TUESDAY 14TH MAY 2019

Despite Fintechs’ Incursion, Banks Rake in N25tn Deposits Obinna Chima Despite the surge in activities of financial technology (fintech) companies that have continued to encroach on commercial banks’ businesses, 11 banks in the country raked in a total of N24.957 trillion as customer

deposits as at the end of 2018.

The amount represents an increase of 16 per cent compared with the N21.480 trillion the banks that are quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange recorded as at the end of 2017.

The banks are Zenith Bank

Plc, Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank), United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), FBN Holdings Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, FCMB Group, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Sterling Bank, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, and Wema Bank Plc.

This amount is expected to rise further as recently released first quarter results of some of the banks showed higher customer deposits, due to their aggressive mobilisation of funds.

Fintech have continued to encroach on commercial

banks’ businesses, thereby threatening the operations and deposit mobilisation by the banks.

For instance, a recent report had shown that some fintech firms have started targeting the deposit and loans segments of traditional banks, with a

view to taking part of the market share of the financial institutions.

The report by Lagos-based Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC), had cited an example of Piggybank, which Continued on page 6

Shell Targets 2,400MW of Electricity from New Gas Project... Page 8 Tuesday 14 May, 2019 Vol 24. No 8800. Price: N250

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Elections Hacking Now Real in Africa, Says Mahama Chineme Okafor in Oxford, UK

LOYALTY, HUMILITY & INTEGRITY PAY… Following his renomination for a second term, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele (left), paid a courtesy call on President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja… yesterday

Countries in Africa that have adopted Information Technology (IT) in their electoral processes now have to deal with a new challenge, systems hacking, which now threatens the practice of democracy in the continent, a former President of Ghana, Mr. John Mahama, has said.

Mahama’s disclosure came at a time Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election is blemished with claims of alleged hacking of the electoral commission’s IT system by both leading parties in the election – the opposition Continued on page 6

Presidency Moves Second Term Inauguration Ceremonies to June 12 Commemorates new Democracy Day Buhari takes oath of office on May 29

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari is set to formalise

the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day, earmarking the day for the celebration of his second term of office

inauguration.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told State House

Correspondents yesterday that although the president would be inaugurated on May 29, the ceremonies commemorating it

would hold on June 12.

He, however, said the ceremonies would be low-key.

Mohammed said the

decision to organise a low-key inauguration event was taken

PDP Workers Ask Bulkachuwa to Recuse Self…

Continued on page 6

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PDP Workers Ask Bulkachuwa to Recuse Self

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

For the umpteenth time, the staff members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday asked the President of Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, who is also a member of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, to recuse herself from the tribunal.

The staff, who protested at the party's National Secretariat, Wadata House, Abuja, said

they would not allow some individuals in the country to hijack the collective will of majority of Nigerians, adding that Nigerians are tired of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari.

The protesters carrying placards with various inscriptions like, “Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa: You cannot preside over your own case;’’ ‘’Your husband is a senator-elect under APC;’’

‘’Justice is not for the most powerful, it must be seen to be right and done and on moral grounds;’’ ‘’Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa excuse yourself from Presidential Tribunal;’’ ‘’We passed a vote of no confidence on the tribunal as long as Justice Bulkachuwa remains a member.�

The Chairman of PDP Staff Welfare Association, Mr. Clement Nwankwo, said the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,

could not reclaim his mandate as long as Bulkachuwa remains a member of the tribunal.

The protesters challenged the Nigerian judiciary to stand up to its statutory responsibility as the final arbiter in disputes, stressing that the judiciary must do what is just in the eyes of the law and in line with the mood of Nigerians.

Nwankwo said: “We are also aware that the President

of the Court of Appeal and Chairperson of the 2019 Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Justice Zainab Ahmed Bulkachuwa, is the wife of Ahmed Mohammad Bulkachuwa, the senator-elect on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), representing Bauchi North Senatorial District. This is completely unacceptable.

"We, therefore, fully support the call by the National Working Committee (NWC) of

our party to demand that she recuses herself immediately from the panel.�

The protesters also decried the state of the nation, saying, “We are tired with the state of insecurity in the country; we are tired with the poor state of our economy; we are tired with this nepotic government; we are tired with the situation where majority of our citizens are living in lDP camps as if we are in a state of war.

Nigerians are tired.�

Dickson Commends Buhari for EmeďŹ ele’s Reappointment Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for reappointing the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, for a second term.

Dickson, who is also the chairman of South-south Governors’ Forum, said it was encouraging and a display of leadership for the president, who inherited Emefiele from the Jonathan

administration in 2019, to retain him at the expiration of his first tenure.

The governor’s comments were contained in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, yesterday.

He stressed that it was indeed important for him as the chairman of the forum to praise the president’s efforts in an area where he is found to have done the right thing.

He said Buhari did well and deserved commendation for the bold decision to appreciate the efforts,

competence and qualities of a South-south son in the person of Emefiele by reappointing him for a second term as the leader of the nation’s apex bank.

He said: “I wish to sincerely commend President Muhammadu Buhari for mustering the courage to reappoint the Governor of Central Bank, Mr. Emefiele, for a second tenure. “As the Chairman of the South-south Governors’ Forum, I find it necessary to commend the president for appreciating a son of the

South-south and keeping faith in his competences as the head of the CBN. “It is a fact that the president’s action is worthy of commendation and it is indeed important that when the right thing is done it has to be appreciated irrespective of political divide. The zone is grateful to the president for this move.�

Dickson also paid glowing tributes to former Senate president, Senator David Mark, and the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, for their

sacrifices, patriotism and uncommon input to national development.

He said that both Mark and Ekweremadu would be remembered for their selfless sacrifice in the quest to develop democratic governance through sustained initiation and contributions to quality processes of legislation in the country.

He said that Mark, who is leaving the National Assembly after a record fifth time, spanning 20 years, and Ekweremadu,

who got elected for the fifth time, distinguished themselves as national icons with a reputation for good governance.

He said it was indeed incontrovertible that the two senators made serious efforts to deepen the democratic culture in the society The governor said that he was not in doubt that the constituencies represented

by Mark and Ekweremadu would laud them for their services, contacts and experience and indeed role in national development.

of the final results. I am not aware the electoral commission had carried out any investigation into what compromised their electoral system, and even if they have, we the stakeholders have not been briefed. “We huddled recently in Abeokuta at the Obasanjo Presidential Library with political leaders, electoral officers, IT experts and of course, hackers, to discuss the use of IT systems in elections and how to avoid electoral disputes arising out of their use. Happily, I am pleased to announce that ECOWAS has taken up the challenge from then and accepted to organise an in-depth discussion with all stakeholders in West Africa

on the use of IT in elections. “They showed how IT systems could be compromised. But it is real.

They are able to hack into a system and bring it down and bring out whatever they wanted. It was eye opening and President Obasanjo spoke to the ECOWAS.�

He said further: “Activities of specialised organisations offering election manipulation services have become commonplace in Africa too. As new media overtakes the traditional mainstream media as the main source of choice for information that influences voters’ decisions, the role of such organisations is going to become even more crucial.�

Emphasising that democracy must go handin-hand with empowering local communities and people, Mahama stated that the spread of terrorism may undermine Africa’s democracy. “Democracy cannot thrive in insecurity,� he added.

On how much of impact democratic governance has had on African countries, Mahama, noted that there was still a lot of ground to be covered on this because according to him, democracy in the continent was still fragile, with many vulnerable groups losing out, while citizens increasingly question the need to participate in elections if their lives are not impacted.

Abiola but annulled by the military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

The bill intended to change democracy day from May 29 to June 12 is still under consideration in the National Assembly.

Buhari also last year posthumously recognised Abiola as a past Nigerian president. He also recognised his running mate, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, as a former vice-president while the late foremost human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who

was at the forefront of the battle for the actualisation of June 12, was also posthumously honoured.

ELECTIONS HACKING NOW REAL IN AFRICA, SAYS MAHAMA Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mahama, who was the President of Ghana from 2012 to 2017, and now the presidential candidate of Ghana’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2020 presidential election, said at the Saïd Business School in the University of Oxford that hacking of IT-based electoral systems in Africa is real.

The former president delivered a lecture and equally answered questions on democracy and elections in Africa at the weekend.

The session was organised by the African Studies Centre (ASC) and Oxford Africa Business Alliance.

The Director of ASC, Prof.

Wale Adebanwi, moderated the session.

Mahama said that stakeholders and political players in the continent recently met at the Obasanjo Presidential Library in Ogun State where the realities of electoral hacking was revealed to them with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) subsequently opting to take up the challenge.

According to him, ethnic bigotry and rising insecurity were threats to democracy in the continent but, “other areas of challenges in electoral systems exist and we need to look at that.� “The increased use of IT in elections has become

topical. The use of IT in results cancellations and the possibilities of hacking have created new fears about the manipulation of results. Examples of this can be found in the recent elections in Ghana, Kenya and Sierra Leone,� Mahama, explained.

He noted: “During the last presidential election in Ghana, the electoral commission directed its staff to stop using the electronic transmission system to communicate results to the tallying centre because the system had been compromised. “The results had to therefore be tallied manually, leading to attendant tensions and delay of announcements

PRESIDENCY MOVES SECOND TERM INAUGURATION CEREMONIES TO JUNE 12 at the last Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of May 8, 2019.

According to the minister, world leaders who had been invited to grace the president's inauguration would be received on June 12 during the ceremony, adding that the move is aimed at deepening democracy, more so that this year's June 12 as the new Democracy Day falls into the election.

Mohammed, who also said

details of the event would be unfolded on Monday, added that shifting the ceremony to June 12 had become imperative because the country could not afford to organise two ceremonies within two weeks.

Mohammed said: "President Buhari's inauguration for a second term on May 29, 2019, will be a low-key affair, as a number of the events slated for the inauguration will now be held during the first observance of June 12 as the

National Democracy Day.

"The decision to have a low-key inauguration for the president was taken at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, 8 May 2019.

However, invitations have been sent to all world leaders to attend the ceremonies marking the observance of the Democracy Day on June 12.

"Since the first observance of June 12 as Democracy Day falls into an election year, and as a measure to sustain June 12 as Democracy Day, the celebration

of the inauguration and the advancement of democracy in the country will now take place on June 12.

"The country can ill-afford two major celebrations within a two-week interval. Details of the events slated for the two ceremonies will be unveiled at a world press conference slated for May 20th in Abuja."

Buhari had last year, recognised June 12 as the new Democracy Day in commemoration of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief MKO

DESPITE FINTECHS’ INCURSION, BANKS RAKE IN N25TN DEPOSITS uses recurring card payments to allow its customers create and fund a savings account on their mobile phone.

This, according to the report, has proven popular among working class Nigerian youths as it offers an alternative to a traditional fixed deposit account, which requires a number of visits to a physical branch to set up.

Indeed, as technologies evolve, customer taste and lifestyles also change, prompting the development of technology solutions that would meet customers’ needs and lifestyles, as

they relate to financial transactions.

But despite the threat by Fintech, the compilation of the banks’ results for the year ended December 31, 2018, by THISDAY showed that all the financial institutions posted higher customer deposits.

For instance, while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated recorded N5.803 trillion customer deposits as at the end of December 2018, higher than the N4.652 trillion the pan-African bank garnered in 2017; Zenith Bank’s customer deposits also climbed to N3.690

trillion at the end of 2018, up from the N3.438 trillion recorded in 2017; FBN Holdings’ customer deposits also grew to N3.486 trillion last year, higher than the N3.143 trillion the holding company posted at the end of 2017; while the United Bank for Africa’s customer deposits also advanced to N3.349 trillion at the end of 2018, higher than N2.733 trillion the bank recorded at the end of 2017.

Similarly, while Access Bank posted total customer deposit of N2.564 trillion at the end of 2018, up from

the N2.245 trillion posted in 2017; Guaranty Trust Bank Plc’s customer deposits also advanced to N2.274 trillion at the end of 2018, up from the N2.062 trillion the bank recorded the previous year.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had unveiled the operational guidelines for the Payment Service Banks (PSBs) in the country.

The PSBs which have been largely seen to also challenge the banks in terms of deposit mobilisation, are to operate mostly in the rural areas and unbanked locations, targeting financially excluded persons,

with not less than 25 per cent financial service touch points in such rural areas as defined by the CBN from time to time, the guidelines said.

According to the CBN, the key objective of setting up PSBs is to enhance financial inclusion by increasing access to deposit products and payment/remittance services to small businesses, low-income households and other financially excluded entities through high-volume low-value transactions in a secured technology-driven environment.

TOP GAINERS NEIMETH OKOMUOIL AGLEVENTIS AFRIPRUD JAPAUL TOP LOSERS CHAMS PLC NEMINSURE UNITEDCAP

NGN NGN 0.05 0.55 7.00 77.00 0.02 0.24 0.28 3.82 0.02 0.28 NGN 0.04 0.36 0.25 2.25 0.24 2.32 GOLDINSURE 0.02 0.21 JAIZ BANK 0.04 0.46 HPE Nestle Nig Plc â‚Ś1,580.00 Volume: 214.684 million shares Value: N2.784 billion Deals: 3,856 As at yesterday 13/5/19 See details on Page 33

% 10 10 8.3 7.9 7.6 % 10 10 9.3 8.7 8.0

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Shell Targets 2,400MW of Electricity from New Gas Project Peter Uzoho The Managing Director of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, has disclosed that the company’s ongoing Assa North/Ohaji South gas development project in Imo State, will produce 600 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, energy equivalent of about 2,400 Megawatts, which is enough to provide uninterrupted electricity to about 2.4 million homes.

Okunbor spoke to journalists in Lagos yesterday at the launch of the 2019 edition of the Shell

in Nigeria Briefing Notes, an annual publication detailing the activities of the business interests of the global energy giant in Nigeria covering SPDC, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), Shell Nigeria Gas and the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas. Okunbor said SPDC took the final investment decision on the Assa North/Ohaji South project last December, giving a major momentum to the domestic gas aspiration of the federal government for increased power generation and industrialisation.

Giving a breakdown of the gas production, Okunbor said 300 million standard cubic

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola feet of gas per day would be processed at a new gas processing plant owned by the SPDC Joint Venture, while the

remaining 300 million will go to a proposed gas processing plant by Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc. “The project would be a major game-changer in Nigeria’s quest for energy sufficiency and economic growth as we look to grow the domestic gas market.�

He added that the SPDC and its joint venture partners – NNPC, Total and Agip – would continue to explore other areas of support for the expansion of domestic gas supply and continue to make investments under the right conditions,� Okunbor explained.

The Assa North/Ohaji South Gas Development Project ranks top among the federal

government’s Seven Critical Gas Development Projects aimed at accelerating Nigeria’s aspiration for energy sufficiency and diverse industrial growth.

Explaining the company’s gas development strategy, SPDC’s General Manager External Relations, Igo Weli, said Shell was transforming to a gas-oriented business and currently accounts for about 10 per cent of Nigeria’s domestic gas most of which is used for power generation.

SPDC and SNEPCo continue to contribute tremendously to the Nigerian economy.

They paid N515.14 billion to the federal government in 2018 in taxes, royalties and levies

while contracts worth N393.94 billion were awarded to Nigerian companies in the same year.

These contributions, according to the 2019 Shell in Nigeria Briefing Notes, are aside the N39.58 billion paid to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and another N44.36 billion disbursed for various community-driven projects in the Niger Delta under the SPDC JV Global Memorandum of Understanding.

Shell Companies in Nigeria also made direct spending of N17.03 billion on social investment projects making Nigeria the largest concentration of social investment spending in the Shell Group.

Finally, Ngige Prevails, Inaugurates New NSITF Board Labour protests against minister over attack on members

Omololu Ogunmade and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja After months of intrigues and power play, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, yesterday inaugurated the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) in the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, with Mr. Austin Enejamo-Isire as the Chairman.

This is coming as the organised labour yesterday took to the streets of Abuja to protest what they described as “unwarranted attack� on workers who were on a peaceful protest at Ngige’s Asokoro residence over the delay in inaugurating the board of NSITF. Speaking during the inauguration, the minister who described the process leading to the inauguration as long and tortuous, disclosed that before the composition of the board membership, extensive investigations were conducted into financial crimes and administrative flaws perpetrated by the former board members.

According to him, the output of the investigation was a useful guide for the composition of a new and promising board with the capacity to efficiently discharge its functions.

"The route to this event of today has been long and tortuous due to conditions precedent that needed to be addressed and resolved to ensure a viable and progressive NSITF for today and the future.

"Extensive investigations, both for financial crimes and administrative breaches had to be carried out in the NSITF

with outcomes in the form of reports and recommendations that have provided guides for the formation of a new and better NSITF where a new board can thrive and efficiently discharge its statutory functions," the minister said.

The conflict over the composition of the board dated back to 2017 when the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo appointed a former labour activist, Frank Kokori, as the chairman of the board.

But Ngige rejected the appointment, saying it was not in compliance with Section 4(a) of the NSITF Act, which he said prohibited the appointment of any person with interest in labour matters to chair the board.

Consequently, he recommended Enejamo-Isire to the president to replace Kokori, and the recommendation was promptly approved by the president last year.

But since then, Kokori and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have been at loggerheads with Ngige over the vehement refusal of the minister to swear in Kokori who was the former Chairman of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) as the chairman of the board of NSITF. The conflict climaxed last week when the NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, led protesters to picket the private residence of Ngige with two tankers deployed to block the entrance of his house.

However, at the inauguration yesterday, Ngige recalled the degree of various corrupt practices perpetrated by the immediate past members of

the board of the agency led

by Mrs. Ngozi Olojeme, in alleged connivance with the management of the agency, which he said resulted in the looting of a whole lot of N48 billion out of the total N62 billion contributions made to the agency between 2012 and 2015.

According to him, consequently, the board chairman and other members had been charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), leading to the recovery of some of the looted funds and the seizure of no fewer than 37 houses.

Ngige then proceeded to warn members of the board to operate within the limits of their powers, noting for instance, that the board lacks the capacity to award contracts.

According to him, there is a rather Parastatal Tender Board saddled with the responsibility of awarding contracts in accordance with the Public Procurement Act of 2007.

He also told the new board members that investment of NSITF must be "streamlined and compartmentalised in line with due process."

Ngige also tasked the Fund to "with urgency retrieve all abandoned building assets in the real estate sector that are attested to all over the country at Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu etc with whereabouts of some of the title documents not known."

In his remark at the occasion, the board chairman promised to bring his huge experience from the private sector to bear on the board, promising that the board would come up with policies and programmes that aimed at

complementing the vision of the federal government.

He also said members of the board would make sterling contributions that would justify the confidence reposed in them by the president who appointed them, adding that the fortune of NSITF would be boosted this time in a deliberate effort to increasing the overall goal of the agency.

But contrary to expectation that the inauguration of Austin Enejamo-Isire, a chartered accountant and banker, would lay to rest the prolonged battle of wits between Ngige and NLC, it only aggravated it as labour yesterday embarked on protests nationwide to press for the inauguration of Kokori.

On Sunday, President Muhammadu Buhari redeployed Kokori to head the board of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS). But the appointment did not go down well with labour.

Other members of the NSITF board inaugurated

by Ngige yesterday were: Adebayo Somefun, NSITF Managing Director; Tijani Suleiman Darazo, Executive Director, Administration; Titilola Olukemi, NSITF Executive Director, Operations and Mrs. Ijeoma Oji Okoronkwo, NSITF Deputy General Manager and Board Secretary.

Others were Timothy Osuolale Olawale, Director-General of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA); Mohammed Yinusa, NECA President,; Waheed Adeyanju, NLC and President, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN);

Ibrahim Khaleel, NLC/National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE); Ifeoma Anyawutaku; Mrs. Umma Aminu Dutse and Jasper Azutalam.

Labour Protests against Minister over Attack on Members Meanwhile, the organised labour yesterday took to the streets of Abuja to protest over what they described as “unwarranted attack� on workers who were on a peaceful protest at Ngige’s Asokoro residence over the delay in inaugurating the board of NSITF recently.

Speaking while addressing the workers, NLC President, Wabba, said the protest was not against the NSITF board but the attack on workers by thugs suspected to have been hired by the minister.

Wabba who is also president of International Trade Unions Confederation (ITUC), said a directive was issued to all 162 members countries to picket Ngige anywhere around the world. “We are here today to register our displeasure with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, for hiring suspected thugs to attack us on Wednesday during a peaceful protest/picketing at his residence. “The minister’s attitude was against international best practices as well as the ILO Conventions and even the Nigeria Constitution that guaranteed the right of workers to protest and picking. Instead

of Mr. Ngige to dialogue with us, he resorted to hiring thugs to attack us. We are saying that Ngige is not fit for a public office and President Buhari should do the needful before such a man destroy his government, " he said.

Also speaking, the ASUU president, Prof.

Biodun Ogunyemi, urged President Muhammadu to conduct a psychiatric test before appointing anyone to serve as a cabinet member.

He said the call to conduct such test became necessary due to the ongoing fracas between workers and the minister who ordinarily should understand the working of labour. “ASUU as a union condemned this attack on workers by a man who should protect and defend them. To say the least, we have lost confidence in him. We are also calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to conduct a psychiatric test on each of his cabinet members to ascertain their mental stability; this would save the country an embarrassment as this.�

The president of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Marwan Mustapha Adamu, on his part called for an urgent investigation with a view of bringing to book the hired thugs who attacked the protesting workers.

He said the organised labour has resolved to embarrass the minister anytime he is seen both within and outside the country.

The workers who assembled at the Federal Secretariat were seen with placards with different inscriptions including, "Ngige must go".

El-Rufai: Abuja-Kaduna Road Now Safe for Commuters Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday in Abuja said due to ongoing combined security operations on Abuja -Kaduna Road, he could confidently declare that the road was now safe.

El-Rufai, who spoke in the State House, after holding a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, was reacting to a declaration in the Senate last week that the road was the most dangerous route in Africa.

Provoked by the Senate declaration, el-Rufai said a lot of submissions or perhaps resolutions in the Senate were

not based on facts but rather aimed at merely making headlines in the media, insisting that in contrast to Senate's claim, Abuja -Kaduna Road is now safe.

He said: "If you believe everything that comes out of the Nigerian Senate, you will have serious mental health problems. There are things that are said there that are just for the gallery, for the media.

I don't know what statistics that were used to determine that the Kaduna-Abuja Road is the most dangerous anywhere.

"I like facts. I like using figures. I wish the people that said that will use figures. But

I am saying that no matter what anyone said, last week, I am assuring Nigerians that the Kaduna - Abuja road is quite safe now and would be so long as the initiative put in place by the various security agencies, details of which I am not willing to disclose."

El-Rufai, who said he was in the State House to brief Buhari on security situation in Kaduna, also reacted to the viral criticisms of his tutorial on how to dethrone the godfather of Lagos State.

He had while speaking at an event in Lagos, advised his host audience to apply the template he claimed to have used to end godfatherism

in Kaduna State, in Lagos without mentioning the name of former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, as the target of his discussion.

But his critics have drawn the conclusion that he was actually referring to Tinubu.

But asked if he was not deliberately courting trouble by his perceived remarks on Tinubu, El-Rufai was swift to say that he made a general statement and it is only up to Tinubu to admit if he is the godfather of Lagos State.

The governor was also quick to state that if anyone feels offended by his remarks, it is his own business.

He insisted that he was only giving advice in response

to a question by a member of his audience, insisting that he was fearless about his comments and owed no one any apology as well.

El-Rufai said: "I don't know if he is the godfather of Lagos. It's up to him to say that. What I know for sure is that we have retired godfathers in Kaduna and I have told those that asked me the question that 'there are six million registered voters in Lagos but only one million voted,' in the last election.

"There are five million people that you can bring into the electoral play ground and you can defeat anyone if you work hard. It's hard work. It's four years. That

is what I said and if anyone feels offended by that that is his business or her business.

"I have not made recommendations to Lagos. I am the governor of Kaduna State. I know Kaduna politics pretty well and I played my role in my party towards the success of the party.

"I have not made recommendation for anyone. I am just saying, if I am asked a question and I gave an answer, anyone that feels offended by the answer, it's his own business.

"I have no apologies. I don't apologise for my views. My views are thought-out and I put them there. I don't have to explain anything to anyone.

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

Bandits Kill Six Civilian JTF as Interior Minister Visits Zamfara Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto

Bandits on Sunday killed six members of the Civilian Joint

Task Force in Shinkafi Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State, the Vice Chairman of the council, Alhaji Sani

FCTA Demolishes Abuja Strip Club, Caramelo Lounge Olawale Ajimotokan inAbuja The FCT Administration has demolished Caramelo Lounge, a strip club based in Utako District, Abuja. It also revoked the Certificate of Occupancy issued on the plot.

The demolition was carried out yesterday morning by the Department of Development Control (DDC), an agency under FCTA, accompanied by a joint team of security personnel.

FCTA has insisted the strip club was reduced to robles for allegedly contravening the Land Use Act of the capital city.

The exercise, was sequel to a 48-hour final demolition notice, following the issuance of a revocation letter to the operators, by the Department of Lands Administration of the FCTA. It will be recalled that on April 17, a joint task team made up of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), DDC, Abuja Environment Protection Board (AEPB), and Social Development Secretariat (SDS), raided Caramelo and Ibiza Club situated in Cadastral Zone A03, Garki II District, among others.

During that raid, several nude dancers were arrested and handed over to the Nigeria Police for prosecution in line with extant laws in the FCT. Briefing reporters about the exercise, AMMC Coordinator, Umar Shaibu, said from available records, the application for the plot where

Caramelo Club was located, was issued to one Mr. Musa Hassan on April 25, 2006 for development of a district health facility or clinic for the residents in the area.

He lamented that the operation of Caramelo Lounge had constituted a social nuisance in the neigbourhood and had become inimical to the provisions of Abuja Masterplan arising from incessant noise pollution, street parking and insecurity, among others.

He disclosed that despite being served with quit notice and contravention letters since 2016, the operators failed to revert and continued with the nightclub and other commercial activities on the plot.

He added that on May 10, the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, approved the action and for the revocation of the Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) for contravening the provisions of Clause 10 of Certificate of Occupancy and Clause 10 of the conveyance letter of building plan.

However, the Managing Director of Caramelo Lounge, Max Eze, expressed dismay at the demolition exercise.

He said the owners were taken aback by the short notice to vacate the property, which he valued at over N100million.

While admitting to the conversion of the original land use, Eze said the management of the Lounge had been paying millions of naira as annual contravention fee to the authority.

Galadima, has said.

Galadima made this known yesterday when he received the Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdurrahman Dambazau (rtd), who was on a visit to the state as part of efforts by the federal government to find sustainable solutions to the security challenges in the state.

“Six members of Civilian JTF were attacked and killed yesterday, Sunday, by the bandits after receiving their payments from Shinkafi town and were on their way back to their villages,” the vice chairman said.

He added: “Even yesterday, these bandits sent a letter to the district head of Shinkafi town (saying) that they were coming to attack Shinkafi town.

“This ugly situation is very disheartening; everyday we pay millions of naira as ransom to

these bandits.

“We really need government’s urgent support to end this problem.

“Our women also suffer a lot (because) the bandits attack communities and abduct ladies from their parents’ homes.

“People no longer sleep with their two eyes closed in the night in Shinkafi LGA. “We want the government to solve the issue of shortage of manpower, including the army and police personnel.

“We only have 19 soldiers in this town.

“We need urgent intervention from the government; we are not satisfied with the efforts and strategies of security agencies.

“We all know the camps where these bandits stay; even the security men are aware of these camps; our major concern

is that security personnel are not getting to these bandits.

“We are hoping that with this visit, this problem will come to an end,” he said.

According to Galadima, at least 98 communities in Shinkafi LGA have been deserted due to the activities of bandits in the state.

In his remarks, Dambazau, who was also in Anka Local Government Area, said that he was in the state on an assessment visit to stakeholders over the security challenges facing the state.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari was concerned about the security situation in the state.

“This is not my first visit to Zamfara; we started this process to ensure lasting solutions to these problems not only in Zamfara State.

“President Buhari asked me to visit Shinkafi and Anka

Emirates in Zamfara to carry out the assessment and discuss these issues.

“The president also expresses his condolence over loss of lives and destruction of properties as a result of this insecurity.

“It is the responsibility of government to ensure lives and properties are secure.

“That is why as government we must do everything to ensure the end of this situation.

“We commenced this process by meeting with leaders of Miyetti Allah; we are going to consult with traditional rulers and governors of the most affected states,” Dambazau stated.

The Emir of Shinkafi, Alhaji Muhammad Makwashe-Isah, expressed appreciation to the minister for the visit and urged the federal government to do more in fighting banditry in the state.

Court Grants Akpabio Leave PAYING THE LAST RESPECT… Eldest son of winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, Mr. Kola Abiola; Deputy Governor-elect, Ogun State, Mrs. Noimot Salakoto Challenge Defection Suit L-R: Oyedele; wife of Lagos State Governor-elect, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu; her husband, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu; Lagos State Deputy Alex Enumah in Abuja

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday granted leave to a former Senate’s Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to challenge a suit seeking his removal along with 53 others from office.

The suit was instituted on July 2018 by an advocacy body known as Legal Defence and Assistant Project (LEPAD).

LEPAD is seeking the court to declare the seats of the affected national legislators vacant over their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The lawmakers, which include Senator President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had responded by asking the court to dismiss the suit for lack of merit.

The defendants had submitted that the plaintiff, which instituted the suit against them, praying for their removal, had no locus standi to institute the suit.

Justice Abang after listening to the arguments from both parties had on April 30, adjourned until May 17 for judgment.

However, few days before the

judgment, Akpabio approached the court for permission to challenge the suit seeking their removal from office on grounds of their defection.

Akpabio who is the third defendant, is praying the court for an extension of time to personally file his response before judgment is delivered.

The plaintiff’s counsel, Mr. Ede Uko, in his response, had urged the court to discountenance the application as it was meant to arrest judgment slated for May 17.

Ruling on Akpabio’s application, Justice Abang agreed with the submissions of Akpabio’s counsel, Mr. Sunday Ameh (SAN), that the suit was not a class action, hence the applicant was entitled to be heard.

Abang held that it would not be proper to shut the applicant out when he said he was not served by the clerk of the National Assembly.

The judge added that it was mandatory in the interest of justice for all parties to be heard before judgment is delivered.

“Serving of originating process on a person cannot be presumed, it cannot be waived, and he must be heard. It is his fundamental human right,’’ Abang held in the ruling.

Governor-elect, Dr. Kadir Obafemi Hamzat; his wife, Oluremi; National Leader, All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu; and Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, during the burial of father of the Lagos State deputy governor-elect, the late Oba Muftau Olatunji Hamzat, at his Ogba residence, in Lagos…yesterday KOLA OLASUPO

Crisis Hits AAC, Members Suspend Sowore as National Chairman Sowore expels national secretary, suspends others Udora Orizu in Abuja Crisis has hit the African Action Congress (AAC) as some members yesterday announced the suspension of its national chairman and presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, Mr. Omoyele Sowore.

But in a swift reaction, Sowore has also announced the expulsion of the National Secretary, Mr. Leonard Nzenwa, and the suspension of other officials whom he described as misguided individuals who participated in the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party in Abuja yesterday to announce his suspenion.

The party’s NEC also suspended eight others, including its Deputy National Chairman (South-west), Ogunlana Rotimi Jacob, for a period of six months

over alleged anti-party activities.

A member of the AAC’s NEC, Mazi Okwy, who read the resolution of the party at a press briefing in Abuja, said the party’s decision against Sowore, Publisher of Saharareporters; and his executive bordered particularly on the inflow of illegal foreign funds into the party, which the suspended officials personally retained in contravention of Section 225 (3)(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The eight others suspended include National Youth Leader, Buhari Olanrewaju Ahmed; Ex-Official, Abimiku Anthony Kukumah; National Youth Deputy Coordinator, Sydney Usman; Deputy National Treasurer, Elanu Rex Inalegu; National Treasurer, Ajiegbe Samuel Oluwafemi, and Deputy National Chairman (South-west), Ogunlana Rotimi.

Others are the Deputy National Organising Secretary, Munala Adamu, and the Deputy National Youth Leader, Abdulahi Isah Mohammed.

The party also appointed Dr. Leonard Ezenwa as acting National Chairman, while Abayomi Francis Olufemi has been named Deputy National Chairman.

Ezenwa in his acceptance speech, vowed to restore the noble ideals of the party, adding that AAC shall no longer be used for hatchet jobs and unholy alliances, at the state or national levels.

But Sowore in reaction to the news of his suspension, said he was still the national chairman of the party.

He accused Ezenwa of financial impropriety and anti-party activities, and announced his expulsion from the party.

“It has come to the notice of the office of the Chairman of the African Action Congress that a group of suspended members, induced by financial reasons and anti-progressive politics, gathered in Abuja today, May 13, 2019, and purportedly held a NEC meeting,” Sowore said.

“These members, led by Leonard Nzenwa, former national secretary, who was suspended for financial impropriety and antiparty activities, have demonstrated by their actions that they have never been, and have never shared, the core beliefs that those of us in the African Action Congress hold.

“Leonard Nzenwa is hereby expelled from the party, and the misguided individuals who participated in the Abuja meeting are suspended from the party until investigations reveal the extent of their involvement,” he added.

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

‘MAJORITY NA CORRUPTION, MINORITY NA EXCEPTION’ The people are facing the consequences of their actions, writes Oludayo Tade

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iagnosing the problems confronting Nigeria, Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora have consistently accused the military long stay in power as a major cause. The same factor created behavioural loopholes which birthed impunity. The military carry the blame of socialising Nigerians to entrenched lie, corruption, sectionalism, favouritism among others. To some extent, this standpoint is accurate. Still, post military governance has democratised impunity across actors and social institutions and the problem is assuming a national character. What is even worse is when you ask Nigerians what they believed to be the cause of our problems, many adopt technique of neutralisation by shifting blame and pointing accusing fingers to the leadership of the country. Most of us forget that there is a thin demarcating line between the leadership in Nigeria and the followership. It appears that, as Lagbaja says, “all of us na the same�. It is now 20 years into democratic dispensation. By now, we ought to have a government that is people initiated, people driven and people focused. The government is supposed to provide level playing ground for all actors, ensure that rule of law remains supreme, engender equality before the law irrespective of place and language of birth and enforce the fundamental human rights of the people. Unfortunately, these expectations only exist on papers with Nigerians suffering. As if good news has been banished from our land, nothing seems good enough to read in the dailies. What are shared on social media are oddities happening as normal everyday occurrence.

To foreground this thought, I employed Bisade Ologunde’s (Lagbaja) song, ‘200 Million Mumu’ to argue that the misfortune that Nigerians encounters on a daily basis are caused by the ‘wicked eighty per cent’ who carry the label of ‘ordinary Nigerian’. Highly active in making reference to and accusing the leadership as bad, Lagbaja, like myself, reappraised and substituted the top-down analysis, which only constructs Nigerian leadership as bad, unfeeling, corrupt, and criminal, for a bottom-up analysis that placed Nigeria’s followership at the centre of the precarious conditions facing Nigerians and Nigeria. After all, the majority of followers, rather than the leaders participate actively during elections. My position We are the one electing monsters and excessively selfish characters who deny welfare to the people but enthrone elitism as a way of life. points to a wickeder followership cohort who is not fundamentally different from the leadership being accused. In Lagbaja’s words, ‘mumu plus mumu... the same, the same. Leader is wicked but follower is wickeder’.

We, as callous followers blame Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha as ‘dealers’ absolving ourselves as co-creators of Nigerian realities. In that song, Lagbaja sees no difference between the blamers and the blamed. Characterising the blamers within the microcosm of their influential spaces, the musician spotlights the hypocritical critics whose behaviours are ‘the same the same’. Clothed in his symbolic faceless attire which represents the voice of the unheard, Lagbaja recalls how Nigerians asked him to lampoon those in government claiming they are all thieves.

In a conversational tone, Lagbaja replies ‘na you be them, na dem be you, you and them na the same’. In order words, ‘we’ are the thieves we asked Lagbaja to lampoon. Lagbaja after years of castigating the leadership; reflected and realised that the leaders and followers possess a difference of a cup half empty and half full.

By ‘minority na exception, majority na corruption’, Lagbaja depicts why Almighty Formula has refused to solve the mounting structural problems

WE ARE THE ONE ELECTING MONSTERS AND EXCESSIVELY SELFISH CHARACTERS WHO DENY WELFARE TO THE PEOPLE BUT ENTHRONE ELITISM AS A WAY OF LIFE

and normalised acts of corruption. Sociologically, the family begets unto the society a nurtured conformist or deviant/criminal. In Nigeria mothers and fathers dupe other persons to send their wards to school.

Now in private school, the children enjoyed no failure as practiced in such settings to retain patronage. To cross into the university, they need to pay to get solution centres where the child will get over 300 marks.

The 2019 JAMB exercise where over 100 are being prosecuted for examination malpractices including professor accomplices tell the tale of ‘the same the same’. How can parents who failed to cater for their homes accuse the leadership of lacking human feeling? Marginalisation starts from the home when a wife gives her husband meat more than the children who need it to grow. Irresponsible parents cannot produce responsible children; they cannot support or vote responsible persons into leadership positions except their cronies who are dealers, traders and wasters of destinies.

Besides, do you wonder why professors of political science, medicine or whatever the speciality hardly make headway in government?

