Monday 29th October 2018

Mr. Fix-It, Political Colossus, Anenih, Bows Out At 85 Buhari, Dogara, PDP, APC, others mourn

Iyobosa Uwugiaren, Omololu Ogunmade and Shola Oyeyipo in Abuja For the man popularly called ‘Mr. Fix it’ by his party men because of his political

dexterity at resolving logjams, the beat stopped yesterday.

Chief Tony Anenih, former Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), died in the early hours of yesterday, a statement by

the family said.

“With a heavy heart and total submission to the will of the Almighty God, the family of Chief Anthony Akhakon Anenih, the Iyasele of Esanland, announces his

passing on to glory today, Sunday, October 28, 2018 after a brief illness,” said the statement by his son, Tony Anenih Jnr., adding, that he was 85 and survived by many children, grandchildren and

great grandchildren.

He said burial arrangements would be announced soon.

A torrent of condolence messages and tributes poured Continued on page 56

Late Anenih

Banks’ Impairment Charges Drop as Loan Repayment Improves… Page 56 Monday 29 October, 2018 Vol 23. No 8594. Price: N250

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Despite Buhari’s Apparent Qualification to Run in 2019, PDP Heads to Court Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

In spite of the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended that show that President Muhammadu Buhari is qualified to run for the nation’s presidency, the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said yesterday that it would challenge the president’s suitability in court.

There had been controversy over the affidavit Buhari submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission

(INEC) in 2015, claiming that his certificates could not be attached to his nomination form because they were with the military.

He had said, “I am the above-named person and the deponent of this affidavit herein. All my academic qualification documents as filled in my presidential form, APC/001/2015 are currently with the Secretary of the Military Board as of the time of this affidavit.”

Continued on page 10

Why Atiku Selected Obi as Running Mate Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, chose former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, as his running mate to reward the former governor for his loyalty, consistency and competence, a source close to the selection process told THISDAY yesterday.

Speaking from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the Atiku campaign strategy is being mapped out, the

source that did not want to be mentioned, also said South-east leaders and vice presidential aspirants, including Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, and the Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Dave Umahi, were being pacified, adding that Atiku had given a firm commitment to spend one term and hand over to a South-easterner in 2023.

Clarifying the reason for the choice of Obi, the source said of all the aspirants for Continued on page 56

APC Senator Scores President Low, Predicts North-east Loss in 2019... Page 10

FOR CLEANER ELECTIONS...

Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (left), and National Commissioner, Legal, Mrs. May Agbamuche- Mbu, during a press briefing on the commission’s preparations for the 2019 general election, in Abuja... weekend julius atoi

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PAGE TEN

APC Senator Scores President Low, Predicts North-east Loss in 2019 Warns against rigging, Senate leader keeps mum Governors meet tomorrow

Deji Elumoye and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja A member of the National Assembly, Senator Bukar Ibrahim, has warned that the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari in February, 2019, may suffer a setback in the North-east.

This, he said, was because the president had so far performed below expectations.

Ibrahim (APC Yobe East), who sounded this note of warning at the weekend in Abuja also tasked the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), not to toy with the idea of rigging the next general elections in the country.

The three-term senator declared that massive rigging may not save Buhari from the imminent defeat as realities on the ground show that Nigerians were worse off under him in the last three and half years if compared to the 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule from 1999 to 2015.

The former governor of Yobe State who spoke at the Internet Launch of his Book 'Poorlitics' to mark his 70th Birthday, said votes from the six North-east states of Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe should not be taken for granted since it’s not compulsory that the zone must vote for Buhari.

According to him, the political marriage between the North-east

and North-west, where Buhari hails from dated back to the last general elections in 2015 since several decades of party formations and democratic governance in the country from the 1950s.

According to him." In fact, the politics of the North-east has always been different from the politics of the North-west and it was under APC that we all united for the first time.

"I am going to give a dire warning. Let the North-east not be taken for granted that we must support APC. "Our interest in the North-east has always been progressive and I will personally be watching for required improvements in the APC before the elections.

Improvements that can guarantee victory such as respecting the rule of law and releasing political prisoners as well as unselective war against corruption as against one sided witchhunt."

The senator expressed concern that things were getting worse by the day under the change mantra government of the APC since May 29, 2015.

He said, "As we move towards the elections, I have to give a serious warning to the APC that things are no longer the way they were in 2015 when we rode to power on a cloud of euphoria believing that things will change for better. Simply

put, things have not changed and many things are getting worse and the people are bitter.

On rigging, the senator declared, "We should not assume that we can win even with massive rigging."

Ibrahim also gave the ruling party thumps down for not finding a lasting solution to the nation's ailing economy.

"The economy has gone down because of our action and inaction and we are blaming the past too much rather than solving the present problems,” he said.

According to him, if APC under Buhari did not get its bearings in terms of good governance before the 2019 general elections, the North-east will have no any other option than to vote for candidates of other political parties.

He, however, expressed his readiness to ensure that the party does what is right between now and the general elections saying, "I shall sit back and continue to encourage my party to do the right thing. But if we don't, I still reserve the capacity to ask my people to go our separate ways and do what must be done for good governance to reign in Nigeria."

The senator added for effect," At my age, I have no reason to lie, being a socialist progressive over the years as against capitalist conservatives that dominate the

other zones".

According to him, the Northeast was on the same page with the progressives politics played by the late Aminu Kano of the defunct Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU); Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the defunct Action Group (AG) and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of the defunct National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroun (NCNC) as against the capitalistic and conservative ideology of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) led by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello and seen as aggressive and ruthless to the North-eastern and Middle Belt people generally.

Ibrahim added that the sole purpose of authoring the book 'Poorlitics' was to discourage money politics in the polity and promote people centred politics he said he did in Yobe State where he claimed he contested for governorship position in 1991 with just N20,000.00 in his bank account and yet with massive support of the people, he defeated the money bags and their godfathers.

Meanwhile, the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, (APC Yobe North), who is also from the North-east zone as Ibrahim, declined to comment on the reservations of Ibrahim about the electoral chances of Buhari in the zone.

When he was contacted on

phone yesterday, the Senate leader told THISDAY, "I choose not to comment."

When prodded further Lawan declared, "It's my choice not to comment on that issue and I think I'm entitled to that choice."

APC Govs Meet Tomorrow Meanwhile, the stage is set for a possible confrontation between some aggrieved governors of the APC and the ones loyal to the National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, at Tuesday's reconciliatory meeting in Abuja.

Four of the governors, the Chief Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Senator Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) and Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), who were not happy with the party's decisions on the recent primary elections in their states are said to be mobilising support for a vote of no confidence against Oshiomhole at the meeting of APC governors scheduled for tomorrow.

The APC governors are expected to meet separately in Abuja under the auspices of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) to try and take a common position before the meeting being summoned by the president to resolve the crisis

in the party.

Among the cases that the reconciliatory meeting will seek to resolve are the tussles over who are the rightful governorship candidates for APC in Ogun, Imo and Zamfara States.

While Amosun is complaining that his favoured candidate, Mr. Abiodun Akinlade, was dropped for Chief Dapo Abiodun, Okorocha is doing battle to ensure that his son-in-law, Mr. Uche Nwosu, gets the party's ticket for the state, ahead of another claimant, Senator Hope Uzodinma.

THISDAY gathered at the weekend that both sides of the divide were mobilising and making frantic efforts to win support ahead of the meeting.

A reliable source told THISDAY yesterday that Oshiomhole would be coming back from his trip to the United States today to take charge of things.

The source also said that before his travel overseas the embattled APC chairman had commissioned some of his close allies to help reach out to leaders of the party in various zones in order to douse tension.

As a result of the move to shore up support, the source said that Oshiomhole was able to mobilise his immediate constituency, the state chairmen of APC in the South-south to pass a vote of confidence on him.

DESPITE BUHARI’S APPARENT QUALIFICATION TO RUN IN 2019, PDP HEADS TO COURT The Director of Army Public Relations at that time, Brig-Gen Olajide Laleye, however, said the Army was not in possession of Buhari’s certificates as claimed.

“Nevertheless, the entry made on the NA Form 199A at the point of documentation after commission as an officer indicated that the former Head of State obtained the West African School Certificate in 1961 with credits in relevant subjects: English Language, Geography, History, Health Science, Hausa and a pass in English Literature. However, neither the original copy, Certified True Copy nor statement of result of Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s WASC result is in his personal file,” he had told the press at a news conference in Abuja.

Laleye, along with some other senior military officers, would later be retired upon the ascendancy of the APC administration in 2015.

The president made the same submission in his nomination form for the 2019 presidential run, and the PDP now seek to make an issue out of it, saying it would approach the court to determine if the president’s affidavit could take the place of verifiable certificate that would establish his academic credentials.

Although the presidency had dismissed the controversy as needless, contending that the matter had been settled since 2015, anonymous legal experts, who spoke to THISDAY at the weekend agreed with the president’s men, arguing that under the 1999 Constitution as amended, no certificate was required to be tendered before a candidate’s suitability could be determined.

They cited section 131 of the Constitution, which specified the qualification for the office of President.

It states, “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of President if- (a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth; (b) he has attained the age of forty years;

(c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and (d) he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”

According to one of the lawyers, also a learned silk, “There is no doubt that the president has fulfilled all these conditions, including the last one that talks about academic qualification.”

He said there was a mistaken notion that a formal certificate was required, explaining that what a candidate needed is to show evidence that he had been educated up to a school certificate.

“A candidate may indeed score F9 in all subjects; he does not need to pass. Once he has attempted he is covered by the Constitution,” he said, adding, “Can we then say Buhari who went to War College and became a Major-General in the Army has not been educated up to school certificate level?”

Notwithstanding, the PDP said it would test this argument in court.

Speaking with THISDAY on phone yesterday, the South-west Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Eddy Olafeso, said that the main opposition party was heading to court to ensure a logical conclusion to the controversy surrounding Buhari’s certificate.

The move was also corroborated by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, who said PDP’s lawyers were “under instructions to challenge the president’s unsubstantiated claim in court.”

“The party’s position,” said Ologbondiyan “is the legal principle that he who asserts must prove,” adding, “the president deposed to an affidavit that his certificates were with the Army; but the Army denied the claim.

The court will have to determine whether candidate Buhari perjured, and if he did, whether he is a fit and proper person to hold high office. Secondly should

he be allowed to use perjury to qualify to contest again?”

The PDP official said its senior lawyers were of the strong view that a case of perjury could be made and whilst the president could not be tried, a court declaration that on the face of his affidavit and the denial by the Army, he could be held to have perjured.

“But we leave the matter for the court to decide,” Ologbondiyan said last night.

Olafeso told THISDAY, “No one should still be under any form of doubt that Buhari has no certificate.”

According to him, “We have done so (approach court) in the past, they subverted the will of the people, they bent justice to their side and they remained silent over the matter. But this second time around, we will follow it to the letters. We will do so before he knows it.”

Olafeso noted that the issue of certificate was not the only albatross around Buhari’s neck.

He said, “Buhari has not been duly elected because the electoral law is clear, that it is either you elect the president or any other elective position in each of the party by direct or indirect primary.

“In his own case, they did not do only indirect, they went ahead to do direct primary. At what point in time did the law stipulates that both can be done at the same time. As far as I am concerned the APC has no presidential candidate.”

Section 31 (5) (8) of the Electoral Act states, “A person who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by a candidate in the affidavit or any document submitted by that candidate is false may file a suit at the High Court of a State or Federal High Court against such person seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false. “(8) A political party which presents to the commission the name of a candidate who does not meet the qualifications stipulated

in this section, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N500,000.00.”

While reacting to the statement made by Fashola at a town hall meeting on infrastructure last week in Ibadan, Oyo State, where he said a vote for Buhari would ensure that power return to the zone in 2023, Olafeso said he didn’t speak for the South-west people but for himself.

Olafeso stressed that Fashola and all his associates were not representing the interest of the South-west but their own interest.

He stated, “Fashola wants the South-west to suffer another four years of harrowing experience like they did in the last three and half years. It is nothing but an extreme selfishness borne out of irresponsibility politically for him to have said that people must suffer another four years under Buhari.

“The power he got in eight years in Lagos, what did he do with it comparing it with the amount of resources available to him? It was shared amongst the political class in Lagos, so, they are all enjoying themselves at the expense of the ordinary man.

“He is not speaking the interests of the South-west; the South-west will rather vote out this lifeless, incompetent government than wait for another four years just because we want power in the South-west “The South-west is a highly intellectually developed zone and we believe in the development of our country. We want somebody that is interested in restructuring the nation that will provide for education and infrastructure.”

Olafeso added that the Southwest zone had already decided to vote the APC government out of office because they have failed the Nigerian people.

“Who wants to take Fashola seriously, a first-class governor that turned to a third class minister?

“What have they done in the South-west that they will be taken seriously? He is not even in the

power equation of the zone,” he stated.

PDP Cautions INEC to Resist Alleged Pressure from Presidency Meanwhile, the main opposition party has also cautioned the Chairman of INEC, Prof.

Mahmood Yakubu, not to succumb to alleged pressure to manipulate the electoral process in 2019, following his speculated secret meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, at the Presidential villa on Friday.

The INEC chairman’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, however, refused to confirm his boss’ alleged meeting with the president’s chief of staff. “I have no comment,” he told THISDAY on phone at the weekend.

A call and a text message

by THISDAY to the phone of the National Commissioner on Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, were also not responded to at press time.

But the PDP said the polity was already tensed over INEC’s listing of the president for election despite his failure to present the constitutionally required academic credentials like other candidates.

This development, the party said casts a dark shadow on the credibility of INEC to conduct a transparent election.

The opposition party in a statement issued yesterday by Ologbondiyan said Nigerians were aware that by Buhari’s declaration, in an affidavit, that his certificates were with the military were false and that his nomination documentation was, therefore, constitutionally incomplete, making him ineligible to contest the 2019 presidential elections.

It said, “The PDP cautions the chairman of INEC not to succumb to pressure to manipulate the electoral process for President

Buhari as such could cause serious crisis capable of disarticulating our nation.

“PDP’s fresh caution to INEC Chairman is predicated on an alleged secret meeting he held with President Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari, at the Presidential villa last Friday.”

The PDP said now that Nigerians had rejected Buhari’s affidavit and insisted on his certificates, the APC is left with no option than to accept its self-inflicted misfortune.

“Meanwhile, we are not unaware of the anxiety and apprehension in the APC but such is the price of being stuck with bad merchandise,” it said.

The PDP also cautioned Buhari not to allow his personal ambition to push the nation into chaos.

The PDP cautioned Buhari’s handlers, who it said were desperate to force him on an unwilling nation, that they were fast pushing the nation to the brink and should be checked before it was too late.

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COMMENT

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

TAX AS A PATHWAY TO ECONOMIC GROWTH Ayobami Akanji urges all to key into the government’s tax scheme

Taxation is the price which civilised communities pay for the opportunity of remaining civilised - Albert Bushnell Hart

N

igeria has always been the victim: if she wasn’t being suffocated to death by bad and directionless leadership, she would be exploited by tax evaders. Or a very matching combination of the two that either way leaves her helpless.

She is always the victim, when a saviour comes to claw her from the jaws of those who’ve sucked her for breakfast, butchered her for lunch and planned how big a cut they will take from her shoulder for their dinner.

Tunder Fowler, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) exposed what really should make the heart of every Nigerian cringe. He said that over 6,772 billionaires, with between N1bn and N5bn in their accounts are defaulting in their payments of taxes; some of these billionaires actually live and do business here, making huge profits.

According to the FIRS, there are 31,395 records of companies and businesses obtained from 23 banks with individual turnover of between N3 billion and over N5 billion who have not paid a kobo as tax in the last three years.

A patriot is the one that does whatever it is that will advance the interests of his country. A bad citizen only thinks of how his country can advance his own interests. The Buhari administration rode on the wave of resetting the country by doing things differently. Shrinking oil prices, debts servicing, recurrent expenditure and other commitments are limiting the scope of work the government plans to do. He has, as always, talked on diversifying the economy, making other aspects of the economy as viable as oil is. He has also committed to sourcing funds from places anew and one of such places is the tax.

It is important to note that Nigeria has one of the lowest tax to GDP ratio globally. Knowing the importance of tax in growing the economy and building the requisite infrastructure, in June 2017, then Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, signed into law, the Voluntary Actions Income and Declaration Scheme (VAIDS). Defaulting taxpayers were thus given a window to regularise their tax status relating to previous tax periods and to pay any taxes due. This is in exchange for, according to what they have on their website “forgiveness of overdue interests and penalties and the assurance that they do not face criminal prosecution for tax offences or tax investigations�.

Signs of successes have been apparent as, according to Fowler, government has recovered about N30 billion under this tax amnesty scheme. He also said, in his capacity as the chairman of Joint Tax Board, that the numbers on the national taxpayers’ database have risen to over 19 million in 2018 from

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT NIGERIA HAS ONE OF THE LOWEST TAX TO GDP RATIO GLOBALLY

the 14 million it was in 2016.

What a bold step, what an achievement!

However, it is interesting to see the silent revolution going on to ensure a holistic diversification of the economy. One key source of revenue which was not fully tapped in the past, but which the current leadership is ensuring from is unearthed and is fully harnessed for the benefit of all is tax.

Conversely, the sum of N2.983bn has been generated from payments on demand notices placed upon property owners who are being assessed on their turnover. 653 out of 2,672 of such non-filers are now filing. A total of N47.5bn, $32.8m and N225 billion has been collected from 2016 till date.

Realising the efficacy of this scheme amongst other reasons that may include closing doors on impunity, the Buhari administration launched the Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularisation Scheme (VOARS). It is simply an order for Nigerians to do the right thing done all over the world: declare and pay tax on your offshore assets.

It is very similar to (VAIDS) signed by the VP with the only difference being the offshore assets. The scheme was set up to regularise offshore assets and tax status, and also to ascertain their outstanding level of tax liability. With an assessment period of 30 years, it gives a 12-month window for tax defaults to come forward and clear the burden they’ve accumulated.

During this window, defaulters that choose to voluntarily regularise their tax status for all the relevant years will pay a one-time levy of 35% of their offshore assets in lieu of all outstanding taxes, penalties and interest.

Another option readily available for those who want to voluntarily regularise their tax status is for them to access a specific government disclosure facility based in Switzerland.

Those that comply will naturally enjoy immunity to prosecution and enjoy waivers on interests and penalties. Defaulters will be easily spotted out as the automatic exchange of information between Nigeria and foreign countries goes into full effect. They will also be obligated to pay 100% of all interests and penalties arising from the principal sum that has piled up for the period of 30 years. It’s like a scheme designed to save defaulters from running into trouble and also to increase the revenue inflow to the government coffers for infrastructural development.

A government that has plans should have the necessary fundings to execute them, else they remain what they are - plans. Nigerians are advised to key into this scheme. Take advantage of this period of grace and wriggle out of the law’s tentacles because when it comes knocking at your door, even if you don’t open, it comes in and makes itself comfortable. The law always takes it course. t"LBOKJ XSPUF GSPN "CVKB

OF CBN, SKYE BANK AND CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

The incorporation of Polaris Bank to assume the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank is a model of purchase and assumption, write Umar-Faruq Hussain and Olayanju Phillips

O

n 21st September 2018, same week that bankers and regulators across the world were examining the lessons learnt from the Lehman Brothers’ collapse a decade after and the challenges ahead, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) finally stepped into Skye Bank Plc and revoked the operating license of the commercial bank and its assets and liabilities taken over by Polaris Bank - a newly licensed bridge bank set up by the CBN to manage the affairs of the defunct Skye Bank until its subsequent sale to credible and financially sound third-party acquirers that will assume control of its assets and liabilities.

Owing to the intricate nature of corporate restructuring – especially that adopted by the CBN for Skye Bank, many media houses and commentators have unwittingly categorized it under various heads of corporate restructuring, all of which bear no semblance with what actually happened with Skye Bank under the relevant Nigerian legal framework. This intervention seeks to demystify the corporate/ legal intricacies surrounding the withdrawal of Skye Bank’s operating license vis-à -vis the coming of Polaris Bank.

Reports have it that the trouble with Skye Bank started when it decided to acquire Mainstreet Bank, a nationalised bank sustained by regulatory oxygen in 2014. Worse still, the directors of Skye Bank surprised financial experts by agreeing to pay N126 billion for a bank with net asset value of N59 billion. This turned out to be a calamitous business deal as the acquisition triggered a gradual and steady decline in the financial condition of Skye Bank. There were also reports that the bank’s erstwhile chairman and shareholder and another director had borrowed heavily from the bank.

Consequently, the bank had a low liquidity ratio and was unable to meet its financial obligations. Meanwhile, the CBN had in its monetary, credit, foreign trade and exchange policy for fiscal years 2016/2017 required commercial banks to maintain a minimum liquidity ratio of 30%. With the towering bad loans and recurrent losses, Skye Bank struggled to meet the 30% benchmark. Thus, it was placed on the

regulatory oxygen of CBN through liquidity support from the apex bank.

The persistent decline in the bank’s financial health led to the intervention of the CBN on 4th July 2016, with the sacking of the chairman and all non-executive directors on the board as well as the managing director, deputy managing director, and the two longest-serving executive directors on the management team.

To this situation CBN stated: “These proactive moves have become unavoidable in view of the persistent failure of Skye Bank Plc to meet minimum thresholds in critical prudential guidelines and capital adequacy ratios, which has culminated in the bank’s permanent presence at the CBN lending window. In particular, Skye Bank’s liquidity and non-performing loan ratios have been below and above the required thresholds, respectively, for quite a while�.

There are times when the liabilities of a company are in excess of their assets, thus the need to restructure, reposition or re-organize. This is known as corporate restructuring. Corporate restructuring is, thus, the reorganization of the legal, operational, ownership or other structures of a company. Corporate restructuring options can either be internal or external or a combination of both. The option to adopt is usually a product of business decisions and legal exigencies. Internal restructuring involves the company along with its members or creditors while external involves the company and other third parties. Example of internal restructuring includes arrangement on sale, arrangement and compromise, management buy-out, reduction in share capital, share reconstruction/consolidation. External restructuring options, on the other hand, include mergers and acquisition, takeover, purchase and assumption et cetera.

Whichever method of corporate restructuring a company chooses to adopt, a key thing to keep in mind is that it is usually governed by the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Investment and Securities Act, Securities and Exchange Commission Rules and Regulations, Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules and other sectoral laws. Of all the corporate restructuring options identified above, the one that concerns us most is purchase and assumption, otherwise known as P&A.

Purchase and Assumption is an external restructuring option which aims at rescuing investments in a moribund or failing company.

This involves another company purchasing the assets of a failing company, usually at an auction price, and assuming its liabilities. It is usually effected through a duly executed Deed of Purchase and Assumption executed by the parties and the resolutions approving the transaction or government white papers in the case of government corporation purchased and assumed by a regulatory agency such as CBN, NDIC or AMCON. An application must be made to the Federal High Court (FHC) for the P&A to be sanctioned. The deed and other documents for the perfection are filed along with the processes at the FHC. The use of the deed makes it easy to transfer assets which are legal interests in land.

Thus, P&A reduces the loss of investment by allowing another company or investors to purchase the liabilities of the failing company and assume ownership of its assets, usually at an auction price. The assumed company does not go through the formal winding up process but is dissolved through a judicial sale of its assets and liabilities to the purchasing company.

It must be noted that here all the liabilities of the failing company are taken which is a major difference between P&A and Cherry picking.

Some of the variations which P&A may take include: whole bank P&A; partial P&A; loss sharing P&A; bridge bank.

Again, of all the variations of P&A, the one that is most relevant to our discourse is bridge banking, hence a detailed consideration of same below.

It is apposite to properly demystify what the concept ‘bridge banking’ entails. A bridge bank transaction is a type of P&A in which the deposit insurer acts temporarily as the acquirer. It is a new, temporary, full-service bank, designed to “bridge� the gap between the failure of a bank and time when the deposit insurer can implement a satisfactory acquisition by a third party. The original bank is closed by the authority and placed in receivership. Bridge bank is operated for a limited time period, with provision for limited extensions, after which time it must be sold or otherwise resolved.

Bridge bank is especially useful where a failing bank is large or unusually complex. Before establishing a bridge bank, a cost analysis must show that the estimated operating cost of the bridge bank is less costly than a payoff. The use of bridge banks has played a key role in the resolution of bank failure in Korea and Japan. The USA had used bridge bank 10 times between 1987 and 1994 by creating 32 bridge banks for 114 separate institutions. Following reforms in the banking sector, Nigeria adopted the bridge bank model in 2011 when Mainstreet Bank, Keystone Bank, and Enterprise Bank, newly incorporated bridge banks, assumed the assets and liabilities of Afribank Nigeria, Bank PHB and Spring Bank respectively. When discussing bridge banking within the Nigerian banking landscape, two enactments readily come to mind viz, Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Act. Section 12(1) of BOFIA provides: one, The Governor may, with the approval of the Board of Directors and by notice published in the Gazette revoke any licence granted under this Act if a bank; ceases to carry on in Nigeria the type of banking business for which the licence was issued for any continuous period of six months or any period aggregating six months during a continuous period of 12 months; goes into liquidation or is wound up or otherwise dissolved; fails to fulfil or comply with any condition subject to which the licence was granted; has insufficient assets to meet its liabilities; fails to comply with any obligation imposed upon it by or under this Act or the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, as amended.

In the same vein, Section 39(1) of the NDIC Act provides: The Corporation, in consultation with the Central Bank of Nigeria, may organise and incorporate, and the Central Bank shall issue a banking license to one or more banks, to be referred to as bridge banks which shall be insured institutions to assume such deposits and/or liabilities, and shall purchase such assets of a failing institution and perform any other function or business as the Corporation may determine. )VTTBJO BOE 1IJMMJQT BSF SFDFOU HSBEVBUFT PG UIF /JHFSJBO -BX 4DIPPM

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EDITORIAL

DEATH FROM THE PIPELINES

There is a need for a comprehensive study of the integrity of NNPC’s pipelines across the country

W

hile the authorities hedge on disclosing the total number of people who have died from pipelines ďŹ re in recent weeks in Aba, Abia State, there are reports of dozens of citizens being unaccounted for. Last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) reported that another oil pipeline ďŹ re had occurred along the Osisioma axis of its System 2E pipeline network. ConďŹ rming that ďŹ re broke out on the line near its Aba products depot, the corporation said it may have been caused by suspected oil thieves who hacked into the line to intercept the ow of petrol from Port Harcourt to Aba. It also conďŹ rmed there were fatalities but refused to disclose the exact number.

THE NNPC SHOULD What is more CULTIVATE THE unfortunate is that we are back to the COOPERATION OF familiar game of PIPELINES HOST excuses, cover-ups COMMUNITIES WHERE and blametrading. Rather ITS PIPELINES PASS than update THROUGH TO HELP IT Nigerians on what IDENTIFY AND DEAL WITH caused the ďŹ re INTRUSIONS ON ITS LINES outbreak or the number of deaths recorded, the NNPC is more interested in refuting an allegation that negligence on its part was responsible. In response to a legislator who called the commission out on the ďŹ re outbreak, NNPC said the presence of items such as jerrycan, among others, at the scene of the incident, indicated that the activities of vandals in the area ignited the ame. It equally expressed worries that incessant vandalism of pipeline facilities along the System 2E Pipeline Right of Way has led to the underutilisation of its Enugu depot.

As a newspaper, we are worried that incessant deaths from petrol pipeline ďŹ res have remained a big challenge to Nigeria’s oil industry, and that these have not commanded the level of safety

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priority that is required. We are equally worried that pipelines owned and operated by the NNPC are increasingly easy targets to vandals and criminals, yet nothing serious seems to be done to end the menace or even make it difďŹ cult to break into the lines. From Arepo in Ogun State, to Ijegun in Lagos, and Osisioma in Abia, the tales of pipeline ďŹ res from NNPC’s facilities are numerous. Lives have been lost while properties including that of the corporation have also been consumed, in addition to costs of repairs often done by the NNPC. In 2017, documents from the corporation showed it spent over N112 billion from oil revenue that should have gone to the Federation Account to repair vandalised pipelines in 2016 alone. This was higher than the N103 billion it spent in 2015 to repair vandalised lines, yet, the bursts never really seem to end.

Constrained by this unending menace and its costs to Nigeria, we will suggest and hope the corporation accepts that a comprehensive study of the integrity of NNPC’s pipelines across the country be undertaken to ascertain the level of their operational credibility. Perhaps that could give an idea as to why they are easily hacked into by vandals. We will also like that the corporation, in tune with modern pipeline management trends, commission and deploy standard processes to monitor and guard its pipelines from potential intrusion, in addition to relevant government agencies collaborating with the corporation to appropriately criminalise vandalism of oil facilities across the country.

Most importantly, the NNPC should aim to cultivate the cooperation of pipelines host communities and villages where its pipelines pass through, to help it identify and deal with intrusions on its lines. We believe that when local communities are genuinely part of the process of securing pipelines in Nigeria, there could be a lot at stake for them to protect. These and many other issues would have to be addressed if Nigeria is not to continue to lose billions of naira to oil thieves while harvesting deaths from the pipelines.

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

IMO APC GUBER PRIMARIES: MATTERS ARISING

Imo State, its position as the only All Progressives Congress (APC) - controlled state in the South East, ought to have made it a bargaining chip for the party in the run-up to the 2019 general election. All that expectation was quashed as a result of the greed and the inordinate ambition of one man, the incumbent Governor, Rochas Okorocha, who in his rabid quest for power, sees the state as his fiefdom to be managed as a dynasty.

In addition to mismanaging the resources of the state, he has succeeded in destroying the soul of the party by frustrating all those who challenged his methods. The whole matter came to a head with the primaries for the selection of candidates for next year’s election.

