way to go

is aligned to the national objectives and also global objectives coming from Davos, we are now more determined. I think it has validated our strategy, which is to drive retail, look for new markets in the financial inclusion space with also a social charter in our strategy. So there is always business opportunity for us. We have 60 million individuals, we have businesses that need support to grow and there are very good businesses there. So we have a lot of opportunities as a bank for the kind of businesses that we have and as technology improves, it creates a more cost-effective, better user experience way to actually access these customers. Few of those technologies are going to come mainstream this year, which we are going to use to provide a better service for our customers, go into new markets and also enhance the Diamond Bank brand angle to go beyond banking solutions for our customers that make us bulletproof in economic downturn and also dispel the fear that Fintech and other related businesses will take over the banking industry.

manufacturing a challenge in Nigeria. If we are able to solve the power and infrastructure issue in Nigeria, it will make cost of production and manufacturing cheaper and now people can start competing with other companies where we import. So until we solve that problem, we are still going to import raw materials and finished goods and services.

I can see everybody jittery about this Fintech companies. Is there really that much to worry about?

Do you think an easing of interest rates in 2017, as many clamoured for, could have also increased the business activities in the economy?

If inflation is high and you reduce interest rate, it might have a negative impact on trying to bring the inflation down as well, unless you can grow yourself out of that inflation, which was a challenge that time. I think the MPC stance on keeping the interest rates high to bring down inflation was a right one and we are beginning to see the results. We have seen the inflation come down. We still have a long way to go. I think the high interest regime is going to be there for a while, although government is also trying to play its role by reducing its own debt burden and converting its debt from local currency to foreign currency to reduce the interest

So now that government seems to be focusing more on foreign borrowings than domestic borrowings, do you think this could possibly drive short term interest rates, like you mentioned, lower?

Yes. The thing is that it will help us well because if we reduce the cost of borrowing money, that should also trickle down to the commercial and banking sector, eventually. And we are saying that inflation is coming down, treasury bill rates are coming down as well, and that should take back into the commercial activities of the Nigeria economy if it is sustained

So what are your other expectations for 2018? Are you more optimistic or pessimistic?

I think for the type of business that we have, we are very optimistic. I think we are providing services that people want. Our strategic focus

I always tell people that when people keep saying that Fintechs will take over banks, the flip side is that those solutions Fintechs use are the same ones that banks can actually use to take over Fintechs business. And we have seen cases where banks in other climes have actually bought over Fintech solutions. The most important thing is that Fintechs also require customer base as well. And what do banks have, we also have customer base. But if we are not forward looking, if we are not looking at who our customers are going to be in the next five years, that’s when we will lose the business. Now look at my children, they are aged 15 and 14 and I know that if they are going to work in a banking sector in five years’ time, it is certainly not going to be the way we are doing it now. They are definitely not going to the bank, they will do it on the mobile phones, they will actually want to see and feel the apps that they use today. So banks will have to look today at what their solutions are, how easy it is for people to use it, and if it is not integrated into their lifestyles, they are going to go to somebody else that can provide it. And that’s where Diamond Bank, from our beyond banking philosophy, comes in. How do we integrate ourselves, look, thought, mind, feeling into the lives of our customers so that we are not intruding, we are just partnering and collaborating with them?

The CBN MPC meeting could not hold due to lack of quorum. What impact is this development likely to have on the economy?

Not really. Personally, I think that they have kept the same stance that they had. So if they don’t hold in January, which is usually a slow month, waiting for the budget to come out and all, if in three months we are still having this conversation and they have not held, then we can start getting worried. But for one month, I don’t think it is going to have any impact and the economy is growing. So if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾FEBRUARY 4, 2018

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ŵŽŶŐ ƚŚĞ ĐŽƵŶƚƌŝĞƐ ůĞĂĚŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ƵŶĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ƐƵƌŐĞ ŝŶ Žŝů ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ǁĂƐ ŚŝŶĂ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ĨŽƌ ƚƌĂŶƐƉŽƌƚĂƟŽŶ͘ ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ tŽƌůĚ ĂŶŬ͕ hŶŝƚĞĚ ^ƚĂƚĞƐ ĂŶĚ ƵƌŽƉĞ ĂůƐŽ ĐŽŶƚƌŝďƵƚĞĚ ƚŽ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ ĂŵŽŶŐ ƚŚĞ K ĐŽƵŶƚƌŝĞƐ ǁŚŝĐŚ ǁĂƐ ƉƵƚ Ăƚ Ϭ͘ϵŵďͬĚ ;ϭ͘ϵйͿ ĂƐ Ăƚ ŚĂůĨ LJĞĂƌ ϮϬϭϳ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ĨŽƌ ŐĂƐŽŝů ;ĚŝĞƐĞů ĂŶĚ ŚĞĂƟŶŐ ŽŝůͿ͘

ŽƵƚůŽŽŬ ĨŽƌ ƌĞŶƚ ĂŶĚ td/ ƌƵĚĞ ƚŽ h^ΨϲϮ͘ϬϬͬď ĂŶĚ h^Ψϱϳ͘ϱϬͬď ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘

ŌĞƌ ŚŝƫŶŐ Ă Ϯϵ ŵŽŶƚŚ ŚŝŐŚ ƚŽǁĂƌĚƐ ƚŚĞ ĞŶĚ ŽĨ ϮϬϭϳ͕ ƚŚĞ ƐƵƉƉůLJͬĚĞŵĂŶĚ ĚLJŶĂŵŝĐƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŐůŽďĂů Žŝů ŵĂƌŬĞƚƐ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϴ ŝƐ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ ĂďŽǀĞ h^ΨϲϬ͘Ϭͬď Žŝů ƉƌŝĐĞƐ͘ h^ ^ŚĂůĞ Žŝů ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ŝƐ ĨŽƌĞĐĂƐƚ ƚŽ ƌĞĐŽǀĞƌ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ŚŝŐŚ ĐƌƵĚĞ Žŝů ƉƌŝĐĞ ĞŶǀŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚ ĂŶĚ ƉƌŽũĞĐƚĞĚ ƌĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ ŽĨ h^ ĚƌŝůůŝŶŐ ĨĂĐŝůŝƟĞƐ͕ ũƵƐƟĨLJŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ĞƐƟŵĂƚĞĚ ϭ͘ϮϵŵďͬĚ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞ ŝŶ ĂŐŐƌĞŐĂƚĞ ŐůŽďĂů ƐƵƉƉůLJ ůĞǀĞů ĚĞƐƉŝƚĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ƐƚƌŽŶŐ ĐŽŵƉůŝĂŶĐĞ ŽĨ KW ŵĞŵďĞƌƐ ƚŽ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ĐƵƚ ĂŐƌĞĞŵĞŶƚ͘

ƚŽ ƵƐĞ ZĂƟŽƐ ƚŽ ^ƚĞĂĚLJ WƌŝĐĞƐ

zĞƚ͕ ƚŚĞ Žŝů ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŝƐ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞ ƌĞďĂůĂŶĐŝŶŐ ĂƐ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ŝƐ ƉƌŽũĞĐƚĞĚ ďLJ ƚŚĞ KW ƚŽ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞ ďLJ ϭ͘ϱϭŵďͬĚ Žƌ ϭ͘ϱϲй ŝŶ ϮϬϭϴ ĂŶĚ ϭ͘ϯŵďͬĚ ĂĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ / ĞƐƟŵĂƚĞ͘ 'ŽůĚŵĂŶ ^ĂĐŚƐ ŝŶ ŝƚƐ ƌĞƐĞĂƌĐŚ ƌĞƉŽƌƚ ƌĂŝƐĞĚ ƉƌŝĐĞ

DĂƌĐŚ ϮϬϭϴ &ƵƚƵƌĞƐ ƌĞŶƚ ĐƌƵĚĞ ĐůŽƐĞĚ Ăƚ h^Ψϲϳ͘ϴϰͬď ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ td/ ƌƵĚĞ ĨƵƚƵƌĞƐ ĨŽƌ DĂƌĐŚ ϮϬϭϴ ĐůŽƐĞĚ Ăƚ h^Ψϲϭ͘ϲϯͬď ;ϬϱͬϬϭͬϮϬϭϴͿ͕ ƌĞŇĞĐƟŶŐ ƚŚĞ ƉŽƐƐŝďůĞ ƐƚĂďŝůŝƚLJ ŽĨ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϴ͘

tŚĞĂƚ ĂŶĚ ^ƵŐĂƌ͗ /ŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ^ƚŽĐŬƐ

'ůŽďĂů ǁŚĞĂƚ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ƚƌĞŶĚĞĚ ŚŝŐŚĞƌ ĨŽƌ ŵŽƐƚ ƉĂƌƚ ŽĨ ϮϬϭϳ͕ ƐƵƌŐŝŶŐ ďĞƚǁĞĞŶ DĂLJ ĂŶĚ :ƵůLJ ďĞĨŽƌĞ ŵŽĚĞƌĂƟŶŐ ŝŶ ƵŐƵƐƚ͘ dŚĞ h^ ^ŽŌ ZĞĚ tŝŶƚĞƌ ;^ZtͿ ĂŶĚ ,ĂƌĚ ZĞĚ tŝŶƚĞƌ ;,ZtͿ ǁŚĞĂƚ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ϵ͘Ϭй ĂŶĚ Ϯϲ͘ϳй ĂŌĞƌ ĨĂůůŝŶŐ ϭϲ͘ϭй ĂŶĚ Ϯϱ͘Ϭй ŝŶ ϮϬϭϲ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ͘ KƵƚůŽŽŬ ŽŶ tŚĞĂƚ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ĂĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ hŶŝƚĞĚ ^ƚĂƚĞƐ ĞƉĂƌƚŵĞŶƚ ŽĨ ŐƌŝĐƵůƚƵƌĞ ;h^ Ϳ ŝƐ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ĂƐ ĐŽŶĚŝƟŽŶƐ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ŐůŽďĂů ǁŚĞĂƚ ĐƌŽƉ ĂƌĞ ĨĂǀŽƵƌĂďůĞ͘ tŚŝůƐƚ ƚŚĞ ǁŚĞĂƚ ĐƌŽƉ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ĨŽƌ EŽƌƚŚ ŵĞƌŝĐĂ͕ ƵƐƚƌĂůŝĂ ĂŶĚ ƌŐĞŶƟŶĂ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞ ƚŽ ƉƌŽĐĞĞĚ ĂƐ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ͕ ĨĂǀŽƵƌĂďůĞ ǁĞĂƚŚĞƌ ĐŽŶĚŝƟŽŶƐ ŝŶ <ĂnjĂŬŚƐƚĂŶ͕ ZƵƐƐŝĂ ĂŶĚ hŬƌĂŝŶĞ ǁŝůů ďƵŽLJ

ŐůŽďĂů ƐƵƉƉůŝĞƐ ĞƐƟŵĂƚĞĚ ďLJ h^ ƚŽ ƐƚĂďŝůŝnjĞ Ăƚ ϳϱϭ͘ϮDDd ďLJ ƚŚĞ ĞŶĚ ŽĨ ϮϬϭϳͬϭϴ ŚĂƌǀĞƐƚ ƐĞĂƐŽŶ͘ DŽƌĞ ŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚůLJ͕ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ƚŽ ƵƐĞ ƌĂƟŽ ŝƐ ĨŽƌĞĐĂƐƚ Ăƚ ϯ ĚĞĐĂĚĞ ŚŝŐŚ ŽĨ хϯϲ͘Ϭй͕ ŝŵƉůLJŝŶŐ ĐŽŵŵĞŶĚĂďůĞ ƐƵƉƉůLJ ŽǀĞƌǁĞŝŐŚƚ ŽŶ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ͖ ŚĞŶĐĞ͕ ǁŚĞĂƚ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ǁŝůů ƐƚĂďŝůŝnjĞ ĂƌŽƵŶĚ ĐƵƌƌĞŶƚ ůĞǀĞůƐ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϴ͘

dŚĞ tŽƌůĚ ƐƵŐĂƌ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŝŶ ƌĞĐĞŶƚ LJĞĂƌƐ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞƐ ƚŽ ƌĞĐŽƌĚ ďƵŝůĚ ƵƉ ŝŶ ŝŶǀĞŶƚŽƌŝĞƐ ŚĂǀŝŶŐ ƚƌĂŶƐŝƟŽŶĞĚ ĨƌŽŵ ƉƌŽůŽŶŐĞĚ LJĞĂƌƐ ŽĨ ƐĐĂƌĐĞ ƐƵƉƉůŝĞƐ͘ 'ůŽďĂů ƐƵŐĂƌ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ƐŝŐŶŝĮĐĂŶƚůLJ ďLJ ϭϴ͘ϵй ŝŶ ϮϬϭϳ͕ ƌĞǀĞƌƐŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ƚƌĞŶĚ ŽĨ ϮϬϭϲ ;ƐƵŐĂƌ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ǁĞƌĞ ƵƉ Ϯϲ͘ϯйͿ͘ ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ h^ ͕ ŐůŽďĂů ƐƵŐĂƌ ĐŽŶƐƵŵƉƟŽŶ ŝƐ ĨŽƌĞĐĂƐƚ ƚŽ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞ ďLJ ϭ͘ϱй ŝŶ ϮϬϭϳͬϭϴ ƚŽ ϭϳϲ͘ϴDDd͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ŐůŽďĂů ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ŝƐ ĞƐƟŵĂƚĞĚ ƚŽ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞ ϰ͘ϲй ƚŽ ϭϴϰ͘ϵDDd ŝŶ ϮϬϭϳͬϭϴ͕ ĐƌĞĂƟŶŐ ĂŶŽƚŚĞƌ LJĞĂƌ ŽĨ ŐůŽďĂů ƐƵƌƉůƵƐ ŝŶ ĞdžĐĞƐƐ ŽĨ ϴ͘ϭDDd Žƌ Ϯϳ͘Ϯй ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ƚŽ ƵƐĞ ƌĂƟŽ ŐŝǀĞŶ ƚŚĞ ĞƐƟŵĂƚĞĚ ϰϬ͘ϬDDd ĞŶĚŝŶŐ ƐƚŽĐŬ͘ /Ĩ ƚŚĞ h^ ĨŽƌĞĐĂƐƚ ĨŽƌ ĐŽŶƐƵŵƉƟŽŶ ŝƐ ĐŽŵƉĂƌĞĚ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ tŽƌůĚ ĂŶŬ ƐƵŐĂƌ ŽƵƚƉƵƚ ƉƌŽũĞĐƟŽŶ ʹ ĞƐƟŵĂƚĞĚ ůŽǁĞƌ ĨŽƌ ϮϬϭϳͬϭϴ Ăƚ ϭϳϵ͘ϲDDd ƚŽ ďĞ ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďLJ ƚŚĞ ŽƵƚƉƵƚ ŝŶ ƌĂnjŝů ;ϯϵ͘ϳDDdͿ͕

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾FEBRUARY 4, 2018

&ƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ h^ ͛Ɛ 'ƌĂŝŶ͗ tŽƌůĚ DĂƌŬĞƚƐ ĂŶĚ dƌĂĚĞ ƌĞƉŽƌƚ ĨŽƌ ĞĐĞŵďĞƌ ϮϬϭϳ͕ ĂƌůĞLJ ŽƵƚƉƵƚ ĨŽƌ ϮϬϭϳͬϭϴ ŝƐ ƉƌŽũĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ ƌĞĚƵĐĞ ƚŽ ϭϰϭ͘ϵDDd ĨƌŽŵ ϭϰϳ͘ϮDDd ŝŶ ϮϬϭϲͬϮϬϭϳ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ůŽǁĞƌ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ŵĂũŽƌ ĞdžƉŽƌƚĞƌƐ͕ ƐĂǀĞ ĨŽƌ ĞůĂƌƵƐ͕ ŚŝŶĂ͕ ƚŚŝŽƉŝĂ͕ /ƌĂŶ͕ DŽƌŽĐĐŽ ĂŶĚ

ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ ĂƌůĞLJ ŝƐ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ ƉĂƌĞ ŐĂŝŶƐ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϴ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ tŽƌůĚ ĂŶŬ ĨŽƌĞĐĂƐƚƐ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ĂƌůĞLJ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ h^Ψϭϰϰ͘ϬϬͬDd ǁŚŝůĞ ƉƌŝĐŝŶŐ ŽĨ ^ŽƌŐŚƵŵ ǁŝůů ďĞ ŵĂũŽƌůLJ ĚĞƉĞŶĚĞŶƚ ŽŶ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ĨƌŽŵ EŝŐĞƌŝĂ͘

Ɛ ƚŚĞ ů EŝŶŽ ĞīĞĐƚ ĮnjnjůĞĚ ŽƵƚ ŝŶ ϮϬϭϳ͕ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ƉĂůŵ Žŝů ƉƌŝĐĞƐ ŵŽĚĞƌĂƚĞĚ ϰ͘ϳй z Ž z ƚŽ h^Ψϳϭϲ͘ϬϬͬDDd ŝŶ EŽǀ ϮϬϭϳ ĨƌŽŵ h^ΨϳϮϮ͘ϬϬͬDDd ŝŶ EŽǀ ϮϬϭϲ ǁŚŝĐŚ ǁĂƐ ůĂƌŐĞůLJ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ĂƐ ǁĞĂƚŚĞƌ ĐŽŶĚŝƟŽŶƐ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ͕ ĂŶĚ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ǀŽůƵŵĞƐ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ϱ͘ϵй ĨƌŽŵ ϱϴ͘ϴDDd ŝŶ ϮϬϭϱͬϭϲ ƚŽ ϲϮ͘ϯDd ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ϮϬϭϲͬϭϳ ĨĂƌŵŝŶŐ ƐĞĂƐŽŶ͘ ĞƐƉŝƚĞ ƚŚĞ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐŝŶŐ ŐůŽďĂů ŽƵƚƉƵƚ͕ EŝŐĞƌŝĂ͛Ɛ ŽƵƚƉƵƚ ŚĂƐ ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ Ăƚ Ϭ͘ϵϳDDd Ɵůů ĚĂƚĞ͕ ĨĂƌ ďĞůŽǁ ŝƚƐ ƉŽƚĞŶƟĂů͕ ŐŝǀĞŶ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶŐ ŐĞƐƚĂƟŽŶ ƉĞƌŝŽĚ ĨŽƌ Žŝů ƉĂůŵ ƚƌĞĞƐ͘ ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ tŽƌůĚ ĂŶŬ͛Ɛ ŽŵŵŽĚŝƚLJ KƵƚůŽŽŬ ĨŽƌ ϮϬϭϴ͕ tŽƌůĚ ŽƵƚƉƵƚƐ ĂƌĞ ƉƌŽũĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ ƌŝƐĞ͕ ďƵŽLJĞĚ ďLJ ĨĂǀŽƵƌĂďůĞ ǁĞĂƚŚĞƌ ĐŽŶĚŝƟŽŶƐ ĂŶĚ ƉůĂŶƐ ďLJ /ŶĚŽŶĞƐŝĂ

ŽĐŽĂ͗ ZŝƐŝŶŐ ĞŵĂŶĚ ŝŶ ƐŝĂ ƚŽ ^ƵƉƉŽƌƚ DĂƌŬĞƚ /Ŷ ϮϬϭϳ͕ ƚŽƚĂů ŽĐŽĂ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ĂƐ ĨĂƌŵůĂŶĚƐ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ tĞƐƚ ĨƌŝĐĂ ĂŶĚ >ĂƟŶ ŵĞƌŝĐĂ ĞŶũŽLJĞĚ ĨĂǀŽƵƌĂďůĞ ǁĞĂƚŚĞƌ ĐŽŶĚŝƟŽŶƐ͘ ůƚŚŽƵŐŚ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ĨŽƌ ŽƵƚƉƵƚ͕ ƚŚĞ ƌĞƐƵůƚĂŶƚ ĞīĞĐƚ ǁĂƐ ĂŶ ŽǀĞƌƐƵƉƉůLJ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĂŶĚ Ă ƐƵďƐĞƋƵĞŶƚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ͘ Ɛ Ă ƌĞƐƵůƚ͕ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ŽĐŽĂ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ

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26

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾FEBRUARY 4, 2018

INTERVIEW Akumah: We’re Helping Small-scale Farmers to Actively Stay in Business Onyeka Akumah is co-founder and chief executive officer of Farmcrowdy, Nigeria’s first and leading digital agriculture platform that helps Nigerians, through crowd-funding and mentorship, to go into and also sponsor agriculture. Launched about a year ago, Farmcrowdy is the only African start-up from the 2017 class of Techstars Atlanta, a worldwide network dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed.