One, they are overwhelmed by the majority who pilots the corruption aircraft of the country. Two, most of them leave science behind but go with politics. Their families expect returns, favour and opportunities while their son or daughter is there. Churches and Mosques do special thanksgiving on appointment. They call them to make donations to build mansion as mosques and monuments as churches. Their school mates pay courtesy visits; they receive favours in contracts and others; the rest suffers. These social relations of corruption are the German floor upon which corruption and impunity foundations have been built and watered. Like the professors, activists fight tyrants in power. When they get into office, they beat Hitler’s records. Unionists who fight for freedom of expression and students rights while in school become lecturers and heads of institutions only to shut down dissent voices from students. Yet we hypocritically claim we no longer have vibrant student unionism when indeed we make them go astray as sheep without shepherd.

Developing a mumucracy thesis, I argue that the foundation of depreciation of Nigeria is laid by the common, ordinary man who populates geo-political spaces and enthrones the minority who trades with the cheated but unperturbed majority. The way Lagbaja puts it, ‘na common man dey do common man pass. Before we dey shout na military, na military now wey civilian government dey, no be our people dey inside?’ Common man in Police uniform shoots another common man’s child dead. Is it not the common man who sold votes during elections that have now started complaining of bad leadership?

We have laid this bed and we shall lay on it.

So, if the foundation is faulty, what shall the righteous do? The overwhelming majority are corrupt while the minority exceptions do not have the wherewithal to pull through. Hence, Nigeria’s trend of five steps forward, ten steps backward. From ought-to-be paradise, Nigeria’s political, economic, religious and social realities are a paradox.

The leadership in Nigeria is playing out a script written for them by the unthinking majority. Mumu people can only promote mumucracy and still be living in denial as the harbinger of the negative realities which they face. Unless the common man do the uncommon thing by realising their errors and reset themselves and then the polity, we shall collectively face the consequences of our complicity.

Dr Tade, a sociologist sent this piece via dotad2003@yahoo.com

‘SOLUTION 17’AND WORLD’S PRESSING PROBLEMS Ehi Braimah writes that the creative youth community development initiative is addressing the SDG goals in Nigeria

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n 2015, the United Nations General Assembly set an agenda for a more sustainable future by identifying 17 global goals otherwise known as ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs).

The intention is that by 2030, the universal call to action declared by the UN would create a better world by tackling the most pressing problems framed as the following 17 goals: no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure; reducing inequality, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land; peace, justice, and strong institutions, and partnerships for goals. Prior to the launch of the SDGs four years ago, 189 countries signed the historic millennium declaration at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 with measurable targets and deadlines aimed at improving the lives of the world’s poorest people. The UN agenda for the SDGs reflect continuity and consolidation of the MDGs while making the vision more sustainable by strengthening environmental goals.

These goals are linked together to deliver impactful results for sustainable development. Enduring poverty has no boundaries – it stares everyone in the face around the world - and changing weather conditions have become a present and everyday threat to our common humanity; we have a duty to save the planet. In Nigeria, for example, we have been experiencing extreme temperatures lately and

the heat wave is not just about to abate. We are also living witnesses to the depleting ozone layer, melting glacier, rising ocean levels, freezing temperatures and increased flooding around the world.

Access to basic healthcare is also a huge global challenge due to widespread poverty. Men and women of goodwill should come together and do more to solve these problems. As I noted in an earlier Facebook post, African countries are always lagging behind in such global interventions to combat the world’s problems with perhaps the exception of Ghana and Kenya. Both countries, from available data, make deliberate efforts to cascade the UN initiatives by taking actions locally.

Last year, the Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development held over three days in Bonn, Germany. It was a UN forum devoid of “fancy suits and long speeches� that brought together 1,500 participants from over 100 countries to showcase the latest innovations, tools and approaches that will make sustainable development a reality, according to a statement on UN’s website. “The world is facing tremendous challenges, and, for the first time, there is an innovative plan to solve them,� said Mitchell Toomey, the Global Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, at the Sustainable Development Festival. One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of the ‘SDG Action Awards’ in seven categories to individuals and organisations who are implementing the 17 goals.

One of the winners of the awards in the innovation category was Foluke Michael, a Nigerian and Project Director/CEO of the Creative Youth Community Development Initiative (CYCDI), a nonprofit organisation. Foluke, a lover of creativity and

innovation, is committed to sustainable development in Nigeria and she’s guiding young persons to lead a positive change into the future. Foluke has embraced the UN 17 SDGs in a meaningful way and she is very passionate about how we can make the world a better place through innovation and high impact initiatives. Foluke’s organisation has been globally acknowledged as a pipeline for achieving the SDG goals in Nigeria and other countries.

CYCDI is implementing the 17 SDG goals to meet UN’s 2030 agenda through active learning, creative development, innovation and entrepreneurship in children, youths and women. The goal of CYCDI is to pursue, promote and implement sustainable projects that will boost community development and economic growth. In order to reach this goal, CYCDI created the following platforms: the Vision of the Child (VOTC), Creative Youth Initiative Against Corruption (CYIAC), InnoCreativa Youth Hub (IC2030) and CDMA Social Enterprise. Some of the organisation’s achievements include successful implementation of social, economic and environmental projects through educational and talent development in children and youths under Vision of the Child, one of their flagship pipelines, since 2002. The project -- which is under the supervision of Professor Wole Soyinka, 1986 Nobel Laureate in Literature -- has produced thousands of young leaders and innovators in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

CYCDI also created CYIAC Corruption Busters (CCB) – which earned Foluke the award in Bonn – to promote SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). It was launched on December 9, 2017 to mark the United Nations International Day Against

Corruption. CYIAC has received international recognition and awards in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Austria.

CYCDI is presently leading a global campaign to raise drug prevention awareness amongst youths and vulnerable adults through a school awareness and creative programme. The project – which is being supported by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office and Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – produced the sensitisation campaign movie, Trapped. In November 2018, the project outcome was adopted and printed with funding from the EU under the framework of “Response to Drugs and Related Organised Crime in Nigeria� implemented by UNODC. The books are currently being distributed to various schools in Nigeria and other countries. “Solution to one of the global problems�, says Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary General and South Korean politician, “is a solution to all�. This may have been the spark that Foluke and her colleagues at CYCDI needed to create the innovative “Solution 17� model to tackle the 17 global problems through the application of the 17 SDGs. The model is based on youth development through education, creativity and innovation to implement the 17 global problems and creating solutions towards a healthy, liveable, prosperous and sustainable planet. Since the world’s problems are inter-related, CYCDI’s “Solution 17� model for problem solving recognises the power of synergy and it brings together 17 participants, 17 schools, 17 creative ideas/presentations, 17 solutions and 17 innovators to solve one global problem.

Braimah is a public relations and marketing strategist based in Lagos

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EDITORIAL When Bandits Seize The Highway The security agencies could do more to secure the roads

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buja-Kaduna Highway, one of the most strategic roads in Nigeria, has metamorphosed into a symbol of armed robbery, banditry and kidnapping. These evils, more pronounced in the northern part of the country at the moment, are also gaining momentum across Nigeria.

In the process, many lives are lost, scores are injured, goods destroyed, apprehension about road travels becomes pervasive and, more significantly, confidence in the security apparatus of state is being gradually eroded.

The frequency, audacity and savagery that often characterise the attacks by sundry criminal cartels are truly worrisome. According to the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, no fewer than 1,071 persons lost their lives in crime-related cases across the country in the first quarter of 2019. The North-West topped the death list with 436; North-Central came second with 250 while the South-South geopolitical zone recorded 130 deaths. With bandits A COUNTRY THAT practically taking over DEPENDS MAINLY ON in Zamfara, it is no ROAD TRANSPORTATION surprise that the state FOR THE MOVEMENT tops the number of killings with 203, folOF COMMODITIES AND lowed by Kaduna with PERSONS CANNOT AFFORD TO SURRENDER 112 and Benue with 90 people. No fewer THE SECTOR TO SOME than 685 persons UNCONSCIONABLE were also reportedly INDIVIDUALS kidnapped within the same period.

For the record, these tragic incidents are not new, especially in the north. They have been with us for a while. But the Abuja-Kaduna road is so strategic to be seized by a cartel of criminals. In one of the recent high profile cases, the Chairman of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Muhammad Abubakar, and his daughter were abducted by gunmen, his driver killed, and others declared missing. More deaths, loss of materials and man-hours have become recurrent features of the

Letters to the Editor

highway.

Nothing depicts the hopelessness of the situation more than the reluctance of even security personnel and other people in positions of authority to ply the road. Senator Shehu Sani, the lawmaker representing Kaduna-Central added a comical dimension to the tragedy last weekend.

“After coming to Kaduna yesterday to give a powerful prayer to drivers plying the Kaduna - Abuja expressway, the Imam boarded a train to Abuja today” tweeted Sani who had earlier been critical of the Imam of Aso Rock Mosque for saying the recent killings in parts of northern Nigeria were a test from Allah. “Banditry and kidnappings are not test from God, but the sum of failure of the past and present leadership. It is the way of state clergies to reshape the gospel to comfort and exculpate power; they preach to the poor with flames and preach to the powerful with flowers,” said the senator.

M T H I S DAY EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI DEPUTY EDITOR DAVIDSON IRIEKPEN MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE

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

eanwhile, the patronage of the AbujaKaduna rail service corridor – in addition to the influx of civilian passengers - has expectedly generated a new set of security challenges for the railway industry and expanded the frontiers of the reign of terror. The reactions of the police authorities to these rising onslaughts, notably the inauguration of “Operation Puff Adder” and redeployment of some top police officers within the region have yet to produce the urgently needed solutions. But his men have yet to narrow the wide gap between his tough talk and result-oriented actions. The other day, further down in the south, a trailer load of armed men disembarked at Ikoyi along the Ife-Ilesha highway and brazenly tortured and robbed other travellers.

These present dangers are clearly spreading and can potentially take root across the nation. Therefore, issues of proliferation of light arms, intelligence gathering and quick response to attacks, dispensation of justice for deterrence purposes and roads maintenance must be addressed decisively. A large country that depends mainly on road transportation for the movement of commodities and persons cannot afford to surrender the sector to the tyranny of some unconscionable individuals.

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

MAXIMISING THE POWER OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

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ducation plays a major role in the growth and progress of a society. It is a process of continuous learning which can be acquired anywhere at any time and any age. It is the fundamental right of every citizen because it promotes empowerment and ensures development benefits.

It is one of the key components that can make or break the advancement of any society. If citizens of a society are educated, they can provide significant contributions in the fields of arts, literature, science, technology, and others, and help establish a well-rounded and stimulating community.

Education makes us better citizens by teaching us how to conduct ourselves through life, by following rules and regulations and giving us a sense of conscience. It makes us more confident to go out there and achieve things. Many governments across the world have recognized the importance of education as a tool to enhance progress and make the world a better place. It helps us stand up against wrong and for the right; education helps lower crime rate. That is because the educated are often more conscious of their environment.

Nigeria has a federal system of government with 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. Within the states, there are 774 local governments. Education is administered by the federal, state and local governments. The Federal Ministry of Education is responsible for overall policy formation and ensuring quality control, but is primarily involved with tertiary education. School education is largely the responsibility of state secondary and local elementary governments.

The country is multilingual, and home to more than 250 different ethnic groups. The languages of the three largest groups, the Yoruba,

the Igbo, and the Hausa, are the language of instruction in the earliest years of basic instruction; they are replaced by English in Grade four.

No doubt, Nigeria experienced significant progress in expanding access to school under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the domestic Universal Basic Education (UBE) Scheme. However, this expansion has not resulted in improved learning.

The flat learning curve in Nigeria is proof that getting children to school does not automatically translate to frequent attendance, grade progression, effective classroom governance, and more importantly, learning. Additionally, Nigeria faces challenges in ensuring equitable education and learning outcomes across gender, ethnic and regional lines. The country’s quality of education is very unlikely to experience significant progress because of several factors that hinder improvement. Teacher absence, student attendance and irrelevant and culturally unresponsive curricula are some of the reasons.

But also, poor pedagogical content knowledge, dilapidated structures, insecurity (especially in the Northeast region) and inadequate funding are issues that need to be addressed. Quality education is necessary for the preparation of a skilled workforce and lasting socioeconomic development of a country. Hence, the development and implementation of policies aimed towards increasing the quality of education are vital.

To achieve the ambitious goal of providing quality education for all by 2030, a UNESCO report suggests that countries would have to allocate at least 20 per cent of national budget to education. This seems like a far reality for Nigeria with its 2018 budgetary education allocation of mere 7.04 %. There is, therefore, a crucial need for the Nigerian government to prioritize the education budget for quality

education and better education outcomes. In addition, international donors and multilateral corporations need to support domestic public spending on education.

A 2015 report by the Brookings Institution revealed that while aid to education increased substantially under the MDGs, it is currently declining. Going forward, education should be prioritized in global policy discussions. It needs to gain attention and pool in corresponding resources. Spending has to match education needs to translate to better education outcomes.

Technology has the dual benefit of expanding access and improving quality of education. The mobility of technology implies that learning opportunities can exist everywhere. This is particularly important as physical spaces for learning will not be able to keep up with Nigeria’s population surge, which is expected to double by 2045.

Technology also facilitates access to education content, exchange of skills and experiences, as well as knowledge transfer.

In Rwanda for instance, initiatives such as Information and Communication Technology for everyone (ICT4E) and ‘One Laptop per Child’ project, have enriched quality of teaching and improved the ease of transfer of knowledge to children in rural areas. The education curriculum in Nigeria has to go beyond basic computer literacy. Technology has to be incorporated in all aspects of learning, including the creation of and access to e-learning applications with audio-visual content for teachers and students.

The government needs to initiate and implement better education policies in order to improve the quality of learning of its citizens.

Kehinde Ajanaku, Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja

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T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY MAY 14, 2019

POLITICS

Group Politics Editor NSEOBONG OKON-EKONG Email nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com (08114495324 SMS ONLY)

TRENDING NEWS

To Live in the Heart of Lagosians Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State may not be a perfect man, but he has successfully raised the bar of governance with evident legacy projects which can’t be erased from the heart of Lagosians, as he is ready to exit the stage for his successor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu

President Buhari with Gov. Ambode during the comissioning of the Oshodi interchange

Governor Ambode with French President, Emmanuel Macron and Aliko Dangote

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year (an equivalent of 2.6million 50kg bags of rice). Also, the scheme will be aligned with the Western Nigeria economic integration agenda whereby the States in the South West will supply the mill with rice paddy.

In the same vein, work is progressing steadily at the new Mile 12 Regional Foodstuff Market in Imota which will accommodate the traders in Mile 12 and other markets in the area. The idea of the new market was conceived in response to the fact that the activities of traders in Mile 12 were already impacting negatively on traffic and the environment, hence the need for them to move to a more bigger, comfortable and convenient place. And in order to forestall the chaotic traffic situation in Mile 12 as a result of the market, government had begun moves to expand Ikorodu-Itoikin-Imota- Road up to Epe. In that axis too, work is already completed for operational take-off of the Timberville Sawmill in Agbowa/Ikosi Ejirin LCDA where plank traders in Okobaba Sawmill will be relocated to. The development will pave way for the regeneration of Okobaba.

In the power sector, the government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, actually scored many firsts. First, the Governor unveiled the Light-up Lagos Project with threepronged approach focusing on street lightening, community electrification and embedded power programme.

Through the street lightening component of the scheme, major highways and streets are now well lit at night thereby enhancing security, improving aesthetics of the environment and bringing about major boost to the night economy of the State. On the community electrification component, many communities across the State have so far been connected to the national grid and many others had their either moribund or non-existent transformers replaced with new ones.

Perhaps, one of the major achievements of the Governor is the novel initiative of N25billion Employment Trust Fund (ETF) set aside to provide minimal interest loan for members of the informal sector and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Three years after the Fund commenced operations on March 1, 2016, according to official report of the LSETF, over N6.5 billion had so far been disbursed to almost 10,000 beneficiaries, while over 3,500 unemployed Lagos residents have been provided with vocational training, with over 1,500 of the trainees placed in jobs.

Also, the Fund has supported over 80 start-ups through its Lagos Innovates programme, while in total, LSETF’s interventions have helped create almost 90,000 jobs in the State since it started operations. Not done yet with the feats recorded, the LSETF recently signed a Memorandum of

here are lots of things Lagosians will remember the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for.

Stamped in their memory forever are a myriad of projects that constitutes the pool of massive infrastructural renewal that positively transformed the landscape of the state.

The Ambode government took off on a shaky note on May 29, 2015. His initial unstable steps were noticed in major sectors especially security and traffic management. This naturally led people to question the governor’s capacity. In the face of the initial turbulence, Ambode kept calm and focused. Soon, the story changed and people who castigated him initially started showering accolades on him for sterling performance.

All the while, the Governor was following the time-tested route of successful organisations; by first thinking through its policies, planning and following up with brilliant execution and well-rounded programmes. Ambode who is an acclaimed public finance expert came up with checks and balances for revenue inflow and also introduced the Treasury Single Account which in turn blocked revenue leakages and loopholes.

The development ensured that there were funds to carter for government activities, while he immediately followed same with N11billion approval to offset arrears owed since 2010, not only for Lagos State Government mainstream retirees but also retirees in local governments and parastatals.

In response to the public outcry over the increase in spate of crime, Ambode rebranded the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Nigeria Police. In an unprecedented move, he donated equipment worth N4.765billion to the State Police Command. This was done in September of 2015. The current Lagos governor will be remembered for creating Neighborhood Watchers to keep all the communities in Lagos safe. The Neighborhood Watchers have been rebranded and transformed to Neighborhood Safety Corps Officers to improve security in all communities in the state.

As part of the transport reforms in the state, the Governor commissioned the Mile 12-Ikorodu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Extension Project and injected 434 new air-conditioned and comfortable BRT Buses into the transport scheme. Ambode re-launched the Blue Line Rail Project which upon completion would ease connectivity in the State as over 500, 000 passengers would be conveyed daily between Marina and Okokomaiko.

The project is to be followed by the second phase which is the Red Line Rail Project from Alagbado to Lagos Island.

In terms of easing traffic, several laybys and modern segregated bus parks have been

constructed across the state in strategic areas including Ikeja, Oworonshoki, Lekki-Epe expressway, Ogudu, Alapere, among others, while in a move to find a lasting solution to the perennial traffic gridlock along Ikorodu Road, Governor Ambode on November 9, 2017 commissioned multiple Layby and Slip Road in Alapere. On the same day, the Governor also launched the Intelligence Transport System (ITS), the e-ticketing for commuters using the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the Ojota BRT Depot and the new complex for the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority known as LAMATA Place.

From Ikorodu to Lagos-Abeokuta expressway to Badagry, Epe, Ikeja and so on, one road project or other is either completed or ongoing simultaneously including 21 Lagos-Ogun boundary roads with two bridges in Alimosho, Pen Cinema Flyover, 114 and later 181 inner roads, Epe arterial roads, among others.

In the health sector, Ambode commissioned 20 Mobile Care Units in August 2015, 26 Transport Ambulances which were deployed across the various General Hospitals and primary healthcare centres in the state. He also approved the purchase of generators and x-ray machines for all General Hospitals in the State to ensure 24-hour power supply. Since then, it has been good tidings for the sector with major upgrade of facilities in all the General Hospitals and Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), with more springing up. As at 2018, a total of 61 PHCs have constructed or upgraded and furnished with medical equipment, as well as another 38 centres, while 1,000 health workers were recruited into the PHC system.

The first state-owned helipad for medical emergency was also constructed within the premises of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) as well as a new access road, while the biggest baby manufacturing factory (Maternity Hospital) in Nigeria - Institute of Maternal and Child Health, popularly called Ayinke House, in LASUTH was commissioned

by President Muhammadu Buhari on April 24, 2019.

In area of food security and agriculture, Ambode entered into a strategic partnership with Kebbi State which brought about the famous Lake Rice. The initiative forced down the price of rice in the market and the governor is building on that to install a 32 metric tonnes per hour rice mill in Imota, a suburb of Ikorodu.

It is projected that when operational from, the mill will ensure availability of rice in the market and will also facilitate the creation of about 200, 000 jobs across the Agric value chain, while it will also bring about cultivation of 32,000 hectares of farm land to produce rice paddy equating to an estimated 130million kg of processed rice per

Understanding worth $10million with the United States African Development Fund (USADF) to support 15,000 youths in Lagos State within the next five years.

In the area of tourism, several statues of illustrious Nigerians who contributed to the growth of not just Lagos but Nigeria in general have been erected such as that of late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo; human rights crusader and philanthropist, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, among other monuments across the State.

Aside the fact that tourism master plan had been developed to drive tourism potentials of the State for the next 15 to 20 years, for the first time in the history of the State, the Lagos State Tourism Promotions Agency Bill, an Executive Bill, was also passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly. The Agency is designed to put Lagos on the same pedestal as any other entity, be it a State or country, by intervening in promoting Tourism and Culture in the State. There is also a Tourism Board that is specifically saddled with promoting the sector. Already, the Bill has been signed into law by the Governor.

Also, four out of the five theatres that Governor Ambode promised to build across the State have been completed, with President Buhari unveiling of them at Oregun. The multi-purpose theatres, which can each comfortably accommodate 500 people, were built across the state to spread development as part of promise to run government of inclusion. The theatres are in Oregun, Igando, Badagry and Epe, while land has been provided for the fifth one in Ikorodu.

Still on tourism infrastructure, the government of Governor Ambode also transformed Glover Memorial Hall, the oldest cultural space in Lagos which in 1903 screened the first film in Nigeria by the Colonial Film Unit. The government has restored the edifice to its glory with a total refurbishment and upgrade without distorting the value and the essence of what it stood for.

It will soon be commissioned.

The government also commenced the redevelopment of JK Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History. The Centre, which is billed to be completed by October 2019, consists of an Exhibition Centre, a Library, a Multi-Purpose Hall, Learning Spaces, Restaurant and Lounges.

The Centre will retain its swimming pool and sports facilities and also have a pavilion for stage performances. The initiative to redevelop the Centre was part of a grand plan to turn the Onikan axis into a critical tourist hub, not just in the country but in the continent.

NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

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TRENDING NEWS

Dickson’s Next Big Fight Emmanuel Addeh writes that Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State may be in a very tricky situation.

Whatever he does, he will offend the powerful interest blocs in the state Peoples Democratic Party. He needs careful attention to navigate the landmine that lines the path to the governorship contest in November

Dickson

Jonathan

Alaibe

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clash between the Ocean and the Shark.

If Sylva gets the APC ticket, which is likely, except he is upstaged by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, current Minister of State, Agriculture and Rural Development, who is also eyeing the seat and has his foot soldiers working round the clock, then the stage is set for a repeat of the 2015 battle, which the governor has frequently describes as war.

Nevertheless, apart from what appears to be external threats to the PDP’s perennial victory in all elections in the state since 1999, are also internal squabbles within the power blocs in the party.

Governor Dickson’s political deftness will come to play as to how he meanders his way through the obstacles that will be posed by the Jonathan bloc, the Timi Alaibe group and other smaller power levers that will likely abandon him in the event that he picks a candidate who does not fit their yearning.

In the last few months, the governor has met secretly several times with former President Jonathan, though it is unclear whether they have agreed on a particular candidate to throw their weights behind. Pundits believe that that would be the undoing of the PDP if the duo do not find a common ground.

For the incumbent, it was a tough fight in 2015, during his reelection bid, when forces loyal to Jonathan insisted that he mustn’t be given a second term.

In the end, Dickson succeeded when Jonathan yielded when he saw the handwriting on the wall- that with a divided house, the PDP would have lost that crucial poll.

Whether Jonathan will again allow the governor have his way this time remains to be seen, but what has become very clear is that there seems to be a wide gulf between the two leaders, but they have managed to keep sealed lips about it. Jonathan has stayed away from all public functions organised by the state government for years and is rarely, if ever, seen with the governor in public.

In fact, when big dignitaries like former President Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-military ruler, Gen. Yakubu Gowon visited the state and stayed for days to inaugurate some projects completed by Dickson’s administration, the thinking was that there was no way Jonathan would not be present.

Eventually, it took a visit by Obasanjo to Jonathan’s local church in Otuoke, to bring both leaders together in public.

Same with the usually rambunctious wife of the ex-President, who would rather be seen with the governor of

neighbouring Rivers State than that of Bayelsa.

He has avoided the Government House, better known as, Creek Haven in Onopa, like a plague in the last four years, choosing to keep silent on governance in the state, except when his foot soldiers took on the governor when he allegedly made insinuations that the former President’s occupancy of Aso Rock for six years was a waste to the Ijaw people.

The crack seems glaring, with the APC winning the Bayelsa East Senatorial District, where Jonathan hails from, in the last general election. Pundits believe that if both leaders agree to work together, the governorship might just end up being a piece of cake for the PDP. It was a cacophony of voices in that election, even as government officials accused leaders in that senatorial district of sponsoring candidates outside the PDP against the party. In Bayelsa East alone, the party lost the seat currently occupied by Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce and two federal house seats to the APC. The other side of the internal squabble is likely to be the Timi Alaibe threat.

With his rumoured contacts and wealth, an Alaibe exit from the PDP if he is not eventually given the governorship ticket, may seriously hurt the party.

However, for now, the governor appears to have been able to put his immediate caucus, his commissioners, special advisers, special assistants and other aides under check.

None has defected or made public statements denouncing their boss in recent times, except his former Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr. Ibarakumo Otobo, who resigned and moved into the APC last year.

But the governor, an energetic politician with a gift of the garb, despite several nudging by journalists to speak or give a clue on who will succeed him, has maintained that whoever will take over from him would emerge through intense prayers and consultation.

During the just-concluded Easter celebration organised by his administration in Yenagoa, Dickson urged the people to seek the face of God for His divine direction as the PDP embarks on the search for the next governor of the state.

According to the Governor, his position on who succeeds him is firmly anchored on the faith that God does not only give power but truly rules in the affairs of men.

“As usual, let me call on all of us to use this period of Easter, which is a period for sober reflection, to continue

to invite the presence of God in our state. We must not relent in our prayers because the enemies of our land are planning hard to destroy the peace and stability we have laboured to build.

“But we have nothing to fear. They put their trust in chariots, weapons and connections in Abuja but we trust in the Almighty God who has always saved us.

“Since we handed over our government to God, we have been reinforcing it through prayers and positive declarations that this state which I call the Jerusalem of the Ijaw nation shall not be handed over again to anybody who does not fear the authority of the Almighty God. “I will formally invite everybody in this state to pray because I feel that the next leader of our state is not going to be selected from my pocket. I won’t do that. It’s too important a decision to come from one person.

“That is why we have to first commit it as a burden to God so that we can be guided not by the whims, thoughts, desires and calculations of men but by His divine will and direction. After the prayers, then I will engage on intensive consultations.

“For all those who are thinking of being part of this equation, I prescribe same for you. Don’t overheat the system because we still have a lot to do for our state even in the remaining months,” he said.

The governor has also prodded the leadership of the party in the state to set up what he described as a stocktaking committee which in essence is to examine the role played by ‘traitors’ during the last election that led to the victories recorded by the APC. It is believed that the committee is a machinery to weed out disloyal members of the party who worked against the PDP in the last election and enforce discipline as the big fight in November draws near.

The question on the lips of many, which will invariably determine the success of the party is whether the power brokers in the party can close ranks and work together for the common good.

Will Dickson and Jonathan agree on one governorship candidate? Will those who have defected to the party, like Alaibe leave when they are again refused the PDP ticket? Will the governor succeed if he decides to go it alone?

Will the APC take advantage of the seeming fault line within the ruling party and inflict maximum damage in November? These questions will be answered in the next few months.

overnor Seriake Dickson’s name will not be on the ballot on November 2, this year, when candidates slug it out in the Bayelsa governorship poll. Many believe that that election will not only determine his political relevance in the coming years, but will also, other things being equal, serve as a referendum on his performance as governor in the last eight years.

A very vocal politician, Dickson’s ability to, in the coming months, make strategic decisions as to whom to support in the coming election, which part of the state the person hails from, the public acceptability ratio of the candidate and how well he manages the likely fallout prior to the polls, will largely determine its outcome.

In that election, it will be a straight fight between the governor, though he won’t be a direct contestant, and his political arch rival, former Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva (unless there’s a major upset). Both men have never pretended to be friends nor hidden their dislike for each other ’s tactics.

In essence, it has been like a cat and mouse game between the two. In their public utterances, Dickson has always portrayed Sylva as a violent man who will do anything to attain power. On the other hand, the former governor of the state characterizes the incumbent as a hypocrite who accuses his opponents of his exact sins.

But while it has always been taken for granted that Bayelsa remains a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state, recent events, especially the inroads made

by Sylva’s All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last national elections, seems to have put a question mark on that long-held opinion.

Before now winning one senatorial district out of three; two House of Representatives seats out of five and four State House of Assembly positions from the available 24, in the last election, was unthinkable, as the APC was perceived as almost non-existent in the state. The APC had just one State Assembly member prior to the election.

Dickson and Sylva never yield ground to each other since the incumbent was drafted to displace Sylva, who had fallen out of favour with the then President Goodluck Jonathan.

While Dickson is popularly called Ofurumapepe, the Great White Shark, by his admirers, Sylva believes that he remains the Opu Abadi, which literally translates to the Big Ocean. That’s what the next election represents, an epic

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FEATURES

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, 08152252325

L-R: Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh; Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari; Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje; and CBN Governor, Godwin EmeďŹ ele during the national ag o of the programme

Revamping Cotton Production in Katsina

It is hoped that the recent move by the Central Bank of Nigeria to blacklist bank accounts linked with textile smugglers and the distribution of high-yielding cotton seeds to over 100,000 cotton farmers in Katsina State will boost its production, Francis Sardauna writes

A

s at the 1970’s and early 1980’s, Nigeria was home to Africa’s largest textile industry with over 180 textile mills in operation which employed no fewer than 450,000 people, representing close to 25 per cent of the workforce in the manufacturing sector then.

Aside jobs creation, this industry was supported by the production of cotton by 600,000 local farmers across 30 of Nigeria’s 36 states, thousands of ginnery workers who processed the cotton from farmers, and a large number of distributors that sold the finished cloths to consumers within and outside the country.

The sector supported the clothing needs of the Nigerian populace, as markets were filled with locally produced textiles from companies such as Kaduna Textiles Mill, United Textiles, Supertex Limited, International Textile Industry (I.T.I), Texlon, Enpee and Aswani Mills amongst numerous others textiles factories.

The cloths produced in these factories were highly sought after not only in Nigeria, but in West Africa and indeed in Great Britain. Infact, it got to a point that the industries produced close to half of the cotton clothes in all of West Africa.

Today’s Reality However, the story is different today as most of the factories mentioned above have all stopped operations, as only 25 textile factories are operating today, while the workforce in Nigeria’s textile industry presently stands at less than 20,000 people.

Accordingly, the country currently spends about $4 billion annually on imported textiles and ready-made clothing from China and other countries in Europe. In addition, smuggling of textiles goods alone is also estimated to cost the country over $2.2bn annually.

Apart from billions of US dollars spent

on importation of textiles, cotton farmers in the country for the past 20 years had been confronted with many challenges ranging from low quality seeds, rising operational cost and weak sales due to high energy cost of running factories, smuggling of textile goods and poor access to finance.

CBN’s Intervention Worried by these predicaments, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on assumption of office in June, 2014, in his inaugural speech said one of his cardinal objectives as the CBN governor was to build a people oriented and focused Central Bank with primary focus on macroeconomic such as lower inflation and exchange rate stability.

According to Emefiele, the Central Bank ought to play a more important role in supporting Nigeria’s economic development, given the constraints faced by rural farmers, SMES and Manufacturing companies, adding that "More importantly, we believe that CBN’s intervention which is aimed at import substitution will help in conserving scarce foreign exchange for Nigeria�.

Revamping Committee Consequently, President Muhammadu Buhari recently setup a national committee that would revamp the Cotton, Textile and Garment sector comprising the CBN, Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development; Water Resources; Industry, Trade and Investment; and the governments of Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Gombe and Zamfara states, to drive the initiative to achieve self-sufficiency in cotton production and textile material within a span of three years.

The committee on May 6, 2019 swung into action by launching the distribution of high-yielding cotton seeds and inputs to over 100,000 cotton farmers in Katsina

State for the 2019 planting season.

The farmers who were said to have being cultivating over 200,000 hectares of farmland, according to CBN, will undergo extensive training on farming techniques that would boost cotton production in Nigeria.

Other packages for the beneficiaries includes fertiliser, pesticides and knapsack sprayers. These measures will help to improve cotton production from "80,000 tonnes produced in 2018 to over 300,000 tonnes by 2020" and tackle insufficient cotton seeds that had been identified as one of the major predicament facing cotton farmers.

Bad News for Saboteurs Speaking at the launch, the CBN Governor revealed that as part of efforts to sustain cotton production and its industries in Nigeria, the bank's regulator “is currently gathering data about, and investigating the accounts of individuals and corporates currently involved in smuggling and dumping textile materials into Nigeria".

He added that after the investigation, the names of the individuals and companies would be publicised, just as he stressed that persons or organisations found culpable would be “blacklisted and all the banks in Nigeria shall be barred from conducting any banking business with the companies, their owners and top management".

He said the investigation would also be extended to the 43 other items restricted from forex in Nigeria "Today, Nigeria currently spends about $4 billion annually on imported textiles and ready-made clothing. With a projected population of over 190 million Nigerians, the needs of the domestic market are huge and varied, with immense prospects for growth of the domestic textile industries. “One quick example that highlights the potential of this local market, includes the

need to support provision of uniforms and clothing apparels for students, military and paramilitary officers as well as workers in the industrial sector. In addition, when we consider the amount spent on outfits for religious and social events such as weddings, naming and funeral ceremonies on a weekly basis, the potential market size is well over $4billion", he said.

Emefiele further buttressed thus: "Consequently, the current trend where all our textile materials are imported from abroad must stop. It also means that, we must all join hands to fight and destroy all attempts by unscrupulous persons and companies to continue to smuggle and dump textile and garments into Nigeria.

"In considering the role which this sector plays in our economic development, we must not just consider the fact of productivity but also, we must view the sector from the standpoint that their existence helps in sustaining the vitality of the neighborhoods in which they operate.�

Emefiele, who was supported at the ceremony by Governors of Katsina State, Hon. Bello Bello Masari and Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, as well as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, also reiterated that the forex restriction on finished textiles and other 43 items remained in force.

Choice of Katsina According to him, the choice of Katsina was based on the immense potential of the state as the leading cotton producing state in Nigeria, noting that the bank was committed to the revamp of the cotton and textiles industry, given its immense potential to Nigeria’s growth objectives as well as the bank’s efforts at creating jobs for a large number of Nigerians.

Recalling the glory days of the textile industries in Nigeria in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, he stressed that Nigeria was

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FEATURES home to Africa’s largest textile industry, with over 180 textile mills that employed over 450,000 people, representing about 25 per cent of the workforce in the manufacturing sector.

He, however, expressed regrets that farmers and processors have had to deal with low quality seeds, rising operating cost and weak sales due to high energy cost of running factories, poor access to finance and smuggling of textile goods, which he estimated cost Nigeria over $2.2 billion annually.

While acknowledging the support and leadership of the president, he said the bank had placed considerable emphasis on addressing impediments to the growth of Nigeria’s agricultural and manufacturing sectors, as both sectors represent over 52 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP. “If we are able to drive productivity gains in these sectors, it will undoubtedly translate to higher growth rate for the broader economy, result in increased rural incomes, and improvements in living standards for a majority of Nigerians".

On the restriction of foreign exchange to 43 items, he said the measures taken by the CBN were yielding the desired results and had helped in driving interest by potential investors who are seeking to make investments to support improved production of textiles in Nigeria.

Governor Aminu Bello Masari; CBN Governor Godwin EmeďŹ ele; and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh inspecting pesticides for onward distribution to cotton farmers

Anchor Borrowers Programme Meanwhile, under the bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme, the CBN boss said: "We intend to improve the linkage between cotton farmers and ginneries, by ensuring that ginneries are able to offtake the high-quality cotton produced by these farmers. So far 23 ginneries, spinners and several Textile producing firms have been identified and we intend to support them in retooling their processing plants".

The CBN governor also reaffirmed the Apex Bank's readiness to provide the textiles producing firms with improved access to finance at single digit interest rate, in order to help sustain their operations and improve their production capacity, adding that: "The same support will be extended to the Yarn spinners and textile weavers and producers".

Worry over Insecurity But President Muhammadu Buhari who was represented at the ceremony by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Innocent Ogbeh, expressed worry over the current insecurity bedevilling the nation, saying kidnapping has now turned to an occupation and industry for the teeming unemployed youths.

Buhari who attributed the insecurity to lack of jobs for the youths was however quick to say revival of the cotton production and the textile industries will help to generate more jobs.

"So our youths, our children have turned to a new industry which is causing fear in the heart of all of us, namely kidnapping, abduction and all kinds of crimes including rustling of cattle. How can we survive when kidnapping is a new occupation and a business? And what is the cause of this situation? Anger and frustration among our youths. The crisis was being burned by the disenchantment and anger among our children.

"The textile industry used to engage close to One and the half million people.

The textiles in Kaduna, Kano, Ikeja, Aba disappeared and we became a nation of importer of textiles. Imagine how much we spend importing textile materials. All these are jobs that were here disappeared and the consequences are now what we are seeing, kidnapping, totally unreasonable violence.