Working in cohorts with certain elements in the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, he upturned the outcome of the primaries conducted by the committee delegated to Imo for that purpose. With many leaders of the party decamping to other parties, Senator

Hope Uzodimma was the only credible candidate left to oppose the shenanigan of Okorocha, his pretender to the ticket and son-in-law, Uche Nwosu.

On Oct 1, 2018, the committee led by Ahmed Gulak held the only credible primaries in the state by the APC and returned Senator Hope Uzodimma as duly elected as the party’s standard bearer in the gubernatorial polls coming up early next year. Party members in the state were satisfied with the outcome of the primaries and all, including those who competed with the senator.

Those who competed with Uzodimma but lost congratulated him on his well-deserved victory and pledged their support, loyalty and cooperation to ensure that the party retained the state next year.

Okorocha, after a failed attempt to compromise Gulak, scared him away from the state as the first step towards implementing his heinous plan to foist his son-in-law on the state as his successor. Taking advantage of the malleability of certain characters in the NWC, Okorocha almost corruptly influenced

the party to not only reject the outcome of the primaries conducted by Gulak’s team but also organised a kangaroo process that returned Uche Nwosu as the governorship candidate and Okorocha himself as senatorial candidate. This is in spite of a subsisting court order restraining APC from organising another primary pending the determination of the substantive matter.

The electorate in Imo and in particular, the members and supporters of APC, are aghast at this ugly turn of events.

Okorocha and his cohorts are of the impression that the people of Imo who constitute the electorate are fooled by the rascally propensities of the man they had the misfortune to voting into office as governor. The people sure will have a say in the matter at the appropriate time if their choice, in this case, Senator Uzodimma, is made to hold the wrong end of the stick. As far as the real APC members in Imo State are concerned, the party’s candidate for the gubernatorial election is Senator Uzodimma.

Already, the party in the state has warned that APC will be taking a huge

risk if Senator Uzodimma is shortchanged as the implication will be a disaster waiting to happen at the polls.

With what is going on, they are certain to vote against the rogue candidate should the party field another candidate other than Senator Hope Uzodimma.

It is for this reason that well-meaning party members and other supporters of the party are urging the NWC to do justice by returning the ticket to the man who worked hard and earned it at the primaries, Senator Hope Uzodimma.

APC, it needs to be pointed out, is facing a myriad of challenges across the country in the aftermath of the primaries. But Imo is a peculiar case in the sense that the problem extends to the people who are all not APC members but who have vowed not to have anything to do with Okorocha and his gang. The Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC has an opportunity to right the wrong by doing the needful which is giving Senator Uzodimma his ticket.

Anything to the contrary is a risk not worth taking.

Amanze Njoku, Owerri

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Group Politics Editor NSEOBONG OKON-EKONG

Email: nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com 08114495324 SMS ONLY

M O N D AY D I S C O U R S E Loaded Indicators to a Giddy Ride on the Road to 2019 Ojo Maduekwe draws attention to an increasing number of red ags, interpreted as danger signs by the opposition, People’s Democratic Party, dotting the political landscape

Buhari

A

recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research division of The Economist Magazine, in predicting the outcome of the 2019 presidential election favoured the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar over the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari.

In the report obtained and published by THISDAY, the Londonbased magazine said the EIU expects Buhari to “lose power at the February 2019 elections and that the next government will be led by Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.�

The EIU cited widespread frustration over increasing joblessness and poverty, as well as, the untamed insecurity in the North-central (Middle Belt) sub-region as the main edge the PDP’s Abubakar has over Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Interestingly, there are statistics to corroborate the EIU’s prediction.

Increased borrowing which has pegged Nigeria’s debt at N22 trillion, far up the N12 trillion Buhari and the APC met in 2015, has failed to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians.

Unemployment stands at above 18%, a biting increase up the single digit of 8.3% that Buhari met it in the second quarter of 2015.

The World Poverty Clock ranks Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world. With 86.9 million Nigerians now living in extreme poverty, the country has overtaken India as the country with the most extreme poor people in the world. This figure represents nearly 50% of Nigeria’s estimated 180 million population.

In June, the United States Council on Foreign Relations said in a report that it had documented at least 19,890 deaths in Nigeria since June 2015, and caused by the Boko Haram and Fulani militias. In a similar report, the United Kingdom-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide said Fulani mi-

Abubakar

litias in 106 attacks on communities in North-central, killed 1,061 people in the first quarter of 2018.

This is not the first time the EIU is predicting Buhari’s defeat. Before Abubakar clinched the PDP’s presidential ticket, the EIU had predicted that the opposition party was going to form the federal government in 2019, citing, most notable as its reason for this prediction, the defection of top APC members to the PDP. “Intra-party politics would be chaotic ahead of the poll and we ultimately expect the incumbent to lose power,� part of the report read.

Expectedly, both predictions were cheerful news to the PDP, except that the opposition party believes that the ruling APC would rig the 2019 election, and has alleged same on more than three occasions this year alone.

Critics of the report point to the fact that the EIU is a private research consultancy, arguing that its study may be cloaked with vested interest.

They insist that the report presupposes that the Buhari administration has not recorded any achievement at all. A member of the APC national secretariat team who refused to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter dismissed the EIU investigation as and termed it “very uncharitable�. According to him, the report is, “an assignment undertaken by the opposition in its continued effort to discredit this government. The next thing they will come up with are so-called independent polls both in Nigeria and from abroad, predicting a Buhari loss. While they depend on these exercises and the yeoman’s job by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on behalf of Atiku Abubakar, we are confident that it is not these foreigners that will vote or determine how the 2019 presidential election will go. We are not disturbed by these contrived reports.�

The first allegation from the PDP

Oshiomhole

alleging that the ruling government was prepared to rig the election was in February, when a United Nations (UN) delegation visited the PDP’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja. Secondus alleged that “all the elections� conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) since the APC came to power, have had huge question marks.

Another visit to the PDP chairman by the UN was reported to have taken place in March, the following month.

According to the news, Secondus said, “INEC has not lived up to expectation‌We don’t have confidence in the leadership of INEC‌We suspect that INEC will rig the elections, but Nigerians will resist.â€?

A recent one was last month, September when the PDP alleged to have “uncovered� plans by the Buhari administration and the APC to use the party’s direct primary to validate their plots on rigging the 2019 elections.

Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary said in a statement that the APC’s choice of direct primary in electing its presidential candidate was used as cover to import fictitious members into its database and create an impression that the APC had enough votes to re-elect Buhari.

The three recorded allegations coming from the PDP are expected and may be deemed biased, but observers point to some “signs� that the APC in cohort with INEC and relevant government agencies, such as the security, may have perfected the plot on rigging the 2019 presidential election, beginning with:

APC’s spurious membership claim The alleged plot by APC to rig the 2019 presidential election according to observers using its spurious membership began on September 12 when

the party’s national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole visited Buhari and claimed that the APC had successfully registered 15.6 million members nationwide.

On September 28, the APC then held its direct primary across the entire states of the country to elect its presidential candidate for the 2019 election. In a matter of hours, some state chapters of the party started announcing their results.

Kano, for instance, said Buhari secured roughly 2.9 million votes from members of the party polled across the state’s 484 wards in its 44 local government areas. In Borno State, ravaged by terrorism, it was alleged that Buhari polled roughly 1.2 million votes across the 312 wards in 27 local government areas of the state.

In Katsina State where the president is from, and where the direct primary took place in its 361 wards, Buhari was said to have polled 802,819 votes.

Also, members of the APC in Kogi State were said to have gifted the president 387,003 votes.

The rest states later announced their results at the APC Special Convention held to ratify Buhari’s candidature.

At the Convention held in Abuja, the APC claimed that roughly 14.8 million members affirmed the choice of Buhari.

During a voice vote led by the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, to affirm Buhari, THISDAY reported that some delegates murmured at the announcement of 14.8 million as being small, but, Fayemi in responding said the number were card carrying members only and that he was certain there were several other Nigerians who do not belong to any political party that would freely cast their votes for Buhari in the forthcoming presidential election.

Aside how easy it was for the APC to collate that number of votes in a matter of hours, there are other curious issues raised by the membership

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MONDAY DISCOURSE

Yakubu

Secondus

claim. One is that, Borno State that gave the APC 473,543 votes during the 2015 presidential election has in roughly three years produced 1.2 million APC members.

Also, it is suspect that the 15.6 million figure is being thrown around by a party that claims not to have a credible membership register because according to its National Chairman, the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan raided and destroyed its Data Centre sometime in November 22, 2014.

When the APC first decided to conduct direct primary in electing its 2019 governorship candidates, but backtracked to include the option of indirect primary, a major complain by its members that were against direct primary was that the party did not have a credible voter register.

How the party was able to come up with one that Oshiomhole claims to be credible remains a mystery according to political observers.

Lastly, in the 2015 presidential election, Buhari was elected by 15,426,921 votes. From then till now there have been actions taken by Buhari that has pitched the APC against some of its early supporters and depleted the president’s support base. How the party now managed to have a membership greater than the number that elected it in the last election has baffled observers.

50 High Profile Travel Ban List The Executive Order 6 (EO6) that was in July signed into law by Buhari generated a lot of controversy when in October news spread that the government was using it to prevent 50 persons from traveling abroad over corruption cases.

On the surface, the Order, which was validated by a federal high court,

seeks to prevent owners of assets (public officials that served between 1999 and 2015) that are under investigation for corruption by the various anti-corruption agencies in the country from conducting transactions on them.

It was not long after that a list, purported to have been penciled by the Buhari administration leaked, with the PDP alleging that the ruling APC ahead of the 2019 elections, planned on restricting the movement of its members and those who are alleged to be perceived enemies of the president.

THISDAY had reported that Buhari on October 13, ordered full implementation of the EO6, and that a number of enforcement procedures were consequently put in place which included the travel ban on these 50 persons of interest.

Speaking with THISDAY shortly after the ban was exposed, Ologbondiyan, described the travel ban as, “the height of autocracy, despotism, fascism and a plot to railroad Nigeria into a banana republic,� and called on democrats across party lines to resist the ban.

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, also weighed in on the matter, faulting the decision and asking the president to, “wage the war against the menace of corruption within the ambit of the rule of law.�

Falana in a statement said, “Since the 50 high-profile criminal suspects covered by the EO6 have been placed on watch list while their passports have been seized by either the antigraft agencies or the courts, the travel ban slammed on them by President Buhari ought to be withdrawn without any delay.�

Several legal experts who reacted

to the ban said it was not within the powers of the executive arm of government to restrict the free movement of citizens but the courts, and that the ban was a drawback to the military era.

Falana while citing the case between ‘The Director-General, State Security Service v Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 NWLR (Pt 595) 340’, said according to the Supreme Court, the right of citizens to freedom of movement as guaranteed by section 41 of the 1999 Constitution and article 12 of the African Charter on Human Rights and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, “could not be abridged or abrogated by the executive outside the procedure permitted by law.�

FTUJNBUFE NJMMJPO QPQVMBUJPO r7FSJà BCMF EPDVNFOUT SFQPSU BU MFBTU EFBUIT JO /JHFSJB TJODF +VOF and caused by the Boko Haram and Fulani militias. Fulani militias have been said to be responsible for 106 attacks on communities in North-central and killed 1,061 QFPQMF JO UIF à STU RVBSUFS PG r NJMMJPO "1$ NFNCFST XFSF TBJE to have affirmed President Muhammadu Buhari as the party’s presidential candidate r *O UIF QSFTJEFOUJBM FMFDUJPO Buhari was elected by 15,426,921 votes

r &YFDVUJWF 0SEFS &0 UIBU XBT JO July signed into law by Buhari generated a lot of controversy when in October news spread that the government was using it to prevent 50 persons (largely members of the opposition PDP) from traveling abroad over corruption cases r &'$$ NBEF NPWFT UP HP BGUFS .S "ZP Fayose, who at the time was a sitting PDP governor enjoying full immunity r 5IF NBOOFS JO XIJDI UIF &'$$ XFOU about the matter, while ignoring other obvious cases involving members of the ruling APC, exposed the anti-corruption

EFCC ‘goes after’ a sitting governor When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) began making moves to go after Mr. Ayo Fayose, who at the time was a sitting PDP governor enjoying full immunity, those who still believed that the corruption war as waged by the APC government was impartial began to have a rethink.

The manner in which the EFCC went about the matter, while ignoring other obvious cases involving members of the ruling APC, exposed the anti-corruption agency as working for the party as well as the Buhari administration.

Few hours after INEC announced results for the July 14 Ekiti governorship election, wherein Fayose’s protĂŠgĂŠ and candidate of the PDP, Prof. Kolapo Olushola-Eleka lost to Mr. Kayode Fayemi of the APC, a tweet from the handle of the EFCC read: “The parri (party) is over, the cloak of immunity torn apart, and the

staff broken. Ekiti Integrated Poultry Project/Biological Concepts Limited N1.3 billion fraud case file dusted off the shelves. See you soon.�

Although an EFCC spokesperson would later deny the agency authorised the tweet; going ahead to place Fayose on criminal watch list even before his tenure expired and then inviting him to the agency’s head office while he still enjoyed immunity as a governor, exposed the anti-corruption agency’s bias.

Writing to the Nigeria Customs Service to place Fayose on criminal watch list, the EFCC claimed that the governor who it said was on probe for conspiracy, abuse of office, official corruption, theft and money laundering, posed a flight risk and may leave the country via land borders, airports or through the seaports.

These all happened while a former Finance Minister to Buhari, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, admitted to forging her National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) certificate, an offence punishable by 14 years imprisonment, was allowed to leave the country without prosecution by the same EFCC. Another incident that happened recently which again exposed the anti-graft agency as being biased in its anti-graft war was the investigative video that exposed the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje receiving bribe. The EFCC has remained silent, showing no interest in investigating the matter.

These and other instances are the reasons the opposition PDP and its supporters believe the APC’s fight against corruption have rather taken a political dimension, and that as the 2019 general election approaches, there will likely be more opposition members slammed with corruption charges.

QUICK FACTS: r6OFNQMPZNFOU TUBOET BU BCPWF B CJUJOH JODSFBTF VQ UIF TJOHMF EJHJU PG that Buhari met it in the second quarter of 2015 r*ODSFBTFE CPSSPXJOH IBT QFHHFE /Jgeria’s debt at N22 trillion, far up the N12 trillion Buhari and the APC met in 2015 r5IF 8PSME 1PWFSUZ $MPDL SBOLT /Jgeria as the Poverty Capital of the World.

8JUI NJMMJPO /JHFSJBOT OPX MJWJOH JO extreme poverty, the country has overtaken India as the country with the most extreme poor people in the world. This Ă HVSF SFQSFTFOUT OFBSMZ PG /JHFSJB T

agency as working for the party as well as the Buhari administration. r 'PSNFS 'JOBODF .JOJTUFS UP #VIBSJ Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, admitted to forging her National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) certificate, an offence punishable by 14 years imprisonment, was allowed to leave the country without prosecution by the same EFCC r5IF &'$$ IBT SFNBJOFE TJMFOU TIPXing no interest in investigating the investigative video that exposed the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje receiving bribe

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FEATURES

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, 07010510430

A Collaborative Quest for Justice for Ochanya Man's inhumanity to man was again brought to the fore recently with the cruel death of 13-yearold Elizabeth Ochanya, who was raped to death, vaginally and anally, by two relatives-father and son. George Okoh reports on the nationwide outrage and the quest for justice

Protesters clamouring for justice for late Elizabeth Ochanya

"T

hose responsible for the death of our dear Ochanya will have their Judgement one day with our Creator", those were the words of a heartbroken mother, Mrs. Ene Ogbaje, whose 13-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Ochanya was recently raped to death by two relatives.

Ogbaje's offence was a passion to see her daughter, Elizabeth, who was five years old then, educated.

Given the lack of schools in their village in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State, she had sent her daughter to live with her cousin, one Mrs. Felicia Ogbuja and her family. Unknown to her, that turned out to be her greatest undoing. Her supposed family betrayed the trust imposed on them to ensure the minor received education.

For little Elizabeth, her journey to pain began from 2013 to 2018, when her aunty's husband, a knight, 51-year old Andrew Ogbuja, a senior lecturer in the Department of Catering and Hotel Management, Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, and his son, Victor Andrew Ogbuja, who is now at large, abused her serially through the vagina and anus under a period of six years, leading to her consequent death.

Her Ordeal Having lived with them since she was five, it came as a shock to the minor when she was eight and was first raped by her guardian's son in 2013.

As is the modus operandi with such of his ilk, he warned her never to disclose it to anyone. That went on for a long time as she slept with from 2013 to 2015 until he was caught by his sister.

The sister dutifully reported the matter to their father, thinking justice would be served. Instead, after scolding Victor, the father took his place and took the molestation a notch up. He abused her both from the vagina and the anus. That depravation from both father and son was her lot until she was diagnosed of having Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) and other related deceases.

Her Rescue When all hope seemed lost, her rescue came, albeit a bit late. Ochanya was forced to confide in her mother in June this year, who queried her sister and her husband. As expected, they both denied the allegation.

Going a step further, Evangelist Enuwa Soo, Founder of Restorer of Path care Foundation, Otukpo, became involved. But at that point, Ochanya had already been inflicted with VVF. She was taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, where she was until her death on October 17, 2018. The ailment VVF,

is an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder (or vesico) and the vagina that allows the continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault.

Appearance in Court Given the lack of remorse shown by the duo, the case was taken to court. While Andrew Ogbuja was arraigned on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and rape, his son on the other hand, fled and has since been placed on the wanted list of the police.

The rape case in August was dragged to Makurdi Upper Area Court and according to the First Information Report (FIR) that was filed before the trial Magistrate, Mr S. D. Kwen, the accused was dragged before the court for “criminal conspiracy and rape,� which he allegedly perpetrated alongside his son, Victor Andrew Ogbuja, who is now at large.

The FIR with file no: CR80/2018 and dated August 13, 2018 reads: “Criminal Conspiracy and rape: on the 8/8/2018 at about 1200hrs FIDA, Benue State Chapter, Makurdi, in company of the victim's mother (name withheld) of Okpokwu LGA of Benue State, came to Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Makurdi and reported that, on the 28/06/2018 at about 1000hrs, the victim's mother reported at FIDA office Benue State Chapter, Makurdi that, sometime in 2018 February, when her daughter (name withheld) age 13-years-old was

Truth be told, the incidences of rape have continued because the country is not doing enough to curb it. The act in itself is bad, but worse when minors are the victim. To imagine the mental torture the deceased went through in itself should be a torture to sane minds, especially women

sick and staying with her cousin by name Felicia Ogbuja (wife of the accused) and was admitted at Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi. “She told her that when she was staying with her cousin by name Felicia Ogbuja of Ugbokolo Town in 2013 to 2015, the son of the said cousin by name Victor Andrew of same address had canal knowledge of her at different locations. She further stated that the husband to her cousin by name Andrew Ade Ogbuja also had canal knowledge of her without her consent between 2013 to 2015, which is the cause of her illness."

The Minor's Testimony Ochanya's tragic story came to the fore in August 2018 when she narrated her ordeal before a chief Magistrate court in Makurdi. The deceased, prior to her death was a Junior Secondary School (JSS) 1 student of Federal Government College, in Gboko, Benue State. In her statement to the court, she disclosed that her guardian's son first raped her in 2013 and warned her never to disclose it to anyone.

She said: "It all started in 2013 when I turned five and came to live with my mother's sister in Ugbokolo because there was no school in my village.

So when l was eight, the son started sleeping with me and when the sister caught him, she reported to their father and he scolded him.

"From there, the father also started doing same thing by sleeping with me and l told my mother.

Then my mother told my elder sister who later took me to Makurdi for check up. So last year September when l went to school and l felt sick and l was taken to Federal Medical Centre Makurdi where l spent two months and five days before l was discharged. In the hospital, they checked me and discovered that what my aunty's son and his father did to me was actually affecting me and responsible for my condition. My mother went to confront my aunty and the husband but they did not take the matter serious and that is why we brought the case to here. I want my health back."

However, despite her plea to regain her health, she never made it as she died as a result of the inhumane treatment meted to her continually by two adults who should have known better.

Accused's Denial When the accusations were thrown at him, Ogbuja according to a source denied the allegation against him. He said Ochanya was a troubled child who his family wanted to help. He further claimed his enemies were taking advantage of the situation to spread false allegationss against him to bring him down.

He however said he was not certain if his son actually slept with Ochanya, adding that it was the reason he asked the court to allow him settle the matter in a family way since all the parties involved are one family. When the case came up in August, he admitted that although the victim had been living with him since the age of five, he however said he was being framed on trump up charges.

He said: “I am most surprised at being here. I was detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department from where I was brought to court today. It was a completely forged and arranged allegation against me. I know nothing about the charges against me."

The Remand However, despite his claims of innocence, the trial Magistrate who declined jurisdiction in the matter, wondered why a man of the accused's standing would be framed up if he had nothing to do with the alleged crime. “I don't know how an allegation of this magnitude would be made against a man of this standing without him being involved in its commission,� the magistrate wondered.

At the proceedings, Ogbuja's lawyer, Mr. David Ojile, had urged the court to admit his client to bail. The defence lawyer argued that there was no direct link between the alleged crime and his client.

Prior to the minor's death, the accused, who spoke through his counsel, Ojile also pleaded with the judge to grant him bail to enable him go home and resolve the matter within the family. He had equally promised to take full responsibility for the treatment of the victim, but the judge, Justice S. D. Kwen had rejected the plea and sent the lecturer to Makurdi Federal Prison.

Her Death After five months of undergoing treatment for VVF, she gave up the ghost on October 17, 2018, due to complications from the ailment. According to Soo, who ended up as her caregiver, the death of the minor was a devastating blow. She said at that point, Ochanya had been in her custody as she has been suffering from VVF, a major cause of unnecessary and avoidable suffering for young women.

According to Soo, "Ochanya had been with me for sometime, so, her death was traumatising. I was also sick at the time she was in the hospital, so she died in my presence. She was brutalised with sex at a very early age and this really affected her."

She called on the government and the general public to assist and not to allow the girl to die in

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FEATURES vain, just as she said that the case would be pursued to a logical conclusion on their part.

Bereaved Family React Also reacting, one of the relatives of the deceased minor, Ameh John described the death of Ochanya as a blow to the family. He lamented that the killers of his sister were yet to be served their due justice. He said the family were thinking of adding homecide/ murder to the case before the court. According to him, "those responsible were charged for rape but with her death, which was as a result of rape, we are thinking of adding homicide to the case."

Fresh Charges With the death of the minor, the charges were changed. Last Thursday, the suspec in custody was arraigned on a fresh charge at the Chief Magistrate Court 1 in Makurdi, for criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide, as against the former charges of rape and persistent molestation of the minor.

During the sitting, the court heard from police investigation that one Andrew Ogbuja was arrested for the offence while his son is still at large, adding the offence is punishable by section 97 and 222 of penal code laws of Benue State, 2004 His counsel, Anthony Onoja however, observed that the media have been awash with reports about his client who has not been proven guilty. According to him, if care is not taken, such reports would not allow the matter to go on smoothly.

He appealed to the trial judge to protect his client from the hands of journalists and also caution the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), noting that he has no objection over the remand of his client.

However, the Presiding Magistrate, Issac Ajim overruled Onoja, saying no plea was taken for want of Jurisdiction and remanded the accused at the Federal Prison. The case was adjourned to November 29 for further mention.

The suspect, Andrew Ogbuja and wife, Felicia

Another suspect, Victor Ogbuja

FGGC Gboko's Outrage In a press statement, the school described her death as an outrage to FGGC Gboko, all female children, all women, Benue State, Nigeria and indeed the World. The statement reads thus: "As a body, we demand that the perpetrators, indeed murderers, be called to justice and severely punished. Messrs Andrew Ogbuja and Victor Inalegwu Ogbuja should be arrested for homicide and charged with first degree murder. They should be made to feel the full wrath of Lady Justice. They should bear the brunt of the Law in quantum measures. It was not enough for them to hurt young Ochanya from age eight; they had to repeat the barbaric sessions within a six-year period. We can only describe such tendencies as animalistic, with special apologies to animals. As such, they deserve jungle justice. No mercy."

More so, representatives of the class of 81, Federal Government Girls College Ugbokolo have also submitted their petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) demanding justice.

Lending their voice to the cause, the Vice President of Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA), Mr. Michael Magali, called on the court to ensure justice for Ochanya.

National Council of Women Society As expected, the case has stirred out outrage among different strata of the society. Chief among them were different women groups, who as mothers, feel the pain more.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the court sitting, the President of the National Council of Women Society, Benue State chapter, Mrs. Grace Okochi said that the women of the state are in pains for what happened to late Ochanya and for what other women in the country are going through. “We are not going to take it lightly; we need justice in this case and l beg the police to go after the son and his mother and arrest them, prosecute them especially, the mother who harbour late Ochanya for five years.

Vow by Benue State Government Meanwhile, the Acting Governor of Benue State, Benson Abounu, has urged the police and judiciary to ensure that justice is done over the death of Ogbaje.

Abounu described the act as inhuman, shameful and deserving of nothing less than appropriate punishment for the perpetrators.

Commiserating with the family of the late Ochanya he said the state government will give the police necessary support towards the prosecution of the case to its conclusion, to serve as deterrent to others with similar evil tendencies.

In a statement issued by his Press Secretary, Mr Ede Ogaba Ede, the acting governor said: "The mere thought of sexually molesting a minor is in itself condemnable. Those who take advantage of vulnerable persons in the society commit unpardonable sins against God and humanity.�

The deceased, Elizabeth Ochanya

TUC's Demands Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has demanded justice for late Ochanya.

Chairperson of the TUC Women Commission, Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye in a statement in Abuja urged Nigerians not to keep quiet about it, adding that justice for the deceased was justice to the thousands of women all over the world who had suffered same.

Chairperson of the TUC Women Commission, Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye in a statement in Abuja urged Nigerians not to keep quiet about it, adding that justice for Elizabeth was justice to the thousands of women all over the world who had suffered same.

The labour union urged Nigerians not to keep quiet about issues of rape which it described as a crime against humanity, insisting that the government must bring the culprits to justice.

We want to cease this opportunity to condemn the “loud silence�of victims and relatives when a rape has taken place. If rape is a crime of aggression with the sole aim of having sexual intercourse without the consent of the other person then we must not keep quiet

Acting Governor of Benue State, Benson Abounu The statement reads: “We have received with a deep shock the news of the death of Miss Elizabeth Ochanya Ogbanje, a 13-year-old pupil of Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Gboko, Benue State. We feel more saddened that her death was caused by a health condition called “Vesicovaginal Fistula� and other related diseases that arose from the several sexual abuses. “Truth be told, the incidences of rape have continued because the country is not doing enough to curb it. The act in itself is bad, but worse when minors are the victim. To imagine the mental torture the deceased went through in itself should be a torture to sane minds, especially women. “One, however, wonders how these things happened under the roof of Mrs Ogbuja without her knowledge: we suspect a foul play here! We want to cease this opportunity to condemn the “loud silence� of victims and relatives when a rape has taken place. If rape is a crime of aggression with the sole aim of having sexual intercourse without the consent of the other person then we must not keep quiet. “The shame and stigmatisation of rape victims have been going on for long and it has not done the womenfolk any good. Statistics of incidences of rape cases available has shown that if the country (especially the lawmakers, security agencies, Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organisations) do nothing drastic, soon the magnitude will so increase that every home becomes a potential victim. “The time for parents to stop taking things for granted is now. From the look of things our children are no longer safe with uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and even people of the same faith. It is Elizabeth Ochanya today, who knows who would be next? “On our part as Women in Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), we will not keep quiet or do nothing on this matter. Justice to Elizabeth on this case is justice to the thousands of women all over the world who have suffered the same fate. To have carnal knowledge of a little girl through the anus and vagina since she was eight is unimaginable and

a crime against humanity, especially the womenfolk.

We urge the judiciary and security agents not to sweep this very case under the carpet.�

Involvement of Human Organisations, CSOs

Right

Inflamed by the cruel actions of the Ogbuja family, human rights activists, civil society organisations (CSOs) and students last Thursday staged a peaceful protest in Abuja to demand justice for late Ochanya.

The protesters in their black shirts had gathered at the Unity Fountain, Abuja calling on the government to ensure that those who perpetrated the dastardly act be brought to book. They had placards that read- and ‘#Justice4OchanyaNow’, ‘Hang The Rapist’, ‘I am Ochanya', ‘Say No To Rape’, ‘We Demand Justice for Ochanya’.

Addressing the protesters, the Coordinator for #Justice4Ochanya, Mr. Great Felix, said: “We want the Minister of Justice to expedite action and ensure that justice is delivered. This is because an injustice to one is an injustice to all.�

They also marched to the Ministry of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), to register their grievances and reinstate their demand for justice for the deceased.

Joining the protesters were the African Students Education Support Initiative (ASESI) and according to its Executive Director, Chinonso Obasi, in a statement on Friday in Abuja, they alongside its volunteers, joined other CSO’s to the NHRC headquarters. Obasi said the protesters got NHRC’s assurance that the matter would not be swept under the carpet and that anyone found wanting would be brought to book.

Also reacting, the Idoma Youth Action Group headed by Comrade Felix Onuh, in a statement, demanded for justice as a deterrent to others who carry abuse and molest young girls.

As efforts to unravel the truth behind the death of Ochanya intensifies, the government and indeed the judiciary owe the bereaved family the onus to ensure that justice is served, so that they can at least begin to find closure.