Farmcrowdy connects small-scale farmers with sponsors, who invest in farm cycles. The company has so far recorded about 1,000 unique farm sponsors from Nigerians in Nigeria, the United States, and United Kingdom. Akumah, a serial entrepreneur, speaks on how his latest agritech brainchild is incentivising and revolutionising agriculture, in this interview with Vincent Obia. Excerpts:

F

armcrowdy is described as Nigeria’s first digital agriculture platform.

Where did you get the inspiration for this project?

The inspiration for Farmcrowdy came sometime in February 2015, following a challenge I had witnessed first-hand.

At the time, there were on-going conversations around how to reliably channel resources into agriculture and the government had also urged individuals to put resources into this sector as a means of improving food production and security. Participating in agriculture seems to come naturally to a lot of Nigerians, particularly on a small-scale basis, but the question we had to answer was, “How do we channel our resources into agribusiness in a sustainable way that would both create the opportunity to earn a decent return while impacting positively in the lives of over 38 million small-scale farmers in Nigeria?”

We are the only ones who can solve the challenges of food security in our nation, but how does the average middle-income person invest the resources he has in agriculture, although he/she does not have any prior experience in farming?

Even if one might know of a few farmers to partner with, how are we sure of making profit at the end of the day? These were some of the realities that confronted us.

On the other hand, Nigeria has many small-scale farmers who live in rural areas and farm about 2.5 – 7.5 acres of farmland. A typical issue they confront is having the funds to grow their farm operations from subsistence to commercial farming.

Also, some small-scale farmers have difficulty using smart farming methods and getting to the right market for their farm produce to make a decent profit.

Looking for the solutions to all the questions we asked ourselves led to the idea of Farmcrowdy – an online platform that connects small-scale farmers with farm sponsors who will fund their farms to increase their production capacity through the guidance of our technical field experts to grow their production. Then, prior to harvest, we get pre-arranged buyers to purchase the farm produce so that we can sell for a decent margin to all stakeholders involved.

How would you evaluate your acceptance

by Nigerian farmers, your market penetration, generally, since the over one year of your launch?

So far, we have managed to establish presence in eight out of 36 states in Nigeria since we launched about one year ago. We have also been able to work with about 2, 000 farmers in rural farming communities. Whenever we enter a new farming community we meet community leaders and through them, engage a select few farmers to work with us, initially. This first set of farmers then serves as our ambassadors, especially, because they end up doing better by working with us – this tends to encourage other farmers to sign up to Farmcrowdy.

specialists to train the farmer on growing their capacity and then provide the market for them to sell their harvest at the end of the cycle.

This speaks to why 2,000 farmers have worked with us in our first year, recommended other farmers to join us, and 80% are looking to start off with us in 2018. We can say that our profit sharing formula does not exert pressure on our farmers. Instead, Farmcrowdy is a welcome development that helps them actively stay in business.

You recently announced the receipt of $1 million seed funding from foreign and local investors. Are governmental institutions at federal and state levels part of the investors?

Government institutions have provided indirect policy and infrastructural support but we have not received any direct investment from any government institution or parastatal. That said, we must applaud the effort of the government to continue to educate the public about the potential agriculture presents for Nigeria; as this becomes the foundation for getting people involved with our work and our farmers.

What is your relationship with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture?

Akumah farmers by providing resources for them to farm successfully, we educate and train our farmers on basic skills and modern farming techniques relevant to their practice. Although digital penetration among rural farmers is still low, we serve as a bridge between them and the farm sponsors.

Our Technical Field Specialists, who are always on ground at our various farm locations, achieve this by constantly informing and educating them on trends in the agriculture space, innovations in farming techniques, best practices in their farm processes, etc. By doing this, we enable them to maximise the value they get out of their produce and farmlands. So, rather than be affected by the low level of penetration, we are happy to introduce innovations to them.

Who provides the land for the farms?

How are you affected by the low level of digital penetration in Nigeria, especially, among the rural dwellers, which largely form your target market?

In addition to impacting the lives of rural

As mentioned earlier, the government of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, in particular, is one that we admire for the great work they are putting into agriculture and rural development, as well as the support of agricultural innovations across the country. Our relationship with them is one of respect and admiration for the institution, and we hope that they can work at improving the regulatory policies and infrastructure guiding the Nigeria agriculture sector.

Recently, I was inducted into the e-Agric Initiative at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to continue providing support and knowledge about the use of technology to foster agriculture developments in Nigeria. We look forward to continuing doing more with every opportunity the ministry presents.

When we identify communities we can work with to improve food productivity, we meet with the community leaders who help us identify the right farmlands and farmers to work with. So, essentially, the land is provided by the farming

community and at the end of the farming cycle, the farmers continue to own their farmland.

In your profit sharing arrangement, the sponsor gets their original sponsorship, before profit sharing, plus 40% of the profit from the harvest, the farmer receives 40% of the profit, and Farmcrowdy receives 20% of the profit. Don’t you think this arrangement exerts a lot of pressure on the farmers, leaving them in a situation where they only manage to squeeze through?

To explain the model, let us assume we meet a farmer who has the capacity to grow 5,000 chickens per cycle, but has consistently grown only 1,000 chickens because this is where all his resources can take him.

What we do in Farmcrowdy is to engage the farmer on the 4,000 extra slots, then provide these online for sponsors to partner with the farmer. At the end of the farming cycle, the 40% of the profit on 4,000 chickens goes back to the farmer as against what he or she would have made with 1,000 chickens without Farmcrowdy.

In addition to this, we provide technical field

Do you have raw material supply arrangements with foreign or local companies?

We have partners that supply us with seeds, chicks, fertiliser, vaccines and other relevant farm input. Depending on the state, we work in per term; and do our best to get the best farm input from partners that have a track record of professionalism in service delivery.

What are your plans for expansion going forward?

In 2018, we have ambitions to surpass our current achievements. We were able to penetrate eight states last year, but this year, we intend to be present in 18 states in Nigeria and impact the lives of 4,000 rural farmers directly. We also intend to expand beyond the shores of Nigeria to other parts of Africa very soon as we keep growing this community model where Nigerians sponsor Nigerian farmers to grow Nigerian food for Nigerians to eat. We intend taking it to Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and basically, any country where the necessary structure to support small-scale farming is lacking. This becomes an opportunity for us and the addressable market is vast.

27

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ ͼ˜ ͺ͸͹΀

MARKET NEWS

CIS Introduces Specialised Certifications for Market Operators The

Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) has approved the newly introduced Specialised Professional Certifications (SPC), called the Stand-Alone-Programme.

Under the new professional qualification, which would be unfolded to potential beneficiaries on February 17 Lagos, the holder shall be granted a license to practise in specific areas of the capital market as a core duty.

The SPC, which is in line with global trends, shall

cover the following core areas: commodity trading and derivatives, equities dealing, share registration and custodianship services, investment management and financial advisory.

By the new certifications, which commence in March this year, the examination shall run concurrently with the institute’s current professional examinations which hold in March and September annually.

According to the Registrar/ Chief Executive of CIS, Mr. Adedeji Ajadi, the requirements

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

for the SPC are the same as the professional examinations.

Ajadi explained that a holder of the specialised certificates shall be addressed as stockbroker who is a specialist in one particular area of the securities and investment industry.

They are licensed to practise only in that specific area.

Although an individual can acquire as many different SPC licences as possible.

Four specialised certificates will qualify the holder to become an Associate member of the institute,” Ajadi said.

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 1-Feb-2018, unless otherwise stated.

According to CIS, after induction, its SPC graduates shall be called specialists in their chosen area and they will be inducted and licenced under the same conditions as the omnibus professional examination graduate.

“After induction, the SPC graduate shall be addressed as Certified Commodity and Derivatives specialists, Certified Equity Specialists and Certified Fixed Income Specialist among others,” the statement said.

The President of CIS,

Mr. Oluwaseyi Abe had consistently explained the need for prospective stockbrokers to take advantage of the newly approved windows of opportunities in line with the global standard .

Abe had last year said that at 25, CIS had come a long way through the crests and troughs and we have many more mileages to gain.

“We have come to stay as one of the foremost professional institutes, and we are not relenting in our

efforts to propagate the ideals of the capital market.

At CIS, we strongly believe that the Nigerian economy is sophisticated enough to have a more vibrant capital market that can contribute more meaningfully to the growth and development of the economy and it is our honourable service to continue to contribute our quota with zeal and determination for a more glorious future for the capital market in particular and the economy in general,” he said.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 1 270 1680 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 0.71 -4.94% ACAP Income Funds 0.62 0.62 3.30% 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 20.62 21.25 12.88% ARM Discovery Fund 428.39 441.30 10.11% ARM Ethical Fund 28.85 29.72 5.61% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 15.97% 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 N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 N/A 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 N/A Paramount Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Women's Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 N/A 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 1.06 1.09 7.21% 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 1,173.15 1,174.32 2.20% FBN Heritage Fund 151.77 153.23 8.91% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 16.40% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $114.48 $114.99 1.37% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $114.39 $114.91 1.40% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 195.04 197.92 14.20% FIRST CITY ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcamltd.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Equity Fund 1.44 1.47 10.14% Legacy Debt Fund 2.92 2.92 1.29% 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 N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 N/A 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 N/A Vantage Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 N/A Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) N/A N/A N/A 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 1.78% 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 17.54 17.71 24.50% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 16.35% 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 N/A N/A N/A PACAM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 N/A 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 2,374.73 2,393.59 5.85% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 180.15 180.15 2.10% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.10 1.12 9.90% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 224.74 224.86 2.07% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 189.63 191.82 5.90% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 15.07% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,581.75 10,725.91 9.43% 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

12.89 168.61 126.64

12.99 172.32 129.04

6.33% 18.09% 15.93%

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

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva 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

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

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.

28

T H I S D AY ˾ ͲË&#x153; ͰͮͯͶ

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

04.02.2018

ZURIEL ODUWOLE

A GIRL CHILD ADVOCATE & FILM-MAKER

54

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R ˾ Ͳ, ͰͮͯͶ

COVER

Zuriel with President Buhari

ZURIEL ODUWOLE

A GIRL CHILD ADVOCATE & FILM-MAKER On the sideline of her recent visit to Nigeria at the start of a three-country African empowerment film making programme, Nseobong Okon-Ekong encounters Zuriel Oduwole, the teenager who has acquired global fame for her advocacy for education of the girl child

I

t was a typical classroom. But this one was filled with women; from teenage into their late twenties and early thirties. The place is the Lagos State Vocational Institute at Surulere. There was some unusual activity in the class today. Journalists were around. And a filming crew was setting up cameras and lights; ready to record some scenes. At this moment, the director hushed the growing chit-chat which was growing into a gentle rumble. Silence fell on the class and all attention was on him. He wanted the students to know that a few of them would be called up to say what they expected from the training session.

He emphasised the need to sound confident and audible. That done, he called a few of the ladies to try out what they just heard. Some got it right at first try. A few of them had to be told to speak louder.

The principal of the school stepped in to explain how lucky the school and the students were for this privilege. She encouraged them to learn as much as they could and to ask questions.

These students were honing their skills in photography. Being familiar with the camera (to take still pictures), the reckoning was that it would not take much to impart basic knowledge of film making to these ones. The Sahara Group which has in recent years intervened in the Nigerian film making space was making another strategic involvement by teaming up with Zuriel Oduwole, the famed young film maker and girl child advocate to empower 90 girls in the art of film making in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

Zuriel who had been pacing around the corridor and sometimes, chatting with her production team of officials of Sahara received a signal to approach the class. Dressed in an orange colour T-shirt and trainers, her younger sister who also doubles as a Personal Assistant was similarly dressed and stood beside her. On their shirt was emblazoned ‘DUSUSU’, acronym for ‘Dream Up, Stand Up, Speak Up’. Having greeted the students, she introduced herself and requested each person to say her name and what

they expected to learn from the session.

At 15 years, the only person in the room who was younger was her sister. She was not new to speaking to a group of older and sometimes more influential persons. This is what she has been doing since the age of nine when a routine class assignment opened her eyes to the challenges and possibilities that have since become her reality. Her first venture into media and advocacy was in 2012 when she entered a school competition with a documentary film about Africa titled The Ghana Revolution. For this she conducted her first presidential interviews, when she met with two former presidents of Ghana: Jerry Rawlings and John Kufuor.

The previous weekend, Sahara Group had facilitated another session between Zuriel and budding young female film makers at the Lekki Conservation Centre.

It was a remarkable Saturday for the young participants who showed eagerness to become film makers. They went through series of interviews. After the seminars, the participants had the privilege to explore the conservation centre from the raised walkways which enable them to view animals like live monkeys, crocodiles, snakes and various birds. It was a very inspiring experience for the girls.

The Sahara Group intervention is acting on the premise that 15 million girls of primary school age - half of them in sub-Saharan Africa - will never enter a classroom. It’s film making empowerment platform seeks to give wings to the aspirations of the African girl child.

Tagged “Empowering the African Girl Child”, the project is being implemented under Sahara’s Grooming Film Extrapreneurs initiative which seeks to promote economic empowerment through the arts.

Sahara Foundation in

55

FEBRUARY 4, 2018 ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

COVER

Zuriel with her parents, Ademola and Patricia Oduwole in Nigeria last year

Zuriel and her two sisters, Azaliah and Arielle, some years ago

collaboration with Zuriel Oduwole, young film maker and advocate for girl child education and gender equality conceived the film making session for 90 African girls in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire to give the beneficiaries a head start towards pursuing a career in the creative arts.

According to Bethel Obioma, Head, Corporate Communications, Sahara Group, the project is expected to drive the advocacy message for girls’ rights, highlight key issues affecting girls across the three African countries and equip 90 girls with the foundational skills required to become film makers. “We plan to identify and empower girls who have shown a talent for film making and/or production.

Our hope is that the initiative would inspire and replicate Zuriel’s success amongst other girls her age in Africa. Above all, Sahara Group is particularly passionate about the fact that the project would give traction to ongoing conversations and interventions geared towards the pursuit of Gender Equality and Quality Education, being Goals 4 and 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.

Speaking on her partnership with Sahara, Oduwole said she was hopeful that the success of the project would encourage more corporations around the world to create partnerships with small groups to empower more girls across the globe.

“I like the fact that Sahara Group sees some value in what I am doing with girls’ education across the world, and just like the African proverb, if you want to go fast, go alone, and if you want to go far, go together. I think I have gone very fast in the last five years, since I started my project at age 10. Sahara has shown they are serious about Girls Education, so it’s easy for me to create a partnership, so we can do more together, for Girls Education in Africa, and also around the world,” said the teen-age film maker who at the age of 12 had her selfproduced movie screened in a commercial cinema.

Oluseyi Ojurongbe, Manager, Sahara Foundation, said, “The physical workshop training will be accompanied by several on-line and classroom based mentorship/follow-up sessions for six months to track and sustain the progress of the beneficiaries. At Sahara, we are hopeful that the platform would amplify the cause of empowering the girl child

across the continent through the voices of the beneficiaries and millions of other girls that would be inspired to reach for their dreams. The participants will be expected to execute a joint docu-film project featuring human angle stories of children across Africa - using their countries as case studies. Last August, Zuriel premiered a documentary in Abuja, which focused on the issue of girl’s education. Like many of her works, it was a story trying to convey a positive message.

Her current effort at filming class started in February, 2016 in Monrovia, Liberia. She has since taken it to places like Kenya, Mauritius, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Namibia and Nigeria.

She describes her typical film making class. “I had a class of about 25 youths in Namibia. I was teaching basic filmmaking skills like animation, transition, voice-overs and things like that.

A few months later, one of the students who came to that film class did a documentary. She is looking to create a second one from that as well. I went to congratulate her and gave her some filmmaking equipment she can use in her next documentary. I have seen that the youths I’m teaching are looking for stories to tell and I can see that as well in this country. I started filmmaking at nine. My education project was at 10; so film making came before my education project. But in my recent documentary, I thought that since I’m a filmmaker, I needed to create a documentary that will tell the story of girl’s education.”

Largely due to very busy schedule which entails a lot of travels around the world, Zuriel gets her education at home from teachers and mostly online. She listed some of the challenges she has been confronted with in the course of her work. “There are economic reasons, and there are also cultural reasons. In most places, there are not many resources and the parents can only afford to send one child to school and usually they send the boys ahead of the girls because they don’t think that girls should go to school. That is economic. And then culturally, in places like South Sudan where for generations, girls are known to be married off at young ages because people don’t see the need to send them to schools and figure out what they are going to do when they are older. These are two main things I have seen about girl’s education. I try to address those issues wherever I go. For the economic reasons, I talk to parents and tell them

Zuriel directing on set in Los Angeles

ways they can send girls to schools that they can afford. There are scholarships. There are sponsorships from major companies, and they can also get support from government as well.

For the cultural, it is hard to change because of the kind of societies in those countries. I try to talk to the world leaders particularly South Sudan about finding ways to share the success stories of girls who are doing well because they got educated, hoping that it will change the culture of those societies.”

For Zuriel, the decision to train girls on film making was tactical. She does not believe that education is only about what can be learnt in schools. “It’s not about Mathematics or Science or History. Education can be skills that you have outside the classroom and things you can use to be of benefit to the society. I chose to do filmmaking because I’m able to tell my own story and tell other people’s stories. At the end of the training, I’m hoping that the girls would have learnt some skills that they can use. I have seen one saying they want to use their stories to tell the stories of other people too. I’m hoping there will be some positive result at the end of this class.”