"The good news however is we have a Central Bank Governor and his team who

Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje presenting pesticides to one of the beneďŹ ciaries

have decided that they must innovate and find new ways of supporting the federal government to improve agricultural production", he explained.

He disclosed that: "Every where in the world, agric credit is about 3 per cent, in Nigeria, for nearly 30 years it is 20 per cent - 25 per cent agricultural interest rate. So there was complete decline in agriculture. We give thanks to CBN for their interventions".

Hope for the Future The president reiterated that with the new launch of the distribution of cotton seeds, in a short while, the country would be back among the leading nation's in textiles production because "we are among the biggest consumers of textiles. Improving on the Nigerian economy will never happen unless and until we revive the agricultural sector".

Katsina’s Agricultural Restoration Agenda To complement this giant strides, the Katsina State Government under the leadership of Governor Aminu Bello Masari through its Agricultural Restoration Agenda has since supported the cotton farmers with Infrastructures, incentives, inputs, modern farming implements and financial support as well as creating an

enabling environment for agric investors and development partners aimed at allowing farmers to contribute effectively to federal government's efforts of diversifying the agricultural sector.

This explained why Masari in his remarks at the event, said the decline of agricultural produce including cotton over the years in the state has been a source of concern for his administration "Because the glorious days of cotton production have provided employment to our populace, increased farmers' income and provided raw materials to industries" engaged in textile production across the country.

He stated, "To revive cotton production, the state government is partnering the Institute for Agriculture Research (IAR) A.B.U Zaria for the conduct of demonstration in 2019 /2020 dry season irrigated cotton production in order to enable farmers to produce cotton all year round. Relevant sites have been selected for demonstration purposes on a pilot basis.

"Since the inception of this administration we have put in place the state's agricultural restoration agenda developed by well known and experienced professional commercial production, processing and marketing of products both within and outside the state".

According to the governor, the choice for improved seed of cotton, biotechnology which gives yield of 2.5 to 3.5 metric tonnes per hectare against SAMCOT 9 which gives 1.0 to 1.2 metric tonnes per hectare as introduced by federal government would greatly enhance higher cotton yield for the benefit of the nation.

Masari said the federal government’s initiative to promote cotton production under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of the CBN was a welcome development as such would support the textile industry in the country by encouraging local production thereby enhancing the economic status of the country.

He, however, expressed optimism that by the end of 2019 wet season, cotton farmers in the state will be busy selling their products to agro-based industries and to commodity dealers for export.

Also speaking on behalf of other state governors Governors in the North-west geo-political zone, the Kano State Governor, equally commended the president for the administration’s effort in agricultural development.

While lauding the CBN for its initiatives, Ganduje stressed the need for strong institutions to complement monetary and fiscal policies aimed at developing the Nigerian economy.

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BUSINESSWORLD

Group Business Editor Obinna Chima Email obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08152447875

ÍŻ ÍŽ Ëœ Í° ÍŽ ÍŻ ͡ MONEY MARKET OVERNIGHT OBB

REPO 10 % 9.14 %

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

8.50% 10.63 % 11.75%

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

387.93 % 0.04 % 0.32%

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

0.35% 8.67%

EXCHANGE RATE N307/1US DOLLAR* ĚŠ

Quick Takes NB Fetes Trade Partners

INNOVATION SUMMIT

L-R: Executive Director, Business Development & Operations, Global Accelerex, Kayode Ariyo; Acting Managing Director, NIBSS, Niyi Ajao; Head, Agency & Merchant Services, SANEF, Uche Uzoebo; Director, Payment System Management, Central Bank of Nigeria, Sam Okojere; Executive Director, Technology & Innovation, Global Accelerex, Stanley Peters and Managing Director, Tunde Ogungbade, at the PoS Innovation Summit held in Lagos...recently

Report: Nigeria’s Reliance on Imported Fuel Rises Stories by Chineme Okafor in Abuja Oil production from fields in Nigeria in 2018 were 70,166,496 (70 million) barrels more than what were produced in 2017, a report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed.

The document titled: “NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report,� for the month of January 2019, contained information on the performance of the country’s oil sector for the entire year 2018.

It also showed that while more crude oil was produced, the country equally increased its reliance on imported petrol by extending its annual consumption level between 2017 and 2018 by 6,669,744,749.27 litres (over 6 billion litres).

The report showed that in

E CO N O M Y 2017, Nigeria’s oil production stood at 690,011,529 barrels with an average daily production of 1,890,443 barrels. The figures for 2018 was however reported by the corporation to be 760,178,025 barrels and 1,784,455 barrels as average daily production data.

This, thus indicated a difference in year-to-year production volume of 70,166,496 barrels.

Notwithstanding the positive production strides which the NNPC related with reforms it had emplaced in its businesses in the industry, the report showed that the country could have produced more oil if it did not record some significant setbacks in its oil production.

For instance, it explained that on the Forcados oil terminal, approximately 35,000 barrels a day (bd) of production into it

was cut off because the Brass Creek/Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP) has been shut down since April 24, 2018 due to leaks in a creek crossing in the Odimodi area. The line, it noted has remained shut to date and repairs still ongoing.

Furthermore, it stated that there was a shut-in on Agbami terminal for the repair of faulty flare and cleaning low pressure separator over a period of 24 days in December with 40,000bd of oil not produced, just as 216,000bd of oil were cut back from the Akpo terminal due to power failure over a period of three days.

At Usan terminal, the report noted: “There was plant shutdown for maintenance activity from 23/11/18- 08/12/18 (7 days in December) with production loss of 90,000bpd. Brass terminal: Addax shut-in production for 9

days as the platform stopped delivery into NAOC’s facility due to leakages. The attendant loss was 10,000bpd.�

Again, on the Oyo terminal, the NNPC stated, “there was shut down since 16/03/2018 - date due to technical issues with the only producing well.

Shut-in was 5kbd for the 31 days in December 2018.�

It added that on the Qua Iboe terminal, “there was shut down between 1/12/2018 - 7/12/2018 in Asabo and Ekpe field for Distributed Control System/ Electronic Safety Shutdown System (ESSDS) upgrade. Total production cut was 231,000 barrels.�

The Escravos terminal it indicated lost 47,000 barrels of oil for 21 days due to maintenance activity on 26� delivery line Continued on page 26

W’Bank’s Study ConďŹ rms Marketability of Nigeria’s Flare Gas Plan The Programme Manager for the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), Mr. Justice Derefaka, has disclosed that a market analysis carried on the NGFCP by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank showed that the programme will be profitable if implemented on certain premises.

Derefaka, explained in a recent presentation he made at the third edition of the ‘lawyers in oil and gas conference,’ in Lagos, that based on the market studies of the IFC, it was discovered that a realistic pricing range for flare gas to market (FG2M) would incentivise off-takers to participate in the project.

He noted that apart from the cost- benefit analysis and net back pricing that was done in

E CO N O M Y the process, the market survey also covered areas such as risk and sensitivity analysis, market sounding and challenges that could derail the project, with all showing that implementing the NGFCP would be beneficial to all parties. “The primary focus of the market study is on the off-takers (market) inputs and the total value chain economics and each of its corresponding links to determine whether and under what conditions flare gas can be taken to market based on sound economic and market criteria,�

Derefaka explained.

According to him, focus was equally on current market conditions and potential adverse

changes in market conditions within the next five and 10 years.

He explained: “This is premised on the fact that the flare gas-to-market projects will mainly provide services and products to unaddressed markets (e.g. supply electric power where today communities have no electricity, fertilizers where there are none.), generate savings by substituting a higher-cost with a lower-cost energy source (e.g. providing lower-cost power, substituting diesel or HFO with CNG, LNG or pipeline gas.)�

Derefaka further stated that the main objectives of the market study were to, “Determine the feasibility, attractiveness and sustainability of flare gas to market projects which includes the transformation of flare gas to

‘end products’ and the delivery and sale of these ‘end products’ to the off-taker.�

He added that, “Market intelligence related to the various Flare Gas to Market Products (FG2M-P) as well as estimated soft costs, estimated cost of capital, capacity factors, taxes, contingencies,� were considered in the survey. “Risk and sensitivity analysis - identify, quantify and qualify risks and impacts related to: flare gas supply interruption; interruptions in any link of the flare gas to market value chain; risks related to inflation, devaluation (currency mismatch between capital investment currency and revenue currency); future Continued on page 26

NigerianBreweriesPlcrecentlyheldits2019distributorsaward,tocelebrate its esteemed business partners nationwide and for their performance in 2018. The event which was held in Abuja, was a platform for Nigerian BreweriesPlctorewardoutstandingdistributors,announcenewincentivesforitstradepartners,aswellasreceivefeedbackonitsbrandsand innovations from its trade partners Speaking at the award ceremony, the Managing Director, Mr. Jordi Borrut Bel, stated that the company was excited to, “celebrate the great partnerships with its business associates that delivered an impressive performance in 2018,� reiterating that it would continue to strengthen the partnerships going into the future.

Belnotedthatthethemeoftheaward,‘CelebratingGreatPartnerships’ wasconceivedtorecogniseandrewardtheresilientperformanceofits partners in spite of the difficult operating environment.

He further stated that as part of the company’s plans to transform its route-to-market,itwouldbedeployingsomeinnovationsacrossmarkets nationwide. He said that the company would be piloting new initiatives that would bring flexibility and comfort into how customers make their orders and in the process generate great efficiency.

Inhisremarks,theSalesDirector,NigerianBreweriesPlc,Mr.UcheUnigwe, lauded the continuous support from distributors who have remained consistentinpostingperformancesthataddgreatvaluetothecompany.

He said� We are indeed very grateful for the support from our trade partners who have contributed a great deal through their performance toimpactourbusiness.Thoughtimesareabitchallenginginthemarket, thepartnershipwithourdistributorsandtransportershashelpedNigerian Breweries Plc to consolidate its leadership in the category where all of its brands play.� he said.

The highlight of the event came when the distributors were rewarded.

LCCI to Hold Forum on Industrial Revolution

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has announced planstoequipNigerianbusinessesontheimpactofthefourthindustrial revolution.

According to the president, LCCI, Babatunde Ruwase, who spoke at a media launch of ICTEL Expo 2019, scheduled to take place in Lagos, betweenJuly16and17,2019,withthetheme,“FourthIndustrialRevolution: The Nigerian Story,� the topic was apt and would provide another great opportunitytoinfluencenationaldiscourseonthecultureofenterprise in Nigeria from an ICTpositive perspective. “Thisexpowillthereforeprovidetherequiredinspirationwhichmanysmall and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) need in their quest for improved performance. “Perhaps more importantly, the 2019 ICTEL Expo is providing aspiring entrepreneurs,techstart-upsandthousandsofunemployedandunder employedNigeriansyetanotheruniqueopportunityforanenrichinglearning experience, capacity building, mentoring, connecting with investors and employers of labour and listening to life-changing accounts from different stakeholders.�

Hesaidofimportancewastheimpactwhichthe2019ICTELExpowould have on policy initiatives and advocacy, especially in the ICTspace.

He expressed optimism that this year’s expo would bring to the fore issues that would prepare Nigeria for the realities and implications of the fourth industrial revolution.

Earlier, the Chairman, Trade Promotion Board, Gabriel Idahosa, said it was no news that the developed countries and investing heavily in the Fourthindustrialrevolution,sayingthatAfrica,indeed,Nigeriaisfarbehind.

Henotedthatindustryexpertshavesubmittedthatofallregionsworldwide, warning that Africa is at a great risk of being left behind by the fourth industrial revolution.

Sudan Delivers Fuel to Power Stations

Sudan said on Friday it has delivered fuel supplies to power stations and was working on solutions to a cash crisis, addressing some of the maintriggersformassproteststhatledtotheousterofPresidentOmar al-Bashir last month.

General Ibrahim Jaber, a member of Sudan’s rulingTransitional Military Council (TMC) also said that flour supplies were sufficient to cover the needsofthecountryof40millionthroughtheendofJune. Theproblems pose challenges to the TMC, set up after generals deposed Bashir and arrestedhimonApril11. Concernovertheshortagesincreasedaheadofthe MuslimfastingmonthofRamadan,whichbeganlastweek.Consumption rises during Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.

“We have reached an agreement that we are basically going to work with private operators both for Kano and Calabar and we are going through a process involving working with the Bureau of Public Enterprises to identify the right operators to partner with us to commercialise and provide the services including marketing services to bring in those who want to operate�

Minister of Industry,Trade and Investment,

Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah

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BUSINESSWORLD REPORT: NIGERIA’S RELIANCE ON IMPORTED FUEL RISES

from Meren/Parabe fields to Escravos, while 20,000 barrels of oil was lost at the Ima terminal over a period of 20 days that there was a controlled process shutdown.

The report stated that for the period under consideration, Nigeria’s reliance on imported petrol increased by over six billion litres, to end at 21,100,118,126.30 over 14,430,373,377.03 that it was in 2017. The petrol volumes were imported through a crude-for-product swap arrangement, while supplies from the local refineries dropped from 1,586,283,202 litres that was recorded in 2017 to 729,214,778 litres in 2018.

W’BANK’S STUDY CONFIRMS MARKETABILITY OF NIGERIA’S FLARE GAS PLAN

flare gas to market dynamics; competitive analysis of flare gas versus Non-Associated Gas and how certain weaknesses in the flare gas supply chain need to be mitigated to enhance flare gas to market solutions,� he noted were also covered in the survey.

On market sounding of the programme, he stated that the survey considered general perception within the oil industry regarding the NGFCP, as well as the ability and willingness under which producers will provide guaranteed flare gas.

Also, the survey he noted, got feedback from the finance community regarding appetite to fund NGFCP projects and identify or quantify the main gaps that need to be mitigated, while original equipment manufacturers, potential investors and lenders were also consulted to develop a strong business scenario for the programme.

Derefaka, equally stated that the largest 50 gas flare sites in Nigeria accounted for about 80 per cent of the volumes that were flared, with about 65 per cent of the flare sites located on land or swamp in the country.

He also noted that the approximately 178 flare sites identified so far, flare approximately 888 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas, and produce approximately 22 million tons of carbon (CO2) emissions.

Group Business Editor

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) Eromosele Abiodun (Maritime) James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafor ((Energy) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (ICT)

NEWS

UN Boss Seeks Strengthening of Multilateral Trade Cooperation Hamid Ayodeji A rules-based, non-discriminatory and equitable trading system is not only in the interest of all trading partners, but is essential to preserving the interests of the poorest and most vulnerable economies, the United Nations Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres told World Trade Organisation (WTO) members recently.

Speaking at a special session of the WTO’s General Council, Guterres, alongside Director-General, WTO, Roberto AzevĂŞdo and General Council Chair, Sunanta Kangvalkulkij, said members need to work to restore the spirit of international cooperation and “buttress this unique institution that has safeguarded international trading relationships over the past 70 yearsâ€?.

Trade’s contribution to economic growth and sustainable development was “undeniable,� the UN Secretary-General told members.

But escalating trade tensions over the past year, “threaten growth in international trade and the very foundation of the rules-based multilateral trading system,� he warned. “It is worth highlighting that when trade tensions rise, there are no winners, only losers, especially among developing countries.�

Guterres, welcomed ongoing efforts by members to strengthen

and update various aspects of the WTO system to better address challenges posed by new economic realities and new technologies - namely digitalisation - and better deliver on trade negotiations, greater transparency and effective dispute resolution.

He stressed that WTO reform efforts should be guided by the imperatives of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In this context, Guterres welcomed various initiatives already under way at the WTO to address different areas of relevance to the SDGs, such as eliminating harmful fishery subsidies, helping developing countries access generic medicines at more affordable prices, and improving transparency on agricultural subsidies in order to enhance efforts to achieve

food security and follow more sustainable agricultural practices. “If WTO reform is to effectively respond to this challenge, it must be meaningful, fair, legitimate and sustainable,� the UN SecretaryGeneral declared.

In his welcoming remarks, WTO Director-General Roberto AzevĂŞdo highlighted the importance of multilateral cooperation as a, “powerful force for good,

supporting economic growth, development, stability and peace.� “Yet, at this crucial moment, the multilateral system also faces huge challenges. The question is being asked about the effectiveness of global cooperation in its current form. We see this reflected in the WTO. “The tensions between major economies are playing out here in this organisation,� he continued.

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

L-R: Director of Finance and Corporate Services, LSETF, Rahman Akinwonmi; Permanent Secretary, Lagos State, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Abidemi Raji; Head of Programme, Skills Development for Youth Employment (SKYE) Programme, HansLudwig Bruns and Team Leader, GIZ, Lagos, Tobias Wolfgarten, at the graduation ceremony of 140 potential migrants (including voluntary returnees from the European Union) in Lagos... recently

Shell’s ‘All On’Advises Nigeria to Heavily Tax Petrol, Diesel Generators Chineme Okafor in Abuja All On, which is a seeded company of Shell, has advised Nigeria to initiate and implement a graduated and weighty tax system on the production, assemblage and importation of power generating sets that use diesel and petrol.

This, it stated would buoy growth of off-grid renewable energy power sources in the country.

All On, also asked the country to set a timeline of three years to kick out generators in the country and transit from using such fossil fuel generating sets to clean energy sources such as solar.

In a new report titled: ‘Strategic Fiscal Incentives to Unlock the Off-Grid Clean Energy Sector in Nigeria: Opportunities and Recommendations,’ the firm argued that raising duties on petrol and diesel generators

would enable the growth of clean energy sources mostly in off grid communities.

All On, however stated that industries located in off grid communities could be exempted from the proposed regulation provided they are able to satisfy certain conditions which could include taking into account of the location of the industry in comparison to available grid power or the viability of renewable energy in the particular context.

The report, it explained was to stimulate the growth of the clean off-grid energy sector by designing strategic incentives to promote the sector. It noted that it identified existing regulations in the sector as well as made recommendations on how they could become significantly improved on to guarantee growth of the sector.

It added: “To discourage the importation, production and assembly of diesel/petrol

generators and encourage the use of clean energy and energy efficient off-grid equipment, we recommend that the import duty levied on wholly petrol and diesel generators be increased by an additional 2.5 per cent every two years from the start date of the regulation imposing the additional levy.�

It further said: “We propose that the regulation provides for a transition period of three years to facilitate the switch from diesel/ petrol generators to clean energy sources for off-grid electricity generation. “The importation of generators may also be discouraged by the introduction of additional levies in the form of Import Adjustment Tax (IAT). Currently, IAT ranging from 15 per cent to 35 per cent is applicable on varying categories of generating sets. However, we propose that the IAT rate be increased to 50 per cent.� “Industries using this equip-

ment can however be exempted from these duties and taxes where certain conditions are met. The conditions can take account of the location of the industry in comparison to available grid power/gas or the viability of renewable energy in the particular context,� it added while stating that the proposed increase in import duties on generators will not apply to generating sets powered by clean energy sources such as gas, solar, wind and hybrid generating sets.

All On also explained that it wanted Nigeria to introduce Value Added Tax (VAT) exemptions on qualified goods and services deployed for generating off-grid energy. “We recommend that all renewable energy equipment used in the generation of off-grid electricity should be exempted from the payment of import duties,� it stated while listing

such equipment to include any capacity of Photovoltaic (PV) panels for power generation; control systems for PV panels and renewable energy powered generators working with direct current; hydroelectric generators; static DC to alternating current (AC) converters for PV systems; inverter batteries; DC electronic equipment for use with PV panels, wind and hydro generators; materials used in building equipment for renewable energy use; measuring instruments related to renewable energy variables, such as: temperature gauges, pressure gauges, solar radiation meters; as well as smart meters.

To implement this, it suggested that the minister of finance could by a gazette, exempt certain these items from VAT, adding that some of these incentives have been used to encourage the development of other sectors in Nigeria such as the gas sector.

‘Dangote Youth Rice Project for Wealth Creation’ Jonathan Eze The creation of wealth in the grassroots as a means of stimulating Nigeria’s economy is one of the motivations behind investments by the Dangote group.

Group Executive Director and Coordinator of Dangote Rice Project, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, made this assertion while receiving in his office in Lagos, Iseyin chiefs and community leaders led by the Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Abdulganiyu Salawudeen

Adekunle, Ajinase 1.

The community leaders from Oyo State had come to show appreciation to the company over the choice of Iseyin town for the multi-million-naira youth rice farm project being undertaken by the Africa’s foremost entrepreneur, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

Edwin, said the project was a deliberate business decision to empower the youths at the grassroots bearing in mind that the youths who are more than half of Nigeria’s population are

mostly unemployed.

Edwin explained that many of the ills in the nation could be traced to youth joblessness, adding that the youth rice farm was developed to address such issues now that the federal government is diversifying the economy by upgrading the agric sector to achieve food self-sufficiency and as a major foreign exchange earner.

He stated that the Dangote Rice Youth farm was modeled after the out-grower scheme, to launch the youths back to farm

with assurance of assistance to make farming less cumbersome less stressful and profitable.

According to him, the programme was launched successfully in Kogi and Jigawa and, “it’s a pure out-grower scheme, where Dangote Rice company provides inputs like the seedlings, chemical, fertilizers, and give to the youths to prepare the land, cultivate the rice paddy which is then bought over from them by the company at the prevailing market rate.�

Responding, Oba Adekunle explained that his presence in the Dangote office in Lagos was to show appreciation and to encourage the company to increase its investments and explore other opportunities that abound in Iseyin, noting that Iseyin has arable lands that Dangote Rice would find very irresistible.

For the rice investment gesture, the monarch conferred on Edwin, the traditional title of Seluro of Iseyin as a token of appreciation.

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BUSINESSWORLD

ENERGY

Ibrahim: Renewable Energy Has Huge Potential for Job Creation The Managing Director, Proserve Energy Services Limited, Dr. Abbah Ibrahim, who left the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission as a commissioner in 2015, in this interview with Adedayo Akinwale, says the myths built around the cost of deploying solar-based electricity solutions to different applications are now being broken, especially as his firm prepares to deploy a 750 kilowatts solar photovoltaic system to the headquarters of the ministry of power in Abuja. He recently signed a 10-year concession deal to that effect with the federal government. Excerpts:

Y

sector and the economy will stand to benefit with the adoption of renewable energy technology in Nigeria. The myth about costs of solar power has been busted with the ‘levelised cost of electricity’ (LCOE) for solar power generation is as competitive today as with the thermal power plants, and far cheaper than diesel generator. My prediction is that we are in a period where we are going to see a lot of renewable energy from solar being harnessed and brought into the overall energy mix in Nigeria. As for now, we are heavily skewed towards thermal power generation sources. Only recently, we had shortage of gas supply to the thermal plants, these situations can be forestalled, if we had a balanced energy mix from various generation sources, especially renewable energy.

ou’re deploying a 750 kilowatts (KW) hybrid, grid-connected solar system here, what does this entail?

We are privileged to be undertaking this pilot concession of a hybrid solar project for the Power House, the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. It is a model that has been developed by the ministry to showcase a win-win for all the stakeholders involved in the power supply value chain. This model falls within what is termed Commercial and Industrial (C&I) PV solar hybrid, and the beauty of it is in the optimised efficiency of the system, where excess power is sent to AEDC’s distribution network via a net metering platform. The ministry conceived the project and it was graciously approved by the Federal Executive Council in October 2018. We are working hard together with the team at the ministry under the minister’s lead to achieve financial close very soon, with the target of achieving Commercial Operation Date (COD) before the end of this year.

How much of stability is this expected to give to the building in terms of supply?

It is a unique and optimised solution, designed specifically for the ‘Power House’ that is enabled by technology that will provide high quality uninterrupted power supply to the building for 24 hours a day throughout the year. It is a 750KW peak day time and 75KW peak night time system and it is a hybrid that encompasses a combination of PV solar, batteries, diesel generator and power from the grid.

Essentially, power will be taken from the grid when needed and power will be pushed to the grid when there is excess from the system. For example, on weekends and during public holidays, the solar panels on the roof tops and car ports will still be generating electricity with the offices obviously shut thus creating excess power.

I understand the local Disco is in the middle of this pact?

We signed a 10-year tri-partite Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the ministry and AEDC (Abuja Disco) as signatories as well.

There is also a 10-year concession agreement under the supervision of ICRC (Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission). It is not a novelty, as this has been deployed in other parts of the world, but it is the first net metering technology to be tested here.

Ibrahim

We are also working closely with both the NERC and AEDC to learn from the project and provide some insights for NERC to develop a regulatory framework that will ease replication. The system has been optimised to determine intelligently when to take power from the solar modules, the battery storage, the grid or when to take power from the generator. It is a green project and minimises as much as possible power sourced from the generator, that is, renewable energy dominant and economically efficient.

We look forward to replicating this in as many locations both in the public and private sectors. Some industries have adopted it mainly as a captive source, commercial banks have also been quick to see the benefits of this technology due to its cost saving potential and reliability.

Is there a timeline for the delivery of this project and if yes, what is it?

Once we achieve the financial close, they

(Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) have committed to deploying this project within six months. It is going to be a fast project and that is what makes it highly replicable and we look forward to delivering as many of this both for the public and private sector clients. We are looking forward to deploying this system as we have very strong and competent team members. Our EPC contractor, a German company assured us that the timelines within which we agreed to construct and deploy this project is feasible and on course to deliver the project.

Would jobs be created from this, and how relevant will they be?

As seen in many countries around the world, renewable energy technology has a huge potential for creating new jobs in our economy, new skills will be developed, industries and other service providers will spring up. I am confident that the power

How much of local content input will go into this project?

Due to the technology intense nature of not only renewable energy but the entire power sector, we are going to depend mostly on imported equipment and materials in the short to medium term. But the opportunity exists in the renewable energy space, we can leap frog with the right mix of policies and the continued focus by the present administration on ease of doing business and other fiscal incentives that will attract and promote investments in Nigeria. The local content policy will be leveraged upon

by Proserve Energy, to develop local skills and acquire technology as rapidly as possible.

We came together with our foreign partners and went through a competitive tender process and thankfully won the bid and we are happy to be here and part of this historic project that will be breaking new grounds and that will not only contribute its own local content quota but also support Nigeria’s commitments to the climate change pact. Multiples of this kind of project when they come to fruition can really add so much value to Nigeria, and that remains our focus.

All the stakeholders are quite enthusiastic to see that this project is successful. We must thank the ICRC for their hard work to see this project come to fruition, the ministry of power, works and housing, NERC and AEDC. A very special thanks to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) under the lead of President Muhammadu Buhari that graciously approved the project as presented by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and Minister of State, Mustapha Shehuri.

Firm Unveils New Washroom Fittings Hamid Ayodeji A bathroom solution and kitchen fittings company, Grohen, has unveiled new ceramic seats as part of its efforts to provide customers with high standard of hygiene.

The President, Grohe, Middle East Africa and East Mediterranean, Renu Misra, stated that the Grohe Manual Bidet Seat was made of sturdy Duroplast, and comes with the shower feature of a classic smart toilet or bidet.

This, it stated makes it a combined modern design with functions that leaves one feeling fresh as water is used for cleaning.

According to him, the new smart ceramic seat is attached to a WC ceramic and the seat does not require electricity because the spray is operated by a side lever powered only by water pressure, putting the control at your fingertips for an effective but gentle cleaning experience.

Misra, was quoted in a statement to have explained

that, “The durable Duroplast seat is easy to clean and can be used to quickly and easily upgrade any conventional toilet without having to replace the current ceramic or connecting it to a power source, with its slim and flat design the bidet seat fits into the bathroom and is the perfect complement to the GROHE ceramics line. “Also, operating the bidet seat is simple and efficient with the help of a side-mounted lever, two separate shower arms, one

for the ladies and a standard shower, it can be controlled. “In addition, the applied water pressure is pleasant.

Both shower arms are cleaned prior to every use and guarantee extensive hygiene throughout.�

He also disclosed that the highest level of convenience and hygiene was provided by the Sensia Arena smart toilet, due to the strength of the water pressure and position of both shower arms with the individually desired temperature and a type of

jet that can be controlled by the user.

Misra added, “The highest level of convenience and hygiene is provided by the Sensia Arena smart toilet.

The strength of the water pressure, the position of both shower arms, the individually desired temperature and the type of jet can be controlled by the user. “The Sensia Arena also offers many advantages. In addition to odour extraction, the shower arms of the allrounder among the smart

toilets are automatically cleaned before and after each use. Meanwhile, when not in use, the shower arms are safely hidden behind a removable nozzle shutter with antibacterial properties, preventing 99.9 percent of bacterial growth. “In addition to the innovative AquaCeramic coating, the rimless toilet design and the powerful triple vortex flush, the smart toilet also features a new and innovative technology for greatest possible hygiene.�

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As FG Tackles IOCs at Appeal Court Davidson Iriekpen examines why the federal government is dissatisfied with the dismissal of the two suits it filed against two multinational oil companies at the Federal High Court for underdeclaring the volume of crude oil shipped abroad

T

he federal government has given reasons why it is determined to seek justice against two International Oil Companies (IOCs) - Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NGOC) and Brasoil Services Company Nigeria, it alleged under-declared the volume of crude oil shipped abroad.

In two notices of appeal it filed at the Court of Appeal, it said the judgments were against the weight of evidence before the court.

Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court in Lagos had last Wednesday dismissed the two suits on the grounds that the government did not back its allegations against the oil companies with sufficient evidence.

The case commenced when the government, through its counsel, Prof Fabian Ajogwu, filed separate suits against Agip and Brasoil, among others, at the Federal High Court in Lagos, claiming that the oil companies had failed to fully declare crude oil shipments from Nigeria to the United States of America amounting to $55,000,000 and $54,890,000 respectively during the period of 2011 to 2013.

The suits were predicated on the forensic analysis linking the decline in crude oil export and government revenue to the alleged under-declaration of volume of crude oil shipped out of the country by the oil companies. It prayed the court to compel the oil firm to pay the $55million with an annual interest of 21 per cent, as well as $55million as exemplary damages.

During trial, the plaintiff called one witness and tendered three exhibits, while the defendant also called one witness and tendered 12 exhibits.

Three US-based experts – a US citizen and Lead Analyst at Loumos Group LLC, a technology and oil and gas auditing firm based in the US, Prof. David Olowokere; a counsel in the law firm of Henchy & Hackenberg, Jerome Stanley, and founder and Chief Executive Officer, Trade Data Services Company, State of Arizona, US, Michael Kanko deposed to supporting affidavits to the suit.

According to them, millions of barrels of crude oil were allegedly exported by the defendants and sold to buyers in the US but the companies did not make due remittance to the federal government contrary to the terms of agreement.

Agip and Brasoil denied the allegations and urged the court to dismiss the suit.

But in her verdict, Justice Olatoregun, surprisingly held that the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate the claims. She held that there was no evidence that the crude oil the defendant lifted was more than what was declared.

According to the judge, it was trite and settled law that he who asserts must prove. She held that the exhibits before her did not convincingly show a shortfall in the shipment of 949,096 barrels of crude oil lifted by a vessel, MT Cosmos. She added that the plaintiff failed to prove its case by supplying the requisite evidence, adding that the main purpose of final address is to assist the court. “While I do not have any evidence to suggest that it is impossible for the defendant to carry undeclared crude oil from Nigeria, I have no evidence to show that MT Cosmos carried the excess 500,000 barrels of crude oil with same bill of lading,� she held. “It is trite law that whoever asserts must prove that the facts exist. No amount of brilliant address can make up for a lack of evidence. The plaintiff failed to

make out a case that 500,000 barrels of crude oil was offloaded in Pennsylvania.

The case of the plaintiff fails on the lack of proof on the preponderance of evidence. “At this stage, I do not find it necessary to proceed with the evaluation of the other reliefs. I, therefore, proceed to make an order dismissing this suit; it is hereby dismissed,� the court held.

The court also dismissed a similar suit against Brasoil, seeking to recover $4.8million in alleged missing oil revenue.

But the government faulted the judgments, saying lower court erred in law when it failed to consider all relevant facts put before it and that the court erred in law when it held that the respondent had performed all its obligations in relation to the under declaration of crude oil revenue to be remitted to it.

In the appeal against Agip, the appellant wondered how the lower court arrived at the decision when it (the court) had agreed that it was possible the vessel, Cosmic, in addition to the non-contested shipment, lifted the contested-500,000 barrels of crude oil. It also said the court failed to take into consideration the fact that the defendant omitted to render proper account for crude shipment exported at its behest which resulted in huge financial losses to it.

The government averred that the lower court failed to take into consideration the fact that the defendant had intentionally neglected to properly account for all crude oil leaving the country which as a result caused financial loss as there was an under-declaration of the value of crude oil lifted and exported which led to significant decline in crude oil revenue generated by it.

It further stated that the court failed to take into cognisance, the evidence of its sole witness relating to discrepancies in crude shipment reviewed in the Pre-Shipment Inspection Report (PIR) as contained in the records obtained from the United States and the court did not take into cognisance the fact that the defendant, under the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is required to make full declaration of the details (quantity, quality, mode,

buyer, port of destination, and vessel) of its crude oil shipments/exploration, including accounting records of such prior to exporting same.

It also accused the lower court of not taking into cognisance the fact that the crude oil shipments by the defendant to Philadelphia Energy Solutions of 1735 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, USA and ENI Trading & Shipping B.V. of Strawinskylaan 1641- Tower C/16 1077 XX Amsterdam, the Netherlands show a cumulative non-declaration of a total of 500,000 barrels of crude oil in the total value of USD55,000,000 as revenues/ debts due to the appellant from the undeclared sale of its crude oil.

The government was of the opinion that in line with established principles of law, there must be a crucial appraisal and evaluation of all evidence brought before the court.

In the notice of appeal against Brasoil Services Company Nigeria, the government stated that the lower court erred in law when it dismissed and held, “I am satisfied that the Oversea Rebecca did not lift the 499,000 barrels of crude oil from Nigeria and therefore has no responsibility to declare it,� and yet held that it did not proved its case against the respondent.

It added that the court erroneously relied on Exhibit D-D6 to hold that the MT Nikator lightered some of its crude into the Oversea Rebecca and failed to take into cognisance the consistent evidence of PW1 that the defence of lightering was absurd as the Port of Houston was more than large enough to accommodate the laden MT Nikator.

It also averred that the court failed to take into cognisance that PW1 evidence showed that the MT Nikator has a draft/ draught that can be accommodated at the Port of Houston and discharged of its cargo without lightering.

It contended that the court failed to take into consideration the fact that the respondent had intentionally neglected to properly account for all crude oil leaving the country which as a result, caused financial loss to the federal government as there was an under-declaration of the value of crude oil lifted and exported

which led to significant decline in crude oil revenue generated by it.

It also stated that the court did not take into cognisance the evidence of the its witness (PW2) wherein he maintained that any shipment which is not contained in the PIR creates a discrepancy and the records in the United States showed that vessel by the name “Overseas Rebecca� discharged shipment from Nigeria which was not declared in the PIR. It further that the lower court failed to take cognisance of the fact that the respondent admits that the volume of the missing crude is about 499,000 barrels and that there is a consensus between it and the respondent that the ‘Overseas Rebecca’ was carrying and indeed, discharged Nigeria Akno crude at the port Houston which is clear from Paragraph 15 of the respondent’s amended statement of defence and as shown in Line 82 of Exhibit B tendered by it.

The government contended that in holding that the appellant has not adduced sufficient evidence to prove its case failed to consider the fact that the respondent has not in its amended statement of defence controverted, denied or impugned the validity the evidence of the appellant as contained in Exhibits A — A6 and Exhibit B, adding that the respondent during cross-examination of PW2, validated the correctness and validity of Exhibit B, but lamely tried to show that the crude on-board the Overseas Rebecca was not received in Nigeria, not that it was not Nigerian crude.

Arguing that it is trite law that an uncontroverted evidence of a party is deemed established in a case, the appellant cited the case of the Nigerian Army Council & Anor V. Erhabor (2018) LPELR-44958 where it was held that, “It is an established principle of law that, a court is entitled to accept and/or act upon unchallenged and uncontroverted evidence. The evidence adduced by the respondent, having not been controverted is deemed established.�

Many observers are waiting to see how the Court of Appeal will handle the appeal which borders more on national interest.

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T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻÍ˛Ëœ Ͱ͎ͯ͡

Umeh: FG Must Encourage Competition in Power Sector The Chief Executive Officer, Century Power Generation, Chukwueloka Umeh, in this interview with Jonathan Eze, advises the country against supporting nuclear plants. He also speaks on other issues in the power sector. Excerpts:

D

o you think the unbundling of the power sector was a mistake by the government as Nigerians are yet to reap the beneďŹ ts?

The government did a very good job in unbundling the industry. However, these licensees will profit from the government deregulating the market even more. Think about it. You already own the assets. All you need to do is optimise your asset. Invest money to optimise your market to your assets. And with that investment, you will be able to make more money at the end of the day. Even though competition is coming, you’ll still be able to make money and I said to private companies today they’re currently issued. Currently, there’s no competition. We are all partners right now because we’re seeing that Nigeria needs 20 gigawatts. Nigeria doesn’t need to integrate.

You probably need about 60 gigawatts. I mean South Africa has a fraction of the population that Nigeria has, but South Africa currently produces about 50,000 megawatts of power and is still not enough. Nigeria has a population of 180 million at least and every month we produce less than 4,000 megawatts of power. So as far as I’m concerned there’s no competition. We’re not competitors. Where we should all be partners.