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET OVERNIGHT OBB

A S

A T

REPO 11.42 % 10.33%

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

11.63% 12% 12.50%

O C T O B E R S & P INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY MONTH-TO-DATE

350.33% -0.13% 0.78%

Group Business Editor Obinna Chima

Email obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08024557078, 08152447875

2 6 , 2 0 1 8 S & P INDEX 1/4 TO DATE YEAR TO DATE

0.78% 6.41%

EXCHANGE RATE N306.55/1US DOLLAR* ĚŠ

Quick Takes AfDB, Others Promote Gender Equality

OIL AND GAS CONFERENCE

Group Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru; former President, Nigerian Gas Association (NGA), Dada Thomas; MD NIPCO Plc, Sanjay Teotia and Chief Operating Officer, Gas, NNPC, Saidu Mohammad, during the NGA International Conference held in Abuja‌recently

PenCom Unveils Guidelines on Voluntary Contribution Ebere Nwoji The National Pension Commission(PenCom) has released official guidelines on voluntary contributions into the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The commission, in a statement to this effect made available to THISDAY said the move was in furtherance of its mandate of regulating the pension industry.

According to PenCom, the new guidelines would regulate the operations of voluntary pension contribution. “It is pertinent to note that the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 allows employees to make Voluntary Contributions into their Retirement Savings Account (RSA) in addition to their mandatory pension contributions, with the sole aim of enhancing their retirement benefits,� the

PENSION regulator explained.

According to the guidelines, voluntary contributions shall be non-obligatory contributions made by any employee in the formal sector through the employer.

PenCom, said the objectives of the guidelines were to establish uniform set of rules for the operation of voluntary contributions and eligibility criteria for participation in the contributions, provide the procedure for making voluntary contributions as well as necessary safeguards and modalities for its withdrawals.

It is also to “utilise voluntary contributions for the purpose of enhancing future retirement benefits for active or mandatory contributors, encourage retirees under CPS, to utilise part or all of the voluntary contributions to augment their existing pension.

“To also assist retirees under defunct defined benefit scheme, exempted persons from the CPS and foreigners to save in order to cater for their livelihood during old age.�

The commission reminded contributors to be guided by the guidelines and urged them to direct all their enquiries pertaining the scheme to their respective Pension Fund Administrators.

The Pension Reform Act (PRA)2004 amended in 2014, recommended that both public sector and private sector employees open a RSA for their employees and contribute 10 per cent of employees’ monthly salary into his retirement savings account while deducting eight percent from the employee’s salary.

In order to ensure that employees save more to have more money to spend at old age, PenCom came up with the idea

ECONOMY transportation, education, medical care, electricity, house rent, and telecommunications.

The overall buying conditions index for consumers last quarter for big ticket items stood at 35.1 points.

This indicated that majority of consumers believed that last quarter was not the ideal time to purchase big-ticket items like consumer durables, motor vehicles, among others. “Overall buying intention index in the next twelve months stood at 46.4 index points, indicating that majority of consumers do not intend to buy these items in the next 12 months. “The buying intention indices for motor vehicle and house & lot were below 50 points, indicating

that respondents have no plans to purchase motor vehicles and houses in the next twelve months. “However, the index for consumer durables stood above 50, indicating that respondents have plans to purchase furniture, gas cooker and electronics in the next twelve months,� it added.

It further noted that with indices of -2.6 and 16.4 points, consumers expected borrowing rate to fall while the naira was expected to appreciate in the next 12 months.

The unemployment index for the next 12 months remained positive at 25 points in Q3 2018, indicating that majority of the consumers expect the unemployment rate to rise in the next 12 months.

The CES for Q3 2018 was conducted during the period September 24 - October 4, 2018,

Tecno Launches New Smart Phone

of voluntary savings.

PenCom had said it was putting in place measures that would significantly raise the contribution of pension funds to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from five per cent presently, to about 10 per cent by next year.

The Acting Director General of the commission, Mrs. Aisha Dahiru-Umar, had in an interview, reiterated that the CPS had facilitated a pool of pension funds, which presently stood at N8.3 trillion as at June 2018. “As you have rightly noted, there are enormous potential for growth of Nigerian pension funds to account for a significant proportion of the GDP. “Indeed, the commission’s ongoing strategy implementation aims at attaining an increase in

Tecno Mobile has launched another innovative smartphone known as the Tecno Pouvoir 2 Pro Gold edition.

It explained that the product was introduced to address public misconception as the device which was rumoured to aunt an 18karat gold back case. A statement by the Public Relation and Strategic Partnership Manager, Tecno mobile, Jesse Oguntimehin, noted that after some days with the new device, two things speciďŹ cally stood out, especially the design and the battery capacity. It further stated that in terms of the design and style, the TECNO Pouvoir 2 Pro Gold edition remains a choice device for any user who intends to have a sleek and premium looking pocket ďŹ tting device. Oguntimehin added that the curves, gold frame, placement of the rear cameras and ash, “is just awesome.â€?

According to him, “For a 6.0-inch HD+full display smartphone, the new device is very slim to handle which allows users the ability to handle the phone with a single hand. Asides from its classy look and feel, the Pouvoir 2 Gold edition is a 5000mAH battery powered device that can run for up to four days after a single charge and is encased in a slim frame that acts as an amazing cover for the enormous capacity under the hood. “This ďŹ ts the habitual needs of smartphone users. “From a premium ‘18karat’ gold casing to a long-lasting battery life and so much more, the TECNO Pouvoir 2 Pro Gold edition, is an amazing smartphone pick for anyone out in the market.â€?

Continued on page 24

In a bid to further enlighten the public on the Contributory Pension Scheme, a radio programme titled, “Retirement Mata,� sponsored by the National Pension Commission debuted on the 26th October, 2018.

Retirement Mata is a weekly 30-minutes pidgin program aired every Friday on NAIJA 102.7FM, Lagos at 5pm. “Members of the public are therefore invited to listen to this interesting programme that would educate, enlighten and address so many issues pertaining to the Contributory Pension Scheme,� Peter Aghahowa, the Head, Corporate Communications of PenCom said.

PenCom had said it was putting in place measures that would signiďŹ cantly raise the contribution of pension funds to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from ďŹ ve per cent presently, to about 10 per cent by next year.

Consumer ConďŹ dence Projected to Rise in Q4 The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Consumer Expectation Survey (CES) has predicted a positive outlook for next quarter as well as the next 12 months.

Specifically, the index projected 24.7 and 30.1 points for next quarter and the next 12 months respectively.

The outlook, which was contained in the third quarter Consumer Confidence, attributed the Q4 projection to expected increase in net household income as well as the anticipated improvement in Nigeria’s economic conditions and expectations to save a bit and/or have plenty over savings in the next 12 months.

Most respondents expected prices of goods and services to rise in the next 12 months, with an index point of 16.7 points.

The major drivers were:

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) in partnership with the French Development Agency, Association of Power Utilities of Africa and African Network of Centers of Excellence (ANCEE), recently organised a three-day seminar on “Promoting Gender Equality in the African Power Sector� at the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan.

The seminar brought together 50 human resource directors from 50 power utility companies, eight Directors from ANCEE and other participants from more than 25 African countries to the Bank for the talks.

Participants shared best practices, raised awareness about the interlinkages between gender and the power sector and moved toward a consensus on advocacy for reform, policy implementation and regulations to ensure gender-equal access to energy services, as well as ways to increase women representation in the sector. “Diversity is not only nice to have, there’s a business case for it. We strongly believe that, both in the public and private sector, we must have leadership bodies that reect the societies they live in, for better, more sustainable, long term results,â€? Director of the Bank’s Gender, Women and Civil Society Department, Vanessa Moungar said at the seminar.

Participants highlighted the importance of developing a concerted approach to promoting gender equality in the workplace.

The strategies aim was to attract more women to the power sector, improve their career prospects and increase their access to management positions within utilities. “We expect women to not only be minor workers in the power sector but leaders, policy makers, renewable energy entrepreneurs, utility managers, employers of power plants and distribution systems, executives of private sector partners, and customers of electricity services, said the Vice President for Power, energy, Climate Change and Green Growth, Amadou Hott.

covering a sample size of 1,770 households drawn from 207 Enumeration Areas (EAs) across the country, with a response rate of 96.9 per cent.

Respondents’ distribution by educational attainment showed that 14.8 per cent had university education, 14.8 per cent had higher non-university education, while 26.8 per cent had senior secondary school education. Respondents with junior secondary and primary school education accounted for 6.8 and 18.9 per cent, respectively, while those with no formal education accounted for the balance of 17.9 per cent.

The consumers’ overall confidence outlook improved in Q3 2018, as more consumers were optimistic in their outlook.

The index at 1.5 points was 12.0 Continued on page 24

PenCom Commences Radio Programme

“JNigeria’s informal trade is about three to six times depending on the statistics you take, more than its formal trade. So, if we can formalise that, we will get the benefit for it as a country and even as individuals�

MD, NEXIM

Mr. Abubakar Bello

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BUSINESSWORLD PENCOM UNVEILS GUIDELINES ON VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION

the ratio of pension funds to GDP to at least 10 per cent by 2019,� Dahiru-Umar said.

According to her, some of the measures being put in place to achieve the target include firstly, the expansion of coverage of the CPS to the underserved economic sectors through micro pension and renewed enforcement of compliance. Dahiru-Umar explained, “Our objective in this direction is to attain at least 20 million contributors by the year 2019. Secondly, we seek to grow the assets through more investments in variable income instruments that generate higher returns. “In order to achieve this, we have commenced implementation of the multi-fund structure in July 2018, which segregates the funds based on the risk profile of contributors and gives them an opportunity to choose subject to age parameters. “Furthermore, the increase in contribution rates in the Pension Reform Act 2014, from a total of 15 per cent, to 18 per cent, comprising 10 per cent by employer and eight per cent by the employee, would also increase the size of pension funds when fully implemented for treasury funded federal government’s MDAs.�

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE PROJECTED TO RISE IN Q4

points higher than the index in the corresponding period of 2017.

Some respondents attributed this favourable outlook to improved economic condition.

The overall consumer confidence index was computed as the average of the three indices, namely: Economic Condition, Family Financial Situation and Family Income.

Economic Condition refers to the perception of the respondent regarding the general economic condition of the country.

Financial Situation refers to the level of savings, investments, other assets including cash at hand and outstanding debts.

Family Income includes primary income and receipts from other sources received by all family members as participants in any economic activity or as recipients of transfers, pensions, grants, and the like.

FG Seeks Increased Indigenous Participation in Maritime Sector Kasim Sumaina in Abuja The federal government has expressed its determination to promote and increase indigenous participation in the shipping business in Nigeria.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said this while speaking with the Nigerian Fleet Implementation Committee in Abuja, recently.

The minister who gave the indication while receiving the Committee members in his office, said government would provide necessary support to enable the committee carry out its mandate.

This was because increased indigenous participation in the maritime business would help in realising the country’s diversification drive, a major thrust of Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

Specifically, a statement quoted the minister to have assured that apart from the fiscal incentives requested from government, the Ministry of Budget and National Planning was willing to provide any other necessary support to enable the committee succeed in its efforts to reposition the indigenous maritime sector and make it globally competitive.

The Fleet Implementation Committee was set up by the federal government primarily to encourage and promote private

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Jonathan Eze

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) Linda Eroke (Labour) Eromosele Abiodun (Cap Mkt) Ejiofor Alike (Energy) James Emejo (Nation’s Capital) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (Maritime)

sector participation in the maritime business and by so doing help in the diversification of the economy.

Udoma acknowledged the importance of the maritime sector to the growth of business and the economy, and noted that apart from generating revenues for government, it also has the potential of creating wealth, providing jobs, generating foreign

exchange, as well as developing the country’s transportation infrastructure.

While commending the committee members for the work they were doing, the minister assured that government was committed to growing the size of the indigenous fleet with appropriate incentives.

The Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Bello, told the minister

that maritime transportation remains a critical sector in the economy of several countries; but regretted that with its vast coastline and abundant natural resources, Nigeria’s huge maritime potentials are yet to be fully explored for the benefit of the people.

He explained that given the volume of cargoes that enter and leave Nigerian ports annually,

the opportunity loss to Nigeria was huge because of Nigeria’s insignificant participation in the carriage of cargo to and from the ports. “This gives rise to huge outflow of financial resources in terms of freight paid by Nigerians to foreign ship operators and increasing the GDP and economic well-being of their home countries,� he pointed out.

COURTESYVISIT

L-R: Head of Prosperity, United Kingdom (UK), Guy Harrison; Head of Digital Inclusion, Alessandra Lustrati and Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, during a courtesy visit by a delegation of the UK government to the NCC in Abuja...recently

Exporters Call for Government’s Support to Boost the Sector Ugo Aliogo The National Coordinator, Nigeria Agricultural Exporters Group (NAEG), John Okakpu, has called on government to support private sector operators in order to boost foreign exchange earnings for the country.

According to him, with favourable policies and support, the private sector can multiply the volume of agriculture based exports from Nigeria.

Okakpu, disclosed this in Lagos during the Maiden Nigeria Agricultural Exporter

Group Summit with the theme; ‘Confronting Nigeria’s Poor Agricultural Export Activities and Logistics Problems: The Challenges and Way Forward.’ He said there was need to reposition the agricultural industry as a veritable source of massive youth employment.

He also stated that the industry was leading contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and foreign exchange earnings.

Okakpu explained that his group has appropriately x-rayed the challenges of the country’s

agriculture export, designed solutions and collaborated with the government and other agencies to articulate practical strategic solutions required to reposition the sector to become a strong player in the global market.

According to Okakpu, the group would coordinate the hosting of a second Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) focus lab, for two days to strategically unify all regulatory agencies in the country related to agro export. He added that his group would also design a seamless agro export process,

while suggesting favourable freight charges.

He said: “The committee must be statutory and chaired by the President or the Vice President, other public sector representatives must not be below the rank of Permanent Secretary. “The bulk of the committee between 75 and 80 per cent should be private sector technocrats (serving and retired) with robust cognate experience and highly knowledgeable in the subject matter. “This will further emphasise the sensitivity of agric and the

seriousness with which the government aims to tackle the much publicised diversification of the economic base of the country in favour of non-oil export. “The key function of the committee should be to formulate, monitor, supervise and the implementation of our national agric export plans, policies and target. “The committee will also evaluate and review those plans and policies from time to time to ensure substantial compliance and adequate reflection of situation dynamics.�

Afreximbank Urges Financial Institutions to Transform African Trade Emma Okonji

Group Business Editor

NEWS

The federal government has been advised to as a matter of necessity, develop policy direction for Nigeria that will enhance the country’s chances of attaining digital economy status.

Experts emphasised the need to create a clear policy direction for Nigeria’s digital economy to facilitate effective cybersecurity practice. According to the security company, in today’s digitised world, cybersecurity has become a vital component of enterprise risks solution, helping

organisations to deliver their bottom-line. The Chief Operating Officer of Academy Halogen, Dr. Wale Adeagbo stressed the importance of a strong cybersecurity policy direction at the opening of a policy development session hosted at the Lagos campus of the institution. Tagged: “Digitising Nigeria: A Meeting of Town and Gown,� the cyber security policy confab was a joint initiative of Academy Halogen and the ICTDriven Knowledge Park of the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU. The Vice-Chancellor of

Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, noted that OAU now has a sustainable policy of engaging with the community and organisations within the industry towards producing graduates who are both academically sound and industry savvy. Ogunbodede, further gave assurance that the cyber security learning session was a product of thoughtfulness between OAU and Academy Halogen for the good of Nigeria. “This is an initiative we are driving together for the benefit of the entire country. The purpose

is not about making money, the purpose is to contribute effectively towards digitising Nigeria in the area of cyber security,� Ogunbodede said.

In his presentation on competencies and requirements in addressing cybersecurity, a Micro-electronics and Medical Robotic Engineering expert, Prof.

Ndubuisi Ekekwe, added his perspective to the cyber security discussion and the need for a robust digital policy direction. “The world is made up of numbers. Everything we do as humans is about numbers. We

can reduce frictions in business by deploying right technology.

Companies are moving from the physical to the digital realm. “Digitising Nigeria will bring about a new nexus of opportunities. Our nation will only be bounded by the limitation of the mind�, Ekekwe said.

The Vice-Chairman, Troyka Group, Mr. Jimi Awosika in a presentation tagged: “Business and the need for safety in an open world,� observed that we now live in an open world full of risks, which requires security and intelligence to survive.

Expert Calls for Downward Review of Excise Duty Tariff Raheem Akingbolu The Managing Director of Intercontinental Distillers Limited Chief, Patrick Anegbe, has appealed to the federal government to review downward, the over 500 per cent increase in excise

duty on alcoholic beverages as being contemplated. He made this appeal during the Intercontinental Distillers Limited Distributors’ Award held at Abeokuta recently.

He said an astronomical increase in excise duty if not reversed, would make products

too expensive and thus cause consequent drop in sales.

He added that the development could force many players in the wines and spirit industry out of business, leading to loss of jobs for many Nigerians.

He disclosed that manufacturers

in wines and spirit industry were already battling with declining volumes and margins arising out of inflationary trends in the recent past.

He also lamented the activities of adulterators of products and pointed out that their activities

were injurious to unsuspecting consumers. He lauded efforts of government agencies such as the National Agency for Food, Drugs, Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), in fighting the menace.

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BUSINESSWORLD

INSIDE BROAD STREET

LEAP Africa Rewards Social Innovators Sunday Ehigiator As part of efforts to support social enterprises, LEAP Africa has rewarded outstanding entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneurs were rewarded recently in Lagos, at an event that was supported

by Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. In his welcome address, the Board Chairman of LEAP Africa, Mr. Udeme Ufot said, “Six years ago, the annual Nigerian Youth Leadership Award by LEAP Africa, was reborn in Lagos, and with the Social Innovators Programme (SIP) and awards. “It remains one of Nigeria’s indigenous platforms for showcasing and mentoring Nigerian dream makers in

social enterprise. “As you may be aware, LEAP Africa is a Youthfocused organisation imparting skills of leadership, evaluating skills, moral ethics and corruption, and entrepreneurship in them.�

Also, in her remarks on behalf of Union Bank Nigeria, its Head of Corporate Communications, Mrs. Ogochukwu Ekaidem-Ekezie said: “We are really proud of the SIP initiative. We have been supporting this program for the past four years, and every year that we have been a part of it, I am always inspired whether it’s the mentoring sessions or just sitting with the different participants or innovators whenever we meet.�

Market Awaits N1.115trn Inflow

The event ended in celebrative moods as awards were given to fellows who had performed distinctly in their endeavours with Otedoye Olumide winning the “Hartigan Price for Social Innovation� award, and Dr. Awuah also picking up an award for his excellent accomplishment with his university in Ghana even within the shortest periods.

It likewise was a once in a lifetime experience for some of the entrepreneurs who had a chat with THISDAY during the event, as Olumide Fasuyi said: “I am really overwhelmed by all what I have learnt here today. I am surely leaving here as a different person from whom I was few hours ago before entering here.�

CcHUB Promotes STEM The CcHUB, an innovation centre dedicated to the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity has developed an initiative through which it will promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in Nigeria and Africa.

Through its the GO-GA project, the organisation aims to address the challenges of delivering world-class STEM education in Nigeria and across Africa.

The project is focused on accelerating the adoption of richer learning environments and deployment of contextually engaging digita content to improve learning outcomes in STEM education in Africa.

CcHUB noted that increasingly, resources and content available for STEM education, were designed for the developed world.

According to the organisation, ensuring seamless and effective adoption in the developing world, would mean adapting the content to fit within the constraints of developing countries. This includes taking into consideration availability and type of devices, lack of steady power supply and affordable and reliable internet access.

The GO-GA project would address these challenges by adapting the Go-Lab ecosystem

for deployment in schools across Africa.

The Go-Lab ecosystem empowers students by offering open, structured and personalised learning resources for conducting experiments using modern (virtual) laboratory equipment independently and to deepen their knowledge of fundamental sciences, and ultimately motivate them to pick a career in science and technology. “In this framework, students learn through so-called Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILSs) that combine online labs, multimedia material, and inquiry apps. “What makes Go-Lab unique is the possibility to use learning apps next to the online labs and combine those together with multimedia material to complete learning experiences (called Inquiry Learning Spaces) and the authoring facilities that go with this. “By adapting and localising the existing Go-Lab portal, GO-GA would make available rich and engaging STEM content for students in secondary schools. “This would be achieved by building on teacher communities and equipping teachers to deliver top-quality, engaging STEM education,� the CEO of CcHUB, ‘Bosun Tijani said at a recent forum in Lagos.

The GO-GA, a 3-year project funded by the European Com-

mission is being implemented in Benin Republic, Kenya and Nigeria by a consortium of partners made up of 7 European and African partners (Co-creation Hub Nigeria-CcHUB, eLIMU Learning Company, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne -EPFL, Etri Labs, Information Multimedia Communication AG-IMC, Mito Technology, Nuclio and the University of Twente).

The project officially commenced in Nigeria on Friday 19th with its train-the-trainers programme which equipped 40 STEM teachers from public and private schools in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja to be master trainers.

The master trainers would be skilled at using the Go-Lab ecosystem and Inquiry Learning Method to teach science subjects in their schools and will also be able to train other teachers within their community.

CcHUB is also partnering with the Tai Solarin University of Education, to serve as a pipeline for training pre-service and in-service teachers in the use of the Go-Lab Ecosystem and Inquiry Learning method for science education.

The pilot in schools would commence in schools across Nigeria, next February and CcHUB hopes the project would build a generation of young people across the continent.

HCM Introduces New Product The CcHUB, an innovation centre dedicated to the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity has developed an initiative through which it will promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in Nigeria and Africa.

Through its the GO-GA project, the organisation aims to address the challenges of delivering world-class STEM education in Nigeria and across Africa. The project is focused on accelerating the adoption of richer learning environments and deployment of contextually engaging digita content to improve learning outcomes in STEM education in Africa.

CcHUB noted that increasingly, resources and content available for STEM education,

were designed for the developed world. According to the organisation, ensuring seamless and effective adoption in the developing world, would mean adapting the content to fit within the constraints of developing countries. This includes taking into consideration availability and type of devices, lack of steady power supply and affordable and reliable internet access.

The GO-GA project would address these challenges by adapting the Go-Lab ecosystem for deployment in schools across Africa.

The Go-Lab ecosystem empowers students by offering open, structured and personalised learning resources for conducting experiments using modern (virtual) laboratory equipment independently and to deepen

their knowledge of fundamental sciences, and ultimately motivate them to pick a career in science and technology. “In this framework, students learn through so-called Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILSs) that combine online labs, multimedia material, and inquiry apps. “What makes Go-Lab unique is the possibility to use learning apps next to the online labs and combine those together with multimedia material to complete learning experiences (called Inquiry Learning Spaces) and the authoring facilities that go with this. “By adapting and localising the existing Go-Lab portal, GO-GA would make available rich and engaging STEM content for students in secondary schools.

Maturing treasury bills worth N415.95 billion are expected to hit the market this week.

In addition, the money market will in the coming days receive inflow from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) estimated to worth N698.71 billion.

This brings the total amount expected to hit the market at over N1.115 trillion.

All these are expected to boost market liquidity and moderate interbank rates.

Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to auction treasury bills worth N145.29 billion, viz: 91-day bills worth N9.54 billion, 182day bills worth N47.71 billion and 364-day bills worth N88.04 billion this Friday.

Analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited, that disclosed this in a report at the weekend, anticipated higher stop rates given inflationary pressure.

However, at the close of last week, they were no auctions of treasury bills in the primary market, while in the secondary market, the central bank auctioned N186.02 billion worth of treasury bills via open market operation.

The outflows worth N186.02 billion were offset by the inflows from the matured treasury bills worth N372.88 billion.

Thus, the Nigerian Interbank Offered Rates (NIBOR) moved in mixed directions across the tenor buckets.

For instance, the NIBOR for overnight funds and one-month fell to 10.33 per cent (from 13.15%) and 13.80 per cent (from 13.98%), while the 3-month and 6-month rose to 14.03 per cent (from 13.95%) and 14.87 per cent (from 14.72%) respectively.

However, the Nigerian Interbank Treasury Bills True Yields (NITTY) rose for most maturities tracked amid sustained sell pressure. That is, yields on 3-month, 6-month and 12-month maturities rose to 12.98 per cent (from 12.89%), 13.49 per cent (from 13.35%), to 16.39 per cent (from 15.89%) while 1-month fell to 12.85 per cent (from 13.41%) respectively.

Forex Market At the close of the trading week, the nairadollar exchange rate remained unchanged at both the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment and the parallel (black) market to close at N359/$ and N362/$ respectively as the CBN’s continued its weekly intervention.

The naira gained against the dollar on the investors & exporters forex window (I&E) by 0.05 per cent, to close at N363.84. But, it fell by 0.08 per cent to N362.82/$ on the interbank foreign exchange market despite weekly injections of $210 million by the CBN into the foreign exchange market via the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) of which: $100 million was allocated to wholesale SMIS, $55 million was allocated to SMEs and $55 million was sold for invisibles.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, last week reiterated that the central bank’s restriction of foreign exchange access to 41

import items, three years ago, was in national interest, explaining that it helped to save the economy from collapse. Emefiele, said although the policy was restrictive of trade, he explained that it was necessary to protect the economy from the importation of items that could dampen the local production and economic growth.

The CBN had in July 2015, restricted 41 items, including vegetable oil, poultry products, toothpicks, cosmetics, plastic and rubber products, among others, from accessing foreign exchange from the interbank foreign exchange market.

Importers of the restricted items were asked to source their forex requirements from autonomous sources.

Emefiele noted that in today’s world, countries have used trade protection repeatedly as a policy to resolve negative perceptions and shocks.

He added, “In other words, should Nigeria with insatiable taste for foreign goods to the detriment of the domestic economic realities (unemployment and imported inflation) throw its borders open to indiscriminate importation of goods and services.�

Meanwhile, last week, most dated foreign exchange forward contracts at the interbank over-the-counter (OTC) segment appreciated – 1-month, 2-month, 3-month and 6-month gained 0.07 per cent, 0.06 per cent, 0.04 per cent and 0.07 per cent to close at N367.26/$, N370.69/$, N374.08/$ and N384.99/$ respectively; however, spot and 1-year rates depreciated by 0.02 per cent and 0.48 per cent to close N306.55/$ and N411.87/$ respectively. “In the new week, we expect exchange rate stability in most market segments; howbeit, some pressure at the I&E forex window amid falling foreign exchange reserves,� the firm stated.

Bond Market Last week, the Debt Management Office (DMO) issued bonds worth N110.00 billion. A breakdown of this showed 12.75% FGN APR 2023 (5-Yr Reopening) worth N35 billion, 13.53% FGN MAR 2025 (7-year re-opening) worth N35 billion and 13.98% FGN FEB 2028 (10-year re-opening) worth N40 billion respectively.

The 5-year and 7-year bonds were auctioned relatively at flat stop rates of 15 per cent and 15.15 per cent respectively.

However, the 10-year bond was auctioned at higher stop rate of 15.32 per cent (from 15.25%) even as it was 127 per cent oversubscribed.

Amid higher primary market stop rates, the value of FGN bonds traded at the over-thecounter (OTC) segment fell for all maturities tracked amid sustained bearish investor sentiment. That is, the 20-year, 10% FGN JULY 2030 debt, 10-year, 16.39% FGN JAN 2022 debt, 7-year, 16.00% FGN JUN 2019 debt and the 5-year, 14.50% FGN JUL 2021 debt lost N0.19, N0.01, N0.10 and N0.12 respectively; while their corresponding yields rose to 15.23 per cent (from 15.19%), 14.71 per cent (from 14.71%), 14.38 per cent (from 14.28%) and 15.22 per cent (from 15.16%) respectively.

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Oniha: Borrowed Funds Are Pumped into the Economy Nigeria’s debt profile has been in the spotlight in recent times. While the federal government has continued to allay concerns, some Nigerians insists that the country faces a debt crisis.

In this interview, the Director General, Debt Management Office, Ms. Patience Oniha, provides reasons for the growth in Nigeria’s debt stock. Oniha insists that the country needs to do more to raise more revenues. Obinna Chima presents the excerpts: Nigeria’s debt proďŹ le will deďŹ nitely be a talking point as we draw closer to the 2019 general elections. Politicians and commentators would deďŹ nitely be looking at the country’s debt level prior to 2015 when the present government took over and where it is today. In your assessment, what is the state of Nigeria’s debt?

Let me use this opportunity to say that as a country, one of whose goals for several years has been to grow, Nigeria has had to support its revenue with borrowing so as to stimulate growth. So, if you go back to the period oil was over $100 per barrel, we still ran deficit budget and we still borrowed. So, all of those borrowings contributed to the debt stock that we have. So, is the debt stock sustainable? My answer is yes. I won’t say the debt stock is too high. When you look at it relative to the size of your Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is one of the measures that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) uses, it is among the lowest in the country. But, where the concern is, officials including myself, have said that the Debt Service to Revenue ratio is higher than we like it to be. The reason is that the absolute debt service figure is not what is large, it is that your revenues are extremely low. And why that has come to the fore lately is because the country’s revenue dropped by about 50 per cent. When oil revenue crashed, our revenue dropped by about 50 per cent, but debt service is fix! These monies were borrowed long time ago and there is a fixed coupon which is not dependent on oil prices. So, the debt stock is growing because each year you are running a deficit and most of it is financed by borrowing.

So, in absolute term, debt stock is not too high, the problem is that we need more revenues so that we are not using a large part of our revenue to service debt. That is what I can say.

You said even when oil prices were as high as $100 per barrel, the government at that time borrowed. But the argument remains that in the last three years, the level of borrowings has aggravated?