Since the age of nine, Zuriel has five documentaries to her credit. The most recent one was premiered in Abuja. Previous documentaries were shot in five countries, Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mauritius and some parts the US. In one of the documentaries, which was shot during the World Cup in Brazil, that focuses on aspects of girl education, she had people sign footballs to these two different countries and I got people to sign them because they support girls education. Among the supporters of her cause were governors, football players, football fans and even people on the street. That is what the documentary is all about.

Born of a Nigerian father and Mauritanian mother in the Uinted States of America in 2002, Zuriel Elise Oduwole is famously known as an American girl education advocate and film maker. She has achieved fame for her works on advocacy for the education of girls in Africa.

Her advocacy has since made her the youngest person to be profiled by Forbes. Her mission which is on empowering the African girl child seeks to promote economic empowerment through the arts. Her project is expected to drive the advocacy message for girls across the African continent.

56

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˞ Ͳ, Ͱ͎ͯ͜

with Ě&#x201C;

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

Why Kunle Ajayi Pledged to Blow Saxophone for God Nseobong Okon-Ekong reports how Music Director of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Kunle Ajayiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enduring career was based on a miraculous recovery from a childhood health challenge

W

hen a guy leads a choir that has a membership of 30000 and carries the designation of the Music Director of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) worldwide, there is no doubt that an event in which he takes centre stage is certainly to attract an incredible quality crowd. That is exactly what happened when Pastor Kunle Ajayi celebrated his 30th anniversary in music at the Eko Convention of the Eko Hotesla dn Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The event which was themed â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;In His Presenceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was attended by all the glitz and glamour befitting the persona of Ajayi and some of his valued guests which included Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State and his wife, Bolanle, former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke and his wife, Onari, former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, the Vice President was represented by Pastor Oluseyi Malomo, Chaplain of the Aso Rock Chapel, the wife of the General of the RCCG, Pastor Folu Adeboye, Apostle Alexander Bamgbola, the Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Senator Remi Tinubu, Mr. Tunde Fowler, Chairman of the Federal Internal Revenue Service and Pastor Idowu Iluyomade.

From the beautifully decorated walkway, corporate participation and sponsorship of the event was highlighted by Nobel Carpets which ensured that guests strolled into the venue a specially branded rug embossed with the logo of the celebration, PKA@30. The VIP guests were quartered on clearly marked tables, while all other guests were directed to the upper terrace of the hall, which was crammed and overflowing.

But for the huge screen on the right side of the stage, this category of guests would not have enjoyed the show at all.

Kunle Ajayi may have been celebrating his 30th anniversary in music, but more than that it was a time to make merry for his life. As a child, he was diagnosed with a lung disease that brought about complication in breathing. He suffered many things in the hands of many doctors and was left for death. Ajayi told his audience that he did not believe that he would live up 20 years. He is close to 50 years today. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If I die now, I feel fulfilled.

There is no achievement that can be accounted to a man that I have not made.â&#x20AC;?

At 14 years, he took a decision that changed his life forever. He lived at Idi-Oro near to Fela Anikulapo-Kutiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence at Moshalasi. From a distance, he observed Felaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skill on the horns, particularly the

BINI EPIC MOVIE, ESOHE IN THE CINEMAS Bini Epic movie, Esohe recently hit the cinemas in a clourful ceremony, the movie was recently premiered amidst pomp and glee at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos. The event had its guests clad in a touch of African attire and was attended by top brass in Nollywood industry.

Among the top movie stars and practitioners at the event were: Eucharia Aunobi, Chioma Akpota, John Njamah, Bryan Opara, Benjamin Toutui, Judith Audu and Husband, Etinosa Idemudia, Shawn Faqua, Charles Uwagbai,

Pastor Kunle Ajayi with his sons on stage

saxophone and he decided to play on the instrument. But the challenge was the illness that he was bugged down with.

It was a critical point in his life. Caught between the rock and a hard place, he made a covenant with God that should he be relieved of his trauma, he would dedicate his life to His service and blow the saxophone to His glory. It took four years to learn the ropes. When he made that decidsion his father encouraged him by gifting him a saxophone. That very first musical instrument was on display at Eko Hotel that night and he jokingly said nobody should steal it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I met my Daddy (Pastor Adeboye) and he prayed for me. I began to do things I could not do before. I started practicing in 1984, but the evidence of the work I put in started showing in 1988. That was when I made my first album, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;How Great Thou Artâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

Donald Duke surprised many who did not know that he is an accomplished musician by joining Ajayi on stage with his own saxophone to deliver that song.

This became the established pattern as he was accompanied by Chief Commander,

Ebenezer Obey, when he did his song, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Eda to ba Mo Nu Roâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. At some point, Tosin Bee

Oghenekaro Itene, Helen Enado and Monica Swaida. Also spotted at the premiere were: Sunny Irabor, Shirley Igwe, Bose Aloa, Sambasa Nzeribe, Wofai Fada, Bucci , Agatha Moreno, Oakfil, Collins Talker, Don Omope, Omoye Uzamere, Chris Okagbwe, Helen Enado, Peks Ikeji, Melvin Oduah, Ifan Michaels and Tosin Odunfa, amongst others. Esohe, a collaboration between Nollywood and Hollywood, is a cocktail of love, murder and mystery connecting two centuries. It tells an engrossing epic story of undying love, unflinching loyalty and

deviously woven intrigues that is served in a cocktail of the rich Bini tradition. Set in ancient Benin Kingdom, the movie stars Jimmy Jean Louis, Misty Lockheart, Desmond Elliot, Chris Attoh, Bimbo Manuel, Ufuoma McDermott, Toyin Aimakhuo, Jemaima Osundeand Monica Omorodion Swaida. The movie is a fictional story by Charles Uwagbai and Efetobore Ayeteni, written by Bimbo Manuel, the movie is produced by Charles Uwagbai, Monica Swaida and Robert Peters. The movie also featured fast rising Nollywood actors like Eunice Omorogie, Omoye Uzamere, Oghenekaro Itene and Osagie Elegbe. It would be recalled that Esohe took African Folklore to the Global Stage when it premiered in various cities in the United States last year. The movie drew a capacity crowd in Houston Texas and had to be screened twice to accommodate the mammoth crowd who came out to have a feel of African culture. Some of the cast were dressed in Bini regalia for the meet and greet session, arousing nostalgia among the audience of African

Kunle Ajayi with Wole One (r)

DISTRACTION AND LOVE, HATE & KETCHUP WIN BIG AT IN-SHORT FESTIVAL

R-L: Uwagbai Charles, Oghenekaro Itene and another actor

took over the vocals. Michael Alagbada joined to sing, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;He is a Mighty Manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. He enjoyed the companionship of Krstabel to perform the song, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Honsanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. From Nathaniel Bassey to Wole Oni. Sammie Okposo and many more, the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;In His Presenceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Concert was a huge testimony to the number of persons that Ajayi has collaborated with during an illustrious career.

For Ajayi, it was instructive to tell one instance that has created a special bond between him and the GO of the RCCG. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had played the song, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Heavens Came Downâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; before Daddy came to minister.

When he came on the podium, he requested the congregation to clap for the choir, while observing that Heaven really came down when we played that song. From that day, he instructed that we must play that song before he ministers. Indeed many of the songs credited to Kunle Ajayi are popular choruses but he put sufficient ingenuity in the instrumentation to enable lay claim to ownership of the song. Ajayi also showed that he was a multi-instrumentalist when he demonstrated his dexterity on the guitar.

Governor Ambode who spoke at the event described it as a different kind of concert. Pastor Folu Adeboye portrayed Ajayi as one of his children and said it was the set time for his celebration. Encouraging everyone to support Ajayiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream to build an ambitious music academy, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade donated N5 million for his wife and himself. A highpoint at the event was when his two sons came on stage with their saxophone to join their father.

At the closing ceremony and award night of the short film festival, In-Short, Ernest David Ernestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Distraction and Mike-Steve Adeleyeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Love, Hate & Ketchup carted away the biggest awards of the night.

Whereas Distraction got nine nominations out of which it clinched three awards, Love, Hate & Ketchup bagged two awards from

four nominations. Distraction was rewarded for its achievement in Production Design and Cinematography. The film also got the biggest award of the night - the Overall Best Film whilst Love, Hate & Ketchup received the laurels for Best Screenplay and Best Directing.

Distraction tells the story of a young man who tries to fight seduction, which contends with the business he needs to pursue. Does he have the willpower to resist the temptation from two determined women? On the other hand, Love, Hate & Ketchup is the story of a struggling man whose problems are exacerbated by his nagging wife.

AYANBINRIN THE FEMALE TALKING DRUMMER RELEASES NEW EPIC SINGLES Ayanbinrin the Mother Drum of Africa has just released two new single titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;MAMA AFRIKAâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE SOJOURN â&#x20AC;&#x153;under her independent record label, Mother Drum Entertainment. Recorded and produced by acclaimed sound engineer, Ekundayo Afolabi of Colorful Productions in the United State of America. â&#x20AC;&#x153;MAMA AFRIKAâ&#x20AC;? is a song that fuses the elements of Highlife and Afrobeat to create a modern sound that resonates pop and contemporary music. The song depicting the pride of womanhood also showcases the singerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s distinctive prowess as a talking drum and the video is in the making. â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE SOJOURNâ&#x20AC;? is a Reggae music genre that dwells on our experiences as we journey through life.

FEBRUARY 4, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

57

ENTERTAINMENT

Time-Out with Royal Hibiscus Hotel Cast and Crew Vanessa Obioha With just few days to the premiere of the new EbonyLife Film production, Royal Hibiscus Hotel, the anticipation is steadily rising. Both for the fans and the crew. For the fans, it is a question of if the movie will be as captivating as the some of reviews assert. Positive reviews from international publications trailed the movie after its successful screening at the Toronto International Festival last year.

The Royal Hibiscus Hotel is a romantic comedy about a couple, Segun and Rose Adeniyi (Jide Kosoko and Rachel Oniga), who run a charming, but run-down, boutique hotel in a little town in Lagos, Nigeria. In desperation, Segun decides to sell the hotel without his wife’s knowledge, as a way of settling all their debts. Their daughter, Opeoluwa (Zainab Balogun), is living in London, working a dead-end job while trying to open her own restaurant. When Ope decides to return to Nigeria, her parents are elated for different reasons. Her father wants her to sign the papers to sell the hotel she is destined to inherit, while her mother can’t wait to marry her off. Meanwhile, Ope meets Deji (Kenneth Okolie), a charming young businessman with a secret that threatens her plans to restore the hotel’s fortunes.

Scheduled to hit the cinemas on February 9, five days to popular love celebration day Valentine Day, the cast and crew are postive that the movie will enthrall its audience with its riveting themes on love, family and of course fine Nigerian cuisine. At a recent chat, some members of the cast spoke about their roles in the movie:

Zainab Balogun (Ope):

Balogun takes on the challenging role of a chef. For her role, she spent countless hours researching on restaurateurs as well as in the kitchen. That training has enhanced her cooking skills. “I’ve learnt so many meals and techniques so when people come to my house now, it’s a different game.” She admitted that there were few moments she was nervous on aet despite being trained by a food stylist.

If there is anything Balogun would love to change about her character, it will be probably to make her less uptight.

Like any other movie, Balogun is very excited and nervous. Yes, they got a standing ovation at TIFF but coming back home, she hopes the reception will be replicated.

“I think the movie is great for our Nigerian audience. It has the right values that people could draw from. The food, love, passion; there is something for everyone to identify with.”

How will he speak to people? Will he be condescending, aggressive, proud and arrogant guy?”

Having figured this out, Okanlawon had to divest himself of his empathy toga and put on the impassive apparel of Martin.

Regarding the theme of love, Okanlawon believes Royal Hibiscus Hotel will give the audience a fresh perspective on love.

“We come from a culture that doesn’t really celebrate love. Our brand of love can be a bit materialistic, substance-based. For the first time l’m seeing a movie that finds true love in our culture, like how it really works. You know how you marry someone and you marry their family as well. This story shows that our love encompasses everybody around. It’s a story for the family, for evverybody because it’s not trying to be commercial but rather be true.”

Lala Akindoju (Chika):

L-R: Deyemi Okanlawon, Lala Akindoju, Ishaya Bako, Mo Abudu, Rahcel Oniga, Kenneth Okolie

Kenneth Okolie (Deji):

There is no doubt that Kenneth Okolie fits into his character effortlessly. With his intimidating height, looks and voice, he was the ideal guy to play the handsome devil. And he knows it. “When I first got the script I was excited. I read it over and over again and the character was just lovable. He was similar to my personality. He is a very straight guy, purpose driven and all that. It was easy for me to carry that character to the screen and make it believable.”

Okolie who played the role of Deji the businessman who wants to buy the Adeniyi’s property as well as Ope’s love interest finds himself at crossroads when he has to choose between love and his business.

“It was a difficult decision because he has to choose between her and his business. That’s like choosing between life and death. Initially, he was in for the business but along the line, love overpowered him.”

Okolie believes that the movie will have an impressive time at the box-office.

Jide Kosoko (Segun Adeniyi):

The first thing the veteran actor did when he saw the script was to study the characterisation.

He describes his character as a family man but yet have to keep secrets from his family in order to survive. “It was a safe landing when the truth finally came out.”

BODEGA MUSIC VIDEO FEATURES MAXI PRIEST, YEMI ALADE With the video directed by Wole Ogundare, Produced by Iblaze Productionz & Bodega World Productions, Maxi Priest has released the video to his afro beat song, “This Woman”, produced by Young D “The Beat Boss”.

This is the first official track and a preview to Maxi Priest’s Afro Beat Album Project, scheduled to drop anytime soon which will feature different Top Rated African Artists on each song.

The Legendary International Music Artist, Maxi Priest, British native of Jamaican descent, who dropped so many greatest hit songs like ‘Close to you’, a No.1 hit on the billboard chart in the 90’s and so many other hit songs like,Wild World, House Call with Shaba Ranks, Set The Night To Music with Roberta Flack and the list

But what he loves most about his character was the diffferent transitions. From problems to love, it was an interesting journey for him.

The most outstanding thing about Kosoko’s character was the romance he and his co-star Rachel Oniga brought to the screen. They portrayed a happy old couple whose love flame still burned brightly.

“We tried our best to reflect what was on the script. The romance was very key to our characters, particularly mine because by playing with her, it helped to reduce the financial pressure on me. It was like a refreshing tonic to keep the problems at bay.”

Another thing Kosoko believes the audience will take away from the movie is that age is no barrier to love.

“No matter the age, you do things that will make you happy and of course it also strenghtens your life. Gives you good strength to enjoy your life. I doubt if there is any age you cannot play romance with your spouse for as long as they are both hale and hearty.”

Deyemi Okanlawon (Martin):

He is the bad guy in the movie and he loves it. His no-sentiments demeanour made his character very entertaining. On getting the script Okanlawon had to figure out how he was going to bring that character to life.

“Playing him I had to figure out what kind of person will he be. How will he treat people? goes on, is ready to take Africa by storm with these New Afro-beat Caribbean vibes.

The Afrobeat project will be released, distributed and published under Bodega world music LLC.

ADEWALE AYUBA & REMINISCE SHUT DOWN ORIJINAL NIGHTS Nothing prepared the crowd that gathered at the Ikeja City Mall last weekend for the spectacular show they were about to experience.

It was the maiden edition of Orijinal Nights, an entertainment scenery that fuses proverbs, drama and musical entertainment.

The Authority in Herbs brought the best of Nigerian culture with an infusion of music and theatre like never seen before.

As every drop of Orijin is expertly crafted from root to bottle, so was the entertainment on the night. Terry Apala opened the show with a performance the crowd couldn’t get enough. His performance was just the beginning of a night that

Ayanbirin Ayanbinrin the “afinju onilu, af’aran s’osan” is set to take the talking drum to an unprecedented height in Africa and various countries all over the world. She is currently in the studio recording more tracks for her followup album set to be released by the second quarter of 2018 after the long release of her debut album titled “UNVEIL” in 2009.

The songs are available worldwide for download on iTunes store, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, YouTube, google play, Apple music and many more online stores.

“It has always been my dream to use the arts to celebrate and promote the cultural heritage of the black and African people as well as to foster unity across the globe”, said Ayanbinrin the “Mama Afrika crooner”.

Maxi Priest

Adewale Ayuba performing on stage

When Lala first got the script, she thought the character was not meant for her. Chika was fat while she is slim. Nevertheless, she went for the audition and with the help of make-up, achieved the physical appearance of her character. The casting panel liked her performance and asked her to join the bandwagon.

“With that out of the way, the next thing is for me to bring that character to life for the rest of the production. For me, my brief is to make my character memorable, no matter how short the duration. I have to give the performance of my life and with a director like Ishaya Bako, it was easy to work it out.”

Like her co-stars, she is optimistic that the movie will be a great hit.

“It’s a romantic comedy. That’s all to it. Yes there may be one or two drama but it’s just what it is, a romantic comedy.”

Pris Nwannah (Producer):

Pris Nwannah has worked in quite a few of EbonyLife productions. Being part of the Royal Hibiscus Hotel was another experience for her.

“Royal Hibiscus Hotel is a love story infused with these comedy moments.

It’s funny and about romance. It’s a story about families, love and heritage. We really wanted to focus on things that are memorable in life and it is also about food. We wanted to showcase our Nigerian cuisine to the global market. Not that it was intentional. It just came up and we thought it was a good way to infuse the art of food in the film.”

She is very positive that the film will encourage other film makers to be more innovative and explore more niches. would take live performances to a different level.

The show was just getting started when PAWS – the creative drama troupe behind ‘Saro the Musical’ and ‘Shift Lemme Faint’ – took the stage for an unforgettable performance depicting Orijin’s status as the ‘Authority in Herbs’. Orijin Brand Ambassador, Alaga Ibile Reminisce, was up next as he performed his hit singles, ‘Tesojue’, ‘Ponmile’ and more.

Adewale Ayuba took the stage with an energetic display highlighting the evolution of his music as the much younger audience kept up with the shaku shaku dance by popular demand. He delivered a crowd favorite from the 90’s ‘Ijofuji’ before performing his more recent singles.

With the critical acclaim of Orijinal Nights, Orijin is blending the best of old and new, the best of culture, tradition and the contemporary to create something truly new, fresh and Orijinal.

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CELEBRATING KOLADE OSHINOWO AT 70 Oshinowo

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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ARTS & REVIEW\\TRIBUTE

CELEBRATINGKOLADEOSHINOW

As one of Nigeria’s leading artists, Kolade Oshinowo joins the septuagenarians on February 6, he r experiences that had made his difficult journey into art unforgettable. Yinka Olatunbosun repo

H

ad Kolade Oshinowo obeyed his father years back, the visual arts community wouldn’t be celebrating him by now. To his father, the conservative type, only three professions existed. Medicine, engineering and, perhaps, law. Anything outside of these three courses was not to be taken seriously.