There’s a lot to go around and year in year out we will be struggling to meet the demand. But the problem is that you don’t really seem to see the demand because every Nigerian that can afford it has a generator on their own. So you don’t really know what the real demand in Nigeria is. When MTN came to Nigeria they thought that 500,000 lines were too much but now it is still struggling to meet the demand just like every other cellphone company. When private GENCOS and private Discos start working properly, they will struggle for many years to come to meet the demand and this is real.

This is not speculating, this is real. A lot of us today generate our own power and pay a much higher tariff than what we can get from the grid system.

Banks are careful to support the industry due to risks. What do you think should be done to make banks invest in the sector?

So there used to be a lot more excitement in the industry from the banks and the private investors.

There’s still a level of excitement because they know it’s a matter of time for us to get it right.

Again we’ve been talking about the potential of Nigeria. We must move from potential to reality.

Private citizens, private companies are starting to understand that this industry can actually work. So they are asking for the industry to work. Government is under increasing pressure to allow the industry work, so the banks know that this will happen. And so they’re gearing up to make sure it does happen. And when it happens that they have a piece of the pie, so they’re not rushing to give money to you, but they’re saying, ‘let’s see the government do what it needs to do and then we’ll give you money to make sure that we don’t lose money gambling.’ Nobody wants to lose money, so we’re waiting for the government to do some of the things it needs to do to make the industry work.

Is Nigeria ripe for nuclear power?

I don’t think Nigeria should be looking at nuclear energy at this point. You know we should focus on what we have an abundance of, which is natural gas. It’s clean, it’s efficient.

We should focus on natural gas where it is doing some hydro plants. Keep doing what you’re doing in hydro. There a lot of people that are trying to do renewables. There is a place for a small quantity or small amount of renewables in the country. They should do that. Nobody should talk about nuclear right now because for nuclear plants, you have to do them carefully. And the potential problems that you can have from nuclear plants is not something that Nigeria can handle at this point.

We’re not set up to handle that. You saw what has happened in Japan. You know when they

Umeh had the nuclear disaster inflicted. There was a big problem. We can’t afford that in Nigeria and we’re currently not set up to do that. So we should stay very far away from nuclear power as a country. Gas is easily done. It’s much more easily done. Companies are flaring gas today. We should capture the flares, right. And we should drill associated gas wells and produce a lot of gas. That’s what should be our focus today not nuclear. We’re many years away from nuclear.

The installed capacity in Nigeria today is more than what is being distributed, which has remained a challenge. How do you think this can be addressed?

The reason we are not distributing as much as the installed capacity is because the value chain is broken. So when we have over 12 gigawatts of installed capacity. That just means the capacity of all the power plants that currently exist in the country. However, some of those pipelines are so old that install capacity is not really there.

Then you have plants that were built by the government but do you have gas coming to them? How do you run a plant without gas? You have plants that were built by the government that has gas, but don’t have enough transmission infrastructure to evacuate the power. You can’t evacuate the power that’s part of the problem.

And then you have distribution networks that were sold to private investors. You know these investors put in their money to buy these networks from the government however at the time that they were sold, the government gave numbers that they thought was the Aggregated Technical Commercial and Collection Losses (ATCCL). Look, generating companies need to be able to charge a tariff that allows them to generate power by gas and the government should not be telling private companies this was what they should charge and then competition should be what drives the price down, drives tariffs down. Let the Gencos compete amongst themselves, likewise the Discos. Market forces will drive down prices, just like it happened with the deregulation of the telecoms sector. So the government simply needs to create an enabling environment and then step out of the way to let private companies compete for business. They believe that they’re helping the masses by fixing prices. In reality they are not. So, the people lose, but if the Disco charges you 14 kilowatts per hour for example and they provide you power 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you will be happier and healthier paying that money. It will give you

stable power. Yes, that is what will provide stable power in this country. When you let a company like Century power produce power and sell the power at a tariff, a cost reflective tariff that allows them to make their money back, which allows them to pay for the gas that they buy. Guess what? Century power will be able to run that plant 24 hours a day, seven days a week and oh, by the way, I should be allowed to sell that power to any DISCO. So whoever is paying I should be allowed to sell it to them at the price that I know that I will make my money back and if my price is too high then maybe a competitor with lower price.

Let it generate and sell to them, let us compete.

That is only when you will get stable power in this country. The government should not be the one telling us how much to sell our power because you know it would never be a question of capacity anymore because guess what, by the time I find that I’m selling all and it’s five megahertz that I produce and the people asking for more, I will produce a thousand megawatts, when they need more I produce it. It’s business.

Why is CPG in business of generating power and how can the power sector work without the hiccups it has been witnessing?

Since its inception, Century Power realised that for it to achieve its goal of helping to develop the country, we need to get involved in not just generation of power but also several other parts of the value chain in the power industry.

Our focus is on gas-fired power plants. There are many others we could talk about – nuclear, we could talk about coal-fired, and we can talk about hydroelectricity. We can talk about renewables like wind and solar but I’m going to focus only on gas-fired today because Nigeria has the world’s ninth largest proven reserves of natural gas. So the value chain for this starts with gas production, if we produce gas then it goes to gas transportation through the pipelines that we have today. And then you get on to generating the electricity. You’ve got to transmit the electricity over the transmission lines currently owned by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

TCN then transmits the power to the respective distribution companies that eventually deliver the power to our homes. So you’ve seen that energy flows from gas producers all the way to the electricity distributor and then the money flows from this distribution backwards. They collect the money and then they pay the gas transporter and then they pay the gas producer.

The entire value chain must work for the energy industry to work. And Nigeria has been blessed.

So again when you think of the family living by the river, the river, in this case, the water, in this case, is natural gas. Natural gas is one of the cleanest fossil fuels that you can use to produce electricity and other countries use this to develop themselves. We have it in abundance but we’re not using it. This has to change and that’s why I said it is by getting involved in several aspects of the value chain so as the CEO of Century power, we know we have to get involved in the transmission, so we’re upgrading the transmission line from Century power to the closer substation. We have an agreement with the government to do this upgrade. We are also now involved in developing a gas pipeline that would transport gas to send to you and we are going back even further to work with a company that will produce the gas to make sure that they produce the gas in the quantity needed and then the timeline that is needed. So, as you can see I wear several hats and we’re very busy.

But the whole idea is that this industry must work. You can move away from danger and go elsewhere but it’s the wrong thing to do. I lived in America for many years. I worked for General Electric in the US for many years developing gas turbine engines both for airplanes and for power generation. The easy thing for me to do would have been to stay in America and keep enjoying the infrastructure and keep enjoying the dollars that I’m being paid. The hard thing to do was to come back here and help fix the problem and that’s why a lot of us are here.

When is Century power going to deliver on its ambition to develop a 1500MW of electricity in Okija, Anambra and will it meet its deadline?

Our current schedule shows that the project coming online by the second/third quarter of 2022. Now, that is assuming that we can get to financial close by the first quarter of 2020, and for us to get to financial close, there are several things that the government needs to do. There are several critical documents that they have to approve and you know things have changed in the government. You know the will seems to still be there. Several of the people in the regulatory bodies are different. Several people have changed and any time there’s a change, you need to bring the new people up to speed and justify why things have to be done in a certain way. This is what causes a lot of delays. I mean the government has to do what they do. You know people have to change every now and then so that’s understandable. However, what we ask is that the learnings that were achieved by people in office should not be lost whenever there’s a change in the office. And if the learnings are lost which we’ve seen happen several times, it’s almost like we’re restarting again. So you have to restart over and over and over again and you have to keep paying your consultants to do the same thing over and over. So we are pushing for the government not to lose some of the things they’ve gained. Don’t get me wrong, some of the people, some of the regulators are very intelligent people. Some of them are very capable, they’ve very smart lawyers, they’ve very some very smart engineers, some very smart economists. You know when you talk to them and see they understand the industry; some know what needs to be done. However, for them to do the job, there are certain things that the government needs to put in place, certain things the Minister of Finance has to agree to, certain agreements that the Minister of Justice has to approve and so on and so forth. So for us to get the financial close by the first part of next year which was shown on our schedule, some of these documents need to be signed in a timely fashion. And the government has to be in support. Otherwise, we can’t achieve this and what happens is the people continue to suffer because, at the end of the day, it is the people that the government wants to protect are the ones that still get to suffer at the end of the day.

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T H I S D AY Ëž TUESDAY MAY 14, 2019

PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT Supply, Demand Factors Stall Housing Development in Nigeria, Says Confab Bennett Oghifo The much debated deficit of 17-22 million housing units in the country may not close any time soon, because of several supply and demand issues, according to participants at a forum organised by Fine and Country West Africa, recently.

They believe the challenge faced by the housing sector in Nigeria is on the rise on account of unfavorable land laws, difficulty in land registration and titling, the dearth of construction finance, restricting tenors of mortgage banks and general sector illiquidity.

They recommended the development of Tiny Houses, as done in some developed countries, as a sure way out

of the challenge of increasing homelessness.

Those who recommended this system said, “The tiny house movement reflects people’s growing desire for smaller and simpler living spaces. Tiny houses are designed to minimise the impact on the environment and reduce society’s excessive resources consumption. “The tiny home focuses on providing for strict functionalities for a house and ensures people are able to live healthily and be included in the society.�

Another component of the challenge, noted by Builders, is the dearth of artisans like Carpenters, Bricklayers/ Masons, Painters, Electricians, Tilers, among others. Builders believe young Nigerians shy

away from technical colleges because of stigma.

This reason is also presented by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) of the United States, said it “is attempting to change the stigma of working in the trades by increasing awareness to teens and parents, and providing them with education and the skills they need to succeed.�

In a related development, the construction industry is witnessing the use of drones for guidance.

Surveillance As drones become more and more popular in construction, it seems as though they are slowly replacing traditional land-surveillance methods.

More companies are opening

their minds to the idea of this advanced way of monitoring the whole job site at once.

Drones can easily show your client the progress of the project in real time whether it be the progress of the building, renovations, or inspections. This makes tedious commutes to the job site for your client a thing of the past.

Drones can even help with construction projects that haven’t started yet. Designers and architects can now get an accurate idea of what the site looks like and measure how much space they have for their project. Drones can fly for roughly 30 minutes before the battery is completely drained. In that time the machine can easily collect up to 30 gigabytes of photos which is more than enough to get an

accurate reading of the site. “If you look at surveys done five years ago and even today, it would take two weeks to gather 500 points of date, and you would give a report within a week or two,� said EL-Moursi, the general manager of construction and facilities management at PrecisionHawk in Raleigh, North Carolina, “A drone can get about 2 million points in about 30 minutes, and give a report within 48 hours.�

Labour Adapting drones into the construction industry not only helps improve surveying techniques but also lessens the amount of labor and time needed to create accurate surveys. Drones also lessen the risk of human

errors and capture crucial data in a fraction of the time as traditional methods.

One of the main jobs of any project manager is to keep your workers productive. Energy levels of workers will understandably range and change day to day, sometimes even hour by hour, but with the help of drones you can monitor overall productivity. Drones can also help with equipment inventory, whether it gets damaged on the site and how, or if any equipment goes missing or gets damaged.

Drones can be used for a variety of different things throughout the construction industry. Survey your job site or your workers and even integrate it with software your company may already be using.

InďŹ nity Mortgage Pitches for Diaspora Funds for Nigeria’s Built Sector

L- R: Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi; Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi; and Board Chairman, FRSC, Bukhari Bello, during the commissioning of access road and new oďŹƒce complex of Ebonyi state sector command in Abakaliki‌ recently

A Million Species Threatened with Extinction, Humanity in Peril, Says Report It’s often described as the “IPCC have been significantly altered by Fadekemi Ajakaiye

for biodiversity�.

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has called on the Federal Government and all Nigerians to rise up and tackle environmental challenges headlong to avoid the nation running into catastrophe.

According to a statement by the Director General, NCF, Dr. Muhtari Aminu-Kano, the Intergovernmental SciencePolicy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) recently released a statement titled “Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’ Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’� revealed that Nature is declining globally at an unprecedented rate in human history and the scale of species extinctions has grave impacts on people around the world.

IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising more than 130 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policy makers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding of the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and their contributions to people.

Some of the findings in the IPBES report are: r "SPVOE POF NJMMJPO BOJNBM and plant species are now threatened with extinction. r 5IF BWFSBHF BCVOEBODF of native species in most major land-based habitats has fallen by at least 20%, mostly since 1900.

More than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33% of reef forming corals and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened. An estimated, 10% of insect species are being threatened.

At least 680 vertebrate species had been driven to extinction. More than 9% of all domesticated breeds of mammals used for food and agriculture had become extinct by 2016, with at least 1,000 more breeds still threatened. r i&DPTZTUFNT TQFDJFT XJME populations, local varieties and breeds of domesticated plants and animals are shrinking, deteriorating or vanishing. The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed. r 5ISFF RVBSUFST PG UIF MBOE based environment and about 66% of the marine environment

human actions. On average these trends have been less severe or avoided in areas held or managed

by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. r .PSF UIBO B UIJSE PG UIF world’s land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production. r 5IF WBMVF PG BHSJDVMUVSBM crop production has increased by about 300% since 1970, raw timber harvest has risen by 45% and approximately 60 billion tons of renewable and nonrenewable resources are now extracted globally every year – having nearly doubled since 1980. r -BOE EFHSBEBUJPO IBT reduced the productivity of 23% of the global land surface, up to US$577 billion in annual global crops are at risk from pollinator loss and 100-300 million people are at increased risk of floods and hurricanes because of loss of coastal habitats and protection. r *O PG NBSJOF à TI stocks were being harvested at unsustainable levels; 60% were maximally sustainably fished, with just 7% harvested at levels lower than what can be sustainably fished.

Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank Plc. (ITMB), a player in Nigeria’s mortgage and housing finance market, has moved to Nigerians in the diaspora long-term diaspora mortgages.

The bank rolled out its services to the diaspora market at the just concluded Africa trade expo/ conference, which held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Houston, United States of America.

The company’s spokesperson, Ms. Remi Apatira said the conference sensitized Nigerians in the diaspora on the guidelines and payment mechanism for accessing diaspora mortgages, while creating the necessary awareness and required knowledge for such mortgages, adding that will also feature the unveiling of the Uniform underwriting standards for diaspora mortgages.

According to her, the standards which was recently approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as guidelines for

long term diaspora mortgages, is being deployed through the Mortgage Banks Association of Nigeria (MBAN); Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Comp-any PLC (NMRC) and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

The guidelines as well as the newly deployed mortgage Loans repayment/collection mechanism, would create access by Nigerians living in the diaspora to mortgages of up to 20 year tenor from mortgage lending banks in Nigeria to buy their homes.

She said ITMB’s booth attended to inquiries from participants and provide on the spot information on, credible steps to having access to finance home ownership in Nigeria as well as owning a property for investment; access to mortgage facilities, while showcasing housing stock developed in partnership with Real Estate Developers.

Propertymart Restates Commitment to Quality, Delivery on Cityview Estate, Others Propertymart Real Estate Investment Limited has assured prospective home owners that it is committed to timely delivery of quality houses at its Cityview Estate, Arepo in Ogun State, as well as other ongoing home ownership projects across Nigeria.

Specifically, the firm assured investors that all ongoing housing units would be completed and handed over to them before the end of 2019.

Managing Director, Deji Fasunwon, while speaking about the company’s milestones, disclosed that Propertymart has delivered over 85 per cent of houses across all its housing projects in key cities and towns in Nigeria. “Propertymart is a significant player in the Nigeria’s real estate sector, and since 2008 we have provided real estate solutions in Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Our key housing projects include Cityview Estate, Arepo; Edensville Estate, Simawa; Fairmont Apartment, Lekki; and Fairmont Hilltop, Alagbado amongst others,� he said.

Fasunwon commended clients for their patience and assured that the company was focussed

on its mission of assisting Nigerians to achieve their dreams of becoming home owners.

He explained that though Propertymart, like many businesses, experienced the harsh operating environment occasioned by the 2016 economic recession, it has consistently looked inwards and innovatively devised ways to achieve its objectives of ensuring client satisfaction. “As a company with integrity, the management refused to do what an average real estate company in such situation would do; like asking its customers to come and pay more for the houses they had subscribed to, or refund the monies received from customers. The company believed that of more importance is the achievement of the dreams of its customers irrespective of the challenges of the times. Rather than the company exploring the easy way out, it decided to ensure whatever it took to deliver properties subscribed to by its customers. “One major step taken by the company was to dispose of some of its stock trade meant to be reserved for profit in the future.

These included plots of land in prime locations in some of its

estates and also some of its other properties. Efforts are yielding good results as it has resulted in delivering properties to customers. The company is constrained to work with only a few reliable and trusted contractors to ensure quality to its customers. The effect of this delay, expectedly, led to dissatisfaction of many of the customers who had subscribed to different products and were expecting delivery of same,� he stated.

Fasunwon added that rather than introduce new housing estates during the recession period, Propertymart focused on achieving delivery of most of its backlogs. He said, “This has been productive as 136 units of houses were delivered in the first quarter of 2019 and another 138 units are expected to be completed and delivered at different times in the second quarter. It is expected that all remaining housing units will be delivered before the end of the last quarter of 2019. It is noteworthy that over 85% of houses due for delivery have already been delivered across all projects while over 90% of serviced plots sold have also been allocated.�

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

14.05.2019

NBA-SLP: WE ARE BACK!

L-R: Ondo State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Olanrewaju Akeredolu, Oyo State Governor-Elect, Mr. Seyi Makinde, NBA President, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, Hon. Kayode Ariwoola, JSC, Chairman, NBA-SLP, Mrs. Mia Essien, SAN, Chairman, NBA-SLP CPC, Mr. Ayodele Akintunde, SAN, Alternate Chairman, NBA-SLP CPC, Mrs. Folashade Alli and Ondo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adekola A. Olawoye, SAN, during the NBA-SLP 2019 Annual Conference in Ondo State

2/DASHBOARD

14.05.2019

Contemnor relying on Contemptuous Acts of an Adversary for his Benefit PAGE 4

Lagos CJ Commissions Training Institute for Judiciary Workers PAGE 5

Gov. Bello’s Posture Affecting Courts’ Full Resumption in Kogi PAGE 5

QUOTABLES ‘We must work with the Federal Government, to make broad band infrastructure available all over the country, so our young people anywhere in the country, can do the jobs from anywhere in the world.’

– Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, Professor of Law, Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria

HRM Oba David Victor Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi lll, CFR, Olowo of Owo, (1941-2019) PAGE 6

‘This is the only State, where Government has not assisted us to fight insecurity. But, my happiness is that, it has spread all over the country now....Instead of us to team up and fight together, everything is politicised.’

– Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON, Lawyer, Life Bencher, Governor of Rivers State

‘Specialisation and Innovation are Indispensable in Law Practice’ PAGE 6

COLUMNISTS DR. MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN, OFR, FCIARB, PH.D, LL.D Constitutional Democracy, means a system of government, in which political and governmental power, is defined, limited and shared by a grundnorm called the Constitution, which provides inbuilt checks and balances.

This column seeks to fiercely discuss constitutional, legal and political issues, with a view to strengthening, deepening and widening the plenitude and amplitude of democracy and good governance, without fear or favour.

The writer of this column, Dr. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, is a Constitutional Lawyer, Human Rights Activist, Pro-Democracy Campaigner, Notary Public and Motivational Speaker.

He co-founded the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Nigeria's pioneer human rights league, on October 15,1987, the Universal Defenders of Democracy (UDD), in 1992, and with Chief Gani Fawehinmi and others in 1998, the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON), to push out the military. In his early days, he lectured at the University of Ife. Dr. Ozekhome is an author of many books. He is also a Special Counsel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), at The Hague.

ABUBAKAR D. SANI Abubakar D. Sani holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Maiduguri, and has been in active private legal practice since he was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987.He is the Principal of Abubakar D. Sani & Co., which has offices in Abuja and Kano. " INSIGHT" aims to unravel, analyse and proffer solutions to numerous anomalies in Nigerian law and practice, particularly statutes, vis-a-vis the Constitution, International Treaties and Conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory, Judicial Precedent and other relevant statutes and issues.

ONIKEPO BRAITHWAITE EDITOR JUDE IGBANOI DEPUTY EDITOR AKINWALE AKINTUNDE REPORTER TUNDE BUSARI GROUP HEAD OCHI OGBUAKU II ART DIRECTOR

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UNGA Presidency: Should the Blind lead the Two-Eyed?

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Nigeria: Next President of UNGA? o many things are happening in our country today, which leave me not knowing how to react, whether to laugh or cry.

When I heard that Nigeria is vying for the post of President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), I couldn’t help but snicker and snigger. I was both amused and bemused, at the same time. The United Nations (UN) was founded “in 1945 after the World War II by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security.... and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights”, many values which our dear country Nigeria, does not seem to care to uphold! So what, if the position has been zoned to Africa? I do not mean to sound unpatriotic - far from it – I’m just being realistic. There are 54 countries that make up the continent of Africa, and Nigeria is just one of them.

Curiously, it seems that the state of your nation and the status of these afore-mentioned key values within it, which the UN is committed to improving, may not be the criteria for the making the choice of who will be President of UNGA. Lobbying and Campaigning, which is Nigeria’s forte, seem to be the touchstone.

Equality UNGA is one of the six main organs of the UN, and the only one in which all the member States, have equal representation – “one nation, one vote”. This is the first point where Nigeria is at variance with UNGA, because the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)(the Constitution), the unfair document, a creation of the military, which governs us, is skewed in favour of the Northern zone of the country (where most of the top military brass at the time, hailed from), giving them more States than the other zones, and consequently, more representation in Government and the National Assembly, over and above the others. Unfortunately, the provisions of Sections 8 & 9(3) of the Constitution, make it almost impossible for the zones with less number of States, to create more, to achieve an equal balance (well, this is a discussion for another day, as there exists a school of thought that, if anything, Nigeria requires less number of States, not more, since most of the States are not viable under the present arrangement).

Peace and Security Presently, several parts of the country, have become anything but peaceful and secure, with Kaduna and Zamfara States, now in a worse situation than the Middle Belt. We are all aware that, by and large, the world has become a more violent and insecure place, but we don’t hear high ranking officials of the UN, an Organisation which is committed to promoting international peace and security, making inflammatory remarks likely to spark off more violence, like our Minister of Interior, who asked States that had promulgated various anti- open grazing laws to protect the lives and property of their citizens, to suspend the laws, more or less, because they did not go down well with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association! Meanwhile, a case in focus is Benue State, where many went as far as comparing the Herdsmen killings there, to genocide.

The Northern parts of Nigeria, have been ravaged with incessant violence and insecurity, with the nefarious activities of the Boko Haram insurgents, Fulani Herdsmen attacks on farmers, community clashes, kidnapping and armed robbery, so much so that those travelling on the Kaduna-Abuja route, rich and poor, no longer make the journey by road, for fear of attacks, and the train station is now besieged and overwhelmed with a superabundance of passengers.

Isn’t it laughable, that a country that has failed or neglected to fulfil its constitutional obligation to provide internal security for her citizens, to the extent that many have been

constrained to flee from their homes and take refuge in IDP camps for periods of times, that in some cases, have amounted to years, seeks to be in the forefront of policy making with regard to international security? As the saying goes, “charity begins at home!”

Better Living Standards Better living standards, is another ideal, that the UN is committed to. Sadly, over the years, the standard of living of Nigerians, has dropped drastically, instead of improving.

Or rather, improvements in standards of living, have only been enjoyed by Politicians and Government officials, while majority of Nigerians live in abject poverty. Recently, embarrassingly, Nigeria was downgraded to the “poverty capital of the world”. Or can Government doling out N5,000 monthly to a handful of people identified as being the poorest of the poor, be adequate enough to be classified as promoting social progress and better living standards?

Human Rights Human rights? Another great love of the UN. Now that Nigeria has Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), we have our own local refugees. Regrettably, the IDP camps themselves have become danger zones, where the security agencies are facing several allegations of sexual misconduct against female IDPs, while camp officials stand accused of exchanging items like food and other ‘essential commodities’ which are meant to be provided free of charge to the helpless IDPs, in return for sexual favours.

The living conditions in the IDP camps, are apparently, deplorable, with HIV and other communicable diseases, said to be on the rise.

Shockingly, the Police whose constitutional mandate is to protect the lives and property of Nigerians, instead, is currently embroiled in a new scandal in Abuja, where nightclubs were raided, and women present were arrested on the accusation of being commercial sex workers. One of the ridiculous reasons given for labelling these ladies as commercial

UNGA President, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés

sex workers, was that some of them were dressed provocatively! It seems that, the men present were not arrested, when it goes without saying that, if the women were arrested for prostitution, the men present should have also been arrested for soliciting/ procuring the services of prostitutes. Some of the women that were arrested, subsequently accused Policemen of raping them while in custody, in exchange for their freedom. The Penal Code which is applicable in Abuja, prohibits prostitution and provides for one month imprisonment on conviction for the offence. However, Human Rights activists, have condemned this action of the Police, as gender discrimination against women, and a breach of fundamental human rights of the right to dignity of a human person, right to personal liberty, freedom of movement and association, contrary to Sections 42(1)(a), 34(1)(a), 35(1), 41(1) and 40 of the Constitution respectively.

Some are of the firm belief that, our performance in the human rights area, is less than satisfactory for various reasons, including but not limited to, things like, Government trying to clamp down on freedom of the press (contrary to Section 39(1) of the Constitution); refusing to release people who have been granted bail multiple times by courts of competent jurisdiction, and remanding them in custody for years (contrary to Section 35 of the Constitution); restraining people from carrying out peaceful protests (contrary to Sections 38(1) and 40 of the Constitution), once they are considered to be anti-Government, and a general disregard for the rule of law.

Children and Health The UN is passionate about children, about their rights, their health and their education. Nigeria is not. Presently, we have the highest number of out of school children that we have ever had, plus a high infant mortality rate. Our budget allocation for education, is extremely low.

The UN is concerned with international public health, as a result of which the World

ONIKEPO BRAITHWAITE

THE ADVOCATE onikepo.braithwaite@thisdaylive.com onikepob@yahoo.com

“THE UN IS PASSIONATE ABOUT CHILDREN, ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS, THEIR HEALTH AND THEIR EDUCATION. NIGERIA IS NOT.... THE CONDITION OF OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, IS SHAMEFUL AND INEXCUSABLE – PRESIDENT BUHARI CAN BEAR WITNESS TO THAT, SINCE HE PREFERS TO GO TO THE UK REGULARLY FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT, INSTEAD OF RISKING HIS LIFE IN OUR FILTHY, ILLEQUIPPED HOSPITALS IN NIGERIA” Health Organisation (WHO), a specialised agency of the UN, was established in 1948, with “a primary role to direct international health within the UN’s system and to lead partners in global health responses”. Obviously, Nigeria cannot be one of those partners, since the condition of our health care system, is shameful and inexcusable – President Buhari can bear witness to that, since he prefers to go to the UK regularly for medical treatment, instead of risking his life in our filthy, illequipped hospitals in Nigeria. This is not to say that President Buhari’s administration is solely to blame, for the disgraceful state of our health care system. No, it is not. It is the collective fault of successive governments, who have failed to fulfil their constitutional obligation to provide adequate healthcare for Nigerians, in accordance to Section 17(3) (d) of the Constitution. Again, the budget allocation for health, is ridiculously low.

All in all, it seems that most of the ideals which the UN holds dear and is committed to achieving, lamentably, do not rank very high on Nigeria’s list of priorities. As we say in Nigerian parlance, it therefore, sounds “one kind” (funny, bizarre), that we seek to lead an Organisation (UNGA), which to all intents and purposes, stands for most of what we do not. Maybe we should look on the bright side - assuming this new role as President of UNGA, may wake the Nigerian Government up to its responsibilities in these key areas, and spur us on to “lead by example”. I hope so, because, apparently, Nigeria stands a good chance of securing the position. Best of luck!

4/LAW REPORT

14.05.2019

Contemnor relying on Contemptuous Acts of an Adversary for his Benefit

T Facts

he Appellant is the owner of the fishing trawler MFV “Kulak-VII”, while the 1st Respondent is a motor ship belonging to the 2nd Respondent. While the 1st Respondent was towing a barge “Kris one” from PortHarcourt to Lagos, it broke down due to engine failure. The Captain of the 1st Respondent requested for the emergency assistance of MFV Kulak-VII, which was fishing within the vicinity of the area. The vessel immediately suspended its fishing operations and undertook to salvage the 1st Respondent and the Barge, towing them safely to Lagos water. The Captain and the Managing Director of the 2nd Respondent acknowledged the services rendered by the Appellant, and by a letter dated 2nd July, 2004, the Appellant demanded the sum of N5,000,000.00 for its services, which the Respondents failed to pay.

Consequent upon the foregoing, the Appellant filed an action against the Respondents, claiming the sum of N5,000,000.00 for the salvage. The Appellant thereafter, filed a Motion Ex-parte for the detention of the 1st Respondent. The court however, ordered the Appellant to file an undertaking as to damages, as well as an indemnity for the Admiralty Marshal’s expenses in the sum of N100,000.00 weekly, during which the 1st Respondent remained under arrest.

The warrant was issued to detain the 1st Respondent, pending the provision of a satisfactory bank guarantee to be issued in the sum claimed as remuneration for salvage, and N750,000.00 as costs of the action. In reaction, the Respondents filed a motion seeking unconditional release of the 1st Respondent, on the ground of non-compliance with the order of court directing the Appellant to make a weekly deposit of N100,000.00 with the Admiralty Marshal. The court granted the application, and ordered the unconditional release of the 1st Respondent. This decision informed the appeal to the Court of Appeal, which court dismissed the appeal. The Appellant has further appealed to the Supreme Court.

Issues for Determination The issues adopted for determination of the appeal were: 1. Whether the Learned Justices of the Court of Appeal were right in considering the preliminary objection contained in the Respondents’ brief, when in fact the Respondents’ counsel had waived his right to argue same, having not moved the objection before the hearing of the Appeal.

2. Whether the Learned Justices of the Court of Appeal were right when they held that, the Respondents had locus standi to apply for the unconditional release of the 1st Respondent from arrest pursuant to the order of the trial court, when in fact, the said order created a right in the Admiralty Marshal and not the Respondents.

3. Whether the Learned Justices of the Court of Appeal were right in upholding the decision of the trial court, which enforced rights that arose from an order which was originally a nullity.

Arguments The Appellant submitted that, the preliminary objection of the Respondents should have been struck out, for failure to seek leave of court to move same after hearing the appeal. On Issue No. 2, Counsel submitted that, the court below wrongly held that the Respondents had locus standi to apply for an unconditional release of the 1st Respondent, when the order of court actually created a right in the Admiralty Marshal, and that the Admiralty Jurisdiction Procedure Rule does not allow the court to grant an Order of Release for failure to pay Admiralty Marshal fee. On the third Issue, it was argued that, the court wrongly upheld the Order of Release which was tainted with illegality, and inconsistent with the order of court directing the Respondents to provide bank guarantee, which order was disobeyed. Counsel submitted that, where an order is a nullity, time within which to challenge same, is of no essence.

The Respondents, on their part, argued that the first issue borders on technicality, which the courts have moved away from. On issue No. 2, Counsel argued that, the lower court applied the correct principles when it held that, apart from the Admiralty Marshal whose fees as ordered by the trial court was paid in breach, the 2nd Respondent had the locus standi to lay a complaint and assert its right to a relief, upon a disobedience of an order of court by the Appellant. With regard to issue No. 3, Counsel submitted that, the decision of court was based on the disobedience to an order of court by the Appellant.

Court’s Judgement and Rationale Deciding the first issue, their Lordships noted that, where a Preliminary Objection is in the court’s file, that court is eminently qualified to look at it and give an appropriate decision, as the justice of the case

Hon. Paul Adamu Galinje, JSC

In the Supreme Court of Nigeria Holden at Abuja On Friday, the 18th day of January, 2019 Before Their Lordships Olukayode Ariwoola Chima Centus Nweze Amina Adamu Augie Paul Adamu Galinje Sidi Dauda Bage Justices, Supreme Court SC109/201 Between Kulak Trades & Industries Plc ..........Appellant And 1. The Tug Boat M/V Japaul B. 2. The Owners of M/V Japaul B. ........Respondents (Lead Judgement delivered by Hon. Paul Adamu Galinje, JSC)

demands. AGBAREH v MIMIRA (2008) ALL FWLR (Pt. 409) 559. In the instant case, the objection was not only part of the record, but counsel for the parties had drawn the attention of the court to it. Therefore, the court had the power to dispense with the requirement for leave to argue the objection. More so, the practice that a Respondent who files an objection should seek leave to move same before hearing of the appeal, was a product of judicial convenience, as it is not supported by any statute. Relying on MAERSK LINE AND ANOR v ADDIDE INVESTMENT LTD & ANOR. (2002) 11 NWLR (Pt. 778) 317, the court noted that, over-reliance on technicality should be shunned, and the determination to do substantial justice should be the hall mark of the judicial system.

On the other main issues, the Supreme Court held that, the reason for the application for an order of arrest and detention of the 1st Respondent, was for the Respondents

“.... A PARTY WHO IS IN CONTEMPT OF AN ORDER OF COURT, CANNOT CITE AND RELY ON THE CONTEMPTUOUS ACT OF THE ADVERSE PARTY, FOR HIS OWN BENEFIT”

to provide bank guarantee to secure the claim, together with interest and costs. The application was granted, and the Appellant was, thereafter, ordered to file an undertaking as to damages, as well as an indemnity for the Admiralty Marshal’s expenses, where it was ordered to pay N100,000.00 deposit weekly during which the 1st Respondent remained under arrest. The Respondents however, did not provide the guarantee as ordered, but rather, filed an application seeking unconditional release of the 1st Respondent, on the ground of non-compliance with the order of court directing the Appellant to pay N100,000.00 weekly during the detention of the 1st Respondent. Their Lordships observed that, the Appellant filed a counter affidavit that it had commenced payment of N100,000.00, and that the 2nd Respondent failed to provide the bank guarantee, but in their affidavit in support of the unconditional release, the 1st Respondent lied on oath that they had met with all the conditions. This notwithstanding, the trial court granted the Respondents’ application. The Apex Court found that, the lower court was wrong in upholding the decision of the trial court, especially when the Respondents were also in contempt of the order of the trial court; and the order for payment of N100,000.00 was for the benefit of the Admiralty Marshal, and not for the Respondents.

Order 9 Rules 1(a), (b) and 2(a) and (b) of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Procedure Rules, 1993, makes provision for the arrest and release of ships. In the instant case, the trial court did not take into account whether an amount equal to what was claimed by the Appellant or a bail bond for an amount equal to that sum, was deposited in court or bail bond executed. Paragraph 2 of the Rules makes provisions for conditions for release, which was for parties to enter an agreement. The Rules also provides that, a party to a proceeding may apply to the court for the release of a ship in a proceeding, and on such an application, the court may order the release from arrest of the ship, on the terms that are just. It follows that, the refusal of the Respondents to provide a bank guarantee as directed by the court, coupled with the false declaration in the supporting affidavit for the motion of release of the 1st Respondent, did not make out a just term for the release of the 1st Respondent. In addition, a party who is in contempt of an order of court, cannot cite and rely on the contemptuous act of the adverse party, for his own benefit. It was found that, the 1st Respondent had no right of citing the non-payment of the N100,000.00 as a reason for their application for release, since the aforementioned money was not ordered to be paid to them.

By Order 8 Rule 3(1) of the Admiralty Rules, an application for the arrest warrant shall constitute an undertaking to the court to pay to the Admiral Marshal on demand, an amount equal to the fees and expenses of the Admiralty Marshal in relation to the arrest. Furthermore, that the fees to be paid by the arresting party should not exceed the sum of N5,000.00 to discharge the liability. In the instant case, the court noted that despite the clear terms of N5,000.00, the trial court imposed a punitive fee, not supported by law.

The Appellant whose claim against the Respondents for services rendered and acknowledged, was thereby saddled with weekly payments in excess of the authorised fees, for as long as the Respondents refused to provide the bank guarantee.

The court agreed with the finding in the case of ASSURANCE FORENINGEN SKULD v M/V SEALION & ANOR UNREPORTED, where Abba-Aji, JCA (as he then was) held that, the payment of N100,000.00 weekly was arbitrary and oppressive. Such an award, was found to be capable of causing hardship to the Appellant, who, in its bid to recover money for services, is subjected to punitive charges. The lower court was wrong, for founding its decision on disobedience of the court order by the Appellant, when it turned its eyes away from the act of disobedience by the Respondent.

Conclusively, the court allowed the appeal in part, and ordered the re-arrest of the Tug-Boat pending when the Respondents produce a bank guarantee for the sum of N5,000,000.00. The decision of the Court of Appeal, was set aside. The sum of N100,000.00 paid by the Appellant was deemed at N5,000.00 weekly, from when the ship is re-arrested and detained, and costs of N500,000.00 was awarded in favour of the Appellant.

Appeal Allowed in Part.

Representation: Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour Esq. for the Appellant.

M.Y. Oloriegbe, Esq. with G.B. Sanusi, Esq. and O.M. Afolabi, Esq. for the Respondents.