Okay, lets explain that. And it’s good you talked about aggravated borrowing, but I won’t call it aggravated borrowing, but through Eurobond. Like I said, we have always borrowed.

So, one of the things you have to consider is the currency depreciation which increases your cost anyway, that is your expenditure side of the budget. We have always borrowed, like I said, and not small amount. But, what has always happened is that we went into a recession in 2016, everybody saw that coming. We can sit back today and say we could have done better, but that is history. So, when you go into a recession anywhere in the world, just like when we had the global financial meltdown, all the advanced countries, whether it is the United States or the United Kingdom, they all pumped in money. They borrowed and pumped in money into the economy to restore growth and we are seeing the results now. So, in the case of Nigeria, government then needed to borrow more.

When you slipped into a recession, your revenue is only 50 per cent because all we have always had was oil revenue. So, that meant that the government needed to spend more in order to stimulate the economy, which is a function of government irrespective of whether they are capitalist, communist or socialist. So, what I am saying essentially was that the deficit in the budget was bigger because revenues had dropped and secondly because government had to spend more money, largely on infrastructure and the social investment scheme, in order to stimulate the economy. So, in addressing your question specifically, yes, borrowing increased because revenue was down. And I think one of the things we shouldn’t forget is that the wages and personnel costs are fixed. So, if you match only your revenue to personnel cost for instance,

Oniha

you won’t be able to pay salaries. And the government took a wise decision that in a period of recession, they would not downsize to reduce the wage bill. So, that wage bill is fixed and your revenues couldn’t have sustained it, especially when the oil prices fell below

The reason is that the absolute debt service ďŹ gure is not what is large, it is that your revenues are extremely low. And why that has come to the fore lately is because the country’s revenue dropped by about 50 per cent. When oil revenue crashed, our revenue dropped by about 50 per cent, but debt service is ďŹ x

$30 per barrel. That is one part. So, that is one part. But equally important from the question you asked: Why the aggravated borrowings through Eurobonds? We have a debt management strategy that says one of the objective should be to manage the debt, which is one of the reasons why the DMO was created, so that we don’t go back to the Paris Club era, where there was no process and anybody could borrow for the government. So, our mandate is to manage public debt and there is a strategy around it. First level is that you must get approvals to borrow. So, the debt management strategy the DMO has always had, one of the objectives is that the issue of domestic to external debts should be 60-40 per cent.

But, because government had a policy for several years, that for external debts, when you have been badly hit, you decide that you are not going back there. So, we said for external borrowings, we would do only concessional windows. What do we mean by concessional windows? We are talking about borrowing from the World Bank, the Africa Development Bank, etc, that the cost is less than three per cent per annum and you have a grace period of seven to 10 years and tenors of about 40 years. So, you have time to service the debts. So, that was what we did for a long time. But like I said, we were running a deficit budget and so we still needed to bor-

row because those loans were not for budget deficits, but for projects. So, we still then needed to fund the budget. Since we have said its only concessional window, we kept borrowing in naira every year to fund the budget. So, the domestic debt grew and at some point, probably when I joined the DMO in 2008, it was around 87 per cent. That had its benefits because we have a fixed income securities market that we can talk about now, an FMDQ OTC which has a life of its own, where corporates can issue commercial papers and bonds. So, that had positive benefits and we are very proud about it. For me, it makes sense that in leaving the private sector, I was able to come into government and apply many of the things working with stakeholders that we speak the same language. So, it played a developmental role. So, the domestic debt grew very high and there were two downsides. One of it was that because we are a frontier market, your cost of borrowing was high because by definition interest rates in frontier or developing countries are higher than in the international market. So, it meant debt service was high because the interest rates in the local market were high and that became worst with the recession and monetary policy tightening. So, government was borrowing at Continued on page 27

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ONIHA: BORROWED FUNDS ARE PUMPED INTO THE ECONOMY about 18.5 per cent on treasury bills. So, for the monetary policy tightening, we knew why the central bank was doing it. It was because they wanted to manage liquidity and protect the forex. They it clear that price stability was their concern. So, interest rate was high and the new borrowing were at market rates. That also contributed to the increase in debt service from 2016. So, whereas we were borrowing at 13 per cent, it increased to about 18.5 per cent. So, we went back to our debt management strategy. So, we started by trying to increase the component of external debts to achieve the 60-40. Remember I said we were at about 87-13, when I joined the DMO in 2008. So, we issued the first Eurobond in January 2011, which was $500 million. So, we issued another one in July 2013, and that was $1 billion.

But let me state this clearly, banks like the AfDB, also have commercial window. So, they can give you concessional loans. So, we started accessing the international market and the external component started increasing. And by the end of 2015, we were at about 80 per cent domestic debt and 20 per cent external.

So, it started building up. So, when recession hit, domestic interest rates were extremely high and the Central Bank was tightening liquidity. So, would you keep borrowing in the domestic market? No. So, we started borrowing externally. That strategy is what explains why you saw some more external borrowing.

The idea was to work towards that 40 per cent that we said we wanted to achieve to reduce debt service cost. So, instead of borrowing domestic at 18 per cent, we started borrowing at eighth per cent. And all the borrowings we did last year, up to February, were all below eight per cent per annum. So, we were saving a differential of about 10 per cent. So, one of the reasons was debt service cost and the second reason was that the organised private sector and even the Central Bank, if you read the Monetary Policy Committee communique, they say we crowd out the private sector. So, we felt if we borrowed less from the domestic market, there would be more money for the private sector to borrow and interest rate would drop. And that happened last year. The rate at which we borrow is about 14 per cent, compared with the 18.5 per cent we used to borrow. We have injected money into the system. So, that aggravated borrowing is a strategy to increase the external debt component, reduce debt service cost and free up space in the domestic market. So, one of the things you often hear me say, and I say that when I am with the capital market people, is that between December last year and June, we released about N840 billion into the market, how come it has reached the real sector? That is because the money is now sitting in the banks and the CBN mops up through open market operations (OMO).

That was not the intention, it was meant to make funds available to the real sector. So, why are the banks not lending and why is the organised private sector not borrowing?

Which was why I think at a recent Bankers’ Committee meeting, the CBN was looking for how to use the cash reserve requirement (CRR), to encourage them to lend. So, all of that is a strategy. But for us too, as part of the government policy to support the forex, the external borrowings actually contributed to the external reserves. So, the money comes, the CBN receives it and give us naira. That is important because we needed to build the external reserves to support the exchange rate. So, last year alone we gave the CBN over $7 billion. So, the CBN is in a good position to support the naira.

Why is that important? It is not about the DMO or the CBN, but when the multilateral institutions are assessing you, they look at the level of your external reserves and the volatility of your currency. So, it is all a macro policy. So, that has helped the CBN because that money is clean and it is their own. It is not a foreword, nor a loan, they bought it and gave us naira. So, that is the reason why we had the Eurobonds last year. But, the truth is that some of the Eurobond issued in the first quarter of this year, were actually to fund the 2016 budget, which itself was approved late.

So, the one we are working on now is for the 2018 budget. Now that it has been approved, we are almost good to go. So, let me explain the borrowings we did last year because it

projects within their budgets. So, the budget was still running until June this year when the 2018 budget was sign this year. So, the way it works is that within that six months, speaking from a DMO experience, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) would have awarded contracts based on the procurement process. Don’t forget that we can’t pay advance payment 100 per cent. Remember that the 2017 budget expired the day the new one was signed in June this year. So, the day the president announced it was going to sign, the Office of the Accountant General, then wrote to MDAs that the budget has expired and what they do is what is called a sweep or a mop up. That is, any money that has not been used is swept into the Treasury Single Account (TSA). So, if you have a project that you haven’t completed, but you have awarded the contract and it has been done 50 per cent, meaning 50 per cent of the money is still with the MDA, you are allowed under the financial regulation, to get an approval to hold that money until the project is completed. But there is a cut-off date for that. That is how it operates.

I think the budget office has already uploaded its half-year report on its website. So, one of the reasons you don’t have full implementation is because of the revenue shortfall, meaning revenue is less than what you budgeted. But in terms of borrowing, as a DMO, we always deliver. So, let me just use last year’s own as an example. The $2.5 billion we raised in November was released first week of December for capital projects. But because of the procurement process, those projects were not completed in December.

It had to be early in the new year. So, when you are talking about full implementation, we challenge there.

Are there regulations around states’ borrowings because we noticed that most states are also carrying lots of debts?

Several sections of the Fiscal Responsibility Act applies to states as well. A golden part of that document says that you can only borrow on concessional basis, for capital projects and human capital development. As with all laws, it says if you are doing anything outside of it, you have to get express approval. There is a provision in the DMO Act that states that any state government that wants to borrow from a commercial bank, the bank must inform the Minister of Finance. Meaning that from the beginning of that process, the minister ought to know. Before 2015, many of the banks were not complying. The Minister of Finance then, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, actually went to speak with the bank CEOs then, on the need for them to comply. But they were still lending. I think if not for the bailout we saw in the banking industry, the banks would have written-off huge losses. But now they are extremely compliant, they write to the minister and copy me and then we process. Then, there is a fiscal sustainability plan which gives several concessions.

There is also the Investment and Securities Act and the Securities and Exchange (SEC) Act, that has provisions for states’ borrowings.

For instance, when they want to issue bonds, it says it must be backed with an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO). The ISPO is a debit against their funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). They would create a sinking fund and every month, they would give the minister authority to debit their FAAC allocation and put in the sinking fund. Putting all of that together, the DMO has a borrowing guidelines for external and domestic borrowings for both the federal government and the states. That document spells out the process, but also states that the debt service of a state should not be more than 40 per cent of its revenue. So far, we have defined revenues by referencing FAAC. You know that is what most of them have? if you take out Lagos state, that is only what most of them have. So, that debt service simply means the service on existing debts and the new one they plan to take. If it is below 40 per cent, then we make recommendation to the minister to approve and if it is more than 40 per cent, we return it. So, there is an administrative process. If you ask me what journalists and watchdogs need to do a lot more is to get involved a bit more in the utilisation. For me, one of my best days in DMO was to go and look at those Sukuk roads and actually see the construction. So, I could tie my marketing and all the efforts to raise the money to something that I am seeing. I know some didn’t like the fact that the Sukuk bond was called an Islamic product, but that was one of the best disciplines we have had using borrowed funds. With that, we had control.

So what happens to the funds that were released for those projects?

Those releases are done by the minister and they are announced for capital. So, they go through the procurement process. So, those monies go to different agencies to implement

So, when are we expecting the next DMO’s Strategic Plan?

The one we are running expires in December 2019. So, by the fourth quarter of 2019, we would start working on it and then it goes through the approval process.

Oniha

had two components. So, $1.5 billion of it in the first quarter was for the 2016 deficit financing and the one we did in November last year - $3 billion - $2.5 billion of that was for the deficit in the 2017 budget. But what we issued in November was $3 billion and $500 million of that was for the refinancing of domestic debt. So, we did the issuing in November, and in December, all the treasury bills that matured that month, we retired them. That was about N198 billion and we did that with that $500 million that we raised. Then in February we issued $2.5 billion and we have also been using that to retire treasury bills.

So, the volume of treasury bills we have been issuing has dropped. The aim was to reduce the short-term domestic debts because that is actually the most expensive. So, it was like we borrowed for two budgets and then borrowed for refinancing.

But some have argued that concessional loans from the AfDB and others are much cheaper than Eurobonds. You said the funds that were raised through Eurobond sales were at eight per cent interest rate, but when you factor in the cost of the various roadshows that would be done ahead of the issuance and other fees involved in issuing Eurobond, you will ďŹ nd out the actual cost of borrowing is above eight per cent. So, why do we still go for Eurobonds if that is the case and considering that with the policy normalisation in some

advanced economies, interest rates have already risen?

Let me agree with you, the concessional loans from the AfDB, the Islamic Development Banks, China-EXIM, India-EXIM, the German, French and Japanese agencies, are certainly cheaper. If you look at our website, you will see a breakdown of the figure for external debt, the amount and percentage. They are cheaper and you and I would jump at them because they are soft loans. But the reality is that it still has a limit. And institution would access you and tell you the maximum it can lend you. What if you need more? So, what is the strategy?

Everything you can take concessional from all of these agencies, take it and if you need beyond that what do you do? You then go and issue Eurobond. If concessional loans are limitless, meaning we can access any amount we want, then we won’t go to the Eurobond market or the commercial window as we call it. Another thing is that by the time Nigeria moved to the status of a lower middle income country, they felt we have grown a bit and stronger and that they would give us a blend, meaning they can’t give us 100 per cent concessional.

For example, if they want to give us $2 billion over three years, it means they would spread it over three years and $1 billion would be concessional and the other $1 billion would be commercial. So, even that reclassification affected how much of concessional loans we could get.

If you look at the annual budget, the capital allocation is not always fully implemented, but we are always told that the funds were borrowed for capital projects?

So, last year alone we gave the CBN over $7 billion. So, the CBN is in a good position to support the naira. Why is that important? It is not about the DMO or the CBN, but when the multilateral institutions are assessing you, they look at the level of your external reserves and the volatility of your currency

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IEI-Anchor Pension Managers’ Foundation Supports Flood Profit After Tax Drops to N1.4m Victims in Delta State Ebere Nwoji The IEI-Anchor Pensions Managers has announced its financial results for the year ended December 31,2017.

The results showed that the company’s profit before tax dropped significantly from N116 million in 2016, to N45 million in the year under review.

Similarly, its profit after tax also fell from N81 million in 2016 to N1.4million in 2017.

The company, however, said it recorded growth in Assets under Management which rose from N58 billion in 2016 to N68 billion in 2017, showing an increase by 17.38 per cent, just as its gross revenue grew from N544 million in 2016, to N661 million in 2017.

Similarly, its Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) revealed an increase from 10,000 in 2016 to 12,394 opened in 2017, which was a 24 per cent growth in generation levels, while its RSA Fund Unit price grew from N1.9411 in 2016 to N2.2124 in 2017, representing growth of 13.98 per cent.

Disclosing these at the sixth Annual General Meeting of the company held in Abuja recently, its Chairman, Prof. Jonathan Silas Zwingina, said IEI-Anchor Pension Managers in the year under review became more efficient due

to structural and technological infrastructure deliberately put in place to ensure efficiency and customer satisfaction. “The resilience of your company is not in doubt as it continued to grow despite the steep competition in the pension industry. “The assets under management grew by 17 per cent, from N58 billion in 2016, to N68 billion in 2017.Opportunities were seized and maximised. “The spirit of this growth has been achieved thus far with the help of the management team guided by the board. “The efforts of our employees cannot also be overlooked.

They have remained committed and dedicated to building the company,� said the chairman.

He noted that the pension industry, in the year under discussion, also encountered some pressure with clamours by the National Assembly to increase the lump sum payments for retirees which is currently about 25 per cent, to 75 per cent. “Stakeholders in the pension industry were opposed to this proposition, which has now been put on hold.

The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) was also further

extended to include members of the informal sector, through the micro-pension scheme. “This plan will enhance the viability of pension assets to further secure retirement benefits. All PFAs are gearing up for its start up.�

He said there was no doubt that the inclusion of the arm of the society would lead to a large in-flow of resources, thereby growing the already robust pension assets and providing a major financial base for investment opportunities. According to him, the economy was expected to benefit meaningfully from this initiative with the provision of more funds for infrastructural development. Also speaking, Managing Director of IEI-Anchor Pensions, Glory Etaduovie, explained that the slight drop in the profit of the company was due to capital reinjection, addition to its branch network, facelift of existing branches and outlets to meet with competitors and regulators standards. “ “Our staff size also increased from 83 in 2016 to 150 in 2017.

He said during the year under review, the company was able to ensure improved staffing of all major departments and units.

Air Peace Pledges Improved Customer Service West Africa’s leading carrier, Air Peace feted its customers during the celebration to mark its fourth anniversary.

The airline said its success so far was made possible by the loyalty of its customers so they were given gifts, ranging from free tickets to souvenirs and improved in-flight refreshment.

A statement signed by the Chief Operating Officer, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Olajide, said the airline centred the celebration of the fourth anniversary of its flight operations on members of the flying public as a mark of the premium it placed on them as the core of its business. “Running an airline anywhere around the world is quite a challenge. But our wonderful guests have made the four years of our flight operations a very pleasant experience. “From seven aircraft and five routes at launch of our operations on October 24, 2014, our valued guests have supported us all the way to the top spot of the aviation business in Nigeria and the West Coast of Africa.

“Today, we operate into 14 domestic and five regional destinations, with plans for the launch of our long-haul flights to Dubai, Sharjah, London, Houston, Guangzhou-China, Mumbai and Johannesburg nearing completion.

From seven aircraft at launch, we now have a fleet of over 24 aircraft, excluding the 10 brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft we recently ordered.�

Olajide, said in four years, the airline has scored a number of firsts and set multitude records in the aviation industry in Nigeria and the West Coast of Africa, including the acquisition as well as registration of Nigeria’s first Boeing 777 and setting up of a subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper to organise its effort to seamlessly connect unserved and underserved domestic and regional routes under the airline’s no-city-left-behind project. “On the economic front, we have created thousands of direct and indirect jobs for members of the public without discrimination on the bases of gender, religion, creed and tribe.

We have done a whole lot in unifying Nigeria through air travel and positively impacted the economies of the country and its regional counterparts. “All this would have been impossible without the patronage, support and loyalty of our valued customers. That was why we decided that our fourth anniversary be devoted to celebrating them. We see a very bright future and we assure of better days ahead for members of the flying public as we continue to strive for greater ways of delivering safe, comfortable and exception flight services,� Olajide said.

The airline, it was gathered, gave passengers who flew on its fourth anniversary gifts, including power banks, bluetooth speakers, USB flash drives and pens. The airline also allocated a number of free tickets to be won by its customers and members of the public participating in its social media engagements. The airline, reports said, also raised the quality of refreshment served on its flights.

National Infraco Project to CommenceYear End The national programme for Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) expected to increase broadband penetration in the country has been planned to kick off later this year.

Current broadband penetration in Nigeria is 22 per cent, up from the four per cent it was in 2012.

To achieve increased broadband penetration, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had developed a Licencing Framework and instituted a subsidy scheme to enable Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) to roll out fibre in all the zones of the country.

Specifically, the project, one of the key high-level interventions

of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competiveness Advisory Council, is expected to increase broadband penetration across all geopolitical zones of the country, such that at the end of the four-year intervention, all the 774 Local Government Areas will be provided with fibre connectivity. That implies the deployment of at least one fibre Point of Access (PoA), with the capacity of 10 Gbps, in each LGA across the country. A statement quoted the Executive Secretary of the Council, Edirin Akemu, to have explained that the difficulty of using a single Infraco to achieve the desired broadband penetration because of the sheer

size of the country, topographic challenges and socio-economic factors necessitated the use of the more companies. “To address those difficulties and fast track broadband penetration, the National Communications Commission, which is executing the project, has developed a structure to licence 6 InfraCos for the geopolitical zones and an additional one for Lagos because of its peculiarities,� she explained. The licenced Infracos are Infraco Nigeria Limited (for Lagos zone); Brinks Integrated Solution Limited (North-East); Fleet Networks Nigeria Limited (North-West) and Zinox Technologies Limited (South-East).

Oluchi Chibuzor The Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu Foundation (KAAF) has supported flood victims in Kwale, Delta State, with cash and some food items in an effort aimed at ameliorating the challenges those in the community were facing.

Making the presentation at the corporate head office of the organisation in Lagos recently, the Senior Personal Assistant to the Chairman, KAAF, Taiwo Aje, said the gesture was part of the corporate social responsibility of the organisation in giving back to the society. Aje, who said the gift items were part of KAAF founder’s

contribution to members of the affected community in Kwale.

The feat, according to him, would go a long way to give them hope to remain confidence and face the future, despite the flooding in their areas, while adding that his prayers at with them at this critical moment.

According to her: “We make this presentation through the KAAF, by giving the sum of N1 million, food items and other donation to the flood victims affected in Kwale, community, Delta state. “We send our sympathy and empathy to them and pray that God will be with them in these trying times�.

Accepting the donation, on behalf of his community, the

Chairman, Melka West Africa Limited, Mr. Micheal Uwaka, said: “I am not surprised, but very happy because after showing him a picture of the devastating effects of the flood of the community in Delta state, where houses were completely submerged with water, he told me he will get to me after deliberating with the board. “We really appreciate this gesture and promise to distribute them adequately,� he explained.

Uwaka, equally called on other corporate organisation and individuals to come to the aid of the community and support in which ever capacity they can, as the people will appreciate it a lot.

MTN Introduces Revamped XtraValue Proposition Raheem Akingbolu More great times lie ahead for MTN’s high value customers as the company unveiled its revamped XtraValue proposition recently in Lagos.

The event also marked the formal launch of a partnership between the Telco Company and top Nigerian actress, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, who now becomes the face of XtraValue and stars in the latest TV commercials. Speaking at the launch, she said: “I think the XtraValue package was made just for me, as it helps me manage my busy

schedule whenever I travel. I really love the roaming feature as it means I can use the same line in different countries at an affordable cost.“ MTN’s XtraValue bundle plan offers the best of both worlds for data and voice calls on a single proposition. It is available in two categories – XtraTalk (which offers customers more airtime for Voice calls than Data volume) and XtraData (which offers customers more Data volume and airtime for voice calls).

For example, customers can now enjoy 2.5Gb data plus N2,500 talktime on XtraData

2000, and there are 15 other variants of this bundle ranging from N300 to N20,000.

In addition, High Value customers on this package would not only enjoy the best data and voice offers but would also benefit from new add-ons such as roaming in 41 countries!

Also speaking at the event, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Marketing Officer, Rahul De, said the tariff plan was revamped to give customers optimal experience and value for money.

He said: “XtraValue did quite well when it was first launched in May 2016 and we saw the need to optimize the experience

29

T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ Í°ÍˇËœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍś

Olaleye: Government Must Do More to Curb Smuggling The food, beverage and tobacco sector has played a major role of providing food, jobs and wealth in Nigeria. However, the National President, Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association, Quadri Olaleye, spoke on the challenges bedevilling the subsector and the need for government’s intervention. Goddy Egene provides the excerpt: materials are available and there are good means to transport finished product to consumer. The producers and distributors are losing money while consumers are suffering because the products are not available. This should be taken up by labour.

What is the state of the food and beverages sub-sector in the country?

One cannot say the government policies concerning the food and beverage sector have really benefitted the industrial sector because there is continuous job loss as a result of reforms in forms of mergers, acquisitions, privatisation, trade liberalisation and commercialisation. The resultant effect is loss of membership. The workers in Export Process Zone (EPZ) are still not unionised as some managements are hiding under the guise of government policy on EPZ. The food, beverage and tobacco industry in Nigeria covers the brewery, dairy, tobacco, flour milling, bottling, confectioneries, spirit and liquor sectors. It is a unique industry which over time has been fairly stable in comparison to other sectors with good conditions of service and job security.

It can even be argued that next to the oil and gas industry, it is the second industry that has enjoyed boom in terms of contributions to the economic growth and development of Nigeria.

Some of the socio-economic challenges facing the country include insecurity, poverty, unemployment.

One cannot undermine the role the food, beverage and tobacco sector have played in providing food, jobs and wealth through leveraging on success in the agriculture sector.

Are the raw materials needed for production in the sector locally available?

In the food and beverage sector, most of our industries can only source for 40 per cent of their raw materials locally, the remaining 60 per cent is through importation. Due to the high exchange rate, employers in the sector have no choice than to downsize even though they take more advantage of the situation. But the fact is that there are no raw materials, the purchasing capacity of the consumers too has been drastically reduced, so production has to be minimised and they have to reduce the number of workers. We have cassava in the country, the question is that is it up to the standard required in terms of quality? Take for instance, in the production of ethanol, now what must we do?

This is where government should come in. The ministry of agriculture and NAFDAC and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to make sure they educate the farmers on how to produce quality cassava that can be used for Ethanol.

The year is coming to an end. How would you access your sector’s performance so far?

Though we have itemised the various challenges confronting the association, despite all that, the industry is still standing tall because of its uniqueness. The Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association(FOBTOB) at the national level was able to put in place a Procedural Agreement with the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE). Despite incessant redundancy in the industry, we are still able to increase our membership through aggressive organizing. Also, the Pension Act was not explicit about the provision for gratuity alongside pensions and idea of abolishing gratuity became a topical issue. However, FOBTOB was able to obtain an upward review, even though it was a slight modification to the calculations.

SpeciďŹ cally, what are the challenges confronting the sector?

The food, beverage and tobacco industry is confronted with the projected plan by the federal and state governments to impose tax on pensions, gratuities and terminal benefits of workers in the country while employers in the industry are also planning to abolish gratuity. Nigeria’s technological changes in production processes are wide-ranging from robotics to computerisation, automation in packaging and quality management and companies are embracing this by the day. As workplace technology accelerates, discussions on the use of such technology will likely become key in any bargaining where robots and automation are a possibility. Economic recession in Nigeria has led to the dramatic changes in collective bargaining in food, beverage and tobacco industry both at national and branch levels. Negotiations have changed from wearing a co-operative outlook

Four years after privatisation, has the power sector delivered on its promises to Nigerian industrial sector?

The intent of privatisation in Nigeria was meant to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians but as at present one cannot say it has great impact on our industry because some of the companies due to epileptic power supply and the need to keep the production process going had to resort to alternative power supply.

Nigerian roads are still in a very bad shape.

How is the situation affecting your operations?

The roads are still in a very bad shape and it is affecting both movement of raw materials and finished products.

Olaleye

to an adversarial posture. Under the Nigerian legal system, the right of citizens to be members and join in the formation of trade unions is well guaranteed. Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria do not forbid anyone from joining the trade unions in Nigeria but some managements in the food, beverage and tobacco industry that are still hiding under the guise of the principle of voluntarism to use a subterranean way to prevent some categories of workers from associating freely with the union.

In times of economic depression such as is being

The food, beverage and tobacco industry is confronted with the projected plan by the federal and state governments to impose tax on pensions, gratuities and terminal beneďŹ ts of workers in the country while employers in the industry are also planning to abolish gratuity.

Nigeria’s technological changes in production processes are wideranging from robotics to computerisation, automation in packaging and quality management and companies are embracing this by the day

currently experienced in Nigeria employers of labour, which include the food, beverage and tobacco sector, see redundancy as a cost-cutting measure that will enable them remain in business.

Casualisation and outsourcing have taken over jobs in food, beverage and tobacco sector and efforts to unionise these categories of worker have not yielded result. Even when there is willingness on the part of these category of workers to belong to the union there are still underground moves by the management to ensure that they are not unionised.

Smuggling of goods has remained menace in the country. How is smuggling affecting the sector?

Smuggling is having adverse effects on the industry as the country is flooded with substandard products every day. Only the government can help us to resolve this. The rate of smuggling activities has been so high and government has been making effort to eradicate this problem, but yet to record much progress. Government and manufacturers are losing a lot on the collection of revenue and also the foreign exchange of this nation is being sapped through these activities.

This is robbing the nation of huge amount of revenue that should be derived from import duty and has also resulted in flooding the market with sub- standard, fake and expired products.

Smuggling is generating a lot of concern because of both the economic and health implications; it depletes the economy of nations, constitute serious health hazards through substandard goods and in some instances death and may eventually lead to the collapse of the manufacturing sector. I think the federal government needs to do more to curb the menace of smuggling in Nigeria.

How is the port congestion affecting the performance of your sector?

Port congestion, which can be summed up into two words – logistical nightmare- is affecting partially all the industries in Nigeria, food sector inclusive and the impact is enormous. The only sector benefiting from this is freight and forwarding.

Production could only be achieved when the raw

How would you rate consumer’s purchasing power in the face of Nigeria’s economic challenges?

The purchasing power is dropping by the day because of religious believe on alcoholism, inability to avoid some the products due to poverty rate in Nigeria. Also, consumer preference for nonprocessed food products in place of processed food products. Government should exploit a partnership with the multi-nationals who are acquiring new technology that are automated in most of the areas of their production, this to a larger extent has contributed to mass sack from these organization. If you get to India, most of their machines are operated by people not robots, this is a deliberate policy to engage their huge population. So, that is why I say that the government has a role to play in this direction.

Most of these technologies are very expensive, yet government pretended as if they do not know what is going on in the production sector.

What do you think government should do to establish a viable food and beverage sector?

There should be regulation of the process in the export processing zones and decongestion of ports. Although, technological changes continue to be regarded as managerial prerogative as there is no law in place to stop this. In order to preserve jobs, we are looking at the following: advance notice of technological changes; discussions between representatives of labour and management regarding time, procedures and re-integration of adversely affected workers; commitment by employers that necessary reductions in employment will be achieved through systematic approach, at some agreed upon annual rate; separation allowances for workers who elect to retire.

There is need for the federal government to re-orientate the youths towards little business that they can start, and that could turn to a conglomerate in the future if they are persistent, hardworking and absolutely committed and believe in themselves that they can do it.

The era of white collar job in the country has gone and the sooner the government roll out self-employment scheme that can mop away the teeming graduates off the streets, the better it will be for us in the long run. Nigerian youths need re-orientation and new thinking that can turn little business to bigger one. Take for instance, car washing business, a lot are into it, but if you engage them in discussions, they are doing it pending the time the other job will come. This is applicable to shoe making and likewise farm settlement which were eyesore in those days. If government is serious about employment generation, this area can be focused and enlarged to create new opportunities.

In the early eighties, government encouraged graduates to go into farm settlement by giving them soft loans. Within little time, they are self-employed and still engaged few hands on their farm by generating employment. But today, nobody is doing that. There used to be agricultural show where the young farmers will come and exhibit their farm produce and the best are given awards.