Hence, the elder Oshinowo thought his son insane for choosing to study art – of all things! “But this is what I wanted to do,” he said. “He moved me from one school to another. But he made a big mistake. There was a big art studio in the new school. It was a fantastic art school and I didn’t even expect it. My art flourished.’’

In the new school, the art teacher was very close to young Oshinowo in whom he saw an unusual talent. Thus, he would ask the latter to teach his classmates whenever he was busy.“I was nicknamed his son. He is one of the people I owe my art skill to. He would make sure I enrolled in several art competitions, even international competitions.”

Years flitted by. Oshinowo, as a bank clerk, was in the habit of sketching customers. “I didn’t know that the manager was watching me. One day, he saw all my drawings in my drawer.

Everyone knew I was in trouble.’’

He was summoned to the manager’s office immediately. The question that came from the manager was quite unexpected. “‘What will you like to become?’ he had asked me. I was tongue-tied. In response I said I was preparing for AIB. But he wasn’t impressed. So, I said ICAN. Then, he leaned forward and said, ‘I will ask you one more time. What will you like to become?’ I confessed and said, art. That manager’s name was Mr Banjoko. He allowed me to sit on his shoulder to see ahead.”

But, choosing home back home meant trouble. One thing led to another and soon his father sent him out of the house. This was the time he was seeking admission into Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and was only about 18 years old. Others, who sought admission into the university, came with huge canvasses and he only had some drawings in his portfolio.

“But when I came for the interview, they asked me, ‘Who will pay for your school fees?’ I knew by that question that I had gained admission.’’

After his father sent him out of his house, his sister not only kept encouraging him, but also gave him the courage and support.

Hence, for the former Society of Nigerian Artists president, it is hard to separate his life and the art. His works celebrate women not as victims but as strong, confident and beautiful. Perhaps, his life experience has a bearing on this world-view of women. Even at 70, there’s no stopping Oshinowo.

From February 6 till April 6, the Lagos art community will be abuzz with activities marking the 70th birthday of this Nigeria’s prolific painter and a very influential art educator. He has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in over 60 group exhibitions. Little wonder his renown in the art circles earned him a place in the syllabi and textbooks of many Nigerian schools.

Movement of the Fish Hawkers Oil 74X142 2014

Olori Charcoal, Tea and Coffee Stained Paper N.80m That feeling of déjà vu would assail anyone meeting him for the first time. Yet, this is a man that doesn’t grant interviews that easily. Before a gathering at the Yusuf Grillo Art Gallery of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Oshinowo reeled out plans for his landmark birthday celebration.

This was his home for decades as an art

lecturer beginning in 1973. He was only 25 years old when the legendary Yusuf Grillo invited him to join the Yaba College of Technology Art school. Before then, Oshinowo taught at King’s College, Lagos. It was an easy move for Oshinowo because most students of art usually dropped the subject before writing the Higher

School Certificate Examination and that was heartbreaking for the young teacher who was so passionate about art.

“An artist doesn’t retire,” he said.

“Once you are still walking, you should paint. I have the whole day to myself.

It’s just that some people want to make sure that you don’t have time for yourself by putting you in one committee or another. There are so many ideas disturbing my brain. Sometimes, when I go to functions, I’d be lost in thought.

It’s worse when I am reluctant to attend an Owambe [party].”

“Some artists just have something to say through the art and they have to do it before the sun sets on them,’’ he added.

Looking back at the basic skill of drawing that is fundamental to the work of a visual artist, Oshinowo thinks that drawing has been relegated. As a lecturer, he recalled that drawing was one of the tests that a prospective student of art had to pass before admission. But before his retirement, the narrative was changing. “I was observing some funny, unacceptable traits in students. They would snap what a lecturer sketches and go to the room and download. That object-to-eye contact experience has been lost. Students should understudy the likes of Yusuf Grillo, Olu Ajayi, Segun Adejumo who are trying to encourage drawing as a skill. I think I will give prize for drawing.”

He recalled a moment in his career as a lecturer at the Yaba College of Technology when he was going to resign his appointment because the Rector had a plan to change the mode of operation for admitting art students. Their test was to be computerised. Oshinowo thought that would kill the true nature of an artist’s creativity.

Meanwhile, Oshinowo emphasised the need for an artist to keep a good catalogue of his works, adding that the catalogue is as important as the works they document. On the average, Oshinowo exhibits no fewer than 50 works in his solo exhibitions and he never carries over works into another exhibition.

Before his father died, he acknowledged his son’s talent, albeit unwittingly, being an eyewitness to the accolades

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Our Saviour Acrylic-Oil 120X69 2017 and honours that the art community had conferred on him. “This work of yours, I think there is something in it,” the old man had told his son before he breathed his last.

“Before he died, he regretted what he had done to me,’’ Oshinowo said.

Yet, not even his passion for the visual arts stopped him from allowing his children to choose their own career paths. For instance, his daughter Tosin Oshinowo, an architect, is the brain behind the architectural design of the Maryland Shopping Mall and one of the architects on the planned Fourth Mainland Bridge, Lagos.

In celebrating Oshinowo at 70, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, Dr. Kunle Adeyemi had revealed that the two-month long event will kickstart with a three-day training workshop at the Women and Youth Art Foundation organised by Prof. Peju Layiwola. In addition, a special drawing session organized by Olu Ajayi who is the founder of the Living Legend series will be held in honour of Oshinowo.

Titled, Living Legend: A Tribute to Kolade Oshinowo, the show will attract artists and art enthusiasts as the live painting of the legend would be executed by select artists. There will be a series of paper presentations and talk sessions on Oshinowo and an exhibition titled, Oshinowo: Life Before an Artist at the Yusuf Grillo Art Gallery, Yaba.

Members of the planning committee for Oshinowo at 70 include President, Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA), Oliver Enwonwu; Chairman, SNA Lagos, Dotun Alabi; Dr. Ademola Azeez and Bunmi Davies.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OKEKE OMOKPEDA SYDNEY. now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OKEKE SOLOMON OMOKPEDA SYDNEY. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public should please take note.

The Inverted Pyramid; Adapted from a novel by Emeka Dike

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CICERO

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

IN THE ARENA

Is Election Re-ordering a Big Deal?

Perhaps, the import of the recent amendment to the Electoral Act by the House of Representatives is over-exaggerated, writes Olawale Olaleye

L

ast week, the House of Representatives, to the shock of many stirred the hornet’s nest when it changed the order of the 2019 general election time table. The change, however, came many months after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the timetable for the elections.

What the amendment presupposes is that the National Assembly elections would now hold first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly polls, whilst the presidential election would be conducted last. The amendment was made at the committee of the whole, presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Yussuff Lasun. The House thus amended section 25 of the Principal Act and substituted it with a new section 25 (1).

But in the time-table earlier released by INEC, Presidential and National Assembly elections were to hold first, while governorship and state assembly would follow.

Immediately reinforcing this position, the Senate, Thursday announced the composition of its conference committee to reconcile the differences in the amended version of the Electoral Act passed by the House and the one it passed last year. Those in the committee as announced by the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, are Senators Shehu Sani, Biodun Olujimi, Hope Uzodinma, Dino Melaye and Peter Nwaoboshi. It would be chaired by the chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Suleiman Nazif.

Curiously, that was not the only amendment to the Electoral Act by the House, but it seemed to be the one that actually caught the attention of other stakeholders. For example, the House also amended section 36, which allows running mates of any candidate that dies before the conclusion of an election to inherit his votes and continue with the process.

The Green Chamber also effected an increase in the limitation of election expenses to be incurred by candidates for presidential polls from N1 billion to N5 billion. It raised that of the governorship bill from N200 million to N1 billion, while senate and house candidates’ expenses are not to exceed N100 million and N70 million, respectively. The state Assembly and local government chairmanship elections expenses had been raised from N10 million to N30 million, while individual contributions had been jacked up from N1 million to N10 million.

These notwithstanding, the amendments, which saw to a change in the election order, THISDAY reported last week, might have caused some panic in the presidency and the INEC. The presidency was allegedly shocked by the amendments and considered them a deliberate ploy by the lawmakers to influence the polls.

This stemmed from the fact that the bandwagon effect of the first set of elections into the National Assembly could affect other elections hence Speaker Yakubu Dogara was said to have received countless calls from persons in the presidency immediately the amendment was done.

This is believed to be particularly disturbing to the presidency because under the current arrangement, the reverse is the case as the outcome of the presidential election is likely to have a bandwagon effect on the

Saraki and Mahmood Yakubu governorship and state assembly elections.

But with the re-ordering of the primaries, the House has also made sure that the state governors would be compelled to minimise their influence on the conduct of primaries for the state and national legislatures, so that candidates vying for seats in the assemblies could in turn back them (governors) at their own primaries.

Yet, the angst in the INEC is believed to owe largely to the fact that the electoral body already had its plans covered and outlined with its own timetable, and might be forced now with the latest development to rearrange its plans. It is no wonder, therefore, that INEC is said to be considering going to the Supreme Court for determination of its powers to fix dates for general election.

As it is, the legislature is not just toying with the idea but determined to see it through. What it means is that even if the president attempts to override the new amendment, the legislature is believed to be prepared to veto it, thus creating an atmosphere of territory marking and authority assertion.

But, come to think of it, what is the debate about?

Why should the re-ordering of the sequence of elections make anyone uncomfortable? If indeed it is about

popularity and performance record devoid of deliberate manipulation of the processes, why should such a move create so much panic?

Again, flip the argument and ponder this too. Why re-order the sequence of elections if there is no ulterior motive? What really is wrong with the current structure and pattern to have warranted such? Granted the legislature has the powers, constitutionally guaranteed to amend the Electoral Act, why amend that particular section at this time when INEC has tailored its plan towards its own timetable?

Essentially, the argument is neither here nor there.

What is crucial is, of what importance is the initiative?

If it would enhance the beauty of the process and further elevate the credibility of the outcome, fine. But if it is basically a politically motivated idea designed to enhance the electoral chances of certain contestants and distort an already organised process, then, it is not in collective interest.

But then, that the sequence of a national election is re-ordered is not enough to create the kind of panic that is gradually enveloping the polity. Indeed needless!

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

Osun’s Parliamentary Variation

L Aregbesola

ast week’s local government elections in Osun State provided some kind of breather for the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration, coming months after the humiliating defeat it suffered during the senatorial bye-election that produced Senator Ademola Adeleke.

But in his characteristic nature, the governor did not surprise many when against the constitutional structure of the country’s presidential system he announced the introduction of a parliamentary system at the local government, obviously for political convenience. With this idea, he said the

elected councilors would choose from amongst them, chairmen in the respective councils.

He obviously has not learnt from his recent experience where the courts dismissed his celebrated change of the name of the state from ‘Osun State’ to ‘State of Osun’. This is even as much a constitutional matter than the change of name. To wake up some day because the control of the councils is at the whims of the state and order a different system of government other than what the constitution prescribes is an affront to the constitution. But like it turned out with the change of name in the state, this too is certainly going to have its date in court soon.

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BRIEFINGNOTES

Who is Afraid of Saraki?

If truly there was any plot to remove Dr. Bukola Saraki as President of the Senate, then, it may be dead on arrival, writes Damilola Oyedele

T

he never ending plot against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki is rooted in the manner of his emergence as President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly.

Many would recall that Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara had gone against the wishes of their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to throw their hats in the contest for Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively, not minding that Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila were supposedly the ‘anointed’ candidates of a power bloc in the party.

Speaking with newsmen last weekend, he emphasised that the 109 senators had the right to choose their leaders by election, and have done so, in line with relevant laws.

“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.

“From everything he has been doing as chairman of the National Assembly and as President of the Senate, he has provided stability. He has not only brought this to the National Assembly, but the entire country. The true face of democracy is the parliament and since Saraki came in, we have not failed this democracy,” Abdullahi said.

Abdullahi maintained that it was in Nigeria’s interest that the stability currently enjoyed in the National Assembly is allowed to stay, so all hands can be on deck to tackle the challenges being experienced in the country.

The Beginning of the Plot

Saraki’s eventual victory, even though he received congratulatory greetings from President Muhammadu Buhari, has since remained a thorn in the flesh of the executive arm of government, particularly those acting on behalf of the president, not necessarily on his instruction. Not even after he removed one of his biggest supporters, Senator Ali Ndume, as Majority Leader, to hand the position to Lawan as a compensatory give-away has the threat abated. Some members of the executive arm seem to have made it their preoccupation to see to his removal, even if that would be the only thing they would achieve under this government.

In the Final Analysis

First, he was dragged to Court alongside the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on the allegations of forging the Senate Rules to fraudulently aid his emergence, which was eventually withdrawn by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami.

Next were the numerous charges levelled against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal including false assets declaration, which were eventually quashed after a legal battle that dragged for nearly two years.

And the Plot Thickens…

In a debate on January 17, 2018, over a completely different issue (insecurity), Senator Hamman Misau, warned that the plot to remove Senate President Bukola Saraki from office has remained strong over fears that he might defect from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), thus creating problems for the party.

The plot, he said, gained traction during the Christmas recess of the National Assembly and was being spearheaded by a minister. Misau, however, did not mention the name of the minister, whom he accused of trying to lobby some senators to execute the plot.

“When we were on holiday, so many people were going behind (to senators), pleading that we should try and remove the Senate President. It was a minister that was spearheading this thing. What was the reason? They said that the Senate President would leave APC, that it would create problems from him (Saraki). What kind of country is this? Everything is about religion and about tribe,” he said.

Senator Dino Melaye was more direct when on his twitter page he pointedly accused a serving senator from Nasarawa state of being the anchor of the impeachment plot in the Senate. He added that Saraki has at least 98 of the 109 lawmakers, solidly behind him.

“The Nasarawa Senator plotting Saraki’s removal is a joker. No shaking!

He used Saraki’s name to get off EFCC

Saraki before, now his son again has been arraigned by EFCC, he want to play the same card. Agbaya! We dey wait. 98 senators are unwavering on Saraki,” the tweet posted at 4.54pm on January 25, 2018 read.

Sources further told THISDAY that some senators, who are considered vocal critics of the government, have been penciled down targets of attacks.

Saraki the ‘Unremovable’ A senator, who spoke with THISDAY off record, agreed that it would be impossible to remove Saraki as Senate President.

“Yes, he may want to run for presidency but that is his right as much as that of any other Nigerian, as long as he meets the requirements. But he has managed the affairs here very well, that even some of his former enemies here have sheathe their swords, and do not want to rock the boat.

“Believe me, support for Saraki is so strong I would not be surprised that he retains his seat as Senate President in the

next assembly, if he decides not to run for presidency in 2019,” the senator added.

Another senator said even if some of his colleagues are not happy with Saraki, they would not be comfortable with whoever the choice of the presidency is.

“Who would this cabal, with more than one faction, pick to impose on us here?

We cannot be comfortable because that would just put us in the pocket of the executive arm of government. We are not anybody’s boys; we are men, who are accomplished in our endeavors, so, we cannot just sit back and take orders from anyone. Even Saraki knows this, and handles this place with a lot of maturity,” the senator said.

Senate’s Official Response The official response to allegations of the plot came from the Senate spokesman, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, who said any plot to remove the Senate President from his position would fail, as he currently enjoys the confidence of his colleagues and has ensured stability in the eighth senate.

It should be clear by now that Saraki has the numbers to keep him in his seat until the end of the eighth assembly. The first indication to this is the number of senators that followed him to Court for every hearing, either during the trial for forgery allegations, and the one at the CCT. Not only does Saraki have the gravitas to hold down a volatile senate, being first amongst equals, he is a typical 21st century Nigerian, who understands the issues and can intelligently address them without panning to ethnic or tribal sentiments.

It is common knowledge that Saraki has elevated the quality of intervention by the parliament in national discourse as much as enhanced the image of the legislature before the people. He has consistently pushed for the interest of the people at all times and ensured that debates, bills and motions are consistently tailored towards the concerns of the people.

Thus, the idea that he has effective control and influence in the senate isn’t by sheer happenstance but a function of his leadership acumen through conscious inter-face between the other arms of government and the people. His popularity amongst his colleagues has been further underscored by his maturity and capacity to dispassionately deliver leadership at critical moments.

Thus, when put together, it is expected that the presidency would learn to focus on fixing the challenges of the country, which are daily escalating and stop chasing shadows. In fact, it is in collective interest that the presidency seeks an enduring cooperation with the present leadership of the National Assembly, so they can collectively contain some of the elements that tend to undo them as development partners.

It is, therefore, imperative to emphasise that Saraki has been a good ally of the executive in nation-building. Often times, he has protected the executive to the chagrin of his colleagues. There is no debating the fact that the executive has committed too many errors, sometimes in mere memo writing but which Saraki has had to cover up and brush aside as a quintessential party person. He is that one genuine friend the executive is fast losing and except they see him for who he is (a development partner), whatever the outcome of this shadow-chasing is ultimately a loss for the executive.

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Before a Divided Ekiti PDP Goes to the Poll For the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State, this year’s governorship election is not a walkover, writes Victor Ogunje

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t would be wrong to say that the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) isn’t approaching the July 14, 2018 governorship battle on a shaky note.

The party seems embattled and fractionalised taking cognizance of the alleged biased roles being played by the leader of the party and Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

Though Fayose is regarded as the political generalissimo of the state, who had exhibited enormous dexterity to prove that he has electoral value, the governor has also proven to know the game with the way he defeated two former governors: Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Dr. Kayode Fayemi, at two different elections.

But as it is, the governor may gradually be digging his own grave by being carried away with these past laurels by allowing the spate of frictions pummeling the party to fester as the state inches towards the impending governorship tussle.

Fayose shouldn’t be oblivious of one fact; that the 2018 election will be a different ball game, considering the fact that he won’t have access to the federal apparatuses like soldiers, police and others to prosecute the election, even though he had treaded similar path and won resoundingly in 2003 and 2014 but the indices won’t be the same this time around.

This time, he would be confronting those he had wounded politically in the past and the people expected him to perceive the election to be more of a vengeance war than a mere expression of franchise by voters. They expected that he should allow his party to enjoy some peace by refraining from anti-democratic moves, so that he could approach the coming election with enough foot-soldiers that would help to tame the menacing All Progressives Congress (APC) at the poll.

An Existential Culture of Impunity

Fayose...can he pull it through

The first bedlam that rocked the party was the imposition of his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, as the sole candidate of the party barely one year to election. This was done brazenly by a section of the PDP loyal to the governor, not minding how other contending forces would feel.

Probably by assumption, Fayose thought he had become a tin god in Ekiti politics, particularly within the PDP. He believed nobody has the temerity to challenge his action and inactions. He had at various fora boasted that he was a PDP saviour in Ekiti.