Reported by Optimum Publishers Limited (Publishers of the Nigerian Monthly Law Reports (NMLR))

14.05.2019

NEWS/5

COLLOQUIUM L-R: President of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice Babatunde Adejumo OFR, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ekiti State, Mr Olawale Fapohunda, and the Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration and Provost, College of Law, Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Mrs Smaranda Olarinde, at the Attorney-General’s Colloquium themed ‘How to become a Judge of the National Industrial Court’, held in Ado-Ekiti last week

IDANRE HILLS SUMMIT L-R: Professor Augustine Agom, Chairman, NBA-SBL, Mr. Seni Adio, SAN, Ms. Funke Aboyade, SAN, Mr. Ayodele Akintunde, SAN, Mrs. Folashade Alli, Mia Essien, SAN, Mr. Omubo V. Frank-Briggs and Mrs. Boma Alabi, OON, during the NBA-SLP 2019 Annual Conference excursion to Idanre Hills, Ondo State

Lagos CJ Commissions Training Institute for Judiciary Workers Akinwale Akintunde Lagos State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Opeyemi Oke, has commissioned a training institute, that will be responsible for the promotion of innovation and effectiveness in services rendered to Lagosians.

The Institute, named ‘Lagos State Judicial Establishment Institute’, was established pursuant to the Lagos State Judicial Institute Law 2007, to serve as the principal focal point of judicial activities relating to the promotion of efficiency, uniformity, and improvement in the quality of judicial services in the superior and inferior courts, in Lagos State.

Speaking at the commissioning of the Institute last Tuesday, at the temporary site at 17A, Hebert Macaulay Crescent, GRA, Ikeja, Justice Oke said the Institute, among other functions, is expected to provide continuing education for all categories of Judicial Officers, by organising, workshops and other programmes related to judicial education.

“The Institute is charged with conducting courses for all categories of Judicial Officers and supporting staff of the Lagos State Judiciary, with a view to expanding their overall knowledge and performance.

"It will also provide continuing education for all categories of Judicial Officers, by undertaking, organising, conducting and facilitating studies, courses, seminars lectures, workshops, conferences and other programmes related to Judicial education; organising once in two years, a conference for all Lagos Senior Judges of superior and inferior courts, respectively.

"This institute will be disseminating by way of publication of books, journals, records, reports regarding its activities, subject to the approval of the Board; and promoting or undertaking any other activity, for the purpose of carrying out its functions under the law", the Chief Judge stated.

Justice Oke said since the beginning of her tenure as the 16th Chief Judge of the State, the staff of the Judiciary had benefited from both local and international training.

According to her, the rationale behind the various training programmes, were borne out of the conviction that training is the only way that judicial competency, standards, and professionalism can be achieved, maintained and sustained.

“Training is the only way, that we can maintain and sustain our position as the foremost Judiciary in Africa. It is one of the foremost ways to build public trust and confidence, in the Lagos State Judiciary.

We are the first Judiciary in the nation to formalise and set up its training arm”, the Chief Judge reiterated.

Justice Oke expressed the hope that, with the establishment of the Institute, judicial officers are now expected to sharpen their skills, increase efficiency, innovation, and effectiveness, for the benefit of, and service to the good people of Lagos State.

The Chief Judge noted that, members of the Board of Governors that would be in charge of the management of the Institute, have been carefully selected.

She therefore, charged members of the Board of Governors, to design programmes and training for various categories of staff, to address and improve the capacity and overall effectiveness of the Lagos State Judiciary.

Also speaking at the commissioning, Lagos State Attorney-General and Com-

missioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, SAN, said the Lagos Judicial Establishment Institute is modelled after the National Judicial Institute, which is the body responsible for ensuring and promoting improvement of quality judicial services in courts.

Kazeem, who is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Institute, noted that, the set objectives of the Institute could essentially be achieved through the organisation of seminars, workshops, lectures, conferences, and other programs; which seek to boost the continuous education of all Judiciary staff.

“It is no gainsaying that, the Lagos State Judiciary is the cynosure of all Judiciaries across the country, and with the establishment of this Institute, it further gives credence to the fact that, the Lagos State Judiciary, and Lagos State as a whole, is indeed, the leader of the pack in the effective dispensation of justice across the country.

"It is also worthy of note that, the creation of this Institute could not have come at a more appropriate time, in view of the continuous drive of the Honourable Chief Judge of Lagos State", the AG said.

Gov. Bello’s Posture Affecting Courts’ Full Resumption in Kogi Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja The justice administration system in Kogi State is yet to pick up almost two weeks after the suspension of the over four months strike declared by the State’s branch of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), to demand for payment of ten months' salary arrears.

There are indications that the Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has refused to release any funds to the Judiciary, for it to reopen the courts and also prepare its staff for the anticipated data capturing or screening exercise, which the Governor had repeatedly said was responsible for his withholding funds due to the Judiciary.

Governor Bello had also said, during the presentation of his 2019

budget before the State’s House of Assembly last year, that the salaries of Judiciary workers were lying idly in the banks, and that the union's strike action, had hindered payment of salaries owed Judiciary workers.

Stakeholders in the State, are worried at the unenthusiastic reaction of the executive arm of government, towards realising the much-flogged objectives of the data capturing exercise, after JUSUN has suspended its strike.

More so, those on the side of the executive are already disturbed that, the sympathy the Governor said he had for the striking Judiciary workers may soon become a ruse, if nothing is being seen to be done, to demonstrate that.

However, investigations

conducted by our correspondent show that, virtually all the courts in the State are not fully functional, and are therefore, not performing their duties, as majority of the staff are yet to resume work.

Asked why the situation is like that, one of the few staff seen around who craved anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter, said the reason is not unconnected with lack of funds on both the parts of the office and the workers.

"You know the offices have been shut down for some months now, and they will require thorough cleaning and even extensive fumigation, to be conducive for staff”, he said.

“These offices must be reptile infested by now, I am sure. On

the other hand too, I am aware that, even before JUSUN went on strike, the offices could no longer afford to buy common stationery any more. So, how do you expect the offices to function, or the people who have not been paid ten months salaries, to come to work?" he asked.

A legal practitioner in the State, who said he had rushed to file papers at the High Court headquarters in Lokoja after the suspension of the strike, said he met with disappointment.

He confirmed that the courts in the State, were yet to regain momentum.

Pressed for his view on the likely cause, he said he learnt reliably that, the lackadaisical attitude of the workers, was due to financial constraints.

Hermon Barristers & Solicitors Admit Two New Partners

Mrs. Oluwafunmilayo Iyanda

Akinwale Akintunde As part of activities to repositioning its practice, a law firm operating from Lagos, Hermon Barristers & Solicitors, has admitted two new partners to further swell the intellectual and management capacity of the Firm.

The two new partners are Mrs. Oluwafunmilayo Iyanda, AICMC and Dr. Jerome Okoro.

A statement from the firm signed by its Managing Partner, Mr. Benjamin Obidegwu, stated that while Mrs. Oluwafunmilayo Iyanda earned this elevation on account of her sterling record of achievements, which have positively impacted on the growth of the firm, Dr. Jerome Okoro, on the other hand joined the Hermon team, from another law firm.

“Dr. Jerome brings to the firm rich experience obtained both from private practice andFederal Government service, as an inhouse counsel and tax prosecutor.

“Mrs. Iyanda, a year 2000 law graduate with honours, of University of Ibadan, was admitted to practice law in Nigeria in 2002. She has a post-graduate degree, Master of Laws (LL.M) in Legislative Drafting from the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) (2006).

She is a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Certified Capital Market Compliance Officer (2017), and an Associate Member of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (2018).

“At Hermon, Mrs Iyanda works extensively with an array of clientele that cut across both the private and public sector.

Chief among them are regulatory and compliance agencies, private businesses in the media, branding and advertising industry, lottery and gaming, and co-operatives.

She proffers fundamental legal advisory services, to determine

Dr. Jerome Okoro

business choice forms backed by adequate statutory legal guidelines for SMEs. “Dr. Jerome Okoro is a law graduate with honours (Second Class Upper Division), from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State. He had his post graduate studies at the University of Lagos and University of Ibadan, where he obtained his Master’s degree and Ph.D (Energy Law), respectively.

“Dr. J (as we fondly call him), was with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), where he worked for six years as in-house Counsel and tax prosecutor.

“Whilst at FIRS, a handful of landmark judgements on intricate tax matters at trial and appellate courts’ levels were obtained, on account of the deployment of his expertise.

“His private practice experience has seen Dr. J work with the law firm of Olawoyin & Olawoyin as an Associate, and Aelex as a Senior Associate. In both firms, he was also involved in complex legal transactions and advisory services.

“Dr. J has several publications in local and international journals, to his credit. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), International Fiscal Association, and the International Bar Association.

“His areas of specialisation are General Litigation (civil & criminal), Arbitration, Taxation (litigation & advisory), Oil & Gas (litigation & advisory).

“On behalf of the Board of Partners, I am delighted to introduce and formally welcome Dr. J to the expanding Hermon family, and congratulate Funmilayo on her elevation.

Their wealth of experience, I’m sure, will be deployed to the provision of the services the firm is known to deliver to her clients”, Obidegwu stated.

6/TRIBUTE

14.05.2019

HRM Oba David Victor Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi lll, CFR, Olowo of Owo, (1941-2019) Oba David Victor Folagbade Olateru- Olagbegi lll, CFR, Olowo of Owo, was born into royalty and lived it fully everyday of his life. He was regal, cultivated and considerate, living each day and approaching every situation with the calmness and wisdom of a king, even long before he ascended the throne of his fore fathers.

‘OO’: The Academic Having been in law practice for six years, in the Chambers of the respected Chief FRA Williams before joining the academic faculty at the Nigerian Law School, Prince Folagbade Olateru- Olagbegi, became an instant blend, making a distinctive mark as an academic and administrator, before leaving to ascend the throne of the Kingdom of Owo, in Ondo State. His major area of academic interest, was litigation, especially Civil Procedure, now restyled Civil Litigation, and it was delight to listen to his mastery of the subject as a student.

Not unexpectedly, he was bestowed with the nickname of ‘OO’ by his students- an acronym coined from the first letters of his surname. That appellation stuck with him through generations of his students, and he took it in his stride with quintessential dignity. He was accessible to, and friendly with his students.

‘OO’: The Person He had a general tendency to accord respect to all, even those younger in age. He was kind, selfless, and had total loathing for injustice. He was always receptive, and willing to engage with all shades of opinion and logic. Even where he disagreed with a view, he would do so with sound logic, devoid of obtrusion. One of his admirable qualities, was his power of introspection, which I believe is an ingrained attribute of Princes and Princesses.

His choice as Legal Adviser to the Vice President (Dr. Alex Ekwueme), during the second Republic, provided for him the opportunity, of deeper understanding of the workings of the fledging presidential system of government. He had lots of stories from that experience, some of which modified his perception of challenges faced by ordinary folks, in their daily lives.

Kabiyesi was profoundly generous and caring.

He always took on any problem that may be brought to his knowledge with an unparalleled vigour, and would not yield until such was resolved conclusively. I recall the incident of a fellow caught trespassing in the Law School premises in Lagos, which was reported to him as the Secretary to the Council of Legal Education.

To the surprise of the security operatives who had expected stern measures to be taken, Kabiyesi interrogated the intruder and asked that he should be taken to the Transport section for screening, for the position of driver. The fellow scaled the hurdles, including vetting for antecedent and character. He was offered the job, and ended up being my official chauffeur for some years.

There was also the case of a junior staff, whose son could not secure admission into a university, even with good result in the UTME examination, a challenge he overheard in the conversation of that staff and his colleagues. He calmly told the gentleman to see him the following day, and he took up the matter, making a number of visits to University of Lagos, until the admission was secured. I indeed, accompanied him on one of the visits.

Our class of the 1976/1977 school year in the Nigerian Law School, was the second group of students that he taught. Even though he was still relatively new to academics, he always came with a view of how things should go in class.

He also tolerated our excitement at chorusing his nickname ‘OO’, whenever the need arose.

One of us, who not long ago retired as Chief Judge, recalled that he was Called to the Bar donning Kabiyesi’s wig and gown, after he was made the offer by Kabiyesi himself. The narration was that his ordered wig and gown failed to arrive in time for the ceremony, and he had met Kabiyesi, to whom he expressed his plight. To his amazement, Kabiyesi offered him his own, and that kind gesture saved the day.

I grew close to him on his return to Academic life, after the sojourn in the Presidency. I will always remember our lunch outings, especially at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, which he insistently sponsored throughout, at which we delved into diverse discussions on law, politics and life. On my return from secondment to the Republic of

The Gambia in 1994, Kabiyesi was extremely supportive in easing me back into the system. He ensured that I was not deprived of the headship of the department of litigation (which he previously held), being the most senior academic and having functioned as Director of Public Prosecutions in the preceding years. I will also relish our trips to Owo at weekends for different social events, through which I learnt a lot about traditions in the Kingdom of Owo. His Appointments He was the Chancellor of University of Jos (the institution where he had been a part time Lecturer at its faculty of Law when it was established), until his demise. He had also held similar appointments at Universities of Benin and Abuja. His interest in legal education stayed with him, even after retiring to ascend the throne of Owo. It was fitting that he was made a Bencher, and later, Life Bencher. He was dedicated to the Body of Benchers and its activities, especially its meetings, law dinners at the Nigerian Law School, and Call to the Bar ceremonies. He thoroughly loved the legal profession, and lived it. Expectedly, he always expressed concern about the waning quality of legal education, and the preparedness of new entrants for the legal profession. His advice was always that, with strong will and

“HE WAS KIND, SELFLESS, AND HAD TOTAL LOATHING FOR INJUSTICE. HE WAS ALWAYS RECEPTIVE, AND WILLING TO ENGAGE WITH ALL SHADES OF OPINION AND LOGIC. EVEN WHERE HE DISAGREED WITH A VIEW, HE WOULD DO SO WITH SOUND LOGIC, DEVOID OF OBTRUSION. ONE OF HIS ADMIRABLE QUALITIES, WAS HIS POWER OF INTROSPECTION....”

Oba David Olateru-Olagbegi

determination by all stakeholders, the future of the profession will continue to be bright. At every opportunity, he reiterated his willingness to assist the Nigerian Law School, in any way that he could.

In 1994, Kabiyesi was appointed the Secretary to the Council of Legal Education and Director of Administration (the second highest office at the time), a position which he held until he ascended the throne. I recall the difficult days of relocation of the Law School to Abuja in 1997, as well as the clearing up of the backlog of students waiting for admission to the institution; and the effective and flawless manner, in which these tasks were undertaken by the administration.

Kabiyesi, Olowo of Owo His reign as the Olowo of Owo, from February 1999 was a period of pervasive peace and progress in the city. I recall my visits to the palace each time I was in Ondo State, and especially the tour of the palace and its improvements, which the Olowo took my wife and I through, on our last visit. Kabiyesi was loved, and he enjoyed tremendous support from family, community and friends. He is going to be sorely missed, by all.

May God grant Oba Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi lll, CFR, Life Bencher, an admirable teacher, mentor and administrator, eternal rest. Amen.

Olanrewaju Onadeko, SAN, Immediate past Director- General, Nigerian Law School

Legal Personality of the Week Senator Iyere Ihenyen

‘Specialisation and Innovation are Indispensable in Law Practice’ Please, give a brief introduction of yourself I am Senator Iyere Ihenyen, Lead Partner at Infusion Lawyers, Nigeria’s first virtual law firm. Before founding Infusion Lawyers, I was Managing Partner at Assizes Law firm and CEO at the Write House. At Infusion Lawyers, I combine intellectual property (IP) and information technology (IT) law, to help businesses succeed in the knowledge economy and the digital age.

My areas of specialisation are intellectual property, data protection and privacy, blockchain and cryptocurrency. I enjoy working with innovators and entrepreneurs whose solutions we need to make Nigeria and Africa more competitive in the 4th Industrial Revolution, which we can’t afford to miss. I am promoter of Stakeholders in Blockchain Association of Nigeria (SiBAN), where I presently lead as Vice Chairman (Policy & Regulations), and also member of the Board of Trustees, African ICT Foundation, where I am Secretary to the Board.

Have you had any challenges in your career as a Lawyer, and if so, what were the main challenges?

One of the challenges I had was starting a legal career, as I had imagined it after graduating from the University of Benin with a Second Class (Lower) 8 years ago. Most of my colleagues, followers, and mentees will be hearing this the first time. Having a 2.2, was initially difficult for me to accept. Though I realised that this was going to be a major challenge for me in Nigeria’s competitive legal job market, which has a penchant for First Class and Second Class Upper graduates, I didn’t allow that stop me. I swiftly moved on, by investing more in self-development, and finding my niche. This required going the extra mile.

What was your worst day as a Lawyer?

when the opposing counsel - quite strangely countered my bail application. After close to an hour of advocacy, you can imagine how proud I felt when the Judge finally gave me ruling.

The Judge commended my advocacy. After the matter, some senior lawyers reached out to me, extending handshakes, and commended me for a great appearance. This case is the most memorable in my legal career, not only because it was my first appearance as a sole legal representative before any court, but more importantly, because with the tool of our trade - words - I successfully secured the liberty of a fellow human being. It was spiritual to me. I felt like Merlin.

Senator Iyere Ihenyen

I would say the day I resigned from the Write House and its sister firm Assizes Law firm, the same day. Though it was my decision - and a tough decision, I have no regrets - what I had always imagined as a lifetime career opportunity, abruptly became opportunity cost. Having to re-route my legal career was a herculean task, which I wasn’t really prepared for, at the time. It was tough. But, as it is with most threats, there was a silver lining. Career threats often come with great opportunities, if only we see well enough, and have a positive outlook.

What was your most memorable experience as a Lawyer?

My first-ever case as a youth corper in Ilorin, where I was appointed by the NYSC Secretariat (Ilorin), to represent a fellow youth corper who allegedly stole another youth corper’s laptop, remains my most memorable experience as a Lawyer. What was supposed to be a simple bail application on behalf of my client, turned into a full-blown oral argument and counter-argument,

Who has been most influential in your life?

My mum, Enohili Ihenyen. Her sheer ingenuity, inspires me. She only had primary education, but her civilisation and intelligence, are beyond me. It is unfathomable, how her naturalness influences me. I am also grateful to her, for sacrificing everything for us. Everything.

In my legal career, Chinua Asuzu, Africa’s legal-writing teacher and scholar - has had the most influence on me. Under his mentorship, my legal writing has been transformed, over the years.

Why did you become a Lawyer?

I have always desired a just and harmonious society, where anyone, regardless of his or her ethnic group, race, religion, or status, can realise their full potential, without discrimination. Since law guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms, I decided to become a Lawyer. My love for Literature, exposed me to a society always at war with itself, and I eventually discovered the Lawyer in me, who yearned for law and order.

Becoming a Lawyer, became an aspiration.

What would your advice be to anyone

wanting a career in law?

Law is no longer law, as we knew it. Today’s clients, are more sophisticated than ever before.

This is why anyone wanting a career in law today, must be a T-shaped Lawyer, a Lawyer who has deep legal expertise, plus considerable interdisciplinary exposure. A successful career in law today, also requires specialisation, innovation, and continual disruption of self, to meet with the demands of changing times. Agility is vital, otherwise you risk becoming irrelevant, moving motions without any movement, a rat race.

If you had not become a Lawyer, what would you have chosen?

Without any doubt, I would have become a full-time literary writer. My collection of poems, ‘Colourless Rainbow: Poetry of My Childhood’, was given honorary recognition at the ANA/ Gabriel Okara Prize for Poetry in 2011. All of my literary contemporaries, have gone ahead to become some of Africa’s most fascinating novelists and poets. I still write sometimes, but once in a green moon. (Blue moons, come too frequently these days.)

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

By 2029, I see myself being known as the Intellectual Property and Information Technology Lawyer, whose vision, expertise, and insight, helped young entrepreneurs in Africa become some of the biggest innovators in the world, leveraging their intangible assets to build generational wealth in a digital and global economy. My firm, Infusion Lawyers, would have presence in Africa’s commercial cities, serving African innovators and others, across the globe. The firm will be an equal opportunity law firm, where some of the best minds in intellectual property and information technology, will be leading exciting and happy careers.

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TALKING CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY DR. MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN, OFR, FCIARB, PH.D, LL.D

SMS only to 08098898888

Nigeria’s Presidential System: An Unruly Bull in a China Shop (Part 5)

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Introduction n discussing these two well-grounded systems of government, we had so far taken the liberty to analyse their meaning, structures, amplitude and plenitude. We had also attempted to discuss, their advantages and disadvantages.

But, to enable us make a holistic comparison between the two raving systems of government, thus bringing out their differences, it becomes imperative that we once more take a bird's eye view of them, even at the risk of repeating some areas already covered. Please, forgive us on this, where you believe or feel that, we have taken the unusual liberty to indulge in some repetition. It may be otiose, but this is simply for the purpose of emphasis and to refresh our memories.

Differences between the Presidential and Parliamentary Systems of Government Comparison of parliamentary system of government with the presidential system of government has been made more difficult than it needs to be, because of the confusion in discussing the differences between the two systems of government. In trying to distinguish between the two systems of government, textbook writers always place emphasis on the language of constitutional provisions. The fact however, is that, any workable distinction between the presidential and parliamentary systems of government, must be based on actual behaviour rather than legal prescriptions.

However misused, the terms “parliamentary government” and “presidential government” are inevitable. What truly, is fundamental difference? This is the crux, of this piece.

For the purpose of refreshing our memories, let us begin again by briefly considering their meaning and history.

President Muhammadu Buhari

Parliamentary System of Government: Meaning and History A parliamentary government system, is one of the oldest forms of democracy. It can be traced back to centuries ago, but to see modern examples of this form of government at work, one only has to look to countries like the United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Pakistan and India, among others. In fact, this is one of the most common forms of government among today’s First World nations. But, what exactly is this form of government, and how precisely does it work? Put in the simplest of terms, a parliamentary government is where the laws and primary decisions of a country are made by a governing body known as the “parliament”– a group of people individually elected by the citizens of said country. Of course, the full explanation is a little more complicated than that and requires more comprehensive explanation. So, let’s start with the beginnings of this form of government and go from there.

The History behind Parliamentary Governments Though democracy itself can be traced back much further (as mentioned above, it dates back to ancient times), “parliament” can be said to have got its origin in the year 1066, when a feudal system was established in England. With this system, the monarch sought the advice of a Council of established and high-ranking people, before they could make laws. However, as the years and centuries went on, this Council developed to become more powerful, and gradually restricted the governing abilities of the monarch. After the Magna Carta Agreement of 1215, England’s monarchs became further restricted by the Council, whose permission they now had to seek, in order to collect taxes and pass certain laws. This Council soon developed, into “parliament”.

Nevertheless, the modern form of the parliamentary governments seen today, dates back to the early 1700s. More particularly, this system derives its origins from the former Kingdom of Great Britain (which ran from 1707 to 1800), and the Swedish government during the country’s “Age of Liberty” (running from 1718 to 1772). For example, prior to the early 1700s, monarchs

“THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, WAS BEQUEATHED BY THE BRITISH COLONIAL MASTERS, ON THE MERGING NIGERIAN STATE, AT INDEPENDENCE IN 1960”

still greatly influenced who was selected to parliament seats.

In fact, elections themselves, were often held with short notice, and despite progress having been made over the years, it was practically impossible for lower- standing citizens to petition for a position. But, it was the unpopular reign of George I in England, that provoked political change. The monarch’s power was further decreased, and the concept of a Prime Minister being elected along with parliament members, was introduced.

Sweden soon followed suit.

Now, even though a parliamentary government, is itself, a form of the broader form of government known as democracy, it can still be divided into different, more particular systems: Constitutional Monarchy This is where a country still retains a monarchy, but the monarchy serves only as the ceremonial Head of State. They do not serve as a part of legislature, and the country is instead, run by elected officials. This also happens to be the most familiar form of a parliamentary government, with the United Kingdom being an example.

Parliamentary Republic Here, a country has a ceremonial Head of State. However, the government, is run by an elected Head of Government, who usually comes from the legislature (in cases where they are not directly from legislature, they still are held accountable to this governing body). Germany’s system, is an example of this form of parliamentary government. Nigeria also practiced this form, at a time.

As mentioned, this is a widespread form of democracy, and it has grown around the world since its establishment. Most European countries, are now run by parliamentary governments, though it is now seen on virtually every continent (as a side note, most South American countries now operate presidential democracies). While parliamentary governments themselves seem here to stay for a while, there is the possibility of constitutional monarchies slowly losing favour. Multiple countries that started out with such systems, now have parliamentary republics. In countries like Great Britain, for example, public polls on whether or not the ceremonial monarch should remain, are commonplace (currently, however, the monarchy is in favour).

The above history, however, has not yet answered the question; what is a parliamentary system of government? To this, we now turn.

What is a Parliamentary System of Government?

Dictionary.com simply defines parliamentary system of government, as a system of government in which the power to make and execute laws, is held by a parliament. It appears that, in order to understand what a parliamentary system of government really means, emphasis should be placed more on the characteristics of it. It seems to be easier to describe a

parliamentary system of government, than to define it.

Defining characteristics of the parliamentary system are, the supremacy of the legislative branch within the three arms of government—executive, legislative, and judicial—and blurring or merging of the executive and legislative functions. The legislative function is conducted through a unicameral (one-chamber) or bicameral (two-chamber) parliament, composed of members accountable to the people they represent. A Prime Minister and the Ministers of several executive departments of the government, primarily carry out the executive function.

The political party or coalition of parties that make up a majority of the parliament’s membership, select the Prime Minister and department Ministers. The Prime Minister, usually, is the leader of the majority party, if there is one, or the leader of one of the parties in the ruling coalition. Some ceremonial executive duties, are carried out by a symbolic Head of State - a hereditary king or queen in a democratic constitutional monarchy, such as Great Britain, Japan, Norway, or Spain, or an elected President or Chancellor in a democratic constitutional republic such as Germany, Italy, or Latvia. The judicial function, typically, is independent of the legislative and executive components of the system.

In a parliamentary system, laws are made by majority vote of the legislature and signed by the Head of State, who does not have an effective veto power. In most parliamentary democracies, the Head of State can return a bill to the legislative body, to signify disagreement with it. But, the parliament can override this ‘‘veto’’ with a simple majority vote.

In most parliamentary systems, there exists special constitutional courts that can declare a law unconstitutional, if it violates provisions of the supreme law of the land, the Constitution. In a few parliamentary systems, such as Great Britain, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, there is no provision for constitutional or judicial review, and the people collectively possess the only check on the otherwise supreme legislature, which is to vote members of the majority party or parties out of office, at the next election.

A parliamentary democracy, is directly and immediately responsive to popular influence, through the electoral process. Members of parliament may hold their positions during an established period, between regularly scheduled elections. However, they can be turned out of office at any point between the periodic parliamentary elections, if the government formed by the majority party loses the support of the majority of the legislative body. If the governing body, the Prime Minister and his/her cabinet of executive ministers, suffers a no confidence” vote against it in the parliament, then it is dissolved, and an election may be called immediately, to establish a new parliamentary membership. A new Prime Minister and cabinet of executive ministers, may be selected by newly elected members of the parliament.

A few parliamentary democracies, function as semi-presidential systems. They have a President, elected by direct vote of the people, who exercises significant foreign policy powers, apart from the Prime Minister. They also have a constitutional court, with strong powers of constitutional or judicial review. For example, the constitutional democracy of Lithuania, is a parliamentary system with characteristics of a presidential system, such as a President of the Republic, who is directly elected by the people and who has significant powers regarding national defence, military command, and international relations.

The Parliamentary system of government, was bequeathed by the British colonial masters, on the merging Nigerian State, at independence in 1960. However, perhaps because of the peculiarities of the new born nation, certain aspects of the system she inherited from her colonial masters, were abandoned along the way. For example, between 1960 and 1965, the Nigerian Parliament sat for only about 38 days per annum, as against the British parliament which sat for average 160 days per annum.

This simply implied that, unlike their British counterpart, the Nigerian parliament no doubt preferred other preoccupation, other than the one they pledged to and for which the Nigerians citizens entrusted their mandate to them.

The Westminster type of parliamentary system of government, is a product of historical evolution over the years, but from a practical experience in Nigeria, it partitioned the country into two; government and opposition, and to make matters worse, this partition was into ethnic lines, and that has been one of the major problems hindering the growth and development of the Nigerian nation, to this day. Political parties in the Nigerian Parliamentary experiment, were ethnic based, with alliances based on, which ethnic group is ready to work align with which ethnic group. (To be continued next week).

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK “Today, public understanding of our past and our system of government is pitifully low”. (Eric Liu).

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NBA-SLP: We are Back!

From May 7 - 8, Nigerian Lawyers, under the aegis of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on Legal Practice (NBA-SLP), converged in the hilly capital city of Ondo State, Akure, for its 2019 Annual Conference in pursuance of the theme ‘Value Added Legal Practice’. THISDAY LAWYER was there, to report on the proceedings The Conference was declared open, by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad represented by Hon Justice Ariwoola JSC. The Keynote Speaker, was the Governor of Ondo State, Arakurin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, incidentally was a onetime President of the Nigerian Bar Association (2008-2010). The event which held at The Dome International Culture and Events Centre, was adjudged by most conferees as A-Class. Germane sub-themes were adequately tackled, including: Future of Legal Services in Nigeria, Emerging Trends in the Workplace: Culture, Outsourcing, Triangular Employment, The Lawyer’s Duty of Disclosure in Combatting Money Laundering and Tax Evasion, Garnishee Proceedings, Reinventing Probate Practice and Justice Sector Reforms.

In the words of Lawyers themselves, the quality of resource persons and their presentations, were of the highest standard.

Advances in Technology, are not Going Away Keynote Address delivered by the Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwatotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, on the Annual Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, Section on Legal Practice (SLP), held at the International Conference Centre, the Dome, Akure, Ondo State on Tuesday 7th May, 2019

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Introduction t gives me great pleasure to stand before professional colleagues, distinguished academics, jurists and other eminent participants at this Conference. I consider myself highly privileged, to have been chosen to deliver the keynote address at an event, such as this one, which boasts of an array of the best at the Bar and on the Bench.

Being invited to participate in this very important event, is indeed, a rare honour; special indeed is the privilege, exemplified in the choice of the keynote speaker at this august event. Fortunate are those permitted by time and obligatory exigencies, to partake in this festival of ideas.

The presence of eminent personalities, distinguished in every respect, offers hope that this Conference will witness robust engagements, the culmination of which should be, reasoned suggestions to add value to legal practice.

This gathering of critical minds at this point in the sociopolitical history of this country, should achieve the desired end. Experts must engage, intensely, on the thematic issues set for this Conference. The Communique expected at the end of this event, should contain recommendations on the best way possible to improve legal practice in Nigeria. Our expectation is also that, the outcome of this Conference will assist in expanding the frontiers concerning our approach to service delivery in our day to day relationship with our clients, both individual and corporate bodies.

Let me use this occasion, to express our gratitude to the NBA as a body, for opting for the Sunshine State. This is the second time that our Association, at the national level, will be hosted by Ondo State. The first was the NEC Meeting held in 2012. We are, therefore, greatly honoured by the choice of Ondo State at this point in time, as the venue of this year’s SLP Conference. We promise to avail you of the traditional hospitality, for which our State is reputed.

I must, without reservation, express my profound appreciation to the organisers of this laudable programme, for their foresight and thoughtfulness in projecting into the future, the necessity for certain indispensables if legal practice and Lawyers are to continue to be relevant in the modern society. Specifically, let me use this medium to thank the planning committee for their industry, the Council of the SLP and the Executive of the NBA in general, for their effort in sustaining the very laudable programmes of the NBA at the level of the SLP, since 2010 when it commenced.

I am confident that, this is a unique opportunity for most of us, particularly those who practice in Ondo State and the environs, to benefit from the wealth of experience of speakers and discussants at this Conference.

2019 Theme: ‘Value Added Legal Practice’ The Theme of this year’s conference- “Value Added Legal Practice” speaks, eloquently, of what to expect. The theme is of momentous and practical advantage, to the contemporary Lawyer.

It underscores the point that, SLP was established with a view to encouraging specialised practice for all Nigerian Lawyers.

The SLP, is designed to improve legal service delivery to the public. In today’s litigious society, it is becoming increasingly important for Lawyers or law firms, to make sure they identify, clearly, and appeal to their target audience/client –not only by saying the right thing, in an unprofessional manner, but, also by appealing to them in terms of time, style and efficiency in service delivery.

Generally speaking, the phrase ‘Value addition’ or ‘adding value’ appeals differently to different Lawyers. This is, perhaps, informed by their perception of what it means to add value, in area of their legal practice. To some, adding value simply means investing in the client relationship. In that case, the Lawyer seeks to understand the nuances of the clients’ industry. The Lawyer does not just get paid, to get up to speed on their issues. To another, value adding connotes getting the client what they want, in a cost-effective way. In effect, the protection of the client’s interest or right, represents the sole essence of the value addition to legal practice. One may add that, in so doing, the Lawyer himself, has a lot of benefits in terms of income, goodwill and patronage. Value adding in a way, suggests doing for clients than they might otherwise be expecting, and at a cost that is reasonable in their view. In this sense, it is believed to strengthen the client relationship, and demonstrates an understanding of client needs and business challenges. It is indicative of obtaining a favourable result, that impacts the bottom line for a Client.

Technology The need for this Section and, particularly, the discourse is a welcome development and could not have come at a better time than now. I will, however, use this opportunity to stress the penetration of technology into legal practice. It is not something on the distant horizon. It is here now. For example, gone are the days when senior Lawyers would come to court with a retinue of juniors, and lorry load of books. Today, the Law Pavilion, Legalpedia and other such electronic Law Libraries, have taken the stage. The 21st century Lawyer who intends to add value, can only ignore such development at his own peril.

Corporate clients have begun to develop their own technological tools. J. P. Morgan, for example, has developed a Computer programming called “COIN”, an abbreviation for CONTRACT INTELLIGENCE”, which can interpret Commercial Loan Agreements, that used to consume several hours of work each year by Lawyers. COIN reviews documents in a matter of seconds, and is less prone to errors associated with manual or conventional commercial legal relations. Also, Amazon and Alibaba (internet companies) have integrated online resolution platforms, where algorithms are used to settle legal claims. In other climes, law firms and private Lawyers now use Chabot for simple legal services, to help people to appeal against parking tickets. Other examples are, LINKLATERS which is an artificial intelligence Application for backing legal practice, and ROSSWORLD for artificial intelligent attorney built in IBM Cognitive Computer. I do not want to be misunderstood, for citing these examples. I am not in any way suggesting that artificial intelligence or technology, will certainly replace Lawyers. But, technology will certainly replace the task that Lawyers do today, that are mundane, repetitive and laborious.

Added to this, is the noticeable increase in the number of legal practitioners that are released into the industry, and the consequent need to enhance competence vis a vis the emergence of artificial intelligence. Be that as it is, it is obvious that proficiency or skills in Information and Communication Technology will assist, greatly, the Lawyer in adding value to his practice. It will help in saving time, which is very essential in litigation. It promotes efficiency and saves cost, in the long run.

Business Structure Away from ICT related issues, proper business structure by law firms, has the advantage of improving practice and service delivery to clients. This entails having appropriate business models, client acquisition strategy, structure, data storage and accounting standards, without which business hardly succeeds.

For example, some law firms hardly appreciate the importance of client’s account, as opposed to the Principal’s personal account.

ADR Embracing arbitration and mediation (ADR), can be of great

The Secret of our Success as a Section, is Teamwork, Content

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Mrs. Mia Essien, SAN – Chairman NBA-SLP he secret of our success as a Section, is teamwork and content.

We had exceptional speakers, and everyone can attest to that. We chose those speakers, because of the knowledge they have, and their wealth of experience. We also chose them, because of their reputation in our industry. I am using that word ‘industry’ now, because the reality, like I said in my opening speech, is that it is time for us to adapt now or die.

This is the time for Lawyers to know that, the time is now. We can’t be practicing, the way we used to practice before.

Some of us, may not need as much encouragement. Some of us, may not need to know as much as others do, but nevertheless, a majority of our Lawyers live outside Lagos, Port Harcourt and

Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akweredolu, SAN Photos: Kolawole Alli

importance in the quest for value addition to legal practice. It is important to realise that, it is not every problem/dispute that must necessarily be resolved by litigation. The well known advantages of arbitration and mediation over litigation, recommend that acquisition of skills and proficiency in this area of law, will help in enhancing service delivery to clients who are wary of the traditional drawbacks/flaws associated with litigation. Fortunately enough, we have established, recently, the Multi-door court

“CHANGE IS HAPPENING NOW; ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY, ARE NOT GOING AWAY. THEY HAVE COME TO STAY, AND LAWYERS ARE THE ONES, WHO MUST COME TO TERMS WITH THE REALITIES OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, AND EMBRACE SPECIALISATION FOR HIGHER VALUE ADDITION”

in the State’s Judiciary, in tandem with best global practices. I hope that our Lawyers will take advantage of the services the court can render, in adding value to their practice.

Rules of Professional Conduct It may also be important for stakeholders of the NBA, to look at some of the rules of professional conduct, which may have become outdated by virtue of ICT and globalisation. For example, the rules which place premium on client briefing Lawyer in his law office, is gradually becoming anachronistic. It has been reasoned that, it has no place in the practice of a value driven 21st century law firm. Closely allied to the foregoing, is the question whether we can continue to sustain the rule that places restrictions on marketing and advertising. In my opinion, this rule is somehow conservative. The provision of our rule on this, requires some liberalisation for us to be able to cope in a world that is highly globalised and competitive.