30

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THISDAYt MONDAY OCTOBER 29, 2018

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32

M O N DAY Ëž OCTOBER 29, 2018

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

ABCON Seeks CBN Support to Boost Market Transparency Ugo Aliogo The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has called for the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enhance the operations of its live exchange rate website.

This, according to the currency deales, would go a long way in improving transparency and stability in the nation’s foreign exchange market.

The Association made this call in its Economic Review for the third quarter (Q3’18) released last week, noting that the daily publication of exchange rate on its naijabdcs.com platform played a huge role in the marginal appreciation of the naira in the bureau de change sub-sector in the third quarter of 2018.

The report stated: “During the

quarter, the CBN sustained its weekly dollar sale of $60,000 per BDC. This coupled with the transparency in the BDC subsector due to live exchange rate publication on ABCON’s exchange rate platform -www. naijabdcs.com, helped to ensure appreciation of the naira in the BDC segment and relative stability of the naira in the general economy. “According to the ABCON’s www.naijabdcs.com, the naira appreciated by 50 kobo to N359.5 per dollar in the BDC segment in Q3’18 from N360 per dollar in Q2’18. “But the naira depreciated

by N2.6 in the Investors and Exchange (I&E) and by 63 kobo in the interbank foreign exchange market. In the I&E, the indicative exchange rate rose to N363.92 per dollar in Q3’18 from N321.32

per dollar in Q2’18.�

To sustain the appreciation of the naira achieved in the BDC segment, ABCON called continued promotion of transparency through more operational disclosure “The sub sectors will grow faster with the continued promotion of transparency through more operational disclosure.

Confidence by multinationals and general public will be enhanced and regulatory functions will be efficient. “Speculations and currency hoarding should be discouraged with the current exchange rate movements and volatile economic stance. Marginal gains and increase in foreign cash inflows through more organised marketing will be a good strategy for the current situation,� the association stated.

SMEs, Agric Key to Nigeria’s Prosperity, Says Sekibo The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Bank, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, has called on financial institutions and the three tiers of government to support agriculture as well as small and medium scale businesses to fast-track the nation’s quest to move from poverty to prosperity.

Sekibo, also said evidence had shown that countries that support micro, Small and Medium enterprises, (MSME’s) are successful in reducing poverty.

Speaking on the sidelines of the just concluded 24th Nigerian Economic Summit which was co-sponsored by Heritage Bank and titled: “Poverty to Prosperity: Making Governance

and Institutions work,� Sekibo said more needed to be done by the government and financial institutions in the areas of entrepreneurship because it is an agent of development.

According to him, “We in Heritage Bank have been supporting various small scale businesses especially through our reality show, “The Next Titan,� which is driven by our faith to give young entrepreneurs the opportunity to contribute to the economic growth of the country�. “One of our major cardinal point as a bank is supporting micro, small and medium scale businesses and our strong desire to see young men and women succeed in any area of their busi-

ness. This will help the society and economy to grow, thereby moving the nation from poverty to prosperity, he added.

Speaking further, Sekibo noted: “One of the areas where government and financial institutions can move this nation from poverty to prosperity is through the development of agriculture. “One of the cardinal points to economic growth of the nation is through mechanised farming.

Government and financial institutions must do everything they can to support the growth of the sector. We cannot talk about moving from poverty to prosperity without taking agriculture every seriously in this country.

Ecobank to Drive Digital Banking with RapidTransfer Ecobank Nigeria has explained that the introduction of its RapidTransfer mobile remittance platform was part of its desire to continue to drive digital banking in the country.

The bank’s new Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan, disclosed this at a dinner in Lagos, at the weekend, to celebrate outgoing members of the Ecobank Nigeria Board as well as to welcome newly appointed directors.

He also stated that historically, the cost for Nigerians in the diaspora to send funds home used to be far too high, while the process itself has long been

inefficient and burdensome. “Customers often have to physically visit an agent and yet are left with little or no clarity as to when the funds will actually reach the intended recipient.�

He explained that Rapidtransfer removes all of such issues, adding that affordability would be a game changer in the way Nigerians send money to their loved ones.

In his acceptance speech, the new Managing Director outlined his vision for driving the bank going forward and assured board members of his ambitions for growth.

He noted that the bank would

remain the jewel in the Ecobank Group as well as the affiliate that sets the roadmap for others to follow. Akinwuntan explained that the bank would set the roadmap by providing customer service excellence, a suite of innovative and convenient banking services that makes banking easy for retail and corporate customers alike.

According to him: “Rapidtransfer is a safe and secure low-cost remittance solution, which ultimately will put more money into the hands of the recipient.

This will have a multiplier effect on the Nigerian economy by boosting demand and driving business growth.

Total Donates Relief Materials to FloodVictims Ernest Chinwo Ă“Ă˜ Ă™ĂœĂž Ă‹ĂœĂ?Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂž Succour came the way of victims of flood that ravaged parts of Rivers State recently as Total Exploration and Production Nigeria (TE&PN) Limited donated relief materials worth N70 million to nine communities in Egi clan, Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Presenting the relief materials, the Deputy Managing Director of Total E&P Nigeria Limited, Francois Le’Cocq, said the gesture was in appreciation of the challenges the victims faced and

the cordial relationship existing between the host communities of OML 58 and the company.

He said the company could not turn a blind eye to the plight of the people in a time of distress, adding that the relief materials was a token to cushion the effects of the flood. Le’Cocq, who was represented at by the Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs and Communications, Mr. Onyekachi Omenuko, said, “We are here to show our empathy to the Egi people whose houses and farmlands have been ravaged by floods. Total is intrinsically related to the Egi people and the Egi people to Total.

“Therefore, we cannot turn a blind eye to the plight of our brothers and sisters. This relief is just a token; please accept it to cushion the immediate needs.

We are going to do more as the floods continue to recede.�

The oil company observed during a visit to the nine communities hosting OML 58 that floods had covered some schools, churches, health centres as well as farmlands, while many residents had fled the area to seek refuge elsewhere.

Some of the communities visited are Obite, Oboburu, Ogbogu, Ohali-Elu, Idu-Osibile, Idu-Ogba and Akabuka.

L-R: Executive Director, Nichole Finanace Company Limited (NIFCO), Mr. Saviour Umoren; Managing Director, Mr. Frederick Obasuyi; Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Austen Obigwe and Chairman of NIFCO, Mr. Peter Omokaro, at the unveiling of the company in Oregun, Lagos‌recently

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

MARCH 2018 Broad Money (M2)

24,303,049.86

-- Narrow Money (M1)

10,912,604.10

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,668,378.21

---- Demand Deposits

9,244,225.90

-- Quasi Money

13,390,445.76

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

15,619,134.18

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

8,683,915.68

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

26,267,136.53

---- Credit to Government (Net)

3,823,345.45

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

5,433,209.43

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

-1,609,863.98

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

22,443,791.08

--Other Assets Net

-17,583,220.85

Reserve Money (Base Money)

6,746,646.49

--Currency in Circulation

1,668,378.21

--Banks Reserves

4,357,551.58 Ëž Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă? Ě‹

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

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

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24 2018

The price of OPEC basket of ďŹ fteen crudes stood at $75.04 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $77.11 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Oriente (Ecuador), ZaďŹ ro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

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M O N DAY ˾ OCTOBER 29, 2018

MARKET NEWS

Okafor: May & Baker Nigeria Has HiddenValue Goddy Egene May & Baker Nigeria Plc has substantial intrinsic value that will ensure investors in the company reap significant returns in the years ahead, the managing director of the company, Mr. Nnamdi Okafor has said.

Speaking an interactive session with capital market stakeholders at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos last Friday, Okafor, said the company’s offer

price of N2.50 for its ongoing rights issue is attractive considering the investments that the company had made in recent years. According to him, the shareholders of the company know the intrinsic value of their company and will surely realise that the right issue price of N2.50 is an incentive to them.

Also speaking, Executive Director, Finance, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, Mr. Ayodeji Aboderin, said the directors

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

and professional parties to the company had reduced the offer price in consideration of the general lull at the stock market and the fact that the rights issue is for the existing shareholders of the company.

He noted that the company will pay dividend on the rights’ shares even though the net proceeds for the offer might be received towards the end of the year.

“Based on our fundamentals,

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

the offer price is a good price,” Aboderin said.

Doyen of stockbrokers, Mr. Sam Ndata, who had visited May & Baker Nigeria’s World Health Organisation (WHO)-standard pharmaceutical manufacturing complex in Ota, Ogun State, said the company has hidden value that many people don’t know.

According to Ndata, the company has the pedigree and the experience to create higher value for shareholders going

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

forward. The right issue that will fetch the company N2.45 billion fresh capital opened on Monday October 22 and is expected to close September 28, 2018. May & Baker Nigeria is offering 980 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N2.50 per share to existing shareholders. The rights issue has been provisionally pre-allotted on the basis of one new ordinary share for every one ordinary share held as at the close of business

O F

on Tuesday, September 4, 2018.

The opening of the application list followed the approval of the rights issue by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Capital Assets Limited and Compass Investments &Securities Limited are the stockbrokers to the rights issue while Cordros Capital Limited and Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited are the issuing houses.

2 5 / 1 0 / 2 0 1 8 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

˾ MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2018

34

Monday, October 29, 2018 Domestic Equities Review: Local Bourse

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

Sustains Positive Momentum This week the local bourse had a largely positive

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

performance as trading on 4 of 5 days closed positive. Thus, the All Share Index (ASI) rose 0.2% W-o-W to settle at 32,907.33 points while YTD loss moderated to -14.0% and market capitalisation climbed N24.0bn W-o-W to N12.0tn.

The week started on a positive note as bargain hunting in UNILEVER, ZENITH and SEPLAT buoyed the index by 37bps on Monday which continued into Tuesday, as we saw renewed investor interest in DANGCEM, NESTLE and FBNH further uplifting the local bourse by 69bps. By Wednesday, gains from Monday and Tuesday were erased by investors¶ profit taking in DANGCEM, NESTLE and FBNH dragging the ASI down by 2.4%. However, buy interest on Thursday and Friday in DANGCEM, GUARANTY, NESTLE

and FBNH

ensured a

cumulative gain of 155bps and a positive close of 0.2% W-o-W for the index.

Performance across sectors was also positive as 3 of 5 indices advanced W-o-W. The Oil & Gas index improved the most, up 4.1% W-o-W, as investors took position in SEPLAT (+4.9%) followed by the Banking index which gained 1.1% W-o-W due to investors interests in GUARANTY (+0.5%) and ZENITH (+4.8%). Similarly, the Insurance index gained 0.5% W-o-W following price appreciation in CONTINSURE

(+2.8%).

On

the

flipside,

the

Current Price

Ticker

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

Previous Current Price Weighting Change

Price Price Change Change YTD Index to Date

ROE

ROA

P/E

P/BV

Divinden Earnings d Yield Yield

1,370.71

0.03%

-11.1%

37.1%

19.9%

6.7%

5.9x

0.8x

6.5%

1

Guaranty Trust Bank PLC

37.00

1.4%

21.9%

-9.2%

-8.8%

34.1%

5.6%

5.5x

2.1x

7.3%

12.4% 18.1%

2

Zenith Bank PLC

24.00

0.0%

13.7%

-6.4%

-7.4%

23.7%

3.4%

4.1x

1.0x

11.5%

24.3%

3

Nigerian Brew eries PLC

88.00

-4.9%

6.6%

-34.8%

-34.8%

13.8%

6.4%

29.5x

4.2x

4.1%

3.4%

4

Nestle Nigeria PLC

1,380.00

0.0%

8.0%

-11.3%

-11.3%

92.0%

23.0%

28.3x

24.6x

3.1%

3.5%

5

Dangote Cement PLC

211.00

5.2%

6.4%

-8.3%

-8.3%

4.7x

5.0%

6

FBN Holdings Plc

9.00

-4.3%

6.4%

2.3%

2.4%

7.4%

0.9%

6.4x

0.5x

2.8%

15.5%

7

Access Bank PLC

7.95

0.0%

3.9%

-23.9%

-25.0%

14.1%

1.7%

3.3x

0.5x

8.2%

30.2%

10.6%

8

United Bank for Africa PLC

8.00

0.0%

3.8%

-22.3%

-23.2%

15.4%

1.8%

3.6x

0.6x

9

Ecobank Transnational Inc

16.75

4.7%

3.7%

-1.5%

3.0%

12.1%

1.0%

5.3x

0.6x

10

SEPLAT Petroleum Development C

11

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

27.6% 19.0%

644.90

0.0%

3.6%

3.0%

3.0%

25.0%

14.6%

3.0x

0.7x

2.8%

33.8%

46.00

0.0%

3.6%

10.8%

12.5%

35.4%

4.9%

7.1x

2.2x

2.2%

14.0%

12

Unilever Nigeria PLC

43.00

-1.1%

3.0%

4.9%

6.9%

20.4%

8.7%

20.0x

3.1x

1.2%

5.0%

13

Guinness Nigeria PLC

77.00

-4.5%

2.1%

-18.1%

-18.1%

10.3%

4.5%

20.7x

1.9x

2.4%

4.8%

14

Lafarge Africa PLC

18.25

-1.9%

0.8%

-59.3%

-59.3%

-53.7%

-7.9%

1.2x

8.2%

-35.5%

15

Fidelity Bank PLC

2.09

4.5%

1.2%

-15.0%

-19.0%

11.5%

1.5%

2.7x

0.3x

5.4%

16

Oando PLC

5.35

4.9%

1.3%

-10.7%

-10.7%

10.3%

1.5%

4.7x

0.4x

36.7% 21.2%

17

Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

14.60

0.0%

0.9%

-27.0%

-28.3%

41.5%

18.1%

4.9x

1.7x

8.6%

20.2%

18

Okomu Oil Palm PLC

79.80

0.0%

1.5%

17.9%

17.9%

39.3%

29.7%

7.6x

2.6x

3.8%

13.1%

19

International Brew eries PLC

31.00

-3.1%

0.5%

-43.1%

-43.6%

24.6%

7.4%

32.5x

7.4x

20

Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC

19.35

-0.8%

0.5%

-33.3%

-33.3%

9.8%

2.9%

4.8x

0.5x

5.2%

21.0% 16.7%

3.1%

21

Transnational Corp of Nigeria

1.26

-3.1%

0.6%

-13.7%

-14.9%

13.6%

3.0%

6.0x

0.8x

1.6%

22

UAC of Nigeria PLC

9.80

-2.0%

0.4%

-42.0%

-42.0%

1.4%

0.6%

17.5x

0.4x

6.6%

23

Diamond Bank PLC

1.44

-3.4%

0.6%

-4.0%

-8.3%

-7.2%

-0.9%

-13.9%

-13.9%

33.1%

6.9%

6.9x

2.3x

8.6%

14.5%

-2.5%

6.7%

1.0%

2.5x

0.2x

6.2%

39.5%

6.0x

2.1x

4.6%

24

Total Nigeria PLC

25

FCMB Group Plc

198.00

0.0%

0.5%

1.54

-2.5%

0.6%

26

11 PLC

175.00

0.0%

0.5%

-10.1%

-10.1%

40.2%

16.0%

27

Forte Oil PLC

21.00

0.0%

0.3%

-51.7%

-50.0%

29.7%

3.0%

11.50

0.0%

0.2%

-44.2%

-45.6%

9.50

1.6%

0.3%

-39.4%

-39.1%

5.9%

2.2%

0.0%

0.3%

-22.6%

-22.6%

28

PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC

29

Cadbury Nigeria PLC

30

Presco PLC

53.00

31

NASCON Allied Industries PLC

18.50

0.0%

0.4%

0.0%

-3.7%

32

UPDC Real Estate Investment Tr

8.10

-10.0%

0.3%

-19.0%

-19.0%

0.2x

1.6x

33.1x

33

Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

5.05

1.0%

0.2%

-35.3%

-32.8%

34

Julius Berger Nigeria PLC

23.70

10.0%

0.3%

-15.4%

-15.4%

17.3%

20.6%

9.6x

1.1x

1.3%

1.6x

1.7%

3.0%

3.4%

45.0%

5.0x

8.1%

10.4%

0.7x

6.2%

8.0x

0.5x

1.8%

6.6x

1.0x

3.9x

35

Sterling Bank PLC

1.50

0.0%

0.4%

38.9%

32.7%

11.0%

1.1%

36

Dangote Flour Mills Plc

7.35

-7.5%

0.2%

-39.5%

-39.5%

0.0%

0.0%

16.6% -12.5%

2.2x 62.4%

5.7% -60.1%

12.4% 4.2%

15.2% 25.3%

0.4x

1.3%

0.9x

2.7%

37

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Niger

12.30

0.0%

0.2%

-43.1%

-43.1%

6.5%

3.6%

17.7x

1.7x

61.0%

5.7%

38

Chemical and Allied Products P

28.60

0.0%

0.2%

-15.9%

-19.9%

66.2%

30.2%

13.4x

8.9x

6.7%

7.5%

39

Beta Glass PLC

62.10

0.0%

0.2%

21.0%

21.0%

17.7%

11.5%

7.5x

1.2x

1.7%

13.3%

40

Transcorp Hotels Plc

6.10

0.0%

0.1%

-15.4%

-15.4%

6.0%

3.3%

10.3x

0.8x

2.0%

9.7%

Industrial index shed the most, depreciating by 4.1% T o p 10 G a i n e r s

W-o-W, as investors profit taking activities in WAPCO

(-13.1%)

and

BETAGLASS

(-20.4%)

neutralized gains in DANGCEM (+0.5%) while the Consumer Goods index declined 1.0% W-o-W

T ic k er

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

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

J A IZ B A N K

0.55

10.0%

FCM B

180.3

1.9%

R OYA LEX

0.22

10.0%

Z EN IT H B A N K

24.5

-0.8%

198.00

8.2%

GUA R A N T Y

23.8

0.0% -0.6%

T OT A L

following losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.6%)

D IA M ON D B N K

1.49

7.2%

A C C ESS

21.8

and UNILEVER (-2.1%) respectively.

H M A R KIN S

0.30

7.1%

D IA M ON D B N K

15.2

7.2%

LA SA C O

0.30

7.1%

F ID ELIT YB K

8.6

-2.4%

92.50

5.0%

UA C N

7.8

0.0% 0.0%

NB

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth

B ER GER

6.60

4.8%

WA P IC

6.6

(advance/decline ratio) softened to 0.8x from 0.9x in

LA WUN ION

0.58

3.6%

J A P A ULOIL

6.5

0.0%

2.6%

H ON YF LOUR

5.1

0.0%

the prior week as 29 stocks advanced while 37 declined. The best performing stocks for the week

D A N GF LOUR

7.95

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

P ric e C hg %

A GLEVEN T

0.36

-10.0%

MBENEFIT (+11.5%) while FIRSTALUM (-21.4%),

B ET A GLA S

62.10

-10.0%

CUTIX (-17.5%) and JOHNHOLT (-17.0%) were the

C UT IX

2.03

-9.8%

worst performing stocks. In the coming week, we

M C N IC H OLS

0.41

expect

GUIN EA IN S

0.27

were

WEMA

the

(+17.9%),

market

to

CAP

remain

(+16.0%)

upbeat

maintaining our bearish near-term outlook.

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

and

while

T ic k er

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

C ILEA SIN G

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

D A N GC EM

939.6

0.2%

GUA R A N T Y

869.9

0.0%

Z EN IT H B A N K

589.0

-0.8%

-8.9%

FCM B

279.6

1.9%

-6.9%

N EST LE

209.3

0.7%

184.4

-0.6% 5.0%

2.55

-5.9%

A C C ESS

28.60

-4.8%

NB

143.1

M B EN EF IT

0.28

-3.4%

UN ILEVER

89.9

1.2%

OA N D O

5.10

-2.9%

UA C N

78.3

0.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

2.00

-2.4%

WA P C O

35.1

-0.5%

CA P

Investment Research

Brokerage Ayodeji Ebo | aebo@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde |

Bolaji Fajenyo | bfajenyo@afrinvest.com

Jolomi Odonghanro | jodonghanro@afrinvest.com

romotunde@afrinvest.com

35

T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ ÍşÎ Ëœ ͺ͸͚͜

MARKET NEWS

Vetiva Research Reaffirms ‘Buy’ Recommendation on Dangote Cement Goddy Egene Vetiva Capital Management Limited has reaffirmed ‘buy’ recommendation on the shares of Dangote Cement Plc following the release of cement company’s nine months results ended September 30, 2018.

The investment banking firm, in its recent earnings review of Dangote Cement Plc cited solid operations across the group and strong top line growth in the pan-African business as the major performance drivers of

the company’s nine months (9M’18) results. The report also noted that Dangote Cement Plc reported strong earnings, with bottom line growing by three year-on-year(y/y) to N158 billion and group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rising 15 per cent y/y to N337 billion, a 49 per cent margin.

Speaking on the report, the Industrial Goods Analyst at Vetiva Capital Management Limited, Onyeka Ijeoma said: “Dangote Cement’s Nigerian

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

EBITDA remained robust, rising 13 per cent y/y to N306 billion (9M margin: 65 per cent), while pan-African EBITDA also rose 21 per cent y/y to N39 billion, following an eight q/q jump in revenue. According to management, the improvement in pan-African EBITDA was driven by stronger pricing and improved volumes in certain regions. Furthermore, Dangote Cement recently announced the acquisition of gas turbines in its Tanzanian operations – capable of generating 25 MW

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 2510-2018, unless otherwise stated.

of power – to replace diesel plants, a more expensive power source. The company also plans to connect gas lines to the kilns in November, a move which is expected to be margin accretive.�

In addition, Vetiva Capital Management Limited highlighted the new product lines “Falcon� and “Blocmaster� as well as the expected completion of the Dangote jetty in H2’19 as upside opportunities for volumes in the Nigerian and pan-African operations.

Overall, in spite of higher net

finance costs (9M’18: N19 billion; 9M’17: N13 billion), PBT rose 12 per cent y/y to N247 billion.

According to the report, the group is expected to produce 25.1 million metric tonnes (MT) for FY’18 (+15 per cent y/y), with the Nigerian business accounting for 15.0 million MT. “As such, FY’18 revenue for the Nigerian operations is estimated at N645 billion – translating to a 17 per cent y/y growth. Further supported by the outperformance reported as at 9M’18, Vetiva Research

revised its FY’18 pan-African revenue forecast to N297 billion (previous: N273 billion), a 15 per cent y/y growth. Overall, the group is expected to report record high revenue and profit figures for FY’18 with both lines printing at N943 billion (FY’17: N806 billion) and N227 billion (FY’17: N204 billion) respectively. Vetiva Research has quoted a target price of N265.41 for Dangote Cement while reiterating a BUY rating on the cement giant,� the firm 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 163.08 164.08 -8.14% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 11.00% Nigeria International Debt Fund 272.65 273.81 17.89% 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 0.83 0.84 1.29% ACAP Income Funds 0.62 0.62 6.10% 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 12.00% AIICO Balanced Fund 2.21 2.22 -4.10% 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 N/A N/A N/A ARM Discovery Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 134.32 135.27 -11.45% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 12.02% 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 10.96% Paramount Equity Fund 11.61 11.91 4.72% Women's Investment Fund 102.32 104.95 1.68% 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 11.88% 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 N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B N/A N/A N/A FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,166.03 1,166.76 11.16% FBN Heritage Fund 141.41 142.60 0.84% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 12.01% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $113.34 $113.58 4.08% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $113.11 $113.34 3.98% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 149.32 151.43 -6.13% 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 1.23 1.25 -4.90% Legacy Debt Fund 3.18 3.18 10.18% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.02 1.02 1.54% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 2,990.31 3,019.77 0.16% Coral Income Fund 2,733.85 2,733.85 11.67% 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 8.90% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 105.87 106.01 5.36% 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 100.00 100.00 12.00% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.15 2.17 1.79%

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 14.20% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 122.70 122.94 6.63% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD ďŹ ncon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.19 1.21 3.65% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,073.81 1,073.81 11.33% 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 11.54 11.64 -11.08% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 11.56% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.33 1.36 11.98% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.96 12.01 8.31% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 12.21% 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 128.50 128.94 -0.92% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.66 1.66 12.07% 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 2,270.99 2,285.71 3.37% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 187.11 187.11 7.46% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.95 0.96 -5.45% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 243.89 243.94 13.01% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 161.09 162.92 -10.05% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 11.41% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 8,612.04 8,717.46 -9.46% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.10 1.10 6.14% 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 1.16 1.17 -1.77% United Capital Bond Fund 1.56 1.56 9.44% United Capital Equity Fund 0.69 0.71 -8.29% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.80% United Capital Eurobond Fund 105.33 105.33 5.28% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.08 1.08 3.65% 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 11.19 11.36 -6.92% Zenith Ethical Fund 12.08 12.19 -5.85% Zenith Income Fund 20.48 20.48 10.96% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.80%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

9.00 138.63 51.55

-20.11% 4.66% 1.42%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

10.50 121.64 92.68

10.60 124.22 94.42

-11.39% -14.84% -15.16%

Fund Name FSDH UPDC Real Estate Investment Fund SFS Skye Shelter Fund Union Homes REIT

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

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

SPECIALIST FUNDS*

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

4.14 7.50 15.23 14.11 143.94

4.18 7.58 15.33 14.31 145.94

-12.61% -21.54% -12.80% -28.12% 6.93%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

105.44

17.63%

FOR HNI & PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY

Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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

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CITYSTRINGS

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A Rallying Force against Terror Peter Uzoho who captured the anguish of members of the Coalition for Global Peace and Justice during their rally in Lagos in protest of the killing of two aid workers in the North-east, writes on the clamour for the release of other abducted persons still in captivity by the terrorists

T

he recent consecutive execution of two aid workers belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by members of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), a splinter group of the Boko Haram terrorists, has expectedly sparked off condemnation from all.

In September, one of the three abducted aid workers, Saifura Khorsa was killed in cold blood. Her death was followed by that of her colleague, 25-year-old Hauwa Liman just this month. This was after the expiration of the October 15 deadline given to the Nigerian government by the group to pay ransom for the release of the lone Dapchi schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, and the two aid workers. Failure to meet the October deadline saw the death of Liman, while Sharibu and Loksha are still in captivity.

Sharibu on the other hand is the lone Dapchi girl who is still in captivity after she was abducted from her school in February this year. Although 110 were abducted, the government succeeded in gaining the release of 104. While five died, one was left behind because she refused to renounce her Christian faith against despite demand by the terrorists, an act they perceived as an affront to their command leading to her continuous detention in their captivity.

Members of the coalition at the rally

The Rann Attack The trio of Hauwa Mohammed Liman, Alice Loksha and Saifura Ahmed Khorsa, all women, were abducted by the terrorists on March 1, this year. While Liman and Khorsa worked in a hospital supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Loksha, was a nurse who worked in a centre supported by UNICEF. On the said day, no fewer than four aid workers were killed on that Thursday night attack by insurgents in Rann community in Kala Balge Local Government of Borno. According to Samantha Newport, Head of Communications, UNICEF Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), who confirmed the incident to the on Friday in Maiduguri, two of the deceased were personnel of UN client organisation, International Organisation of Migration (IOM), deployed to Rann as camp managers. She added that others killed were a medical doctor working as a consultant with UNICEF and an aid worker with the ICRC affiliate organisation.

The insurgents had attacked the town at about 7 p.m. using in their trucks and motorcycles. They first infiltrated the town before attacking a military base and an internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camp, where over 55,000 persons sought shelter, alongside humanitarian workers. At end of the attack, Liman, Loksha and Khorsa were missing.

National Coordinator of the Coalition for Global Peace and Justice and General Overseer of the Realm of Glory International Church, Pastor Abraham Sam Aiyedogbon, addressing the press during the rally in Lagos called on the government to rise and address the ugly situation in the country. According to them, the government has failed the

The Rally Worried by this reign of terror and the wanton shedding of the blood of innocent citizens by these insurgents, members of the Coalition for global Peace and Justice (CPJ), a faith-based, non-denominational civil society organisation, mobilised all their members in Lagos for a rally to protest against the injustice meted out to Nigerians under the purview of the government.

The rally which took place last Sunday at the headquarters of the Realm of Glory International in Okota, Lagos and around the neighbourhood, had the protesters dressed in black and red attires, displaying placards bearing varied inscriptions with photos of the victims.

Some of the inscriptions read: 'RIP Saifura Khorsa', 'RIP Hauwa Liman', 'Nigeria mourns', 'Blood on the flag', 'Blood of the innocent crying for justice', and 'Who will save Alice Loksha', amongst several others.

As the marched around the vicinity, they

We feel that what is happening is unprecedented... It looks like there is even no government because we now have a terrorist organisation, whether they are Boko Haram or Islamic State of West Africa Province...We have them running within our territory, slaughtering and taking citizens hostage and our government seems to be powerless about it

people. They wondered why there would be a government in the country and a set of people will be slaughtering their fellow citizens for nothing without any strong resistance from the government.

The National Coordinator of the coalition and General Overseer of the Realm of Glory International, Pastor Abraham Sam Aiyedogbon, who spoke to THISDAY on the sidelines of the rally, said they have given the federal government an ultimatum to see to the immediate release of Sharibu, Alice Loksha, and all other people being held captive by the insurgents.