“Each time the PDP is in trouble, I have always been used by God to rescue it. It happened in 2003 and 2014”, he once boasted. But pundits opined that the belief has percolated deeply into the governor’s thinking and this accounted for the difficulty for him to realise his mistakes in spite of the noticeable missteps he had made in the Olusola adoption process.

What actually rattled the PDP members was the emphatic pronouncement of the party’s Chairman in the State, Chief Gboyega Oguntuase, that Olusola remained the sole candidate and that whoever antagonised him would incur the wrath of the party.

But such thinking has been proved erroneous by the way other aspirants, like former Minister of Works, Dayo Adeyeye, Senator representing Ekiti South in the Senate, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi, and former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Canada, Amb Dare Bejide, had vehemently rejected the adoption, describing it as the height of impunity and dictatorship, which will be resisted at all costs.

Even Fayose’s protégé and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Owoseeni Ajayi, immediately resigned from the cabinet to join force with anti-Olusola group and had been active since he joined the fray.

The group, led by Adeyeye addressed a joint press conference, where they descended heavily on the governor and urged the Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee to rein in the governor to prevent calamity from befalling the party.

Adeyeye, who addressed the public on behalf of the aggrieved members, said: “No

one can impose on us. PDP is solidly built on the constitution and article 50 Subsection 1 and 2 made it imperative for the party to conduct free, fair and credible primary to pick a candidate that can win election”.

Their Daring Game Despite threatening fire and brimstone against any antagonist against Olusola, Adeyeye on January 24 took a bold step by declaring formally for the coveted seat not minding the governor’s hard stand. Before then, Fayose had taken several steps to browbeat the former minister to submission.

But rather than commence reconciliation moves to douse the raging tension, the governor took some steps that had exacerbated the crisis by instructing the Ministry of Environment to brand the Radio Station (Voice FMM 89.9) established by Adeyeye in Ado Ekiti as unfit to operate.

The government said the media outfit didn’t get the requisite Environmental Assessment Permit to erect its mast before commencing transmission last year October. The matter has been taken to court for possible enforcement of the closure of the station, which Fayose perceived as a propaganda tool of Adeyeye’s political organsation.

However sending a signal that he was strongly on the ground, Adeyeye started a rally at the NNPC along Iworoko road in Ado Ekiti and marched via the Government House to his campaign headquarters along Ado-Ikere Akure road. The rally caused serious traffic snarl in the capital city for several hours, which created panic within the government circle about the ex-minister’s popularity.

To prevent possible clash, police deployed Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and stern looking operatives to curtail any miscreant who could hide under the crisis the ex-minister was having with Fayose to ignite trouble.

Addressing the crowd, Adeyeye boasted that he was prepared to lead a political movement in the Ekiti chapter of the PDP against the imposition agenda of Governor Fayose ahead of the July 14 governorship poll. He vowed that attempt by the governor to impose what he

called his ‘surrogate’ as the preferred candidate was antithetical to democratic tenets and that such should not be allowed to stand.

The PDP chieftain said he was prepared to resist Fayose’s alleged efforts to browbeat and muzzle all the contending forces vying for the plum job to pave the way for Olusola.

Scores to Settle Clearly, Fayose has a lot of scores to settle in the coming poll. The scores are multi-faceted and the PDP needed to be fortified enough by putting its house in order. Those the governor has been fighting are known to be strong political war horses in the history of the state.

Looking at it critically, the quartet of Adeyeye, Bejide, Olujimi and Owoseeni played pivotal roles to bring Fayose from political obscurity in 2014. The governor shouldn’t forget that these politicians were on the ground spending money to oil the party’s machine when he was in the political wilderness for about six years after he was removed from office on October 16, 2006.

The first score Fayose will settle to scale the hurdle of defeat would be the self-inflicted internal crisis he has unleashed on himself via the brazen imposition of Olusola. The aggrieved aspirants are highly resourceful and had promised to fight on even till the day of the election if proper things are not done.

There is every possibility that these aggrieved contestants may stay within and work assiduously to kill the continuity agenda of the governor except something is done swiftly to stem the ripples that are generating waves in PDP. Secondly, Fayemi is interested in the governorship even though he has not said a word on that and he is heavily backed by Otunba Adebayo, his leader. The two men are coming to prove to Fayose that he won the previous elections through fraudulent means and that time to receive his own dose is now. The two have not forgotten the electoral ignominy inflicted on them by Fayose, having defeated them even as incumbent governors, which has been found to be a rare feat in the political history of the country.

Another issue Fayose will deal with is this perception that he wanted to cunningly make himself the godfather of Ekiti politics. Ekiti is an elitist environment that believes in equality and the fact that Fayose doesn’t belong to this stratum has spurred some elites to be secretly working against such agenda. Thus, how Fayose would escape these three traps depends on how far he could humble himself before the aggrieved party men and the electorate to be able to subdue the coming federal power of the APC.

Silence and Suspicion The screaming silence of the National Working Committee has not helped matters.

This unexpected and dangerous silence has also given room for some of the aggrieved aspirants to suspect a foul-play. They believe that Secondus ought to have made a pronouncement that the primary won’t be compromised or skewed in favour of Fayose.

But Adeyeye while commenting on this said Secondus’ emergence as the party’s leader was a masterstroke and that the new chairman is “a strong believer in equality, justice and fair-play and we know that he can’t be manipulated by the governor to achieve his evil intention.”

Adeyeye allayed the fear that the outcome of the primary was already predetermined, saying the NWC has made itself very clear that the PDP could only return to power when the right things are done. He added that the feelers he had been getting from high places didn’t suggest any compromise or gave pointer to the fact that there was a gang up to rig the primary for Olusola.

He stated that the reworking of the party’s constitution had arrogated more powers to the ordinary party members to have a say in election, adding that nobody could arrogate the power of the constitution to himself just because he is privileged to get to the top through the efforts of the grassroots.

Nevertheless, the events of the coming weeks will determine whether the PDP will embark on fence-mending to consolidate its hold on Ekiti or toe another path and hit the rock in a devastating manner.

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The ‘Third Force’ as a Factor The possibility of a ‘third force’ cannot be ruled out in the emerging equation, writes Iyobosa Uwugiaren

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lthough with negligible structural errors and disjointed sentences, the message was well-cooked. To make sure the public, especially Nigerians, enjoyed it, the cook, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, served it when it was still blistering. But for many who know the former president very well, he might have just capitalised on the growing disaffection in the country over the suffocating economic environment, frightening security challenges and ethno-religious crises in some parts of the country, to fire up the polity by passing a distinct vote of no confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari.

Without being carried away by their recent camaraderie at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Obasanjo, known to communicate more efficiently through letter-writing, said in his latest edition that the president lacked the capacity to govern Nigeria and therefore needs a dignified and honourable exit.

In his 13-page statement titled: “The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement,” Obasanjo advised the president not to seek re-election in the 2019 general election, saying Nigerians deserve and urgently need better than what Buhari had given or what Nigerians know he is capable of giving. He went further to enumerate three other areas, where he claimed Buhari had come out more glaringly than most Nigerians thought they knew about him.

“One is nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant members of his nepotic court.

This has grave consequences on performance of his government to the detriment of the nation. It would appear that the national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotic interest.

“What does one make of a case like that of Maina: collusion, condonation, ineptitude, incompetence and dereliction of responsibility or kinship and friendship on the part of those, who should have taken visible and deterrent disciplinary action? How many similar cases are buried, ignored or covered up and not yet in the glare of the media and the public?” he asked.

The former president said the second was the president’s poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics, noting that this has led to “wittingly or unwittingly” making the nation more divided and that “inequality has widened and become more pronounced.”

“The third is passing the buck. For instance, blaming the governor of the central bank for devaluation of the naira by 70 per cent or so and blaming past governments for it, is to say the least, not accepting one’s own responsibility,” he added, Unlike what Obasanjo did in 2015 – when he wrote a similar letter to former President Goodluck Jonathan, at the peak of the general election and later backed the then opposition party, APC, he said what has emerged from the opposition (PDP) had shown no better promise from its antecedents.

“As the leader of that party for eight years as President of Nigeria, I can categorically say there is nothing to write home about in their new team,” he submitted, adding that, “We have only one choice left to take us out of Egypt to the promised-land; and that is the coalition of the concerned and the willing – ready for positive and drastic change, progress and involvement,” he said.

Seen by many sound political experts as unrealistic recommendation especially at this time, Obasanjo was emphatic that the polity needed a Coalition for Nigeria (CN), because 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; a coalition to salvage and redeem our country. You can count me with such a movement. Last time, we asked, prayed and worked for change and God granted our request. This time, we must ask, pray and work for change with unity, security and progress.

And God will again grant us.”

Obasanjo registering as member of Coalition for Nigeria...last week

He prayed nothing should stop such a movement from satisfying conditions for fielding candidates for elections but was quick to state that if at any stage the movement wishes to metamorphose into candidate-sponsoring movement for elections, he would bow out of the movement, because he will continue to maintain his non-partisan position.

Even though an insider said Obasanjo’s prescription of a ‘third force’ as an option was “deliberate” as he does not want to be accused of taking side with any political party, many political analysts argued that what the nation really needs at his time – less than a year before the general election, is a critical engagement with the moment and its definitions from various perspectives.

“The mood also calls for a sincere political introspection. To start with, the former President deserves a salute for his courage of conviction.

His voice came yesterday (Tuesday) when such a loud voice was needed from such quarters.

The voice would doubtlessly resonate with many people who are legitimately displeased with the state of things,” a celebrated columnist with THISDAY, Kayode Komolafe argued.

Agreeing that Obasanjo is a positive force for national unity any day, Komolafe was of the view that his pronouncement could be as magisterial as much as possible, doubting if former president Obasanjo was suited to be the arrowhead of a third force for the type of change being canvassed in many serious quarters.

“He is too prominent a figure in the old order for any fresh intervention to make him an exponent of change for the sake of progress. It is a contradiction that Obasanjo with his ideological mindset is now the symbol of a third force, which hopes to draw on the demographic asset of the youth. In any case, his prescription is rather ambiguous. He says he is out of partisan politics, but the Coalition for Nigeria (CN) would aim at power employing the ballot. However, only registered political parties can field candidates for election.”

Apart from the APC and the PDP, Komolafe further argued that there were dozens other political parties waiting with their virtually empty political sacks to be filled with contents so that they can stand in 2019. He therefore argued that the energy, time and resources be put on strengthening the existing parties for elections rather than forming fresh ad hoc coalitions.

Expectedly, the APC too has dismissed Obasanjo’s option of a third force intervention in

the polity.

Disagreeing with the former president in what it described as “a wholesale dismissal of the entire political system in the country”, APC in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, acknowledged its challenges as a new political party, even as it claimed that “APC remains the best option” at this time for all Nigerians, who are genuinely committed to the progress and development of the country.

On its part, the major opposition party, PDP argued that repeating the old mistake of congregating political strangers cannot help the country at this time, more so, when the few concerns raised by Obasanjo about the PDP no longer obtain under the “refocused and rebranded” PDP. Spokesman for the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said “The PDP is now standing on a truly democratic ground that perfectly represents and reflects the hopes and aspirations of all Nigerians, irrespective of their class, creed or tribe.

“That is why our great party has now, more than ever before, become a centre of the new patriotic and broad-based engagements by well-meaning Nigerians and coalitions across board, including past leaders, in rekindling our democratic process that places priority on returning power to the people.”

PDP said Nigerians overrated President Buhari in 2015 but have now seen that he never possessed the capacity and the required aptitude to effectively govern the nation and pilot a healthy economy.

It said while the APC is already caught up with President Buhari, the PDP is open for a new engagement that will throw up the president, which our nation truly deserves at this crucial moment, calling on Nigerians, including all leaders across board, to come together to rebuild the nation on PDP’s consolidated base rather than traversing on another learning curve.

To be sure, the near consensus by many commentators since the Obasanjo letter is that there is a dishonest intellect of importance and religiousness around Obasanjo that often borders on mischief and two-facedness. Some commentators were quick to point to how he allegedly wasted billions of naira to pursue an illegal third term as president, and now rising up against a “legitimate second term” for an incumbent president.

But his prescription of a third force surly does not jell with many traditional politicians. They have insisted that it is too late to form a new

party that could defeat the incumbent, advising Nigerians to engage other registered political parties in the coming general election and give firm conditions to the parties in that direction.

By the way, is the Coalition of Nigerians under the platform of the National Intervention Movement (NIM), which recently unveiled its steering committee, really in a strategic position to mobilise Nigerians for the needed change within the present political space?

The Olisa Agbakoba (SAN)-led NIM is seen by its members as a third force political reality to provide a credible alternative platform for ideal and acceptable political leadership and governance in Nigeria. It is branded as a “purely owned political platform by the mass movement of the people of Nigeria”, which does not have founding fathers, owners and money bags investors with every member Nigerian contributing token and widow’s mite to fund and grow it. And also fundamentally run it for the purpose of access to “equal and unbiased opportunities to contest or run for elective offices in Nigeria under ideal democratic rules, tenets and ideals.”

However, the question is: how can NIM, a non-political party, but a mass movement of “ideologically compatible and patriotic Nigerians”, move against the frustrating governing order and operate as one force major entity under a political mission and agenda, and ensure the entrenchment of a new and ideal leadership order in Nigeria with the prevailing political space?

From the look of things as the general election draws nearer, the thinking is that NIM could only work with other splinter political, civil society and professional groups of interest in Nigeria to negotiate for power and elective offices for its members; support them to contest and help to install acceptable governments in every part of Nigeria, using any of the existing political parties as platform.

Political analysts hold the opinions that for members of NIM to effectively engage the political space, within the shortest possible time, they need a political platform with solid and wide structures across all the political units, wards, local government councils and states.

With NIM already becoming a house hold name – growing and expanding fast across the six geo political zones in Nigeria, especially with its official launch last Wednesday – it could strategically contribute to the emergence of a new political order in the 2019 elections.

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A Vote for Electoral Offenders’ Panel In this report, James Emejo assesses the relevance of the proposed Nigerian Electoral Offences Commission, which seeks among other things to sanitise the electoral processes going forward

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he House of Representatives penultimate Wednesday considered and adopted the report by its Committee on Electoral and Political Matters, chaired

by Hon. Aishatu Dukku, on a bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian Electoral Offences Commission and for related matters.

The passage of the bill by the lower chamber has been considered the right step in the right direction given the impunity and chaos, which had characterised the country’s electoral processes in the previous elections.

Essentially, the bill seeks to establish a system of sanction and reward for participants in the electoral system.

The Commission is expected to be headquartered in Abuja with offices or branches in each of the states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and composed of the chairman, who must not be less than 40 years of age and 12 other commissioners, who must not be less than 35 years old.

Notably, among other things, the commission shall be saddled with the responsibility to investigate, enforce and prosecute all electoral malpractices and electoral offences created under the Commission, Electoral Act and any other law related to electoral offences.

It also has the duty to adopt measures to identify, trace, and prosecute political thuggery, electoral fraud, political terrorism, which had been a recurring decimal on the country’s political history as well as adopt measures to prevent and eradicate the perpetration of electoral offences including coordination, preventive and regulatory actions; introduction of investigative and control techniques, and the collaboration with election observers within and outside Nigeria. The bill, which enjoyed the overwhelming support of the House, given its potential to add some element of credibility and integrity to the electoral processes, apportioned far-reaching powers to the Commission to deal with situations arising from the conduct of elections.

When in full force, the Commission shall possess powers to investigate and prosecute any person suspected to have conspired to commit or has attempted to commit or has committed an electoral offence or an offence under the bill or Electoral Act. It can also confiscate any property, moveable or immovable, that is used or suspected to be used in the perpetration of an electoral offence as well as appoint, promote, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over the staff of the commission in accordance with the provision of the bill. Several contributors regard the bill as a welcome development, which must be wholly embraced as it would be an instrument of deterrence against election malpractices.

Also, in a bid to empower the officials of the Commission to effectively carry out their tasks, Dukku, chairman of the committee, recommended additional powers and immunity for officers.

Clause 20 of the bill reads: “Subject to the provisions of this Bill, an officer of the Commission, when investigating or prosecuting an electoral offence, an electoral offence officer shall have all the powers and immunities of a police officer under the police Act and any other laws conferring power on the police or empowering and protecting law enforcement agents.

“Where in the course of any investigations or proceedings in a court in respect of commission of

Dogara an offence under this bill by any person, there is disclosed an offence under any other written law, not being an electoral offence or offence under this bill, irrespective of whether the offence was committed by the same person or any other person, the officer of the Commission responsible for the investigation or proceedings, as the case may be, shall notify the Attorney General of the Federation or any other officer charged with responsibility of the prosecution of criminal cases, who may issue such direction as shall meet the justice of the case.”

Moreover, the Commission also has sweeping powers to examine and summon anybody in connection to election malpractices.

“An officer of the Commission investigating an electoral offence or an offence under this bill may; order any person to attend before him for the purpose of being examined in relation to any matter which may in his opinion, assist in the investigation of the offence... “ The Commission may also issue a summon directed to a person complained against or any other person to appear before the Commission for

the purpose of being examined in relation to the complaint or any other matter, which may aid or facilitate the probe of the complaint.

The Commission can also obtain search warrant to assess premises and prosecute persons for obstruction of inspection as well as conspiracy, stipulating bail conditions for electoral offenders as well as its powers to resolve disputes between persons regarding any matter connected to electoral infractions as well as appeals and review of decisions. “A person, who is aggrieved or whose interest is adversely affected by any decision of the Commission made pursuant to the exercise of the powers and functions under this bill may within a period of not more than 45 days from the date upon which a decision is made, request in writing for a review of the Commission’s decision and specify therein the reasons and basis for his request.”

Already, Nigerians expect that with its passage in the green chamber, and subsequent concurrence in the Senate, the bill will receive accelerated assent from President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2019 general election.

NOTES FOR FILE

Weah: Time to Walk the Talk

Weah

A former international football star, George Weah, was last week sworn in as the 24th president of Liberia, succeeding Mrs. Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, having defeated former Vice-President Joseph Boakai. Weah’s inauguration was greeted with a lot of excitement and jubilation as was his election.

Unfortunately, Weah is coming into office at a very difficult period in the life of Liberia, when literally all the facets of the system require serious attention. Although he is largely presumed inexperienced for the task at hand, Weah

is undaunted and certain that the work is doable.

This is why he must not only sit to his assignment pretty early but hit the ground running because his time started counting from the minute he took the oath of office. Luckily for him, he came in with a lot of goodwill amongst the youth and this must not be frittered away as it is always with most African leaders. Weah would be expected to start walking his talk every step of the way. His success as president, it is believed, would open many impossible doors for many others around the world.