New Vistas Again, it is my considered view that, practice must not be

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Abuja. I am glad we are here in a place, Akure, and Lawyers wanted to come here. As we speak, there is a session going on, on garnishee proceedings. If you ask the conferees, I am sure they will give you a pleasant feedback.

NBA-SLP is Back Fully! SBL Watch Your Back!

Thankfully, my tenure is for only two years. A new Council, should be in place in June. I couldn’t have done all this, alone. I have had an awesome team, Council members, CPC chairs and committee members, have all been wonderful. Our Council members, have been 100% committed. NBA work, is a thankless one. I am using this opportunity to thank every single person, who has assisted us in our journey. I thank our members, who have always been responsive to our Conferences.

Otherwise, we would not have had these successful Conferences, which

Mrs. Mia Essien, SAN

we have had so far.

This tells you that, every legal practitioner has always yearned for the Section on Legal Practice. Like I keep telling people, every Lawyer, whether you are in maritime, corporate or litigation, you are practicing law, and you belong to this Section.

The Biggest Law Firms in Nigeria are SMEs

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Mr. B.K. Ogala – National Legal Officer, APC his year’s NBA-SLP Annual Conference, has achieved its purpose in terms of oganisation, venue, resource persons and the theme.

I will score the Organising Committee close to 80%, although there were a few hitches with time management, which was not due to the Committee not being ready, but some of the resource persons eating into the time late.

Although some of the panels I must say were a little bit too large, which constricted them to practically not being able to deliver within their allotted time. I remember in one of the sessions there were seven speakers, excluding the Chairman.

At the end of the day, they were being made to rush through their presentations, some of which were

Mr. B.K. Ogala

originally meant to be 30 minutes, but they had to deliver in 10 -15 minutes. I remember Hon Justice Kanyip came with a 134 page presentation, but he could barely finish his introduction, before his time was up.

The attendance was, equally good. I didn’t know, it would be that good. The keynote speech by the Governor, Arakurin Akeredolu, SAN was so engaging. It was quite participatory, in the sense that though the audience wasn’t making contributions, he engaged them very well and that set the tone.

My takeaway is that, it suddenly dawned on me that, I have to go back home and start the lawyering business. Just like one of the speakers from abroad said, the biggest law firms in this country, are SMEs. That they will all fall under, small and medium scale enterprises. That, to me, was an eye-opener. The future of the law industry in Nigeria, belongs to technology. We have always mouthed it, and I have just heard that artificial intelligence is even threatening my profession!

The fee for the Conference was quite considerate and affordable, at only N10,000. That is a huge challenge, for the NBA-SBL in June.

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The AI Horse has already Bolted from the Stable

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Funke Aboyade, SAN – Former Editor THISDAY LAWYER he NBA-SLP 2019 Conference theme, was timely and apt for our times – ‘The Value Added Legal Practice’. If it had not yet dawned on any legal practitioner, it certainly did at the Conference, where the rallying cry essentially was: “adapt or die!”

Personally, I was excited by the dazzling array of the legal profession’s best and brightest from the Bar and Bench, who constituted the panel chairs, speakers and panelists and who delivered great insight into 21st century lawyering. I salute SLP Chair, Mrs. Miannaya Essien, SAN and Conference Planning Chair, Mr. Ayo Akintunde, SAN, for pulling it off seemingly effortlessly! I also doff my hat to our President, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, for the Conference’s success is also his.

We were not insular, we also had the unique benefit of the perspectives of non-Lawyer speakers, who shared their vistas and experiences of justice delivery system. It was a wakeup call, if ever one was needed!

And, then, SLP took the adage, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, to another level. There was the SLP-organised trip to the majestic Idanre Hills, lest we forget, inspired a lengthy Ode by Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka way back in the 1960s. For the intrepid -or foolhardy, depending on how one sees it - amongst us climbing to the summit, 3,000 feet above sea level, and experiencing the mystery and full splendour of God’s creation.

The cocktail, as well as the dinner party, also created the perfect ambience, providing opportunities for networking, socialising and letting our hair down - and did we ever! ...

Never again, will Lawyers be considered a boring lot... As to your question whether the profession is threatened by Artificial Intelligence, we can intentionally choose to view AI as a blessing or a threat. I choose the former.

Research, analysis, due diligence, predicting legal outcomes and so on, is now done in seconds at the click of a button, saving (or depriving,

depending on how you see it) hundreds of man hours of hapless Lawyers slugging away at a recondite issue. The advantage, as some of the speakers pointed out, is that this then frees you up to do other work that requires individual input or perhaps, work in which one’s added insight, gut feeling or wisdom cannot - at least for now - be replaced by a machine. e-Discovery is no longer a concept, it is a thing. In many parts of the developed world, large volumes of electronically stored information can now be located, retrieved, reviewed, analysed, preserved and produced, as evidence in litigation. Goodbye struggling to court with unwieldy files and processes, goodbye clogged up courtrooms, not to mention misplaced, lost, stolen or rodent-eaten, damp-damaged archived processes.

Further, even here in Nigeria, we are in the age of the gig economy, and the access or sharing economy.

We have no choice, but to embrace AI. Actually, AI is already inexorably embracing us as it is; there’s nowhere to hide and it’s pointless as Lawyers, to feel threatened by it. Rather, understanding AI is key, as is learning how to efficiently and effectively deploy it and achieve desired outcomes.

My article, ‘The changing Face of Legal Practice...And How to Avoid Being Left Behind’, was published late last year in the NBA-SLP quarterly newsletter. In it, I had referenced some of the legal issues raised by ride sharing Apps, such as Uber or Taxify. Those are Apps that many

“EVEN HERE IN NIGERIA, WE ARE IN THE AGE OF THE GIG ECONOMY, AND THE ACCESS OR SHARING ECONOMY. WE HAVE NO CHOICE, BUT TO EMBRACE AI”

This Conference has lived up to its Theme Chief Roland Otaru, SAN

of us routinely use, understandably, without further thought about these issues.

For instance, and if I may quote from that article, “are the drivers independent contractors as the companies insist, or employees as the drivers would like to be, entitled to the benefits of employment or labour law? Are the companies merely agents and the drivers self-employed? Either designation, has far reaching legal implications. If employees, for example, issues of tax, work hours, overtime benefits, minimum or liveable wage, paid vacation or leave days, time off for ill health, liability would then arise.

“More regulation or less? More laws or less?

Less oversight or more? Passenger and public safety, data breaches, worker exploitation, the right to unionise, collective bargaining, the right to go on strike, etc are but some of the issues which should challenge our legal minds.”

Those issues are borderless, and indeed, two Nigerian Uber drivers in 2017 filed a class action via Originating Summons against Uber Technologies System Nigeria Ltd, at the National Industrial Court, Lagos.

This is One of the best SLP Conferences, so far Mr. Alex Mouka – Past Chairman NBA Lagos Branch

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ithout mincing words, I will say this Conference has lived up to its theme ‘Value Added Practice’. As you know, there is a revolution now. A legal revolution is coming into the affairs of the NBA, and the legal profession in Nigeria. The theme is key, because we as Lawyers, must add value to our clients, and we must also strive to live within the ambit and rules of our professional ethics.

The session I managed at this Conference, was on garnishee proceedings. I chose the topic ‘Garnishee Proceedings: A critique of the Decisions of Superior Courts of Record and the Way Forward’. I was really impressed, with the presentations on this. But, this issue is really not yet settled in our courts, because if you look at the provision of Section 287 of the Constitution on the enforcement of judgements vis-à-vis Section 66 of the Constitution, in conjunction with Section 84 of the Sheriffs and Civil Processes Act, I think that Section

Funke Aboyade, SAN

The issues formulated for determination included: whether or not the Claimants are independent contractors of the Defendant; whether or not by the interpretation of and construction of “worker” under Section 91 of the Labour Act, they are employees of the Defendant; whether or not their employment relationship, has created an agency relationship; whether or not the Defendant as the Claimants’ employer, ought to be vicariously liable for the Claimants’ malfeasance?

Taxify Technology Nigeria Ltd, subsequently sought to be joined as an interested party, on the basis that it operated the same business model with the Defendant and any judgement delivered, was likely to affect its business operation in Nigeria. It also noted that, the 1st Claimant was a registered driver on their App. The application for joinder, was granted.

Ultimately, the matter was, in December 2018, disposed of, on the grounds that the Claimants did not prove their case, as they had advanced insufficient facts and reliefs and the case put before the court, was “speculative, conjecture, academic and hypothetical” (Suit No. NICN/ LA/546/2017).

I was therefore beyond thrilled, that the Judge who presided over the matter, the highly cerebral Honourable Justice B.B. Kanyip Ph.D, whose judgements are always a delight to read, was a speaker at one of the Conference sessions, and that His Lordship, as well as the discussants, was able to enlighten us even more, about some of those legal issues thrown up.

Back to your question, are Nigerian Lawyers prepared for AI? I’d say that horse has already bolted from the stable, AI is prepared for us!

The UAE recently launched a Ministry of Possibilities, a ministry which by the way, will have no Minister. Talk about proactively embracing the future!

In my article, I concluded, “In an increasingly borderless world, it would be a profound error of judgement, if the Nigerian Bar and Bench, do not fundamentally, intentionally and in a concerted manner, evolve with society and advances in technology, in order to avoid becoming obsolete”.

I’m pleased that, the NBA-SLP has with this Conference, jumped in with both feet.

his is one of the best SLP Conferences, so far. This is a new dawn, for the SLP. I would say that, this compares very favourably with the standard we are used to, at the

Chief Roland Otaru, SAN

84 should be wiped out of our statutes books.

It has become, anachronistic. This is a Section that was enacted in 1945, which adopted the English Act of more than 300 years. I think there should be a fundamental retooling of our legislation, on this.

ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY, ARE NOT GOING AWAY restricted to the traditional areas. It must be in search of new vistas, in other emerging areas offered by the advancement in ICT. Examples of these areas include, cybercrime, cyberbullying, copyright and patent, telecommunication disputes, e-mail contract, hate speech, online transactions. This, necessarily, calls for specialisation and special skills, in order to harness the opportunities available in these areas.

Conclusion Times are changing. The imperatives of change, are demanding.

However, exigent phenomena are better managed, if one is prepared in anticipation of the change, rather than be caught

SBL. The reality is that, historically, legal practice had been seen as a vocation, a calling. But, increasingly, one is finding that, you cannot successfully practice law, even in this environment, without a business structure.

In terms of artificial intelligence, the world has largely moved up, and we are just playing catch-up. We need to move on, with the rest of the world. There are fears that, AI will take over jobs. Of course, that will definitely happen, but the onus is on us as practitioners, to specialise in niche areas. AI is not going to completely replace the human touch

Mr. Alex Mouka

and angle, so, there is still a lot of room as legal practitioners, but, definitely, we need to up our game and practice.

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unawares and have unfamiliar circumstances forcefully imposed on you. Change is happening now; advances in technology, are not going away. They have come to stay, and Lawyers are the ones, who must come to terms with the realities of Information and Communication Technology, and embrace specialisation for higher value addition. It is my hope that, you will all optimise the advantages offered by the Section, to improve your legal practice and make Nigeria a truly global hub for legal practice.

All we strive to achieve, is to see Nigeria compete favourably, with advanced polities like India and Singapore, which are the most improved jurisdictions. And, this is not impossible, having regard to the pedigree of the various intended speakers,

who are noted for their professionalism and integrity. I have endeavoured to put some of the issues involved, in perspective.

It is by no means, exhaustive. I am confident that, our resource persons and discussants and the array of legal minds, will do justice to the discourse.

Finally, I firmly believe that, Lawyers in this assembly will have their loads of take away from the deliberations and discussions, on various legal issues and topics. I am equally confident that, the ambience provided by our dear Ondo State, will encourage subsequent visits.

I wish you fruitful deliberations, and thank you, immensely, for your patience.

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COVER/11

SLP’s take off as a Rocket after its Resuscitation, is Amazing!

Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN – SLP Council Member and former Chairman Midwest Lawyers Forum

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e must congratulate the SLP, for the huge successes of its Conferences so far. As you know, this Section has had a checkered history, and for it to take off as a rocket after its resuscitation, is amazing. The theme of the Conference, was well thought out. There is no Lawyer who would not want to add value, to his practice. We had a session on garnishee proceedings, this morning. There is no Lawyer, who would not want to know how to enforce his judgement,

after obtaining it. Otherwise, you will just be a theoretical Lawyer, if you don’t know how to enforce your judgements.

Of course you remember that, yesterday, there was a session that was like going back to school, to learn how to run your practice as a business.

Generally, the quality of presentations, the panelists, the speakers, you cannot but, commend the organisers of this Conference for putting a high quality Conference together.

The Threat of AI Where some people see losses,

others see opportunities. I can tell you that, technology is inevitable, because its tied to the progress of the human race. So, instead of mourning and weeping over these new developments, we should, as we did yesterday, try to see how we can take advantage of these opportunities. No matter what you say about artificial intelligence, it is still inferior to human intelligence that created it. So, all that we need to do, is to see what we can do to use this AI to add value to our practices, because at the end of the day, the society cannot do without Lawyers.

Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN

AI has Come to Stay

The Practice of Law is a Business Mr. Omubo Victor Frank-Briggs – former Chairman NBA Port Harcourt Branch

The SLP has done very well, at this year’s Conference. We have seen from this Conference, that Artificial Intelligence is indeed, a threat, and its either we catch up with it, or we are left behind. It behoves on us now, to see how we can step up, and be in tune with these trends Its obvious that, there is revolution in place.

Legal practice as we used to know it 10 or 5 years ago, has changed, and in another 5 or 10 years, it will be completely different. It is important for ,us to change with the times.

This why continuous legal education, is very important in the life of a modern Lawyer.

The essence of these SLP Conferences, is to try and improve the quality of our members, as Lawyers.

We have all learnt now that, the practice of law is a business. Some have been doing it and reaping the rewards, while others are yet to imbibe it. Like one of the speakers said at one of the sessions yesterday, Lawyers need to specialise now, and Lawyers need to come together in partnerships. The truth of the matter is that, that is what legal practice is about, today.

Mrs. Folaside Alli - Alternate Chairman, SLP Conference Planning Committee

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s the legal profession actually being threatened by AI? AI has come to stay, and has permeated all aspects of the society. The legal profession therefore, cannot be left out of its evolution. AI is therefore, presently being used in the legal industry for tasks that, traditionally, were previously done by paralegals such as leases, agreements etc.

The legal industry is a large sector made up of several players, and the practice of law is just one aspect of the sector. In fact, there is litigation, corporate commercial, banking and finance, maritime law, medical law and international law - the list is almost inexhaustible. So, while I recognise that AI will play a great role in enhancing some sectors, AI will not threaten the entire legal profession. What we may end up seeing, is that even where some jobs are not needed like paralegal and other administrative staff, new legal jobs will also be created. We saw that with the advent of motorcars, computers and with several other technology.

Rather than being a threat to the legal profession, I consider AI to be an essential part of the future of the legal profession, without which the business of law may slow down and become unprofitable. Current AI capability in law practice, promises to relieve Lawyers from taxing work that doesn’t necessarily require a professional level of legal expertise.

It has been argued that, AI may cut jobs in the legal profession. I disagree. What AI will do, is reduce legal costs for clients, thereby open-

Mrs. Folaside Alli

ing up a larger market for those currently unable to afford legal services. A typical example, is the telecommunications sector in Nigeria.

When sim cards cost thousands of Naira, the companies had a limited number of clients. When access became more affordable, their profits multiplied exponentially, as a result of the expansion of their customer base.

So, we indeed, still have a long way to go, before we can talk about tangible threat of AI to the legal profession.

Are Nigerian Lawyers prepared for it?

I will say, ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. For a for-profit service to thrive in a place, you have to be sure that, there is some market for it. I am aware that one of the leading providers of technology services for Lawyers, particularly in respect to access authorities and other legal resources, recently introduced an AI legal assistant, to aid Lawyers in

their legal research. I do not know, how the adoption has been. But, I can tell you that, even adopting technology into the legal industry has not come easily. Our law courts are still largely analogue, even though many Lawyers are ramping up their adoption of technology for office efficiency. It is only now, that we are beginning to see e-filing, e- registration of companies and the attempts ensure every Lawyer has an official mail.

AI-adoption and its sustained use

by Lawyers and the legal industry generally, will take a little while due to the lack of necessary infrastructure.

What are your views on the Business of Lawyering?

The Business of Lawyering, essentially, has to do with how to render legal service for the betterment of individuals in society, while earning enough to cover your costs, and make you a profit. In my view, it is not different from any other business per se. So, it is critical that, a Lawyer understands the business side of legal practice, because the forces of demand and supply do not know whether you are a Lawyer or Doctor.

Running a profitable legal business, requires understanding of how to factor all these services into your fees. Financial Literacy is an important skill, which every Lawyer who runs a practice must acquire.

Structuring, Risk Management and Transactional Cost Engineering, are also necessary skills.

So, I am happy that, this Conference focused on getting

the attendees to understand the business of lawyering. It was really eye-opening, and educative.

What are your takeaways from this year's NBA-SLP Conference in Akure?

The Conference was a perfect blend, of fun and intellectual stimulation. As the co-chair of the planning committee, it is easy to spend time worrying about the outcome of the event, and whether the efforts you have put into ensuring a successful Conference, have paid off. However, the excitement and engaging atmosphere, quickly took away those worries.

The theme was ‘Value-Added Legal Practice’, and it was indeed, a value-add in every form. Delegates indeed, got value for the money paid, in terms of the academic and social aspects of the Conference.

One of the best things about this Conference, was the location. We were able to interact with nature, especially during the excursion to Idanre Hills. The trek to the top of the Hills, was a powerful symbol of taking the legal profession to greater heights.

I was particularly impressed, by the quality of the papers delivered.

They were very insightful. The sessions on Artificial Intelligence, Garnishee Proceedings, and the duty of Lawyers in money laundering cases, were especially informative.

This Conference gave new meaning, to the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education. I doubt that there exists any delegate at this Conference, who did not learn anything new.

You will be Unemployable, if you don’t Develop the Right Skills Mr. Osaro Eghobamien, SAN – Managing Partner Perchstone and Graeys

I am very impressed, with what I am seeing in Akure. The architecture and ambience of the Dome International Conference and Events Centre, is quite impressive.

The content of the presentations, have been quite detailed and comprehensive. I didn’t expect anything less, especially with a conglomeration of Senior Advocates and very senior Lawyers.

What was beyond my expectation is the beautiful architecture, even in Akure. We must actually continue to take these Conferences, outside Lagos and Abuja.

Like we are seeing now, technology disrupts a lot of things, and it does so, for the better.

In most cases, there is going to be a change of mindset, and a change of skills set. In our practice, we have been doing so for quite a long time. If you notice, a lot of the things we have been doing have a lot of connectivity with India, and the focus is on technology. We have Lawyers who have gone to understudy India, and to learn how technology is going to operate. We have Lawyers, who have gone to study the impact of technology, on various businesses. I think that is the future. Lawyers just have to understand, its not that you will be unemployed, but you will be unemployable, if you do not develop the rights skills.

The Conference has Added Value, to the Legal Profession

We must Continue to Use Technology to Deepen our Practices

Mr. Afolabi Kuti

Mr. Olumide Akpata – Managing Partner of Templars and former Chairman NBA-SBL

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he SLP has done very well. I am extremely excited, being one of those who has consistently advocated the strengthening of our Sections at the NBA. I am thoroughly excited, seeing some of the work this Section’s Council has done, within the very short time they’ve been back on the block.

I was in Port Harcourt last year, and I am here in Akure this year.

I am very proud of the work that Mianaya Essien, SAN has done with

her team, putting this together. I must give kudos to my brother, Mr. Akintunde, SAN, the Chairman of the Planning Committee.

‘Value Added Practice’, which is the theme, is what we have been advocating at the level of the Section on Business Law, and I am happy that they have picked up the mantra. We must be seen to be adding value to our practices, and to the businesses of our clients.

It can only get better. Knowledge development, can only be at the level of the Sections of the NBA,

SBL, SLP and SPIDEL. As you know, those issues of Artificial Intelligence and the Business of Lawyering which formed the sub-themes at this Conference, resonate with me in my practice at Templars, and in my tenure as Chairman of the Section on Business Law of the NBA. Its not just AI in practice.

You know that, there is Law Tech and there Tech Law. Tech Law is those who do Technology Law, in practice. Law Tech is about how you use technology, in enhancing practice. They are two different

Mr. Olumide Akpata

things. As practitioners, we must continue use technology, to deepen our practices. I am happy that, the SLP is talking about it now. Law is a business, and around the world technology is now used to enhance business, and there is no running away from that now.

My session at the Conference, was on ‘Outsourcing and Triangular Employment’. It was an opportunity to, perhaps, get to address certain issues that globalisation has brought upon us. Workers are now being outsourced, and because of that, there is now a need to locate that through legislation, and define with certainty what category of employees, those workers are. Are they employees? Are they independent contractors? So that, we are mindful of the need to ensure that they have job security and legal protection.

This Conference has indeed, added value to legal practice and the legal profession. These are things we should be looking forward to, in the profession now.

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14.05.2019

L-R: NBA President, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, Alternate Chairman, NBA-SLP 2019 CPC, Mrs. Folashade Alli, Chairman, NBA-SLP, Mrs. Mianaya Essien, SAN, and Chairman NBA-SLP 2019 CPC, Mr. Ayodele Akintunde, SAN Photos: Kolawole Alli

Oyo State Governor-Elect, Mr. Seyi Makinde (left) and Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN

Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN (left) and Hon. Kayode Ariwoola, JSC

Hon. Justice M.A. Danjuma (left) and Hon. Justice Helen M. Ogunwumiju, JCA

Ondo State Attorney-General, Mr. Adekola A. Olawoye, SAN and Ondo State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Olanrewaju Akeredolu

L-R: Ondo State Commissioner for Works, Mr. TaoďŹ q Abdulsalam, Professor Augustine Agom, Chairman, NBA-SBL, Mr. Seni Adio, SAN and former NBA Treasurer, Banke Oloba

L-R: Alternate Chairman, NBA-SLP CPC, Mrs. Folashade Alli, MD, Just Commercial Vehicles, Julian Hardy and Treasurer, NBA-SLP, Mrs. Boma Alabi, OON

L-R: Members, NBA-SLP, Ms. Funke Aboyade, SAN, Mr. Omubo V. Frank-Briggs, Chairman, NBA-SLP CPC, Mr. Ayodele Akintunde, SAN, Chairman, NBA-SLP, Mrs. Mia Essien, SAN

Justice Biobele A. Georgewill, JCA (left) and Justice Uzo Ndukwe -Anyanwu JCA

L-R: Committee Chair, NBA-SLP, Mrs. Funke Adekoya, SAN and Professor Oyelowo Oyewo

L-R: Justice Aderonke Aderemi, Justice Ladiran Akintola and Justice B.B. Kanyip JCA

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NBA-SLP CONFERENCE IMAGES/13

L-R: NBA General Secretary, Mr. Jonathan G. Taidi, Oyo State Attorney-General, Mr. Oluseun Abimbola, Dr. Yemisi Abimbola and former Chairman, NBA-SBL, Mr. Olumide Akpata

L-R: Mr. John Austine-Nnachukwu, Mr. Babatunde Ogala and Deputy Editor, THISDAY Lawyer, Mr. Jude Igbanoi

L-R: Mr. Olutayo Nylander, Mr. Dele Adeniyan and Mr. Akin Adepoju

L-R: Panelist, Folabi Kuti, Bode Olanipekun, SAN, Justice Helen M. Ogunwumiju, JCA, Presiding Judge, National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Abuja Judicial Division B.B. Kanyip and Justice M.A. Danjuma, JCA

L-R: Member NBA-SLP 2019 CPC, Mr. Alex Mouka, Mrs. Sola Adegbonmire and Mr. Babatunde Ogala

L-R: Panelists, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, Dr. James Agaba, Chairperson, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, SAN, Panelist, Halima Jubril Wushishi

L-R: Mallam Yusuf Ali, SAN, Miannanya Essien, SAN and Mr. Ayodele Akintunde, SAN

Ms. Funke Aboyade, SAN (left) and Chief (Mrs.) Victoria Awomolo, SAN

Mr. Godwin Onwaka (left) and Mr. Bode Olanipekun, SAN

Navy Capt. M.A. Ndanusa (left) and Mr. R. T. Adeleye

NBA-SLP Committee Chairs, Chief Ferdinard Orbih, SAN (left) and Chief Roland Otaru, SAN

Ondo State SSG, Mr. Ifedayo Abegunde (left) and Chief of Staff, Mr. Olugbenga Ale

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14.05.2019

INSIGHT ABUBAKAR D. SANI

xL4sure@yahoo.com

08034533892

Governor Ganduje v Emir Sanusi (No. 2): The Fire this Time

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ews that the Kano State Government, under Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, has decided to resurrect the probe into the finances of the Kano Emirate Council under Emir Sanusi, is only dwarfed by the reported break-up of the Emirate into five, with the Gazetting of the law which created four additional Emirates out of the once monolithic Kano Emirate. Apparently aimed at spiting Emir Sanusi, it was achieved by upgrading four districts which were hitherto part of his domain and under his sovereignty, to First Class Emirate status. Both developments have been widely interpreted as the Governor’s push-back, for the Emir’s perceived support of the former’s main challenger in the last gubernatorial election held in the State.

As for the probe, in reviving it, the Government appears to have dusted up the charge of misappropriation of funds laid against the Emir the last time out. Just like on that occasion, the Government’s ‘attack dog’, is the State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission. By virtue of Section 15(1)(a) of the enabling law which established this Commission (in 2008), it is charged with investigating “allegations of corrupt practices against any person”. I believe that, given the similarities between the remit of this commission and other relevant provisions of this law, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 enacted by the National Assembly, the latter has covered the field and accordingly, the former is otiose and inoperative, if not outrightly inconsistent with the latter.

The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Law The side-notes to Sections 9(1),(3), 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28 of this Law read thus: “corrupt offers to public officers”; “obstruction of investigation”; “making false statements or returns”; “gratification by and through agents”; and “bribery and giving assistance in regards to contracts”. They spell out the remit of the Commission. In this regard, Section 26 of the Law, appears to confer it with the requisite remit vis-à- vis the presumed allegations against Emir Sanusi. It provides that, “any person who being an officer charged with the receipt, custody, use or management of any part of the State or local government’s revenue or property, knowingly uses any part of the revenue or uses or mismanages or furnishes any false statement or return in respect of any money received by him or entrusted to his care or any balance of any money in his possession or under his, is guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than two (2) years”.

A close look the provisions of the ICPC Act and the Kano State Anti- Corruption Law will show a striking similarity between the provisions of Sections 12, 13, 18, 19, 20 and 25(1) of the former, and those of Sections 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 of the latter, as aforesaid. Indeed, it can safely be said that, to the extent that the State Law post-dates the Federal Act (having been enacted in 2008 and 2000, respectively), it can safely be said that, Kano State copied, verbatim, the salient provisions of the Federal Law. Even though imitation is said to be the best form of flattery, in juridical terms, it is nothing short of heresy.

This is because, under a Federal Constitution (such as the type we operate in Nigeria), which has clearly spelt out the different roles of the federating units, where a federal legislature has covered a particular legislative field, no regional or State Government, is permitted to legislate on the same field previ-

“.... THE COMMISSION OUGHT TO DISCONTINUE THE SAID PROBE FORTHWITH, WHILE THE COMMISSION ITSELF, SHOULD BE QUIETLY SCRAPPED. ANYTHING SHORT OF THIS, AND THE PUBLIC WILL BE LEFT WITH A FEELING THAT, BOTH THE PROBE AND THE NEWLY- CREATED EMIRATES, WERE SIMPLY CONTRIVED TO SETTLE SCORES WITH THE EMIR”

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje

Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

ously legislated upon by the Federal Government. If such a legislation is enacted by a State Government, it is invalid and inoperative: ATT- GEN. OF ABIA STATE v ATT-GEN. OF THE FED. (2006) All FWLR pt. 338 pg. 604 @ 710H. In other words, the ICPC, and not the State Anti- Corruption Commission, is the competent authority to investigate the allegations against Emir Sanusi.

See also Article 7(2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. To the best of my knowledge, no such statute has so far been invoked against the Emir, in relation to the charge of misappropriation of the funds of the Emirate.

Assuming, without conceding, that such a law exists, it must (like all penal statutes) be strictly construed, for the benefit of His Royal Highness: OHUKA v THE STATE (1988) 2 S.C. pt. II pg. 139. In UMOERA v C.O.P. (1977) 7 S.C. 12, the Supreme Court held that, this legal requirement manifests in the following ways:i. that express language is required for the creation of the offences alleged; ii. that words describing the elements of the offence should be strictly interpreted; iii. that any statutory conditions precedent to the infliction of punishment should be fulfilled to the letter; and iv. that all technical provisions should strictly be observed.

In that Event . . .

The question is, what is “appropriation”? It is defined as “a legislative body’s act of setting aside a sum of money for a public purpose”- see BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY, 8th edition.

Page110. Accordingly, to misappropriate funds, is to spend or utilise public funds for a purpose or to an extent, which is different from or greater than that for which it was intended or authorised by the appropriating authority.

Public funds are appropriated in what is commonly referred to as, ‘a budget’. A budget is, in fact, a law (called an Appropriation Law) which is passed by the National or a State House of Assembly. See Sections 120– 123 of the 1999 Constitution.

Section 10(2)-(4) of the Kano Emirate Council Special Fund Law 2004 provides that, the accounts of the Emirate shall audited by an Auditor approved by the Auditor-General, who shall submit a report thereon to the Emirate Council, which shall, in turn, submit same to the State Governor.

To the extent that a budget is a law, any allegation that public funds have been misappropriated, is simply short-hand for saying that, based on the reports of both the Auditor-General and Accountant-General of the State, the Public Accounts Committee of the State House of Assembly believes that reasonable grounds exist to presume that funds approved by the Assembly for the Emirate Council in an Appropriation Law, were applied in a manner that was inconsistent with that Law. Accordingly, in the absence of any ‘red-flag’ or ‘flags’ in either the Auditor-General/ Accountant- General’s report(s), or that of the House Public Accounts Committee, the allegation levelled against the Emir is, in my view, ill-motivated.

I believe that, the provisions of Section11 of the Emirate Council Special Fund Law which require the expenses of the Emirate to be backed by a budget approved by the Governor, are anomalous, because they are out of sync with the words, if not the intention, of Section 121(1)&(2) of the 1999 Constitution, which confers the power of approving State budgets (including those of the Emirate Council) on the State House of Assembly; the Governor’s role in this regard, is merely to prepare and lay the budgetary estimates before the State Assembly.

Is any Offence Disclosed against the Emir?

Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution provides that, “No one may be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty therefor prescribed in a written law”.

Conclusion While spending unappropriated funds may be legally inappropriate, it is neither illegal nor does it, without more, amount to corruption. Under the law, misappropriation of public funds, per se, is not a strict liability offence. There must be something more – an element of moral turpitude – which taints such expenditure, and strongly hints at corrupt enrichment on the part of the affected public official. Above all, such conduct must be clearly expressed to be punishable as a criminal offence, under the provisions of a penal statute.

In order to sustain the charge of spending funds appropriated for the Emirate contrary to the provisions of an Appropriation Law enacted by the Kano State House of Assembly, it must be established that, a written law unambiguously penalises (not merely prohibits) that conduct. In my view, both the Kano Emirate Council Special Fund Law and Section 120(3) & (4) of the Constitution fail this test.

At any rate, as we have seen, the legality, vel non, of the renewed probe of the finances of the Kano Emirate Council/ Emir Sanusi, wholly depends on the validity of the enabling law which established the investigating Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission. Under the Constitution, the power to establish Anti-Corruption Commissions, vests exclusively in the National Assembly. See Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that, the State shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power. See also ATT-GEN. OF ONDO STATE v ATT-GEN. OF THE FEDERATION (2000). Accordingly, the Commission ought to discontinue the said probe forthwith, while the Commission itself, should be quietly scrapped. Anything short of this, and the public will be left with a feeling that, both the probe and the newly-created Emirates, were simply contrived to settle scores with the Emir. If that is the case, it would be a political vendetta, taken too far.

14.05.2019

IMAGES/15

Last Thursday, May 9, 2019, Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors held its 2019 Annual Lecture themed, ‘Rethinking the Model for an Effective Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI): Challenges for Government and Industry’, at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. Here are some of the personalities that were in attendance.... photos: Godwin Omoigui

L-R: Guest Speaker 12th Punuka Annuel Lecture, Mr. Jonathan Cohen, Senior Partner, Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors, Chief Anthony Idigbe,SAN and former D.G, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Professor Epiphany Azinge, SAN

L-R: Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, Chairman of the Occassion, Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom and former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd.)

Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Alfa Belgore (left) and Mrs. Irene Chigbue

Mr. Ernest Oji (left) and Mr. Alex Okoh

L–R: Princess F. Frank-Chulewani, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN and Otunba Olugbenga Odusanya

Professor Paul Idornigie, SAN (left) and Professor Epiphany Azinge, SAN

Supreme Court Justice Paul A. Galinje and Real Admiral A. O. Okoja (Rtd.)

L–R: Salamatu Idris, Princess F. Frank-Chulewuani and Paulyn Abhulimen

Mr. Chiedu Ugbo (left) and Mr. Robert Omole

L–R: Mr. Remigius Nwadike, Mrs. Shirley Okonkwo and Mr. Gozi Oburota

Mr. Joseph S. Olayande (left) and Mr. Hakeem Bello

16/

14.5.2019

31

T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY MAY 14, 2019

PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT

UN, AfDB, Encourage African Countries to Promote Integrated, Sustainable Management The African Development Bank and the United Nations Water Convention have agreed to jointly encourage African countries to join the UN water management organisation to promote integrated and sustainable management of surface and groundwater resources.

The move follows a visit by a delegation from the UN Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, (also known as the United Nations Water Convention) to the African Development Bank headquarters in Abidjan, on Friday, 12 April 2019.

The delegation briefed senior officials of the Bank about the activities of the body and

recommended that the Bank’s clients join the Convention. They also explored opportunities to strengthen cooperation - at the continental level and in specific basins and regions across Africa - between the Convention and the Bank.

Describing water as a “crucial, strategic natural resource for all countries, ” Wambui Gichuri, Director of the Bank’s Water Development and Sanitation department added that while Africa is endowed with abundant water resources, it is also the second driest continent, with two great deserts, the Sahara and the Kalahari, located in its northern and southern regions respectively. “Drinking water supply and sanitation, food

production, energy supply, and industrial development are all completely dependent on the availability of water,” Gichuri said.

In her presentation to the Bank team, Francesca Bernardini, Secretary of the Water Convention, said that the body aims to promote the sustainable management of transboundary waters through cooperation and partnership. “The Convention and its activities are consistent with the African Development Bank’s water sector strategy, particularly supporting the Bank’s Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) policy across all levels of water needs in its operations,” Bernardini said.

According to Bernadini, the

benefits of membership of the UN Water Convention include increased sustainability of regional and cooperation projects, and reduction of investment risks typically occasioned by the long-term nature of development programs and initiatives, through legally binding commitments made by parties to the convention. Several activities carried out under the Convention also help to strengthen countries’ capacity for water management and boost the effectiveness of the Bank’s interventions in the long-term.

Mahamat Alifa Moussa, General Director at the Ministry of Environment, Water and Fisheries of Chad was part of the delegation to the Bank. Chad,

a landlocked West African nation, was the first African country to sign the Convention.

Moussa observed that in view of the cross-border nature of most of Chad’s water resources, the nation favoured international cooperation to help manage its resources. The global opening of the Water Convention in 2016 to membership for non-European countries was therefore Chad’s opportunity to strengthen cooperation on these shared water resources, he said.

“Faced with the risk of conflicts over water use between Chad and riparian countries, the needs of development, increased individual needs, population growth and to plan for the future by conserving natural

environments and biodiversity, Chad has resolved to promote integrated and sustainable management of surface water resources and groundwater,” Moussa said.

The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes was negotiated in 1990-1992 through an intergovernmental process under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

Since 2016, membership to the UN Water Convention has been opened up to all United Nations Member States. So far, 44 countries have ratified the Water Convention, six of which are non-European nations.

Current Technologies in HVAC Industry to Dominate ASHRAE 2019 Conference

Dr. Jerry Nwakobi (middle), Managing Director/CEO, Jenesis Colony Limited, being decorated with academic gown when he received Honorary Ph.D award in Property and Estate Development from European American University, presented at the University of Lagos… recently

Experts, Leaders Agree on Ways to Mobilise Accelerated Action for Climate, Sustainable Development With the urgency of climate action at an all-time high, global experts and leaders meeting in Copenhagen identified key immediate action areas to better serve both the world’s efforts to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure better lives for all people.

A statement by the UNFCCC said nearly 400 participants from around the world came together for the first Climate and SDGs Synergy Conference—for-

mally the “Global Conference on Strengthening Synergies between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”—and agreed that a stronger connection between the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides the world’s best opportunity for positive, systemic change that will ensure a sustainable and inclusive development in a healthy environment for present and future generations.