Aiyedogbon said: “We feel that what is happening is unprecedented, it has never happened like this before. There is an infringement on the sovereignty of Nigeria as a nation state. It looks like there is even no government because we now have a terrorist organisation, whether they are Boko Haram or Islamic State of West Africa Province, who are responsible for the execution of Hauwa Liman. “We have them running either within our territory or in and out of our territory, taking citizens hostage, slaughtering our citizens,

and our government seems to be powerless and helpless about it. So we feel ashamed, we feel insecure, we are pained because it is just unprecedented and it is unbearable. “The president is not telling us anything specific; we voted him into power for security of lives and property; we voted him into power to bring change, we voted him into power to fulfill his promises; he didn’t do that, rather he is looking for second term, to do what? He has to prove to us why he failed the first term before he can tell us to vote for him for second term.

"People are hungry, we are feeding people in church, people are losing their jobs, there are widows everywhere, there are orphans all over the place; none of the politicians are addressing these issues – the issue of Leah Sharibu, the issue of Hauwa Liman, the issue of all these deaths. They are not addressing any of them, they are just changing political parties and it’s about their interest.

So we are saying “Our Mumu E Don Do.�

According to him, “if Hauwa Liman was the daughter of a governor or a president, or a connected billionaire would her story have been different?�

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CONTACTS OF LAGOS CP, OFFICERS The Chief of Air Sta, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, anked by other senior oďŹƒcers during the recent activation of the 21 Quick Response Wing at Agatu in Benue State

Internal Security: Air Force Activates 21 Quick Response Wing in Agatu Rebecca Ejifoma

In continuation of its efforts to enhance operational responsiveness and effectiveness of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, recently activated the 21 Quick Response Wing (21 QRW) at Agatu in Benue State.

The unit, which is under the control of the 211 Quick Response Group Owerri, was established to further enhance NAF’s ability to respond to internal security threats within the NasarawaBenue States corridor, working in synergy with other security agencies.

According for the Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, while in Agatu, the CAS also inspected the renovated office and residential accommodation at the 21 QRW Base and handed over a borehole constructed by the NAF to the Obagaji Community in Agatu.

The CAS, who was accompanied by the Air Officer Commanding Special Operations Command (AOC SOC), Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Samson Akpasa, and other senior officers from NAF Headquarters, was received in Agatu by the Chairperson Agatu Local Government Area (LGA), Honourable Comfort Echida, as well as the traditional ruler of Agatu, Chief Dr Godwin Ngbede.

Speaking during the activation ceremony, the CAS stated that he was delighted to be in Agatu to personally activate the 21 QRW, adding that the decision to establish the QRW in Agatu, as well as the QRWs established at Nguroje in Taraba State and Doma in Nasarawa State, was taken following thorough analysis of the threat environment in the area.

Based on this, a request was made to the Commander-in-

Chief (C-in-C) of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, through the Honourable Minister of Defence (HMOD), who graciously approved the establishment of the unit.

The CAS therefore thanked Buhari for approving the establishment of the unit and providing the necessary resources to make it a reality.

He noted that the establishment of the unit would contribute immensely towards curbing spate of attacks in the area while ensuring that peace is sustained.

Speaking further, the CAS stressed that the NAF would continue to emplace additional facilities, equipment and manpower in the QRW to enable it function effectively and fulfil its mandate.

He noted that the ultimate aim was to have at least 500 Special Forces personnel in the unit along with complements of support personnel from other NAF specialties.

He also mentioned that NAF would eventually construct a Helipad in the base to enable the deployment of helicopter gunships to support operations in the area, whenever required.

The CAS therefore assured the Chairperson Agatu LGA, the traditional ruler of Agatu and other members of the community that the NAF would continue to do its best to add value to the place.

To this end, he announced that the NAF would conduct a seven-day medical outreach for members of the host community in Agatu, which would cater for their medical and minor surgical needs, while major surgical cases would be referred to the NAF Hospital in Makurdi with adequate arrangements made for medical evacuation.

Abubakar pledged that the NAF would eventually set up a well-equipped Medical Centre at the 21 QRW that would provide free medical services to the host. He

however requested for the continued support of the traditional ruler, community leaders and all members of the community to provide much needed intelligence that would facilitate the conduct of operations to counter threats in the area.

He urged them to interact freely with the CO and personnel of 21 QRW who had been tasked to provide necessary support to the host community. While handing over the automated borehole system with 9,000 litres storage capacity and 16 tap heads to the Chairperson Agatu LGA and the traditional ruler of Agatu, the CAS noted that the NAF had provided a generator and would also provide fuel to keep the borehole running.

The CAS had earlier commissioned the second and final phase of the modernisation and expansion of the water supply system in NAF Base Makurdi. Conducting the CAS round the facility, the AOC Tactical Air Command, AVM Oladayo Amao, stated that the first phase of the project was executed by direct labour in January while the second phase was executed under the 2017 capital projects.

The project increased the reservoir capacity from 900,000 litres to 1.35 Million litres with the construction of an additional 450,000 litres sedimentation tank. It also entailed the fabrication and installation of surface and overhead tanks to increase the total capacity to 2.45 Million litres.

The reticulation pipes within the base were also replaced, boosting the water supply by 100 per cent. The CAS also commissioned the Battery Charging and Maintenance Bay at the 131 Engineering Group, which had been remodelled and renovated to ensure safer and more efficient conduct of maintenance activities in the group.

1. CP Imohimi Edgal, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State 08033040870 2. DCP Ayuba Elkanah Nabuni Deputy Commissioner of Police Administration 08033422152 3. DCP Muhammed Ali Ari, Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations 08073666669 4.ACP Mohammed Danladi,Area CommanderA, Lagos Island 08034080088 5. ACP Sani Sabo, Area Commander B Apapa 08038452224 6. ACP Godwin Eze, Area Commander C Surulere.

7. ACP Akinbayo Olasoji, Area Commander D Mushin 08037140083 8. ACP Yusuf Ajape, Area Commander E Festac 9. ACP Ibrahim Zungura, Area Commander F, Ikeja 08052058001 10. ACP Arumse, Area Commander G Ogba 08033464144 11. ACP Miller Dantawaye, Area Commander H, Ogudu 08036695572 12. ACP Felix Oben, Area Commander J Elemoro 08033320682 13. ACP Hope Okafor, Area Commander K Morogbo 08026279242 14. ACP Ishola Olarenwaju, Area Commander L Ilashe, 0810321160 15 ACP Toyin, Area Commander M Idimu 09093927982 16. ACP Mohammed, Area Commander N Ijede 07010070004 17. ACP Abdulsalam Gazali Alade, Area Commander P Alagbado 08033539984 18. CSP Chike Oti, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), 07065246927 SOURCE: Lagos State Police Command

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MONDAY OCTOBER 29, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

DR Congo Ebola Death Toll Rises to 164 The Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed 164 lives, according to health authorities.

In mid-October, Congolese authorities said they were facing a “second wave” of the outbreak centred on Beni, a

Morocco Abruptly Drops Clock Change Morocco has decided to scrap winter time and will instead keep its clocks at summer time, GMT+1, all year around.

The announcement comes less than two days before the clocks would have gone back by one hour on Sunday.

Avoiding the switch would save “an hour of natural light,” Administrative Reform Minister Mohammed Ben Abdelkader told Maghreb Arabe Press.

The north African nation joins a number of others, mainly in Africa and Asia, which do not use daylight saving.

Reaction to the change has been mixed on social media, with one person calling the lastminute decision Kafkaesque: Another questioned how it would affect activities during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan: Others welcomed the decision, like this commentator

ahead of a scheduled coalition review next year. “Then we’ll be able to check whether this government is still the right place for us,” she said.

Both the CDU and the SPD have seen their support slip nationally in recent months, and the coalition has already come close to collapse.

“The message to the parties ruling in Berlin is people want fewer disputes and more focus on the important issues,” state premier and CDU member Volker Bouffier told supporters.

Meanwhile the left-leaning Greens surged into third place in the Hesse regional government, with about 19.5%.

And the far-right AfD will enter the regional assembly for the first time, having secured about 12% of the vote.

Police Arrest 50 Opposition Protesters in Cameroon Cameroon police at the weekend arrested around 50 supporters of opposition figure Maurice Kamto during an unauthorised march in Douala, his spokesman said.

“Mass arrests of activists (Mrs Michele Ndoki and around 50 others) and of supporters demonstrating peacefully today,” the spokesman, Olivier BibouNissack, said in a Facebook post, referring to one of Kamto’s lawyers.

The protesters were arrested during a rally in Douala, the

the beginning of August, the Congolese Health Ministry said in a bulletin dated Friday.

On October 17, the World Health Organisation said the death toll stood at 139, although it said the outbreak did not yet merit being labelled a global health emergency.

The second wave of the deadly virus has been attributed to community resistance to measures already taken to tackle the disease.

On Thursday, around 1,000 students marched through the streets of Beni to launch a campaign to fight Ebola.

Since a vaccination programme began on August

8, over 22,000 people have been innoculated, of whom around 11,000 were in Beni, the health ministry said.

An Ebola treatment centre in the city now had more than 60 beds, it added.

The latest outbreak is the 10th in DR Congo since Ebola was first detected there in 1976.

in Algeria who joked his newly aligned Moroccan neighbours would also be closer to Algerian culture including its square pizzas: End of Twitter post by @ Inal_2715 And this social media user is simply relieved that Morocco will remain at “tea time” time throughout the year: While many people around the world enjoy the extra hour in bed that comes as clocks go back one hour for winter time, there have been prominent campaigns to abolish it.

One UK campaign group even says staying at summer time all year-round would reduce traffic accidents, because road users would be able to see better in the evenings.

The European Union said in August that it would recommend that its member countries scrap the twiceyearly clock change.

Germany Election: Merkel Suffers Further Blow in Hesse Both the parties in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition have suffered heavy losses in a regional election, early results show.

Her centre-right CDU party and the centre-left SPD were each 10% down on the previous election in Hesse state.

SPD leader Andrea Nahles said the federal government’s poor performance had “significantly” contributed to the disappointing result.

She told reporters the state of the government was “unacceptable”.

The federal government must find a “reasonable way of working”, after what looks to be the SPD’s worst result in the western state since 1946.

The CDU must agree to a “clear, binding roadmap”

town in North Kivu near the border with Uganda.

The epicentre had earlier been focused on Mangina, a town around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Beni.

In total, 257 cases had been recorded in the region, of which 222 were confirmed and 35 were probable, since the start of the outbreak at

country’s economic capital.

Among them was a journalist who was covering the event, sources said.

Kamto has rejected the official outcome of this month’s presidential election, in which he was one of seven candidates seeking to unseat President Paul Biya who has ruled Cameroon for 35 years.

Kamto came second with 14.23 percent the vote, against 71.28 percent for 85-year-old Biya who has spent 35 years in power.

Members of Greens jubilating after their share of the vote rise substantially to 19.5% in Germany...yesterday

Far-right Candidate, Bolsonaro Wins Brazil Poll Far-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, has won a sweeping victory in Brazil’s presidential election.

With almost all of the votes counted, Bolsonaro has 55% of the votes against 45% for Fernando Haddad from the left-wing Workers Party.

Bolsonaro campaigned on a promise to eradicate corruption and to drive down Brazil’s high crime levels.

The election campaign has been deeply divisive.

Each camp argued that victory for the other could destroy Brazil.

The result represents a marked right-wing swing in the country

which was under military rule from 1964 to 1985.

Bolsonaro also alienated many Brazilians with his homophobic, racist and misogynistic remarks.

But many of his supporters view him as a “saviour” who will make Brazil safer and who will stand for traditional values such as opposing the legalisation of abortion.

Some celebrated in the street outside Bolsonaro’s home in Rio de Janeiro, waving Brazilian flags and letting of fireworks.

One of Bolsonaro’s flagship campaign issues has been to increase security for Brazilian citizens. He has portrayed

himself as a hardliner who will restore safety to Brazil’s streets.

He has indicated that his government will aim to relax laws restricting the ownership and carrying of guns.

His economic policy plans include proposals to reduce government “waste” and promises to reduce state intervention in the economy.

He has suggested that Brazil could pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, arguing that its requirements compromise Brazil’s sovereignty over the Amazon region Bolsonaro has also said that he will “cleanse” Brazil of corrupt politicians, a campaign

promise which has been very popular with Brazilians who say they are tired of the corruption which has seen dozens of high-ranking politicians from the established parties jailed.

The Workers’ Party candidate, Fernando Haddad, had tried to distance himself from the corruption scandals which had rocked his party but for many voters that was not enough.

Bolsonaro will be sworn in on 1 January 2019 and replace outgoing President M i c h e l Te m e r, w h o i s leaving office with a record low approval rating of 2%.

Names of Pittsburgh Synagogue ShootingVictims to Be Released The names of those shot dead by a gunman yelling “All Jews must die” will be released yesterday after the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the United States, officials said.

The gunman stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday, killing 11 worshippers and wounding six other people including four police officers before he was arrested.

Pittsburg Mayor Bill Peduto told CBS television station KDKA that when

the list of the dead is released by federal officials at a news conference at 9 a.m. on Sunday, it “will rip your heart out”, saying he personally knew some of the victims.

The Tree of Life synagogue in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighbourhood, a heavily Jewish area, was holding a Shabbat religious service at the time of the shooting.

The mass shooting prompted security alerts at houses of worship

around the country and condemnation from politicians and religious leaders.

It follows a spate of pipe bombs found mailed in recent days to prominent political figures, mostly Democrats including former President Barack Obama, ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections.

“May the Lord help us to put out the hotbeds of hate that flare up in our societies, strengthening

a sense of humanity, respect for life, moral and civil values and the holy fear of God, who is love and the father of all,” Pope Francis told pilgrims in St. Peter ’s Square after a Mass.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it would make public the charging complaint and an official affidavit, which may shed light on why Robert Bowers, 46, of Pittsburgh, allegedly shot the worshippers.

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MONDAY, ͺ΁˜ ͺ͸͹΀ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Banks’ Impairment Charges Drop as Loan Repayment Improves Goddy Egene Provision for loan losses by commercial banks in the country has dropped, reflecting an improvement in loan repayment.

This was revealed by the nine-month results of some of the banks quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) released recently, and was compiled by THISDAY. Findings showed that the 10 banks recorded lower impairment charges for the nine months ended September 30, 2018.

The banks are: Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Fidelity Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings.

Specifically, the 10 banks’

total impairment charges fell by 35 per cent from N328.172 billion in 2017 to N213.93 billion in 2018.

Contrary to concerns that the implementation of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9 promulgated by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), would increase impairment charges of banks, lower provisions have been made by financial institutions.

For instance, Access Bank Plc recorded impairment charges of N8.353 billion in 2018, down from N12.824 billion in 2017, while GTBank’s provision declined by 79 per cent from N8.357 billion in 2017 to N1.74 billion in 2018. UBA ended the nine months with impairment charges of N10.67 billion compared with N12.91 billion in 2017. Sterling Bank’s impairment charges reduced

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele from N7.63 billion to N3.615 billion, just as Zenith Bank Plc’s provision fell by 70 per cent from N47.053 billion to N14.34 billion. Also, Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc’s loan loss provision decreased by 77 per cent from N20.334 billion to N4.136 billion.

Financial analysts told THISDAY that the decline in impairment charges was due to borrowers improving in their loans repayment. They added that banks have also

adopted cautions approach to loan creation.

Analysts at Cordrol Capital Limited said the decline in impairment charges has been a theme for all tier 1 banks this year.

They said, “As seen in the recent nine months results, impairment charges for Zenith Bank (-70 ), GTBank (-79 per cent y/y), and UBA (-17 per cent y/y) have declined, despite implementation of the stringent IFRS 9 requirement.

This is as a result of the banks’ cautious approach to loan creation, after the significant deterioration in asset quality experienced during the crux of the economic recession in 2016-2017 when oil prices took a nosedive.

“In fact, what we have seen is a contraction in loan books, as obligors have improved in their loan pay-downs, following the improved

economic conditions and rising oil prices.”

The analysts explained that it was also worth stating that the treatment of IFRS 9 initial adjustment via equity has cushioned its impact in the income statement.

“Overall, these have contributed significantly to the sharp drop in impairment charges, particularly for the tier 1 banks,” they declared.

IFRS 9 addresses the accounting for financial instruments and it contains three main topics: classification and measurement of financial instruments, impairment of financial assets and hedge accounting. It will replace the earlier IFRS for financial instruments, IAS 39, when it becomes effective in 2018.

Speaking on the IFRS 9, Director, Banking Supervision Department of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation,

Mr. Adedapo Adeleke, had said, “This is expected to put more pressure on banks’ capital as the lenders will need to use part of their profits to make provision for loans that are expected to become non-performing, after making provisions for those that are already non-performing.”

Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan, recently pointed out that Nigeria remains a very attractive market, adding that investors in search of favourable yields would always look to the country.

“And given a population of 180 million people, and the vast natural resources we have, for sure, people would still look at Nigeria.

The fundamentals remain very important and the productive sector needs to continue to receive full attention,” he added.

in 1975 was assigned to the Administrative Staff College (ASCON), Lagos and later retired from the police as a deputy commissioner of police.

In his early political career, he was the Bendel State Chairman of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) between 1981 and 1983, and under his chairmanship, late General Samuel Ogbemudia was elected as civilian Governor of old Bendel State – now Edo and Delta states.

However, the regime was cut short by the General Muhammadu Buhari-led military takeover of December 1983. When former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida indicated his interest to hand over to the civilian government, Anenih was made the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party -- one of the political parties created by the military to midwife the transition -- from 1992 and 1993, and later assisted in the election of Chief M. K. O. Abiola as President. He was a member of the Constitutional Conference in 1994.

A close political associate of late General Shehu Musa Yara’ Adua, the Iyasele of Esanland was a member of the PDM until early April 2002, when it transformed to the People's Democratic Party (PDP). Anenih was said to have masterminded the 26 April 2002 declaration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to contest for the presidency at the International Conference center Abuja.

He was deputy national coordinator of Olusegun Obasanjo's Campaign Organisation in the 1999 and 2003 elections and was appointed Minister of Works and Housing in 1999 by former President Obasanjo.

He subsequently became Chairman of the Board of

Trustees of the PDP. He also played a key role in both Musa Yar’ Adua and former President Goodluck Jonathan’s governments.

While launching his autobiography, ‘’My Life and Nigerian Politics,’’ in November 2016, Anenih took the time to announce he was quitting politics.

In the book, he talked about many issues, including how he survived an eight-hour heart surgery in a London hospital. “There is nothing God cannot do if you believe in him sincerely.

I had a problem with my heart. So I was subjected to eight hours of surgery and seven doctors were carefully selected to do that because of their experience. Before the operation, the seven doctors told the people that accompanied me (to the hospital) that I wouldn’t make it. I heard them.”

On how he was jailed during the military regime of Buhari, he said, “The military regime of General Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon threw me into detention for 18 months on the basis of an anonymous petition that as a prominent and wealthy politician and leader of the NPN in Bendel State, the military administrator would not find his footing unless I was removed from the scene.

“I must emphasize it again and again that I did nothing wrong to anyone, the government or the state to merit a detention.

My crime was that I was a wealthy, influential and highly respected politician.”

Those closed to Pa Anenih had at different times described him as an ‘’embodiment of the mercies of God and the gift of life.’’

When he clocked 85 in August this year, Anenih refused to celebrate it principally because of the ‘’sad state of the nation that

has witnessed so much losses, bloodshed and instability.’’

But while also appreciating the efforts being made by the government and influential Nigerians in restoring peace and stabilising the nation, he had called on well-meaning Nigerians to join in prayer for God’s intervention to restore peace in the nation.

Expectedly, many political analysts may see the role Anenih played in the Nigerian politics differently; but those very closed to him will not doubt about his commitment to the political growth and stability in Nigeria, even when he was struggling between life and death: Wearing the badge of ‘’Mr. Fix-it’’, apparently for his hard-headed disposition to political challenges, Pa Anenih would always be remembered as a man who never ran away from rough rides or paths dispersed with political crumples and bumpy surfaces.

One of his closed political associates, a former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori last night described the death of Chief Anenih as the end of a remarkable era in Nigerian politics. He said the late Anenih was in a class of his own as he was almost unsurpassed in political strategy for four decades.

“I was lucky to have been very close to Anenih as he took me under his wings. I learnt a lot from him. Even in my darkest moments, he believed in me. His memory will ever remain green in my heart. May God grant him eternal rest and grant his family the fortitude to bear this massive loss’’, Ibori stated.

As one of his political associates said last night, ‘’If the earth that will cover Chief Tony Anenih will be light, it is because he represented human kindness while he was alive.’’

higher than the other contestants, explaining, “Obi’s loyalty, consistency, and clear competence stood him out.”

The source also spoke on Atiku’s promise to serve for only one term and said the PDP presidential candidate was resolute and would deliver on the pledge, affirming that he was ready to

sign an agreement committing him to a term of office.

He assured Nigerians that once the presidential candidate returns to Nigeria in the first week of next month he would go straight into discussions with South-east leaders to reassure them that he was on the same page with their aspiration to govern

Nigeria.

“With Atiku, whose deputy is a competent and experienced technocrat and politician, the South-east is closer to the presidency that the other ticket, who a minister already said was already looking elsewhere even before the 2019 contest,” he said.

MR. FIX-IT, POLITICAL COLOSSUS, ANENIH, BOWS OUT AT 85 in from across the country, with President Muhammadu Buhari; the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara; the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), leading the pack of sympathisers.

Buhari condoled with his family and the government and people of Edo State on the passage of their illustrious son.

In a statement, the president's media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the president also commiserated with the PDP on the demise of its former BOT chairman.

Adesina said Buhari remarked that Anenih as a frontline figure in the annals of Nigeria’s political history, lived a life of service, as the defunct Bendel State Chairman of National Party of Nigeria (NPN), National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), chieftain of the PDP, and a former Minister of Works.

The statement added, "President Buhari affirms that across the political spectrum of Nigeria, Chief Anenih was known for his strong views on issues pertaining to the unity and stability of the nation.

"The president prays Almighty God to grant Chief Anenih’s soul eternal rest and comfort all who mourn the octogenarian."

Speaker Dogara also condoled with the government and people of Edo State over Anenih’s death, saying it was a huge loss not only to Edo State but to the nation as a whole.

Dogara noted in a statement by his media adviser, Mr. Turaki Hassan, that Anenih was a fine gentleman, great mobiliser and a reputable nationalist who, all through his life, believed in, worked and prompted peace and unity of Nigeria.

He said, "We have lost a father, counsellor, leader par

excellence and a patriot, who gave his all for the unity of this country."

The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, described Anenih as “a great Nigerian, a light bearer, brilliant administrator, fine officer, quintessential nationalist and democratic icon”, who made innumerable sacrifices for the unity, stability and development of the nation.

It said, “Indeed, Chief Anenih, who was known in the political circle as “Mr. Fix it,” owing to his ability to find solutions to very knotty political and governance issues, remains a colossus with unparalleled array of legacies which will be celebrated for generations.

“His roles in ensuring the stability, not only of our great party but also for our nation at large, stood him out as a patriot who dedicated his life for the service of humanity.”

The PDP said it was particularly pained that Anenih left the stage at the time the party and the nation needed his wealth of experience the more, especially in the nation’s collective quest to restore good governance and democratic ideals in the country.

The APC National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, said he received news of the death of Anenih with heavy heart, saying the deceased was indeed a political colossus.

According to Oshiomhole, “Politics may have separated us, but nothing affected our personal relationship.

Whatever public disagreement we might have had, I am consoled that we both reconciled at the church altar after he announced his retirement from partisan politics.

“It is a measure of his generosity of spirit that when

I announced my interest in the chairmanship of APC earlier this year, he wrote a letter of endorsement, expressing absolute confidence in my ability to inspire APC to greater heights.

“His explicit support was not just in an objective appreciation of my ability but also in solidarity as fellow Edo man.

“We may have disagreed in terms of methodology, but there is no denying that deep in his heart was a commitment to see the progress of the nation at large and his native Edo in particular.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and political associates at this sorrowing moment.

Mr. Fix-It Fixes Final Exit Anenih died barely three months after he marked his 85 years birthday. One of his close political associates, who first confirmed the sad news to THISDAY last night, said he died at Cedarcrest Hospital, Abuja.

He was born on August 4, 1933, in Uzenema-Arue in Uromi.

He joined the Nigeria police force in Benin City in 1951, and working at home, he obtained his secondary school qualifications and attended the Nigerian Police College in Ikeja. In the course of advancing his career in the Nigerian Police Force, he was later selected for training in the Bramshill Police College, Basingstoke, England in 1966 and the International Police Academy, Washington DC in 1970.

Soft-spoken and man of few words, Anenih served as a police orderly to the first Governor-General of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and worked as an instructor in various police colleges, and

WHY ATIKU SELECTED OBI AS RUNNING MATE the position, he was the only one, who did not make any demand and worked assiduously for the emergence of Atiku.

“Once he gave his commitment, he remained steadfast, lobbying Igbo leaders, Archbishops and diplomatic community for Atiku. He was the only

one who never asked to be appointed before throwing in his support,” he said.

According to the impeccable THISDAY source, while others like Umahi and Ekweremadu, demanded the vice presidential slot in exchange for support to the Atiku course, it was discovered that they were

oscillating among the other presidential aspirants and gave no firm commitment.

“It was only Obi that never wavered,” he said, explaining that such a person would no doubt be trust worthy.

He also said Obi’s sterling qualities and private and public service records were without doubt shoulder

MONDAY OCTOBER 29, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Group News Editor Ejiofor Alike Email Ejiofor.Alike@thisdaylive.com, 08066066268

Buhari, Osinbajo Speaking Discordant Tunes on Restructuring, Says Atiku PDP urges president to speak out on his indictment by finance minister Obasanjo, Atiku can’t match Buhari on integrity test, APC insists Adedayo Akinwale and Onyebuchi EzigboinAbuja The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo of speaking discordant tunes on restructuring, saying that Osinbajo, in particular, is being economical with the truth when he said the former vice president was against restructuring while in office between 1999 and 2007.

The main opposition party has also challenged President Buhari to speak out on the declaration by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, that the policies of his administration were hurting the country and destroying investorsconfidence in the economy.

This is coming as the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Yekini Nabena, has said that neither former President Olusegun Obasanjo nor his deputy, Abubakar, can beat President Buhari in an integrity contest.

Osibanjo, had while delivering a lecture titled: ‘Developing the Nation through Youth Empowerment’, as part of activities marking the 68th anniversary of the Sigma Club, University of Ibadan, said that: “All this time, this was 2000, some of those people, including the presidential candidate of PDP, who is talking about restructuring, was the vice president then; they opposed every step that we took.

Of course, we were taking the federal government to court then.

They opposed every step.”

But Atiku , in a statement issued yesterday by his campaign organisation, said Osinbajo needs to be reminded that there are well documented accounts in the Nigerian media chronicling his support and struggle for restructuring.

According to him, “Given that restructuring has become the major issue in the 2019 elections and given that Prof Osinbajo and his boss have been speaking discordant tunes on restructuring, we can understand

their desperation to revise history, however, it is impossible to revise documented history.”

The former vice president said it was also common knowledge that the six geopolitical zones structure which all parts of Nigeria benefit from today was the fruit of the collaborative efforts of himself, the late Alex Ekwueme and other patriots.

He stated: “To set the records straight, we recommend to Professor Osinbajo the article ‘Nigeria: 6-1 Onshore-Offshore Jurisdiction Verdict’ written by Jide Ajani, then the Political Editor of Vanguard Newspapers and published on July 13, 2001.

“In that piece, which is still available online (see linkhttps:// allafrica.com/stories/200107130417. html), Vanguardnewspapers chronicled the successful efforts of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, to restructure the revenue allocation

formulae to allow littoral states of the federation benefit from off shore oil proceeds. Ironically, it was precisely Mr. Osinbajo’s boss, Buhari, who as military dictator, cheated these states of their just due by military fiat.

“Their efforts at restructuring Nigeria are captured in the Hansard of the 1995 Constitutional Conference, which is a public document and is still available at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Professor Osinbajo may want to familiarise himself with that document.

“The question we want to ask Professor Osinbajo is this - why do he and his boss constantly resort to rewriting history?

Why can they not campaign on their achievements? Is it that they are forced to campaign on subterfuge because they have no achievements to campaign on?”

the statement queried.

Meanwhile, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Yekini Nabena, has said that neither former President Obasanjo nor his deputy, Abubakar, can beat President Buhari in an integrity contest.

He said the fact that Obasanjo had once described Abubakar as a corrupt, disloyal and unpatriotic leader who was not fit and proper to handle the mantle of Nigeria’s leadership was enough to rubbish any sudden endorsement from him.

In a statement issued yesterday, Nabena argued that Obasanjo contradicted himself when he made a volte-face to tell Nigerians that he has forgiven Abubakar.

“Throughout their second tenure in office, (2003-2007) and until last fortnight, former Obasanjo, had described Abubakar as a corrupt, disloyal

and unpatriotic leader who was not fit and proper to handle the mantle of Nigerian leadership.

Only recently, Obasanjo vowed that God would not forgive him if he supported the Presidential aspiration of Atiku as ‘it would amount to handing Nigeria over to sharks and looters,” Nabena said.

The APC deputy spokesman stated that soon after his declaration, Obasanjo made a volte-face and announced he had forgiven Atiku and that he had decided to also support his presidential aspiration.

According to him, “Obasanjo’s message to Nigerians therefore, was that his former deputy, whom he had accused of various acts of corruption had suddenly become clean, credible and prepared to lead Nigeria. What a contradiction!”

Continued on page...61

Osinbajo: Nigeria’s Debt Increased by Only $10bn under Buhari’s Administration Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the weekend disclosed that Nigeria’s debt increased by only $10 billion under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to the current $73 billion.

He made the disclosure during the ninth public lecture of Sigma Club at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria NAN) reported that Osinbajo delivered a lecture entitled: ‘Developing the Nation Through Youth Empowerment.’