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PERSPECTIVE

Abubakar: Setting the Record Straight Ambrose Omorodion

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hmed Rufai Abubakar looked crisp, calm and reassuring at work all through last week after resumption as the new Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). His visage, carriage and words of assurances to officers and men of the agency brought some calm and a new sense of direction to an agency that had been traumatised from the consequence of undue media attention which the agency is not used to. The support and solidarity Rufai is receiving from the entire workforce belies all the mediocre attempts to de-market him before Nigerians on a job for which he is eminently qualified. Simply, the will of traducers to expropriate him on the sensitive appointment he bagged to serve Nigeria, came to naught.

The story of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar and all attempts to pull him down is a good study on why Nigerians must always shudder before accepting every issue raised in the media while also looking for the real motive behind specific reports. This is necessary these days with the negative use of social media as a tool for churning out gibberish and false propaganda.

The new boss of NIA, given his pleasant persona and competence has every reason to romp into office in a proud gait and with a mindset to make the difference on his duty post. It was a thing of regret that opponents who had eyes on his seat needlessly raised the dusts, calling him names. They had questioned his nationality, competence and the motive behind his appointment, all in an attempt to turn back the hands of the clock. Yet, open and available records have shown that every single issue raised by the opponents was fabricated to mislead the public and distract from purposefulness At this juncture, it is apposite for Nigerians to be abreast of how the NIA works and

Abubakar

the mechanisms embedded in the structure to sort out unqualified and undesirable persons from the agency.

The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) created on June 5, 1986 is a national agency saddled with the task of overseeing foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations. NIA owes its existence to Decree 19 by the military government of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in 1986, proscribing the notorious National Security Organisation (NSO).

Being a sensitive Agency, NIA has a very strict and robust processes for background checks and its impossible for unqualified or undesirable, persons to survive in the system.

By implication, no foreign national can sneak into the agency. It is also against the agency’s rules for its officers to marry foreigners The Man Ahmed Rufai Abubakar

The NIA DG was born to a Nigerian

family in Kofar Durbi area of Katsina into a respected family of Quranic scholars. As was the tradition in Northern Nigeria and indeed, West Africa, Quranic scholarship took his uncle to Republic of Chad and he took young Abubakar with him where he was partly brought up. Keeping to the tenets of the closely knitted family, Abubakar later married his cousin, the daughter of his uncle – Alhaji Ali KD. On his return to Nigeria, Abubakar attended Arabic Teacher’s College, Katsina where he obtained his Grade II Certificate.

He later went to Bayero University Kano where he obtained a B.A degree in French Language and Literature, and an M.A degree in Francophone Maghrebian Literature. He worked as a Lecturer at Bayero University before taking up appointment with Katsina State Government. Later he transferred his services to NIA in the 90s.

At different times, Abubakar served at the Nigerian Embassy Rabat, Morocco, African Union Peace Mission in Darfur, Sudan and later joined United Nations as Director in Peace Support Operations, Mediation Process, Preventive Diplomacy and Good Governance office. He also worked as Senior Advisor with the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), with headquarters in Ndjamena, Chad before his appointment as Senior Special Assistant to the President. He has always been fluent in English, French and became a versatile intelligence officer whose service is ever required in Nigeria’s Intelligence community.

He had also acquired extensive experience working with the United Nations in peace support operations, mediation process, preventive diplomacy and good offices, while all along helping to promote good governance and respect for the rule of law and human rights.

Most Qualified to Serve as DG NIA No one could have been more qualified for the top NIA job than Abubakar, who until his appointment was the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Relations, Security and Intelligence analyst as well as

Arabic and French interpreter.

Abubakar’s academic records are open for verification. He holds a B.A degree in French Language and Literature, and an M.A degree in Francophone Maghrebian Literature, both from Bayero University, Kano Abubakar married from Katsina State contrary to speculations that he married a foreigner. He has also never been on record to have failed any examination throughout his career. There is no way the NIA in its finest tradition, would allow officers who failed exams to work for the President of Nigeria, even after retirement. It is common knowledge at the highest level of government that the NIA puts its best foot forward at every turn. That Ahmed Rufai Abubakar occupied a sensitive post in the president’s office is a clear indication that he is one of the best product of the NIA and the agency is proud of him.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora, Honourable Abike Dabiri, had helped to douse the issue of ethnicity woven round the appointment of Abubakar, stating at an open function, “If it is this Rufai that I Know and has worked with, honestly, he is the best person for the job and I really don’t care where he comes from” In the same vein, Mallam Garba Shehu described him as “A perfect fit who is most qualified for the job. He has occupied various significant schedules in the agency in the course of which he received several awards. He left voluntarily to work for the United Nations.

Kudos goes to President Muhammadu Buhari for sticking to merit in appointing Abubakar to head the NIA, which deserves a new orientation after undergoing a season of embarrassing scandal and image fuss. In short, competence will make the difference for the new DG who faced a tempest to become an overcomer.

–––Ambrose Omorodion, a public Affairs analysts, writes from Benin city

Policing Nigeria Adequately with Information Technology Edirin Jerry Wesley

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nformation and communications technology has become indispensable to our modern life, we critically depend on information and communications infrastructure in planning our personal lives, our societies, business activities and running critical infrastructures.

This is the simple reason why governments of the world are embracing the concept of “Smart Technology” especially in the management of energy, water, transportation, waste, surveillance, modern security threats etc.

‘Smart cities’ have moved from being just a buzzword, to reality, the evolution began at the turn of the last century and it has got to its next stage. As more governments begin to adopt “smart” concepts, some find it challenging to keep pace with the rapid changes the digital world bring with it, along with the consequent evolution of their service delivery models.

Early warning prognosis and detection of breaches are the things that will determine if an entity is in a state of readiness, meaning that the emphasis of cyber security has improved to encapsulate Threat Intelligence. A state of readiness to deal with cyber-attacks requires behaviors that are thoughtful, considered and collaborative. No organization or government can ever predict or prevent all (or even most) attacks; but can reduce its attractiveness as a target, increase their resilience and limit damage from any given attack.

Public security is a growing concern for big cities worldwide.

Tailored apps can provide police and emergency services with new technologies to fight crime and make cities safer.

There exists a solid infrastructure of closed-circuit TV (CCTV) in most cities across the globe, comprising public and privateowned systems. Historically, these have been used retrospectively to examine crime scenes for evidence. But cities such as the ones found in Nigeria are lagging behind in piloting programs to apply predictive analytics to video feeds. Public safety and security are top priorities for Nigeria at this time in our national lives.

Video analytics is the capability of automatically analyzing videos to detect certain objects, behavior, spatial and temporal events. This is used in a wide range of domains, including entertainment, health care, surveillance, home automation etc.

These Video Analytics tools can be used with a wide range of modules for various purposes and can work as a proactive monitoring tool, triggering alarms to signal immediate attention of concerned teams.

With smart devices aligned to private broadband network, officers can pick up a live feed of a shop theft from CCTV, say, before they even arrive at the scene, or of criminals in flight from cameras fixed to patrol cars or drones in the vicinity. In practice, it means Police Agencies can have ‘eyes’ where they didn’t before. It also means Police can store and organize surveillance data in the cloud, access, share and query it with greater ease and accuracy.

Sophisticated analytics tools improve their ability to identify, classify and match stored videos.

An intelligent video analysis platform can be established to manage video resources and meet a variety of service needs, including real-time surveillance, video browsing, data sharing and evidence collection. The new system has boosted Police collaboration, coordination, and decision-making thereby improving response times.

This part is relatively easy, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris is a progressive to the core and also a lover of technological innovations, owing largely to the fact that he was Nigeria’s representative at the INTERPOL’s headquarters in Paris for several years and so, has been exposed to policing at the highest level in the world.

It was no surprise when Mr. Edirin Jerry Wesley, a renowned businessman of international repute, who did not take flight and run from the country when it was faced with security challenges at the onslaught of Boko Haram, decided to join up with the Nigerian Police to tackle the menace of insecurity in Nigeria.

At the heart of this innovative project is the National Emergency Communication Command Control Centre (NEC4 System) which is going to be situated at the National Information Centre in Abuja, concurrently too, all the 36 states of the Federation will be hosts to similar Emergency Communication platforms as mentioned above.

The Nigerian Police Department’s patrol cars, helicopters and other devices will be equipped with computers and software which will allow Police officers to view calls for service and access geo-mapping technology at the same time too.

The Nigerian Police Department can implement a new service for citizens to file non-emergency police reports online.

This initiative is proven to reduce call volume for Police Department’s personnel which allows for additional directed patrol.

Computer Aided Dispatch is the backbone of most Police Departments’ Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) and helps the agency improve situational awareness and reduce response times. Police CAD provides real-time access to information. All

data entered into CAD can be accessed and shared between mobile, reduce repetitive data entry and streamline operations.

Data mining is also used to prevent crime and manage police operations, “smart cities” are using statistical analysis and predictive modelling to identify crime trends and highlight “hidden” connections between disparate events and trends.

This helps Police gain a more complete picture of crime, predict patterns of future criminal behavior and identify the key causal factors of crime in their area.

The unbridled privilege of this great insight on the part of the Nigerian Police cannot be overemphasized. In fact, the current IGP Ibrahim Idris, due to his exposure, has an unwavering belief that ICT and smart technology has a gargantuan role to play in effective policing of any country, especially, his beloved country, Nigeria. To further bolster this claim, NPBS, has been conceptualized as far back as 2012 but never saw the light of day, after three successive failed attempts, largely set back by erstwhile leadership of the Nigerian Police, it didn’t take the pragmatic and creatively-inclined IGP Ibrahim Idris long to embrace this project and give it a nod.

The uniqueness of the project NPBS brings will allow the different media to be tweaked on-the-go, what this means on one hand is that the NPBS via its TV, Radio, website and social media platforms will afford the Nigerian Police the means to tell its own story by itself, generally speaking, mass media has not been fair in its news coverage and has mostly shared sometimes exaggerated news concerning the Nigerian Police’s officers and their activities, on the other hand; members of the public will be able to use the various platforms to report past and ongoing crimes, incidences, anonymously blow whistles of unscrupulous citizens.

With the partnership of giant Security Intelligence outfit; Skytick Technology Global Limited and global technological brands, NPBS is set on the right path of effective communication and will immensely impact on land, waterways and border security in ways we can start drooling about.

Across national security agencies such as the Police, Army, Navy, Airforce, Civil Defense, Customs and Immigration, security-related information can be shared at a whim, the application of this multi-faceted project is mind-boggling.

––- Wesley, Chairman, Nigeria Police Broadcasting Service, wrote from Lagos (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž BRUARY 4, 2018

Our Watch in the Gulf of Guinea Dakuku Peterside

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he problem of maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea is real. These statistics will paint the picture better: In 2016, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recorded 53 piracy attacks or attempted attacks in the Gulf of Guinea representing 28% of worldwide attacksâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; including 36

for Nigeria.

The Gulf of Guinea accounted for more than 50% of the global kidnappings for ransom, with 34 seafarers kidnapped out of a total of 62 worldwide.

The region is regarded as a high risk area attracting war insurance premium.

It also recorded the maximum of piracy incidents which total 34 and occurred mostly in Nigeria.

Angola had 5, Congo had 5, Benin had two, Togo had one and Ghana had only one incident. The picture is disheartening.

Last year, 10 incidents of kidnapping involving 65 crew members in or around Nigerian waters were reported. 36 cases of piracy with no vessels hijacked occurred in the Gulf of Guinea. Globally, 16 vessels reported being fired upon last year â&#x20AC;&#x201C;including seven in the Gulf of Guinea.

The fact that Nigeria is strategic in solving the maritime security issues in the Gulf of Guinea is not lost on the authorities. This is acknowledged in the global shipping industry.

Being the biggest economy and most populous nation within the region and accounting for 65% of cargo generated within the region bring home the need for Nigeria to take the lead. Other factors, which put Nigeria in the forefront of the fight, include the facts that: 65% of cargo coming into Gulf of Guinea end up in Nigeria; it accounts for 50% â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 60% major maritime security incidences that occur in the Gulf of Guinea; it has the highest military contingent and might within the region; it has huge deposit of oil and gas making it a place of interest for international energy dynamics; and Nigeria has one of the largest delta areas of the world characterised by thousands of creeks. For these reasons, therefore, Nigeria is pivotal to the security and stability of the Gulf of Guinea.

We also realise the fact that maritime insecurity has economic, social and environment implications in the GoG Region.

On the economic front, it leads to loss of oil revenue to illegal local/international cartel. There is threat to commerce as 90% of the external trade in the region depends on shipping and this endangers the growth of the local economy.

The Gulf of Guinea is a shipping transit hub thus remains under threat. This threat also leads to inability to meet the needs of the masses because of the region dependence on imported goods and export of raw

Buhari materials and natural resources. The fishing industry which supports the GDP of the region is also affected.

Between January 2016 and December 2017 nine vessels were arrested for illegal fishing on Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s territorial waters.

The social sides include: arms and drug smuggling and human trafficking. It is empirically proven that there is a correlation between maritime insecurity, growing unemployment and youth restiveness in the region. Also, we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t divorce it from inter-communal conflicts and dislocation of communities. There is also agitation by seemingly marginalised sub-region within the regions constitute security risks, the Niger delta area of Nigeria being a classical case.

The environment also suffers in terms of destruction and pollution of the marine ecosystem leading to loss of livelihood. Between January 2015 and December 2017 1446 illegal refineries were destroyed, 95 barges stealing crude and several wooden boats were destroyed with attendant consequences on the Environment.

In response to this challenge, Nigeria has come up with multi-dimensional interventions, which include a review of local and international laws concerning maritime crime. This is ongoing. NIMASA is currently pushing for the enactment of the anti-piracy law.

When passed to law by the National Assembly of Nigeria, the country will be the first in the region to have a dedicated anti-piracy law.

Working with the Nigeria federal ministry of justice and Nigerian Navy we are have developed the Harmonised Standard Operating Procedure for arrest and detention of vessels involved in illegal activities.

There is also a joint initiative by the ministries of transportation and defence to strengthen response capabilities of the military through the deep BLUE

PROJECT to be executed by NIMASA. We must not forget the presidential intervention on maritime security through building of regional coalition and corporation. NIMASA recently signed an MOU with Ghana maritime Authority and SIERRA Lone maritime Authority to further strengthens regional collaboration.

Other steps taken by our maritime administration to ensure our maritime domain is safe for business includes but not limited to ;Establishment and implementation of the ISPS Code; effective enforcement of Port and Flag State Control; an MOU with the Nigerian Navy and Air force to increase response capacity; FEC has approved the acquisition of special mission aircrafts, helicopters and vessels with communication equipment; capacity building programme

by Ministry of Transportation and NIMASA; and Operation Prosperity by the NIMASA/Nigerian Navy.

We are also acquiring assets to ensure maritime safety. These include C4i (Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Intelligence); integration of our maritime domain awareness asset with FALCON EYE of Nigerian Navy (Over the Horizon Radar System); aircrafts and vessels with communication equipment; two Special Mission Aircrafts; three Special Mission Helicopters; two Special Mission Vessels; four units of UAVs; and 17 Fast Patrol Boats.

The country has also strategically intervened in the GoG region by leading the establishment of ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Security Strategy (EIMS); establishment of Inter-Regional Coordination Center (ICC) in Younde Cameroon, an initiative of ECOWAS/ECCAS/GoG Commission; the establishment of African Integrated Maritime Security Strategy (AIMS); leading ZONE E multinational maritime security outfit in Cotonou (4 nations standing maritime security outfit); active in Cote dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ivoire based Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA); coordinating Heads of Navies of the region; and housing one of the five designated Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres in Africa (RMRCC).

Other Interventions that have also come into play are ratification and domestication of relevant International Treaties Safety, Security and Marine Environment Management, ratification of thirty-five IMO Conventions/ Protocols, including the ILO MLC 2006, gazetting of about thirty-four maritime Regulations pursuant to the Merchant Shipping Act 2007 and the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act 2007; and domestication of 12 relevant maritime safety conventions of the IMO which are necessary for ensuring regional maritime security and safety.

Of course, we set forth at dawn by installing 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 criminalizing piracy and all maritime crimes in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s maritime domain with attendant punishment enshrined in the Nigerian legal framework.

The implementation of an Integrated National Surveillance and Waterways Protection Solution with command and control infrastructure in at our agency is part of Nigerian government deep blue contract to enhance security in the Gulf of Guinea.

Most importantly is that our deep blue Project fits into NIMASAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Total spectrum maritime security strategy which is built on four pillars of situational awareness, response capability, law enforcement and regional cooperation.

The deliverables from the deep blue project are expected to bolster Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s maritime security architecture and increase monitoring and compliance enforcement within the Nigerian waters and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The fact that 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 is a big step forward.

Significantly, eight relevant conventions and protocols on marine environment have also been domesticated in order to ensure a clean marine environment.

Efforts are being made by the Safety Administration through the Federal Ministry of Transportation for the domestication of other ratified Conventions.

For further development, we look forward to having improved profiling capacity and information sharing on maritime criminality and illegality, enhanced Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and surface/ air patrol capabilities, functional legal framework, skill development of Maritime Law Enforcement Agents (MLEAs), integration of national inter-agency efforts, adoption of a broadened concept of security to harmonise the pursuit of security outcomes, with external players approaching security cooperation transparently and inclusively and employment of good governance as an element of security and an enabler of durable security outcomes.

We trust that continuous collaboration amongst partners across our continent, improved profiling and information sharing on maritime criminality and illegality, enhanced maritime domain awareness and surface to air patrol capabilities, functional legal framework, integration of national inter-agency efforts, youth empowerment programmes amongst others are factors that can help bring solutions to the issues surrounding insecurity in the maritime space.

The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, recently delivered this speech at Chatham House, London, United Kingdom

The Gift of Goodbye

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his is the last week of the first month of the New Year, a good time for personal evaluation and adjustments. As we settle into the New Year, one of the things we may need to do will be to let go of the old and embrace the new. I hope Orpahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story will give you the courage to say good bye when and where you need to. Here goesâ&#x20AC;Ś Once upon a time, three women set out on a journey.

They had a lot in common; they bore the same surname, they were widows and they were all sad. They also had some differences. One of them was old and the other two were young. One of them was Hebrew and the other two were foreigners to Israel; the older woman was Naomi, wife of Elimelech and mother of Mahlon and Chilion. The two younger women were Orpah and Ruth, wives of Mahlon and Chilion, respectively.

Naomi, Elimelech and the boys had moved to Moab because there was famine in Bethlehem. Then Elimelech died and later the boys married Moabite women. Some ten years down the line, Mahlom and Chilion also died. Naomi became childless while Orpah and Ruth joined her in the company of widows. The trio were united in grief.

As Naomi sorrowed, news came to her that the famine in Bethlehem was over, God had visited his people and blessed them. Naomi decided to return home and her daughters-in-law choose to accompany her. Consequently, the three women set off towards

Judah. But Naomi turned and blessed her fellow travellers saying â&#x20AC;&#x153;Go, return each to her motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house.

The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husbandâ&#x20AC;? (Ruth 1:8). It was an emotion-laden farewell that gives us an insight into the type of women Orpah and Ruth were. We can assume they were kind to their husbands and their mother-in-law. That is how come Naomi could pray that they would re-marry, and be happy in their new homes.