“Policies, programmes and

partnerships must be designed to work together, to achieve synergies and reduce or eliminate the trade-offs,” said Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

“There are many places where such convergence is possible—for example, energy transitions are at the heart of lowering greenhouse gas emissions. These also hold the potential for eradicating poverty, creating jobs, improving health and contributing to more sustainable ecosystems.”

Speaking on behalf of the

UN Climate Change secretariat, Deputy Executive Secretary, Ovais Sarmad, said: “Climate change is a threat multiplier. If we don’t act urgently and with more ambition, it will destabilize the global economy, create conflict, displacement and cause incredible suffering for people everywhere.

But climate change also provides our single greatest opportunity to build a safer, healthier, more resilient and prosperous world and by further linking the climate and SDGs process, we can drive transformative action at all levels.”

Players in the Heating, Ventilation and Airconditioning (HVAC) industry will be exposed to current trends and technologies at the 2019 Annual Conference in Kansas City, Mo., in June.

Officials of ASHRAE said in a statement that the five-day conference includes sessions addressing the HVAC&R industry, as well as tours, social events and a keynote message from Mike Massimino, former NASA astronaut, advisor and author. Additionally, the incoming 2019-2020 ASHRAE President Darryl K. Boyce, P.Eng., Fellow ASHRAE, Life Member, present the Society theme for the coming year during the President’s Luncheon on Monday, June 24.

“With the global movement towards sustainable energy, the HVAC&R industry is ever-changing,” said Carrie Anne Monplaisir, chair of the 2019 Annual Conference. “We continue to face new challenges as we adapt our designs, codes, and technology to fit this constantly changing criteria.

The 2019 ASHRAE Annual Conference aims to address these challenges, and offer best practices, lessons learned, and innovative design strategies to be applied in a wide range of topics.”

This conference’s technical programme will include sessions addressing engineering practices, research and professional development as follows:

Research Summit – nearly one-quarter of the technical program is devoted to the presentation of current research in the HVAC&R industry. Fifteen of the 23 scheduled sessions present peer-reviewed papers on ongoing research with a total of 26 conference papers and 31 extended abstracts accepted for presentation. The Research Summit includes a partnership with ASHRAE’s archival journal, Science and Technology for the Built Environment.

Another quarter of the technical program is comprised of the Fundamentals and Applications track and the Systems and Equipment in the Built Environment track.

Nearly a third of the program advances knowledge and practices in three focused tracks: Optimization in HVAC&R, Commissioning New and Existing Buildings and Modeling Throughout the Building Life Cycle.

The Occupant Health and Safety track covers a range of topics from ventilation to health.

The Professional Development tracks presents sessions to sharpen individual, personal skills, including career growth, ethics, business development and liability.

ASHRAE Learning Institute (ALI) will offer full-day seminars and half-day courses and ASHRAE certification exams will be administered during the week.

IUCN Report: Rewriting Genes Could Have Broad Knock-on Effects on Nature The emerging field of synthetic biology could affect nature in ways that go beyond single genetically engineered organisms, a new report by IUCN says.

Synthetic biology – altering or redesigning genes to meet human objectives – is a fast-developing field with significant potential impacts on nature conservation, according to the Genetic frontiers for conservation assessment report. So far mostly applied in agriculture and medicine, synthetic biology could have substantial knock-on effects on conservation – including modified genes spreading to non-target species and affecting broader ecosystems, but also benefits such as saving threatened species, reduced fertiliser use or diminished demand for products derived from threatened species.

“Humans are increasingly genetically reprogramming nature – whether we like it or not. The

global conservation community must contribute to the responsible development of synthetic biology applications,” said IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. “This assessment report provides an important contribution to a balanced, fact-based debate around this important but controversial topic.”

Many of the proposed uses of synthetic biology have not yet been implemented, for example the potential use of engineered gene drive to limit the ability of malaria-spreading mosquitoes to transmit malaria. A gene drive, which can also occur naturally, involves a gene being passed down with a higher probability than the usual 50%, and can be used to spread genes through wild populations. Scientists are still investigating the potential represented by this technology.

Medical synthetic biology applications include engineering

microbes to biosynthesise products normally sourced from threatened species, such as a medically valuable molecule found in the blood of horseshoe crabs. The IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM predicts declines of at least 30% in horseshoe crab populations over the next 40 years as demand for products derived from them grows. The synthetically produced alternative presents an opportunity to conserve these species and the shorebird populations that depend on them.

“As we watch synthetic biology gain momentum, we are seeing the boundary between the natural and the human-made begin to blur,” said Kent Redford, Chair of the IUCN Task Force on Synthetic Biology and lead editor of the report. “Synthetic biology presents significant risks and opportunities for nature conservation. We hope that this report will help ensure

that future uses of synthetic biology technologies are based on scientific evidence, broad and inclusive public engagement, and beneficial to both nature and humanity.”

The report’s authors also assessed ways in which synthetic biology can potentially be applied in nature conservation itself – for example, by rewriting genetic code to protect species from disease or climate change or using gene drives to eradicate invasive species from islands.

These applications are still under development, with the most developed application being that of transgenic American chestnut trees resistant to an invasive fungus that almost wiped them out, which are potentially ready for field trials.

Some synthetic biology applications, if appropriately designed and targeted, could give conservationists new tools

with which to face the speed and scale of species decline, the authors concluded. They recommended that the use of synthetic biology should be informed by case-by-case assessments of associated risks, guided by empirical evidence, and informed by traditional knowledge, religious and ethical values. The authors also called for increased collaboration between conservationists and synthetic biologists in gathering the scientific evidence that will inform the deployment of these methods.

The assessment report was written by the IUCN Task Force on Synthetic Biology and Biodiversity Conservation, in response to a 2016 Resolution adopted by IUCN’s government and non-governmental Members.

The report will inform a new IUCN policy on conservation and synthetic biology, which IUCN

Members will vote on during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in June 2020.

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organisations and some 13,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis.

Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.

32

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻÍ˛Ëœ 2019

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Railway Corporation Urged to Adopt Safety Measure Sunday Okobi Stakeholders in the railway subsector have called on the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to erect level crossing barriers at all rail level crossings in order to regulate movement of traffic.

This, according to them, would also help in averting the incessant deaths recorded at railway level crossings in the country. The call came against the backdrop of the recent death of four passengers in a tricycle killed by an Ijoko to Iddo bound Lagos Mass Transit train at Iju railway level crossing.

To a regular commuter of the Lagos Mass Transit Train service, Mr John Obot, the employment of flagmen to regulate traffic at railway level crossings was not enough to avert the unnecessary deaths recorded at

regular intervals at railway level crossings. He urged management of the corporation to erect metal barriers that could be lowered to regulate traffic whenever a train is approaching. Obot, noted that when the Rail India Technical and Engineering Services (RITES) of India managed the corporation in the late 70s and early 80s metal barriers were erected at both sides of the road to stop traffic whenever trains were approaching level crossings, adding that during that period there used to be few cases of trains killing motorists at railway level crossings.

Also, the Managing Director, First Rit Nigeria Limited, a Transport and Logistics Company, Mr. Eric Umezurike, noted that the claim by officials of NRC that the communities where rail lines intersect with roads should be

responsible for maintenance of such level crossings was not tenable because the corporation generates revenue from the passenger and goods. The Lagos District Manager of the corporation, Jerry Oche, had earlier said most of the metal barriers used to regulate traffic at railway level crossings were damaged by motorists out of restlessness and disobedience.

He noted that at most of the level crossings there are gate keepers that stop motorists whenever a train is approaching, adding that in spite of that, some motorists often ignore the stop sign which led to the death of a policeman alongside a commercial motorcyclist and recently four people inside a tricycle at PWD and Iju railway level crossing respectively in Lagos.

First Bank Reiterates Commitment to Financial Inclusion Ugo Aliogo First Bank of Nigeria Limited has said its commitment to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria has received a great boost with its network of mobile money agents growing to over 22,000 agents.

Speaking recently in Lagos at the Future of Finance West Africa Conference, the Deputy Managing Director, First Bank Nigeria Limited, Mr. Gbenga Shobo, said the bank’s agents process over $490 million worth of transactions monthly.

Shobo, who spoke during a panel discussion on: ‘Mobile money services for a better financial inclusion in West

Africa,’ noted that to support the federal government’s objectives to deepen financial inclusion, “the bank sought and got a mobile money license in 2012.�

He stated that its Firstmonie wallet platform had over four million customers and a spread of agent network that was expected to grow to 50,000 in 2019.

According to him, “To support the federal government’s objectives to deepen financial inclusion, First Bank sought and got a mobile money license in 2012. Firstmonie has had a transformational impact on reaching low-income and historically unbanked households in Nigeria. “It is integrating them into

the wider financial system by providing access to a range of banking services including account opening, fund transfer capabilities, Identity management (BVN) and savings. “After a successful roll out of the Firstmonie Agent network 2018, the business has grown to a network of over 22,000 agents processing over $490 million worth of transaction in monthly value and a unique transaction count of 10 million monthly.�

He said that the bank has spread across all the Local Government Areas in the country, and had deployed technology, invested in recruitment and training to ensuring that more Nigerians were reached.

Jumia Records 58% GMV Growth in Q1 Emma Okonji Barely one month after it listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Jumia has released its first quarter 2019 financial results, announcing a 58 per cent growth in its Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV).

According to the results, its adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) loss as a percentage of GMV improved from negative 19.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 to negative 16.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2019.

Its gross profit margin as a percentage of GMV increased from 5.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, to 6.5 per cent

this quarter, as a result of the increased GMV monetisation rate.

In analysing the results, the Co-CEOs of Jumia, Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, said it showed further development of JumiaPay and highlighted by the investment and partnership with Mastercard. “We believe that Jumia is increasingly relevant for consumers and sellers in Africa. Looking ahead, we remain focused on our core operations, driving consumer adoption and engagement on our marketplace, increasing the penetration of JumiaPay, while continuing to improve our financial profile and making

a sustainable impact on the continent,� the Co-CEOs were quoted to have explained in a joint statement. “Our strong GMV growth combined with the attractive value proposition we offer both sellers and consumers are a key engine of monetisation, which we derive from diversified revenue streams such as commissions, fulfilment, value added services, marketing and advertising services. “Gross profit margin as a percentage of GMV increased from 5.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 to 6.5 per cent this quarter, as a result of the increased GMV monetisation rate.

Our Gross Profit also exceeded fulfilment expense this quarter,� the company stated.

RenCap to Hold Investor Conference Renaissance Capital (RenCap), one of the leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, will hold its 10th Annual PanAfrica Investor Conference in Lagos between 15th and 16th of May 2019.

The firm explained that it would mark the event with special insights and extensive coverage. The conference serves as a platform for closed-door one-on-one meetings between top global and local investors from across the globe and corporate representatives to discuss investment opportunities in Nigeria and other fast-growing economies on the continent.

According to a statement,

more than 200 scheduled 1:1 meetings would bring together local corporates and international and Africa-based investors with total assets under management of about US$150 billion.

The opening ceremony would include a keynote address by Yewande Sadiku, Executive Secretary / CEO of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC); Charles Robertson, Global Chief Economist, Renaissance Capital, would give a talk on Nigeria’s structural reform and diversification from oil dependency as key to industrialisation. Commenting on the event, the CEO, Nigeria, Renaissance Capital, Temitope

Popoola said: “We are delighted to welcome all participating corporates and investors to the 10th edition of our annual conference, particularly those who have travelled from countries outside of Nigeria to be a part of the event. “We expect discussions at this year’s event to be driven by expectations for the new political environment considering the recently concluded elections. Renaissance Capital remains committed to Africa, which is evidenced by our growing share of market and deal pipeline in each of our core regions in the continent, particularly Nigeria.

L-R: Regional Co-ordinator, Agribusiness, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mr. Daniel Olorunsuyi; Head Agribusiness, Mr. Olushola Obikanye; Group Head, Emerging Corporates 3 Apapa, Mrs. Tope Olatunbosun; Vice President, Tractor Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria (TOOAN) Ventures, Dr. Emmanuel Kolade; Officer, Specialised Lending Monitoring Unit, FCMB, Mr. Efosa Aigbekaen and Relationship Officer, Emerging Markets, Mr. Oluwatosin Ologunwa, during the inauguration and handover ceremony of 50 tractors procured by TOOAN Ventures and facilitated by FCMB at Ilero, Oyo State‌ recently

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

NOVEMBER 2018 Money Supply (M3)

31,794,803.44

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

6,333,064.28

Money Supply (M2)

25,461,739.17

-- Quasi Money

14,773,076.98

-- Narrow Money (M1)

10,688,662.18

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,711,763.59

---- Demand Deposits

8,976,898.59

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

18,990,400.78

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

12,804,402.66

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

26,062,986.22

---- Credit to Government (Net)

2,980,229.66

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

7,093,619.43

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

-4,144,571.43

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

23,082,756.56

--Other Assets Net

13,258,583.57

Reserve Money (Base Money

6,811,192.37

--Currency in Circulation

2,100,129.91

--Banks Reserves

4,366,259.05

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

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OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE Ëœ ÍŻÍŽ Ͱ͎ͯ͡

The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $70.66 a barrel on Friday, compared with $69.66 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), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

33

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻÍ˛Ëœ Ͱ͎ͯ͡

MARKET NEWS

NSE Delists Newrest ASL, Places First Aluminium on Suspension Goddy Egene The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday delisted the entire share capital of Newrest ASL Nigeria Plc following the company’s application for voluntary exit from the Nigerian bourse.

Also, NSE will tomorrow (Wednesday May 15, 2019) place the shares of First Aluminium Nigeria Plc on full suspension preparatory to its delisting.

Newrest ASL Nigeria Plc had applied for voluntary delisting of the entire 634 million ordinary shares of the company from the exchange.

According to the company, the voluntary delisting was as a result of its inability to meet up with the 20 per cent free float requirement of the exchange.

Some market operators and shareholders had expressed shock at the decision of the

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

company to delist considering the fact it recently released an impressive results and declared dividends. Newrest ASL Nigeria Plc posted a revenue of N5.425 billion for the year ended Decembr 31, 2018, showing an increase of 38 per cent compared with N3.92 billion in 2017. Profit after tax tax (PAT) soared by 285 per cent from N386 million to N1.48 billion.

The company recommended a dividend of 20 kobo per share.

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

Meanwhile, the shares of First Aluminium Nigeria Plc would be next to be delisted as they are to be placed on suspension tomorrow. The company had explained shareholders are not benefiting from its continued listing as they are not getting exit opportunities, while the company’s shares continue to trade at a significant discount to the intrinsic value.

According to First Alu-

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

minium over the last seven years, there has been little or no trading activity on the shares held by the minority shareholders. “The share price was stuck at 50 kobo for about six years between June 2011 and June 2017, and thereafter experienced further diminution, both in share price and trading volumes. Over the last 18 months daily average volume ranged between 2,815 to roughly 2,918 units during the

O F

period July 2017 to December 2018. Shareholders are not benefiting from the continued listing as they are not getting exit opportunities and their investments have been locked up, thereby finding it difficult to dispose of their shareholding.

Neither the company nor its shareholders have benefitted as the company’s shares continue to trade at a significant discount to the intrinsic value,� the company said.

1 0 / 0 5 / 2 0 1 9 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

34

TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2019 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Champion Breweries Raises Hope of Dividend Payment Goddy Egene Chairman of Champion Breweries Plc, Dr. Elijah Akpan has told shareholders that the company would soon return to profitability and begin to pay dividends given various plans and strategies aimed at cutting operational costs among others.

Addressing the shareholders

at the company’s 43rd annual general meeting(AGM) in Lagos , Akpan said the Akwa Ibombased brewing company had gained momentum through deliberate steps taken towards achieving its long-term growth.

The company reduced its loss from N603 million in 2017 to N255 million in 2018.

But the chairman explained that

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

the board and management have taken steps towards ensuring that the company remains profitable.

“Asides management successfully launching the new Champion Beer bottles, it has also undertaken major capital investment with respect to providing alternative energy solution for the Company. This is with a view to reducing

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 10May-2019, unless otherwise stated.

significantly the production cost, hence positioning itself favourably to compete in the market,” he said.

According to him, this has further boosted the morale of the management in achieving the growth, development and success of the company in the incoming financial year.

He informed the shareholders that as part of management’s

steps to increase the stock’s value and eventually leading to the payout of dividends, the company has concluded the capital re-structuring exercise.

“The effect is that the N8,574,679,000 in the company’s accumulated loss account as at December 31, 2017 was transferred to its share premium account, thereby reducing it by same

amount,” he said.

Akpan hailed the confidence, trust and unflinching support of the shareholders to the board, management and employees of the company, stressing “with the giant strides being achieved by the Company, we are confident that your patience in your Investment will undoubtedly be positively rewarded in the nearest future.”

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

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

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

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 1 270 1680 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.88 0.89 4.78% ACAP Income Funds 0.63 0.63 12.90% 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 13.21% AIICO Balanced Fund 2.29 2.31 3.15% 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 15.86 16.34 -4.42% ARM Discovery Fund 349.05 359.57 -2.13% ARM Ethical Fund 29.03 29.90 2.80% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 13.16% 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 98.04 98.72 -3.12% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 12.61% 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 14.06% Paramount Equity Fund 12.04 12.13 1.90% Women's Investment Fund 106.17 106.70 2.46% 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 N/A N/A N/A Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 N/A N/A N/A Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A N/A CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.85% Coronation Balanced Fund 0.84 0.85 Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.19 1.19 6.11% 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 1,182.39 1,183.21 5.95% FBN Heritage Fund 143.50 144.49 0.50% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 13.10% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional 0.00 0.00 -100.00% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 0.00 0.00 -100.00% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 143.22 145.26 -4.52% 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 Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.28% Legacy Debt Fund 3.39 3.39 4.34% Legacy Equity Fund 1.15 1.17 -5.62% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.05 1.05 1.72% 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 2,979.88 3,010.04 -0.14% Coral Income Fund 2,881.81 2,881.81 5.20% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 12.51% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 109.52 109.57 1.48% GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name GDL Money Market Fund

assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Bid Price 10.00

Offer Price 10.00

Yield / T-Rtn 12.84%

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 12.49% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.15 2.18 0.23% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 15.03% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 129.79 129.88 3.85% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.16 1.18 1.49% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,093.78 1,093.78 4.81% 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 N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 1.26 1.29 3.02% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.37 11.43 2.21% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 12.92% 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 121.70 122.09 0.73% 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 1.02 1.02 5.21% 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 2,348.03 2,360.50 1.44% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 200.20 200.20 5.29% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.92 0.93 -2.63% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 253.58 253.61 4.62% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 157.98 159.68 -3.18% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 12.67% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 8,079.47 8,170.15 -4.86% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.11 1.11 2.27% 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 1.18 1.19 -1.34% United Capital Bond Fund 1.68 1.68 5.34% United Capital Equity Fund 0.69 0.70 -2.62% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 13.00% United Capital Eurobond Fund 110.31 110.31 2.85% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.12 1.12 2.53% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 10.37 10.54 -1.72% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.97 12.11 -0.35% Zenith Income Fund 21.76 21.76 12.79% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.83%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

5.40 120.61 52.31

-44.85% 2.45% 1.10%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

9.80 102.87 83.48

9.90 105.05 85.02

-7.11% -12.31% -5.86%

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 Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.68 6.66 13.55 10.87 155.07

3.72 6.74 13.65 11.07 157.07

-7.89% -12.59% -9.36% -11.98% 7.98%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

106.90

17.40%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND 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.

TUESDAY MAY 14, 2019 ˾ T H I S D AY

35

NEWSEXTRA

Air Peace Flight Makes Emergency Landing after Bird Strike Arik reschedules flights Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu and Chinedu Eze in Lagos Air Peace flight which took off from Enugu Airport on its way to Abuja, returned to base 15

minutes later after a bird struck one of the two engines of the Boeing B737 aircraft while it was gaining altitude.

On the flight were important personalities, including the Deputy

APC Promises Fairness in Kogi, Bayelsa Governorship Polls Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday said that it would ensure best democratic practices in the election of candidates for the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

It asked its members to expect fair play in its handling of the process leading to the selection of the governorship candidates.

The party cautioned its members and supporters about what it described as fake news being spread in the social media on the upcoming Kogi and Bayelsa states’ governorship elections.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Isa-Onilu, APC said the National Working Committee (NWC) will abide by the rules at every stage of the process of the primary elections.

The party said: “In line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for our country and APC’s continued effort towards deepening participatory democracy, the National Working Committee (NWC) will abide by the rules at every stage of the process of primary elections.

Consequently, the party will provide a level-playing field to all aspirants.”

It advised party members to await relevant information and the official party’s guidelines for the respective elections, which it said will be released through official channels in due course.

“We had initially ignored the fake statements but it has become necessary to debunk the several fake quotes, which are increasingly gaining traction, particularly many of such statements being ascribed to the party and the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

“It should be noted that neither the party nor the national chairman has made any statement at any forum regarding these elections. The numerous quotes being ascribed to the party and the national chairman are mere fabrications intended for mischief,” the party added.

APC said that it has demonstrated absolute fidelity to the best democratic practices in the manners it has conducted its affairs so far, adding that as a progressive party, it is focused in doing better as it looks forward to the commencement of a new four-year tenure.

FG: Property Forfeiture, Not Part of Loan Agreement with China Kasim Sumaina in Abuja Following the taking over of infrastructures of many African and some Asia countries that could not repay their debt to China, the federal government has allayed the fear of many Nigerians who have reservation about the financial assistance being given to the country by China Exim Bank.

Countries like, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Kenya among other countries are facing pressure of forfeiting their infrastructures to China over unpaid debt.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, gave the assurance in Nairobi, Kenya at the 6th Annual East African Transport Infrastructure conference that, the agreements Nigeria entered into with the China Exim bank does not include property takeover in case of Nigeria’s inability to repay.

Amaechi, in a statement by the Director of Press of the ministry, Muhammad Idris, said, “I don’t know the arrangement these

countries made with Exim bank; I do not think we will have any problems with repaying our loans .

“The countries that they are talking about are Kenya, Somalia and Sudan. These are some countries that have not been able to repay their loans I think. So, what they (China) are doing is that, they are taking over to manage and get their money but it is not so in Nigeria.”

He said “In fact, it is affecting our ability to borrow and they are now saying look, we can’t lend to you because these people are not ready to pay back. How do we know you are going to pay back?

He further said: “We are talking with them to have a meeting with them to say that

by June, we should be able to say this is our repayment plan. It also depends on what agreement plan you have with them, our agreement does not include the fact that they will come and take over our sea ports or railways or airports.

Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke, among others who commended the pilot of the flight for landing the aircraft safely at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.

Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah, confirmed the incident and explained that the crew decided to return to the Enugu airport as a precautionary measure in line with the airline’s high safety procedures.

Iwarah said: “We confirm that Enugu-Abuja bound Air Peace flight P47102 on May 13, 2019, had a bird strike moment after takeoff. In line with our high safety standards, our crew decided to return to base as a precautionary measure.

“The aircraft landed safely at the Enugu Airport and our esteemed passengers on board the flight, who were briefed by our professional crew and remained calm during the incident, disembarked normally.

“Our team of engineers were immediately mobilised to conduct proper checks on the aircraft to ascertain the impact of the bird strike on the aircraft. While the checks were on, we quickly deployed another aircraft to operate the service. Although bird strikes are a frequent occurrence in aviation and not life-threatening, we do not take chances with matters of safety.

We always prefer to err on the side of precaution.

“We empathise with our valued passengers for the inconvenience caused them and wish to assure

them that we will continue to prioritise their safety in all our operations.”

Bird strike has become a regular incident on domestic air operations, and anytime it happens, it forces the aircraft out of operations until it is recertified by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Meanwhile, Arik Air has announced the reschedule of its flight due to reduction in number of operational aircraft.

The airline in a statement signed by its spokesman, Adebanji Ola, said Arik air fleet has witnessed a reduction in number in the last two weeks due to the fact that some aircraft have been flown overseas to Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) in Europe.

He said the management

stated that in order to maintain schedule integrity and ensure flights departure on time, it had to cut down on the number of flights operated daily.

The airline further stated that as a safety conscious airline, it takes aircraft maintenance very seriously.

It however assured its customers that the aircraft would start returning from maintenance in the next few days while scheduled operations would be back to normal in a couple of weeks.

The Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, explained that “we regret any inconveniences that our customers may suffer due to this schedule adjustment. We are almost done with the checks, and our customers will start seeing the effect with improved services.”

FORMER BOSS IN THE VILLA…

President Muhammadu Buhari (left), and former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.), during Gowon’s visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja ...yesterday GODWIN OMOIGUI

Buhari Meets Ambode, Ortom, El-Rufai, Emefiele President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met separately behind closed doors with Governors Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, Samuel Ortom, Benue State, and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Details of the meetings are still being awaited, but Ambode told State House correspondents that he was in the villa to thank the president for his visit to Lagos State in April where he inaugurated several projects.

The Lagos State governor said he had normally seen himself as a

technocrat but the time he spent in office has changed his perception.

On the lesson learnt, Ambode said “You see, every politician learns every day. The fact remains that I came in as a technocrat.

So, I use to call myself a technopolitician but I think I am wiser now. I am more of a politician than a technocrat.”

On his visit to Villa, Ambode said it was just to say thank you to the president for recent visit Lagos where he (Buhari) inaugurated some projects.

The governor said he would

want to be remembered for after leaving office, he said: “Well, in another 16 days or so we will be leaving office but what is important is that I was able to have that opportunity to be elected as governor of Lagos State and to touch humanity in a way that I deem it fit.

“We did our best and most importantly the projects we did were people friendly and people-centred.

I just think a lot more people have enjoyed the benefits and dividends of democracy than we actually met it. And that gives me joy that we

were able to touch lives.

“Wherever you find yourself, just make positive difference to people and Nigerians. That is the whole essence of service. I’m grateful that I had that opportunity.”

On his part, Ortom disclosed that he updated the president on the current security situation in Benue.

Buhari also met with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),Mr. Godwin Emefiele, where he was quoted as congratulating him over his re-appointment for another five-year term.

Osun to Hold Economic Summit in June Osun State will hold a summit next month to reposition its economy and to showcase its huge potentials to local and foreign investors.

In his inauguration speech on November 27, 2018, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, while revealing his plan for the economic

summit, said: “The multi-stage, multi- stakeholder summit will dissect and recommend strategies which will drive meaningful youth employment, enhance food security, agricultural development, activate mining prospects and boost tourism potentials of this state”

He added: “We will showcase Osun as a strategic location for industrialisation. We are convinced that the peaceful atmosphere, a welcoming people, low crime rate, communal peace and the relative stability of electricity supply, will attract local and foreign investors.”

A statement issued by the Chief

Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Adeniyi Adesina, quoted the Chief of Staff to the governor, Dr. Charles Diji Akinola, as saying that the three-day economic and Investment summit will hold between June 25 and 27 in Osogbo, the state capital.

It will be declared open by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.”

36

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NEWSEXTRA

Acting CJN Served in Court over Suit against His Appointment Alex Enumah in Abuja The Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, was yesterday served with a suit seeking to stop President Muhammadu Buhari from appointing him (Muhammad) as substantive CJN. The Board of Incorporated Trustees of Malcolm Omirhobo Foundation had in an exparte motion filed on April 15, 2019, asked the court to stop Justice Muhammad’s appointment as CJN, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by the foundation.

The plaintiff also asked for an order of interim injunction restraining the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (7th defendant) from confirming

the appointment of Justice Muhammad as CJN, pending the determination of the substantive suit challenging his appointment.

But the trial judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, had in a ruling delivered on May 6, 2019, on the exparte application, however, ordered the plaintiff to put the defendants on notice, stressing that none of the prayers made on the motion exparte can be granted in the absence of the defendants.

Justice Ekwo also ordered that the defendants appear before him on May 13, 2019 (yesterday) to show cause why the exparte application should not be granted.

Defendants in the suit to be served with the hearing notice include, the National Judicial Council (NJC), Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC),

Justice Muhammad, the Federal Government of Nigeria, President Buhari, Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Senate of the National Assembly.

However, when the matter came up yesterday, one Elizabeth Jonathan, announced appearance for the NJC, while one Saleh Sule, represented the FJSC. Another lawyer, K. O. Ajayi, who announced appearance for the Acting CJN, informed the court that though his client was yet to be served with the process, he however came to court when he got wind of the matter.

He agreed to be served with

the process on behalf of the Acting CJN and was subsequently served inside the courtroom.

Following the service of all parties in the matter, and the subsequent application of the applicant and plaintiff to withdraw the exparte application, Justice Ekwo then struck out the exparte application and adjourned to June 3, 2019, for commencement of hearing of the substantive suit.

The plaintiff also asked for an order of interim injunction restraining the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (7th defendant) from confirming the appointment of Justice

Muhammad as CJN pending the determination of the substantive suit challenging his appointment.

The plaintiff in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/420/2019, had prayed the court to declare that the Acting CJN, Justice Muhammad, having made himself available as a tool that was used in the violation of the constitution, especially with regards to the alleged illegal removal of the former CJN, is therefore not a proper and fit person to be recommended for appointment to head the judiciary.

The rights activist further prayed the court to declare that

the suspension and/or removal of a CJN from office, is a shared responsibility of the 1st Defendant (NJC), the 5th defendant (Buhari) and 7th Defendant (National Assembly).

He argued that President Buhari lacked the constitutional powers to unilaterally suspend and/or remove a sitting CJN from office, as was done in the case of Onnoghen.

Omirhobo therefore sought an order of court restraining the National Assembly from confirming any appointment of Justice Muhammad as the substantive CJN.

Malabu Oil Deal: Court Strikes out Application to Stay Arrest of Adoke, Etete, Seven Others Alex Enumah in Abuja An FCT High Court in Jabi yesterday struck out an application seeking to stay an order, granting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) leave to arrest two ex-ministers, and seven others for their alleged involvement in the Malabu oil deal.

The EFCC charged a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke and his Petroleum counterpart, Mr. Dan Etete for their alleged involvement in the mismanagement of $1.1 billion revenue tht accrued from the sale of an oil block to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in 2011.

The charge filed on December 20, 2016 established a nine-count charge against the accused, saying they transferred $801.540 million from the federal government escrow account.

Justice Danlami Senchi of the court refused to grant the application in the suit No. FCT/ HC/M/546/2019 on the grounds that the substantive suit was yet to be argued by the parties in the matter.

Justice Senchi had adjourned till June 11 to rule on all the motions and counter-motions before the court and for the parties to argue the substantive suit According to the judge, any party willing to file further motions or applications, must do it on or before June 5.

2019 UTME: JAMB Remits N5bn to FG’s Account The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said it remitted N5 billion to the federal government’s purse after the conduct of its 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

This is contained in the board’s weekly bulletin, signed by the JAMB’s Head of Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, yesterday in Lagos.

Benjamin explained later in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the federal government gave back N2 billion out of the N5 billion to the board to enhance its operations.

“The board returned N5 billion to the federal government, but out of that amount, the board was given N2 billion to further enhance its operations,” he said.

Meanwhile, some 2019 UTME candidates have alleged challenges in accessing their results through telephone as advised by JAMB. JAMB released the results on Saturday and directed candidates to use the same telephone numbers they used in vending the pins for the examination registration documents to access their results by sending RESULT to a code – 55019.

Out of the 1.8 million candidates

who registered for the examination, a total of 1,792,719 had their results released by the board.

The board withheld results of 34,120 candidates over alleged examination malpractice, while results of 15,145 candidates are undergoing further clarification, as in the case of identical twins and siblings, for example.

When contacted, Benjamin, the board’s Head, Media and Information, apologised to the candidates experiencing challenges, on behalf of the board.

According to him, the challenge was from the service providers.

He said that the board had summoned the service providers for a meeting on the issue.

“We have just had a meeting with the service providers and they assured us that they are working hard to get the issue addressed. In no distant time, such candidates should be able to access their results without any hitch.

“We are just trying to ensure that all the candidates deserving of results should have firsthand information of their performances via their telephones.

“After that, we will post the results on our website for candidates to go ahead and print,” he said.

79 HEARTY CHEERS…

L-R: Chairman, Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Lawrence Agubuzu; Enugu State Governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; former Governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo; his wife, Pat; and President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, during Nwobodo’s 79th birthday celebration in Enugu … yesterday

Illicit Financial Flows: Fowler, Onyeama, ICPC Chair for Global UN Conference The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler; Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; and Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, will join other top officials from around the world at a global conference on how to contain Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) at the

Trusteeship Council Chamber, UN Headquarters in New York.

President of the United Nations General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa,who invited the trio to the event scheduled to kick off tomorrow, said the high-level meeting will focus on International Cooperation to Combat Illicit Financial Flows and Strengthen Good Practices on Asset Return.

Fowler, who is also the first Vice Chairman of the United Nations Committee of Tax Experts, will also be sharing the African perspective on IFF, as he also the Chairman of the African Tax Administration’s Forum (ATAF).

Espinosa said the UN General Assembly, in its resolutions 72/202 and 73/222, entitled “Promotion of International Cooperation to Combat

Illicit Financial Flows and Strengthen Good Practices on Asset Returns to Foster Sustainable Development”, mandated the UN GeneralAssembly to hold the meeting.

The meeting will kick off with an opening segment, two interactive panel discussions and a plenary segment for general discussion.

These will be followed by a closing segment.

Court Revokes Ex-Mainstreet Bank MD’s Bail Akinwale Akintunde Justice Olusola Williams of a Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, has revoked the bail granted to banker, Chester Onyeamachi Ukandu, who is standing trial on a three-count charge bordering on forgery and impersonation.

The judge revoked the bail of Ukandu for breaching the express conditions of bail granted him and acting in a manner capable of jeopardising the course of justice in the case.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Ukandu, a former Managing Director of MainStreet Bank Registrar Limited with one Mr. Achi George, before Justice Williams on March 19, 2018, over

alleged forging Corporate Affairs Commission (C.A.C.) documents.

According to the charge sheet, they were arraigned among other counts for conspiracy to forge documents contrary to sections 409 and 363(1) of the criminal law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

EFCC prosecutor, Mrs. Zainab Ettu, had informed the court that suspects between February 6 and 7, 2012, conspired among themselves and forged the letter head paper of Mainstreet Bank Registrars Limited, with registration number: 613674, claiming that it emanated from Mainstreet Bank’s Registrars Limited.

They were also accused of forging a Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Form 2A, claiming that it emanated from CAC.

Ettu informed the court that the two suspects, who had retired from the company unlawfully, convert the company’s properties and bank account with Skye Bank for personal use.

The prosecutor also informed the court that the two defendants were apprehended after investigation was conducted on a petition written by the Company’s lawyer, Dr. Charles Mekwunye, after which they were consequently charged before the court.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and following their plea, their lawyer, Samuel Agu, informed the court that he had filed bail applications, and urged the court to grant his clients bail in the most liberal terms.

They were subsequently granted

bail and as well remanded in prison custody pending the perfection of their bail conditions.

One of the conditions for bail granted by Justice Williams was a strict warning to the defendants that until the final determination of the suit or any other suits in the Federal High Court, pertaining to the ownership of the Mainstreet Bank Registrars Limited, the defendants should desist from holding themselves out as officers of the company and other correspondence in that regard.

However, the EFCC by a motion on Notice dated January 15, 2019, complained to the court that the 1st defendant, Ukandu has breached some of the bail conditions by acting in a manner capable of jeopardising the course of justice in the case.

37

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NEWSEXTRA

NECA Commends Buhari on Emefiele’s Reappointment Christopher Uba The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the decision to re-appoint the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr.Godwin Emefiele, for a second tenure.

The Director-General of NECA, Mr. Timothy Olawale, who lauded the president for this “significant action,” said that the re-appointment of the apex bank governor would guarantee stability in the nation’s monetary and fiscal policies as well as the economy in general.

The NECA boss said “Nigeria’s monetary and fiscal environment has witnessed some progress and tended to be in the right direction since the assumption of office of Emefiele.

According to him, the past five years of the CBN governor heralded growth and development focused policies and interventions in many sectors of the economy.

“Of note is the anchor borrower programme, ban on foreign exchange for staple foods, the Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Fund, attempts at promoting financial inclusion, financial boost to the creative industry, the N213billion Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility, support for the textile sector amongs other commendable projects,” Olawale said.

While giving insight into the expectations of organised businesses for the next five years, Olawale noted that “the CBN governor should, as a matter of urgency give more attention to the real sector of the economy.

“Access to cheap capital

has remained a bane for manufacturers; increased credit should be made available to the private sector while greater efforts should be made to ensure the convergence of the foreign

exchange market.

“Deliberate and structured engagement between the CBN and organised businesses should be instituted and special support given to the Small and Medium

Scale Enterprises.”

Olawale also stated that organised businesses expected stability and consolidation of the gains achieved in the last five years.

“We extend our hands of partnership to the CBN governor with the view of achieving a win-win situation for organised businesses and our nation, Nigeria,” he said

Dangote Refinery Awards $368m Contracts to Local Contractors Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical has disclosed that it has so far awarded $368 million contracts to 120 local contractors as part of its contribution to the Nigeria Content development initiative.

The Group Executive Director, Strategy, Portfolio Development and Capital Projects, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, who made this disclosure yesterday during the tour of the Dangote Refinery in Lagos by the officials of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), said there were several Nigerian Content opportunities in the company’s refinery and petrochemical project.

He noted that the refinery would lead to significant skills transfer and technology acquisition opportunities in the country.