“In 2010 our debt was $35

billion, $41 billion in 2011, $48 billion in 2012, $64 billion in 2013, $67.7 billion in 2014, $63.8 billion in 2015, $57.8 billion in 2016, $70 billion in 2017 and $73 billion in 2018.

“The nation’s debt as at today was $73 bilłion, an increment of $10 billion from the $63 billion inherited in 2015,” he said.

Osinbajo revealed that from oil, the nation earned $119.8 billion from 1990 to 1998, $481 billion from 1999 to 2009 and $381 billion from 2010 to 2014, while present administration has only earned $112 billion from June 2015.

WORLD PUFF PUFF DAY...

Police Launch Joint Operation to CELEBRATING L-R: Group Marketing Executive, Dangote Flour Mills Plc, Funmi Bolarinwa; Managing Director/Chief Executive, Thabo Mabe; President, Group, Aliko Dangote; and Executive Director, Commercial, Halima Dangote, at the 2018 World Puff puff day festival held in Lagos Restore Sanity on Lagos Roads Dangote ..recently.

Deborah Orji The Lagos State Police Command has launched a joint operation with other sister agencies to seriously tackle traffic gridlock on roads across the state caused by lawlessness on the part of some motorists, among other factors.

Tagged ‘Operation Restore Sanity on Lagos Roads/ Operation Velvet’, the police said it would henceforth impound the cars of defaulting drivers and arraign them immediately in a Mobile Court that would be attached to the joint service team to enable quick dispensation of justice to erring motorists.

In a statement issued yesterday by the Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, CSP Chike Oti, the police said it had already identified the worst hit areas, while the joint operation team involving the

Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) had been constituted to commence enforcement activities with immediate effect.

According to Oti,: “The frustrations of commuters plying Lagos roads, substantially caused by recent upsurge in the volume of traffic and lawlessness of some road users with its attendant gridlock, has attracted the attention of the Nigeria Police, Lagos State Police Command and it has resolved to tackle the hydra-headed problem with all the seriousness it deserves in order to bring back law and order on the roads through a Joint Service Operation code named ‘Operation Restore Sanity On Lagos Roads/ Operation Velvet.’

Shiites Planning to Invade Abuja, Group Alleges Army confirms three sect members dead, explains clash Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja A group, the Abuja Peace and Development Initiative has raised the alarm over plans by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shiites, to violently invade Abuja, the nation’s capital this week.

This is coming as the Nigerian Army has confirmed that three members of Shiite, died weekend, while two solders sustained injuries when the sect clashed with troops at Zuba in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The President of the Abuja peace group, Aaron Audu, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, alleged that the last batch of “fighters” to launch the attack was on the way into the city.

He added the last batch of the Shiites were part of the caravan stopped at the military check point in Zuba on Saturday for being in possession of dangerous weapons.

Audu noted that their response of attacking the military men at the checkpoint instead of making a case for why they should be allowed to pass, confirmed that they were an invading force and not pilgrims on a trek.

The group alerted the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS) to stop the forceful invasion of the nation’s capital.

Audu stated: “IMN members must be reminded that Abuja, being a secular cosmopolitan city, has no room for the kind of hardship they inflicted on the

resident of Zaria, where they take over roads on regularly basis on the pretext of holding religious treks.

In a related development, the Nigerian Army has confirmed that three members of IMN or Shiite, died weekend, while two solders sustained injuries when the sect clashed with troops at Zuba in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Commander, Army Headquarters Garrison, Abuja, Major General James Myam, confirmed the development in a statement yesterday.

Myam said troops of the Garrison were attacked at about 3p.m. at Zuba bridge by the sect as they escort ammunitions and missiles from Abuja to Army Central Ammunition Depot in Kaduna State.

“The sect who were supposedly in a procession, established an illegal road block denying motorists free passage.

“When the troops’ convoy attempted to clear the road block, they met stiff opposition from the sect.

“Members of the sect used various objects to barricade the road and also pelted the troops with stones and other dangerous items.

“They smashed both military and civilian vehicles’ windscreens and windows.

“They also attempted to overrun the escorts to cart away the ammunition and missiles the troops were escorting. This led to the troops opening fire to extricate themselves.

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NEWSEXTRA

APC Trying to Use Justice Bulkachuwa’s Husband to Influence Election Tribunals, PDP Alleges The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempt to use the husband of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, to circumvent the law and influence the election petition tribunals in Ekiti and Osun State which were constituted by her.

The party declared that the recent “gift” of the APC Bauchi North Senatorial ticket to Adamu Bulkachuwa, the husband of Justice Bulkachuwa, after he lost the primary election organised by the party to Usman Abubakar

Tuggar, is an indication of how desperate the ruling party has become to cover the several infractions it committed in Ekiti and Osun States which are now subject of litigations and pending before several courts in the country.

PDP insisted that Tuggar, won the Bauchi North APC direct primary election in six of the seven local government areas (LGAs) in the senatorial district, while his challenger, Bulkachuwa won in only one.

The main opposition party further alleged that when the names of candidates for the 2019 national elections were released

Again, el-Rufai Relaxes 24-hour Curfew on Kaduna John Shiklam in Kaduna The Kaduna State Government has relaxed the 24 hour curfew, which was re-imposed on Kaduna metropolis and its environs last Friday.

The atmosphere in the city was charged following the news of the killing of a traditional ruler, the Agwom Adara, Mr. Maiwada Raphael Galadima, by his abductors.

The traditional ruler who was abducted on October 19, while traveling from Kaduna to his palace in Kachia, was killed a week later by his abductors after collecting an undisclosed sum of money as ransom.

The state government in a statement issued yesterday by Samuel Aruwan, spokesman to Governor Nasir el-Rufai, announced that the curfew had been relaxed in Kaduna metropolis and environs.

He said “residents can move

last week, it was Bulkachuwa that was named the APC senatorial candidate for the Bauchi North senatorial district, the development that immediately sparked suspicion among political parties in the country.

The PDP, in a statement signed by the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prince Diran Odeyemi, copies of which were obtained by journalists in Osogbo, Osun State, alleged that the APC is trying to use Bulkachuwa as an access to his wife, Justice Zainab, whose court will handle election petition cases as well as issues arising from primary elections.

Odeyemi noted that “having won the governorship elections anyhow in the two states of Ekiti and Osun without properly covering its track, APC has resorted to using

the judiciary to further circumvent people’s wishes for PDP to return to power in the two states.”

The opposition party said the recent disbandment and reconstitution of Election Petition Tribunal hearing PDP petition against APC candidate in the September 22 governorship poll in Osun State without any justification

by Justice Bulkachuwa could be a pointer to how ready the Court of Appeal has become to ‘assist’ the ruling party get away with its numerous self inflicted problems.

The statement reads in parts: “we are compelled to tell the entire world the extent that the APC under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, is going in perpetrating electoral fraud and planning to use courts of law to foist such illegal governments

on the people.

“We equally recalled the issue of a strange call that Prof. Fuwape, the State Returning Officer for Osun governorship poll received while collation of results of the poll was being done, not minding the fact that the exercise was being televised live. We ask who called Fuwape that day?

“As if annexing INEC to the President Buhari-led federal government was not bad enough for our polity, the APC which seems to be struggling with itself to break all bad records in election manipulations and misgovernance, has resorted to attempting to get the judiciary, an independent and strategic organ of government to its side in order to cover its mess.

“We hope President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Bulkachuwa will

read well the warnings signs and shun every poisoned bait cast at her by the badly fractured APC and the regime it handed Nigerians.

She must continue to uphold the independence of the judiciary. APC is sinking very fast and has therefore been holding on to every available thing to halt its going down.

“But we implore the National Judicial Commission (NJC), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) the international community, amongst others to henceforth closely monitor activities of Justice Bulkachuwa and pronouncements of Court of Appeal in order to guarantee the neutrality of our courts,” PDP said.

around today (Sunday) till 5 p.m.”

The statement said “from tomorrow (today), October 29, residents are free to move from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Markets and banks are expected to reopen.

Night time curfew remains”.

Residents had experienced untold hardship during the curfew period while businesses and commercial activities were negatively affected.

Aruwan disclosed on Saturday that 32 suspects were arrested in connection with the renewed violence on Friday.

There had been tension and security concerns in the city and its environs since October 18, following the killing of over 70 people in a bloody ethno-religious clashes in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru Local Government Area of the state.

The situation of things took a different dimension following the killing of the traditional ruler by suspected kidnappers.

FELLOWSHIP...

NAF, Nigerien Fighter Planes CIBN Group Managing Director/CEO, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and Honorary Fellowship Awardee, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka (left), and of Governing Council of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Dr. Uche Olowu, during the award of Fellowship of the Halt Boko Haram’s Advance Chairman Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria on Uzoka in Lagos... recently in Borno Community Force and they both were able to Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja MultiChoice MD, Punch Chairman Task Women on Professionalism identify the location of the Boko A combined effort of bombers from the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and their Nigerien counterparts provided support for Nigerian Army when terrorist group, Boko Haram, attempted to overrun troops location in Garshigar, Borno State, NAF has said.

The terrorists in 13-gun trucks had advanced towards the 145 Battalion location in Garshigar from two directions, prompting signals from the ground troops for NAF to move in.

Confirming the development, spokesman of NAF, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, said the air interdiction followed report that the location was under attack.

“Accordingly, a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform that was on a mission at another location immediately redirected to Gashigar.

“In addition, a pair of Mi-35 helicopter gunships was scrambled to the location.

“Overhead Gashigar, the NAF ISR platform was joined by another from the Nigerien Air

Haram Terrorists ( BHTs) in 13 Gun Trucks, as they advanced towards the camp from two different directions”, he said.

He disclosed that “they subsequently directed the fire of the helicopter gunships and own ground troops support weapons towards the terrorists.

The combined fire forced the BHTs to retreat from the camp”.

“However, the BHTs attempted to regroup at a location outside the camp but were again engaged by the helicopter gunships and sent scampering in different directions, with several of them killed or injured in the process.

“The ISR platform and helicopters remained within the location providing necessary air support for the troops until the situation was stabilised and threats neutralised.

Daramola said “the NAF, working in concert with surface forces, will sustain the tempo of operations with a view to destroying all remnants of the terrorists on the fringes of Lake Chad and other areas in Northern Borno”.

The Managing Director of MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. John Ugbe, and Chairman of The Punch Newspapers, Mrs. Angela Emuwa, have advised women on how to make progress in the workplace.

The duo gave the advice in Lagos on Thursday during a fireside chat at the maiden Women in Advertising Cocktail organised by the Committee

on Women in Advertising of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN).

The cocktail, which held at The Regent Luxury Suites, GRA, Ikeja, had as its theme “Growing Female Chief Executives”.

Ugbe and Emuwa were joined on the panel to discuss the theme

by CEO, DKK Nigeria, Mrs. Tope Jemerigbe The discussants noted that

networking, work-life balance, capacity building and mentorship are some of the key issues women need to work on to grow in the workplace.

In his opening remark, AAAN President, Mr. Ikechi Odigbo, stated that the Association values the distinct nature of women and their unique ability to influence, strengthen and elevate

Advertising practice. He added that the Association will continue to facilitate and promote equality and opportunity for women in the industry.

Chairman, Committee on Women in Advertising, Jemerigbe, in her welcome speech, explained that the objective of the event is to attract, groom and retain female talent to the industry.

FFPAN Demands Justice for 13-year-old Ochanya Ogbaje The International Ford Foundation Programme Alumni Fellowship of Nigeria (IFFPAN) has condemned the death of 13-year old Ochanya Elizabeth Ogbaje.

The deceased died following severe health complications associated with Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) as a result of alleged series of vaginal and sodomic abuse from members of her extended family.

In a statement signed by IFFPAN’s President, Obo Effanga and its Coordinator, Social Justice Project, Mr.

Kabiru Abass, the association laid responsibility for ensuring justice and prevention of similar abuses on the doorsteps of the Minister for Justice, Minister for Education as well as the Inspector General of Police.

Ochanya, a Junior Secondary School (JSS) 2 student of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Gboko, Benue State, died recently and reports indicate that she was a victim of serial sexual abuse from age eight until her death by her aunt’s husband and son (Andrew Ogbuja and Victor

Inalegwu Ogbuja) who have now been charged to court, following public outcry.

The statement insists that the incident is a reflection of child abuse, gender based violence (GBV) and injustice within schools, homes and communities and should serve as wake up call for all to act to stop this menace and ensure justice.

IFFPAN submitted that many GBV such as this are not reported or even when reported do not lead to adequate prosecution and justice.

They therefore demand speedy prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators; development of GBV reporting and feedback mechanisms; establishment and strengthening of child protection networks in each state to deal with the issues of child abuse and school-based gender violence.

The alumni association thus called on government to provide medical, psychosocial, legal and counselling services for victims of rape and other gender-based violence.

MONDAY OCTOBER 29, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY

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CONDOLENCE MESSAGES FOR ANENIH...

CONDOLENCE MESSAGES FOR ANENIH...

Ekweremadu, Tinubu, Others Mourn Anenih Our Correspondents Reactions yesterday trailed the death of the former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Tony Anenih, with the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, All Progressives Congress (APC) national stalwart, Senator Bola Tinubu and other prominent Nigerians expressing deep grief.

They described him as a pan-Nigerian and patriot who served the nation to the best of his ability.

Writing on his Facebook page and other social media handles, @iamekweremadu, he said: “Chief Anineh contributed so much to deepening our democracy and setting the nation on the path of progress at the end of many decades of military rule.

“He was a humble leader, fine public administrator, political kingmaker, a colossus, master strategist, and a political oracle, who was very vast in political engineering.

“Iyasele was a courageous man, and a man of few words, who meant whatever he said and said only what he meant. He will be sorely missed”.

Ekweremadu prayed God to grant the deceased eternal repose and to his family, the government and people of Edo State, and indeed the nation the inner strength to bear the irreparable loss.

Also, Tinubu described Anenih as a leader who was resolutely committed to the unity and cohesion of the country.

He said in a statement last night by his Media Office: “Chief Anenih was a foremost politician and elder-stateman. He was resolutely committed to the unity and cohesion of this country.

He worked for the upliftment of his Uromi hometown and Edo State, as he worked for the growth and development of Nigeria.

“A politician of immense repute. He gave so much to party politics and democracy in the country.

As one of the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he played a key role in the country’s resurgent democracy.

It was no surprise that he later emerged the Chairman, Board of Trustees of PDP. “Our path crossed in the Social Democratic Party where he was our national chairman. I recall that he was an energetic politician who played politics with all that he is imbued with.

“I commiserate with his family. I pray that they find the strength and courage to live without their patriarch. I also commiserate with Governor Godwin Obaseki and the government and people of Edo State”.

Obaseki Mourns Death of Elder Statesman The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has expressed deep sadness over the passing of elder statesman, Chief Anthony Anenih, whose death was reported yesterday.

The governor, in a statement, said that Anenih’s death is a huge loss to the state and the nation as the elder statesman devoted a better part of his life to the development of the state and the country, contributing to national development in the various capacities he served while he lived.

According to him, “The whole of Edo State has suffered a huge loss with the death of Chief Anenih, the Iyasele of Esan land, who ranks as one of the most illustrious sons of the state.

Anenih rose to the occasion when it mattered most, to defend the interest of Edo State and her people.

He attracted development to the state and groomed several Edo sons and daughters who are now active players in the nation’s political space.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss, more so at a time like this, when Nigeria needs his wisdom and guidance as we approach the election season.”

Obaseki prayed that God grants the Anenihs’ the fortitude to bear the loss, noting, “as the whole nation mourns Anenih’s passing, my condolences go to the family, as I pray that God grants them the grace to face this great loss.”

Dickson: Nigeria Lost a Political Colossus Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has said Nigeria lost a political colossus in Anenih.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, the governor said he received the news of Anenih’s passing with shock.

He described him as an astute politician and elder statesman whose vacuum would be difficult to fill.

“Anenih was a political icon, a nationalist and a great leader of men. He was a political colossus. His passing has created a huge vacuum in our political landscape that will be difficult to fill,” he said.

The Bayelsa helmsman, while commiserating with the immediate and political family of the former Minister of Works, said the late octogenarian politician offered meritorious service to the country that they should be proud of.

Okowa Commiserates Edo People Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has commiserated with the family members, the government and the people of Edo State on the death of Anenih.

Okowa also conveyed his condolences to the family of the late Iyasele of Esanland, describing him as a committed patriot who served nation at the highest levels with an uncommon sense of patriotism and unwavering dedication.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Aniagwu, in Asaba, the governor said he was saddened by the demise of

Anenih the former Chairman of the BoT of the PDP. The statement read: “I am deeply saddened by the death of Anenih.

“He was a committed patriot, an astute politician and a former Minister of Works who worked to better the lots of his people and Nigerians in general, adding “through his purposeful leadership and development strides, the late Anenih influenced the dualisation of the Benin Asaba road, Benin Warri Road and the Benin bypass road which brought about unprecedented development to the Niger Delta region”.

Governor Okowa remarked that as a democrat, the late Anenih etched his name in the annals of Nigeria’s democratic advancement by working courageously for the emergence and consolidation of the Fourth Republic in 1999 when he joined forces with other leaders to form the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. “Before venturing into politics, Chief Anenih retired from the Nigeria Police Force as a Commissioner of Police and bestrode Nigeria’s political landscape like a collossus where he mentored several succesfull politicians across the country.

“His good works as a dedicated family man, selfless politician and great philanthropist as well as his ability to consistently, at every turn, resolve knotty political puzzles would later earn him the sobriquet – “Mr. Fix It” which would continue to live after him”.

“On behalf of my family, the government and people of Delta State, I convey our deepest sympathy to the Anenih family, the people of Uromi and Esan Land, Edo State, and the rest of the country.

“May his soul find eternal repose in the bosom of the Almighty God.” the Governor wrote.

Uduaghan Describes Anenih as Genuine Patriot Former Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has said that he is greatly pained by the demise of Chief Tony Anenih, describing him as genuine patriot, father figure and dependable adviser.

Uduaghan in a statement by his media aide, Monoyo Edon, said: ‘’I have just received the sad news of the death of one of Nigeria’s greatest nationalists, Tony Anenih. His passing is a painful reminder that the pool of our committed nationalist leaders is depleting. ‘’Anenih was like a father-figure to me privately and on my political sojourn. He gave me the privilege of his listening ears in troubled and in good times. ‘’I shall forever cherish the very good memories we shared together, he was my run-to adviser who threw his doors open to me, even at short notice. I generously tapped from his wealth of experience and I am the better for it today. ‘’His death may be painful, but I thank God for the selfless life he lived and the legacies, worth emulating by all patriots, that he left behind. I pray that the Almighty God grant his soul eternal rest and the Anenih’s family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.’’

George: PDP Has Lost a Great Leader Former National Deputy Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bobe George, said that the PDP has lost a great leader and Nigeria has lost a political icon.

George said that Anenih was a resilient and reliable ally who was always there for party.

He was Master Political Strategist, Says Ibori Former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, said Anenih was a master political strategist.

Ibori described the death of Anenih as the end of a remarkable era in Nigerian politics.

He said Anenih was in a class of his own as he was almost unsurpassed.

He was a Foremost Nationalist, Says Daniel Late former Chairman, Board of Trustees of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, has been described as one of Nigeria’s foremost politicians whose death ended a great chapter in the nation’s political history.

In his condolence message, former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, stated that Anenih was a hugely endowed political leader and foremost nationalist who served the country in various capacities during his lifetime.

“As one of the founding fathers of PDP, Chief Anenih was among those who sustained the nation’s fledging democracy by his immense contributions in the process that laid a solid foundation for democratic ideals and political ethics in modern politics,” Daniel said.

In his demise, the country, he stressed, has lost an illustrious son and colourful politician whose administrative prowess and political sagacity remain a benchmark and history will report him positively for his exemplary roles and great ideas in nation building.

Agbaje Expresses Shock The PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has expressed shock over the news of Anenih demise Agbaje who is presently out of the country, said: “What a pity he will not be alive to witness PDP regain its rightful place in the polity. The last two years must have no doubt put a toll on him. May his soul rest in peace.”

Nigeria Has Lost One of its Finest Politicians, Says Obanikoro Former Minister of State for Defense, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has condoled with the family of the former chairman, Board of Trustees, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, fondly called Mr. Fix It. In a statement yesterday, Obanikoro expressed shock at the news but affirmed that Pa Anenih lived a good and fulfilled life worthy of emulation.

According to him, the country has lost a nationalist and one of its finest politician who had contributed tremendously to national development and mentored many who are in the top echelon of the nation’s polity and in the business world.

The statement reads in part: “I was stunned to hear about the passing of our father, grandfather and leader, Chief Tony Anenih. I however take solace in the fact that he lived a good life and was a shinning example to all of us.

“He was a nationalist and a patriot who contributed tremendously to the development and stability of our national polity.

“Though he was advanced in age, as human beings, I would have loved for him to be around for a longer period to serve as a moderating voice in our polity that has become extremely partisan with ethnic and religious colouration.

“May Almighty Allah repose his soul and give his family the fortitude to bear the loss.”

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Osun Poll: Adeleke Got 250,000 Votes by Dancing, Says Osinbajo PDP plotting violence, Osun APC alleges Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo As the 2019 general election draws nearer, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said at weekend that it took the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the recent Osun State governorship election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, to “dance” to secure 250,000 votes, and described Nigeria’s political terrain as fluid and unpredictable.

This is coming as the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) yesterday expressed shock that PDP has again condemned the reconstitution of the members of Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and has also threatened violence if it loses at the tribunal Osinbajo said the situation was such that politicians could be helpless when events unfold.

Speaking at the launch of “Five Fascinating Books” written by Mrs. Funmilayo Braithwaite at the Transcorp Hotel, Abuja, Osinbajo said it took the senator to “dance” to secure 250,000 votes.

Speaking on one of the books entitled “politicrisis”, Osinbajo said watchers of Nigerian politics assume there was “a formular somewhere” when there is none.

“I believe that when we read these books, a lot of the questions will find resolution to many of the question that are raised in our lives and in the lives of our children and hopefully, we will able to find resolution to some of questions raised in our political lives as well.

“That is one of the reason the Chairman, Advanced Peoples

Democratic Party (APDA) Alhaji Shitu Kabiru, is here; as matter of fact, for those of you who are politicians, when you see ``Politicrisis’; especially as elections approach, you might think there is a formula somewhere.

“He and I and are the opposite sides but we are here to learn.

“I was saying the other that politics in Nigeria is becoming very exciting. You never know what works. I can never forget my dear friend in one of the states who just danced his way through the campaigns, all he did was dance; he did nothing else but dance and he won 250,000 votes.

“So, myself and Alhaji Kabiru are now learning Shaku Shaku; we have to learn; who knows what will win? I am really excited to be here just as other friends of Funmi are”, he said.

He commended the author for raising in her five books important questions about the value system.

Meanwhile, the APC yesterday expressed shock that the PDP has again condemned the reconstitution of the members of Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and has threatened violence if it loses at the tribunal.

The Director of Media and Strategy of the APC, Kunle Oyatomi, described the threat as very irresponsible.

The PDP had in a statement on Saturday signed by its South West zonal Secretary, Bunmi Jenyo, stated that there would be masses revolution, if its perception of justice was not served by the tribunal.

By this assertion, Oyatomi noted that the PDP has exposed

Buhari’s Certificate Saga an Insult to Armed Forces, Says Akinrinade A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade, yesterday berated those criticising President Muhammadu Buhari over his statement that his West African School Certificate Examination certificate (WACE), was with the Nigerian Army.

In a statement disclosed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the former Chief of Defence Staff insisted that Buhari has a certificate and blamed the Nigeria’s recording system.

“How many years ago ?…

50 years. And Nigeria with our (poor) record keeping and filing things into an archive - if we have an archive at all; an archive inhabited by rats and cockroaches.

I think it’s an insult”.

He described the certificate saga as an insult to the Nigerian Army, stressing that the time Buhari joined the Armed forces ‘there were no cutting corners’.

“The most annoying one is the case about (Muhammadu) Buhari not having a certificate. It is an insult to the Armed Forces, a terrible insult to the Armed Forces.

If they are so embedded in the system and they have lost their souls, then they can go ahead and join everybody else in castigating a General of Buhari’s calibre.

“They are now talking about a

School Certificate. By the time he joined the Army in those days, there were no cutting corners. It is later when these same civilians took over from the army that admission into it became less transparent. I can give you an instance.

There was Course Five around 1964: if one did not have a School Certificate, one couldn’t apply to join the army.

And I know up to 1963 when the last General Officer Commanding left Nigeria, there were no corners to be cut. There was no such thing.

Everything was on merit.

“And that was how it was till Buhari’s time. Buhari attended the Mons (Officer Cadet School in Aldershot in England) and the Staff College.

“I don’t want to think they have an idea what they teach in those places. And the rest of us pretend as if we don’t know what they do there. You send a man to America for one and a half years in a military school. Do they think he just went there to learn how to fire a rifle? No! As I speak to you, I don’t know where my original Certificate is because we gave the original to the Military Board. They took it from us when we applied to join the army. You give the original copy of credentials to the Board. They take it and keep it in your file, that’s what happened,” Akinrinade explained.

its desperation to win, even if the justices say it lost the election’.

According to the APC, the statement by the PDP is a forewarning to the security agencies that the PDP is preparing for violence if it loses at the tribunal.

In trying to run down the tribunal members and indeed the President of the Court of

Appeal, the PDP accused both the President of Appeal Court, her husband and her son as certified members of APC, and therefore, the President cannot dispense justice in the matter.

The APC further argued that the allegations were untrue, adding that that the fact that the Appeal Court President is not sitting on the matter destroys PDP’s argument. “If she were

sitting on the tribunal, the PDP might have a case.

“The President of the Court of Appeal, by law is discharging her responsibility to set up the tribunal. Nobody else is empowered to do so under our law. If the PDP therefore is questioning the authority of the President to constitute the tribunal, it should be told that it is over-reaching its limit.

“The PDP has no power whatsoever under the Constitution to question the authority of the judiciary in this matter, except of course it would sue for the removal of Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa as President of the Court of Appeal. The onus of the proof of guilt rests on PDP”

PUBLIC LECTURE…

L-R: Guest lecturer and Edo State’s Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Esohe Ikponmwen; Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, and Vice Chancellor, Benson Idahosa University (BIU), Prof. Sam Guobadia, at the 1st Public Lecture, at BIU, Benin City, Edo State…recently

Struggle to Impose Governor on Rivers, Cause of Conflict with Amaechi, Says Wike Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has stated that the struggle to impose a governor on the people of the state was the reason behind the conflict between him and the immediate past governor and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.

Speaking yesterday at the

Government House, Port Harcourt, Wike regretted that some former and out-going governors expend energy and resources to impose successors on their respective states.

He declared that godfatherism is becoming a major political crisis impeding development across the country.

He said: “I will not support anyone dictating what will happen

in Rivers State. The crisis you are seeing is the struggle to bring a successor.

“Everybody who worked with him (Amaechi) is bad. I held the home-front when he ran away to Ghana on exile and the other Senator (Magnus Abe) he is fighting worked for him.

If everyone that associates with you is bad, then something is fundamentally wrong.”

He added: “After spending eight years as governor, someone wants to superintend on the activities of the state. This is not Lagos State. We are different.”

The governor stated that former Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, is not involved in any form of political conflicts because he has transformed into a statesman, who is not desperate to impose a governor.

Benin Airport to Receive Night Flights, as NAMA Reopens Osubi Airstrip Chinedu Eze The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency is working with the Edo State government to provide night landing facilities at Benin airport to ensure flight operations beyond 6.p.m.

This was disclosed by NAMA, which also stated that it has restored air traffic service at Osubi airstrip, also known as Warri airport.

The Managing Director of NAMA, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, told THISDAY that Benin airport would begin to receive night flights before December this year.

Akinkotu’s position was also corroborated by the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki who said that his government was working closely with NAMA to ensure the final installation of night landing facilities at the Benin airport was completed.

Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the 5th Annual General Meeting of the National Air Traffic Communicators Association of Nigeria (NACAN) over the weekend in Benin City, Obaseki urged NACAN to support the government and people of the state to make Benin airport more viable with the commencement

of night flight operations.

“I want to thank Capt.

Akinkuotu for the work he is doing in Benin airport, he has worked very closely with us to ensure that we have night landing facilities and ILS in Benin airport.

That’s one of the reasons why I personally decided to attend this event to express the gratitude of Edo people to him and to NAMA for all the support” According to the governor, the Benin airport remained one of the first five airports in the country with rapid passenger growth.

Obaseki noted that the country with almost 200 million people

create huge market for aviation with only about one percent traveling by air transport, still remained high in the continent when compared with other countries.

Meanwhile, NAMA has confirmed that it has restored air control services to the Osubi airstrip.

The agency in a statement signed by its Head of Communications, Khalid Emele, said following appeals from well-meaning stakeholders and in consideration of the overall interest of the air travel public, it has resumed air traffic services at Osubi airstrip.

Obasanjo Backs Emmanuel’s Second Term Bid Okon Bassey in Uyo Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday paid a solidarity visit to the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, and endorsed the governor’s second term bid, saying continuity had been in existence since the creation of the world.

Taking a position on the second term bid of the governor, Obasanjo stressed that judging from performance Governor Emmanuel is a good product that will take the state to the promise land that the citizens had been yearning for.

The former President spoke at a Church Service held at the Qua Iboe Church, Ikot Ekpene

road branch, Uyo, the state capital, with top government functionaries in the state, including Governor Emmanuel in attendance.