I think they were also caring and devoted, which is why they insisted on following Naomi.

Naomi then took the young women through an objective assessment of the situation in which they now found themselves. She made them see that there was no apparent future for them with her. She was too old to have children and even if she had children immediately, they could not replace the husbands the Orpah and Ruth had lost. This was the turning point in the lives of the three women. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to herâ&#x20AC;?. (Ruth 1:14) They reached a valley of decision; both women assessed their situation. While Ruth chose to stick to her mother-in-law, Orpah chose to say goodbye.

Whereas Ruth has been applauded by history for her choice, Orpah has been stigmatised and marginalized. If Orpah went back to the gods of Moab as her mother-in-law suspected, then that would be sad.

We have no proof that she did. But, we can sure learn something from Orpahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision.As a matter of fact we can learn a great deal. In addition to the qualities Orpah had going for her, she also had the grace to draw the curtain on a phase of her life and move on; she had the gift of goodbye. I appreciate Orpahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s choice particularly because the gift of goodbye does not come easily to me. I find it difficult to leave my yesterdays (be it experiences or people) behind me. So, I hold on to past friendships, past memories, and souvenirs of the past. This could seem like a harmless trait until it hinders ones progress. I heard someone put it aptly â&#x20AC;&#x153;your greatest obstacle to progress may be your last successâ&#x20AC;?. When you get to the point where the past stands in the way of your future, you need the gift of goodbye â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the ability to bring closure to the past.

Here, two young women had lost their husbands.

They were wounded and grief-sticken. While Ruthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way of dealing with her grief was to throw herself into the culture of her late husband, Orpahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way out was to shut the door on the past. So, when they reached this cross road of life, Ruth chose to go with her mother-in-law, but Orpah had the courage and strength of character to walk away. She did not succumb to the pressure to please people against the leaning of her heart. She did not mind the controversy that would surround the news of her departure. She did not care that history may ignore her for taking the road less travelled. She went ahead to be true to herself. She bade Naomi and Ruth goodbye, and closed the door on her yesterday.

Every now and then life brings us to a junction like it did Ruth and Orpah. In the context of this message, we are required to take the path that leads away from our past; it will turn out to be the key to our future. Some of us need to find closure on relationships that tie us to the past and therefore hinder us from fully enjoying new ones. There are people amongst us who have to mentally disengage from some projects of the past.

Some parents and children need to say goodbye to each other to enable the latter enjoy their matrimonial homes.

Anumber of us have to let go of people we have lost in death and allow them â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;rest in peaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Those holding people in un-forgiveness need to say goodbye to the memories of the pain they have experienced. There are yet those who need to bid sin farewell and embrace Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forgiveness.

Have you reached a point in your life where you must say goodbye? Could your decision cost you your reputation, your friends and even cause you to be misunderstood? The most important thing is to ascertain that your choice aligns with Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s word and it gives you peace and joy then follow your heart, irrespective of the cost.

If you have the grace to say goodbye easily then go ahead and exercise it. If, on the other hand, like me, it is an uphill task, ask Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help. Whatever it takes, let go of yesterday and embrace tomorrow. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Koko Kalango is the author of Colours of Life devotional

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Ëš

R-L: Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State; Secretary to the Government of Katsina State, Dr. Mustafa Muhammed Inuwa, and a fuel Distributor, Alhaji Mustafa Lawal, conducting the Governor around Dandagoro NNPC Mega Filling Station during an unscheduled visit by the governor to the facility in Katsina metropolis...yesterday

L-R: Director, Africa Business, Hantec Global, Mike Fowope; CEO, Hantec Markets Limited, Bashir Nurmohamed; Head of School, S.T. & T. Regency International Schools, Mrs. Benedette Ngozi Nwadialo; Chief Operating Officer, Hantec Markets Limited, Hayel Abu-Hamdan; and Head of Business Development, Hantec Global, Adegboyega Shittu, at the presentation of laptops and printer to S.T. & T. Regency International Schools in Lagos...weekend

L-R: Past Multi District Governor, Lion International, Lion Senator Olusegun Bamigbetan-Baju; Executive Chairman, Cosmic Insurance Brokers Ltd, Lion Dr. Teslim Sanusi and a Public Relations Media Consultant, Aramide Tola Noibi at the 70th birthday of Alhaja Chief Modinat Abiola Sanusi and their Golden Jubilee wedding reception held at the Insurance House, Moleye Street, Yaba, Lagos...recently

Edo State Focal Person for the Federal Government Social Investment Programme, Miss Osayuwamen Aladeselu (middle) with staff members and N-power beneficiaries in Oredo Primary Healthcare Centre, Benin City, during a monitoring exercise for N-power beneficiaries in their places of primary assignment across the state...recently

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T H I S D AY ˾ SUNDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2018

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 4, 2018

SUNDAYSPORTS

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

Liverpool Host Spurs as Top Four Battle Heats Up

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wo of the Premier Leagues contenders to finish in the Champions League places battle for points at Anfield today. Both Liverpool and Tottenham play exciting football and are in good form, separated by two points and Chelsea in the league table with Liverpool third and Spurs fifth.

Tottenham could welcome back Serge Aurier but are likely to be without new signing Lucas Moura. Moura signed from Paris St-Germain on Deadline Day and was at Wembley to see Spurs beat Manchester United 2-0 on Wednesday. However, he only joined training yesterday so may not be involved today.

Spurs’ victory over United saw them maintain their topfour push, and they are just two points behind both Liverpool and Chelsea. Spurs also beat Liverpool 4-1 in the reverse fixture in November, with two goals inside the opening 12 minutes.

Liverpool were unbeaten since that defeat until losing back-to-back games to Swansea and West Brom in late January.

But they responded with a 3-0 midweek win over Huddersfield, and manager Jurgen Klopp said: “Spurs are in a good moment, but our moment is not too bad as well. It’ll be interesting.”

Tottenham’s Dele Alli duels with Liverpool’s Sadio Mane

Centre-back Virgil van Dijk is set to return to Liverpool’s starting line-up after being rested for the midweek win at Huddersfield. Midfielder Adam Lallana has returned to training after a

Nigeria Face Hosts Morocco in CHAN Final Morocco and Nigeria will battle in the final of the 2018 African Nations Championship at Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca this night.

Both sides came through tough semifinals on Wednesday evening: Morocco needed extra time to overcome a resilient Libya 3-1 in their North African derby in Casablanca, while Nigeria edged Sudan 1-0 in a hard-fought clash in Marrakech.

The Atlas Lions and the Super Eagles are bidding to become the fourth different winners of the CHAN, joining the honours board of DR Congo, Tunisia and Libya.

Nigeria have come good on their coach Salisu Yusuf’s promise that they would reach the final of the CHAN, with Gabriel Okechukwu’s goal securing victory over Sudan.

“Our target is the trophy, no less,” said the Nigeria coach, who added: “Reaching the final alone will mean history for this team. The final of the AfricanNationsChampionshipbeckons and we will go out there with all that we have got.”

Morocco coach Jamal Sellami paid tribute to his team after their victory, which was inspired by a brace from striker Ayoub El Kaabi. He has now netted eight times in this Chan tournament. “I congratulate my players, who made a great match despite the difficulties they faced,” said Sellami after the clash with Libya.

“We were opposed to an organised selection that caused us a lot of problems.

The fatigue of the Libyan players has done us a great service,” he admitted.

“No matter who our opponent is in the final, what matters is the state of my players.”

In head-to-head statistics, Morocco and Nigeria have met in 12 official matches according to FIFA’s database. Each side has claimed five wins, while two games have been drawn.

The teams’ most recent meeting was in the 2014 edition of the CHAN, with the Super Eagles claiming a thrilling 4-3 victory after extra time in the teams’ quarterfinal clash in Cape Town. The West African came from 0-3 down to win the match.

PREMIERSHIP RESULTS & FIXTURES Burnley Bournemouth Brighton Leicester Man United West Brom Arsenal Crystal Palace Liverpool

1-1 2-1 3-1 1-1 2-0 2-3 v v

Man City Stoke West Ham Swansea Huddersfield Southampton 5-1 Everton Newcastle United Tottenham

3:15pm 5:30pm

recurrence of a thigh problem but is unlikely to be ready.

Defender Nathaniel Clyne, who has not featured this season because of a back injury, is close to returning to training and

has been named in the club’s Champions League squad for the knockout stages.

Aurier (calf) and Harry Winks (ankle) have returned to full training for Spurs and should be

available, but Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose are doubts.

Liverpool have lost just one of their last 23 home Premier League games against Spurs (W15 D7).

Spurs have won seven points from their last nine available on the road in the Premier League (W2 D1 L0), after collecting just one point from the previous 15 up for grabs (W0 D1 L4).

Jurgen Klopp is unbeaten in his last 12 home Premier League meetings against the ‘big six’ (W6 D6) since a 1-0 defeat to Man Utd in January 2016.

Harry Kane has had a hand in six goals in six Premier League appearances against Liverpool (four goals, two assists), including three in the reverse fixture this season (two goals, one assist).

Mohamed Salah has scored 19 Premier League goals in 24 games this season - the quickest a player has got to 20 goals in the competition for Liverpool is 27 games (Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge).

Since the start of December, Roberto Firmino has been directly involved in 11 goals in 11 Premier League appearances (8 goals, 3 assists).

Indeed, overall the Brazilian has scored 11 goals in 24 games this season, equalling his best scoring season in the competition (11 in 35 in 2016-17).

Aubameyang Scores on Arsenal Debut, Sanchez Scores for United Pierre-EmerickAubameyang scored on hisArsenal debut but was overshadowed

by Aaron Ramsey’s hat-trick in a 5-1 Premier League thrashing of Everton, while former GunnerAlexis Sanchez netted his first Manchester United goal yesterday.

Club record signing Aubameyang immediately rekindled his relationship with former Borussia Dortmund teammate Henrikh Mkhitaryan, also making his home bow, as Arsenal’s new-look front line shone, but it was Ramsey who provided much of the end product with his first career hat-trick. Laurent Koscielny was also on target.

It was Sanchez’s departure that paved the way for Mkhitaryan’s move to the Emirates Stadium from Manchester United, but the Chilean also got accustomed to his new home, scoring at the second attempt after his penalty was saved as Jose Mourinho’s men eased past Huddersfield Town 2-0 at Old Trafford.

Victory moved United to within 13 points of runaway leaders Manchester City, who dropped points for just the fourth time in the Premier League this season in a 1-1 draw at Burnley. Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s equaliser eight minutes from time cancelled out Danilo’s spectacular opener.

Arenewed sense of optimism atArsenal following not only Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan’s arrivals, but also Mesut Ozil’s decision to commit to a new contract this week, exploded in a four-goal salvo in the opening 37 minutes.

Mkhitaryan teed up Ramsey for an early tap-in before Koscielny bundled home Shkodran Mustafi’s flick-on and Ramsey’s long-range effort deflected in off Eliaquim Mangala on his Everton debut.

The moment the Arsenal faithful had been waiting for came eight minutes before the break when Aubameyang chipped home Mkhitaryan’s through ball and the goal was allowed to stand

Aubameyang despite the Gabon striker clearly being offside when the pass was played.

Everton restored some pride after the break as Dominic Calvert-Lewin reduced the arrears 25 minutes from time before Ramsey completed his hat-trick to move Arsenal back to within five points of the top four.

Manchester Unitedhad to wait until 10 minutes into the second half to make the breakthrough when Romelu Lukaku got across his marker to volley home Juan Mata’s cross for his 19th of the season.

Sanchez was then given the chance to cap his home debut 21 minutes from time when he was brought down just inside the area by Michael Hefele.

And much to his relief, Sanchez tapped home the rebound after Jonas Lossl had saved his initial effort from the penalty spot.

“It was nice for Alexis Sanchez to win a match, the first at home,” added Mourinho. “It was not the goal of his

dreams, but it is a goal.”

City were made to rue a host of missed chances, most notably when Raheem Sterling failed to turn Kyle Walker’s low cross into an unguarded net from point-blank range, as Burnley salvaged a valuable point despite seeing their winless league streak extended to nine matches.

Leicester City missed the magic of star man Riyad Mahrez as they drew 1-1 at home against Swansea City. The Algerian hasn’t trained since Leicester priced Manchester City out of a move for Mahrez on transfer deadline day.

Southampton earned their first win since November by edging a thriller 3-2 at West Bromwich Albion to move out of the bottom three.

Brighton also bagged their first league win in seven games, beating West Ham 3-1, while Bournemouth moved up to ninth by coming from behind to beat Stoke 2-1.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ͲË&#x153; Í°ÍŽÍŻÍś

High Life

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

Friends Forever... Obasanjo Hosts Classy Soiree to Celebrate Erelu Abiola Dosunmuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 70th Birthday

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or Erelu of Lagos, Princess Abiola Sherifat Dosunmu, last Wednesday, 24 January, 2018, will always remain indelible in her memory.

It was the day she was celebrated by the man who cherishes and adores her. She was treated to a near superlative post 70th birthday party by her very dear friend, Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria.

The party was held at the Green Heritage Resort, Obasanjo Presidential Library Complex, Abeokuta, Ogun State. It was graced by close family members and friends of the celebrant and her host.

Erelu Dosunmu clocked 70 last July, and she had marked the event with a week-long activities, which climaxes with a party that had King Sunny Ade on the bandstand.

However, her 70th birthday celebration wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have held any signiďŹ cance had her darling friend, Obasanjo, had not hosted a party in her honour.

And though the invitation cards sent out to guests, had indicated that the celebration was at the behest of Obasanjo and his wife, Bola, she was conspicuously absent during the party.

However, Bola Obasanjoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s absence didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dim the gaiety of the party. The convivial atmosphere of the venue provided the much needed vista of fanfare for the high proďŹ le guests to mingle and connect.

To Obasanjo, Erelu Dosunmu is more than a friend. Their bond of friendship was established many years ago during Erelu Dosunmuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marriage to the late Ambassador Deinde Fernandez, her second

Paul Adefarasin

PAUL ADEFARASIN CELEBRATES 55 Pastor Paul Adefarasin, the General Overseer of House on

Obasanjo dancing with Erelu Abiola Dosunmu

husband.

Before her marriage to the Fernandez, Erelu Dosunmu was married to Major Tunde Elegbede, the father of her two eldest children - Kunle and Adewunmi. The marriage ended when Elegbede died.

Ambassador Fernandez, who died in 2016, was married to Erelu Dosunmu for over 20 years, and the union produced a daughter, Antoinette Oyinkansola Fernandez.

Their marriage, though tumultuous in nature, was a well celebrated aďŹ&#x20AC;air within the Lagos Social the Rock, is over the moon. At 55, the man of God has found his Neverland. He is one of the most youth-friendly pastors who blend liberation theology with rather radical prosperity pedagogy not necessarily to gain currency or increased membership but to open the door of their generation and make God exciting to young people. Paul had a long and steady career as a trained architect in the United States before going fulltime into evangelism. Blessed with a rich occidental drawl, an imposing height, unabashed taste for flashy cars and smouldering good looks that can set off fire alarms, Adefarasin is a televangelist, author and founder of House on The Rock Church, a church with branches across Nigeria and a multi-billion naira-worth cathedral in Lagos housing an average 8,000 worshippers every Sunday. One of the poster boys for prosperity evangelism, Adefarasin once declared himself a billionaire, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am a billionaire and there is

Establishment. Over a decade ago, the relationship took a more downward side when Ambassador Fernandez publicly requested that Erelu Dosunmu drop his name.

Subsequently, the Lagos princess resorted to her maiden name, Dosunmu. In her quest to reconcile with Fernandez, the true love of her life, Erelu Dosunmu sought the intervention of Obasanjo, who was one of his very close friends. Unfortunately, Obasanjoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intervention moves was believed to have further strained his friendship nothing anybody can do about it. I have coached many billionaires and you know, the pastor of billionaires is a billionaire.â&#x20AC;? He further boasted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The preacher of a billionaire can only be a billionaire because a monkey cannot give birth to a goat and a goat cannot follow a baboon.

I am a preacher. I am a motivational speaker. I am a TV personality. I am a life coach. You can criticize me or slander me in the pages of newspapers but the blessings are in me and there is nothing anyone can do about it.â&#x20AC;? Born in 1963 to a Nigerian father and Jamaican mother, Pastor Paul resided both in Nigeria and the United States early in life. He trained as an architect at the University of Miami, USA. A self-confessed repentant drug addict, he founded the House on the Rock church, a ministry with over 40 branches in Europe and Africa in 1994. He also started the Rock Foundation which collaborates with the churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social and humanitarian services like rehabilitation and empowerment of ex-convicts, urban

with Ambassador Fernandez. It will be recalled that when Obasanjo completed his second term as Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s president in 2007, Erelu Dosunmu had hosted a classy soirĂŠe to celebrate his 70th birthday anniversary. Those who were privy to how close the two friends were even swore they would end up as a married couple. However, that expectation was said to have been deďŹ&#x201A;ated by Obasanjoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst daughter, Iyabo. She was alleged to have foisted the choice of Bola as her fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oďŹ&#x192;cial wife. miscreants, prostitutes and drug addicts. In 2006, he founded The Experience, an interdenominational gospel concert featuring international and home-grown gospel musicians.

At its debut in 2006, there were over 70,000 attendees. The last edition had over one million attendees which earmarked it as the largest musical concert in Africa. He is married to Pastor Ifeanyi and they have three children.

27 YEARS OF MARITAL BLISSâ&#x20AC;Ś JIM AND PATRICIA NWOBODO CELEBRATE Even the fairest maidens burn to the end of their youth like wicker lamps blowing against the most dreadful desert squall. Like one such fair maiden, Patricia Nwobodo begs to differ. There is no gainsaying that the wife of Senator Jim Nwobodo has appreciated in womanliness and that rare humanity that distinguishes the regal from the inconsequential.

The beautiful wife of the former Governor of Enugu State, is back on the grind. She doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t look like she

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Niyi Adebayo is 60 Today

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either words nor symphonies, nor a thousand epigrams will do in commemorating his true essence and class as he clocked 60 years old today. Timeless anecdotes seep from his being like whirlwind on the grass and inscriptions teaching us that everything and anything about him offers priceless lessons in humility, fortitude and grace. Yes, Niyi Adebayo is humble to a fault.

Despite his status, carries himself like a mushroom, on whom the dew of heaven drops now and then. Many would liken him to a contemporary pinup but Adeniyi Adebayo, the former governor of Ekiti State, effortlessly surpasses the shimmer and allure of overstated praise. He epitomises merit and affluence with indescribable allure. He’s got a heart of gold too. He lives to improve the lot of others, the underprivileged in particular hence the contents of his pockets are

often emptied to better the lives of impoverished, ragged families of the boondocks. Adebayo left office as governor of Ekiti State in 2003 when the then ruling party, PDP, captured five of the six states in the South West. the former governor of Ekiti State did what no one expected by bonding with the Chairman of Dangote Group. The ex-Ekiti governor has regained acclaim and political capital, following his recent appointment as Chairman of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) by President Muhammadu Buhari. Since his exit from the Ekiti State Government House, Adebayo had been unable to land any plum role or position in politics.