He said the group embarked on a landmark integrated refinery and petrochemical project, regarded as the largest industrial complex in the history of Africa, which is expected to take Nigeria to new heights through the transformation of the economy.

According to him, the company is already partnering the Lagos State

government and Siemens in the skills development of the local community for employment at the construction site.

“We have already trained and employed 250 artisans,” he added.

He disclosed the company’s intention to train 900 Nigerian engineers in India.

“The company has completed the overseas training of first and Second batches of Nigerian engineers who are being acclimatized at site. The third batch left for India classroom training for one month, on the job training for one year and working in real time with experts in the industry every day,” he added.

He said that company has so far employed 3,580 Nigerian personnel on site.

“This excludes employment by the various contractors and subcontractors at the site,” he said.

Edwin disclosed that the company, in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), kicked off the training for 200 youths in its host communities, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

Firm Calls for Complete Deregulation of Power Sector Jonathan Eze

Century Power Generating (CPG) Limited has said the epileptic power supply witnessed in Nigeria could become a thing of the past if the government allowed market forces to determine pricing in the entire value chain from the generation of power to distribution.

In a chat with journalists in Lagos yesterday, its Chief Executive Officer, Chukwueloka Umeh, said the entire value chain is presently dysfunctional and broken.

According to him, he believes that the major issue with the power sector is that the government has continued to regulate tariffs and the price of gas.

This he stated would continue to discourage investments in the power sector, adding that “rather than allow market forces to determine the price for gas, the government continues to regulate the price, which in

itself discourages any form of investment.”

Umeh said the same applies to the distribution companies, which he said were unable to attract funding because the present fixed tariffs cannot guarantee an adequate return on investment.

He, therefore, called on the federal government to replicate the deregulation model that was adopted in the telecoms sector, which resulted in the creation of thousands direct and indirect jobs as well as boosting its economic growth.

“How can you pay your loans when there are many things like metering still unsolved? A lot of the networks are not properly metered; a lot of the networks have lines and transformers that are very old. You also have a lot of networks where people are stealing power from. So if you’re collecting money for only 30 per cent of the power you’re given, how can you pay for the part that you’re supplying?”

UNVEILING THEIR SCORECARD…

L-R: General Manager, External Relations, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mr. Igo Weli; Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), Mr. Bayo Ojulari; Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor; and Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Gas, Mr. Ed Ubong, at the Launching of the 2019 Shell Nigeria Briefing Notes, in Lagos…yesterday

Election Petition: Stop Sending Junior Lawyers, INEC Tells Senior Lawyers Issues Certificate of Return to Nwajiuba Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged senior lawyers engaged in the election petition process to stop sending junior lawyers to the headquarters of the commission to collect or process documents as regards election tribunal.

The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Festus Okoye, made the call yesterday while presenting Certificate of Return to Hon. Emeka Nwajiuba, the House of Representatives member-elect, representing Okigwe South Federal constituency (Ehime, Mbano/Ihitte, Uboma/Obowo), in Imo State.

He said that INEC is

irrevocably committed to obeying court orders and court judgments, stressing that as far as this commission is concerned, it is the duty and responsibility of courts to adjudicate on matters.

Okoye added that whenever the certified true copy of the judgment of court is served on INEC, the commission would obey and enforce all court judgments.

Okoye stated: “We are now in the election petition process and in almost all the election petitions, the commission is joined as a respondent. We want to appeal to senior lawyers who are representing both the petitioners and respondents to be circumspect, especially when issues concern their dealings with INEC. “The headquarters does not warehouse ballot papers and

other election materials. Election materials are warehoused either in the various local governments or at various offices of the commission.

“So, what happens is that when parties who are in the election petition process apply to the court for the inspection of the materials or for the photocopy of materials, those court orders are served on us. It is now the responsibility of the commission to direct the appropriate local government or appropriate state to release those documents to the lawyers who are engaged in the election petition process.

“Sometimes, senior lawyers send junior lawyers who know next to nothing about election petition to the commission and they drop letters in the national

headquarters here and ask for documents that are ordinarily not supposed to be here, and when we don’t give them those documents they just work across the gate and address a press conference, claiming that the commission has refused to obey court order.

“I believe that senior lawyers should be very careful in the way they make some comments, and when they are sending people to collect documents or process documents; they should send lawyers who understand election petition process and how the system works,” Okoye explained.

The commission, however, assured that it was committed to giving all the political parties that are in the election petition process whatever documents they want.

Court Strikes out Alleged Graft Suit against Oshiomhole Alex EnumahinAbuja Efforts by an Edo State based cleric and activist, Bishop Osadolor Ochei, through the court, to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence criminal investigation against former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, over corruption allegations failed yesterday, following the striking out of his suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Bishop Ochei in the suit filed against the EFCC and Oshiomhole, prayed the court to order the EFCC to investigate different petitions that contained allegations of financial recklessness against Oshiomhole.

But the trial judge, Justice Anwuli Chikere, in a ruling on the preliminary objection filed by Oshiomhole, held that the suit was statute-barred and subsequently struck it out.

According to Justice Chikere, the plaintiff ought to have filed the suit, three months from the cause of action.

After striking out the suit, the judge held that it would be needless for the court to go into other issues in the suit, since the suit itself was statute-barred.

Justice Chikere however agreed with the plaintiff that, by the Act establishing the EFCC, the commission is under the obligation to investigate and prosecute allegations of financial and economic crime.

Oshiomhole had in his preliminary objection argued by his lawyer, Terhemba Gbashima, urged the court to dismiss the suit on the grounds that the plaintiff lacked the locus standi (legal right) to institute the action in the first place.

Gbashima in asking the court to dismiss Bishop Ochei’s suit

against Oshiomhole and the EFCC, submitted that the suit was not competent by law, because it was filed18 months after the cause of action.

According to him, the plaintiff, whom he described as a meddlesome interloper, ought to have filed the suit three months after the cause of action.

He also submitted that Bishop Ochei has not shown how the alleged cause of action has affected him more than other indigenes of Edo State and asked the court to dismiss the suit for being incompetent.

In her response, counsel to the plaintiff, Uju Chukwurah, asked the court to discountenance the preliminary objection of Oshiomhole, who is the second respondent in the suit as well as that of the EFCC. Chukwurah said there is a continuous damage, since the subject

matter of the plaintiff’s petition has not been addressed, adding that, until the petition is dealt with, the plaintiff’s matter cannot be said to be statute-barred.

She said the plaintiff, being an indigene of Edo State, has the legal right to file the suit.

The anti-graft agency has, in its preliminary objections challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in Abuja to compel it to arrest and prosecute Oshiomhole, over allegation that he diverted public funds to his personal use while in office as governor.

EFCC admitted that it has received petitions accusing Oshiomhole of complicity in acts of corruption, but added that it was not under any obligation to report or give account of its investigations to any individual or under a timeline within which to carry out its functions.

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TUESDAY MAY 14, 2019 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Gambian Envoy Hails TSA Implementation, Describes Nigeria as Reference Point Transaction volume hits N30tn James Emejo in Abuja The Director in charge of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Mr. Sylva Okolieaboh has disclosed that the implementation of the TSA policy had pooled about N30 trillion transactions, with about N10 trillion passing through the account in terms of cash remittance and withdrawals.

This is as the Accountant General of The Gambia, Mr. Momodou Lamin Nah, said Nigeria is currently a global reference point in the successful implementation of TSA. Okolieaboh gave the transaction

figure during a visit by a delegation from The Gambia who are in the country on a European Union-funded tour to understudy the successful implementation of TSA in the country.

The delegation had paid courtesy visits separately to the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed and the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, preparatory to the commencement of a two-week tour in the country.

However, the Okolieaboh said: “If you are looking at transactions in terms of turnover, we should be talking of about N20 trillion, N30 trillion. Remember money is in and out.”

But, he would not disclose the current value of the TSA. On whether the implementation of TSA had given rise to other forms of corrupt practices within the processes, he said: “I am not aware that corruption is going in leaps and bounds. But the truth is that there is a wrong public expectation about the TSA. “If you listened to the statements, TSA is meant to consolidate bank accounts to give you better cash management abilities.

“But by so doing also, to help you to track what is going on

and the truth is that right now that tracking is going on: there is no transactions that go on in the MDAs that we don’t know.

“Now, if corruption has not died, the question is what will it have been like, if there was no TSA?” However, Ahmed, while welcoming the delegates noted that the presence of government officials from The Gambia to study successful TSA implementation in Nigeria was a reaffirmation of the fact that what the country had done with the TSA was a good example.

According to her: “TSA has helped us enforce our liquidity management. We have been able to track transactions that are coming in or going out. And every agency of government has an account in the TSA. Because the funds are pooled, it has helped us to enhance liquidity management,” the Minister said.

She urged the delegation to learn from the Nigerian experience and improve on management of their nation’s funds.

“Without TSA, you have a lot of challenges with accounting preparation and liquidity

management.”

She further advised the delegates to also endeavor to understudy implementation of TSA in the states of the federation that have slight differences in its operation with the federal government.

Meanwhile, Momodou, while commenting on fame which the TSA had brought for Nigeria said: “There has been lots of literature about Nigeria’s achievements in the implementation of TSA and Nigeria has been a reference point even from the IMF.

NIS Begins Web-based Application forVisa-on-Arrival The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has migrated to a web-based portal for processing of Visa-OnArrival applications with effect from May 13 (yesterday).

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the agency, Mr. Sunday James who stated this in a stamen issued yesterday, said that prior to the migration to a web-based portal, applicants were expected to forward applications for visa via email or hard copy to the Comptroller General for approval.

The spokesman, however, said that with the web-based regime, applicants would only be required to log onto www.immigration.gov. ng where they could apply for the facility, make payment, and receive

approval online.

James said, “The ComptrollerGeneral of Immigration Muhammad Babandede, hereby calls on genuine investors to take advantage of the innovation as it improves migration and transparency in the system in line with the federal government’s policy of Ease of Doing Business.”

Visa-on-Arrival is a class of short visit visa issued at the port of entry.

The facility is available to frequently travelled high net worth investors and intending visitors, who may not be able to obtain visa at the Nigerian Missions/Embassies in their countries of residence due to the absence of a Nigerian mission in those countries or exigencies of urgent business travels.

VICTORY AT LAST...

House of Representatives member-elect for Okigwe South Federal Constituency, Nwajiuba Chukwuemeka, and his wife, Mrs. Chukwuemeka, receiving a Certificate of Return from INEC National Commissioner, Mr. Festus Okoye (right) yesterday in Abuja.

JULIUS ATOI

Labour Gives NCAA Ultimatum over Non-promotion of Staff Abe: Nigerian Constitution Guarantees Freedom of Religion Chinedu Eze Aviation unions have given the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) 14-day ultimatum to adjust the agency’s organogram, which they said has stagnated some of the workers who are denied promotion after several years.

The unions also told the management of the agency to ensure that workers who were due for promotion in the past two years were duly promoted and put in their right positions.

The unions-Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP)-yesterday held a peaceful congress at the headquarters of NCAA at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos to press home their demands.

The Deputy President of ATSSSAN, Emmanuel Jaja, in an interview with journalists at the congress, accused the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, of manipulating the new organogram and agreement reached with the NCAA management.

According to him, a tripartite team comprising the unions, NCAA management and the government had sat down to

fashion out a new organogram for NCAA as a result of its new status, but Sirika single-handedly changed the organogram.

He alleged that the organogram which was returned to the management was entirely different from what was agreed with the committee, alleging that it was skewed against the workers.

Jaja insisted that the new organogram would not create room for development of workers, adding that some who were due for promotion since 2017 were yet to be promoted, while the government was also on the verge of merging some of the directorates.

“There was a tripartite committee on the issue of the organogram of NCAA; the unions, NCAA management and the government, but all of a sudden when the organogram was returned to the management, what was presented to the team was entirely different from what was agreed upon.

“As it is, the organogram of NCAA has been messed up with what the management and the government just did. The unions will follow the due process in its action. We all know that strike or picketing is not a tea party. The staff members are requesting for an ultimatum from us now to ginger the management to take the right step,” Jaja explained.

Esther Oluku The senator representing Rivers South-east senatorial district in the National Assembly, Magnus Ngei Abe, has declared that every Nigerian has the constitutional right to practice any religion of his choice.

Abe made the declaration while speaking at the 2019 Bob Marley Day celebration which was held in Rumuomasi, Port Harcourt.

The senator said: “In this country, we believe in freedom of religion. People are free to practice

their faith and every Nigerian is protected by our constitution in the practice of such as long as no one is harmed.

“What I see you doing here is promoting music, art and celebrating culture and an icon of black consciousness, Bob Marley. I am therefore proud to be associated with this movement.

“I congratulate and thank you for inviting me and next year, if it holds in Port Harcourt, I would like to be here to celebrate with you.”

Abe lamented that Nigerians

pay huge amount of money to watch the Notting Hill Carnival in London but do not find it necessary to watch such carnivals in their own country.

“If this were to be the Notting Hill Carnival in London, Nigerians would pay money to go there and honour them. Now, because it is happening at Rumuomasi in Port Harcourt, everybody pretends as if something wrong is going on here. What is happening here is music, art, and God.” He added that he was delighted to have been a part of the event.

“I have been promising to attend this event and today I am here in person. I am very happy to be here and to be a part of this movement.”

Earlier in his remarks, leader of Rastafarians in Nigeria, Ras Edu Dickson, prayed God to bless Abe for honouring them with his presence.

Dickson said that “truth has never been hidden. Here comes the truth, our father, and as he has honoured the Rastaman, may zion and heavens honour him from now henceforth.”

House Committee Alleges Widespread Corruption in Nigeria’s Public Account System Shola Oyeyipo inAbuja The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), of the House of Representatives, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, yesterday alleged that there is still widespread corruption in the Nigerian public account system, stressing that the only condition capable of preventing the trend is when the federal government assents to the Audit Commission Bill.

Chinda who made the assertion in Abuja when reeling out the achievements of his committee in the 8th Assembly, said public spending in Nigeria is still characterised by

recklessness.

The lawmaker said the fact that the committee met backlog of Auditor-General’s reports on MDAs, was evident that things were not right in the public account system.

“Even when we meet our colleagues from other climes, it is a low point on this country. It is a low point on our drive against corruption, and so we said we must begin to erode that. If that is our only achievement, so be it.

“Generally, what we have observed is that not much has changed from the reckless system that we have operated in Nigeria.

Not much has changed. Public spending is still not very responsible, and so we need to begin to change.

“One of the problems we have is that our institutions are very weak; institutions are not strengthened; the government is not making deliberate effort to strengthen institutions and therefore, when you talk about the fight against corruption you find out that it might not be sustained because the institutions that ought to fight corruption are not strengthened,’’ the lawmaker stated.

He added that one typical example is the office of the AuditorGeneral of the Federation from

where the lawmakers get their raw material, saying that the good thing that will happen to the fight corruption is assent to the Audit Commission Bill and prayed that the assent is not refused as usual.

Chinda, who briefed journalists alongside other members of the committee, said they worked ‘’selflessly and sincerely’’ to improve public account in the country.

According to him, “Our hearing on the Auditor-General’s Annual reports on the accounts of MDAs, covering 2010 and 2016, we met a backlog of reports from 2010 up to 2014 and then we received 2015 and 2016 from the office of the Auditor-General.

39

T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2019

TUESDAYSPORTS

ÜÙßÚ ÚÙÜÞÝ ÎÓÞÙÜ˝ Duro Ikhazuagbe ×ËÓÖ˝ duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 08111813083

Dennerby Lists Eight Home-based Players in Nigeria’s Provisional World Cup Squad Duro Ikhazuagbe Eight home-based players have been listed in Nigeria’s provisional 27-woman team for the 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals taking place in France between 7thJune and 7th July 2019.

The selected players are scheduled to go into the Avita Resort Bad Tatzmannsdorf camp in Austria on May 20, the same facility used by the Super Eagles for their preparations for the World Cup in Russia last year.

The players from the domestic league listed in the squad include; Chiamaka Nnadozie, Christy Ohiaeriaku, Alaba Jonathan, Chidinma Okeke, Evelyn Nwabuoku, Amarachi Okoronkwo, Alice Ogebe and goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi.

All of them are currently with the Super Falcons at the West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone B tournament in Ivory Coast.

Leading the cast of stars in Head Coach Thomas Dennerby’s team is FC Barcelona striker and three-time African Footballer of the Year, Asisat Oshoala. She is in company with such stars like defensive bulwark Onome Ebi, midfield lubricator Ngozi Okobi and power forward Desire Oparanozie.

Others include; defenders Josephine Chukwunonye,

Osinachi Ohale and Ngozi Ebere, midfielders Rita Chikwelu and Halimatu Ayinde and Francisca Ordega, who all played key roles in the Super Falcons’ ninth continental triumph in Ghana late last year.

Dennerby has also picked Uchenna Kanu, who has shown tremendous firepower at the ongoing WAFU Women’s Cup in Abidjan with eight goals in two matches.

A statement from the Nigeria Football Federation announcing the provisional list yesterday said that Nigeria’s final list of 23 players for the Mundial in France will emerge from this group of 27, with four players to be cut towards the end of the two-week camping in Austria.

“The final squad will depart from Austria on 4th June direct to Reims, where they open their World Cup campaign against Norway on 8th June,” observed NFF’s Head of Women Football, Ruth David.

THE PROVISIONAL LIST GOALKEEPERS: Tochukwu Oluehi (Rivers Angels); Alaba Jonathan (Bayelsa Queens); Chiamaka Nnadozie (Rivers Angels); Christy Ohiaeriaku (Confluence Queens) DEFENDERS: Osinachi Ohale (Vaxjo DFF, Sweden); Ngozi Ebere (Arna Bjornar, Norway);

World Cup-bound Super Falcons are to go into camp in Austria next Monday for final training before landing in France to battle for honours

Onome Ebi (Henan Huisanhang, China); Josephine Chukwunonye (Kungsbacka DFF, Sweden); Faith Michael (Pitea IF, Sweden); Chidinma Okeke (FC Robo) MIDFIELDERS: Cecilia Nku (Ferencvaros Torna, Hungary); Rita Chikwelu (Krstianstand DFF,

Sweden); Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene (Eskiltuna United, Sweden); Evelyn Nwabuoku (Rivers Angels); Ogonna Chukwudi (Djurgardens IF, Sweden); Halimatu Ayinde (Eskiltuna United, Sweden); Amarachi Okoronkwo (Nasarawa Amazons)

Okagbare Returns to Shanghai for IAAF Diamond League Glory Former Nigeria sprint queen, Blessing OkagbareIghoteguonor is returning to the Shanghai IAAF Diamond League Meet on Saturday, four years after she last competed at the Shanghai Stadium.

The Nigerian’s last visit in 2015 was a hugely successful one as she won the 100m in 10.98 seconds ahead of USA’s Tori Bowie (11.07) and Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye (11.13).

On Saturday, she will hope to put up a better performance than the 23.14 seconds she ran over the

200m in Doha last week as she battles 2016 double Olympic sprint champions, Elaine Thompson of Jamaica, two-time USA champion at 200m (2015, 2018) and 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships over the 100m, Jenna Prandini and Michelle-Lee, the 2018 Commonwealth Games 100m champion for the $10,000 top prize money and the eight points on offer.

Okagbare’s record at the Shanghai Diamond League, the second stop on the International Association of

Athletics Federations’ global circuit of premier one-day meetings has been impressive in all her five visits so far.

She made her debut in the Chinese city in 2011, finishing third (11.23) in the 100m race won by Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown (10.92 seconds). Another Nigerian, Gloria Asumnu was seventh (11.39) in the race.

Okagbare was at the Shanghai Stadium a year later but could not run faster than a third position (22.71) in the half lap behind Veronica Campbell-Brown (22.50) and Carmelita Jeter,

the second faster woman ever (10.64) over the 100m who came second in 22.62 seconds.

The Nigerian however moved a step up to second in the long jump with her 6.74m leap behind USA’s Deloach Janny (6.73m).

In 2013, Okagbare ran 11.00 seconds to place second in the 100m behind Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce who ran 10.93 seconds to win but the Nigerian stormed back in 2014 to win the 200m in 22.36 seconds and the long jump with her 6.86m leap.

UBTH to Provide Heath-care Services at Okpekpe Race University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), a premier and multi-specialty health care service provider in Nigeria nay West Africa is the latest body to join the race of providing services at the 7th IAAF silver label Okpekpe International 10km Road Race which holds next week Saturday in Okpekpe near Auchi in Estako East Local Government Area of Edo State.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Professor

Darlington E. Obaseki, said the UBTH was delighted to be associated with an internationally recognised race which has brought so much attention to the hilly and rustic town of Okpekpe and has put Edo State on the map of the world as a destination of sort for sports.

“We at UBTH are delighted to be part of this historic race, the first road running event in Nigeria and West Africa to be granted a label status by

the IAAF. We are particularly delighted that the heartbeat of the nation, Edo State is playing host to such an event,” said Obaseki.

The chief medical director has given UBTH’s commitment to ensuring the race is delivered without any casualties.

“The UBTH’s partnership will ensure participants at the race get free and quality healthcare before, during and after the race,” said Zak Amodu, the

event’s Director of Organisation.

“We are grateful to the government of Edo State, particularly his excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki for providing the enabling environment for the race to thrive.

“We are also grateful to UBTH for associating with the race. We promise to deliver another world-class event come Saturday May 25 in Okpekpe,” said Amodu.

FORWARDS: Desire Oparanozie (En Avant Guingamp, France); Anam Imo (Malmo FC Rosengard, Sweden); Asisat Oshoala (FC Barcelona, Spain); Chinaza Uchendu (SC Braga, Portugal); Uchenna Kanu (South-eastern University, USA); Rasheedat

Ajibade (Alvadsnes IL, Norway); Francisca Ordega (Shanghai W. FC); Ini-Abasi Umotong (Brighton Hove & Albion, England); Alice Ogebe (Rivers Angels); Chinwendu Ihezuo (Henana Huisanhang, China)

Wizkid, Small Doctor toThrill Fans atThe Match for Ambode The Match for outgoing Governor of Lagos StateAkinwunmiAmbode scheduled to hold on Saturday May 18 at the Agege Stadium is not going to be all about football as organisers of the football fiesta have succeeded in getting Nigeria’s music stars, Wizkid and Small Doctor to entertain fans.

According to a sneak preview of the programme planned for Saturday, Wizkid and Small Doctor will take their turns to thrill the fans and VIP with some of the songs that made them household names in the continent and beyond.

“It is going to be full fun all the way on Saturday when former Nigerian football stars line up against their counterparts coming from all over Africa to honour Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for his contributions to sports development by way of providing quality sports infrastructure for the state,” observed Waidi Akanni, one of the organisers of the show.

He also listed some of the additional former Green Eagles to also thrill the crowd with their skills to include; Tarila Okorowanta, Bright Omokaro, Edema Fuludu, Yisa Sofoluwe, and several other former Nigerian stars now enjoying their retirement

from the game.

With The Match barely days away, Akanni stressed that Saturday will remain unforgettable for football lovers as they will enjoy maximum comfort watching former African stars recreate some of those skills that made they very popular.

“We have been assured of full complete of security at The Match. There will be regular police personnel as well as stewards, bomb squad units to enable easy movements for fans in the arena as we celebrate Governor Ambode,” revealed the former Chairman of Lagos State Football Association.

Just last weekend, Nigeria’s Atlanta 1996 Olympic men’s football winning coach, JohannesFranciscus Bonfrere confirmed that he will be available to lead former Super Eagles stars at The Match for Ambode.

Bonfere is to be assisted by the duo of former Super Eagles Assistant Coach, Joe Erico and ex international Henry Nwosu ‘The Match’ aimed to celebrate Gov. Ambode’s strides in provision of sports infrastructure for Lagos was moved from Onikan Stadium under reconstruction to Agege Stadium, Lagos.

Aigbogun Picks Utin, 20 Others for Under-20 World Cup in Poland Head Coach Paul Aigbogun has named Captain Ikouwem Utin, goalkeeper Olawale Oremade, midfielder Kingsley Michael and forward Henry Offia in his list of 21 players for this year’s FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Poland.

Also included are defender Valentine Ozornwafor – named in the Team of the Tournament at the U20 AFCON finals in Niger Republic in February – and vivacious attacking midfielder

Effiom Maxwell.

Aigbogun spoke to the players over dinner at their Bad Goegging, Germany training camp on Monday where he unveiled the list.

The announcement by Aigbogun comes less than 24 hours before the team tackles Austrian club, Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian city of Salzburg on Tuesday evening. The squad’s final pre-World Cup friendly will

be against Red Bull Leipzig in Germany on Friday, with the delegation to fly out of Germany to Tychy on Sunday.

The Flying Eagles, seven –time champions of the African continent, have finished as runners-up at the FIFA World Cup on two occasions – 1989 and 1995 – and took the bronze medals in the former Soviet Union 34 years ago.

Nigeria’s last appearance at the FIFA U20 World Cup was in New

Zealand four years ago, where Coach Manu Garba’s wards were eliminated in the Round of 16

by Germany in Christchurch.

The Flying Eagles play Qatar, the United States of America and Ukraine in that order at the championship in Poland, with their first game against Qatar in Tychy on 24th May. Goalkeepers: Detan Ogundare (Kogi United); Olawale Oremade (Kwara United; Jonathan Zaccala

(Triestina FC, Italy) Defenders: Valentine Ozornwafor (Enyimba FC); Aliu Salawudeen (Amuneke Academy); Igoh Ogbu (Rosenborg BK, Norway); Ikouwem Utin (Enyimba FC); Muhammad Rabiu (Plateau United); Jamil Muhammad (Kano Pillars) Midfielders: Nnamdi Ofoborh (AFC Bournemouth, England); Eletu Peter (Prince Kazeem FC); Ayotomiwa Dele-Bashiru

(Manchester City, England); Kingsley Michael (AC Perugia, Italy); Effiom Maxwell (Enyimba FC); Aniekeme Okon (Akwa United); Collins Sor (Oasis FC) Forwards: Jerome Adams (Sogndal IL, Norway); Tijani Muhammed (FC Banik Ostrava, Czech Republic); Henry Offia (IK Sirius Uppsala, Sweden); Chinonso Emeka (Club Brookhouse, England); Success Makanjuola (Water FC)

Tuesday May 14, 2019

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& RE A S O

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Price: N250

MISSILE Group to Appeal Court “Had the decision of the Court of Appeal been delivered sooner, at a time when it could have mattered, it would have represented a timely intervention required, at that time, to meet the exigencies of the situation in the tribunal The judgments are, therefore, not much other than hollow rites of passage.”

-A group, Access to Justice, berating the Court of Appeal for its late decision on the trial of Justice Walter Onnoghen at the Code of Conduct Tribunal

TUESDAY WITH REUBENABATI abati1990@gmail.com

The Next Buhari Cabinet: Some Suggestions

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari is under obligation to announce a new Federal cabinet. The tenure of his present team of aides, including Ministers, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants automatically expires on May 29, 2019. Whereas the President took six months to announce many of these appointments in 2015, the convention and the law is that those appointments are for a tenure of four-years - in line with the Chief Executive’s own tenure and once that tenure ends, the appointments, due to the effluxion of time, end automatically.

The only exceptions perhaps are the appointments to the headship of parastatals and agencies whose tenures are statutorily defined, and even in those cases, the President on whose behalf the occupiers of those positions exercise delegated authority can have their positions determined, with or without recourse to the National Assembly, strictly as may be stipulated by the enabling law. President Buhari himself has shown an awareness that one term of his government is coming to a close and that another is about to begin when last month, he called for hand-over notes.

There has been palpable anxiety in the corridors of government since he made that call. It is noteworthy that President Muhammadu Buhari has been perhaps the only Nigerian President since 1999 who has not shown a willingness to change his team mid-stream.

Every one who has worked with President Buhari has enjoyed a relative security of tenure. Whereas other Presidents before him- Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan -found cause to fire some aides – Ministers and assistants and appoint new ones, either mid-term or along the way, President Buhari has carried on more or less like a father-figure who cannot disown any of the children he gave birth to in 2015, even if many of them have behaved very badly or proved to be utterly incompetent and/or ungrateful. While such an attitude may be good in a family, private context, it may not be the best in a national, public context.

The few Ministers who left the cabinet did so because of their own political ambition (Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Aisha Alhassan, Khadija Bukar Ibrahim), or because of scandals that they could not live down (Kemi Adeosun is the obvious example here) or death ( James Ocholi) or another job (Ibrahim Jubril, Amina Mohammed). The body language from President Muhammadu Buhari is that left to him, he would have retained these Ministers, if he could. It must be noted that even heads of agencies who are undergoing trials in courts, under the Buhari government are still sitting pretty in their positions. The President is unaware, it seems, that such officers should be asked to step aside until their guilt or innocence is established. It was convenient to do so in the case of the ancien Chief Justice of the Federation, Walter Onnoghen, but someone obviously overlooked the same principle in other cases.

These contradictions in terms of avowals and actual reality that dog the Buhari government in virtually every respect has understandably made the appointment of new aides, a major issue of public discourse. No President can do the job alone.

Governance is team work. The Constitution gives the President the latitude to choose his own team.

The Nigerian Constitution practically makes the Nigerian President a monarch with the powers to hire and fire, exercising near-divine powers that in many ways compromise democracy. This is one of the reasons why a return to Westminster-type parliamentary rule may well in the long run be the best option for Nigeria. For now, it seems clear that the people who surround a siting President, the people who work with him or for him, can make all the difference when he is in power and office and when the bubble eventually bursts and he is out of the impregnable fortress of Aso Rock. It is

Buhari for this reason that questions are now being asked: Who should make the President’s next cabinet?

Should the President retain his present team or disband it altogether? What should be the criteria for retaining or dismissing the cabinet members?

Should the President keep his entire team, or send some of them adrift? What kind of cabinet would Nigerians love to see after May 29, 2019?

Two recent developments have made these questions pertinent. In the past few days, President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded the name of the incumbent Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele to the National Assembly for re-nomination and confirmation for a second and final term in office as CBN Governor. This has elicited mixed reactions. There are persons who believe that Emefiele has been donated a second term as CBN Governor because of his closeness to Aso Rock, his political astuteness (romancing the powers-that-be), including even going to the Mosque with the President, and pretending to know the Muslim way of worship. There are also those who argue that Emefiele deserves his re-appointment because he has been a major pillar of stability in managing Nigeria’s economic crisis, combining his monetary policy responsibilities with the fiscal side of things that should ordinarily be other people’s responsibility.

The CBN under his watch also introduced policies that helped to guide Nigeria through recession, create a special window for local and foreign investors, incentives for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, farmers and the creative industry, astute management of the interest rate and lending regimes and a positive determination to sustain Nigeria’s economic growth recovery agenda. It is my firm belief that by retaining Emefiele, who was originally appointed by the Jonathan administration in 2014, President Buhari has in this instance, risen above emotionalism to opt for stability, merit and continuity. Local and international investors and other stakeholders are easily disoriented by unpredictable change which increases risk calculations. The re-nomination of Emefiele will give them confidence to the extent that future risks and direction of Nigeria’s monetary policy are at the moment predictable.

The second development is the appointment of Ms Abike Dabiri-Erewa as Chairperson of the Diaspora Commission. While Emefiele’s re-appointment speaks to continuity, merit and stability, Dabiri-Erewa’s appointment is a reward for hardwork and loyalty, and it is well-deserved.

Appointed Special Assistant to the President on the Diaspora, Abike-Dabiri has shown commitment and dedication beyond the call of duty. She has been very hardworking in monitoring and defending the interest of Nigerians in diaspora. Her commitment

is unmistakable. Her passion is remarkable. Her courage is commendable. Wherever any Nigerian in the diaspora found himself or herself in distress, Ms. Dabiri-Erewa reached out on behalf of the Nigerian Government. She became so effective her detractors began to grumble that she was upstaging the Minister of Foreign Affairs. My view is that she probably would have been a better choice as Minister of Foreign Affairs, but the Diaspora Commission being her baby and passion, she is probably better off as the pioneer Head of that Commission, which is obviously a sound demonstration of government’s awareness of the strategic importance of Nigeria’s Diaspora community.

If these two foregoing appointments may be taken as indicators of what may happen after May 29, we can comfortably say that President Buhari may have at the back of his mind: merit, competence, continuity, stability, reward for hardwork and loyalty, albeit not necessarily in that order. But what do Nigerians expect? They expect from our own reading that President Buhari would not take another six months to constitute another team. He will do himself a lot of favour if on the morning of May 30, 2019, or even on the 29th, he announces a new team. Doing so will send a signal that he means business, and that he has learnt some lessons since 2015. Nigerians also expect him to show more independence by doing away with the so-called cabal that has held him hostage since 2015. His party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been going about boasting that only loyal party members will be rewarded and that only the APC will govern Nigeria. That of course is a stupid proposition. President Buhari must project himself as a man who is willing to unite Nigeria across party, ethnic, religious and geographical lines. The hawks in his party should not draw up his appointment list. He must be guided by the principle of inclusion, not the desperation of party leaders who see electoral success as a ticket for parasitism and vendetta. The general elections of 2015 inflicted many wounds on Nigeria, the extent of which has not yet been fully studied. President Buhari can through the choices he makes, going forward, heal some of those wounds.

Mr. Eric Teniola, a veteran journalist, and a former Director in the Presidency, wrote in April, that since independence Nigerian Heads of State and Presidents who have had a second term, have tended to retain just about 8% of their original cabinets.

He raised a poser about what President Buhari is likely to do in his second term without necessarily offering suggestions. Most recently, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN also argued and he has not refuted this, that a tenure of four years is too short for a Minister to make a difference. That has been interpreted as an attempt by Fashola to lobby for re-appointment, more so as he is the Superior minister of the Buhari cabinet, holding three portfolios: Works, Power and Housing, each of the Ministries so tragically embattled at the moment.

But what do I think? I think the cabinet that Buhari has worked with so far is the worst that Nigeria has had since 1999 and I am just being charitable, saying this. Not even under Sani Abacha did we have such a terrible mix. In a country of extremely talented and resourceful persons, the Buhari cabinet, 2015 -2019 is a scandal. Obviously, after the 2015 elections, President Buhari was under pressure to settle IOUs and give jobs to the boys who helped him to fulfil his dream. So, from every part of Nigeria, they gave him the boys to do the job and he too picked some prominent hangerson and long-time loyalists. You can’t run a good government by recruiting family members, ethnic bigots, party financiers and a bunch of clueless politicians. President Buhari must not repeat that mistake, whatever the pressure. He should ask for

CVs, conduct interviews by himself alone, and he must reverse this trend of sending names to the National Assembly without portfolios, and avoid the error of appointing dead persons! Whoever is going to appear before the Senate as Ministerial nominee must also have a portfolio attached to his name. It is a bad thing to have a Minister presiding over a portfolio over which he is ill-suited.

Mr. Teniola talks about 8%. Fashola talks about continuity. President Buhari should sack more than 80% of his team, all the way down the line. They have not served him well with their open and embarrassing display of lack of colour, grace and competence. For a start, all the Ministers of State should be fired and changed. They cannot plead that they are mere spare tyres. It is their lack of initiative and ambition that has turned them into spare tyres. Heads of agencies and parastatals should not be allowed to hang on to the myth that they are occupying tenured positions. The President is constitutionally empowered to fire any one when he is tired of their services. Many of them should be sent home and that includes the horde of special assistants and advisers doing nothing, occupying space and often causing problems. President Buhari should ignore any and every list from the party secretariat. APC party leaders are busy with their own private agenda.

But despite the concern that we have expressed, there are definitely persons in President Buhari’s team that he can still work with, who in our estimation can add value, and who can be part of Teniola’s 8%. Okechukwu Enelamah should make the list. He is the current Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry. I saw him the other day in April at the Arise Fashion Week event where he was a a panelist at one of the sessions on fashion and export promotion. His sterling performance linking government policy to SME performance and articulating the forward-looking policies of the Buhari government made me to take a second look at his record. I was particularly pleased with his passion for tourism, export promotion, his synergy with Segun Awolowo, the Head of the Export Promotion Council, and his faith in the gains of a diversification of the Nigerian economy.

I checked him out. There are people like him around President Buhari who are often overlooked because they don’t know how to make noise or show up sycophantically at the mosque. Under Enelamah’s watch, Nigeria’s ease of doing business ranking has improved, and he has sustained the legacies of his predecessor in that office – Olusegun Aganga - and has also decently refrained from playing politics with plain-sight progressive ideas. I recommend him.

I also recommend Babatunde Fashola, SAN. He deserves to be retained not because he has tactically lobbied for it but because he is a man of discipline and talent. President Buhari overburdened him by giving him three Ministries. I don’t think Fashola can easily multi-task. He is a focused personality.

President Buhari should play to his strength by giving him a single assignment. I believe he will deliver. I also recommend the Minister of the FCT. He may not be very good at using the media to project himself, but he has nonetheless proven to be a very good manager of the country’s Federal Capital. Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma is a very competent man but he is in the wrong Ministry. President Buhari can try him elsewhere, in a position best suited to his talents. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has done an excellent job. He should be retained.

Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development should be given a high national honour and advised to retire. Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information has outlived his usefulness, like Chris Ngige and Rotimi Amaechi. Professor Isaac Adewole, the Minister of Health, like Okechukwu Enelamah, also still has a lot to deliver. Who else is in this their government…?

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