Also at the Church Service were the wife of the governor, Mrs. Martha Emmanuel, Speaker of State House of Assembly, Mr. Onofiok Luke, members of the State Executive Council and

leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He called on the people of the state to ignore negative politicking ahead of the 2019 general election, saying Governor Emmanuel is a good product in the hands of the people of the state that should be kept.

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Corruption Will Reduce If Western Countries Stop Keeping Looted Money, Says Falana Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, has said that corruption would have reduced in Africa if western countries did not help in keeping looted funds.

He said this at the African non-governmental organisation (NGO) forum held in Banjul, Gambia.

The lawyer accused the western media and Transparency International (TI) of failing to join the campaign for the repatriation of the looted wealth of Africa.

“If the western countries do not warehouse such loot, corruption by criminally minded politically exposed persons will be greatly reduced,” he said.

He charged African NGOs to challenge the narrative on corruption by rejecting the “western propaganda peddled by the Transparency International which has continued to paint Africa as the most corrupt continent on

earth”.

Falana asked why TI has deliberately refused to classify Switzerland, UK, US and France as corrupt when the bulk of the billions of dollars stolen from Africa by corrupt rulers have been traced to banks and other financial institutions in these countries.

Calling on NGOs to lead the battle against corruption in their countries, Falana said majority of African governments are wallowing in impunity to the detriment of the development of the country.

He said, “Despite initial pessimism about its potential and relevance, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has over the years contributed significantly to the development of human rights law through its expansive case-law and jurisprudence. In some respects, such as those involving economic and social rights, the commission’s jurisprudence has been ground-

Oyedepo: Nigeria will Divide If it Becomes Islamic Nation Founder of Living Faith Church worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, has declared that Nigeria will divide if it becomes an Islamic country and cautioned Nigerians and politicians over the killings in the country.

Oyedepo gave this warning in a satellite telecast of the church’s prayer session for the country monitored yesterday by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The Bishop, while urging politicians to repent and have value for the lives of citizens, said if they do not repent after this warning, they would fall down for the sake of the nation.

“Politicians be warned, whether in power or not in power. There is no day Nigeria will become an Islamic nation and this nation will remain one nation,” he said.

“Allow the Christians to go to church, allow the Muslims go to their mosque and let the traditional worshippers do their thing.

“God is giving Nigeria peace by all means; the peace of those promoting this wickedness, God is taking away, if they refuse to repent. Their supplies shall dry up

because Nigeria shall not see war.”

He said every leader is just a caretaker and God remains the creator and owner of every Nation including Nigeria.

“When a caretaker starts behaving like a landlord he will be removed. God is the permanent landlord of the earth,” Oyedepo said.

“The God of heaven has given you authority and power. He has given you might and glory.

Pride makes us think that we do not need God. Pride separates us from God. Nebuchadnezzar did not give credit to God, and God had enough.

“God had warned Nebuchadnezzar and had been very patient with him. But finally, the prophecy came true. All of the things that he was so proud of were taken away.

“Nebuchadnezzar had to eat grass just like the goats and cows!

He was used to living in a grand palace, but now he had no shelter over his head; For 7 years, the great King Nebuchadnezzar lived out there in the wilderness like an animal.

CLP Designs App to Support Informal Sector in Oshodi Isolo LG The Community Life Project (CLP), Nigeria’s leading advocacy group promoting constructive civic engagement, inclusion and participation of grassroots citizens in governance decision-making and community development, has designed an application to support the informal sector in the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area.

Known as the Oshodi Business Connect (OBC) App, which can be accessed on www. oshodibusinessconnect.com, it is an integrated one-stop IT solution for managing revenue collection and increasing the tax net. The Oshodi Business Connect is also an Integrated Directory and Online Service. It has three interfaces – the

Mobile App, the Taxation Database and the Online Market Store.

It allows revenue officers and traders to register businesses using the Mobile App while also allowing traders to register their businesses through the Online Market Store. The details of registration are captured in the Taxation Database.

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support local businesses, the OBC allows the LG to build and maintain a directory of businesses in Oshodi – Isolo LG. With the OBC, the council officials can easily know the number of businesses and where they are located in OshodiIsolo Local Government Area.

breaking, leading to some effective remedies for victims of violations of human and peoples’ rights.”

He therefore urged African

NGOs to shift attention and focus to the promotion and defence of socioeconomic rights which are enshrined in the constitutions of African

countries and African charter on human and people’s rights.

“This only way to seriously wage the battle against the menace of corruption in

Africa is to mobilize the masses who are the principal victims of corruption to demand accountability from the governments,” he said.

WORKERS ARE OUR GREATEST ASSETS…

L-R: Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State; his deputy, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo; and Enugu State’s Chairman, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Mr. Igbokwe Chukwuma Igbokwe, when the governor was acknowledging cheers from civil servants, during the 2018 Civil Service Week held in the state... recently

Nigeria, India, China Top Child Developmental Disabilities List Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja Nigeria, India, and China are the top three leading contributors to the global prevalence of developmental disabilities in children, a new report has revealed.

A research sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and

just published in the prestigious Lancet Global Health journal revealed that over 53 million children under the age of five worldwide had developmental disabilities in 2016.

The research was conducted by the Global Research on Developmental Disabilities

Collaborators (GRDDC) by experts in child disability from different world regions, supported by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, United States of America.

Developmental disabilities are a group of life-long health conditions that affect the ability of a child to develop, grow and function

optimally.

They include conditions such as hearing loss, vision loss, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism spectrum disorder. Others are; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, learning disorders, intellectual disability and Down’s syndrome.

Enelamah Commends Huawei for Sponsoring 10 Nigerian Undergraduates on ICT Training Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, has commented Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited for sponsoring 10 Nigerian undergraduates students

to China for a two-week training in preparation for an ICT competition in South Africa.

The minister expressed appreciation on behalf of the federal government to Huawei Technologies in partnering with the ministry in the area of human and institutional

capacity development and also in promoting technological innovation, knowledge transfer and ICT infrastructure development.

He said Nigeria and China have a mutually-beneficial relationship, which is being nurtured.

Advising the beneficiaries before they travelled , the minister said: “The future belongs to the younger generation and you should embrace this opportunity given to you to develop yourselves in the ICT industry to enhance your contribution to the development of Nigeria.”

BUHARI, OSINBAJO SPEAKING DISCORDANT TUNES ON RESTRUCTURING, SAYS ATIKU He said it was surprising that Obasanjo who had accused Atiku of corrupt tendencies, suddenly turned around and declare the sinner forgiven and eminently qualified to govern Nigeria.

“It is this tendency towards indecision, insincerity, double talk and deception that has made Nigeria ridiculed in the eyes of the international community.

A statesman is known for his principles and his statements are based on the strength of his convictions.

“When a supposed national leader makes declarations that are subject to change at any time based on his mood, such a leader loses his integrity and reliability,” he said.

Nabena also faulted the integrity and nationalistic image being brandied by the PDP’s 2019

vice presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, describing him as double-faced and pretentious He said that many world-class shopping malls owned by Obi has been springing up in various cities in Nigeria soon after he left office as Anambra State Governor.

“Nigerians cannot be deceived, we have seen them all – Presidential Library, Bells and American University of Nigeria, Breweries and Shopping Malls, all established with largely public funds but privately owned by public officers.

In the case of President Buhari, Nabena said that as a former Military Head of State and Petroleum Minister he made no attempt to acquire an oil well, private jet or estates in Nigeria and abroad.

“Muhammadu Buhari is definitely different from the double-faced candidates seeking election,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PDP has challenged President Buhari to speak out on the declaration by the Finance Minister, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, that the policies of his administration were hurting the country and destroying investor- confidence in the economy.

The opposition party in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan said that the declaration by the minister was a vindication of the party’s stand that the Buhari administration was responsible for the country’s economic woes.

The party expressed dismay that Buhari has kept mum on

the issue since the minister made her declaration last week.

PDP noted that investors in key sectors are pulling out of their interests, with foreign revenue dwindling by the day, while the economy has continued to dip under President Buhari, with no hope in sight.

Ologbondiyan said, “Though the minister particularly alluded to the administration of the colossal fines imposed on MTN Nigeria and four banks, available data showed that the APC-led government has been subjecting businesses to very harsh and punitive policies.”

This, the PDP said has led to the dearth of both domestic and foreign direct investments and its attendant economic hardship on the citizenry.”

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY OCTOBER 29, 2018

62

MONDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Gov Dickson Wants Bayelsa to Host Super Eagles, Falcons Duro Ikhazuagbe

After successfully hosting the 2018 Women’s Aiteo Cup final at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa last Tuesday afternoon, Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Henry Dickson, wants the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to consider the state for more national and international events.

Gov Dickson who was thrilled by the quality of play put up on the Samson Siasia Stadium turf by Rivers Angels and Ibom Angels in the Aiteo Cup final told NFF board members who paid a courtesy visit to him earlier that he has made serious intervention in sports facilities in the state.

“We want the NFF to bring more high level continental and local matches to our stadium. The Samson Siasia Stadium here has one of the best playing turf in the country,” stressed the Bayelsa State governor.

He also revealed that he has approved more renovation work at the stadium to meet up with the standard that can measure up to any of the top stadiums in the continent.

“More renovation work is going to be carried out here soon so that it can meet up with some of the best stadiums we have in the continent,” he noted.

Gov Dickson said apart from wrestling and swimming events that the state has made tremendous strides, he has also gone ahead with plans to put in place a specialized sports academy for

the development and training of talented youths in the state.

“We have not only intensified youth development but building a specialized sports academy that will take care of kids from the primary school level. These pupils are going to be put in a boarding facility that will groom their sports talents as well as take care of their education.

It is a one of its kind in the country,” he revealed.

The governor insisted that sports apart from its recreational values can be used for social mobilization as well as for generating employment.

“Even with paucity of funds, we have made strides in the sports sector because we realized that it can be used for social mobilization. We are building a polo course as well as tennis courts that are going to rate amongst the best in the country,” the Bayelsa chief executive further revealed.

He promised that very soon, Bayelsa teams will return to the Nigerian Premier Football League where Bayelsa United FC and Ocean Boys FC used to be major forces.

Gov. Dickson thanked the NFF for bringing the 2018 Women’s Aiteo Cup final to the state as it was going to impact on some of the talents in the state.

“It was natural for Yenagoa to be the host of the Aiteo Cup final because the oil and gas company is domiciled in the state.

“Bayelsa is home to Aiteo because their OML

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson (left) presenting a souvenir to NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, during the courtesy visit of the NFF Board to Dickson at the Government House in Yenagoa…on Tuesday

29 is here in Bayelsa. We want more companies doing business here to emulate Aiteo by also

supporting young people and sports development programmes.”

He praised NFF

President, Amaju Pinnick, on his reelection for a second term as well as his

appointment as the First Vice President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Alex Iwobi (right) was fine form against Crystal Palace despite Arsenal’s 11-game winning streak halted…yesterday

Work and Play Gears-up for Ondo Car Rally Nov 16 The organisers of Work and Play Car race series have announced that the second edition of the Ondo Rally has been slated for November 16th and 17th, 2018 with the starting point being Smokin Hills Golf Course in IlaraMokin in Ondo State.

The facilitator of the event, Ade Ojuoko, said at the weekend that this year’s edition would be a major improvement on last year’s.

“We already have huge interest shown toward this event from the motorsport community in Nigeria, which for us is a sign for endorsement. We have also secured the support of the state government just like last year and the those of relevant bodies that would make the event a success.”

Last year’s winner “Stingray” would be the major attraction this year along with other racing teams in Nigeria who have entered their top drivers for the event.

Ojuoko also said that Work and Play’s race-car named ‘Tiger’ would be returning to this year’s edition with two other versions.

“Apart from first time racing teams who have shown interest to be part of the event, our race car, “Tiger” would be racing with two other newer versions,” he added.

Ojuoko also said that the global regulating body for the sport FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) would be represented at the event along with the officials of the

Federal Road Safety Corps.

The event this year would on the opening day be hosting all the participants and tourists to drifting challenge. There would also be sight-seeing visits to some of the major tourism attractions in the state including the popular Idanre Hills.

“The show begins with a long convoy drive from Lagos through Ogun, Oyo and Osun states before the finally arriving at the venue of the first session of the races.”

The participants and visitors would be received by the state officials. The event would be engaging over 100 volunteers for the race from the state apart from key personnel in the Central Working Committee.

He added that the race’s goal is to spike local tourism and showcase each race destination to the audience of motorsports among other things. It is striking to note that the Ondo Car Rally officially signals the start of Nigeria Travel Week, a series of annual events in November designed to promote domestic and inbound tourism in Nigeria.

The competition is in three categories, Off-Road, Road and Bike Race. The Off-Road race would flag off the event where Sports Utility Vehicles have been penciled to race. The race is to be flagged off in IlaraMokin by the Founder of Elizade and Chairman of Toyota Nigeria Limited, Chief Michael Ade. Ojo.

Salam Beats Gonorenda to Regain WBF Title at ‘Chaos in Lagos’ Femi Solaja

Nigerian boxing sensation, Tony ‘Sugar ’ Salam, lived up to his pre-match boasting for a revenge after a massive win against Chomunorwa ‘Sting’ Gonorenda from Zimbabwe in the WBF African Cruiserweight title at the Kwesé and Kalakoda Boxing Promotions ‘Chaos in Lagos’ in Lagos last Friday night.

The night of boxing entertainment featured six bouts in different weight divisions and the title bout was one of the three international contests that took take place at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Salam who was denied victory when both fighters met in Harare , Zimbabwe in August, controlled the fight from the inception and gave his teeming fans a lot to cheer before the champion was beaten to submission in the sixth round of the 10-round fight via a technical knockout.

“I was determined not to give him any breathing space and that should be the lesson from the first fight two months ago.

“My plan was to even knock him out much earlier but Gonorenda is not a push over.

“I really want to thank my fans who stood behind me till this moment and I will like to assure them that the setback I had in

Harare will not repeat itself again,” Salam responded after the fight.

In the other bouts, Olanrewaju Durodola knocked down Maroy Sadiki in the second round of their 12-round contest in the WBF Cruiserweight World title fight just as Habib Ahmed was the better fighter against Sunday Ajunwa.

He won in round three of the eight round contest for the International Super Middleweight bout.

Rilwan Lawal won the Featherweight bout against Dare Oyewole in an unanimous decision just as Taiwo Olowu was the better boxer against Saheed Lawal in the Welterweight contest via a technical knockout in round four. Sadiq Adeleke edged out Tunde Olojede in the Bantamweight challenge via a split decision.

The General Manager for Kwesé TV Nigeria, Elizabeth Amkpa, said that as the broadcaster celebrates it first anniversary in Nigeria, it is proud to continue to support African boxing through the Kwesé Friday Fight Nights that take place every last Friday of the month in different cities across the continent.

Boxing fans who could not be physically present at the ring side however got linked to the bouts on Kwese Free Sports, Kwesé TV channel 285 and on the Kwese iflix app on mobile as well as via YouTube.

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY OCTOBER 29, 2018

MONDAYSPORTS H E L I C O P T E R T R AG E DY

Tearful Fans Lay Flowers for Leicester City Owner, Srivaddhanaprabha r Players want Tuesday’s Carabao Cup match postponed Tearful Leicester City fans gathered to lay flowers at the King Power Stadium yesterday after reports

the club’s owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, was on board a helicopter that crashed and burst into

flames Saturday night. There was no survivor from the crash.

The helicopter - carrying

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha waves to fans after a Premier League clash at the Kings Power Stadium

VICHAI SRIVADDHANAPRABHA

The Thai Billionaire who Made Leicester City Champions Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was born Vichai Raksriaksorn. He is a Thai billionaire businessman, founder, owner and chairman of King Power Duty Free.

He became the owner of Premier League football club Leicester City in 2010.

But on Saturday night, world football was struck by a terrible tragedy when a helicopter carrying him and four others crashed outside the team’s stadium.

Srivaddhanaprabha is not really a surname, but an honour.

In fact, the king of Thailand granted it to Vichai’s family. The Thai billionaire arrived at Leicester in 2010 with a group of Asian entrepreneurs.

A year later, he became the president

of the club. He took over the team in the Championship, but in a short time, the club rose to glory.

After getting eliminated in the playoff semifinals in 2013 against Watford, Leicester earned promotion a year after that. The team led by Jamie Vardy, who played in the eighth division just a couple of years before, joined England’s best teams in the Premier League. The enthusiasm of Srivaddhanaprabha was skyrocketing. He promised to make Leicester great, promised to enlighten the team with “light of progressive glory”.

In 2015 the team managed to survive in England’s top-flight just thanks to a miracle in the final part of the season when the team won

PREMIERSHIP

Crystal Palace Ends Arsenal’s 11-game Winning Run

seven matches from nine. After guiding the team to salvation, coach Pearson was sacked and replaced

by Claudio Ranieri, who will later become the “Normal One”.

Srivaddhanaprabha gave Ranieri another chance after several negative spells, lastly with the Greek national team. And he made the most of it, giving the Leicester fans a title that for everyone, including bookmakers, seemed impossible at the beginning of the season.

Kasper Schmeichel, the son of legendary Petr, the legend of Manchester United, the Jamaican captain Wes Morgan, midfielder Danny Drinkwater and N’golo Kante, as well as the Algerian magician Riyad Mahrez and the bomber Jamie Vardy. These are the many protagonists of an unforgettable team that conquered fans even outside the borders of Britain.

the popular club owner, Srivaddhanaprabha, two pilots and two others crashed in the corner of

PHOTO: AP

the club car park moments after taking off from the centre circle following Leicester’s draw with West Ham Saturday night.

Early reports said Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s daughter was on board with him at the time, although sources at Leicester City have since denied this. The BBC reported that a family source said the owner was on board.

Fans who gathered at the ground Sunday morning branded it Leicester ’s ‘darkest day’, paying tribute to the owner who helped them to a miracle Premier League triumph in 2016.

Police are yet to comment on the fate of Mr Srivaddhanaprahba, 60, who has four children. With fans waiting desperately for news, detectives said yesterday afternoon they were ‘working with a number of other agencies’ to release a statement.

Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter was heading for Luton Airport where he was due to catch a flight to Thailand, Leicester sources

El Clasico: Suarez Scores Hat-trick as Barca Hammers Real Madrid 5-1 Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick as Barcelona outclassed Real Madrid to seal a stylish El Clasico victory that further damages their bitter rivals and Madrid’s stricken manager Julen Lopetegui.

Despite missing Lionel Messi through injury, champions Barca started and ended in unstoppable fashion, while Real for long periods chased shadows under the burden of a winless run that now stretches to five games in La Liga.

Jordi Alba had already torn dangerously free down the left wing once when his cut-back found Philippe Coutinho unmarked 10 yards out, the Brazilian sweeping home the opener past the Thibaut Courtois and Sergio Ramos on the line.

It was a move that summed up the home side’s early dominance, and more was to come.

Suarez was clumsily brought down by Raphael Varane in the area, the referee awarding the

penalty after consulting with the video assistant, and Lopetegui pounding the air furiously because play had initially been allowed to go on.

Real Madrid, winners of the past three Champions Leagues, were looking desperately short on confidence, but they emerged from the break transformed and almost dragged themselves level in a 10-minute spell of clear superiority.

First Marcelo poked home from close range after good work by Isco and substitute Lucas Vazquez down the right, before Gareth Bale clipped the inside of the post with a strike that left Marc-Andre ter Stegen relieved to see the ball ping out and back across his goal-line.

And Real again came close to drawing level when Karim Benzema missed with a header from a delightful Vazquez cross.

But when the next goal did arrive, it was Barca’s Suarez who found the net with a decisive,

rChelsea beats Burnley 4-0 to move up second on the log

Crystal Palace Captain Luka Milivojevic scored twice from the penalty spot to earn his side a dramatic 2-2 draw and end Arsenal’s 11-game winning run.

The Serb smashed in a late equaliser after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s controversial goal had put the visitors ahead after the break.

Elsewhere, unbeaten Chelsea coped without Eden Hazard to move second in the Premier League by easing to 4-0 victory at Burnley.

Back at Burnley, Milivojevic scored the opener in the first half after Shkodran Mustafi brought down Cheikhou Kouyate.

Granit Xhaka’s sublime free-kick had drawn Arsenal level at 1-1.

Wilfried Zaha was brought

down by Xhaka in the box with seven minutes to go and Milivojevic drilled his spot-kick into Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno’s right corner, having also beaten him on that side in the first half.

Earlier in the second half, the ball appeared to brush Alexandre Lacazette’s hand before it fell at the back post to Aubameyang, who poked home off the inside of the post - with the ball going over the line by just 9mm.

Before his error in bringing down Zaha to give away the late penalty, Xhaka’s stunning curler had cancelled out Milivojevic’s opener - which was Palace’s first goal at home this season.

Zaha also hit the outside of the post before the break, while Andros Townsend dragged a shot wide.

said yesterday.

Witnesses said the ‘engine stopped’ in the air before the helicopter plummeted to the ground at around 8.45pm on Saturday night.

As Premier League fixtures resumed yesterday there was a minute’s applause held at Crystal Palace in solidarity with Leicester, and a minute’s silence at Burnley, even with fans still in the dark over the outcome of the crash.

Outside the King Power Stadium yesterday a sea of flowers and blue football scarves has grown as supporters wait anxiously for news on the helicopter disaster.

Meanwhile, Leicester City wants their Tuesday’s League Cup tie with Southampton postponed.

The team on Sunday cancelled a scheduled light training session after Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter crashed outside King Power Stadium.

As it stands, they are due to host Southampton in a Carabao Cup round of 16 tie on Tuesday night.

Suarez scored hat-trick in Barcelona’s 5-1 demolition of Real Madrid yesterday

predatory header, the Uruguayan powerfully directing his second goal past Courtois from a standing start and stopping the Madrid revival in its tracks.

And the best was yet to come from Suarez. As the visitors crumbled at the back, Suarez ran clear. With only Courtois to beat to seal his treble, the former Liverpool striker dinked a wonderful chip over the ex-Chelsea keeper and across the line.

There was sheer, unbridled delight in the stands, where Messi, wrapped up against the autumn cold on and still recovering from his broken arm, would have more than approved.

But the loudest cheer of the night came as Arturo Vidal headed in a fifth goal in the closing stages, the final flourish to a scoreline that left Madrid’s players crestfallen as they trundled off the Nou Camp pitch, soundly beaten and fully aware of the reaction this result will bring.

Monday October 29, 2018

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& RE A S O

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Price: N250

MISSILE Labour to FG “Let them cut their allowances ďŹ rst. Let them reduce it by half then we will know that they are serious. It wasn’t Nigerian workers that devalued the naira. It was not Nigerian workers that caused the ination to riseâ€? – Labour unions insisting that it will embark on strike on Wednesday to protest the refusal of the federal government to implement the new minimum wage.

IBRAHIMDANKWAMBO Atiku, PDP and the Nigerian Challenge GUEST COLUMNIST

M

y dear compatriots, let me start by saying that contesting in the primaries for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) was an experience of a lifetime for me and I must add this: I am grateful to Almighty God for making me a Nigerian!

Nigeria is real, Nigeria is one and Nigeria is united!

To Tede and Idere in Oyo State, Igumale and Lessel in Benue or Atiku Abubakar’s hometown of Jada in Adamawa State, Isan and Iyin in Ekiti, Igan-Okoto and Ofada in Ogun, Dass in Bauchi, Wurno in Sokoto, Itu and Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom, Abonema in Rivers, Ekinrin-Adde and Iyamoye in Kogi State, Fugar in Edo State and to all the small towns in Nigeria, the statement our party made from our convention is that the people of Nigeria are not forgotten; that Nigeria is not just Abuja or Port Harcourt, not just Lagos or Calabar, not just Maiduguri, Damaturu, Jos or Lokoja; that our country is much more than Ibadan, Abeokuta, Uyo, Kaduna, Sokoto, Ilorin, Kano, Yola, Benin, Jalingo, Owerri, Enugu, Umuahia, Abalaliki or any such big towns and capital cities.

Nigeria is an aggregation of all towns and villages, cities and hamlets. Nigeria encompasses us all, however remote our places of origin may be.

On my part, serving my community, my state and the great people of Nigeria has been a joy and a privilege for which I have been grateful every single day of my life. Right from my days as a student leader, down through my professional life both in the private sector and in public service, I have been shaped by experiences that prepared me for service to the people.

I have heeded all calls with humility and with every sense of responsibility.

I have always devoted my entire being to the work at hand and my entire life to the service of Nigeria. That was the spirit that informed my participation in the presidential ticket exercise.

As a party, the PDP was in power for years. We made our share of mistakes.

But we were succeeded, it has turned out, by a band with no standards, a group of accusers without ideas. They are adept at only one change: a change of the subject once service to the people is in discussion. With the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as our party’s flagbearer, the real change for the better is now around the corner and the future we have always dreamt of is rapidly emerging.

My humble plea is that, the same unity, commitment and sense of purpose that saw us through to his victory at the convention should be intensified to carry our great party to glorious victory in next year’s elections. We are not in this simply for the desire to clinch power

Atiku

for its sake; neither is it for intimidation of opponents or suppression of political adversaries. We are in this for the progress and prosperity of Nigeria.

Our country faces many challenges that test the quality of its leadership. But only in challenges does a good leadership find opportunities. That is the test the current leadership has failed. And that is the test Turaki Atiku will not fail.

For years, the Nigerian people have been hopeless, hungry and thirsty. They are hungry and thirsty not only for food and water, but also for education, for better housing, for power, for security, and for an enabling environment to productively realise their possibilities.

PDP is returning to assuage the people’s thirst.

We are here to put an end to the peoples’ hunger.

The dryness of a season provides the opportunity to make a balm and the process of making the balm has just begun with Atiku’s nomination!

The people of Nigeria will rule.

The PDP, with Atiku at the helm, will lead.

APC has proven incapable of running Nigeria.

Nigerians have been poorly served by a leadership that has not only created wedge between compatriots, broken

their spirit of brotherhood, the people have been subjected to the worst kind of insensitivity and psychological trauma by those in whom they entrusted their sovereignty. The result is that our people have never been as divided as they are today along the lines of tribal, religious, political and other primordial divisions.

The end has come to all that!

Grinding poverty must come to a halt soon!

Injustice in whatever form must come to its end!

Economic mismanagement must come to its end!

The end has come to empty promises and brazen impunity!

The Nigerian people will rule!

I believe that the hallmark of quality leadership is in its ability to surmount challenges and solve problems, rather than engaging in blame game and reveling in the grandiloquence of empty rhetoric or the promise of change that is meaningless even to its protagonist. The hallmark of good leadership is in concrete action on behalf of the people and not in a body language that says nothing other than confounding the masses.

Enough is enough!

Enough of weakness arrogantly dressed up as introspection!

Enough of cluelessness sold as thoughtfulness!

Enough of mediocrity paraded as integrity!

What is beneath Nigeria is beneath Nigeria!

The current leadership is weak, deenergized, incompetent and far beneath Nigeria. It is time to move forward and in the right direction!

The end must be put to the phenomenon of showmanship as statesmanship, deception of the masses as fight against corruption and incompetence compounded with ignorance as old-age wisdom.

Nigeria’s problems are many and real. Such can be solved only by able, prepared hands, critical thinkers and people with strong character.

Let all hands be on the plough to make Nigeria a super power it ought to be.

My humble plea is that, the same unity, commitment and sense of purpose that saw us through to his victory at the convention should be intensiďŹ ed to carry our great party to glorious victory in next year’s elections.

We are not in this simply for the desire to clinch power for its sake; neither is it for intimidation of opponents or suppression of political adversaries. We are in this for the progress and prosperity of Nigeria

We must remain committed to the principle of inclusive and integral development. I trust that Atiku Abubakar and the PDP will put in place a governance structure that will foster the spirit of co-operation, consensus and unity in a nation of diverse ethnic groups, cultures and religions like ours. He will turn our diversity into our abiding core strength.

This is not only desirable, it is required to establish, nurture and sustain a strong and effective democratic government.

The PDP’s symbol was not lightly picked and should never be viewed lightly. Ours is an umbrella under which peoples from all walks of life, irrespective of ethnic affiliation, economic status, educational background, religious leaning, age or sex, can take refuge and make sense of existence.

Nigeria is a blessed country. Our abundant resources must, however, be properly harnessed by a visionary leadership to make Nigeria a great and prosperous nation.

Atiku has what it takes to provide that leadership.

Unlike the present leadership, he will leverage on his democratic governance experience to work harmoniously with the other organs of government to effectively harness the unique skills and abilities, the personal qualities and motivations of all Nigerians to unleash their creative and productive energies to make this country great.

A leader who wants to achieve results must be visionary, demonstrate a high degree of rational judgement and maintain a high sense of responsibility to the people. Like the good shepherd, he must be trustworthy, lead by example and forsake all other interests for the common good.

With Atiku Abubakar, the ship of the Nigerian state is sure to anchor at the harbour of peace, progress, unity and prosperity.

The APC has been a night we have only endured so far, a lie we have lived for so long. The jinx of poor leadership over Nigeria must now be broken.

As the prospect of a new daylight beckons, we must all go back and begin the work of re-building Nigeria.

Nigeria, which has been the footsoldier in the battle for the liberation of Africa and its peoples, the foremost combatant in keeping the continent’s peace, must cease to be a sad footnote to its story of progress.

I am convinced that with Nigerians’ support and patriotism, Atiku Abubakar will be the president who makes Nigeria the strong leg on which Africa, indeed the Black race stands.

Under his leadership and under the canopy of the PDP, we shall all together rebuild the crumbling Nigerian house. t%S %BOLXBNCP JT UIF HPWFSOPS PG (PNCF 4UBUF

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