While he waited for his comeback, he developed a highly rewarding and enviable friendship with Dangote. With his recent appointment as FAAN chairman, you have a man enjoying a full blast of second chance.

would lose steam or quit anytime soon. The permanent feature at a series of high society soirees in the past seem set to rekindle her spark with uncharacteristic vitality and panache so much so that hardly anyone would remember that she had at one time or the other disappeared from the high society social circuit. Back in the days when her husband, Jim, held sway over Enugu politics like a medieval emperor, the couple became the darling of the state’s high society and their house automatically became a Mecca of sort for political jobbers, hangers-on and favour seekers. However, their bubble got burst when the Federal Government revoked the license of Jim’s Savanah Bank. As if that was not enough, his political might atrophied significantly during the reign of Chimaroke Nnamani whom he

Jim and Patricia Nwobodo

singlehandedly installed as governor and who metamorphosed into Jim’s albatross for the eight years of his tenure. Now, the bad times are over for the merry couple. The family bank’s license has been reinstated and Jim is gradually coming back into his former godfather role in the state’s politics. And Patricia is ageing gracefully too. It’s hardly a surprise then that Patricia would seize the moment to get back on the grind.

They recently celebrated their 27 years wedding anniversary.

THIRD TIME’S A TREAT… MOLADE OKOYA’S DAUGHTER’S HUSBAND, AKEEM ALOBOBAKARE, TAKES WIFE NUMBER 3?

Again, Akeem Alobo-Bakare has ventured into the mysterious overland; that peculiar haven bordered by esplanades of secret

Niyi Adebayo

treasures and colourful spokes of eternal delight. Thanks to sweet heavenly grace, Akeem has rediscovered bliss in ravishing belle, Dayo Adebayo. Hardly anyone believed that he would find another love of his life so soon. To high society trolls, it is unbelievable, but to Akeem, it’s simply ethereal.

To Akeem, finding Dayo is akin to beaming light through the surface of a brushwood that light never penetrated.

Akeem has been seen all over town with Dayo in recent times. So smitten are they with each other that they have aroused speculations about the future of their newfound love; rumour has it that Akeem and Dayo are now married.

A lot of people thought the storm which rocked and almost ended the marriage between Akeem and his wife, Tosin, was over. But they

were shocked to hear the news that Akeem has taken another wife again.

A couple of years back, Akeem, a former banker, became estranged from Tosin and moved out of their home. Before long, he was reported to have become romantically involved with another lady, Dupe, a former employee at Skye Bank.

All through the storm, Tosin, the second daughter of the late boardroom titan, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, held her peace and kept a low profile, even as Dupe went about parading herself as the chosen one. But just when many thought there was no chance of reconciliation, Akeem dumped Dupe and returned to his matrimonial home. Now, he is said to have married Dayo and she’s enjoying the best of the good life with Akeem who spares no expense in taking care of her.

Akeem Alobo-Bakare (r) with new wife, Dayo (l) and a friend

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Former Fidelity Bank’s MD, Reginald Ihejiahi, Bounces Back

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bout five years ago, the Grim Reaper visited the home of Reginald Ugomba Ihejiahi, the former MD of Fidelity bank, and left with his beloved wife, Ugochi Rosaline, a Consultant Paediatrician. She died after a protracted battle with cancer. If money were enough, he could have mustered the whole world to save her and fulfill his vows that they would grow grey together but death had other tragic plans.

Of course, it was hard for him, like it would for anyone else who loses a loved one especially one of the hue of the adorable wife, to accept that they would never see again or look into the loving eyes of each other as they have for the past almost two decades. The anger that he was helpless as his beloved suffered untold agony in her twilight days and all his wealth couldn’t salvage her dovetailed

into understandable depression. But time heals all wounds. Gradually, the former MD has come to accept the reality of his wife’s death as the permanent reality. While the cold, lonely nights subsist, Reginald’s days are becoming interspersed with moments, no matter how brief, when he gives in to some form of gaiety.

Life has to go on. Life is indeed going on well for Reginald. He is no longer moping and moaning years after the demise of Ugochi, and though it is hard to obliterate the memories of his late wife completely from memory, the top banker is bouncing back into full vitality, leaping and spinning when necessary. Right now, Reginald is being bombarded right, left and centre by ladies who want to fill Ugochi’s slot.

For now, he is just happy, playing the dependable Daddy role to his children and holding true to the memories of his marriage. society scene by the throes, dictating its pulse at will and never letting up in the fashion department whenever it mattered. As time went by, however, younger socialites started sprouting, giving them a good run for their fashion and socializing facility. But they never buckled, until she fell. Now, it is age that is playing tricks on her physiognomy.

ROYAL TREATMENT…WHEN REWANE’S GRANDSON, ADEJARE ADEGBENRO BECAME OTUNBA OF OWU

Lanre Ojora

GLAD TIDINGS… LANRE OJORA RECUPERATES A weary thing is sickness and its pains. It almost snuffed out the life of veteran socialite, Lanre Ojora, and cast her family in the vicious grip of inconsolable grief. But thanks to providence, the socialite has bounced back to vitality. It could be recalled that news of her debilitating ailment hit the social space some few months back like an unconquerable ogre.

Months after she went AWOL in circles where she was a frequent fixture, stoking rumours that she was battling a debilitating ailment, close family sources have revealed that indeed she is recuperating from her battle with the undisclosed ailment. Though there was no official confirmation or denial of Lanre’s illness story which made the rounds repeatedly and refused to die down, but the worst seems to be over for one of the top society women. After a glorious stint, spanning several decades in the social circle, it seems that the irrepressible forces of nature have combined to make Lanre slow her roll. In the days when she held sway, no party was complete without her. She and her friends held the

It is often said that he who rides the tides of industry influences the thought of his times. Eventually, he commands the epochs that follow and impresses his name on eternity.

Such an individual no doubt sways the applause of listening Senates. If he is cut of the rare stock that Adejare Adegbenro hails from, he effortlessly attracts the patronage of leaders of men. Thus it was hardly surprising that he earned the good graces of the paramount ruler of Owu Kingdom.

Adejare Adegbenro, the grandson

Reginald Ihejiahi

of late Pa Alfred Rewane, has been installed as the first Otunba Laje of Owu Kingdom in Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria. Adegbenro was installed on Saturday, January 20 by His Royal Majesty Oba Olusanya Dosunmu II, the traditional ruler of Owu kingdom. Dignitaries present at the event include, the Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Amaju Pinnick. Though the new Otunba Laje of Owu Kingdom comes from a lineage of two prominent political traditions; his father is Chief Niyi Adegbenro and he is the grandson of late Pa Alfred Rilwane, the heropolitician whose blood nurtured the oaks of freedom in contemporary Nigeria’s shadowy history. Adejare’s patriarchal grandfather was the late former Premier of Western Region, Alhaji Dauda Adegbenro, who also played a very prominent role in the evolution of post-independence Nigeria.

announcement on her twitter page @cuppymusic. She stated: “I plan to send 10 people to university this year and I’m so proud to say I have completed with my first student!

Akeem Owolabi is off to Unilag! #Blessed.” Cuppy who is also a music producer is the daughter of Nigerian business magnate Femi Otedola and sister of travel vlogger, Temi Otedola. The video of her first official single ‘Greenlight’ featuring Tekno, which was released in October, 2017 currently has 4.5million views on YouTube. DJ Cuppy, who describes her sound as a fusion of ‘Electro’ and ‘Afrobeats’, was the resident DJ for MTV2 show ‘Uncommon Sense’ with Charlamange Tha God. Her maiden tour ‘Cuppy Takes Africa’ was documented as an eight-episode docu-series, which aired on Fox Life Africa in 2016 and The Africa Channel in 2017. In April 2014, Cuppy was appointed by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation as the tourism ambassador for the country’s “Fascinating Nigeria” campaign.

A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK! IFE OTEDOLA AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS TO 10 INDIGENT STUDENTS

Adejare Adegbenro

Being the daughter of a billionaire is enough fame already. When you are now the daughter of one the richest in Nigeria, the people should literally worship the grounds that you tread. Men should bow and women should genuflect when you as much as look in their direction.

If you were ostentatious, fun-loving a la Paris Hilton, the world would wave it off as a non-issue; it comes with the terrain, they would say just to cover up for your excesses.

However, celebrity Disc Jockey, Ifeoluwa Otedola a.k.a DJ Cuppy, has announced her plans to award scholarships to ten indigent students to study in the University in 2018.

DJ Cuppy, who is one of Africa’s most celebrated DJs, made the

Ife Otedola

Sunday February 4, 2018

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Price: N400

MISSILE Kukah to Nigerians “Those in power have been holding us hostage, so we need to wake up and take necessary steps. Our people are too naive to have taken all promises serious. For example, we were told that corruption will be fought but we never asked questions on how.”

– Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto Rev. Father Matthew Kukah, commenting on the state of the nation.

SIMONKOLAWOLE SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

Rome was Not Destroyed in a Day

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adiq Daba, the actor, ran into some serious health issues recently. He cried out for financial help to undergo foreign treatment. Pronto, Nigerians reacted overwhelmingly. But wait.

I did not hear anybody talk about Daba’s religion or ethnic group. The people who tweeted and retweeted his appeal for help, and those who contributed money, were certainly not from his village. I was so so so so so happy. It confirmed, yet again, my pet theory about Nigeria — that we do not hate each other. We are just victims of the unending political manipulation of ethnic and religious identities for selfish gain. Evidently, ordinary Nigerians have the “Nigerian spirit” in their DNA. My grandmother, God rest her sweet soul, shaped my worldview when I was a little boy growing under her care. She had this amazing ability to be so proud of her Yoruba heritage and at the same time celebrating the best in people of other tongues. In the days of Operation Feed the Nation, launched by the military government of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo in the late 1970s, we planted tomato, maize and spinach in our garden. One day, when the tomatoes were ripe, Mama told me: “Have you noticed that when the tomato in the north is out of season, our own is due for harvest? That shows you God wants us to live together, to complement each other.”

I did not understand much of modernised agricultural practices then — I would have argued with her that you could have both tomato species all-season! But, forget my mischief, she was so broadminded. It must have rubbed off on her offspring. When my father’s younger sister wanted to marry a Muslim, she maybe thought Mama would not like it. As I was told, my aunty introduced her fiancé as “Moses”.

It was only when their children (that is, my cousins) were being named Hakeem, Sherifat and Ibrahim that the family realised “Moses” was actually “Mustapha”! Mama, I was told, laughed off the trick with a rhetorical question: “Were we not all created by the same God?” Indeed. I have met extremists and chauvinists from across religions and races. I am yet to hear anyone declare that we were not created by the same God. One of the most astonishing things about life, to me, is the fact that although we can choose to be Muslims or Christians, and so on, nobody can choose to be Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba or whatever. We just woke up one day to find ourselves as members of one ethnic group or the other. It was not our making. So why should you discriminate against me, and hate me, on the basis of an ethnic identity that is beyond my control? Is it my fault that I was born into a family that was clearly not my choice?

In this “mindsets” series, my goal is to challenge the way we think about Nigeria. I am fully persuaded that since we have been doing things the same way for ages and we have been getting essentially the same results, the time has come for us to challenge our fundamental assumptions and thinking — and begin to consciously do things differently. As many commentators, analysts and public speakers have been pointing out over time, we need to reform our mindsets. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. A mind moulded with hate, prejudice, greed and inordinate ambition will produce nothing but hate, prejudice, greed and inordinate ambition.

In the first part of this series, I wrote on “The President Nigeria Badly Needs” (January 7, 2018).

I challenged our obsession with seasonal political calculations and permutations. We build our hopes on false dawns and heat-of-the-moment excitements every four years — and end up

Sadiq Daba with more of the same. Something has to change. In the second instalment, “The Spirit of Lagos That Nigeria Needs” (January 28, 2018), I revisited the now rested “Spirit of Lagos”, a reorientation campaign by the TBWA Consortium, in partnership with the Lagos state government.

I said Nigerian leaders and the citizens need to cultivate new mindsets to be able to build a new Nigeria.

Today, I am going a little bit practical on how we can renew our minds. There is a saying that Rome was not built in a day, a proverb originated by the 19th century English playwright, John Heywood, who also gave us immortal expressions such as “out of sight out of mind”, “better late than never”, and “the more the merrier”. He said Rome wasn’t built in a day “but they were laying bricks every hour”. This, in some sense, tells us the value of consistent hard work, perseverance and conscious efforts at construction. If Nigeria is going to change, therefore, we must alienate those who see themselves, first and foremost, as ethno-religious champions. It all starts in the mind.

But, pardon me, Rome was not destroyed in a day either. It took ages to build the city but took a much shorter time to destroy it.

Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 AD. In three days, they looted, burnt and wrecked the beautiful city. That hastened the collapse of the Roman Empire. Same thing applies here: the destruction of Nigeria by ethnic champions and religious bigots will not happen in one day — it is a gradual, steady process. That is why we the people must guard our hearts jealously before we are recruited into the hate brigade under different guises. Those already recruited can decide to desert straightaway. We need to build, not destroy.

My suggestions. To start with, do not participate in the sharing of messages and materials that are clearly intended to preach hate and prejudice.

Saying “shared as received” is pure hypocrisy.

You can be critical of leadership without attacking or disparaging their religions and ethnic origins.

As a matter of principle, I do not share messages that are clearly meant to spread hate. It is a

duty I owe my conscience. We all have terrible things to say about other people. If we do not allow love to guard our hearts, we will keep adding fuel to fire. Therefore, before you press the “send” or “forward” button, ask yourself: what is my motive? Unto thyself, be honest.

Also, do not feed your children with hate and prejudice. Fill their hearts with edifying things. A senior colleague of mine, a Muslim, married a Christian, who then converted to Islam.

He told me he once engaged the services of a cleric to teach his children the Qur’an every Sunday. One day, he overheard the cleric telling the children not to drink from the same cup or eat from the same plate with their aunts, who were living with them, because they were “infidels”. My colleague fired the “afa” on the spot. He remains a devout Muslim, sure, but he saw danger and immediately quenched it.

This kind of hate messaging certainly fuelled the mindset that birthed Boko Haram.

This is how hate works: it focuses on what divides us rather than what unites us. If there are Qur’anic verses that say Muslims should love and care for Christians, the hate merchants will focus on where Christians are called “infidels”.

If there are verses in the Bible that say “love your neighbour as yourself”, the messengers of hate will focus on “what fellowship does light have with darkness?” There is nothing you want to justify with the scriptures that you won’t find. If you truly have love in your heart, you will focus on the verses of love. The God that forbade eating four-footed creatures is the same God that ordered Apostle Peter, in a trance, to kill and eat! To the pure all things are pure.

And this is how prejudice works: because Chief Obafami Awolowo did not declare Oduduwa Republic in solidarity with Biafra in 1967, every Yoruba is a traitor — including the one that was born early this morning. Because an Igbo chap was arrested for 419, every Igbo person — dead, living or unborn — is a fraudster.

Because Barkin Zuwo struggled with speaking English, every northerner is an illiterate; in fact, no northerner has a brain. Because of the insane activities of ISIS and Boko Haram, every Muslim is a terrorist, including your friend. Tragically, there are people that the only thing they can see in you is your language or religion, not the content of your character.

Let me quickly say this before I shut down my laptop and take a stroll: it is very difficult to resist the message of hate and prejudice in a society already polluted by manipulative politicians, their overpaid sidekicks and our inept leaders. I know. When everybody is saying there is casting down, it is very difficult to go against the grain and say there is lifting up. You just go with the flow. But maybe the “casting down” gang is not as big as the “lifting up” brigade — just that the latter has been intimidated into silence.

They must begin to speak out. Rome was not destroyed in a day. Those working to destroy Nigeria neither sleep nor slumber.

As for me and my house, we resolved long ago that we would never feed our children with hate, prejudices and biases. These things are usually passed on from generation to generation. I resolved to follow the example of my grandmother by celebrating the best in others rather than focusing on their worst. I would rather talk about the dignity in labour you find among the Hausa, the creativity among the Igbo and the industry among the Yoruba.

Accuse me of living in denial and I will accuse you of living in bitterness. Accuse me of being politically correct and I will accuse you of being self-righteous. Accuse me of being naïve and I will accuse you of being jaundiced. It’s all in the mind.

And Four Other Things…

HATE MESSAGE Talking about hate speech, I was presented with a perfect example on a platter of gold on Saturday. Punch quoted Professor Umar Labdo of Maitama Sule University, Kano (formerly Kano State University), as saying the Fulani are destined to lead Nigeria for a long time. He even as much as said that we should be grateful the jihadists did not annihilate local people after the conquest. To help douse the tension caused by the Fulani herdsmen crisis, which has claimed hundreds of lives, he said Benue belongs to the Fulani.

I hope by the time all these professors turn Nigeria to Somalia with their reckless and insensitive utterances, they will be very proud of themselves. Tactless.

THE OYINLOLA COALITION The Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) is finally here to “rescue Nigeria” from APC. In October 2005, the Movement for the Defence of Democracy (MDD) was launched by ex-PDP bigwigs such as Chief Audu Ogbeh and Chief Tom Ikimi, along with opposition figures, to “rescue Nigeria”. MDD gave birth to ACD, later AC, later ACN and today’s APC that “rescued” Nigeria from PDP in 2015. In 2010, there was the PDP Reform Group, made up of Chief Ken Nnamani, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari and Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, et al, to “rescue Nigeria”. Today, the CNM, led by Brig-Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola (rtd), is all set to “rescue Nigeria” from APC in 2019. Again.

GLORIOUS EXIT Former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme has been buried in his hometown, Oko, Anambra state. Someone pointed out on social media that “in one week Oko has street lights everywhere, in one week the bad road from Ekwulobia to Oko has been reconstructed”.

Great thoughts. My theory remains that if Nigerian leaders resolve to develop Nigeria today, you will see a marked difference within four years. If they decide that all hospitals will become world-class and there will be uninterrupted power supply and all major roads will be in good shape, you will see the results in no time. One day, we will come to the consensus that our real problem is poor leadership. Truth.

STINKING STEPHANIE Stephanie Otobo, the Canada-based stripper, last year accused Apostle Johnson Suleiman of things. She went into lurid details, giving dates and timelines. Charged to court in Nigeria over alleged blackmail, she sued Suleiman in Canada, claiming $5 million in damages resulting from “breach of trust, breach of fiduciary relations, breach of contract, negligence, defamation and poisoning”. She even found time to record a gospel song.

She has now done a U-turn, claiming she was politically induced to blackmail the pastor.

Was she pressured to recant? In a sane society, she should be facing criminal charges, including perjury and blackmail, by now. But is it not Nigeria? Theatre.

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